This is my first encounter
with Pristine Audio, and I must say
I am deeply impressed. Visit their website
(www.pristineaudiodirect.com)
and you are at once presented with an
uncomplicated series of options, both
in finding your way around the site
and searching for music, and in ordering
your sounds in whichever format suits
you best. These recordings can be downloaded
direct to your computer or, as I am
reviewing here, copied and sent out
on CD-ROM stock, accompanied with appropriate
labelling. I have cut out the printed
‘sleeve’ and lovingly put it and the
disc into a slim-line jewel case, and
very nice it looks too.
There are no notes
on the printout, but all relevant information
about the recordings and remastering
appear on the website. Peter Harrison
is one of those miracle workers who
manage to make transfers from vinyl
originals sound like the original master
tape. This recording has no surface
noise, no snap-crackle-and-pop, yet
sounds wonderfully uncompressed and
natural – true, it is vintage mono stuff,
but it just goes to show how much dynamic
depth and variety there is in the source
disc. Harrison is obviously a perfectionist,
and goes into worn LPs at length, excusing
occasional signs of this on the present
recording to the point of doubting whether
it should have been released at all.
I can only say I hardly noticed much
in the way of distortion. Other than
a little end-of-side grind and possibly
one or two mildly grubby peaks this
is an exceptionally clean and detailed
transfer, and a pleasure to even the
most critical of ears. You can try the
second movement on a free download from
the site, which is generally representative
of the quality of this recording and
performance. For splice fans this also
includes the only really clunky tape
edit, which Harrison also mentions as
being part of the original master.
The trio of Fournier,
Janigro and Badura-Skoda made
a number of excellent recordings for
New York-based Westminster Recordings
in the 1950s, and any further releases
from Pristine Audio will be well worth
looking out for. Their playing is often
sublime. I picked out one or two comparisons:
the Beaux Arts Trio (Philips 1984) and
the Arion Trio (Bis 1989), and found
the elderly recording equally and often
more involving than the more recent
stereo versions. Taking that gorgeous
second Andante un poco mosso movement
the Arion Trio show themselves a little
too fussy, with little rubati and lots
of overdone swelling within the notes.
The Beaux Arts Trio is closer, emphasising
the simple, songlike nature of the melodies,
but it is the cello of Antonio Janigro
which really sings the most out
of this random batch of comparisons.
I always seem to come
back to the question of ‘why’ – what
is it that gives these old recordings
that extra magic? In this case it seems
to me that the instrumentalists are
ideally matched. Janigro and Fournier’s
vibratos go hand in glove, and it often
seems as if they are one big multi-stringed
instrument being played by one person.
If anything the piano comes off worst
in the transfer, the decay of notes
sometimes seeming a little ‘layered’
or lumpy – but I will again stress,
this is a minor observation, and in
no way a complaint. Paul Badura-Skoda’s
lyrical legato and subtle pedalling
are a joy, and the piano tones are solidly
firm and distinct – well placed in the
nicely resonant acoustic. Again, there
are one or two very minor moments of
imperfect intonation in the strings,
but this to me is part of the value
of this recording: it sounds like a
live performance. Play on to the end
and tell me you couldn’t imagine it
being followed by rapturous applause
– even after Schubert’s own seeming
uncertainty as to how the piece should
really conclude!
The CD label is no
doubt slightly ironically marked ‘33
1/3 RPM’, but the
message is clear – those old analogue
recordings are like rainforest plants:
you don’t know how much you miss them
until you simultaneously discover them
and realise they’re nearly extinct.
Pristine Audio’s work in re-releasing
recordings of this rarity and value
has been a big discovery for me, and
I shall certainly be keeping an eye
on their catalogue from now on.
Dominy Clements
Jean Fournier (violin) 
