Bream, Segovia, Monteux, Debussy Nocturnes and the New York World’s Fair

I mentioned in an earlier entry how much I like Julian Bream and his records for RCA (and other labels too). I found myself spinning this LP tonight – what looks like Bream’s debut record for RCA. Somehow I found a near-mint copy – in Living Stereo with 1S stampers no less – for a dollar. The way to tell how close your RCA records are to being “original” is easy – for any RCA releases, even Elvis, just look in the deadwax area. After the catalog number stamp there will be a number followed by the letter “S” indicating the stamper number. “1S” means first stamper and so on. When stampers wear out, new parts are created from the master tapes necessitating higher stamper numbers. I’ve seen RCA records with numbers as high as “33 S” for sure – if not higher. That’s a lot of units! So my Julian Bream album is as original pressing as you’re going to get. It helps that, in the case of RCA Living Stereo albums, this means “good sound”.  Not all RCA “1S” albums will sound good (Dynaflex jobs from the 70s are all hit and miss for example).

Anyway, RCAs up until the late 60s always sounded pretty good. This Segovia album I picked up recently is a domestic Decca LP.

Not usually good news, but aside from the odd loud pop and tick this record is pretty enjoyable. Surprising since the quality of these Decca Gold Label US pressings leaves a lot to be desired for the most part.

 The feel of the vinyl platter is really…….brittle! I don’t know what they mixed their vinylite compound with for the presses, but I’ll bet it was some cost-cutting garbage. These records are to be avoided by folks who can’t stand any surface noise. In the case of this record – a little surface noise, but not annoying groove damage. That’s hopeless stuff right there. One of these days I really ought to post some sonic examples of what I’m talking about. Maybe over the holidays………

Now, as far as the music goes – Segovia is more conservative that Bream, but we can expect that. The playing is crisp and sonorous just the same. Segovia is almost single-handedly responsible for elevating the acoustic Spanish guitar to the level of respectability as a classical instrument in the world of serious music. So, he’s not just great – he’s a key figure in the development of guitar music.

I picked up this Debussy La Mer / Nocturnes RCA mono LP the other day. I was especially intrigued with the notion of Pierre Monteux conducting the Boston Symphony in a performance of this piece - one of the few pieces I've known quite well for a long time. There were certainly some cool aspects of Monteux's version of La Mer (I'm still partial to the Pierre Boulez classic from the mid-60s), but it was the flip side piece that really caught my ear and my imagination............

I don't think I've heard Debussy's Nocturnes before. It's a pretty dreamy piece with a really modern-sounding ending complete with a wordless female chorus that kinda tips the whole proceedings firmly into the PSYCHEDELIC category for me. Speaking of psychedelic, I'm happy to say my experiences on this plane of consciousness have not been chemical-induced, but life-induced. For some reason, Debussy's Nocturnes reminded me of visiting the New York World's Fair grounds as a child with my parents when we used to live in Queens. By the time I was on the planet, the Worlds Fair was relegated to the big ol' structures, Shea Stadium, the surrounding park and the Science Museum. Speaking of the Science Museum - THAT place really tripped me out - even the outer edifice of the building is like nothing else I've ever seen to this day....

Now that is one trippy-looking building! So anyway I'm listening to this Debussy music and it sounds all futuristic and spooky and weird which got me thinking about the Worlds Fair grounds with all these mysterious looking structures that I HAD NO FRIGGIN CLUE WHAT WAS UP WITH THIS JUNK as a kid, because it was like some crazy abandoned freak-scene in the middle of New York City and what's all that about?? Like, what is the deal with these things..............

I mean.....are the aliens going to come and reclaim us someday landing on THIS SPOT? This stuff really blew my mind as a kid. What I didn't understand was all this was built as a vision for the future. Imagination. Kinda like music............so here's a version of Debussy's Noctures you can listen to:

While you watch this great clip of silent COLOR film footage of what the 1939 World's Fair in New York City looked like!

Well, the 1939 footage runs well beyond Debussy's piece, so I'll let you come up with your own soundtrack for the rest of the 90 minutes or so..........pretty wild stuff indeed!!

Music can take your mind to some interesting places. That's the whole point, isn't it?