L. STOKOWSKI/ SAINT SAENS- CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS- - M 785: 3 X 78 ALBUM SET

$

50

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Offered to you here is a difficult to obtain copy of the 3 disc set (12")  of Leopold Stokowski & the Philadelphia Orchestra performing Carnival of the Animals on Victor. It features Jeanne Behrend & Sylvan Levin, pianists. The release date is likely to be in the late 1930's.

This is an unusual composition by Camille Saint Saens, about which Wikipedia provides the following information:

"Following a disastrous concert tour of Germany in 1885–86, Saint-Saëns withdrew to a small Austrian village, where he composed The Carnival of the Animals in February 1886.[1] It is scored for two pianos, two violins, viola, cello, double bass, flute (and piccolo), clarinet (C and B?), glass harmonica, and xylophone.

From the beginning, Saint-Saëns regarded the work as a piece of fun. On 9 February 1886 he wrote to his publishers Durand in Paris that he was composing a work for the coming Shrove Tuesday, and confessing that he knew he should be working on his Third Symphony, but that this work was "such fun" ("... mais c'est si amusant!"). He had apparently intended to write the work for his students at the École Niedermeyer, but in the event it was first performed at a private concert given by the cellist Charles Lebouc on Shrove Tuesday, 9 March 1886.

A second (private) performance was given on 2 April at the home of Pauline Viardot with an audience including Franz Liszt, a friend of the composer, who had expressed a wish to hear the work. There were other private performances, typically for the French mid-Lent festival of Mi-Carême, but Saint-Saëns was adamant that the work would not be published in his lifetime, seeing it as detracting from his "serious" composer image. He relented only for the famous cello solo The Swan, which forms the penultimate movement of the work, and which was published in 1887 in an arrangement by the composer for cello and solo piano (the original uses two pianos).

Saint-Saëns did specify in his will that the work should be published posthumously. Following his death in December 1921, the work was published by Durand in Paris in April 1922, and the first public performance was given on 25 February 1922 by Concerts Colonne (the orchestra of Édouard Colonne).[2]

Carnival has since become one of Saint-Saëns's best-known works, played by the original eleven instrumentalists, or more often with the full string section of an orchestra. Normally a glockenspiel substitutes for the rare glass harmonica. Ever popular with music teachers and young children, it is often found on a CD in combination with Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf and Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra."

Here is a description of the condition:

COVER: EX+.  At 12" X 14", this is a large-sized album for the era. There is some minor yellowing under bright light, a 1" paper crease on the lower front & a scratch or 2. The deco-style imaginative artwork on the front is in fine condition. The caged pianist is a hoot.

DISCS: All 3 show limited playing time, still retaining their original gloss:

785-1: EX : a few minor scuffs, .5" mark toward the end of "Mules".

785-2:  EX : 2 hairline scratches.

785-3: VG+ : a long but light mark, a few light scratches

785-4: EX+

785-5: EX+

785-6: EX

In all, a well-cared for copy, in fine condition.

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RECORD GRADING DESCRIPTION

 THIS RECORD IS SIGHT-GRADED ONLY UNDER A BRIGHT LIGHT, IT IS NOT PLAY-GRADED.

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WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU CLEAN THIS RECORDING BEFORE PLAYING. RECORDS THAT ARE  DECADES OLD CAN ATTRACT & ACCUMULATE DAMAGING FOREIGN MATERIAL THAT REDUCES SOUND QUALITY. THIS IS NORMALLY EASILY CORRECTED WITH A GOOD CLEANING.

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SIGHT-GRADING DEFINITIONS;

SEALED: RECORD IS WRAPPED IN PLASTIC & UNOPENED.

NM-: RECORD HAS LITTLE OR NO INDICATION THAT IT HAS BEEN PLAYED.

EX: MINIMAL SIGNS OF USE (LIGHT SCRATCHING/PAPER SCUFFS), BUT IN ALL A RECORD THAT HAS BEEN WELL-CARED FOR.

VG+: LESS CARE THAN EX, LIGHT SCRATCHING OR SCUFFING IS MORE EXTENSIVE. STILL VERY PLAYABLE & WILL LIKELY PROVIDE A QUALITY SOUND.

VG & BELOW: WHILE PLAYABLE, THIS RECORD HAS BEEN AROUND THE BLOCK. OBVIOUS SIGNS OF WEAR & SHOULD BE CONSIDERED TO BE IN A LOW GRADE.  A RECORD GRADED BELOW VG MAY HAVE A VALUE BASED UPON ITS RARITY OR UNIQUENESS.

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