[563]

x2

 

[bigshot]

I added an interesting novelty today. Here is my transfer and restoration of one of the earliest full frequency range recordings. This is hifi, but it was released on 78rpm shellac a few years before the introduction of the LP. It shows you just how good 78s can sound...
 
Vincent D'Indy: Overture to "Fervaal"
Charles Munch / L'Orchestre de la Societe du Conservatoire de Paris (Recorded 1948)
http://www.vintageip.com/xfers/dindyfervaal1947.mp3
 
Felix Mendelssohn: Symphony No 5 in D Minor "Reformation"
Charles Munch / L'Orchestre de la Societe du Conservatoire de Paris (Recorded 1948)
http://www.vintageip.com/xfers/mendelssohnreformation1948.mp3

 

[bigshot]

I just listened to this again, and although vinyl might give a bit more detai in the treble, the faster speed of 78s gives a huge advantage in the dynamics and lower bass. Check out the super smooth dynamic swells and full, rich bass. Amazing that this came off of 78s!

 

[563]

you are a god - thanks bigshot!!!!

 

[bigshot]

I have three CDs worth of Busch playing Handel's complete Concerti Grosso. Super rare. I'll start posting that next week.

 

[bigshot]

Here is one of the rarest sets in my collection. Here is some background on it...
 
Today, Adolph Busch is remembered almost exclusively for his recordings of Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms; but he was equally adept at the music of Haydn, Mozart, and Handel. Through a quirk of fate, this particular recording of Handel's Concerti Grossi, Op. 6 has never received the exposure it deserves with the listening public. It was recorded in 1946 with a revised lineup of the Busch Chamber Players. Adolph Busch was joined by Ernest Drucker on violin, his brother Herman Busch played cello and on harpsicord was the great Bach intepreter, Mieczyslaw Horszowski. The wartime shortages and subsequent recording hiatus were over, and the Busch Chamber Players were invited to record Handel's complete cycle of 12 concerti. These works had not been recorded since Boyd Neel's pioneering records nearly a decade earlier.
 
Because of the time limitations of 78rpm records, the nearly three hours of music ended up spanning fifty sides, with the impressive stack of 25 records bound into three weighty volumes. Record stores were forbidden to sell the volumes individually, and since the market for record sets this large was limited, very few copies sold. When the long playing record era dawned, Columbia reissued the complete set on LPs, but the transfer was very poor with brittle, scratchy sound that didn't do well to put the performance across. Today, except with very experienced record collectors, this recording is all but forgotten.
 
Busch's recording of Handel's Concerti Grossi, Op. 6 has had only had one limited release on CD, ( http://www.amazon.com/Haendel-Concerti-Grossi-Op-6/dp/B00000FDI3 ) but the record label had great difficulty locating a complete set of records in good condition to transfer from. Inevitably, in large record sets, the disks on the outside of the volume become cracked, making the first and last records in the set very difficult to find in private collections. The record label searched high and low, and eventually, they were able to locate a single slightly worn copy of the original 78s in the possession of Adolph Busch's widow in Germany. An engineer was dispatched promptly to her home to make the transfer. The liner notes apologized for the muffled sound quality, noting that considering the fragility of shellac 78rpm records and the rarity of this particular set, the records they used for their transfer may be not only the best sounding, but the only intact set in existence.
 
That was true... until now! On one of my regular rounds of the thrift stores, I discovered the records used for my transfer in the back of a St. Vincent DePaul shop hidden behind a pile of books. All three volumes were complete and in excellent shape. I brought them right home and began working on my transfer. Even though the shellac used by Columbia in the immediate post-war period wasn't the best, the records responded well to my digital sound restoration. I paid particular attention to maintaining the naturalness of the string tone and clarity of the harpsicord continuo, which usually gets buried by ham handed digital filtration. I'm proud to finally present this recording with the sound quality it deserves.
 
Handel: Concerti Grossi Op 6 (complete)
Adolph Busch / Busch Chamber Players Recorded 1947
 
Disk 1
 
http://vintageip.com/xfers/1-01handel_concertogrosso01.mp3
http://vintageip.com/xfers/1-02handel_concertogrosso02.mp3
http://vintageip.com/xfers/1-03handel_concertogrosso03.mp3
http://vintageip.com/xfers/1-04handel_concertogrosso04.mp3
http://vintageip.com/xfers/1-05germinianisiciliana.mp3
 
I'll post the next batch next week. There will be three batches altogether.

 

[563]

Fantastic - thanks!!!!

 

[bigshot]

Here is the next CD's worth of the Handel...
 
 
http://vintageip.com/xfers/2-01handel_concertogrosso05.mp3
http://vintageip.com/xfers/2-02handel_concertogrosso06.mp3
http://vintageip.com/xfers/2-03handel_concertogrosso07.mp3
http://vintageip.com/xfers/2-04handel_concertogrosso08.mp3

 

[LFF]

Awesome bigshot....
 
Any chance we could get FLACs?

 

[bigshot]

My feeble server couldn't handle the bandwidth, and I checked the compression setting. Nothing is being lost. 256 VBR is plenty for a 78.

 

[LFF]

Quote:

My feeble server couldn't handle the bandwidth, and I checked the compression setting. Nothing is being lost. 256 VBR is plenty for a 78.

Yeah...I kind of figured...just me being anal.

 

[bigshot]

Collecting 78s cures one of being anal fast!

 

[LFF]

Quote:

Collecting 78s cures one of being anal fast!

LOL!
 
That's one of the reasons I stopped. Still continue with vinyl though....

 

[bigshot]

Vinyl is a wonderland of anal retentiveness!

 

[rroseperry]

Just wanted to say how great the Concerti Grossi are. Clear as the proverbial bell, lovely detail.