Decca Sound Mono

Today we take high fidelity sound quality for granted, but how did it start? When was the moment when compressed and scratchy sound gave way to natural, realistic sound that captured the whole picture of a performance? Decca Sound ‘Mono Years’ seeks to answer that question and shows how, 70 years ago, amidst war-time privations, a small team at Decca made technological breakthroughs that brought hi-fi to the world. This latest cube explores Decca’s earliest high-fidelity history, and restores some restores critically acclaimed albums from ensembles such as the Trio di Trieste, Quintetto Chigiano and Griller Quartet which have not been available since their original LP release more than sixty years ago. An equally impressive array of soloists includes pianists Clifford Curzon, Julius Katchen, Friedrich Gulda and Moura Lypmany and violinists Ruggiero Ricci and Alfredo Campoli. Several generations of cellists are represented with recordings by Pierre Fournier, Maurice Gendron and Zara Nelsova.

THE ANALOGUE YEARS presents a 50-Album overview across 54 CDs, in original jackets, of the celebrated international recordings that emerged from the London-based record label in that pre-digital era.

Authoritative and comprehensive, this 55CD set presents a unique period in human history: a period when brilliant recorded sound on LP & CD, plus radio, TV, film and live all combined to offer huge new opportunities for singers, record labels and producers to expand the audience for classical music.

It's often unfair to compare the Rolling Stones to the Beatles but in the case of the group's mono mixes, it's instructive. Until the 2009 release of the box set The Beatles in Mono, all of the Fab Four's mono mixes were out of print. That's not the case with the Rolling Stones. Most of their '60s albums – released on Decca in the U.K., London in the U.S. – found mono mixes sneaking onto either the finished sequencing or various singles compilations, so the 2016 box The Rolling Stones in Mono only contains 56 heretofore unavailable mono mixes among its 186 tracks…

Of the literally dozens of memorable bands that emerged from the British Beat scene in the early to mid-'60s, the Zombies were one act that stood out: there was a smart, slightly arty aura to their clever and beautifully crafted melodies, superb vocal harmonies, and a distinct instrumental sound, highlighted by Rod Argent's keyboard work, often using electric piano to memorable effect. Even when the Zombies rocked out or sunk into a tough R&B groove, they could convey a keen intelligence along with their energy, and their more introspective moments gave them a sound and feel that was unique…

Willem Mengelberg - The Concertgebouw Recordings (2013) {15CD Box Set Decca rec 1939-1941}
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© 1939-41, 2013 Decca / Universal Music | 0289 480 7636 9
Classical / Orchestral

Mengelberg attached huge importance to what he considered a link between Beethoven and himself. For through his studies in conducting, theory and composition in Cologne under Franz Wullner, a friend of Anton Schindler who in turn had been a friend, secretary, biographer and pupil of Beethoven himself, he felt that there was a oral tradition passed down to him. At times the conductor does get near to Beethoven's metronome markings with his swift tempi. Well, Mengelberg is not boring.

The Seekers are an Australian folk-influenced pop quartet, originally formed in Melbourne in 1962.

Spanish conductor Ataúlfo Argenta cheated death many times in his short life; during the Spanish Civil War, he talked his way out of execution by a firing squad, contracted typhoid in prison, and survived that in addition to its recurrence later in his life.