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Janet Baker and Saga Records Posted by Robin O'Connor on February 10, 2007, 2:20 pm 84.68.12.182 Seeing your Janet Baker review brought back memories. I was a refugee from EMI working for Saga and a highlight of my time there was her recording of 'Frauenliebe und leben' which is stiill reckoned to be one of the finest. Most unromantically, the sessions were held in a small Church Hall in Acton, chosen for its good acoustics though we hadn't reckoned on the sparrows outside which still make their contribution in the quieter passages if you listen carefully. But the most abiding memory of that session is the smell of disinfectant. We'd had to put the recording gear as far away from the artists as possible, which meant taking refuge in the ladies loo at the far end of the hall. Overcome by the glamour of the occasion the caretaker had done a thorough cleaning job in there, sprinkling liberal amounts of Jeyes Fluid around the place, so we crouched over the ancient Ampex machines trying not to breathe too deeply while all those heavenly sounds were coming from Janet Baker and Martin Isepp at the far end of the hall. Every time I hear it I smell Jeyes Fluid! But what a voice. And I still feel a little twinge of pride at the small part I played in that recording - disinfectant or not! Incidentally, in those days Saga was responsible for recording many other interesting artists in the early stages of their careers. Clive Lithgoe did a fine Liszt B minor sonata, I remember, there was John Shirley-Quirk's 'Songs of Travel' again with Martin Isepp, which I edited one afternoon and far into the evening, whereupon Shirley-Quirk drove me home to Maidenhead where both he and I then lived. Maurice Cole, unjustly neglected in my opinion, did some wonderful Bach recordings and Albert Ferber is an almost unknown pianist now. Then there was Hugh Bean, at that time leader of the Philharmonia, partnered by David Parkhouse and Eileen Croxford in trios by Ravel, Debussy as well as some modern pieces. I remember sitting in a pub with Hugh Bean after one session and asking him whether he enjoyed playing this tuneless modern stuff. 'No,' he said, 'But you have to do it to prove you're a serious musician.' All these were usually done in the basement studio of Saga in Maresfield Gardens just off the Finchley Road, (opposite Freud's house, incidentally, where I once met Anna, his widow, when I popped across the road to deliver a letter which had been wrongly delivered to us). It was all very far from state of the art, technically, but I think we made some small contribution to music nevertheless. And our disks only cost 12s6d! I've often toyed with the idea of doing a radio piece on the Saga of Saga Records. There are lots of good stories! Robin O'Connor  Post a Response

Re: Janet Baker and Saga Records Posted by R Magri-Overend on February 13, 2007, 9:01 pm, in reply to "Janet Baker and Saga Records" 220.236.81.219 Robin - Thanks you for your fascinating reminisces. I am sure a lot of us reading your short message are hungry for more. Please oblige us with more. Cheers  Post a Response

Re: Janet Baker and Saga Records Posted by Paul Serotsky on February 18, 2007, 7:19 pm, in reply to "Re: Janet Baker and Saga Records" 80.229.144.169 . . . and that's exactly what he has done. I've just read Robin's article, and - particularly as I'm one who still retains a few 12/6d Saga LPs in his collection, I found it fascinating. Bravo!  Post a Response

Re: Janet Baker and Saga Records Posted by Ian McCafferty on February 23, 2007, 5:20 pm, in reply to "Janet Baker and Saga Records" 80.176.89.1 I sang in the choir of St Georges Church, Sudbury Hill,Wembley in the late 60s. The parish priest, Fr William Purney, told me with some pride that the Janet Baker recordings were made in our parish hall. He was not a man given to flights of fancy, and as an former professional singer had more than a little interest in things musical. Was he mistaken?  Post a Response

Re: Janet Baker and Saga Records Posted by Dan O'Hara on April 15, 2007, 1:00 pm, in reply to "Janet Baker and Saga Records" 81.107.58.192 Having first heard Janet Baker as a soloist in Bach's B minor mass at the Festival Hall on 15 February 1960, while in my teens and she still hardly known, I was delighted when, a few years later, she came to Nottingham University, where I was an undergraduate, to give a couple of recitals accompanied by Ivor Keys, the Professor of Music. Her Saga discs had recently been released, and I was delighted that in one recital she sang Frauenliebe und Leben - quite unforgettable. I also treasured the Saga set of the Bach 48 played by Maurice Cole (I listened to nothing else when revising for Finals!), and the set of Brandenburgs conducted by Harry Newstone. I also still have a Saga LP by Pouishnoff, the first real pianist I ever heard - on several occasions when he visited my home city, Winchester; the last was only a few months before his death. Some of the Chopin works on that LP were later reissued on another Saga label - but different takes were used! It would be nice to have a fresh remastering of those pieces.  Post a Response

Re: Janet Baker and Saga Records Posted by chris howell on April 20, 2007, 7:11 am, in reply to "Re: Janet Baker and Saga Records" 213.215.159.45 Re the Saga Pouishnoff disc, the "different takes" used for the reissue were actually unused takes by Sergio Fiorentino and not Pouishnoff at all. If you do a Google search on Fiorentino you'll find a discography of him by Ernst Lumpe which deals with the question. Chris Howell  Post a Response

Re: Janet Baker and Saga Records Posted by Paul Fryer on July 30, 2007, 2:31 pm, in reply to "Re: Janet Baker and Saga Records" 86.7.139.163 I have a colleague who is trying to locate copies of Maurice Cole's complete Bach "48" released by Saga on LP many years ago. Any leads on this would be most gratefully received. Does anyone know if the Saga catalogue still exists, and if so, who owns it now?  Post a Response

Re: Janet Baker and Saga Records Posted by John Bulow-Osborne on January 21, 2008, 7:47 pm, in reply to "Janet Baker and Saga Records" 86.13.190.58 Sorry to be pedantic, but the John Shirley-Quirk Songs of Travel recording has Viola Tunnard as accompanist. Martin Isepp was on another Saga session, when they did Butterworth, Purcell, etc. I have both, sadly, battered LPs, and would be delighted to find the CD reissue of S.o.T., which bears the number EC3339-2, I believe.  Post a Response

Re: Janet Baker and Saga Records Posted by Stephanie Potter on March 19, 2008, 9:16 pm, in reply to "Re: Janet Baker and Saga Records" 86.157.128.248 I too am trying to get hold of EC3339-2 on CD. Have you had any luck finding a copy and if so, from where? Thanks  Post a Response

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