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Enjoy Side One of Classic Records' 45rpm Reissue of "The Nutcracker"

Michael Fremer  |  Dec 22, 2015

Here's the first side of the Classic Records reissue of The Royal Ballet with Ernest Ansermet conducting the Royal Opera House Orchestra. This was recorded in famed Kingsway Hall in 1957 for the British Decca Record company and licensed to RCA for sale in America.

The engineer was the great K.E. (Kenneth) Wilkinson. The original 2 LP set on the SORIA series regularly sells for $500+ as does this Classic Records multi-singled sided 45rpm box set reissue mastered by Bernie Grundman from the original master tapes.

The Nutcracker s a traditional Christmas favorite so i transcribed side one using the Ortofon A95 mounted on the Swedish Analogue Technologies SAT tone arm on the Continuum Caliburn turntable. The phono preamp is the Ypsilon 16L step up transformer/VPS-100 combo. Digitization was via the Lynx HiLo A/D, D/A converter. The "rumble" you might hear is actually Kingsway Hall, not the turntable. The noise goes away between bands.

Enjoy (or not)!

COMMENTS
jdaniel1371's picture
Submitted by jdaniel1371 on Tue, 2015-12-22 20:07

Yup: a modern reissue if I ever saw one.

gbougard's picture
Submitted by gbougard on Wed, 2015-12-23 04:06

If you were a Reggae collector, you'd encounter things that are much much worse!!! This aint nothing!

jdaniel1371's picture
Submitted by jdaniel1371 on Wed, 2015-12-23 07:06

but back in the day, the damage occurred **after** the product left the factory. : )

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Wed, 2015-12-23 17:10
Actually, the record is not warped but it is "dished". It's a single sidged record with grooves only on one side and sometimes these get "dished" and the vacuum hold down simply cannot hold down the record so the "lips" of the vacuum hold down produce that effect.... not good to generalize though...
Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Wed, 2015-12-23 17:11
It was "crackly" in the lead in groove, yes but once the music started not crackly....
gbougard's picture
Submitted by gbougard on Wed, 2015-12-23 04:07

Thanks Michael for sharing this nice piece of music.

AnalogJ's picture
Submitted by AnalogJ on Wed, 2015-12-23 06:31

Why, is that Michael Fremer dancing in the reflection of the aluminum platter?

Seriously, have a great holiday season, Michael. Thanks for another year of great contributions to the art and science of music listening.

cdvinyl's picture
Submitted by cdvinyl on Wed, 2015-12-23 07:50

Thanks Michael for all the effort you put in making this beautiful Christmas classic. Even through my Monsoon desk top speakers the music sounded great.
Happy Holidays

mraudioguru's picture
Submitted by mraudioguru on Wed, 2015-12-23 09:13

...the arm base for the SAT arm just barely misses the side of the platter. Did they have to shave that down to make it miss the platter?

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Wed, 2015-12-23 17:11
But it is close....it looks even closer from that angle but trust me, no shaving!
LS35A's picture
Submitted by LS35A on Wed, 2015-12-23 09:54

$500 for a record? That is just so wrong on so many levels.

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Wed, 2015-12-23 17:14
It's a multi-LP, single sided box set consisting of 8 200g LPs. $500 is what it goes for on the used market because it is a spectacular set. An original 2 LP RCA Soria box sells for more. And, I had the 2 CD set and no use for it so I sold it on Ebay figuring I'd get $30 but it sold for EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS.
brucej4's picture
Submitted by brucej4 on Wed, 2015-12-23 18:28

Seriously? I bought the CD set on eBay for $16 in 2001. I never even knew Classic had released it on CD until I came across the listing. Time to sell...

melody maker's picture
Submitted by melody maker on Tue, 2015-12-29 00:52

I love when digital finances analog

AnalogJ's picture
Submitted by AnalogJ on Wed, 2015-12-23 11:30

I just realized that I'm not sure exactly what I'm supposed to do exactly with Side One.

AnalogJ's picture
Submitted by AnalogJ on Sat, 2015-12-26 06:35

:-)

Jon's picture
Submitted by Jon on Wed, 2015-12-23 13:44

Left and right channels are reversed in this Youtube "video".

Audiobill's picture
Submitted by Audiobill on Wed, 2015-12-23 16:23

that his high-dollar A/D converter reverses the channels. I really don't think Mikey is much of a classical music buff, otherwise he would know that the first violins are always on the left of the director.

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Wed, 2015-12-23 17:16
First of all, it's a moderately prices A/D converter, secondly I'd just reconnected things up and I do have a spatial issue and sometimes confuse left and right. In this case, I set it all up and did the transfer and only then did I realize it was backwards but I wanted to get it posted as quickly as possible.....so calm down...
Jon's picture
Submitted by Jon on Sun, 2015-12-27 16:47

That as the first person to comment that the channels were reversed, it was only an observation since usually for a reversed channel download I can easily just reverse the channels myself in Sound Forge Pro and wouldn't have bothered to comment. But obviously with a Youtube video it is not possible to reverse them and - on my computer at least - I cannot reverse the channels around in the soundcard software.

Nice recording and transcription quality at any rate. I have many Ansermet Deccas and for the most part they all achieve a lofty level of excellence. I certainly prefer these recordings generally to the relatively bright and in-your-face Kingsway ones.

Jim Tavegia's picture
Submitted by Jim Tavegia on Wed, 2015-12-23 17:37

Certianly better than any of my 3 poor turntables. Warped unconcentric lps must drive you crazy. Do dics pressers think that this kind of stuff doesnt matter. Sounds like a job for a VPI outer ring clamp.

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Wed, 2015-12-23 19:36
These single sided 200g records are often "dished" but not warped. The dishing prevents the vacuum holddown from forming a good seal so you're left with what the video looks like....
Kirby's picture
Submitted by Kirby on Wed, 2015-12-23 19:02

So funny, I just played a copy of the Nutcracker London ffrr Treasury Series, then decided to check out your site only to see this. Gonna give it a listen now. Great minds think alike!

Ohjoy50's picture
Submitted by Ohjoy50 on Wed, 2015-12-23 19:19

This a fantastic recording even on the digital version can only imagine how good it would be on vinyl. Not to mention mastered by the master Bernie Grundman. $500 is actually not bad at all, I've seen it go for alot more. To the gentlemen who said why when the cd he bought for $16 dollars, sure the digital versions still sounds very good, but its not analog. I've not heard this one first hand but can only imagine it must sound incredible.

AndyPrice44's picture
Submitted by AndyPrice44 on Wed, 2015-12-23 19:27

Mikey went through the trouble to make a recording for us and try to spread a little christmas spirit and you grinches complain about it.... Bah humbug... Thanks for posting this Mikey. It sounded good to me. Merry Christmas to you and yours and to all the rest of the folks that hang out here. Hope everyone has a great 2016!!

Ritmoman's picture
Submitted by Ritmoman on Wed, 2015-12-23 19:42

I wanted to listen to this, this morning. I gave away my cd version, thought I'd check the lp library and all I had was Mercury Living Presence 35mm lp, Dorati and the LSO. But one of the discs was missing when I got it in a thrift store. Sides 2&3 sound good on my system! Thanks for your sample. Nice to see and hear the Caliburn in action! I had to switch headphones, from the Gigaware mic/game phones to the trusty Grado R60s, big difference!There is a version conducted by Ansermet with Orchestra de la Suisse Romande on Decca for $65? Wonder how that one compares?

melody maker's picture
Submitted by melody maker on Tue, 2015-12-29 00:56

Even for casual fans who don 't collect seventeen versions of every masterpiece, the Dorati and the Ansermet of "The Nutcracker" are both musts. The Dorati is crisp, exciting and beautiful. The Ansermet is lush, charming and beautiful. Own both, at least on the various affordable reissues floating around.

Kirby's picture
Submitted by Kirby on Wed, 2015-12-23 20:09

I don't get it, if a couple of crackles is so upsetting go listen to your cds and let us poor vinyl lovers wallow in our muck. Michael I thought that sounded fantastic, a much better performance than my London ffrr Vienna Phil. Orc, Conducted by Hans Knappertsbusch org released 1960. I really know nothing about classical music, but even I can tell the difference. I'll have to find a copy of that recording. Thanks for the education, Happy Holidays to you and your family.

jdaniel1371's picture
Submitted by jdaniel1371 on Wed, 2015-12-23 23:10

And audiophile product (with an audiophile price) should be flat and silent. If post-war Germany could get it right, so can Kansas. End of story.

Rudy's picture
Submitted by Rudy on Fri, 2015-12-25 10:42

Having gone through two Elvis "24 Karat" sets, with five of the six discs among them being off-center to varying extents, I haven't been all that impressed with QRP. And their packaging on that is rubbish--three LPs jammed into a single flimsy jacket? Uh, no. I seriously believe they slip reviewers the best copies. I can hear when records are out of round. It's the 21st century and I thought we'd have had record production nailed after several decades of doing it.

I read plenty of reviews online of supposedly "pristine" copies and once I buy something, realize the quality control is crap when I get mine through standard retail channels. It seriously makes me wonder. On the consumer end of things, we cannot keep doing the vinyl crapshoot: at $25 or more a pop, it gets expensive really fast. And many stores will not exchange vinyl.

I emailed Mikey with a video about a pressing (unknown plant) a few days ago--absolutely terrible quality control. Record's filthy, very wavy (you can hear it wavering in pitch on the piano and trumpets), and there are even mishandling scratches on side two. It's also an insult to Bernie's mastering. It's like I said above: we've made LPs long enough that we should know how to do this!

mrl1957's picture
Submitted by mrl1957 on Sat, 2015-12-26 11:26

RTI is just as bad. I recently purchased 4 LPs from MFSL (all 180 grams) that had at least one side pressed off center, misaligned labels, slight warping and noticeable surface racket. Their JVC half speed mastered pressings from the late 1970s to the mid 1980s were a different story...not one bad disk in my collection (Nautilus Super-Discs were a very close second).

Pretzel Logic's picture
Submitted by Pretzel Logic on Fri, 2015-12-25 22:23

Seconded!

Pretzel Logic's picture
Submitted by Pretzel Logic on Fri, 2015-12-25 22:37

Seconded!

Roy Martin's picture
Submitted by Roy Martin on Thu, 2015-12-24 06:09

...much better than the Yule Log on Channel 11!

Michael Bruno's picture
Submitted by Michael Bruno on Thu, 2015-12-24 08:03

Thanks, Mike! I really enjoyed that. Merry Christmas!

stocknowledge's picture
Submitted by stocknowledge on Thu, 2015-12-24 08:17

Absolutely a great sounding record. Thanks for sharing.

Gratifying for me to hear that ultra-expensive gear still gets the same clicks and pops as my moderately-expensive gear!

Jeff Glotzer's picture
Submitted by Jeff Glotzer on Thu, 2015-12-24 09:41

And though I'm also Jewish, having Mikey do another year of Analog Planet is one of my favorite gifts.

Thank you for putting up with haters and curmudgeons every friggin year!

Mazel and Good tidings to all this season!

Audiobill's picture
Submitted by Audiobill on Thu, 2015-12-24 09:52

...and you always have an excuse when you make a mistake. You're the critic that can't stand to be criticized.

I'm not excited. I'm just making a point, that this is not the first time this has happened. Remember the multiple posts regarding the Scheherazade files where you continuously claimed that you hadn't reversed the channels? Normally, red = right. No spatial issue involved until you listen. Put a little sticky note on your converter (red = left). Also, the channels are reversed on the Analogplanet Radio file as well, so this is most likely a weekly event for you that you should be able to correct easily.

Modest to you is $2300 (?), but not to us working stiffs. You can get a more than adequate (for online streaming) NAD PP-4 for $200 that doesn't reverse the channels. It has a second input for your Ypsilon 16L step up transformer/VPS-100 combo. By the way, for $2300 you would think Lynx could get the channels correct. That's really inexcusable!

Jeff Glotzer's picture
Submitted by Jeff Glotzer on Thu, 2015-12-24 12:30

and yeah, you need to calm down. (!)

The only thing that is inexcusable is your directives for the website owner to follow per your demands.

Sorry, who the hell are you?

Merry Xmas, and don't forget to never, ever buy Lynx.

Oh, and get over yourself.

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Fri, 2015-12-25 13:54
This was my fault not the fault of Lynx. The Lynx HiLo does not reverse channels. Yes, this is not the first time I've gotten L/R reversed. I'm not perfect.
Trevor_Bartram's picture
Submitted by Trevor_Bartram on Thu, 2015-12-24 09:54

Tis a pity even the CD version of this is out of my league, this sample sounds wonderful on my Advent desktop PC speakers, you'd think someone would re-release it on CD. I believe I have the Mackerras on Telarc, I'll have to give that a spin, it's been a while.
Mikey keep up your good work, seasons greetings to all.

Dman's picture
Submitted by Dman on Thu, 2015-12-24 11:30

It doesn't matter one whit to me if this is a Classic Records or Original RCA,; what matters to me is that I finally get to hear this performance (having never heard it before).

Okay, so there's a little "fur" around the bells at the end of side, or a slight bit of static here and there. I don't care! So the pressing QC might or might not be up to everyone's standards. Classic did the best they could at the time. I for one will be searching out this record (again, EITHER a CR or RCA)...

Now about that Exile on Main Street re-issue that Mr. Fremer talked about... THERE is the REAL TRAVESTY...

RubenH's picture
Submitted by RubenH on Thu, 2015-12-24 22:39

... thanks for taking the time and effort to post this. No humbugs from me.

Ruyooka's picture
Submitted by Ruyooka on Fri, 2015-12-25 13:56

Thank you Mr. Fremer! You've prompted me to listen to my Classic Records copy (33 1/3). One marvels at the excellence of the performance, the quality of the original recording and the success by the Classic Records team. I think these records are worth the $500 folks are paying for them. Besides the old case of demand/supply/willing buyer/willing seller, they will bring joy to the owner for many years.
Thank you for the work you have done for vinyl music connoisseurs over the years.

mittehifi's picture
Submitted by mittehifi on Fri, 2015-12-25 20:14

Item listed on ebay.com in Milan / Italy, starts at 499$

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AUDIOPHILE-CLASSIC-CLARITY-RCA-Royal-Ballet-ANSE...

avi242's picture
Submitted by avi242 on Sun, 2015-12-27 01:26

Hi,
There will be a reissue soon of this fine LP. http://store.acousticsounds.com/d/110619/Ernest_Ansermet-The_Royal_Balle...
My Qustion is: Since many of the British RCA/Deccas are going to be reissued in the next months/Year, How come all of them were remastered by Willem Makkee in Europe, and only this one by BG? is it possible that AP used the old Classic Records metal parts for this one (which can actually be better) or The Decca guys "forgot" to take back the master tapes @ Bernie's? (which is also fine by me)

gerrysmith's picture
Submitted by gerrysmith on Sun, 2015-12-27 09:20

It was very well written and easy to understand.

_________________________
American Actor HD Wallpapers

kkatseanes's picture
Submitted by kkatseanes on Wed, 2016-01-06 20:49

I was thoroughly enjoying listening and then at the end of the Arabian dance the chords wobble and waver in pitch. Is this what you heard Mike on the LP? I agree it's a wonderful sounding recording, and a very fine interpretation, but the pitch issue is startling to say the least. I can't believe it's the playback equipment, which we would all die for, nor the transfer to digital. It has to be the pressing, the LP itself right? Does someone have it on CD where the pitch is stable and constant? Does anyone else have an LP copy of this that is pitch stable? Hard to believe all the copies are like this.

Love your work Mike, and appreciate all you do.

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Sat, 2016-01-09 13:14
When I get home. I have two of these box sets plus the 33 1/3 issue and the gold CD so I'll add it to the pile of things to do!
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