Mr Bérard
Département de l'enregistrement
Compagnie du Gramophone
9, Boulevard Haussmann
Paris IX Dear Sir, Here is a list of the pieces I have recorded: FIRST RECORD: Visions fugitives, Op. 22, Nos. 9, 3, 17, 18 (on the side that we re-recorded with Pathé) and Nos. 11, 10, 16, 6, 5 (on the side that we started with on the first day).
SECOND RECORD: 1st side - Suggestion diabolique Op. 4, Second Tale of an Old Grandmother, Op. 31; 2nd side - Sonatine pastorale, Op. 59.
THIRD RECORD: 1st side - Third Tale of an Old Grandmother, Op. 31, Second Gavotte, Op. 25; 2nd side - Etude, Op. 52, Paysage, Op. 59.
FOURTH RECORD: 1st side - Andante, Op. 29; 2nd side - end of Andante, Op. 29, and Third Gavotte, Op. 32. Kindly send the test copies to Mme Prokofieff, who intends leaving for Moscow at the beginning of April. If you send them earlier, she will ask the USSR Embassy to have them sent to Moscow by diplomatic courier. I am taking with me the test recordings that you sent earlier, so that I may compare them all.
May I take this opportunity of thanking you for your collaboration. And please, aim for a better quality of sound recording for the piano. I was terribly depressed when I compared the sonority of our "casserole" [in French, "a saucepan". This colloquial expression is commonly used when referring to a disagreeable sound. Ed.] with the silvery sound of the Rachmaninoff recordings made in America. With my best wishes.
Sincerely yours, |
