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Mark, they got the value of a lifetime from your work! There's no time the public heard those recordings sound better. I'm sure the session tapes sounded a little better in their first day of playback, but that's about all I can think of that would compare to the SACD layers. And I do have many of the original first-pressing LPs. The SACDs, both 3-channel (where applicable) and 2-channel, blow the LPs out of the water to my ears. -- Tom Fine ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Donahue" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2012 5:21 PM Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] New SONY sets > FYI, the SACD mastering budget for the series on a per disc basis was > cheaper than doing the project as a CD re-issue in house at Sony Music. (We > charge Boston rates, not NY rates......) > Finally, of the 60 SACD titles, all but 4 recouped in their first > pressing. Unfortunately Morton Gould and a couple others just didn't sell > well after the original group of 10 releases. Doesn't mean that they are > any less interesting to listen to, just not big sellers. > All the best, > -mark > > > On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 12:41 PM, Dennis Rooney <[log in to unmask]>wrote: > >> Dear Tom, >> >> I have heard similar hearsay but never followed it up. LIVING STEREO was a >> prestige line. Pfeiffer mostly stayed out of it. We can discuss his >> influence on another occasion. >> >> Ciao, >> >> DDR >> >> On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 11:59 AM, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask] >> >wrote: >> >> > Hi Dennis: >> > >> > The story I heard [WARNING - 2nd Hand, perhaps hearsay] was that someone >> > in the family that controls BMG (Mann? family) is both a classical music >> > and RCA Living Stereo fan, so he or they saw Living Stereo as a crown >> jewel >> > in the RCA acquisition. Therefore, the horrid-sounding early CDs quickly >> > came out of print under BMG and the 1990s Living Stereo reissue program >> > took place, which was often an improvement over earlier reissues >> > (definitely the ones supervised by John Pfeiffer were improvements, I >> think >> > the program got dilluted as time went on). Then when SACDs came along, no >> > expense was spared in producing the Living Stereo hybrid reissues. Again, >> > heard second-hand, but I was told that there was no mathematical way for >> > BMG to profit from that series from the number of hybrid discs they >> pressed >> > at the very reasonable retail price point they set, so it was a >> loss-leader >> > labor of love. Now what I don't know is whether they did additional press >> > runs, which would have added to any profitability or perhaps attained >> > profitability. >> > >> > When Sony put out the box set of the CD layers a few years ago, I figured >> > that meant the SACDs were thus out of print and so I better snap up all >> > that I wanted while there was still inventory out there. I succeed but >> > everything was bought "new and used" from Amazon-affiliated sellers, many >> > of them located outside the US. I don't like opera and that was a good >> > thing because the opera titles were sold out and quite pricey in the "new >> > and used" world. >> > >> > -- Tom Fine >> >