Thanks to producer and engineer Mark Obert-Thorn and the Naxos label, the historic performances of Willem Mengelberg and the Concertgebouw Orchestra can now be heard with stunning clarity and substantial resonance. Transferred from a variety of shellac pressings, these Columbia and Telefunken recordings made between 1927 to 1942 are, by and large, free of extraneous noise, murkiness, and distortion. Though the sound is still compressed, this unavoidable difficulty is easy enough to surmount, considering all the other ...
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Thanks to producer and engineer Mark Obert-Thorn and the Naxos label, the historic performances of Willem Mengelberg and the Concertgebouw Orchestra can now be heard with stunning clarity and substantial resonance. Transferred from a variety of shellac pressings, these Columbia and Telefunken recordings made between 1927 to 1942 are, by and large, free of extraneous noise, murkiness, and distortion. Though the sound is still compressed, this unavoidable difficulty is easy enough to surmount, considering all the other advantages Obert-Thorn offers us in his wide-frequency restorations. Mengelberg's Beethoven is vital and compelling, particularly in the powerful performances of the Coriolan and Egmont overtures. The Leonore Overture No. 3 is also exciting and surprisingly expansive, its full length held intact through precise editing of the original 78s. The second movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 8, the earliest recording here, offers remarkable sound quality for 1927, and Mengelberg's witty...
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