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

Speakers Corner / Deutsche Grammophon - DGG SLPM 138 999

AAA 100% Analogue - 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl  - Pressed at Pallas Germany

Pure Analogue Audiophile Mastering - Limited Edition

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

 Concerto pour violon et orchestre – Wolfgang Schneiderhan et l'orchestre de Berlin Philharmonic conduit par Eugen Jochum

Recording: May / July 1962 at the Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin by Günter Hermanns / Production: Wolfgang Lohse. Release date: 02/96 Beethoven’s only violin concerto is certainly one of the most lovely works ever written for this instrument. The symphonically conceived work is admired for its highly lyrical and expressive character and as such belongs in the repertory of all great violinists.

Numerous performances, often all too sentimental or exaggerated, are available on record – but this Deutsche Grammophon production from 1962 is a refreshing exception. With a tender, serene timbre and perfect intonation, the soloist Wolfgang Schneiderhan allows the spirit of the score to breathe throughout. The captivating and poetic music is further enhanced by the Berlin Philharmonic who play with a sonority that has yet to be equalled.

The strings with the swell and subsidence of their carpets of sound, the subtle and finely balanced woodwinds, the double basses which murmur darkly at the very bottom of their register – all effuse a feeling of consecration and peaceful transfiguration in this concerto, a concerto which has never seen its like in two centuries. The balance engineers achieved a remarkable feat when documenting this epoch-making work, for this recording is certainly one of the very best to come from Deutsche Grammophon in the Sixties.

There is a recording of classical music that has been part of Avantgarde Acoustic demos (on shows, promotions and other events) for many years now. Admittedly it’s sometimes hard to find the appropriate time to end it, before part of the audience gets impatient..The recording dates from 1962 in the Jesus-Christus-Kirche in Berlin. Though Deutsche Grammophon recordings are often said to be less than impressive, this can’t be adopted for this recording. Not even the slight tape noise can really diminish the excellence of the performance, and especially the German “Speaker’s Corner” LP remastering,  show plenty of the amenities of this particular recording. The violin possesses physical presence, the playing shows finesse and tonality, low passages reveal a phantastic transparency of single instruments and instrumental groups. Overall, the musicians are wonderfully “there” in the sacral environment, and if required, the recording truly delivers the power and dynamics of the Berliner Philharmoniker orchestra..

                               

25 Years pure Analogue

This Speakers Corner LP was remastered using pure analogue components only, from the master tapes through to the cutting head

 

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.

 

60 Years 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!