180g 200g 45rpm Box Sets.

Vladimir Horowitz - Horowitz At Carnegie Hall - 180g 2LP

Product no.: M2S728

£44.93

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Available delivery methods: UK Tracked with Signature, Airmail Standard, UK Express, Airmail Tracked with Signature, UK Standard, Heavy Item

Description

AAA 100% Analogue This LP was Remastered using Pure Analogue Components Only from the Master Tapes through to the Cutting Head

Speakers Corner / Columbia M2S 728 - 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl

AAA 100% Analogue - Mastered a Masterdisk New York

Limited Edition - Pressed at Pallas Germany

Speakers Corner 25 Years Pure Analogue This LP is an Entirely Analogue Production

The Absolute Sound Super Disc List TAS Harry Pearson Super LP List

Horowitz’s 1965 performance at Carnegie Hall was truly a triumphant return -- he won two Grammy’s for the album. Happily, Speakers Corner returns us to the event with a pair of well-made vinyl records. As a moment in time, they deliver a thrilling and magical slice from the past with one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century - Music 5/5 Sound 4.5/5 TheAudioBeat

SC have a greater dynamic range, the piano sound is bigger and they are cut at a higher level. Both have real presence and there is some idea of the hall acoustic, although given the size of the auditorium one assumes the microphones were fairly close to the piano. There is excellent definition and clarity; however particularly in the middle-register the tone is harsher than on the original. . This release, while very different, isn’t superior to the original, but as ever availability and condition enter into the equation and here Speakers Corner win hands down. - Classical Source

Vladimir Horowitz's technical ease, power, wide color palette, singing tone and musicianship sent other now-legendary pianists, including Rudolf Serkin, Arthur Rubinstein and Claudio Arrau, back to the practice room.

Serkin said Horowitz "opened a new world for me," and Rubinstein admitted in his autobiography to feeling jealous after hearing Horowitz's near note-perfect playing. Arrau's own mother turned to him after a Horowitz recital and said, "He plays better than you."

Most baby boomers never got to hear that Horowitz, when his technique was unsurpassed

After a self-imposed 12-year exile from public performance, pianist Vladimir Horowitz, at age 62, returned to the stage for a performance at Carnegie Hall on May 9, 1965. It was an important event: This titanic figure of the keyboard had been away for so long that everyone wanted to know, "Did he still have it?"

By the time he turned 40, Horowitz was a legend. Sergei Rachmaninoff called him the greatest pianist of the 20th century. Horowitz had conquered Europe and then America, setting the standard of contemporary virtuosity — he defined it, and for better or worse, that was what people wanted to hear. Horowitz also had an enormous range of tone and incredible charisma.

Now, revisit that historic performance, on this premier 2LP 180-gram release from Speakers Corner. In this concert, it's easy to hear how Horowitz toys with the music, and he achieves as much through gentleness and an almost laughable ease as he does through anything that would be considered technically overwhelming.

Musicians:
Vladimir Horowitz, piano

Selections:
LP 1
Side A:
Bach / Busoni
Organ Toccata in C Major
1. Prelude
2. Intermezzo: Adagio
3. Fugue
Side B:
Schumann
Fantasy in C Major, Op. 17
1. Fantastic and with Passion
2. Moderate, Energetic Throughout
3. Slow, Sustained and Tender throughout

LP 2
Side C:
Scriabin
1. Sonata No. 9 in F Major, Op. 68
2. Poem in F-Sharp minor, Op. 32, No. 1
Chopin
3. Mazurka in C Sharp minor, Op. 30, No. 4
4. Etude in F Major, Op. 10, No.8
Side D:
Chopin
1. Ballade in G minor, Op. 23
Debussy
2. Serenade for The Doll from "Children's Corner"
Scriabin
3. Etude in C-Sharp minor, Op. 2, No. 1
Moszkowski
4. Etude in A-flat Major, Op. 72, No. 11
Schumann
5. Traumerei (Dream) from "Kinderszenen", Op. 15

Recording: May 1965 live at Carnegie Hall, New York, by Fred Plaut

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25 Years pure Analogue

Are your records completely analogue?

Yes! This we guarantee!

As a matter of principle, only analogue masters are used, and the necessary cutting delay is also analogue. All our cutting engineers use only Neumann cutting consoles, and these too are analogue. The only exception is where a recording has been made – either partly or entirely – using digital technology, but we do not have such items in our catalogue at the present time

Are your records cut from the original masters?

In our re-releases it is our aim to faithfully reproduce the original intentions of the musicians and recording engineers which, however, could not be realised at the time due to technical limitations. Faithfulness to the original is our top priority, not the interpretation of the original: there is no such thing as a “Speakers Corner Sound”. Naturally, the best results are obtained when the original master is used. Therefore we always try to locate these and use them for cutting. Should this not be possible, – because the original tape is defective or has disappeared, for example – we do accept a first-generation copy. But this remains an absolute exception for us.

Who cuts the records?

In order to obtain the most faithful reproduction of the original, we have the lacquers cut on the spot, by engineers who, on the whole, have been dealing with such tapes for many years. Some are even cut by the very same engineer who cut the original lacquers of the first release. Over the years the following engineers have been and still are working for us: Tony Hawkins, Willem Makkee, Kevin Gray, Maarten de Boer, Scott Hull, and Ray Staff, to name but a few.

At the beginning of the ‘90s, in the early days of audiophile vinyl re-releases, the reissue policy was fairly straightforward. Companies such as DCC Compact Classics, Mobile Fidelity, Classic Records and others, including of course Speakers Corner, all maintained a mutual, unwritten code of ethics: we would manufacture records sourced only from analogue tapes.

Vinyl’s newfound popularity has led many other companies to jump on the bandwagon in the hope of securing a corner of the market. Very often they are not so ethical and use every imaginable source from which to master: CDs, LPs, digital files and even MP3s.

Even some who do use an analogue tape source employ a digital delay line, a misguided ’80s and ‘90s digital technology that replaces the analogue preview head originally used to “tell” the cutter head in advance what was about to happen musically, so it could adjust the groove “pitch” (the distance between the grooves) to make room for wide dynamic swings and large low frequency excursions. Over time analogue preview heads became more rare and thus expensive.

So while the low bit rate (less resolution than a 16 bit CD) digital delay line is less expensive and easier to use than an analogue “preview head”, its use, ironically, results in lacquers cut from the low bit rate digital signal instead of from the analogue source!

Speakers Corner wishes to make clear that it produces lacquers using only original master tapes and an entirely analogue cutting system. New metal stampers used to press records are produced from that lacquer. The only exceptions are when existing metal parts are superior to new ones that might be cut, which includes our release of “Elvis is Back”, which was cut by Stan Ricker or several titles from our Philips Classics series, where were cut in the 1990s using original master tapes by Willem Makkee at the Emil Berliner Studios. In those cases we used only the original “mother” to produce new stampers.

In addition, we admit to having one digital recording in our catalogue: Alan Parsons’ “Eye in the Sky”, which was recorded digitally but mixed to analogue tape that we used to cut lacquers.

In closing, we want to insure our loyal customers that, with but a few exceptions as noted, our releases are “AAA”— analogue tape, an all analogue cutting system, and newly cut lacquers.

PALLAS

Audiophile Vinyl - Made in Germany For over 60 years the family business in the third generation of the special personal service and quality "Made by Pallas" is known worldwide. Our custom PVC formulation produces consistently high pressing quality with the lowest surface noise in the industry. Our PVC complies with 2015 European environmental standards and does not contain toxic materials such as Lead, Cadmium or Toluene. Our vinyl is both audiophile and eco-grade!

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