More of the music of Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)
Our Favorite Performance of Scheherazade – Ansermet with the Suisse Romande
Sonic Grade: F
An Audiophile Hall of Shame pressing and another Classic Records Classical LP poorly mastered for the benefit of audiophiles looking for easy answers and quick fixes.
In 2009 or 2010, during our testing of the TT Weights turntable products, the record I played again and again — close to a hundred times over the course of two days — was a wonderful White Dog pressing of LSC 2446. The sound was glorious, some of the finest reproduction of a large orchestral work I have ever heard.
(Late in life, Harry Pearson disgraced himself by putting this Classic Record on his TAS List of Super Discs.)
A week later I was still testing the system, and again using Scheherazade. A friend brought over his Classic pressing, probably the same one I would have sold him in the mid-’90s. Now we could compare the two.
It was a massacre. The sound on the reissue is simply AWFUL.
There is no transient information anywhere on that heavy vinyl pressing whatsoever. No instruments have any texture — not the strings, not the woodwinds, nothing. There is no air going through the flutes. There is no rosin on the bow of the solo violin.
The tympani are a blurry mess. Triangle: okay. Bass drum: okay. Everything else: FAIL.
Not having played it in years, I could not believe how much worse the record sounded than I remember. The gulf between the real thing and the Classic wannabe was now so huge that the reissue was nothing less than positively UNPLEASANT to listen to. Enjoyment? Out of the question.
TAS List? The original is, but the Classic is too. Now how messed up is that?
Disgraceful, that’s all I have to say about it.
If I were in charge of the TAS Super Disc List, obviously I would not have put this record on it.
Here are some others that we do not think qualify as Super Discs.
Here are some Hot Stamper pressings of TAS List titles that actually have audiophile sound quality, guaranteed.
And if for some reason you disagree with us about how good they sound, we will be happy to give you your money back.
Previous Hot Stamper Commentary
The fourth movement on this famous RCA recording is breathtaking. You will not find a more exciting performance on the face of this earth, that’s for sure. Some criticize Reiner for a lack of lyricism in the quieter passages, and I have heard performances of this work that are better in that respect. But this is still overall the best performance I know of. The Chicago Symphony was on fire that day. The precision and energy of their playing is uncanny. Go back and hear other orchestras from the ’50s and ’60s play this piece and you will hear a lot of slop — the technical qualities required for this work were simply not as common back in those days. Orchestras today are much more proficient in this respect. Unfortunately the recording engineers have been letting us classical music lovers down for decades, so their better playing is for naught.
Further Reading
Below you will find our reviews of the more than 200 Heavy Vinyl pressings we’ve played over the years. Feel free to pick your poison.
And finally,
A Confession
Even as recently as the early 2000s, we were still impressed with many of the better Heavy Vinyl pressings. If we’d never made the progress we’ve worked so hard to make over the course of the last twenty or more years, perhaps we would find more merit in the Heavy Vinyl reissues so many audiophiles seem impressed by.
We’ll never know of course; that’s a bell that can be unrung. We did the work, we can’t undo it, and the system that resulted from it is merciless in revealing the truth — that these newer pressings are second-rate at best and much more often than not third-rate and even worse.
Some audiophile records sound so bad, I was pissed off enough to create a special list for them.
Setting higher standards — no, being able to set higher standards — in our minds is a clear mark of progress. Judging by the hundreds of letters we’ve received, especially the ones comparing our records to their Heavy Vinyl and Half-Speed Mastered counterparts, we know that our customers see things the same way.