First Electrical-Process Record -- Leopold Stokowski 1925

A landmark in the history of audio, this is the first orchestral performance recorded with the then newly developed electrical process-- using a microphone, amplifier, and electromagnetic cutting head. From Edison's invention of the phonograph, in 1877, until 1925, recordings were made acoustically, using megaphone-like large horns similar to the playback horn through which Nipper, the Victor trademark dog, is hearing His Master's Voice. The acoustic process relied solely on the physical energy of the voice or musical instruments for cutting the grooves; there were no volume knobs to adjust. While the acoustic process could yield pleasing sound-- my upload of the New York Philharmonic 1918 recording is an example of the process at its best-- its frequency range and dynamic range were extremely narrow.
American Telephone & Telegraph's Bell Laboratories, having developed an equipment package for radio broadcasting that the Western Electric division marketed, developed a package for record companies that was adopted industry-wide through the latter half of the 1920s. Records made with the electrical process boasted much more natural sound, better defined bass-to-treble and soft-to-loud, which, for the first time, could be controlled while recording-- there was a volume knob. It can be argued that subsequent improvements in recording technique-- hifi, stereo, even digital-- are evolutionary advances; the electrical process was a revolutionary break with the past.
However, the label of this Victor Victrola twelve-inch 78-RPM disc, number 6505, looks like previous disc labels, giving no hint of the revolutionary content, perhaps so as not to affect purchases from Victor's large acoustically-recorded catalogue. Also, the choice of 'Danse Macabre', 'Dance of Death', by Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921), appears strange, a lugubrious piece to mark what must surely have been a joyous occasion for Leopold Stokowski, whose interest in audio and concern about recording distinguished him among conductors. But, presumably, the piece had musical features that could test the new process and was the right length for the two sides of the disc. The recording was made by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Stokowski in a Victor studio at Camden, New Jersey, 29 April 1925. For this video, I have joined the music on the A and B sides, presenting the performance seamlessly.