Sold Date: August 3, 2024
Start Date: July 27, 2024
Final Price: $16.76 (USD)
Bid Count: 6
Seller Feedback: 1497
Buyer Feedback: 0

These great performances of the Borodin Symphonies (#3 was never finished during Borodin's lifetime and is here performed as such) were recorded in 1954 in Geneva. At that time only mono records/players were available so the mono version was issued both in US (London LL1178) and in UK (Decca LXT5022). However, as an experiment, Decca also set up a parallel stereo recorder at the session. This version for some reason was only issued in US in 1959, one year after the commercial stereo records/players launched. The first UK stereo issue had to wait a dozen more years until 1971 (Decca Eclipse 576). Therefore the statement "no SXL version" in my listing! It's one of a few "CS only" issues and has been highly sought-after both for the excellent conducting by Ansermet (his precisely controled tricky rhythm juxtaposition of the 2nd Mov of #2 is nothing but amazing) and unbelievably spacious, vivid sound from the dawn of the stereo era! I wish there were more copies to share, but unfortunately it's one of the rarest CS and certainly top rarity for Ansermet!

It would've been near perfect copy if not for the weird surface "fog", therefore the ??? in grading and substantially reduced starting price. Please see description below. Would greatly appreciate if you know the remedy and share!

Producer: Victor Olof 

Engineers: Roy Wallace 

Recorded date/location: 14 Oct-11 Nov, 1954/Victoria Hall, Geneva

Record condition: EX-/EX- (NO SCRATCHES! Downgraded due to haziness on the surface. I tried to capture the condition in photos but it's hard to show. It probably came from some kind of "preservatives" (such as the LAST) collectors applied on the records, a bit too much here! I didn't want to try to clean it too aggressively. If you know a secret solution that can remove it, you may potentially have a NM- copy! As is, it plays well but has some surface hiss, more so on the Symphony #3 side.), blue back

Cover condition: NM-, except for a number written on back

Stamper: 1E/1E UK Decca pressing 

Note: I'm a collector, not a dealer. The reason I'm selling is to downsize my collection. Every record I offer was hand-picked based on its merits on music, performance, and sonics (not necessarily in that order!). I will list recording credentials such as producer, engineer, venue, date, etc. as I believe as an educated buyer, these will offer crucial info for an unfamiliar record to make a buying judgement. Hope you'll find this useful!

Shipping cost:

US: shipping is $6 by USPS media mail. $1 extra per each additional items for combined shipment. Priority Mail is available and cost is based on your location. Please wait for invoice if you prefer Priority Mail.

International: USPS just raised their price and I don't have enough data to calculate. Please send me a request for total if you won multiple items and wait for my invoice for combined shipment (don't pay the eBay automatically generated invoice)!