Telarc recordings

I think it is more the result of the methods that Telarc uses. Decca typically uses a lot of mikes so the instruments are heard more clearly, but depending on the mix may not be more realistic. I think what you are hearing at live performances has nothing to do with the issues created by mic'ing/mixing techniques - I think it has to do more with the dynamics of the sound which cannot be reproduced on recordings. By the way, were there mic's in any of those concert halls - many now supplement the live sound with amplification? Harry Pearson of TAS made a statement about Telarc some years ago, based on what had been his similar (to your's) view of Telarc - that was, as the performance of DAC's and CDP's got better, he had found the sound much better than he previously believed. Its instructive to listen to some of Telarc's early LP's - they didn't sound dull and lifeless at all, quite the contrary. By the way, I would not consider Decca to be a good company to look to for sound quality, although some of their stuff is excellent, they did have a couple of great engineers. For good recordings, minimally miked in a good acoustic, listen to recordings by Delos, Dorian, Hyperion, to name a few - the performances are usually excellent as well.

All Telarc recordings have the absolute polarity reversed. If you have a polarity switch on your CD player or DAC, flip it to 180. If you don't have a switch, you need to get a conponent that has one. Other major labels with reversed absolute polarity are: Mercury, RCA, Capital, EMI, Decca, London, MCA and some Sony to name a few. Once you know the sound of reversed polarity (which you obviously do)it's hard to listen this way. Correcting the polarity also tightens the bass and makes the topend less shrill.

What does "absolute reverse polarity mean", and why would so many major labels purposely mess up their recordings for 99.999% of their consumers?

"Absolute Polarity" often mis-referred to as Absolute Phase is when the + and - signals are reversed in both channels at the same time. For the purposes of visualization, using a flat line, a speaker with correct phase would produce a rise and, if the polarity were reversed, the same signal would produce a dip. Sort of like breathing in when you should be breathing out. Recordings are not the only products with Absolute Polarity issues. Lots of tube pre-amps do this, especially the ones with only 2 tubes. Fortunately the manufacturers advise of this in their manuals. This, IMHO, is not as big an issue as some would make it as many recordings are of mixed polarity in the first place - each mic' used presents an opportunity, etc, but when it does exist it can make a big difference. Nice to have a switch built into your pre-amp (or CD player) - that's they only way you know for sure if the reversal exists on any individual cut.

Newbee, I would take issue with your broad statement about Decca recordings. The Decca recordings from the late 50's through the early 70's are some of the greatest examples of orchestral and opera recordings in natural sounding, correctly captured acoustic environment sonics that we have. I'd be happy to offer some suggestions offline for you to consider, but any of the reissues listed in the Speakers Corner catalog will illustrate this.

Of course, there is also the London/Decca Phase Four series, which is unnatural multi-miked sound at its worst extreme. :-)
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