Mercury Records Collection: SR3-9017: Four Great Violin Concertos

SR3-9017: Four Great Violin Concertos
London Symphony, Dorati/Schmidt-Isserstedt/Rozhdestvensky
Henryk Szeryng

Label Type :	maroon Mercury Stereo Living Presence High Fidelity
Matrix Number :	SR-90451 SIDE-A	SR-90451A-RFR-1 MR III A
	SR-90451 SIDE-B	SR-90451B-RFR-3 MR RI A
	SR-90452 SIDE-A	SR-90452A-RFR-1 MR II
	SR-90452 SIDE-B	SR-90452B-RFR-3 P7 MR I
	SR-90453 SIDE-A	SR-90453A-RFR-4 P13 MR II
	SR-90453 SIDE-B	SR-90453B-RFR-1 MR II F

Comments

Equivalent release: Mercury OL3-117 (mono).

3LP box set with gatefold 4-page booklet.

RFR pressing: except a few background noise, these set sounds very nice.

Personal Impression (and brief notes)

A great compilation of Violin Concertos featuring Henryk Szering.

Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto was firstly appeared on MG-50389 (mono) / SR-90389 (stereo). The other three performances (Beethoven, Sibelius, Prokofiev) firstly appeared on this box ~~(and there was no other LP issues)~~ in the States by Mercury (although these sides were issued by Dutch Philips).

Strictly Personal Rating (to what extent I could enjoy this album)

8 out of 10

Track Listing

SIDE-1 (SR-90451 SIDE-A)
BEETHOVEN: Violin Concerto in D, Op.61		(25:25 in total)
A-1	Allegro ma non troppo	25:25
SIDE-2 (SR-90452 SIDE-A)
BEETHOVEN: Violin Concerto in D, Op.61 (cont'd)		(20:04 in total)
A-1	Larghetto	-
A-2	Rhondo	-
SIDE-3 (SR-90453 SIDE-A)
SIBELIUS: Violin Concerto in D minor, Op.47		(30:27 in total)
A-1	Allegro moderato	15:30
A-2	Adagio di molto	7:20
A-3	Allegro ma non tanto	7:37
SIDE-4 (SR-90453 SIDE-B)
PROKOFIEV: Violin Concerto No.2 in G minor, Op.63		(25:27 in total)
B-1	Allegro moderato	10:15
B-2	Andante assai	9:15
B-3	Allegro ben marcata	5:57
SIDE-5 (SR-90452 SIDE-B)
TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto in D, Op.35		(18:07 in total)
B-1	Allegro moderato	18:07
SIDE-6 (SR-90451 SIDE-B)
TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto in D, Op.35 (cont'd)		(15:25 in total)
B-1	Canzonetta	-
B-2	Finale	-

Personnel

Personnel/recorded date/master numbers confirmed with the Ruppli's discography.
(“The Mercury Labels - A Discography” by Ruppli and Novitsky, Greenwood Press, 1993)

Ruppli's discography don't have exact recorded date and place of Side-1, Side-2, Side-3 and Side-4 sessions. If you know the precise date and places for these recordings, please let me know.

UPDATE (Apr. 22, 2013) :
Ed Reichenbach-san kindly let me know there is a great discography of the London Symphony Orchestra, compiled by Philip Stuart. Thank you so much!

Side-5, Side-6:
London Symphony Orchestra, Antal Dorati (cond).
Henryk Szeryng (vln).
Recorded at Watford Town Hall, London, England on July 22 & 23, 1962.
Produced by Harold Lawrence.
Engineer: Robert Fine.

Side-3, Side-4:
London Symphony Orchestra, Gennadi Rozhdestvinsky (cond).
Henryk Szeryng (vln).
~~Recorded in London, England, July 1965.~~
Recorded at Wembley Town Hall, London, England on July 22-24, 1965.
Produced by Vittorio Negri.
Engineer: Vittorio Negri.

Side-1, Side-2:
London Symphony Orchestra, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt (cond).
Henryk Szeryng (vln).
~~Recorded in London, England, July 1965.~~
Recorded at Wembley Town Hall, London, England on July 8-10, 1965.
Produced by Harold Lawrence.
Engineer: Robert Eberenz.