This is the first review I’m writing of one of the massive Everest reissue CD series being offered by the UK label Harkit, which thus far has no distribution in the U.S. but are available from www.amazon.co.uk. These should not be confused with the Everest series being reissued on HDADs by Classic Records. Those are sourced from the original 35mm magnetic film tracks recorded by the Belock Instrument Corporation in the late 1950s and early 1960s for certain Everest releases on LP and stereotape. This was the ultimate in sonic fidelity at the time for many reasons, but much time has passed since then and many of the 35mm originals have by now deteriorated. The Classic Records releases are probably the last that will ever be reissued, and some suffer from wow and flutter problems at spots due to the condition of the original tracks.
The reissue series done in the UK by Active Media Distribution and available from Harkit Records is licensed from Criterion Music Company, which is the latest in a line of owners of the original masters. But they appear to be made from standard magnetic tape rather than 35mm film, even for those session which were recorded on 35mm film originally. Therefore I haven’t heard any “wow” problems or even serious dropouts in the few discs I have so far sampled. I have many of the original 1996 CD reissue series done by Omega Record Group in NYC, with Vanguard’s Seymour Solomon as musical supervisor and using Sony’s SBM system in remastering. Now out of print, I think they are superior to even the excellent CD reissues of the Mercuries and RCAs (though not the SACD versions), and so far I find the sonic quality of these new Harkit reissues fully their equal – though I have many more to audition.
Everest’s Bert Whyte traveled to London to record the London Symphony in the fine acoustics of the well-known Walthamstow Hall. Both important Stravinsky ballets receive superb interpretations and thrilling recording quality. Both were originally done on 35mm film, which is promoted on the Omega reissues but not on the Harkit. They sound very similar to the new Harkit reissues; however the Omega reissues CD sounds a tad more transparent and is free of a low level superimposed tone heard on the Stravinsky on the Harket CD. Both the original recordings were made in 1959. A few of the Everests were reissued on multichannel SACDs by Vanguard a few years back, and where those duplicate selections within the CD series, they of course provide even better sonics, but for standard CD the Harkits seem to be an excellent CD reissue series that will surely interest many collectors.
Harkit has changed the pairing-up of works on some of their various reissues. For example, on the Omega reissue Petrouchka is paired with Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements, rather than The Rite of Spring. At over 71 minutes, the Harkit CD gives you more music, but some of their reissues are shorter than the Omega series versions.
– John Sunier
