_Conductors – Johanos

Audiophile Reviewers Raved About This Doug Sax Tube Mastered Mess

The reviews below will sound depressingly familiar to you if you have been in audio for as long as I have.

Sonic Grade: F

This Athena LP is now long out of print, but it received rave reviews when it was released. (We quote many of them below.) This album is a member of the TAS Super Disc list, but we found the sound awfully opaque, smeary, slow and compressed, the kind of bad “analog” sound that Doug Sax brought to the early AP releases.

The sticker on the shrink wrap of a previous copy had these quotes:

“…for this is the definitive symphonic recording to date.” – J. Gordon Holt/ Stereophile

“Wins ‘Best Record of the Year’ award against tough competition.” – Joe Hart/High End Audio Press & Music Review

“HP heard the Athena remastering of the Rachmaninoff and found it stunning. He could recommend it without reservation.” – Harry Pearson/The Absolute Sound #57

I guess things never change.

Reviewer malpractice? We’ve been writing about it for more than 25 years.

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Copland / Billy The Kid / Rodeo – Johanos

More Classical Masterpieces

More Orchestral Spectaculars

This Copland masterpiece returns with superb Double Plus (A++) sound throughout – reasonably quiet vinyl too, with no audible marks and no Inner Groove Distortion (IGD)
This spectacular Demo Disc recording is clear, rich, dynamic, transparent and energetic – here is the BIG, BOLD sound we love
There is a note on the inner sleeve that says this was a Record Club of America purchase in 1973
Can you imagine that a Record Club was offering records in 1973 that were better sounding than anything made today? Astonishing!
“To the ultimate delight of audiences Copland managed to weave musical complexity with popular style.”
If you’re a fan of orchestral showpieces such as these, this is a recording from 1967 that belongs in your collection.
The complete list of titles from 1967 that we’ve reviewed to date can be found here.

This vintage Turnabout 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. (more…)

Rachmaninoff – Symphonic Dances / Johanos

More Hot Stamper Pressings of Rachmaninoff’s Music

Reviews of the Music of Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)

It’s an extraordinary recording, and so amazing on this pressing that after playing it, you may agree with us that few other classical Demo Discs are in its league
The bottom end of this record is powerful and solid like no other classical LP we’ve played in a very long time – this is the way to record tympani!
On a pressing this good, the sound is dynamic, lively and BIG – jumping out of the speakers and bringing not only the power but the vibrant colors of the symphony right into your listening room

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Venerable or Execrable? If It’s Athena the Chances Are Good It’s the Latter

More of the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)

I spied an interesting quote on the Acoustic Sounds site years ago:

“…Analogue Productions’ 45rpm remastering improves upon the venerable Athena LP release from the late 80s, with better dynamics and a fuller ‘middle’ to the orchestral sonority.” – Andrew Quint, The Absolute Sound, October 2010

For some reason Andrew uses the word “venerable” when a better, certainly more accurate term would have been “execrable.” Having played the record in question this strikes us as the kind of mistake that would not be easy to make.

Athena was a godawful audiophile label that lasted all of five records, only one of which was any good, and it’s not this one. It was in fact the Debussy piano recording with Moravec, mastered by the venerable Robert Ludwig himself, a man who knows his classical music, having cut scores if not hundreds of records for Nonesuch and other labels in the ’60s and ’70s. (more…)