Your collection

[Shapley]

Back in my Navy days, Sony introduced a recorder that allowed the recording of audio on the video portion of VCR tapes (maybe it was on Beta-format tapes, being Sony. I don't recall.) These recorders allowed one to record up to 8 hours of high-fidelity music on a single tape. To the best of my knowledge, they were never released in the United States, though they were available at Navy Exchange stores overseas, and through the catalogue.

[barfle]

I have a VCR that will record excellent quality audio using heads that track the same path as the video head, and will do so for six hours on a standard VHS tape, or 8 hours on one of those flimsy T-160s. It was an answer to Beta-HiFi, and uses similar technologies.

I remember reading about a device that would digitize an audio signal and impose the bits onto a generated video signal for recording on a standard VCR. If it saw the light of day, it would have been in the thousands of dollars, and I missed seeing it in the stores I went to.

[Shapley]

The Sony units I saw overseas were not that expensive - $300 to $400, if I recall correctly. But that was Navy Exchange Prices, I wold expect them to be about $100 to $200 higher at US Retail, based on my recollection of comparable pricing of other electronic components. It was not a stand-alone system, but was a component deck available for any component-stereo system. It was comparable in price to a high-end cassette recorder-player or turntable. People were paying about the same price for a dual-tape TEAC cassete system, and I payed somewhere in that range for my Kenwood turntable.

[barfle]

In an attempt to move a discussion of bootleg media to a media collection thread, I thought I might mention a DVD-A that was delivered to me yesterday.

I bought a sealed copy of Rick Wakeman From the Front Row. Since this is available from several sources, it seemed like it was legit. Having played it, I'm not so sure.

It certainly is a concert recording. Sort of like the one I made when I snuck a cassette deck into the arena back in 1976. I can't imagine Rick Wakeman approving this recording of his work, because the quality is on a par with Shap's Superman III tape. It doesn't make use of the microphones on stage, and it's so far from a professional product that it's amazing legitimate retailers carry it.

This isn't something I picked up at a garage sale. The package even had one of those anti-theft thingys in it. But I have never heard anything sound this bad short of the kind of thing Shap described.

[Shapley]

I see the review posted on your link is in agreement:

Front the Front Row (of the parking lot maybe).
This title is a DVD-Audio title, so one would naturally expect a level a quaility that justify the media, but with that in mind, the only thing that comes to mind here is "SAD". The source recording this disk is made from would not even qualify for a bad bootleg in the days of vinyl. It is liken to listening to the concert from the foyer of the auditorium while waiting in line to buy a beer. While I would love to also critique the performance of music on this disc... I can't make out enough of it to be fair to the musicians involved (if you think I am exaggerrating go ahead and buy this one). This title truly sounds as though they started from a single stereo (or even mono) recording, and a poor one, masked in reverb with little to no dynamic range. Then a ton of low bass EQ, and a bunch of even more deeply reverbed material thrown into the surround channels. Now granted I can count the number of DVD-A titles I have to date on my fingers, I have thousands of LPs, and hundreds of CDs and this title ranks the lowest quality recording I have heard to date (with maybe the possibility of an old 1969 vinyl bootleg of a Stones concert - "Stoned in Europe"). The fact that SilverLine Records is marketing this to owners of new and expensive DVD-A players starved for material, with claims of "stunning 5.1 surround sound" on their packaging, is shameful.
Submitted by Wakeman Junkie (Sierra Nevada)

Sad that such a recording is being marketed through legitimate channels. Maybe the Filipinos that sold Superman III have found an American market.

[barfle]

I doubt if it would have sounded worse if it had been recorded on a cell phone.

If anyone heard this recording as their first example of DVD-A, they would never buy another one.

[navneeth]

This arrived today!

'The old Bach'
Musikalisches Opfer, BWV 1079
Concentus Musicus Wien w/ Nikolaus Harnoncourt
(Warner/Das Alte Werk)



And I just noticed all the balloon heads to the side of the message box.

[jamiebk]

Yes...I was wondering why all the little circles turned into balloon shapes....what's up with that?

[Shapley]

Musikalisches Opfer, BWV 1079

Ah! The Musical Offering! I've heard some of it here on B.com, but am not otherwise familiar with it.

[navneeth]

Musikalisches Opfer, BWV 1079

Ah! The Musical Offering! I've heard some of it here on B.com

Me too, and I think it was with a modern ensemble (ASMF, if I'm not mistaken). This CD is all HIP and uses only a harpsichord, violin (one part needs two of them), a viola, a tenor viola, a violoncello, which is played by Herr Harnoncourt, and most importantly, a traverse flute. Of late, I've become a HUGE fan of Bach and I'm getting as much as I can of his works (the goal is to become a completist, of course ).

This work has a an interesting story behind its creation, if you have not read about it already. Also interesting is what Anton Webern did with the ricercare for six voices - I really like the transcription: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV0U-lB45RY.

[barfle]

I thought I had a copy of every recording of Holst's "The Planets," but I ran across this one and had to have it.

I already had volumes 2, 4, and 5 of the ClassicVisions series. In those discs, the music was played straight, but the video was often very, shall we say, unusual. For example, the imagery for the Gershwin Piano concerto was of the piano in a boxing ring, which was eventually flattened by a marching band. Definitely fun, and it certainly didn't take itself too seriously.

In this recording of The Planets, the visuals are by Ken Russell, who also did Lisztomania, which fits anyone's definition of "different." This has its moments. Mars, the Bringer of War is mostly military parades, including Nazi Germany, Red China, and the USSR. The USA was not left off the list, but sometimes we didn't seem so bad. Venus, the Bringer of Peace is perfect for a dirty old man like me, with a generous dose of gratuitous feminine anatomy. I wasn't expecting it, but what the heck. I haven't figured out the connection between automobile manufacturing and Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age, but it's kinda fun. I would guess that Shap wouldn't appreciate Uranus, the Magician, since it has images of various superstitious rites, including a Roman Catholic Communion ceremony. Even for a recovering RC like myself, I thought it was a bit cold.

All in all, I'm glad I bought it. The Philadelphia Orchestra does a fine job on the music, even though it's a live performance with a few badly timed audience coughs. The video is all over the map, from profound to predictable to huh?

[barfle]

I picked up a DVD-A of the Bournemouth Orchestra's recording of three Grofe pieces, including the Grand Canyon Suite.

As is normal with DVD-As, there are still pictures shown (or perhaps a slide show) during the playing of the music. I found it interesting that the pictures shown during the GCS were not of the Grand Canyon. Two were from Monument Valley. I'm guessing they didn't have a permit from the National Park Service to do commercial photography for it, but those aren't that hard to get. Besides, there ARE parts of the GC that are not in the Park.

The other two pieces were Niagara Suite (which did have pictures of Niagara) and Mississippi Suite (which had some original artwork).

All in all, a nice addition to my collection.

[navneeth]

Some recent additions

J S Bach
Cantatas for solo soprano
Nancy Argenta/Ensemble Sonnerie/Monica Hugget

I love every minute of the next one. The music is played wonderfully, con brio.

Italian Violin Sonatas
Fabio Biondi/Europa Galante

Both are from the Virgin Veritas, the first one being a two-fer.

And finally, this one. I've been avoiding this because I'm not really comfy with the tempo usually taken by Bohm, but since it was part of a discount sale, I snatched it up (primarily for the Schubert).

Mozart

Concerto for two pianos, K. 365
Piano Concerto No. 27, K. 595*

Schubert
Fantasy for two pianos, D. 940

Elena Gilels, Emil Gilels*
Karl Bohm and the Vienna Phil.

[analog]

guess i'm a hopeless nostalgic. or maybe it's just having old things is a defiance of the teeth of time...and i'm getting interested in doing that!

i pick up unusual looking 78's in junkshops...

just got a 4 record set of Schubert's 'trio #1 B flat major' , jacket scuffed but records near mint.

i dont know the music but two of the names i know are well regarded
and their photo as young men is on cover....

Rubenstein pianist
Heifitz violinist
Fuerman cellist

from looks i'd say it's 1940-ish, on Victor red seal.... recorded at RCA's Hollywood studio.
looking forward to hearing it.

something in me wont let those old guys' work go to the trash heap. old 78's get broken as people root through them.

who knows, someday i might rescue a treasure !!!!!

a.

[shostakovich]

Hi Analog. You may already have a treasure. Emmanuel Feuermann was to the cello what the other guys were to their instruments. I don't remember seeing any of his performances on LP except those dubbed from 78s. Good rescue work.
Shos.

PS: I think the soloists were all Jewish.

[analog]

Thanks Shos -----
I sometimes feel like "Charly" watching through the playground fence......

a quick google shows it was recorded 1941, remastered 1999 and put out on cd.
to me it is so much more fun to have an actual 78...

and it's tremendously interesting for me as a budding dilettante to learn who these people were and when they lived.

Off to look up Fueremann's bio.

a.

[Shapley]

I picked up a few items recently:

Liszt: Favorite Piano Works, Jorge Bolet

Liszt: Piano Concertos 1 & 2, Totentanz, Krystian Zimerman

Puccini: Turandot, Mehta, London Symphony, Sutherland, Pavarotti, Caballe, Ghiaurov, Krause, Pears.

Mancini: Ultimate Pink Panther, Mancini & His Orchestra

Verdi: Greatest Hits, Various Artists

[analog]

Mancini !!! Good for you. I always liked his sound.

Guess i'm a lightweight, but "pops" is what got me started.

Back to my quirk of rescuing old 78's, found yesterday a really clean "Victor Talking Machine Co" recording of "La Paloma" by no less than 'Sousa's Band'. The number, 16529, dates it between about 1908 and 1920. Will likely get back to that box in the junkshop, there's several Arthur Pryor disks in there too.

NM if vou'd like i for a wall hanger please advise.

oops jus* had a coffee acciden* and m* ke*board is losing le**ers in region of spill... so long for now.. a.



a.

[Shapley]

Yes, I like Mancini, too. Somewhere in my vinyl collection is, or was, the Hatari! soundtrack. One of my favourites.

[analog]

Hatari - i have that one too, somewhere.

that movie documents some of the last wrangling of big African critters and will benefit from today's big screen TV's.. I remember seeing it in high school, should get a copy on DVD.

found a reference to that Sousa 'LaPaloma' record. U of Illinois has a copy, it's from 1912. Must be one of the early two-sided records.
http://www.library.illinois.edu/archive ... bletheme=1

a.

ps -- now running a Logictech wireless mouse and keyboard. It actually did 'plug & play' - a windows first for me!