Art music vinyl

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BJ

BJ
As many of you know I've been tranferring my OCD slowly from wine to vinyl and am really enjoying the new universe. The Thorens purchase definitely helped me turn a corner towards deep immersion.

I continue to listen mostly to jazz, but I find myself rolling through the classical bins as well. I am profoundly struck by the house sound of various labels.

Deutsche Grammaphone - while I loved these in high school and college, I am totally frustrated by them now. The package presents like it will deliver big time, but 80% of the time the recordings are marred by massive crackle and pop. Recording quality can be solid but it is hard to get past that.

Archiv Produktion - Surprisingly, these are much better, clean and direct. I believe this is from the same parent company as DG so I am left mystified.

Philips - these can have a warm, English-y sound. At other times they trend towards a Germanic austerity but all in all very solid. Plus, the disk's orange-red is one of the all time greatest colors, ever.

Argo, London FFRR - generally on par with Philips, with a similar slightly malty midrange. I just found an Argo boxed set of Nicol Williamson reading The Hobbit, and the recording is dead silent and lovely. Curl up with some Aberlour and dream of walks in the Cotswolds.

Harmonia Mundi - I saved the best for last. French in style and technology, these recordings display great Parisian seriousness of purpose and emotion. Beautiful weight and perfect clarity. They tend to record lovely things that I generally wouldn't listen to but love (ie, Charpentier's Caecilia, Virgo et Martyr playing right now). I find myself scouring ebay for these. Akin to finding some older Chanrion in someone's cellar and being asked to take it away.
 
Back when I bought classical music on vinyl, I used to love DG. And the records seemed to last much longer before the snap, crackle and pop. I'm sorry to hear the quality has gone down. They were also the primary recorders of Fischer Dieskau, which made them an attraction for that reason.
 
For the most part the DGG LPs in my collection have held up well. Decent surfaces to begin with and not much wear with good handling. I haven't purchased much vinyl on the resell market, but I suspect that many used LPs are the vinyl equivalent of Katrina wines.

Those more into collecting swear not only by "house style" but by location: English pressed EMIs (very good) versus American pressed Angel (often bad), for example. The DGG Canadian pressings seem to get positive comments. Also, many of the imports used lined inner sleeves that really build up a static charge over time--giving the record bursts of fried egg sound--that cleaning does not always remove. I find that a static gun, like Zerostat, works wonders.

To coin a phrase: there are no great pressings, just great discs. I pulled out a 25+ year RCA recording (not a dynaflex thankfully) of Julian Bream playing the Britten Nocturnal last week and the surface was pristine. A very pleasant shock. With reasonable effort, modern CDs can sound very good but well-done analogue is still a special treat for the ear.
 
Thanks for the zerostat recommendation, I'll track them down. For whatever reason, the DG's are super static-y

2nd hand thirty year old vinyl is incredible - I buy nothing new.
 
As you continue to head down this path and would like a little reading to go along with your listening I can think of a no more pedantic pursuit than the writings of Harry Pearson and staff of the '70's and 80's issue's of The Absolute Sound. The magazine is still being published but not under Harry's leadership and as you are pursing vinyl, I would tend to go after the issues that predate the dominance of the CD.

I don't know if there are online versions of these, there is always your local library and online sources for purchase. If you are going to purchase, then look for the issues with the "HP's Super Disc" list.
 
originally posted by Dan Donahue:
For the most part the DGG LPs in my collection have held up well. Decent surfaces to begin with and not much wear with good handling. I haven't purchased much vinyl on the resell market, but I suspect that many used LPs are the vinyl equivalent of Katrina wines.

Those more into collecting swear not only by "house style" but by location: English pressed EMIs (very good) versus American pressed Angel (often bad), for example. The DGG Canadian pressings seem to get positive comments. Also, many of the imports used lined inner sleeves that really build up a static charge over time--giving the record bursts of fried egg sound--that cleaning does not always remove. I find that a static gun, like Zerostat, works wonders.

To coin a phrase: there are no great pressings, just great discs. I pulled out a 25+ year RCA recording (not a dynaflex thankfully) of Julian Bream playing the Britten Nocturnal last week and the surface was pristine. A very pleasant shock. With reasonable effort, modern CDs can sound very good but well-done analogue is still a special treat for the ear.
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Hey, GREAT recommendation on the Zerostat. Can't believe I didn't get one years ago. It really works.

I think you are right about the liners. I think the DG liners use a different plastic than others and that must be the static culprit. I just blasted the shit out of my Kempff Waldstein and it has mellowed considerably.
 
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