Columbia SAX 2496: Szell conducts Schumann's 2nd
Schumann: Symphony No 2 in C Major
George Szell, conductor
The Cleveland Orchestra
Pressing: UK, ED1, blue/silver
Condition: NM
Date first published: 1962
Stampers:
BC 1159-A1
BC 1159-B1
Performance: 10/10
Sound: 7/10
Price range: $33-579 (mean $200) on popsike.com
Comments: George Szell's 1960's Schumann symphony cycle with the Cleveland Orchestra has been and always will be one of the greatest on record. Released in the US on the Epic label (catalog number of this album was BC 1159, with a similar cover but with a gold color scheme rather than red), these recordings were released in the UK on the Columbia label. To this day, I am not clear about the details of this arrangement or which if any of the albums were remastered in the UK vs repressed with US stampers. The stamper numbers for this album were BC 1159-A1/B1, which were not the numbers on the US Epic release, so I suspect that these were made in the UK. One thing is clear, the UK Columbia pressings sell for far more than any of the US Epic pressings. Compare price tags: the US pressing will cost you less than $10 on Ebay. Maybe collectors prefer the slick UK cover art or perhaps the pure rarity of these LPs? I have so far not found any major discernible difference between the UK and US releases in terms of sound, except for MAYBE a slight improvement in the UK releases in terms of better surfaces. Both are ... well, above average, but that is about it. These were recorded by a US recording team (not EMI), and few if any of these records were lauded for impressive sound quality at the time or now for that matter. Dynamic range is actually somewhat constricted to my ears. You certainly aren't blown away by dynamics in loud passages of music as you sometimes are with the UK recorded EMI and Columbia recordings. Bass is pretty weak. Hall acoustic? Pretty minimal. So, essentially not an audiophile release but with a collector's price tag. The music is what matters, though, as you're not likely to find many recordings of this work on vinyl that compare in terms of quality of interpretation and performance. It's really your move (of course I had to learn this by purchasing the UK release first).
Perhaps this is evidence that the original pressings were good but not great. And that the master tapes were the strengths ofEMI at this time. it looks like Columbia dead Master this based on the Stamper numbers.disappointing that the sound isn't better.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree. EMI could only work with so much. I will try to review another Szell high-roller tonight and I think you'll find my opinion to be rather the same for all of these Szell UK pressings. I am interested in the stamper numbers used for these pressings, since they interchanged between BC and YAX prefixes.
Deletetypo above meant meant to say Colombia did not master this based on the Stamper numbers.
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