Having made a couple of comments on "Namby Pamby Audiences" and "Copland's
Fantasy"  I have realised that I should perhaps have introduced myself
to the list a little more formally, so here goes....  I am a lover of
"serious" music in most of its guises, and also a long-established dealer
in Classical LPs (sometimes these two things go hand in hand, sometimes
not.)

So why don't I deal in CDs? It's a matter of personal taste, perhaps even
conscience, and well there's loads of other people dealing in the things,
anyway.  So I may well infuriate a lot of you by saying that I find CDs
quite unmusical to listen to, making it hard to keep concentration pinned
on the music.

So that's why I deal in classical LPs, I am convinced the format will
last well beyond any new technologies which might seek to replace it.
Although LP production is now limited to some "facsimile" reissues of early
originals, the market in high quality turntables has been quietly growing
ever since CDs took over.

I have tried with CDs.  I like 20th Century repertoire and historical
performances, and there's so much in these fields that was never on LP.
But my attention wanders as I listen to these CDs, and I end up depressed,
wishing I could hear the music on vinyl instead.

So for anyone who has a question about the vinyl era (if something was ever
recorded, and what was the performance like), feel free to ask.

My stocks of LPs are now pretty vast (about 80,000).  Seven or eight years
ago, a few years after CD appeared, there was a price explosion in the
market for major UK and European original classical LP issues.  This was
driven by the Japanese and Korean markets, where import restrictions had
until the 1980s prevented their domestic collectors acquiring early mono
and early stereo LPs (and many other artefacts) from the "decadent" West.
These higher prices had the effect of bringing vast quantities of classical
LPs out from UK collections and into the hands of international dealers
such as myself.  At its peak, I was adding literally several thousand LPs
every week to stock.  Now the most desirable vintage LPs from the 50s and
early 60s have virtually disappeared from circulation, mainly because so
many were exported to the Far East - never again to be circulated amongst
collectors and dealers in their country of origin.

Fortunately I have managed to keep an interest in all genres of classical
LP.  So as well as original mono/stereo from the 50s and 60s, I have much
20th Century repertoire on labels from Eastern Europe and the Americas
(those still collecting LPs are increasingly expanding their interests into
this area).  I also have lots of opera and vocal (come on, who really
doesn't prefer those gorgeous 12 inch square libretti?) And I have a fair
spattering of live/historic performances and private issues from the mono
era.

Congratulations to all those who made it to the end of this piece!

Gale Andrews, G.Andrews Classical LPs
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http://www.galeandrews.co.uk