[78-L] Count John McCormack Vol. VII, 1904-1906. "Produced to Pearl Quality Criteria"

[victrola78s at aol.com]

      I mentioned some time ago I'd been "Amazoning" and have picked up several dozen CD sets of vintage 78rpm reissues, especially the?"Music From The New York Stage" series on Pearl. Which is to say, that wondrous period of 1992-1993 when the CDs produced would exhibit the infamous?"bronzing syndrome". Well, here's another one, on Opal CDS 9847-part of the Pearl family. The first CD plays fine, and has the hint of bronzing beginning-a light champagne colour. The second CD has that now familiar?background static effect I've come to learn is "bronzing syndrome"?and it's apparent from the very first track. But this set has a 1991 publish year on it. I thought the wary issues were from 1992-1993. I would welcome "war stories" from those of you who have this set, and how long did it take for the bronzing to begin. 
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I remember seeing this set in the bins at Tower Records around 1995-1996, but never bought it then. So I gleefully ordered it to compliment the two Romophone sets Ward Marston put out(which seemed to end with 1914 Victors), the EMI "Songs of My Heart" 1991 issue, and several of the Pearl sets of late McCormack recordings up to 1942. I also had bought the RCA/BMG "My Wild Irish Rose" and "The Original Three Tenors"(Caruso/McCormack/Gigli) CDs. Recently I've also gotten the Naxos McCormack Editions, which seem to end at 1923 with?Vol.9-very pleased with those. And in 1977 I got the Murray Hill five Lp set S-4359, in which the first three Lps contain many 1906-1909 Odeon sides, the remaining sides having the mid-teens Victors. Are there any recommendations for the electrical McCormacks of the 1925-1930 Victor period and later that I may have missed? I'd welcome any thoughts here.
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Aside from the "bronzing" of this Opal set the transfer quality is extremely variable and to me actually pretty bad for all of the cylinders. These are some of the worst cylinder transfers I've ever heard! Also it sounds to me as though they are down in speed and drag forever through a song. It's quite obvious the transfers come from all kinds of sources, each with a different idea on methods used. Just as obvious is that many sides are from tape sources where the azimuth isn't optimal and swishing effects are heard. The G&T discs from 1904 are not as variable and most in fact sound pretty decent. 
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This set is a big disappointment to me, technically and artistically. And I've loved John McCormack's voice since I first heard it when I was 8 years old(from Victors), so it hurts to say this. But "Giovanni's" voice in these 1904 recordings isn't anywhere near even the 1906 Odeons-many of which I like very much. The late 30's/early 40s?recordings with the faded technique are more bearable than these. I have for years wanted to hear Mac's earliest recordings to hear the origins of what I loved so much. And now I have. It is a great thing that John Francis McCormack and the Victor Talking Machine Company became aquainted with each other in 1910 :)
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Dennis "Snowy Breasted Pearl" Forkel
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