Your most valued off air recordings

[jayne lee wilson]

Probably the Birtwistle Mask of Orpheus, 12/4/96 it says on the MA-90s....and Gawain around the same time. As Bryn implies, much of the rarest repertoire was superseded by CD releases of broadly or exactly the same performances. I recall fondly encountering much unusual Russian/North European rep through tapings of R3's early 1990s Symphonic Steppes season, including Gubaidulina, Schnittke, Korndorf and above all Lepo Sumera's stunning 3rd Symphony. The tapes now rest in peace in that wellknown contemporary music venue, The Cupboard Under The Stairs.
The Denon DRM-700 Deck must be in the loft, oft serviced but finally - unserviceable.

The twin disaffections of cassette deck foibles and late-1990s FM dynamic compression curbed my enthusiasm, which malady gradually proved terminal. When it was still worth buying a DAT recorder, I couldn't afford one; and the purist, classical fantasy of FM to Open Reel remained just that for similar reasons.

I think the most valuable thing off-air recording taught me was - music! The search for unknown music, or obsession with taping better or different performances of so-called "core repertoire", helped me toward a familiarity with several centuries' worth of chamber & orchestral music that no other approach could have matched - at least, without much greater financial outlay.

But I remember noticing, a little sadly, as the 1990s progressed, that CD releases were leaving Radio 3's coverage of such things far behind....

[MickyD]

Some 'Sturm und Drang' symphonies by Ordonez, Kozeluh and other lesser-known composers, recorded especially for the BBC in the early 80s by The Academy of Ancient Music and Christopher Hogwood. A kind member on here managed to transfer them for me onto CD.

[slarty]

My most rare recording was taken from the BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Service) in Cologne.
They used to broadcast one hour a week of classical music using material issued by the BBC transcription service!!!
In 1980, living in Dortmund at the time, I arrived home just before 8pm and switched the radio on for the news which would be followed by whatever classical programme they had chosen. The only pre-warning was the announcement before the news(which lasted just 4 minutes) that they would be transmitting a concert from the Maltings in Snape.
That's all that was announced. I quickly loaded up the Reel to Reel with a 10.5 inch double play, giving me one hour(the length of the broadcast) at 15 ips. Imagine my surprise as the BBC transcription announcer said that the concerts was the ENO orchestra and soloists conducted by Reginal Goodall in a programme of Wagner. They performed the Mastersinger Overture, Siegfrieds death and funeral march and the second half of Act 1 of the Valkyrie with Remedios, Curphey and Grant.
I wrote to BFPS and later to the BBC's Transcription department to try and find details of this concert.
I eventually learned that two versions of the concert were prepared by the TS. A 60 minute and a 90 minute version.
The 90m version was the complete concert with Act1 Walkyrie in total.
BFBS unfortunately only broadcast the shorter one.
This concert was never broadcast in Britain and only the Overture was issued on a BBC Legends CD.
The concert was given in Snape in June 1974.
The tape lasted until 2002 when I transferred it to DAT. It is now preserved as a Wav file and still sounds great.
The reels were so heavy, that they had to go eventually. I could not keep carting them all over Europe, so when DAT came along, I was overjoyed.
Has anyone on the forum ever come across this concert? in either of it's forms?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

In the mid-1970s, I bought myself a Tandberg 3341X. Shortly afterwards, a minor fault was detected, meaning the machine needed to be returned. As soon as the machine had gone, I saw in Radio Times that Elgar's Caractacus was to receive its first ever broadcast. As this time, no recording existed, so this was a make or break moment. All I could do was record it in mono, using an older recorder that used the dreaded automatic recording level. The performance was outstanding, conducted by Bryan Fairfax, with Theresa Cahill and Richard Lewis as soloists. When Groves recorded the work for EMI a few years later, it sounded feeble alongside this shabbily recorded off-air version, and it wasn't until Hickox recorded Caractacus for Chandos, that that first broadcast performance had any real competition.

[alywin]

Probably the Birtwistle Mask of Orpheus, 12/4/96 it says on the MA-90s....and Gawain around the same time.

Ugh, I wish I'd had the foresight (and a recorder, come to think of it) to record Gawain when it was televised. I saw it in the next run at the ROH and was pretty much blown away. Then they repeated it as soon as the House reopened, and since then ... nothing :(

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Ugh, I wish I'd had the foresight (and a recorder, come to think of it) to record Gawain when it was televised. I saw it in the next run at the ROH and was pretty much blown away. Then they repeated it as soon as the House reopened, and since then ... nothing :(

I was at both runs of Gawain, seeing it four times in all (I bought the cheapest seats at the furthest left and right of the theatre, so I got to see the whole spectacle by "addition" ) but I've never seen The Mask of Orpheus yet I videoed the Gawain broadcast, too - very useful for being from the first run, with the extended "passing of the year" sequence at the end of Act One, abridged for the second run (which was the version subsequently recorded by Colins Classics - now reissued by NMC). This was dramatically tauter, but I wish that Birtwistle would adapt the original as a concert piece - it was Musically superb.

I seem to remember hearing that the original has been restored by the composer for productions???

[Serial_Apologist]

I wish that Birtwistle would adapt the original as a concert piece - it was Musically superb.

I seem to remember hearing that the original has been restored by the composer for productions???

Maybe the composer looks in on here occasionally? Or is acquainted with one or two contributers to this forum??

[secondfiddle]

Fairfax's Caractacus was/is terrific. I remember the RFH performance. Radio Times must have been wrong to say his was the first broadcast as the on-line RT shows two much earlier performance, extracts from one of which (from Hereford) are included in the wonderful Elgar Society CD set of historic off-air recordings. The next year Fairfax gave King Olaf which is also excellent. Fairfax, with his Polyphonia Orchestra, was remarkably adventurous. He gave a London Bruckner Festival in 1964, and later an imaginative Grainger Festival. He also, of course, gave the first (semi-amateur) performance of Havergal Brian's Gothic Symphonic. It is a great shame when such adventurous conductors are easily forgotten because they did not record much commercially.

[Alison]

To answer my own question, I've never parted with my pretty high end(!) Philips video recorder where it was easy to record audio in good quality and for long duration.
I recently found someone to service it and now look forward to trawling through crates of tapes. Labelling was never my strong point but will make for pleasant bran tub surprises in the darker evenings to come.

For sure I have plenty of Radio 3 live relays and complete editions of CD Review. Particularly looking forward to rediscovering the Haitink Ring from Covent Garden. Marvellously warm and atmospheric engineering on FM as I recall.

[Beresford]

Berlioz Requiem from the Bridgewater Hall opening concert. I was there, and the recording reminds me of several hundred singers - my wife among them - singing very well, especially the quiet bits, under Tortelier.

Also the Debussy cello sonata - more my usual taste - performed by Karlson and Nilsson, from TTN about a year ago.

[Beef Oven!]

For some time it was the recordings I took from Radio 3 broadcasts of Michael Tippett's symphonies, Byzantium, Praeludium and a few fillers. I can't remember the conductor or orchestra, perhaps Hickox. Early 90s?

Anyway, I had it on a metal TDK cassette and it was awesome!

[jayne lee wilson]

For some time it was the recordings I took from Radio 3 broadcasts of Michael Tippett's symphonies, Byzantium, Praeludium and a few fillers. I can't remember the conductor or orchestra, perhaps Hickox. Early 90s?

Anyway, I had it on a metal TDK cassette and it was awesome!

I think I recall taping Byzantium myself, at the Proms, and being utterly stunned by it.... it might have been this one -

https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ej9zc8

And I did indeed record it on a TDK Metal - MA or MA-X, it's probably under the stairs somewhere... I'd just got a new amp (QED A240) and, after long-drawn-out problems and futile local re-repairs my Denon DRM700 was just back from servicing at Denon itself; everything ran smoothly at last, & with the better tapes like MA-X or SA-X, I'd decided to go Dolby-free and was pretty excited by the results....!

[Beef Oven!]

I think I recall taping Byzantium myself, at the Proms, and being utterly stunned by it.... it might have been this one -

https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ej9zc8

And I did indeed record it on a TDK Metal - MA or MA-X, it's probably under the stairs somewhere... I'd just got a new amp (QED A240) and, after long-drawn-out problems and futile local re-repairs my Denon DRM700 was just back from servicing at Denon itself; everything ran smoothly at last, & with the better tapes like MA-X or SA-X, I'd decided to go Dolby-free and was pretty excited by the results....!

Doncha just love the memories of those metal tapes!!??

I was using a Nakamichi Dragon at the time and also went Dolby-free






Edit: Did I say Nakamichi Dragon? I meant Technics entry level

P.S. But went and remained Dolby-free.

[jayne lee wilson]

Ever try these.....?





The (very) short-lived Golden Age of.... Flagship Audio Tape...
Vast dynamic range yes, but their cases were so heavy, I think they may have been responsible for some of my Denon's problems....... the hubris of home-taping...

[Beef Oven!]

I'm pretty sure I had some of those TDKs - or at least something very similar. Defo not the Sony.

Seriously though, the results were excellent, IMV. Great sound quality. I had an amazing off-air recording of a YES concert circa '77 from their 'Going For The One' tour which was soo hi-fidelity (I attended some of the gigs too)