The MusicWeb Message Board

[ The MusicWeb Message Board ] CELEBRATING 53,000 Classical CD reviews on-line (Sept 2016); 21,000 page views each day.
Return to MusicWeb International

Ravel, Daphnis et Chloë 1959, Monteux

Posted by Paul Breslin on August 21, 2025, 12:45 am
Edited by board administrator August 21, 2025, 12:08 pm

I read with interest Ralph Moore's praise for the Monteux Daphnis in the Pristine remastering. It was also remastered by High Definition Tape Transfers, and I think their effort was an outstanding success. I would be interested in a comparison between the Pristine and HDTT renditions, if anyone has heard both.

Re: Ravel, Daphnis et Chloë 1959, Monteux

Posted by Ralph Moore on August 21, 2025, 11:21 am, in reply to "Ravel, Daphnis et Chloë 1959, Monteux"
Edited by board administrator August 21, 2025, 12:07 pm

Paul, I am privileged to have a reviewer's account with HDTT so can download their recordings for the purpose of review and I have compared the two via Bluetooth and CD on my Bose. The HDTT remastering is very good, devoid of hiss and very clean, but has been transferred at a considerably lower level and is not quite as rich and full as Pristine's XR remastering. However, you simply have to increase the volume for the HDTT issue and it does not distort - and some will find it more natural than Pristine's more "spotlit" version; I am happy to listen to either and both.

Previous Message

I read with interest Ralph Moore's praise for the Monteux Daphnus in the Pristine remastering. It was also remastered by High Definition Tape Transfers, and I think their effort was an outstanding success. I would be interested in a comparison between the Pristine and HDTT renditions, if anyone has heard both.

Re: Ravel, Daphnis et Chloë 1959, Monteux

Posted by Steve Luciani on August 21, 2025, 1:43 pm, in reply to "Re: Ravel, Daphnis et Chloë 1959, Monteux"

I downloaded the HDTT sample (link below) and listened with headphones to the same 2 minutes from the Pristine streaming site. I thought the HDTT sounded more natural as well, and the 24/96 FLAC can be had on sale for $11.20 USD for the next couple of days, so a pretty good deal.

Previous Message

Paul, I am privileged to have a reviewer's account with HDTT so can download their recordings for the purpose of review and I have compared the two via Bluetooth and CD on my Bose. The HDTT remastering is very good, devoid of hiss and very clean, but has been transferred at a considerably lower level and is not quite as rich and full as Pristine's XR remastering. However, you simply have to increase the volume for the HDTT issue and it does not distort - and some will find it more natural than Pristine's more "spotlit" version; I am happy to listen to either and both.

Previous Message

I read with interest Ralph Moore's praise for the Monteux Daphnus in the Pristine remastering. It was also remastered by High Definition Tape Transfers, and I think their effort was an outstanding success. I would be interested in a comparison between the Pristine and HDTT renditions, if anyone has heard both.

Link: 24/96 HDTT Sample

Re: Ravel, Daphnis et Chloë 1959, Monteux

Posted by Andreas Bendlin on August 21, 2025, 6:32 pm, in reply to "Ravel, Daphnis et Chloë 1959, Monteux"

When the quality of the remastered sound is the main interest, it would be helpful to know the reviewer's reference. Pristine's remastered sound may indeed "now ... simply sound even better" (I have not heard it); yet to contextualize this statement, I would love to know which CD issue Pristine's version was compared to. Was it Decca's first CD issue? Or one of the "remastered" CDs Decca issued over the years (with small but noticeable differences between versions)? Or Praga's fairly recent remastering (issued on SACD)? Or ...?

I do agree, by the way, that HDTT's remastering sounds very good indeed.

Re: Ravel, Daphnis et Chloë 1959, Monteux

Posted by Ralph Moore on August 21, 2025, 6:47 pm, in reply to "Re: Ravel, Daphnis et Chloë 1959, Monteux"
Edited by board administrator August 21, 2025, 6:49 pm

Point taken, Andreas - but if you refer to my survey of the work you will see that I first consider all four versions on HDTT, including the Monteux and I again compare that with the Pristine issue in my comments in this string. I do not have any of the Decca issues, so that was the basis of my comparison - and in the end, I think both the HDTT and Pristine remasterings are very satisfactory and it comes down to personal preference. As Steve Luciani says, you can sample both online to decide.

Previous Message

When the quality of the remastered sound is the main interest, it would be helpful to know the reviewer's reference. Pristine's remastered sound may indeed "now ... simply sound even better" (I have not heard it); yet to contextualize this statement, I would love to know which CD issue Pristine's version was compared to. Was it Decca's first CD issue? Or one of the "remastered" CDs Decca issued over the years (with small but noticeable differences between versions)? Or Praga's fairly recent remastering (issued on SACD)? Or ...?

I do agree, by the way, that HDTT's remastering sounds very good indeed.

Re: Ravel, Daphnis et Chloë 1959, Monteux

Posted by Andreas Bendlin on August 21, 2025, 7:19 pm, in reply to "Re: Ravel, Daphnis et Chloë 1959, Monteux"

Thanks for the quick response!

Indeed, I failed to go back to your survey (which I should have done) to find out what the reference was. My apologies if I created any confusion. From your reference in the review to a cardboard slipcase, I presume that you listened to the Pristine issue as a CD ...?

Re: Ravel, Daphnis et Chloë 1959, Monteux

Posted by Ralph Moore on August 21, 2025, 7:25 pm, in reply to "Re: Ravel, Daphnis et Chloë 1959, Monteux"

Yes; I listened to the HDTT issue as a download for the survey; I do have access to Pristine's catalogue as downloads, too, but in this case reviewed the CD. We indicate in our reviews if we have listened to a download; otherwise you may assume a CD.

Previous Message

Thanks for the quick response!

Indeed, I failed to go back to your survey (which I should have done) to find out what the reference was. My apologies if I created any confusion. From your reference in the review to a cardboard slipcase, I presume that you listened to the Pristine issue as a CD ...?

[ The MusicWeb Message Board ]

Thank you for taking part in the MusicWeb International Forum. Len Mullenger - Founder of MusicWeb