Welcome to the Fall Issue. I am pleased to welcome back Nils-Göran Olve with a survey of Elisabeth Söderström on disc. Nils-Göran profiled conductor Tor Mann in our Summer 2023 issue and now explores the great soprano’s recorded legacy. We also welcome Cynthia Elyce Rubin. A writer, lecturer, and visual culture specialist, she is the author of several fascinating books (see her webpage here) and the leading authority on the great Jewish artist, calligrapher and writer Siegmund Forst, who early in his career designed album covers for Urania. Cynthia tells his fascinating story in our “Art of Cover Art” Department.
Joining us again is Jon Tolansky who returns with a profile of today’s leading music documentarian, Tony Palmer. His films on Delius, Britten, Walton, and a whole host of notable composers and performers has greatly enriched our understanding of music and music-making. In conversation with the filmmaker, Jon looks back at these cinematic milestones.
Frederick Delius is thrice represented this quarter, twice courtesy of Alan Sanders. In “From the Archives”, he first documents the early recordings of this unique composer, and then in the spirit of the BBC’s “Desert Island Discs” program, Alan selects eight indispensable Delius recordings.
In this issue we revisit the Odyssey label, the budget-priced imprint of Columbia Records that was a major player in the low-priced record boom that began in the mid-1960s.
All but a relative handful of Ansermet’s many recordings were made for Decca, with whom he was an exclusive artist for more than 40 years. Before signing with Decca, however, he made wartime recordings of Mozart for Odéon. These included 78s of the “Jupiter” Symphony, which fits the bill for this quarter’s “Rarissima” Dept. In the “Curiosity Shop” we continue with the second in our three-part series on RCA Victor’s “picture discs”, with Enrico Caruso now taking center stage.
Serge Baudo in now 97 years old and while his achievements as a conductor are widely celebrated, those as a composer are much less known. His oeuvre is small, but quite interesting. Millions have heard his music without probably realizing it. So we journey under the sea with Serge Baudo.
In our “Film Department” we preview the forthcoming Maria Callas biopic from director Pablo Larraín, with Angelina Jolie starring as “La Divina”. Our series on filmmaker Peter Rosen’s documentaries, begun in the Summer 2024 issue, will resume with the Winter 2025 issue.
Ashot Arakelyan is an art historian, PhD lecturer, record collector and the founder and owner of an amazing historical label, Classic Music CDs, one that boasts an unrivaled catalog of recorded rarities – truly spectacular. Would you like to add an LP, CD or book to your collection and also help combat global poverty? You can do so via Oxfam’s online store, profiled in this quarter’s “Shop Focus”.
I hope you this finds you well. As always, thanks for staying with us. Your support is deeply appreciated.
— Warm wishes, Joe Moore