Thursday, April 2, 2026
Ninety Minutes from a thrift shop in Breda
Good morning! In Breda, the Netherlands, there is a second-hand charity shop I love to visit. Huge quantities of clothes, books, household appliances and of course CDs and vinyl records change hands there. Who owned those records? When were they played? Why were they given away? Every time I stand there holding one of those records, I ask myself these questions. Sometimes there is a date written on them, sometimes not. Since my house is already full enough, I often take a photo as a souvenir rather than the record itself. This week's playlist, ninety minutes long, is filled with three of the records I held in my hands and photographed.
The first is on a remarkable label: Everest. Founded at the dawn of the stereo era, Everest acquired 3-channel 35mm magnetic film recording equipment and used it through the early 1960s to capture sound with exceptional fidelity. Sir Malcolm Sargent conducts two works by Ottorino Respighi: The Fountains of Rome and The Pines of Rome — two pieces that lent themselves perfectly to showcasing the spectacular possibilities of recording technology in 1960.
The second record was released in 1967: Tchaikovsky's First Suite, conducted by Antal Doráti. Now largely forgotten, the suite was in Tchaikovsky's own time one of his most frequently performed works. He took it to several European stages himself and it was also the piece he conducted, for example, with the Berlin Philharmonic.
The last record is a rather special little single from Philips' budget "Musikalische Edelsteine" series. What makes it remarkable is that it is an early stereo release, from around 1960, whereas most records in the series were issued in mono. The recording itself comes from conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos and the New York Philharmonic, originally taped in 1957.
Ottorino Respighi
1879 – 1936
The Fountains of Rome (Fontane di Roma), P. 106 (1916)
London Symphony Orchestra · Sir Malcolm Sargent, conductor
- I. The Fountain of the Valle Giulia at Dawn
- II. The Triton Fountain
- III. The Fountain of Trevi at Mid-day
- IV. The Fountain of the Villa Medici at Sunset
The Pines of Rome (Pini di Roma), P. 141 (1924)
London Symphony Orchestra · Sir Malcolm Sargent, conductor
- I. The Pines of the Villa Borghese
- II. The Pines Near a Catacomb
- III. The Pines of the Janiculum
- IV. The Pines of the Appian Way
As found in Breda — Everest SDBR-3051, "First in 35 MM Recording"
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
1840 – 1893
Suite No. 1 in D minor, Op. 43 (1878–1879)
New Philharmonia Orchestra · Antal Doráti, conductor
- I. Introduzione e Fuga — Andante sostenuto – Moderato e con anima
- II. Divertimento — Allegro moderato
- III. Intermezzo — Andantino semplice
- IV. Marche miniature — Moderato con moto
- V. Scherzo — Allegro con moto
- VI. Gavotte — Allegro
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
1840 – 1893
Slavonic March (Marche slave), Op. 31 (1876)
New York Philharmonic · Dimitri Mitropoulos, conductor
- Slavonic March, Op. 31 (Side 1 & 2)
