Classical Vinyl Obsession

An overview of classical vinyl additions to the collection over the past year +.
Channels Mentioned:
Flowering Spikes
/ @floweringspikes
Music On Record
/ @musiconrecord6724
Poetry On Plastic
/ @poetryonplastic
The Pressing Matters
/ @thepressingmatters
The Waxed
/ @theboomerscalper
Shops Mentioned:
Blind Dog Hi-Fi (Huntington Beach, CA)
www.blinddoghifiandrecords.com
High Fidelity (Los Angeles, CA)
highfidelityla.com
Luna Music (Indianapolis, IN)
www.lunamusic.net
Rockaway Records (Silver Lake, CA)
www.rockaway.com
Stereo Unlimited (San Diego, CA)
stereounlimitedsd.com
Specific Videos Mentioned:
The Pressing Matters - Le Cid by Massenet
• Massenet: Le Cid Balle...
Flowering Spikes - Berlioz/Kojian (Reference Recordings)
• Classical record shopp...
Noted & Archived - ORG Label Overview
• Label Overview: Origin...
The Pressing Matters - Power Of The Orchestra
• RCA Living Stereo Spec...
Composer / Conductor / Performer - Music (Label, Format, RPM):
Tchaikovsky / Reiner / Heifetz - Violin Concerto (Analogue Productions, 33rpm)
Bizet / Ansermet - L’Arlesienne & Carmen Suites (ORG, 2xLP, 45rpm)
De Falla / Burgos / Soriano - Nights In The Garden Of Spain (Alto High-Fidelity, 33pm)
Britten / Debussy / Rostropovich - Fünf Stücke Im Volkston Cello Sonata (Alto High-Fidelity, 33rpm)
Strauss / Szell / Schwartzkopf - Four Last Songs (EMI, 33rpm)
Tchaikovsky / Previn - Manfred (Alto High-Fidelity, 2xLP, 33rpm)
Massenet / Fremaux - Le Cid (Klavier, 33rpm)
Elgar / Williams - Barbirolli Conducts English String Music (Alto High-Fidelity, 33rpm)
Adam / Martinon - Giselle (Speakers Corner, 33rpm)
Kondrashin / Khatchaturian - Masquerade Suite / The Comedians (Classic Records, 33rpm)
Debussy / Ravel / Reiner - Iberia (Analogue Productions, 33rpm)
Prokofieff / Martinon - Symphony No. 7 / Overture Russe (Classic Records, 33rpm)
Bruch / Sargent / Heifetz - Scottish Fantasy / Concerto No. 5 (Classic Records, 2xLP, 33rpm)
Gottschalk / Gould / Abravanel - A Night In The Tropics (Analogue Productions, 33rpm)
Berlioz / Kojian - Symphonie Fantastique (Reference Recordings, 2xLP, 45rpm)
Canteloube / Davrath - Songs Of The Auvergne (Analogue Productions, 33rpm)
Bizet / Shchedrin - The Carmen Ballet (Alto High-Fidelity, 33rpm)
Brahms / Curzon - Piano concerto No. 1 in D Minor, Opus 15 (ORG, 2xLP, 45rpm)
Munch - The French Touch (RCA Living Stereo, 33rpm)
Tchaikovsky / Strauss / Munch - Romeo & Juliet / Till Eulenspiegel (Classic Records, 33rpm)
Ravel / Ibert / Paray - Rapsodie Espagnole, La Valse… (Classic Records, 33rpm)
Thompson / Stokowski - The Plow That Broke The Plains (Analogue Productions, 33rpm)
Vitali / Tedesco / Fauré / Heifetz - The Lark (Impex, 33rpm)
Reiner - Festival (Classic Records)
Brahms / Walter - Symphony No. 4 (Classic Records, 4xLP, 45rpm)
Moussorgsky / Leibowitz - The Power Of The Orchestra (Analogue Productions, 2xLP, 45rpm)
Grieg / Fjeldstad - Peer Gynt (ORG, 2xLP, 45rpm)
Tchaikovsky / Mendelssohn / Liszt - 1812 Overture, Fingal’s Cave… (Classic Records, 4xLP, 45rpm)
Sibelius / Hendl / Heifetz - Violin Concerto in D Minor, Opus 47 (Analogue Productions, 33rpm)
Gibson - Witches’ Brew (Analogue Productions, 33rpm)
Ravel / Munch - Bolero (Analogue Productions, 33rpm)
Hovhaness / Stravinsky - Mysterious Mountain / Divertimento (RCA Living Stereo, 33rpm)
Fistoulari - Ballet Music From The Opera (Analogue Productions, 33rpm)
De Falla / De Burgos / De Los Angeles - The Three Cornered Hat (Alto High-Fidelity, 33rpm)
Hérold / Lanchbery - La Fille Mal Gardée (Speakers Corner, 4xLP, 45rpm)
Albeniz / Ravel / Morel - Iberia (Classic Records, 2xLP, 33rpm)
Bartók / Reiner - Music For Strings, Percussion and Celesta (Classic Records, 33rpm)
Profofieff / Stravinsky / Reiner - Lieutenant Kije / Song Of The Nightingale (Classic Records, 33rpm)
Osipov State Russian Folk Orchestra - Balalaika Favorites (Classic Records, 33rpm)
Shostakovich / Martinon - The Age of Gold Ballet Suite & Symphony No. 1 (Classic Records, 33rpm)
Background Music
Henryk Górecki - Symphony No 3, I. Lento. Sostenuto Tranquillo Ma Cantabile
Playlist
michaelamuller.substack.com/p...

[@MrLovell1971]

Michael awesome classical finds and descriptions I definitely thinking about taking the leap into Classical vinyl.

[@NotedArchived]

Thanks, L! It's a vast ocean out there. VC folks mentioned in the video are here to help steer us! Ha. Hope you are well, sir. Cheers from LA.

[@robh6173]

Im really quite jealous of whats available in tn US. These kind of releases just cant be found in the UK. Thank you so much for including those channel and shop links.

[@mad4vinyl802]

Michael, you have assembled a splendid assortment of classical recordings. I have yet to present the albums that I procured at the Goodwill. It has been over a year since I’ve purchased them. Classical music is so intricate that a new audiophile pressing is nearly essential if one wishes to avoid surface noise. I will keep my eyes open for the titles that you mentioned.

[@NotedArchived]

Thanks, Mark. Would love to see some selections from your collection eventually. Happy spinning and all best from out west.

[@analogueanorak1904]

A lovely tour around some glorious envy inducing premium vinyl there. Based on your choices I think you would love Britten’s Prince of the Pagodas. I don’t think it has been repressed yet but the 1970’s Ace of Diamonds GOS was released relatively late in the day so a nicely looked after copy holds its own against the current crop of high quality re- releases. Although it is true that from the RCA Living Stereo perspective things are pretty grim price wise in the UK I think one of the consolations is the abundance of very reasonable condition and price HMV/EMI second hand pressings from the 60s and 70s so my advice for UK collecting is to lean into those.

[@NotedArchived]

Great intel and both the Britten and the HMV/EMIs. Cheers!

[@lokitio]

An enjoyable run-through, appreciated the notes you provided for each album. Thanks, great stuff!

[@NotedArchived]

Thanks for the view and the note. So glad you enjoyed.

[@stevecarlsonvinylcommunity9147]

Well you have come a real long way from those early punk days Michael. Some beautiful looking albums and wonderful information. I do enjoy classical and continue to try to show some though I can’t speak really intelligently about it. I’m more about the stories around the songs which are all very rock n roll

[@NotedArchived]

The punk and hardcore is eternally present in parallel ;)

[@jeffreywoodke]

Excellent list my friend! Many of those have been on my wishlist forever! Hoping the rest of this year I can finally buckle down and seriously work on my classical vinyl collection.

[@NotedArchived]

A slippery slope indeed. Got very lucky on a couple big collection purchases from those shops I mentioned. The Luna Music one, especially. They had them priced to sell quick. Now I just need more hours in the day to listen to all of these. Always nice to hear from you, Jeffrey. XO

[@musiconrecord6724]

Classical Record Porn!!! I LOVE this whole new style of presentation! Even though I have many of these, I still found myself thinking "ooh! I must get that!!". One minor correction. The Classic Records 45 of the Paray/Ravel/Ibert actually OMITS the Ravel La Valse, which is such a daft decision. It's one of the highlights of the record. Thanks for the shout-out, btw. Looking forward to our next record scavenge.....

[@NotedArchived]

AH, I had the Ravel/Paray info backwards! I always thought it was the other way around. Good intel. Thanks, dear Mark. You've been a massive inspiration and well of wisdom for me on the journey. See you soon, mate.

[@Andrew_from_Oz_Vinyl_Landscape]

Nice Michael Small point that picture of Wilma Fine is not from when she first worked for Mercury, in the background in your photo u see Cello equipment that’s 20 years or more later and suspect this was a photo from her project to convert the analogue Mercury’s to CD

[@NotedArchived]

Yes, I was just sharing a photo of her in general / context was immaterial.

[@1Verwoert]

Wow what an impressive selection of records , amazing !

[@NotedArchived]

Thanks, Tom. Slowly and surely following the meandering path...

[@Budgetphile]

Lovely. You’ve inspired me to take a break from my jazz/Grateful Dead only streak to spin some RCA living Stereos this weekend. Still only spinning OGs/early presses. Need to finally jump into the Audiophile classical pool.

[@anotherfatbeardedmantalkin5893]

Hello Michael. Great to see your Classical collection. It's a very odd experience, as if I'm entering an alternate universe. The American Classical music audiophile vinyl release scene seems completely different to the UK and Europe, despite much of the music originating from the UK. First off, RCA Living Stereo and Mercury Living Presence records weren't released in the UK in anywhere near the numbers they were in the US, mainly because UK labels would record and release the same music for the home market. Obviously this also goes for orchestras, where you are very unlikely to see American orchestras on UK releases. The cover design and artwork always look totally at odds with the design choices made here. Almost as if they were trying to appeal to very different audiences. The repertoire also seems quite different. Now, I caveat this by saying perhaps it's the choices of audiophile reissue labels, or perhaps your own musical preferences. Of course there are universal similarities, but it seems to me the American repertoire is narrower and a trifle more populist. With lots of releases of mixed programmes of pieces, rather than complete works. Ballet music seems far more popular in the US, and skews towards the Romantic and modern periods. This isn't an observation based just on your video, but on a number of other audiophile classical music KZbin channels. No Baroque? Is this a period of music you don't gravitate towards, or is it not well represented in the audiophile releases? A fascinating video made all the more enjoyable by your fabulously soothing voice. I think you could have a career as a voiceover artist. Cheers - Hedley P.S. I very much enjoyed your recent album.

[@NotedArchived]

Cheers, Hedley - astute and valid observations on all accounts. I do love the Baroque but it does seem this era/style is oft overlooked by the few "audiophile" reissuers mostly gravitating toward the Decca, Londons, EMIs, RCA LS and MLP. Perhaps this is due to the sheer higher quality of those recordings and state of the analog tapes? Who knows. Thanks so much for the thoughtful response. And it means the world you laid ears on my newest album - thanks for that. So happy to hear it landed nicely for you. I always enjoy your videos here, as well. Looking fwd to the next. Be well and a cheery wave from LA.