1925 ACOUSTIC Albert Sammons Bruch VIOLIN Concerto G Min Hamilton Harty Columbia

$

60

A series of great  Solo instrumentals - Piano Violin Cello Harp, Winds and Brass on 78 rpm records

Click on this link to see more Solo Instrumental Records!

Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26
Albert Sammons with orchestra conducted by Sir Hamilton Harty

Recorded April 9, 1925, in English Columbia's Petty France Studios, London.  Issued in December, 1925, as Columbia L 1680 through 1682, and in the USA, in 1926, as Masterworks Set No. 30 (records 67152-D through 67154-D). 

Side 1 (AX1001-1): First movement (Vorspiel: Allegro moderato), part 1
Side 2 (AX1002-2): First movement, part 2
Side 3 (AX1003-2): Second movement (Adagio), part 1
Side 4 (AX1004-1): Second movement, part 2
Side 5 (AX1005-1): Third movement (Finale: Allegro energico), part 1
Side 6 (AX1006-1): Third movement, part 2

Please see top of the page for condition

Here's something for both violin fanciers and Harty fans - the Bruch
Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, played by Albert Sammons with Sir
Hamilton Harty conducting an unidentified orchestra. This, Sammons'
only recording of a non-British violin concerto, was made April 9,
1925 for English Columbia (matrices: AX1001 through 1006, all first
takes except sides 2 and 3 which are second takes) and released in
December, 1925 on L 1680 through 1682. This remained in the catalogue
a mere 27 months, being deleted in February, 1928 (along with most of
Columbia's acoustic sets).


Although scarcely a celebrity outside the United Kingdom, Albert Sammons was regarded by many fellow musicians and critics as the finest violinist ever to have been produced by England. A bold, yet sensuous tone, phrasing that was both virile and freely rhapsodic, and keen musicality all met in a man whose intensity set ablaze many a solo score. In addition, Sammons was an excellent concertmaster for several prominent British orchestras, taking from the experience a mastery of ensemble and interplay. Although Yehudi Menuhin's recording of the Elgar Violin Concerto with the work's composer was a justly famous one, Sammons' recording of the work from three years earlier was finer still. It was for Sammons that Frederick Delius wrote his violin concerto and Sammons premiered the work in 1919. His 1944 recording of that work, remastered and re-released by Naxos in a 2002 coupling with Elgar reveals his full dimension as an artist. 

Following a few basic lessons from his father and elder brother, Sammons studied briefly with two Ysaÿe students: Alfredo Fernandez and Frederick Weist-Hill. He began performing as a professional violinist at the age of 11, playing with the Earl's Court Exhibition Orchestra and soon leaving school. From the age of 15, he earned his living by performing in theater orchestras and in summers with a hotel ensemble in Harrogate. There, he performed the Mendelssohn Concerto in 1906; soon thereafter, word spread that the young man was an exceptional player. 

Urged to hear him at London's Waldorf Hotel in 1909, Thomas Beecham requested the final movement of the Mendelssohn piece and was stunned by the velocity with which Sammons managed the music. He offered him the second seat in his newest orchestra and soon thereafter made him the orchestra's leader. Solo performances with several other orchestras further enhanced Sammons' burgeoning reputation and in 1912, he performed Saint-Saëns' Concerto in B minor before an audience that included King George V and the composer. The New String Quartet, taking its name from Beecham's symphonic ensemble, was formed by Sammons in 1910 and, from that time forward, the violinist became as well known for his chamber performances as for his orchestral leadership. 

A distaste for travel abroad undoubtedly kept Sammons from becoming an international figure, but he did play some engagements in both France and Germany. With Australian pianist William Murdoch, he formed a duo sometimes joined by violist Lionel Tertis and cellist Cedric Sharpe. Elgar's Quartet and Piano Quintet were both given their first public performances in 1919 under Sammons' leadership. In addition to the Delius concerto, Sammons premiered Delius' String Quartet and Violin Sonata No. 2 (also written for him), as well as the concerti of George Dyson (1942) and E.J. Moeran (1946). The latter was recorded and represents Sammons' last appearance with an orchestra. By March of 1948, advancing Parkinson's disease had obliged him to retire from the concert stage altogether. 

In his final years, Sammons devoted himself to teaching at the Royal College of Music, instructing such students as Hugh Bean and Alan Loveday. A capable composer, Sammons won the Cobbet Prize for his Phantasy Quartet and wrote a number of effective encore pieces for violin and piano. A 1954 benefit given on his behalf at the Royal Albert Hall (attended by Sammons, despite his failing condition) celebrated the life's work of a unique and undeniably great artist.

 Career[edit]
Tertis was born in West Hartlepool, the son of Polish-Jewish immigrants.[1] (It has often been noted that his birth and that of the cellist Pablo Casals occurred on the very same day.) He initially studied the violin in Leipzig and at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London. There he was encouraged by the Principal, Alexander Mackenzie, to take up the viola instead.[2] Under the additional influence of Oskar Nedbal, he did so and rapidly became one of the best known violists of his time, touring Europe and the USA as a soloist.

As Professor of Viola at the RAM (from 1900), he encouraged his colleagues and students to compose for the instrument, thereby greatly expanding its repertoire.[3] In 1906, Tertis was temporarily in the famous Bohemian Quartet to replace the violist/composer Oskar Nedbal and later he took the viola position in the Gerald Walenn Quartet.

Composers such as Arnold Bax, Frank Bridge, Gustav Holst, Benjamin Dale, York Bowen and William Walton wrote pieces for him. The Walton piece was his Viola Concerto; however, Tertis did not give the world premiere as he found it difficult to comprehend at the time; that honour went to Paul Hindemith.

He owned a 1717 Montagnana from 1920 to 1937[4] which he found during one of his concert tours to Paris in 1920, and took a chance in acquiring. According to his memoirs, it was "shown to me in an unplayable condition, without bridge, strings or fingerboard.... No case was available – it was such a large instrument 17 1/8 inches – so my wife came to the rescue by wrapping it in her waterproof coat, and that is how it was taken across the English Channel." Tertis preferred a large viola to get an especially rich tone from his instrument. Knowing that some would find a 17-1/8-inch instrument too large he created his own Tertis model, which provides many of the tonal advantages of the larger instrument in a manageable 16-3/4-inch size.

Along with William Murdoch (piano), Albert Sammons, and Lauri Kennedy, Tertis formed the Chamber Music Players.[5]

In 1936, while at the height of his powers, he announced his retirement from the concert platform to concentrate on teaching. He appeared as soloist only one more time, at a special concert in 1949 to an invited audience at the RAM to help raise money for his fund to encourage the composition of music for the viola.[6]

He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1950 New Year's Honours.[6]

Tertis composed several original works and also arranged many pieces not originally for the viola, such as Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto. He was the author of a number of publications about string playing, the viola in particular, and his own life. They include Cinderella No More and My Viola and I.

Lionel Tertis died in Wimbledon, London.