Album Reviews

Also currently available on EMI Testament. A comparison would be interesting.

There has to be a tremendous amount of work put into remastering this, plating the stampers and then doing a meticulous job of pressing a great recording, yet only 300 people get ot enjoy this?  Do they not think that if they pressed 5,000 copies there would not be enough worldwide interest to sell them all at a reduced price, but still retain a good profit margin? $500 is a big hit. I am sure they will sell all of them.  $150,000 is a pretty good sale I guess. The math is easy...5,000 at $100 is a cool half mil. 

I nearly wanted to order ERC's Mozart Box. I wish, they would have gone with the best pressing plant.

So, this is where you announce a drawing to give away your evaluation copy of the LP. Right, Michael? 

NOT! When I saw the announcement of the release of these records several months back I said very interesting. Might be worth hearing, but owning? Hmm. And to think Mike has reviewed it as a 9 sonically doesn't make me want it any more. My shelf space has run out even for the good ones no less the "interesting" ones such as this. And, I would never want to hear my wife say one more time, Another Record??!! For something merely interesting and not truly great. That is too painful.

The price is way out of reach for most of us.  If they pressed 5,000 and sold them for even $100, I would consider seriously.  The amount of work involved in restoring the original gear used to master this release justifies that cost for me ( http://www.theelectricrecordingco.com/media )

Michael - I am curious, do you know why the Lyrec machine has two preview heads?  I have never heard of this before. Thanks

Mr. Fremer - would you kindly address the issue of de-horning of metal parts (stampers) in a little more detail?  I was worried about my sanity, and this is reassuring.  I've recently had some issues with some of the MoFi Hall & Oates LPs and the Omnivore re-issue of Camper Van Beethoven's Key Lime Pie.  I played them and for the most part, the sounded perfect, but there were pops and ticks (and yes, I cleaned all the LPs beforehand).  The next morning, I played the LPs again to confirm my assessment before I returned them and they sounded fine!  I. Am.  Not. Crazy.  In any event, if this is an issue for RTI, I will listen to the LPs several times before returning them now.  I've returned a few RTI-pressed LPs in the past that were probably fine: additional information on who does/does not do this might be of benefit to your humble readers.  Please keep up the good work!

I was crazy enough to buy this. I got interested after reading about the Martzy recordings but since they were sold out, I took a chance on this.  I do like the performance and the pressing of this is spectacular. No surface noise whatsoever - I didn't think it was possible. I wish all records were pressed like this.

The recording itself sounds very dated. No bottom end to speak of and it seems like they didn't try to add any in the mastering.   Sounds pretty much like the CD version in terms of tonal balance.  The violin solos are satisifying though a bit thin.  Is it worth the $500 to me? Honestly, no, but I had to find out. 

I purchased this LP and immediately heard a level of surface noise eg pops and clicks that dissappointed me, price nothwithstanding. So I cleaned the record and played it again not knowing anything about the effects 'dehorning'. Much to my surprise it had cleared up to a surprising extent. About 2 weeks later I decided to clean the LP one more time after having played both sides about five times. The 'clean up' continued albeit not as dramatically as the first cleaning. Where this will end seems predictable at this juncture. My copy will never be as silent as the price should of mandated IMO.

Having said this, Kogin's performance and the sound of his violin amaze and delight me every time. I played this LP for an accomplished violinist and recording engineer that knows the sound of my system with his violin recordings. His impression -- an average orchestral recording for the time. But as he spoke to Kogin he was swept away with admiration for his playing and how it was captured. 

I share his feelings exactly. Whenever I want to hear something emotionally thrilling this LP immediately comes to mind.

I attended Leonid Kogan's first concert in the US; the Beethoven Violin Concerto, with the then-called Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of New York conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos.  He was masterful!  Only King David (Oistrakh) was greater.  You needn't have had any special expertise to recognize the glory of Kogan's art, Micheal; I was an adolescent on that occasion.

Like a few others here I threw in my lot with the stereo reissues from ERC, partially as a gamble for the future. I was impressed by the Beethoven but recently received the second of the Kogan releases (Tchaikovsky)which to my ears takes things to a new level. I'd like to do a test with the Testament but against the CFP reissue its like two completely different recordings.

On another point I notice they drip feed the LPs into the market place and after a while the price increases to £500 on the popular titles. I believe they were over-subscribed on the Beethoven title.