Sold Date: October 10, 2023
Start Date: October 9, 2023
Final Price: £250.00 (GBP)
Seller Feedback: 3338
Buyer Feedback: 0

A nice collection of BBC Transcription Services records this week.  A few have been released on BBC Legends CD series over the years, some have not.  Some are mono and some are stereo.  On the 28 August 1962 the BBC began regular experimental radio broadcasts in stereo, the recordings made ostensibly at the request of American radio stations. Initial UK transmissions were on the Third Programme, the home of classical music.  

Here we have two four-sided sets featuring Sir Thomas Beecham's triumphant final concert at the Royal Albert Hall in 1959 in Berlioz Requiem with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.  We have the original 1959 mono cut and the later processed stereo from 1970.  The stereo version was released on BBC Legends CD series.  If you have the necessary equipment you can now compare and contrast.  Here's the Gramophone review of the CD in its entirety:

Almost 60 years to the day since his first Berlioz performance, Beecham conducted the Grande messe des morts in the Albert Hall. In a charming essay accompanying this recording of the event (for event it certainly was) Graham Melville-Mason gives an insider’s view of the tensions and inspiration of what was to prove Beecham’s final appearance in the hall, one about which he had been notoriously outspoken. It suited this work, and his approach to it, almost ideally. Though the Dies irae thunders out tremendously, and the ‘Lacrymosa’ has a wonderful snap on the off-beat chords (how readily there rises to the mind’s eye Beecham’s twist of the wrists and flick of the baton!), it is the quieter movements that characterize what is, after all, a Requiem Mass. Beecham’s response to them is with a lifetime’s devotion to one of the composers who had been closest to his heart. Another was, of course, Mozart; much of the playing is Mozartian in its lucidity. The ‘Quid sum miser’ has an enchanting clarity (with some lovely cor anglais playing); the long, hushed end of the ‘Offertoire’, as Berlioz lingers over the gently alternating notes that suffuse the invention, is finely judged; the Sanctus is eloquently sung by Lewis and the splendid chorus; the return of the opening ‘Te decet hymnus’, near the close of the whole work, is sublime.

Such things are not achieved without the attention to detail with which Beecham used to complain people did not credit him. How wrong. His orchestral parts were always covered with powerful blue pencil marks and the signature ‘TB’, so that it was impossible to mistake intentions which players would then shape for him in rehearsal (and which he was capable of nerve-rackingly contradicting in performance). Here, the detail is exquisite, always natural. Occasionally he takes his own view, not Berlioz’s, about phrasing; and the orchestra contains not a whiff of an ophicleide (an instrument about which he would no doubt have been as unrepeatable, in a family magazine, as he was about the harpsichord). No matter. This is a record of a great occasion – remarkably full in recording, scarcely bothered by audience noise – but also of a marvellous performance.'

 These original releases from the 1950s and 60s are ANALOGUE.  Also they are in fabulous top NM condition, not a mark or blemish on their surfaces.  In all cases the quality of sound is remarkable. It should be noted that these records were designed to be played in a radio studio with two or more turntables, so the sides are ordered so that side two could be cued up ready to go as soon as the music ends on side one, etc, etc.  Similar to 'auto sequencing' on early opera sets etc.

Any questions welcome.

Check all the pics..  and make the most of the enlargement facility!

The purge of the collection continues..... a varied batch this week.

Please check my other listings, my feedback, my 21 year eBay history and buy with confidence. 

Regular clients will know that I keep my descriptions brief and to the point.  If you are looking, I figure you will know what you are looking at.  I would not presume to condescend nor would I wish to bore you to death with unnecessary hype.  Used records play-checked on SME 15, SME V with VDH cart and cleaned when necessary on a Loricraft Pro II.

GRADINGS:

MINT (M): Brand new and unplayed. Perfect, no indications of being handled or played. I only use this grading if I know for sure the record has not been played. 

NEAR MINT (NM): The record is virtually flawless, clean and shiny.  Very minor, barely visible innerbag wear may be permitted, but no scratches. Jacket is as close to perfect. 

EXCELLENT (EX): Record plays near perfectly, but may have minor paper scuffs that do not interfere with the sound quality. There can possibly be a non-sounding mark or two but nothing that affects play. Record is clean and shiny.  Any issues with the jacket will be minor and described.

Because I have never collected records that are a lower grade than EX, you won’t be finding any for sale here.

I DO NOT USE EBAY GLOBAL SHIPPING PROGRAMME

Recorded  Delivery UK and world-wide shipping for security and peace of mind. Shipping is always at cost, including packing materials. 

For one single LP: 30 GBP for the USA, the Far East and Australia,  20 GBP for Europe, 9 GBP for the UK. POSTAL CHARGES ARE CONSOLIDATED FOR MULTIPLE PURCHASES AND OVERPAYMENT IMMEDIATELY REFUNDED.

I ensure that my records arrive with you in the same lovely condition they leave me, carefully packed in secure professional wraps with sheet polystyrene and cardboard packing.  Shipping costs reflect packaging.  I do not use bits of old cardboard box or those cheap flimsy envelope style mailers. 

Records are always packed out of their jackets.