MENDELSSOHN AT JAMAICA PLAIN Sheffield S-13 - FINEST

$

79

Thomas Murray - MENDELSSOHN at JAMAICA PLAIN, Organ Sonatas, Op. 65 - rare Sheffield S-13 - ABSOLUTELY STUNNING!



Fact is, this record changed my life as an audiophile.

Yep, Lincoln Mayorga's first historical use of minimal mic-ing, carefully placed, had an aim toward capturing an acoustic. In the end, I must tell you, it simply floored me.

Frankly, when the volume is right---"sized," to what you expect a church to be---there isn't anything, anything at all, within the acoustic, that isn't totally and utterly apparent.

The tracking of the organ mechanics? Plain as day, all about you...clacking, tracking, making the music of God. The diapason work? Listen to the timing of the pipes as Murray learns the flaws here, this organ in disrepair...but that he captures, holds firm, and delivers, flawlessly.

Oh yes…to be able to hear the air literally running the pipes, the trumpets sounding, the church acoustic living and breathing glory.

It simply astounded me.

Yes, the music is Mendelssohn, who himself was a truly fine organ player, but it's now placed in the hands of Thomas Murray, one of the finest organists ever, and it makes this record among the most enjoyable hi-fi/musical experiences I have ever known.

A very rare prize, that demands you find the right volume. When you have it, oh yes, the hair on your neck will tell you everything, and the music will simply deliver without effort.

For those with a penchant for bass (and its fine reproduction), let me just add, when the low notes emanate here, they seem to come from the center of the earth, the shuddering columns of air, clean, vibrant, thundering in folds across the floor. Incredibly captivating, and just as you experience it all "live."

Cover of this rare copy is without major wear; perhaps a touch of yellowing but very minor.

Inside, the maroon-label Sheffield Town Hall original should play near mint, being very clean.

Final note:

If I myself had to beguile the question of which record to bring to that proverbial desert island, if I were allowed but one:

You're looking at it.

Note, too, please, the American Guild of Organists calls this Murray album series "the finest organ records of all time," this particular disc, "as perfect as an organ record can be."

Come hear why.

For other fine records, TAS picks and hard-to-finds, please see my complete list of offerings here on eBay.

33 RPM, LP