[78-L] Petrouchka

[DAVID BURNHAM]

This is actually a response to a posting that David Lennick put on the Facebook site about a month ago but because of the time that has passed, there's no point putting a reply there.  At that time, there was a discussion about "Petrouchka" as performed by Stravinsky on a Viva~Tonal set, and dl pointed out that with proper eq the later1940 set, which to my ears always sounded dreadful, could be made to sound half decent.
I just purchased the complete Stravinsky recordings in a Sony box set in the "Original Jackets" format, (at least that's what it's called, but, in fact, it has none of the Viva~Tonal recordings).  The earliest recording in the set is the 1940 Petrouchka, but what a revelation in sound!  It must have been dubbed from another source than that which was used to make the 78s, or perhaps the same source but with serious generation loss.  The percussion and brass are brilliant throughout, the dynamic range is quite natural and there is no noticeable surface noise; it could easily be passed off as a mid-fifties tape recording.  I'm sure Mr. Lennick never had access to whatever source was used to make this CD but it proves his point that the quality was there, if very well hidden!

db