Old Records

[unknown-user]

I noticed when searching a website for harp recordings that most of them were recent, and there was a tremendous amount of repetition of repertoire on the recordings. I realized that if young harpists only have this concept of repertoire, and don’t know or have access to any of the older recordings, what a loss it is. Is there a way to make all the older recordings available again, like, does someone feel like starting a record company to reissue older harp records? I’m talking about stuff even from the 1970s and 1980s.

I think the overlapping of contest repertoires has something to do with it, too, hence the plethora of recordings of Parish-Alvar’s Norma fantasy, the Eugene Onegin fantasy and such.

[Cheryl Z.]

Hi Saul,

Try ebay for old records.

[unknown-user]

Perhaps one solution would be if the AHS Archive has or can develop a lending library for recordings or post them, as people then donate their record collections to them. I don’t imagine someone out there wants to start a harp-only historical label. ETC has brought out a historical cd of Phia Bhergout that looks very interesting, but is very expensive.

[steven-todd-miller]

Saul, I have to admit I am an old record freak. I have learned so much from listening to old recordings of Mildred Dilling, Salzedo, Grandjany, Osian Ellis (did you know he sang also?), and Gene Bianco (The king of elegant jazz and pops “Music to Make Your Heart Sing” is his best). I have this computer program (Poulderbits) that I can take an LP and turn it into a CD, so I can listen to them while I drive to gigs. It’s a lot of work, but these are albums that will never be picked up by mainstream labels. Since we got a Mac I just use Garage Band. It also lets you add a touch of reverb to the tracks. Yes- EBay is my main source–you can find excellent quality LPs for a very low price.

[Author]

Posts