Identify 78rpm recording - Mendelssohn Octet Scherzo

[Dave2002]

We used to have a 78rpm recording of Mendessohn's Scherzo from his Octet. It was pretty good IIRC. I'm not sure if we still have it anywhere - many of the family's 78rpm recordings bacame dispersed over the years.

I wonder which recording it was. I'm sure it was an HMV - perhaps the Boyd Neel Orchestra? If that's still available, as a digital version I'd quite like to hear it again.

I've been trying to identify it from 78rpm catalogues, but they don't seem very well organised, and searches throw up completely random works.

[cloughie]

We used to have a 78rpm recording of Mendessohn's Scherzo from his Octet. It was pretty good IIRC. I'm not sure if we still have it anywhere - many of the family's 78rpm recordings bacame dispersed over the years.

I wonder which recording it was. I'm sure it was an HMV - perhaps the Boyd Neel Orchestra? If that's still available, as a digital version I'd quite like to hear it again.

I've been trying to identify it from 78rpm catalogues, but they don't seem very well organised, and searches throw up completely random works.

Maybe the International String Octet!

http://www.classicalnotes.net/classics4/octet.html

There’s also MinneapolisSO with Mitropulous but that was on Columbia.

[Dave2002]

Maybe the International String Octet!

http://www.classicalnotes.net/classics4/octet.html

I don't think it was that one - though perhaps it was. I thought it was just one side of a 78rpm disc. As I recall, I only got to know the other movements later on.

Is that one available on Spotify, or somewhere else accessible? Youtube?

That one is on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i_rCf4QuwU and the Scherzo is about 18'45" in. It's not that one - too much hiss, and there are violin "swoops" which weren't on the version we had. I'm biased, but I think the version we had was better than that.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Dave: the 1953-54 HMV record catalogue lists four 78rpm versions:
- Boston Promenade Orch/ Fiedler, the only one in the 1947-48 catalogue (there are none in the 1938-39 one and no chamber versions anywhere)
- Halle/ Barbirolli
- NBCSO/ Toscanini (I have a copy of this one, possibly from my grandfather's collection)
- RPO/ Beecham

I have a few Columbia catalogues too if you want those checking.

Boyd Neel doesn't show in these HMV catalogues; he was certainly a Decca artist on early LP.

[Dave2002]

Dave: the 1953-54 HMV record catalogue lists four 78rpm versions:
- Boston Promenade Orch/ Fiedler, the only one in the 1947-48 catalogue (there are none in the 1938-39 one and no chamber versions anywhere)
- Halle/ Barbirolli
- NBCSO/ Toscanini (I have a copy of this one, possibly from my grandfather's collection)
- RPO/ Beecham

I have a few Columbia catalogues too if you want those checking.

Boyd Neel doesn't show in these HMV catalogues; he was certainly a Decca artist on early LP.

Thanks for that. We certainly had some of the Boston ones - I wonder if that was what it was. Perhaps it wasn't a chamber ensemble - but it was very good anyway. I don't think it was Beecham or Tosacanini - we had Beecham in Rossini - Silken Ladder and Handel - Queen of Sheba, and I may still have that somewhere. That was Columbia - the blue label one I think - unless HMV ever had blue. Mostly the HMVs were either red or plum coloured. If it was the Boston one, I think there was something on the other side - but I can't remember what.

[gradus]

I dug out the 1951edition of The Record Guide ed. ES-W and DS-T (names decodable to perhaps only some of us). To my immense surprise not only did they not list any recordings of the Octet, they only mention recordings of
the second piano trio and the first cello sonata. Is the Octet's popularity a relatively recent phenomenon?

[LeMartinPecheur]

I dug out the 1951edition of The Record Guide ed. ES-W and DS-T (names decodable to perhaps only some of us). To my immense surprise not only did they not list any recordings of the Octet, they only mention recordings of the second piano trio and the first cello sonata. Is the Octet's popularity a relatively recent phenomenon?

I think the progression in the HMV catalogues, as noted in my #4, suggests this is the case. I too had checked my Record Guides and Record Year Books: the 1953 YB has a Nixa by the Winterthur SO under Busch, the 1955 RG has the Toscanini. The introduction to the Mendelssohn section in the 1951 RG does bemoan the absence of proper Octet recordings and mentions two versions of the orchestral Scherzo, by Mitropoulos as filler for his Prokofiev Classical Symphony, and the Halle/ Barbirolli ('more dully played') as per my #4, filler for for Rosamunde music.

My Columbia catalogues, 1953 and 1957, yield no recordings, orchestral or chamber

[Dave Payn]

If Boston Promenade Orchestra, might it be this?

https://www.discogs.com/Boston-Promenade-Orchestra-Conducted-By-Arthur-Fiedler-Scherzo-From-String-Octet-Op-20-Lohengrin-Pre/release/3794513

[Dave2002]

If Boston Promenade Orchestra, might it be this?

https://www.discogs.com/Boston-Prome...elease/3794513

Bullseye!

[Dave Payn]

Bullseye!

It appears to be available to purchase as well

[cloughie]

It appears to be available to purchase as well

Hands up - how many forum members have equipment which will play 78s? ...and when was it last used?

[Cockney Sparrow]

I possess one (has a 78rpm cartridge/head & 33 rpm one). Its in working order but not connected / set up. Last played 20 years ago, at a guess.

My daughter wants a vinyl player - inexplicable to me. really. I have to return to the days of what was precision engineering (small nuts and bolts, adjusting cartridge angles etc etc) to refurb my second best player - which is all she is getting for something which must be an interest which won't last - unless scratches and warping (etc etc) are part of the experience she will enjoy.

[Dave2002]

Hands up - how many forum members have equipment which will play 78s? ...and when was it last used?

Not me!

Re the particular work, there is an mp3 version of a Mendelssohn Scherzo available on a collection called Moonglow (Amazon) - for 89p. Unfortunately it's not the Octet scherzo, though it is very neatly played. I'm not sure how many of these older recordings have been transferred to other media - either LPs or now digitised. Some of Fiedler's recordings/performances still sound very good to me - despite their origins from 78s, and also presumably the "fact" that he was only conducting the 2nd team orchestra.

[Dave Payn]

Not me!

Re the particular work, there is an mp3 version of a Mendelssohn Scherzo available on a collection called Moonglow (Amazon) - for 89p. Unfortunately it's not the Octet scherzo, though it is very neatly played. I'm not sure how many of these older recordings have been transferred to other media - either LPs or now digitised. Some of Fiedler's recordings/performances still sound very good to me - despite their origins from 78s, and also presumably the "fact" that he was only conducting the 2nd team orchestra.

It appears to be on Apple Music (the Scherzo, at least) on a collection entitled Timeless Boston Pops Vol. 2 - but the credit for the individual track shows Boston Promenade Orchestra. I guess Cloughie might concede that nowadays forum members might have access to digitised music?

The track can be bought for 79p from iTunes.

[cloughie]

It appears to be on Apple Music (the Scherzo, at least) on a collection entitled Timeless Boston Pops Vol. 2 - but the credit for the individual track shows Boston Promenade Orchestra. I guess Cloughie might concede that nowadays forum members might have access to digitised music?

The track can be bought for 79p from iTunes.

I was just curious as to whether the original 78s can be played - we all have the lazy digital capability. For the 78 record - I have an old record player in yhe garage, bought for £ 1 at a jumble sale some 30 or so years ago - it may still work - I may even have a couple of 78s somewhere!