10 New ORG 45 RPM Classical titles mastered by Bernie Grundman

There goes my wallet. All nice titles.

http://www.elusivedisc.com/prodinfo.asp?number=ORGLPL1SUB

 

London/Decca

Wow. This is a big treat for classical vinyl buffs. All 2LP 45RPM, cut by Bernie Grundman, ltd to 2500 copies worldwide.

June

• London CS 6581
  Albeniz: Suite Espanola
  Rafael Fruhbeck De Burgos/New Philharmonia Orchestra

July

• London CS 6224
  Manuel de Falla: El Sombrero de tres picos (The Three-cornered Hat)
  Teresa Berganza [soprano]; Ernest Ansermet/L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
• London CS 6006
  Rimsky-Korsakov: Cappricio Espangol, Op. 34 + Granados: Andaluza, Danza Espanola + Emmanuel Alexis Chabriere: Espana
  Ataulfo Argenta/London Symphony Orchestra
• London CS 6191
  Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56 'Scottish'
  Peter Maag/London Symphony Orchestra

August

• London 6001
  Mendelssohn: Midsummer Night's Dream
  Jennifer Vyvyan [soprano]; Marion Lowe [soprano]; Peter Maag/London Symphony Orchestra, Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

September

• London CS 6329
  Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15
  Clifford Curzon [piano]; George Szell/London Symphony Orchestra
• London CS 6147
  Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe
  Pierre Monteux/London Symphony Orchestra, Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden [Douglas Robinson, chorus master]

October

• London 6337
  Bruch: Scottish Fantasia in E-flat major, Op. 46
  Paul Hindemith: Violin Concerto*
  David Oistrakh [violin]; Jascha Horenstein/London Symphony Orchestra
  Paul Hindemith/London Symphony Orchestra*
• London 6252
  Herold: La Fille Mal Gardee (The Wayward Daughter)
  John Lanchbery/Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
• London 6049
  Grieg: Incidental Music to Peer Gynt, Op. 23
  Oiven Fjeldstad/London Symphony Orchestra

 

That is a real solid list.

 

These two are worth anyone getting:

London CS 6006
Rimsky-Korsakov: Cappricio Espangol, Op. 34 + Granados: Andaluza, Danza Espanola + Emmanuel Alexis Chabriere: Espana
Ataulfo Argenta/London Symphony Orchestra

London 6049
Grieg: Incidental Music to Peer Gynt, Op. 23
Oiven Fjeldstad/London Symphony Orchestra

Excellent performances.

 

Agreed. I'll pick up all 10 titles.

 

Were these titles all originally released on both the Decca (UK) and London (US) labels?

 

I think so -but trying getting some of them now on Decca SXL. $700 for a Hindemith; 300+ for many of the other titles esp. ED1 releases. OTOH, I have the R2R Tape Project of the Hindemith and Albeniz and they are priceless-though the Albeniz tape is thin sounding like the Decca release. But Oistrakh is great though know quite a few that prefer Heifitz's performance of Scottish Fantasy's on RCA (both sound and performance).

 

I will probably get all of these.

I have the Classic Gold CD of this Argenta and it is spectacular.

 

Some great titles in there, the Hindemith/Oistrakh is a timeless performance. I wonder why ORG is switching from Pallas to RTI.

 

I'm curious why they'd reissue the London version rather than Decca, if both were possible, since the Decca is probably more collectible.

 

UK Decca and US Decca were different companies, AFAIK. In other words, London Records was UK Decca. Different covers, yes, but same recordings.

To which attempt do you refer? Speakers Corner?

 

I had wondered the same thing. The "last audiophile attempt" (as in most recent) on Decca classical was Esoteric's SACDs.

Incidentally, I have one of the Speakers Corners Decca classical titles, Espana conducted by Argenta, and while I didn't have an original for comparison, it sounded thin, although not necessarily screechy.

 

Not to get into a great debate but while London was the US subsidiary of Decca (I think it was because there was already a label with the Decca name in the US-and as EMI had to cover up its dog), the releases sound completely different. I know people claim they're the same issue but in most comparisons I've done, the Decca is clearly the superior sounding release. For some reason, it seems like Decca souped up the sound because they thought Americans liked a brighter sound.

 

Espana can but it's not as thin as Suite Espanola. Whenever I've heard it, the Three Cornered Hat is near unlistenable eg ear bleed city. Some of the other early Deccas sound somewhat overly reverberant, I assume because they were using directional mikes (as on the operas) before they switched over.

 

I was referring to performances, not mastering. New 45's will be from original analog master tapes...so it reads.

 

The Esoteric SACDs were not mastered from the analogue tapes, but from PCM copies provided by Universal. Same for the Universal Japan SACDs (Brahms piano concerto 1)

There were also XRCD reissues of some of the titles years ago, which I have not heard but which are said to sound rather harsh, as if the wrong EQ was used.

 

This further extinguishes my desire to spend big money on the Esoteric SACDs.

Any idea what sampling rate the PCM masters were at?

 

This was already discussed in other threads. Universal Classics have archived their analogue tapes in 24/96 PCM. These are the source of their CD reissues, most of their SACD reissues and of the Universal Japan SACDs.

Esoteric claims that Universal did new 24/96 transfers for them, but I doubt that since it would be illogical to make PCM transfers at such an "outdated" resolution for an audiophile SACD release.

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showpost.php?p=5234077&postcount=117

 

I think as were the LPs.

 

Sounds as if there would also have been a special playback curve to many Living Stereos At least that would explain why some reissues sound like that...

But I'd also be interested which attempt for the London/Deccas you mean Steve...so far I just remember the Superanalogue and the Speakers Corner reissues and even if some are not especially great sounding, I don't remember the issues I have as extremely thin or an extreme mess...on the other hand I remember I strongly selected the SC titles I have, sold quite some again and dropped for example the "La Fille Mal Gardee" for the reason you described (and because I don't like the music)..

I look forward to the new 45 RPM Albeniz for example...hope it's done well by BG.

 

Is this why it is so?

Grieg: Peer Gynt Incidental Music

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...ls?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1276026687&sr=1-68&seller=

 

Finally, the first two titles -- Three-Cornered Hat (ORG 102) and España (ORG 104) -- arrived today. Will spin later. Anyone else get these?

 

I'm not positive.

Steve has mentioned a quasi dolby NR trick.

 

What do you mean?

In the meantime I remembered, that there were also London reissues by Classic Records, right? Maybe Steve means those, as on most Speakers Corner I can hear no such problems. But it seems Steve avoids to tell exactly what he means, which I understand as he doesn't want to talk about colleagues.

Regarding the new ORG reissues, I'm also very interested and hope they don't sound like so many classical reissues by BG (bright, hard upper string, percussion and horn sound).

Regarding Dolby, I only remember that the Superanalogue issues were told to be based on dolby tapes...