March: Featured Classical Music

The Victor Red Seal Discography, Vol. II
B0117. - (Double-Sided Series, to 1930), by John R. Bolig. Denver, CO, Mainspring Press, 2006. 604pp. Indices; Bibliography; Exhaustive Discography. Includes issues from imported masters that do not appear in previous Victor discographies. Data include ‘master’ and ‘take’ numbers; recording dates; release dates and duration in catalogues; credited and uncredited accompanists; export, club, and cancelled issues; dubbings and reissues in 78 format; and other fine discographic detail (e.g. foreign issue numbers, private issue numbers, etc.). Conveniently arranged by catalogue number, with artist and title indices, and records released as Sets in Album. Newly Published. $75.00

The Victor Red Seal Discography, Vol. I
B0080. - (Single-Sided Series, 1903 - 1925), by John R. Bolig. Denver, CO, Mainspring Press, 2004. 448pp. Indices; Bibliography; Exhaustive Discography; Photos of labels & artists. Includes issues from imported masters that do not appear in previous Victor discographies. Data include ‘master’ and ‘take’ numbers; recording dates; release dates and duration in catalogues; credited and uncredited accompanists; export, club, and cancelled issues; couplings, dubbings, and reissues in 78 format; and other fine discographic detail (e.g. double-sided issue numbers, foreign issue numbers, private issue numbers, etc.). Conveniently arranged by catalogue number, with artist, title, and coupling indices. $75.00

“For anyone with Victor Red Seal single-sided records in his or her collection, or with an interest in the issues in North America of HMV artists or in Europe of Victor artists, this volume is self-recommending…. To say that this first volume of The Victor Red Seal Discography is essential reading seems almost redundant. It’s simply a ‘must-have’ reference for the individual collector, discographer and institutional librarian….setting new standards in discographical research.”

- Barry R. Ashpole, THE RECORD COLLECTOR

The Victor Discography
B0105. - Green, Blue and Purple Labels (1909-1927), by John R. Bolig. Denver, CO, Mainspring Press, 2006. 268pp. Indices; Bibliography; Exhaustive Discography; Photos of labels & artists. Data for all green-label, blue-label and purple-label records, including cancelled issues, export releases, and pressings from imported masters. Complete discographic detail from the Victor and Gramophone Company files and catalogs, carefully checked against the original records. Recording dates and locations; release dates and duration in catalog; master and ‘take’ numbers; corresponding couplings, reissues, and foreign releases; accompanists and conductors, and more. Organization by catalog number, with an introductory history, plus artist and title indices. $55.00

"John Bolig continues to raise the bar, setting new standards in discographical work."
- The Record Collector

Discography of Judaica Recordings
B0108. By Rainer E. Lotz. An annotated 78rpm discography of all sound documents relating to Jewish life in Germany, or in German language, or recorded in Germany, covering Jewish life, humour, music and religion, Zionism, anti-Semitism, and the Holocaust. Bonn, Birgit Lotz Verlag, 2006. 592pp. Hardbound. (in German). Artist index; Brief biographies; Monumental Volume. Newly Published. Edition Limited to 150 copies! For complete listing of contents, please see the listing on our website. Regularly $135.00; during the remainder of March, 2007, reduced to $99.00.

March: Featured Classical Music

Siegfried
OP1426. Live Performance, 13 Jan., 1962, w.Leinsdorf Cond. Hans Hopf, George London, Paul Kuën, Gottlob Frick, Birgit Nilsson, Jean Madeira, Martina Arroyo, etc. (Slovenia) 3-Melodram GM 5.0064. $39.95, the Set.

“Nilsson’s Brünnhilde is the revelation of the afternoon. Brilliant tone, secure top notes, thrusting energy of phrase – these are the expected elements of any Nilsson portrayal, and they surface in the final joyous phrases of the grand duet. But they are the lesser components of her beautiful conception and execution of the entire scene….with the loveliest, gentlest tone, like a sliver of silver from the most innocent and youthful of maidens. Banished is the warrior from voice and heart….In page after page of the score, the soprano underplays, maintaining a stream of argent tone, tenderly embracing Wagner’s phrases. The ice inherent in Nilsson’s voice has melted – only its purity remains.”

- Paul Jackson, SIGN-OFF FOR THE OLD MET, p.294

Petre Munteanu
V1153. w.Franz Holetschek (Pf.): Die Schöne Müllerin; Schwanengesang
(both Schubert); Dichterliebe; Liederkreis; Myrthen (all Schumann). (Austria) 3-Preiser 89306, recorded 1952 & 1954, Westminster. $49.90, the Set.

“The word that best describes [Munteanu’s] singing is ‘delicacy’. The voice is a leggiero in the best sense of that category. It is a light tenor, suffused with an attractive, flicker vibrato, and capable of melting sweetness of tone. He reminds one of Schipa….This is singing of rare grace and fastidious taste, and always accomplished with charm and a real ‘face’….To represent this aristocrat of a tenor in your collection is precisely what record collecting is all about.”

- Larry Lustig, THE RECORD COLLECTOR, 2004