Szell, Mahler and the 33 1/3 LP Record

June 21 came and went with scant notice of a significant anniversary noteworthy for music lovers in general and record lovers in particular. Apparently, on June 21 1948 Columbia Records rolled out their microgroove, 33 and 1/3 RPM vinyl platters for popular consumption. Just as Beethoven’s 9th Symphony would be the decisive piece of music less than forty years into the future to determine the length of the compact disc, I am quite certain that classical music was the intended genre to dominate the new Long Playing, 33 1/3 vinyl discs. Getting that Beethoven 9th to consumers prior to 1948 meant several 78 RPM discs shipped in thick cardboard sleeves – talk about HEAVY and impractical. (Side note – as a kid I found out just how heavy a pile of classical 78s could be when I got the bright idea to carry an armload down the block from my house – IN THE SUMMER – with the hopes that the local junk shop might buy them from me. No luck – ended up lugging those suckers back to the house in the summer sun. DOH!!) Record distributors must have been very happy indeed when the industry started to shift to 33 and 45 rpm discs.

Columbia ML4001 was the first release on that fateful day in June. The recording was the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E Minor with Bruno Walter conducting the Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of New York. I don’t own this record yet, but I did recently stumble upon a pretty early 2-record set from Columbia Masterworks of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 – the gargantuan work also called “the Symphony of a Thousand” in reference to the enormous orchestra and choir needed to perform the piece to the specifications of the composer. This recording was done in 1951 and I’m figuring the record is from the same year.

The packaging looks similar to the type of thing one would see 78 discs stuffed into – an oversized box. Mine is still intact, though a bit torn and crumbling in spots. The discs are in decent shape though and that’s what really counts – at least for the listener. Imagine my surprise when I did a little research on this release to discover a mint copy having been auctioned off on ebay last September for $77! Wow – I only paid $1 at the Goodwill for mine. Then again, if the item was in fact totally mint – how many totally mint ANYTHINGS exist from 1951? Still – I’m pleased with my $1 purchase. Still I wonder – is this record rare for some other reason? I think it was pretty unusual for Mahler’s stuff to get performed, let alone recorded and pressed onto vinyl, in 1951. The Mahler Renaissance was still a few years down the line. So maybe this is a pretty unusual disc.

The only other performance of this work in my library is the famous one George Solti did in the early 70s for Decca (in stereo). I haven’t listened to that version in a long time, but I remember being very blown away by not only the piece itself, but also with the quality of the recording. There seemed to be a lot of depth and nuance to that particular recording – I could tell right away how difficult it must have been to capture well on tape since there are so many performers including roaring choirs and intimate solo vocal parts. Bloody maddening! That Mahler was quite the character!

The 1951 version – performed by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra conducted by (the venerable) Hermann Scherchen – tries to tackle the same problems in terms of recording technique and the end result is not exactly a product of balance! I reckon in an effort to keep the solo singers from getting lost in the cacophony they must have placed them very close to spot mics and when they let loose – WWWOOOOOOAAAH they’re LOUD! Meanwhile you can hear the choir waay back in the mix with the orchestra. Sometimes things level off, but this must have been a very challenging situation for the technicians of the day to pull off. Really, my description is based on what I can hear off the record – I WISH there was a written account of how they attempted to record this piece in 1951. Probably me and about three other people on the planet would care to know that story and I’m sure everybody who WAS involved was only too glad to get it over with – and banish the memory for good!

In spite of the primitive technology, Columbia SL-164 is still enjoyable. Though I have to give a little credit to another experiment with a new turntable cartridge. I had read that old mono LPs and 45s can sound better with a different shaped stylus – a conical shape. The most popular shaped stylus is the elliptical shape. Yet the elliptical stylus can tend to ride a little thin in old mono record grooves – the conical shape fits the groove more precisely for records cut in mono before 1968 when old mono cutting lathes were phased out for good. I scored an Audio Technica 3482 for under $20 and lo and behold! That Mahler 8th sounds much nicer indeed!

Now, I’m not going to pretend that I’m some kind of Mahler expert. It actually took me some time and effort to gain a better appreciation of Mahler and I’m still working on it. The first piece I listened to was the famous Reiner / Chicago “Living Stereo” RCA version of “Das Lied”. Serious business! It wasn’t until I heard a Bruno Walter version of the First Symphony that I felt like I could really dig into some Mahler. I think the only symphonies of his I haven’t yet put my ears to are the 7th and the 9th. And I’m in no rush. It was only this year I gave the 6th a try.

Here’s what happened – two years ago there was a big Mahler Anniversary of his birth or something and there were all kinds of Mahler deals out there. So I got a CD Box set of everything he ever composed for, like $25 or something. Totally cannot say no to that kind of thing. But I’ve found when trying my ears on a new Symphony I have to work with vinyl to get into the darned thing. Hearing it all in one long shot on an 80 minute CD for the first time is just too much! So I’ve been trying to find cheap LPs as entry points.

Szell conducting Mahler's 6th is great, but what's with the quasi-surrealistic cover art? Not very flattering for either man I'm afraid. Looks more like a Terry Gilliam reject for a lost Monty Python episode! Yikes!

I found this version of the 6th Symphony by the Cleveland Symphony under the direction of George Szell. Now, I have some other records by the Szell / Cleveland coupling and my appreciation for Szell has been steadily increasing. Apparently he ruled over the Cleveland Symphony with an iron fist from 1946 to his death in 1970. If it can be imagined, he was also considered to be a more prickly character than Fritz Reiner. But the results were of such a consistently high quality that the only criticism the Cleveland Symphony would get under Szell’s direction was – too clinical. Well, isn’t this music supposed to be about the details?

Tucked inside the record jacket was a “bonus” 7” disc with an interview with Szell on it. Not only is it worth hearing since, well, its SZELL. But also because right off the bat he is asked about Mahler and the recollections are fascinating. The whole thing is quite fascinating so I’m making it available here – at least until somebody complains and I hope that doesn’t happen.

In the golden era of classical LP recording, RCA had Reiner and Munch primarily. Columbia had Bernstein and Szell. I’ll let the man speak for himself here, but I certainly have come to the point where Szell’s name on a record jacket is now a go-to for me. Szell’s recordings with the Cleveland Symphony set new standards for performance. The birth of the LP record in 1948 made classical music more accessible for the public at large to study it at length. And I think it is no coincidence that Mahler’s popularity as a composer ascends with the improvement in technology in the latter half of the 20th Century. Mahler's music would only benefit as recording technology improved over time. With exacting conductors like Szell, the bar of excellence was continually raised though perhaps we are not likely to see or hear from such men ever again. The miracle of records continues to inform us well into the 21st Century - still listening!!