[78-L] Mengelberg's 1812

[David Lennick]

I can't find the earlier messages (or the subject line), but we were discussing 
a few reissues of the 1812 Overture by Willem Mengelberg and the Concertgebouw 
Orchestra as they appeared on Mercury LP and Oberstein's Varsity labels. I've 
just found the Mercury 78 transfer of this recording, and I'm amazed at what a 
good transfer it is from the Telefunken originals. Bright full sound, no 
distortion, minimal wow. Best dubs I've ever heard on Mercury 78s.

And I'm curious about something..is there any chance that the dubs were done at 
Thomas J. Valentino's studio? Are we sure Robert Fine was doing this work or 
did it ever go elsewhere? The runout groove and the style of deeply scratching 
the matrix numbers are consistent with US Cetra 78s which were also (I'm told) 
cut by Valentino.

dl