In article ,
(paul packer) wrote:

On Mon, 13 Mar 2006 06:29:52 GMT, Jenn
wrote:

In article .com,
" wrote:

Just in case you hadn't found it or known it was there, here it is.

http://store.acousticsounds.com/sear...0&LabelID=801%
20&
id=7

Enjoy.

Thanks. I have all of them.

Though I know that it's off-topic, concerning this part of the
discussion, it might be interesting to note my interest in the Mercury
recordings.

As I've mentioned, I worked very closely with Mercury conductor
Frederick Fennell for the last 25 years of his life. Because of my
admiration of his work, I started collecting his recordings while I was
early in my undergrad studies; before I even met him. So, over the
years, I've collected not only every recording of his, including his
extensive Mercury catalogue, but every permutation of the Mercury
recordings. For some of the recordings for example, there were up to 5
LP re-releases, plus reel releases, plus cassettes, plus European
releases, and now CD releases, SACD releases, and new vinyl releases.
In the course of this work/hobby, I fell in love with the sound of the
Mercury recordings, and I've collected all of the other Mercury
classical recordings; I have all of the CDs and most of the LPs.

Jenn, maybe you'd like to explain what about the Mercury sound
attracts you as opposed to today's typical CD release.

Common to both the Merc LPs and CDs, in my opinion, is the immediacy of
the sound. I think that this is due to a stereo image that is second to
none. WHile I've experienced that in a few non-Merc CDs, it's never
combined with the second thing which is REALLY good timbres of
instruments. The wood clarinet sound like wood. The guy playing tenor
sax (often the later-to-be composer Ron LoPresti) is obviously playing a
then new Selmer tenor; by far the best of the era. You can tell the
thin depth but large diameter of the Eastman bass drum of the day (later
verified by seeing the drum in person.) The upper strings on the LPs
have a sweetness that one hears in good halls, both up close and from
the seats. The strings on the CDs are close to that but not quite.