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Previously unissued live concert recording
This remarkably well-preserved taped recording was drawn from the collection of Leslie Austin, on of a number generously offered it to Pristine for possible restoration and release. With the exception of one short moment in the final piece where FM radio interference was briefly apparent, my task was relevatively simple - some XR re-equalisation, a little hum and hiss filtering and a small degree of pitch correction to A440 was just about all this excellent recording required. By the time this concert was broadcast, sound engineers had had plenty of experience in setting microphones in Symphony Hall, Boston, and the balance here is fine, with a full sound further enhanced by the sense of space brought to the recording by Ambient Stereo processing.
Notes on the 24-bit download: Please see this page for test files and further information regarding this format. Although restoration work is done at a sample rate of 44.1kHz, we have upsampled the final 24-bit master to 48kHz for additional replay compatibility of our FLAC download. Our twenty-four bit FLAC downloads can be replayed in full quality using a standard DVD video player, a DVD writer and an inexpensive piece of PC software - see here for more information about replay from Video DVD discs.
Margaret Harshaw
Margaret Harshaw (b. 1909--d. Nov. 7, 1997) was an American opera singer celebrated especially for her Wagnerian performances at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City for 22 seasons beginning in 1942, singing both soprano and mezzo-soprano roles. Ms. Harshaw sang at the Metropolitan Opera from November 1942, when she made her debut as the Second Norn in Wagner's ''Die Gotterdammerung,'' until March 1964, when she gave her final performance as Ortud in ''Lohengrin.'' Because she spent the first nine years of her Met career as a mezzo-soprano and then switched to soprano roles, she sang more Wagner roles than any other singer in the Met's history. These include 14 roles in the ''Ring'' operas, in which she began as a Rhinemaiden and eventually sang all three Brunnhildes, as well as both Senta and Mary (in the same season) in ''Die Fliegende Hollander,'' Isolde in ''Tristan und Isolde,'' Magdalene in ''Die Meistersinger,'' Kundry in ''Parsifal'' and Elisabeth and Venus in ''Tannhauser.'' Miss Harshaw was born in Philadelphia in 1909 and began singing in church choirs as a child. From 1928 to 1932, she sang alto with the Mendelssohn Club, a chorus that performed with Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra. A series of competition victories in the early 1930's led to performances in Philadelphia, Washington and New York City, all before she enrolled at the Juilliard Graduate School to begin her formal studies with Anna Schoen-Rene in 1936. In March 1942, Miss Harshaw won the Metropolitan Opera's Auditions of the Air, and she began her career at the house at the start of the next season. In 1950 Rudolf Bing, the Met's general manager, was looking for a dramatic soprano to succeed Helen Traubel, particularly in Wagner roles, and persuaded Ms. Harshaw to switch to the higher range. She did so with notable success: her recordings as a soprano show her to have a clear timbre and considerable power. All told, she sang 375 performances of 39 roles in 25 works at the house and was heard in 40 of the Met's weekly live broadcasts. Her non-Wagner roles at the Met included four in Verdi works -- Amneris in ''Aida,'' Ulrica in ''Un Ballo in Maschera,'' Mistress Quickly in ''Falstaff'' and Azucena in ''Il Trovatore'' -- as well as Donna Anna in Mozart's ''Don Giovanni,'' Gertrud in Humperdinck's ''Hansel und Gretel,'' Genevieve in Debussy's ''Pelleas et Melisande'' and Herodias in Strauss's ''Salome.'' Ms. Harshaw also sang at Covent Garden, Glyndebourne, the San Francisco Opera, the Paris Opera and with companies in Philadelphia, Cincinnati, New Orleans, San Antonio, Pittsburgh and Houston. She also made several Latin American tours and was a soloist with many of the major American orchestras. Roles she sang outside the Met include Dalila in Saint-Saens's ''Samson et Dalila,'' Leonore in Beethoven's ''Fidelio'' and the title roles in Puccini's ''Turandot'' and Gluck's ''Alceste.'' Notes drawn mainly from obituary notice in the New York Times, November 11, 1997
Chales Munch in Boston historical notes
Münch made his début with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on December 27, 1946. He was its Music Director from 1949 to 1962. Münch was also Director of the Berkshire Music Festival and Berkshire Music Center (Tanglewood) from 1951 through 1962. He led relaxed rehearsals which orchestra members appreciated after the authoritarian Serge Koussevitzky. Münch also received honorary degrees from Boston University, Harvard University, and Brandeis University. He excelled in the modern French repertoire, especially Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, and was considered to be an authoritative performer of Hector Berlioz. However, Münch's programs also regularly featured works by composers such as Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, and Wagner. His thirteen-year tenure in Boston included 39 world premieres and 17 American first performances, and offered audiences 168 contemporary works. Fourteen of these premieres were works commissioned by the Boston Symphony and the Koussevitzky Music Foundation to celebrate the Orchestra's 75th Anniversary in 1956. (A 15th commission was never completed or performed.) Münch invited former Boston Symphony music director Pierre Monteux to guest conduct, record, and tour with the orchestra after an absence of more than 25 years. Under Münch, guest conductors became an integral part of the Boston Symphony's programming, both in Boston and at Tanglewood. Münch led the Boston Symphony on its first transcontinental tour of the United States in 1953. He became the first conductor to take them on tour overseas: Europe in 1952 and 1956, and East Asia and Australia in 1960. During the 1956 tour, the Boston Symphony was the first American orchestra to perform in the Soviet Union. The Boston Symphony under Münch made a series of recordings for RCA Victor beginning in 1949 and from 1954 to 1962, released in both monaural and stereophonic versions. Selections from Boston Symphony rehearsals under Leonard Bernstein, Koussevitzky, and Münch were broadcast nationally on the NBC Radio Network from 1948-1951. NBC carried portions of the Orchestra's performances from 1955-1957. Beginning in 1951, the BSO was broadcast over local radio stations in the Boston area. Starting in 1957, Boston Symphony performances under Münch and guest conductors were disseminated regionally, nationally, and internationally through the Boston Symphony Transcription Trust. And, under Münch, the Boston Symphony first appeared on television. Notes from full biography of Munch at Wikipedia
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