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Re: [ARSCLIST] MELODIYA DISCOGRAPHY - was Medtner playing his 3rd Piano Concerto

Look, I don't want to ruffle some feathers, but we need to set the record straight. Every posting, including Steve's, has a lot of mis-information. Here is the scoop, and this comes from several trips to Russia, interviews with record company executives including the President of Melodiya, tours of the pressing plants and the State Sound Archive, discussions with the several of the most knowledgeable archivists and collectors in Russia and Ukraine, several file drawers full of documents, periodicals, and catalogs, my collection of several thousand Soviet records, and observations of tens of thousands of other Soviet records.

Dave Lewis was correct in saying "MK stands for Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga" but that is where it ends. That translates to International Books, and as I posted before, MK is the EXPORT AGENCY for books, records, and philatelic postage stamps. Uncle Dave then said about MK "which is the name of a large chain of bookstores in Russia." Nope. Book stores in the USSR were called Dom Kniga, which means House of Books. I shopped in several of them. Record stores in the USSR from 1964 on were called Melodiya, and I also shopped in several of them. I have Melodiya's 25th anniversary book which has pictures of about 25 Melodiya shops all over the USSR. MK never had anything to do with selling anything inside the USSR, they were only an export agency. The book publishers published books and MK decided which ones to export and which ones not to export. The record company run by the Ministry of Culture published records and MK decided which ones to export and which ones to not export. For many years MK chose not to export any Soviet "pop" records which is why you do not find any Soviet rock 'n' roll in those catalogs Steve Smolian has. You have no idea how many Soviet records that exist but were not exported. You have to go to Russia to find them or have a collector send them to you. MK is also the agency which contracts with foreign record companies for doing issues of Soviet recordings on foreign labels. This explains the confusion that Alan Livingston had when he wrote the notice on the jackets of the Angel/Melodiya issues. He contracted with MK for the masters in the Melodiya catalog. MK provided Angel with the masters, but did not actually produce the original masters.

Steve is correct in saying "Records and books were sold internally through state stores- there were no others." But he is wrong in thinking that MK had anything to do with those stores. MK did contract with bookstores in foreign countries, and usually selected only one store or agency in each country. It is why Soviet records were usually only available in a bookstore -- and only one bookstore per country -- instead of being distributed to all record stores. (The U.S. and Canada were unusual in that each had two such bookstores chosen.)

Steve is also incorrect in saying "MK was the Soviet Russian book publishing house . . . " It was not a publishing house. It was the export agency which exported what other companies published. He is probably correct that MK had ". . . a seat on the Politburo. The Commissar was a lady whose name I don't recall at the moment. She had held that position for a long while, as I recall. Books, films and records fell under her purview." But this was to control the export of things that the government wanted exported, but restrict the things that were published for internal consumption that the Politburo did not want exported to other countries. Book publishers were not allowed to export books directly themselves. Only MK could export books, but they exported books published by other companies.

Steve is quite wrong when he says "Melodia was at first a label for external to the USSR distribution though it later served other administrative purposes. Remember the sprawling union covering 11 time zones. Some other labels were linked to specific pressing plants." It was the other way around. From the beginning of the Soviet record industry shortly after the Revolution there was a central agency, The Ministry of Culture, which ran the central decisions of what would be recorded. As I've mentiond in my prior posting, until 1964 each pressing plant had their own trademark labels although most of what they pressed was decided in Moscow. Except for very ethnic records of local interest only, all releases were pressed at many different plants. The same records with the same numbers would have many different labels depending on the pressing plant. I have scans of one perticular 78 with about ten different plant labels.

So what was Melodiya? In 1964 the Ministry of Culture decided to unify all these different label trademarks into one, and that was Melodiya. From that point on, EVERY Soviet record had a Melodiya label, and usually the pressing plant name was included on the label below the trademark above the spindle hole. Melodiya never "was at first a label for external to the USSR". It was immediately used for domestic and export records. Where Steve is confused is that for a year or two before 1964 an experiment was made to have all export copies pressed with MK labels. These did not have the required markings for sale inside the Soviet Union such as the GOST numbers, but instead they said "Made In the USSR" which domestic pressings didn't need to have. Group/type numbers and price are also usually omitted from export copies, as were pressing plant names on MK labels.

Dave Lewis made two observations: "At one time they were probably part of Melodiya, but at some point they became a separate concern. Some releases on the Czech Multisonic label originated with recordings from MK." I think I have explained the relationship of MK and Melodiya, but must emphasize that Ministry of Culture ran the record industry and MK was the export agency. MK also arranged for the foreign release of Soviet recordings, and that included countries within the Soviet bloc like Czechoslovakia.

Steve observed: "One way to tell if record labels were meant for export is if they bear a language other than Russian, either only or also. Some are in Ukranian only, for example, and were for sale only in that area." This is partially correct. Folk music and spoken word of regions inside the USSR often had labels in the language of the region along with the title in Russian. This is especially seen with Riga and Tblisi pressings. The real way to tell is this. Any product (including toys and tosters) made and sold inside the USSR needed to have a Government Industrial Standard number, usually a GOST number. (GOST in cyrillic looks like "roct".) THAT is how you determine if a record was pressed for export or domestic sale. But Steve is correct that domestic pressings rarely had non-USSR languages like English, French, German, Hungarian, Spanish on them. For much of the 50s thru the late 70s, export labels with foreign languages on them had a letter in parentheses after the matrix number. (a) was English, (B) was Hungarian, and (H) was German. These were also sometimes on the sleeves. They have no discographical significance. But usually there is at least a one-line title in Russian before the foreign language.


Roger and Allison Kulp wrote:
I have at least one MK pressing,in a US cover with Cyrillic writing on the label.

Is the writing all in Cyrillic? What is the record number, and is there a letter in parentheses after it? Is the cover the red or blue one with the musical staffs all over it and an address Connoisseur Record Corp, 160 Passaic Avenue, Kearny, New Jersey?

Larry Friedman might have been referring to this series: "MK also pressed a number of Melodiya originals for the US market in the 1950s and '60s. For a while it was part of the Artia-Bruno-Colosseum group.
I always thought of it as a branch of the Melodiya tree." The records with the Artia-Bruno-Colosseum labels were American pressings of masters licensed to this American group. The Connoisseur/MK series was a short-lived experiment around 1962-63 of importing a selected list of unjacketed pressings and having Connoisseur distribute them to record stores around the U.S. It was a failure because the covers were a dreadful throwback to the first Columbia Lps, the selected list were all of older mono records (with one or two stereos thrown in) of lesser interest recordings not chosen in previous master-licenses, and were pressed on noisy vinyl with visible grain on the surfaces.


> This continued into the 70s.The 70s ones were lovely 180 gram or so pressings,
> in red covers with a Tchaikovsky? score on the cover. Roger

If you are referring to the Connoisseur series, if you found them in the 70s they were probably just remainders. Sam Goody was selling them for 99 cents for years. Any sample numbers of these that you think are lovely pressings? They were heavy, but as I indicated, were on grainy vinyl. (There can be one exception to this. One of the other reasons the experiment failed is that Connoisseur ran out of the good records and had a hard time convincing the Soviets to repress those. In the USSR if a record sold out it would rarely get repressed for until several years passed, if ever. Western companies work with a different philosophy. I do have two sets where the records are American pressings although the labels are the same and still say Made In The USSR. They're easy to spot. The matrix numbers are faintly hand engraved with the American set number and the side number -- with the word "Side" in ENGLISH -- instead of the properly stamped Soviet matrix number with a Cyrillic D. Some of the American sides even show evidence of the "Audio Matrix" stamp, although it looks like they tried to eliminate it. I have two copies of Borodin's Prince Igor, one with Soviet pressings and the other with American. My Rimsky-Korsakov Snow Maiden is Soviet, but my Tschaikovsky Snow Maiden is American. The American pressings are thinner, so are not the heavy pressings you mention the Soviet ones are.) 

Also the MK pressings that were exported to the US,in the 60s,and
70s were w-a-a-a-y better than the ones made for domestic consumption.  Roger


Now I r-e-a-l-l-y want to know what records you have like this!! Blue label MK???? Soviet pressings? Soviet vinyl didn't improve greatly until the very late 70s, and was very, very good from that era on to the end in the mid-90s. Having bought Soviet records in Russia as well as Hungary, Austria, Germany, Australia, Canada, and the U.S., I see no real difference between domestic and export pressings within each different era. The JACKETS, yes! They are quite better if intended for export, and better still if you bought them in Hungary since the Hungarians printed sleeves whenever they had the chance. All the pressings are usually pretty good once the Melodiya name goes across in a straight line.

Anyone ever seen that tri-color "Melodija" label,that was only used in 1961-2 in Latvia,I think,maybe it was Estonia.I have this 10" on this label,of an unauthorized issue of an RCA Heifitz/Piatagorsky/Rubenstein trio recording. Roger


This label is from the Riga (Latvia) plant. You will see a phrase which starts with Rigas. That phrase is the pressing plant identifier. There is no reason to expect that this record was pressed only in Riga. That label postdates 1961-62. Prior to 1964 the records from that plant were usually labeled "Ligo".


Mike Biel mbiel@xxxxxxxxx

====+++++ 

--- On Mon, 12/22/08, Steven Smolian <smolians@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Steven Smolian <smolians@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] MELODIYA DISCOGRAPHY - was Medtner playing his 3rd Piano Concerto
To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Monday, December 22, 2008, 3:38 PM

Not quite.

MK was the Soviet Russian book publishing house with a seat on the
Politburo. The Commissar was a lady whose name I don't recall at the
moment. She had held that position for a long while, as I recall.

Books, films and records fell under her purview. Records and books were sold
internally through state stores- there were no others.

Melodia was at first a label for external to the USSR distribution though it
later served other administrative purposes. Remember the sprawling union
covering 11 time zones. Some other labels were linked to specific pressing
plants.

One way to tell if record labels were meant for export is if they bear a
language other than Russian, either only or also. Some are in Ukranian only,
for example, and were for sale only in that area.

It's a pretty confusing area of study. Politics and propaganda played a
huge part in how it operated.

The earliest numbers in the continual 78 series go back to c. 1933. Each
side was given a separate number and over the life of a successful side, it
may have had a number of obverse companions. 

I used to work for the Russian music publisher and have a drawer full of
related catalogs, supplements and other paper.  Someday....

Steve Smolian 







-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Dave Lewis
Sent: Monday, December 22, 2008 5:09 PM
To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] MELODIYA DISCOGRAPHY - was Medtner playing his 3rd
Piano Concerto

MK stands for Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga, which is the name of a large chain of
bookstores in Russia. At one time they were probably part of Melodiya, but
at some point they became a separate concern. Some releases on the Czech
Multisonic label originated with recordings from MK.

Uncle Dave Lewis
AMG/Macrovision
Ann Arbor, MI

-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Thomas Stern
Sent: Monday, December 22, 2008 4:59 PM
To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] MELODIYA DISCOGRAPHY - was Medtner playing his 3rd
Piano Concerto

Does this include MK releases?
What is the relationship of MK to Melodiya? (I've seen both labels, and
some
others - possibly relating to where pressed, but assume they are all state
owned and part of the same Soviet agency???)
Thanks,  Thomas.

-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Larry Friedman
Sent: Monday, December 22, 2008 4:21 PM
To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Medtner playing his 3rd Piano Concerto


There is "Melodiya: A Soviet Russian L.P. Discography" by John R.
Bennett
(1981, Greenwood Press), ISBN 0-313-22596-6. It is a wonderful source of
information for all classical releases of this label. There are plenty of
omissions and mistakes, but there is no other book like it, all 832 pages of
it. Unfortunately it is out of print, and prices for new copies go from
US$145.51 to $220.38. Used copies are even more expensive, from $176.52 to
$316.22.

-Larry




-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Roger and Allison Kulp
Sent: Monday, December 22, 2008 3:21 PM
To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Medtner playing his 3rd Piano Concerto

Has anybody done a definitive discography and history,of classical Lps
in
the Soviet
era ?

In any language besides Russian/Cyrillic,that is.

If so,I would like to know author,title,etc. so I could try and track down
a copy.I did
recently come across such a book for sale on the web,for Russian 78s,but
it was in
Russian/Cyrillic.


Roger


--- On Sat, 12/20/08, Michael Biel <mbiel@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Michael Biel <mbiel@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Medtner playing his 3rd Piano Concerto
To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Saturday, December 20, 2008, 10:58 PM

joe@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
If you could send or post a scan someone could probably read it for
you...
joe salerno


Punto wrote:
Apologies for the discographic question, but I have exhausted my
other
resources at hand.
I have in hand an LP that is of Soviet origin, but not
Melodiya/MK or
anything that I have seen previously. The acronym of the label name
appears to
be something along the lines of BCT (with the "t" looking more
like a
gibbet).

Before 1964 when the Melodiya trademark was developed for nationwide use,
each
pressing plant had their own label and trademarks even though they were
all
mainly pressing the same records. This one is a two-tone blue label,
right?
BCG stands for Vsyesayuznaya Studya Gramzapese or All-Union Studio Record
Factory, and I think it was the newly established Moscow plant around 1962
which
later became known as Gramzapis. This factory seems to also be the source
of
the export pressings with the MK label around 1963 which were never
available
inside the USSR since MK (International Books) was the export agency of
books,
records, and postage stamps. Most pre-Melodiya LPs came from the Aprelvsk
factory (sometimes the AZ torch logo or CCCP/USSR), Leningrad (sometimes
Akkord
or LZ) in cyrillic), and Riga (sometimes Ligo).
The catalog number is 06501/06502. I have been able to decipher
that
it is Medtner playing his Piano Concerto no. 3, but I can't convince
myself
that the rest stands for "Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Issay
Dobrowen", which is the only version that I have turned up
elsewhere.Anyone
out there (Mike Biel, maybe?) that can tell me what I've got. If this
it
indeed a Russian pressing of the Abbey Road Philharmonia recording, it has
done
a pretty good job of overlaying it with a layer of acoustic sludge/fudge.
Thanks, Peter Hirsch


All my Soviet books and guides are buried in disarray right now which is
why I
haven't yet answered the Paul Robeson question over on 78-L from a few
days
ago. It is possible it is that British recording because they did do
things
like that. When I unearth the books and magazines, I'll look to see
if
there are any indications of what this is.

Mike Biel mbiel@xxxxxxxxx


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