An Edison Messiah

[drh]

Audio Webzine TNT-Audio has just published an article I wrote about Edison's diamond disc recordings from Handel's Messiah; a companion video presents the recordings in play on my C-250. It's my seasonal offering to both the audio hobbyist and antique record/phonograph collector communities. Christmas greetings to all my friends here on TMF, and best wishes for a harmonious new year!

For those inclined to have a look, here's a link to the article: https://www.tnt-audio.com/vintage/edison_messiah_e.html A link to the video, my first that is more elaborate than "copy the file straight from the camera," is embedded in the article.

[Inigo]

I've been listening to your wonderful compilation, and to the explanatory talk. It's a chant to your patience and ability to record this concert. And also a chant to the very good recordings of Edison. They have a true and natural quality unsurpassed. Yesterday I was trying to tune up an exhibition soundbox on an acoustic tabletop hmv Gramophone, and i passed the afternoon playing many acoustic recordings. None of them had the quality of Edison's... I cannot get rid of a certain resonance in the highs of the middle register, a certain quality named by others as 'ringing tone' which i find most unpleasant and unnatural... This recording you've compiled is wonderful!

[fran604g]

Dave, this is a nice compilation of Diamond Discs, and you've put them together wonderfully in your video! I'll be listening to them for a long time to come.

Thank you,
Fran

[fran604g]

I should add that I'm happy no electrons were molested in the making of your video.

[Menophanes]

Many thanks to drh for this impressive collection. To my mind the soloists are altogether better than those on what I think is the nearest equivalent then available on lateral-cut discs, namely the selection issued by The Gramophone & Typewriter Ltd. in 1906. In this, both the men (John Harrison, tenor, and Charles Knowles, bass – both respected concert soloists of the day) have difficulty with their florid passages and need to snatch breaths in the middle of what should be unbroken sequences, whereas Reed Miller and Arthur Middleton manage these passages without any detectable interruption. (Personally, too, I prefer the brighter and more forthright sound of the Americans' voices, although perhaps some of the credit for this belongs to the recording engineers.) As for the rather slow tempi and the habit of slowing down at the end of a phrase, these are just as frequent in the 1906 set and in other early British recordings of individual arias.

One thing that does surprise me (speaking as one who has never heard a Diamond Disc in the flesh, so to speak) is the heaviness of the surfaces; I cannot see that Edison's system had any advantage over normal discs in this respect, whereas all the Blue Amberols I have ever heard are much smoother than any lateral-cut disc of comparable age. Is this drawback always found in Edison discs? Has the peculiar material of which they were made perhaps deteriorated with time?

Oliver Mundy.

[estott]

One thing that does surprise me (speaking as one who has never heard a Diamond Disc in the flesh, so to speak) is the heaviness of the surfaces; I cannot see that Edison's system had any advantage over normal discs in this respect, whereas all the Blue Amberols I have ever heard are much smoother than any lateral-cut disc of comparable age. Is this drawback always found in Edison discs? Has the peculiar material of which they were made perhaps deteriorated with time?

Oliver Mundy.

Many Edison discs have bad surfaces. The early pressings are fine - almost noiseless - but World War I cut off supplies of materials used in the surface and the wartime formula was noticeably noisier- and this coincided with a period of strong sales for both machines and records. The later paper labeled pressings have good to superb surfaces.

The Amberols do have a smoother surface, but unfortunately Edison chose to save on recording costs by acoustically dubbing discs to cylinder masters and this sometimes introduced artifacts such as echo, and the sound of the disc surface was transferred to the cylinder.

[drh]

Thanks to all for the kind words, and merry Christmas!