Suite For Strings In E Major, Op. 63

Discs may include printing errors. There is no "Side 2". 11-8572 and 11-8573 are both labeled "Side 3" with "Fugue" as the track. Two concentric circles nearly touching the small RCA circle = Indianapolis pressing. Recorded March 19, 1940 at Symphony Hall. Released 4/44. 78 rpm: M-962 (11-8571/2), DM-962 (11-8573/4). LP: LM-2900, VCM-6174, TV-34784, PRM-234. 78 rpm matrix and take numbers: [side# matrix and take# mvt] 1 CS-047108-2 (2) 1 2 CS-07109-1 (1) 2 3 CS-04 7110-2 (2) 2 4 CS-047111-1 (1) 3 Notes on the SUITE FOR STRINGS: In his 1947 biography of Koussevitzky, author [a=Moses Smith (2)] uses Koussevitzky's October 14, 1944 performance of this work to illustrate Koussevitzky's "weaknesses." Smith believed that Koussevitzky played it too fast. "Yet the performance on Victor records is curiously far more relaxed." Based on personal experience, I agree with Smith that Koussevitzky ruined the performance with his fast tempo. Why did Koussevitzky play it so fast on this occasion? The answer was unexpectedly revealed during an interview with composer [a=David Diamond (2)] in 1988. The premiere of Diamond's Second Symphony was on the same program with the Foote Suite that was played so fast. I had asked Diamond about the premiere of his Second Symphony, and he quoted from his diary of that day as part of his reply. It seems that Koussevitzky had wanted to present both the Foote Suite For Strings and Diamond's Second Symphony during the one hour of the concert that was broadcast. In order to do so, he was planning to make cuts in Diamond's Symphony. 'This angered me terribly. I called him and told him this ... and he decided finally that he would do the Symphony without cuts and would hurry the Foote, which opened the program." - Edward D. Young, SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY: A COMPLETE DISCOGRAPHY, PART I