Ripped over two evenings by yours truly, this is a pops concert featuring old, but not necessarily vintage, versions of standard pop(s) concert pieces. That is, some of these pieces were already oldies by the 1910s and 1920s--the
Nell Gwyn dances, for instance, and
Over the Waves. Even Carl Zeller's
Don't Be Cross was fourteen years old in 1908, the year of today's Victor Orchestra version. And, by the time of Quentin M. Maclean's 1928 organ solo,
Ballet Egyptien was 53.
Chloe and
Cripple Creek (arranged by Lamar Stringfield) are contemporary, however, even if the latter is taken far more seriously by light concert historians (I hope, anyway!), especially after Spike Jones got done with the former. If it seems odd to put
Chloe and a concert version of
Cripple Creek in the same mp3 list, keep in mind that light concert/pops fare runs the gamut from incidental music of all types to orchestrated pop tunes to themes by Chopin and Beethoven to Arthur Fiedler going Disco. This may explain why only a few brave blogger-scholars plow into the history of this stuff. (I've always wanted to type "plow into the history of....")
By the way, as Copland-like as
Cripple Creek sounds, it predates that composer's efforts in the same vein.
Every one of these are 78 rips, and most sound pretty clean--the previous owners treated these gently. Several amaze me with their vivid recording quality, especially the 1925 sides by Jacques Jacobs, the Brunswick Hour Orch., and Arthur Pryor. Electrically-recorded Pryor is a revelation--what a full and impressive concert band sound. Meanwhile, Russian bandleader Dajos Bela's outfit sounds for (almost) all the world like Paul Whiteman's.
"Pop instrumental" is the chief term I use to describe this vast area of music, and if I seem to be bunching too much under a few headings, it's because I'm trying to cut through the zillions of labels already in existence, from lounge to salon to semi-Classical to Kroger music, all the way to Space Age Pop and its hundreds of sub-categories. The corrective to a glut of labels is a broad and inclusive approach.
To the pops:
Vintage Pops Concert
POPS-LIST
Ballet Egyptien (Luigini)--Quentin M. Maclean, Organ (Columbia 1356-D; 1928)
Pastoral Dance (Edward German)--Jacques Jacobs' Ensemble (Col. 540-D; 1925)
Merrymakers' Dance (German)--Same
Gypsy Love Song (Herbert)--Brunswick Hour Orch. (Brunswick 2972; 1925)
Chloe--Louis Katzman and His Salon O. (Brunswick 3993; 1928)
Was It a Dream--Same
Lilliputian Guard Parade--Dajos Bela's Artists Orch. (Columbia G-12167-F)
Sleeping Beauty's Bridal Procession--Same
Don't Be Cross (Zeller)--Victor Orch. (Victor 16396; 1908)
The Jolly Coppersmith--Arthur Pryor's Band (Same; 1905)
Over the Waves--Arthur Pryor's Band (Victor 19878; 1925)
La Paloma--Same
Cripple Creek (Arr. Lamar Stringfield)--National High School O. (Victor 22095; 1919)
Lee
