- For fans of Reiner’s performance from 1958, we here present a Shaded Dog pressing of this TAS Super Disc, here with outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound from start to finish
- It’s also fairly quiet at Mint Minus Minus, a grade that even our most well-cared-for vintage classical titles have trouble playing at
- Both of these sides are remarkably open and natural in the best Living Stereo tradition, with rich lower strings that have little Golden Age smear.
- Spacious, rich and smooth – only vintage analog seems capable of reproducing all three of these qualities without sacrificing resolution, staging, imaging or presence
_Conductors – Reiner
In 2005 We Were (Probably) Way Off the Mark for Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2
Hot Stamper Pressings of Living Stereo Titles Available Now
UPDATE 2024: This is a very old review. We would no longer agree with the assertion that the White Dog pressings are better sounding than the Shaded Dogs. In our recent shootout, the first one I can remember since 2005 — that was 19 years ago! — the White Dogs did not do nearly as well as the Shaded Dogs we have on hand.
This White Dog pressing is the best sounding copy I’ve ever heard, much better than the earlier pressings. The piano doesn’t break up like it does on those, especially in the second movement.
Finally the piano sounds right – solid and with the correct overtones. It goes without saying that this is an exceptionally good performance as well.
One of the best of the Cliburn recordings which, as you may know, are rarely any good, the worst of them being LSC 2252 and the best of them being, probably, LSC 2507.
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.
Pines and Fountains of Rome – Our Mistaken Review from 2006
More of the music of Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936)
Back in 2006 we liked Red Seal pressings of Living Stereo recordings a lot more than we do now, so take this commentary with a huge grain of salt.
Only the advent of top quality cleaning equipment and much improved playback made it possible for us to hear the earlier pressings in all their glory.
A lot of records that I used to like because they were cleaner and brighter — later Red Seal Living Stereos, some OJC jazz, some reissues of rock — sounded much better when my system was darker and less revealing.
There are a lot of live and learn entries about these records, and this is one from many years ago that could not be more wrong (probably, the record is long gone and not around to be played).
Rachmaninoff / De Falla – Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini / Nights In The Gardens Of Spain
More of the Music of Sergei Rachmaninoff
- The rich, textured sheen of the strings the RCA engineers achieved in the ’50s and ’60s is a joy to hear throughout these pieces
- This is something the Heavy Vinyl crowd will never experience, because that sound just does not exist on modern remastered records the way it does on these vintage pressings
- Tonally correct from top to bottom and as transparent as practically any vintage recording you may have heard, the combination of clarity and Tubey Magic here will be hard to beat
- To see more of the best orchestral recordings with top quality sound we’ve done shootouts for, click here
- If you’re a fan of Rachmaninoff and/or Rubinstein, we think this Living Stereo from 1960 belongs in your collection.
This superb Living Stereo recording checks off a number of boxes for us here at Better Records.
- It’s a personal favorite
- It’s a piano recording of the highest quality
- It’s one of the best sounding piano concerto recordings we know of, and
- It’s part of our Core Collection of well recorded classical and orchestral albums
Until we heard the right later pressings, we had always been disappointed with this TAS List recording, wondering what all the fuss was about. The original Shaded Dog pressings we had played left a lot to be desired. Like many of the old records we audition, it was somewhat crude and congested, and badly lacked both highs and lows, our definition of boxy sound.
Well, now we know. The early Shaded Dog pressings have consistently worse sound than the reissues we are offering here.
We never offered the record as a Hot Stamper pressing because we didn’t think the sound of the originals was all that impressive, TAS List or no TAS List.
Mystery solved, and truly Hot Stampers have now been made available to the discriminating audiophile.
Harry’s list, as was so often the case, did not provide the information needed to find the pressing that captured all the qualities of the recording the way this one does.
Did Harry have a good later pressing? Did he have an original and simply liked it more than we did? We’ll never know.
A Simple Listening Test Makes It Easy to Judge Pressings of Scheherazade
Hot Stamper Orchestral Pressings Available Now
The Classic reissue of LSC 2446, as well as the Analogue Productions version from 2013 (the original 33 is the only one I have played, mastered by Ryan Smith at Sterling), are both disasters for many reasons, but they do have one specific failing that is easy to recognize.
Both pressings are worth further discussion and analysis because they provide an easy test that can show you how wrong they are.
When reading the commentary below, keep in mind that what is bad about the Classic Records reissue from 1995 is what is bad about the Analogue Productions remaster put out many years later.
As I noted for some of the Classic Heifetz titles a while back, for all I know the CDs for his Living Stereo recordings may have better sound. That’s probably the first place to go, considering Classic’s rather poor track record regarding the remastering of his music.
Case in point: The Living Stereo CDs I own (both the CD and the SACD) of Scheherazade are dramatically better than the awful Classic Records pressing of it.
Audiophiles who don’t notice what is wrong with the Classic pressing need to get hold of a nice RCA White Dog pressing to see just how poorly the Classic stacks up. (They could even find one that’s not so nice and listen through the surface noise. The difference would still be obvious.)
UPDATE 2025
It has been many years since a White Dog pressing won a shootout. In our last listing for a Hot Stamper White Dog pressing in 2024, we noted:
Now that we know which stampers have the potential to win our shootouts, the right Shaded Dog originals have lately been coming out on top, although the White Dog pressings can still sound quite good, just not as good.
No White Dog earned a higher grade than 2+, and none of the three WD pressings we had on hand earned 2+ on both sides.
Our notes for the various sides of the WD pressings read: “a bit brash, sometimes squawky, dry and bright,” and the like.
Those of you looking for the best sound should stick to the Shaded Dog label originals. They are rich and lush in a way that the WD reissues in our experience never are. I used to swear by the WD reissues, but I see now how wrong I was. My judgments were colored by a darker, less revealing stereo than the one we use now, and that makes all the difference in the world.
Back to LSC 2446
The solo violin in the left channel at the opening of the first movement should be all it takes to hear what is wrong with the modern remastered pressings.
Anyone has ever attended a classical music concert will have no trouble recognizing that the violin on any of the Heavy Vinyl pressings, including the Analogue Productions pressing, is completely wrong and sounds nothing like a violin in a concert hall would ever sound.
And I mean ever.
No matter where you might be sitting.
No matter how good or bad the hall’s acoustics.
The violin on these Heavy Vinyl pressings is dark, it’s veiled, and it’s overly rich, as well as lacking in overtones.
Solo violins in live performance never sound like that.
They are clear, clean and present. You have no trouble at all “seeing” them, no matter where you sit.
Hovhaness / Mysterious Mountain / Reiner
More of the music of Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000)
More of the music of Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
- Boasting two stunning Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) Living Stereo sides, this vintage Shaded Dog pressing is close to the BEST we have ever heard, right up there with our Shootout Winner
- Tons of energy, loads of rich detail and texture, superb transparency and excellent clarity – the very definition of Demo Disc sound
- This record will have you asking why so few Living Stereo pressings actually do what this one does.
- The more critical listeners among you will recognize that this is a very special copy indeed. Everyone else will just enjoy the hell out of it.
- We’ve reviewed most of the famous recordings Fritz Reiner did for RCA, and those reviews can be found here
- With the advent of the stereo LP, RCA produced a large number of album titles using the wonderful Living Stereo banner across the top of the jacket. The link above will take you to titles either recorded or released in 1958.
Stravinsky / Song Of the Nightingale / Reiner
More of the music of Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
More of the music of Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
- A vintage Shaded Dog pressing of these popular 20th century works featuring superb Double Plus (A++) Living Stereo sound from first note to last
- The orchestra is wide, tall, and the dynamics and transparency of this copy are first rate
- Spacious, rich and smooth – only vintage analog seems capable of reproducing all three of these qualities without sacrificing resolution, staging, imaging or presence
On LSC 2222, How Does the Classic Records Heavy Vinyl Compare?
Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Claude Debussy Available Now
In 2005 we played an excellent original pressing of Debussy’s Iberia (LSC 2222) and compared it to the Classic Records reissue. We wrote:
This is a wonderful sounding Shaded Dog pressing. Side two is especially dynamic.
This has long been considered one of the Living Stereo triumphs. The spaciousness and tonal correctness are legendary. However, this copy does not have the prodigious bass of some that I’ve heard.
The Classic reissue has plenty of deep bass, but it’s shrill and hard and altogether unpleasant, so the better bass comes at a steep price.
For better sounding recordings of Iberia, we know of two and they can be found by clicking here.
Who Can’t Hear Differences in Sound from Side to Side on Most Records?
Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Rimsky-Korsakov Available Now
Both the Chesky [1] and Classic reissue pressings of LSC 2446 are just plain terrible. Embarrassingly, the latter is found on the TAS List.
There is a newly [2013, time flies!] remastered 33 RPM pressing of the album garnering rave reviews in the audiophile press. We didn’t like it either. It fails the violin test that we wrote about here.
Please note that in many of the reviews for the new pressing, the original vinyl used for comparison is a Shaded Dog pressing. In our experience almost no Shaded Dog pressings are competitive with the later White Dog pressings, and many of them are just plain awful, as we have noted previously on the site.
UPDATE 2024: Now that we know which stampers have the potential to sound the best in our shootouts, the Shaded Dog originals have lately been winning top honors, although the White Dog pressings can still sound quite good, just not as good.
The “original is better” premise of most reviewers renders the work they do practically worthless, at least to those of us who take the time to play a wide variety of pressings and judge them on the merits of their sound, not the color of their labels.
[A fairly embarrassing example of live and learn.]
Missing the Obvious
The RCA White Dog with the best side two in our shootout had a very unmusical side one. Since reviewers virtually never discuss the sonic differences between the two (or more) sides of the albums they audition, how critically can they be listening? Under the circumstances how can we take anything they have to say about the sound of the record seriously?
The sound is obviously different from side to side on most of the records we play, often dramatically so (as in the case of Scheherazade), yet audiophile reviewers practically never seem to notice these obvious, common, unmistakable differences in sound, the kind that we discuss in every listing on the site. If they can’t hear the clear differences in sound from side to side, doesn’t that call into question their abilities at the most basic level?
We Heap Scorn Upon Chesky Records, With Good Reason
More of the music of Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)
Sonic Grade: F
Chesky is one of the WORST AUDIOPHILE LABELS in the history of the world. Their recordings are so artificial and “wrong” that they defy understanding. That some audiophiles actually buy into this junk sound is equal parts astonishing and depressing.
Their own records are a joke, and their remasterings of the RCA Living Stereo catalog are an abomination.
The best RCA Living Stereo pressings are full of Tubey Magic. The Chesky pressings I have played have none.
What else would you need to know about their awful records than that?
If there is a more CLUELESS audiophile label on the planet, I don’t know what it could be, and I don’t want to find out.
(Turns out there is someone producing the worst kind of remastered junk vinyl who may be even more clueless than Chesky, imagine that!)