Speakers Corner / Columbia - MS 6271 - 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl
AAA 100% Analogue - Audiophile Mastering - Pressed at Pallas Germany
AAA 100% Analogue This LP was Remastered using Pure Analogue Components Only, from the Master Tapes through to the Cutting Head
The three Nocturnes (the two most popular of which are recorded here) were composed between 1893 and 1899. All were originally conceived for solo violin and orchestra, but Debussy's ideas about them underwent a considerable change during the long period of their ingestion. They finally emerged as some of his strongest and most characteristic orchestral music.
Nuages, in the composer's own words, represents "the unchanging aspect of the sky, with the slow and melancholy passage of the clouds dissolving in a gray vagueness tinged with white." With seemingly inexhaustible fecundity Debussy lets us "hear" the deliberate billowing of clouds that melt together or drift apart, awesome, incorporeal.
Fetes, despite its radically different atmosphere, has in common with Nuages, a concern for the changing aspects of light as mirrored by orchestral sound. Debussy's eye does not focus on the festival istelf, but on the impression of the brilliant atmosphere surrounding it. He wanted to capture, as he said, "the restless dancing rhythms of the atmosphere, interspersed with abrupt scintillations." Even when fanfares announce an approaching processional, midway in the Nocturne, the pageant is "wholly visionary - passing through and blending the revelry...luminous dust participating in the universal rhythm."
Jeux (1912) is the only ballet score Debussy completed and orchestrated by himself. The dance always fascinated him and he projected half a dozen ballets that never materialized.
In the hands of the multi-talented Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, all of the above are given nuanced and colorful readings in what adds up to be one of the finest collections of Debussy's symphonic works available. This 180g vinyl reissue from Speakers Corner was remastered using pure analogue components only, from the master tapes through to the cutting head.
Musicians:
Claude Debussy, composer
Leonard Bernstein, conductor
New York Philharmonic
Selections:
Claude Debussy
Side A:
Prelude
1. Afternoon of A Faun (L'Apres-Midi d'un faune)
Nocturnes
2. Nuages
3. Fetes
Side B:
Jeux
4. Poeme Danse
AAA 100% Analogue This Speakers Corner LP was remastered using pure analogue components only, from the master tapes through to the cutting head 25 Years pure Analogue
MADE FROM THE ORIGINAL MASTER TAPES
AAA 100% ANALOGUE - PURE ANALOGUE AUDIOPHILE MASTERING
We use the Original Tapes and work with only the Best Mastering Studios Worldwide
180 GRAM VIRGIN VINYL PLATED & PRESSED AT PALLAS GERMANY
Faithful Reproduction of the Original Artwork and Labels
LIMITED EDITION Released in Limited Quantities
All Licences and Mechanical Rights Paid
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!
