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In Reply to: RE: CD-Only Box Set of Mercury Living Presence; $99 for 50 CDs posted by John Marks on March 06, 2012 at 08:20:39
I've been enjoying this set now for several days. As much as I thought I knew some of these recordings, I did not know as much as I thought I knew.
My playback system has changed drastically in the last twenty years. It has evolved and improved and I now see that many of my previous prejudices concerning the Mercury recordings stemmed almost entirely from the quality of the playback system that I was using at the time and from a faulty memory. Listening to these recordings anew has set the record straight.
I said earlier that recording technology has improved a lot in fifty years. I was entirely wrong. Based on this set, recording technology has not improved at all in fifty years. These recordings embarrass current recordings. The Mercury recordings sound miraculous.
Perhaps the superb sound quality of these recordings stems from the use of the legendary tube-based Telefunken U-47 mics or perhaps the superb sound quality of these recordings reflects the skills of recording engineers Bob Fine and Wilma Cozart Fine but whatever the case may be, the music quality and sound quality of these recordings HAS NEVER BEEN EQUALED and probably never will be equaled. These recordings represent the high water mark, the absolute best that sound recording has ever achieved.
I consider this set an absolute must buy for all audiophiles. Do not hesitate!
Follow Ups:
I find many of the Living Presence recordidngs are shrill/bright in their various CD and SACD issues. Whether this was true of the original LPs, I have no idea--the only one I have (Prokofiev Suites/Skrowaczewski) is too worn out to evaluate. The small number of mics Mercury used on many of those recordings did produce good imaging in the right halls. But the idea that recording technology hasn't advanced in fifty years is absurd. There are plenty of modern recordings with recorded sound better than those Mercury had.
I'm as astonished as the next person.
The recordings sound subtly freshened for this release (like the Beatles re-masters). If I did not know better, I would think that I was listening to the SACD versions (they sound 95% as good).
Does anyone know if these recordings have been re-mastered again from the original masters?
If so, the restorers have done a remarkable job.
I have the SACD reissue of the Starker recording of the Bach cello suites. The CD and 2-channel SACD tracks sound very different from each other. The SACD layer has much more tape hiss, which suggests to me that its remastering must have been equalized differently from the CD layer. The SACD layer also offers more room ambience and "air," more audible placement of fingers on strings, and clearer differentiation of the harmonic overtones in the cello's sound. The multichannel SACD layers adds a "you are there" sense of realism to the 2-channel SACD layer, but the basic sound quality is the same.
Oh, and IMO it's a great performance, no matter which layer... Surprised to see this set selling on amazon used for $138-185; I think I paid $40 new...
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