Longer Classical Works on 78 RPM Albums

[Teasing the Korean]

I wonder if anyone knows how conductors - or living composers, for that matter, handled side breaks for longer works or movements. There are some movements that have few if any clean breaks, and when they occur, they may not have happened at an ideal place for ending a side of a 78.

Might a conductor take liberties with a score for these purposes? Were (living) composers ever consulted? Would there have been copyright issues regarding altering a score?

[Bigshot]

Back in the 78 era, the record sides were about four minutes long. So the conductor simply stopped the band at the end of the side and started it again at the beginning of the next one. There usually was about a second of overlap. Amazingly, the conductors were so precise, it's rare to find sets that can't be joined seamlessly. Their beat and balances were almost always perfectly accurate from side to side.

The biggest single set of 78s that I have ever run across is Adolph Busch's Concerti Grossi Op 6 by Handel. It spanned fifty sides.

[Teasing the Korean]

Classical listeners must have gotten a lot of exercise back then!

How much time did a 12" 78 accommodate?

Edited April 7, 2015 by Teasing the Korean

[jeffcrom]

A 12" 78 has about four and a half minutes of music per side.

I have digitally put together some of my multi-side classical 78 recordings for iPod listening. The conductor and producer generally found logical places for the side breaks.

In the early days of 78s (say, before 1925), scores were often hacked to pieces to fit on one or two sides of a record. It was around 1925 that Columbia and Victor/HMV started issuing multi-record albums of complete works. After that, I don't think that pieces were edited for recording very often, although I know that sometimes repeats weren't taken.

Edited April 7, 2015 by jeffcrom

[Bigshot]

Around 1939, RCA Victor introduced record changers and the sides were sequenced to be played back in a stack, then turned over to play through the other sides. Before that, record 1 was side 1 and side 2, record 2 was side 3 and 4, etc.

[jeffcrom]

Around 1939, RCA Victor introduced record changers and the sides were sequenced to be played back in a stack, then turned over to play through the other sides. Before that, record 1 was side 1 and side 2, record 2 was side 3 and 4, etc.

Not always - they continued to offer albums sequenced sequenced the old way as well as those for automatice changers. There were also albums for DJs (who used two turntables) - they were sequenced in what first seemed to be a random order, but no two sides which followed each other were ever placed on the same record.

[Bigshot]

I want a phonograph with a MAGIC BRAIN!