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This recording of the Genesis Suite, featuring movement composed by, among others, Stravinsky, Milhaud and Schoenberg, is one of the rarest commercially issued US 78rpm sets ever. Rarely seen or heard in this original version, here finally is a chance to hear the work as envisaged by its creators just three weeks after its première performance by the same musicians and narrator. Truly a slice of almost-lost recorded history.

Walter Piston's 2nd Symphony was the work which really launched him into the upper echelons of 20th Century American composers. Its second performance, in April 1944, was given by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a concert recorded by the Office of War Information and pressed onto vinyl 78rpm discs which were supposed to be destroyed at the end of the war. Well, it seems not quite all the copies were as melted down as they should have been...

Sleevenotes Genesis Suite 78rpm issue     

The massive concept of setting to music the first chapter of the Bible occurred to Nathaniel Shilkret, Composer and Conductor, after a survey of public opinion made while he was manager of the Victor Recording Co. He decided that so tremendous a project should be shared by leading contemporary creators and carefully selected and commissioned composers he considered best fitted to expound the various subjects.

"My colleagues," Shilkret declared, "have approached their task in a spirit of the most profound reverence. Their devotion is apparent in the music they have created."

The separate movements have been composed in complete independence, the composers each proceeding with their individual portion without reference to or knowledge of each other's work. The sole connecting link is the narrator, Edward Arnold, who delivers the Biblical story.

A detailed analysis of the individual movements is impossible because of space restrictions, since elucidation of their intricacies would involve a wealth of detail. Each is partly descriptive, partly psychological, yet each illustrates its portion of the spoken narrative, and is therefore easy to follow.

1. Creation · Nathaniel Shilkret

(Born New York City, January 1, 1895)

This episode is divided into two distinct parts, the first treating of the initial aspects of the Bible story, the second beginning with the words, "Let there be light."

2. Adam and Eve · Alexandre Tansman

(Born Lodz, Poland,June 12, 1897)

The tale of the Garden of Eden is expounded. The approach of the composer to the conception of this chapter of the Genesis is rather atmospheric than descriptive. He tried to express the mood of each particular part of the text through lyrical means of expression and by solely musical work. The work could be formally considered as a Suite with a series of fast and slow movements, framed by a slow Introduction and a robust Coda.

3. Cain and Abel · Darius Milhaud

(Born Aix-en-Provence, France, September 4, 1892

The story of discord andviolence is deftly underlined in music.

4. Noah's Ark · Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco

(Born Florence, Italy, April 3, 1895)

The first of this episode's two portions illustrates events leading to the Flood; the second portion tells of the Flood and its subsidence.

5. The Covanent · Ernst Toch

(Born Vienna, Austria, December 7, 1887)

The story of Noah's debarking, and of the covenant that no further flood should occur.

6. Babel · Igor Stravinsky

(Born Oranienbaum, Russia,June 5,1882)

The concluding movement of the work tells of the confusion brought about by various languages. The music is in cantata form, with a "Greek chorus" supporting narrator and orchestra.

7. Postlude · Arnold Schoenberg

(Born Vienna, Austria, September 13, 1874)

This deals instrumentally with the opening words of the Bible, impressively establishing a devotional mood.

About My Babel Cantata

By Igor Stravinsky, Hollywood, California, November 5, 1945

"For those who are not very familiar with my compositions, knowing my name only by the reputation of my earlier works such as the Firebird, Petrouchka or the Rite of Spring, my Babel-a Cantata for Chorus with Orchestra and a Narrator-will present itself probably as a casual, an isolated work which has little to do with my previous compositions, with my actual features as a composer. This feature presents itself in an entirely different aspect to those who know my musical mind and my symphonic work, especially such as the Symphony of Psalms, the Melodrama Persephone or the Opera-Oratorio Oedipus-Rex, to mention only these capital compositions of my catalogue, compositions never played in Los Angeles. Yet the acquaintance with but these compositions could easily explain my bent toward musical forms cultivated by the best musical brains of all times. Therefore the approaching performance of my Cantata among other compositions of the Bible collected of Mr. Nathaniel Shilkret by the brilliant company of Werner Janssen Symphony seems to me most opportune and I welcome it."

Notes On this recording    

The two works presented here were both conceived and written at around the same time in the USA. Walter Piston's Second Symphony was written in 1943 and received its first performance on 5th March 1944. The present recording is the symphony's second performance, which took place about a month later and was preserved by the US Office of War Information for distribution to its Overseas Branch on vinyl 78rpm discs, which would have been broadcast to forces serving during World War II. Vinyl was still in its infancy, quality-wise, but was preferred for its lightness and unbreakability by comparison to shellac 78s. The discs themselves were "to be destroyed at the termination of the emergency", yet a rare set survives from which I have taken the present transcription. A great deal of work has been necessary to overcome surface noise and distortion, so although the tone is full and the performance enjoyable, the listener will have to allow at times for the shortcomings of the original media. That said, given the sound heard on the discs themselves during initial transfer, it is astonishing what modern restoration technology has permitted me to achieve.

The Genesis Suite was conceived in 1943 and written by its various composers between 1943 and 1945. It is known to have received two live performances, and the present recording was made shortly after the première. The project was overseen by its creator, composer Nathaniel Shilkret, who had planned to sell the completed recording to one of the major record companies. Unfortunately these companies failed to show interest in the project, and Shilkret went into partnership with some businessmen associates to create "Artist Records", who pressed and issued the recording.

Its success was limited, to say the least, and financial irregularities and a falling out caused Artist Records to be wound up, sales halted and remaining stock to be destroyed, leaving the very few existing sets of this release as among the rarest commercially issued 78rpm album sets in the USA. Thereafter the orchestral recording, which had been recorded separately from the narration, was issued with a new narrator on a Capitol LP, copies of which are also rare enough to fetch three-figure sums today. By all accounts the new narrator was no Edward Arnold! The Genesis Suite quickly fell into neglect.

A resurrection of the piece took place early in the 21st century with a recording issued by Naxos of a reconstructed version of the piece, following evidence that most of the parts had been destroyed by fire. It now appears that original copies do still exist in the Shilkret archive, as prepared by Shilkret, as is the original score as submitted by Castelnuevo-Tedesco in 1944. The work has also received a further live performance, which took place in 2008.

In its original form, the work opened with Schoenberg's "Prelude" movement, but fearing a hostile response to the music's perceived difficulty and modernity, Shilkret repositioned it on the final disc (alongside the other "difficult" composer, Stravinsky") and retitled it "Postlude" for the Artist Records release. He also apparently felt his own "Creation" movement, which now took first place, was far preferred by audiences (even though at this stage it had only had one performance!) - Shilkret's letters suggest he was not a man overcome by modesty. I have elected to retain the running order and titling as presented on the Artist Records 78s.

The discs themselves are not perhaps the finest pressings in the history of shellac. Many of the openings presented difficulties in replay which may still be heard, together with high initial surface noise, making side joins particularly tricky. Thereafter in general the sides were fine. The aural tone of Edward Arnold's narration changes significantly between works, and this has been retained.. XR remastering has helped to enhance and fill the orchestral tone, which retains a distinctly 1940s Hollywood flavour, especially in some of the more filmic movements.

MP3 Sample  Genesis  1. Creation (Shilkret)             

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Short Notes  

"As you know, I make regular purchases from you - and I have to say that the sound on the new Schnabel issues is truly astonishing. I have known these recordings for ages, and bought them in various editions - the EMI re-issues, Naxos etc, but I have never heard such beautiful and life-like sound as your recent re-issues. Congratulations!" S.W. (by e-mail)

Schnabel's 1930s interpretations of the Waldstein and Appassionata sonatas still rank today as, for many, the greatest set down in the recording studio.

Rarely out of print since, various attempts have been made to improve the sound quality of the original 78s. Now Pristine Audio's 32-bit XR remastering system has been brought to bear on them for the first time. Coupled with revolutionary new pitch stabilisation software, the results are astounding. An absolutely essential series.

Review March 1964, LP reissues      

Now that the reissue of all the Beethoven sonatas is well under way I suspect that the gibes people used to make at Schnabel's technique will become a good deal less common. A case could certainly be made for regarding Schnabel's Beethoven records as documents of supreme virtuosity, if the term virtuosity be understood to embrace a blazing intensity of interpretative vision as well as a breathtaking manner of execution. Time and time again I have been struck by this as I listened to Schnabel's playing : it's as though the force of his convictions dictates an altogether exceptional brilliance in his playing.

The 'fluffs' and the rhythmic telescopings that occasionally make us raise our eyebrows are actually almost always the results of attempts at the impossible, attempts to push an idea to the very limits of its logic and even a bit beyond, rather than results of an imperfect control of mind or fingers. You can find several examples of this on these records. The finale of the E flat Sonata, Op. 31, No. 3, provides one. Beethoven marked it presto con fuoco, and obviously didn't intend it to go at a gentle amble; but with Schnabel it goes like a tornado, and although in itself the idea of this is perfectly convincing in the final reckoning clarity of texture and articulation do get sacrificed on the altar of excitement, and this is rather a pity. Yet I don't complain-the performance of the rest of the sonata seems to me quite perfect.

To a lesser extent parts of the Waldstein and the Appassionata show the same madness (if I dare call it that). Schnabel takes the finale of the Appassionata at something a good deal faster than an allegro ma non troppo and gives the ubiquitous semiquavers a light and almost fantastic touch; but although this again seems quite justifiable, and although the transition from the allegro into the presto is very well managed, there are, almost inevitably, places where the details don't have time to make effect. Not so in the first movement, however. This is unfolded with a tremendous sense of majesty and awe: nothing is over-driven and nothing too heavily underlined-the rhythmic detail is scrupulously correct and grandeur and spaciousness are everything; here indeed the music seems to be playing itself.

I was interested to find Schnabel observing Beethoven's pedalling indications in the finale of the Waldstein. These are something of a problem. Should they-on the one hand-be regarded as a mere adjunct to the huge harmonic spans of the melody at the beginning of this movement, an attempt to make the early nineteenth-century piano convey the unprecedented breadth of this music with the grandest possible sonority ?-in which case perhaps one should not observe them too literally when playing on the modern piano-or are they signals for cloudy, Aeolian harp effects? The evidence certainly points to the Aeolian harps, at least by deduction from Beethoven's own practice of indicating the pedalling he wanted in his piano works. Schnabel evidently agrees; or rather, once one has heard how he solves the problem, one is inclined to agree with him.

To turn from listening to the Waldstein and the Appassionata and Op. 31, No. 3 in E flat to the three smaller sonatas on these records makes a good contrast. COLH59 has the little F major Sonata, Op. 54, sandwiched between Opp. 53 and 57, COLH58 the two Op. 49s. The modest Op. 49s, written much earlier than their opus number implies, are of course really no more than sonatinas in scope. But Schnabel treats them just as affectionately as the more celebrated sonatas, and without ever attempting to inflate their expressive content invests them with much more than charm. In particular the first movement of the G minor Sonata, Op. 49, No. 1, has, as he plays it, a directness and a childlike simplicity of utterance that seem to look forward to the world of the Op. 119 Bagatelles.

A word of praise finally for the quality of the LP transfers. The earliest recording here is of the E flat Sonata Op. 31, No. 3 (March 1932) and this has a less clear sound than the others (and also a rather prematurely cut off last note at the end of the Minuet); but the quality of the rest is really extraordinarily good. Perhaps I might add that, in general, I would have liked longer scrolls between the movements-a small but by no means an unimportant point. Otherwise all gratitude to HMV for making available another splendid pair of discs. The interpretations are not likely to be surpassed: they seem to me to offer at once lasting satisfaction and a communication of Beethoven that is as compelling and immediate as it must have been thirty years ago: something that is indeed still vital for us today and in no sense of mere 'historical' interest.

S. P.. The Gramophone   

Notes On this recording   

In terms of overall sound quality and the difficulties of restoration, this volume has generally presented fewer problems than most, something the listener should immediately find apparent in the clarity of sound achieved in many of the movements presented here. The usual problems inherent in trying to extact as much musical information as possible do still arise, but overall to a lesser extent, and the piano tone is often more vibrant and extended than in some previous volumes. Naturally the playing is exquisite!

MP3 Sample  Sonata No. 21, 3rd movement               

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PAKM 043 - webpage at Pristine Classical