|   Does RCA-Living Stereo- issues match the Mercury Living P..? | jsujo1
Aug 11, 2002 6:46 PM | | I bought in the last few days the following from Mercury Living Presence:
Overture 1812, Beethoven symphonies 5 and 6, The Romeros Ispanish Guitar), Khachaturian and Soskatovich, Screamers (Circus marches), and I am awaiting delievery of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhib, and last, Guitar concertos...
As I browse, I see a few Living Stereo re-issues on CD,,are they the same quality as Mercury? I actually bid on a 70 min CD with booklet which has the entire Mercury story and music samples...should be cool... |
| re: Does RCA-Living Stereo- issues match the Mercury Living P..? | Pat D
Aug 12, 2002 6:51 AM | | You must realize that your system and set up determine which good recordings will sound best. That being said, I would say that the recording quality on the old Mercury recordings is generally better than on the RCA Living Stereo reissues, although the sound quality on them is generally pretty good.
Now, as to performances, I would give the nod to RCA, because a number of great conductors, orchestras, and soloists recorded for them. Reiner and the CSO recorded Mussorgsky's Pictures for RCA, also Debussy's La Mer, and Respighi's Pines and Fountains, all of which are classica performances.
However, Dorati's 1812 on Mercury is considered a classic, though I haven't heard that one (don't listen to the 182 very often, anyway), and so is the band music recorded with Frederick Fennel. You can have Janos Starker playing the Dvorak Cello Concerto. Dorati has a very fine version of Saint Saens' Organ Symphony (that's no. 3). You can have Hanson's recordings of some of his own symphonies
In short, there are a lot of good things on both labels. |
| re: Does RCA-Living Stereo- issues match the Mercury Living P..? | jsujo1
Aug 12, 2002 7:56 AM | | Well, home setup aside, I was more interested in the way the RCA guys setup their recording stuff...I read that Phillips even stopped using the method of microphone placement that Mercury did, because ut was too time consuming,,,I am kind of addicted to the feel of the Mercury methods.
The Overture of 1812 is simply fantastic on Mercury. |
| re: Does RCA-Living Stereo- issues match the Mercury Living P..? | Pat D
Aug 12, 2002 6:33 PM | | Hmmmm . . . I am not privy to the recording methods used with individual recordings. However, the notes to some of my RCA Living Stereo reissues mention the use of Neumann and Telefunken microphones, and mixing a three-track tape down to two channels. |
| re: Does RCA-Living Stereo- issues match the Mercury Living P..? | jsujo1
Aug 12, 2002 6:43 PM | | Well, i will do the logical thing and buy one, and see how it sounds,,,
Jack |
| re: Does RCA-Living Stereo- issues match the Mercury Living P..? | Pat D
Aug 13, 2002 7:58 AM | | b Well, i will do the logical thing and buy one, and see how it sounds,,,
Well, I'd advise getting something you want! Not just to get one. As I think I mentioned, Reiner's recordings of Mussorgsky's Pictures, Rachmaninov's Isle of the Dead, Debussy's La mer, and Respighi's Pines and Fountains are very good.
I think that the very early commercial stereo recordings were limited to two or three tracks by the technology. I'm not an expert on the history of high fidelity, but I believe the early open reel tape decks had only two or three channels. So, the earlier RCA stereo recordings could only use two or three microphones, whether it was their philosophy or not.
RCA certainly knew where to get good recordings when they wanted to, though whether they did so consistently is another matter. For example, they made a number of recordings for Reader's Digest with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under various conductors such as Leibowitz, Krips, Reiner, and Gerhardt with Kenneth G. Wilkinson as recording engineer. I gather Wilkinson engineered many of the classic Decca recordings. The master tapes always had a reputation. Many are now reissued on Chesky, using a refurbished Ampex open reel deck. The sound seems to me as good as anything from that era. There are many fine performances, too. Unfortunately, the Chesky discs are at full price. |
| re: Does RCA-Living Stereo- issues match the Mercury Living P..? | jsujo1
Aug 13, 2002 12:57 PM | | OK,,I found a couple that intrigued me, so I bought them, again, at 11 bucks. Living stereo issue that is:
Bartok concerto for orchestra, music for strings and celesta, hungarian sketches,,,Chicago symphony orchestra conducted bt Fritz Reiner and Bach's B Minor Mass (robert shaw chorale and orchestra),,,they sound very good, pretty much like the Mercury ones...
what draws my attention is that a lot of composers seem to start suffering from ADD musically that is,,,jump very quickly from one phrase or idea to the next. |
| re: Does RCA-Living Stereo- issues match the Mercury Living P..? | Pat D
Aug 14, 2002 3:29 PM | | Great! I have certainly heard about Reiner's Bartok, but have never heard those recordings. There are quite a few good things on the RCA Living Stereo reissues.
b what draws my attention is that a lot of composers seem to start suffering from ADD musically that is,,,jump very quickly from one phrase or idea to the next.
I'm not sure I understand the image here. |
| re: Does RCA-Living Stereo- issues match the Mercury Living P..? | jsujo1
Aug 15, 2002 4:12 AM | | After listenning to lots of baroque music, and things like the 1812 Overture, Beethoven's 5th, and other stuff that I had bought, it seemes that the more modern composers started loosing patience with melodies and they switch around every number of measures. There is an obvious difference in the development and progress allowed to an idea. Modern composers never seem to let the musci breath as much as the earlier classical composers, and it seems to make it less emotional (at least to me),,,I thought about this after listening to Bartok. Its more of an intellectual exercise. |
| re: Does RCA-Living Stereo- issues match the Mercury Living P..? | Pat D
Aug 15, 2002 1:42 PM | | Yep. Some of the modern composers wrote (and write) music that is not very approachable, though I like some of it. Bartok, later Stravinsky, Webern, Stockhausen. |
| Re-Issues | TheRecordCollector
Aug 13, 2002 7:20 PM | | Here's a photo of the first Mercury Living Presence LP, from my collection:
http://gallery.consumerreview.com/webcrossing/images/Ravel-Merc.jpg
RCA LS, & Mercury LP (mono & stereo both) are excellent recordings for the most part, but don't waste your time and money on re-issues. Of EITHER label. Vinyl or CD. They suck. Period.
The RCA LS (shaded dog) recording using tube equipment, are for the most part, excellent. Not all, but most.
But in 1964, some of those tube recording were remastered using solid-state equipment, and in A/B comparrasons, the sold-state recording are very lacking.
Merc LP 1812 Ov. is an excellent album. The Original(s).
the 1954 (mono) version has more "punch" (IMHO), but the 1958 re-recording (stereo) is an excellent album in its own right. They are both personal favorites.
I have heard CD re-issues of RCA LS, and Mercury LP, and IMHO, they both lack. severely. Tone, ambience...quality.
I know it's a little more difficult, and a bit more expensive, but to me, it was well worth the effort and expense to seek out the original vinyl recordings.
But then too...it depends on the gear that you're playing it on too.
I use a McIntosh C-22 preAmp & MC-240 PwrAmp;
Marantz 7C PreAmp & 8B Pwr Amp;
Fisher 800C reciever.
All original, all tube.
TRC |
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