This original Plum Label Mercury pressing of Starker’s sublime performances boasts two textured, sweet, and natural Double Plus (A++) or BETTER sides
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
The cello is present and immediate, with sound that is wonderfully full and harmonically natural on this copy of SR-90409
This recording is not your typical dry, bright, nasaly, upper-midrangy Merc – the sound is rich and smooth like a good London, with a big stage and lovely transparency
Starker and Sebok’s virtuoso performances debut on the site with the rich, dynamic, and tubey sound we were hoping for, earning STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them throughout this early Plum Label Mercury pressing of SR-90405
Both of these sides are big, full-bodied, clean and clear, with a wonderfully present and solid piano, and plenty of 3D space around it
The cello is present and immediate, with sound that is remarkably textured, full and harmonically natural
Not only is this the best sounding copy we have to offer from our recent shootout, but we are happy to report that the vinyl is reasonably quiet for a vintage Plum Label Mercury stereo pressing
Starker and Sebok’s virtuoso performances debut on the site with the rich, dynamic, and tubey sound we were hoping for, earning INSANELY GOOD Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades throughout this original Plum Label Mercury pressing
Both of these sides are big, full-bodied, clean and clear, with a wonderfully present and solid piano, and plenty of 3D space around it
The cello is present and immediate, with sound that is remarkably textured, full and harmonically natural
Not only is this the best sounding copy we have to offer from our recent shootout, but we are happy to report that the vinyl is reasonably quiet for a vintage Plum Label Mercury stereo pressing, with no marks that play or problems with the inner grooves
Starker and Sebok’s virtuoso performances, here with rich, dynamic, and tubey Double Plus (A++) sound throughout this original Plum Label Mercury pressing
Both of these sides are big, full-bodied, clean and clear, with a wonderfully present and solid piano, and plenty of 3D space around it
The cello is present and immediate, with sound that is remarkably textured, full and harmonically natural
An original Mercury pressing of Starker’s commanding performance of Schumann and Lalo’s cello concertos (one of only a handful of copies to ever hit the site) with superb Double Plus (A++) sound or close to it throughout
The cello is present and immediate on this side one, with sound that is wonderfully full and harmonically natural, and side two is not far behind in all those areas
You’d be hard-pressed to find a copy of SR-90347 that’s this well balanced, yet big and lively, with such wonderful clarity in the mids and highs (particularly on side one)
Problems in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these early pressings, but once you hear just how good sounding this copy is, you might be inclined to stop counting ticks and pops and just be swept away by the music
We had a devil of a time finding audiophile quality surfaces on this title — it’s hard to imagine there will be many quieter copies coming to the site, and the ones that do will be unlikely to sound as good as this one
Starker and the LSO’s sublime performance debuts on the site with the big, lively and rich sound we had been waiting for
The cello is present and immediate, with sound that is wonderfully full and harmonically natural
Some old record collectors (like me) say classical recording quality ain’t what it used to be – here’s all the proof anyone with two working ears and top quality audiophile equipment needs to make the case
As you may well imagine, shootouts for this album are exceedingly rare. For a sought-after TAS List title such as this, we’re lucky to be able to do one every five years or so. Until the next one comes around, please consider trying some of our other classical and orchestral Hot Stamper pressings
