Thursday, May 19th, 2011
I have doing a rebuild on the Klassic Haus Restorations website, trying to make it more user-friendly, so I have been out od the loop for May. I promise to do more updates, and perhaps add more interesting info to the blog other than blatant advertising! I do want others to add comments to what I am posting, and engage in conversation regarding classic LPs and the people who performed on them, as well as those responsible for producing them.
This entry features two classic Mercury mono recordings from 1953 and 1954, both considered to be audiophile demonstration-class discs during the 50s and well into the 60s. The LPs I had for transcription were mid-50s pressings, as they retain the wide-range open soundstage not found on later remasterings. Both discs had the original parchment inner sleeves found in vintage Mercury LP covers. I cleaned them using the Spin-Clean record cleaning system (as I do all my LPs). The results are breathtaking, and I think the CD preserves the sound quite well.
Here are the comments I posted on Klassic Haus:
KHCD-2011-045 (MONO) – Respighi: Roman Festivals (1926); Church Windows (1926) – 1954 mono; Debussy: Three Nocturnes – 1953 mono – Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra/Antal Dorati – The recordings on this disc were the ultimate audiophile demo LPs in the early 50s, and for some time after that. The Mercury/Minneapolis Symphony series of recordings with Antal Dorati conducting were groundbreaking in many ways, and the vinyl discs are still coveted for their realistic, wide-range soundstage, not sounding “mono” at all! Two near-mint discs were used for this transfer, and this CD release preserves a sense of discovery in sheer music-making seldom found in present-day recordings.
I am adding more new titles as the month progresses, so please check in often! Cheers – Curt Timmons