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“Coincidentally, there are headlines just now which state that more people are switching to YouTube, from which these recordings come, having found the BBC “very samey and boring.”
“One thing is for sure, since we are looking at “In the South,” and that is you won’t ever hear Elgar’s own 1930 recording of the work on Radio 3. Nor will you ever hear Rachmaninoff’s own 1941 recording of his 4th Piano Concerto either, played at last Friday’s Proms.
“It would seem that “historic” recordings like those, and pretty much everything in mono, has been designated as not to be played on the radio, evidently due to the supposition that people don’t buy stereo radios to listen to old mono stuff. However, thanks to YouTube, you can indeed hear Elgar conducting “In the South” from his 1930 set of 78s, as well as Rachmaninoff playing his own 4th Piano Concerto in 1941.” Edward Johnson
“If, as Edward Johnson has pointed out (and I for one am certain he is correct) that the BBC no longer broadcasts monaural recordings, that decision removes 50% of Britten’s most significant recordings, alongside many of those by Walton, Vaughan Williams, Shostakovich and Maria Callas. Will the BBC no longer permit us to hear Caruso, Flagstad, Melchior and Ferrier sing, or Richard Strauss and Toscanini conduct? They’ll be banning black-and-white films next – if they haven’t done so already.” Robert Matthew-Walker
Add in a Radio 3 presenter who was not allowed to include a Peter Dawson recording, told by the producer that people don’t buy stereo radios to listen in mono.
The quotes from Johnson and Matthew-Walker taken from Comments left on this post…
Ormandy/Philadelphia.
November 1952.
A contrasting ‘Eroica’, conducted by Albert Coates, 1926…
And Mengelberg, New York, 1930…
Excellent! … Elgar conducting Elgar, Rachmaninov playing Rachmaninov, and two super “Eroicas,” none of which you’ll ever hear on Radio 3!
When I started collecting records many decades ago, I became particularly interested in Albert Coates. He had made a great many 78s in the old acoustic process, as well as in early electric recordings, and was notable – or should that be notorious – for some really hair-raising tempos. His “Eroica” is an excellent example, so I’m glad that Colin has brought it to any Column viewers who’ve never heard it.
Maybe this section could serve as your “favourite mono recording,” assuming it’s on YouTube, so I imagine requests will be welcome!
Start with Hans Maile under Lorin Maazel playing the Elgar Concerto …. stereo I think but with such lovely music making to hand, who cares? As long as the performance is worth hearing, one channel or two – it’s of little account.
Here it is…
https://www.colinscolumn.com/elgars-violin-concerto-hans-maile-radio-symphony-orchestra-berlin-lorin-maazel-november-26-1974/
Considering that I am almost 81 years old, I never made a mono recording. Maybe it could be fun, if not impractical, to issue any releases in both mono and stereo? That is what they did when the two-channel technology first appeared. And the same was true for quadrophonic sound. They could be played on stereo equipment.
I wonder if there is a switch on the amplifier that allows us to take today’s recordings and just listen to them on one channel? I can see the ad campaign now.
“Listen to this magnificent recording of Janacek’s Sinfonietta, with its twelve trumpets, in glorious monophonic sound. No need to figure out where the instruments are placed. You are the producer.”
The BBC endlessly plugs listening on smart speakers-often mono only. By their obsession with BBC Sounds as the only way to listen they have denied owners of a lot of high quality equipment access to Internet radio.
The basic question is – why does Radio 3 wish to emulate Classic FM? For example A proper comparative review of a recording such as a Rachmaninov concerto should (must) consider his interpretation. Indeed Record Review, when it was 3 hours long allowed such things. If, for example, a review of the Enigma Variations is to be properly undertaken than Elgar’s two recordings, acoustic and electrical must be taken into account. However, I love Maestro Slatkin’s suggestion – switch to mono and be one’s own producer.
I have virtually given up Radio Twee.
It would seem to be that the BBC currently employs people whose knowledge and experience of classical recordings is inferior.
On a personal level, BBC R3 does not EVER play John McCabe’s Haydn piano sonatas, recorded 50 years ago, even though they are still available, and still selling well, and despite the fact that the sound is as good as ever. Nor do they apparently know, or at least give him credit, for bringing the major sonatas back into the repertoire, and for being the first person ever to record them all in their entirety.
I wholly concur with Tully Potter. His ” Radio Twee” is right to the point. I no longer listen to the BBC for classical music. It has become just as bad as Classical Radio. As for the Proms season. sirs Henry and Malcolm are turning in their graves.