Claude

Many of the 45rpm 2LP sets are the best sounding currently available releases of these classic albums, in any format. The editions are limited to 1000 copies of each title, and they sell fast. So they are actually a good investment, especially if you own a decent turntable

Craft's Koch and Musicmasters recordings of Stravinsky works are currently available on Naxos. The Sacre recorded in 1995 for Koch is with the London Symphony: http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.557501#

So are these new reissues, or old pressings that Acoustic Sounds got hold of?

No problem here, with Opera 9. I didn't know what the ignore function does, so I need to try that out. Don't be offended, it's nothing personal

Thanks Flurin, that's very interesting. Is this basically the Dan Kurdilla Surman discography, with radio broadcasts added? http://mysite.verizon.net/vze8f4kf/surman.htm

4 stars is the maximum rating, apart from the crown which is reserved for a few dozen masterpieces (or in some cases personal favorites of the reviewers) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Penguin_Guide_to_Jazz http://www.tomhull.com/ocston/nm/notes/pjazz-crown.php

Congrats, Phil. You have a better * average than Miles and Diz

I've heard about a dozen Sacres, and the Boulez/Cleveland on DG is my favourite. On Stravinsky's own 1960's recording (Sony), the orchestra is not as good. The recent recordings by Rattle and Salonen (I've listened to them because I wanted a version on SACD) didn't convince me either. Not that they are bad, but I always prefer the Boulez, with it's perfect balance of precision and wildness.

On my european RVG pressing as well, the reproduction of the original liner notes is incomplete. It ends in the description of the title track, with the sentense "Even though the rhythm section breaks the time up, there is a basic pulse coming from" . So the description of the last track and a conclusion is missing.

Is that from the "Mr Bean goes shopping" episode?

It's just a sampler from the dutch Blue Note division. Verve used to release a sampler every year for the North Sea Jazz festival.

Last week it was very warm (up to 18 °C), now we have the first snow of the year

Mosaic Contemporary is being discussed here: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=32320

It's strange to open a thread with such an alarming subject when there is no sign whatsoever of Mosaic being in trouble.

Those who don't have HDTV yet, but who own a HD-ready TV and have a PC connected to it should try some HD demo files. The difference between DVD and HD is spectacular. http://www.drfoster.f2s.com/trailers_hd-dvd.shtml

A warning to all german fans of the movie: The recent DVD release of the movie in the cheap SZ-Mediathek Edition - the first german release on DVD - has the wrong aspect ratio: 1:85/1 instead of 1:66/1. In the close-up shots of Jeanne Moreau's face, her head is cut off in the middle of the forehead. So the only acceptable options remain the french DVD or the Criterion, which are 2-3 times the price of the SZ-MediathekDVD and have no german sound. http://sz-mediathek.sueddeutsche.de/mediat....do?pid=1617006 http://www.criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=335 http://www.amazon.fr/Ascenseur-pour-léchaf.../dp/B000BB96SA/

I've bought all the Seinfeld DVD sets when they were on 50% sale on Amazon.co.uk. I had mostly seen the show with german or french translation before and the original is of course much better. I've found the bonus material a bit slim, but I don't care much for that anyway. The most interesting are the deleted scenes (there are not that many). The picture and sound quality is very good.

GIL MELLE:THE COMPLETE BLUE NOTE FIFTIES SESSIONS US $200.00 (Reserve not met)

I don't know how this is being implemented in the US, but there is digital TV over satellite and terrestrial transmission.

No, only a set top box (less than $100) will be necessary in order to receive digital TV. A new TV set is only necessary if you want to benefit from HDTV quality.

I don't know about the US, but in Europe, digital TV will go by cable, satellite and air (DVB-C, DVB-S and DVB-T). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVB

Of course, only the latter part is relevant for imposing the new system by law. Technical progress should be capable of imposing itself on the market, if the consumers want it. That is the tricky part of the issue. I wonder what will happen if FM radio is abolished by law in Europe, in 2012 (if it is not delayed again). Almost nobody is interested in digital radio and wants to replace all the old analog radios. In fact almost nody knows what digital radio is.

http://roswellrudd.com ?

Maybe he is very busy. He was an active poster on the german Hifi Forum, but his last activity there is from January 9: http://www.hifi-forum.de/index.php?action=...ostID=last#last