More of the music of Franz Liszt (1811-1880)
More Orchestral Spectaculars
- This wonderful collection of exciting rhapsodies returns to the site for only the second time in two years, here with superb Double Plus (A++) sound from first note to last
- It’s also impossibly quiet at Mint Minus to Mint Minus Minus, a grade that practically none of our vintage classical titles – even the most well-cared-for ones – ever play at
- One of the best of the Mercury Living Presence titles – the orchestra is big, rich and tubey, yet the dynamics and transparency are first rate
- Beautifully performed by the London Symphony Orchestra (our favorite performances of these works, in fact, and a true orchestral spectacular), under the direction of Antal Dorati
- Other versions – the Oscar Danon we like on RDG, for example – may be faster, but Dorati and the LSO bring an energy and spirit to these pieces that we feel is unequaled on vintage vinyl
- Problems in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these early pressings – there simply is no way around them if the superior sound of vintage analog is important to you
- Click on this link to see more records like this one of our favorite orchestral performances with top quality sound
This vintage Mercury pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records can barely BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing signs of coming back. If you love hearing INTO a recording, actually being able to “see” the performers, and feeling as if you are sitting in the studio with the band, this is the record for you. It’s what vintage all analog recordings are known for — this sound.
If you exclusively play modern repressings of vintage recordings, I can say without fear of contradiction that you have never heard this kind of sound on vinyl. Old records have it — not often, and certainly not always — but maybe one out of a hundred new records do, and those are some pretty long odds.
What the Best Sides of This Orchestral Spectacular Have to Offer Is Not Hard to Hear
- The biggest, most immediate staging in the largest acoustic space
- The most Tubey Magic, without which you have almost nothing. CDs give you clean and clear. Only the best vintage vinyl pressings offer the kind of Tubey Magic that was on the tapes in 1961
- Tight, note-like, rich, full-bodied bass, with the correct amount of weight down low
- Natural tonality in the midrange — with all the instruments having the correct timbre
- Transparency and resolution, critical to hearing into the three-dimensional studio space
No doubt there’s more but we hope that should do for now. Playing the record is the only way to hear all of the qualities we discuss above, and playing the best pressings against a pile of other copies under rigorously controlled conditions is the only way to find a pressing that sounds as good as this one does.
Size
One of the qualities that we don’t talk about on the site nearly enough is the SIZE of the record’s presentation. Some copies of the album just sound small — they don’t extend all the way to the outside edges of the speakers, and they don’t seem to take up all the space from the floor to the ceiling. In addition, the sound can often be recessed, with a lack of presence and immediacy in the center.
Other copies — my notes for these copies often read “BIG and BOLD” — create a huge soundfield, with the music positively jumping out of the speakers. They’re not brighter, they’re not more aggressive, they’re not hyped-up in any way, they’re just bigger and clearer.
We often have to go back and downgrade the copies that we were initially impressed with in light of such a standout pressing. Who knew the recording could be that huge, spacious and three dimensional? We sure didn’t, not until we played the copy that had those qualities, and that copy might have been number 8 or 9 in the rotation. Think about it: if you had only seven copies, you might not have ever gotten to hear a copy that sounded so open and clear. And how many even dedicated audiophiles would have more than one or two clean original copies with which to do a shootout?
One further point needs to be made: most of the time these very special pressings just plain rock harder. When you hear a copy do what this copy can, it’s an entirely different – and dare I say unforgettable — listening experience.
What We’re Listening For on Liszt and Enesco’s Rhapsodies
- Energy for starters. What could be more important than the life of the music?
- The Big Sound comes next — wall to wall, lots of depth, huge space, three-dimensionality, all that sort of thing.
- Then transient information — fast, clear, sharp attacks, not the smear and thickness so common to these LPs.
- Next: transparency — the quality that allows you to hear deep into the soundfield, showing you the space and air around all the instruments.
- Extend the top and bottom and voila, you have The Real Thing — an honest to goodness Hot Stamper.
A Must Own Record
We consider this recording a masterpiece that belongs in any serious Classical Collection. Others that belong in that category can be found here.
Side One
Enesco: Roumanian Rhapsody No. 1
Enesco: Roumanian Rhapsody No. 2
Side Two
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 3
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
5 Star Amazon Review
Simply amazing, outstanding music-making! …The playing is flawless, and at times inhuman. Lizst was sometimes accused of having made a pact with the devil to achieve the virtuosity with which he performed. While not suggesting such a covenant was made by LSO/Doráti and otherworldly forces, some of the virtuosic flights of instrumental prowess definitely border on the superhuman.
The Enescu performance is worth the price alone. The Liszt Rhapsodies are glorious! Even the cimbalom adds what I can only describe as “delicious frosting upon a sumptuous cake.”
Bottom line: if you like and/or appreciate the music of these composers, your life would be remiss not having heard these performances.
— Monte Horn