Concerto in A major for Clarinet & Orchestra, K.622 Allegro ~ Adagio ~ Rondo (Jacques Lancelot, clarinet)
Sinfonia Concertante in E flat major, K.297b Allegro ~ Adagio ~ Andantino con variazioni
(Pierre Pierlot, oboe - Jacques Lancelot, clarinet - Gilbert Coursier, horn - Paul Hongne, bassoon)
2 files zip FLAC Mega Download
L'Ensemble Orchestral de L'Oiseau-Lyre conducted by Louis de Froment
L'Oiseau-Lyre OL 50006 First Edition 1953 LP/matrices: TT139 -1B / TT140 -1B Recorded c.1952 - Paris.
Required lengthy editing (surfaces were full of huge clicks/pops). Slightly de-clicked @ 1.3 + re-equalized (some 'edits' audible in the Clarinet C.).
Performances are superb. NOT ON CD Sleeve-note / EMG review >>>
Thanks for more L'Oiseau-Lyre! They were excellent recordings in every way. Plenty of Rameau, Couperin, Lully, Delalande etc. that need reissue.
ReplyDeleteMaestro
Hello Maestro,
DeleteOh..but the pressing-quality of Decca, pre-stereo!
Bought this almost 30 years ago, but otherwise only have the stereo Rameau + above-mentioned Mozart (there were 2 others -12"/10" -partly conducted by Colombo: presumably this Orchestra is also 'Lamoureux' based?) + OL 50136 - "Les Lullistes" - which I recall as 'mint/clicky'....so someone-else will need to attend to them.
(Also have the 'electronic stereo' of CPE Bach Flute Concerti with Rampal)
Hi
ReplyDeleteI would be interested in these files.
Robert
"L'Oiseau-Lyre OL 50006 First Edition 1953 LP/matrices: TT139 -1B / TT140 -1B Recorded c.1952 - Paris.
Intended including OL 50116 (Mozart Sym. 8-11) but editing is taking longer than expected. This is a 24/96 transfer (if anyone wants those files they are available)."
Hestitated to make the 24/96 files available
Deletea) due to the slight de-click (hence absolute resolution is impaired) and variable sound-quality
b) am close to running-out of storage space on Mega (have to leave space for 5GB of Zippyshare files) - with no idea to what extent these large (x4) files are being downloaded..
Thanks so much for that LP. Because it is a early recording by Pierlot/Lancelot/Hogne, a reference for the French way and also because this repertoire fits so well to Louis de Froment that we know more conducting his RTL (Luxembourg) SO.
ReplyDeleteIf I delay the Mozart Symphonies (nice, but the EMG review was scathing about the performance/recording) then the 'missing' Demessieux will be next.
DeleteAlso have Hongne's 1950's Mozart Bassoon Conc. (Erato 10" - EFM 42045; Sarre/Ristenpart)- but the pressing-quality is maybe worse than this - and the recording seems mediocre...but possibly that's on CD (I'm not sure if the mono Decca -Collins/LSO Clarinet/Bassoon is..)
Another 'missing' Oiseau-Lyre I have is the stereo Gervase de Peyer recital with Preedy, from 1961..though am not too enthused by his playing there..
Another gem! Ah, but you mentioned some time ago that you were dabbling with the idea of uploading Froment's Rameau suites, stereo LPs by O-L. What happened? THOSE are true desert island disks!
ReplyDeleteYours, a committed collector
...probably, initially, 2years ago...
DeleteI suppose the story is that the original LP is pristine/new but would require to be 'wet-cleaned' - and I hate doing that just to remove some very minor contamination which scarcely affects 'normal' listening - and Decca's vinyl compound appears to contain some sort of 'lubricant' prior to about 1975 which means that my water/sudso mix doesn't 'flow' off the vinyl - so invariably leaves a residue.
It isn't as if I ever forget; but there are 'reasons': maybe if I charge, later...(or never) ...I dunno...
..or ask Mr Grumpy to buy a copy for his blog...
I know what you mean. As a U. S. collector who produced syndication tapes for seventeen classical music FM stations in the 1970s, I had to cope with such problems. The Decca sleeves for a while contained plastic sheets that, over time, seemed to impress a simulacrum of their ripples onto the surface. If this gunk went deep enough into the grooves, one could hear it with certain styli. My solution, devised by accident, seems appalling--but it worked! I washed the records with soapy slightly warm water and dried them carefully. The gunk now sounded much worse. Ah--but then I played them with a Sonotone ceramic stereo cartridge with conical 0.7 mil stylus, which tracked at 6g in my Rek-O-Kut 12" tone arm. One play did not cause audible groove damage or inner groove distortion; but it *did* totally wipe out the grunge! I cleaned and restored several hundred Decca disks that way. They then played (on my 1.5g Shure or Stanton eliipticals) with totally silent background surface, leaving only the occasional click--which I dealt with by using a cascade of two "near-digital" click suppressor gadgets: an SAE 5000 transient eliminator (which got only really big, loud gouges) and a Burwen transient reducer, set for the lowest possible action (to catch some of the quieter short duration clicks)--I eschewed dynamic filters which of course are anathema and wreck the transparency of sound. I recorded 5,000 hours of taped radio programming that way and many of those tapes, today, sound nearly as good as a modern full digital restoration. The analogue gadgets (which did have bucket-brigade digital delay lines, so were partly digital!) allowed me to tune the controls on the fly, avoiding passages with strong brass or percussion transients that would erroneously trigger the click-suppression. It was a labor intensive job that required constant attention during the entire playing of the record as it was remastered onto a 10" reel production tape. Some of the programming was used for nearly two decades on the radio and I had a chance to indulge my love of these relatively obscure albums that form the core of YOUR featured stereo recordings here on this blog--we obviously share many tastes and interests!
ReplyDeleteThe Decca records had, I am convinced, a tranlucency and transparency that were unique. Part of it is mike-based, part due to the cutting, and part related to the acoustical judgment of the producers. Getting the stereo mix right at the session and then not later fooling with it is a big component of their superb quality.
Unfortunately, the disk medium being what it is, the inner parts of nearly every LP -- even if taken right out of a jacket and played for the very first time with the best equipment -- were nearly always slightly distorted, with an increasing veil of IM and grit. Yet it's frustrating to hear authentic digital transfers of what is purported to be the original tapes, and find that somehow they never quite seem to convey the 'gripping involvement' and palpable transparent realism of the best parts of the disks, near the outer edge and with the highest velocity. Is it a 'euphoneous effect' that was ADDED or created by the cutting process and then affected by the mechanical playback? Certain cumulative phase shifts? A subtle re-equalization that ends up affecting the overall spectrum, as you add together all the compensating up/down frequency responses of the recording/playback curves? I don't know; one would have to do scientific tests at EACH stage, to see what it contributes to this effect.
In lieu of that one may simply enjoy the recordings and be happy with the best, cleanest parts, and let it be a reminder that this is how we heard recorded music at its best for a generation, and somehow did not feel let down that our mechanical medium was ultimately imperfect. Digital audio without hiss, clicks, or pops is not, by definition, the "best sound" after all...
Yours, a retired recording engineer, US west coast
I think you can discern the improvement in Decca pressing (ie the whole life-cycle from mastering to LP) by reference to this 'apparently mint' LP to those I've also done: but this was shocking.
DeleteHowever, the very earliest Decca's seemed to be pressed with higher quality, sheeny, 'Geon' vinyl.
There was no 'interaction' with pvc inners before about 1956 as Decca used 'rice-paper' (same as early EMI's) - though you could buy shaped pvc sleeves -and continued that design of inner for the Ace of Clubs series through 1958.
The early Decca Paper/PVC were high-quality - but by the mid-60's < to the introduction of 'Japanese-Style 'high density plastic in 1975, they would cause 'scratching' - particularly if your finger supported the sleeve as it was being removed/inserted...and Decca, being cheapskates, had the smallest possible inner sleeves by 1970..
I find Decca's 'hit and miss' in the 50's (some high percentage, pre-mid 56-odd, are total write-offs in the LXT series) but some are very interesting as originals (LXT 2534 Krauss: Till/Juan)..but then the processing deteriorated (and the sound-quality) - and noise reduction is near essential (especially as they may require <+4dB more treble) - which does the 'resolution' no-favours - though that may not be very high in any event.
Interestingly, I don't 'see' the supposed limitation of frequency-range in my transfers @ groove-ends (supposedly it's around 17kHz relative to twice that @ outer-edge) and Decca 24/96 mono's here can sail way past 20kHz to about 30kHz...and quality-loss doesn't seem overly marked (though was something I saw mentioned early-on: ie: HMV Beethoven VC/Suk-NPO-Boult - where the HiFi News/RR 'quality monitor in about 1971 mentioned 'roughening' in the Coriolan Ov. fill-up - but if I played that now I suspect it wouldn't be too obvious: due to the stylii profiles subsequently developed ??
Unfortunately, because I go for 'high-resolution' transfers (& my own use) the various flaws of this vintage of vinyl can be all too obvious....not like Philips/Dutch 1970's/80's by a long way....hence have never been too keen to do any transfers - but the 're-equalised' versions, post 1956, aren't always an improvement - and can sound very inferior in tonal characteristics..aside from having too much treble.
Muchas gracias por este magnífica grabación, saludos.
ReplyDeleteExcelente Som , excelente trabalho. Muito obrigado..
ReplyDeleteCarregamento MUITO popular. Eu tenho os arquivos 24/96 Uma edição extra seria possível. LP de qualidade TERRÍVEL!
Delete