The Spirit of 78

They were easy to break. They held only about four minutes of music per side. They were so heavy that a complete Don Giovanni ran to 23 records and weighed in at a shelf-sagging 14 pounds. Most people in the late 1940s were glad to see the old 78-r.p.m. disks being phased out in favor of lightweight, long-playing, superior-sounding microgroove records. Now, though, those old 78s may be coming back again.

The British Institute of Recorded Sound Ltd. has just announced it will issue exact copies of some of the choicest antiques under the His Masters Voice label; they will press directly from the original master records and will bow to modernity only by using vinyl instead of the oldfashioned, noisy-surfaced shellac. The idea has more than mere nostalgia to recommend it. Most LP transfers of 78 material change and degrade the original sound. But the new old 78s will have both unfiltered high frequencies and unrumbled lows. Hardly comparable to the sound of the LP era, they nevertheless restore a forgotten adequacy of the sonic --and artistic--achievements of the past. As a result, nearly forgotten singers like Conchita Supervia, Fernando de Lucia and Maria Nemeth will be resurrected and sent along to collectors in their original sonic quality.

Only 20 disks a year have been planned so far, though the number will be increased if initial response proves strong. Says Desmond Shawe-Taylor, one of the institute's governors: "This is a historic opportunity for 78 collectors. It is unlikely that another chance will ever recur of exploring the treasures that remain in the archives."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.