Leotaurus1975's video: Orient Express Walter Goehr Orchestre Raymonde Ramblers Dansorkest 1936 42

Gerhard Mohr composed his classic "Orient Express" in 1933. The best known recordings are probably those by James Kok and Robert Gaden. "Orient Express" is performed by big bands to this day. The first recording in this video is a 1936 British Columbia realease by the Orchestre Raymonde conducted by a certain G. Walter. Walter was none othter than Walter Goehr (1903-1960) - a prestigious German conductor and composer. Being jewish Goehr lost his position at Berliner Rundfunk and left for England in 1933. He became a musical diirector at the Gramophone Company and apart from accompanying singers such as Beniamino Gigli or Richard Tauber he made a number of "anonymous" recordings as G. Walter. So essentially we are listening to a classical orchestra playing a jazz classic. More information on his life and career can be found here : https://www.pristineclassical.com/collections/artist-walter-goehr Contrary to the Kok or Gaden recordings, the Goehr version builds up the action and then explodes from 1:15 onwards. The second version was recorded in Brussels in 1942 by the popular Dutch "Ramblers" dance orchestra. This version was arranged by Jack Bultermann and shares the build up with the Goehr version. Unfortunately the record is made with very bad recycled schellac and is extremely noisy even though the record itself is in mint condition. Belgian wartime pressings are usually bad but this one is extremely bad. While the 1936 recording sounds very clear, the 1942 one sounds as if the orchestra is playing in another room. The video shows how records were made from recycled old records. Details regarding the records can be found in the video.