response 25 of 74:

May 3 10:47 UTC 1999

My non-expert suggestions:

Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto: Heifetz-Beecham.

Dvorak Slavonic Dances: Neumann-Czech Philharmonic.

Rossini Overtures:  Czech Philharmonic-Delogu.

Faure Requiem:  Paris Philharmonic-Liebowitz.

Handel Fireworks and Water Music:  Ormandy/Philadelphia.

Beethoven's Ninth: keep both.

response 27 of 74:

May 4 15:30 UTC 1999

I did like the Paris version of Faure best, but in order to fit it onto a 10"
record they omitted a few lines here and there (any line that was repeated
in the original was left out in their performance).  Do modern composers time
their compositions to fit in 72 minutes (formerly 45 minutes)?
The Handel records were not quite the same either - Ormandy did abridged
versions of both Water and Fireworks music, then I had one complete Water
Music and one complete Fireworks with abridged Water.  May keep them all.
The Musical Heritage Society performances seems to be technically correct but
lacking in interpretation.  The Musical Masterpiece Society (Netherlands and
Paris Symphonies, etc.), though on 10" records and therefore at times a bit
abridged, are uniformly good, in my opinion.

response 29 of 74:

May 4 19:43 UTC 1999

THere was something about a Grand Prix, you are welcome to this version.
I am currently comparing three versions of Beethoven's Ninth.  I recall it
being very hard on the second altos (a long very high note that I could not
reach at all).  First version is scratchy.  Basic Library of the World's
Greatest Music (with yet another Barber of Seville on the reverse side).

response 31 of 74:

May 5 19:05 UTC 1999

I just read that CDs were lengthened from 60 to 74 minutes because LPs are
37 minutes long per side.   Did someone invent a longer LP by putting the
grooves closer together?  (I think this is what happened when going from 78s
to 33s).  Or is this just an error?

response 33 of 74:

May 12 18:00 UTC 1999

On CD length:  The story was always reported that Akio Morita, the chairman
of Sony, decreed that the CD had to be long enough to record Beethoven's 
9th Symphony on one disc.  (Sony and Philips were the co-developers of
today's CD format.)  The original CD standard called for a 72 minute 
length.  Some releases started pushing that limit up by packing the 
tracks in a teensy bit more tightly and getting closer to the rim of 
the disc; when 80-minute discs came out, we found that lots of players
would not make it through to the end of these discs.  So the upper boundary
is now 78 minutes and change.
 
LPs:  Yes, the grooves (and stylii) got much smaller with the transition
from 78 to LP; that's why the LPs were called "microgroove" recordings 
for a while.  37 minutes may be a theoretical possibility for the length 
of one LP side, but it was not a market practicality.  In LPs, there would 
always be a tradeoff between how loud (=how wide) the grooves were cut, 
and how much time the LP could hold.  I rarely saw LPs packing in more than 
25 minutes per side and I doubt that I ever saw an LP with 30 minutes
on a side.  I suspect some exist at that length, but they were very 
rare. 
 
(Oh, it's important how loud/wide the grooves are cut because the 
signal needs to climb out of the vinyl surface noise with the LP.)

response 35 of 74:

Dec 29 20:22 UTC 1999

At the library, I took a look at which companies are now putting out classical
CDs:  Phillips, London, Deutsche Grammophon, Nonesuch, RCA Victor and CBS
(Columbia) are the only ones that I recognized.  Are Angel/Seraphim,
Westminster, MHS and other record companies still in existence?  Did they
merge or get bought out?  Are there now fewer and larger companies or perhaps
more and smaller, now that anyone can make a CD?
Vox/Turnabout still around?  Mercury?  Oryx?  

response 37 of 74:

Jan 4 19:58 UTC 2000

In general, record labels are merging into a few big groups, rather like car
companies did a while back, although not to quite such an extreme degree. 
I don't know much about classical labels, but I'd assume they're following
this general trend.

response 39 of 74:

Jan 7 01:10 UTC 2000

This is off the top of my head, with some references to the web.
There are now five multinational conglomerates who control 85% or 
more of all recorded music sales  (not just classical):
In approximate order of size, they are:

   Universal  (formed last year by merging MCA and Polygram)
   Time/Warner
   Sony       (historically, Columbia in the US)
   BMG        (historically, RCA in the US)
   EMI        (historically, Capitol for pop and Angel for classical in US)
 
Of the labels keesan mentions:
   Polygram controlled the Philips, London and Deutsche Gramophon 
       labels, so they are now part of Universal Music Group.
       I think all three labels are still active, though I'm not
       sure about Philips.   Mercury is also a part of the Universal
       conglomerate; Mercury dropped out of the business of 
       selling new recordings many years ago, so today the
       Mercury name is only used for their old reissues.
   Nonesuch is still an active division of Time/Warner.
   The "CBS Masterworks" label was retired when Sony bought Columbia.
       New issues are under the Sony name, and historical issues are 
       usually under Columbia.
   The RCA name is used for many BMG classical releases, both reissues
       and new items. 
   Angel and Seraphim were label names used by EMI; Seraphim was for 
       budget-priced reissues.  I'm pretty sure the Seraphim name is retired
       but I don't know about Angel.  New releases seem to be marketed 
       as "EMI Classical."
   I don't know what happened to Westminster.  I vaguely recall that
       ABC bought them, and then ABC's music operations ended up in MCA.
       Westminster used to have the funkiest LP covers.
   Musical Heritage Society, primarily a mail order operation, was still
       active as of a few years ago, but I have not seen any advertising
       from them recently.  "MusicMasters" was their label for retail
       store sales.  (Response above: maybe BMG bought them?)
   Vox is still putting CDs in store racks, but I don't know if they 
       are new recordings or just repackagings of old work.
   I never heard of Oryx before.

There are a lot of new small classical labels.  Harmonia Mundi, 
Hyperion and Chandos leap immediately to mind, and I'm sure there are 
lots more.

response 41 of 74:

Jan 19 01:23 UTC 2000

Wow.  Hard to picture two more unlikely partners.

response 43 of 74:

Jan 20 22:01 UTC 2000

I found a website for MHS, but it's closed for renovations.

response 45 of 74:

Jan 21 03:42 UTC 2000

Another correction to my resp:39 ::  at Borders tonight I saw a big 
stack of Seraphim CDs in the $7-and-less classical bin.  So that 
imprint has been revived for a super-budget line of discs.
It's just a brand name, the small print on the discs identify them 
as coming from EMI Classical.

response 47 of 74:

Jan 30 20:25 UTC 2000

Music of the Rocco?  Like my cousin Rocco from
the North End?

response 49 of 74:

Jan 31 16:01 UTC 2000

You mean "rococo":  18th century, elegant, ornate.
The music of Rocco is mostly Sinatra and Lois Prima.