Dear Richard,

It seems thst Columbia Masterworks Division took their time actually
putting their toe in the stero waters. I never found binaural parts for
Ilya Mourometz when I was considering what Ormandy to reissue on
MASTERWORKS HERITAGE. Frankly I did not investigate either the Schubert or
Mendelssohn but think I would have noticed binaural parts for those, too.
Thanks for sharing what you discovered.

DDR

On Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at 3:07 PM, [Richard A Kaplan] <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> Dennis,
> Documents at Sony Archive and Library indicate that a stereo matrix was
> prepared for the Ormandy/PO Schubert "Unfinished," recorded Nov. 25, 1956,
> and
>  that a stereo issue number (MS 6042) was assigned to this and the
> Mendelssohn  MSND excerpts, but it was never issued thus. I also believe a
> stereo
> issue  number was assigned for the Gliere Ilya Murometz recorded on the
> same
> date.
>
> Rich Kaplan
>
>
> In a message dated 9/25/2012 10:57:30 A.M. Central Daylight Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> I found  no reference to the MAR items in my archival research on  Szell's
> Columbia/Epic recordings. It's entirely possible that RCA recorded  them.
> There was great resistance to stereo from Fred Plaut and others. and  I
> never found any evidence of experimental binaural setups that  preceded
> the*Messiah
> * of Dec. 1956. However, when inspecting the tapes  at IMAR, I came across
> an Ormandy/PO recording (I no longer remember the  repertoire) recorded
> c1955 in 3-track, 1/4-inch format. The contents were  never released.
>
> DDR
>
> On Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at 11:36 AM, Jon  Samuels
> <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
>
> > Tom,
> > You're  most welcome.
> > Here's an oddity that might interest you.  George  Szell and the
> Cleveland
> > Orchestra (under the name Music Appreciation  Orchestra and His Symphony
> > Orchestra) made a number of recordings for  Music Appreciation Records
> > between 1954 and 1955. As I understand it,  they were actually recorded
> by
> > Columbia Records, due to a joint  arrangement between
> Book-of-the-Month-Club
> > and Columbia House Record  Club.  Szell's first stereo recordings for MAR
> > were made October  19, 20 and 21, 1955.  He recorded Brahms Academic
> > Festival  Overture and Haydn Variations, Mozart Symphony No. 39, Schumann
> >  Symphony No. 4 and Stravinsky Firebird Suite.  (I'm not certain the
> Brahms
> > and Mozart were released in stereo on LP, but the Schumann and
>  Stravinsky
> > were.)  Yet he didn't record in stereo for  Epic/Columbia until February
> 22
> > and 23, 1957 for Columbia, making only  mono recordings for them in 1955
> and
> > 1956.  (Columbia's first  acknowledged stereo recording was Leonard
> Bernstein
> >  conducting  the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra in Handel's
> > Messiah on  December  31, 1956.)
> > This raises some interesting  questions.  Did Columbia indeed record the
> > MAR Szell  recordings?  If so, why did they not use their stereo
> recording
> >  capability again until December, 1956?  If not, then who did?
> > By  any chance, do you know, Dennis (Rooney)?
> > Jon Samuels
> >
> >  --- On Tue, 9/25/12, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]>  wrote:
> >
> > From: Tom Fine  <[log in to unmask]>
> > Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] early  stereophony
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Date: Tuesday,  September 25, 2012, 6:37 AM
> >
> > Jon, thanks for all this  information. Fascinating and educational.
> >
> > -- Tom  Fine
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jon Samuels"
> <[log in to unmask]
> > >
> > To:  <[log in to unmask]>
> > Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2012  12:39 AM
> > Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] early  stereophony
> >
> >
> > Ironically, the only surviving RCA  document that mentions the existence
> of
> > binaural recording is the  October 1953 Stokowski session I mentioned in
> an
> > earlier post, which  is labelled "binaural experiment". Naturally, none
> of
> > those tapes have  been located to date.
> >
> > Jon Samuels
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Dennis D. Rooney
> 303 W. 66th Street, 9HE
> New York, NY  10023
> 212.874.9626
>



-- 
Dennis D. Rooney
303 W. 66th Street, 9HE
New York, NY 10023
212.874.9626