My experiences with Madacy are all negative.  They issued a DVD of WC Fields shorts that looks like a copy of a VHS tape.

Gary

Gary Galo
Audio Engineer Emeritus
The Crane School of Music
SUNY at Potsdam, NY 13676

"Great art presupposes the alert mind of the educated listener."
Arnold Schoenberg

"A true artist doesn't want to be admired, he wants to be believed."
Igor Markevitch

________________________________
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Steve Smolian <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2017 3:51:12 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] FW: [ARSCLIST] classical music LPs to CDs

Alas! Both Solomon brothers have died some while ago.

Some of Madacy was junk, some not.

I do know that, perhaps as a result of contact they may have had with the Florida outfit for whom I was then making CD masters from commercial records for which they claimed issue rights, things stopped in mid-transfer.  I've about a dozen items in various stages including Barchet and Inez Matthews records.  Too bad.

The transfers I did of the Starker Beethoven Sonatas with Bogen were ok'd from a musical standpoint by Starker.  When others prepared them for release, they severly shortened the length of the pauses between movements and altered the listening experience.  The Period stuff with orchestra came out on Period Classics, the Beethoven on Essential with no number at all.  Tte Koday/Wiener I can't find at the moment, and I think the Barchet Quartets I bought through Amazon were on a CD-R.  A lot more were in the pipeline.   Bernie Solomon died in the middle of this project.  Perhaps as a result of contact they may have had from Madacy or others, things stopped in mid-note.  I've about a dozen items in a file in various stages including the Inez Matthews records.  Too bad.

Steve Smolian



-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Haley
Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2017 2:54 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] FW: [ARSCLIST] classical music LPs to CDs

Madacy was a stictly junk company, with some of its classical CDs being released in poor sound, off pitch, etc., although some of the original recordings were distinguished.  I have assumed they are long gone by now.
The recordings that I know were from licensed masters, not owned.

The history of the classical Vanguard catalog on CD is confusing, with seemingly competing reissues on Omega and otherwise.  I wish somebody would do an ARSC Journal article about their history.  Are the Solomon guys still around?  There were some real gems in that catalog.

Best,
John Haley






On Thu, Aug 10, 2017 at 1:55 PM, Richard L. Hess <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> Did the two Solomon brothers divide this stuff about 20 years ago? The
> "Christmas Eve at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine" album was
> re-released as Omega 'Vanguard Classics' OVC 6013 CD in 1991 (LP was
> released on Vanguard in 1974.
>
> I made the following note:
> This recording was originally made in 1974 and released on Vanguard
> Records in 1975 as a stereo/SQ LP (Vanguard VSD-71212). In 1991, the
> original 4-track Dolby tapes were transferred to digital and remixed
> to stereo (hence the ADD SPARS code).
>
> and the following opinion:
> Editorial Comment: This has always been one of my very favorite
> Christmas albums. I've had the LP since 1975 and treasure it. I am
> very pleased to see this re-released on CD on the 'Vanguard Classics'
> label. I got my copies from the Cathedral Shop, but it might be
> available through any record store. Although the original recording
> was done in 1974, it is still very clean and good sounding.
>
> on my website:
> http://www.richardhess.com/sjd/  (scroll most of the way down)
>
> Cheers,
>
> Richard
>
>
> On 2017-08-10 1:28 PM, Steve Smolian wrote:
>
>> This seems to be the non-classical Vanguard.
>>
>> Steve Smolian
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List [mailto:
>> [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David Lewis
>> Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2017 1:17 PM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] FW: [ARSCLIST] classical music LPs to CDs
>>
>> Well, Vanguard has changed hands as I thought it might:
>>
>> http://www.concordmusicgroup.com/news/concord-music-group-ac
>> quires-famed-independent-labels-vanguard-sugar-hill-welk-music-group/
>>
>> best,
>>
>> UD
>>
>
> --
> Richard L. Hess                   email: [log in to unmask]
> Aurora, Ontario, Canada                             647 479 2800
> http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
> Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.
>