Hi Wade:

Thanks for the nice words/observations.

Two points:

1. I never say never about the unreleased part of the catalog. We may not do a 50+CD box set "as one
of a group" with these box sets, but who knows? There's more MLP in the works right now, more
details later. The mono recordings you cite are very much on my mind if the opportunity presents
itself in the future. I have noted the positive reception in the marketplace for the new Decca Mono
Era box set.

2. Your point about the Capriccio is interesting and I will do some compartive listening and bring
up the master tracks of both stereo and mono issue in a DAW so I can look closely. There is a
hand-written entry in the otherwise type-written MLP session book showing Capriccio "MG50054B"
recorded 12/22/55. There is no other entry for that piece being recorded in Minneapolis, and Mercury
did record stereo and mono on that 12/22/55 session.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message -----
From: "Wade Lewis" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2015 12:32 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Mercury Living Presence 3


> well My copy of vol 3 arrived, sent from Amazon German location though I
> purchased it from Amazon Italy. All the discs appear to be correct so that
> is one good thing. My thanks go to Tom Fine for his participation in this
> effort.
> What I am sorry about is that from the documentation, this is the last
> volume that will be issued. This means there is a significant group of
> Mercury recordings that will never be available in high quality CD
> transfers. That includes most of the mono orchestral issues (especially the
> remaining Kubeliks, the Dorati Sleeping Beauty and various Hansons), ALL the
> chamber music monos and a still sizeable number of Stereo items, whether
> missing individual tracks or whole LPs. This makes me sad as, having spent
> a large block of time relistening to the existing CD issues has reinforced
> my impression of the entire catalog as a major statement of the quality of
> recordings made by Mercury in the 1950s-60s.
> I am happy that I have almost all the monos in my LP collection but now it
> seems that i will be running around trying to find good condition Stereo LPs
> once I determine which ones are outstanding as unreleased CD items.
> My OTHER observation is the wonderful quality of the graphics of the
> original LP covers. The boldness of the designs certainly matched the
> statements made by the recordings themselves.
> Finally, looking at the recording dates, it is interesting to see that the
> Capriccio italien on the Stereo 1812/Wellington's Victory CD in vol 1 is the
> same recording that appears in Vol 3 along with the mono 1812. I had always
> wondered if they were the same or different recordings.
>
>