Here are some concertina recordings from the first quarter of the 20th century. At that time, recordings were made mechanically (usually termed 'acoustic') using sound captured by a large recording horn, which indirectly drove a needle and inscribed the sound onto a wax disk.

Recordings made this way do not have the quality of the later (after 1925) electrical recordings, and the 78rpm records used for transcription were all badly scratched and worn. While most later or unworn 78rpms will play well with stylii of around 2.5 to 3 mil diameter, I have had to use huge 3.5 and 4 mil 'diamond nails' to bring out detail and reduce wear distortion. The transcriptions have been processed to try to increase the audibility of the notes played, rather than a good sonic reproduction of the perfomance. If you would prefer copies of the unprocessed transcriptions, please contact me, although be aware that (for archive purposes) the files are each around 140Mb (32 bit, 96KHz, stereo). I also have other Alexander Prince recordings which do not appear here, but are listed in this discography (coming soon!).

For dating information I have used various internet sources (some now forgotten!), but currently the most comprehensive seems to be The AHRC Research Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music (CHARM) database available here

Dutch Daly (Anglo Concertina)

Gramophone Concert Record G.C.9137, Matrix 4080, 10" single sided, recorded 18th April 1904.
Wedding March and Carnival

William 'Dutch' Daly (1848-1924), was born in St. Helier,Jersey,in the Channel Islands,and became a major music-hall artist. His life and career have been documented in an extremely well researched article written by Randall C. Merris for the ICA's PICA Volume 4, available here.

Alexander Prince (Maccann Duet Concertina)

Regal G8722, 10" double sided, recording date unknown.
Christmas Concertina Selection, Part 1 Matrix A4240
Christmas Concertina Selection, Part 2 Matrix A4241

Alexander Prince (1874-1928; real name Alexander Sutherland) was born in Scotland, but spent most of his later life in Nottingham when not on tour. An interview with Prince may be found on this site here. Although numerous different records have been released of his recordings, many of them are re-releases on different labels, or in different combinations of sides, and my research so far seems to indicate that he made few, if any, new recordings after 1910. The recordings above are not typical of Prince's normal repertoire.

Columbia-Rena 1913, 10" double sided, recording date probably 18/01/1907.
The Darkies' Holiday Schottische Matrix 27974
Silver Heels Matrix 27980

Much more representative of Prince's normal repertoire, this record was issued between 1913 and 1915, in the short period that the Columbia-Rena label was in use. The 'Silver Heels' track is particularly interesting as another Prince record with the same tune (Hornpipe Medley/Silver Heels, on Zonophone 450, Matrix X-49113 and X-49117) has been transcribed by Chris Brady and may be heard at RareTunes.org. Chris notes that he recorded at 45rpm and and transferred up to 78rpm using Audacity, and the final product seemed to be impossibly fast. I was bewildered by the speed of his 'Silver Heels' compared to mine, and assumed there might have been a problem when transforming the speed. However, I recently acquired the same Zonophone record as Chris, and it definitely did play very fast on my strobe checked 78rpm turntable. So a little bit of investigation was called for! I decided that Prince would likely be playing both recordings in the same key, so I slowed down the Zonophone recording until it matched the key of the Columbia-Rena recording, which was about 14% slower. Magically, the length of the piece, and its tempo became about the same too, so I can only assume that the Zonophone record was badly transferred at source ('Reproduced in Hanover' it proclaims on the run out, so I blame the Germans!) and the two recordings are probably the same. So sorry Chris, but you got the duff one!!

Ernest Rutterford (Maccann Duet Concertina)

The Winner 3595, 10" double sided, recording date June-Dec 1921.
The Rickety Rackety Walk Matrix 6803
The Night Patrol Matrix 6804

These two tracks are in the style of the Alexander Prince recordings. I have very little information on Rutterford, other than his father Charles was also a player and teacher, and Harry Minting (the last manager of Wheatstone & Co.) was one of Charles' pupils. Ernest and Harry later played together in a band, where Harry normally played banjo. I thought at first that the 'Night Patrol' track was either damaged or badly pressed because its beginning and end are so quiet, but I now believe that it was recorded this way to give an approaching and leaving effect.

Winner 4264, 10" double sided, recording date late 1924.
Berceuse De Jocelyn Matrix 8218
Le Cygne Matrix 8219

These two tracks are classical, rather than the popular music of all the others, and demonstrate much sensitivity in their playing.

Jim Hume (English Concertina)

Zonophone 'The Twin' Serial 1910, 10" double sided, recording date 07/02/1918.
Destiny Waltz Matrix X-2-49116 (and y 21216 in run-out)
Sons of the Brave Matrix X-2-49117 (and y 21218 in run-out)

The titles of these recordings obviously connect them to the First World War, as the recording date confirms. Jim Hume is mentioned as one of the leading players of this period in a letter to the Accordion Review magazine in the early 1950s. Although his style may appear a little simple compared to the other players on this page, it should be remembered that the English concertina is primarily a melody instrument, and his double octave style playing shows a considerable talent on the instrument.

Transcription Equipment for 78rpm
Hardware: Rega Planar 78 turntable, Rega R200 tone-arm, Nagaoka MP11 cartridges with 3.5 or 4 mil stylus (Shure, Rega, Stanton and Sanyo 78rpm cartridges available but not used). Tascam US-144 USB2.0 Interface.
Software: Audacity 1.3.10, SoundForge 8, Nuendo 1, and custom written DSP programme.

NB: Cheap Shellac, Vinyl, Cassette, or Reel to Reel transcriptions and restorations to your specifications!