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In Reply to: RE: Acronyms, acronyms...HvK/VPO posted by ghost of olddude55 on January 07, 2023 at 06:51:21
Being a tuba player, I'm partial to this because it has two of the best ever, Tommy Johnson and Roger Bobo. On the second side at the end of Mvt. 6
you can hear where the recording engineer wasn't ready for that kind of sound pressure level.
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Mark in NC
"The thought that life could be better is woven indelibly into our hearts and our brains" -Paul Simon
I have several versions. This is the Japanese King Super Analogue * pressing of this record. Absolutely amazing! To my ears, the best sounding of all! This version has tremendous bass; this was clearly mixed differently from the Decca version. Speakers Corner reissued it and so did Decca itself in 2016. The SC version is good but the low end doesn't compare to the Super Analogue. I remember being stunned the first time I heard this recording. Obviously, more expensive.* sorry- the photo above is an earlier Super Analog pressed in Japan. I have the later series 9000 pressed by RTI.
Edits: 01/07/23
. . . is that it was recorded with 30 microphones, and I've never heard an incarnation of it which sounded natural (to me) from the point of view of depth and soundstage. This is true even of the Japanese XRCD incarnation which is the version I now have. However, some of the remixes and remasterings they've been doing in recent years can improve these old multi-microphoned recordings to an almost unbelievable degree (e.g., Karajan's 70's set of Beethoven Symphonies), so maybe that's what happened on your King Super Analogue incarnation. As for me, I'm waiting until these older recordings get remastered for Dolby Atmos! ;-)
Right now, my fave Planets are the Andrew Litton/Bergen PO recording on BIS and the blu-ray remastering (in discrete quad) of the Steinberg/BSO recording on DG.
King Super Analogue was not in the business of doing remixes. They used original master tapes, applied zero processing and cut directly using tube amps.
They definitely sound different than the old Decca masterings. IMO better in every comparison I have made. But if you don't like a particular Decca recording the King version won't likely change that.
You're right. They didn't remix. The difference is in the remastering. The King Super Analog recordings definitely sound somewhat darker with more pronounced bass than the Deccas. I don't have the originals but I do have the Speakers Corner records to compare.
Interestingly, it seems not everyone is thrilled with the sound of these remasterings.
I guess what sounds "natural" is a matter of opinion and differs in importance depending on the person listening.. For me, it's not so much the number of microphones used but how it sounds to my ears. Maybe it doesn't sound exactly like a concert setting, maybe there are spot miles highlighting certain instruments, maybe the bass is unusually prominent, but if it sounds good to me, why should I care?
Indeed that is true - and the success of the Mehta/LAPO recording over the years is testament to the number of listeners who like highlighting of instruments by spot microphones or unusually prominent bass. "Different strokes for different folks", as Muhammed Ali originally proclaimed in 1966 (although Ali's meaning of the phrase was a bit different from what its accepted meaning eventually became)! ;-)
But the performances are outstanding.
The blissful counterstroke-a considerable new message.
. . . on Decca/London were pretty excellent for their time.
Not the best from the old analog Decca catalog--those performances were recorded in Kingsway Hall by Kenneth Wilkinson and later mastered by Ted Burkett--but they're still very good.
IMO, the best classical recordings for sound quality are nearly all digital. Telarc, Chandos, a couple all-digital Angels--not the Angel digital remasters, which are really shrill--Reference Recordings, digital Londons and Deccas
The blissful counterstroke-a considerable new message.
Karajan's Decca recordings with the Vienna Philharmonic were done in the Sofiensaal in Vienna, Decca's preferred venue there.
Performances are first rate, even of the stuff I don't care for like Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet .
The blissful counterstroke-a considerable new message.
I've heard THE PLANETS many times but a wouldn't know a good performance if It hit me in the head! Or maybe the ear. I'd probably have to listen hundreds of times to be able to offer an opinion about a performance when comparing top orchestras. I do think I'd be able to tell the difference between say, a professional orchestra and a high school orchestra.
I play keyboards (badly), trumpet (even worse), and guitar (a bit; only a bit) so I know what a lousy performance sounds like. Like Taylor Swift would say, "It's me. I'm the one."
All kidding aside, it's totally subjective. Example: I've never cared for Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. A friend of mine who majored in music education loved Ormandy because of the precision. He could hear and would point out mistakes by other orchestras, particularly Bernstein and the NYP. I preferred Bernstein because his interpretations sounded much livelier than anything by Ormandy, particularly after Ormandy left Columbia and signed on with RCA. And really, I like George Szell better than either Bernstein or Ormandy.
Another example: Beethoven's 9th. IMO, too many conductors use too slow of a tempo for the adagio . Szell uses a faster tempo, but my favorite (what I consider best) performance of the 9th is by Christoph von Dohnányi and the Cleveland Orchestra on Telarc CD.
Maybe this is all just blather. Hell, it IS all blather. But it's what I mean by good performance/great performance, etc.
The blissful counterstroke-a considerable new message.
I got mine from a friend (also a tuba player) just before he passed, so I'm partial to it. Where did you get your re-issue?
Probably from Acoustic Sounds or Elusive Disc. They were reissued in the 90s by Cisco and pressed at RPI. It's the 9000 series. I just noticed that ORG reissued this as well on two disc 45RPM mastered by Bernie Grundman.
Edits: 01/07/23
...will put it on the list for the next trip.
One of the oddball copies I've got is the Stokowski/Los Angeles on Capitol.
But it's a UK pressing! I had another copy of this years ago on Seraphim. Sounded awful.
The Capitol is OK.
The blissful counterstroke-a considerable new message.
Edits: 01/07/23
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