[78-L] Question 1812 Overture

[David Lennick]

What, me listen to a Varsity issue?

dl

On 4/1/2011 4:57 PM, Robert M. Bratcher Jr. wrote:
> But does the wow in the recording show up in the Varsity&  related labels?
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> ________________________________
> 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
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> 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
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