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There's a lot of misinformation on the web, and sometimes there's misinterpretation of correct information. Just to set the record straight, Mercury made a FEW recordings for Philips, in one series of sessions in July 1961. These were released in the U.S. as: PHS 900 000 Richter/Kondrashin/LSO - Liszt Concertos (recorded on 35MM mag-film and mastered to LP in the U.S. and later to Philips Solo series CD directly from the 3-track film master) I don't have the PHS catalog numbers handy here, but the following albums were also recorded by Mercury at Walthamstow Town Hall near London, in July 1961, all recorded on 3-track magnetic tape: Charles Mackerras/LSO - "Kaleidoscope", and there was a second Philips LP that included some extra material. Everything recorded at that session was released on Mercury Living Presence CD in the 90s, remastered from the original 3-track tapes. Vishnevskaya/Rostropovitch - "Russian Song Recital". I do not have details on any CD reissues of this. This session was produced by Harold Lawrence. Richter/Rostropovich - Beethoven Cello/Piano Sonata, Op. 69 - this was issued as part of a double LP that includes other Opuses recorded elsewhere by Philips. The entire Beethoven Cello/Piano cycle was eventually recorded and reissued as a 2-CD Duo series set by Philips. This session was produced by Harold Lawrence. NO OTHER PHILIPS RECORDS were recorded by the Mercury Living Presence team. However, Harold Lawrence did produce some Philips records, including the highly-acclaimed Handel "Messiah" done by Colin Davis/LSO/etc. That recording, and some others, were made using Philips' version of the Mercury 3-microphone technique, which they called "M3". This was detailed in an AES presentation by former Philips engineer Hans Lauterslager. Philips' US-manufactured classical records were mastered at Fine Recording by George Piros and John Johnson and pressed at the Mercury plant in Richmond IN. Philips stopped manufacturing their classical albums for the US market in the US by the late 60's. I gotta say, I own several of them, and those Mercury Richmond pressings are no great shakes. You do better finding the original Dutch version, especially from the mid-60's onward. One exception would be the Richter/Liszt only because the European cuts were made from a 2-track tape cutting master made when the original US LP was cut "live" from the 3-2 mix. In most cases, the bargain-priced Philips Solo and Duo CD sounds better than any of the LPs, to my ears. Finally, much of the Philips catalog from the early stereo era ended up on CD reissues, and a lot of it in the Duo series. Especially in the case of material that was only released on LP in the in the US as part of the awful cheapo World Series (think Mercury Wing level of cheap), this was a huge blessing. -- Tom Fine ----- Original Message ----- From: "Roger Kulp" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2011 4:57 PM Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] curious as to why the high value? And what,IMO,are extremely UNDERvalued,for both their sound,and their rarity,are the early stampers,especially the white label promotional ones of the US pressed Philips Lps,mastered by Wilma Cozart-Fine,whi I assume did all of them,not just the Richters,she is credited with. http://www.soundfountain.com/amb/mercury.html Philips is about 60% down the page. Also expensive are the HiFi Stereo pressings of the Bruno Walter Lps. Here are a few http://www.popsike.com/BRUNO-WALTER-9-SYMPHONIES-in-STEREO-PHILIPS-HIFI-STE/200068989021.html http://www.popsike.com/Beethoven-Bruno-Walter-The-Nine-Symphonies-Philips-TAS/260634249584.html http://www.popsike.com/Bruno-Walter-Philips-HiFi-Stereo-835-542-very-rare/160444388460.html The sound on these is a revalation,when you are used to the US pressings,even the 6-eye stereos,that are pretty good in their own way.I have yet to shell out the money for the Walters on Philips,but if the Leonard Bernstein HiFi Stereos I was able to buy a few years ago,at under $5.00 each,these have been creeping up since,the sonics alone make them worth the money. Roger --- On Thu, 1/27/11, Eric Nagamine <[log in to unmask]> wrote: From: Eric Nagamine <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] curious as to why the high value? To: [log in to unmask] Date: Thursday, January 27, 2011, 11:39 PM Tom Fine wrote: > http://www.goldminemag.com/features/double-mortgage-anyone-125000-lot-hits-o ur-market-watch-countdown > > why would those Philips LPs of David Oistrakh and Lev Oborin go for > so much? Was that a freak eBay sale? That material was reissued as a > nicely-packaged good-sounding CD set. The original sound quality > wasn't knock your socks off, although it was typical Philips high > quality. The performances remain highly rated by some critics. But, > if a CD set is available, why are the original LPs worth thousands of > dollars? Could this have been a Philips completist buyer who got in a > bidding war? > > -- Tom Fine If it's a early 60's(?)Dutch pressed "HIFI STEREO" purple label disc, then they do have a cachet among collectors, though I've never seen the prices that high. Mostly in the $50 to $100 range per disc. Perhaps the set packaging was rare in those pressings? Were these originally recorded by the Mercury team for Philips like the Richter/Liszt Piano concerti disc? Those seem to have more value because of who did the recording, than the performance it self. ----------- Aloha and Mahalo, Eric Nagamine