The Classic Records pressing of the famous Mercury is a gritty, shrill piece of crap.
I used to have a less-than-revealing all-tube system back in the 90s, but even that system, limited as it was and not remotely as revealing as the one we have now would have had a hard time hiding the faults of this awful record.
I don’t know how dull and smeary a stereo would have to be in order to play a record this phony and modern sounding in order to make it listenable, but I know that it would have to be very dull and very smeary, with the kind of vintage sound that might work for Classic’s Heavy Vinyl pressings but not much else.
It’s a disgrace, and the fact that it’s on the TAS Super Disc list is even more disgraceful.
Which all adds up to an audiophile hall of shame pressing and a record perfectly suited to the stone age stereos of the past.
Argenta and Ansermet
I much prefer Ansermet’s performances on London to those of Paray on Mercury.
As of 2022 we actually prefer the famous Argenta recording for Decca that’s on the TAS List, CS 6006.
Both are excellent and clearly superior to the Paray, even on the original Mercury pressings we’ve played.
UPDATE 2024:
This recording is no longer on the TAS Super Disc list. Our favorite, the London with Argenta, is however.
We call that progress! Maybe there’s hope for the TAS List yet.
