[78-L] Melba Issue Historic Masters

[Chris Zwarg]

At 10:22 07.01.2009, you wrote:
>Does anybody already got this...?
>
>I am curious about the sound quality of this issue...
>
>Erwin

Yes I have it, and am very happy with it! The 14 master-pressed sides are really splendid - I have NEVER heard e.g. "Nymphes et sylvains" or "Se saran rose" that vividly, neither on apparently mint 1904 G&T pressings nor on Marston's CD nor from any other source. They all play excellently with a standard 2.8 mil stylus.

The "bonus" disc containing two titles for which the original shells ("fathers") have disappeared, and is pressed from old duplicate "CO." matrices, is rather more difficult to play and illustrates rather drastically the loss in fidelity through the early matrix-duplicating process. However, one of these two sides is unpublished on 78 and the other - Melba's very first G&T recording - not that easy to find as an original pressing (which then probably wouldn't sound better than this reissue; it's just that you don't have the obvious improvement over earlier forms of issue with these two sides that you find with the other 14 sides).

BTW: The other recent Historic Masters issues ("set 30") are also excellent; the pressing quality is much improved compared with what they put out in the 1990s - heavier vinyl less prone to warping, and mostly well-centered. The Supervia Gennai songs have never sounded that good!

Chris Zwarg