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So, What Are You Listening To NOW?


JSngry

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https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.111362

Talk about obscure performances...

The RCA Victor recording of Raffaello de Banfield’s 1955 opera Lord Byron’s Love Letter is a true rarity, remaining in their catalogue for only a short time and never reissued on CD before now. Based on a Tennessee Williams play set in late 19th-century New Orleans during the Mardi Gras, it revolves around an eccentric old lady, lost in the past, who displays to visitors an old love letter for money, purportedly by the rakish English poet. The opera was praised by Time magazine for its ‘vocal beauty’.

It seems like a wonderful piece and performance to me, at least on first listen, but the real buried (almost literally) treasure is the inclusion, not as "bonus tracks" but as an "appendix"(!!!!) is Gertrude Ribla's performance of selections from Wozzeck, to the best of my knowledge only otherwise available on this ancient 10" LP.

R-5821040-1403618001-9073.jpeg.jpg

Producer’s Note

The sources for the transfer of the de Banfield were first edition red “Shaded Dog” label American RCA pressings. Although taped a year after RCA began recording complete operas in stereo in Rome, this disc was only ever released in mono. A rarity, it did not remain long in the catalogue, and has never been reissued. There is a momentary pitch fluctuation at 3:09 in Track 2 which is present in the LP master tape. The “Academy Symphony Orchestra of Rome” is most likely a nom de disque for the orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia.

Since Astrid Varnay is already well represented on compact disc, I have chosen to fill out this release with one of the few recordings made by her Lord Byron co-star, Gertrude Ribla, again heard in twentieth-century opera. The Wozzeck scenes were transferred from the early 10-inch LP (ML-2140) which was its only previous reissue and was itself transferred from Columbia’s wide-frequency range 33 1/3 rpm master lacquer discs.
— Mark Obert-Thorn

The stuff that's out there...

 

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I have not listened it for quite some time and today I really am in the mood for this fine record. 

As all my school and college buddys we had bemoaned Miles´5 year hiatus and I still can feel the exite we were in when there were rumours that Miles had returned into a recording studio and probably would tour again.

This is really a fine record. I like it much more than the more famous Warner Brother stuff like "Tutu" since this is still a lot of "jazz" in it. It´s a working band and they really are together and Miles who was rumoured to have lost his chops, really plays some fine trumpet here, and more than we would have expected.

And he even played a swing tune "Ursula".......

Download (8).jpg

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2 hours ago, Gheorghe said:

I have not listened it for quite some time and today I really am in the mood for this fine record. 

As all my school and college buddys we had bemoaned Miles´5 year hiatus and I still can feel the exite we were in when there were rumours that Miles had returned into a recording studio and probably would tour again.

This is really a fine record. I like it much more than the more famous Warner Brother stuff like "Tutu" since this is still a lot of "jazz" in it. It´s a working band and they really are together and Miles who was rumoured to have lost his chops, really plays some fine trumpet here, and more than we would have expected.

And he even played a swing tune "Ursula".......

Download (8).jpg

It got a fair bit of flack at the time it was issued but I like it too. Maybe expectations were ridiculously high.

’Ursula’ was dedicated to Miles’ German-born muse of the time; she attended some of the studio sessions I believe.

 

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