GG: Goldbergs 3-disc set, sonic flaw

[Bradley P Lehman <bpl@UMICH.EDU>]

Peter Glenister wrote:

>In the 1955 version of variation 16 (Overture), just at the point at
>which the timing changes from 0:31 to 0:32 there is a marked click--a
>sound which is just like that which vinyl LPs used to give when the
>stylus passed through a scratch. I can't imagine that Sony would
>have the same flaw on all its issues but I want to know what others
>may have heard (or not heard) at the same moment on the CD
>before I approach them so when you have a chance to listen again
>I'd be grateful to know your experience.

That flaw is in my copy as well, sure enough.  A short tick, a brief burst
of white noise, like some digital bits missing.  I've confirmed it here
just now on two different CD players.

Oh well.  I probably won't look for a replacement, since this doesn't
really diminish my enjoyment of it.  I've heard a lot worse noise,
including several copies of the LP of this performance.  :)  Transient
noise doesn't bother me much.  I can listen happily to sizzly crackly
recordings from the 1930s and earlier.

The worst CD error I've encountered was in the fairly recent Naxos set of
the Bach cello suites played by Casals.  On one of the discs there was a
serious editing error: they used the master 78 from THE WRONG PIECE in one
of the movements.  I wrote to them and they eventually corrected it, after
two or three tries to send me the replacement pressing rather than the
same faulty pressing I already had.

I also have a fairly rare CD of Monteverdi songs performed by Hugues
Cuenod and friends: it was mastered directly from a long out-of-print LP,
and there are pops and crackles all the way through...somewhat
disconcerting.  But that's just the way it is, the best source they could
find for it.  It was a surprising project to begin with: on one of Enoch
Light's labels!

-----

And Peter, please accept my apologies: I did receive your private e-mail
of this same question, but haven't got around to checking the recording
until today to confirm it.  Sorry!


Bradley Lehman, Dayton VA
home: http://i.am/bpl  or  http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl
CD's: http://listen.to/bpl or http://www.mp3.com/bpl

"Music must cause fire to flare up from the spirit - and not only sparks
from the clavier...." - Alfred Cortot