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From: greg@olivej.UUCP (Greg Paley)
Newsgroups: net.audio,net.music.classical
Subject: More CD Reviews
Message-ID: <278@olivej.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 21-Jan-85 12:17:15 EST
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Posted: Mon Jan 21 12:17:15 1985
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More impressions of CD's I've had chance to hear:

	Schubert - Symphony No. 9 (Solti/Vienna Philharmonic - London)
		Although the performance is, in many ways, a fine 
		one, I can't recommend this.  The sound is of the sort
		that anyone who wants to condemn digital recordings
		could point to - harsh, metallic, shallow and nothing
		like the actual sound I've heard in concert halls and
		on record from the Vienna Philharmonic.

	Stravinsky - Petrouchka (Michael Tilson Thomas/Philharmonia - CBS)
		This was an unusually good vinyl LP, for CBS.  The CD
		differs very little, since my LP copy had negligible
		surface noise.  In either format, it's a superb 
		performance, rhythmically clean and precise, beautifully
		played, and balanced in a way that illuminates the
		individual strands of the music without losing the
		cohesiveness.

	Debussy - Jeux/Nocturnes (Haitink/Concertgebouw - Philips)
		This is from an analogue master.  I preferred the
		sound of the LP (even better is the open-reel
		tape from Barclay-Crocker), which, even after
		multiple playings is remarkably free of surface noise.
		The CD is by no means bad, but fails to reproduce the
		opulence of the Concertgebouw string section (audible
		in live performance, and, therefore, not the product
		of analogue distortions) as well as the LP.
		The performances are excellent.

	Stravinsky - Firebird (Colin Davis/Concertgebouw - Philips)
		Although also derived from an analogue master with
		the same orchestra and hall as the Debussy record,
		this time I preferred the CD.  The LP is superb with
		very silent surfaces and a wide dynamic range, but
		the CD, on a good player, has a slightly greater
		clarity and focus.  This is also an excellent
		performance, but I prefer the austere clarity of
		Stravinsky's own (much less beautifully reproduced)
		recording on CBS.

So far my experiences with CD had been purely of classical music.
I've since had a chance to hear two jazz vocal CD's, both of which
were derived from analogue masters:

	Billie Holiday - Songs for Distingue Lovers.  The LP version
		of this has been out of print for years, only recently
		resurfacing as a French import.  Those who bought the
		British Verve (Polydor) series of 10 LP's which was
		available in the late 70's will have all of the 
		selections on this album split between Vol. 8 and 
		Vol. 9.  The CD is no better than the superbly
		silent British Verve LP pressing, which gave much
		more for the money, containing significantly more
		selections per LP.  The selections on this album
		are also all contained on an American Verve 2-record
		set reissue which I haven't heard, the 2-record set 
		being considerably less expensive than this single CD.
		These selections were recorded in 1957 in genuine
		stereo and the sound is very clean, closely miked
		(as with the stereo Ella Fitzgerald recordings also
		made by Verve at the time) but free of the blasting
		and distortion that marred many early stereo Columbia
		pop/jazz recordings.  By 1957 Holiday was a physical
		wreck and the voice is frail, tremulous, and very
		limited in useable range.  I found this, however,
		much more listenable than the later recordings made
		with a large orchestra under Ray Ellis ("Lady in
		Satin" for Columbia, and an album simply titled
		"Billie Holiday" originally on MGM), since the
		superb, small group backing her allowed her a
		lightness and relaxation that the heavy Ellis scorings
		didn't.  Those who like Billie Holiday in her later
		recordings will, like those who like the later
		operatic recordings of Maria Callas, have learned to
		listen through the ravages of the actual instrument
		to the still-active musical imagination and flashes
		of insight into the lyrics.  Those who know Holiday
		only by name should be warned that this is definitely
		NOT the voice that originally established her
		reputation.

	Sarah Vaughan - Sassy Swings Again.  In this case the CD
		is a marked improvement over previous LP transfers.
		Vaughan is in good voice (when isn't she?) and
		more relaxed and "herself" than in many of the
		other Mercury recordings made at the same time.

The conclusion I'm gradually reaching is that, where the master
recording is digital, the CD is likely to be preferable to the
vinyl LP.  Where the master recording is analogue, the situation
is much more variable and seems mostly dependent on the quality
of mastering and pressing done on the original LP issue.  A
first-rate mastering/pressing job, as used to be done by Philips
through the 70's, will often sound as good as, or better than,
the CD issue.  The rarity of such quality, however, in the mastering and
pressing of domestic LP's, and the deterioration in the last several
years in the quality of many European LP's indicates a preference 
for the CD.


	- Greg Paley