Deryk Barker replied to John J Kregarman:

>>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?
>
>Firstly I'd ask some questions about the reviewer: what is his/her track
>record with historical reissues?  Is this a respected commentator on
>great pianism of the past or some web bozo who thinks anything not
>digitally recorded is unlistenable?  The comment you quote makes me
>suspect the latter.

I don't know who the reviewer was, but I know that I have reviewed this
disc and disagree with that reviewer.  My own opinion is that the sound
is actually pretty good for its age - 1932 - and a good balance has been
struck between rich piano sound and noise suppression, with emphasis on
the former and minimizing the latter.  Mark Obert-Thorn, whom I admire
a great deal, was the transfer engineer.

By the way, this performance of the Waldstein is one of the really great
ones, in my opinion.

Anyone interested in my review - and I hope I don't come across as a
'web bozo' - is at

   http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0001AGOMC/classicalnetA/

Scott Morrison