Harold Tichenor 4/3-2016

Dear fellow reel to reel audiophie:

I do hope this email gets through to you as I want to let my past reel to reel customers know the new arrangements for acquiring 15 IPS copies of my tape masters. For the last few years I made them principally available through eBay where Deborah Gunn, better known as Reel-Lady, acted as my agent. Both Deb and I were happy with that arrangement and I can’t thank her enough for her valiant efforts to handle all sales professionally and promptly. However, over the past two years changes at eBay have led to prohibitively high listing and closing costs, even to the point that they take a commission on the shipping costs. During the past year there has also been a flood of lower quality tapes coming onto eBay, many made from cd originals or other dubious sources. It just became impossible to produce our high quality tapes at the net return after eBay and Paypal fees were deducted. Deb and I have talked about it quite a lot and looked at alternative ways to make the tapes available. In the end, Deb decided to retire from the master tape sales business. After giving thought to using eBay myself, setting up a website store or engaging another web sales agent, I decided that I would contact you all directly and test the waters on direct sales to my past customers. Thus this email to you directy from me.

FIRST: let me say if you would rather not receive these direct emails in future please let me know immediately and I will remove you from the mailing list.

NEXT, For those of you who are interested here’s what I have in mind:

I’d like to periodically (perhaps two or three times a year) send you an email offering a few prime selections from my library of over 2000 reels of source tapes. The vast majority of what I offer is “classical" music, although I do have some select rock and jazz titles. My personal leaning is toward the classics as I was raised in a musical family...my father was a composer and my mother an opera singer and teacher. While I did not pursue a career in music, I did work in the film and media business initially as a technician and finally as a producer. Along the way I acquired a firm foundation in audio technology and archival practices. After retiring, among other activities, I committed heavily to the archiving of audio tapes and put together a very high end playback and duplication system using Lyrec master recorders and totally optimized Dolby processors. Over the past ten years I have acquired several libraries of masters from different sources here in North America and in Europe. As you will see these come from all the major studios, Decca, EMI, RCA, Columbia, Vanguard, Vox, DGG, Philips, Melodiya and others. Most are from the “golden era” of analog recording from the mid 1950s up to the early 1970s.

Below I have listed 25 titles that I have selected as a first offering. BUT, you should certainly feel free to ask me about other titles you may be seeking. There’s a good chance I have the recording you are looking for or another performance of the same work that may equally appeal to you. AND, if you have certain performers, composers or general areas of interest...chamber, cello, symphonic, what have you...let me know and I can tell you what titles I have that may fall into those categories.

FINALLY: the practicalities: each tape is made on PEM 468 and may have one splice, although I try to avoid this. Each tape is custom made on a 1:1 basis and near field monitored during recording using B&W studio monitors. For those of you with Dolby A and B decoders let me know if you prefer to receive tapes that were originally encoded to remain encoded so that you can do it at your end. Generally, I make copies in the same equalization as the original, but if you cannot handle NAB or IEC let me know, and I will customize yours accordingly to your preference. Shipping overseas is always expensive; I generally prefer to ship using USPS as they tend to be the most economical, but it will be your choice. Single reels run about 20 to 33 minutes depending on the original recording. A typical reel is the length of the original release “side", so a master for a full lp takes two reels. I use high quality plastic NAB hub reels to reduce shipping costs with the added benefit that they are less liable to damage a tape when fast winding. All titles come in new white setup boxes with NAB hub centres. And all tapes are guaranteed…if you are not happy with what you receive, please let me know immediately so that it can be returned and a full refund given. I accept Paypal, credit cards through Paypal and direct cheques or money orders.

Here is the first series of tiles that I have selected for your consideration:

Bach, J. S.: Six Cello Suites BWV 1007-1012 Janos Starker; NYC 1963/65; engineer Howard Fine; Mercury Living Presence; made from Philips European master 4 reels US$640

Bartok, Bela: Concerto for Orchestra SZ 116 & Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Chicago 1955; engineer Lewis Layton; RCA; made from RCA/Jugoton master 2 reels US$340

Beethoven, L v: Symphony #6 in F major Op 68 “Pastorale” & Columbia Symphony Orchestra; Hollywood 1958; producer John McClure; Columbia; made from original acetate engineer’s copy 2 reels US$340

Beethoven, L v: Piano Trio in B flat minor Op 97 “Archduke” Jacqueline Du Pre, & Pinchas Zukerman; Abbey Road 1969; Martin Benge, engineer; EMI; made from 1981 EMI master 2 reels US$340

Berlioz, Hector: Op 14 Charles Munch & Boston Symphony Orchestra; Boston 1954; producer John Pfeiffer; RCA; made from RCA/Jugoton master 2 reels US$340

Brahms, Johannes: Symphony #4 in E Minor Op 98; Rudolph Kempe & Royal Philharmonic; Abbey Road 1960; EMI made from 1986 EMI master 2 reels US$340

Dave Brubeck Quartet: Time Out; NYC 1959; producer Teo Macero & engineer Fred Plaut; Columbia; made from European CBS master 2 reels US$340

Chopin, Frederic: #2 in F minor Op 21 Abbey Simon with Eugene Goossens & Royal Philharmonic; Abbey Road 1958; EMI made from 1986 EMI master 1 reel US$175

Debussy, Claude: Images for Orchestra L 122 Charles Munch & Boston Symphony Orchestra; Boston 1957; Producer & engineer Lewis Layton; RCA made from original acetate engineer’s copy 1 reel US$175

Elgar, Edward: Cello Concerto in E minor Op 85 Jacqueline Du Pre with & London Symphony Orchestra; Abbey Road 1965; producer Ronald Anderson & engineer Christopher Parker; EMI made from European acetate master 1 reel US$175 de Falla, Manuel: Nights in the Gardens of Spain G 49 Alicia de Larrocha with Jesus Arambarri & Concert Orchetsra of Madrid; Madrid 1958; Hispavox made from Hispavox master 1 reel US$175

Holst, Gustav: The Planets Op 32 Andre Previn $ London Symphony Orchestra; Abbey Road 1974; producer Christopher Bishop & engineer Christopher Parker; EMI made from engineer’s courtesy copy 2 reels US$340

Liszt, Franz: Piano Concerto #1 in E flat Major S 124 Annie Fischer with & ; Abbey Road 1962; producer & engineer Christopher Parker; EMI/Columbia made from 1982 EMI master 1 reel US$175

Mendelssohn, Felix: Violin Concerto in E minor Op 64 Christian Ferras with Constantin Silvestri & Philharmonia Orchestra; Abbey Road 1958; EMI made from 1986 EMI master 1 reel US$175

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus: Piano Concerto #21 in C Major K 467 “Elvira Madigan” Annie Fischer with Wolfgang Sawallisch & Philharmonia Orchestra; Abbey Road 1958; producer Walter Legge & engineer Robert J Gooch; EMI made from 1982 EMI master 1 reel US$175

Mussorgsky, Modest (arr Ravel): Pictures at an Exhibition & Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra; Royce Hall 1967; Decca made from a 1970 Decca master 1 reel US$175

Prokofiev, Sergei: Symphony #6 in E flat Minor Op 111 Walter Weller & London Philharmoni Orchestra; 1975; engineer & producer James Malinson; Decca made from an engineer’s copy 1 reel US$175

Rachmaninov, Sergei: Piano Concerto #2 in C minor Op 18 John Ogdon with John Pritchard & Philharmonia Orchestra; Abbey Road 1962; producer & engineer Francis Dillnutt; EMI made from 1984 EMI master 1 reel US$175

Ravel, Maurice: Daphnis and Chloe (complete) & Orchestre de la Suisse Romande; Geneva 1965; producer John Mordler & engineer Colin Moorfoot; Decca made from engineer’s copy 2 reels US$340

Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolai: Scheherazade Op 35 Fritz Reiner & Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Chicago 1960; engineer Lewis Layton & producer Richard Mohr; RCA made from acetate engineer’s copy 2 reels US$340

Saint-Saens, Camille: Piano Concerto #2 in G minor Op 22 Artur Rubinstein with Alfred Wallenstein & Symphony of the Air; 1958; engineer Lewis Layton & producer John Pfeiffer; RCA made from 1971 RCA/Jugoton master 1 reel US$175

Schubert, Franz: String Quartet #14 in D minor D810 “Death and the Maiden” New Hungarian String Quartet; c1977; VOX made from Vox master 678.022 1 reel US$175

Sibelius, Jean: Violin Concerto in D minor Op 47 with Walter Hendl & Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Chicago 1959; engineer Lewis Layton & producer John Pfeiffer; RCA made from German RCA master 1 reel US$175

Strauss, Richard: Also Sprach Zarathustra Op 30 Fritz Reiner & Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Chicago Orchestra Hall 1954; engineer Leslie Chase & producer John Pfeiffer; RCA made from German RCA master 1 reel US$175

Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilyich: Swan Lake Ballet Op 20 (Complete) Maurice de Abravanel & Utah Symphony; 1966; engineer Ed Friedner & producer Seymour Solomon; Vanguard made from Vanguard master 4 reels US$640

Please feel free to contact me at [email protected] for further details and shipping cost estimates. And as I mentioned before if there are other titles you are looking for please contact me and we will see if I can meet your needs.

Thank you

Harold Tichenor Bowen Island, Canada and Rexford, Montana