Cooke's broadcast of the 10th in 1960

[Leo K]

I hope it's okay if I post this here.  This is an historical recording of great interest.  It was problably the first time a large audience got to hear this unfinished symphony.

From the Wikipedia article on Mahler's 10th:

A first, still incomplete performing version by Cooke (1959–1960) stemmed from a performance and an associated lecture for radio broadcast on the BBC Third Programme, marking the centenary of Mahler's birth. This aired on 19 December 1960, with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Berthold Goldschmidt, who also assisted with the production of Cooke's edition. At its first performance Cooke's realisation of the final movement proved to be a revelation to listeners, and Cooke resolved to revise the orchestration of the Scherzo movements, which had required much more compositional work than he had time for. Alma Mahler, who had at one point taken the views of Bruno Walter to heart and demanded a veto on further performances of the Cooke performing version, actually changed her mind upon seeing Cooke's revised score and hearing the recording. In May 1963 she wrote Cooke a letter of encouragement, lifting the ban on both the performing version and the BBC recording.

Here is that BBC recording:

Introductionary talk and symphony (Berthold Goldschmidt conductor)
BBC TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

Broadcast of December 19, 1960

http://rapidshare.com/files/20238491/mahler10_dec10_1960.ZIP.html

http://rapidshare.com/files/20241477/mahler_10_disco2.ZIP.html

This BBC broadcast was a revelation to me...as there are excerpts from the unfinished 10th played in the 'stand alone' state...the notes as written in the sketch-score before Cooke added any needed orchestration. It really is a wonder to hear portions of the score 'as is'...very compelling and quite beautiful.

[barry guerrero]

Leo,

Here's a bit of M10 trivia. After hearing some of Goldschmidt's orchestral music, it seemed to me that much in the orchestration of M10 sounded as though it must have been done by him. One night, when I was working at the Virgin Megastore in S.F., a grandson (or nephew?) of Goldschmidt came in to buy a copy of Golschmidt's opera, "Beatrice Cenzi" (Sony Classical). I asked him if he knew if Goldschmidt had done much of the orchestration work for Cooke, and replied absolutely yes. He was very definite about this. I guess we'll never know just how much Cooke may have co-opted Goldschmidt's work. If that sounds surprising, know that experts are now pretty certain that "the Doc" ghost-wrote much of John Steinbeck's work centering around Monterey, and the Sea of Cortez. Regardless of who wrote it, I love that stuff.

[Leo K]

Leo,

Here's a bit of M10 trivia. After hearing some of Goldschmidt's orchestral music, it seemed to me that much in the orchestration of M10 sounded as though it must have been done by him. One night, when I was working at the Virgin Megastore in S.F., a grandson (or nephew?) of Goldschmidt came in to buy a copy of Golschmidt's opera, "Beatrice Cenzi" (Sony Classical). I asked him if he knew if Goldschmidt had done much of the orchestration work for Cooke, and replied absolutely yes. He was very definite about this. I guess we'll never know just how much Cooke may have co-opted Goldschmidt's work. If that sounds surprising, know that experts are now pretty certain that "the Doc" ghost-wrote much of John Steinbeck's work centering around Monterey, and the Sea of Cortez. Regardless of who wrote it, I love that stuff.

Very interesting information!! I wonder why Golschmidt didn't wish to have more credit, with his name alongside Cooke for the 10th performing draft.  Or maybe he had no say in the matter?  Or perhaps, since he was a composer himself, he wished to be remembered for his own work rather than his work with Cooke?

[James Meckley]

The above Rapidshare links to the 1960 Deryck Cooke broadcast about his performing version of M10 appear to be dead. For newer members of the board who've never heard this fascinating BBC-3 production, here's a new Mediafire link to a download of that historic radio program:

http://www.mediafire.com/?wwngnk3wwz2

It's in 24 tracks; the first 10 are Cooke's lecture and the final 14 are Goldschmidt's performance with the Philharmonia Orchestra of what was then a work-in-progress. The source here was apparently a set of BBC transcription discs, so you'll encounter some surface noise along the way. It was this recording that Harold Byrns and Jerry Bruck played for Alma Mahler in her New York apartment in 1963. Hearing it convinced her to lift the ban on publication and further performances of M10.

James

[Leo K]

The above Rapidshare links to the original 1960 Deryck Cooke broadcast about his performing version of M10 appear to be dead. For those newer members of the board who've never heard this fascinating BBC production, here's an active link to a download of the same historic radio program:

http://www.mediafire.com/?wwngnk3wwz2

It's in 24 tracks: the first 10 are Cooke's lecture and the final 14 are Goldschmidt's performance with the Philharmonia Orchestra of the project as it existed at that time. The source was apparently a set of BBC transcription discs, so you'll encounter some record surface noise.

James

Thanks so much for posting this James!  I had lost my original file and I thought I'd never be able to hear this again!

--Todd