Number:1356962 THUMBNAIL Uploaded By:Magic Marmalade Description: The Philharmonia Orchestra Conducted By Constantin Silvestri - Franck: Symphony In D Minor - His Master's Voice - UK - Front Cover
Number:1356963 Uploaded By:Magic Marmalade Description: The Philharmonia Orchestra Conducted By Constantin Silvestri - Franck: Symphony In D Minor - His Master's Voice - UK - Back Cover
Number:1356964 Uploaded By:Magic Marmalade Description: The Philharmonia Orchestra Conducted By Constantin Silvestri - Franck: Symphony In D Minor - His Master's Voice - UK - Label - Side 1
Number:1356966 Uploaded By:Magic Marmalade Description: The Philharmonia Orchestra Conducted By Constantin Silvestri - Franck: Symphony In D Minor - His Master's Voice - UK - Label - Side 2
...I've just discovered a likely reason why this wasn't (or probably wasn't) re-pressed:
ASD 458, released in 1962 is this Franck Symphony, but by Sir Thomas Beecham Bart, and The French Radio Orchestra - also on White / Gold, so it seems they replaced this symphony in the H.M.V. catalogue with an updated version (rendering) by different artists, so this effectively became redundant.
(I'll be keeping my eyes open for that one especially then :)
...At least, that's how I would describe Side 1's first movement:
A dramatic, foreboding, and serious work in the Wagnerian opera style, but in symphony form. Basically, taking all the highlights of the Wagner style and cutting away the other fifteen hours of Viking helmets, Valkyries, and probably a little less Helicopters and Napalm (for all you Apocalypse Now! fans :).
However, Franck does have the ability to sweeten things a little, with passages of light melodic tunefulness here and there, and is capable of a lightness of touch that Wagner frankly, isn't.
...And while the notes on the back of this make a comparison instead to Beethoven, this is only true of the second side's two movements... much more subtle, and tuneful, as Beethoven was indeed capable of, and reversing the trend of side one to intersperse the heavy drama with touches of lightness, this side, being generally lighter, is interspersed with moments of drama, and impact.
So a much easier listening experience than Wagner, but with all the stuff you do like about him and Beethoven.
A word on this issue...
I've looked about on the net, and can only find a few copies of this, so it is, in H.M.V terms, toward the rarer end of the spectrum; For while Columbia SAXs will draw the truly eye-watering values, compared to these, and on a more consistent basis, this is one of those that fetches the mid-higher end of values for ASDs (And it seems to be on the march too!).
This, it would seem, is signified by the fact that I cannot find, even among those copies that I do see, any with the later red labels, of any variety. I can only conclude that this must be one that was never re-pressed in those later times - hence it's comparative rarity.
...And given the date is 1961, this shows me that the use of White / Gold continued later than I had thought...
(Looking to other areas of EMI label designs - jackets and labels - I wonder if 1962 may be more likely, due to the well documented switch in the early stages of release of The Beatles first album then, and the switch to boxed logo designs across the stable again in 69, making it likely that they all changed at once).
So if a copy of this does turn up with red labels, it would seem to be a lot rarer than the White / Gold labels here!
There's some directly transferable "Beatle-Logic" you can apply for these White-Gold labelled ASDs:
As most Beatle collectors will know, the size of the word: "Stereo" on the upper right of the front cover gives a clue as to how early the pressing is, and in the case of these ASDs, this is also true (As it's EMI group template)....
The large "stereo" word signifies that, barring a accidental misplaced record in the wrong sleeve, you are pretty much certain that a White / Gold label disc will be inside.