This Decca Ace of Diamonds pressing from 1970 of Ansermet’s 1961 recording has SUPERB Super Hot Stamper sound on BOTH sides. The Symphony in C, which takes up the whole of side one, is BIG and LIVELY, which is just the kind of sound that makes us swoon here at Better Records.

Live music IS big and lively, so why shouldn’t the best records be?

The second movement has a sublimely gorgeous oboe part you must hear. The whole side is wonderfully spacious, with real depth.

The sound of the 1961 tape must be truly magical. If you don’t know why we revere the Golden Age of Classical Recordings — 1954 to 1969 or so — buy this record.

We like our recordings to have as many live qualities as possible, and those qualities really come through on a record like this when reproduced on the full-range speaker system we use. It’s precisely this kind of big, rich sound that makes audiophiles prize Decca-London recordings above virtually any other label, and here, unlike in so many areas of audio, we are fully in agreement.

This is a Top Title in every way and comes highly recommended. Bizet wrote music that belongs in any serious music collection; there’s certainly a great deal more to his canon than Carmen.

Side One

A++. A bit less smear and this side would have been White Hot.

Side Two

A++ again, but with CONDITION PROBLEMS — the first 1/8″ has a light to moderate repeating tic, which will last less than a minute.

There’s more top end here, and the bottom is big like side one, but it’s a bit darker in the midrange. It’s rich and open and spacious.

And the music is fun!