1933 Manuel DE FALLA At the HARPSICHORD CONCERTO First REC Moyse Flute Darrieux

$

26

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A series of great  classical orchestral and instrumental performances by major conductors, composers and instrumentalists.

Manuel de Falla: Harpsichord Concerto
I. Allegro (3:23)
II. Lento (7:17)
III. Vivace (4:05)

Manuel de Falla, harpsichord
Marcel Moyse, flute
Georges Bonneau, oboe
Emile Godeau, clarinet
Marcel Darrieux, violin
August Cruque, cello

Manuel de Falla recorded his _Concerto for Harpsichord, Flute, Oboe, Clarinet,
Violin and Cello_ of 1926 in Paris, France in 2 sessions, on 2 and 7 June 1930.
 The recordings were made on four 78-RPM sides, which have been transferred
both to LP and to CD.  It remains a vivid performance, and it is a tribute to
both the performers and the engineers.  The concerto is a very intense piece
which alludes to the popular, religious and courtly styles of old Spain.  The
first movement alludes to the 15th-Century Castillian madrigal _De los álamos
vengo, madre_.  The central Lento movement was described by the composer as a
dream-like and fantastic evocation of a procession.  The last movement echoes
the sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti.  Although it is Neobaroque in form, its
personality is exotic rather than desiccated.  The _Concerto_ was composed for

Wanda Landowska, who played large sonorous modern Pleyel harpsichords specially
constructed for her, and which were much louder than genuine Baroque
harpsichords.
A month after this recording, the magazine _Revue Musicale_ published an
article about the sessions and the recording techniques.

Orig Issue viva tonal 2x 12" 78 rpm  records in matching, but later issue album with notes

Condition:

 EXCELLENT , plays exceptionally quiet, album solid, covers rubbed

Revue Musicale, July 1930

Behind the Scenes of the Phonograph:  The Recording of the _Concerto_ of Manuel
de Falla

Scarcely has he entered the studio when Falla is at the harpsichord.  His
ardent and tiny silhouette twists in front of the slender instrument.  With the
nervousness of a candidate at a Conservatoire competition (and this anxiety
marks the air of youth which has never left Falla), the author of the _Concerto
for Harpsichord, Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Violin and Cello_ tries a bar of which
the performance, since the morning, does not let him rest.  His severe
conscience will permit himself no weakness.  As he acknowledges himself in his
language of naïve colorations, this interpretation before the mike must be
"exemplary".  It is also the opinion of Darrieux, of Cruque, of Moyse, of
Godeau, of Bonneau, the partners of Falla, to play well in the recording which
is going to unfold, and for which Mr. Truc, engineer-musician-director, effects
the final preparations.  To each he assigns the place around the microphone
which his experience suggests to him, because the empirical method is the only
one which bears fruit in the present state of recording.  The science which has
put electricity to the service of the phonograph has refused to disclose to him
the mysteries of acoustics.  The microphone of today is, nearly, that of the
first attempts of 1924-25, and the progress which one can state with certainty
of the latest recordings is due to a better arrangement of instruments
via-à-vis the microphone.  To achieve results, one must proceed gropingly.  One
may not fix in advance the placement of this or that instrument.  This
placement varies not only according to the play of the artist, but also as a
function of the music interpreted and the quality of its harmonics.

But two strokes of the small bell are sounded.  A red lamp is illuminated.  The
first movement of the _Concerto_ sings quickly.  In the neighboring laboratory,
which smells well of hot wax, little or no modification since the previous
year.  If certain equipment have changed place, the principle which governs
them remains the same.  However the task of one of the two engineers or "disc
producers" has been lightly modified.  Whereas the engineer-electrician
continues as before to survey the good operation of the turntable and the
galvanometer, to manipulate lamps and small bells, to examine at the cutter the
engraved waxes; the other, the engineer-recorder, from whom is demanded not so
much a good eye but a good ear, has ceased to regulate the amplification
himself.  It turned out, in effect, that this operator with his
power-regulation hand-levers indicated nuances different and sometimes contrary
to those of the performers.  This was not always good for the music.  Today,
the engineer-recorder has for a mission to follow the score measure by measure
while the loudspeaker mounted above the recording apparatus reproduces the
performance in progress, and to note his observations which will be taken into
account for the definitive result.

Thus the first wax of the _Concerto_ is not judged satisfactory.  The sound of
the harpsichord is drowned by that of the winds and strings, even though Falla
had given all his strength, and, despite the technical difficulty, had used
only the lower, more sonorous keyboard of his instrument.

New attempt: the noisy strings are placed farther from the mike and the latter
is advanced toward the quiet harpsichord.  (Not too much however, for an
exaggerated oscillation of the recording needle would render the groove very
fragile).  This time, the part of the flute is barely perceptible.  It is
necessary to begin again.  A moment later, everything seems to go for the best,
when Falla leaps up in despair: he has missed a note.  Darrieux consoles him,
assuring him that no one is exempt from a mistake, no matter how slight.  "Yes,
I know," says Falla with his small rapid accent, "we are all in danger."  And
it is resumed.  One resumes thus for each of the three parts of the _Concerto_,
until the performance is perfect: in all some fifteen waxes.  In this time of
restriction, such a lavishness is delightful.  Needless to add that it does not
operate thus for all the artists who queue at the door of the studios.  Novices
are accorded but two waxes, taking account of stage-fright and "inspiration". 
But that a firm would generously dispense its personnel and the beautiful blond
discs to the service of a great modern artist (given the works sell alas much
less that those of the _Temps du cerises_ or of the _Monastery Garden_), these
compensate well for the bad discs offered to the eagerness of the multitudes.

The heat in the packed studio is stifling.  One is astonished at the stamina of
the fragile Falla, who here gives his all: hands at the keyboard, feet on the
pedals; head, elbows and arms marking the measures.  Sometimes, when his part
permits him, he leans toward his partners, beats the time, and his emaciated
face, with a quasi-mystical expression, thus makes one imagine the paintings of
Holbein and Dürer.

He does not give himself any respite.  During the short instants of rest, he is
again at the keyboard, trying a prélude or a fugue of Bach, or chatting with a
privileged few in his entourage, among home one recognizes one of his
biographers [Roland-Manuel] recently converted to the devil and comic opera,
and this critic and organist who has consecrated the best of his activities to
the cult of Bach [Gustave Bret].

The session has lasted no less than four hours.  The recorded work is so new,
so varied in its rich equilibrium, that one listened to it again without
weariness.  It is the best proof of its astonishing vitality.

One cannot leave the studio without evoking "the recording of the future." 
Already great changes are foreseen.  The technique of sound film, one day or
other, will supplant that of the disc.  The transparent and light film will
prevail over the heavy opaque platter.  But these are rumors behind the scenes
which do not again escape the scarcely ajar door.

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