Classics of the Phonograph

Bruno Walter’s monaural Beethoven recordings

 

The famous conductor Bruno Walter recorded Beethoven's symphonies in the 1940s and 1950s in monaural sound. Around 1960, in the Los Angeles area, he rerecorded these symphonies in stereo sound with an ad-hoc orchestra called the Columbia Symphony Orchestra. These parallel recordings invite comparisons. We will sample Walter's monaural recordings.