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Winifred
Atwell
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Stanford Robinson Released
in 1955 as Decca LF1026
Download ID: 162613/432815
Duration 30'36"
Play
sample movement:
Grieg's
only Piano Concerto is one of the best known pieces in the classical repertoire
- perhaps only the opening few notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony could
possibly be more familiar than the opening bars of this piece. As such
it requires little introduction.
However,
this particular recording is of note for two reasons. First and foremost
for the soloist - there can be few serious classical recordings made by
instrumentalists who went on to top the pop charts, but despite her great
talent and training in the classical world, it was for her British boogie-woogie
hits of the late 1950's that Trinidad-born Winifred Atwell (left)
became best known, whilst playing her "other piano", a deliberately
battered 'honky-tonk' instrument, and in another world to this recording.
The
second point of interest in this recording is that, although it was released
as a standard mono record (the first stereo LPs appeared in 1958), it
was among the first classical recordings made in stereo in the United
Kingdom.
Decca
began experimenting with a three-microphone system known as the 'Decca
Tree' for their Kingsway Hall recordings in May 1954. The system, designed
by Roy Wallace, used 3 directional cardioid-pattern Neuman KM-56 condensor
mics suspended eleven feet above and slightly behind the conductor's platform
on a cross-bar, pointed 30 degrees down to the orchestra and clustered
tightly together to exclude reflected sounds from the sides and rear.
The mixed signal was recorded on an Ampex 350-2 recorder at 15 ips. This
further enhanced the reputation of Decca for superlative sound reproduction
that arguably began with their first ffrr recordings of the mid-1940's.
Alas
the music-buying public's interest in Winifred Atwell was short-lived
and concentrated largely on her popular output - our research suggests
that the issue remained in its original mono format, and it is that recording
which we present here. We have yet to trace a stereo issue of this recording.
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However,
this particular recording is of note for two reasons. First and foremost
for the soloist - there can be few serious classical recordings made by
instrumentalists who went on to top the pop charts, but despite her great
talent and training in the classical world, it was for her British boogie-woogie
hits of the late 1950's that Trinidad-born Winifred Atwell (left)
became best known, whilst playing her "other piano", a deliberately
battered 'honky-tonk' instrument, and in another world to this recording.
