National Theatre Belgrade: Great Russian Operas from 1955

This Edition presents the “Magnificent Seven” and the “encore” in optimum technical quality. In the mid-Fifties of the last century, with the Cold War freezing relations between East and West, the English record label Decca decided to record a series of Russian operas with the Belgrade National Opera. Belgrade in the Yugoslavia of those days under Josip Tito was more open to “the West” than the Warsaw Pact countries gathered under the wing of the Soviet Union. The deal had been struck by former Decca manager and successful promoter of east European folklore in the USA, record executive Gerald Severn. Thanks to his excellent contacts, Decca director Arthur Haddy eventually obtained a visa and travelled to Belgrade to find a suitable recording venue, which turned out to be the cinema in the House of Culture in the city centre. These were the early days of stereophony and so recordings were usually made both in stereo and in mono. The stereo LP made its first official appearance in 1958 (by which time the shellac disc was effectively obsolete, having been displaced by mono LPs since their introduction in 1948) and it would be many years before there was a mass audience for stereo listening.