Beulah quoted
"These
are careful transfers which make the most of the material, whereas I
suspect that some others just stick an LP or 78s on the turntable and
give us what comes out the other end. Beulah’s results are comparable
with the fine transfers which Naxos Historical offer. " Brian
Wilson at Music Web International
"The
Beulah
record label has always been one of the most idiosyncratic, and
therefore perhaps most interesting, of reissue marques. While the basic
character of Beulah remains the same as in its Compact Disc days, the
range of its present catalogue, driven now by the ease of downloading,
has been extended in remarkable fashion. Browsing the Beulah catalogue
is now rather like being in a 78rpm record shop: there are plenty of
recordings of short pieces available to whet your appetite for either
repertoire or artist, while at the same time there are numerous full
length works available if you wish to consolidate your collection with,
for instance, major symphonies. All of Beulah's transfers, as might be
expected of a distinguished reissue label, are of very high quality."
David Patmore writing in Classical
Recordings Quarterly
"Beulah
releases are available from other
suppliers but ; offer them in
lossless sound for the same price
that others charge for mp3 – in some cases that’s less than full
bit-rate
mp3." Brian
Wilson at Music Web International
New for March
Many music lovers miss the sound
from vinyl pressings.
Many others have yet to discover how great the sound can be.
Most of our albums are mastered from vinyl LP pressings and earlier
recordings (generally before 1953) from 78 rpm discs. It is our ability
to
recreate, in the digital age, the sound from the disc era that many of
our customers find most enjoyable.
Unlike modern digital recordings
tracks in our
albums do contain some distortion, and the occasional surface noises,
but for many listeners these "defects" are soon forgotten.
Our albums are available from
many download and
streaming sites.
We highly
recommend downloading from where you can download or stream in high quality,
for
the
same price as iTunes medium quality.
The critics
"The next time I read a critic – possibly myself – writing
about the notorious difficulty of recording in the Royal Festival Hall,
I am going to direct them toward this recording. I am equally sure that
the technical team responsible would have regaled us with stories about
the acoustic horrors they had to overcome but the result is luminous
and never more so than in this new issue on Beulah.
"In anticipation of reviewing this Beulah release, I had a listen to the
2012 reissue of this material by EMI in the Icon box devoted to
Cantelli. I thought the sound on that version was excellent and
unlikely to be topped by Beulah. I was wrong. Comparing the two, the
EMI sound is more recessed particularly in the numerous passages for
woodwind in these colourful scores. The brass on Beulah have been
considerably brightened and, particularly in La Mer, the lower brass
have gained in amplitude (and in that Debussy score, in menace). The
EMI sound is admirably clear but Beulah’s has a richness that adds
considerably to the enjoyment of a piece like L’Après-Midi. These were
always splendid recordings from a technical point of view and the level
of detail Beulah have found in them is a listening delight. The harps
in the second movement of La Mer stand out in a way they do in few
modern recordings but without any sense of artificial spotlighting. In
the big climaxes – the end of La Mer is tremendously exciting sonically
– the sound opens up beautifully without a hint of overloading. Only in
the opening Dawn sequence of Daphnis do we really become aware that we
are listening to such an old recording but here again Beulah trump EMI
– it is like a fine veil has been lifted off the sound picture.
"
Obviously these are classic performances that,I think, show Cantelli at
his best. "
David McDade at Music
Web International
|