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Victor Symphony Orchestra
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George Gershwin plays the celeste on these sides, which are only two of four parts. These are the original, first recordings of An American In Paris, however these are later pressings. The original 1929 pressings bore an earlier label design, the so-called Victor “scroll label”
Yes, indeed! You are absolutely right on all counts. Gershwin played the celesta on this recording and the copy of this recording that we have is not the original Victor Scroll Label – even though the matrix number is the same as the original. It is indeed a later pressing. Even with all the research I did on this disk, I never noticed the label difference. Thank you for that.
One of my most treasured ‘discoveries’ regarding this particular recording was referenced by NPR in an All Things Considered show (and later published on their site): “While he put the letters A, B, C and D over the occurrences of the horns, he never clarified what that notation meant — leading people to assume that he meant the musical pitches A, B, C and D. But after listening to a 1929 recording of the piece — billed as “with George Gershwin” — Clague realized that wasn’t what Gershwin intended.” And summarized by Wikipedia: “Although most modern audiences have heard the taxi horns using the notes A, B, C and D, it has recently come to light that Gershwin’s intention was to have used the notes A♭4, B♭4, D5, and A4. It is likely that in labeling the taxi horns as A, B, C and D with circles, he may have been referring to the use of the four different horns and not the notes that they played.”
Thanks so much for your note! I really appreciate it!
–Thomas