[78-L] South Pacific reissue question

[David Weiner]

You asked for it - we just concluded a monumental discussion on the cast
record group about the SOUTH PACIFIC CD, sparked by a new PD release of the
album on the Stage Door label. Here are some highlights of the discussion,
from various posters.

Dave W.
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The 1988 Columbia CD used the "experimental" tape made during the recording
session, which wasn't intended to be used for the album's release.  It lay
in the vault until it was re-discovered decades later.  It has an edited
take of "Carefully Taught." 
 
I simply don't understand how this transfer can be called "muddy and
muffled."  Listen particularly to "Bloody Mary," which has *bright* horns
and a very clear vocal by the chorus, but it's true of the entire recording.
Martin can even be heard taking breaths between phrases.
 
The 1993 R&H Anniversary CD used the session's disks (the metal parts, I
believe) as its source, so there is some inherent surface noise which
couldn't be entirely removed.  Otherwise, it is an excellent transfer.
 
The 1998 CD used the 1993 transfer, remastered in Super-Bit, with the
addition of another bonus track.
 
There is no plan at present to revisit the tape version, which would
undoubtedly sound even better with today's sophisticated sound programs.
---------

Looking in iTunes for new Ezio Pinza releases, or more properly,
re-releases, I stumbled across a March 2009 release of a new (?) transfer of
the OCR of South Pacific from Stage Door Records at a ridiculously low price
$5.99. The transfer is absolutely sensational, I've never heard it sound
half as good. Because it's an iTunes download, I couldn't access any
information on it, nor did I find it on their website. It sounds like the
work of a Ward Marston. The bright, clear quality of the sound on it,
obliterates the "official" OCR CD. I tried to look at old CastrecL posts to
see if this transfer has been discussed. I couldn't find it, but as I am not
very good with archives (I only used my Gmail search function), I may have
missed it and if so, I apologize. But if this is new information, I'm glad
to sound the happy alarm. I am utterly thrilled to have this recording,
which in this transfer  restores order. Not even the excellent recent
Lincoln Center recording can match up to the original in sound this good. 
----------------

But I do know what I hear and what I hear on that download of the Stage Door
South Pacific sounds to me like the best transfer I've ever encountered as
well as one of the best, if not the best, recordings I've heard of Pinza's
voice. I will soon be sampling the issue that was withdrawn -- the one with
the missing part of "You've Got To Be Carefully Taught" and am curious to
hear what it sounds like. I may have actually owned it at one time, since I
am a serial buyer of South Pacific recordings.

Now none of us apparently know for certain, or those who may know are not
telling, what the source of the Stage Door recording is. I've been assured
that they would not have had access to the master, but then I've known in
other instances of masters being copied surreptitiously or legally licensed.
And then there is the issue of how Stage Door could have apparently,
legally, made their transfers - from 78s or 45s for instance. I am not very
knowledgeable about multiple issues of Musicals (South Pacific and various
recordings of Show Boat are the only ones I've explored in this way), but I
am quite familiar with multiple issues of operas and I can cite an example
of one made from those same types of legal secondary sources that absolutely
crushes the official competition - Ward Marston's reissue of Toscanini's
recording of Otello, a recording that has been  almost as infamous for it's
boxy poor sound as it is famous as the best recording ever made of the
opera. Marston, for Naxos, has created one of his typical miracles and this
Otello is revealed in a clarity and depth that few of us ever imagined
existed in it. It's on Naxos 8.111320-21 and is available on Amazon. It's
proof that a superior reissue can be made from what is legally available. I
am in doubt that anyone with access to the original RCA masters could
improve on Marston's work although I wish someone like Marston were given
the chance.

So even if the Stage Door South Pacific recording originates possibly from
original clean old issued copies, I believe something extraordinary has been
fashioned.
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