[78-L] Question 1812 Overture

[Robert M. Bratcher Jr.]

But does the wow in the recording show up in the Varsity & related labels?




________________________________
From: David Lennick <dlennick at sympatico.ca>
To: 78-L Mail List <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Sent: Thu, March 31, 2011 5:35:34 PM
Subject: Re: [78-L] Question 1812 Overture

Mercury Classics dubs from Czech Masters almost ALWAYS wowed. What a waste. And 
then they'd dub THOSE to lp rather than work from the originals again. Although 
I remember the ten inch Mercury lp of the 1812 as sounding pretty decent..they 
didn't bother to eliminate the repeated notes between sides 2 & 3 though. That 
same Mengelberg set turns up on Varsity and related labels.

dl

On 3/31/2011 6:11 PM, victrola78s at aol.com wrote:
>
> Philip Carli Philip_Carli at pittsford.monroe.edu
> Thu Mar 31 11:50
> "No early version that _I_ know of uses cannons, but the Grenadier Guards 
>version I mentioned uses heavy percussion very effectively in the close; it must 
>have been extremely difficult to record, but it is very exciting and festively 
>clamourous.  Really worth a listen.
> I should dig out my early HMV electric with Eugene Goossens and the Covent 
>Garden orchestra -- I remember it being quite good as well.  I like Sokoloff's 
>hell-for-leather acoustic Brunswick  with the Cleveland Orchestra, but I've 
>never heard the "Light Ray" electric remake, which might be fascinatingly 
>horrible, sonically.  Has anyone here (I'm sure they have)?"
>
> I have heard the 1926 electric remake of the "1812 Overture" by Sokoloff&  the 
>Cleveland Orchestra. It was presented by Don Tait on his "Collector's Item" 
>radio program in 1984, at which time I lived in California&  listened to the 
>KUSC broadcast of the show. I was a fairly regular listener to Don's show from 
>1984 to 1992, and I taped the show onto type II chrome cassettes whenever I had 
>the chance. The Brunswick "Light Ray" process produced a muddy, almost gritty 
>recording in this instance. The crescendos during climaxes in the music sound 
>overloaded and congested in the copy Don used, and overall the record sounded 
>like it was recorded "inside a barrell", as Don put it. Allowing for the state 
>of FM broadcasts in 1984 and any compression used by KUSC, the Brunswick "Light 
>Ray" recording STILL suffers in comparison with the other 78s Don played that 
>night. I've read many comments in different 78rpm discussion groups that say 
>that the late acoustic Brunswicks sound better t
han
>    their early electrics, and they're not far wrong with this one. Definitely 
>sounds electric, but geesh bring me a Victor Orthophonic any day! I have NOT 
>heard the acoustic version done by Sokoloff; I'll bet it sounds excellent. And I 
>too have a copy of the Mengelberg/Concertgebouw set on Mercury Classics, album 
>DM-23(sounds like a Victor number!). The Mercury Classics label is gold with a 
>black "cap", and states "from Czechoslovak Masters". My set(I am looking at it 
>now)has a green cover with gold lettering and a gold rendering of the Kremlin on 
>it. There is also an error, as in lower case lettering it states "amsterdam 
>concertgehouw orchestra". And also, there is a sickening wow through all four 
>sides of this pressing. Anyone care to weigh in on the reason for this? Other 
>American reissues of Europa-based recordings I've heard(I'm thinking Capitol's 
>Telefunken reissues) sound much better than this.
>
> Dennis "Spoils of War" Forkel