Welcome To

CRAIG CHASE VINYL

Don (ccvinylman) Larter, Owner

 Introduction (Revised 28 March 2010)

Craig Chase Vinyl (hereafter, CCV) is unique in ways directly affecting you, a buyer of vinyl records. 

First, as the owner of CCV I clean every record  I sell (and its jacket).  What other seller does that?  The answer is easy:  NONE!

Second, I play-grade every record I sell.  What other seller does that?  Not many!

Third, occasionally I provide you with some comparative prices I've researched on eBay, so that you can make an informed decision when there's an "identical" item from another seller.  Keep in mind, however, that my listed item will likely be the only one that is both cleaned and play-graded.   If possible, my starting bid will either match or be lower than the competition's.

In exchange for these three valuable services, you'll find my prices to be marginally higher than the seller whose sideline is records and who doesn't even have a turntable on which to play the records he sells!  (Yes, there are several sellers like this, believe it or not.)  I seldom, if ever, start the bidding at 99 cents.  About the lowest-price record I sell starts at $3.62, which in today's economy is pretty darn cheap!   

When you compare the burden of a slightly higher price to the peace of mind you get by knowing in advance what your desired record sounds like, however, I think you'll agree I'm a good person to do business with. 

If you haven't already, please give me a try.  I ship quickly (usually within 24 hours of receiving payment), I ship safely, and I communicate with you at each step of the sale.  Moreover, I offer a no-questions-asked, money-back guarantee in the eventuality I mess up.  Believe me, it doesn't happen very often! 

Over the past seven years, hundreds of people from about 60 countries around the world have bought records from me, and not one has given me a negative feedback.

Best wishes to you, and thank you for looking me up!

• Sealed = Unopened and unplayed; condition unknown
• NM+ = Near Mint Plus. Extraordinarily clean and quiet; may not have been played
• NM = Near Mint. Clean and quiet, regardless of scuffs or apparent defects
• NM- = Near Mint Minus. Less quiet than NM, with a bit more background noise regardless of its source.
• VG++ = Very good plus plus. Noisier than NM-; may say why.
• VG+ = Very good plus. Noisier than VG++; will say why.

NOTE:  My basic grading for album jackets/boxes includes Good, Very Good, Almost Excellent, and Excellent.  Good signifies it has some challenges, including wrinkles, soiling, ripped seams and possibly writing.  I usually repair ripped seams with hot glue, and surface grime I remove with gentle cleaning products, such as GOO GONE, which dries without staining.  I finish most album jackets with a furniture spray to restore sheen and remove dust and fingerprints.  Very Good signifies slightly better condition of the sleeve, with no rips in the seams and a higher level of cleanness in general.  Almost Excellent is a step above Very Good and is what you'd expect of a jacket that has been well cared for.  There might be a slight corner bump or small evidences of wear, such as almost invisible, hairline scratches, but that's all.  Excellent is what you'd expect of a jacket that has never shed its shrinkwrap sleeve because it's either still sealed, or only the open end has been slit.  Still, if a corner is bumped or wrinkled, or if dirt has managed to penetrate the shrinkwrap, or there is some other defect, I'll likely downgade the jacket to Almost Excellent.  If you're a real jacket fanatic, I'll always be glad to give you in an email additional details of the jacket's condition.  Simply ask! 

2. Professional cleaning (again, please see my ME site for reasons why I perform this time-consuming service for my customers) of virtually every record and sleeve sold, by using proprietary methods that are extremely gentle and effective on records.
3. The offering of a wide variety of repertoire and genres, particularly classical, at many different price points.
4. Fair dealing, prompt and friendly communication, and speedy delivery.
5. My expecting payment within 10 days of purchase, unless negotiated otherwise.
6. A no-questions-asked return policy if our play-grades differ significantly. I will even refund the return shipping charges (though not the initial, to you, shipping charges).
7. Posting of positive feedback for high bidders who pay in a timely fashion (or who email me saying why they do not); posting of negative feedback for those who do not.

NEW LISTING!

Item Description   There's a copy of the predecessor to this re-issue on sale by a competitor from Montreal.  It's #370288296171, and it sells for $14.99.   Also, a Toronto seller is selling the same item as I am for a B.I.N./M.O. price of $39.99; it's #190266914105.    Though smudged, the autograph and inscription by Szeryng is still readable.  It says:    To the honorable Steve Clark Mayor of Dade County with friendly thoughts and wishes from Henryk Szeryng Nov 21, 1986   When Szeryng signed this album, he had but two more years to live.   I've attached a brief biography of Szeryng to the end of this listing.  You can find it, and many other fascinating bits of information about Szeryng at the web site devoted to his life and work.    
• Label/Data:  Philips:  412915 stereo, made in Holland
  Description:

             ---Orchestra/Group:  Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields

             ---Conductor:  Neville Marriner

             ---Soloist(s):  Violinist Henryk Szeryng

            ---Work(s) Performed:  Bach:

                Violin Concertos in E major and A Minor

                Double Concerto in D minor

                Air from Suite No.3

• Condition of Record: Visual grade:   NM-   Play grade:   NM+ 

• Condition of Jacket/Sleeve/Box:  Almost excellent.  Autographed and inscribed on back by the featured artist.

« To breathe is to want,
to want is to get,
to get is to give,
to give is to live,
to live is to love »
Henryk Szeryng

Henryk Szeryng was born in the Warsaw suburb of Zelazowa Wola, the birthplace of Chopin, into a wealthy family, his father being a highly successful industrialist. At the age of three, his musical studies began with piano lessons from his mother. He was seven when he picked up the violin and made it his instrument.

Szeryng's first teacher was Maurice Frenkel, who was an assistant to Leopold Auer in St.Petersburg prior to World War I. Although Frenkel was perhaps the most influential teacher of young Henryk, the wonderfully disciplined training in matters both musical and technical came from the renowned pedagogue Carl Flesch (1873 - 1944), whose expertise virtually created and nurtured Szeryng's immense talent between the years 1930 and 1933.

Flesch was the major musical force that influenced the boy's life through his remarkable teaching approach. It should be mentioned that it was the famous Polish violinist Bronislaw Huberman who, after hearing the 10 year-old Szeryng play the Mendelssohn concerto, convinced his parents that they should approach Flesch.

Later through the elegant and profound Jacques Thibaud and the coaching and guidance of Gabriel Bouillon, Henryk Szeryng became firmly associated with the French school of violin playing. His studies with them led to his graduation from the Paris Conservatoire with the coveted First Prize in 1937. It was back in 1933 that Szeryng made his debut as a concert artist playing the Brahms concerto which, as it turned out, was so highly successful that an extensive concert tour followed immediately in spite of his ongoing studies.

The legendary Nadia Boulanger, his guide in counterpoint and composition, introduced him to such personalities as Heitor Villa-Lobos, Alfred Cortot, Manuel Ponce, Igor Stravinsky and Maurice Ravel.

At the outbreak of World War II Szeryng was appointed liaison officer and interpreter (he spoke and wrote in eight languages) by General Sikorski for the Polish government in Exile. He served in that capacity until 1945, having given well over 300 concerts for allied troops in Europe, Africa and the Americas. In 1942 he joined the exiled Polish Premier in Mexico. The Premier was in search of a home in Latin America for about 4.000 Polish refugees displaced by the war. It was Mexico that finally accepted these desperate and homeless people. Henryk Szeryng was so moved by this humanitarian gesture that he returned to Mexico in 1943. He was offered the post of director of the string department at the National University of Mexico so that he could reorganize the Mexican violin school. In recognition of his musical and cultural merits, he was granted Mexican citizenship in 1948.

Besides this important task, Szeryng regularly gave concerts all over Latin America until the day in 1950 when he met in Mexico his fellow Pole, Arthur Rubinstein, who encouraged him to extend his musical activities over all five continents. The two men enjoyed the deepest friendship which was built upon mutual admiration and respect for each other as human beings and musicians. Rubinstein, who died in 1982, thought of his friend as an artist of the highest order and remarked: "Real music lovers want emotion - great moments - which Szeryng's playing gives them."

Apart from sterling musicianship, Szeryng was a tonalist and a colorist, whose broad musical lines and innate interpretative qualities always reached for the highest peak in the art of violin playing, while his technical command was awesome. This gift was lavished upon an absolutely huge repertoire that delighted his audience around the world. What he asked of himself was exacting, but the result of what he achieved was about as close to perfection as one is likely to encounter.

Szeryng was one of the most recorded violinists in the history of recording with a recording career that spanned more than forty years. It was Szeryng who rediscovered and was the first to record Paganini's third violin concerto. Chávez' "Mexican" concerto, the "Cuban" concerto by Csonka, violin concertos by Manuel Ponce, Benjamin Lees, Camargo Guarnieri, and Jean Martinon, the "Poema Concertante" by Xavier Montsalvatge and compositions by Julian Carrillo, Román Haubenstock-Ramati, Peter Racine Fricker and José Sabre Marroquín are among the works written for him. They were part of his vast program repertoire ranging from the Bach Sonatas and Partitas for violin solo to the great classical concertos. No violinist drew upon a larger number of substantial compositions than Henryk Szeryng!

Apart from the various posts he had held over the years, Szeryng had been appointed Mexican Roving Ambassador for Culture in 1956 and Special Music Advisor to the Mexican Permanent Delegation to UNESCO in 1970 being the first artist ever to travel on a diplomatic passport.

Many honors have been bestowed upon Henryk Szeryng, such as the Grand Prix du Disque six times, the Grammy Award, the Edison, the Golden Record, the Wiener Flötenuhr and the Golden Medal of the Cities of Paris and Jerusalem. In addition, among others he received the Order of Polonia Restituta , the "Commendattore alla Reppublica" of Italy, he was made an Officer of the Crown of Belgium and a Commander of the order of "Alfonso X El Sabio" of Spain. He received the Cross of an Officer of the French Legion of Honor, the Gran Premio Nacional of Mexico and the Commander's Cross of the Order of St.Charles of Monaco. The awards recognize the esteem in which the world held this exceptional man.

The violins that have passed through the hands of Henryk Szeryng are a story in themselves. There was the "Hercules" Stradivarius of 1734 which at one time belonged to Eugene Ysaye. Szeryng put this famous instrument into the hands of Teddy Kollek, Mayor of Jerusalem on December 24, 1972 as a special token of friendship towards the Golden City to be used by the concertmaster of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

He presented the Prince Sovereign Rainier III of Monaco with his famous Vuillaume, the Messiah Stradivarius copy and he gave to the City of Mexico the "Sanctae Theresiae" instrument by Andrea Guarneri of 1683. Szeryng gave away the majority of his violin collection to cities or to students, such as Shlomo Mintz, who had studied with him in Geneva, retaining only his great Guarnerius del Gesù 1743 "Leduc" and the Pierre Hel 1935, a copy of the Guarnerius del Gesù "Le Roi Joseph".

Henryk Szeryng, a great musician, diplomat, pedagogue and philanthropist, died suddenly in the middle of a tour in Germany after a concert in the city of Kassel. The program of his last performance was the same as for his very first concert 55 years before: the Violin Concerto by Brahms.