Credits:

Fritz Kreisler

Description:

Chrysler fans rejoice! Biddulph of Strings" is now reissuing Bell Telephone Hour recordings. The Bell Telephone Hour was an American radio program broadcast from 1940 to 1958 (1959-68 on TV), sponsored by the Bell Telephone Company, which had achieved great success in the commercialization of the telephone. The cast included classical music stars such as Jascha Heifetz, Josef Hoffman, Ezio Pinza, and Lillie Pons, as well as jazz and pop stars such as Benny Goodman and Bing Crosby, and the program was so popular that its audience reached 8 to 9 million listeners. Kreisler also appeared on the program from 1944 to 1950, but only a few of his performances were ever recorded and never made available to the public. This CD is the first of three CDs of Kreisler's performances from the Bell Telephone Hour, and includes all of the concerto performances recorded on the program. Mozart's No. 3 is not in Kreisler's discography, so it is valuable even if it is only the first movement. And the greatest thing about this album is that it contains all the movements of Viotti's No. 22, which Kreisler loved to play but never recorded.Kreisler studied this piece so deeply that he not only composed the cadenza, but also created and published a piano accompaniment version of the score. This recording features his orchestration (expanded from the original orchestration) and is an extremely valuable source in many respects. Kreisler was involved in a car accident in New York in 1941, and although there were times when it appeared that he would never recover, he made a "miraculous comeback" in 1943. The Biddulph reissue also conveys the tautness and luster of the solo violin. The recording seems to have been made live with an audience, and at the end of each piece, we can hear the cheers and applause of the audience, who were so excited that they could hardly wait for the last note to fade away. This collection of Bell Telephone Hour recordings, which tell the story of Kreisler from just after his "miraculous comeback" to his retirement in 1950, will be a great surprise and delight for his fans. Naxos Japan