Weekend Roundup: Exploring French EMI's, Part One

Many greetings to you from New England on this cold and wet weekend! While this weather feels more like winter than spring, it provides a good opportunity to brew some tea, sit comfortably in the warmth of one's home, and listen to some good music.

A sincere thank you to those of you who have visited this blog and left insightful comments over the past couple of weeks.  I always learn something new from you, and your experience benefits all of us music lovers and collectors around the world.

Rather than single out one album this week, I'd like to share with you a brief survey of some French EMI (La Voix de Son Maitre) releases that I recently acquired online.  My experience with these has been pretty limited, since they aren't commonly seen in the record shops in North America. Fortunately, I found a couple of Ebay sellers located in France that were offering some of these records at reasonably affordable prices. Worldwide shipping is expensive these days, so I tried to order a small batch from an individual seller to make things worthwhile.  All of these are French ASDF issues of UK HMV ASD releases.

A few general remarks:

• The early editions of these records come in very different outer sleeves than the UK pressings. Rather than the thin, laminated paper sleeves that come with the UK records, the French EMI records are packaged in thicker, heavier cardboard outer sleeves, and the inner sleeve has a wooden dowel rod attached to it that serves as the spine. While all of this is a nice and elegant touch, it does mean that each record will take up more shelf space.

•  The record cover art of the French issues is frequently the same but that is not always the case. In some cases, I actually like the cover art of the French releases better than that of the UK releases, but each of you will have your own preference.

• The liner notes on the back are in French, and they are credited to French writers. I am guessing that these are original French notes and not French translations of the English liner notes as there is no acknowledgment of any English writers.

• The record labels are red with silver lettering and have the semi-circle picture of the HMV dog, bearing some resemblance to the semi-circle label UK ASDs.

• The matrix numbers appear to be similar to those from UK stampers and, in some cases, are the same. That would seem to bode well for the sound quality of these French pressings.

• The surface noise (eg, light crackles and pops) seems to be a touch more noticeable on these French pressings than I am used to with the UK pressings, at least on the ones I have listened to. It's pretty soft but is noticeable during quieter passages of music. Visually, the records I received appear to be in excellent condition with minimal signs of wear. Cleaning the records on my VPI helped a little but didn't completely eliminate the surface noise. I'm not sure if this is characteristic of the vinyl used for the French pressings or if it represents groove wear that is not visible to the naked eye, but I don't want to jump to any conclusions before listening to more examples. 

• Pricewise, many, if not most, of these French ASDFs seem to be pretty reasonable. I got most of these for around $10-15 each, not including shipping. There are some in the series (eg, some of the rare Andre Cluytens records), however, that are priced high just as their UK counterparts.

So how they sound music-wise?  Let's find out.

La Voix de Son Maitre ASDF 777

Tchaikovsky: Concerto No. 1

Franck: Variations Symphoniques

John Ogdon, piano

Philharmonia Orchestra

Sir John Barbirolli, conductor

Matrix numbers: 2YEA 783-2/784-2

This is the French equivalent of HMV ASD 542, first issued in 1963. Note the early matrix numbers (-2/-2), which are the same as those on the UK white/gold label release, according to Discogs. The UK cover, which sports a black and white photo of Ogdon seated at the piano and Barbirolli, intensely focused on conducting, has been replaced with a more plain cover with letter art. I owned a later UK postage stamp label pressing many years ago and don't recall it sounding particularly noteworthy, but I can say that I was pleasantly surprised at how good this French ASDF sounded to my ears. I found myself engaged in Ogdon's performance with the Philharmonia. This is a dynamic record, and my copy, which had a touch of surface noise, delivered with clean vibrant sound and virtually no distortion. I really like how the tone of the piano is captured on this one. With some of the earlier EMI recordings, the piano sound can be a touch too warm and less natural; that wasn't the case on my pressing. The orchestra is also well captured. Two thumbs up!

La Voix de Son Maitre ASDF 120

Tchaikovsky: Concerto No. 1

Gyorgy Cziffra, piano

Philharmonia Orchestra

Andre Vandernoot, conductor

Matrix numbers: 2YEA 192-5/193-10

The French equivalent of UK HMV ASD 315, released in 1959. My copy came in a thinner, laminated paper sleeve rather than the thick outer sleeve with the dowel rod spine. The cover art is very different from that of the UK release, which has a color photo of Cziffra, cigarette in hand, studying his sheet music. This is another fine performance of the Tchaikovsky piano concerto. The Hungarian-French pianist Gyorgy Cziffra (1921-1994) was considered one of the greatest virtuoso pianists of the 20th century, and he left us with a large legacy of recorded music. He was most celebrated for his recordings of the works of Chopin, Liszt, and Schumann, many of which were recorded for EMI in the 1950s and 1960s. This Cziffra recording (the first Cziffra recording I've reviewed on this blog) had a more limited release compared with the Ogdon recording above. In terms of stereo releases, I see only a white/gold UK ASD, this French ASDF, a couple of French reissues, and a Dutch reissue. 

The sound on this ASDF is pretty dynamic. It's noticeably warmer  than the Ogdon record, particularly the tone of the piano, which to me sounds too warm at times and less natural. There is also a touch of distortion when the music hits big climaxes, perhaps more notable in the sound of the piano than in that of the orchestra, but it's not too disturbing. Perhaps some of this sonic limitations may have been remedied in the later 1970s French and Dutch reissues? If you have have experience with any of these, please share your thoughts with us. Personally, I prefer the Ogdon recording with its more natural sound. More on Cziffra to come.

La Voix de Son Maitre ASDF 722

Trois Ballet Contemporains

Poulenc: Les Biches

Dutilleux: Le Loup

Milhaud: La Creation du Monde

Orchestre de la Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire

Georges Pretre, conductor

Matrix numbers: 2YLA 1132 21, 1133 21

French equivalent of UK HMV ASD 496, recorded in 1961 and released in 1962. I was not particularly familiar with this repertoire before listening to this record, but this is really vibrant and fun French ballet music (particularly the Poulenc and Milhaud) and it's all captured quite beautifully on this recording. Really excellent dynamics and clarity and an open, airy sound. Lots of winds and brass and percussion. I have never owned the UK release, but after listening to this French release, I am perfectly happy with this one, especially since the matrix numbers appear to match the ones on the UK ASD. The master tapes for this recording must have been outstanding. Even the late US Angel pressing of this recording that I have sounds pretty darn good. Highly recommended.

La Voix de Son Maitre ASDF 197

Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 3 et 5

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Sir Thomas Beecham, conductor

Matrix numbers: 2YLA 7-1, 8-5

French equivalent of UK HMV ASD 345, released in 1960. I've never had the pleasure of listening to the ASD.  The French version has much different cover art, as the UK release has a color photo of Beecham posing in front of a very scenic lake landscape. All due respect to Sir Thomas Beecham, but personally, I prefer the more artistic cover of this French release. Matrix numbers on this pressing (-1/-5) seem to represent earlier stampers than the ones used for the UK semi-circle label issue (-4/-7 according to Discogs).

The sound of this French ASDF is quite good. Again, having not heard the UK release, I can't make a direct comparison, but I can describe this one as sounding vibrant, clear, well-balanced, and natural with a slightly more distant, middle to back of the hall presentation. No sonic distortion that I could detect. An enjoyable recording of two charming Schubert symphonies that I'll be returning to in the future.

La Voix de Son Maitre ASDF 161

Tchaikovsky: Casse Noisette (The Nutcracker)

Philharmonia Orchestra

Efrem Kurtz, conductor

Matrix numbers: 2YEA 81-1/82-2

French equivalent of UK HMV ASD 289, previously reviewed on this site. This continues to be my favorite recording of The Nutcracker, for reasons which I have discussed earlier. The French issue has a different cover with letter art rather than the photo of the ballet dancers on stage. Here I have to state my preference for the more elegant UK cover. Behold - the matrix numbers are the exact same as those on my white/gold label ASD!

I won't go into as much detail about the merits of this record. Suffice it to say that I had high expectations for this French pressing, and it does not disappoint. It is just as gorgeous sounding as the UK ASD.  

This concludes the first part of my survey of French EMIs. More to come over the next week or two!