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I received the two new Everest DVD-Audio discs from Classic Records this week. There are two other Everest recordings already reissued on LPs listed on the Classic Records website. These are Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 and Prokofiev Symphony No. 5, both with Sir Malcolm Sargent and the London Symphony Orchestra. There appears to be a delay in issuing the DVD-Audio versions.
I posted here on the first six issues of this Everest series last year. I will not repeat the general comments I made, as they all apply here. The most important question is whether these two new issues suffer from the pitch variation that occurred in the first issues. The answer is yes. However it is not so frequent or severe to spoil the listening for me. It creates a sense of unease in certain places. I am puzzled by what is causing this. Stretching of the tape? This is 35mm magnetic film stock with sprocket holes that should not let this happen. I am more inclined to think that the restored film recorder used for playback is causing the problem. I have an original 2-track tape issue of the Berlioz that is rock steady in pitch in the places where the DVD-Audio is not. But then I don't know whether the tape was mastered from the original 35mm tape (or a copy or it) or from a backup regular tape recording made at the original sessions. Again my comments are based on listening to the 2-channel 24 bit/192kHz version.
Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique, London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Eugene Goossens
This is a recording of very wide dynamic range. A lot of the music is at the quiet end of the dynamic spectrum. I found it necessary to turn up the volume a bit. There are some very quiet moments in the recording. The last two movements are suitably loud with an impactful bass drum. The chimes (tubular bells?) are startlingly loud in the last movement. The worst of the pitch variation comes in the opening of the first movement. It takes some moments for the sound to stabilize. The second movement waltz has good momentum with the LSO in fine form. I feared the worst in the quiet opening of the third movement with the woodwind solos. Nothing egregious here, just a whiff of unsteadiness. The performance is excellent, and the recording makes it easy to appreciate what the conductor is doing in the quiet parts of the score. String sound is excellent. The sound is 3-dimensional and open. The 2-track tape wins in low level detail, depth, and naturalness. The disc wins in impact and bass response.
Stravinsky The Rite of Spring, London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Eugene Goossens
Although this is a very loud score, the recording sounds to me like it has less dynamic range than the Berlioz. The microphones are closer, and as a result the quiet parts are not as soft. The very first note of the opening bassoon solo badly sags, but quickly passes. There was no 2-track tape issue and I don't have the old LP, so I have nothing for comparison. The acoustic is open enough to allow all the instrumentation to be heard, even at the loudest points. The LSO doesn't struggle like the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra did under Pierre Monteux (who premiered the work in 1913). This was recorded only a couple of years earlier by English Decca for RCA and also issued on a 2-track tape.
I don't fully understand why Classic Records is emphasizing Sargent in the releases, fully half of those issued so far. I would prefer more from Goossens (Ginastera Estancia and Panambí, Scheherazade, Petrouchka, Corroboree), Susskind (Prokofiev Chout), Chavez (Sinfonía India), Boult, Copland, and Stokowski. Lots to choose from and lots with outstanding sound.
Since I have been critical of some of the aspects of the Classic Records DVD-Audio discs, I want to give an unqualified recommendation to one release. This is Canteloube’s arrangement of Songs of the Auvergne with Natania Davrath. It is a 2-disc set of Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 of the original Vanguard LPs from the early 1960s. There is a 24/96kHz and 24/192kHz side on each disc. These are outstanding performances and recordings, especially Vol. 1. I haven’t heard a better transfer of an analogue recording to a digital medium. It helps that the original recording was so good.
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