More of the Music of Gustav Holst
This is a fairly quiet, excellent sounding Decca in the Box Purple Label British import LP.
This is of course the same performance, the same recording that Mobile Fidelity remastered (510), but, thankfully, this copy sounds A WHOLE LOT BETTER!
This pressing is very dynamic and the brass has tremendous weight.
Our favorite performance of The Planets can be found here.
Superb sounding Decca British Import LP!
This live recording has very natural sound. I normally do not care for Ashkenazy’s playing, but here he plays with a conviction that is usually lacking. Check out the 2nd movement on the sonata.
This album includes Chopin’s Sonata No. 2, Two Nocturnes, Mazurka in A and Grande Valse Brillante.
More Performances by Ruggiero Ricci
Reviews and Commentaries for the Performances of Ruggiero Ricci
This is one of the MOST AMAZING VIOLIN RECORDINGS in the history of the world. For sheer violin virtuosity it doesn’t get any better than this. Ricci and London in the early ’50s cannot be beat! This is a true Demo Disc with music of the highest caliber, and I’m betting whoever takes this one home will be THRILLED.
Both sides are dynamic, full-bodied, lively and sweet. This is a vintage London mono recording of the ’50s and consequently has some limitations in terms of bandwidth and of course soundstage, but the luscious midrange more than makes up for both. The violin is REAL in a way that few other recordings manage to make it.
Since this is a particularly thick piece of vinyl, you’ll get the best sound from this one by adjusting your VTA a bit as if it were a modern Heavy Vinyl release. Of course, I don’t think there’s any modern Heavy Vinyl out there that could hold a candle to a record like this! And when the VTA locks in perfectly on this record you will know it — the tonality is Right On The Money. (more…)
Hot Stamper Pressings of Music Conducted by Ansermet Available Now
[This is a very old commentary so take it for what it’s worth.]
DEMO QUALITY SOUND for this early London Mono pressing.
Side one of this record sounds incredible! The sound is absolutely top notch. Check out the brass — it has the solid weight of the real thing.
This is the kind of record that the mono cartridge owners of the world worship. And for good reason. But you don’t need to have a mono cartridge to hear how good — in fact, how much BETTER — this copy sounds than the stereo pressing.
I found out about mono classical records one day when I got a mono copy of The Power Of The Orchestra, VCS 2659. It sounded better than any stereo recording of that work I had ever heard. All the instruments were so much more solid sounding, so palpable, so free from distortion, that it made me recognize for the first time what the mono record lovers of the world were talking about. That was ten years ago. Since then many high end mono cartridges have come on the market, specifically to bring out that sound. (more…)
More of the Music of Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880)
Great cover, awful sound. It’s blary and gritty.
The sound is much too unpleasant to be played on high quality modern equipment.
A stereo that looks like the console below — or one that sounds like an old console even though it has new components, there are plenty of those out there in audiophile land — is perfect for all your bad sounding Golden Age recordings.
This London Whiteback LP (CS 6594) has Super Hot Stamper sound on side two, which is where the Dvorak Serenade for 10 wind instruments, cello and bass can be found. It has lovely space and depth, with dead on tonality and lots of Tubey Magic.
If you love the sound of wind instruments (and who doesn’t? British Band Classics springs immediately to mind as one of the most enjoyable classical recordings I own), then this just may be the classical chamber recording for you.
Side Two
A++ Super Hot Stamper sound! The top end is very sweet, and the overall presentation is clearer and richer than side one.
Side One
A+, good, but not nearly as good as side two. Nice space when quiet and a bit congested when loud, which is a sure sign that it has a bit more compression than it should. Not as rich as side two either. Side two will show you how much better the music on this side could have sounded.
More of the music of Antonin Dvorak
Presenting yet another remarkable Demo Disc from the Golden Age of Vacuum Tube Recording Technology, in this case 1961, with the added benefit of mastering courtesy of the more modern equipment of the ’70s, in this case 1970. (We are of course here referring to the good modern equipment of 40 years ago, not the bad modern mastering equipment of today.)
Dvorák draws the musical threads together in the last movement, weaving new material with moods and themes from previous movements into a grand finale that resulted in extended cheering from the New York audience at its December 1893 premiere.
The New York critic W. J. Henderson raved: “It is a great symphony and must take its place among the finest works in the form produced since the death of Beethoven.”
This combination of old and new works wonders on this title as you will surely hear for yourself on either of these Super Hot sides. And the 1970 British vinyl plays mostly Mint Minus!
Side One
A++ to A+++, just shy of the sound of White Hot shootout winning side. The hall is huge, so wide and deep, spacious and open. The perspective is above all natural. A little more extension up top and this side would have been impossible to beat.
Solid, powerful tympani whacks — listen for them. Sweet woodwinds too.
Side Two
A++, big and lively, with good weight down low for the lower strings and percussion. The sound is slightly blurry and veiled, but about an inch in or so the highs come in stronger, the sound opens up and there is less smear.
A little more weight in the climactic fourth movement would have put this side over the top.
More of the Music of Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Jean Sibelius
Sonic Grade: F
While preparing for a Finlandia shootout recently, we happened to drop the needle on this album, a 1977 Phase 4 recording made in Kingsway Hall and engineered by Arthur Lilley. We could hardly believe how bad it sounded. The multi-miking is the worst I have ever heard!
We like lots of Phase 4 recordings — especially those of Bernard Herrmann — but this is definitely not one of them.
Are they all bad? Who can say? We sure aren’t going to be wasting any more time and money on the album in order to find out, I can tell you that.
The Obsession soundtrack is a dog as well. Audiophiles looking for good sound are best advised to avoid them both.
More of the music of Gustav Holst (1874-1934)
Factory Sealed CS 6734 with the super rare Pioneer spacecraft booklet inside the shrink!
There’s a very good chance this is the last such copy on the planet. I have never seen one before, and I remember when this record came out, so probably few were made with this special booklet included.
I’m guessing it has about a dozen pages or so, and probably talks about the Pioneer mission to Jupiter.
“Launched on 2 March 1972, Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to travel through the Asteroid belt, and the first spacecraft to make direct observations and obtain close-up images of Jupiter. Famed as the most remote object ever made by man through most of its mission, Pioneer 10 is now over 8 billion miles away.”
