Violin Moves All Over the Sound Stage

Try the same recording with headphones, see if it happens.

Cheers George

I’m listening to it, and for the most part, Stern is within the center or left-center (which would be correct), but at times, he ‘shows up’ on the edge of the right channel. I would not classify it as ‘moving all over the stage’ though not consistent…..but….

Keep in mind, this performance was originally released in 1959, in mono, so all stereo releases were re-engineered for stereo. I think that is where the problem lies, and it was re-released in stereo many many times.

Does anyone know which version of this performance is the best engineered recording?

I would go to Discogs, find that album, and see what has received the highest user ratings for the various releases. No guarantee, but it is a start.

I streamed the Great Performance version, that wasn’t too bad actually, I enjoyed it. There is another by Columbia from the 60’s, and my guess is it could be pretty darn good. I’m not sure it’s available in digital/CD format though.

I purchase a lot of period classical LP’s, have 22 arriving tomorrow, and you can’t go wrong with a Columbia Masterworks release, typically. The Great Performance series were actually Columbia releases by CBS. When Sony took over Columbia/CBS, they put out some really nice remastered old classical recordings, but limited. I highly doubt they remastered that album.

He is supposed to stay at center-left but through some pressings I have heard similar panning “movement,” which I suspect is due to warps in the groove or imperfections in the master tape stereo transfer back in the day. Might help to listen only in mono.