Remington was a US record label founded by Hungarian producer Donald H. Gabor (1912-1980). It was active from 1950 to 1957 and its focus was low budget releases of classical music. Although they were marketed as high quality products for the time, they really weren’t. Records were pressed on a cheap, low quality kind of vinylite, resulting in more prominent surface noise. Plus, the recordings were made under really tight budgets, with no time allowed for rehearsals and/or multiple takes. The LP in this video is a copy of a Remington release from 1951 (catalog number R-199-8) by the Vienna Symphonic Society Orchestra under the baton of Austrian conductor Kurt Wöss (1914-1987) performing Ludwig Van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Opus 92.

But if Remington products were that bad, why am I sharing this recording, you may ask? The reason is what classical music reviewer David Hoehl ( ) has to say about it, since I wholeheartedly agree with his sentiments in spite of the fact that I haven’t heard a whole lot of versions of Beethoven’s 7th in my life. Here’s what he said:

“My vote for the best orchestra in the world: The ‘Austrian Symphony Orchestra’ (I believe actually something called the ‘Vienna Tonkunstler Orchestra’ under a nom de disque) as recorded in Beethoven’s 7th under Kurt Wöss, a then-young Weingartner protege, for the early budget LP label Remington.

These guys were barely able to play the score. The horns have problems. The strings are scrappy, and their unison, well, let’s just say it was no threat to their neighbors across town. They were recording for Remington, a cheapskate outfit that wouldn’t pay for rehearsal or retakes. They’re desperate. And out of that desperation they do the only thing that an orchestra can do to get through a crisis: they play the hell out of the score and knock the performance right out of the park. Sometimes all the polish in the world isn’t as important as heart. And on that day, in that cheap studio or hall, under those adverse circumstances, that bedraggled band had heart in spades.”

And that’s exactly what I feel in this performance: Not top-quality, but plenty of passion and heart. And that, in the end, is what art is about.

(00:00) Video intro

SYMPHONY No. 7 IN A MAJOR, OPUS 92, BY LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
VIENNA SYMPHONIC SOCIETY ORCHESTRA CONDUCTED BY KURT WÖSS
REMINGTON R-199-8, 1951 (MONO RECORDING)

SIDE A:

(00:14) I. Poco Sostenuto – Vivace
(12:22) II. Allegretto

SIDE B:

(21:55) III. Presto
(30:27) IV. Allegro Con Brio

Numark TTXUSB turntable – Nagaoka MP-500 phono cartridge – ART DJPRE II phono stage preamp – Vinyl record vinilo LP