Classical record collecting on a budget (long)
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| Posted on January 22, 2011 at 09:13:05 | ||
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Posts: 1596
Location: Washington DC Joined: May 22, 2006 |
OK, I will say up front that this does not pretend to be complete in any way, and the point is to show ways to get the great sound of early “Golden Age” stereo recordings at a lot less than the sometimes insane collector-driven prices of the original issues. I know that 90% of experienced collectors will already know 90% of all of this, but maybe there might be at least some nugget of value to everyone. I welcome comments, additions, whatever. Here goes… Decca SXL If you want to get that great Decca sound at a reasonable price, my favorite bargain in classical records is the second label London issues. For some reason, while Decca continued to use the FFSS designation on the UK issues, the London issues went to FFRR. This label is not understood by a lot of collectors, and is often ignored. It is easily identified by having “Made in England…” (there are variations of the exact text) in an arc across the top of the label, and the band that says "stereophonic" is a bit wider than the later issues. If the label is grooved (as in the pic) it is the equivalent of the second wideband Decca label, made from about 1964-1969. They sell for very low prices, and are often better than the first pressings (even on SXLs). The ‘70s London issues are fine, but these are better.  Is the London equivalent of : Some more things to look for are Spanish and French pressings of SXL’s. Every one that I have had has been very fine, especially the ones from Spanish Columbia. Once again, a fraction of the expense of the UK SXL discs. Most people know that the UK pressed Stereo Treasury Series issues are good, but the issues on the Richmond label which were pressed by Decca in the UK are also very good. US pressed Richmonds are pretty much awful and should be avoided.  Spanish pressing ------- UK pressed Richmond EMI ASD, SAX, etc. ASD issues were usually reissued very nicely on the “Classic For Pleasure” label, sometimes pressed from the original stampers. An earlier reissue label was the “HMV Concert Classics” with numbers that had an SXLP prefix. These go back to the early 60’s and are quite good. A lot of EMI Columbias (SAX) were issued on this label, as well as a good bit of stuff originally issued in France by EMI (ASDF, SAXF) that never had a UK issue. Speaking of French issues, rare and pricey SAX issues (Kogan, etc.) can be had for much less on the original French issues, which are very good. Some SAX Columbia recordings were issued as ASD’s after the demise of the SAX label in the early ‘70s (i.e. the Klemperer Mahler 2nd). Some of the very expensive early ASD’s were issued in the US on the Capitol label. Some of these go for extravagant prices on the White/Gold originals, such as the Kempe/Berlin Phil. Recordings. The Capitols can be had for a buck or two, while the ASD’s go for $300-$400 and up. No, they’re not as good, but they are very nice records of some great performances. Look for the early label with the round Capitol logo on the side, rather than the top.  -----French Columbia first label RCA People often disregard Canadian pressings of Living Stereo recordings, which I think is due in part to lumping them together with the dreadful Canadian Mercury issues. The Mercurys were done by an outside vendor and pressed on some of the worst vinyl I have ever seen. RCA, on the other hand, had their own pressing plant in Montreal and the quality control was very good. They are very nice records, although as a rule, not quite as good as the US pressings. They tend to sell for much less, and you can get nice copies of some otherwise very pricey issues for not much money. With the later “Dynagroove” recordings, it’s good to look for the UK issues. The story is that while they say Dynagroove on the cover, the English engineers thought that the process sucked, and disabled the circuitry when they mastered them. You usually have to look at eBay for these, but they are not normally very expensive. Search for SB and SER (for the multi-disc sets). Another good bet with these is reel to reel tapes, which of course were not subject to the Dynagroove process, as it was used only for LPs. Mercury As I said above, avoid Canadian pressings like the plague. I’ve had a good number of them and not one of them was even listenable. There may be exceptions to this, but that has been my experience. Look for US issues on the Wing label that were pressed from the original stampers. You can look in the deadwax and see the stamper number with the original 90xxx number crossed out and another hand written number with the Wing issue number. There are tons of these in the thrift stores, usually ignored by collectors. Of course, the Golden Imports are very good, but the Wings pressed with original stampers will give more of the character of the originals. Everest Early Everest classical recordings are very good, especially if you like an up-close “Mercury” style perspective. Just make sure to avoid anything issued after the company was no longer owned by the Belock Instrument Company. The early covers always had the Belock name listed on them. The easy way to do this is to avoid anything with the orange and blue label pictured. There are a number of different labels. The only ones that tend to get expensive are the early turquoise labels with the dowel-rod inner sleeves.  This is the label that generally is not so good. For very late issues, it is the first label.Westminster Do not overlook early Westminster stereo issues with the black and red label. These are very good recordings that often do not sell for much and can commonly be found in thrift stores and dollar bins in the US. Some of these are issues of early stereo recordings originally done on Erato which are nearly impossible to find in the US. The ones with Maurice Rosenthal and the Paris Opera Orchestra are wonderful. Ones that were made after Westminster was acquired by ABC/Paramount are not as good, but still can be worth having. This is clearly noted on the cover and the label is black with a blue stripe.  US Columbia Two-Eye issues of records that were originally 6-eyes are virtually as good as the originals and cost a lot less. I am not crazy about the 70’s and 80’s issues with the light brown label or the Odyssey reissues. The UK issues of US Columbias are very good. These can be spotted by the fact that they say CBS, not Columbia (because EMI owned the Columbia name in the UK). Early ones have an SBRG prefix and sometimes can go for some money, especially the Bruno Walters. Later ones say “CBS Classics” and can be had for a song. They are very good, pressed in the UK by EMI. ">  Capitol In addition to the EMI releases I talked about above, there are some very good sounding US Capitol releases. The first label with the logo on the side do tend to be better. Quality on these can be uneven, but they can be had so cheaply (except for Milstein, Rabin and Stokowski) they’re worth a shot if in nice condition. The more expensive rarities can be had cheaply with nice sound on Seraphim.
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| Vanguard was an omission, they are very nice. nt, posted on January 22, 2011 at 13:55:24 | |
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Posts: 1596
Location: Washington DC Joined: May 22, 2006 |
nt
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