Disappointing  recording.
353170
Disappointing  recording. While  Harlow's music  is always  great and exciting ,  this  CD lacks in demonstrating this. The  sound quality is amateurish, and the  recording sounds like it was  done  in somebodys living room, or bathroom. Sorry.
 Harlow, Si..
 Marlow No!.
Studio quality No!.
4515257
I've recorded on this and when I play it back, the sound is horrible.  I regret that I ordered this.
1282458
Track was distorted,  recorded too high,  low quality
4849384
I am now listening to this recording. Indeed, I concur wholeheartedly with another reviewer on the Piano Trio #7 "Archduke" in particular. I must admit that this version of the Beaux Arts Trio is dull at times. The piano fades away in parts that does not seem right to me. I am no piano player (I took lessons too long ago) but I have a well trained musical ear and the balance of volume between each instrument is rather sloppy to me. Although the overall CD set may be a good bargain, it leaves me unsatisfied. I want better. Also worth mentioning: the heavy breathing of the violin player in certain pieces is far too audible and can be very distracting. I know these recording were made in the late 60s and 70s and perhaps mics quality was not as pristine as today's but it is far too noticeable to be acceptable at that level. I am going to find another set of those beautiful Beethoven Piano Trios from other trios.
2226559
I like the music itself...yet whomever produced..mixed..call it what you want but they basically made this CD an experiment in endurance. I could only handle the poor quality sound for about 5 minutes.

 If this would have been recorded properly then this would have been a very good listen. Which is really to bad as now I am leary about buying their latest. I could never recommend this because of the crappy recording.
3221866
I'm disappointed.  At times the recorder speeds up voices, is not as audible as expected and is just disappointing, M
3457355
this recording, although nostalgically interesting, is a live recording with a bunch of extraneous noise and intro.
I would have purchased a different recording had I known this from the onset.
3208596
Unfortunately this recording was badly mixed. The sound was metallic and not so dynamic as in the original LP which I recorded many years ago. I still have the original recording and was able to compare. Also, the pitch was a halfstep higher than the original. I am very sorry having bought this record.

Jrgen Linder
Sweden
2892225
Unlike many of the Count Basie band's other recordings, this album falls short of expectations.  The band plays many of the old standards such as "Freckle Face" and "Jumpin' At the Woodside", yet the whole band sounds haphazard and not in top form.  Since this was recorded live, I can see why the recording quality was somewhat poor, but the playing of each individual in the band sounds worse that usual, from the annoying vibrato and pitch-bending of the lead trumpet player to the elementary-sounding trumpet solo on "Hittin' Twelve".  With most of their recordings, the band is able to keep rock-solid time and is almost always together, but on this recording they are just not on.  Their "Things Aren't the Way They Used to Be" is meant to be a improvment on the Ellington original, but it just comes out as a jarbled mess, and the screech trumpet solo at the end is ugly and is nothing on Cat Anderson of the Ellington band.  Overall, there are much better album out there if one wants to hear the best of the Count Basie Band.
4530316
This live recording is not as good as the studio version. It is nice to get a feel of the crowd but the quality of the recording is not there.
490950
I think Russell Watson and his producers are very foolish to have included operatic arias in this recording project, as Mr. Watson simply does not have the requisite technique and knowledge in performing style to do the music justice. What one can hear on this recording are mere caricatures. This kind of poorly conceived recording projects can do no service to music or record purchasers.
2942341
In listening to inexpensive digital transfers of analog recordings, one notices dramatic variations in quality.  At one extreme there are superb items such as the Puccini Girl of the Golden West with Tebaldi, and at the other extreme is this poor transfer of the fine Forster version of the St. John Passion.  It is the worst I've heard--the sound level is VERY low, and even when the sound is cranked way up, it sounds muddy and unfocused.  It's awful.  I own the old LP Seraphim version from the 70s, which I remembered as sounding excellent.  I pulled out my much played LPs last night to make such I wasn't nuts--in fact, the LPs have beautiful, clear, detailed sound--they're just noisy from having been played a lot.

IMHO Amazon should withdraw this until something is done about the sound.  They'd be better off with a decent version of this for the same price as the 1964 Richter recording, to which it is rather comparable.  It's disgraceful to see this fine performance subjected to such mistreatment.
799222
Lili Kraus is always sensational, however the quality of the recording is disappointing. I doubt that I will be playing it much because the sound is so tinny.
2313577
I was initially intrigued because I was wondering how this unknown record company got the rights to publish this Radio Broadcast on disc. In any event, upon initial play, this recording is muddy and clipping at high-volume is evident. Then I came to the realization that this sounds like a Mono recording. I have a considerable live music collection, and this recording clearly ranks among the worst of the worst. It's no wonder why the band or their record company did not release it themselves - it wasn't worth publishing. Beware of Gossip Records.
2083873
It's a travesty to hear what the loudness war is doing to fine art.  This recording suffers from over-compression, lack of transients and severe distortion.  If I wanted all that, --I'd listen to it on the radio.  Art vs. quality is akin to a gold ring in the snout of a pig. Headroom Injury - overcompressed.
3428710
This CD is terribly marred by the crackly, tinny recordings. I was not aware how spoiled I am by modern recording technology until I heard this CD. I was totally disappointed by the quality of the recordings.  I expected them to be remastered not sounding like they were taped from grandmere's old albums. I don't even listen to it because it is so bad.  I'm still looking for some good French background music, because this cd is not it.
4771966
This record was recorded onto a portable tape recorder by Coltrane's first wife Naima, and therein lies whatever charm about how this performance was documented.  I don't know the details, but it's difficult to imagine that either Coltrane or Monk would have wanted this to be publicly released.  It pains me to leave a negative review of anything attached to Monk or 'Trane, but this recording is not even quaint.  It's simply the worst recording I've ever heard.  Diehard fans who wish to hear every note ever played by two monumental musicians, go for it.  If I have to hear a person moving the recorder, listen to the incessant talking of audience members, perhaps Naima herself, I'm not charmed.  This record should not be sold; it should be offered for free to diehard fans, much like a live tape of the Grateful Dead.  There was no recording cost involved, nothing to recoup, and I'm amazed that I just paid about $9 for something I'll never listen to again.  Again, I knowingly open myself to those fans for whom every note is sacred, while contending that sacred and listenable are not always the same thing.  For those who believe that the art of recorded music includes the art of engineering, this recording is a one time listen.