Alison Bowcott asked:

>Can someone help me (with Ormandy's 1962 Scheherazade)?

There are a number of reasons why this occurs in a recording, and it is
not always the conductor's fault.  Cuts and splices are done by recording
engineers in the recording studio after the piece has been recorded, and
sometimes with or without the conductor's approval.  There may have been
a sour note, some extraneous noise or even a botched ensemble attack.

It is interesting that this happened with an Ormandy recording of
Scheherazade, as in an earlier version of the work by Ormandy and the
Philadelphians a stray dog wandered onto the sound stage from outside
during the recording and barked ala The Incredible Flutist at a quiet
moment in the score.  For some reason the engineers never caught it, and
the record went out into stores around the country with Fido doing his
thing.

Deryk Barker wrote:

>Old faithful-to-the-score Toscanini made a huge cut in the last movement
>of the Manfred Symphony.

This wasn't the only change in the Manfred.  At the beginning of the
symphony Toscanini bolstered the sound of the clarinets and bassoons by
adding muted horns in unison with them, achieving a darker sound with more
substance.

It's a myth that Toscanini stuck scrupulously to the score, and a myth
trotted out again and again usually by those who would seek to discredit
rather than praise him.  Although Toscanini approved the cut in Manfred, it
was explained to me years ago that in the early days of the lp only so many
minutes of music could fit on one record.  Hence economics triumphed over
art.

John Dalmas
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