Over the last 12 years the Hi-Q Records label has re-issued a significant quantity of classical music, largely from well-known composers, virtuosos and conductors, with its favourably reviewed ‘Supercuts’ series.
By a label that specialises in classical music, some 60 LPs have been faithfully reproduced from the original analogue EMI master tapes, cut at Abbey Road Studios, pressed in 180-gram vinyl on the original EMI presses and feature the original album artwork and packaging.
We have 16 desirable titles from the ‘Supercuts’ catalogue of superior audiophile pressings, all in excellent condition, including works composed by Beethoven, Holst, Grieg, Berlioz, Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky, Schumann, Paganini, Liszt, Richard Strauss and Bizet and featuring virtuosos such as David Oistrakh, Sviatloslav Richter, Yehudi Menuhin and Itzhak Perlman.
Among the conductors are the likes of Von Karajan, Klemperer, Bernstein, Maazel, Beecham and Previn.
As well as orchestral works there are choral offerings including Faure’s Requiem with the King’s College Cambridge Choir under the direction Sir David Willocks and Grieg’s Music For Peer Gynt. Ballets including Sir Arthur Sullivan’s Pineapple Poll with the Royal Philharmonic under Charles Mackerras’ arrangement and Swan Lake.
Prices of these albums range from £15 to £25 and can be found on request in The Record Album or on our website and Discogs stock listing.
For those of a technical and historical bent, the Hi-Q Records ‘Supercuts’ series albums were “cut at Abbey Road Studios from the original stereo analogue master tapes with the Neumann VMS82 lathe fed an analogue pre-cut signal from a specially adapted Studer A80 tape deck with additional ‘advance’ playback head, making the cut a totally analogue process.”
The albums were pressed using the original EMI presses at The Vinyl Factory in Hayes, Middlesex, which produced all the Beatles records and those of Queen, Pink Floyd and Deep Purple before closing in 1978. At its peak 22,000 people were employed at the factory. The 17-acre site is expected to become homes, offices and leisure outlets.