by Peter Cates

Romanian Christmas Carols

Electrechord, ST-EXE 01971, vinyl LP, recorded 1982) is a selection of 16 carols performed by soloists and the Choir of the Romanian Patriarchate, led by the Reverend Iulian Carstoiu.

The annotator Valeriu Anania writes: “Romanian Christmas carols are deeply rooted into the soul of a nation who not only created them but also experiences them within its intimate nature, handing them down from generation to generation, mainly through the voices of children. Unlike those of some other peoples, these are not family festive songs but a message extended by the members of a Christian group to their own community.”

Romania and a few other countries in Eastern Europe commemorate church holidays more often than here in the states; the singing, lighting of candles and other reverent practices are the very stuff of life in its long history of oppression by internal and outside totalitarian forces. Translations of titles convey the special yuletide awe – Great Wonder; Holy Mother Stepping Down; In a Land of Flowers; Downhill at Bethlehem; Lord O Little Lord from Heaven; and Well-Wishing Blossom Bough.

The singing is sublime. Highly recommended, despite the language barrier, as a refreshing change from the usual Deck the Halls Stale Holly, etc.

* * * * * *

Wintry Christmas imagery from the superb English poet Christina Rosetti (1830-1894):

“Lord God of all things
Be they near or far,
Be they high or low;
Lord of storm and snow.
Angel and star.”

When not writing poetry, Christina Rosetti reached out to unwed mothers, women in prison and prostitutes in her good works, and friendship. When her oldest brother, the poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rosetti (1828-1882) took ill for several years before he died, she and other siblings moved into the same house and were his caregivers.

She was a small woman and would sit quietly at social occasions. However, she did once stand up, stated, “I am Christina Rosetti – a poet!” and then sat down again.

by Peter Cates

A Down-Home Country Christmas

Sea Shell
P 14992, LP, anthology released 1981.

The above anthology featured selections from the Columbia/Epic Special Products catalog of artists. It was one of dozens of such Christmas anthologies released during the decades of LP availability and these records were usually priced at $1 under the auspices of Goodyear’s, B.F. Goodrich, Grant’s or other outlets.

Ray Price (1926-2013) sang Jingle Bells with commendable persuasiveness via his rich effusive baritone, although my favorite version of this song is still Peggy Lee’s with a children’s chorus.

Initially, Price had considered majoring in veterinary science after high school graduation but had second thoughts, because of his small size, working around large steers and horses in his native Texas. Having already shown talent as a singer and guitarist during his teenage years, he began performing on local radio, made some recordings for small labels and, by perseverance, and sheer luck, achieved fame and fortune.

In 1999, Price made headlines when he was arrested for possession of marijuana. When Willie Nelson, being no stranger to pot smoking himself, heard about Price’s arrest, he hailed it as good news for his friend, claiming that the arrest would give Price $5 million worth of free publicity.

Johnny Cash (1932-2003) narrated the seasonal Spirit of Christmas to the tune of Little Town of Bethlehem.

Jim Nabors (1930-2017) poured on his richly syrupy baritone in singing Come All Ye Faithful.

Jimmy Dean (1928-2010) intoned Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, a song introduced by Judy Garland in the 1944 movie, Meet Me in Saint Louis; who could forget Jimmy’s 1961 megahit, Big Bad John, his appearance in the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever and his breakfast sausage.

Lynn Anderson (1947-2015) was the daughter of singer/songwriter Liz Anderson (1930-2011) and began her career as a regular on the Lawrence Welk Show for two years before heading to Nashville. A few years ago, I wrote a column about one of her Columbia albums, which was co-produced by her ex-husband, Glenn Sutton. She, like her mother had a sweet voice and her Soon It Will Be Christmas Day, not to be confused with Silver Bells, is quite lovely.

Marty Robbins (1925-1982) charted in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s with four very captivating classics, White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation, Story of My Life, Seventeen, and Devil Woman. He died very early just after heart surgery. His Hark the Herald Angels Sing is good but not his best.

Now 62, Tanya Tucker did a very good Silver Bells during her teenage years after achieving fame and fortune at 14 years old with What’s Your Mama’s Name? and Delta Dawn. She had romances with singers Merle Haggard, Andy Gibbs and Glen Campbell, and actor Don Johnson.

The three remaining tracks are as follows:

Charlie Rich (1932-1995) – God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.

Jody Miller , now 79, What Child Is This.

And the last selection, an absolute gem, is the Chuck Wagon Gang’s a cappella Joy to the World.

A solid recommendation for Christmas music.

by Peter Cates

Van Wyck Brooks

In his fascinating 1936 literary history, The Flowering of New England, Van Wyck Brooks (1886-1963) astutely commented on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, in an essay, justifying the importance of a poet’s profession, its nobility and necessity to life itself:

“Poetry did not enervate the mind or unfit the mind for the practical duties of life. He hoped that poets would rise to convince the nation that, properly understood, ‘utility’ embraces whatever contributes to make men happy. What had retarded American poetry? What but the want of exclusive cultivation? American poetry had been a pastime, beguiling the idle moments of merchants and lawyers. American scholarship had existed solely to satisfy the interests of theology.

“Neither had been a self-sufficient cause for self-devotion. Henceforth, let it be understood that he who, in the solitude of his chamber, quickened the inner life of his countrymen, lived not for himself or lived in vain. The hour had struck for poets. Let them be more national and more natural, but only national as they were natural. Eschew the skylark and the nightingale, birds that Audobon had never found. A national literature ought to be built, as the robin builds its nest, out of the twigs and straws of one’s native meadows. “

Between 1620, when the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts, and 1815, when the creative spirits were gaining firmer ground in New England, the country was fighting for survival in an untamed wilderness. Farming and the formation of a civil society under the eyes of a just, loving and wrathful God were facts of life. Art, music and literature were mostly frowned upon except during the few patches of free time.

But a few worthwhile poets did emerge – the Puritan Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672, who married her husband Simon when she was 16); the physician and pastor Edward Taylor (1642-1729, who moved to the remote settlement of Westfield, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires and wrote some very intricate verses during his spare time that were discovered 200 years after his death in the back rooms of the Yale University Library) and William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878, whose family was originally from Knox before settling in Massachusetts).

However, the Romantic period in England and Europe brought about a passionate, very subjective individuality that would inspire Longfellow, his friend Hawthorne and Emerson, Thoreau and other Transcendentalists.

For what it’s worth, English poets were writing Odes and other tributes to nightingales while Longfellow did celebrate the beauties of nature frequently and not just the twigs. I look out on the back lawn in November and see a lot of twigs and stripped branches but do look forward to the end of winter in late May.

by Peter Cates

Tchaikovsky

Symphony No. 5
Paul Kletzki conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra; Columbia Masterworks, MM-701, six 12 inch 78s; recorded November 13 and 14, 1946.

Tchaikovsky finished composing his 5th Symphony in 1888; along with the 4th and 6th (Pathetique) Symphonies; it expresses the most intense extremes of emotion, ranging from harrowing despair to jubilation. The composer himself was manic and tormented his entire life by self-doubts and depression. These three symphonies mirror them but have memorable melodic material and development which have sustained their popularity in concert halls and recording studios since their composition. I have lost track of the number of recordings I have of them.

Tchaikovsky visited Hamburg, Germany, in 1888 and 1889 and was hosted by a locally-prominent music teacher Teodor Ave-Lallemant (1806-1890) during the first trip before he completed the symphony. The two struck up a fast friendship but had a most interesting conversation regarding the older man’s feelings about Tchaikovsky’s music.

Ave-Lallemant felt that the composer’s pieces heard then, which included the Serenade for Strings and 1st Piano Concerto, were horrendous sounding but blamed its lackings more on Russia’s cultural backwardness than on the composer. He insisted that Tchaikovsky had the makings of a great composer if only he would move to Germany to absorb its inspiring traditions.

Tchaikovsky wrote in his journals that “Evidently Herr Ave-Lallemant harbours a deep prejudice against Russia, and I tried as far as I could to mitigate his hostile feelings towards our country, which, incidentally, this venerable Russophobe did not actually express openly but merely allowed to shine in his words. We parted as great friends.”

He dedicated his 5th Symphony to Ave-Lallemant and conducted its German premiere on his 1889 trip to Hamburg. Sadly, the gentleman was too ill to attend and died the following year. Tchaikovsky’s German publisher wrote a letter to the composer conveying the news and the following comment:

“Good Herr Ave-Lallement has died. The most distinguishing event in his life was in any case that which put his name on your 5th Symphony. He accorded you his full sympathy. ”

Paul Kletzki (1900-1973) conducted an especially beautiful performance that was suffused with poetic lyricism and the 1946 recording can be heard on YouTube. Kletzki grew up in Poland and, while he was fighting for his country during its war with Russia, a bullet grazed his skull while all too many of his comrades were killed. Later he fled the Nazis but his parents and a sister were murdered during the Holocaust.

Every recording I have heard of him is quite good and many of them can also be heard on YouTube.

He died on March 5, 1973, after collapsing during a rehearsal with the Liverpool, England, Philharmonic.

by Peter Cates

The old, very brittle 78s continue to give the greatest pleasure with their noisy surfaces, brief three to five minute playing sides and vivid sense of history, unmatched by LPs, CDs, and streaming. As so many people are still throwing boxes of them into dumpsters, they do call me and make offers I just can’t refuse.

Here are a few such documents of working musicians who once walked the earth and shared their art with others:

Cecile Chaminade

Serenade Espagnole
Fritz Kreisler, violinist, accompanied by pianist Carl Lamson; Victor, 64503, ten inch acoustic shellac disc, recorded June 22, 1915.

French composer/pianist Cecile Louise Chaminade (1857-1944) achieved fame as a composer for her very tuneful music and keyboard prowess during the era when women were still looked down upon or condescended to. The composer of Carmen, Georges Bizet (1837-1875) examined some of Chaminade’s pieces when she was only eight years old and predicted that her talent would take her far.

Despite early encouragement and progress, she experienced wrath from her father who disapproved of her musical studies.

Chaminade performed her music to acclaim in her own country, Great Britain and the U.S. and recorded several piano rolls which can be heard on youtube. Inevitably, as she grew older, she composed fewer pieces and died in relative obscurity in Monte Carlo at the age of 87, although financially she was set for life.

In 1913, she was awarded the Legion d’Honneur, a prize set up by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802 for outstanding accomplishments and was the first female composer thus honored.

I have written before about violinist Fritz Kreisler (1875-1963) who recorded a quite elegant performance more than 100 years ago of Chaminade’s Serenade Espagnole (Spanish Serenade), a piece just under three minutes long with a charming melody. He was accompanied by his pianist of many years, Carl Lamson (1878-1966).

This record can also be heard on YouTube.

William Mcdonald

Asleep in the Deep; In a Hundred Fathoms Deep
Columbia, A986, ten-inch acoustic disc, recorded September, 1911.

The online 78 discography research link had the recording date for this shellac but no information on bass singer William H. Macdonald. The two songs, Asleep and A Hundred Fathoms Deep were frequently sung and recorded 100 years ago but are rarely heard today. They refer to what every ocean explorer knows as Davy Jones’ locker and are very stirring ballads that were expressively sung.

Russian Symphonic Choir

conducted by Basile Kabalchich- Dance ! Gypsy ! (Czecho-Slovakian Dance Song); Volga Boatmen Song; Victor 20309, recorded January 6, and October 26, 1926, 10-inch 78.

Basile Kabalchich’s Russian Symphonic Choir was an ensemble of six sopranos, four contraltos, four tenors and five basses who recorded a batch of 78s for Victor between 1926 and 1927 of folk songs and orthodox church music from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, its studio venue being a converted church in Camden, New Jersey. These performances were very spirited to a feisty, fierce level and contributed to a jewel of a record.

Billy May and his Orchestra

Fat Man Boogie
My Silent Love; Capitol 1794, ten-inch 78, recorded 1951.

Jazz/pop arranger and conductor Billy May (1916-2004) collaborated with Frank Sinatra on several of his classic albums for Capitol and Reprise and was one of the singer’s three principal arrangers, the other two being Gordon Jenkins and Nelson Riddle. His utilization of smoky brass and sultry rhythms gave such Sinatra LPs as Come Fly With Me a legendary durability that still attracts listeners .

The two instrumentals, Fat Man Boogie and My Silent Love, make for riveting examples of May’s arranging skills.

Billy Mays was known for imbibing one or more bottles of booze during recording sessions with Sinatra and a number of other singers from the Great American Songbook years, including Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee, Nancy Wilson, Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, etc. He also worked with the man of a 1,000 cartoon voices, Mel Blanc and comedian Stan Freeberg. Highly recommended is the YouTube of a 1951 featurette of Mays and Blanc for Capitol records about the process by which records are manufactured.

David Street

I Don’t Care Who Knows; Nevada Victor 20-1683, 10-inch 78, recorded June 1945.

Actor/singer David Street (1917-1971) achieved some renown on radio, and records and in a few films during the 1940s yet nothing stuck. Until I discovered this record in one of my 78 boxes yesterday and got curious, his name was new to me.

Three names on the record intrigued me- Street’s arranger Frank De Vol who conducted numerous records for Doris Day and some good pop orchestra LPs for Capitol and Columbia; and the gifted songwriters Jimmy McHugh (I Don’t Care Who Knows) and Walter Donaldson (Nevada).

Street had a solid voice in the romantic crooner tradition of Crosby, Sinatra and Como, yet unlike them, not a particularly distinguished one. Still the record is a nice one in the vintage pop category.