Junk-label Debussy: Prelude a L'apres-midi d'un faune--The Philharmonic Orch., c. Joseph Berendt, c. 1953

 

I can't vouch for sure one way or another, but it's possible that, at some point in my music-appreciation development, I thought that Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun was about a baby deer (fawn), as opposed to the half man-half goat creature of Roman mythology (faun).  I'd hate to falsely accuse myself of such a thing, but it's possible.  And I loved the opportunity to rescue a junk-label Classical recording (probable year: 1953), though I regret that the piano side was too hammered (no pun intended) to salvage.  I tried, but it was no-go.  The pianist, Arthur Sandford, is terrific, but his piano tones can't compete with the needle-wear noise.  Somehow, though, The Prelude survived--there was just a little noise in the starting grooves that I was able to cancel out.

Not much I can say about this 1894 mega-classic, save to make the obvious point that Debussy's parallel dominant ninth chords and whole-tone-scale meanderings gave us the "modern" dance band arrangements of the 1920s, including (especially) Ferde Grofe's.  (I'm generalizing.  In this piece, after the famous intro, I'm hearing a dominant 9th -5 moving up a step to a regular 9th.)  In fact, the sort of creative chord substitution that occurred on so many '20s dance records were pretty much a gift from Debussy, though we have to remember that Debussy was highly influenced by the allegedly lesser fellow French composer Erik Satie, who was producing jazz-sounding harmonies ahead of Claude--more dissonant ones, too.  The dissonance of Faun is mostly what we could call period dissonance--mainly, his extended (9ths, 11ths, etc.) and "nonfuctional" chords, which, again, were majorly Satie-influenced.  Of course, world-rocking innovations have a way of becoming clichés the more often they're copied, and so to many modern ears Debussy's Faun may sound like unusually high-quality mood or easy-listening.  I suppose that Debussy, Satie, and Ravel pretty much invented mood music without ever suspecting it, though Satie did in fact write some music that was intended strictly as background fare.  So maybe he foresaw the Andre Kostelanetz era.  A genius like Eric, it wouldn't be surprising.

The quality of this recording, however, is surprising--I tend not to expect such almost-high-fidelity fidelity from any Eli Oberstein label, so kudos to Eli.  The only flaws, sound-wise, are some kind of machine noise in the quiet opening passages (the sound of the tape recorder?) and a lot of people-in-the-background noise.  All easily tuned out.  

Meanwhile, more fake hits coming.  And I hope I get through the heat-advisory weather tomorrow--my asthma is kicking up a little.  The weather person tells us that the heat index will be 105.  Yikes.  Even so, we're getting an easier dose of summer than many spots in the nation, so...

To the budget Debussy.  Anyone with background info on this disc, please share.  "Joseph Berendt" doesn't seem to be a front for someone else...

Oh, and fine budget liner notes, for once.  UPDATE: Eric has provided a link to this massively researched piece on Eli Oberstein's (Record Corp. of America) Classical releases, most of which had German sources (often, radio recordings and airchecks).  The piece includes a discography (on which the Debussy doesn't appear, unfortunately).  I knew that Eli's dealings were shady as can be, but hoo boy.  

DOWNLOAD: Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun (Debussy)--The Philharmonic Orchestra, c. by Joseph Berendt

Allegro Elite 3079 (probably 1953).

Lee