Whats on your turntable tonight?

I have recently acquired and listened the one-sided 45 RPM version of the Decca Mendelssohn in Scotland recording with Maag conducting reissued by Speakers Corner (thanks to Barry Konigsburg for showing me this disc). If this disc is any indication, I should be begging Speakers Corner to reissue more of their great Decca catalog in this format, much as I hate spending money on more versions of the same recording. It is a revelation in dynamics (micro as well as macro) and transparency compared with the good 33-1/3 rpm version. I generally dislike the 45 rpm pressings because of having to get up four times to hear a symphony, but some of the Speakers Corner Decca reissues (Rossini Overtures, Suite Espanola, and others featuring shorter, discrete pieces) would seem ideally suited for the format.

Russ, I agree with you completely about this 45 rpm Speakers Corner reissue. It's a shame they didn't continue with more 45 rpm reissues from the Decca catalog because this one is certainly superb. For some reason I can't fathom, it got poor write-ups by some of the reviewers when it was originally issued and it didn't sell well. Kai Seeman (the force behind Speakers Corner) decided not to continue the experiment in 45s. Such a shame. I'd love to see more of the wonderful Decca catalog released in 45 rpm with the same care that went into this one. Not only is this one of the great Decca recordings and one of the great performances of this music, the sonics of the reissue place it firmly in the top tier of my orchestral LPs.

I have recently acquired and listened the one-sided 45 RPM version of the Decca Mendelssohn in Scotland recording with Maag conducting reissued by Speakers Corner

Rush, thanks for the scoop, I did not know the story behind the Speakers Corner 45s. I can understand the limited market for this product; as I said, I'm tired of buying multiple formats of the same recording, but after hearing it this was just too good to ignore. I cannot understand the bad reviews this record got; I can only attribute them to people whose listening priorities are not close to mine. The 45 prm version gets rid of so much of the muddiness and congestion that I hear on the 33-1/3 rpm version (partially a function of my vinyl rig, perhaps) that it's almost like listening to a completely different recording.

Russ and Rush-
I hope the two of you are happy. All this talk of "Mendelssohn in Scotland" Speaker's Corner reissue caused me to come home from work and spin it.

I had originally planned to put on a guilty pleasure and give Michael Jackson's "Thriller" a listen.....

Ah, see what an aesthetically pleasing evening we enticed you into? Good we don't leave you to your own devices. :-)