 |
|
 |
|
|
Pristine News: Friday 20th November, 2009
New to Pristine Classical? Get Started Here:
Recordings by Artist - Recordings by Composer - Full printable Pristine Audio catalogue New release today: TCHAIKOVSKY Decca's First Stereo LP Pristine Audio PASC 200
Transfers and XR remastering by Andrew Rose at Pristine Audio, November 2009
For more download and CD options, see our website
Decca's first "SXL" stereo LP - a Tchaikovsky spectacular A new series launched - literally - with a bang, now fully XR remastered
Decca's first stereo LP, released as SXL2001 in August 1958, was a real spectacular affair, beginning with a (literally) fiery performance of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by a young Kenneth Alwyn, augmented by the Band of Her Majesty's Grenadier Guards. Decca's engineer Kenneth Wilkinson really went to town here, with immense stereo, panoramic slowed-down gunshots in place of cannon-fire, and a cacophony of bells to showcase everything they were able to squeeze into the grooves of the new stereo format. Coupled with excellent readings of the Capriccio Italien and theMarche Slave, this LP stayed in the catalogue for some 40 years, but - beyond a limited CD issue in Japan - has never had a digital release until today. It's a landmark release, and in this immaculate new remastering, an essential addition to your collection.
By 1958, Decca has been recording in stereo for four years, regularly sending out two production teams, one to make the stereo master, the other the mono master. Each team of producer and engineer worked independently of the other to produce the optimum sound for their system. However, when a system for the successful replay of stereo discs was finally unveiled in 1958, it seems the company decided a new and spectacular recording was required for the very first record in their new stereo series of SXL discs, something that could utilise all of the experience amassed over the previous as-then-unreleased stereo sessions. Clearly the 1812 Overture here is designed as a showpiece. The stereo imagery is both very wide and very precise, and if the studio trickery that produced the "cannon shots" (over-dubbed speeded-down gunshots panned around on tape and chopped roughly together) sounds desperately primitive today, the effect when heard for the first time was surely enough to launch a hundred discs of stereo marching bands and steam trains to thunder through your living room. Yet, as the Gramophone reviewer in October 1958 pointed out, "This is all loud music ; or at least it certainly has its share of loud moments. It would seem to be a good programme for showing off the, new medium (not only in consideration of the more massive passages); and as a programme it is helped notably by 1812 being allowed to conclude a side, as it clearly must a programme... This combination should be, and is, shattering; but, even so, the virtues of the recording are perhaps more readily perceived in some quieter moments—particularly in the Italian Capriccio, which reproduces the music in places with quite startling clarity." It is a very well-recorded album, and this transfer, from a near-mint and very well pressed first edition LP, demonstrates this very well. I have resisted the temptation to pull in the extreme stereo width a little. Beyond correcting an odd frequency gap at around 260Hz and lifting the extreme top end (above 10kHz) a little, the sound is pretty much unaltered beyond a general 'tightening up' . Some surface swish on the second side required intervention, but otherwise it's a pretty honest representation of that 1958 release. As the Gramophone reviewer concluded, "In every respect, in fact, this is a first-class record".
Available as 320kbps stereo MP3, 16-bit stereo FLAC, 24-bit stereo FLAC, CD
or listen on demand with Pristine Audio Direct Access (PADA) New release today: BARTOK Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta - BLOCH Concerto Grosso No. 1 Pristine Audio PASC 201
Transfers and XR remastering by Andrew Rose at Pristine Audio, November 2009
For more download and CD options, see our website
Superb sound quality further boosted by XR remastering & Ambient Stereo
Mercury's "Living Presence" series became, in the 1950s, a by-word for superb quality recordings. The first issue, Kubelik's recording with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition was released as MG 50000 in the autumn of 1951. At the same sessions which produced the LP which, when reviewed in the New York Times, generated the expression living presence, Kubelik also recorded these two 20th century works - Bartók's now well-known Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta and Bloch's more obscure Concerto Grosso No. 1. The sound quality, from a single microphone, was indeed superb - though not without its flaws, and in this remastering we've sought to iron these out to present another recording milestone in the most fabulous sound quality possible.
Download listening sample:
 (Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, 4th mvt, 224kbps Ambient Stereo)Notes on the recordings: Although it was Kubelik's recording of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, as orchestrated by Ravel, which has gone down in history as the first of what would quickly be dubbed their Living Presence series (Howard Taubman, music critic of The New York Times, described the sound quality of the disc as ""being in the living presence of the orchestra"), these two recordings deserve to be seen in the same light, being recorded during the same sessions as the Mussorgsky in 23-24 April, 1951. The recordings took place in Orchestra Hall, Chicago, with the orchestra seated on stage, so that the sound produced by the instruments in the back of the orchestra was reflected and acoustically amplified by the walls. This was captured by a single Telefunken microphone, hung about 25 feet above the orchestra in the middle of the front-line of the orchestra. The idea behind this technique was to place a non-directional microphone in what was considered the absolute ideal position to pick up the entire orchestra and its acoustic, and clearly this approach found immediate favour. What is interesting when analysing this recording today is that there's a considerable treble boost at the top end of what would have been heard on many 78rpm discs - around 5.5kHz - which, although it adds a somewhat harsh edge to the sound, is very effective in cutting through and providing an illusion of extra 'presence', a kind of primitive aural "flavour enhancer", if you like. With this unnatural boost removed in XR remastering, the recordings sound even better than in their Living Presenceoriginal sound, as though a layer of age has been lifted off. The very low bass, somewhat light in the original, has also been adjusted, with the net result of a very fine sound quality indeed. When the reverberant sound captured by that U-47 microphone in 1951 is extracted and subtly spread across the sound stage, as it is in our Ambient Stereo version, the effect is truly magical. This particular combination of works and composers must have been a brave move as part of the launch of a new series of LPs back in 1951. Both recordings have more than stood the test of time.
Available as 320kbps MP3, 16-bit FLAC, 24-bit FLAC, Ambient Stereo FLAC, CD
or listen on demand with Pristine Audio Direct Access (PADA)
New MP3 transfers at PADA Exclusives
Download or stream this recording and many others from only One Euro a week! Hundreds of historic recordings are available for listening and free MP3 download Other subscription offers give you full access to our entire online catalogue
Latest reviews at Classical CD Review
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The FLAC downloads: | ||
|
 |
 |
Toscanini's classic 1947 Otello newly restored & remastered
Possibly the best recording of Otello ever made - now in stunning XR sound
- VERDI - Otello
Ramón Vinay (Otello)
Herva Nelli (Desdemona)
Giuseppe Valdengo (Iago)
Virginio Assandri (Cassio)
Leslie Chabay (Roderigo)
Nicola Moscano (Lodovico)
Arthur Newman (Montàno)
Nan Merriman (Emilia)
The NBC Symphony Orchestra and Choruses
conducted by Arturo Toscanini
Toscanini's 1947 Otello is regarded by many commentators as the greatest recording of what is possibly Verdi's greatest operatic work.
Toscaini's remarkable position of having played in the work's première in 1887 before going on to have a triumphant career as a conductor, during which time he spent considerable time at La Scala in Milan, gave him perhaps a unique perspective on the work.
Of all the NBC broadcast recordings of Verdi operas, it was perhapsOtello in which all the various pieces fitted best together - singers, choruses and orchestra are absolutely first rate throughout, and the performance itself is superlative.
The only question that has remained throughout previous reissues has been that of sound quality - the recording was made at the very end of the pre-tape era. We believe that this XR-remastered issue can finally put that question to rest - an essential release!
Download listening sample: (Act 3: A terra!. . .si. . .nel livido, 224kbps ambient stereo)Technical notes:
This recording, taken from two specially-lengthened broadcasts on 6th and 13th December, 1947, is widely regarded as perhaps the greatest ever made of Verdi's masterpiece, Otello. As NBC announcer Ben Grauer notes in his introduction to the first broadcast, it has a special link to Toscanini, who as a young cellist had played in the world première of the piece, under Verdi's baton, in La Scala, Milan on 5th February, 1887, some 60 years earlier.
Verdi is regarded by many as especially important to Toscanini, and this is among his greatest recordings - Mortimer Frank writes: "Of all the composers in Toscanini's repertory, Verdi was probably closest to him... what NBC preserved... if not necessarily representative of his staged performances or of his best work, is often compelling. Given limitations such as occasionally weak casting, they are uneven. Bet when everything more or less fell into place, as in the completeOtello, a performance of towering merit resulted."
Meanwhile we see in the notes on this work at Wikipedia: "most music-guide reviewers contend that a recording made of a 1947 radio broadcast of the opera, conducted with thrilling verve and precision by Arturo Toscanini and featuring such solid singers as Herva Nelli, Ramón Vinay and Giuseppe Valdengo, is musically (if not in terms of sound quality) the best of these versions".
For the restoration and remastering engineer tackling this recording today it is the phrase in paratheses above which is in sore need of justified removal. One discography of Toscanini lists sux separate releases of this recording, and I'm reasonably confident that there are actually more than this. Yet when I visited ardent Toscanini fan and collector Christophe Pizzutti earlier this year to take temporary charge of a large number of rare recordings for transfer and restoration, it was this recording he repeatedly pressed me to work upon, convinced that my XR remastering technique could finally reveal the full sonic magnificence of this immortal performance.
And so, with sources provided both by Christophe and by other collectors, I've endeavoured to assemble the very best quality material from which to assemble what I hope can be seen as a definitive recording of the two broadcasts (note that some recordings switch between live and rehearsal material, others include sections of severly reduced fidelity, none has had the benefit of XR re-equalisation and the latest remastering techniques associated with it).
The recording was made in the very end of the pre-tape era, and would have been preserved over a number of acetate discs. Fortunately these have been remarkably well-preserved in various incarnations, and the results of careful selections of the best possible sources and the magic of both XR remastering and Ambient Stereo processing (direct mono is of course also available) makes a huge impact on the final overall sound quality of the recording. This is one of Toscanini's greatest masterpieces, and it's never sounded better.
No. 2 - BEETHOVEN - Symphony Nos 3 and 7
Pristine Audio PASC 154
The Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam
conducted by Erich Kleiber
1. Recorded 8th May, 1950, at the Grote Zaal of the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
Issued as Decca LXT 2546, Matrix Nos: ARL 483-3A; 484-3B
2. Recorded 9th May, 1950, at the Grote Zaal of the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.
Issued as Decca LXT 2547, Matrix Nos: 485-2B; 486-3A
Matrix nos. E2 KP 6991-1C, E2 KP 6992-1B
Transfer and XR remastering by Andrew Rose at Pristine Audio, March 2009
Cover artwork based on a photograph of Erich
Total duration: 78:20
©2009 Pristine Audio.
| The FLAC downloads: | ||
|
|
|
Erich Kleiber's superb 1950 Beethoven recordings
Two symphonies in two days in Amsterdam - reunited and XR remastered
Erich Kleiber was a busy man in May 1950, as these two excellent recordings testify. Each was recorded in a single day - the Eroica on Monday 8th, the Seventh on Tuesday 9th.
The performances, in Amsterdam's Great Hall of the Concertgebouw, were actually very well-captured by Decca's legendary engineer, Kenneth Wilkinson. Alas, despite his exemplary skills, it seems the equipment of the day was less than wonderful, leaving a thin and harsh tone that exists in reissues of these recordings to this day.
XR remastering changes all that - with an accurate tonal rebalancing of the piece based on both highly complex computer analysis and Pristine's technical audio engineering expertise - and these wonderful recordings can finally be heard in their full glory for possibly the first time since they were recorded!
Download listening sample: (First Movement, 3rd Symphony, 224kbps ambient stereo)
Notes on the recording:
These two Decca recordings were made back-to-back in Amsterdam on 8th and 9th May, 1950, and released the following year as consecutive LPs, LXT2546 and LXT2547. Since then they have both been reissued on a number of occasions, and indeed the current Decca CD issue is a faithful reproduction of the sound that Kenneth Wilkinson had managed to capture on tape on those two spring days nearly sixty years ago.
Alas, this is not necessarily a good thing, as the tone of both recordings is not particularly pleasant. Even back in April 1951, when the discs were released, the Gramophone's reviewer was easily able to put his finger on the problem: "The Eroica began with a rather acid quality, and maintained this thinness of tone throughout much of the two sides. The second side was not quite up to the standard of the first. There was good individual colouring of instruments, but bass was light, and even the drums seemed to be higher in pitch than they really are..."
Alas, a quick preview of both recordings in their current incarnation (they can be downloaded from iTunes if you want to hear them) suggests that nothing has changed - this was not a fault in the pressing, but an inherent quality of those very early Decca taped master recordings, as we found a couple of weeks ago with our survey of early Mozart symphony LP recordings, PASC151.
Although Decca were quick to resolve these issues, and went on to make some of the finest recordings of that decade, this leaves us with a series of otherwise excellent recordings from the very start of the 1950s in dire need of some tonal assistance - which means they're ideally suited for an XR-remastering makeover. Fortunately all of the basic ingredients of the recording are there - excellent microphone placement, acoustics and so forth - and one can only conjecture that something in the recording chain itself (microphones, amplifiers, tape recorders) had a far less than flat frequency response. This allows the tonal rebalance aspects of XR remastering to really do all the hard work and bring out a much fuller and more realistic sound than has previously been heard, something which is further rounded out by the application of Ambient Stereo processing, which we wholeheartedly recommend hearing.
We're also lucky here in that father Erich Kleiber takes the 7th Symphony significantly faster than his son Carlos was to a few years later, and we've been able to fit these two recordings back-to-back on this release with just over a minute to spare before hitting the 80-minute barrier of modern CD timing. At Carlos's pace this would have been impossible by a matter of some 2 or 3 minutes.
One other thing of note about this recording, again picked up first by the Gramophone reviewer, and then in an article by Edward Sackville-West, is the use of pizzicato in a section in the Allegretto of the 7th Symphony that might more often be heard arco. Here's the article which fills in the details, from May 1951, and available through Gramophone's excellent archive site, www.gramophone.net:
WHEN the Concertgebouw/Kleiber LP. disc of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony was issued I pointed out that, contrary to custom, the final string phrase in the Allegretto was played pizzicato instead of arco. Dr. Kleiber has since explained to me the reason for this procedure. It appears that when he was to give his first performance of the symphony, in Berlin, he consulted the MS of the score (which happens to be in Berlin) and noticed that over the passage in question the word arco was pencilled in, but not in the composer's own hand. This suggested to Dr. Kleiber that during the original rehearsal Beethoven, seated in the body of the hall, called out to the assistant conductor "I can't hear the strings there ! "—i.e. through the wind and horns which had entered, forte, with the concluding A minor chord. It is Dr. Kleiber's conjecture that at this point the conductor himself scribbled the word arco into the score, in order to dispose of the difficulty. This ingenious explanation ignores the obvious objection that if Beethoven, who was not easy to push aside, had intended the phrase to be played pizzicato he was not likely to allow a conductor to alter his scoring. It is possible that he found the emendation an improvement, although, if we rid ourselves of all the prejudice created by innumerable hearings of the passage played arco, we shall, I think, find the persistence of the pizzicato up to the end more logical. It seems, moreover, that in the nineteenth century some great conductors (notably Hans von Billow) adhered to Beethoven's own marking. Dr. Kleiber admitted to me that although Strauss had accepted his explanation he had been unable to induce most of his eminent confreres to change the usual reading. A correspondent, however, informs me that Otto Klemperer has for many years insisted on the pizzicato ending. In the matter of the Finale, of which I had criticised Kleiber's tempo as being too slow, he objected that the tune was an Austrian folk dance and should therefore be delivered as such. But, treated symphonically, a dance tune surely ceases to be a dance, and the sense of this particular Finale does, it seems to me, demand a speed as fast as is compatible with clarity in the divisions.
No. 3 - PROKOFIEV - Symphonies 5 and 6
Pristine Audio PASC 161
Symphony 5: USSR Radio Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Leopold Stokowski
Tchaikovsky Hall, Moscow, 15th June 1958, issused as Melodya MK 1551
Symphony 6: New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Leopold Stokowski
Carnegie Hall, New York, 4th December, 1949
XR remastering by Andrew Rose at Pristine Audio, May 2009
Total duration: 78:51
For MP3 and CD orders, see our website
| The FLAC downloads: | ||
|
|
|
Two rare and electrifying performances from Stokowski
Among the finest Prokofiev performances ever recorded
- PROKOFIEV - Symphony No. 5 in B flat, Op. 100
- PROKOFIEV - Symphony No. 6 in E flat minor, Op. 111
Stokowski's Prokofiev Symphonies are perhaps little known outside enthusiast circles, but these two tours de force are both ample demonstrations of his ability to really get the most out of the Russian composer's music.
"I knew Prokofiev well in Paris and in Russia, and feel that this symphony is an eloquent expression of the full range of his personality. It is a creation of a master-artist serene in the use and control of his medium" wrote Stokowski in the notes for the US premiere performances of the Sixth.
It is therefore something of a mystery as to why such successful interpretations remained so rare in his programming - he never conducted the 6th again, and the 5th only resurfaced again once. These are rare and exquisite gems indeed!
Download listening sample: (5th Symphony - 2nd movement, 224kbps ambient stereo)
Notes on the recording:
These rare recordings came up for review as part of a look at the world of "Private CDs" by Robert Stumpf II at Classical Net Review a few years ago, and in reading them one is immediately struck by his enthusiasm for both recordings:
...but the whole thing is worth it just for the Prokofieff. This was recorded whilst the Maestro was on tour in the USSR and is one of the most intense recordings ever. It is my favorite and I am glad to have it on CD...
(On the 5th Symphony)...Again, the Prokofieff makes this a must have disc. Taken from the LP issued several years ago by the NYPO this is the finest performance there is. The orchestra is inspired and the sound is excellent...
(On the 6th Symphony)
Whilst I would dispute the sound quality of the 6th Symphony, at least in its original incarnation (we were sent 1/4" tape transcriptions of the acetates from the archives of the Stokowski Society which are surely as good as anyone else is likely to get), it's certainly hard to argue against the general thrust of Stumpf's enthusiasm for both of these, and it's a mystery as to why Stokowski did not programme them more often.
As the Society's Edward Johnson pointed out to me in his letter accompanying the masters, "Stokowski gave the US Première of the Prokofiev 6th in 1949, and conducted it four time altogether - on 24, 25 and 26 November and again of 4 December. This last performance was broadcast [the recording now issued]. It was also the last time he conducted it! He only conducted No. 5 again one more time - in 1967 with the American Symphony Orchestra."
Mr. Johnson also enclosed notes by Stokowski on the 6th Symphony, written for the Philharmonic program:
Prokofiev's SIXTH SYMPHONY is a natural development of his immense musical gifts. It is in three parts - the first moderately quick, the second slow, the third very animated. The first part has two themes - the first in a rather fast dance rhythm, the second a slower song-like melody, a little modal in character, recalling the old Russian and Byzantine scales. Later this music becomes gradually more animated as the themes are developed, and after the climax of this development there is a slower transition to the second part. I think this second part will need several hearings to be fully understood. The harmonies and texture of the music are extremely complex. Later there is a theme for horns which is simpler and sounds like voices singing. This leads to a warm cantilena of the violins and a slower transition to the third part, which is rhythmic and full of humor, verging on the satyrical. The rhythms are clear-cut, and while the thematic lines are simple, they are accompanied by most original harmonic sequences, alert and rapid. Near the end a remembrance sounds like an echo of the pensive melancholy of the first part of the symphony, followed by a rushing tumultuous end.
I knew Prokofiev well in Paris and in Russia, and feel that this symphony is an eloquent expression of the full range of his personality. It is a creation of a master-artist serene in the use and control of his medium.
From a technical perspective both recordings have responded very well to XR remastering and restoration. The 1958 Russian 'studio' recording is clearly more advanced than the earlier radio broadcast, captured original on disc rather than tape and taken from the radio feed (we've retained a very brief introduction and pay-off from the announcer). Saying that, the older recording has cleaned up remarkably well, and one quickly adapts to the slightly reduced sonic resolution presented here. There were a couple of very short drop-outs during the second movement of the 6th which have been patched using surrounding material, and I've been able to tackle a good bit of the typical higher-frequency surface noise found on acetate disc recordings of this era to the extent that it's rarely apparent to any noticeable degree.
What was most unusual was the clear use of some kind of primitive artificial reverberation at the end of the 5th Symphony recording, heard during the decay of the final chord, which was itself 'chopped' off early. I've removed this and attempted to synthesize something a little more credible with what was left - it's certainly a lot less of a jolt than the original!
Overall this recording presents two rare recordings by Stokowski that have the added benefits of being both in excellent sonic order, and of the very highest performance standards!
No. 4 - BRAHMS - Symphony No. 2 in D
Pristine Audio PASC 157
NBC Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Arturo Toscanini
Recorded in concert at Carnegie Hall on Saturday 10th February, 1951
Originally broadcast by NBC Radio.
The 1/4" tape transfer of broadcast discs used for this transfer is understood to
have been sourced directly from the Toscanini family archives.
Transfer and XR remastering by Andrew Rose at Pristine Audio, April 2009
Cover artwork based on a photograph of Arturo Toscanini
Total duration: 35:45
©2009 Pristine Audio
| The FLAC downloads: | ||
|
|
|
Toscanini sets Brahms on fire in this stunning performance
With quite astonishing sound quality from XR remastering it's sensational!
Possibly my favourite recording of the year so far, this 1951 live recording had languished amongst a pile of tape reels for months, awaiting a first listen, and had not originally been planned for issue at all in the immediate future.
But when another recording fell through at the last minute and Toscanini's Brahms 2 got a quick audition on the Pristine Audio Revox, it was immediately apparent that it was something very special.
A few hours later, with XR remastering begining to uncover the full glory of the recorded sound of this Carnegie Hall concert, which finds Toscanini and his NBC Symphony Orchestra on absolute peak form, we knew we were onto a winner, musically and technically!
A very strong contender for our disc and download of the year...
(1st movement, ambient stereo 224kbps)Notes on this recording:
Every so often when working on historic recordings, something comes along which is both entirely unexpected, and totally blows you away - this is one of those recordings. A last minute choice for restoration when another recording turned out to be impossible to restore (for technical reasons in the copy I'd received), this Toscanini recording had been lurking, unheard, on a tape in a pile at the back of my studio for several months, awaiting my eventual attention.
As soon as I wound the tape onto the Revox spools and started to listen I realised this had the makings of a good recording from a technical point of view. Clearly a clean dub from very clean master discs, surface noise was very low, and any clicks clean, low level, light and intermittent. Furthermore it was a very well-made recording, with the acoustic of Carnegie Hall to my ears far preferable than the more usually heard Studio 8H. The audience were so inaudible that at times I wondered if there was one (an occasional distance sound between movements suggests there was), and the announcer was back on the microphone at the end of the piece with no applause present at all.
To all intents and purposes, then, it was on a par technically with a good "studio" recording - and indeed the following day Toscanini and the orchestra returned to the hall to make a series of commercial LP recordings, so we can I hope assume that this used the same technical set-up.
If there were shortcomings in the sound, these were certainly a result of the not-quite-flat tonal response of the microphones used at the time. Though better than those Decca were using at the very beginning of the 1950s, there's still something not right about the direct sound, typifiied by mid-range congestion and a boxed-in top end. This too is music to my ears, as it's ideal material for XR remastering to tackle - a basically well-made recording with tonal imbalances - and the results speak for themselves. The sound is full, rich, brilliantly well-balanced, and with Ambient Stereo too, a delight for the listener.
All of this would be secondary if the performance was merely average, but it's not. Toscanini zips along at quite a pace, clcoking in at under 36 minutes in a symphony which regularly takes over forty - yet he doesn't sound hurried to me, and his finale is one hundred percent Allegro con spirito! This doesn't mean his attention to detail and fine nuance is in any way compromised - and I've rarely been moved by this work as much as I have been by this performance, which at the time of writing I'm just going to have to listen to again, one more time...
| ADVERTISEMENT |
|
Pristine Classical - bringing you DRM-free historic classical FLAC and MP3 download music since 2005
|
