Carl Goldmark (1830-1915)

Ländliche Hochzeit, op. 26 

(Rustic Wedding Symphony)

Karl Goldmark

I. Wedding March; Variations

II. Bridal Song

III. Serenade

IV. In the Garden

V. Dance

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra / Robert Heger

(78 rpm transfers; issued by Victor 1931; recorded by HMV Jan. 1929)

Brahms, who thought highly of this work, told Goldmark: "That is the best thing you have done; clear-cut and faultless, it sprang into being a finished thing, like Minerva from the head of Jupiter."

Opera enthusiasts will know Robert Heger (1886-1978) through the innumerable opera recordings he made during his long career featuring many of the leading singers of his day. But Heger also made numerous recording ventures into the field of symphonic music as well - and the Goldmark Rustic Wedding Symphony from 1929 almost certainly belongs among the earliest. There's also the chance that this fine, spirited recording may one of Heger's least-known.

This set was found lying on the floor in the dusty corner of a second-hand shop on the outskirts of Seattle during the 1980's. The discs were all covered with an even film of fine, light-brown dirt (not dust). I like to think that I somehow saved it from destruction (at the time, many people who worked in such second-hand shops were unaware that these records were breakable - consequently, many were, in fact, broken).