| I have the greatest
admiration and respect for collectors who see a major gap in the CD catalog
and do something about it - and,
importantly, do it
the right way. Such is the case with Hubert
Wendel, whose love for the artistry of Willem Mengelberg prompted
him to issue many of the Dutch conductor's commercial and live recordings
in transfers that do full justice to their musical/technical merit. (see REVIEW on
this site). Pierre Paquin of Sound
Dynamics has
issued many memorable performances of Eduard van Beinum, Charles Munch
and Hermann Scherchen. David Gideon of Rediscover
Classics has issued many important recordings of Scherchen, Paul
Paray, Karl Ristenpart and William Steinberg. Another fine private
reissue series is "Locked in the Vault Reissues" which focuses
on George Szell recordings but has many other worthy issues as well
(NOTE: This label no longer exists, unfortunately). Collectors
are encouraged to investigage all of these to be aware of the many treasures
not available elsewhere. Of course keep in mind that Naxos is providing
an invaluable
service to collectors with their exemplary historic reissues at budget
price.
Now we have Idlewild Reissues, a project of John Wilson, whose
primary interests are early LP issues by conductors Bruno Walter, Sir
Thomas
Beecham, Fritz Reiner and Gennady Rozhdestvensky all of whom made
many recordings in mid-century, issued on LP but seldom on CD. Idlewild has
made a good start in correcting this omission with an initial release
of 20 CDs, all in superb transfers taken from Columbia, Odyssey, Philips
and RCA LPs. These are all mono recordings but sound surprisingly
good in these quiet, wide-range transfers. Of particular interest to
me are the Beecham reissues already reviewed on
this site. Fans of Fritz Reiner will wish to investigate the Mozart CD
containing two performances never before on CD: a mono recording
of Symphony No. 36 recorded in 1953, and a stereo recording of the Piano
Concerto No. 25 with André Tchaikowsky as soloist recorded in 1958. Also
included is the overture to Don Giovanni recorded in stereo in
1958 (which once was issued on CD). Reiner's Robin Hood Dell
Orchestra recordings (actually the Philadelphia Orchestra) and NBC
Symphony LPs are very rare; it's good to have some of them back. The Fledermaus highlights
recording was made in September 1950 three months before Columbia recorded
the operetta in the Met's hit new
English production, which had lyrics by Howard Dietz, libretto by Garson
Kanin, and an all-star cast conducted by Eugene Ormandy. Reiner uses
an English version by Ruth and Thomas Martin; this is a rarity for Reiner
collectors. Bruno Walter's NYP Beethoven and Brahms symphonies
are of enormous interest; R.D. felt Walter's 1953 Brahms Third
was perhaps the finest recording of the work. Walter wasn't too
happy with the finale of his 1949 Beethoven Ninth and persuaded Columbia
to record it again in 1953; both versions can be found on IDLR 115, which
also contains two overtures.
Idlewild CDs are budget-priced ($6.50 per disk). They have attractive front and
back jewel-case information with tracks, timings and source information,
but no program notes. Two-CD sets cost just $1 more than a single
CD, a remarkable bargain. There is no web site yet; for information write:
idlewildreissues@earthlink.net
R.E.B. (February 2003)
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