Author: Anton Stepichev

Violin acoustic recordings, 78rpm shellac rip

Classical, Columbia, Elman Mischa, Gramplasttrest, Kubelik Jan, Melba Nelly, Morini Erica, Prihoda Vasa, Remastering from shellac records, Victor, Victrola, Violin, Ysaye Eugene
Anton Stepichev

The great violinists of the early 20th century: melancholic Vasa Prihoda, refined Misha Elman, Jan Kubelik – the great phrasing master, the effortless-bow of Erika Morini and the pedantic style of Eugen Ysaye. Together with Kubelik sings unforgettable Nellie Melba.

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Jascha Heifetz acoustic recordings, 1917-1920 78rpm shellac rip

Classical, Heifetz Yasha, His Master's Voice, Remastering from shellac records, Victrola, Violin
Anton Stepichev

Little Yasha Heifetz was able not only to show off at unattainable for others tempo, but had a quite sofisticated taste and sounded beautifully. It is well audible on Ave Maria and Spanish dance. Common remasterings are often dull this moments but here you can feel it as good as it should be.

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Brahms Violin Concerto – Joseph Szigeti, Hamilton Harty – 1928 78rpm shellac rip

Brahms Johannes, Classical, Columbia, Harty Hamilton, Remastering from shellac records, Szigeti Joseph, Violin
Anton Stepichev


For every lover of violin music it is impossible to avoid this album, Brahms – Szigeti's concerto blossoms with unusual colors. Record is not immediately discloses its pros, but the violin sounds quite well from the very beginning. The first side has some cracks.

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Brahms Double Concerto – Thibaud, Casals, Cortot – 1929 78rpm shellac rip

Brahms Johannes, Casals Pablo, Cello, Classical, Remastering from shellac records, Thibaud Jacques, Victrola, Violin
Anton Stepichev


This record made strong impression in analogue but after digitization the orchestra suffered greatly – the dynamics were smoothed, the clear tone weakened. The soloists on the first side recorded too quietly, starting from the second side the balance had been corrected. Something wrong happened with Victor's equipment on the last side: strange HF resonance appeared and the violin began to sound with distortions. Despite all this, what genuine emotions are audible in the record, how open and emotionally clean Thibault's violin sounds!

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Mozart violin concerto #3 – Yehudi Menuhin, Georges Enesco – 1935 78 rpm shellac rip

Classical, Enesco George, Menuhin Yehudi, Mozart Wolfgang, Remastering from shellac records, Victor, Violin
Anton Stepichev


Menuhin plays very beautifully, his pre-war records belong to the gold fund of violin music. In the recording we hear the typical, somewhat covered and colorated sound of Victor, the set is prefabricated: the first part is a reissue of the 1940s, the second and third parts – the Japanese first press of the 1930s. The losses of The Victor reissue are not as great as they were in Columbia and Decca, although in analog the quality deterioration was obvious, after the digitizing it almost fades.

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J.S.Bach – Brandenburg Concertos, Busch Chamber Players – 1935 78rpm shellac rip

Bach Johann, Busch Adolf, Classical, Columbia, Remastering from shellac records
Anton Stepichev


Re-released in the late 1940s with losses and superficial noises, Columbia had a series of such reissues albums, such as Chopin Godovsky's Nockturne and Bach Szigeti's solo partitas – both frank spoilage. But even in this form it is clear that the interpretation of bush's concerts is one of the best, and maybe the best – impressive delicate brass, not breaking into a cry and not lost in chorus, precise rhythm and good overall impression. The orchestra plays as a single organism, conducting above all praise.

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Frank Sinatra, 1940th 78rpm shellac rip

Columbia, Pop, Remastering from shellac records, Sinatra Frank, Vocal
Anton Stepichev

The plates are quite worn out by the housewives of post-war America, but they bring the timbre and intonation of Sinatra like no other source. The atmosphere of those years is conveyed perfectly.

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Django Reinhardt and Stefane Grappelly, 1935-1938 Decca personality series 78prm shellac rip

Decca, Guitar, Jazz, Reinhardt Django, Remastering from shellac records, Stefane Grappelli, Violin
Anton Stepichev


The post-war reissue, to estimate the loss of reissue clarity you can compare it with Honeysuckle Rose and Night and Day on the Ace Of Club vinyl, losses are definitely great. Well, Django himself – one of a kind, no one except him could not and can not extract from the acoustic guitar such a dense and expressive sound. The same can be said about Grappelli's graceful violin, as if created for a swing.

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Soviet records – vocals, 78 rpm shellac rip

Bori Lucrezia, Chaliapin Feodor, Galli-Curci Amelita, Gramplasttrest, Nogisky Zavod, Obukhova Nadejda, Remastering from shellac records, Vocal
Anton Stepichev


Amelita Galli-Kurchi and Lucretia Bori are so good that even in copies they still full of life and emotions, I doubt that in our time there are stars of this magnitude – digital recording and mic singing does not contribute to this. Obukhova and Chaliapin perform the famous elegy on an equal footing, it is difficult to give preference to someone, although, after all, it is Chaliapin. Partly because Obukhova is not so clearly recorded.

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J.S.Bach — Concerto in A minor— Guberman, Dobroven — 1934 78rpm shellac rip

Bach Johann, Columbia, Dobroven Issay, Huberman Bronislaw, Remastering from shellac records, Violin
Anton Stepichev


A prefabricated set of records from the 1930s, the first record sounds clearer. The orchestra is written so-so, the violin is amazing. Guberman is considered not only a virtuoso, but also a great interpreter.

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