Mikl�s R�zsa – The Polydor Recordings (LP Transfer and Restoration)

This is my first post in this forum and it is one of the first restoration projects I ever did.
Once I got the 3 Polydor-LPs of Mikl�s R�zsa’s recordings with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra I treasured them among my most loved albums. I got them in the late 80s when I was still in school in my senior years and computers were just on the horizon. Years later with a decent computer and a great audio tool called Cool Edit Pro I made a careful transfer of all 3 LPs and went to work. It took me at least half a year, lots of trial, error, blood, guts and long nights to restore them to the best sound possible. I am still amazed how great these recordings sound. The lower frequencies have a real punch and the mids and highs sound incredibly warm and never sharp and cold.
I also owned the Soundstage CDs but those sounded really dull and filtered to death. I was very careful in my restoring effort to keep the original bloom of the LPs. I mainly filtered the clicks and pops and some low frequency rumble. I didn�t use hiss reduction at all because wasn�t needed and would have killed the sound.
I also kept the original dynamics. So to all of you who are fans of the loudness war: This is not for you! ;o)
Sadly the "Lydia" piano suite distorted too much so I excluded it (this LP was used and might have been played with a damaged stylus). But since this is available in other incarnations it�s not a big loss.

I hope you enjoy this music as much as I do and appreciate my transfer. I�m happy to hear your opinions!

Since I don�t have a cover for this here is a complete track list:

CD I:
01: Knight Without Armor (1937) – Overture / Siberia / Love Scene 9:38
02: The Thief Of Baghdad (1940) – A Short Suite 5:18
03: Lady Hamilton (1941) – Love Theme 4:48
04: Lydia (1941) – Love Theme and Waltz 4:17
05: Five Graves To Cairo (1943) – Symphonic Suite 5:31
06: Double Indemnity (1944) – Prelude / The Murder 4:02
07: The Lost Weekend (1945) – The Walk Along 4th Avenue / Love Theme 5:25
08: The Killers (1946) – Prelude 3:43
09: A Double Life (1948) – Prelude 2:12
10: The Naked City (1948) – Pursuit and Epilogue (Song of a City) 6:47
11: The Red Danube (1949) – Prelude / Nocturne / The D.P. Camp 8:44
12: The Asphalt Jungle (1950) – Prologue and Epilogue 5:36

CD II:
01: Young Bess (1953) – Symphonic Suite 5:52
02: The Story Of Three Loves (1953) – Nocturne and Love Scene 4:55
03: Julius Caesar (1953) – Overture 4:24
04: Knights Of The Round Table (1953) – Symphonic Suite 7:56
05: Men Of The Fighting Lady (1954) – Blind Flight 6:41
06: Diane (1955) – Finale 5:37
07: Moonfleet (1955) – Seascape 1:49
08: Lust For Life (1956) – Summertime / Reunion / The Orchards 5:55
09: Tribute To A Badman (1956) – Prelude 4:30
10: A Time To Love And A Time To Die (1958) – Love Scene 3:44
11: The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes (1970) – Fantasy for Solo Violin and Orchestra 8:39

Performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Conducted by Mikl�s R�zsa
Recorded 1975 – 1977 at Abbey Road Studios, London

https://mega.nz/#!GNElHBxY!Es027fwBbGCcWyyxBsqtbnWTO_0U81st1ZH791laitk

Thank you share!

Incredible!!! Thanks a lot!!

Thank you very much for your work on the restoration and for sharing the music!

Thank you!!!

Thanks. Interested to compare with other people’s restorations of this.

Thank you for all of your work on this post!

Very very nice! Thank you!

thanks

Thanks

Thank you so much for your great work!

Thanks a lot

Thanks a lot!!

Thanks!!!

Many, many thanks for this treasury.

Very thanks 🙂

these recordings should be on CD. thanks for your efforts

Thank you.

Thanks, great post.

Thank you for your hard work; it hasn’t been done in vain and now we can enjoy it !!

these recordings should be on CD. thanks for your efforts

Indeed they should. But the master tapes seem to be lost. A shame…

Thank you very much!

Thank you very much Bluemax2871! 🙂

Thank you so much for sharing.!

Thank you for your work and sharing.

Many thanks for this fine Rozsa offering!

Vinyl still rules!!!!! Great share!!!!!!

I’ve always rated these albums very highly so thank you very much for your work bringing them to us dedicated Rozsaphiles!

thank you

Thank you!

thank you for all your hard work on this I will give it a try – I already have the 3 LPs – this now saves me a convertion thank you

Many thanks Bluemax2871 for sharing your LP transfer and restoration of Mikl�s R�zsa – The Polydor Recordings (3 LP set) 😉 I gave you a rep. Rated thread: excellent! 😉

Thank you

Indeed they should. But the master tapes seem to be lost. A shame…

I’m not so sure. They said the same about the Elmer Bernstein London recordings of the 70s. Truth was, Bernstein was sitting on them and wanted 50,000 bucks for a release.

I have a mint section of the Lydia suite from my restorations. Had several pressings of all 3 LPS

Thank you!

This is awsome, thank you for these great restorations.

Thanks a lot!!!

your work is greatly appreciated. rep left

Great vinyl transfer, shame about the extra Lydia track but that’s only a few mins, the rest sounds amazing. Thanks so much.

You can find these recordings elsewhere in this forum… my two transfers to CD are part of them which include the Lydia tracks.

The story is: The master tapes went missing or were ‘taken’ from the vaults many years ago. Hence no official CD release.

Thanks very much.

Thanks!

Thanks for sharing, very kind!

WOW! I can’t wait to hear these. Your efforts at restoring and conserving these gems is to be commended. THANK YOU!

Thank you, I’m eager to hear these!

thank you for this wonderful share!

Thank you so very much!

Thank you for the share Mikl�s R�zsa – The Polydor Recordings (LP Transfer and Restoration)

Thank you, a great post