More Classical and Orchestral Recordings
More Music Conducted by Ernest Ansermet
- An incredible London pressing of this superb release with Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) grades on both sides – just shy of our Shootout Winner
- 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
- This spectacular Demo Disc recording is big, clear, rich, dynamic, transparent and energetic – here you will find some of the best orchestral Hot Stamper sound we offer
- 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?
- 1963 was a great year for classical recordings – other Must Own Orchestral releases can be found here.
The sound is clear, with wonderful depth to the stage. As a rule, the classic ’50s and ’60s recordings of Ansermet and the Suisse Romande in Victoria Hall are as big and rich as any you may have ever heard. These recordings may just be the ideal blend of clarity and richness, with depth and spaciousness that will put to shame 98% of the classical recordings ever made.
Side One
Bolero (Ravel)
Tubey and clear, with both the snare and the flute coming from so far back in the hall. OUTSTANDING energy and dynamic power.
Turn it up and it really comes to life like LIVE MUSIC. It’s big, wide and believable. We loved it.
Side Two
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (Dukas)
ZERO compression. ZERO distortion when loud. Which means it has ZERO compressor distortion, something not five out of a hundred Golden Age recordings can claim. Nice extended top too.
There is depth and richness to beat the band, as well as clarity and tonal correctness that let you forget the recording and just enjoy the music. This piece is not quite as transparent as the Ravel, but still has earned every one of its Three Pluses.
The timbre of the brass is right on the money. As we have noted before, the brass of the Suisse Romande is some of the best to have ever been committed to analog tape.
Again, this side had OUTSTANDING energy and dynamic power the likes of which we think you may never have heard.
La Valse (Ravel)
Again, with that wondrously huge hall adding a sense of space that will allow your speakers to disappear. The performers are not too close, which is very much in keeping with live music.
In his tribute to Ravel after the composer’s death in 1937, Paul Landormy described the work as follows:
“….the most unexpected of the compositions of Ravel, revealing to us heretofore unexpected depths of Romanticism, power, vigor, and rapture in this musician whose expression is usually limited to the manifestations of an essentially classical genius.”