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Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto No. 1 : Clifford Curzon : Georg Solti : Vienna Philharmonic - 180g LP

Product no.: SXL2114

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Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto No. 1 : Clifford Curzon : Georg Solti : Vienna Philharmonic - 180g LP

£34.99

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Description

Speakers Corner / Decca SXL 2114 - 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl - 4260019710154

AAA 100% Analogue - Limited Edition - Decca ffss SXL 2114

Pure Analogue Audiophile Mastering - Pressed at Pallas Germany

20 Years pure Analogue This Speakers Corner production was manufactured 100% analogously, with the use of the analogue mastertape and analogue mastering. All royalties and mechanical rights have been paid.

Tchaikovsky: Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra - Sir Clifford Curzon, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Georg Solti

If you want the most fantastically played piano concerto #! Then look no farther than this Decca LP. Much crisper and more dimensional sound than anything RCA offered with Van Cliburn. As a matter of fact the playing of the soloist and the ensemble is of a higher order than the RCA Living Stereo. One of the most beautiful piano concertos of all times and one of the most animated and lyrical musically. My vote is for this Decca re-issue with Curzon and Solti. Fantastic in every way. . Beautiful Decca replica covers of the highest degree. What more could you possibly want? Look no further! Piano on fire! AV review

By the end of February 1875, Tchaikovsky had completed the orchestration of his Piano Concerto No. 1 which was given its first performance in the same year in Boston by Hans von Bülow. In St. Petersburg the composer himself conducted his concert on the first of December.

The main theme of the first movement is based upon a Russian folksong, and the finale takes the form of a splendid “danse russe”, while the middle section takes up motifs of a french chansonette from Bizet’s Carmen.

Among the many pianists who have recorded this piano concert, Clifford Curzon is remarkable for dispensing with exaggerations and mannerisms in his interpretation. His outstanding technique and analytic skills combine to produce a rendering of impeccable homogeneity.

The fine sound quality is yet another attractive feature of this impressive recording.

Recording: October 1958 at Sofiensaal, Vienna by James Brown / Production: John Culshaw

Musicians:
Georg Solti, conductor
Clifford Curzon, piano
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Selections:
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893)
1. Allegro
2. Andantino
3. Allegro

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.

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!