bogdan101

It's not simply the absence of noise. The two parker samples have a whooshy sound in the highs that I dislike. The other two samples didn't (I focused mostly on the Bird), so I figured it wasn't down to a too low bit rate. I'm concerned these whoosy highs are a result of Mosaic's clean up job. Correct me if I'm wrong, but from the Mosaic page I understand they did not go and transfer all the masters from scratch, but only "Starting with the best transfers of the catalog which still left much to be desired..." and worked from that. I understand that marketing requires scrubbing all these old recordings clean, lest modern ears be gravely offended and people return sets because they got a "defective copy". My Spotlite lp's of this material don't sound any better, so Mosaic if far from being the worst offender in this category, but come on, this is Charlie Parker, is anybody going to step up to the plate and do it right? Edit: Jonathan, I just saw your comment on this thread, thanks!... I don't know what sources you used for this transfer, but are they that quiet that the Parker samples on the Mosaic website have no discernible background noise?.. I understand YOU don't use noise reduction, but maybe someone else did?... I found some sound samples online from the Fremeaux Charlie Parker edition, and in particular the "Cool Blues" one does have more top end to the cymbals sound. Also I hear more distortion, probably because they did not work from pristine copies. Btw, I agree that the horns sound better on the Mosaic samples than on my Spotlite lp's.

I think any of the boxes coming out now would qualify for this thread. Do you guys realize that, while the price of everything is steadily going up, the cream of the classical recorded catalogue can be had for unbelievably little money? This must be the best bargain in the world right now!

Great, looking forward to your comparative review... I'm still holding out on buying the box, waiting for either Hdtracks to have a package deal on all the 24/96 versions, Warner to release a hi res version, or I find a price I can't refuse on the cd set. I know, maybe none of the above will happen, but I am a little boxed out for now, as I still have to work my way through parts of the Fricsay set and most of the Toscanini one.

A few day ago I got the big Toscanini box , the Complete RCA Collection, and, what can I say, it's quite irresistible. He had a way with everything he played that communicates on a visceral level. There is something that is the opposite of academic, a way in which he makes everything sound like popular music. A working class hero, trying to give the music back to the masses. The highlight so far: Mozart Basoon Concerto K.V. 191.

What are his best recordings? I can put up with bad sound if need be. Thanks.

If you love that version, you'll be delirious over the newly remastered one... Seriously, I compared them (on Spotify no less), and let me give you an example: When Callas says "Vissi..." at the beginning of the famous aria, in the old version you cannot hear the s in Vissi; in the new one you can.

...

Check out this thread: http://www.talkclassical.com/33051-new-maria-callas-box.html

Yes, apparently they did it all from scratch, going back to the master tapes and did everything in 24/96. The annoying thing, this box has everything on cd, while at the same time the 24/96 versions of individual releases are starting to appear as downloads on Hdtracks. How much more would have cost to dump all the 24/96 files on a handful of bluray discs and put them in the box?

Haven't bought the box yet, but I'm listening right now on Spotify to the remastered 1953 Tosca. It sounds amazing!

On preorder at amazon.it, but not much info about it, only that it's a 21 cd limited edition set: http://www.amazon.it/The-Complete-Album-Collection-Box/dp/B00NFLVFFK

It's a risk free proposition at 13 bucks; probably not good as a first set of Mahler symphonies. In any case it's on Spotify so you can get an idea.

I would only spend that much if they would bring back Kreisler or Szigeti for a few encores...

And second prize is two weeks in Gary, Indiana. Because there's more than corn in Indiana!

Now (one week later) it's up to £92.99... Managed to get my order in at the lower price; they fixed the info about the box, it's in fact 80 discs.

21 cd Joaquin Rodrigo box on Brilliant Classics at jpc.de for 20 euro (27 euro shipped to Canada): https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/Joaquin-Rodrigo-1902-1999-Joaquin-Rodrigo-Edition/hnum/2639864

Yeah, sometimes they veer into this "Jazz" thing...

The full box appears to be still available, unless they forgot to take down the page: http://www.rerdownloads.com/?p=4530

I believe the bonus CD was only sent to people who preordered the box when it was released. In any case, I think it was a single CD, with only about 12 minutes of music.

I just listened to Starless from the 8th cd of the Red box, taken from a performance at the Denver Coliseum, June 16 1974. Hairraising stuff... I have the Starless box on preorder now!

Also the analogue reissues tend to be more carefully produced, including the pressing quality. The problems you mention have been with vinyl all along, and I would add bumps in the grooves, which I always find in the used bins but not so much on new pressings.

I hope you're aware that this thread was created when Steve Hoffman started a reissue project that involved him cutting new LPs. Before this thread, he had another thread that declared SACD as the best representative of the master tape. When this thread first started out, a few people quoted his old thread. Now that old thread and all references to it have been erased. I wish I could change my posting history like that. Hmm, I didn't know that, but somehow it does not surprise me...

Wow, $20 for the 2-cd set and $150 for the 6 cd's?... Pretty lame pricing, unless they want people to jump in when it drops back down to $90 or so.

Thanks, I'll be there momentarily...

Bootleg series vol. 11 coming out in November, not exactly a bargain for 6 cd's... http://www.amazon.com/Basement-Tapes-Complete-Bootleg-Deluxe/dp/B00MXILU3S/