August: Featured Classical Music CDs

Camilla Wicks

S0223. w.Sixten Ehrling (Pf.): The Complete HMV Recordings, incl. Sarasate-Aguirre, Valle, Benjamin, Bloch, Kabalevsky, Prokofiev, Stravinsky & Shostakovich; w.Ehrling Cond. Stockholm Radio S.O.: Concerto in d (Sibelius); w.Fjeldstad Cond. Oslo Phil.: Violin Concerto (Olav Valen). (England) Biddulph 80218, partially Unpublished. Transfers by H. Ward Marston. $17.90.

Lionel Tertis: The Complete Vocalion Recordings

S0258. incl. Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Handel, Handel-Halvorsen, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Fuchs, Grieg, Brahms, Rubinstein, Tchaikowsky, Dvorák, Godard, Saint-Saëns, Bizet, Thomé, Fauré, Duparc, Leroux, Marais, d’Ambrosio, Kalnins, Rebikoff, Wolstenholme, Kreisler, Tod Boyd, Dunhill, Dale, Mcewen, Ireland, Grainger, Tertis, etc. (England) 4-Biddulph 80219, recorded 1919-24. Transfers by David Hermann. Specially priced at $43.90, the Set.

Carousel of American Music

PE0086. The Fabled 24 September, 1940 San Francisco Concerts, recorded live, incl. Howard Hanson, Richard Hageman, William Grant Still, Edwin McArthur, Albert von Tilzer, Shelton Brooks, Harold Arlen, Ernie Burnett, John Charles Thomas, L. Wolfe Gilbert, Burt Kalmar, Harry Ruby, Walter Donaldson, Carrie Jacobs-Bond, Ann Ronell, W.C. Handy, Arthur Freed, James Monaco, Joseph Howard, Tony Martin,
Harry Armstrong, Harry Warren, James McHugh, Jerome Kern, Sigmund Romberg, Johnny
Mercer, Hoagy Carmichael, Peter DeRose, Mark Gordon, Jean Schwartz, Albert Hay Malotte, George M. Cohan, Irving Berlin, etc. 4-Music & Arts 4971. $49.90, the Set.

"In terms of history, the importance of [the above] collection is practically self-evident. It is always instructive to hear composers interpreting their own music, and concerts like this one just don't occur any more....the classical material - the entire first disc - is treasureable because it is so unusual. Hageman's opera Caponsacchi and Still's ballet La Guibalesse are forgotten today, but the orchestral excerpts whet my appetite for more. Taylor's Circus Day sounds like American Satie, and it contains some pictorial passages that are so funny that prominent members of the audience can't contain themselves. Turning to the popular discs, it is always good to hear John Charles Thomas, and there's an undeniable thrill in hearing George M. Cohan sing 'Give My Regards To Broadway', and Irving Berlin sing 'God Bless America'."

- Raymond Tuttle, FANFARE, July/Aug., 1997