Album Reviews

This ravishing beauty, originally released in 1960 or fifty three years ago, has been a long-time audiophile classic. It's also considering to be among the finest if not the finest performance on record or any other format.

It's a "shaded dog" with a sterling pedigree: produced and engineered to three track tape using an all-vacuum tube recording chain by the legendary team of Richard Mohr and Lewis Layton and conducted and performed by Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony on February 8th, 1960 at Chicago's Orchestra Hall including a solo violin performance by Sidney Harth that sounds directed by a "higher authority"—as does much of the orchestra's playing. The fourth movement was performed live, without a tape splice.

I can hear some whiners from here saying "Another version of this? Hasn't it been done to death already? Doesn't everyone already have a copy?" etc.

Look, the last time this was reissued by Classic Records was almost 20 years ago. Yes, hard to believe but true. That means an entire generation has come of age and they too deserve to hear this classic in its original analog form, thank you.

As a candidate for the "I want to get into classical music can you suggest something?" Rimsky-Korsakoff's "Scheherazade" is a natural. It's the soundtrack to an imaginary movie filled with drama, intrigue, mystery and romance. It's the famous 1001 nights story set to music in 1888 at a time when music of necessity was required to provide the picture. It's "world music" before the term was invented.

The original LP edition of LSC-2446 was a "Living Stereo" treasure coveted by collectors for its transparency, lush string tone, low frequency extension and dynamic impact. Clean originals of certain stamper numbers at one time fetched hundreds of dollars.

The brothers Chesky reissued this record in the late 1980's using the original three track master tape and a rebuilt Ampex 300, with the three tracks mixed "live" to two tracks and fed directly to the cutting lathe. The plating was done, I believe, at Europadisc in New York, which also pressed it on 150 gram Teldec Virgin Vinyl.

At the time RCA was covetous of its artwork and logo so Chesky was unable to use the original cover art, the "Living Stereo" logo or the Nipper "shaded dog". The Chesky was warm and lush and had a somewhat distant perspective but at the time it was embraced by a grateful vinyl community, particularly given the insane prices of clean originals. The pressing quality unfortunately was not great with the thicker than normal vinyl giving the pressing plant some trouble with vinyl flow at the outer edges.

In the 1990s Classic Records began an extensive RCA "Living Stereo" catalog reissue series with Bernie Grundman cutting and plating and pressing at RTI. Classic negotiated and won the rights to use the original artwork including "Living Stereo" and "shaded dog" elements. For those who grew up in the pre-stereo age and who remember when those elements were introduced and our first look at and listen to a "Living Stereo" record, it was damn exciting.

The Classic reissues were a mixed bag though the 180g pressings were generally superb. Bernie Grundman's cutting system was not what it is today and his main interest is jazz. Though a great deal of care went into these reissues, Classic's decision to begin with some of the most revered "Living Stereo"s was rightly questioned by some who thought that perhaps the label should work up to the greats as the learning curve couldn't have been anything but steep.

The Classic Scheherazade was disappointing to many who thought that compared to the original the string tone was overly burnished and somewhat dark and especially lacking in delicacy and texture. The overall picture lacked transparency and depth compared to the original and the conclusion of many was that while the stereo was "living" it wasn't breathing all that well. Strings and woodwinds suffered the most in these less than successful retellings.

Nonetheless, to be fair, it was a well-produced, well-pressed record using the master tape and the price was right compared to a clean original. In retrospect, for whatever reason or reasons probably having to do with better playback gear, the Classic reissue sounds better today than it did when first released.

When Chad Kassem bought the Classic Records assets from Michael Hobson who I believe history will judge as one of the daring pioneers of the vinyl revival along with Kassem, he was determined to reissue the Living Stereo catalog using Classic's metal parts unless he cut re-cut from the original tapes and produce significantly better sound.

The original tapes were in the New York area so Kassem enlisted Sterling Sound and George Marino trained cutting engineer Ryan Smith. Tapes were played back on the late Marino's Mike Spitz modifier ATR 102 and lacquers cut on Sterling Sound's VMS 80 lathe meticulous maintained by Barry Wolifson and sent to Kassem's Salina Kansas based QRP pressing plant.

The results were so far superior in his opinion to what the older metal parts produced that he decided to green light an ambitious RCA Living Stereo reissue program using original 3 and 2 track tapes, all cut by the young Mr. Smith and plated and pressed at QRP. Kassem's reissued feature "Tip-On" jackets like the originals and meticulous attention was paid to the artwork. If you look at the back jacket of this release and compare the photo of Fritz Reiner there to Classic's you'll see a dramatic difference. The Analogue Productions version's photo is dramatically better. In fact it's better than the original as well as is the entire physical packaging.

As for the sound, well I get into arguments all to often with people who insist originals are always better. If after comparing this reissue to the original they still think so, they are hopelessly prejudiced. This reissue easily beats the original I have in every category.p> Of course the original can't begin to approach the 200g QRP pressing quality, especially in terms of velvet-black backgrounds and perfect surfaces. The reissue is far more dynamic, the low frequency extension complete, and most importantly the instrumental textures and tonalities are rich, full and spectacularly transparent. All of the delicacy, three-dimensionality and transparency promised but only partly delivered by the original is fully communicated on this Analogue Productions reissue.

Both the music and the sound are transportive, making this easy to recommend even if you think you don't like "classical" music. If you're looking for a way "in" here it is!

These recordings were simply produced of necessity, using tubes of necessity and minimal miking of necessity. Balances were set meticulously by the conductor based on how the results sounded in the control room. The musicians weren't "punching the clock." Fixing it in the mix was unheard of. It was fixed in the performance.

The first three of the twenty five that will eventually be reissued are now available and not surprisingly they are three "Living Stereo" classics that also happen to be "literate" musical compositions—ones that musically describe visuals, the other two being Moussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (LSC-2201) and Respighi's Pines of Rome/Fountains of Rome LSC-2436), the latter made famous because the original 1S pressing was too dynamic for most if not all record players of the day to properly track so it was quickly replaced with a less dynamic edition. Originals at one time went for upwards of $600. Rest assured that dynamics were not curtailed on this new reissue that is readily available, pressed better and costs around $30. Both will be separately reviewed. All twenty five will be, in fact.

Please read the final interview Part 1 ever conducted with legendary RCA producer John "Jack" Pfeiffer originally published in The Tracking Angle back in 1997.

Part 2