The Recorded Detailman.. When YOU are really free to listen…

So there’s more to this than meets the eye (or ear).     Like Jackie Gleason famously tapping Salvador Dali for the cover of his easy listening pablum, this use of de Chirico-like artwork, is the inconcrous cover of a promotional record put out by ENZYPAN – an antacid and the “first thought in digestive disturbances”   From the back cover:   “Whether dyspepsia of functional, secretory or nervous origin; whether manifest by nausea and regurgitation, or by flatulence, gas pressure, irritable colon; whether accompanied by fermentative or putrefactive processes”

The music is “Le Tableau de L’Operation de la Taille”   (“The Table of a Bladder Operation” ) by French composer, Marin Marais (1656-1728).   The only musical description of a surgical operation.   This record,circa 1950, offers the first modern performance and first recording of this unusual composition.   It includes the recorded commentary of the composer’s original annotations announcing the phases of the progressing operation.   The performance is by the Dutch viola da gamba player, Carel Boomkamp, accompanied by the French harpsichordist, Denyse Gouarne.     One final note, this odd piece of medical and advertising history is a 10″ 78 RPM pressing on deep red vinyl.

(49 votes, average: 4.18 out of 5)

 Loading ...