Ida Haendel (violin)
The Decca Legacy
rec. 1940-1997
ELOQUENCE 4841688 [6 CDs: ca 410 mins]
Ida Haendel’s recent death means that this 6-CD box becomes an in memoriam. It’s devoted to her Decca recordings and this means that the first four discs cover the 78s she made for the company between 1940 and 1947. There is then a decades-long jump to the Huberman Festival Vivaldi Concerto grosso LP of 1982, originally recorded for DG, and the live Sibelius with Mehta, licensed to Universal Music Australia, the 1996 CD she made with Ashkenazy which was released in 2000 and also contained a selection of her 78s, and the previously unpublished The Lark Ascending with Roger Norrington in 1997.
The question of her exact date of birth seems to have exercised commentators over the years, principally because at some point Haendel said that she had been born in 1928 whilst December 1923 is more commonly ascribed. In his booklet note Alan Sanders sides with 1928 but if she competed at the 1935 Wieniawski Competition at the age of seven alongside Ginette Neveu (the controversial winner), David Oistrakh, Bronislaw Gimpel, Henri Temianka and others, she was the prodigy to end all prodigies. In fact, looking through her autobiography Woman with Violin she includes a 1939 photograph of herself standing with her teacher Carl Flesch and fellow student Josef Hassid (who also entered that competition – he was her almost exact contemporary) and it’s perfectly clear that she is not eleven but around sixteen.
There is much that is reissued on Decca for the first time or that’s making its first international CD appearance on Decca. It’s also that first time, so far as I’m aware, that the corpus of her Decca 78s has been made available in one tranche, a boon to collectors who may only have sampled them piecemeal. She was a wonderfully vivid and communicative artist and though the studio didn’t appeal much to her, any more than it does to many artists, you wouldn’t be able to tell, so vibrant is her playing, so pliable her youthful interpretations. There’s equally no gainsaying that she developed significantly as an artist over the years and it’s to the discredit of some promoters and orchestral managers that they were so reluctant to engage her in the 1970s and 80s when she was playing with technically undimmed powers but with increased expressive depth.
Decca had a strong roster of violinists on its books when it signed Haendel including Sammons – only sparingly used - Rostal, Grinke, Eda Kersey and Yfrah Neaman but piano soloists were its stronger arm. Haendel brought electricity to Decca’s catalogue and she was given a large sequence of showpieces to record to which she added, after the end of the war, a small but valuable sequence of concerto recordings. She made her first recordings for the company, having made some tests for HMV from which nothing emerged, in August 1940. Her principal accompanist on discs was fellow Pole Adela Kotowska, who had accompanied students in Carl Flesch’s classes. When Kotowska and Sammons played together a couple of times, he – by then in his mid-50s – apologized to her for being ‘an old square’. In concerts however she was teamed with men such as Ivor Newton, who admired her playing, and Gerald Moore, who did too, but seems not to have liked her very much. In her autobiography Haendel explains why; she resented being paired with him as a duo on the BBC and chose a much less well known accompanist for a recital which, according to her, led to an aggrieved letter to her from Moore to which she declined to reply.
Haendel almost always played a Strad, though the instruments varied over the years, and used aluminium-covered D and A strings. In some of these Decca recordings the upper strings can sound rather piercing and despite her beautifully equalized scale this can impart a slightly insistent and cutting edge to her tone, not least with her fast vibrato. The repertoire itself was cultivated to show her in bravura virtuoso encore mode. The first disc highlights Kreisler, with a vivacious Tambourin chinois, and two important sonata meetings. Beethoven’s Sonata Op.30 No.3 was recorded (a youthful but rather unconvincing reading) with the equally young Noel Mewton-Wood, with whom she also recorded Albéniz (see review of both works). I ought to note that Eloquence’s transfer, and all transfers are by Mark Obert-Thorn, is very much superior to that competing version. Schubert’s Sonatina in G minor shows her sweet-and-sour tone as well as her endemic slides. For a player of her generation she was unusual in employing as many slides as she did – Grumiaux for example, a conspicuously ‘clean’ player in that respect, was a couple of years older. Her expressive playing here is sophisticated and glamorous.
Disc three really goes to town on the A & R virtuoso line; Bazzini, Wieniawski, Sarasate (brilliant fun), Saint-Saëns, Falla and Albéniz. As Eloquence does not programme the recordings chronologically they are free to mix and match, thus ensuring that composer sequences lock tight on her brillant repertoire for the company. Her Wieniawski has remarkable poise and panache, and her Sarasate is superbly coloured. Listening to the Falla-Szigeti Miller’s Dance after the Albéniz-Kreisler Malagueńa is to be made aware of the advance in recording precision between 1941 and 1946, not least with regard to the piano’s greater presence in the later recording. This disc also features Ravel’s Tzigane, with Ivor Newton. It’s not the equal of the incendiary performance of her fellow Flesch student Ginette Neveu, who takes more time and is the more graphic interpreter but does reflect well on Haendel’s training and musical instincts at barely 18 years old.
The fourth disc features the only known surviving recording of Haendel’s pianist sister Alice. Together they play Achron’s Hebrew Melody, which had been recorded by Josef Hassid and Gerald Moore for HMV a year earlier. Perhaps the reason HMV didn’t take on Haendel was that they already had the phenomenal Hassid on their books, though his career was to end tragically at a very young age. Excellent and fervent though Haendel’s recording is, Hassid’s evinces a more complete range of tonal resources that mark him out as a player apart (ironically, Haendel had denigrated Hassid’s slow vibrato when she first met him, as she admits in her autobiography). This fourth CD gravitates to Eastern Europe with a striking Bloch Abodah and a swaggering Dinicu Hora staccato and some excellent Szymanowski, notably the Notturno e Tarantella. There is Stravinsky-Dushkin Divertimento with Newton who also accompanies her in Bartók’s Hungarian Folk Tunes, Szigeti’s arrangement of For Children, and a resinous Romanian Folk Dances in the familiar Székely arrangement. This disc ends with two remakes; the first is Zigeunerweisen (with Newton), a 1947 disc designed to replace the one she had made with Kotowska in 1940 and the Falla-Kreisler Danza No.1, a 1946 remake of her 1942 recording on both of which Kotowska accompanies.
Throughout these discs one finds her concertos. The Mendelssohn was recorded in 1945 with Malcolm Sargent. Dutton has released this too (CDBP9772) but I prefer the somewhat more aerated Eloquence transfer. It’s an effective traversal, slightly prone to artifice from time to time. CD2 sports the brace of Dvořák and Tchaikovsky. The Dvořák Concerto was directed by Karl Rankl (see review) and once again I choose this transfer over the less faithful Pristine Audio. The Tchaikovsky saw yet another accompanist, ex-fiddler Basil Cameron (see review). At the risk of being a bore, only select this latest transfer as the Forgotten Records’ one is not so good. All the concerto recordings featured the hard-working National Symphony Orchestra, and she was generally better balanced in concertos than in the encore repertoire, so that the edge sometimes to be encountered in the duos isn’t really noticeable with orchestra. Saint-Saëns’s Introduction and Rondo Capriccio, with Cameron, was recorded at the same time as their Tchaikovsky collaboration. One unfortunate absentee is the never-issued Lalo Symphonie espagnole, without the Intermezzo, which saw yet another conductor on the rostrum, Enrique Jordá. Decca suffered a high attrition rate with regard to recordings that were never published and whilst it would have been good to think that something remained from this session, it seems that no test pressings have survived.
The fifth disc is much more familiar and was reviewed on this site two decades ago (see review). It’s especially interesting to find her returning to earlier examples in her Decca discography in the form of the Romanian Folk Dances. In only one of them is there a discernable interpretative difference, the now much more measured approach to the fifth dance. Disc 6 excavates the meeting of the violinistic clans in Vivaldi’s Concerto grosso, Op.3 No.10, for four solo violinsist, at the Huberman Festival in December 1982. She played third, Stern leading (well, of course, he would, wouldn’t he), Gitlis second and Shlomo Mintz taking the fourth. You can watch the televised performance as it’s widely available. Rather more personal is her famous account of Sibelius’ concerto at the same festival, once again accompanied by the Israel Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta. This is a rather more incisive performance than the magnificent one with Berglund in Bournemouth – Mehta sculpts deeper and plusher, and her ‘Bruchian’ vibrato is at its most extrovert in the slow movement, if that’s what you like in this work - though it’s neck-and-neck with her traversal in Prague with the Czech Philharmonic and Karel Ančerl in 1957. Listeners will know that she made some of her very finest recordings, studio and live, in the Czech capital between 1957 and 1965 and they have been reissued in toto on Supraphon. Amongst them you will find that she returned to a number of things in this Decca box which had remained in the forefront of her repertoire.
The final item is The Lark Ascending (London Philharmonic, Norrington, February 1997) which was intended to accompany a symphony in Norrington’s incomplete Vaughan Williams cycle. This is a loving reading – as early as 1948 she was on record as admiring among living composers Vaughan Williams, as well as Cyril Scott, Walton and Sibelius – but for me it’s touch too artful and overtly soloistic. I find that concertmaster-soloists maintain a balance between projection and introspection without artifice and get under the skin of this work better, no matter how beautifully and lavishly Haendel may play (let’s bang the drum for the home team; Grinke, Pougnet, Bean and Iona Brown).
The final track is an eight-minute recollection by Evans Mirageas who was Senior Vice President of Artists and Repertoire for Decca from 1994-2000. His talk is reproduced in the booklet, about which I can add that it has full discographic details – including recording and release dates, where known - and a very handsome essay by Alan Sanders with attractively reproduced photographs.
Amongst the numerous Decca recordings that were not issued we can find two Mozart sonatas (K454, K526), with that fine but underappreciated pianist Eric Hope, and one with Alice Haendel (K304), and Brahms Third Violin Sonata with Mewton-Wood. With Kotowska she recorded the Debussy sonata, which I know has survived in test pressings (if not all, at least some of it). Perhaps in time such surviving Decca tests that exist could form a worthy appendix to this box.
Rather like her unsettled domestic life, her discography lacks definition and constancy. Her Deccas are all here, and EMI and Supraphon often returned to the same repertoire. A substantial concerto legacy exists on Hänssler where you can find her SWR Concerto broadcasts and Testament has restored a swathe of those HMVs, not least her solo Bach and her brilliant album of baroque pieces. Don’t ignore the extensive and ongoing Doremi series, her Pettersson Concerto No.2 is still available on Caprice and ICA has yet another Sibelius, this time with Basil Cameron – him again – from 1955, part of the Richard Itter collection.
Haendel was a wonderfully communicative artist and this outstanding Legacy box is eloquent proof of her status as a masterful violinist.
Jonathan Woolf
Contents
CD 1
JEAN-MARIE LECLAIR
1–2 Sarabande and Tambourin
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
3–5 Sonata No. 8 in G major for Piano and Violin, Op. 30 No. 3
FRANZ SCHUBERT
6–9 Sonatina in G minor for Violin and Piano, Op. 137 No. 3 (D.408)
10 Rosamunde – Ballet Music (arr. Kreisler)
JOHANNES BRAHMS
11 Waltz in A major, Op. 39 No. 15 (arr. Hochstein)
FRITZ KREISLER
12 Tambourin chinois, Op. 3
13 Caprice viennois, Op. 2
14 Schön Rosmarin
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
15–17 Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64
Adela Kotowska, piano (1–2, 6–14)
Noël Mewton-Wood, piano (3–5)
National Symphony Orchestra/Malcolm Sargent (15–17)
CD 2
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK
1 Slavonic Dance No. 2 in E minor, Op. 46 (B.83) No. 2 (arr. Kreisler)
2 Humoresque, Op. 107 (B.187) No. 7
Adela Kotowska, piano
3–5 Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53 (B.108)
National Symphony Orchestra/Karl Rankl
PIOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
6–8 Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35°
National Symphony Orchestra/Basil Cameron
CD 3
1 BAZZINI La Ronde des lutins, Op. 25
HENRYK WIENIAWSKI
2 Polonaise brillante No. 2 in A major, Op. 21
3 Scherzo-Tarantelle in G minor, Op. 16
PABLO DE SARASATE
4 Carmen – Fantasie de concert, Op. 25
5 Zapateado, Op. 23 No. 2 (from Danzas Espańolas)
6 Zigeunerweisen, Op. 20 No. 1
7 ALBÉNIZ Malagueńa, Op. 165 No. 3 (arr. Kreisler)
MANUEL DE FALLA
8 Miller’s Dance (from El Sombrero de Tres Picos, arr. Szigeti)
9 Danza No. 1 (from La Vida Breve, arr. Kreisler as Danse espagnole)
10 SAINT-SAËNS Introduction et Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 28
11 MASSENET Méditation (from Thaďs)
12 RAVEL Tzigane
13 IBERT Le petit âne blanc
Adela Kotowska, piano (1–6, 8–9, 11, 13)
Noël Mewton-Wood, piano (7)
Ivor Newton, piano (12)
National Symphony Orchestra/Basil Cameron (10)
CD 4
1 JOSEPH ACHRON Hebrew Melody, Op. 33 (arr. Auer)
2 ERNEST BLOCH Abodah
3 GRIGORAŞ DINICU Hora staccato
KAROL SZYMANOWSKI
4 Roxana’s Song (from King Roger, Op. 46, arr. Kochanski)
5–6 Notturno e Tarantella, Op. 28
IGOR STRAVINSKY
7–10 Divertimento (after the ballet, ‘Le baiser de la fée’, arr. Dushkin)
11 Danse russe (from Petrouchka, arr. Dushkin)
BÉLA BARTÓK
12–18 Hungarian Folk Tunes (arr. Szigeti)
19–24 Romanian Folk Dances, Sz.56 (BB 68) (arr. Székely)
25 PABLO DE SARASATE Zigeunerweisen, Op. 20 No. 1
26 MANUEL DE FALLA Danza No. 1 (from La Vida Breve, arr. Kreisler as Danse espagnole)
Alice Haendel, piano (1)
Adela Kotowska, piano (2–6, 26)
Ivor Newton, piano (7–25)
CD 5
KAROL SZYMANOWSKI
1–3 Mythes
GEORGE ENESCU
4–6 Violin Sonata No. 3, Op. 25 (dans le caractčre populaire roumain)
BÉLA BARTÓK
7–8 Rhapsody No. 1 for Violin and Piano, BB 94a
9–14 Romanian Folk Dances, Sz.56 (BB 68) (arr. Székely)
Vladimir Ashkenazy, piano
CD 6
ANTONIO VIVALDI
1–3 Concerto grosso in B minor for Four Violins, Op. 3 No. 10, RV 580
from L’Estro Armonico
Isaac Stern, violin I ˇ Ivry Gitlis, violin II - Ida Haendel, violin III ˇ Shlomo Mintz, violin IV
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra/Zubin Mehta
JEAN SIBELIUS
4–6 Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra/Zubin Mehta
RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
7 The Lark Ascending
London Philharmonic Orchestra/Roger Norrington
8 Evans Mirageas talks about Ida Haendel
Recording details
CD
Tracks 1-2:
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 9 August 1940
Transfer: Robert Cowlin, British Library ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix No.: DR 4946 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca F 7727: March 1941
3-5:
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 18 February 1941
Transfers: Robert Cowlin, British Library ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
6-9:
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 2 April & 8 October 1942
Transfers: Robert Cowlin, British Library ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix Nos.: AR 6224-26 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca K 1074-75: January 1943
10:
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 2 April 1942
Transfer: Robert Cowlin, British Library ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix No.: AR 6775 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca K 1075: January 1943
11:
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 9 August 1940
Transfer: Giulio Rusconi, EMI Archive Trust ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix No.: DR 4949 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca M 495: June 1941
12:
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 9 August 1940
Transfer: Giulio Rusconi, EMI Archive Trust ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix No.: DR 4947 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca M 520: October 1942
13:
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 9 August 1940
Transfer: Giulio Rusconi, EMI Archive Trust ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix No.: DR 4951 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca M 521: November 1942
14:
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 9 August 1940
Transfer: Giulio Rusconi, EMI Archive Trust ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix No.: DR 4948 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca M 520: October 1942
15-17:
Recording Producer: Victor Olof
Balance Engineer: Kenneth Wilkinson
Recording Location: Kingsway Hall, London, UK, 22-23 September 1945
Transfers and Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix Nos.: AR 9682-88 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca K 1377-80: c.1946
CD 2
Track 1:
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 9 August 1940
Transfer: Giulio Rusconi, EMI Archive Trust ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix No.: DR 4930 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca M 495: June 1941
2:
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 9 August 1940
Transfer: Giulio Rusconi, EMI Archive Trust ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix No.: DR 4950 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca M 521: November 1942
3-5:
Recording Producer: Victor Olof
Balance Engineer: Kenneth Wilkinson
Recording Location: Kingsway Hall, London, UK, 30-31 July 1947
Transfers and Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix Nos.: AR 11472-79 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca (A)K 1744-47: September 1948
6-8:
Recording Producer: Victor Olof
Balance Engineer: Kenneth Wilkinson
Recording Location: Kingsway Hall, London, UK, 26 April 1945 & 6 February 1946
Transfers and Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix Nos.: AR 9356-63 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca (A)K 1444-47: November 1946
CD 3
Track 1:
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 9 August 1940
Transfer: Robert Cowlin, British Library ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
2:
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 3 April 1947
Transfers: Robert Cowlin, British Library ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix Nos.: AR 10111-12 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca K 1213: October 1947
3:
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 8 April 1942
Transfer: Robert Cowlin, British Library ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix No.: AR 6228 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca K 1047: October 1943
4:
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 8 July 1941
Transfers: Robert Cowlin, British Library ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix Nos.: DR 5978-81 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca M 501-2: October 1941
5:
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 10 September 1940
Transfer: Robert Cowlin, British Library ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix No.: DR 4945 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca F 7727: March 1941
6:
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 9 August & 10 September 1940
Transfers: Robert Cowlin, British Library ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix Nos.: DR 4952-53 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca K 940: December 1940
7:
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 2 April 1941
Transfer: Robert Cowlin, British Library ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix No.: AR 5537 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca K 1073: August 1943
8:
Recording Producer: Victor Olof
Balance Engineer: Kenneth Wilkinson
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 15 October 1946
Transfer: Robert Cowlin, British Library ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix No.: DR 10769 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca M 603: June 1947
9:
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 8 October 1942
Transfer: Robert Cowlin, British Library ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix No.: AR 6790 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca K 1073: August 1943
10:
Recording Producer: Victor Olof
Balance Engineer: Kenneth Wilkinson
Recording Location: Kingsway Hall, London, UK, 28 April 1945
Transfers: Robert Cowlin, British Library ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix Nos.: AR 9368-69 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca K 1171: April 1946
11:
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 9 August 1940
Transfer: Robert Cowlin, British Library ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix No.: DR 4944 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca F 7659: January 1941
12:
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 17 June 1941
Transfers: Robert Cowlin, British Library ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix Nos.: AR 5893-94 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca K 1013: December 1941
13:
Recording Producer: Victor Olof
Balance Engineer: Kenneth Wilkinson
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 15 October 1946
Transfer: Robert Cowlin, British Library ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix No.: DR 10770 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca M 603: June 1947
CD 4
Track 1:
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 18 December 1942
Transfer: Robert Cowlin, British Library ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix No.: AR 7145 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca K 1047: October 1943
2:
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 22 April 1942
Transfers: Robert Cowlin, British Library ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix Nos.: AR 6776-77 [part] ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca K 1076: March 1943
3:
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 22 April 1942
Transfer: Robert Cowlin, British Library ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix No.: AR 6777 [part] ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca K 1076: March 1943
4:
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 2 March 1946
Transfer: Robert Cowlin, British Library ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix No.: AR 10113 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca K 1214: March 1949
5 – 6:
Recording Producer: Victor Olof
Balance Engineer: Kenneth Wilkinson
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 15 October 1946
Transfers: Robert Cowlin, British Library ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix Nos.: AR 10767-68 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca K 1651: December 1947
7-10:
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 9 July 1947
Transfers and Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix Nos.: AR 11445-49 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca AK 1930-32: August 1949
11:
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 9 July 1947
Transfer and Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix No.: AR 11450 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca AK 1930: August 1949
12-18:
Recording Producer: Victor Olof
Balance Engineer: Arthur Haddy
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 11 July 1947
Transfers and Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix Nos.: AR 11453-54 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca K 2029: c.1949
19-24:
Recording Producer: Victor Olof
Balance Engineer: Arthur Haddy
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 15 September 1947
Transfers: Robert Cowlin, British Library ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix Nos.: AR 11129-30 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca K 1873: August 1949
25:
Recording Producer: Victor Olof
Balance Engineer: Kenneth Wilkinson
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 14 June 1947
Transfers: Robert Cowlin, British Library ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix Nos.: AR 11381-82 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca K 1842: July 1948
26:
Recording: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK, 2 March 1946
Transfer: Robert Cowlin, British Library ˇ Audio Restoration: Mark Obert-Thorn
Matrix No.: AR 10114 ˇ Original Decca 78rpm Release: Decca K 1214: March 1949
CD 5
Executive Producer: Evans Mirageas
Recording Producer: Andrew Cornall
Balance Engineer: Philip Siney
Location Engineers: Graham Meek, Michael Mailes
Recording Location: Stadthaus, Winterthur, Switzerland, 18 March (Szymanowski), 20–21 August (Enescu, Bartók) 1996
Original Decca CD Release: 455 488-2: March 2000
CD 6
Tracks 1-3:
Executive Producer: Dr. Steven Paul
Recording Producer: Hans Weber
Balance Engineer: Klaus Scheibe
Recorded by: Jobst Eberhardt, Joachim Niss
Recording Location: Frederic R. Mann Auditorium, Tel Aviv, Israel, December 1982 (Live Recording)
Original Deutsche Grammophon LP Release: 2741 026: 1983
4-6:
Executive Producer: Yaron Karshai
Mastering Engineer: Rafi Eshel
Recording Location: Frederic R. Mann Auditorium, Tel Aviv, Israel, December 1982 (Live Recording)
7:
Recording Producer: Chris Hazell
Balance Engineer: John Dunkerley
Recording Location: Watford Colosseum, London, 10–13 February 1997
8:
Recording: Sydney, Australia, January 2000
