While recently purifying my Varese collection, I replaced my Nagano/Erato
recordings with Chailly's new set on London. What I noticed was that the
tape insertions in "Deserts," is different in the Chailly compared to my
original Nagano set.
A Gramophone critic suspects that the Nagano recording of Deserts employs
a modern remix and I think he's right. The Chailly tape insertions were
provided by the Columbia University Computer Music Center and they sound
a little older and less atmospheric. Were they the original ones used by
Varese? The liner notes don't say. Is it frightening that I'm obsessing
about such things?
The original version of Ameriques, by the way, is spectacular, as is the
orchestral version of the early "Un Grande Sommeil Noir."
John Smyth <[log in to unmask]>