_Composers – Lalo

Offenbach et al. / French Overtures / Ansermet

More Classical and Orchestral Recordings

More music conduced by Ernest Ansermet

  • This original London pressing of these wonderful Romantic works boasts KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them from first note to last
  • You’d be hard-pressed to find a copy that’s this well balanced, yet big and lively, with such wonderful clarity in the mids and highs
  • The sound of the orchestra is dramatically richer and sweeter than you will hear on practically all other pressings – what else would you expect from Decca‘s engineers and the Suisse Romande?
  • This shootout has been many years in the making – we’ve been trying to do these wonderful French overtures for about five years, which just goes to show how hard it is to find these kinds of records in audiophile playing condition nowadays
  • We also have a recording with Fremaux at the helm for EMI coming soon to the site that’s every bit as good
  • Which one is better is probably a matter of taste as they are both head and shoulders better than any other recordings we have come across in the last five or more years
  • If you’re a fan of delightful orchestral showpieces such as these, Decca’s wonderful recording from 1961 belongs in your collection

Production and Engineering

James Walker was the producer, Roy Wallace the engineer for these sessions from May 1960 in Geneva’s glorious Victoria Hall. It’s yet another remarkable disc from the Golden Age of Vacuum Tube Recording.

The gorgeous hall the Suisse Romande recorded in was possibly the best recording venue of its day, perhaps of all time. More amazing sounding recordings were made there than in any other hall we know of. There is a solidity and richness to the sound that goes beyond all the other recordings we have played, yet clarity and transparency are not sacrificed in the least.

It’s as wide, deep and three-dimensional as any, which is of course all to the good, but what makes the sound of these recordings so special is the weight and power of the brass, combined with timbral accuracy of the instruments in every section.

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Lalo / Tchaikovsky – Symphonie Espagnole / Serenade Melancolique / Kogan

More of the Music of Edouard Lalo (1823-1892)

More of the music of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

  • This wonderful classical recording finally makes its Hot Stamper debut here with outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER from start to finish
  • This is some Demo Disc sound as long as long as you can reverse your polarity – if you can’t do that, don’t buy this record, because it won’t sound right
  • Here is sound that is both tubey and real, with much more space and a much bigger and more realistic presentation of the hall than any performance of the music you have ever heard
  • “The Symphonie Espagnole is one of Lalo’s two most often played works, the other being his Cello Concerto in D minor.”

My notes for side one read:

  • Big and Lively! Rich and Balanced.
  • Violin surrounded by lots of space.
  • Exciting performance.

The Lalo on side two is clear and spacious but could use a bit more warmth. The Tchaikovsky piece that finishes out the side is richer and smoother than the Lalo. Listen for it!

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Offenbach et al. / French Overtures / Ansermet – It Was Amazing Sounding in 2009 Too

More of the Music of Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880)

Reviewed in 2009 in our pre-shootout days.

This Minty London Blueback LP has a WONDERFUL Tubey Magical Super Hot Stamper Side One. I have never heard this music sound better. Of course Ansermet is exactly the right conductor for these light and colorful orchestral pieces; the performances are uniformly superb.

But as audiophiles we want to make sure the sound is what it should be, and here side one does not disappoint. The string tone is perfection. I defy anyone to find a Heavy Vinyl reissue with string tone even remotely as good. In my experience there is simply no such record.

With vintage classical records there are always trade-offs of course. Here the loudest passages suffer from compressor distortion, so common on these early pressings. A small price to pay for sound this lovely I say.

The Zampa overture by Herold is probably the best sound on the album — it’s gorgeous!

Side two is not quite as good. We rated it A Plus, with real weight and energy but a bit too much compression in the loud passages to be completely satisfying. (more…)

Prokofiev / Violin Con. No. 1 & Lalo / Symphonie Espagnole – Milstein – Reviewed in 2008

This Milstein record has exquisite violin tone and of course the performance is magical. These comments only apply to the Lalo on side two. (Side one never sounds good on this album.)