Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Sibelius Available Now
UPDATE 2024
We played a 4S/1S copy of this record, VICS 1069, and thought it sounded terrible.
It was flat and bright with splashy cymbals and crude brass.
Even if we assume the copy we played many years ago could have been much better than this latest pressing — which is doubtful but certainly possible — there is no reason to pursue this version of the album when there are known top quality pressings of this very same performance on Decca.
Our Old Review
DEMO QUALITY SOUND and quiet surfaces too.
I don’t know when I’ve heard this album with better sound. This one may be better than the best Shaded Dog for all I know — it’s that good.
You’ll notice that there is a copy of this very same record on the website for $1.99. That one sounds dull. I don’t think you’ll be able to find a better sounding copy of this record than the pressing we are selling here, because it really is an exceptionally good sounding record. If it weren’t, it would be more like $1.99.
UPDATE
Yes, we used to sell some records for $1.99 in the early 2000s. Probably should have donated them to the Goodwill. Most of our run-of-the-mill classical goes there now. The local record stores don’t want them anymore. That ship has sailed.
Yet another wonderful example of just how much energy and power the deservedly-lauded Decca recording engineers were able to capture on analog tape in the earliest days of stereo.
These spectacular works are played with deep feeling – we know of no better performance, or any recording of these pieces with better sound.
Further Reading