New for May

New downloads

Many music lovers miss the sound from vinyl pressings. Many others have yet to discover how pleasant the sound can be. Most of our albums are mastered from vinyl LP pressings and earlier recordings (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 sites.

We are in the process of moving our recommended download site from iTunes to Qobuz where you can download or steam in higher quality, but at the same price as iTunes.

	Coming soon

What the Critics Say

The following are reviews by Brian Wilson at Music Web International

"Beecham’s way with Schubert was as magic as anything that he did, even though – or because – he tinkered with the score in several places.

"The 1953 sound is inevitably thin and not without a trace of distortion but I’m willing to compromise in this case for the sake of the wonderful performances, first released in the UK by Philips in 1955 (ABL3001). Though Sony reissued the performances from the master tape in 2003, the result reportedly made the orchestra sound over-large by comparison with these LP transfers. "

Reissue of the Month (May 2016) "If you had asked me to nominate classic recordings of the Ravel and Honegger, these would have been among the front-runners alongside Pierre Monteux (Ravel, various Decca couplings) and Herbert von Karajan (Honegger, DG Originals). Add an enjoyable account of the Porgy and Bess Symphonic Picture by its arranger and some authoritative Delius from Sir Thomas Beecham in a collection running over the putative 80-minute limit and this must receive a clear recommendation, especially as the Ansermet Honegger is otherwise available only in a 3-CD set and RCA’s own transfers of the Ravel seem to come and go, more often the latter.

"The 78 recording of the Delius requires only a very small degree of tolerance, far less than I expected: it sounds more like an early LP transfer – indeed, it’s greatly superior to the Fontana and Philips LPs on which it was released. I’m surprised to see that Trevor Harvey praised the sound on the Philips transfer because I recall quite the opposite: I’m sure that I would have warmed to the North Country Sketches immediately if they had sounded as good as this. I listened to the Naxos transfer of the same recording  as streamed in lossless sound from their own classicsonlinehd.com and marginally preferred the Beulah transfer as having more body.

"Beecham transposed the order of the two central Sketches, Winter Landscape and Dance, presumably to suit the exigencies of 78 sides: both Naxos and Beulah have reset them in the correct order.

"There’s no connecting theme other than very fine performances of twentieth-century music – and the fact that two of the composers died in 1937, by pure coincidence – but I’m certainly not complaining. "

Reissue of the Month (April 2016) "Rimsky’s Antar is made from the same kind of material as Scheherazade: lovely tunes but without the structure which keeps the Arabian Nights-inspired work more or less in order. It’s certainly no symphony, though the composer worked on it several times. Ansermet uses the 1897 revision for this version, generally regarded as the first European stereo recording in May 1954 – and very good stereo, indeed, for its time in this transfer. Beulah score, too, by offering it on a single release – and a very generously-timed release, too.

"The Rachmaninov recording, though later, doesn’t stand up quite so well at top volume but it’s another fine transfer of another very fine, passionate performance

"The Glazunov first appeared on HMV CLP1140, with Lecocq’s Mam’zelle Angot. The music is compiled mainly from The Seasons, a very fine recording of which with Robert Irving conducting the Concert Arts Orchestra used to exist on EMI: unfortunately ousted by their later Svetlanov recording. I don’t believe Birthday Offering is otherwise available apart from a short 8-minute section on an inexpensive 100 Best Ballet collection. It’s well played, recorded and transferred."