Eleanor Steber Armand Tokatyan Lucielle Browning on 78 rpm Madama Butterfly

            Three discs in E condition, a few scuffs and scratches.  Cover good, somewhat worn, slight staining, some rust on rivets.  Original program notes along with a leaflet advertising future releases in this series.  Among Eleanor Steber’s first recording sessions after she won the Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air in 1940.

This is part of a series of 12” albums were released under the sponsorship of the Publishers Service Company, an arm of the New York Post newspaper as a Music Appreciation project promoted nationwide. These albums were recorded on a very low budget but using performers from major orchestras and conductors who either were or would become renown and were willing to record for very little payment and with no label credit. Excellent performances and recordings overall. This album contains a recording of scenes from Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and was recorded on May 30, 31 and June 26, 1940 at New York’s Town Hall, with an orchestra of 45-47 musicians conducted by Wilfrid Pelletier.  Soloists are Eleanor Steber, Lucielle Browning, Armand Tokatyan and George Cehanovsky. (Recording information by Michael R. Gray:  World’s Greatest Music and World’s Greatest Opera Records-A Discography, ARSC Journal 1975)

 

 

KEY TO GRADING ABBREVIATIONS (I aim to be conservative) (Grading is done visually):

N = Mint; E = Excellent; V = Very Good; G = Good; F = Fair;: means a little less; + means a little more; rmflk = rim flake; nap = not affecting play; cresc crk = crescent shaped crack;  ULC = under-label crack; labscr = scratches on label, wol = writing on label, sol = sticker on label.

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