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Discography
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© 2002 Amberson Holdings LLC
Editor’s Note: Breaking the Octennial Cycle
by Jack Gottlieb
October, my birth month, literally was the eighth month of the year in the ancient Roman calendar until Pope Gregory got his hands on it; and in the octennial year of the1940s, I graduated high school. Then...in 1958, shortly after his 40th birthday, Leonard Bernstein hired me as his Assistant when he formally became Music Director of the New York Philharmonic. The dictionary defines Assistant (a word I detest for its opening three letters) as “a person who holds a position auxiliary to another and assumes some of his responsibilities.” The jokey definition of ‘assume,’ of course, is “to make an ass out of U and Me.” In any case, the operative word here is ‘responsibilities,’ which in my case could encompass anything and everything from valet services to acting as a buffer and go-between to late-night music copying.
My Assistantship ended in 1968, Bernstein’s 50th birthday year, but I continued to work for him occasionally as a free-lancer, and then rejoined his full employ through Amberson, his company, in 1977. Gradually the music quotient of my work took ascendency as I was empowered to become his Editor, shepherding his scores and books through to publication and writing program and jacket [recording] notes for most of his concert works.
Among the publications were three editions of so-called Complete Catalogs (nicknamed the Red Books—red was LB’s favorite color) spaced at ten year intervals. The first of these in 1978, celebrating the 60th Birthday, had a Discography of Bernstein as composer. Due acknowledgment was given to the Rev. J. F. Weber, a Catholic priest and expert on liturgical music, who had published a sixteen page Bernstein discography in 1975 (Utica, N.Y.). During this decade, a more thorough tabulation was compiled by Byron Bray, a Columbia Artists Management representative and close friend of Bernstein’s secretary, Helen Coates. However, it was Miss Coates, in those pre-computer days, who from the beginning had laboriously typed in all such data into loose-leaf notebooks.
The second edition of the Red Book in 1988, observing the 70th Birthday, added a Videography to the Discography. But again these were only inventories of Bernstein as composer since, as I noted at the time, “Bernstein as conductor during this time period has been prodigal in the field of recordings, it will be necessary to compile a separate Discography/Videography (to be released...).” Promises, promises! Who said anyone was perfect? However, ...
...one day, after this edition had appeared, the phone rang at home just as I was walking in exhausted from an overseas trip. It was David Diamond in high dudgeon over my having omitted the fact that the very first commercial recording Bernstein ever made was as a pianist in Diamond’s Prelude & Fugue in C# Major (1940, New Music Recordings) Although that was my first and last call from the notorious Diamond in the rough, we should note that although more projects were in the works, fate sadly decreed Bernstein’s last recording to be “The Final Concert” at Tanglewood on 19 August 1990.
A third edition of the Red Book in 1998, celebrating what would have been the 80th Birthday Year, was subtitled Volume I: Life, Musical Compositions & Writings because, to self-quote again, “The Bernstein Discography and Videography has become so immense that it requires a separate volume. We hope that Volume 2 will be ready for release in the year 2000...”. Well, here is Volume 2 two years later, not so far off the mark. Anyhow, as Lillian Hellman put it—in the mouth of her eponymous hero from the Bernstein-Hellman operetta Candide—“We promise only to do our best and live out our lives. Dear God, that’s all we can promise in truth” (a passage by the way, that has made it into the 15th edition of Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations.)
At last we have broken the octennial cycle, and I am thankful we do not have to wait for the year 2008 to present this Discography to the public, all 124 pages of it! The number of Bernstein recordings is, to say the least, impressive. The only other conductors who have come close are Herbert von Karajan and Neville Marriner. Although there are gaps (discussed below), the total count is 826.
Kudos for our breakthrough are due first and foremost to James H. North, who generously gave us permission to extract the Bernstein quotient from his great achievement of indexing all New York Philharmonic recordings. Grateful acknowledgment must also be given to Florian Conzetti, who did the lion’s share of computer input under the watchful eyes of Amberson Vice Presidents, Marie Carter and Craig Urquhart and our Executive Vice President, Harry J. Kraut.
Obviously, catalogs from record companies were reviewed, riffled and raided—notably, Phonolog, monthly listings for record stores and the indispensable Schwann Catalog. It is particularly fascinating to examine original time-sheets from the1940s for the earliest Bernstein sessions on 78rpm for the RCA-Victor label. Blitzstein’s Airborne Symphony, recorded 30 October 1946 at the Lotus Club in New York City took only three hours to complete; but Stravinsky’s Octet, recorded 11 August 1947 at Tanglewood, took almost five. On the log for Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat there is a Note: “The noises heard on all sides are not system noises, but mechanism noises from bassoons which could not be eliminated.”
Salaries for the recording of Gershwin’s An American in Paris (6 December 1947, the Manhattan Center) totaled $3949.75, the lowest amount paid an individual was $68.75. Among the musicians that day were oboist Ralph Gomberg, brother of Harold Gomberg, famed oboist of the New York Philharmonic, clarinetist David Oppenheim, who five years earlier had recorded Bernstein’s Sonata for Clarinet and Piano with the composer and celesta player Howard Shanet, who later wrote a history of the Philharmonic. Copland’s Billy the Kid (11 June 1949) is stamped: “Also made on 7 [inch] 45 RPM..”
Bernstein’s own Jeremiah Symphony was recorded 14 February 1945 with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and according to the sheet, the session took place in the Municipal Auditorium. However, this 1932 building was renamed (after a St. Louis mayor) in the 1940s as the Kiel Opera House, and is correctly noted herein. Nowadays the auditorium is known as the Savvis Center. This is an example of the persnickety kind of detail and sleuthing that one has had to undergo.
There remains a mystery. The time sheets indicate that Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G with Bernstein as conductor and pianist was done at the same session as Jeremiah. But was it ever released? We have seen no evidence of this, but one internet source says it was released in 1955 with— are you ready?— the Savoy Symphony Orchestra! (more on this follows), fleshed out by the Maestro playing his own Seven Piano Anniversaries and the Copland Piano Sonata, on RCA Camden Records (CAL214). Why then do we have the Ravel Concerto with the identical label number taking place in 1947 with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London? Stay tuned.
And what in heaven’s name is the Savoy Symphony Orchestra? Well, when the technology changed from 78 rpm to 331/3 in the 1950s, RCA Victor was left with a load of inventory on its shelves. They then decided to issue the old 78s in the LP mode under the Camden label with orchestras being renamed so as not to have the company compete with itself. After all, not every music lover immediately converted to the new configuration. Thus the real identity of Schuyler [Savoy?] Symphony Orchestra was the St. Louis Symphony, Golden was the RCA Victor SO, a pickup group, Centennial was the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Stratford was the London Philharmonic, Warwick was the Philadelphia Orchestra et al. It would be fun to know how the pseudonyms were selected; in any case, the marketing ploy petered-out as the old 78s were eventually re-recorded on LPs with the real names.
Not only do performing arenas change names, but so do record companies. ‘In the Beginning’ there was Columbia records which begat CBS Records, then Sony and now Sony Classical. But whatever the name, the greatest bulk of Bernstein recordings were created for the company between the 1950s and ‘70s, numbering over 500 compositions.
Dan Shiffman, our resident computer guru, has faithfully overseen the relocation to cyber space. Indeed, the flexibility of the cyber world is the ideal environment for a Discography, making it possible to keep pace with the rapidly changing formats and labeling numbers endemic to recordings. Bernstein’s output covers the gamut from 78 rpms to the most advanced technology. Since record companies are always exploring ways to exploit their holdings, many of the Bernstein as conductor titles have been repackaged in differing combinations, most recently remastered and marketed as The Bernstein Century. But this becomes a convoluted ordeal for indexers.
There are still two important matters to address. First, we have yet to supply full details on Bernstein as Narrator. This is a temporary omission, entailing such items as the
(1) Book-Of-the-Month Club series, recorded on Decca. These Symphonic analyses, made with the Stadium Concerts Symphony Orchestra (the New York Phil in disguise), are of: Tchaikovsky ‘Pathetique,’ Schumann No. 2, Dvo_ak ‘New World,’ Brahms No. 4 and Beethoven ‘Eroica.’ [We need to investigate if the latter analysis is the same recording as “How a Great Symphony Was Written” released with the ‘Eroica’ on Sony Classical.]
(2) titles from the Omnibus series recorded on Columbia: “Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony” (originally MS-6468), “What Is Jazz?”(CL-919) and “The Humors of Music”(MS-6225). To this we add “Bach’s St. Matthew Passion”and “The Music of Charles Ives,” issued with discussions of Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 3 and 5 on CBS Special Service Records. And there still others: Stravinsky’s “Petrouchka” and the Berlioz “Symphonie Fantastique,” the Nielsen ‘Espansiva’ Symphony as well as an interview with Bernstein about his own recording output.
The second topic is more tricky since it concerns Bernstein works conducted by others. What we have done is to add a section called Selected Discography which was finished with the help of Maria Bedo for the third edition of the Red Book. But it was never used in that publication in the anticipation of what we thought was going to be Volume II. Please note that this section is not all-inclusive, that it is not up-to-date (having been done in 1998) nor does it follow the format of the main body of the document with Bernstein as conductor. The guide offered at the top of p. 100 pertains only to that Section. Hopefully, it will be possible to bring this category up to speed, but it may well turn out to be a pipedream. Like the bunny with the battery, the avalanche of West Side Story albums and single songs keeps on going and going...
There are some formatting problems, such as diacritical marks, that may still need correction. We would of course be most appreciative if surfers would enlighten us as to any other errors of omission or commission they may uncover. Happy hunting to all!
© Copyright 2001 by Jack Gottlieb.
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