Mercury Living Presence Box Set

[Alastair Reynolds]

For those of you who like Classical Music, There is a Box set available of the Mercury Living Presence series from the 50s and 60s http://www.fishfinemusic.com.au/products/4783566/Various/Mercury-Living-Presence-Collector%E2%80%99s-Edition/CD, $149 for 51 Cds ($3 per disc)

Mercury used single mic for mono or 3 mics for stereo (Usually telefunken 201 or U47) , recording to Ampex 1/2 inch or Westrex 35mm magnetic film on 3 tracks, a review of their techniques is here http://www.soundfountain.com/amb/mercury.html

or just google it.

A good disc description and reviews is herehttp://www.amazon.co.uk/Mercury-Living-Presence-Boxed-Set/dp/B005XBA9Y8


A good set with some stunning recordings and performances , and yes I've ordered my set

[audioio]

Box set available of the Mercury Living Presence series

This is so tempting. I have 2 or 3 of the previous CD releases and they're fantastic. There's a more comprehensive listing here: http://www.elusivedisc.com/prodinfo.asp?number=UNICD78356.

Whereas previous CD releases were the same as the orignal vinyl, they seem to have mixed a few things up for this boxed set and not everything I have is on there. Would still be great though.

[Text_Edifice]

Saw this the other day and it's jumped to the top of my buy list. It's about 1/3 cheaper to buy from O/S

[Alastair Reynolds]

My set arrived today and I've listened to some of the early mono recordings from 1951.They used a single U47 suspended 25 feet above the conductor recorded to a 1/4 inch Fairchild recorder. Quite amazing fidelity for a 60 year old recording. The performances are exceptional, well worth the meagre investment.

[The Tasmanian]

Wow - 1 x 47
Alistair - was there a preamp on the 1/4 inch Fairchilds?

[Alastair Reynolds]

Hi Chris, they didn't list it unfortunately,it does sound good though

[graemeh]

Thanks Alastair, they're great links, especially the soundfountain link about the techniques used. I'm so intrigued that I'm off to order my set now! Thanks for the heads up!

[Alastair Reynolds]

They're really good Graeme, I listened to a few more late into the night. The dynamic range and clarity in some of the 35mm Film recordings is just stunning. The Balalaika orchestra is really exceptional, as is the Romero's Spanish guitar works, The Romeo &Juliet (Prokofiev) and the Circus Marches, and the Piano on Pictures at an exhibition, I've never heard a Piano that sounded like that in a recording before. I'm listening on Quad II / 22 valve amps with Rodgers LS3/5A monitors from a Studer Bitstream CD player.

I'm going to listen to the Complete Nutcracker tonight and the 1812 (With Authentic Cannon fire)

cheers
Alastair

[The Tasmanian]

Mercury Rev did an album on 35mm mag.
I used to have access to 4 of them at Spectrum Films and recorded synth compositions on them - HUGE sound

[graemeh]

I tell you what - FishFine Music are on the ball! I paid by paypal and they send me an email 1 hour later - item shipped!! Should be here Monday. Yes the Pictures at an exhibition, piano versions and the Ravel Orchestrations, PLUS the Firebird, plus plus plus! Can't wait! I can't match your Quads etc, I'll be doing most of my listening on headphones or my Tannoy Golds at home...

[Alastair Reynolds]

Tannoy Golds will be an excellent choice for this, I'll be interested to hear of your impressions.
I'm hoping to get a few more hours listening over the weekend.

[jkhuri44]

gotta say, that's a pretty sick spread of classical music...i might get this....mehbeh... nice mix of classics and slighly more "edgy" works...would love to hear the Bartok stuff in super quality...

how do these works sound compared to the new school of hi fi classical recordings?

[Alastair Reynolds]

http://www.stereophile.com/content/fine-art-mercury-living-presence-recordings

Further review and discussion of techniques

[Milo]

What a crafty and gifted codger Wilma must have been.
Besides the great information, I'm impressed also by the excellence of ear choice being the final arbiter.
Marketing -schmarketing!

Milo

[graemeh]

A great collection! I'm about one quarter of the way through the set and loving the variety as much as anything else. Also, exemplary playing from the orchestras - you tend to forget that players in that era were just as good if not better than contemporary performers - and the sound is uniformly excellent - "Living Presence" pretty much describes it.
Not sugar-coated like today's Hollywood sound, less sweetened, more direct, less reliance on the performance space and more on the orchestra itself.
Thanks again Alastair, and the Tannoys were shelved after my first attempt, thanks to my kids yelling at the top of their lungs all through the CD - now I'm listening at the studio through my Mackie hr824s and the peace and quiet makes up for any shortfall in possible sound quality - still sounds great to me!