EMI HMV ASD 608 vs London Blueback CS 6224: Hat Showdown

EMI HMV ASD 608

Falla: The Three Cornered Hat (Complete Ballet)

Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, conductor
Victoria de los Angeles, soprano
Philharmonia Orchestra


Pressing: UK, ER1, semi-circle first

Condition: NM

Date first published: 1964

Stampers: 2YEA 950-2, 2YEA 951-4

Performance: 9/10


Sound: 9/10

Price range: $21-335 (mean $60) on popsike.com

London CS 6224

Falla: The Three Cornered Hat, La Vida Breve

Ernest Ansermet, conductor
Teresa Berganza, mezzo-soprano
L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

Pressing: UK, ED2 (wide-band FFRR)

Condition: NM-


Date first published: 1961

Stampers: ZAL-5138-4D, ZAL-5139-2D

Performance: 9/10

Sound: 8/10

Price range: $25-491 (mean $82) on popsike.com [Decca SXL $20-1028 (mean $340)]

Comments:  It's been a while since I've listened to these two favorites in my collection and thought I'd use this opportunity to reacquaint myself with them and compare their qualities. The London recording is probably the better known of the two, though I wonder if that's because more has been written about it in the audiophile press.  For whatever reason, Decca/London also managed to fit Falla's La Vida Breve on side 2.  Ansermet/OSR and De Burgos/Philharmonia each offer highly spirited and captivating performances.  I'd venture to say that the Philharmonia may be the more polished and disciplined of the two, but the OSR "lets its hair down" more.  I tend to prefer the voice of Victoria de los Angeles to that of Teresa Berganza, but that is just a matter of preference and both give strong solo performances.  

Sonically, these are distinct in signature but both outstanding with vivid sound and natural presence.  Both have a beautiful midrange, tight bass, and good treble extension.  The London is brighter sounding, particularly in the treble, and in louder passages, violin string tone can become a bit steely on my wide-band FFRR pressing.  This I could not detect on the semi-circle first label EMI, which is the warmer, more liquid recording.  Clarity and definition on both are excellent, and distortion is mostly absent though more noticeable on my 4D/2D pressing of the London in loud orchestral tuttis.  Percussion (including piano) and all string pizzicati are precisely articulated.  Wind solos are imaged well.  Hall acoustics (Kingsway Hall for the EMI and Victoria Hall for the London) are beautifully captured, with the London recording having a slightly more forward presentation.  In the end, I objectively give the EMI higher sound marks for its more natural, less harsh treble, but in all honesty, I'd be hard pressed to have to single out one recording over the other.  They're both fantastic and worth owning.

Cost-wise, the EMI and the London are comparable in price range for a decent copy, though the rarer Decca tops them both.  Unless you've got to have the Decca, the London will likely be much easier to acquire and in my opinion (and my colleague Meles may disagree with me here) nearly identical in sound.  Reissues do exist for both of these albums.  Speakers Corner has reissued the Decca, and I believe that it is still available but often out of stock with online sellers.  The Speakers Corner is on Arthur Salvatore's Basic List of Supreme LP Recordings.  ORG has released a 45 rpm 2 LP audiophile pressing of the London, which I have not yet heard.  Alto reissued the ASD some years ago.  I also haven't heard this, but given the high quality of Alto pressings that I've owned, I'd trust this to be a pretty decent reissue.

In Full Frequency Stereophonic Sound, Moon and Gray write on the subject of CS 6224:

"A brilliant and dramatic performance recorded with great clarity and presence. Ansermet catches the vigor and spirit of this work, even though it lacks a bit of warmth at times. The Orchestra of the Suisse Romande often pays with a lack of refinement that is appropriate to this score. The CD transfer is brilliant. Recorded iN February, 1961 in Victoria Hall, Geneva, Switzerland. James Walker, producer; Roy Wallace, engineer." Rating: performance 9, sound 10 ("The Top Rank").