Decca Eloquence

[HighlandDougie]

Contrary to postings above re Presto and MDT, I think Oz should work out significantly cheaper at $34.47 inc postage (Amazon £22.07) -

I think that it probably depends on the number of CDs you buy. The van Beinum set - although it's 4 CDs - weighs less than the 4 CDs I ordered so the postage costs quite a bit less. In my case, I saved 87p by comparison with MDT - and I had to wait a bit longer - so it probably pays to do the sums first. Not that I'm complaining, as it was still cheaper, the CDs are great and I would probably never have noticed them had I not been alerted to the Buywell site in the first place.

[mikealdren]

I have a few Eloquence CDs and I've always wondered about what their source material is. Do they have access to the tapes. Some of the recordings don't seem as good as I hoped but maybe it's looking back to LPs with rose tinted specs.

Mike

[HighlandDougie]

Mike

This is an interesting article from Fanfare:

http://www.buywell.com/booklets/Kaplan%20Ansermet%20article.pdf

which says a bit about the tapes question.

[Karafan]

Mike

This is an interesting article from Fanfare:

http://www.buywell.com/booklets/Kaplan%20Ansermet%20article.pdf

which says a bit about the tapes question.

Am I the only one not to be able to read/download this pdf?

[Barbirollians]

I can read it Karafan .

[Bryn]

I can read it Karafan .

No problem here, either. What I can't seem to do easily is search it for references to tape.

[Karafan]

Thanks - I can now - it just took an A-G-E!

[HighlandDougie]

No problem here, either. What I can't seem to do easily is search it for references to tape.

The reference to tapes - "I asked Cyrus about these, and he replied, “We located stereo tapes . . . and they’ve all been wiped! Says so on the tape box and we verified with the actual masters” - suggested to me that the answer to Mike Aldren's question, "I have a few Eloquence CDs and I've always wondered about what their source material is. Do they have access to the tapes. Some of the recordings don't seem as good as I hoped but maybe it's looking back to LPs with rose tinted specs", was that they did have access to Universal tapes (which wouldn't be unlikely, given that Cyrus Meher-Homji works for Universal Australia. Had I thought that what I thought was an interesting post would have been subjected to such forensic examination, I probably wouldn't have bothered. What I've heard of Eloquence discs doesn't suggest to me that their source material is other than ur-material - unlike other labels, it clearly from the aural evidence hasn't come from transcriptions of LPs.

[PaulT]

My daughter lives in Melbourne and we visit quite often. As a consequence I have a large number of Eloquence discs and the quality does seem to be variable. At a guess I would suggest that whilst they do have access to the original masters they probably don't do much "improvement work" before issuing the CDs. So as general rule of thumb their CDs are as good as the original issues on LP or CD. Some of the early 1950s and 60s issues, for example the recent van Beinum Bruckner 4 disc set, are ok but not as good as I hoped they would be, especially symphony 5 which is an off-air recording of a live performance. These are valuable documents, we are very fortunate to have them and at the very low price I am not complaining about any of my purchases. The Australian street price is about the same as Buywell's for single and double CD sets. Bigger sets like the Bruckner and vonK Beethoven symphonies are significantly less per disc.

As an aside, one of the joys of visiting Melbourne is the chance to browse classical record shops. However only the home grown stuff is cheap. Imported CDs are normally an arm and a leg except at sale time when real bargains are to be had.

[gurnemanz]

I have been greatly enjoying a recently acquired marvellous Eloquence Twofer: Elisabeth Söderström: The Russian Songbook (+ Vladimir Ashkenazy). No texts included but mostly Tchaikovsky and fairly easily tracked down online. Here's a link Barbie's to somwhat neglected Söderström thread last year.

[Pulcinella]

Hello all

Just to say that it IS worth suggesting (re)issues.
I am one of several who have requested a release of the 1966 Argo Howells LP (Kings/Willcocks), which I'm delighted to report is about to be released, coupled with some RVW.
I have posted a message on the Discovering Howells thread: this was my introduction to Howells.

By the way, I'm the person who prompted french frank's message 37 above! I have decided to join the forum rather than ask for another message to be posted on my behalf!

Pulcinella

[amateur51]

Hello all

Just to say that it IS worth suggesting (re)issues.
I am one of several who have requested a release of the 1966 Argo Howells LP (Kings/Willcocks), which I'm delighted to report is about to be released, coupled with some RVW.
I have posted a message on the Discovering Howells thread: this was my introduction to Howells.

By the way, I'm the person who prompted french frank's message 37 above! I have decided to join the forum rather than ask for another message to be posted on my behalf!

Pulcinella

Welcome Pulcinella and well done with your Eloquence urgings - good to hear

[mikealdren]

Mike

This is an interesting article from Fanfare:

http://www.buywell.com/booklets/Kaplan%20Ansermet%20article.pdf

which says a bit about the tapes question.

Thanks HD, a very interesting article. They clearly take sound qualilty seriously.

The Eloquence CDs I have include Grumiaux and Campoli and Martinon's Offenbach overtures. They all sound ok but none of them sounds particularly special. I really should compare them with the LPs.

Mike