Though I've got the 10 inch jacket pictured above, my transfer is from ML4800, which includes the Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme suite conducted by Reiner while in Pittsburgh. I picked up this really rough lp for the suite since I've had in my collecton a really crappy sounding Membran cd for sometime. Membran is the German company that puts out 10 cd boxes for under 15 bucks of historic performances.Their transfers leave something to be desired though because they over filter and the sound quality becomes incredibly muffled. This is especially pronounced when original recordings were less then their company's best efforts, as was the case with Columbia in Pittsburgh and Minneapolis.
People might scoff at me but I have long enjoyed Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. This is delightful, unpretentious fare, wonderful melodies with skillful writing. Call it bottom drawer Strauss if you wish, but I love it and well that's that! Reiner, of course, recorded it twice - in Pittsburgh during the mid 40's and in Chicago in the late 50's. Outside of Bud Herseth's magnificent trumpet playing in the Chicago recording, I find the Pittsburgh issue more relaxed and inviting, less driven then Reiner's later recording. In addition, there is a more intimate feel which is wholly appropriate for this suite of incidental music.
As I stated earlier, this particular lp was in a real rough shape. Do people use lp's as frisbee's? I wonder. Running it through ClickRepair several times cleaned up a lot but a couple of hiccups remain and I think they are quick and not cumbersome to the listening experience. Oh! the sound is much better then the Membran cd and I can hear details that on the cd were muffled away.
Reiner leads an engaging and impressive Don Juan and Szell, in one of his earliest Cleveland records, captures the vitality of Till Eulenspiegel ...with charm!
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