Thread: LSO Espana from Decca

Posts: 8

Post by mandarintje January 1, 2011 (1 of 8)
It would be an amazing SACD! if only they would bring this out. I have this on vinyl and it's one of the most amazing recordings ever, item number SXL 2020.

What other lively and interesting orchestral pieces would you recommend?

Post by Disbeliever January 1, 2011 (2 of 8)
mandarintje said:

It would be an amazing SACD! if only they would bring this out. I have this on vinyl and it's one of the most amazing recordings ever, item number SXL 2020.

What other lively and interesting orchestral pieces would you recommend?

Interesting mono LP from Mercury is Percussion in Hi-Fi, 1956 MPL 6531 by David Carroll the dynamics are simply incredible. A Stereo version came out in 1958 SR 60003 which I have not heard but I should imagine it would be fantastic as a SACD. Many years ago I corresponded with Wilma Cozart Fine asking her to issue it as a CD , she gave me the name of someone at Philips who unfortunately never responded to my request

Post by jdaniel January 1, 2011 (3 of 8)
Disbeliever said:

Interesting mono LP from Mercury is Percussion in Hi-Fi, 1956 MPL 6531 by David Carroll the dynamics are simply incredible. A Stereo version came out in 1958 SR 60003 which I have not heard but I should imagine it would be fantastic as a SACD. Many years ago I corresponded with Wilma Cozart Fine asking her to issue it as a CD , she gave me the name of someone at Philips who unfortunately never responded to my request

What a pity the Mercury Prokofiev/Dorati Oranges and Sythian Suite wasn't remastered. Any chance?

Post by Johnno January 1, 2011 (4 of 8)
jdaniel said:

What a pity the Mercury Prokofiev/Dorati Oranges and Sythian Suite wasn't remastered. Any chance?

I agree. There appears to be some slight overloading on the bass drum at times but the performances are Dorati at his best. The "Sythian Suite", in particular, is electrifying.

Speaking of the Hungarian maestro, I would also have loved two Mercury monos to have been released on SACD. One was the Respighi "Church Windows" with an amazing tam tam stroke at the end of "St Michael the Archangel", coupled with an almsot equally impressive "Roman Festivals". The other was his recording of the Copland Third Symphony that, for me, is still the finest on disc. There were also his Bartok recordings that were all among the best.

Post by rammiepie January 1, 2011 (5 of 8)
Wouldn't it be wonderful if Pentatone with its Philips reissue program would see fit to release some of these treasures as two~fers instead of having these precious masters languishing in the deep recesses of their vaults?

Post by Johnno January 3, 2011 (6 of 8)
rammiepie said:

Wouldn't it be wonderful if Pentatone with its Philips reissue program would see fit to release some of these treasures as two~fers instead of having these precious masters languishing in the deep recesses of their vaults?

What a great idea. I wonder if the Pentman is reading this? They could, I'm sure, do that for a lot of the earlier, stereo-only, Philips releases too.

Post by diw January 3, 2011 (7 of 8)
I would also vote for another Dorati recording, Vienna, which is my favorite MLP. It is an interesting thought, Pentatone getting into 3 channel Mercury SACDs rather than the quad Philips recordings. Someone should ask in the Pentatone thread, I don't know if Pentaman would see this thread.

Post by Jonalogic May 21, 2011 (8 of 8)
jdaniel said:

What a pity the Mercury Prokofiev/Dorati Oranges and Sythian Suite wasn't remastered. Any chance?

Amen to that, big-time. And both pieces were also high up in the recent list of symphonic/orchestral pieces missing on SACD (I can't really count the Exton of the Oranges...)

But who exactly owns rights to this and other great Mercury masters, now? Is it really Pentatone?

Frankly, the Merc SACDs I did grab before they disappeared don't really live up to the vinyls; there was clearly room for improvement.

Someone could therefore do us all a great service by issuing the Mercury greats properly.

And, getting back to the start of the thread, Espagna and the other Argentas on early Decca are - indeed - truly sensational, both musically and sonically.

They join the list of great historic recordings that, unfortunately, seem to have disappeared.

Sigh.

Closed