Golden Age Classical Records - Four Decca London Gems For Beginners

[@ScottHughes-n4u]

I found another Decca gem to recommend to you. It's the Tchaikovsky Manfred Symphony with the New Philharmonia Vladamir Ashkenazy conducting. It was recorded by Kenneth Wilkinson in Kingsway Hall London in April 1977 and the sound is outstanding. The spectacular ending of the first movement with the bass drums and brass going full tilt is awesome.

[@ScottHughes-n4u]

I love the cover art on the London version of Albeniz Espanola. It's like a little painting with the Moorish arches and the beautiful tiles on the wall. Very Spanish and perfect for the music. I think all of these vintage recordings were made at Victoria Hall, Geneva Switzerland and Kingsway Hall, London. Two great recording halls. Decca's (analog) engineering done in these halls produced some of the best sounding orchestral recordings ever made. True demonstration material.

[@ThePressingMatters]

I too prefer the London artwork on that title, by far. Very intriguing. A wonderful period for Decca. Are there any Decca recordings you'd like me to review?

[@ScottHughes-n4u]

I remember a few Solti recordings from that late '60s vintage Decca period that had first class sound. 1. Bartok Miraculous Mandarin Suite 2. Mahler Symphony #3 3. Mahler Symphony #9. See what you think.

[@ThePressingMatters]

@@ScottHughes-n4u I have Miraculous Mandarin at the least, and I think one of the Mahler. Late period Decca are excellent.

[@garagegeek4863]

This was fascinating and very educational. Plus your enthusiasm. Thank you! I’ll be looking for these as well.

[@ThePressingMatters]

Thanks! Great choices and you should be able to find London 33s for not much money, especially later ones, which are mastered well and are quiet.

[@ScottHughes-n4u]

I was flipping through my LP collection and I came across another Decca gem (Argo actually) by Neville Marriner ASMF recording of Schoenberg's Verklarte Nacht from 1974. It was recorded in St. Johns Smith Square in London by Stanley Goodalll and the string sound is gorgeous. Iona Brown's violin solo glows and floats in space. It's magical. Gorgeous piece with gorgeous sound. You'd better keep your tissues at hand . You might need them at the end.

[@ThePressingMatters]

I'm a big fan of the Argo label. I don't have this one, but I do have the famous Stokowski on Capitol. I'm sure the Argo is miles better sonically. I'll keep an eye out for it, thanks for the tip.

[@poetryonplastic]

Hey Scott, great overview! I love the music of Falla and that Three Cornered Hat recording is a classic. I’ve found personally that the sweet spot for originals is the mid 60s 2nd label/pressing also called ED2 by collectors. These pressings have the “wide band” and the “deep groove” in their label, but have the “boxed” London logo instead of the Italic font “London”. I find these are pressed on quieter vinyl generally, and sound better than the later (narrow band) pressings usually. For Decca SXL versions these labels look identical except the ED2 has “made in England by” instead of the ED1 “original recording by”.

[@ThePressingMatters]

Hi Micheal, thanks for your input on this! I know you have a much broader knowledge of the many variations of these recordings, and we all can benefit from your comments here. I really enjoyed revisiting these records - what a wonderful period for Decca. So glad you enjoyed the overview and thanks so much for watching and commenting.

[@rufus_the_cat]

LOL I have to screenshot this comment to use for future reference 😺

[@lokitio]

So useful... thanks as always Scott

[@ThePressingMatters]

Great I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching!

[@joseluisherreralepron9987]

Very nice! It's funny...I have the Argenta "Espana" OG Blueback sitting out right now. Sounds great, but there is that high noise floor. I had a similar experience with the '57 "Petrouchka" with Ansermet. Sitting there in the sweet spot, hearing lateral soundstage and front/back as well, with the 'air' around the instruments and hearing page-turns and the players moving around...yep, it's a glorious thing, this hobby!

[@ThePressingMatters]

These early recordings are so impressive, just have to find the right pressings. The early ones are cool to have but often noisy. I'm ok with a slight loss of "tubey glow" to get a quiet pressing on these

[@mcgjohn22]

Really nice review. All really good selections for the person just getting into classical and all really good sonics on these discs too. Excellent comments on sonic merits. All excellent titles sonically. Also agree with the comments on Decca vs. London. Have many of both. On the 2 dozen or so I checked both lacquer numbers were the same. On the London / Decca discs there are at least 4 maybe 5 versions or releases that were pressed over the years. 1. 1st press for London was FFSS label Blue Back backet / Decca wide band w/ blue back cover. Both pressed in UK, all lacquers cut with half speed mastering and tube electronics, all were deep groove pressings. 2. London 2nd label - FFSS replaced with FFRR - still deep groove press - "made in England" moved to the top of label 12 o'clcock position; pressed in UK, lacquer still cut with half speed mastering and tube electronics. This 2nd label is significant since Decca used better cutter heads. These new cutter heads were improved in this era over the 1st gen cutter heads used in the 1st pressing. New Cutter heads were flat out to 17k or 18k and no longer had the 12k resonance peak the cutterheads used in the first Blue Back and Decca wide band pressings had. Several Decca engrs thought this was the best era for London/Decca. Blue back jacket dropped for a plain white back jacket. 3rd label - Decca narrow band label, non blueback jacket. London 3rd label - bright red label with made in England moved to center left on the label, both pressed by Decca in the UK. This was the largest change Decca made. Decca went from 1/2 speed mastering with tube electronics to full speed mastering with solid state electronics. These are still great sounding records, but if one compares one of the earlier releases to same recording on a 3rd label pressing you can hear the dryness in the disc from early solid state electronics. These releases area easy to spot on either London or Decca since the deep groove is no longer present once the switch was made to full speed mastering along with lots of pressing tooling changes. 4th London label - same as number 3 but with faded silver lettering. Decca label unchanged. Believe lacquers were the same for both 3rd and 4th london labels. 4th label- Same label but made in England" removed from label and replaced with made in Holland at the bottom of the label on both London and Decca labels. This occurred after the Polygram buyout of Decca in late 1979 or early 1980. The Decca UK pressing plant was closed and all London and Decca titles were now pressed in the Polygram plant in the Netherlands. This version in either a London or Decca can be quite good since the earlier Holland pressings were still using the Decca UK cut lacquers. And generally, the Holland pressings were a tad quieter than the Decca UK pressings. 5. The last London and Decca labels - Pressed in Holland still at the bottom of the label but vinyl was made from fresh lacquers cut by Polygram in Holland. These are very quiet pressings but usually do not have the dynamics the Decca UK lacquers had. The lacquer number will be the same but font is bolder and heavier than the Decca UK lacquer fonts. A bit more compression was used on these Holland cut lacquers. Again very quiet pressings; along the lines the Holland pressed Philips label. Another great source for info on London/Decca releases is Michael Gray's book on the London Bluebacks. Now long out of print, but copies do turn up on the used market.

[@ThePressingMatters]

Excellent information, which will provide a great reference for people looking to delve further into this. Thank you for providing it for everyone reading the comments. I finally found the RCA Bible, and the book you mention is my next quest!

[@mcgjohn22]

@@ThePressingMatters excellent!

[@retohofmann5878]

My Speakers Corner Decca "Midsummer..." is a dream to listen to with plenty of dynamics etc.. Great review, thank you!

[@ThePressingMatters]

Great! I wish I grabbed the Speakers Corner when it was available. Fantastic recording isn't it? It must have blown peoples minds when it was the first title from the new FFSS series.

[@retohofmann5878]

@@ThePressingMatters I just checked discogs. There are 5 sellers of this album, all LPs are in near mint condition, between 20 and 40 dollars. Plus freight.😉

[@jasonwhiton174]

Thanks, Scott! Great selections and it's always interesting to hear how various editions compare. I don't have most of these, so it's given me some recordings to look for. I've had my eye on the Midsummer's Night Dream for a while. There's something so charming, as you say, about that cover design. It's so late 50s, but the weird home-made crafts side of things. They must have had the children/family audience in mind. I like others from the series, too, with dancers/models in fantasy costumes. I suppose Wes Anderson has mined that style a bit in some of his films.

[@ThePressingMatters]

I know exactly which one you're thinking of, I think it's a Ravel one. They look pretty quaint now, but I still love them. Definitely keep an eye out for that Suite Espanola. You'll thank me!

[@analogueanorak1904]

Wes Anderson would be the perfect director if they ever made a film of the history of Decca records, it would be the Grand Budapest Hotel meets the French Dispatch as they all share English and European eccentrics, chaos and financial mismanagement on a grand scale!

[@Lundy3112]

thank Scott , another informative video , you combine knowledge and passion , thank you Bruce Milner from Brisbane Australia

[@ThePressingMatters]

Hi Bruce, thank you for the encouragement! Great to hear from you always and thank you for tuning into this one. Take care!

[@audiophileman7047]

I really enjoyed this video, Scott. It provides more great info for my upcoming LP Safari. Boy, I wish that I had this info years ago when I was focused on other genres of music. I was going through the classical records that I did buy, and I have a nice RCA Living Stereo set of Rossini's The Barber From Seville. It's pressed in Germany and has very different record labels! It's one of those unusual records I decided to buy. Haven't looked it up yet, but maybe it's worth something. Thank you for yet another very good, informative video. 👍👍👍

[@ThePressingMatters]

Cool! Yes it was a golden age for cheap classical collecting but it can still happen! Estate sales are a great resource. I'm glad you are enjoying these videos. We've definitely got a small community here with lots of information. Classical is very rewarding. I get burned out on other genres but not classical. It's endless.

[@audiophileman7047]

Classical music is high art and is at the peak of what music can be. I can really see why you never get tired of it. My favorite genre is blues and blues based rock. As an "advanced beginner" guitar player, the blues is what I strive to play. I first started learning guitar on a classical guitar. The fret board is a bit wider and the nylon strings are easier on the finger tips when first starting out. I do love classical music featuring guitar. I have several classical guitar lp's (Segovia, Montoya, Bream, etc.). @@ThePressingMatters

[@mr.classicalmusic5607]

Great choice of albums to review. Many of the great classical music artists recorded for Decca London. Your videos never disappoint.

[@ThePressingMatters]

Thank you so much for your comment! I'm always grateful for the encouragement. There was so much to choose from with Decca, and I felt these titles would make a fine start. They were some of the ones that got me started with Decca London and classical music in general. Sound and performance first rate as you know and could be a perfect gateway for someone new to classical. One of my goals in doing these is to help those just starting with it to have some guidance to things that are sure to please. These four or five certainly fit the bill!

[@preservedmoose]

Really nice Scott, you clearly have an encyclopaedic knowledge of classical records and pressings. I bought all of the RCA Living Stereo series that Analogue Production released and there were Deccas too (25 + 25 + 12). I did this really to get into classical and this series was very highly regarded with lots of great titles - I've not listened to them all yet! It is an area that I don't know a huge amount about, so these videos are a really great help to find great versions of interesting pieces of music. I'm a huge fan of Speakers Corner records and have over 100 of their records, in various genres, but not too many classical titles. Maybe that is something I need to look in to... :) Thank you for the video!

[@ThePressingMatters]

Thank you for watching Stephen! I think you'll find a lot of enjoyment exploring the Decca catalog. Many of the greatest are represented by the Speakers Corner series, but there are plenty of great pressings out there on London. The España and Suite Española are two that sound great in the late pressings. I'll be covering more from Decca in the future. Thanks for the encouragement!

[@rufus_the_cat]

The Salvatore website was a big resource for me before I started getting info from KZbin. In fact that website was the reason I bought that English string music years ago. Re: the decca vs. London. We learned from the OBC dealer that the London were actually pressed first because they needed to be shipped out to the states. If you care about what was pressed earlier (which I don’t) no one should complain about the London records except for their hideous covers. Did the British think that low of us that we could not appreciate the better art LOL.

[@ThePressingMatters]

I had forgotten that fact - makes sense that they would ship the first off to the US. I've got to go through all my London records and really do a true evaluation I have so many great ones

[@stevegrant-gp3qu]

Scott, you are the very best. Your love of classical music is so evident. I was going to Buy You A Coffee but I couldn't find you on that site. I've recently begun trying to organize my messy LP collection. I'm 90% classical and 10% jazz/new age/weird stuff. Any suggestions? It is overwhelming. I'd love to hear your take on the versions of the Tchaikovsky Symphony 3 with the big honkin pipe organ.

[@ThePressingMatters]

Hi Steve, Thank you so much for your encouragement! I do love exploring classical and getting to discuss it with other enthusiasts. I've added my Buy Me A Coffee link in the description. I had been posting it regularly but the fundraiser kind of stalled. If you would like to contribute to the channel you can go there or use the Super Thanks feature button that's below every video. Thanks so much!

[@stevegrant-gp3qu]

OOPS. it Saint-Saens, NOT Tchaikovsky for the organ symphony. @@ThePressingMatters

[@ThePressingMatters]

YES! It's one of my favorites and I have many readings and pressings of it. I love the Munch on RCA, the Fremeux on EMI, particularly the Klavier reissue. I have others from Mehta, and others. I think I have the Telarc too! Love trying to get that low pedal note to just float and astonish you. I use a sub so it's pretty cool to adjust it so it's not boomy, just right. I organize my classical by label. To me there's no other way. Each label alphabetically, then by catalog number.

[@georgeholoubek6600]

Wonderful review and very informative, as always, Scott. Those are some amazing records and music. I really like those London records, because they sound good, are inexpensive and easy to find. I just picked up two boxed sets of Haydn symphonies w/Antol Dorati and Philharmonia Hungarica, on orange label Londons. They were very inexpensive on Discogs. You may already be very familiar with this recording project on London by Maestro Dorati. He recorded all 100+ symphonies and the performances and sonics are just awesome.

[@ThePressingMatters]

Hi George, Thank you for your comment! I'm glad you are enjoying these reviews. In a way, we are quite fortunate here in the US because Londons are in such plentiful supply. I may say more about Stereo Treasury in another video, but I never pass up one if I see it. I have almost the entire series and most were under $10 dollars, often much less! That Dorati project was a labor of love and the results speak for themselves. Im so glad you mentioned it for other viewers to discover. So much can be said about this label, but for the first video on it I decided to stick to the few I know anyone, especially audiophiles will love. Will go into individual releases soon. Thanks for watching!

[@mcgjohn22]

yes, these are quite good. And there was no London CS or Decca SXL equivalent to these releases.

[@thomashertl3037]

Great choices, Scott. I am happy to own the Three Cornered Hat 45 by ORG and the Suite Espanola 33 by SC. I have bought the Suite Espanola 45 by ORG secondhand but (un) fortunately it came damaged so I discovered the SC which is extremely good and better price value. In my Spanish Classical section I also have the HiFi a la Espanola 33 by Mercury Living Presence. Although it has an ADA treatment by Abbey Road, it is sounding amazingly good. Best greetings!

[@ThePressingMatters]

Hi Thomas, Yes, the ORG were great to pick up when they were at list, and often were on sale, but now I think the Speakers Corner is a better value with comparable sonics.

[@ThePressingMatters]

I'm glad you mention the Half Speed Mercury Series. Im discussing it with another viewer and I only have one example, the Firebird. Do you have others beside Hi Fi Española?

[@thomashertl3037]

@@ThePressingMatters I have the 2006 Rei/Rem of British Band Classics Vol. 2 by Speakers Corner. (I do not think it is HS mastered.) It is stunning to hear, what's normally an open air sound, in your room. An extraordinary release.

[@ThePressingMatters]

@@thomashertl3037 Yes, that's an incredible sound isn't it? I love that recording and I have it in an original and golden import. I would love to get my hands on that Speakers Corner. One of the greatest band music LPs of all time!

[@robertgadwood7095]

Great video! I have all of the ORG London reissues and I agree that they are great. Do you know if ORG will be issuing any more London recordings? They seem to have stopped around the start of COVID. I was hopeing that it was just a temporary pause, but it seems like they have stopped for good.

[@ThePressingMatters]

Thank you, Robert! I think they will finish the announced titles. Petroushka is still up for preorder. They did seem to be lingering for quite awhile considering there were only 2500 of each. The early out of print ones are quite expensive now. I think the market could only absorb so many and the pace slowed. I wish they would do another 10 titles! They are wonderful. I've been able to pick up a few of the later ones on sale. The Bizet and Borodin were $25, and I think the Britten is still around at a discount. I need the La Fille Mal Gardee and the Debussy Ravel at least.

[@robertmorgan9205]

Thanks for the link to that Decca/London article, Scott I’ll have a read of that later. Last week I picked up 7 or 8 records from a charity shop all priced at 50 pence (half of one pound). Funny thing is I walked right past them at first (2 large boxes) as I was headed to the back wall where they usually keep them. A few of them were Classics For Pleasure in perfect condition, there was a boxed set of Menuhin violin concertos and three very nice Deutsche Grammohon titles … all 50 pence each including the box set. Anyway (I’m rambling a bit here, sorry 😄) there was also a early Decca wide band of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 with the white triangular Decca symbol so I got fairly excited. The cover was a bit beaten up and taped in places and there were a couple of scuff marks on side one but a slightly more serious looking scratch on side two … but for 50 pence I had to get it. Cleaned up side one sounds great and the scuffs are inaudible but of course the scratch spoils side 2. It won’t be getting played again now but it’s just an item I’m pleased to have found.

[@ThePressingMatters]

I love to hear charity shop stories! Good finds and a chance to at least try something even if its going to end up as a placeholder til a better copy comes around. Sadly this is not really a thing anymore in my area. Really picked over junk in the thrifts. When i was actively doing it years ago it was fantastic. thats where i got the majority of my original classical records.

[@ThePressingMatters]

I have the 1812 I think you are talking about in a budget Decca pressing and a Stereo Treasury release. Its an excellent record so keep searching. Mine is on Decca World of Great Classics, the SPA prefix series. Is that with Kenneth Alwyn and the London Symphony Orchestra?

[@robertmorgan9205]

@@ThePressingMatters yes that’s the one, Scott with the wide band Full Frequency etc etc and with Capriccio Italien and Marche Slave on the B Side. I’m sure a different version will pop up if I keep looking as it’s such a popular piece of music.

[@robertmorgan9205]

@@ThePressingMatters I love to read about those too. My best find in one happened a few weeks ago in an Oxfam charity shop, which was more surprising as I find Oxfam are generally on the ball when it comes to pricing records. I was looking through them this day and saw that all were priced at 99 pence and I found one of those Archiv records in the plain buff coloured sleeve with the extra leaflets inside, unusual but not valuable. Then I pulled out a Beethoven Eroica / Klemperer in the blue/grey sleeve and as I’m pulling the records out I see it’s one of the pale blue/ silver early Columbia labels and in superb condition….yet again 99 pence. I bought a couple more records but nothing like as great as this of course. It’s Columbia SAX 2364 and it proved to me it’s not only other people who find these things.

[@mcgjohn22]

you are quite lucky. Lots of really good treasures can be found in Britian.

[@stevegrant-gp3qu]

Thanks!

[@ThePressingMatters]

Thank you Steve! That's so cool that you get enough value from the channel to do this. I've thought about making a short video on support so people have a better understanding. For me, the advertising, donations and commissions from my Amazon Storefront are the keys to eventually move out of the 9-5 and into what I love which is creating. It's a miracle these get done on my two days off. I hope that as people are more aware, as you are, I'll be able to move to a four day week at the daily grind and give this channel even more energy and creativity. Once again, your donation is greatly appreciated. It made my day!

[@AndrewBell]

I've been looking for a good Midsummer Nights Dream and was about to order another 70s RCA Red, which are typically silent and tubey. I'm not going to cough up $100+ for the Grundman 45, but are the earlier pressings you mentioned still worth $15-20 even with their surface noise? Thanks

[@ThePressingMatters]

There is a Speaker's Corner of Midsummer Night's Dream that i would recommend for this reading. Will be quiet and shouldn't be much over $30 if you look around. Which reading on RCA were you considering?

[@analogueanorak1904]

Another option Andrew for a very good 1970s copy of MSND is the Decca SPA version, I’m pretty sure this great sounding copy is mastered by Harry Fisher. Often very cheap not especially tubey but a lovely version.

[@mcgjohn22]

sure, check out the later pressings. As long as they were made in England the sonics will be good.

[@analogueanorak1904]

@@mcgjohn22 @AndrewBell I’ve found my SPA copy and it was actually mastered by Scott’s favourite the legendary Ted Burkett. I recall now that was the reason I picked that one rather than an Ace of Diamonds late 1970’s release of Maag MSND, which has better cover art than the SPA including a section of the original cover used for the English mono release.

[@ThePressingMatters]

That one should be a great choice. Thanks everyone for sharing the knowledge!

[@ergloo6660]

Thoughts on the new AP Atlantic 75th Series?

[@ThePressingMatters]

Just saw the news this morning! It's a pretty big deal! I'm happy that it's a a varied genre series and I think the price/format is right. I won't be a completist but I'm quite interested to see the title list. Very excited for Genesis, Yes, Bad Co, Face Value. Should be really cool!

[@ergloo6660]

Living in the UK buying any jazz original is very difficult so I've pre ordered the Coltrane & Mingus titles plus I'm a sucker for Dr. John so I've pre ordered those. I'm sure you'll do a video so looking forward to it @@ThePressingMatters

[@ThePressingMatters]

@@ergloo6660 Yes I'm already planning one!

[@Andrew_from_Oz_Vinyl_Landscape]

In the 6000 series 6001 is not the first it is 6000 sxl which is Gayaneh ballet, I have it incidentally , and please review your opening comments: which for non Decca experienced people , it’s a bit confusing , a more linear explanation, less confused might be better, such as there was an excellent label named Decca , their sound quality is excellent, in the US. They were forced by copyright to relabel them LONDON. if they were pressed in UK there is no difference detected in sound quality by careful analysis , though the cardboard/artwork jackets were different and not to the same standard

[@ThePressingMatters]

Thank you for your comment! Although it not something that can be changed at this point, your clarification should be helpful if there was confusion.

[@mcgjohn22]

ironic you should mention this. The numbering sequences were different for London vs. Decca but go in the same direction. With regards to the cover artwork, some were the same but as you noted many were different between London and Decca. And if a person seeks out Japan pressings it gets even more complicated since the Japan pressings sometimes used either the Decca and/or the London artwork depending on when it was released. Then if you add the hot King lacquer cutting, that is one more variable that can be added to the mix. On the King GT series of Decca releases, none of the London or Decca artwork was used, instead the graphics people at King came up with something else.

[@robertmorgan9205]

I suppose Stereo Treasury is similar to the Ace of Diamonds ones we have over here?

[@ThePressingMatters]

Yes that's correct Robert. Same records, different title for the series.

[@robertmorgan9205]

@@ThePressingMatters I’ve got approx a dozen of the Ace of Diamonds ones. One of them is SDD 134 Manuel de Falla and that sounds amazing so I can only imagine what the Decca/London originals are like.

[@mcgjohn22]

yes, correct. In many cases you will find the same lacquer numbers as long as a person sticks with the UK pressed treasury series. Avoid any US pressed Treasury titles.

[@robertmorgan9205]

@@mcgjohn22 I buy Decca Eclipse ones if I find them in good condition and some of those are great as well as picking up Classics For Pleasure and Turnabout copies. It’s a kind of madness 😀 and at the moment my 60s and 70s rock music has taken a back seat.

[@robertmorgan9205]

Anyone who doubts they are the same should ask themselves ‘why would a major record company risk their reputation by going to the trouble of sending inferior recordings to a market as huge as the US?’

[@ThePressingMatters]

Exactly! That whole thing was so silly. No doubt pushed by collector/dealers to drive up the price on the rarer Decca pressings. That reminds me I need to post the link to Salvatore's article. Really good with an original document to put the whole thing to rest! With EMI and Angel it was an issue as you well know. Decca did the right thing and pressed for both countries.

[@robertmorgan9205]

@@ThePressingMatters Yes I’d be interested to read that, Scott. I could’ve done with this video going on for another hour 😊

[@ThePressingMatters]

I know, me too but most people don't have the attention span for a scholarly review lol!

[@ThePressingMatters]

I posted the link in the description. When you land there the discussion is a little bit down on the page. But you will go down a rabbit hole with that website. Fascinating and informative! I love it. www.high-endaudio.com/softw.html#Decca

[@robertmorgan9205]

@@ThePressingMatters 😄

[@sidesup8286]

In the middle of my composition, my text disappeared right off your screen. What a waste of time. I don't have the energy to re-type it. Also when I pressed your video pic nothing was happening. Same with pressing on comment section. Highlu unusual. Breat cis though.

[@ThePressingMatters]

Hi, I hate when that happens. I usually can't be bothered to retype either. Not sure what happened there. The delay in the video playing might be because it's quite long and in 4K. I've noticed sometime when my signal is not as strong that could happen. Good to hear from you anyway and if you are so inspired would love to read your thoughts on Decca.