tchairomeo-best

Khachaturian / Tchaikovsky – Gayne Ballet / Romeo and Juliet / Dorati

More of the Music of Tchaikovsky

  • Dorati and the LSO’s masterful performance of Gayne Ballet returns to the site for only the second time in years, here with solid Double Plus (A++) grades on both sides of this Plum Label Mercury Stereo pressing
  • 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
  • An abundance of energy, loads of rich detail and texture, superb transparency and excellent clarity – the very definition of Demo Disc sound
  • The top is correct, even sweet, and you can’t say that about very many vintage Mercury recordings
  • One listen and we think you’ll see why we consider both the performance and recording of the Khachaturian to be the equal of the famous Golschmann LP on Vanguard, and both are in a different league than the Decca on the TAS List

Both of these sides are Demo Disc quality, thanks to their superb low-distortion mastering. It’s yet another exciting Mercury recording. The quiet passages have unusually sweet sound.

This kind of sound is not easy to cut. This copy gets rid of the cutter head distortion and coloration and allows you to hear what the Mercury engineers (Robert Fine and Wilma Cozart) accomplished.

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Tchaikovsky / Strauss – Romeo & Juliet / Till Eulenspiegel / Munch

More of the music of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

More of the music of Richard Strauss (1864-1949)

  • Wonderful Living Stereo sound throughout this original Shaded Dog pressing, with both sides earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades or close to them
  • Hard to find them quiet, though – for whatever reason, this title was rarely if ever pressed on quiet vinyl
  • Our favorite performance of the Tchaikovsky — when you hear it played by the BSO, guided by the baton of the supremely talented Charles Munch, you know you are hearing the work performed with the greatest skill and interpreted as authentically as is humanly possible
  • Spacious, rich and smooth (particularly on side two) – only vintage analog seems capable of reproducing all three of these qualities without sacrificing resolution, staging, imaging or presence
  • Our White Hot Shootout Winner was simply amazing sounding — some of the best orchestral sound we have heard lately, especially audible in exceptionally breathy flutes and sweet strings
  • It was a quite a step up in sound quality over even the closest contender, which just goes to show how hard it is to come across these very special pressings no matter how many Shaded Dogs you play

A Must Own Record

This is a recording that belongs in any serious Classical Music Collection. Others that belong in that category can be found here.

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