Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Shostakovich Available Now
UPDATE 2026
In 2004, before we started doing shootouts for records like this Living Stereo, LSC 2553, we had this to say about a copy we played.
Fabulous! A beautiful record!
These sell for a fortune now, so there is almost no chance we will be able to do a shootout for this album. If you see one at a good price, pick it up!
Performed by Daniel Shafran, Cellist, and Lydia Pecherskaya, Pianist. This performance also includes Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata.
Discogs Pricing Statistics
- Lowest: $50.00
- Median: $399.99
- Highest: $1,000.00
1961 just happens to be one of the truly great years for top quality analog recordings, as can be seen from this amazing group of albums, all recorded or released that year.
This is an Older Classical/Orchestral Review
Most of the older reviews you see are for records that did not go through the shootout process, the revolutionary approach to finding better sounding pressings we started developing in the early 2000s and have since turned into a veritable science.
We found the records you see in these older listings by cleaning and playing a pressing or two of the album, which we then described and priced based on how good the sound and surfaces were. (For out Hot Stamper listings, the Sonic Grades and Vinyl Playgrades are listed separately.)
We were often wrong back in those days, something we have no reason to hide. Audio equipment and record cleaning technologies have come a long way since those darker days, a subject we discuss here.
Currently, 99% (or more!) of the records we sell are cleaned, then auditioned under rigorously controlled conditions, up against a number of other pressings. We award them sonic grades, and then condition check them for surface noise.
As you may imagine, this approach requires a great deal of time, effort and skill, which is why we currently have a highly trained staff of about ten. No individual or business without the aid of such a committed group could possibly dig as deep into the sound of records as we have, and it is unlikely that anyone besides us could ever come along to do the kind of work we do.
The term “Hot Stampers” gets thrown around a lot these days, but to us it means only one thing: a record that has been through the shootout process and found to be of exceptionally high quality.
The result of our labor is the hundreds of titles seen here, every one of which is unique and guaranteed to be the best sounding copy of the album you have ever heard or you get your money back.
Further Reading