Concert Hall. Discography of the Concert Hall Society and Concert Hall Record Club. Paperback – 7 Mar. 2011

This is a book and a must-have for specialists. It is part of the history of record labels, starting in the forties, but growing in the fifties, when the old 78-rpm shellacks were substituted by the new unbreakable 33-rpm LP's. The established companies had the great names in their catalogues and could ask the full prices for their records. That created a new market for bufgetlabels, operating with regional orchestras in postwar Europe. Sometimes old radiorecordings from wartime Germany were used, mostly labels als Remington and Westminster hired orchestras en soloists from Germany or Austria.Concert Hall, or as it was called in most of continental Europe, MMS, worked more or less the same way. They made their recordings in Switzerland and the Netherlands. There were real orchestras like the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, the Winterthur Symphony Orchestra or the Utrecht Symphony Orchestra, but many recordings were made with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra or the Concert Hall (or MMS) Symphony Orchestra, bands consisting of members of several Dutch radio orchestras.The 'real' orchestras served sometimes under their regular conductors, like Clemens Dahinden or Paul Hupperts, but more often German born English conductor Walter Goehr or the Romanian born Otto Ackermann were at the helm of the orchestra. Soloists were regional heroes, who got their chance for an audience, they otherwise wouldn't have reached, but more familiar names are those of violinists Riccardo Odnoposoff or Louis Kaufman, pianists Lily Kraus, Philippe Entremont and Grant Johannesen. Even the great Noel Mewton-Wood recorded for Concert Hall.It wasn't only the standard repertoire that made its way to the subscribers of the Concert Hall series. There are recordings of works by lesser known or less popular composers like Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Bartok and even Vivaldis Four Seasons, which was at the time a quite obscure work.Hunt had no easy job. The Concert Hall history is far from complete and people that might have contributed to the book, like Walter Goehrs son Alexander or co-founder David Josefowitz didn't want to cooperate with the author. So much remains unknown about recording dates and venues.The small group that is interested in this 'Naxos of the fifties', is served well. Almost every issue of Concert Hall/MMS is described with catalogue number and performing artists. Hunt is not always friendly to his readers. Concert Hall recordings were often reused. For instance Walter Reinharts performance of the Bach Magnificat during the 1950 Bach Festival at Schaffhausen (Switzerland) was issued first as CHC 60, but reissued in the 10"-series as number 31. Looking for it under number 31, it states "see CHC 60", which is a correct but not the easiest way of finding what you want.Sometimes even Hunt couldn't find his way in the complex world of Concert Hall/MMS. For instance the 10"-series number 86 was issued with Grieg's Pianoconcerto and dances from Smetana's Bartered Bride. However, their was antoher version of 86, where Grieg was coupled with Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture. And some special issues didn't find their way to this otherwise wonderful book, which is essential reading for the collector of the Concert Hall/MMS-label.

As Concert Hall/MMS issues are mostly missing from classical record catalogues, this is a unique opportunity to gain some overview. It must have been unusually hard to compile information, as I believe Hunt did not have access to company files. This excuses likely omissions and a lack of full information on contents and discographic details. Cross-referencing could be more ample; it is for instance hard to find works, easier to find artists. Of course this is for people with very specialized interest, but I'd say it's one of the most valuable among Hunt's numerous discographies. If you have some old Schwanns, Bielefelder or Gramophone catalogues, or early Penguin guides, you will be able to find information on most famous conductors, but not what is contained here!