Bert Bailey's search for a best sounding set of Schnabel's transversal
of the Beethoven 32 set me thinking.  Now I'm old enough remember the
afternoon I spent in a booth in a record store score in hand and several
LP's in my lap trying to decide which version of the Sibalius 5th I
preferred.  Oh yes, and I was even play those records.  It took me several
hours before I decided which LP I wanted to buy, but when I made my
choice, it was my choice and no gamble.

How different it is today!  And boy do I have to gamble - either that
my taste in a new work will approximate that of the reviewer or that a
new and better transfer of historical material is soon to be issued.
Don't ask how many copies of the Furtwangler La Scala Ring I purchased!
But then this a performance I feel passionately about.

Mr. Bailey was concerned about the possibility of "godawful sound" but
even with good sound I've found various transfers have even made some
performances sound quite different!  This has been particularly true
with vocal issues but also with piano and orchestral recordings.  And
not only historical issues.  I enjoyed a Phillips LPs of Schubert, and
purchased a CD transfer.  It sounded like a different performance (but
it wasn't).

I purchased at a ridiculously low price a 14 CD set of all Arthur
Schnabel's Beethoven on Dante from Berkshire.  The sound is identical
to that on Philips Great Pianists of the 20th century - that is a little
too much noise reduction for some tastes but no 78rpm hiss and clicks.
The Naxos, from all I've read, has richer piano sound but more extra
noise.  Then a few days ago I read a review of a Naxos disk of 17, 18,
and 21 which described the sound as awful!  "These are phone booth
acoustics", noted the reviewer.  So what to do?  I'm happy to live with
my Dante CD's.  From what I've read the TIM CD's Berkshire offers come
from the same source.  If I were really passionate about Schnabel's
Beethoven I'd buy both TIM and Naxos.

So you can bet your $20 on TIM at Berkshire or not.  If you wait, however,
it is quite possible that Berkshire will sell out and the price of the
bet will go up.

John J Kregarman