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Supraphon
Posted by Michael Bullivant on June 13, 2023, 2:21 pm
Rob Barnett’s review of the new Naxos Novák recording brought back happy memories of my own early Supraphon collection, but I hope that the second-hand Šejna vinyl was picked up for a good deal less than a pound in that little shop as I’m sure those early Supraphons were priced new at 17/6! I had most of the ones Rob mentions and there was some superb Janáček from Karel Ančerl (Sinfonietta, ‘Taras Bulba’, Glagolitic Mass) as well as an excellent ‘Alexander Nevsky’, and I made my first acquaintance with the now ubiquitous ‘Carmina Burana’ with a fine recording (with full texts in an LP-sized booklet) under Smetáček. Then there was the cycle of Dvořák symphonies, probably the first chance most of us had to hear Nos.1-4, and much more. And all with the little perforated strip on the sleeve whose purpose I never discovered!
Re: Supraphon
Posted by Jeffrey Lague on June 14, 2023, 5:21 pm, in reply to "Supraphon"
I had my first Supraphon -buying splash in the early 1960s at Foyle's ...17/6 each record and I recall buying discs, among others, of Schubert Sonatas played by Pavel Stepan and Germaine Leroux (a Schnabel pupil) and a record of bassoon concertos by Weber and Jiri Pauer. I still have some of the records including the last-named which includes the very attractive Pauer concerto. As I continued to collect Supraphon issues it became very clear to me how foreign companies like Supraphon served many of their lesser-known composers by issuing records of their music while we, in Britain, tended to neglect all but those who might be relied upon to return a profit by the record-sales. It's true that a few smaller companies like Argo and, later, Lyrita ventured into little-charted waters but we've had to wait a long time (and rely on foreign record-companies like Marco Polo and CPO) to have the opportunity to hear many large works by composers like Lord Berners, Arthur Benjamin and Joseph Holbrooke....and when is a record company going to give us Holbrooke's "Queen Mab" by the way?
Previous Message
Rob Barnett’s review of the new Naxos Novák recording brought back happy memories of my own early Supraphon collection, but I hope that the second-hand Šejna vinyl was picked up for a good deal less than a pound in that little shop as I’m sure those early Supraphons were priced new at 17/6! I had most of the ones Rob mentions and there was some superb Janáček from Karel Ančerl (Sinfonietta, ‘Taras Bulba’, Glagolitic Mass) as well as an excellent ‘Alexander Nevsky’, and I made my first acquaintance with the now ubiquitous ‘Carmina Burana’ with a fine recording (with full texts in an LP-sized booklet) under Smetáček. Then there was the cycle of Dvořák symphonies, probably the first chance most of us had to hear Nos.1-4, and much more. And all with the little perforated strip on the sleeve whose purpose I never discovered!
Re: Supraphon
Posted by dieter barkhoff on June 14, 2023, 11:55 pm, in reply to "Supraphon"
I'll second that. What a fabulous lineup of musicians and repertoire. Joesph Suk, the Vlach, Janacek, and Smetana String Quartets, some great pianists, and don't forget Ancerl's Prokofiev, Romeo and Juliet, Brahms, and Mahler. There was Matacic's Bruckner, the glorious sound of the Czech Philharmonic, Neumann's Roussel etc. The list of great recordings is endless. I happened to work at Discurio in Melbourne in 1970 - the Australian Agents for Supraphon. Ah, there was also the Second Viennese school recordings, the Shostakovich, even some B. Britten...
Previous Message
Rob Barnett’s review of the new Naxos Novák recording brought back happy memories of my own early Supraphon collection, but I hope that the second-hand Šejna vinyl was picked up for a good deal less than a pound in that little shop as I’m sure those early Supraphons were priced new at 17/6! I had most of the ones Rob mentions and there was some superb Janáček from Karel Ančerl (Sinfonietta, ‘Taras Bulba’, Glagolitic Mass) as well as an excellent ‘Alexander Nevsky’, and I made my first acquaintance with the now ubiquitous ‘Carmina Burana’ with a fine recording (with full texts in an LP-sized booklet) under Smetáček. Then there was the cycle of Dvořák symphonies, probably the first chance most of us had to hear Nos.1-4, and much more. And all with the little perforated strip on the sleeve whose purpose I never discovered!
Re: Supraphon
Posted by Eric Schissel on July 27, 2023, 2:15 pm, in reply to "Supraphon"
Ever since I learned that Dvorak’s symphonies 3&4 were published in the 1910s I’ve been struck that it took half a century for -anyone- to record them, or for the numbering system to budge. Not amazed, just struck.
Previous Message
Rob Barnett’s review of the new Naxos Novák recording brought back happy memories of my own early Supraphon collection, but I hope that the second-hand Šejna vinyl was picked up for a good deal less than a pound in that little shop as I’m sure those early Supraphons were priced new at 17/6! I had most of the ones Rob mentions and there was some superb Janáček from Karel Ančerl (Sinfonietta, ‘Taras Bulba’, Glagolitic Mass) as well as an excellent ‘Alexander Nevsky’, and I made my first acquaintance with the now ubiquitous ‘Carmina Burana’ with a fine recording (with full texts in an LP-sized booklet) under Smetáček. Then there was the cycle of Dvořák symphonies, probably the first chance most of us had to hear Nos.1-4, and much more. And all with the little perforated strip on the sleeve whose purpose I never discovered!