ABSTRACT

The first organization to offer a subscription set of lesser known music. Walter Legge and critic Ernest Newman worked out the plan, which gained the support of Gramophone editor Compton Mackenzie, and eventually the desired 500 subscribers were acquired, each paying $6 for the first album. Seven 78-rpm albums appeared between 1931 and 1938, presenting the whole Wolf output of Lieder, sung by Alexander Kipnis, Elena Gerhardt, Herbert Janssen, Gerhard Hüsch, Alexandra Trianti, Friedrich Schorr, John McCormack, Helge Roswaenge, and Karl Erb. Accompanists were Conrad Bos, Michael Raucheisen, Ernst Victor Wolff, and Gerald Moore. All seven albums have been reissued as seven LP records, EMI RLS 759 (1981).