THE ALL STAR PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE LP 1983 1ST PRESS Harold Farberman MMG NM

$

100

THE ALL STAR PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE Plays Bizet Beethoven Pachelbel And Berlioz LP

MMG 1983 D-MMG 115 - Original 1st Pressing

Recognized By Just About Every Hi-Fi Magazine Around The World As One Of The Most Prized Audiophile Recordings. Harold Faberman Conducting.

Incredible symphonic percussion masterpiece! Not easy to find in this condition. See detailed grading below. There’s tons of great quiet percussive moments. Having a very clean copy like this really helps enjoy the vinyl pressing as it was intended

Cover - STRONG VG+. Although closer to EX, I’m using Strong VG+ to be conservative. Very little edge wear mostly on spine & 1 spot on opening. Not much! Extremely light corner wear on the very tip right corner, & barely that. See photos. Really nice shape. (Thanks for the interest, I added 1 more pic of cover)

Vinyl EX to NM. A few light entirely inaudible marks that are sometimes left from an original poly inner sleeve. No spindle marks! Zero scratches! Played all the way through while listening carefully to grade vinyl. I do not use these grades lightly. I’m confident it was the 2nd time this was played! Has a very minor edge warp & a few crackles at very tip edge / beginning of side A only. All go away entirely after approximately 10 to 15 seconds. Accurate detailed grading. See feedback & buy w/ confidence. Super nice keeper copy!

See my other items. It will be packed with care & shipped as soon as payment is received. Offers welcome. More will be listed in the days/weeks to follow

(Review online) The recording quality is outstanding (honest, it is amazing audiophile quality) and the performance is breathtaking. I don't write many reviews but felt I should share the joy of this by writing a review. I had my attention brought to it by an audiphile listing that recomended it, and they were correct.

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A STATE OF THE ARTS RECORDING

BIZET: CARMEN FANTASY

BEETHOVEN: SCHERZO FROM THE NINTH SYMPHONY

PACHELBEL: CANON

BERLIOZ: MARCH TO THE SCAFFOLD FROM SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE

ARRANGED AND CONDUCTED BY HAROLD FARBERMAN

Long after the strings, woodwinds and brasses were

effectively exploited, percussion instruments have

only recently become the last members of the sym-

phonic family to be used fully and sensitively by the

composer. Creative interest in the symphonic percus-

sion section began in earnest in the late 1940's and

has not yet abated; the musical results have been

impressive. It is safe to say that the skillful use of a

liberated percussion section has changed the very

sound of contemporary symphonic literature.

One of the by-products of this welcome develop-

ment has been the emergence of the percussion

ensemble as an independent performing entity

throughout the United States and all over the world.

It is estimated that there are more than a thousand

functioning percussion ensembles in sch0ols, col-

leges and universities in the United States alone, and

that number increases with each passing year.

These performing ensembles have programmed new

works by some of our most gifted composers, and

they are responsible for adding a new dimension to

America's listening experience

ble music.

The percussion orchestra has within itself an

astonishing sound spectrum, with both pitched and

non-pitched instruments. It can produce the highest

of pitched sound as well as the very lowest, and can

assault the ears with dense sonorities at the highest

decibel levels or produce a simple shimmering

pianissimo. Moreover, the ensemble has a capability

of producing pure sounds of differing characteristics

that is unequalled in any other section of the sym-

phony orchestra.

While the percussion ensemble is a stimulating

medium for interested composers to explore, it is

also an overall sound source that, because of the

very nature of its particular strength and character,

can easily outwear its welcome. Because it is a

single sound source, and in many respects an

unyielding one, it must be treated with special con-

sideration and care.

The four composers whose works I have adapted

to create the music recorded here are all quite dif-

ferent from each other, and yet I have approached

them as a single musical organism. It is my hope

that even after transfer to the same sound source

they would co-exist with each other without giving

up or cancelling out any of their respective original

characteristics in terms of style, color or content.

BEETHOVEN: Scherzo from the 9th Symphony

percussion ensem-

This is the most conservatively -I might say the

most "classically"

ed works. Relatively few, and very basic, percussion

instruments are employed in this transcription. In the

original work, instrumental color is not a major com-

positional factor (as development and structure are),

and the percussion scoring faithfully reflects the

original. In this case, once a percussion instrument

is assigned the material of a given instrument in the

original scoring- e.g., xylophone for violin I, or

wood block for horn pedal - that representation re-

mains constant throughout the entire section of the

work, even though it might be felt that the overall

sound would be enhanced by the addition of a fresh

restructured of all the record-

percussion sonority. In this arrangement the metallic

instruments (glockenspiel, vibraphone, triangle,

cymbal) are used in the section just before the

recapitulation chiefly to clarify Beethoven's structure,

rather than as a purely coloristic device.

• Instruments used here are (in 8 parts):

xylophone /xylophone, glockenspiel/suspended

cymbal and vibraphone/tambourine, 4 wood blocks

(high-low), 2 mounted castanets, glockenspiel/

marimba/3 snare drums (high-low), 4 temple

blocks, small triangle, bongos, tambourine/timpani/

anvils, gourd, maracas, claves, tambourine,

antique cymbals, gong, tam-tam.

PACHELBEL: Canon in D

This work, composed much earlier than the

Beethoven, lends itself naturally to a larger percussion

palette because of its canonic nature. I wrote

for various instrumental blocks, in differing spaces

- principally groups of glockenspiels, groups of

vibraphones, groups of xylophones, generally left to

right across the stage, to clarify the canonic nature

of the piece. Andrew Kazdin, our recording producer,

recognized this concept in the score and

devised a recording plan that captured this idea

stereophonically. The arrangement moves from the

highest, brightest register of the percussion orchestra

(high-pitched metals) to the very bottom and

darkest register of the percussion range (timpani,

tam-tam, etc.) in the concluding section prior to the

final D major flourish.

* Instruments used in this transcription are timpani,

marimba, glockenspiels, vibraphones,

xylophones, snare drums, triangles, bell tree,

suspended cymbals, gongs, maracas, claves,

castanets, sleighbells, bongos, tambourine, cabasa,

wood blocks, temple blocks, antique cymbals, tam-tam

and chimes.

BERLIOZ: March to the Scaffold from

"Symphonie fantastique"

I have added a new beginning and an ending to

this dramatic and instrumentally colorful movement:

pace Hector! Moving from the compositional styles of

Beethoven and Pachelbel to that of Berlioz allowed

me a far greater instrumental flexibility. Color is an

indispensible element in this orchestration, just as it

is in Berlioz's original. Instruments not heard in the

Beethoven and Pachelbel pieces are utilized prominently here

bell, roto-toms. Conventional sound sources are

changed to produce new sonorities – e.g., cymbal

played with a bass bow, "bending" notes on the

vibraphone, etc.

* Instruments used: timpani, vibra-slap, marimba,

suspended cymbals (bowed), wind machine, gongs,

tam-tam, ship's bell, sizzle cymbal, bass drum with

cymbals, glockenspiels, vibraphone, chime, slap-

stick, xylophones, bongos, snare drums, tam-

bourine, roto-toms, wood blocks, metal pipes, tenor

drum, hand cymbals.

wind machine, vibra-slap, ship's

BIZET: Carmen Fantasy

Here I have tried to create a shifting, more or less

"operatic" series of pieces with a large international

assortment of percussion instruments

Western, Oriental, Latin, and some old African

instruments newly discovered by many American

percussion ensembles. This Fantasy does not unfold in

the order in which the respective component pieces

are heard in the opera itself; the Finale, here, in

fact, is part of the Prelude in the original. I have

created a new Introduction, and have added a short

coda in the Finale. The sequence in full is:

standard

Introduction (new)

Habanera

Entr'acte to Act IV

Entr'acte to Act II

Gypsy Dance

Entr'acte to Act III

Seguidilla

Toreador Song

Finale (with coda-new)

Several instruments are used in this Fantasy

which are not heard in the other works recorded

here

the African thumb piano in the Act IV Entr'acte, the

lion's roar in a truly raunchy version of the

Seguidilla. Again conventional instruments are used

to produce unexpected sonorities - chimes played

with triangle beaters in the Act IV Entr'acte, for

example (I should mention that all the instruments in

all the music on this record are played with a variety

of sticks, beaters, etc.). I have also added such

non-instrumental effects as hand-clapping and foot-

stamping in the Gypsy Dance.

* Instruments used: timpani, gourd, cowbells

(tuned and untuned), tambourines, triangles,

castanets, temple blocks, wood blocks, antique cymbals,

chimes, marimba, xylophones, glockenspiels,

vibraphone, kalimba (African thumb piano), bamboo

rattle, slap-stick, sleighbells, cabasa, gongs, snare

drums, tenor drums, timbales, bongos, roto-drums,

Chinese glissando cymbals, sizzle cymbal, suspended

cymbals, maracas, vibra-slap, metal castanets,

bell tree, wind chimes, claves, waterphone, rute

(birch twig, on bass drum), anvils, tuned Thai

gongs, African log drums, lion's roar, tam-tam.

Also, as noted above, handclapping and foot-

stamping.

*A note to performing ensembles: in many in-

stances optional scoring is available for concert performances.

waterphone and tuned gongs in the Finale,

A final word must be added here about the people

who brought to life what I had written. Having been

a percussionist myself, I knew exactly the kind of

performers I needed: seasoned professionals capable

of a one-time-for-recording performance. Eight

players performed each of the works recorded here:

this in itself attests to their virtuosity, for the newly

published versions 1 call for ten players to cover the

same material. All eight were superb, all-stars in the

best sense. [A special thanks to Bob Ayers and

Adrian Wilcox for 'filling in' for 2 percussionists during

the last 26 seconds of the Carmen Fantasy.]

The recording producer, Andrew Kazdin, who is

now Audio Supervisor of the New York Philharmonic

broadcasts as well as numerous recordings, is

himself a former percussionist, and so had an

especially clear understanding of what was required

and how to achieve it. As my completed scores were

delivered to him, he designed a wonderful recording

plan which has captured as true a percussion sound

as I have ever heard in a recording.

Printing the names of all the performers and the

producer on the front of the record jacket was not a

casual gesture, but rather a conscious

acknowledgement of the respect and gratitude owed to these artists.

HAROLD FARBERMAN

1 Berlioz, Bizet and Pachelbel transcriptions

published by Cortelu Music; Beethoven published by

G. Schirmer, Inc.

PRODUCED BY ANDREW KAZDIN

Born in New York City, Hareld Farberman began his

career as a percussionist. He won a scholarship to

Juilliard, was the spotlighted drummer in the Radio

City Music Hall, and became at age 20 the youngest

player in the history of the famed Boston Symphony

Orchestra at that time, where he remained for 12

years under Charles Munch and Erich Leinsdorf. In

1953 he composed a work ("Evolution") which was

to alter the direction of his career. Aaron Copland

urged him to study composition, and so Farberman

went back to school, earning his Masters Degree in

composition from the New England Conservatory in

Boston. Then he formed his own New Arts Orchestra,

which he took on tour to various places, including Town

Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York. In

1963 he left the BSO to devote his time to composition

and conducting, and had outstanding successes

on the podiums of Europe and the U.S., leading

such orchestras as the New Philharmonia, Royal

Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart

Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra,

English Chamber Orchestra, Hessischer Rundfunk,

Stockholm Philharmonic, and the Swedish

and Danish Radio Orchestras. In 1968 he was

chosen principal guest conductor of the Denver

Symphony as well as music director of the Colorado

Springs Symphony; and in 1971 he was appointed

Music Director of the Oakland Symphony, a position

he held for 8 years. He has recorded for several

labels

his own works, and those of Mozart,

Beethoven, Schumann, Glière, Bartók, Ives and

others. His own works have been recorded by

Leopold Stokowski, Phyllis Curtin, the New York

Brass Quintet, the Dorian Quintet and others.

Warning: All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws.

Recorded on March 8 and April 12, 1982 at

Vanguard Recording Studio, NYC.

Recorded on a Sony PCM 1600 Recorder.

Recording Engineer: Tom Lazarus

Digital Engineer: MacDonald Moore

Cover Painting by Pamela Benham

Photography by Charles Weisehahn

Art direction by Michael Richman

Instruments made available by:

Carroll Musical Instrument Service Corp.

Robert Ayers Percussion Instrument Rental

Herb Harris

TMK(s)OMMG • Marca(s) Registrada(s) Printed in U.S.A.

O 1983 THE MOSS MUSÍC GROUP, INC.,

48 West 38th Street, New York, NY 10018

Distribué au Canada par/Distributed in Canada by

The Moss Music Group (Canada) Inc., 510 Coronation, Drive

West Hill, Ontario, Canada M1E 4X6

—

Tracklist:

A1 Carmen Fantasy

Composed By – Bizet

20:21

B1 Scherzo From The 9th Symphony

Composed By – Beethoven

7:20

B2 Canon In D

Composed By – Pachelbel

8:48

B3 March To The Scaffold From Symphonie Fantasique

Composed By – Berlioz

5:56

Companies, etc.

Recorded At – Vanguard Studios

Credits

Arranged By – Harold Farberman

Art Direction – Michael Richman

Artwork [Cover Painting] – Pamela Benham

Conductor – Harold Farberman

Engineer [Digital] – MacDonald Moore

Engineer [Recording] – Tom Lazarus

Musician – Abraham Marcus, Arnold Lang, Arthur Press, Bent Lylloff, Donald Miller, Everett Firth, John Soroka, Mickey Bookspan, Roland Kohloff, Walter Rosenberger

Photography By – Charles Weisehahn

Producer – Andrew Kazdin

Percussion instruments have only recently become the last members of the symphonic family to be used fully and sensitively by composers, long after strings, woodwinds and brasses have been effectively exploited. Creative interest in the symphonic percussion section began in earnest in the late 1940s and has not yet abated, with rather impressive musical results thus far achieved. It is safe to say that the skillful use of a liberated percussion section has changed the very sound of contemporary symphonic music. One of the by-products of this welcome development has been the emergence of the percussion ensemble as an independent performing entity throughout the US and all over the world. These ensembles have programmed new works by some of our most gifted composers and they are responsible for adding a new dimension to Americas listening experience. The four composers whose works have been adapted to create this program are all quite different from one another, yet, they have been approached as a single musical organism, with the hope that, even after transfer to the same sound source, they would coexist with one another without giving up or cancelling outany of their respective original characteristics of style, color, or content.