I thought some of those Masterworks Heritage packages were really good. I think by the time Sony
got up the effort to do those kinds of re-issues, the boat had sailed. It's too bad because they
needed time to go and re-do all the crapola digital transfers they did to load the market early in
the CD era.
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Gray" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 12:02 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Sony and Binaural
> Not really, at least for the pop and jazz catalogs. But the big program planned for Masterworks
> Heritage taken from the original tapes and lacquers died from lack of sales.
>
> Mike
>
> Dave Lewis wrote:
>> That's what it was. I wasn't questioning the technique; I was
>> questioning whether, as it says, Sony has discontinued this kind of
>> restoration work. The results are quite convincing.
>>
>> David "Uncle Dave" Lewis
>>
>> Assistant Editor, Classical
>> Rovi Corporation
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mike Gray
>> Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 11:43 AM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Sony and Binaural
>>
>> For "left" / "right" to produce 'binaural' would require two entirely independent microphone
>> mixers feeding two separate disc-cutters. Anything else is a fantasy.
>>
>> Mike Gray
>>
>> Dave Lewis wrote:
>>
>>> Edward Johnson, in his notes for Cala 551, "Stokowski Beethoven
>>>
>> Symphony
>>
>>> No. 7 and Other First Stereo Releases on CD" states:
>>>
>>>
>>> "In 2004, Anthony Fountain, Classical Archivist at Sony Music Studios
>>>
>> in
>>
>>> New York, found many lacquer masters that Stokowski and the All
>>>
>> American
>>
>>> Youth Orchestra had recorded in Hollywood after their 1941 summer
>>>
>> tour.
>>
>>> The most significant part of the discovery was that all the recordings
>>> were made in duplicate, with each pair of discs labeled "Left" and
>>> "Right" respectively. [...] It was an exciting discovery and the
>>>
>> Leopold
>>
>>> Stokowski Society wished to license a complete CD of these AAYO
>>> 'binaural' recordings. However, the Sony powers-that-be decided that
>>> such a discovery should appear on their own label instead, along with
>>> any other records of the period that had been recorded binaurally.
>>>
>> These
>>
>>> included the Stravinsky/New York Philharmonic sets of the early 1940s
>>>
>> in
>>
>>> which the composer conducted his own 'Rite of Spring' and other works
>>> [...] However, it all came to nought in 2006 when the senior
>>>
>> executives
>>
>>> in charge were dismissed due to the poor sales of both their new and
>>> historic releases. The Stokowski/AAYO lacquers were sent off for
>>>
>> storage
>>
>>> and the transferring equipment dismantled, so it seems that the
>>> opportunity for hearing more of these historic recordings binaurally
>>> has, tragically, now gone."
>>>
>>>
>>> Okay - I'm assuming that these notes, published with the final
>>>
>> Stokowski
>>
>>> Society release that appeared in November, speak the truth. But just
>>> last week I heard a Sony producer protesting on NPR that "people
>>>
>> should
>>
>>> not take it on themselves and reissue classic recordings. First we
>>>
>> have
>>
>>> to locate the original master recording, then we have to find the
>>>
>> legal
>>
>>> holder of the performance rights, etc." The NPR commentator added that
>>> Sony has transferred about 10,000 classic recordings since 1994 or so,
>>> but is doing so in the face of the realization that only minimal
>>> financial gain is likely to be made in such endeavor.
>>>
>>>
>>> However, if they have "dismantled" [...] "the transferring equipment"
>>> then all that the Sony producer said is mere bluster; one has to
>>>
>> assume
>>
>>> that they aren't doing any of that kind of work now, based on what is
>>> said in the Stokowski notes. Who is telling the truth?
>>>
>>> David "Uncle Dave" Lewis
>>>
>>> Assistant Editor, Classical
>>>
>>> Rovi Corporation
>>>
>>>
>
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