Rosie Goodall writes…
My father, Stanley Goodall, passed away on Thursday 11 June, aged 92. He was a recording engineer with Decca for 44 years.
Stan was one of the last of the Decca “Golden Age” engineers. He joined the company on 28 December 1949, aged 15, and trained as a cutting engineer. He cut Decca’s first stereo releases, and the first opera in Sir Georg Solti’s Ring cycle, Das Rheingold. After a short time in the pop studios, working with the likes of Mantovani, Ted Heath, Frank Chacksfield and Edmundo Ros, he moved into classical recording, where he spent the rest of his career.
He worked on the Academy of St Martin in the Fields’ benchmark recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with Alan Loveday and Sir Neville Marriner, which became the ASMF’s first Gold Disc, and with artists including Solti, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Luciano Pavarotti, Joan Sutherland and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, recording in Vienna, Chicago, Cleveland, Milan, Berlin and Montreal. He won two Grammys and is credited as engineer on around 550 recordings in Philip Stuart’s Decca discography. https://charm.rhul.ac.uk/pubs/DeccaComplete.pdf.
Tony Faulkner writes…
Stan was inspirational for me as an engineer. He was a personal friend to me and my family, and was very encouraging especially in my early years of recording large-scale projects. “Old School” in the best possible sense, and very adaptable in a variety of genres, but consistent in capturing the energy of a live performance with real presence in a real space, without overdependence on the trickery prevalent now. Stan’s lasting legacy is the quality and sheer quantity of his work, enjoyed by music-lovers everywhere, without any need to know by name that it was Stan who had contributed an essential credibility to their recorded performances.
I met Stan a couple of times and I was very impressed with his approach and attention to detail. He leaves quite a legacy!
Michelle Berriedale Johnson – James Mallinson’s partner.
Dear Rosie – I am so sorry to hear that your father is no longer with us.
What a lovely man…. I only knew him quite slightly as one of James’ engineering colleagues at Decca but I always remember him being so cheerful and friendly and full of fun.
James left Decca in the early ’80s and over the years, we inevitably lost touch with most of the Decca ‘crew’. So I was very touched when your dad appeared at James’ memorial concert 30 odd years later in 2018 – the same lovely fun, smiley man that I remembered from all those years ago.
I am sure you will miss him.
He was a great and loyal colleague and had the ability to lighten the mood if things were not going well. He had a delightful sense of humour and of the ridiculous. He certainly taught me a lot with copious generosity and patience. He will be hugely missed.