Sir Eugene Goossens - Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique

Classic Records Everest Titles On 200g 45rpm Double LP!
Mastered From Original 35mm Magnetic Film Using 'All Tube' Cutting System!
Pressed On Classic's 200-gram Super Vinyl Flat Profile at Quality Record Pressings!
First Time Issued On 45rpm Vinyl!

Sets come with Stoughton Printing tip-on old style original jacket artwork and Everest Records-branded jacket

Two LPs are packaged in a protective clear sleeve

Among Classic Records' highlight accomplishments was unlocking the audio majesty of the Everest 35mm magnetic film recordings on a groundbreaking reissue series.

Rarely has a record label been so influential and so associated with trend-setting recording techniques for its time as Everest Records. Hollywood sound man Harry Belock and audio dealer-engineer Bert Whyte started the label as the stereo era dawned. They acquired 3-channel 35mm magnetic film recording equipment in 1959, and through the early '60s recorded in this fashion, as did Mercury Records. Unlike the Mercury 35mm recordings that were praised for their fidelity on LP, Everest LPs were criticized for their lackluster sound and noisy surfaces. Classic Records owner Mike Hobson reasoned that those LPs were the result of poor transfers and poor pressings, not the recordings themselves, which were patterned after the legendary Mercury recordings.

Classic's "Flat Profile" 200-gram pressings and mastering revealed the sonic detail and lower-range fidelity that 35mm recordings had always offered, but previously failed to deliver on LP. Now, Classic Records, and Quality Record Pressings are returning to Everest's phenomenal catalog to reissue 10 titles meticulously remastered for Classic Records, making these gems available again for audiophiles to enjoy. Analogue Productions releases these titles on the Classic Records label, as the jackets and the mastering was done by them. These LPs, limited to roughly 500 copies of each title, are pressed at Quality Record Pressings using the same flat-edge profile and same high quality standard as the lauded Analogue Productions reissue series from Blue Note, Prestige and others.

35mm magnetic film yielded major advantages over standard 1/4" recording tape. The film tape width accommodated three channels, each of which was as wide as the standard 1/4" recording tape, yielding stereo recordings in which the usual "background noise" was noticeably lower than normal. The 35mm base material on which the magnetic oxide was coated, was five times thicker than that of conventional tape, permitting the recording of extremely high sound intensities without the danger of layer to layer sound "print through." Like cinematic film, 35mm tape has sprocket holes along the edges, affording an unprecedented smoothness of motion — extremely low wow and flutter.

The Westrex Corporation built special equipment to Everest's specifications in order to accomplish these advantages. This equipment included the use of special recording heads and amplifiers that afforded complete wide band frequency response in recording.

Classic Records retained Len Horowitz from History of Recorded Sound in Hollywood, to meticulously restore a vintage Westrex 1551 tape machine, and build special playback electronics superior to any others used previously to play back the original 35mm tapes. The Westrex, with new playback heads, was matched to the "all tube" cutting system at Bernie Grundman Mastering in Hollywood. With Horowitz running the playback machine and Grundman mastering the 3-track 35mm tapes, the job of transferring from the edited 35mm session tapes began. In many cases the tapes had to be degassed for weeks at a time before they could be played back without shedding an excess of oxide that would gum up the three track heads and require the side to be recut again and again to get a clean pass. Hobson, Horowitz and Grundman worked for three years to bring 20 of the 26 titles to full release with six titles, which were cut, remaining unissued.

Everest provided an outlet for some of the greatest American and British conductors and orchestras of the 20th Century, including Leopold Stokowski, Adrian Boult, Malcolm Sargent, the London Philharmonic and the London Symphony Orchestra, as well as the New York Philharmonic (performing under the nomenclature of the Stadium Symphony Orchestra). Here's why these are going to be the best versions of these records ever pressed!

• 45 RPM editions! — Grundman cut the Classic reissues at both 33 and 45 RPM; the 45 RPM versions have never been issued.
• Quality Record Pressings 200-gram flat profile LPs — These records are pressed with a flat-edge, no groove-guard flat profile, like the originals. The flat edge refers to the absence of a raised, beaded lip on the outer edge of the record, providing a flat playing surface — and no incline — on your turntable, meaning your cartridge comes that much closer to perfectly tracking the groove!

Quality Record Pressings' quality is legendary and these flat profile 200-gram platters look and sound exceptional!

Each 2LP set comes with an original jacket and an Everest Records branded jacket showing photos of each reissue title. The two LPs are packaged in a protective clear sleeve.

Sir Eugene Goossens conducts the London Symphony Orchestra for this audiophile pressing of Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz. Another of the fabulous Goossens' efforts conducting the London Symphony Orchestra in a rousing performance of this Berlioz masterpiece. The performance, full of imaginative and brilliant orchestral sounds is wonderfully complemented by the 35mm sound which has a textural richness that is more realistic than any other tape format.

This Bert Whyte recording is from Walthamstow Assembly Hall in London — the same hall used extensively by the Decca and Kenneth Wilkinson.

Features:
• 200g Vinyl
• 45rpm
• Double LP
• Mastered From Original 35mm Magnetic Film Using 'All Tube' Cutting System
• Pressed On Classic's 200-gram Super Vinyl Flat Profile
• Pressed at Quality Record Pressings
• Stoughton Printing tip-on old style original jacket artwork & Everest Records-branded jacket
• 2LPs packaged in protective clear sleeve

Musicians:
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Eugene Goossens, conductor

Selections:
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
Symphony Fantastique, Op. 14
1. 1st Movement - Dreams, Passions
2. 2nd Movement - A Ball
3. 3rd Movement - Scene In The Fields
4. 4th Movement - March To The Scaffold
5. 5th Movement - Dream Of A Witches' Sabbath