More of the music of Jules Massenet (1842—1912)

More Classical and Orchestral Recordings

• This shockingly well recorded orchestral work on vintage British HMV Greensleeve vinyl boasts outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound from start to finish
• Big and lively, with an extended top, rosiny texture to the strings, and lower strings that are rich and vibrant in the best tradition of vintage Deccas and RCAs
• A Demo Disc of real power with huge size and scope – it’s smooth and natural, which means you can really turn it up if you want that front row center seat
• The best Studio 2 original pressings win the shootouts, but the better Greensleeve reissues like this one will beat everything else, especially the Heavy Vinyl versions on Speakers Corner (not bad) and Klavier (awful)
• Let’s give credit where credit is due – Stuart Eltham is an immensely talented recording engineer and this is unquestionably some of his finest work
• This Orchestral Spectacular should be part of any serious Classical Collection –others that belong in that category can be found here
• For those interested in our reviews for the many others pressings of Le Cid we’ve auditioned, please click here.

This vintage UK import 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 Le Cid – Ballet Music / Scènes Pittoresques 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 1971
• 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.

Copies with rich lower mids and nice extension up top did the best in our shootout, assuming they weren’t veiled or smeary of course. So many things can go wrong on a record! We know, we’ve heard them all.

Top end extension is critical to the sound of the best copies. Lots of old records (and new ones) have no real top end; consequently, the studio or stage will be missing much of its natural air and space, and instruments will lack their full complement of harmonic information.

Tube smear is common to most vintage pressings. The copies that tend to do the best in a shootout will have the least (or none), yet are full-bodied, tubey and rich.

What We’re Listening For On Le Cid – Ballet Music / Scènes Pittoresques

• 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.
• Powerful bass — which ties in with good transient information, also the issue of frequency extension further down.
• 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.

TRACK LISTING

Side One

“Le Cid” Ballet Music

Castillane
Andalouse
Aragonaise
Aubade
Catalane
Madriene
Navarraise

Side Two

Scenes Pittoresques

Marche
Air De Ballet
Angelus
Fete Boheme

The Last Sleep Of The Virgin From “La Vierge”

Le Cid

The ballet suite from the second act of Massenet’s opera Le Cid is one of his best known and most highly regarded works for orchestra. The opera, set in twelfth century Spain, is a sweeping saga focusing on the exploits of Don Rodrigue (Le Cid) as he battles the Moors and fights for the woman he loves. In much the same way that Bizet suggested the sounds of Spain in his opera Carmen, Massenet uses colorful orchestration and striking dance rhythms to evoke the region’s unique flavor. The composer’s inventive use of percussion instruments is particularly striking, and no doubt reflects that fact that, earlier in his career, Massenet was a percussionist himself. The seven picturesque movements are: Castilane, Andalouse, Aragonaise, Aubade, Catalane, Madrilene, and Navarraise – Robert Barefield

Jules Massenet

Jules Massenet (1842—1912) was one of the more prolific of French operatic composers, but many of his works have been forgotten or, at best, remembered only for certain excerpts. Le Cid comes into this category, for performances of the complete opera are rare, although the ballet from it still retains its hold on the affections of the public. Justly so, for the music is tuneful, vivid and exotic, almost more Spanish than that of the Spaniards themselves — or so one is persuaded on hearing it. – From the liner notes.