Pittsburgh International Contemporary Music Festival - complete 20 record set

$

40

This auction is for a complete collection of twenty 12 inch 33 1/3 RPM LP audio phonograph records entitled “Pittsburgh International Contemporary Music Festival cosponsored by Carnegie Institute and Pennsylvania College for Women.” It contains music performed by the Juilliard String Quartet, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the United States Military Academy Band, and various others. According to the Carnegie Library:

“The Pittsburgh International Contemporary Music Festival, held November 24-30, 1952, garnered the city's musical community in performances of newly-composed works with a virtual "who's-who" of living composers in the western musical world. This week-long series of concerts was held in conjunction with the 56th Carnegie Museum of Art International and originally conceived by composer Roy Harris. Sponsored by the Carnegie Institute and the Pennsylvania College for Women (now Chatham University), with performances by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra plus a wide-ranging number of local musical organizations and soloists, the Festival is now considered a cumulative benchmark of important musical composition in the middle of the 20th Century. . . .

The results of this competition saw the world premiere of new musical works by Luigi Dallapicola, Ross Lee Finney, Alberto Ginastera, Vincent Persichetti, Francis Poulenc, and Heitor Villa-Lobos among others. Composers in attendance who conducted or performed their own works included Roy Harris and Vincent Persichetti.

Concerts were held in the Carnegie Institute's acoustically renowned Carnegie Music Hall and in Syria Mosque Auditorium, the performance venue (now demolished) of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.”

For more details please reference:

http://www.carnegielibrary.org/research/music/pittsburgh/Pgh1952MusicFestival.html

or perform an online search of this event.

I’ve listed the condition of the records only as “good” as I’m not an expert on records nor have I played these. However, most of the records appear as if they might never have been played. There are some that do have some scratches and what look like minor manufacturing blemishes, but none of these looks significant enough to prevent playback, although they may produce some pops. All of the records have some dust and flecks of paper or cardboard from the sleeves and box. A few have fingerprints, but these are light and look to be easily cleaned. I have not attempted to clean any of the records as I assume that the buyer may have more professional ways of performing this than I. Note that the box and sleeves do not show much damage or decay. The photos show the surfaces of some, but not all, of the records. I have examined each of them and none are broken, cracked, or chipped. The box contains thick corrugated cardboard inserts that separate the records in groups of four. These protectors are original but not shown in any of the photos. Please note that the second photo is a composite intended to show all sides of the box. There is only 1 box and not 4.

Record #1 - Drinking Song from Sir John in Love / Vaughan Williams ; We Fight Not For Glory from The Testament of Freedom / Thompson (University of Pittsburgh Men’s Glee Club); Psalm XXIII : My Shepherd Will Supply My Need / Thomson ; Immortal Autumn / Finney (Heinz Chapel Choir); Cherubic Hymn / Hanson (The Bach Choir and Carnegie Institute of Technology Student Orchestra and Chorus)

Record #2 - Piano Quintet, Op. 57 / Shostakovich (Juilliard String Quartet) ; Piano Quintet / Piston (New Music String Quartet)

Record #3 - Serenade, for Tenor Solo, Horn and Strings, Op. 31 / Britten ; Music for String Instruments, Percussion, and Celesta / Bartók (String Sinfonia - Pittsburgh Symphony, William Steinberg conductor)

Record #4 - Rispetti e Strambotti, String Quartet / Malipiero ; Five Movements for String Quartet, Op. 5 / Webern ; String Quartet No. 1 / Piston (Juilliard String Quartet)

Record #5 - Symphony for Strings / Schumann ; Concerto Grosso / Bloch (String Sinfonia - Pittsburgh Symphony, William Steinberg conductor)

Record #6 - Concerto for Violin and Orchestra / Berg (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, William Steinberg conductor) ; String quartet no. 1 / Thomson ; Trio, for violin, viola, violoncello, op. 45 / Schoenberg (New Music String Quartet)

Record #7 - Piano Quartet / Martinu (Walden Quartet of the University of Illinois) ; String Quartet No. 4 / Bartók (New Music String Quartet)

Record #8 - String Quartet, A Minor / Walton ; Sonata for Flute and Piano, D Major, Op. 94/ Prokofieff ; Four Sonnets A Cassandre / Martin (Walden Quartet of the University of Illinois)

Record #9 - Bachianas Brasileiras no. 1 for 8 violoncelli / Villa-Lobos ; Protée : Symphonic Suite No. 2 / Milhaud (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, William Steinberg conductor)

Record #10 - Symphony for wind instruments / Stravinsky ; Suite for band / Milhaud ; Commando march / Barber ; To you, America / Still ; Bolero / Ravel (arr. by Captain E. Resta) - (United States Military Academy Band, Captain Francis E. Resta conductor)

Record #11 - Quartet no. 2 in A minor (The Walden Quartet of the University of Illinois) / Walton ; Quartet no. 1 / Virgil Thomson (The New Music String Quartet)

Record # 12 - Symphony for band / Harris ; Toccata marizale / Vaughan Williams ; Symphony for band / Hindemith (United States Military Academy Band, Captain Francis E. Resta conductor)

Record #13 - Symphony no. 5 / Honegger ; Lincoln portrait / Copland (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, William Steinberg conductor)

Record #14 - Partita for violin, viola and organ / Piston ; Sonata no. 1 / Hindemith ; Sonata / Krenek (Organ and Choral Concert)

Record # 15 -  Tudor portraits / Vaughan Williams (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra)

Record # 16 - Concerto for piano 4 hands, op. 56 / Persichetti ; Six pieces, for piano, op. 19 / Schoenberg ; Quaderno musicale de Annalibera / Dallapiccola (Piano and Percussion Concert)

Record #17 - Toccata for percussion / Chavez ; Sonata, for piano, 1952 / Ginastera (Piano and Percussion Concert. Conducted by Roy Harris.)

Record #18 - Fugue and chorale / Honnegger ; La nativite du seigneur / Messiaen ; Three chorale preludes / Sessions (Organ and Choral Concert)

Record #19 - Symphony of Psalms / Stravinsky ; Symphony no. 5 / Harris (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra)

Record #20 - Alabanzas del adviento, op. 30 / Santa Cruz ; Song of the pioneers / Chajes ; Psalm 103 / Freed ; Dance with me / Ahe ; Passer mortuus est (da Catulla) / Malipiero ; Svenska folkvisor / Rosenberg ; The golden harp, op. 93 / Read ; Shepherd's farewell, op. 35 / Saeverud ; Two French Canadian folk songs. Sainte Marguerite ; Le navire de bayonne / Willan ; Lendas amerindias / Villa-Lobos ; Vocalise (in modo russo) / Lopatnikoff ; A bucket of water / Phillips ; Ave verum corpus / Poulenc ; An immortality / Copland. (All Community Program)

Please send me a message if you have any questions regarding this set. It is from a smoke-free home and is sold as-is with no refund offered: I've tried to describe it as accurately and honestly as possible. The weight of the set in the shipping box is 12 lbs., so it will be shipped by USPS media mail in order to keep costs low.