Record label of Westminster ??
Paul Goldstein
Keith Wu wrote:
>
> Does anyone know the history of the record label 'Westminster'? I have
> seen several series released. For example, the collector's series (no.
> begins with 9XXX), the multiple series (no begins with WM1XXX), the
> westminster gold series. Which one will be earlier? How to identify the
> release by the no., etc? I only know that the no. 18XXX is earlier than
> that of 9XXX.
> I want the information because I saw some LPs of violinist Morini from
> this label in the used record shop. I wanted to know whether it worths
> the price. Thanks.
> (You are always welcome to drop me a mail.)
Keith, I can't help you with the history of Westminster releases and
catalog numbers, but I do know that Westminster was a feisty
"independent" record label that issued many important recordings at the
beginning of the LP era and died sometime in the late 1960s. Among the
musicians it featured were Scherchen, Rodzinski, Monteux, Morini,
Janigro, Badura-Skoda, and many, many other worthies. The current
holder of the Westminster catalog is MCA. Some of the pioneering MCA
twofers issued in the USA in about 1990 (e.g. Monteux's Berlioz Romeo et
Juliet; Scherchen's mesmerizing Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet;
Rodzinski's excellent complete Nutcracker; and lots of other Scherchen)
were Westminster originals; others came from the Command (e.g. William
Steinberg) and American Decca (e.g. Morini/Firkusny's superb Beethoven,
Brahms, and Mozart violin sonatas) catalogs, which MCA also currently
owns.
Unfortunately, MCA stopped its twofer series some time ago. Meanwhile,
a label called Millennium Classics, another MCA venture, has been
reissuing lots of Westminster titles at budget prices. However, the
corporate fools at MCA have inexplicably decided not to release
Millennium in the USA, so you have to buy them from a Canadian or other
import source generally.
As far as Westminster LP's go - I do not profess to be a vinyl expert,
but I have never had much luck with used Westminster LPs. Invariably
they are far too noisy to listen to, even after vigorous cleaning. I
suspect that their LP pressings were never very good to begin with.
Older or more knowledgeable LP collectors can comment more
authoritatively about this.
Keith Wu
Gabriel Côté
In article (Dans l'article) <33F4C3...@hotmail.com>, Keith Wu
<kei...@hotmail.com> wrote (écrivait) :
1) Westminster Label
Here's an excerpt from a MCA's promotional leflet narrating the story of
Westminster Label and his partial ressurrection on Millennium Classics
CDs:
'In 1979, MCA inherited a substantial archive of classical recordings from
its purchase of ABC Records thus the Westminster catalogue was added to
MCA's own collection of Kapp and American Decca tapes already in its
possession.
ABC had themselves bought the ailing Westminster in 1961, which had been
founded in 1949 by James Grayson. Michael Naida and Henry Gage to capture
for posterity the artistry of a number of remarkable musicians chiefly
working in Vienna - still the centre of excellence for Western music even
as it was recovering from more than fifteen years of cultural sterility
under the Nazi dictatorship and then, briefly, under Soviet occupation.
As well as playing in the city's illustrious orchestras, many Viennese
musicians has established chamber music groups - notably the Vienna
Konzerthaus Quartet and another, equally impressive quartet under the
leadership of walter Barylli. Waiting in the wings to be 'discovered' were
the brillant young pianists, Paul Badura-Skoda and Daniel Barenboim.
Dominating the conductor's podium in Vienna for a very large number of
Westminster recordings was the presence of one of the world's then most
eminent and scholary conductors, Hermann Scherchen.
Dr Kurt List initiated for Westminster an ambitious programme of
recordings, base mostly in Vienna but also employing notable conductors,
orchestras and performers from the United States and Great Britain, thus
augmenting what, by the late 1950s, had become a sizeable collection of
orchestral, chamber, instrumental and vocal recordings, all created in a
distinctive spirit of integrity to high performing standards and the best
possible sound fidelity.
By the time stereo was making a noticeable impact on public, Westminster
certainly possessed the technological know-how and was making high quality
recordings in the medium. Unfortunately, the company lacked the
considerable financial resources required to embark on the re-investment
in new recordings necessary to remain competitive with its rival labels. A
valuable stereo legacy was bequeathed to ABC Records but along with this
came a large mono catalogue wich, at that particular stage in the
evolution of recorded music, was not likely to be appreciated - the mono
recordings for a few years became the victim of that notorious tag
'electronically re-processed for stereo effect'.
Without enough new recordings to replenish the catalogue, the Westminster
label effectively expired into oblivion, known only affectionately and
nostalgically outside the USA to ardent collectors who bought second-hand
US imported LPs and those few titles that had been licensed to British and
French labels.
Once Compact Disc had become the most popular medium for the consumer, the
recordings recorded by not only Westminster but all the MCA-owned
classical labels were mostly in store in the tape vault, their memory
alive only to those collectors who recalled the original ethos and
enthusiasm that inspired their creation.
It was, however, to be of benefit to MCA and the record-buying public that
the majority of these recordings remained unheard for so long into the
'digital' era.
The years that followed the arrival of the Compact Disc witnessed the
appearance of perhaps greater choice of classical music recordings at all
prices - and from across the decades - than at any previous time in the
history of recorded sound.
A new, enthusiastic generation of listeners eagerly began to absorb the
recorded legacies of great artists of an earlier era. The time had now
come, in 1996, to restore the balance and introduce to the market a whole
new range of Compact Discs, most of which were to be released in that form
for the very first time.
Deep amongst the whole archived history of MCA's rich and varied musical
legacy were found row upon row of somewhat battered-looking but well
sealed tape boxes, many covered with a bewildering variety of numbers, all
of wich samehow had to be reconciled with the frustratingly small amount
of paperwork that had survived the transfer of ownership from ABC in New
York to MCA in Los Angeles.
The Westminster tapes were, fortunately, housed in perfect,
climate-controlled conditions in the same vault as the Kapp and American
Decca tapes. The condition of some of the tapes, once the boxes were
opened, was still a subject of intrigue and concern, simply by reason of
their considerable age - some going back over 40 years.
MCA's technicians in Los Angeles therefore employed highly sophisticated
technology to make the transfer to the digital medium for remastering; not
only the latest Lexicon 20/20 Analog-Digital Converter but, for certain
recordings a hand built machine by JVC, worth almost $300,000, was used.
This ensured that particular care was taken that these precious documents
in sound were transferred with maximum fidelity, allowing a specialist
team in Hamburg to undertake the digital re-mastering from the best
possible sources.
Even despite the fidelity of those transfers, the age of the tapes
presented a fascinating challenge to the Hamburg team. Highly detailed
restoration work was required, using the Sonic Solutions and 20-bit
technology to remove the old analog edits, drop-outs, clicks and
pre-echoes that characterise the condition of older tapes.
The high degree of technical expertise employed will bring the listener
rich rewards. The key to Millennium Classics is that virtually all the
issues in the planned collection will be rerleased for the first time ever
on Compact Disc, giving music lovers all over the world a completely fresh
choice of music and performances.'
2) Erica Morini
(Born 1904, Vienna - ? ) Erica Morini gave his first performance in the
USA in 1920, at the Metropolitan Opera of New York. She lived in the USA
and became naturalized. She was considered on an equal footing with Ida
Handel and Ginette Neveu, two of the greatest female violonists of the
world.
Her performance of Tchaikovsky's Violin concerto is now available (outside
the USA) on CD, on cheap (sold $4.99 CAN in Quebec City area) MCA's
Millennium Classics (MCAD 80101) with Tchaikovsky's Symphony no 4 (Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Rodzinski).
Gabriel Cote
Laval University,
Quebec City, Canada
Classical9
First label Westminsters bear the prefix WL - earliest are green, then
red. Second label is XWN (sometimes SWN), blue label. (Black labels,
white labels are later pressings.) Finally, red/black label WST are
stereo (later pressings are black/blue). The Collectors series (W) are
the latest, exzcept for issues that came from after ABC acquired the
company - these are identified on the label and cover.
If you're looking for early Westminsters and other collectible audiophile
and hisotircal recordings, contact CLASSICAL COLLECTOR, 3151 HARRISON,
EVANSTON, IL 60201 for a 5000+ item catalog.
Chuck Nessa
Hisotircal recordings make me laugh.
Chuck Nessa
LESIT
>Here's an excerpt from a MCA's promotional leflet narrating the story of
>Westminster Label and his partial ressurrection on Millennium Classics
>CDs:
>'In 1979, MCA inherited a substantial archive of classical recordings
from
>its purchase of ABC Records thus the Westminster catalogue was added to
>MCA's own collection of Kapp and American Decca tapes already in its
>possession.
>ABC had themselves bought the ailing Westminster in 1961, which had been
>>founded in 1949 by James Grayson. Michael Naida and Henry Gage to
capture
>for posterity the artistry of a number of remarkable musicians chiefly
>working in Vienna - still the centre of excellence for Western music even
>as it was recovering from more than fifteen years of cultural sterility
>under the Nazi dictatorship and then, briefly, under Soviet occupation.
>As well as playing in the city's illustrious orchestras, many Viennese
>musicians has established chamber music groups - notably the Vienna
>Konzerthaus Quartet and another, equally impressive quartet under the
>leadership of walter Barylli. Waiting in the wings to be 'discovered'
were
>the brillant young pianists, Paul Badura-Skoda and Daniel Barenboim.
>Rest of text deleted, regarding Millenium mastering techniques.
>Her performance of Tchaikovsky's Violin concerto is now available
(outside
>the USA) on CD, on cheap (sold $4.99 CAN in Quebec City area) MCA's
>Millennium Classics (MCAD 80101) with Tchaikovsky's Symphony no 4 (Royal
>Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Rodzinski).
>Gabriel Cote
>Laval University,
>Quebec City, Canada
M. Cote and other Canadians enjoy what I just experienced in Toronto - a
large classical market that seems to respect it's listeners rather than
ignore them. I still don't understand how the entire Millenium Classics
series, which is based on tapes stored in the USA can be sold at a profit
for $4.99 per disc in Canada and not be offered for sale in the US? I've
read the previous posts about the bean counters at the record companies,
but is there something I'm missing? It seems to be that if you offer the
product to more people, more people have a chance to buy it, and more
people will buy it. That translates into more cash for the record company.
There is one personal bright side to this: because of the short-sighted
policies of the American record companies, I just had a very enjoyable
trip to Toronto, where I purchased about 20 of the Millenium titles. Had
the titles been generally available in the US (a few are available at
Tower in NYC at $14.99 each!), I would have bought them at about $10 each.
So, I guess the trip to Toronto (gasoline from NJ, hotel, and meals) sort
of paid for themselves.
Thanks for the vacation, MCA!
-lesit
LESIT (Al Lesitsky)
mwin...@uci.edu
Lesit,
I've recently "discovered" the Westminster recordings on the MCA Double
Decker series. I think the stereo recordings are among the finest I have
heard. They recently turned up in the Tower Outlet in Sherman Oaks, CA
as cut-outs for $7.99 ($4 per CD) and also are available from Berkshire
(http://www.berkshirerecoutlet.com/) for $5.99 ($3 per CD. I think the
reason these were a flop in the US is for the following reasons: the
covers look extremely cheap, it is difficult to tell that they are
Westminster (without opening the plastic wrap), it is often difficult to
tell if they are mono or stereo from the cover, at the time of their
release in 1988 or so, everyone was buying DDD and not historical
recordings on CD. Based on the listing of the MCA Millenium series (see
the following UK site http://www.mdcmusic.co.uk/AUTO/mdc0197122.cfm), the
titles are very similar with some new additions on the Millenium series.
I think the best sounding recordings are ones recorded with the Vienna
State Opera Orchestra usually conducted by Hermann Scherchen.
Mark
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Daniel Kravetz
On Mon, 1 Sep 1997 mwin...@uci.edu wrote:
>
> Lesit,
>
> I've recently "discovered" the Westminster recordings on the MCA Double
> Decker series. I think the stereo recordings are among the finest I have
> heard.
And the greatest treasure of this series, in my opinion, is the complete
recording of the Tchaikovsky NUTCRACKER conducted by Artur Rodzinski.
It has never been surpassed.
Cyrus Chinoy
>
> And the greatest treasure of this series, in my opinion, is the complete
> recording of the Tchaikovsky NUTCRACKER conducted by Artur Rodzinski.
> It has never been surpassed.
What is the sound like?
On another note, I was kindly informed by Farhan Malik that the late great Raymond Lewenthall
had made a few recordings for Westminster. Does anyone know if these have been released yet or
are in the pipeline?
-------------------
Cyrus Chinoy
Donald Patterson
Cyrus Chinoy wrote:
>
> In article: <EFv3x...@freenet.buffalo.edu> Daniel Kravetz <ah...@freenet.buffalo.edu> writes:
>
> >
> > And the greatest treasure of this series, in my opinion, is the complete
> > recording of the Tchaikovsky NUTCRACKER conducted by Artur Rodzinski.
> > It has never been surpassed.
>
> What is the sound like?
>
Pretty dry and up close. Unfortunate circumstance for a fine
performance.
I have the MCA CDs. It is a colorful reading (taking into account the
nuclear powered oboist), but it can serve at best as an alternative IF
rich sound is important to you.
--
Don Patterson <don...@erols.com>
"The President's Own"
United States Marine Band
Concerned about the state of the Mac?
Visit: http://www.MacMarines.com
The views expressed are my own and in no way reflect
those of the U.S. Marine Band or the Marine Corps.