Can anyone suggest a readily available (and, if possible, not too expensive) classical recording, preferably of fairly conservative literature, that is a good performance and definitely made with pre-emphasis, without any questions of "well, if it was pressed before X it is, but if it's after X it isn't"? I want to do some experimenting. Thank you for the links. As I suspected, the forum search yielded a lot of "Does this rock CD have pre-emphasis?" type discussions, but sifting through I found one or two that were helpful in themselves and pointed me in directions where I could learn more.
Not sure if these are readily available or not, but they have pre-emphasis: Bruno Walter/Columbia Symphony Orchestra - Bruckner: Symphony No.4 - CBS/Sony 35DC 117 Bruno Walter/Columbia Symphony Orchestra - Bruckner: Symphony No.9 - CBS/Sony 35DC 114 Bruno Walter/Columbia Symphony Orchestra - Brahms: Symphony No.2 - Columbia MK 42021 / 35DC 86 Bruno Walter/Columbia Symphony Orchestra - Brahms: Symphony No.3 - Columbia MK 42022 / 35DC 87 Bruno Walter/New York Philharmonic Orchestra - Mahler: Symphony No.2 - 2CD, CBS/Sony 56DC131~132
TMK, in the 1980s Supraphon CDs were mastered & pressed by Denon (Crystal Collection series launched in Czechoslovakia in 1988). Denon classical discs traditionally had CD pre-emphasis (from 1982 well into mid-1990s for new releases & even into 2000s for re-issues).
Thanks to you both! Ironically, doing a Google search for one of the Bruno Walter discs took me to another Hoffman Forums thread, started by none other than you, George, about listing discs with pre-emphasis, and that gave me a few other leads besides the ones you mentioned above. In the end, staying with only the ones I could get without much expense, I ordered several discs from Amazon and sellers on Discogs: Cecile Licad performing Rachmaninoff's 2d Pno. Cto. and Paganini Rhapsody with Abbado and the CSO Maazel leading the 1812 Overture and Wellington's Victory (one I would not have bought if it hadn't been very cheap) Alfven Upsala Rhapsody and Sym. no. 1 (BIS; N. Jaarvi) Huguette Dreyfuss playing 14 Scarlatti sonatas (Denon) Andre Watts "Live in Tokyo" (Haydn, Brahms, Ravel, etc.; CBS) Brahms Symphony no. 3 and Haydn Vars., the Bruno Walter disc cited above I need to check, too; I already have Bruno Walter conducting the PSONY in Mahler's 1st Sym., CBS Sony 32DC 577, a Japanese issue with cover design uniform with the Brahms Sym. 3 that I bought. That may well make another one. When I bought it as an import at the old, much lamented Serenade record store in DC, CBS had not released that earlier account on CD in the United States; only the later, Columbia SO recording was available, a situation that would continue to obtain for several years thereafter.
This is one of my favourite early Denon CDs, actually... Great music, inspired performance & wonderful sound quality of PCM recordings made in July of 1978... Note that CD pre-emphasis flag is present only in track sub-code on 1984-1985 CD pressings.
CD 4: Quartets no. 2, 10, and 13. I ordered the Emerson set, so I'm surveying some of my other Shostakovich until it arrives. Shostakovich: String Quartets nos. 1 - 13. Borodin Quartet, Chandos Historical.
Magda Tagliaferro Milestones of a Piano Legend Documents, 2019 10 CDs Over the years, I kept seeing references to her 1960 recording for Ducretet-Thomson in Paris called D'ombre et de lumiere which includes works by De Falla, Granados, Albeniz, & Villa-Lobos. The sound of the recording was always praised. The original issues go for hundreds of dollars and the recent limited reissue by the Electric Recording Company was $430 for one of the 300 copies. Wanting to hear this recording, I decided to take a chance on the grey market Documents box for around nineteen dollars. The first disc is the D'ombre et de lumiere recording. Even here the piano sound is very very good for 1960. I enjoyed her interpretations. She was 67 when this was recorded. Her Carnegie Hall debut was in 1979 or 1980. Her Villa-Lobos Impressoes seresteiras No. 2 du ciclo Brasileiro is spectacular. I would love to have heard her interpretations when she was 20 or 30 years younger. She studied with Cortot, knew Faure and Debussy.
Seeing that the test works, here goes. This is my first post here. Lurked forever. LP collection currently about 1,500 of both classical and jazz. If I hadn't sold or given away LPs, I'd probably have close to 4,000 of which over 500 were violin works. There were also the adventures into Polish composers, early Japanese musicians in Europe and America, and Milstein, and abnormal desires to collect all of the recordings from certain labels. I also wrote the complete Milstein discography that is somewhere on the internet. Probably dated by now. That does not mean they were all listened too. Some were bought for cheap cheap and turned out not to my liking or were of sub-minimal quality. Others became questionable - asking myself whether this LP really wants to be heard and be in my collection. Some decided to leave. Virus concerns have inhibited acquisitions recently as was a new found interest in jazz. Near me in the Los Angeles area are two shops with very reasonable prices. Not Salvation Army or Goodwill as they are priced too high for junk. All of the following was acquired for $1.00 - a buck - eight quarters, apiece. Acquisitions…Almost all are clean copies with no or minimal wear on jackets. Mozart: Piano Concerto #25 and Fantasia in Cm. Ivan Moravec, piano. Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Quintessence PMC-7108. Recorded by Supraphon. They were still using analogue recording equipment in 1974. Quite decent performance and great sound. Prokofiev: Romeo & Juliet, Symphony #1. Solti, Chicago PO. London LDR 71087. Filling in the blanks of my London collection. Beethoven: Complete Music for Cello and Piano. Casals. Serkin. Odyssey 32 36 0016. Three record set. Love Casals and pick up every recording I can find. New Concertos for Trumpet: John Robertson, trumpet. Post, Sydney SO. RCA Victrola VICS-1437. Always acquire decent trumpet music. Sounds phenomenal on my system. Wish it was the dark plum label but not. Del Tredici: Final Alice. Barbara Hendricks. Solti, Chicago SO. London LDR 71018. Sucker for buying any LDR for a buck. Koechlin: Seven Stars Symphony. Angel DS-37940. Always had good luck with Angel Digital. Also collect Angel Melodiya for the music. Not the sound. Rubinstein Plays Chopin. RCA RVC-7505-06. Japanese pressing with obi. Whenever you see a Japanese pressing go for it. Don’t matter the music. It’ the sound quality and this put me in front of the piano. Rimsky-Korsakov: Suites from Coq d’Or and Kitezh. Parliament PLPS-130. Parliament has been hit and miss for me. Some are outstanding and some sub-Columbia quality. Some Parliament recordings and a few Atria can be dogs. The later Supraphon recordings with nice glossy covers have superb sound and performances. I've got Suk performing the Dvorak VC that paces you in a front row seat. Prokofiev: Romeo & Juliet. Parliament PLPS-132 Janacek: Taras Bulba. Sinfonietta. Parlaiment PLPS-166. Good LP. Offenbach; Gaite Parisienne. Parliament PLPS-177. Liebowitz, London Philharmonic. Leibowitz was a darn good conductor. Asking myself what Supraphon is doing in London! Figured recordong must be worth a gamble and paid off. Rossini-Respighi: La Boutique fantastique. Parliament PLPS 1176. another Leibowitz with London PO. Helen and Karl Ulrich Schnabel. One Piano, Four Hands. Sheffield Townhall S-19. Engineered by Lincoln Mayorga. Not played yet. Great anticipation on sound. Chopin: le quattro ballate. Dischi Ricordi RCL 27022. This had the worse cover of the lot. Went for it as an associate mentioned I should listen to her.
Welcome! Always nice to have new voices join the chorus. Obviously you're a Milstein fan, but how about Max Rostal? I "discovered" him a couple of years ago from a fine CD issue of radio studio recordings on the Melo Classics label, and I've been on the lookout for his recordings ever since. His teacher, Carl Flesch, made Edison discs, both acoustic and electric, and I have most (but, I think, not quite all) of those; his double stops in one of the Dvorak Slavonic dances are something to hear. Edit: I should add that I did have less than stellar luck with some Japanese LPs in what must have been some sort of music appreciation series, akin to some of our Time Life collections, on Japanese Victrola, each in a big red box also containing a lavish book about the composer--in Japanese. Some surprising reissue material shows up in them, much of it really interesting (like the 1812 Overture by the USSR State SO under Svetlanov that interpolates the music of a chorus from Glinka's Ivan Sussanin in place of the "God Save the Tsar" theme at the end, doubtless sourced from Melodiya), but the surfaces are pretty noisy.
Max Rostal. The name is familiar. Not sure where I came across it. I may have had the Concert Hall disc listed on Discogs. it has been some time since my violin LPs found new homes. One of the last batches of violin works left a few weeks ago for China. Contained fifty Melodiya discs. Am keeping what I have left of my Francescatti and Szeryng and all of my Kyung-wha Chung, Ivry Gitlis, and Bronislaw Gimpel recordings. We're off to another part of the country soon and have most records packed away ready for relocation. Wish they could visit my turntable. I don't find many Japanese LPs in bargain bins. Have a few including a recording by Yoshio Unno, a pretty good under-rated fiddler. Sometimes will see a Denon. Passed on more than a few that had problems. For now, am in acquisition mode again. Nothing expensive.With some time and diligence can find some truly great performances and better than decent sounding recordings at great prices. Not collecting, just acquiring.
I enjoyed this recording of Scarlatti on piano. This is first time I have sampled a disc from this Naxos series. Evidently though, a different pianist is assigned to each disc. Eylam Keshet Scarlatti: Complete Keyboard Sonatas Vol. 22 Naxos, 2019
Alina Ibragimova & Cedric Tiberghien Beethoven: Violin Sonatas Wigmore Hall, 2010 Volumes 1 & 2 I find all 3 volumes of this set of Beethoven violin sonatas successful. ymmv
Spinning...yeah I know its a compilation but it has some oddball things on it that I wanted such as Picker's Old and Lost Rivers which I really like.
Great playing and recorded sound! "The infinite power and depth of romantic vibrations does not always require big shapes to express it. These miniature gems by two poets of music are a shining example of how disarmingly touching and penetrating a simple song or a vision of nature captured in sounds can be. -- Denis Kozhukhin Denis Kozhukhin Grieg: Lyric Pieces Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte Pentatone, 2019 SACD/CD
Today was flea market day. Occasionally there is one seller who has boxes of classical records. He rotates stock at the market between books, records, and furnishings. Did not see him today. Most sellers have rock, jazz, easy listening, and leftover recordings no one wants. Have always wondered why there is no aftermarket for western, or is there an underground group of Buck Owens fans. Rarely buy rock so today's treasures are all jazz with one exception. In hindsight there were three or four jazz LPs that, for the price, should be with me now. The exception. Mercury Living Presence STEREO Scherherazade by Antal Dorati and the Detroit Symphony. Except for one minor wear on the opening edge the vinyl and cover was pristine. Yeah, it is a common find but, not pristine. Will sample some of the jazz tonight then compare it to Bernstein's Scheherazade on Columbia.
My apologies for what will be a lengthy posting. Last night I finished my sweep through the Beethoven quartets in the Fine Arts Quartet recordings from the late '60s. My copy is one of those Murray Hill box sets that used to be available through the Publishers' Central Bureau mail order catalogues; the cover is in reds and yellows but otherwise uniform with that of the same label's issue of the Joseph Krips Beethoven symphonies cycle (cover in blues and blacks), which gave me my first encounter with those works when I was still in junior high school. All these recordings derived from Everest, although the quartets first appeared on the Concert Disc label. Pressing quality was actually better than I would have expected from Murray Hill issues: the surfaces of most disks were perfectly quiet, although some had occasional "zipper" pressing noises or, in a couple of the later quartets, general vinyl noise that may have resulted from play by prior owners. As a legacy of these records' being a cheap issue, the distribution of the quartets was irritating. After the first two or so, with the exception of the last quartet and the Grosse Fuge, everything was split across two sides, many quartets were split across two disks, and every side had portions of two quartets (end of one, beginning of the next). As a 78 collector, I'm obviously accustomed to lots of disk flipping and side breaks, but I found these breaks gratuitous and hence annoying. The will not be a long-term problem, however, as I copied the records to my computer as I played them. Score one for modern tech! Leaving aside the pressings, in terms of recording quality, I'd say first rate--not surprising, given the source; Everest often offered up top-notch recorded sound to the record buyer, even when in drab settings like the Murray Hill releases. On a couple of occasions I felt the recordings captured a bit too much hall echo, but overall they were clear, direct, and natural, nicely differentiating the individual instruments, with a sense of space and hall bloom around them, guilty neither of over-close-recording dryness nor of giving the "little orchestra" sound sometimes encountered when recording engineers want to inflate the impact of what four instruments can accomplish. I gather the recordings are true to the ensemble's actual effect in a hall; in a High Fidelity review of the late quartets volume from when the records were new, critic Robert C. Marsh wrote, "The recording is a good likeness. As a Chicago group, the Fine Arts is a part of my regular winter rounds. This is the way they sound." Marsh was lukewarm about the performances. A couple of years later, Harris Goldsmith gave the middle quartets release more of a rave. And where does drh come down? Lukewarm? Rave? Raving lunatic? As I noted earlier, I've never before made a systematic voyage through the works, although upon doing so I retract my earlier speculation I hadn't at least heard all of them somewhere along the line. I can't, then, claim enough familiarity with the works themselves or with other recordings to make definitive judgments. What I can say is that I was struck by the composer's development over time, with the op. 18 set seeming pretty conventional and then the next series marking a noticeable stylistic leap. I'll be honest that the early ones, with which I was probably most familiar going into this exercise, did not hold my attention in these recordings; I found my mind wandering and my fingers creeping toward the newspaper or a book as they played. I don't remember having that reaction to other op. 18 recordings I've heard, and I'm guessing it was a function of these particular performances, although it could also have arisen from being tired (I played them late in the evening after being up early and then at work all day). Starting with the Razumovsky series, however, there was no question that the recordings not only held my attention but actively gave me pleasure. For the most part, that situation held for the rest of the set--although I'll confess op. 131, that seven-mvt. thing, made no more impression on me here than it did in the other recording I have heard, which came to me as a "CD of the month" back when I was still a subscriber to the BBC Music Magazine. Either I have not yet heard "my recording" of the piece or it just doesn't do much for me. Considering that complete cycles seldom maintain equally high standards throughout, I'm fully willing to entertain the notion that the answer is the former, but I don't think I'll be exploring that work again any time soon. In summary, then, these records certainly sufficed to demonstrate why Beethoven's quartets are so revered. The music made its points in clean performances clearly recorded that after op. 18 I found consistently effective and sometimes eloquent. Are they the ultimate collection of these great works? Probably--almost certainly--not. To my ear, however, they are a good, solid traversal, a perfectly reasonable place to start in making the music one's own. Coming back 'round to the Murray Hill issues generally, certainly the label had more success here than in its espousal of the underpowered Krips symphony set. As to the corresponding piano music set, many of us will already have much or all of it; Murray Hill chose Alfred Brendel's very same Vox recordings that crop up in Brilliant's complete Beethoven box of several decades later.
Enjoying disc 4 from this set tonight -- quartets nos. 11, 12, 13, and the Elegy & Polka. These recordings were all taken from live performances at the Aspen Music Festival. Shostakovich: String Quartets. Emerson String Quartet, DG.
