DESCRIPTION:
Bernstein: Fancy Free - Ballet Music
Ballet Theatre Orchestra conducted by Leonard Bernstein

Recorded June 2, 1944, in New York City, on Decca matrices 72204 through 72210. Issued in 1946 as Decca set DA-406 (records 23463 through 23466 - four ten-inch records in automatic sequence). The filler, which appears as Side 1 on the 78 set, is Billie Holiday's recording, made two years later on March 13, 1946, of Bernstein's song "Big Stuff," on which the Pas de Deux of the ballet is based. This recording has been uploaded elsewhere by other YouTubers.

The sections of the ballet, as given in the published score (Boosey and Hawkes), are as follows, with approximate start times of each:

(00:07) I. Enter Three Sailors
(03:00) II. Scene at the Bar
(04:38) III. Enter Two Girls
(06:02) IV. Pas de Deux
(09:09) V. Competition Scene
VI. Three Dance Variations:
(12:12) 1. Galop
(13:40) 2. Waltz
(16:00) 3. Danzon
(18:39) VII. Finale

The Galop Variation appears out of sequence in the 78 set - on Side 8, just before the Finale; the correct order is restored in my transfer.

There are a couple of cuts in the score. The third section, "Enter Three Girls," ends at bar 303, meaning that the section's last 22 bars are cut. The Finale cuts a whopping 93 bars, from 917 to 1009, and substitutes bars 119-131 from the first section in their place.

This was Leonard Bernstein's first recording as a conductor, though not the first to be released to the public. That honor went to a Victor recording of excerpts from "On the Town," with Robert Shaw leading the chorus, which was issued in the middle of 1945.

To download a higher-quality audio file of this recording, please visit my blog, The Shellackophile - http://shellackophile.blogspot.com - where this and many other vintage recordings may be downloaded.