Mendelssohn / Chopin - Cello Sonatas : Janos Starker & György Sebök - 180g LP

Product no.: SR90320

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Mendelssohn / Chopin - Cello Sonatas : Janos Starker & György Sebök - 180g LP
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Speakers Corner / Mercury - SR90320 - 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl - AAA 100% Analogue

Limited Edition - Pure 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

Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 2, op. 58 / Chopin: Sonata for Cello and Piano, op. 65 - Janos Starker & György Sebök 

A powerful broad theme, driven by nervous, throbbing chains of semiquavers (16th notes) in the piano and a vigorously bowed cello which sings out its melody with a bitter-sweet tone – if every chamber-music work began so invitingly as Mendelssohn’s D major Cello Sonata, then the number of fans of works for small ensemble would rapidly increase. The dedicatee Count Wielhorsky, an excellent amateur cellist, must surely have revelled in this closely-knit work with its waft of salon air.
 
Although it is somewhat astonishing that Mendelssohn’s Cello Sonata is left unmentioned in some music handbooks, this is soon forgotten when one listens to Janos Starker and György Sebök playing the work so resolutely and with such refreshing vitality.
 
Chopin’s Cello Sonata too undeservedly remains in the shadows thrown by his great piano concertos. Here again, the two musicians prove that they are a perfectly balanced team who complement one another admirably. Their lightning-swift interchanges between intimate, introvert expression and nervous passion, spiralling upwards to the cello’s most dramatic top register, are characteristic for the playing of this world-class virtuoso duo who here present a remarkable recording of two rarely performed masterpieces.
 
 July 1962 in  Watford Town Hall, Watford, England, von C. Robert Fine 7 Robert Eberenz

 

Production: Wilma Cozart-Fine und Harold Lawrence
 
Any release by Janos Starker is eagerly awaited by record collectors the world over. The New York Times pinpointed the reason: "The clue to his appeal as a concert performer is a melding of poet, virtuoso and thinker, that fascinating mixture of fire and ice in his playing." He is accompanied here by his childhood friend and longtime collaborator, Gyorgy Sebok, in elegant and magical performances. 
 
More magician than cellist, Janos Starker manipulates his instrument as if it were the easiest in the world instead of, as many musicians believe, the most difficult. 
 
Musicians:
 
Janos Starker, cello
Gyorgy Sebok, piano
 
Selections:
 
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Cello Sonata in D Major, Op. 58
for Violoncello and Piano
 
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Cello Sonata in g minor, Op. 65
for Violoncello and Piano

Mendelssohn / Chopin - Cello Sonatas : Janos Starker & György Sebök - 180g LP

                               
20 Years pure Analogue

This Speakers Corner LP was remastered using pure analogue components only, from the master tapes through to the cutting head 20 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.
 
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! 

 

 

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