Philips Bach - MATTHEUS PASSION - Mengelberg Org 1939

	£		51
	$		68

J.S. BACH - MATTHEUS PASSION

Here it is! The highest rated historical performance of Bach's Mattheus Passion in the world! The original Philips boxset on Philips Minigroove maroon labels!!

The good news: the records are in a VG++ condition. Side 2 and 6 have scratches that look very bad, but are not audible.

The bad news: the box and sleeves are in poor condition as you can see on the photo below. That's why the opening bid is low, usually this boxset goes for 400 USD.

For those of you who don't know the story behind this recording, please read the following that is copied from: http://www.soundfountain.com/amb/phmil.html

''On the afternoon of Saturday, January 24th, 1953, a special presentation was held for the Dutch press and important members of the musical and commercial scene in the Netherlands. They gathered in the so called 'Kleine Zaal' (small auditorium) of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
The presentation was organized by 'Philips Phonographische Industrie' (PPI), the Dutch record company which was founded two and a half years earlier, in September 1950. 
No instrumentalist, no singer was present on the stage to play or sing. What could be seen was a catafalque surrounded by flowers. And there was some artistic painting hanging in the background. It all looked as if a funeral was going to take place.
So no live music was going to be performed. There was a cold and dull look on most faces. Until... Until the murmur of people in a large acoustic space was being heard through loudspeakers -the catafalque apparently hid a sound system- and shortly afterwards was followed by a firm, light ticking of a baton, the conductor's baton, not just calling all musicians to be attentive, but merely asking the audience to be quiet. And then the performance began, in fact the performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's 'Matthaeus Passion' performed by soloists, chorusses and the Concertgebouw Orchestra, and conductor Willem Mengelberg, exactly as it had been recorded on Palm Sunday of 1939.

THE ARTISTS

Many a journalist reported afterwards, that from the first bar until the last, everyone present was captivated by the extraordinary performance of Bach's 'St. Matthew's Passion', now issued by Philips on four Minigroove Long Playing records.
The headline of journalist Ruth Zimmerman's newspaper article (review) read: 'One cannot describe happiness', thus indicating the impact the auditioning had on her and others present.
And Dutch music critic Ralph N. Degens (when later preparing his review) wrote: 'When listening to the now released grammophone records again, one undergoes the spell of this perfect chorus sound, of the orchestra playing.

In 1939 alto Ilona Durigo was 57 years of age. Bass Karl Erb was 62 and Mengelberg himself was 68. Violinist Louis Zimmermann, who had been concert master of the Concertgebouw Orchestra since 1911, played the violin solos. He was 65 years of age.
The oboe players were George Blanchard (who was born in Brussels and played in the orchestra from 1904 until 1943), and W. Peddemors. The flute was played by Hubert Barwahser. Of the singers Willem Ravelli (bass) at 46 was on the top of his career, as were soprano Jo Vincent (41), tenor Louis van Tulder (46) and bass Herman Schey (43). Their ripened insights and sublime artistry contributed immensely to the compelling performance.
The youngest performer of importance was organist Piet van Egmond, aged 27.

Email me with any questions, or additional photo's of the box and sleeves. I'd like to sell this set to a collector who loves this recording but can't afford the usual price and who doesn't care for the cosmetics. However, I think it is important that any buyer knows what he will be receiving.

The booklet is in good condition.