[78-L] Columbia classics

[DAVID BURNHAM]

Rant for the day!

We've been talking about the advent of electrical recording, has anyone ever heard a decent electrically recorded orchestral performance on 78 done by Columbia in the USA?  I can't even think of many Viva~Tonal Columbias of USA orchestras, the only one that comes to mind is "Karma" on which the sound quality is very poor.  Structurally, Columbia made a fine product;  I'll listen to a mint condition Viva~Tonal of almost anything and enjoy its smooth quiet surface.  In this regard they were head and shoulders above Victor or anyone else.  But even when they got into recording American Orchestras the recordings were distorted, wooden sounding, over amplified and really hard to listen to.  When Sony issued the Mitropolous recording of Mahler's 1st Symphony and some Bruno Walter recordings by NYPO, they proved there was a lot more quality tucked away in the master grooves than was ever evident on the issued 78s.  There are many pieces which only exist
 on one recording, (and I know some of us may say that's one recording too many), pieces like Harl McDonald's "My Country at War".  That's one of the few 78 sets which I purchased new from a record store and even the new discs had a dreadful sound.  Contrast this with the numerous recordings which Columbia issued from British and European stampers and you have a whole different world of sound.  The combination of Columbia's quiet surfaces and the recording quality from Europe always gives a very fine product, superior even to the equivalent European pressings.  I don't know why Columbia ever bothered with the Blue records because, in my experience, they don't sound as good as the black records - I have a few sets which are made up of intermixed blue and black records.\

db