Falla: The Three-Cornered Hat/Orchestre De La Suisse Romande/Ansermet—Esoteric Mastering vinyl reissue 2024

Since ESOTERIC, the Japanese manufacturer of expensive components, analogue gear and remastering agents for some of the greatest recordings in history got back into the vinyl business last year, many of us have been waiting for this particular release.

Originally released by Decca/London in 1961, Ernest Ansermet’s classic performance of Falla’s ballet The Three-Cornered Hat (1919) has been everybody’s go-to for recording quality, interpretation and performance. Sure, other fine performances are very well recorded (see our video here), but the Roy Wallace/Victoria Hall gem is the gold standard. So famous, that it has received very generous treatment by reissue companies on both vinyl and (SA)CD. This is the second time ESOTERIC has reissued it on vinyl, the first was in 2009 (a limited run of 1000 pressings of their digital remaster) and is now a completely new remaster/recut.

Because there is a digital step in the new ESOTERIC recutting process, sometimes a death sentence for expensive reissue vinyl, the company has gone to great pains to describe its newly established "Esoteric Mastering" system:

The analog vinyl records of the "Masterpiece Collection" have been reissued by re-mastering the original master tapes, exclusive for the vinyl records. The mastering process employs ESOTERIC's top-of-the-line equipment "Master Sound Discrete DAC" and "Master Sound Discrete Clock." For analog cutting, we used the Neumann cutting lace VMS80, a famous machine from the heyday of analog, at Mixers Lab. This machine was manufactured in West Germany during the heyday of analog records, and currently, there are only two in operation in Japan. With the help of Mixers Lab, we brought Esoteric Mastering equipment into the cutting room and connected the output directly to a Neumann SP79C cutting console. The "Esoteric Mastering" sound is sent directly to the cutting process without using the console's equalizer.

Ernest Ansermet, conductor.

The great news is that this exquisitely remastered vinyl release has no digital artifacts. The same for the previous two ESOTERIC vinyl releases I reviewed in Audiophilia.

For vinyl enthusiasts, this spectacular recording has received several first-class reissues. Of course, there are the original wideband Decca and Blueback London, both priced astronomically on Discogs. Speakers Corner released its superb pressing in 1997 cut by Tony Hawkins. My Dreamlist copy. I have not heard an original or the 2011 ORG Bernie Grundman cut (sealed copies of the ORG are going for almost $200 on Discogs). And after a long “Falla-fight”, I couldn’t pull the trigger on the ORG as the Speakers Corner is so damn good. One of the two or three finest Speakers Corner Decca reissues I’ve heard. Tony Hawkins worked for Decca and he nailed the reissue. End of the story, right?

Wrong.

This 2024 ESOTERIC new remaster is the finest vinyl pressing I’ve heard. I was more than surprised as I love the Speakers Corner so much. Still, there it was, just about every bar telling the conductor in me the inner detail hitherto unheard, the bass fidelity, the power of the orchestra in triple forte dynamics and the subtlety in quiet passages. The vinyl collector in me was hoping this was a mirage. Another expensive copy to purchase? (I received a press copy.) Remembering I have not heard a first pressing original or the ORG so this 2024 ESOTERIC pressing is my new version of choice. I’ll tell you why.

The opening page of the score (pictured above) reveals immediately why this new pressing is so astounding. The music is famous, from the opening timpani, trumpet and horn fanfare, the orchestra members shouting “Olé” while clapping, castanets going nuts as only castanets can do (I have seen up to five players used in concert), followed by the mezzo-soprano singing a folk tune in “cante jondo” style to begin the story (flamenco music accompaniment that tells a sad story).

The glorious acoustic remains on this recut but the precision of all instruments in the soundstage is better. Even more impressive, the diminuendo marked clearly by Falla on the “lé” in Olé is easily heard. That’s a first. And the claps are distinct from the voices, as they should be. Usually, it’s a combined sound. The castanets are clear and percussive—but even this amazing pressing (or my ears) can’t distinguish how many players are used. Mezzo Theresa Berganza is even more defined in Victoria Hall as her powerful voice reflects off the walls.

Later, you’ll hear trumpet and piccolo articulations clearer than ever, very subtle horn crescendos that are utterly natural as you’d hear in the hall and unaffected by your room and system idiosyncracies. And when the bass drum hits in several places close to the end of the ballet, they are deep, accurate and very effective.

As I listened through for the fifth time, it was as if I was hearing things anew at every bar. Remarkable.

Tony Hawkins does retain a lot of the Decca warmth on the Speakers Corner pressing. Is it here on the new ESOTERIC? Yes, but there is a special sound that the Decca engineers encouraged that may be slightly missing on the ESOTERIC. Splitting hairs, here.

That said, as a musician, conductor and lover of most things Decca, I would not want to be without this new remastering. The Japanese engineers have taken great pains to improve on their 2009 version (I have the SACD). This is better, warmer and far more detailed. As such, it holds together as the most complete picture of this famous recording we are likely to receive. For those of you who have the ORG and buy the ESOTERIC, I would love to read your thoughts in the comments below.

In the here and now, a very warm buy recommendation from this podium.

More information on the ESOTERIC LPs at American Sound of Canada (full disclosure, an advertiser).

Orchestre De La Suisse Romande,
Teresa Berganza, Mezzo-soprano
Conducted by Ernest Ansermet
Product ID: ESLD-10003

Released Autumn 2023