chabot@miles.DEC (High Anxiety Workstations) (06/30/85)
Can anyone report any luck with ANY copies of the Solti / Vienna Philharmonic performance of _Goetterdaemmerung_?! Based on my experiences with the London digital re-mastering, I'd advise anyone: "Don't!". There's this really awful glitchiness on the second side (near the end), in Act I Scene 1, in Hagen's next-to-next-to-last spiel, "...so ruestiger Kraft / in des Ruders Schwung ###/ ### r#u#e#h#m#t # s#i#c#h # n#u#r # der, / ...". Groaty to the extreme, it sounds like a folded or badly spliced tape; this is not a scratch on my platter. And, no, I'm not just a perfectionist frothing--this glitch has twice startled me out of a light doze: this is the second copy I've tried. I don't own any previous releases of this performance--can anybody out there who has one comment on whether this glitch exists more globally? Or does anyone have it on CD? The rest of the set has no such problems, and I'm very fond of this outstanding performance, but, yucko, I'm not going to keep this this this... I haven't gotten any farther yet, either time. Information appreciated. Also advice. The Harvard Coop is going to get tired of me bringing back a copy every week, I imagine, and if all the pressings are this bad, what's the point. Perhaps writing directly to London will have some desired effect (and if anyone cares else, send me mail and I'll pass on what I find out). Even my battered Murray Hill Furtwaengler doesn't have anything this bad on it! (-: No, honest: this is only my second set. Or, well, 2 1/4 set. :-) So, in summary, London digital re-mastering edition of the Solti / Vienna Philharmonic _Goetterdaemmerung_: disgusting. L S Chabot ...decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-amber!chabot chabot@amber.dec@decwrl.arpa
palmer@Shasta.ARPA (07/01/85)
> Can anyone report any luck with ANY copies of the Solti / Vienna Philharmonic > performance of _Goetterdaemmerung_?! Based on my experiences with the London > digital re-mastering, I'd advise anyone: "Don't!". There's this really awful > glitchiness on the second side (near the end), in Act I Scene 1, in Hagen's > next-to-next-to-last spiel, "...so ruestiger Kraft / in des Ruders Schwung > ###/ ### r#u#e#h#m#t # s#i#c#h # n#u#r # der, / ...". Groaty to the extreme, > it sounds like a folded or badly spliced tape; this is not a scratch on my > platter. > Well, I pulled out my compact disc copy, cued to the appropriate spot, and sure enough the described glitch is there. An interesting question is whether the glitch occurs on earlier pressings; I've never heard one of them. I have to disagree about the negative recommendation on the recording because of this one glitch. I have a reasonably good front-end (Linn Sondek) but would be suffering much more from the way an LP set would sound after the many, many playings I've enjoyed than from this one glitch. It isn't quite the same as a live performance, but then again I can listen to it any time I like, without having to stand for 6 hours, and without having people rustling programs, sneezing, etc. around me. You win some, you lose some. On a slightly related note, John Culshaw's book "Ring Resounding" is a fascinating tale of the entire "Ring" recording project. Well worth digging out of the local library. Bill Palmer whp4@su-sierra.arpa
hal@cornell.UUCP (Hal Perkins) (07/03/85)
>> Can anyone report any luck with ANY copies of the Solti / Vienna Philharmonic >> performance of _Goetterdaemmerung_?! Based on my experiences with the London >> digital re-mastering, I'd advise anyone: "Don't!". There's this really awful >> glitchiness on the second side (near the end), in Act I Scene 1, in Hagen's >> next-to-next-to-last spiel, "...so ruestiger Kraft / in des Ruders Schwung >> ###/ ### r#u#e#h#m#t # s#i#c#h # n#u#r # der, / ...". Groaty to the extreme, >> it sounds like a folded or badly spliced tape; this is not a scratch on my >> platter. >> > >Well, I pulled out my compact disc copy, cued to the appropriate spot, and >sure enough the described glitch is there. An interesting question is >whether the glitch occurs on earlier pressings; I've never heard one of >them. Last night I listened to my copy of the record, which is about 10 years old and is probably the original version. The "...so ruestiger Kraft..." passage is just fine, but on my records it's in the middle of side 3! It sounds like London changed the side breaks and put more music per side. My set has 12 sides (6 disks) with about 20-25 min. per side. How many disks are there in the new version? In any case, if both the new records and the CD version have a glitch in the same place, it would seem that there is a botch on the new master from which both were made, and it won't do much good to return either to the store hoping for a better copy. It would probably be worth writing to London/Decca just to see what their reaction is. >On a slightly related note, John Culshaw's book "Ring Resounding" is >a fascinating tale of the entire "Ring" recording project. Well worth >digging out of the local library. Back in the mid 70s, at least, London used to sell the entire Ring in a big box for just over $100 (of course those were real dollars, not the play money we use now). And, as an added bonus, the set included Culshaw's book and two others. I don't know if they do it now. My mistake was I didn't think I'd want the entire Ring, so I didn't buy the boxed set -- I just got one at first. But I got hooked and within a few months I had all 4 -- without the books, since I didn't buy it all at once. sigh. Hal Perkins UUCP: {decvax|vax135|...}!cornell!hal Cornell Computer Science ARPA: hal@cornell BITNET: hal@crnlcs
greg@olivee.UUCP (Greg Paley) (07/03/85)
I hadn't noticed the glitch mentioned when I was listening to the CD set. I have a Telefunken LP pressing, which is excellent and pre-dates both the DMM reissue and the "Digitally Remastered" issue. I haven't had a chance to go back and find this spot on my LP's, but I have an idea with regard to what might be the cause of the problem on the digitally remastered (LP and CD) copies. On my Telefunken copies there are a number of clearly audible splices. They are easily detectable because they often blunt the attack on a chord, and there is a definite shift in the acoustic perspective. Considering the care that went into this project, I suspect that the engineers at the time (1964) did not envision home equipment with the kind of detail and ambience resolution that would make these things so clearly audible. In any case, these same splices were much less noticeable on the CD, which means that, in the course of remastering, somebody went back and re-edited the masters so as to clean these up. My guess would be that, in the course of doing this and, perhaps, trying to "correct" a splice at the point in Act I mentioned, the result ended up being a more audible glitch than was on the original. Incidentally, good as the recording is, it can't compare in impact to a decent live, staged performance. This was reinforced in my own mind by seeing the S.F. Ring recently - there is a particular catharsis to be experienced in the theater that records are unable to supply. Furthermore, anyone who saw Nilsson performing Brunnhilde live in the late 60's/early 70's will attest that the recording doesn't begin to suggest the power and intensity of her interpretation, or even the overwhelming cut and voluminous outpouring of the actual sound of her voice, particularly in the top register. She's the only Brunnhilde I've heard who tended to go slightly sharp on the top notes at the end of the Immolation Scene, and her oath on the spear in Act 2 was, in the theater, about the loudest thing I've ever heard. Those who enjoy Culshaw's "Ring Resounding" book will also enjoy his much later "Putting the Record Straight" - incomplete due to his sudden death from viral hepatitis. At the time of his writing the later book, the fact that he was no longer under a fixed contract to any one firm allowed him to be much freer in speaking out and naming names that he had been in the "Ring Resounding" book. - Greg Paley