# Adolph Busch's Handel Concerti Grossi Op 6- Very rare 78s



## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

For those who like historical recordings and non-HIP Baroque, here is one of the rarest sets in my 78 collection. Here is some background on it...

Today, Adolph Busch is remembered almost exclusively for his recordings of Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms; but he was equally adept at the music of Haydn, Mozart, and Handel. Through a quirk of fate, this particular recording of Handel's Concerti Grossi, Op. 6 has never received the exposure it deserves with the listening public. It was recorded in 1946 with a revised lineup of the Busch Chamber Players. Adolph Busch was joined by Ernest Drucker on violin, his brother Herman Busch played cello and on harpsicord was the great Bach intepreter, Mieczyslaw Horszowski. The wartime shortages and subsequent recording hiatus were over, and the Busch Chamber Players were invited to record Handel's complete cycle of 12 concerti. These works had not been recorded since Boyd Neel's pioneering records nearly a decade earlier.

Because of the time limitations of 78rpm records, the nearly three hours of music ended up spanning fifty sides, with the impressive stack of 25 records bound into three weighty volumes. Record stores were forbidden to sell the volumes individually, and since the market for record sets this large was limited, very few copies sold. When the long playing record era dawned, Columbia reissued the complete set on LPs, but the transfer was very poor with brittle, scratchy sound that didn't do well to put the performance across. Today, except with very experienced record collectors, this recording is all but forgotten.

Busch's recording of Handel's Concerti Grossi, Op. 6 has had only had one limited release on CD, but the record label had great difficulty locating a complete set of records in good condition to transfer from. Inevitably, in large record sets, the disks on the outside of the volume become cracked, making the first and last records in the set very difficult to find in private collections. The record label searched high and low, and eventually, they were able to locate a single slightly worn copy of the original 78s in the possession of Adolph Busch's widow in Germany. An engineer was dispatched promptly to her home to make the transfer. The liner notes apologized for the muffled sound quality, noting that considering the fragility of shellac 78rpm records and the rarity of this particular set, the records they used for their transfer may be not only the best sounding, but the only intact set in existence.

That was true... until now! On one of my regular rounds of the thrift stores, I discovered the records used for my transfer in the back of a St. Vincent DePaul shop hidden behind a pile of books. All three volumes were complete and in excellent shape. I brought them right home and began working on my transfer. Even though the shellac used by Columbia in the immediate post-war period wasn't the best, the records responded well to my digital sound restoration. I paid particular attention to maintaining the naturalness of the string tone and clarity of the harpsicord continuo, which usually gets buried by ham handed digital filtration. I'm proud to finally present this recording with the sound quality it deserves.

Handel: Concerti Grossi Op 6 (complete)
Adolph Busch / Busch Chamber Players Recorded 1947

Disk 1

http://vintageip.com/xfers/1-01handel_concertogrosso01.mp3
http://vintageip.com/xfers/1-02handel_concertogrosso02.mp3
http://vintageip.com/xfers/1-03handel_concertogrosso03.mp3
http://vintageip.com/xfers/1-04handel_concertogrosso04.mp3
http://vintageip.com/xfers/1-05germinianisiciliana.mp3

I'll post the next batch next week. There will be three batches altogether.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

Disk 2

http://vintageip.com/xfers/2-01handel_concertogrosso05.mp3
http://vintageip.com/xfers/2-02handel_concertogrosso06.mp3
http://vintageip.com/xfers/2-03handel_concertogrosso07.mp3
http://vintageip.com/xfers/2-04handel_concertogrosso08.mp3

I'm not sure if anyone here is interested in this old stuff. If you'd like me to post more, let me know.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

Disk 3

http://www.vintageip.com/xfers/3-01handel_concertogrosso09.mp3
http://www.vintageip.com/xfers/3-01handel_concertogrosso10.mp3
http://www.vintageip.com/xfers/3-01handel_concertogrosso11.mp3
http://www.vintageip.com/xfers/3-01handel_concertogrosso12.mp3


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

Corrected links for Disk 3

http://www.vintageip.com/xfers/3-01handel_concertogrosso09.mp3
http://www.vintageip.com/xfers/3-02handel_concertogrosso10.mp3
http://www.vintageip.com/xfers/3-03handel_concertogrosso11.mp3
http://www.vintageip.com/xfers/3-04handel_concertogrosso12.mp3


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## jalex (Aug 21, 2011)

Amazing. Thanks a lot for doing this.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

Glad you like it. I've posted a lot of other 78 transfers too... Beethoven, Wagner, Gluck, etc. You'll probably find them all by searching the posts for my domain, vintageip.com.


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## Herondale (May 9, 2013)

Thank you for your big effort in making Buschs great recording available, bigshot. This interpretation really opened the Concerti G. Op.6 for me.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

Thanks for the kind words!


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## adriatikfan (Jul 9, 2016)

As a complete newbie here, I'm having great fun exploring the site and the various sub-forums.

Thank you so much for making these recordings available and also for the notes at the head of the thread. Again, as a newbie, I really appreciate the window into the world of this recording, which you have given us access to.

I now have my Sunday listening organised for me!

Best Wishes,
David


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

Thanks , bigshot, this must have pre dated me joining TC. I just sampled a few excerpts. I am unfamiliar with the originals but it sounds like a top flight transfer. What other Historical material have you done?


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## chesapeake bay (Aug 3, 2015)

Triplets said:


> Thanks , bigshot, this must have pre dated me joining TC. I just sampled a few excerpts. I am unfamiliar with the originals but it sounds like a top flight transfer. What other Historical material have you done?


concur, a well appreciated thread necro


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## shadowdancer (Mar 31, 2014)

Thanks again Bigshot for sharing your transfers!!


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

Triplets said:


> Thanks , bigshot, this must have pre dated me joining TC. I just sampled a few excerpts. I am unfamiliar with the originals but it sounds like a top flight transfer. What other Historical material have you done?


My best transfers are the 1935 Walter Walkure first act and Schnabel's Diabelli Variations. But I've done a lot of different things. I've posted them to my Facebook page in a gallery. Just click on the pictures and it will take you to the links.

https://www.facebook.com/swworth/media_set?set=a.10150947453577348.439935.561602347&type=3


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## Johnnie Burgess (Aug 30, 2015)

bigshot said:


> For those who like historical recordings and non-HIP Baroque, here is one of the rarest sets in my 78 collection. Here is some background on it...
> 
> Today, Adolph Busch is remembered almost exclusively for his recordings of Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms; but he was equally adept at the music of Haydn, Mozart, and Handel. Through a quirk of fate, this particular recording of Handel's Concerti Grossi, Op. 6 has never received the exposure it deserves with the listening public. It was recorded in 1946 with a revised lineup of the Busch Chamber Players. Adolph Busch was joined by Ernest Drucker on violin, his brother Herman Busch played cello and on harpsicord was the great Bach intepreter, Mieczyslaw Horszowski. The wartime shortages and subsequent recording hiatus were over, and the Busch Chamber Players were invited to record Handel's complete cycle of 12 concerti. These works had not been recorded since Boyd Neel's pioneering records nearly a decade earlier.
> 
> ...


The first one was very nice. And if you can find it on cd it is expensive.


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## adriatikfan (Jul 9, 2016)

bigshot said:


> My best transfers are the 1935 Walter Walkure first act and Schnabel's Diabelli Variations. But I've done a lot of different things. I've posted them to my Facebook page in a gallery. Just click on the pictures and it will take you to the links.
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/swworth/media_set?set=a.10150947453577348.439935.561602347&type=3


Well, I listened today to the transfers and thoroughly enjoyed them. Such control in the performances.

Again, many many thanks for making these available.

Best Wishes,
David


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