I'm not completely sure how it happened. A few listens to 78s here and there. Peter Qvortrup sharing his enthusiasm for 78s with me. The Audio Note (UK) vacuum tube CD players being in residence here during their reviews.

Slowly but surely I've slipped into the reverie of enjoying 78 records from the acoustic and electric periods of the recording arts that have been transferred to digital and issued as CDs. 

Recording and audio playback were in their infancy during the period of 78 recordings, but they managed to capture a purity of the music, the immediacy of the performances, and the artistic expression of the musicians, in remarkable fashion. 

For my sensibilities, recorded music was one of the most important technological breakthroughs of the late 1800s. 

My 100 year old gramophone.

I have a lovely old gramophone that can play 78s just fine, but after hearing transfers from pristine 78 records to digital played over my primary music system (below), I was in a state of "shock and awe" at how incredibly engaging those ancient recordings were when played over a high-fidelity audio system. 

I am learning, but still getting familiar with the recording artists of the acoustic (1877 to 1925) and electric (1925 to 1945) periods of the recording arts.

I have been so impressed with the music recorded during the acoustic & electric eras of recording that I am endeavoring to educate myself better on the recording artists from those periods. 

After getting the Fall 2024 Marston Records newsletter, and then reading about the exciting upcoming 2025 release of the Leopold Stokowski and Philadelphia Orchestra's
Bell Laboratory Experimental High-Fidelity and Stereo Recordings, 1931–1932 (HERE), I continued to peruse the Marston Records website for something I could buy and listen to now - I really needed a "78 fix". 

While perusing the Marston Records catalog I came across Feodor Chaliapin: The Complete Recordings.

I knew I had to buy this important box set of the 6'5" Russian opera bass singer, Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin, for my growing collection of 78 era music. 

Here's the intro description to this box set from the Marston Records website:

"Feodor Chaliapin (1873-1938) (bass) was in the opinion of many the greatest singing actor of the 20th century. Like Enrico Caruso, the name Chaliapin continued to be a household word long after his death. A case in point is that the Sobranie tobacco company continued to market their “Chaliapin” cigarettes into the 1970s. Producing a Chaliapin set has long been a desire of Marston, yet due to the size of the compilation, the production costs, and the time involved, this project has been pushed to the back burner time and time again. With the financial assistance of some of our generous supporters, we have finally released a thirteen-CD set containing every known recording of Feodor Chaliapin numbering well into the two hundreds. This set contains a substantial number of previously unpublished alternative takes, as well as all extant sides from the live performances at Covent Garden and the Royal Albert Hall that were recorded by His Master's Voice in 1926 through 1928. The booklet accompanying the set includes essays on Chaliapin and his records by Michael Scott and Michael Aspinall, and a reprint of an essay by the great accompanist, Ivor Newton."

I read through all the details for these recordings on the Marston website, and knew I had to add this important box set release to my 78 collection of one of the most important opera singers in history, Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin. 

This collection contains every known recording of Chaliapin - hundreds - which is amazing in itself, but even more amazing is the level of fidelity that Ward Marston has coaxed out of those ancient discs. 

Also included in the box set is 324 page book that surveys Chaliapin's recordings, his life and career, including photographs from many of his performances, as well as the original liner notes for all the 78 records in their original language, and translated into English for easy reading. 

While I've been writing this post, I finished listening to Disc 1, and am onto Disc 2 already - superb!

This box set is truly incredible, and is produced to a lofty standard.

A huge "Thank you!" to Ward Marston, and all those involved in this ambitious Chaliapin box set project - it is brilliant!

A heads up: If you are musing about whether this Chaliapin box set is for you, keep in mind this was a limited release that has been out for a while, and stocks are running low. Once they are all gone, that's it, they will be gone forever. No more will be available.

Get it now to be safe, if you are at all interested in this important box set, that includes every known recording of Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin. Get it HERE. 

I'm settling into the weekend, with the goal of listening to every recording of Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin that I can fit into the weekend, and reading everything in the accompanying book as I go through them. Heaven. 

 As always, thanks for stopping by, and may the tone be with you!