Let me clarify, I was referring to LP's pressed by these labels way back that had poor press quality, not their more recent pressing. The date of the original recording often does not mean all that much as good recording but poor pressing will still give you a lousy sounding LP.
Now playing CD1 from the following twofer from my Avison collection for a second listen. Wife is away this weekend so I can do my late night listening on my big rig ...
My reply to someone that posted (somewhere else) his SACD copy of Heifetz Mendelssohn/Beethoven Violin Concerti. Heifetz used his priceless 1742 ex-David Guarnerius violin on my 1959 Munch/BSO recording of this Mendelssohn concerto. It was his main performance axe even though he owned a couple of Strads but I don't know if he always used it for this concerto. It was used by Ferdinand David when he played this concerto's premiere in 1845. I have the 180gm 1983 Red Seal LP with Heifetz using that Guarnerius. Sweet. 1742 ex-David Guarnerius - Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri 'del Gesù', Violin, Cremona, c. 1740, the 'Heifetz, David' | Tarisio article from 2002 - Putting Heifetz's Violin Back Into Action from 2011 - Embodied Spirit: The Journey of a Famous Violin recent, about Heifetz - Jascha Heifetz's US debut a hundred years ago not my rip
Agreed. I just gave you the dates for reference in case you had a long history with the label and knew it's ups and downs. Again that's the only label I've had any personal experience with that you mentioned.
Supraphon is really the only record label from Eastern/Central Europe I have in some quantities but they are mostly fine and are all CD's. I have a small handful of Melodiya CD's ...
Because I'm a science nerd : Blind-tested soloists unable to tell Stradivarius violins from modern instruments Blind-tested soloists unable to tell Stradivarius violins from modern instruments (don't read into this, just posting it in case someone finds it interesting. I think musicians should play whatever instrument they enjoy and lets them best express themself)
It took Sasha a year to"wake up" the David... from Embodied Spirit: The Journey of a Famous Violin - "“It took a good year to actually feel that it was getting back to life and responding,” he says. “Apart from that, this violin is not an easy one. There are some violins that are user-friendly. Many Strads [instruments made by Stradivari] are user-friendly. This violin does not make friends easily. You have to figure out how to deal with it.”" Blind testing Strads and Guarneris misses a fundamental point, says Frank Almond lol Blind testing Strads and Guarneris misses a fundamental point, says Frank Almond "I’ve had the unusual good fortune to play on three golden-period Strads for several years each, the latest being the ‘Lipiński’ from 1715. In each case it took at least three months for me to recognise fully what was possible (or not) with these extraordinary functional antiquities under a wide variety of conditions. I observed that as time passed my violin also seemed to open up and adapt."
It's still a subjective (biased) opinion that it takes X amount of time to acclimatize to an instrument. Technically another blind test would be needed to be done to refute the original test. If the authors wanted to do that then cool! If not this isn't life or death medicine here, I just thought it was interesting. Restating my opinion I had in brackets that I think it's fine for musicians to play any instrument they want. Another interesting article: Stradivarius violin tops The Strad’s ‘blind test’ of old and modern instruments Though as I understand most Strads do project more than most instruments. And loudness is one of the things that fools the mind.
Now playing the following CD from my Bach collection for a second listen and probably the last listen for the night ... Emma made 3 early Bach cantatas recordings with the Purcell Quartet, circa 2005 for Chandos. @bluemooze, you mentioned you noticed some aging effect on Emma in one of your earlier posts, did you have one of these Chandos recordings in mind?
Now listening to CD 1 from "Adrian Willaert: Musica Nova - The Motets" performed by Singer Pur on Oehms. Another purchase of something I heard on Spotify.
Now on the turntable, record 2 from "Beethoven - Complete String Trios" performed by the Grumiaux-Trio on Philips. Arthur Grumiaux - violin / Geroges Janzer - Viola / Eva Czako - cello / Maxence Larrieu (flute). Serenades Op. 8 & 25
I have an album of John Ogdon and Brenda Lucas, also on Argo (LP in my case), but without Marriner & orchestra. The music here is unusual, varied in tone, and quite enjoyable--at least for piano aficionados--and, remarkably, none of it was initially written for two pianos. The Liszt Concerto Pathétique is not a "concerto" in the usual sense (with orchestra); Liszt originally wrote it for piano solo, but later fleshed it out for two pianos. It's quite a bombastic piece (like most Liszt) and nothing like what the "Pathétique" title suggests. Likewise, the Schumann Andante and Variations did not start out as a two-piano piece. Schumann original score included two cellos and horn--which must have sounded quite odd! Debussy arranged the Schumann Six Canonic Studies for two pianos; Schumann had originally written it for a piano with pedal keyboard (a practice instrument for organists). Ogdon & Lucas play pianos by Bösendorfer. The LP was released in 1973 (Discogs is wrong).
Yes, indeed. I had to do some work in my basement last week and took an old plastic Sony "boombox" and a stack of CDs down there with me. Nothing "audiophile," but it was music, lifting my spirits and making the job go much smoother.
