Most of these listenings were done with the heavily modified Soundcraftsman Lancer loudspeaker (Alnico coaxial compression driver driven by 1:2 Macintosh autoformer step-down, plus 12R Caddock thick film and 1.5uF Obbligatto premium first order crossover, and woofer full range). With this crossover mod, the innocent unsuspecting Lancer (that you can pick up for 100-300$ used) becomes a truly phenomenal loudspeaker. Bottom end stops at 30Hz, that is its main limitation. (Although that's still quite a bit lower than most loudspeakers of its size can achieve.) Regardless, this loudspeaker is good enough to recreate a full orchestra with a deep experience without a subwoofer. Boito's Mefistofele got tears in my dear friends eyes (Ricardo Serafini). He is a pianist who studied under Maestro Villa Lobos. I always advocate that gauging a stereo system we should turn to musicians for final arbitration and opinion. I'm humbled to receive such high praise from Ricardo Sensei.
In general, I found the EMI giving consistently the highest, most natural sounding, natural / unprocessed tone , and natural imaging amongst the big labels. Also, pressings are consistently good, no or very rare record warps and defects.
Holst: A Sommerset Rhapsody; Brook Green Suite / Vaughan Williams: The Wasps Cond. Norman Del Mar, Bournemouth Sinfonietta. EMI, Hayes Middlesex England, ASD3953 stereo ; 063-64153. (Reviewed 10/2/19). I'm breaking a long streak of listening to Mercury Living Presences. What a change! It's just like going from a stereo showroom to the real orchestra. The imaging, and the feel of the orchestra is real, instruments are separate, have their own air and body and source. Speed is much faster, more lifelike. Briefly, top notch, very well balanced sound, with real life feel to it. The Bournemouth Sinfonietta plays very well, they deserve to keep an eye on them. Del Mar's conducting of the Sommerset Rhapsody - well, it's not bad, but pales in comparison to Holst's daughters conducting (Imogen Holst). Overall, it's pretty good, but there are sticky moments when the flow is broken, and the melody gets fragmented. Especially in the beginning. The Brook Green Suite was new for me. First listening: I don't like it. It does not come even close to the Midsommer Rhapsody..... ehhm, Sommerset Rhapsody. Flipping it over to The Wasps: Del Mar is in his element. All saints of the timpani! Almost crapped myself when the drum beat entered for the first time, jolting the quiet music briefly to light-speed. Lightning fast and huuuge, and with tremendous impact. I turned the volume down, and even lower, and that big sucker just did not want to loose its attack and its impact! It rained hard outside, and the listening volume was slightly below the rattle of the rains relentless onslaught, but the timpani still jolted me even at that low volume. Is that a testament to this record, or to the playback setup? There's only one way to find it out, you should give a try to this record! While this Sommerset Rhapsody is not my favorite interpretation, it's still a decent interpretation, and of superb recording quality. The Vaughan Williams piece is conducted superbly, and when used as a demo record your friends are bound to fall off their chairs when the timpani enters. October, 2019
Oct 13, 2019
EMI HMV Greensleeve ED29 0461 1 Malcolm Arnold Symphony 2. England, DMM. Absolutely superb sound. Very quiet, dynamic, natural. Very nice piece! Proper introduction, building of tension, and resolution. It’s modern, but balanced and very enjoyable. Machi likes it! Top bananas demo record.
Oct 19, 2019:
ASD2673 Vaughn Williams. JOB. Sir AB. Pretty wild music. Good sound.
HMV Greensleeve, ESD1003821 Puccini Turandot highlights. Superb recording. Not my favorite opera, but has its moments. Not crazy about it.
SAN324 Sir William Walton Belshazzars Feast. Could be nice, but too much suffering…
EX2902283 Tribute to Sir Michael Tippett. Good quality, music goes bananas.
HMV GReensleeve ESD7190 Here comes the band! Sir Vivian Dunn cond. very good band music, both content and quality! keeper.
HMV Concert classics Verdi La Traviata, highlights, Tulio Serafin. Superb conducting, beautiful singing, superb quality. Superb imaging and soundstage. Audible loud tape hiss.
ASD3374 Sibelius Finnlandia, Tapiola. Quadrophonic. Transparent, little light weight. Lots of brass. Good DnD music, for treasure hunting adventures.
ASD251 RKorsakov Scheherazade- super high signal level, very very good sound, much better thanEMIs above. Nice music. Would be quite modern, but conducting makes it amenable to listen to. Sir Thomas Beecham.
Much thicker vinyl than usual.
HQS1259 Piano music of Balakirev - Ronald Smith. EMI ODEON. superb piano playing, superb piano sound, very good music. Highly recommended. You have the feel that a piano virtuoso is playing right in your living room.
ASD429 Rafael Kubelik, LSO Bach Violin concerto E major, Mozart in 3 in G. Gioconda de Vito. Played ina Vivaldi style, but pretty good.
SAX2342 Mendelssohn #3, Klemperer, The Philharmonia Orchestra. Absolutely superb recording. Conducting also outstanding, music is superb. Demo quality material. Big and dynamic sound.
ASD493 Bruckner no 9 symphony. Brahms described Bruckners symphonies as “symphonic boa-constrictions”. This 9th symphony is pretty sad. It is a musical self-portrait. Very intimate, there’s no doubt about it. To me, It tells a very sad tale of a man forcing his way with his woman, fed by his own blind passion. (Very violent, forceful introduction). Afterwards, he presents the flowers and tries to be nice, but the damage is already done, and they have to live with that. They will have good times together later on, but the initial hurt never goes away, and it underlines everything.
This music is a great lesson for modern composers. There’s a natural order to life, and if you break it, then it’s broken and you cannot fix it. All you can do is control the damage. This is true for music as well: when you break the order of composition, the music will be about damage control. No matter how grand, it will be still a broken symphony.
ASD2826 Songs of the Auvergne. Victoria de Los Angeles. Good sound, but did not like the songs. Makes the hair stand on your back - crazy bitch chewing on your nerves type of situation.
SAX2307 Brahms Violin concerto d major. Leonid Kogan, Kyril Kondarashin. Stellar! Superb sound, superb material. Three copies, all A112 in the deadwax. One is noticeably lower in detail level and dynamics. Of the two better copies one has better bass definition and imaging, but it also sounds more mechanical.
ASD2917 Shostakovich Symphony no 8. LSO, Previn. Superb recording quality, insufferable painful music.
ASD255 Rachmaninov piano concerto no 4. Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. Most terrible piano music. Talented pianist, crap piece.
ASD2889 Rachmaninov symphony no 2. LSO, Previn. Good quality recording, but music has no substance. Just plays around.
CSD3658. Famous British marches. central band of Royal Air Force. Good sound, music is not catching.
Oct 11, 2019
EMI Angel MHV Greensleeve ESD7172 Service of Thanksgiving, The Royal College of Music. Sir D Wilcocks, organ: Simon Preston. English pressing. Grand choir, organ. Very nice test record. festive. Truly a great celebratory music. Balanced. Need to test organ with low end extension speakers :)
Frank Bridge The Sea, Sír Charles Groves , Royal Liverpool PO:
EMI England, ASD3190. Quadrophonic. Ok Sound but debating whether I like the music or not, seems not transparent enough, and compressed dynamic peaks.
EMI HMV Greensleeve DMM. Holy carp, father of fishes! Astounding dynamics, imaging is insane. Super deep, big and natural. Music content sounds way better, as if listening to a different record.
EMI HMV Greensleeve ESD1436171. Boris Godunov. Good sound, selections from the opera.
EMInAngel England HQS1395. Mozart clarinet quintet. Gervase de Peyer. Good sound, very nice Mozart.
EMI HMV Greensleeve ESD7040 quadraphonic. Massenet Le Cid. Louis Fremaux. Machi likes it! Good music, nice quality.
EMI HMV Greensleeve ESD7038 quadrophonic. Saint Saens Organ symphony. Fremaux. Little thin sound, not bad though. Got to hear with more lower end speakers.
EMI HMV Greensleeve ESD7114 stereo. Prokofiev Peter and the Wolf. Efrem Kurtz, Philharmonia Orchestra. Good sound, good interpretation.
EMI HMV Greensleeve ESD7159. Sibelius. Bournemouth symphony orchestra. Paavo Berglund. The aria of Brunhilde. Pretty kick ass wagneresque music. Superb recording.
EMI HMV Greensleeve ESD7062 quadraphonic. Eric Coates, Sydney SO. John Lancherby. Very good dungeons and dragons music.
EMI ASD3367. Quadraphonic. Glazunov piano concerto no 1. Paavo Berglund, Bornemouth SO. So so music. pass.
EMI stereo ASD2434. Daniel Barenboim, Mozart piano concertos no 14,15. Average conducting and playing. Did not grab me.
EMI HMV Greensleeve ESD1077801. Malcolm Arnold, cond himself, Four Cornish dances. Superb sound quality, very modern. Lots of disjoin,t music pieces, many good melodies but they don’t stick together. Pass on.
EMI ASD3176 quadraphonic. Jacques Ibert, Symphonie marine. Fremaux. Ever wonder about the music score if Hitchcock would have done porn? Well, this would have been its soundtrack.
EMI HMV ASD2477 Barbirolli / Delius. VG sound, okayish music,but not special.
EMI Angel HMV Greensleeve ESD7005 Eric Coates favorites. VG sound, music ok but did not find it special/meaningful to keep.
(October 5, 2019)
ASD3896 Vaughn Williams. On Wenlock Edge, Elgar, Butterworth. Vg sound but did not find it engaging. Singing in English sounded bothersome. Usual superb EMI sound.
ESD1020211 Ravel Introduction and Allegro. Poulenc trio. The Melos ensemble of London. Very nice play8ng, superb recording quality. Music is borderline too modern and little too bohemian. Light entertainment for a soirée.
ASD3284 Rachmaninov The Bells. Previn, LSO. Transparent orchestra, lots of space between the instruments. Music is well… has nice moments and quite stochastic riffs. Don’t really like it.
ESD7160 Sibelius Spring song, King Christian II suite, The Bard. Etc, Karelia suite, etc. Paavo Berglund. Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. very good sound. Music is very nice. Superb for D&D music.
SXLP30197 HMV concert Classics. Sibelius PelleS and Melisande. Tapiola. Royal PO Beecham. Very nice D&D music! Great sound.
SLS5084 Elgar Piano quintet, strong quartet, violin sonata. Hugh Bean violin, David Parkhouse piano. Absolutely stunner piano recording. Very real piano in every respect, good music. Superb playing as well! Superb demo record!
1C065-03 691 EMI Electrola. Brahms Doppelkonzert. Perlman / Rostropovich / Haitink. The cello is aaaaaaamazing! A treasure.
ASD3199 Ida Haendel plays Sibelius. Paavo Berglund. Very nice playing and recording quality. Quadraphonic.
EMI HMV greensleeve ESD2900221 Holst, Brook green ste. Stewart Bedford. Much better conducting than the other EMI, with Somerset R. Quiet nice music, good sound.
Holst hymn of Jesus. Very nice choir. Side b Nice quiet start. D&D music. Side a organ music.
ASD3435 quadrophonic version. Cond Sir Charles Groves. London Philharmonic Orchestra
ESD1783041. Stereo version, HMV greensleeve. Better ambience and top end than Quadro version. Conducting Andre Previn. London SO
The two records have same cover!, but different material, different conductors. The quadro material is more laid back, slower pace.
Holst the planets (Oct 5, 2019)
ESD7135 HMS greenseeve. Boult. NPO. Very nice conducting and playing, very good sound. Has a big warp.
ASD4047 Simon Rattle, Philharmonia Orchestra. Ambrosian singers. Better instrument separation, but highs are sharper and a little screechy. Better dynamics. Better recording in general. More exciting conducting.