Riccardo Muti – Mussorgsky-Ravel: Pictures From An Exhibition & Stravinsky: The Firebird (180g LP)

Label: Hi-Q Records – HIQLP013 – 180 gram Vinyl

All Analogue Mastering at Abbey Road from the Original Analogue Master Tapes

Cut at Abbey Road Studios from the original stereo analogue master tapes with the Neumann VMS82 lathe fed an analogue pre-cut signal from a specially adapted Studer A80 tape deck with additional ‘advance’ playback head, making the cut a totally analogue process.

Pressed on 180g vinyl to audiophile standards using the original EMI presses by The Vinyl Factory in Hayes, England.

180-gram Audiophile Vinyl Cut from the Original Analogue EMI Master Tapes at Abbey Road Studios!

Charismatic Italian conductor Riccardo Muti was music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1980 to 1992, which he led on numerous international tours and made many acclaimed recordings, including the first Beethoven cycle for CD. In 1992, he was appointed conductor laureate.

Muti was very much an EMI artist in the 1980s and EMI found a new recording venue in the Old Metropolitan Opera House in Philadelphia, the generous acoustics of which “enables this great orchestra to be heard to best advantage” as GRAMOPHONE wrote in 1979.

In the original 1979 review of the Mussorgsky piece Robert Layton in GRAMOPHONE wrote:
“…what orchestral playing they offer us. The lower strings in ‘Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle’ have an extraordinary richness, body and presence, and “Baba Yaga”, which opens the second side, has an unsurpassed virtuosity and attack as well as being of demonstration standard as a recording. The glorious body of tone, the richly glowing colours, the sheer homogeneity of the strings and perfection of the ensemble is a constant source of pleasure.”

Of the Stravinsky Layton wrote:
“…Muti’s reading is second to none and the orchestral playing is altogether breathtaking. The recording is amazingly lifelike and truthful.”

Cut at Abbey Road Studios from the original stereo analogue master tapes with the Neumann VMS80 lathe fed an analogue pre-cut signal from a specially adapted Studer A80 tape deck with additional playback head. Pressed on 180g vinyl to audiophile standards.