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Kathleen
Long, Piano
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Jean Martinon Recorded:
1954
Released as Decca LP LXT 2963
Matrix
numbers: ARL.2155-1A, ARL.2156-2A
Download ID: 174636, 390701
Duration
34'57"
Ballade
for Piano and Orchestra, Op.19 (13'31") rec. 8/2/54
Nocturne
No. 2 in B major, Op.33 (4'55") rec. 27/5/54
Nocturne
No. 8 in D flat major, Op.84 No.8 (2'19") rec. 27/5/54
Nocturne
No. 5 in B flat major, Op.37 (7'03") rec. 27/5/54
Nocturne
No. 7 in C sharp minor, Op. 74 (7'08") rec. 27/5/54
Play
sample from Ballade:
I
have now played the CD of the Kathleen Long Ballade and Nocturnes
- it's
as fresh as I remember when I bought it as a schoolboy!
Wonderful! Many thanks for achieving this... Much appreciated
Phillip
Arnold
The
March 2006 issue of The
Gramophone magazine printed a letter from Phillip Arnold of Staffordshire,
England, which read:
May
I make an impassioned plea through the pages of your magazine,
which I have now been buying since 1964, for the release on CD
of what I (as I am sure do many others) consider to be one of
the great recordings of the 20th century? Dutton Laboratories
has already released Kathleen Long's 1944 recording of Fauré's
Ballade (with the NSO conducted by Boyd Neel) together
with two Mozart concertos and Walter Leigh's Concertino. However,
she re-recorded the Ballade (conducted by Jean Martinon)
as well as recording the Theme and Variations and some Barcarolles,
Impromptus and Nocturnes in the early 1950s for Decca's long-playing
LXT label. The performance is very similar - achingly beautiful
- but the recording is vastly technically superior.
None
of the later recordings has ever been released on CD - I had the
reissue of the Ballade and the Nocturnes (accompanied as
on the original with Françaix's Concertino) when it was
reissued on Ace of Clubs years ago, and that seems to be the last
that was heard of her LP recordings.
When
I read this letter I was immediately intrigued to hear the recording -
to describe it as "one of the great recordings of the 20th century"
is strong stuff indeed! It also struck me that here was an ideal opportunity
to use the power of the Internet to bring this recording back to life
in double-quick time - in time even to get a reply published in the following
issue.
First
step was a search for discs to work from, to which we are indebted to
Watson Records
of Dundee for their helpful and efficient manner - and of course the discs
involved. I'm pleased to say that they have also located further records
by Kathleen Long which will be appearing here in the months to come.
Working
from the original Orange/Gold label Decca LXT pressings (with reference
to the later Ace of Clubs release) I discovered how well these early discs
could be made. Indeed, although the surface noise was lower on the later
release, there was no doubt that the original possessed a finer and sharper
sound. My suspicions that the later Ace of Clubs was mastered from a copy
of the original tapes is bolstered by the fact that the recording is out
of phase with the original LXT issue, as well as having increased hiss
and less resolution.
From
then on it was a matter of bringing this beauty back to life - not until
I was sure that it would be possible did I confirm with editor of The
Gramophone that this would be going ahead in time for their April issue
- better to get it right than to rush it out. One problem surfaced late
in the day - a variable wow on the Ballade left the piano at times
sounding a little wavery. Here I adopted the methods used so succesfully
by my colleague Peter Harrison for our César Franck Piano Quintet
release to digitally de-wow the recording by degrees varying from 0.08
semitones at the start to 0.15 semitones at the end of the recording -
minute amounts, but when you know they're their you can hear them and
they do become an itch you have to scratch!
(At
this point I should point out that the record itself was a perfectly centred
pressing - the slight pitch variation could only have some from the mastering
stage and was not apparent on the Ace of Clubs issue.)
So here
it is, some 53 years after its original release, and sounding perhaps
better than it ever has done. We are now in the process of remastering
more of those rare early Decca LPs to continue a Kathleen Long series,
including works by Fauré, Schumann and Scarlatti. We hope you enjoy
this fabulous recording, and thank The Gramophone and Mr. Arnold
for bringing it to our attention.
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I
have now played the CD of the Kathleen Long Ballade and Nocturnes
- 
it's
as fresh as I remember when I bought it as a schoolboy!
Wonderful! Many thanks for achieving this... Much appreciated
