JOHN TAVENER "The Whale" 1970 UK APPLE 1st PRESSSING

	£		37
	$		49

 
JOHN TAVENER "The Whale" 1970 UK APPLE 1st PRESSSING G&L G/F COVER - SENSATIONAL CLEAN AUDIO - TOP COPY

JOHN TAVENER
The Whale


ORIGINAL AND EXTREMELY RARE UK APPLE RECORDS (SAPCOR 15) FIRST PRESSING (September 1970) OF JOHN TAVENER'S ASTONISHING PIECE "The Whale"

THE RECORD HAS SEEN LITTLE PLAY (probably played just once or twice) AND IT DELIVERS EXCEPTIONALLY CLEAN AUDIO, IMPORTANT FOR THIS RECORDING AS THERE ARE MANY QUIET, EVEN SILENT MOMENTS WHICH CAN ALL TOO EASILY BE SPOILT BY SUFACE NOISE
THE GATEFOLD COVER IS ALSO REMARKABLY CLEAN WITH A BEAUTIFULLY WHITE FRONT AND VIBRANT COLOUR TO THE INNER ILLUSTRATION OF THE WHALE

It was the premiere of The Whale, in January 1968, which made Tavener's reputation.
The first performance was given by the newly formed London Sinfonietta under David Atherton.
The piece, a cantata for soloists, chorus, tape and 'men with loud hailers', was enthusiastically received, with Tavener being hailed as the boy wonder of British music.
Ringo Starr was given a tape of 'The Whale' and Tavener met John and Yoko for a dinner and music evening in Kensington - the next day Lennon decided to issue Tavener's music on the newly formed Apple label

PRESSED ON QUALITY HEAVYWEIGHT VINYL WHICH DELIVER TREMENDOUS SOUND QUALITY - EXTREMELY IMPRESSIVE CUT ON THIS LP WITH DEEP, RICH AND WARM AUDIO
THE LP HAS THE FIRST DARK GREEN APPLE LABELS
MATRICES: SAPCOR 15 A-1U / SAPCOR 15 B-1U
MOTHERS/STAMPERS: 1/O and 1/A
AND IS HOUSED IN THE ORIGINAL MATTE GATEFOLD SLEEVE "Printed and made by Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd. Patents pending"

The Whale is a "dramatic cantata" written by the English composer John Tavener in 1966. The work is loosely based on the biblical allegory of Jonah and the Whale, although Tavener admitted that "the 'fantasy' grew and perhaps at times nearly 'swallowed' the biblical text: so the swallowing of Jonah became almost 'literal' in the biblical sense."
The libretto includes the words of an encyclopaedia entry describing certain facts about the whale, and this is contrasted with themes within the music which attempt to portray the reality of the whale itself, whose existence is greater than the sum of all the facts about it.
The Whale comprises three main sections:
Opening (Biblical Narrative)
Melodrama and Pantomime (Storm)
Prayer (In the belly of the Whale).
It was premiered at a Proms concert on 1 August 1969, with the London Sinfonietta under David Atherton with soloists Anna Reynolds, Raimund Herincx, Alvar Liddell and the composer playing pipe and hammond organs.
In July 1970, The Whale was recorded in Islington, London with the same musicians and released by The Beatles' Apple Records label later that year.

Side A: The Whale (Part 1) 18:23
Side B: The Whale (Part 2) 13:15

LABELS: CLEAN and BRIGHT with NO wear, NO writing and barely any spindle traces - one, possibly two on the Side Two label and none evident on Side One
VINYL Visual: The vinyl surfaces are CLEAN, BRIGHT, UNMARKED and retain their original DEEP, GLOSSY sheen with just a few light hairlines which have no real audio consequence
VINYL Audio: SENSATIONAL - CRYSTAL CLEAR, RICH, WARM and DETAILED SOUND. This LP is beautifully recorded and has a HUGE dynamic range - from the loudest crescendos and cacophonous walls of sound to complete and utter silence - a real challenge to the vinyl medium. On playback at a LOUD volume (which is how I always listen to my records prior to listing and how this astonishing piece really needs to be heard) there are NO scratches, NO discernible surface noise and NO loud clicks or pops (there are a few occasional, intermittent light 'ticks' but these are really very minor and never rise above background level). This is a TREMENDOUS (if challenging) piece of work which plays to an extremely high standard with NO groove-wear and NO distortion (its hardly been played) and is critically graded a strong EXCELLENT++ for audio - in my opinion, just about the finest sounding copy you will hear (certainly the finest I have heard)
SLEEVE: The matte gatefold cover is remarkably CLEAN, BRIGHT and FRESH with very little wear to speak of on either its edges or outer surfaces, and the spine is SHARP with all text CLEAR and BOLD. The inner surfaces are also clean, unmarked and unrubbed with vibrant rendering to the whale illustration/print. Beautiful example of this easily marked and worn untreated sleeve - EXCELLENT+

PLEASE HAVE A LOOK AT MY PICTURES - I USUALLY TAKE QUITE A FEW SO YOU CAN GET A CLEAR INDICATION OF EVERY DETAIL OF THE ITEM
I HAVE UPLOADED AS MANY AS I CAN BUT I WOULD BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO SUPPLY ANY ADDITIONAL PHOTOS ON REQUEST
SUPERB COPY OF JOHN TAVERNER'S MASTERPIECE AND ONE OF THE HARDER TO FIND ORIGINAL RELEASES ON APPLE - GREAT STUFF AND VERY, VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
PLEASE CHECK OUT MY OTHER AUCTIONS FOR MORE RARE AND COLLECTABLE VINYL
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THANKS FOR LOOKING, CHEERS

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POST & PACKING
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A PROTECTIVE POLY SLEEVE, QUALITY WRAPRO MAILER AND STIFFENERS ARE ALWAYS USED TO ENSURE THAT YOUR RECORD ARRIVES SAFELY


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 308 (GS 5.3.7 (308))