- With STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) Demo Disc sound from first note to last, this Decca pressing from 1974 could not be beat
- These sides are doing everything right – they’re rich, clear, undistorted, open, spacious, and have depth and transparency to rival the best recordings you may have heard
- Ansermet is of course a master of the ballet – the complete performance of Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty by the Suisse Romande is outstanding, perhaps even definitive
- 1959 was a great year for classical recordings – other Must Own Orchestral releases can be found here.
- Here are more of the orchestral “sleeper” recordings we’ve discovered with demo disc sound
Big Decca sound! Powerful deep bass. Beautiful string tone and sharply articulated brass. This is a simply wonderful record.
Ansermet is surely the man for this music, and the famously huge hall he recorded in just as surely contributes much to the wonderful sound here.
Production and Engineering
James Walker was the producer, Roy Wallace the engineer for these sessions from 1958 in Geneva’s glorious Victoria Hall. It’s yet another remarkable disc from the Golden Age of Vacuum Tube Recording.
The gorgeous hall the Suisse Romande recorded in was possibly the best recording venue of its day, perhaps of all time. More amazing sounding recordings were made there than in any other hall we know of. There is a solidity and richness to the sound that goes beyond all the other recordings we have played, yet clarity and transparency are not sacrificed in the least.
It’s as wide, deep and three-dimensional as any, which is of course all to the good, but what makes the sound of these recordings so special is the weight and power of the brass, combined with timbral accuracy of the instruments in every section.
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