A Discography of Concert Disc, Concertapes & their digital reissues

Originally posted on April 10, 2017

You can skip the historical presentation and jump directly to the discographies:

1. Concert Disc’s classical catalog and its digital reissues
2. Concert Disc’s popular and easy-listening catalog
3. Webcor reel-to-reel tapes (1954-1955)
4. Concertapes reel-to-reel tapes (1956-1964)

I had crossed the path of the LP Label Concert Disc through my interest for the Fine Arts Quartet of Chicago and for 20th Century repertoire (on Concert Disc they did the first stereo traversal of Bartok’s Quartets and recorded quartets of Hindemith and Bloch, as well as the latter’s Piano Quintet, when those were rare commodities on disc), but it was while working on my discography of the Everest audiophile reissues in the CD era that I decided to compile one of Concert Disc as well. Concert Disc entered the purview of Everest in the middle of 1960, when Everest – still in its first period, property of its founder Harry Belock and his Belock Instrument Corporation – assumed its distribution. Later on, after Bernard Solomon purchased Everest (see my Everest discography for that chronicle), he seems to have at some point asserted even more control over Concert Disc, as a number of Concert Disc productions were reissued under the Everest moniker, although I haven’t been able to establish for sure if and when Solomon actually acquired Concert Disc.

Originally, Concert Disc was established as Concertapes, Inc. and the title is explicit about the company’s initial activity. It fact Concertapes was one of the early pionneers of stereo tape (we tend to forget, because the medium fell into oblivion, but the first access of the Hi-Fi buffs to stereo was way before 1958 and the first stereo LPs; it was four years before, through tape). Concertapes was founded by and belonged to the Fine Arts Quartet, a noted string quartet of Chicago, which had already made a few recordings for Mercury (Schubert’s last quartets) and Decca (Mozart’s and Brahms’ Clarinet Quintets with Reginald Kell) in the early 1950s. Incredibly, the Fine Arts Quartet is still in existence today and recording a lot, albeit, of course, with an entirely renewed personel. Concertapes was established in 1953, and I’ve seen faint traces that they may have released a few tapes under their own label name early on (although it is not entirely obvious that those were commercialized), as here (mouse over for better legibility):

February ’54

June ’54:

But in fact, very soon and until 1956, Concertapes seems to have acted as a manufacturer of pre-recorded tapes that were sold through the distribution network of the Webster-Chicago Corporation, aka Webcor, and under the Webcor label. Webcor was primarily a manufacturer of record players and tape machines, but they started a program of pre-recorded tape releases in the early months of 1954, when the medium was very much the hot new stuff, especially with the prospect of stereo looming, and Leonard Sorkin, the Fine Art’s Quartet first violin, acted as their artistic counselor (mouse over for better legibility):

And don’t miss this, immensely fun (that’s when America was truly great, and had great hopes, not fears, in its future):

Webcor/Concertapes repertoire was quite limited, in quantity (I’ve tracked 14 releases, although I may be missing some) and interest, bent on the popular and the “background” listening, and even in their few releases of recordings of the Fine Arts Quartet, they had little of substance (Mozart’s Quartet K. 387, two early Haydn quartets, 2nd quartet of Brahms, Mendelssohn’s Octet, Dvorak’s American Quartet, Debussy’s Quartet, and a rarity, a Dittersdorf quartet, but the rest was essentially isolated movements from various quartets). Most of Webcor’s tapes were dual track, 7-inch width, 7½ ips speed (inch-per-second).  But Webcor seems to have concentrated on its activities as a manufacturer of tape machines. You see very few reviews or ads of Webcor tapes in the successive issues of Tape Recording Magazine from December 1953 to the end of 1956, while witnessing a clear increase in the output from other labels. Maybe that’s why Sorkin and the Fine Arts Quartet grew dissatisfied (there is an echo of that in an interview given by Sorkin in High Fidelity of March 1963) and decided to market their recordings through their own label.

I’ve found reviews of Webcor releases in various magazines (The Billboard, Tape Recording, High Fidelity, Audio, The Saturday Review) from June 1954 to September 1955. The first ones for Concertapes appear in September 1956, but I have an undated Concertapes catalog that lists 501 to 504, 101-1 and 103-A, 22-1 to 22-6, 23-1A to 23-3B, and indicates that 23-4A to 23-5B are “scheduled for release by April, 1956”, which suggests that the others were published somewhere around the beginning of 1956. Standards rapidly changed. The last ones I’ve spotted for Concertapes’ 7½ ips, 5 or 7-inch tapes were in High Fidelity of March 1959. By the middle of 1959 the label switched to 4-track tapes (less costly to manufacture. The high retail price of dual track tapes had been a great impediment to the medium’s success) and I’ve found reviews as late as November 1964 (and not for an original Concertape recording, but for Everest’s complete Beethoven Symphonies conducted by Krips).

But in the meanwhile, in the middle of 1958, Concertapes had also launched its LP label, Concert Disc (mouse over for better legibility).

The Concert Disc catalog was way more ambitious than Concertapes had ever been. While reissuing the recordings that had originally been published on Webcor, Concertapes had also expanded its catalog (that’s when the New York Woodwind Quintet joined the label, in works of Danzi, Spohr and Hindemith; Concertapes also released what it boasted to be the first stereo recording of the Symphony of the Air, the former NBC Symphony Orchestra after Toscanini had stepped down and the orchestra had been officially disbanded), but mostly in their popular and easy-listening streak, and it was never a significant ball player, in quantity of releases and variety and interest of repertoire, in classical or in popular, compared to RCA, Mercury, Concert Hall, Vanguard, Omegatapes, Stereotape, Sony Sterecord, A-V (Audio-Video) Tape Libraries, Bel Canto, Livingston, Phonotapes-Sonore, Sonotape, HiFiTape and the likes. But Concert Disc became a great showcase for both the Fine Arts Quartet and the New York Woodwind Quintet.

Next big thing that happened to the label, then, was in June 1960, when Concert-Disc handed over its distribution to Everest. “The arrangement was made between the two companies because the members of the Fine Arts Quartet, who own the Concert Discs firm, could not spare time enough from their world-concert tours to properly manage the selling operation”. And note again that this was still the original Everest, still belonging to Harry Belock and his Belock Instrument Co.

So when Hollywood accountant and businessman Bernard Solomon bought Everest, in February 1962, he got the distribution of Concert Disc in the dowry. Over time, he may have asserted more control over the label and acquired it wholesale. His public declarations and the press article certainly made it look that way. I’ve seen on online forums indications that the sale may have happened in 1963, which is certainly coherent with the elements I have, but I haven’t been able to confirm for sure if and when Concert Disc was actually sold to Everest. The records and archive of the Fine Arts Quartet are held at the University of Wisconsin, and that is certainly where lies the answers to all these questions, but Wisconsin is just a little too far from where I live for me to go and check…

Anyway, after Solomon’s acquisition of Everest, some material originally published on Concert Disc was reissued on Everest, while many recordings of the Fine Arts Quartet continued to be originally released on Concert Disc until 1967 (and that includes the various offerings of their Beethoven cycle, but the complete cycle as a box was offered only on Everest, in 1969, 3255/9), and for one LP of the New York Woodwind Quintet, I haven’t yet been able to establish as absolutely certain that it was originally issued on Concert Disc (although indications are that it would have been CS 231), before its release on Everest in 1963 (SDBR 3092, mono LPBR 6092, New York Woodwind Quintet: “Woodwind Encores”). As of 1969, the occasional new recordings by the Fine Arts Quartet were published directly on Everest, the most notable being the string quartets of Pulitzer-prize winner Karel Husa (Everest 3290). And conversely, as mentioned, some Everest material was issued on four-track tape under the Concertapes label, as late as 1964.

What justifies the music-lover’s interest in the label is the excellence of both ensembles, the Fine Arts Quartet and the New York Woodwind Quintet, in the standard repertoire and the wide range of their repertoire, their embrace of 20th-Century music (as I said, they made the first stereo recording of Bartok’s complete quartets, in 1958) and of composers and works that were rare at the time and still are today of specialist’s interest (Hindemith, Bloch, Elliott Carter, Wallingford Riegger, Ingolf Dahl, Irving Fine, Gunther Schuller…).

In the mid-1990s the label Boston Skyline did great service by reissuing some of those recordings, and the Fine Arts Quartet’s Beethoven cycle also came back on Pantheon records in the late 1980s. Then – by dint of having been reissued on Everest back in 1969 – the same Beethoven cycle came back as a kind of bonus to Seymour Solomon/Omega’s audiophile CD reissues of the original Belock-Everest recordings in the 1990s (for more on that story see my Everest discography. Seymour Solomon was the original founder of the label Vanguard. No family ties with Everest’s Bernie Solomon). After Seymour Solomon’s death in 2002 the Concert Disc catalog seemed to disappear for a while.

Now the good news is that the same company that acquired the Everest rights and, apparently, original audio supports – Countdown Media, now a subsidiary of BMG -, also got in the package (or independently, I don’t know) those of Concert Disc, and is in the process of digitalizing the catalog and making it available in high-resolution downloads which can be purchased from HD-Tracks, or in mp3 format (and much cheaper) from Amazon (they may also be available from iTunes, but good luck on locating them). On the other hand, as my contact at Countdown Media, Lutz Rippe, Mastering Technician for classical music, told me in a private correspondence, the digital versions from a label called EMG Classical (Essential Media Group), which can be found on Amazon as downloads and CDs, are not legitimate; I bought one (the Poulenc-Riegger program, see CS 221, because I’ll buy any Riegger that I can find), timing was stingily short (LP time, 30+ minutes), transfers were made from the LP, surface noise and all, playing by ear the stereo separation had been exaggerated and the sonic textures were unrefined and lacking transparency, making it a none-too-pleasant sonic experience. So in the future I’ll avoid EMG. That said, they deserve a modicum of indulgence, if only because they digitilized Concertapes/Concert-Disc’s “Sound in the Round” series, stereo-demonstration tapes-then-LPs that will nicely take you on a ride “back to the future” in Doc Brown’s DeLorean – the Amazon samples sound quite good but in my experience of the Poulenc/Riegger CD, that can be deceptive.

Re: circulation of copyright and masters, one point about the Boston Skyline reissues is also interesting to note. Looking at their CD reissues from 1996, like the three volumes of “The Best of the New York Woodwind Quintet”, copyright is attributed to “Everest Records, Inc., Beverly Hills, CA.”: that, clearly, is Bernie Solomon. But in 1997, when they reissued the Fine Arts Quartet and New York Woodwind Quintet’s recordings of Schubert’s Octet, Trout Quintet and Quartet No. 14 (Boston Skyline BSD143 & 145), the copyrights were attributed to “Madacy Music Group, Inc., Quebec, Canada”: and that was the previous owner of Countdown Media, before it was sold to BMG. Those two releases also claimed to have made their transfers from the original masters, preserved by George Sopkin, the cellist of the Fine Arts Quartet. BSD143 also issued, for the first time, Schubert’s Quartet No. 10 D. 87, “from unreleased master tapes, recorded 1962 and preserved by Mr. Sopkin of the Fine Arts Quartet” (although I conjecture that this may in fact have been the same recording released by Webcor back in 1954,  2923-5).

So, here starts the discography. I first give the LP issues of Concert Disc’s classical catalog, with the indications of the LP reissues on Everest and of CD and other digital reissues I am aware of (note that I haven’t researched the LP reissues under license to other labels. There were many in the UK, especially on Saga). When relevant, I’ve indicated the CD’s barcode, which is the surest way to find them on commercial websites. I’ve put the label number in bold type to indicate those digitalized by Countdown Media and (as of March 2017) available in high-resolution downloads that you can find on HD-Tracks, or lesser-but-still good resolution and much cheaper downloads on Amazon (easiest way to find all of them there is to search ““Digitally Remastered from the Original Concert-Disc Master Tapes”  in the Digital Music category) and possibly iTunes. I’ve indicated the EMG reissues because I compiled this discography before I had a chance to listen to one of their reissues – I might not have listed them otherwise. So take those mentions as pure information but remain wary of EMG’s flawed reissues (see comment above). I’ve added links to my reviews in the few cases where I’ve reviewed the CD reissues. I also thought it useful to add, at the end of the list, the few original releases of the Fine Arts Quartet’s recording on Everest (so far I’ve found only two not previously released on Concert-Disc).

Then comes, for sake of completeness, the LP discography of Concert Disc’s popular and easy-listening catalog, and after that get ready to jump forward to the past, and to Webcor’s tape issues, followed by those of Concertapes. It wasn’t an entirely easy job to reconstruct the catalogs of Webcor and Concertapes. This is long time past, there are some frustrating gaps in the magazines available online, tapes were always something of a parallel niche market and, as one critic (Edward Tatnall Canby) once complained, while companies sent LPs in droves for review, they didn’t with 4-track tapes. The discography of the label Audiophile maintained by Robert Gilchrist Huenemann has been very useful in filling some gaps and establishing sources for some of Concertapes/Concert Disc’s last releases in the non-classical field. I’ve been able to wade my way through a limited Google Books access to a 1966 Harrison Tape Catalog, which has permitted to fill the last gaps. At one numerical point my lists stop, because I haven’t found further releases, but it doesn’t mean they didn’t occur. For the record, I am not aware of any Concertapes 4-track releases past 4T-3028, 4T-4023 and 4T-5012.

As a means of establishing also a chronology of releases, I provide indications of the various magazines in which those releases were announced or reviewed. HF is the abbreviation for High Fidelity, SR for The Saturday Review. Dating is given European-style, dd/mm/yy. I haven’t researched specifically about the mono releases, I list their label number when I’ve encountered them, but not listing them doesn’t mean there wasn’t a corresponding mono issue; in fact, I believe that all of Concertapes’ tapes and Concert Disc’s LPs were also published in mono.

Of related interest:

CS 27 Swingin’ Easy. The Modernes (Duane Thamm percussion, Sam di Gangi accordion, John Kent bass, John Geoffrey vibraphone) (announced among first releases in Billboard 21/7/58 p. 13 and HiFi Review 9/58, listing in Billboard 3/11/58, review in Hi Fi Review 12/58)
From Concertapes 508 (“Swingin’ Easy”) and 24-7 (“Lady Be Good and Other Danceable Tunes” / “Swingin’ Rhythms”, with track “Of Thee I Sing” from the latter left out). Also on Concertapes 4T-4003 (4-track). In bold, tracks from 508: Five Foot Two, Besame Mucho, Song of the Vineyards, Surrey With the Fringe on Top, Foggy Day, Dansero, For me and My Gal, Limelight South, There’s A Small Hotel, Lullaby of Birdland, My Shawl, Mambo Inn, Lady Be Good, Anything Goes, Between the Devil and The Deep Blue Sea)
Available as download in Europe (“Swingin’ Easy”) 

CS 29 Favorite Show Tunes. Sorkin Strings (listing in Billboard 3/11/58, review HF 3/59, HiFi Review 3/59)
Reissued from Webcor 2922-2, Concertapes 22-2, also on Concertapes 4T-5002 (4-track)
Available as download with CS 37 (in apparently inferior transfers), Google-search “Favourite Showtunes” or “King of Strings” by the Leonard Sorkin Strings 

CS 37 Favorite Show Tunes Vol. 2.  The Sorkin Strings (Billboard 11/5/59, HiFi Review 8/59)
Reissue from Webcor 2922-6, Concertapes 22-6
Available as download with CS 29 (in apparently inferior transfers), Google-search “Favourite Showtunes” or “King of Strings” by the Leonard Sorkin Strings

CS 43 (mono M 1043) You Make Me Feel So Young. Nancy Wright, musical accompaniment by Ceasar Giovannini (link to entry at Discogs.com)
Twelve tracks including four from Concertapes 509, two from Concertapes Stereo Starter Set vol. 3.
Note: the disc’s labelling is ambiguous when it says only “accompanied by Ceasar Giovannini + 6”, which, based on track titles, I take to mean that Giovannini accompanies only in the 6 tracks not included in the previous releases, but could also mean that Giovannini leads an ensemble of six and that they re-recorded the tracks committed earlier by Miss Wright.
Reissued on Concertapes 4T-3018 (4-track)
CD-Reissued by Fresh Sound Records CS43 CD, 8425845083612 (also listed under barcode 8427328882330). Five tracks on YouTube.

CS 53 “Audiophile Series” Red Nichols and His Five Pennies (link to Discogs.com with track listing) (Billboard 23/10/61)
Side A (5 tracks) from 78rpm Audiophile AP 7, side B (6 tracks) from 78rpm Audiophile AP 8  (recorded 8 & 9/2/52)
Also on Concertapes 4T-3024 (4-track)
Digitally reissued (Note: many downloads are available with the title “Red Nichols & His Five Pennies”. Look at track listing. Begins with “Three Blind Mice”, ends with “Rondo”)

There is some confusion as to whether all or any of Webcor’s tapes were binaural or stereophonic; certainly, the first pre-recorded, reel-to-reel tapes issued early 1954 by others (like Audiosphere’s much acclaimed series of recordings made with the Teatro Communale Orchetra of Florence under Vittorio Gui) were offered in binaural versions. In the case of Webcor, almost all their releases are included in the “catalog of stereophonic tapes” published in the December 1956 issue of Tape Recording, but they don’t seem to be presented as such in the earlier individual reviews from 1954 and 1955, and Tape Recording may have mistakenly bundled the original Webcor tapes and their Concertapes reissues . Or it may be that Webcor (or Concertapes) re-released the same recordings under the same label number, but now in stereo; this was a mere conjecture on my part, and not one to which I assigned great probability, until I happened on the review of Webcor 2923-3B (Tchaikovsky’s Serenade by the Sorkin Symphonette) published in Audio of October 1956:

And the same Audio had duly reviewed Webcor 2923-3 in its 5/56 issue. The chronology shows also that October 1956 was when the first reviews came out of the first tapes issued by Concertapes under its own label name. As for related technicalities, all the Webcor tapes ran 7.5 inches per second (IPS) which was the standard speed; there is some confusion about width, the same tapes sometimes being referred to as 7″, but 5″ in other reviews. Likewise, the same Webcor tapes can be referred to as “half-track” or “double track”, and I believe the explanation to this was given in the High Fidelity issue of May 1955:

What is sure is that when Concertapes later reissued the Webcor tapes under their own moniker (see below), they retained a similar label-numbering (Webcor’s 292X-Y becoming Concertapes 2X-Y), but many of their offerings were separated in A and B, corresponding to Webcor’s two tracks.

Webcor 2911-1 (“5 inch reel”) John Halloran Choir  (Bach: Now Let Every Tongue Adore Thee, Nevin: Little Boy Blue, Folk: Cindy, Randall Thompson: Alleluja, Folk: Skip to My Lou, Malotte: Lord’s Prayer, Martin: Come To The Fair, Scott: Mountain High Valley Low, Kauntz: The Sleigh, Spiritual: Witness) (Tape Recording 8/54). See 2922-1

Webcor 2922-1 (5”, Dual Track) John Halloran Choir, same program as above (HF 5/55, Billboard 21/5/55, Radio Electronics 2/56)
Note: HF says 7”. Radio Electronics labels it “Webcor-Concertapes”  and refers to it as stereo , but I wonder if they were not handling Concertapes’ reissue rather than the original Webcor release. High Fidelity published a review of the reissue in its February 1956 issue.
Reissued Concertapes 22-1, 4T-3013 (4-track).
Reissued Concert Disc CS 41 under the title “Come to the Fair”

Webcor 2922-2 (5 inch reel, double track) Leonard Sorkin Strings (Rodgers, Coward, Madriguera, Gershwin, Porter etc) (Tape Recording 8/54, HF 5/55)
Listed in Tape Recording’s Catalog of Recorded Stereophonic Tapes, 12/56
Reissued as “Favorite Show Tunes vol. 1” on Concertapes 22-2, Concert Disc CS-29 (see CS 29 for digital reissue) 

Webcor 2922-3 (5”, 7.5.IPS half track and/or double track) Boccherini Quintet in E major-minuet, Borodin Quartet No. 2-Nocturne, Mendelssohn op. 44-2 Scherzo, Schubert Moment musical, Tchaikovsky Andante Cantabile, Raff The Mill (Audio 11/54 says half-track, Tape Recording 4/55 and HF 5/55 say double-track)
Listed in Tape Recording’s Catalog of Recorded Stereophonic Tapes, 12/56
Reissued Concertapes 22-3

Webcor 2922-4 (5” double track and/or single channel tape) Dittersdorf Quartet in E flat, Haydn op. 64-5 Finale, Turina Oracion del Torero, Wolf Italian Serenade (HF 5/55 says double track, but HF 9/56 reviewing Concertapes’ reissue talks of “The Dittersdorf-Turina-Wolf recital by the Fine Arts Quartet (issued a couple of years ago in a single channel tape as Webcor 2922-4)”.
Listed in Tape Recording’s Catalog of Recorded Stereophonic Tapes, 12/56
Reissued Concertapes 22-4

Webcor 2922-5 (dual track, 7.5 IPS) John Halloran Choir (Poulenc: Vinea Mea Electa, All Through the Night, Ella Rose Halloran: Everything and Anything, A Prayer for Our Country, Little David Play On Your Harp, Clouds, In the Still of the Night, Sourwood Mountain) (Tape Recording 4/55)
Listed in Tape Recording’s Catalog of Recorded Stereophonic Tapes, 12/56
Reissued Concertapes 22-5

Webcor 2922-6 (“5”, 7 ½ ips”) Leonard Sorkin Strings (No review found, listed in Tape Recording 12/56 Catalog of Stereophonic Tapes)
Reissued as “Favorite Show Tunes Vol. 2”, Concertapes 22-6, Concert Disc CS 37 (see CS 37 for digital reissue)

Webcor 2922-7 (5”, double track) Organ Moods (Tea for Two, The Band Ployed On, I’ve Told Every Little Star, Sweet Genevieve and 4 other selections), by Adele Scott (announced in Billboard 27/11/54, review Tape Recording 4/55, HF 5/55)
Listed in Tape Recording’s Catalog of Recorded Stereophonic Tapes, 12/56

Webcor 2923-1 (7”, double track) Track A: Debussy Quartet, Haydn Quartet Op.76-2 Andante “O più tosto” Allegretto. Fine Arts Quartet + Track B: Liszt Mephisto Waltz, Ravel Alborada, Granados Lady and the Nightingale. Robert McDowell (track B) (SR 26/6/54, Tape Recording 11-12/54, Billboard 16/4/55, HF 5/55, Audio 5/56)
Tape Recording: “The recording has lost a great deal of its original luster in the transfer from the original Concertape 15 IPS, full track recording to Wecbor’s 7.5 IPS, half track version, but not enough, fortunately, to lessen its value as a good commmerical recording” [Note: I have found no trace of a Concertape 15 IPS commercial issue. The same reviewer had had access a few months earlier to tapes by Concertapes and praised their audio quality (see my general presentation above). I am supposing that these were non-commercial, master- or near master-tapes.]
Note: listed in Tape Recording’s Catalog of Recorded Stereophonic Tapes, 12/56
Reissue Concertapes 23-1 A & B
Note: reviewer’s comment in High Fidelity December 1965 about Debussy’s String Quartet on Concert Disc CS 253 that “violist in the present performances is Irving Ilmer, not Gerald Stanick as specified on the record sleeve. Though the disc is being released only now, it was taped several years ago, before the quartet’s personal changed” suggests that CS 253 reissued the present recording, but this is only a conjecture. Gerald Stanick stepped in in 1963.

Webcor 2923-2 (7”, 7 ½ ips, dual track) Track A: Dvorak Qr No. 6 op. 96 “American” (rec. 1953-4), Haydn Quartet Op.64-5-Adagio cantabile, Track B: 8 items for Violin or Cello and Piano (Bartok Rumanian Dances, Bloch Prayer, Falla Jota, Granados Intermezzo, Dinicu-Heifetz Hora Staccato, Ravel Habanera, Gluck-Jreisler Melodie, Saint Saens Allegro Appassionato). Leonard Sorkin, George Sopkin, Alexander Joseffer (HF 5/55, Radio Electronics 7/56)
Listed in Tape Recording’s Catalog of Recorded Stereophonic Tapes, 12/56
Reissue Concertapes 23-2 A & B

Webcor 2923-3 (7” Reel Dual Track) Vivaldi Concerto Grosso op. 3-11, Mozart Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Bach-Stoessel Prelude in E Mahjor, Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings, Bolzoni Minuet. Sorkin Symphonette (annonced in Billboard 27/11/54, reviews Tape Recording 2/55, HF 5/55, Audio 5/56, Radio Electronics 7/56, Audio 10/56 2923-3B only)
Note: HF 3/58 reviewing Concertapes 23-3A: “originally released some years ago in a single-channel taping”.  See comment above about Audio 10/56 describing 2923-3B as “stereo” and “Concertapes (Webcor)”. Listed in Tape Recording’s Catalog of Recorded Stereophonic Tapes, 12/56
Reissued on Concertapes 23-3 A & B; Vivaldi-Mozart-Bach reissued on Concertapes 4T-3011 (4-track), Concert Disc CS 31, Everest 3121 (mono 6121); Tchaikovsky reissued on Vanguard VRS 1003 with Mendelssohn Octet from Webcor 2923-5 (HF 9/57), Concertapes 4T-3020 (4-track). No reissue found on Concert Disc.

Webcor 2923-4 (7-in., 2 tracks) Mozart String Quartet K 387, Brahms String Quartet No 2 op. 51-2 (HF 9/55, ref in HF 7/57 as a “single-tracked tape)
Listed in Tape Recording’s Catalog of Recorded Stereophonic Tapes, 12/56
Reissued Concertapes 23-4 A & B
Note: I don’t know if it is the same recording of Brahms’ 2nd Quartet that was reissued on Concert Disc CS 226 with the first Quartet

Webcor 2923-5 (7-in, 2 tracks) (Track A:) Schubert Quartet op. 125-1, Haydn Quartet No. 18 op. 3-5, (track B:) Mendelssohn Octet op. 20, Quintet op. 87-Andante Scherzando (HF 8/55, Audio 5/56)
Listed in in Tape Recording’s Catalog of Recorded Stereophonic Tapes, 12/56
Reissued on Concertapes 23-4 A & B
Mendelssohn reissued on Vanguard VRS 1003 with Tchaikovsky from Webcor 2923-3 (HF 9/57), and on Concertapes 4T-3021 (4-tracks) and Concert Disc CS 261
Schubert possibly the recording issued on CD Boston Skyline BSD 143 (see Concert Disc CS 220)

Miscellaneous
500 series = 5 inch reels at $7.95 List
600 series = 7 inch reels at $9.95 List
10X and 20-X series = 7 inch reels at $11.95 List
Stereo Starter Set SP 1 = 5 inch reels “all four tapes just $19.95”
4T series = 4-track reel-to-reel

CC-1 Concertapes Catalog Tape (Concertapes, Inc. Winnetka, Illinois) “All Concertapes issues are custom duplicated by MOSS RECORDING SERVICE, Omaha, Nebraska, on Ampex duplicating equipment”

5″ Reels at $7.95 List

511 (410 monaural. 16 mns) Jay Norman “88×2” (Porter: Begin the Beguine, Kern: All the Things You Are, Sieczynsky, Lockton & Robitschek: Vienna City of My Dreams, Lecuona: Malaguena, Arden: Over The Rainbow, Confrey: Dizzy Fingers)  (announced in Billboard 3/6/57 Concertapes new items, “part of a series scheduled for early summer release”. Reviews in Tape Recording 2/58, HF 7/58)
Note: as with Concert Disc CS 36 vs Concertapes Stereo Starter vol. 1 (see below), there is a riddle about this one. The tracks’ titles are exactly the same as the first six on Concert Disc CS 40, where they are attributed… to Caesar Giovannini. And the review of 511 in Tape Recording makes it clear that they are the same recording, one in which the pianist re-records over himself: Now, of the two, Giovannini seems to be the real person, although his entry on Wikipedia curiously lacks a date of birth (and of death, if it has happened. Further research shows that Giovannini was born in 1925, as was still alive in 2015), and “Jay Norman” appears to be a contractual alias. So, were there, in 1957, contractual bindings that prevented from crediting him, that were still in force in 1958 when the two albums of “Jay Norman” “Dancing and Dreaming” were published on Concert Disc CS 24 and 35, but were lifted in 1959 when CS 40 was published? At this point I can only conjecture…

512 (411 monaural) Duelin’ Demon Drums, featuring Richard Campbell and Harry H. Coon on drums (ad in Billboard 16/6/58, review HF 7/58, Tape Recording 7/58: label number given as 5124) (14’30) 

 

Also on side B of Concert Disc CS 33 “Beat Tropicale” and on Concertapes 4T-3009

513 (412 monaural) Frederick Loewe: My Fair Lady (selections). Ceasar Giovannini & the Radiant Velvet Orchestra (review SR 30/11/57, ad in Billboard 16/6/58)
Also on Concertapes 4T-4001 and Concert Disc CS 23 with selections from Gigi (Concertapes 601)

514 (413 monaural) Borodin “Polovetsian” Dances, Glinka Russlan and Ludmilla Overture. The Musical Arts Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Sorkin
Reissued on Concertapes 4T-3003 and Concert Disc CS 42 with contents of Stereo Starter Set vol. 4. See CS 42 for more reissues

 

7” Reels at $9.95 List

601 (468 monaural) Frederick Loewe: Gigi Selections. Ceasar Giovannini & the Radiant Velvet Orchestra (SR 30/11/57, ad in Billboard 16/6/58)
Also on Concertapes 4T-4001 and Concert Disc CS 23 with selections from My Fair Lady (Concertapes 513)

 

7” Reels at $11.95 List

101A (two track. 451 monaural) Johann Strauss II “Miscellany” (Fledermaus Overture, Pizzicato Polka, Perpetuum mobile, Danube, Emperor Waltz, Tales from Vienna Woods). Musical Arts SO, Sorkin (©1956, Audio 9/56, Tape Recording 12/56 Catalog of Stereophonic Tapes, SR 26/10/57)
Reissued on Concertapes 4T-3005, Concert Disc CS 28

103A (stereo ) (452 monaural) Songs of Stephen Foster, Songs of America. John Halloran Choir (Two-Channel Stereophonic or Twin-Track Monaural, inline heads) (Tape Recording 12/56 Catalog of Stereophonic Tapes)
Reissue Concertapes 4T-3010, Concert Disc CS 30

22-1 (702 monaural) Favorite Choral Selections. John Halloran Choir (HF 9/56)
Reissue of Webcor 2911-1 / 2922-1 (see for track listing). Reissued on Concert Disc CS 41, Concertapes 4T-3013

22-2 (701 monaural) Sorkin Strings Favorite Show Tunes vol. 1 (Tape Recording 12/56 Catalog of Stereophonic Tapes, HF 9/57)
From Webcor 2922-2; reissued on Concert Disc CS 29 (see CS 29 for digital reissue)

22-3 (Stereo. 453 monaural) Favorite Quartet Movements: Mendelssohn Scherzo, Borodin Nocturne, Schubert Moment Musical, (Raff The Mill, Tchaikovsky Andante Cantabile, Boccherini Quintet in E major Minuet) Fine Arts Quartet (Audio 9/56, Tape Recording 12/56 Catalog of Stereophonic Tapes) Webcor 2922-3

22-4 (stereo. 454 monaural) Dittersdorf Quartet in E flat, Turina Prayer of Toreador, Wolf Italian Serenade. Fine Arts Quartet (Audio 9/56, HF 9/56, Tape Recording 12/56 Catalog of Stereophonic Tapes)
Webcor2922-4

22-5 (702 monaural) A Halloran Concert. John Halloran Choir.
See Webcor 2922-5
Note: Concertapes catalogs give the same monaural number, 702, for 22-1 and 22-5

22-6 (701 monaural). Leonard Sorkin Strings Favorite Show Tunes vol. 2 (link to entry on Discogs.com) (Tape Recording 12/56 Catalog of Stereophonic Tapes)
From Webcor 2922-6, reissued on Concert Disc CS 37 (see CS 37 for digital reissue)
Note: Concertapes catalog gives the same monaural number, 701, for 22-2 and 22-6

 

23-1A (703 monaural) Debussy String Quartet, Haydn Andante-Allegretto from Quartet 76-2 (Tape Recording 12/56 Catalog of Stereophonic Tapes, Hi-Fi-& Music Review 6/58)
From Webcor 2923-1 track A. See comment under Concert Disc CS 253 

23-1B (704 monaural) Piano Recital: Granados, Ravel, List (Tape Recording 12/56 Catalog of Stereophonic Tapes, HF 8/57)
From Webcor 2923-1 track B

23-2A (703 monaural) Dvorak String Quartet  op. 96 “American”, Haydn Adagio cantabile from Quartet op. 64-5 (Tape Recording 12/56 Catalog of Stereophonic Tapes, Hi-Fi-& Music Review 6/58)
From Webcor 2923-2 track A

23-2B (704 monaural) Leonard Sorkin and George Sopkin Violin & Cello Recital (piano accompaniments Alexander Joseffer) (including Bartok Rumanian Dances, St Saens Allegro appassionato) (Tape Recording 12/56 Catalog of Stereophonic Tapes, SR 26/10/57, HF 3/58)
From Webcor 2923-2 track B

23-3A (705 monaural) Sorkin Symphonette: Vivaldi C° G° op. 3-11, Mozart Nachtmusik, Bach-Stoessel Prelude in E from Violin Sonata 6 (Audio 9/56, Tape Recording 12/56 Catalog of Stereophonic Tapes, SR 28/9/57, HF 3/58)
From Webcor 2923-3 track A

23-3B (705 monaural) Tchaikovsky Serenade op. 48, Bolzoni Minuet. Sorkin Symphonette, Sorkin (Audio 10/56, Tape Recording 12/56 Catalog of Stereophonic Tapes, HF 11/57, SR 25/1/58; see above about review in Audio 10/56 of “Concertapes (Webcor) 2923-3B”)
From Webcor 2923-3 track B
See Webcor for list of subsequent reissues

23-4A (706 monaural) Mozart String Quartet K 387 (“Scheduled for release by April, 1956” Concertapes catalog. Tape Recording 12/56 Catalog of Stereophonic Tapes, HF 7/57, Hi-Fi-& Music Review 6/58)
From Webcor 2923-4 track A

23-4B (706 monaural) Brahms Quartet op. 51-2 Fine Arts (“Scheduled for release by April, 1956” Concertapes catalog. Tape Recording 12/56 Catalog of Stereophonic Tapes, HF 6/57)
From Webcor 2923-4 track B. See Webcor for comment about Brahms possible reissue

23-5A (707 monaural) Haydn Qr op. 3-5, Schubert Quartet No. 10 op. 125-1 Fine Arts (“Scheduled for release by April, 1956” Concertapes catalog. Tape Recording 12/56 Catalog of Stereophonic Tapes, Saturday Review 28/9/57)
From Webcor 2923-5 track A
See Webcor for possible CD reissue of Schubert

23-5B (707 monaural) Mendelssohn Octet Fine Arts, Oscar & David Chausow, Milton Preves, Dudley Powers (“Scheduled for release by April, 1956” Concertapes catalog. HF 10/56, Tape Recording 12/56 Catalog of Stereophonic Tapes)
From Webcor 2923-5 track B. See Webcor for other reissues.

 

“From Sambas to Symphonies”: sampler wih excerpts from 24-4, 24-5, 24-6, 24-7, 24-8 and 506, 509, 510, 511

24-1 (455 monaural) Guitarra Español. Richard Pick (Tarrega, Torroba, Albeniz, Granados, Pedrell: Pagina romantica, Pick) (HF 9/57, SR 28/9/57)
No reissue found

24-2 (456 monaural) Dancing and Dreaming. Jay Norman Quintet (32′) (review HF 9/57, ad in Billboard 16/6/58 “7” Reels at $11.95 List”, review Radio Electronics 11/58)
Also on Concert Disc CS 24 (see CS 24 for more info on track listing and reissue)

24-3 (457 monaural) Austin Lovelace: Organ Concert at the organ of the First Methodist Church, Evanston, Illinois (Flor Peters, Hermann Schröder, Bach Prelude & Fugue A minor & 2 Chorale preludes, Pachelbel, Daquin) (Tape Recording 8/57, Audio 8/57, HF 11/57)
Reissued on Concert Disc CS 32 (see CS 32 for list of subsequent reissues)

24-4 (458 monaural) Hindemith Kleine Kammermusic op. 24-2, Danzi Quintet op. 67-2. New York Woodwind Quintet (Tape Recording 12/57, SR 25/1/58)
Reissued on Concert Disc CS 205, Concertapes 4T-3015 . See CS 205 for list of subsequent reissues

24-5 (two channel stereophonic; 459 twin track monaural). Reveries. Vincent Geraci, accordion (announced in Billboard 3/6/57 Concertapes new items, “part of a series scheduled for early summer release”)
Reissued on Concert Disc CS 38 

24-6 (460 monaural) Wendell Tracy Invitation to Roseland Dance City (Gotham Jump; Little Angels’ Lullaby; In a Persian Market; Sultan’s Serenade; Lullaby of Birdland; Moonlight in Hindustan; Nitwit Serenade; Perdido. 29 mins.) (announced in Billboard 3/6/57 Concertapes new items, “part of a series scheduled for early summer release”. Ad in Billboard 16/6/58 “7” Reels at $11.95 List”, review in Hi Fi & Music Review No. 1, 2/58, Radio Electronics 10/58)

Previously issued on Big Records 608-LP volume 1 (with 4 more tracks “including the vocal efforts of the Streamliners”, link will open a new tab to entry at Discogs.com) (feature Cash Box 1/6/57, reviews Cash Box 15/6/57, Billboard 29/7/57)
Billboard: “This LP’s primary sales appeal is as a souvenir package for terpers with fond memories of the Manhattan ballroom, Roseland”
Reissued on Concert Disc CS 39 with the title “Let’s Swing”; also on Concertapes 4T-3007

24-7 (461 monaural) The Modernes: Lady Be Good and Other Danceable Tunes / Swingin’ Rhythms (South, Rogers: There’s a Small Hotel, Shearing: Lullaby of Birdland, Cugat: My Shawl,  Bauzá: Mambo Inn, Gershwin: Lady Be Good, Of Thee I Sing, Porter: Anything Goes, Arlen: Between the Devil and The Deep Blue Sea, Meyer: For Me and My Gal, Limelight. Timing 29mins 36) (Two channel stereophonic and twin track monaural; monaural 461) (announced in Billboard 3/6/57 Concertapes new items, “part of a series scheduled for early summer release”, with the title  “Swingin’ Rhythms”, also used in ad in Billboard 16/6/58 “7” Reels at $11.95 List”. No review found)
Note: There’s a riddle to this one: I’ve seen container photos with both titles, “Lady Be Good and Other Danceable Tunes” and “Swingin’ Rhythms”, and some online listings designate the tape with both, so maybe it’s front and back, but I haven’t yet been able to confirm. Track listing is taken from a contemporary Concertapes catalog. 
Reissued with Concertapes 508 (“Swingin’ Easy”) on Concertapes 4T-4003 and Concert Disc CS 27 with the title “Swingin’ Easy”, except for track “Of Thee I Sing”.
Available as download in Europe under the same title

24-8 (708 monaural) Tchaikovsky Nutcracker Ballet suite. Symphony of the Air (announced in Billboard 3/6/57 Concertapes new items, “part of a series scheduled for early summer release”. Reviews Tape Recording 12/57, HF 3/58)
Reissued with 510 on Concertapes 4T-4002, Concert Disc CS 25. See CS 25 for more on other editions and reissues

24-9 (464 monaural) Spohr Nonette. Fine Arts & New York Woodwind Quintet, Harold Siegel (SR 28/6/58, HF 7/58, Tape Recording 12/59)
Reissued on Concert Disc CS 201, Concertapes 4T-4010 (4-track). See CS 201 for more details

24-10 (465 monaural) Mozart Quintet for Horn, Quartet for Oboe. Barrow, Still, Fine Arts (HF 7/58)
Reissued on Concert Disc CS 204. See CS 204 for further reissues

25-1 ( 463 monaural) Re-Percussion. Richard Schory, Percussive Art Ensemble (ad in Billboard 16/6/58 “7” Reels at $11.95 List”, review Audiocraft 6/58, Tape Recording 9/58)
Also on Concert Disc E 21, CS 21. Reissued on Concertapes 4T-3002. See CS 21 for more reissues

25-2 (462 monaural) Carols for Christmas. Dr. Austin C. Lovelace, organ (ad in Tape Recording, 12/58)
Reissued on Concert Disc CS 34, Concertape 4T-3014 (4-track). See CS 34 for track listing.

25-3 (466 monaural) Mozart Clarinet Quintet Kell Fine Arts (HF 3/59)
Also on Concert Disc CS 203, reissued on Concertapes 4T-4005 (4-track). See CS 203 for further reissues

25-4 (467 monaural) Brahms Clarinet Quintet Kell Fine Arts (HF 3/59)
Also on Concert Disc CS 202, reissued on Concertapes 4T-4006 (4-track). See CS 202 for further reissues

SP 1 (four 5-in.) “Stereo Starter Set” (ad in HiFi & Music Review 4/58 p. 77, review HF 6/58, long reviews in HiFi & Music Review 6/58 p. 46 & 66 and in Radio News 6/58, review in Tape Recording 8/58. Note: Radio News critic is Bert Whyte, soon to acquire legendary status through his work as sound engineer with Everest)

 

 

Vol. 1: Silk Satin & Strings (Jalousie, Sleepy Lagoon, Holiday For Strings, From This Moment On, Laura, Fallin’ In Love With Love). The Sorkin Strings (link to Discogs.com with excellent photos and track listing)
Note: as with Concertapes 511 vs Concert Disc CS 40 (see above), there is a riddle to this recording and its attribution. Concertapes later reissued the same six tracks, with six more, under the same title, both on Concert Disc CS 36 and Concertapes 4-track 4T-3006, but now attributed to “The Radiant Velvet Orchestra” conducted by Caesar Giovannini. As indicated above, Caesar Giovannini appears to be a real person. So were there here also, as with “Jay Norman”, contractual bindings that prevented from crediting him in 1956, that were then lifted by 1958? Or did Giovannini actually re-record the program once taped by the Sorkin Strings? Especially in view of the “Jay Norman” case I’d be inclined to think the former, but at this point I can only conjecture…

Vol. 2: Big Beat with Mike (Take The A Train, C Jam Blues, Cherokee, After You’ve Gone, Lover, One O’Clock Jump). Mike Simpson and his Big Band (link to Discogs.com)
Reissued with Concertapes 503 on Concert Disc CS 26 and Concertapes 4T-3004

Vol. 3: Lighting the Torch. Jay Norman Quintet, vocalist Nancy Wright (There’s a Small Hotel, It’s Alright With Me, Take Me in Your Arms, Taking a Chance on Love, Moonlight in Vermont, Thou Swell)
Two tracks in bold sung by Nancy Wright and reissued with more on Concert Disc CS 43

Vol. 4. Symphony of Dance (Rimsky-Korsakov Dance of the Clowns, Sibelius Valse Triste, Bizet Minuetto from l’Arlésienne, Glière Sailor Dance from The Red Poppy). Musical Arts Symphony, Leonard Sorkin
Reissued on Concert Disc CS 42 and Concertapes 4T-3003 with the the contents of Concertapes 514 (Glinka Russlan & Ludmila Ov., Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances)
Note: Glinka announced on Concertapes ad for Stereo Starter Set but apparently not included

Note: this set seems in fact to have been the recycling of a similar “stereo starter set”, marketed a year earlier as a bonus to the purchase of the latest V-M (The Voice of Music) tape recorder. Ads published in The Billboard of September 1957. The V-M offer included one more tape, “Christmas in stereo”, “a collection of best-loved yule carols and hymns by the John Halloran Chorus and the Musical Arts Symphony Orchestra”.

I haven’t been able to find the program sung by the Halloran Chorus on V-M’s “Christmas in Stereo” (the tape was sold with others, including three more from that Voice of Music series, on eBay in November 2015… ), but, rather than the same one that was published on Concertapes 505 (“The Sound of Christmas”) and although it shares Leonard Sorkin’s orchestra, it may have been the same that was offered, seemingly the previous Christmas (1956), by Ampex to its customers, in a tape called “A Christmas Greeting in Stereophonic Sound”. See here for more details. There are some overlaps with the selections on 505, but also some differences (overlaps in bold): “The selections sung by the John Halloran Choir are ‘Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly,’ ‘It Came upon a Midnight Clear,’ ‘Willie Take Your Little Drum (Pat-a-pan),’ ‘Here We Come a Wassailing,’ ‘O Little Town Of Bethlehem,’ ‘Silent Night,’ and ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas.’“. One may conjecture that they were all recorded at the same session of September 30, 1956.

23008-2T “Ceasar Plays”
From CS-40. Also on Concertapes 4T-3008
Note: this one is something of a mystery to me. It is the only one in this 2-track 23000 series that I’ve found.

4-track tapes

About the advent of the 4-track tape, see Tape Recording 9/59 p. 22: “Two Track Becomes Four Track”

4T-3001 Sound in The Round (vol. 1 & 2) Cunningham (link will open a new tab to entry on Discogs. com) (listed in Tape Recording 8/59 catalog of 4-track 7½ IPS stereo tapes, Review Tape Recording 9/59)
Reissued from Concertapes 501 & 504; reissue on Concert Disc CS 22

4T-3002 Re-Percussion. The Percussive Art Ensemble, Richard Schory (listed in Tape Recording 8/59 catalog of 4-track 7½ IPS stereo tapes)
Reissue of Concertapes 25-1, Concert Disc CS 21. See CS 21 for more reissues

4T-3003 Leonard Sorkin “Symphony of Dance” (Rimsky-Korsakov Dance of the Buffoons, Sibelius Valse triste, Bizet L’Arlésienne-Suite 1 Minuet, Gliere Red Poppy Russian Sailors’ Dance, Glinka Russlan & Ludmilla Ov., Borodin Polovtsian Dances). Musical Arts SO, Sorkin (listed in Tape Recording 8/59 catalog of 4-track 7½ IPS stereo tapes, reviews in HiFi Review 11/59, HF 12/59, Tape Recording 4/60)
Reissue of Stereo Starter set vol. 4 and Concertapes 514. Also reisssued on Concert Disc CS 42. See CS 42 for additional reissues
Anecdote: HF calls the Rimsky piece Dance of “the Tumblers”; Reviewing Stereo Starter Set in Radio News of June ’58, critic and famed Everest sound engineer Bert Whyte called it Dance of “the Clowns”, and it is the same title that is indicated in Concertapes catalogs

4T-3004 The Opposite Sides of Mike. The Mike Simpson Orchestra (listed in Tape Recording 8/59 catalog of 4-track 7½ IPS stereo tapes)
See Concert Disc CS 26 for sources

4T-3005 Richard Strauss II Miscellany (32 mins.). Musical Arts SO, Leonard Sorkin (listed in Tape Recording 8/59 catalog of 4-track 7½ IPS stereo tapes, review HF 12/59, HiFi/Stereo Review 4/60 Best buys 4-track tapes)
Reissued from Concertapes 101A, also on Concert-Disc CS 28

4T-3006 Silk Satin & Strings (approx. 33 mins). Radiant Velvet Orchestra, Caesar Giovannini (listed in Tape Recording 8/59 catalog of 4-track 7½ IPS stereo tapes, reviews Tape Recording 8/59, HiFi/Stereo Review 11/59)
See Concert Disc CS 36 and note under Concertapes Stereo Starter Set vol. 1

4T-3007 Let’s Swing. Wendell Tracy and his orchestra (listed in Tape Recording 8/59 catalog of 4-track 7½ IPS stereo tapes)
From Concertapes 24-6. Also on Concert Disc CS 39. See 24-6 for details on source 

 

4T-3008 Caesar Plays. Caesar Giovannini (listed in Tape Recording 8/59 catalog of 4-track 7½ IPS stereo tapes)
Also Concert Disc CS 40, Concertapes 23008-2T. See note under Concertapes 511

4T-3009 Beat Tropicale. José Béthancourt, Harry Coon & Richard Campbell (HF 3/60)
Reissue of Concertapes 506 (Béthancourt) and 512 (Coon & Campbell). Also on Concert Disc CS 33

4T-3010 Songs of Stephen Foster, Songs of America. John Halloran Choir
Reissued from Concertapes 103A, reissue on Concert Disc CS 30

4T-3011 Mozart Eine kleine Nachtmusik, Vivaldi Concerto Grosso op. 3-11, Bach Prelude in E. Sorkin Musical Arts Symphony
See Concert Disc CS 31 for details of sources and reissues

4T-3012 Austin Lovelace Organ Concert
See Concert Disc CS 32 for details of sources and reissues

4T-3013 Favorite Choral Selections. John Halloran Choir (HiFi/Stereo Review 7/60)
Reissue of Webcor 2911-1 / 2922-1, Concertapes 22-1. Also on Concert Disc CS 41 with the title “Come to the Fair”. See 2911-1  for track listing

4T-3014 Carols for Christmas. Dr. Austin C. Lovelace (reference in Tape Recording 12/59, labelled 301-4)
From Concertapes 25-2. Also on concert Disc CS 34

4T-3015 Hindemith Kleine Kammermusik op. 24-2, Danzi Quintet op. 67-2 New York Woodwind Quintet (HF 6/60, HiFi/Stereo Review 3/62 David Hall Building a Basic Stereo Tape Library)
From Concertapes 24-4, Concert Disc CS 205

4T-3016 Mozart Horn Quintet, Oboe Quintet. Barrows, Still, Fine Arts (HiFi/Stereo Review 4/60 Best buys 4-track tapes, HF 6/60)
From Concertapes 24-10, Concert Disc CS 204

4T-3017 Vincent Geraci: Accordion Reveries (listing found in Harrison Tape Catalog)
From Concertapes 24-5, Concert Disc CS 38. See CS 38 for digital reissue

4T-3018 Nancy Wright: You Make Me Feel So Young (listing from Harrison Tape Catalog)
From Concertapes 509 and Stereo Starter Set vol. 3. Also on Concert Disc CS 43. See CS 43 for more on sources and digital reissues

4T-3019 Willie Wright I Sing Folk Songs (listing from Harrison Tape Catalog)
From Concert Disc CS 45. See comment thereunder

4T-3020 Tchaikovsky Serenade, Bolzoni Minuet. Musical Arts Symphony, Sorkin (Hi Fi-Stereo Review 11/60)
From Webcor 2923-3, Concertapes 23-3B. See Webcor for subsequent reissues

4T-3021 Mendelssohn String Octet op. 20, Andante scherzando from String Quintet op. 87. Fine Arts Quartet, Oscar & David Chausow, Milton Preves, Dudley Powers (HiFi/Stereo Review 12/60)
From Webcor 2923-5, Concertapes 23-5B. Reissued on Concert Disc CS 261 and SP 505

4T-3022 Poulenc Riegger. Glazer New York Woodwind Quintet (HiFi/Stereo Review 3/62 David Hall Building a Basic Stereo Tape Library, label number not given; Daily Independent Journal from San Rafael, 21/3/64)
From Concert Disc CS 221. See CS 221 for later reissues

4T-3023 Sounds in the Round – Echoes of the Storm (Audio 6/62)
From Audiophile AP 20, recorded June 1952. Concert Disc CS 44. See CS 44 for digital reissue
Audio: “The material on this tape has enjoyed a distinguished career annoying the wives and sweethearts of mono and stereo component fans. When they first appeared on the Audiophile label in the late ’50’s, this thunderstorm and sounds of the “Crazy Quilt” collection s00n became part of the standard procedure wherever good sound systems were subjected to evaluation (…). While no one will deny that a recording such as this could really use the wider dynamic range of the old two-track stereo tapes, the sound quality of this four-track reel still places It head and shoulders above the average tape being released today. A good deal of the answer lies in the fact that Concertapes in taking over distribution of the Audiophile label’s catalog, inherited some of the cleanest masters in the business. This shows up even on sounds of narrower dynamic range. Whatever your opinion of the capabilities of quarter track, this reel should have some surprises for you. Even if you happen to share my opinion that a good stereo disc has better highs than a four-track tape, most disc fans will have to admit that this particular tape has lows you couldn’t crowd into a record groove. “

4T-3024 Red Nichols and His Five Pennies
From 78s Audiophile AP 7 and 8. Also on Concert Disc CS 53. See CS 53 for details on sources and reissues

4T-3025 Cat on the Keys. Art Hodes
From Audiophile AP 54. Also on Concert Disc CS 50

4T-3026 Rx for the Blues. “Doc” Evans and His Dixieland Band
From Audiophile AP 69. Also on Concert Disc CS 51

4T-3027 Polkas in Percussion. The Bill Will Band
From Audiophile AP 62. Also on Concert Disc CS 52

4T-3028 The Folk singers’ Folk Singer. Frank Hamilton
From Audiophile AP 73. Also on Concert Disc CS 54

 

4T-4001 Gigi, My Fair Lady (selections). Caesar Giovannini & the Radiant Velvet Orchestra (listed in Tape Recording 8/59 catalog of 4-track 7½ IPS stereo tapes, review Tape Recording 7/59, HiFi Review 11/59)
Tape Recording: “Four-track tapes below are so new we cannot give all prices, nor label information, since most of the boxes we got copies in did not yet have their labels printed. These tapes were all obtained at the Electronics Parts Distributors Show in Chicago”
From Concertapes 601 and 513. Also issued on Concert Disc CS 23

4T-4002 Symphony of the Air Orchestral Program (Tchaikovsky Nutcracker Ballet-Suite, Berlioz Roman Carnival Overture, Wagner Meistersinger Prelude) (listed in Tape Recording 8/59 catalog of 4-track 7½ IPS stereo tapes, HF 12/59, Radio News 12/59, HiFi/ Stereo Review 2/60)
From Concertapes 24-8 and 510. Also issued on Concert Disc CS 25. see CS 25 for more on other editions and reissues

4T-4003 Swingin’ Easy. The Modernes (listed in Tape Recording 8/59 catalog of 4-track 7½ IPS stereo tapes)
From Concertapes 24-7 and 508. See Concert Disc CS 27 for details on sources and reissues

4T-4004 Schubert Trout Quintet Frank Glazer, Sorkin, Ilmer, Sopkin, Harold Siegel (HF 12/59, HiFi Review 1/60, labelled 3005 in HiFi/Stereo Review 4/60 Best buys 4-track tapes, HiFi/Stereo Review 3/62 David Hall Building a Basic Stereo Tape Library)
From Concert Disc CS 206. See CS 206 for reissues

4T-4005 Mozart Clarinet Quintet Kell, Fine Arts (HiFi/Stereo Review 4/60 Best buys 4-track tapes, ad in Audio 12/60, review Tape Recording 3/62, HiFi/Stereo Review 3/62 David Hall Building a Basic Stereo Tape Library)
From Concertapes 25-3, Concert Disc CS 203. See CS 203 for reissues

4T-4006 Brahms Clarinet Quintet Kell Fine Arts (HiFi/Stereo Review 4/60 Best buys 4-track tapes, review Tape Recording 3/62, HiFi/Stereo Review 3/62 David Hall Building a Basic Stereo Tape Library)
From Concertapes 25-4, Concert Disc CS 202. See CS 202 for reissues. On the later edition, back cover misprints 4T-4005

 

 

 

4T-4007 Beethoven Septet Fine Arts, NY Woodwind (HF 12/60, HiFi/Stereo Review 3/62 David Hall Building a Basic Stereo Tape Library)

From Concert Disc CS 214.

4T-4008 Mozart Flute Quartets; Samuel Baron, Fine Arts Quartet (HiFi/Stereo Review 12/60)
From Concert Disc CS 215. See CS 215 for further reissues

4T-4009 Ingolf Dahl Allegro & Arioso, Samuel Barber Summer Music, Alvin Etler Quintet for Winds. New York Woodwind Quintet (link will open new tab to entry on Discogs.com) (HF 1/61)
From Concert Disc CS 216. See CS 216 for further reissues

4T-4010 Spohr Nonet. Fine Arts & New York Woodwind (listed in Harrison Tape Catalog as C-4010. Nonetheless, 4T-4010 is attested)

 

 

 

 

 

Reissued from Concertapes 24-9, Concert Disc CS 201

4T-4011 Frank Glazer: Shapero Copland Gottschalk Dello Joio Gershwin
See Concert Disc CS 217

4012 Taffanel, Françaix (Harrison Tape Catalog, no prefix)
See Concert Disc CS 222

4013 Alex Wilder: Woodwind Quintets (Harrison Tape Catalog)
See Concert Disc CS 223

4T-4014 Hilo Hawaiians, Honeymoon in Hawaii
Also on Concert Disc CS 46. See CS 46 for possible sources and reissues

4T-4015 DOC + 4 = DIXIE – “Doc” Evans
From Audiophile AP 57. Also on Concert Disc CS 47

4T-4016 Muskrat Ramble- “Doc” Evans and His Dixieland Band
From Audiophile AP 56. Also on Concert Disc CS 48

4T-4017 A Cure for the Blues- “Doc” Evans and His Dixieland Band
From Audiophile AP 63. Also on Concert Disc CS 49

4T-4018 Haydn Quartets op. 20-4, op. 76-2 Quinten Fine Arts Quartet
Also on Concert Disc CS 228 

4T-4019 Mozart Quartets 15 K 421, 19 K465 “Dissonant”. Fine Arts (HF 4/63)
Also on Concert Disc CS 227

4T-4020 Beethoven Quartet No. 14 op. 131. Fine Arts
Also on Concert Disc CS 211

4T-4021 Mendelssohn Quartet op. 12, Quartet in E op. 44-2. Fine Arts (listing in Harrison Tape Catalog)
Also on Concert Disc CS 224

4T-4022 Schubert Quartet No. 14 “Death & the Maiden” (listing in Harrison Tape Catalog)
Also on Concert Disc CS 212. See CS 212 for reissues

4T-4023 Lots of Nichols
From Audiophile AP 23 “Jazz Potpourri”. Also on Concert Disc CS 55. See CS 55 for details of track listing

 

4T-5001 The Jay Norman Quintet. Dancing and Dreaming (approx. 63 mins.) (link will open new tab to entry on Discogs.com) (listed in Tape Recording 8/59 catalog of 4-track 7½ IPS stereo tapes, reviews Tape Recording 8/59, HiFi Review 11/59)
12 first tracks also on Concert Disc CS 24, 11 next on Concert Disc CS 35. Last track of CS 35 not included in the four-track tape
Note: The review in Tape Recording also lists Perfidia among the contents of 4T-5001, but the track listing on the back of the tape container, as shown on Discogs.com, doesn’t mention it

4T-5002 Favorite Show Tunes. Leonard Sorking Strings (listed in Tape Recording 8/59 catalog of 4-track 7½ IPS stereo tapes)
See Concert Disc CS 29 for sources and reissues
Note: I have not been able yet to establish if this 4-track tape collated the contents only of Favorite Show Tunes vols. 1, or also of vol. 2 (see Concert Disc CS 37)

4T-5003-4-5 Bartok (HiFi/Stereo Review 4/60 Best buys 4-track tapes, 4T 5004 only Tape Recording 5/60 “New Tapes Received”, review HF 9/60, HiFi/Stereo Review 3/62 David Hall Building a Basic Stereo Tape Library)
From Concert Disc CS 207-209, SP 501

4T-5006 Beethoven Quartets Opus 18, No. 3 & 4 Fine Arts
From Concert Disc CS 210

4T-5007 Brahms Quartets op. 51-1 & 2. Fine Arts (Harrison Tape Catalog)
From Concert Disc CS 226

4T-5008 Bloch Hindemith Fine Arts Quartet
From Concert Disc CS 225 

4T-5009 Beethoven Mozart Piano Quintets Glazer, New York Woodwind Quintet (HF 12/60, HiFi/Stereo Review 12/60)
From Concert Disc CS 213 

4T-5010 Hindemith Octet, Sonata for Viola op. 25-1. Members of New York Woodwind Quintet & Fine Arts Qr, Harold Siegel, Irving UIlmer (HF 10/60, HiFi/Stereo Review 12/60, HiFi/Stereo Review 3/62 David Hall Building a Basic Stereo Tape Library)
Also on Concert Disc CS 218

4T-5011 Frank Glazer Album Leaves
Also on Concert Disc CS 219

4T-5012 Schubert Octet Fine Arts & NY Woodwind Quintet (HiFi/Stereo Review 3/62 David Hall Building a Basic Stereo Tape Library)
Also on Concert Disc CS 220

 

4T-7001 Beethoven Krips (HF 11/64, Audio 11/64)

Additional resources:

The Fine Arts Quartet’s official discography. It’s a bit confused and sometimes incomplete or inaccurate (as to dating and label-numbering), but it’s useful and serves as a good primer.

Discogs.com is an incomplete but nonetheless, for what it has, great discographic resource.

American Radio History and Vintage Vacuum Audio. IN-VA-LUABLE websites that have published scans of loads of record- and audio-magazines from the 1940s to whenever, including High Fidelity, Tape Recording, Radio Electronics, Audio, Hi Fi & Music/Stereo Review and The Billboard. A treasure trove of information, just awaiting your digging time. This research would not have been possible without them. And the same for The Saturday Review. THANKS YOU PEOPLE, deepest gratitude!