Classical Vinyl Record Reviews: London / Decca, Philips, Angel, Nonesuch, Fontana, Decca (USA)

Here is the second set of Reviews for Classical Audiophile Vinyl Records. We go over the following labels:
London / Decca, Philips, Angel, Nonesuch, Fontana, Decca (American), Windham Hill, Le Chant De Monde / Melodia, Schwan Musica Mundi, Columbia (UK), HMV His Masters Voice, Decca (UK) and Philips Digital.

[@noliverslol387]

Thank you for this in depth reviews of the labels. Definitely learned of couple of things!

[@VinylBliss]

Thank you for checking out the video, I'm working on more :)

[@dat1phoenix173]

great video!

[@VinylBliss]

Thank you!

[@LetThereBeSound1]

Windham Hill records ROCK!!! It was a pioneering New Age label.

[@VinylBliss]

Absolutely! Some of those Windham Hill records are truly sonic blockbusters.

[@snipercomunity2414]

The Tennstedt 5 sounds amazing as a UK pressing. Blows you out of your chair😀😀

[@VinylBliss]

Oh my I am Jealous. I really love that performance now. The angel is just ok, pretty good for an angel but not knocking over any chairs.

[@robfriedrich2822]

8:36 "Made in Germany" instead of "Made in West Germany" could be a sign, that the record was made in East Germany by Eterna too. Only difference is, they used other labels.

[@VinylBliss]

That is a good tip thank you!

[@analogueanorak1904]

Hi great video I really enjoyed hearing about your different pressings of some of the stuff I have. I really liked your intro clip I’m very jealous I didn’t think of that! As far as the Kleiber 5th I think you are right about your copy being pre-RIAA and that being one reason it is a let down. I do have a copy, a later re-release on British Decca probably from the mid -sixties as they kept churning out the Kleiber 5th as it was one of their standout gems. My copy has a faint R in the dead wax indicating re-equalisation, sometimes this was done quite clumsily with excess treble but fortunately the Kleiber 5th was done well and it is one of the best sounding monos I have from this period. It was a Decca recording done with Ken Wilkinson at the controls in the Concertgebouw prior to Decca, Netherlands branch, breaking away to become Philips . Looking forward to seeing some more of your videos.

[@VinylBliss]

Thank you for that info and the kind words. I am going through your videos now. we are on the same page :) I do have another Klieber Beethoven but sadly I cannot locate it. It was stashed away in an "interesting and possibly excellent Monos" pile that is inaccessible at the moment. I will try to dig it out though.

[@analogueanorak1904]

@@VinylBliss It’s great when the KZbin algorithm does its job and a video from a channel like yours just arrives! It does seem like there are some new small channels covering classical music cropping up all with totally original styles and views. So it’s a really encouraging time and as we increasingly stumble across each other some great opportunities to compare pressings, notes and feedback. I am really impressed how well through using voice over your personality is coming over and the quality of photography is superb - from one macro enthusiast to another!

[@VinylBliss]

@@analogueanorak1904 I noticed that also: some smaller channels about classical vinyl are coming up in my feed. This is great to see! We need to stick together as the genre is small but powerful. I do appreciate your comments about the photography and things. Actually I was thinking about doing straight video like your channel and many others. The voice over although fun, is quite time consuming in conjunction with the editing. We will see, I really would not prefer to be on camera as my little listening and talking sessions I can be in my house coat with hair all disheveled and no one would be the wiser. P.s I found that Klieber Beethoven 5 on British pressed Decca (It was driving me crazy not having it in my clutches) I will review mine for you in my next video.

[@analogueanorak1904]

@@VinylBliss It’s possible you may find live video even more time consuming and tiring but that may just be me having an ageing brain. There certainly are more plates spinning at the same time but definitely you should have a play around see what you think and how you might want to utilise. Your current approach which works well could be tweaked to incorporate periods of live video or you could explore a different style of probably shorter live video probably more driven by a single topic. Some options that come to mind are a hello VC this is me or one that is a bit of an introduction and guide round your channel. I do think that most people do like to put a face to a voice but there are so many ways that this can be done. Please however feel happy to go in completely different ways from my suggestions as it’s so nice in creative work like this to be able to do your own thing and find your own unique path.

[@VinylBliss]

@@analogueanorak1904 Thank you for the kind encouragement. I will take into account your suggestions. I think my first live one will just be winging it and see if it is good enough to publish. You seem relaxed and thoughtful in your takes from the fist video so it is possible. In doing the voice over I had to cut out large chunks of dead silent space as my brain tried to catch up.

[@katrinat.3032]

I wish I had my big cabinet stereo that was in my house growing up, with its diamond head needle

[@VinylBliss]

People do seem to give those old cabinet models away from time to time as they take up quite a bit of space. Keep an eye out in your local classifieds / craigslist if you have somewhere to put it :)

[@sonatahewrote]

oh no I love the old nonesuch covers! I mean granted I like them because they're so gauche but still :)

[@VinylBliss]

They do have a certain esthetic. It seem like Vox was on the same artistic page during that era.

[@Tojazzer]

Kleiber is pronounced KLYE-ber

[@newardthelman6871]

Solti rules. Tennstedt's great. Haitink blows. Ultrawimp.

[@VinylBliss]

I don't think Haitink is bad, not my favorite but he has had some solid pieces. Who in your opinion is the absolute best then and what performance (stereo era)?

[@newardthelman6871]

For the Mahler 5th, my preferences are the 1970 Solti/CSO [not the later digital remake], the Karajan/BPO, and the Bernstein/NYPO. Great works of art usually have no single, definitive performance. There's always something more there than any one person may fully uncover. We're fortunate to have great artists are givng us diverse performances of depth and insight. But, there's even more mediocrity and flat out crap being produced every day.