The Beecham "Boheme" in Stereo.
Fri, Apr 16 2010, 7:26PM
Well, some of it anyway. D Bennett's post on reprocessed stereo reminded me that there was always a rumour that some of Beecham's "La Boheme" had been recorded in genuine stereo, and these tapes had been used for the "reprocessed" LP re-issue (SLS 896).
The booklet states; "Remastered from the original tapes by A.C.Griffith. These LPs consist of mono recordings electronically reprocessed to give a stereo effect on stereo equipment"
So I put it on the turntable, listened through headphones, and lo! and behold, we have real stereo soundstage. Marcello sings his first phrases from the right, Rodolfo from the middle, and Benoit knocks and enters from the extreme left. In Act Two, Musetta and Alcindoro clearly walk from left to right. All this while the orchestral picture remains stable, which, while not wishing to knock the ability of A.C.Griffith, would seem to be impossible with "reprocessed" mono. There is no comparable effect with any of the other reprocessed opera sets that I own.
In Act Three, however, everbody is singing quite clearly from the centre. Some tones seem to "wander" off left or right, but that's reprocessed mono for you, so I conclude that this act was originally recorded in mono.
Act Four, and we're back in (to my ears, at least) real stereo.
If Act Three is indeed plain mono, and the rest genuine stereo, couldn't EMI have reissued the set on CD as such, instead of just mono? Doesn't bother me, I'm happy with the LPs, but there's never been any official mention of this. Do the stereo tapes even still exist?
Does anybody know the real story here?
Mon, May 24 2010, 8:30AM
#2
RE: The Beecham "Boheme" in Stereo.
Aha! Someone else on another forum gave me the same answer, and it makes a lot of sense. It explains why it's much more convincing than all the other EMI reprocessed stereo sets, though now that I know it's a "trick" I'm much less comfortable with it! Thanks, 33lp - although I feel a degree of disappointment it's better to know the truth.
I have only heard this recording on the current Great Recordings of the Century CD issue which has very good sound indeed; mono as stated but spacious and with that sense of presence and immediacy so often missing from modern digital masters. Perhaps not surprising as it was made by Lewis Layton who recorded many of RCA's excellent sounding early Living Stereos. To answer NiklausVogel's question however the "Penguin Guide" states there were rumours of a stereo master but the writers' understanding is that the recording was made in two track mono; the orchestra on one and the voices on the other. If the singers were some distance from the orchestra it would not therefore have been too difficult for AC Griffith to have panned the singers across the soundstage without affecting the orchestral sound.
Personally this would be my choice to go in a top 250: not Karajan's which doesn't have Beecham's liveliness and sense of spontainaiety. The Beecham is a real GROC! Was the "RCA Victor SO" the New York Philharmonic contracted elsewhere at the time?