Testament Label Favourites

[gurnemanz]

I have to say their earlier issues from the EMI catalogue have been the gems, their price is not very competitive for some of their radio sourced issues.

I have only two - both already mentioned and both favourites: The Hotter/Moore Wolf disc and the Hollywood Shostakovich/Franck Piano Quintets. I suspect that price is a factor in this rather low tally. I recently got the EMI Hans Hotter Icon set (Amazon £14.47 for 6CDs) which contains the Wolf Lieder as well as umpteen other goodies. Amazon are currently charging £21.68 (although probably available a bit cheaper elsewhere) for one Testament CD of the same Wolf recordings.

[verismissimo]

It's the Keilberth Ring for me. A revelation.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I'm sorry to be boringly predictable, but the RPO/Kempe Alpine Symphony - so long ignored by RCA for release, in spite of a promise from the company in a letter many years earlier - is the star issue on Testament. It's still one of my favourite versions.

[mikealdren]

Hi Ferret,
I've got some Eloquence issues that haven't appeared on Decca yet, Martinon's wonderful Offenbach overtures for instance, and I've been disappointed by the sound, I had hoped it would have more 'presence' but it sounds very flat and monochrome. I've also got some of the Grumiaux recordings which were pretty good LPs in their time and, again, sound lacklustre but, to be fair, I haven't compared them with the Decca CDs.

Some of the early EMI CDs were particularly poor transfers and the Michael Rabin set was one of the worst, very poor when compared with the LPs. I'd love to know whether Testament set is better but I'm not going to buy them on spec.

Mike

[Petrushka]

Yes to the Keilberth Ring and yes to the Kempe Alpine Symphony. Grateful thanks to Testament for the release of these vital issues.

Someone at Testament, though, really does need to get a grip on the pricing structure. Offering Furtwangler's 1942 Bruckner 5, to take one example, at £10.99 (as on their website) is simply not competitive however good the transfer. I got the CD anyway but I would consider a price of £6.99 to be a fair one given the extreme age of the recording.

Edit: I see that Presto are offering 20% off Testament recordings until April 18 2012. Fill yer boots!!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Offering Furtwangler's 1942 Bruckner 5, to take one example, at £10.99 (as on their website) is simply not competitive however good the transfer.

It's possible to buy the Furtwangler 107 CD set for a little over £100, which means you get 106 extra Furtwangler CDs for the extra £90. But then again, you may not want all of them, though I have been listening to them in small doses and find many this conductor's interpretations to be quite stunning. And I haven't started on the Wagner yet. I'm leaving that until last.
But, returning to the topic, I've often wondered whether the Marmite and peanut butter sleeve-note designs affect the sales of Testament CDs?

[Petrushka]

Marmite and peanut butter sleeve-note designs

[jayne lee wilson]

Joining a thread too late as usual, probably be ignored, but, albeit we're all used to budget boxes, I'm a little surprised at complaints about price, Testament do offer quality, not quantity - pace Mike Aldren, I'm generally impressed with the processing, especially if Paul Baily (sic) is doing it. I've often compared Testament issues with the Toshiba 13/1400s - something of a world standard for EMI remastering - and they're almost as good, pretty damn close, sometimes a bit easier on the ear than the warts-and-all Toshibas.

My favorites would include :
Cluytens Roussel 3&4 and the Sinfonietta, his mono Bizet Suites and DSCH 11;
Peter Maag, Mozart 29, 34 and the Posthorn with the SRO;
Solomon/Dobrowen Brahms B Flat Concerto;
Klemperer's live VPO set - that Bruckner 5, that Brahms Requiem!
Knappertsbusch/VPO, Bruckner 3&4;
Szell's live BPO Schumann 2 etc.;
Albert Wolff doing luscious Massenet suites in Paris;
and as said above, anything by the Hollywood Quartet.

I've always been fond of the white-on-black covers - it always seems an insignia of quality, of real care being taken with the sonic accuracy and quality.

PS to FF and Mike Aldren - I share your suspicions of Eloquence, but their Krips reissues last year were pretty good, no? I loved the Haydn/Mendelssohn/Schubert one with the LSO/VPO.

[Bryn]

I only have a couple of Testament issues, and after the disappointment at discovering the receiver end FM source used for their Havergal Brian 'Gothic'/Boult issue,(there's a give-away stereo carrier peak in the region of 19kHz), I feel in no hurry to get any further issues from them without Testament giving a more honest account the provenance of the recordings they release.

[jayne lee wilson]

Yes, that does seem to have been happening more recently, those live Klemperer Beethoven Symphonies issued in 2007 (sbt 1405 etc.) sounded distinctly dodgy too. Disappointing, they can do much better!

I only have a couple of Testament issues, and after the disappointment at discovering the receiver end FM source used for their Havergal Brian 'Gothic'/Boult issue,(there's a give-away stereo carrier peak in the region of 19kHz), I feel in no hurry to get any further issues from them without Testament giving a more honest account the provenance of the recordings they release.

[Barbirollians]

I find the price criticism a little odd . They are at the high end of mid price - £10.50 - it is true that full price discs have largely disappeared or are discounted online but I hardly consider £10.50 extortionate and they can be often sourced more cheaply.

I have more of their reissues of old EMI recordings than live stuff - but the Toscanini Brahms RFH recordings and that 1957 Klemperer Beethoven 9 are both splendid .

[mathias broucek]

I find the price criticism a little odd . They are at the high end of mid price - £10.50 - it is true that full price discs have largely disappeared or are discounted online but I hardly consider £10.50 extortionate and they can be often sourced more cheaply.

That's a fair point for first issue material but rather less so for recording that used to be on Classics for Pleasure LPs.....

[Petrushka]

That's a fair point for first issue material but rather less so for recording that used to be on Classics for Pleasure LPs.....

... and also for recordings 60 or more years old.

[mikealdren]

pace Mike Aldren, I'm generally impressed with the processing, especially if Paul Baily (sic) is doing it. I've often compared Testament issues with the Toshiba 13/1400s - something of a world standard for EMI remastering - and they're almost as good, pretty damn close, sometimes a bit easier on the ear than the warts-and-all Toshibas.

Thanks for this Jayne, I may well give the Rabin box a try. I certainly want the previously unissued works.

Mike

[Barbirollians]

There is one fair point I think about their pricing . The Brahms 2 with Barbirolli that apparently preceded the opening of Coventry Cathedral with the BPO is alone on disc no doubt as the rest of the concert was apparently not recorded . That surely called for Testament to put it out at a special price . Otherwise , I think the quality of the repertoire and the proper new booklet notes justify a higher mid price offering.