Jack Skurnick
Encyclopedia
Jack Skurnick was the founder and director of EMS Recordings
and publisher and editor of the highly regarded music review, Just Records.
bought records there, and many of the great classical musicians came in to make purchases and chat with Skurnick. One of these was Edgard Varèse
; another was Safford Cape
, director of Pro Musica Antiqua. When Skurnick started his record company, EMS, he named it after the shop. He also convinced Cape and Varese to record with him. EMS was the first label to record Varese.
In the magazine, which became internationally known, Skurnick sought to build respect for music as an art and to raise performance standards. In the EMS recordings, he put these principles into practice. His aim was to record a history of music, with special attention to the lesser known masterpieces, in performances that would be a model of authentic musicianship. He had mapped out plans far into the future when his work was suddenly interrupted.
A movie buff, he wrote a script that he shot himself. Film director Jules Dassin
, then an actor at the Artef, a Jewish theater in New York, appeared in it. It was shown to a small group at a space Skurnick rented in New York. A fan of old movies, Skurnick twice rented a hall in which to show them. Because he was not able to afford to rent the space regularly, he suggested the project to Betty Chamberlain, Director of the Department of Communications at The Museum of Modern Art from 1948-53, who subsequently introduced a more elaborate series of films at MoMA.
for 18 years, and had one daughter, Davida. After her marriage, Davida has been known as Davi Napoleon
. She had two sons, Brian and Randy Napoleon
.
Skurnick died of a heart attack in 1952.
EMS Recordings
EMS Recordings was founded in 1949 by Jack Skurnick in New York City. The company won first prize at the Audio Fair of 1950 for the high quality and interest of its recordings....
and publisher and editor of the highly regarded music review, Just Records.
Career
Skurnick worked in a music store on West 44th Street near Madison Avenue in New York. The Elaine Music Shop had many loyal customers. Doris DayDoris Day
Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
bought records there, and many of the great classical musicians came in to make purchases and chat with Skurnick. One of these was Edgard Varèse
Edgard Varèse
Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse, , whose name was also spelled Edgar Varèse , was an innovative French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States....
; another was Safford Cape
Safford Cape
Safford Cape was an American conductor, composer and musicologist.Born and educated in Denver, Colorado, Cape moved to Belgium in 1925 to further his studies in composition and musicology. From 1933, after a few years of chamber music composition, Cape began focusing on the performance of medieval...
, director of Pro Musica Antiqua. When Skurnick started his record company, EMS, he named it after the shop. He also convinced Cape and Varese to record with him. EMS was the first label to record Varese.
In the magazine, which became internationally known, Skurnick sought to build respect for music as an art and to raise performance standards. In the EMS recordings, he put these principles into practice. His aim was to record a history of music, with special attention to the lesser known masterpieces, in performances that would be a model of authentic musicianship. He had mapped out plans far into the future when his work was suddenly interrupted.
Interests
Skurnick played the violin.A movie buff, he wrote a script that he shot himself. Film director Jules Dassin
Jules Dassin
Julius "Jules" Dassin , was an American film director, with Jewish-Russian origins. He was a subject of the Hollywood blacklist in the McCarthy era, and subsequently moved to France where he revived his career.-Early life:...
, then an actor at the Artef, a Jewish theater in New York, appeared in it. It was shown to a small group at a space Skurnick rented in New York. A fan of old movies, Skurnick twice rented a hall in which to show them. Because he was not able to afford to rent the space regularly, he suggested the project to Betty Chamberlain, Director of the Department of Communications at The Museum of Modern Art from 1948-53, who subsequently introduced a more elaborate series of films at MoMA.
Personal
Skurnick was married to the painter, Fay KleinmanFay Kleinman
Fay Kleinman is an American painter. She has also been known by her married names, Fay Skurnick, then Fay Levenson.Most of her work is oil on canvas, but she has done some mixed-media work and watercolor. She has exhibited in museums in New York and Massachusetts and in galleries throughout the...
for 18 years, and had one daughter, Davida. After her marriage, Davida has been known as Davi Napoleon
Davi Napoleon
Davi Napoleon, aka Davida Skurnick is an American theater historian and critic. She is a theater columnist for The Faster Times, an online newspaper, and a regular contributor to Live Design, a monthly magazine about entertainment design and designers...
. She had two sons, Brian and Randy Napoleon
Randy Napoleon
Randy Napoleon is a jazz guitarist, composer, and arranger who is a member of The Freddy Cole Quartet and the leader of the Randy Napoleon Trio. He has toured with Benny Green, the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra , led by John Clayton, Jeff Clayton and Jeff Hamilton, and with Michael Bublé.-Early...
.
Skurnick died of a heart attack in 1952.
External links
- Safford Cape: A Discography
- Biography of Charles Rosen, pianist
- Steophile magazine names the best recordings, including "EDGARD VARÈSE: The Varèse Record Ionisation, Density 21.5, Interpolations from Déserts, Octandre, Intégrales", notes Frank ZappaFrank ZappaFrank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
's interest in EMS - LA Times documents Jack Skurnick's work and its influence on Frank Zappa