More of the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)
This side one is interesting., I would say that it starts out Super Hot (A++) and within a few minutes becomes White Hot (A+++). The piano is a bit veiled at the start, but within a relatively short period of time that subtle loss of transparency disappears and the piano is RIGHT THERE.
This is not unusual in our experience.
The first track on many records can sound dull, and by the second track the highs come back and the tonality is right from top to bottom. Who knows why?
We speculate that the vinyl did not have time to fully heat up the edge of the record, but that’s speculation, something that has almost no value in our (yours and mine) quest for better sounding records. 1A, 1B, first off the stamper, who gives a flying you-know-what. You have to play the record to know how it sounds.
The rest is BS, proffered mostly by those who are simply too lazy (or busy; some folks do have real jobs!) to do the work of cleaning and playing multiple copies of an album in order to have the evidence they need to support their opinions.
We much prefer real knowledge supported by real evidence, not the other kind.
Side Two
A++, with all the texture and transparency we heard on side one. The strings are PERFECTION — truly Demo Disc quality.
The piano however does not quite have the weight it does on side one, so we knocked a plus off, putting this one at A++.
Only the last quarter inch has the slightest amount of groove damage on the loudest piano peaks. We’ve never heard one that played cleaner all the way through, I can tell you that. [This was written about a decade ago. Now we have, many of them in fact. They are out there, but if you buy a copy, make sure you can return it for Inner Groove Distortion because most of them have a problem in that area.]
What an amazing recording! What an amazing piece of music!
Further Reading