Handel8 wrote:
> I do not believe that the complete Munch Damnation was ever issued in
> stereo on LP or otherwise. I have never seen a stereo copy in the
US.
> There was a stereo version on French RCA LP set, but I would bet
money
> that this was pseudo stereo and not the real thing. I believe that
> only part of the work was recorded in stereo as an experiment. I'm
> sure a lot more is available in stereo than just that 5 minute
excerpt
> on that BMG/RCA cd. It would be neat if they would issue the whole
> thing with as much stereo as they have mixed and spliced in with the
> mono. Ward Marston did that on an LP of early Stokowski/Philadelphia
> Orchestra material from Bell Labs. He put together a complete Wagner
> orchestral piece with the studio/mono recording with the with the
> stereo clips. It was done flawlessly. It actually started in stereo
> went to mono and then back again !
>
> Alan Prichard
Another example where BMG is missing the boat! I had also heard
of a French LP Stereo issue (in the 70s?) but had never seen a
copy and could never confirm whether it was 100% real.
If there is any significant amount of this classic in real STEREO,
then a Stereo/Mono compilation would probably sell. If I were
at BMG (which I'm obviously not), I would ask how many CD copies
of this performance had already sold in its various incarnations
(Gold Seal; the first Munch/Berlioz box, and the latest Munch/Berlioz
box) to see if there is a market. (My bet is that there is).
Also, the Munch/Berlioz Requiem on SACD represents its fourth
CD appearance. Just put my order in at Borders! Strong
sales of that title should convince the skeptics at BMG that
a compilation 1954 Damnation would sell.
But, perhaps not all is lost. When the 8-disc Berlioz box
came out, I wrote to BMG pointing out that they could easily
have included the first (78-rpm; 1949) recording of the
Beatrice and Benedict. That finally did appear in an
RCA Red Seal Century compilation set and now, I understand,
in the 10-cd box.
Final word (stereo or mono aside), this has got to be one
of the great classics of recorded sound and I should
probably be grateful that it's not fallen into the
out-of-print limbo.
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