Album Reviews

Back in “the day,” budget labels like Seraphim (Angel), Cardinal (Vanguard) Victrola (RCA) and Odyssey (Columbia) usually released old recordings at low prices. Many of these were great performances from either mono recordings (sometimes foolishly "reprocessed for stereo") or transferred from 78rpm parts.

Back in “the day,” budget labels like Seraphim (Angel), Cardinal (Vanguard) Victrola (RCA) and Odyssey (Columbia) usually released old recordings at low prices. Many of these were great performances from either mono recordings (sometimes foolishly "reprocessed for stereo") or transferred from 78rpm parts.

However, that wasn’t always the case. For instance, some budget labels licensed excellent titles from overseas labels that had both top tier performers and superb recorded sound. That was also true of the Musical Heritage Society (MHS) LPs that always get overlooked because of their bland white packaging, but look at the labels from which they licensed and you’ll see they chose from among the best.

Look at the lead out groove area and you’ll see they also had them mastered by the best (for instance Bob “RL” Ludwig). RCA sometimes issued great old stereo recordings from the “Living Stereo” catalog on Victrola. If you look carefully in the $1 bins you might find a “plum label” Victrola of the legendary 1954 Reiner/CSO stereo recording of “Also Sprach Zarathustra” (VICS-1265) issued for an eye blink in 1960 in “Living Stereo” as LSC-1806. Or you might find the equally fabled and ultra-scarce LSC-1817 “Gaite Parisienne” with Fiedler and the Boston Pops as the “plum label” VICS-1012.

Though used classical LP prices have softened lately, originals of those two “Living Stereo”s in good shape still fetch big bucks for good reason. The sound is spectacular and the performances are considered definitive, particularly the Reiner “Also Sprach….” Yet the VICS can sometimes be found for almost nothing because the cover artwork is different and without the “Living Stereo” banner, stores and/or dealers don’t know what they have.

While those Victrolas don’t sound quite as good as the originals, they still sound really fine and are pressed on quiet vinyl. Vox was an excellent budget label that licensed excellent sounding titles from overseas and featured many fine performers like Beethoven specialist Alfred Brendel. These records and box sets were more often than not mastered by Rudy Van Gelder.

Though Vox was a budget label to begin with, it also had its own budget label (a budget label of a budget label!), Turnabout that issued some amazing original recordings that were sold for a pittance. One series featuring the Dallas Symphony Orchestra conducted by Donald Johanos attained near-legendary status upon its release in 1967 and beyond (both for sound and for the performances), yet current record collectors usually pass them by because of the less than distinguished cover art.

But take the time to read the liner notes and you’ll see that the series was recorded by David B. Hancock on a modified tape recorder at 30IPS using specially designed ribbon microphones developed by “Charles P. Fisher of Cambridge Massachusetts,” and that they were strategically placed to “preserve the integrity of the stereophonic relationship.”

Mr. Hancock cut the lacquers using the original master tape and you can see his initials on the lead out groove area. Needless to say if you see Mr. Hancock’s credit on an LP you can be sure it will sound fantastic. He was “one of us.” Along with this sonically and musically spectacular Rachmaninoff “Symphonic Dances,” others in the series include Charles Ives’ “Holiday Symphony” (Turabout TV34146S) and Aaron Copland’s “Billy the Kid” (with “Rodeo” and the iconic “Fanfare For the Common Man”) (TV34160), that Analogue Productions reissued when it first got into reissuing vinyl.

The only problem with the original records from this series is that they were pressed on less than excellent quality vinyl. But what could you expect for $1.49, which is the price written on my original copy by a Sam Goody employee all those years ago? Still if you can find them for a dollar, they’re worth picking up.

This double 45rpm version is not the first time this title has been reissued. Back in 1988 (can it really be 22 years?) Athena, a small East Coast label issued it on standard weight vinyl cut by Doug Sax from the original master tapes. I was fortunate to obtain a copy back then pressed on JVC “supervinyl” that I’m playing right now and I can say that the combination of a twenty two year younger tape and JVC “supervinyl” make for a very tasty mix! That said, aside from the fact that you’re not likely to find a copy of that, this double 45 version though different is easily the equal of the Athena reissue though you’ll be getting up a few more times to change sides.

Rachmaninoff wrote the piece in 1940 after moving to America (to Huntington, L.I., N.Y). It was his first and last piece written in America. Shortly thereafter he moved to Beverly Hills where he died in 1943 when he was but 70 years old. Eugene Ormandy (to whom the piece was dedicated) and the Philadelphia Orchestra first performed it in 1941. If ever there was a piece of symphonic music perfectly suited for non-classical music lovers to find a way into the genre, this would be it.

The music, based on folk themes, is tuneful, accessible and rhythmically sweeping. The orchestration provides a rich, colorful palette of strings, horns, woodwinds, percussion and unusually, even a saxophone. The recording, produced in McFarlin Auditorium at Southern Methodist University is relatively dry and intimately voiced. Dynamics are explosive and orchestral timbres remarkably accurate. The stereo spread is realistically compact given the close to the stage perspective.

The double 45rpm cut by Kevin Gray is somewhat warmer and more forgiving than the Athena reissue, which has razor sharp transient clarity that might sound brittle on some rigs. The bass on the double 45 extends to near-subterranean levels and if your system goes deep you’ll feel it. A recording deserving of its legendary status resurrected and highly recommended though I still wish Analogue Productions would lavish the same attention to packaging as it does to sound and vinyl quality. The cover reproduction is second rate and the jacket thin.