THE MUSE SURMOUNTED was produced by Gregor Benko, and the booklet accompanying the compact disc contains his twelve-thousand word essay on the performers. Audio restoration of all originals was effected by Ward Marston using principles promulgated by Michael E. Henstock (b. 1939), and published in The Record Collector, Suffolk, England (Volume 39 No. 1): Good originals electrically reproduced on purpose-built equipment both with a range of styli sizes and configurations and with proper equalisation characteristics. The essential, proper evaluation of the different sources for the recordings was achieved by side-by-side...immediate comparison...with good, direct pressings... under the same conditions for both sources...taking care to do so at equivalent volume levels, resulting in a sound that is like raising a thick velvet curtain... preserving the...original's presence, immediacy...and overtones.
Several - many - friends who contributed to THE MUSE SURMOUNTED have asked that their names not be mentioned, obviously all out of immense modesty. We have decided not to mention most of the others who contributed, out of discretion. That said, we report that original records were from the collections of Larry Holdridge, Ward Marston, Gregor Benko, Ed Tapper, Roger Gross, Viorica Friz-Bodoni and the Maharaja of Mysore. Musical supervision by Jeffrey Miller. Supplementary biographical data courtesy Tom Stanback and Paulina Hungerford. Based on an idea originally suggested by Noel Coward to Joan Sutherland, and passed on from her to one who, though no longer employed by Decca /London, must yet remain anonymous, then on to Gregor Benko. Production co-ordinated by Scott Kessler and inspected by Rich Harris. Dr. Girvice Archer, Medical Adviser. Pictorial material for this issue was not obtained from the Courtauld Institute, The National Gallery or the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We would like to thank Frank Cooper and Anna Russell for their inspiration. Special thanks to Leopold Godowsky I as well as Pope Nicholas V and the Rev. Leonard Boyle of the Vatican Library. We are indebted to the Archives of the Peabody Conservatory for permission to publish the photo of Alice Duschak in her black wig.