...... and they sounded great

The Album Notes for the recording of Richard Bonynge's Giselle

(c) 2016 Gita Mistry, all rights reserved

On Sunday I mentioned my collection of student LPs which I have just discovered (see Look what I've found! 10 April 2016). After as we had seen the Bolshoi's Don Quixote at the National Media Museum Gita and I returned to her home to try out the records on her sound system.

It took a minute or so to adjust the system for these antique recordings but sure enough the overture and morning sounds of the opening scene of Lanchberry's orchestration of Herold's fee emerged loud and strong. There was some hissing and static but quality of the sound was extraordinary. Better that I was able to produce on my portable record player which had been my 21st birthday present from my parents.

As we had done Jane Tucker's intensive a few days earlier Gita placed Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet on the turntable. When the Dance of the Knights came on we counted the beats to the girls' entrance. We were tempted to stride across the room and start our glissades but movement might have destabilized the system. Instead we rehearsed the steps in our minds and metaphorically flew with Juliet when the orchestra played her variation.

After Romeo and Juliet we played side 1 of Swan Lake and then side 1 of The Nutcracker. We could have listened to them all night had we not had jobs to do in the morning.