Synaphaï: Gene Gaudette's Blog

Bach's Prelude and Fugue in b-flat minor from Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1, played by Tatiana Nikolayeva. Originally released by Melodiya, reissued in one of Scribendum's superb Melodiya archival releases remastered at Abbey Road Studios.

Brahms's Hungarian Dance No.1 performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski. I know, nowhere as obscure as Konstantin Ivanov! Recorded in 1934, first released as Victor Red Seal 1675, and now available in Music & Arts' superb four-disc survey of ultra-rare Stoky-Philly recordings.

I weigh in at APJ.

Stanley Drucker, principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic for sixty years and one of America's truly legendary classical instrumentalists, is retiring at the end of this season. My review of his spectacular performance of Aaron Copland's Clarinet Concerto last night with the Philharmonic conducted by Lorin Maazel can be found at Classical Source. Friday's New York Times ran a terrific piece on Drucker by Daniel Wakin.

The final section of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, played by the USSR Gostelradio Orchestra conducted by the much-underrated Konstantin Ivanov. The recording was made in 1965, and is dubbed from a 15ips 1/4 inch tape in my private archive. And about that little "editorial change" to the coda: during the Soviet era, the 'Gloria' theme from Glinka's A Life for the Tsar replaced the pretty-much-treasonous God Save the Tsar.

David Rice's review of LvdE is up at Classical Source, as is Elizabeth Barnette's review of the final concert.