Bert Bailey wrote:

> I was intrigued to read in Miles Davis's autobiography that he, no doubt
> like other musicians, was glad about the shift from 78s to LPs in the
> early 1950s, because it began taking music beyond the 3-minute mark. ...
>
> I expect it must have also meant a significant change in the length
> of contemporaneous CM composition -- certainly of works by those who
> hoped to see them recorded.

I am not aware of any examples of this from that era.

> But does it mean, though, that any classical movements or pieces
> of longer than three minutes' duration were previously broken up
> over several 78 rpm records?

Absolutely.  Some were cut during the 78 era - especially during the
acoustic era (i.e.  before 1925/6).  The first recordings of Elgar's
Violin Concerto, for example, were drastically cut with IIRC one movement
to a side, except for the finale which occupied one side while the famous
accompanied cadenza occupied another!

Much of the standard Viennese symphonic repertoire couldn't fit one
movement onto a 3-4 minute side, so something like Beethoven's Eroica
or 9th would spread over multiple sides.  There was even an early recording
of a Bruckner symphony in which the scherzo was on just two sides: you
turned it over for the trio and then replayed the first side for the
repeat of the scherzo!

> Also, can anyone on the List tell me when the first release of
> multi-LP albums, classical or otherwise, took place?  I expect this
> would mean the first time a 2-LP album was released.

Probably the first double "Pop" LP was Dylan's Blonde on Blonde (1966).
I think classical double LPs probably came out pretty soon after LPs
themselves: something as common/popular as Beethoven 9 usually came in
a 2 LP set.  (Often occupying 2 sides, with probably the 8th as the
other).

Jazz? No idea.

deryk barker
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