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Original Release of John-Edward Kelly's "Saxophone Works" CD

5K views 14 replies 8 participants last post by  Rackety Sax 
#1 ·
Kelly mentions on his website that "Saxophone Works of Ibert, Martin, and Larsson" was originally released on the "Line Classics" label and that the reissue on Arte Nova compromises the sound quality somewhat. I'd love to hear this recording in its original glory. Have any of you heard (or even seen!) the original release of this CD?
 
#2 ·
On a related issue, I just realized that it's been a looong time since a new Kelly release. He's got a dozen CDs listed on his website but they've all been out for quite a while. Anyone know of anything in the pipeline? A CD with Glazunov, LeFanu, and Meyer concertos has been listed on the Emergo Classics website (www.emergoclassics.com) since forever but I assume it isn't actually going to come out.
 
#3 ·
Emergo has been out of business for many years, I have no idea about that recording. John is now in Finland, performing Kalevi Aho´s concerto (today and tomorrow) and he´s also recording it with Tapiola Sinfonietta for an upcoming BIS release. I was listening to the concert today and will be there also tomorrow. An outstanding performance once again (I think he´s been here a dozen times) since 1980´s.
Olli-Pekka
 
#5 ·
I spoke with Mr. Kelly about his Glazounov recording this past March. He (like Olli-Pekka) confirmed that the Emergo line had gone out of business and that once this happened, all of their master tapes were seized. He doubts that the recording will ever be released, and if it is, it won't be for a long time. I do hope that he releases another recording in the near future, he is truly a great artist.
 
#6 ·
I heard recently that he is in the process of putting together his own quartet. I believe it will be called the John Kelly Quartet. The instrumentation will be rather unique for a professional quartet as it will be an alto-alto-tenor-baritone configuration. I guess since his altissimo is so good he doesn't need a soprano. I've heard he is trying to find composers to write for this special quartet setup. I hope some good pieces come from his search!
 
#7 ·
BKauth said:
[...] the Emergo line had gone out of business and that once this happened, all of their master tapes were seized. He doubts that the recording will ever be released, and if it is, it won't be for a long time.
Perhaps we can title that one "Saxophone Works But Company Fails."
 
#10 ·
I finally found a reference to the CD mentioned in the original post 11 years ago in the Florida State University music library (and a couple of other libraries around the world): http://fsu.catalog.fcla.edu/fs.jsp?st=FS=028294040&ix=pm&I=0&V=D&pm=1&fl=ba#hFSMUSCD

They give the details as Hamburg : Cantus Records, p1992, catalog # CACD 9.01219 Cantus

The parent label is Line Music, thus Kelly's reference to a "Line Classics" label. I presume Cantus was the classical label of the parent. They even have a website: http://linemusic.de/

Having finally solved that - anyone happen to have an extra copy laying around :bluewink: ?
 
#11 ·
I live in Tallahassee and I am going to see what I can do to get the recording online. Wish me luck!
 
#13 ·
Thanks to archive.org's "Internet Wayback Machine", I was able to find the article the OP mentioned that John-Edward Kelly wrote about this exact subject at hand -

My recordings of the famous saxophone works by Jacques Ibert, Frank Martin and Lars-Erik Larsson were originally released on the small "Line Classics" label, founded by the established German music production and distribution company, Line Music of Hamburg. Despite its excellent catalogue and high aspirations, the Line Classics label did not survive the industry-wide challenges of 1990's. Following Line Classics' demise, this CD was reissued along with several others from its catalogue by "Arte Nova", the low-priced classical music series of BMG Music. I was neither asked permission nor consulted in any manner about this re-issue, and Arte Nova's omission and alteration of various significant historical details concerning the recording, as well as their piecemeal use of the extensive texts I wrote for the original issue, are most regrettable. For the record, allow me to clarify the following points:

1) Original Texts: The texts included with the Arte Nova release include various factual errors and erroneous suggestions. My texts were never intended to be printed in the highly-edited, excerpted form found in the re-release. The complete, original text can be downloaded in .pdf format at the following link: (unfortunately this link is broken)

2) Recording Principles: The recording itself was made by the renowned Swedish recording engineer Bertil Alving of Stockholm, one of the most respected and experienced persons in the field of digital sound recording. In order to create a concert-like atmosphere, the recording was made in the city concert-hall of Kokkola, Finland, using only two B & K ball-pattern microphones, placed approximately 10 meters before the orchestra and 6 meters apart. As with all of my recordings, no solo-microphone was used and no attempt was made to artificially "correct" the balance. The recording was intended to be as natural-sounding as possible, with no technical intervention in or correction of the hall's natural acoustics. It was recorded on Sony 2-track DAT recorders, at the time considered state-of-the-art. Unfortunately, some of the natural clarity and sheen achieved by Bertil Alving in the original recording was lost in the unmonitored transfer to the Arte Nova release.

Audiophiles will be interested to know that all three works were produced without correctional editing. The editing process - completed under my supervision - consisted only of the montage of complete movements, all of which were recorded in continuous takes.

3) "First Recording" Claim: The producer of the original release proudly and correctly announced to the press that these recordings were the "first CD-recordings of the original versions of these works". On the Arte Nova release, however, it is indicated that they are the "First Recordings, Original Versions", which is completely untrue. Sigurd Rascher made a live 78 RPM recording of the Larsson Konsert in the late 1930's, and he made numerous radio recordings of all three works. Although these were the first commercial recordings of the original versions of both Martin and Ibert and the first CD-recordings of all three, the claim as indicated on the Arte Nova release is false and was made completely without my knowledge or consent.

- John-Edward Kelly, June, 2001
I received the Arte Nova re-issue in the mail yesterday and am listening to it now - his altissimo in the Ibert is absolutely breathtaking. I also received correspondence from the FSU Music Library director saying that I can come down to the library in person and listen to the CD. I may have to smuggle a flash drive into the library and make off with the audio files myself, we'll see.
 
#15 ·
An update to the SOTW community, as I'm sure all of you were waiting with bated breath for my next communique on this urgent matter.

Turns out this may have been a case of an item hiding out in plain view, so to speak. At least as of now, both Discogs and Amazon list this item on their website, though I don't know when these listings were created.

The discogs listing is here: https://www.discogs.com/Jacques-Ibe...thnian-Chamber-Orchestra-Juh/release/15826963 . There's even a reasonably-priced copy listed for sale there, though shipping from Germany is expensive (not to worry, I've sourced another copy that is supposed to be en route even as we speak).

The Amazon listing is a little more complicated. It was such a mess that a normal search would never have turned it up. I've succeeded in getting it partially corrected, though as of this writing the title is still wrong (seriously though, Cincertino??): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000057O8G?ref=myi_title_dp . The items listed there look suspiciously ghost-like. In fact, one of them I know is not real because I listed it just to aide the process of correcting the listing.

I have some even more exciting news concerning obscure classical saxophone recordings on the way, but that must wait a while longer. Please stay tuned.
 
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