Hi, Guyz ...
Its nice to see that the conversation has gotten around to the Mercury recordings. I have a nice collection both on vinyl and CD's. Here's what I've found over the years:
The best of the MLP's are truly terrific in both sound and performances. The least of them have a hardness and brightness to the sound. This just means that not all of them are great.
The Starker cello CD's are among the best ... but there is only so much Bach solo cello that I can listen to at one sitting. I have to be in the mood. For cello, I prefer Fred Katz playing with the Chico Hamilton Quintet:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CHICO-HAMILTON-QUINTET-South-Pacific-In-Hi-Fi-WORLD-PACIFIC-STEREO-1003-LP-M...For orchestral music here is one of the all time best Mercury's. Its got the sound and the performance. Someone here should buy this one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercury-Living-Presence-CD-Antal-Dorati-conducts-Kodaly-and-Bartok-NM-/20161...For the vinyl guys, if you're not aware of it ... the Mercury "Golden Imports" is a good way to go. These are the MLP's reissued on better vinyl and have better sound as a general rule than the originals ... and a lot less expensive to collect. Here's a good example:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ROMEROS-PLAY-VIVALDI-MERCURY-GOLDEN-IMPORTS-MADE-IN-NETHERLANDS-LP-NM-/40124...And finally, again for the vinyl guys, don't pass up the Mercury mono's. They can be really amazing too. Here's a person selling a small collection of the mono's. I'm thinking of bidding on these myself ... like I really NEED more records:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MERCURY-LIVING-PRESENCE-OLYMPIAN-SERIES-LOT-OF-18-CLASSICAL-LPS-VG-to-NM-NR-...Frank