Tales of a vinyl/music junkie

[DMK]

True story.

About 25 years ago, I happened on two cut-out LP's by a jazz improv group named the Revolutionary Ensemble (Leroy Jenkins, violin/Sirone, bass/Jerome Cooper, percussion) that I went nuts over. A jazz trio with that instrumentation was too much to resist and, even though I'd never heard them before, I bought them both. The group had a fairly short lifespan and recorded only 3 other discs. Within a year, I had found the other two through various sources but the final one eluded me. I searched and searched but couldn't find it.

Recently, I learned that the final disc had been reissued on CD. Of course I put aside my usual reservations of the sonic compromises of RBCD and immediately bought the disc. It arrived yesterday by mail. It was worth waiting for 25 years!

Today, I went vinyl hunting to a couple of usual haunts. Lo and behold, there sat a used but pristine copy of the vinyl which I also bought. Those familiar with vinyl vs CD and this board won't need to ask which sounded better. It only took 25 years but I finally found that LP! Did some knucklehead simply wait for the CD reissue to replace the vinyl? We'll never know.

BTW, it's the last of three OOP discs that I had been searching for since 1979. The other two I found in 2001 (only 22 years later!) and I found them both on the same day at the same location! Weird, huh?

[maxg]

You spend months hunting down a given recording only to find 2 or 3 copies of it within days.

Took me the longest time to find Dvorak's Cello Concerto (why? not such an uncommon recording) and then I found 3 copies in one store.

I think records travel in packs - like buses...

[skeptic]

Strange Maxg. There are so many different recordings available even on vinyl. This must be among the nifty fifty top pieces of classical music. Did you buy all three? Which one(s) did you buy/like and why?

[maxg]

Strange Maxg. There are so many different recordings available even on vinyl. This must be among the nifty fifty top pieces of classical music. Did you buy all three? Which one(s) did you buy/like and why?

I wish I knew why - it goes like that sometimes. you have no idea how long it has taken me to find a decent copy of Mahler's 10th Symphony (got that one today). Sometimes things I regard as genuinely rare show up in abundance and common items become as rare as hen's teeth.

For reference the one Dvorak Cello I got was

Paul Tortelier
Philharmonia
Sir Malcolm Sargent
HMV labelled (actually EMI I think)
XLP 30018
Mono
UK pressing

The other 2 were - horror of horrors - without inner sleaves (something I always try to avoid). The one I got is not great so I will be looking for another copy (sigh).

Today it was a Mahler day and a half. Usually the only thing I find of his is the 4th Symphony (why?). Over the months I have managed to find the 3rd and the 5th.

Today I got the 1st, 2nd, 6th, 8th and 10th (all but the first one - box sets). Go figure.

I have so many examples of this hunt and seek game it is ridiculous. I go shopping with a carefully made list of things I want and usually come back with a completely different set of records.

CD shopping is much easier. I wish I liked CD more....

[skeptic]

The Dvorak cello concerto gets the vote in my house for the best concerto for any instrument. My personal favorite is the Rostropovich recording on DG originally issued on vinyl. I have it on cd and it sounds just fine to me. YoYo Ma's recording was a surprising disappointment. I expected much better from him. I probably have at least a dozen different recordings of it if I put all the vinyl and cds together.

[rb122]

The Dvorak cello concerto gets the vote in my house for the best concerto for any instrument. My personal favorite is the Rostropovich recording on DG originally issued on vinyl. I have it on cd and it sounds just fine to me. YoYo Ma's recording was a surprising disappointment. I expected much better from him. I probably have at least a dozen different recordings of it if I put all the vinyl and cds together.

Since you brought up Yo-Yo Ma, what can you tell me about this CD of his I found titled "The Cello Suites" that was "inspired by Bach"? The outside cover said it was on some PBS special but there is no booklet inside (I found it used) to tell me anything about it. It certainly does sound like Bach and I'm wondering if it's the same as Bach's suites of the same name, sometimes called the "Viola Suites" depending upon which instrument is playing them. Have you seen/heard this?

[maxg]

The Dvorak cello concerto gets the vote in my house for the best concerto for any instrument. My personal favorite is the Rostropovich recording on DG originally issued on vinyl. I have it on cd and it sounds just fine to me. YoYo Ma's recording was a surprising disappointment. I expected much better from him. I probably have at least a dozen different recordings of it if I put all the vinyl and cds together.

I dont know how you compare different forms of music to each other. I would allow you best Cello Concerto (but not necessarily agree even there) but better than...Beethoven Piano Concertos (take your pick -the 5th?), Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto 1, Brahms Violin, Paganini Violin, Rachmaninov 2nd and 3rd Piano... the list is almost endless.

FWIW on the subject of Cello Concertos I listened last night to Haydn's - wonderful stuff in its own right (very Haydn) and then Elgar's (possibly my favorite at the moment). Then there is the Boccherini - a romp and a half that one but rather lesser known - all worthy of comparison IMHO.

I will get another copy of the Dvorak - do you happen to know if there is a Jaqueline DuPre recording out there (on vinyl preferably)? I'll grab your Rostropovich if I come across it but Jackeline sole my heart on the Cello years ago....

[skeptic]

I believe there is a Jacqueline Dupre recording and I agree that if I see it, I will also grab it. BTW, the DG recording on cd is 447 413-2. The original vinyl was released in 1969 and won several awards including the Grand Prix du Disque in 1970 and the Record Acadamy Prize in Tokyo in 1969. It also includes the Tchaikowsky Rococo variations, another piece I like very much. I am somewhat familiar with the Boccherini but I never quite took to it like the Dvorak? I also like the Brahms Double with Heifitz and Piatagorski which I have on both cd and vinyl (actually several copies of each.)

"I dont know how you compare different forms of music to each other. "
I don't either but somehow we just do it.

[maxg]

"I don't either but somehow we just do it."

Chuckle...not that i am one to talk - I spent an evening comparing the sound of a black recorded CD to a normal silver recorded CD - I wonder if my preferences would be affected by the colour of the CD??

Where did I put that Green marker pen???