According to the jacket of ASD 3649, a production sponsored by KEF, "Sir
Adrian Boult's musical career has been virtually concurrent with the
commercial history of the gramophone and he has been associated with all the
major developments in the recording field. It is astonishing to reflect that
the more significant of these, such as the introduction of the long playing
record, stereo tape, stereo disc, SQ quadraphony and tape cassette have all
appeared since his retirement as chief conductor of the BBC symphony
orchestra in 1950."
No mention of digital or SQ encoding, but there is a photo of Sir Adrian
with Bishop and Parker, seated at an older-style EMI mixer for a "playback
session."
-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Donald Tait
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2012 4:06 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] truth or myth -- RCA claims about first digital
recording
Sir Adrian Boult was another conductor who was an acoustical to digital
person, although as I understand it the digital recording has never been
issued.
Boult made his first records, acoustically, for HMV around 1922. (Again, I
can't find the reference material -- namely the paperback discography
published in the 1980s.) Perhaps his last recording session was another
remake of Holst's The Planets for HMV around 1979. HMV/EMI used their newly
developed digital recording system as an adjunct, but as I have understood
it the issued recordings all came from analogue masters.
Yes -- I'm also sure Stokowski would have loved to make the first digital
recordings or have been involved in it. His interest in technology and the
science of recording and sound reproduction was genuine.
Don Tait
-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]>
To: ARSCLIST <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wed, Nov 28, 2012 2:38 pm
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] truth or myth -- RCA claims about first digital
recording
Stokowksi just missed going from acoustic to digital. One thing that kind of
surprised me is that
Denon did not approach him in the 70's, but he might have been out of their
reach and thus off their
radar. Its seems like Stoki would have loved making the first for-release
digital recording of a
symphony orchestra. Then again, Stoki might not have wanted anything to do
with
some of Denon's
stranger recording methods in their early digital days, including putting an
orchestra in an
anecholic chamber and then creating a completely synthetic "air and space"
using
primative DSP.
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald Tait" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2012 2:20 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] truth or myth -- RCA claims about first digital
recording
Ormandy made acoustical records as a solo violinist. Some appeared on the
Lincoln and (possibly)
Cameo and Okeh labels. Somewhere I have the web address for a discography of
Ormandy as a violinist,
but I can't locate it now. Perhaps someone else here will post it. There
were
1920s electrical
records as a violinist too, plus electrical ones with "Dr. Eugene Ormandy's
Salon Orchestra"
featuring such titles as the "Let's Go To Bed Waltz."
Incidentally, Arthur Fiedler also recorded from acoustical to digital,
again
beginning as an
instrumentalist. He was a violinist in the Boston Symphony when they made
their
Victor records with
Karl Muck in Camden in the summer of 1917. I found out because in 1961 I
asked
Fiedler if he was one
of the musicians who played in them. In his usual brusque way he replied
"yes, I
did. It was HOT.
Muck was b--chy!"
Don Tait
-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]>
To: ARSCLIST <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wed, Nov 28, 2012 12:39 pm
Subject: [ARSCLIST] truth or myth -- RCA claims about first digital
recording
On the back cover of RCA's first for-release digital recording, Bartok's
"Concerto For Orchestra" by
Ormandy/Philly, producer Jay David Saks wrote that Ormandy's recording
career
"has spanned over half
a century -- from 78rpms, both acoustical and electrical, through mono and
stereo LPs to
quadrophonic ..." Is it true that Ormandy recorded acoustic 78's? Can anyone
provide details on his
earliest recordings?
Saks further describes Ormandy as "the man who has made more records than
any
other person in
history." Is that true? More than Karajan? More than Dorati?
-- Tom Fine
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