WEEK 1 of 3 weeks of great auctions,  until Dec 18.

Some great collectible HOLIDAY GIFTS for yourself your friends and family.

IMPORTANT:

Per US Postal Service, the following dates for Christmas shipping have been posted:

Parcel Post - Media Mail - December 15 2011

Priority Mail - December 21 2011.

If you would like to receive your parcel for Christmas, pls let me know by email.

PLS READ BELOW for INCREASED SHIPPING CHARGES due to Ebay Policy

I AM HAPPY COMBINE MULTIPLE SHIPMENTS.

IF YOU WIN MULTIPLE ITEMS DO NOT USE EBAY CHECK OUT in order for me to get you low combined postage. Send me an invoice request instead.

Great German conductor and student of Gustav Mahler

One of the great Walter Vienna recordings between his Nazi dismissal from Berlin (he was of Jewish ancestry) and the Austrian Anschluss in 1938. In these last days pre-Anschluss, Walter recorded live Mahler's Lied von der Erde and the 9th Symphony

BRUNO WALTER here in one of the definitive recordings of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No 9

Recorded live from the Golden Hall of the Vienna Philharmonic in Vienna on

January 16 1938

Recorded live in Vienna in January 1938, the playing is deeply committed if not entirely perfect, and if all the lines of Mahler's complex, multi-thematic counterpoint are not always clear, one must remember that if he had heard or conducted the work, he might, as always, have made emendations. The performance is historically significant: two months later, Hitler invaded Austria and Walter, Mahler's foremost champion, as well as concertmaster Arnold Rosé, who plays the violin solos, and many other orchestra members, had to flee for their lives.

Condition: EXCELLENT Minus unworn, and quiet but records have some rubbed spots, lightest scratch on 19. Album in good shape, spine has some light fraying.

Death-obsessed and superstitious, Mahler tried to outwit Fate by composing an unnumbered "song symphony" after the Eighth, but when he wrote the Ninth in 1907, he had been crushed by several devastating blows and knew he was fatally ill. It remained his last completed symphony, and was not premiered during his lifetime. The symphony is a heart-breaking mixture of holding on and letting go, of joy and beauty remembered and distorted by the anguish of loss, of doomed hope, protest, defiance, and resignation. Its extreme changes of mood and emotion are indicated by Mahler's instructions, such as: "with inmost feeling," "very tender and expressive," "like a heavy funeral march," "with fury," "with utmost force," "without expression." The third movement, called "Burleske," is marked "very stubborn"; the second, a three-part dance called "A comfortable Ländler," is subtitled "somewhat clumsy and very uncouth." Changes of tempo and dynamics are often sudden and violent; climaxes build up, collapse, rise again, scale the heights. The orchestral colors are exploited to their maximum. The last movement is a leave-taking reminiscent of the "Farewell" from the "Song of the Earth," and, like it, dies away into nothingness.

Recorded live in Vienna in January 1938, the playing is deeply committed if not entirely perfect, and if all the lines of Mahler's complex, multi-thematic counterpoint are not always clear, one must remember that if he had heard or conducted the work, he might, as always, have made emendations. The performance is historically significant: two months later, Hitler invaded Austria and Walter, Mahler's foremost champion, as well as concertmaster Arnold Rosé, who plays the violin solos, and many other orchestra members, had to flee for their lives.

Bruno Walter (September 15, 1876 – February 17, 1962) was a German-born conductor. He is considered one of the best known conductors of the 20th century. Walter was born in Berlin, but is known to have lived in several countries between 1933 and 1939, before finally settling in the United States in 1939. Though he was born Bruno Schlesinger, he began using Walter as his surname in 1896, and officially changed his surname to Walter upon becoming a naturalised Austrian in 1911. Walter was for many years active as a composer, but his works have not entered the repertoire.
Born near Alexanderplatz in Berlin to a middle-class Jewish family as Bruno Schlesinger, he began his musical education at the Stern Conservatory at the age of eight, making his first public appearance as a pianist when he was nine. However, following visits to one of Hans von Bülow's concerts in 1889 and to Bayreuth in 1891, he changed his mind and decided upon a conducting career. He made his conducting début at the Cologne Opera with Albert Lortzing's Der Waffenschmied in 1894. Later that year he left for the Hamburg Opera to work as a chorus director. There he first met and worked with Gustav Mahler, whom he idolized and with whose music he later became strongly identified.[1]
[edit] Conducting

In 1896, Schlesinger took a conducting position at the opera house in Breslau – a job found for him by Mahler. The conductor recorded that the director of this theater, Theodor Löwe, required that before taking up this position he change his name of Schlesinger, which literally means Silesian, "because of its frequent occurrence in the capital of Silesia",[2] although other sources attribute the change to a desire to make his name sound less Jewish.[3] (Note: It is often stated that Walter was his middle name and he merely dropped the surname Schlesinger. This is not true; he had no middle name and "Walter" had never been one of his names.)[citation needed] In 1897, he took an opera-conducting position at Pressburg, and in 1898 he took one at the Riga Opera, Latvia. Then Walter returned in 1900 to Berlin, where he assumed the post of Royal Prussian Conductor at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, succeeding Franz Schalk; his colleagues there included Richard Strauss and Karl Muck. While in Berlin he also conducted the premiere of Der arme Heinrich by Hans Pfitzner, who became a lifelong friend.

In 1901, Walter accepted Mahler's invitation to be his assistant at the Court Opera in Vienna. Walter led Verdi's Aida at his debut. In the following years Walter's conducting reputation soared as he was invited to conduct across Europe – in Prague, in London where in 1910 he conducted Tristan und Isolde and Ethel Smyth's The Wreckers at Covent Garden, and in Rome. A few months after Mahler's death in 1911, Walter led the first performance of Das Lied von der Erde in Munich, as well as Mahler's Symphony No. 9 in Vienna the next year.
[edit] Munich

Although Walter became an Austrian citizen in 1911, he left Vienna to become the Royal Bavarian Music Director in Munich in 1913. In January of the following year Walter conducted his first concert in Moscow. During the First World War he remained actively involved in conducting, giving premieres to Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Violanta and Der Ring des Polykrates as well as Hans Pfitzner's Palestrina. In 1920 he conducted the premiere of Walter Braunfels' Die Vögel.

In Munich, Walter was good friends with Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII).[4]
[edit] United States

Walter ended his Munich appointment in 1922 and left for New York in 1923, working with the New York Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall; he later conducted in Detroit, Minnesota and Boston.
[edit] Berlin

Back in Europe Walter was re-engaged for several appointments, including Berlin in 1925 as musical director at the Städtische Opera, Charlottenburg, and in Leipzig in 1929. He made his debut at La Scala in 1926. In London, Walter was chief conductor of the German seasons at Covent Garden from 1924 to 1931.

In his speeches in the late 1920s, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler complained bitterly about the presence of Jewish conductors at the Berlin opera, and mentioned Walter a number of times, adding to Walter's name the phrase, "alias Schlesinger." [5] In 1933, when the Nazis took power, they undertook a systematic process of barring Jews from artistic life. Walter left for Austria, which became his main center of activity for the next several years, although he was also a frequent guest conductor of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra from 1934 to 1939, and made guest appearances such as in annual concerts with the New York Philharmonic from 1932 to 1936. At the time of the Anschluss in 1938, Walter was at a recording session in Paris; France offered Walter citizenship, which he accepted. (His daughter was in Vienna at the time, and was arrested by the Nazis; Walter was able to use his influence to free her. He also used his influence to find safe quarters for his brother and sister in Scandinavia during the war.)

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 Quick NOTE ON GRADING AND SHIPPING:

As you can see from my feedback, I try hard to earn your POSITIVE FEEDBACK and FIVE STAR RATINGS.

If for any reason your transaction was NOT SATISFACTORY, pls contact me and I will work something out with you. YOU WILL NEVER HAVE A REASON TO GIVE ME A NEGATIVE RATING or a LOW STAR RATING.

Quick note on grading:

The Grade (Excellent to Fair, I don't give Mint) refers to the WEAR of the record. Any other defects are stated separately, when prefaced with "HOWEVER" or "BUT" they will be significant.

When I listen to a record, I may also give it an aural grade (again E to F), and make a SUBJECTIVE judgment of the pressing quality for hiss and surface noise.
"SUPERQUIET" is basically noiseless, like a vinyl pressing.
"VERY QUIET" is an exceptionally quiet record for a given pressing.
"Quiet" is a record that is a great example without undue noise for a give pressing.

These judgments are SUBJECTIVE and will depend one the styli, phonograph etc. you use on your own equipment.

Pls check my other auctions for more great records and phonograph items:

Some items will come on-line later this week. Pls check again my auctions for more great items after Thursday Dec 1, 8:30 pm PST

http://shop.ebay.com/carsten_sf/m.html

http://shop.ebay.com/carsten_sf/m.html

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This is WEEK 1 of THREE consecutive weeks of auctions.

I am happy to hold your items and bill you at the end of the auction cycle. Pls send me a note if you would like me to hold records

Multiple item shipping: I am happy to combine items for shipment in one parcel.

If you win multiple items, pls send me an INVOICE REQUEST to calculate the correct postage. Ebay check out will not give you the multiple item discount!

Records will be packed safely between corrugated cardboard in a sturdy box with plenty of padding for safe shipment.

Shipment is usually Media Mail, unless another service is requested. Shipping is at your risk.

I charge actual postage plus a small fee for packing materials

As always, I guarantee your satisfaction. If you don't like the item, just return it, and I will refund the full purchase price.

If you are in the San Francisco area, I encourage pick-up in person.

EBAY NOW CHARGES 9% on all SHIPPING CHARGES
Also, USPS has increased postal rates. Since I am always shipping at cost, I am sorry to say that after keeping my shipping rates stable for 5 years, I unfortunately now have to increase the prices.

However, if you are interested in lowering you shipping cost, pls send me a message, and I may be able to arrange for better rates !!!

Here a quick breakdown of my costs, you see that due to the new Ebay policy you will pay anywhere from $.50 to $.80 in additional Ebay fees on the first record

US Domestic Shipping:

Here is a guideline for US Media Mail Shipping:

Prices below are for regular 78 rpm records. Up to about 5 records, I will ship Edison Discs for the same rates. Albums from Album Sets count as 1 record. Above that and for international shipments, it will be actual weight plus a small packing charge (1-3$ depending on size of shipment)

1 record: 4.75$

2 records: 5.75$

5 records: 7.50$

10 records: 9.50$

MANY MORE RECORDS: Don't worry. I safely ship 40 - 50 pounds of records double boxed in moving boxes, and even then Media Mail will probably not exceed 30$.

The numbers above include the 9% Ebay fee on shipments.
Pls ignore the automatically calculated prices on the ebay site, as I will weigh every parcel and charge based on actual weight.

Please send me a message if you would like to lower your shipping rates!

International Buyers:

All'attenzione degli acquirenti italiani:

ATTENTION TO ITALIAN BUYERS:

Due to rare problems with delivery in ITALY, I will NOT GUARANTEE delivery of parcels sent by US Postal Service First Class and Priority Mail. If you prefer secure delivery, I will be happy to quote you either Registered Mail or shipment by FEDEX

I am very happy to ship records worldwide.

Prices below are for regular 78 rpm records. For Edison Discs in  international shipments, it will charge for the actual weight plus a small packing charge (1-2$) - for small quantities, it will not be much different from the charge for regular 78s.

Pls contact me for a shipping estimate, or send me an invoice request after close of auction.

Be aware that US Postal Rates can be high. Here are some examples.

Your best bet is the Large Priority box, everything that fits into a 12"x12"x5 1/2" box up to 20 pounds ships for 60$ (35$ Canada) worldwide.

However, I can get competitive rates from FedEx and the US Postal service for any kind of parcel weight

Africa, Eastern Asia and Japan as well as Europe

1 record = 2 lbs $25 - $28

4 lbs = $37

20 lbs or all that fits into a 12"x12"x 5 1/2" box ((12" albums won't fit)= $60

I may be able to get some better FedEx rates.
Pls email with your address for an estimate.

Canada

1 record = 2 lbs $ 11 - $13

4 lbs = 22$
20 lbs or all that fits into a 12"x12"x 5 1/2" (12" albums won't fit)= $38
I may be able to get some better FedEx rates.
Pls email with your address for an estimate.

AND AGAIN -THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST

As you can see from my feedback, I take great care in presenting, grading and shipping your items. I really want you to be happy with the purchase. If you feel that anything is wrong with the item or the shipping, contact me and we will work it out !!!

Pls contact me with your country, home town and postal code before bidding for an estimate.

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As always, I would appreciate any suggestions and corrections from you, pls contact me with any question.

Thank you very much, and good luck bidding !!!