- Were those really wax platters inside, not metal masters or shellac pressings?
- This business about the cleanup, digitizing, etc.: all of the recordings were and are commercially available. They were not made especially for the Paris Opera vault.
- The author appears unaware that Ernestine Schumann-Heink was one of the great stars of her time, including at the Met, where she sang 282 performances between 1898 and 1932. She was also a radio star; my mother remembers hearing her on radio during the 1920s and 30s.
Lisa Hirsch's Classical Music Blog.
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Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Paris Opera Vault
The Times has published its second article in the last few months on a bunch of recordings that were in recently-opened time capsule-like vaults at the Paris Opera. The article leaves a lot to be desired.
The other accounts I have read make it clear that these records are indeed normal shellac pressings, not waxes. Another error in the article: Alfred Clark was head of the Gramophone Company's Paris branch, not of the company itself.
ReplyDeleteThank you for that confirmation!
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