# Looking for information about 2 specific recordings of music by Edvard Grieg



## akse0435 (Jun 28, 2016)

Hello,

Well, the title starts it.

The two recordings are boath known, so called "budget recordings of Alfred Scholz".
https://musicbrainz.org/doc/Budget_recordings_of_Alfred_Scholz

The first recording is of the two Peer Gynt suites. In various Scholz archives exists two dfferent recordings of those suites, the first being a, digital-sounding, recording by Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Liebor Pesek, from 1984. But it's the second one, that really interests me.
Over the years, this recording has been released with many different artist names, boath on lp, reel, cassette and cd, including:
Münchner Symphoniker & Alfred Scholz (on Zafiro and Ampex Stereo Tapes)
Nurenberger Symphoniker & Hans Zanotelli (on Magna Classic)
Munich Symphony Orchestra & Helmut Bucher (on Chevron)
Bamberger Philharmonie & Hans Swarowsky (can't remember the label)
Orquesta Filarmonica De Hamburgo & August Riebel (on Sonolux)
Nurenberger Philharmonic Orchestra & Alfredo Scholz (on Everyman)
Philharmonia Slavonica & Alberto Lizzio (on Vienna Masters Series)
Philharmonic Ensemble Pro Musica (on Classical Gold)
and many more.

First of all, I'm looking for as much information about this recording as possible, sutch as WHO actually recorded it, and when it was first released. For a long time, I believed that it was originally recorded by Münchner Symphoniker & Alfred Scholz, because it was the earliest release I could find, from 1977 on Zafiro. However, the site discogs.com states, that the orchestra called Münchner Symphoniker, was first given that name in 1989, so that doesn't add up.
Secondly, I'm looking for a digital release of the recording, as close to the original recording as possible in terms of sound quality. Many of the releases menchoned above has very bad audio quality, like they were transfered from a very bad tape, and some has the pauses between the movements cut out. The closest I've come to a perfect one is the Everyman-cd, released in 1988. It has the Whole recording, without the pauses cut out, and very clear sound quality. The problem with that one is, that it has almost no bass at all. To me, it sounds like it was transfered from a reel-to-reel tape with the Dolby settings not set properly, and the left side of the stereo field also cuts ouut a bit near the end of Solveig's Song.
On the various streaming sites exists to remastered releases, credited to Munich Symphony Orchestra & Alfred Scholz, and Bamberger Philharmonie & Hans Swarowsky. The first one is quite good in suite 1, but in suite 2, almost all the sound is in the left side. The second one is quite good in boath suites, but the pause between Anitra's Dance, and In The Hall Of The Mountain King is cut out, and somehow the channels are swaped. Also, boath of these releases fade out way to quickly on boath suites, so not the best job in my upinion.
I would be really grateful is someone could help me find more information about this recording. And by the way, yes, I know this recording is not a weel-performed one, and that there exist mutch better recordings out there, sttch as the Järvi one on DG, but this particular recording has very high vallue for me, since it was the first recording I heard, back when I was a baby, many years ago.

The second recording, is of the piano concerto in a minor, op. 16. I'm quite sure, that this recording is by Ljubljana Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Anton Nanut, with Dubravka Tomsic on piano. All most every release with this recording lists those credits. There is a few listing London Festival Orchestra & Sven Bengtson & Björn Lundgren, and a few listing Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra & Peter Wowlet & Daniel Gerard, but I'm completely sure boath of these are wrong. With this recording, I'm just interested in knowing, when it was recorded, and first released. There is also a other recording with these rredits, but where the track durations are 13:05, 6:05 and 10:19. However, this recording are by the Slpovak Philharmonic Orchestra. The recording, that I'm talking about has the track durations 13:33, 7:05 and 10:43, give or take a few seconds.

Well, this has been a very long post I know.

Thanks in advance.

Kind regards:
Aksel Christoffersen


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Hahaha, good luck trying to find out who actually recorded these. If you aren't already aware Scholz was a total charlatan who actively released recordings under pseudonyms, the name of his teacher (Han Swarowsky) and other less well-known performers who didn't have the money to sue him. Recordings were a mix of bootlegs from other small studios, Scholz-conducted performances with scratch bands from a Eastern Europe and actual Sholz-produced recordings by less well-known artists and orchestras. What makes it equally confusing is that a recording could appear under many different pseudomyms and under the actual name of a realartist. Ive gathered through research into this subject that:

1) Anything recorded using the orchestra name 'South German Philharmonic' is usually Scholz-conducted with a scratch band made up of Vienna State Orchestra members (but it may be a fictitious orchestra too or another Eastern European scratch band). 
2) Half of the music credited to Anton Nanut was actually recorded by him (he definitely recorded the Mahler and most of the Beethoven). The rest he had nothing to do with.
3) The only person I've ever met who knew anything about these recordings told me that even he knew very little about these recordings even though he had known Sholz for many years. Unfortunately the person who knew most about these recordings (Sholz himself) never divulged his sources.

As I said, it's nearly impossible to discover who recorded what but good luck in trying to find out.


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## akse0435 (Jun 28, 2016)

Yes, I know. I'm quite sure that the Anton Nanut credits menchoned on the Piano Concerto is correct. For this recording, I'm just looking for information about information of when it was first recorded and released. The earliest release I could find was from 1988, but with wrong credits. I know it'll be almost impossible with the Peer Gynt suites, but I thought I'll try anyway.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

The legitimate Nanut recordings were made in Ljubljana sometime between 1981 and 1990. It's likely to be recorded at Cankarjev Dom in Ljubljana, Slovenia around 1987 (most of the other Nanut Beethoven is from 86 and 87. Unfortunately Scholz likely took the details of these recordings to the grave (there is no trace of him after he sold his catalogue on and, as he was born in 1920, its fairly safe to assume he's now longer with us). Any recording that is consistently accredited to Nanut is generally one he later confirmed. He claimed late on in his life that possibly only half of the recordings Scholz accredited to him were actually made by him. Nanut recordings are generally of a type with lively forward momentum, spirited playing and are often fairly good. He definitely recorded some of the Beethoven symphonies (3,4,5, 7 and 8) but others attributed to him sound different and are likely by Scholz or someone else, even though on the Denon budget set all but the 9th were attributed to Nanut. Good old Alfred. As I said, I dealt with someone who knew Scholz and he said that Scholz would often put his name to recordings he didn't make because he thought they were good. What a charlatan!


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## akse0435 (Jun 28, 2016)

Yes, I really like Nanut's recordings as well. I listened to some Beethoven concertos and Symphonies, consistently credited to Nanut, and they're fantastic. His recording of the 5th symphony is the best I've heard so fare.

Again, the earliest release I could find with the recording of Grieg's concerto by Nanut was from 1988 on Zyx, but with false credits. So it makes sense that it was recorded about that time, yes. I just thought, that there maybe existed a release with a printed recording date or something, because that's the case with the other recording of Peer Gynt I menchoned, with Slovak P/O / Pesek.

Lastly, do you know a good place to look for a perfect transfer of the Peer Gynt recording I was looking for? I tried over at pointclassics.com, which I know Scholz sold his catalogue to, but they only had the first suite of this recording, which, however, was a fairly good tranfer. They only had the Whole Pesek-recording. But could there be another site which hosted the catalogue, with perhaps better analogue to digital transfers?


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## akse0435 (Jun 28, 2016)

Also, I just found something rather interesting. I found an old recording of Grieg's Piano Concerto, credited to the North German Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Hans Zanotelli, with Hans Lang on piano. The first movement is a recording I've never heard before, but the second and third movement is the BPO / Kubelik / Anda recording on DG. So Scholz must have stolen them from DG or something. The same is also credited somewhere else as Royal Danish Symphony Orchestra, conducted by George Richter, with Dieter Goldmann, WHO I know is a Scholz seudonym.


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