Callas - The Studio Recordings remastered

[Karafan]

A short film to accompany this new megabox of Callas' studio recordings remastered from the original tapes, has an interesting reference to the use sackcloth muffling in the Kingsway Hall, to dampen its huge acoustic for the recording of Barbiere. I thought Gordon might enjoy this, as our resident Kingsway Hall expert

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwIiyeGE8qI

K.

[pastoralguy]

Superb. Thank you.

[frankwm]

24/96 transferred/remastered (now old hat in itself) then bunged onto 16/44 CD.
So the 'superior definition/high frequency content' is back to previous inferior 16/44 CD levels...
I'd stick with the ancient original LP's (an ever-appreciating 'asset') - or some later LP masterings.

[umslopogaas]

Well ... yes, but a few points.

1. Most of us dont have the original LPs (I have some, certainly not all).
2. To acquire them will cost a fortune if you are lucky enough to find a vendor, whereas
3. the latest CD set is phenomenally cheap, about two quid per disc.
4. For all the nostalgia LPs generate (and I should know, I collect them), CDs are a superior medium: you can drop them and they dont break, you can play them in the car, they take up less space and they dont wear out.

I have the latest "Callas remastered" CD set and am enjoying ploughing my way through it, though forty operas will take a few evenings.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I was impressed by the interview, not considering de-hissing a priority (and something that adversely affected the Solti Rheingold).

[Alain Maréchal]

It was interesting to see the original notes of the producers and sound engineers. Instructions like "slowly increase to +2db" remind me of Klemperer's reported response when he was told about similar editing: "ist ein Schwindel!".