*** 45rpm 180g Vinyl LP ***

Decca Classics announces the launch of the Decca Pure Analogue vinyl series, presenting iconic recordings from the Decca and Philips catalogues. The series is mastered by Rainer Maillard and cut by Sidney C. Meyer at the renowned Emil Berliner Studios utilising their 100% pure analogue techniques (AAA). Only analogue sources from the original stereo and quadrophonic master tapes are used, including recently discovered analogue masters of early digital recordings.

Pressed in Germany at Schallplattenfabrik Pallas on 180g virgin vinyl, these limited-edition deluxe gatefold releases will feature: the original artwork and liner notes; archival photos and facsimiles of original recording session sheets. Each individual release includes bespoke notes by Dominic Fyfe, detailing the history of the recording, the technical background and the mastering process.

Solti once likened the city of Chicago and its illustrious orchestra to a “sleeping beauty” when he arrived as music director in the autumn of 1969. It was the name of another ballet – Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring – which was to reveal just how incendiary the new relationship had become within five years in a recording which still hurls itself out of the loudspeakers half a century after it was made. The recording of Rite was made in a single session on 14 May 1974, in Medinah Temple, Chicago, Decca’s favoured venue at that time.

For this all-analogue mastering from the original, edited two-track stereo master, Rainer Maillard at Emil Berliner Studios has chosen to master the LP to play at 45rpm – the original LP was 33⅓ – in order to secure a better high frequency response and recapture the full “fury and clarity” of the original recording.

“Glamorous and powerful, this is obviously a version of Stravinsky's great score to be taken very seriously indeed... Solti’s version takes an honourable place in a highly competitive list.” – Gramophone, 1974

Dominic Fyfe, A&R Director, Decca Classics, writes: “Decca Pure Analogue will be a revelation for collectors and audiophiles, as well as introduce new audiences to the warmth and brilliance of an all-analogue sound. Recordings we thought we knew have emerged with arresting immediacy, presence and newfound detail. There is unlimited treasure: the jewels of the Decca and Philips catalogues as well as rediscovered masters, including analogue versions of Decca’s early experiments in digital recording. The series opens a window onto the golden age of the analogue LP, when ‘ffrr’, ‘ffss’ and the Decca ‘Tree’ were King. Both Decca and Philips were fabled for the quality of their original LP pressings – setting the bar high for the new series – but the painstaking care with which the original masters have been treated, together with the bespoke presentation, give these legendary recordings a new lease of life.”