# Cala Records -- your thoughts and comments



## 13hm13 (Oct 31, 2016)

> Cala Records is a boutique, London-based label known for its creative programming and high quality recorded sound. The label was formed in 1990 by the Australian conductor Geoffrey Simon and the New York attorney and arts advocate Daniel Schiffman.


I've just become aware of this small label, though they seem to have been around since 1990(??).
The label caught my attention after I was doing a bit of research on Leopold Stokowski.

Anyone have experience with Cala? Are their recordings just releases of previous material (e.g., like Musical Heritage Soc., or Time-Life)? With Stokowski, I know some of Cala's offerings are the _same_ Phase-4 offering on Decca sets.
http://www.calarecords.com/us/acatalog/The_Art_of_Stokowski.html
But they have Stokowski material from other labels as well.
And some others may very well be unique:








http://www.calarecords.com/us/acatalog/info_CACD0551.html

There are mp3 streaming samples -- what do you think?


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## Antiquarian (Apr 29, 2014)

It looks like the Stokowski may have been previously released. With any release of reissued music it's best to listen to excerpts before you purchase. Many of these niche labels are pretty good, but others not so much. I was burned pretty badly on a ten CD set of Stokowski put out by TIM cz in their 20th Century Maestros series. The source material was pretty bad, and the remastering only accentuated the deficiencies. Thanks for sharing this!


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## 13hm13 (Oct 31, 2016)

Antiquarian said:


> It looks like the Stokowski may have been previously released. With any release of reissued music it's best to listen to excerpts before you purchase. Many of these niche labels are pretty good, but others not so much. I was burned pretty badly on a ten CD set of Stokowski put out by TIM cz in their 20th Century Maestros series. The source material was pretty bad, and the remastering only accentuated the deficiencies. Thanks for sharing this!


Hmm ... I'm not sure what "TIM cz in their 20th Century Maestros series" is??

Here's a "Complete Stokowski Compact Discography" by the so-called "Leopold Stokowski Club":
http://www.classical.net/music/guide/society/lssa/disco.php

This Discography compares and contrasts MOST of Stoky's CD/digital releases. It points out some deficiencies in certain Decca releases. But I have compared the two multi-CD Decca sets against similar tracks on Cala and find no sonic diffs???


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## Holden4th (Jul 14, 2017)

I think that all of the Cala has been previously released. The good news is that they tend to take those initial releases and improve them sonically. I have the Decca (London) recording of Stokie's Scheherezade. It's an amazing performance but is sonically lacking in many places. I read that Cala had taken this performance and remastered it with amazing results. I bought the Cala versions and it was a revelation. While this is only one performance, it could also hold true for many of their other CDs.


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## David Phillips (Jun 26, 2017)

Cala released some interesting CDs of French music a while ago, Geoffry Simon conducting Debussy and Ravel, including some rare arrangements of their piano works by Percy Grainger, Stokowski etc.


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## 13hm13 (Oct 31, 2016)

Holden4th said:


> I have the Decca (London) recording of Stokie's Scheherezade..


This one?


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## Antiquarian (Apr 29, 2014)

13hm13 said:


> Hmm ... I'm not sure what "TIM cz in their 20th Century Maestros series is"


On the website you had a link for, it is known as Maestro Celebre. I wish I had perused it before I made my purchase, because it does condemn the inferior sound of the set. Oh, well... I may just have to investigate Cala to improve my collection, but frankly Stokowski is not an imperative purchase for me at the moment.


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## Joe B (Aug 10, 2017)

13hm13 said:


> I've just become aware of this small label, though they seem to have been around since 1990(??).
> The label caught my attention after I was doing a bit of research on Leopold Stokowski.
> 
> Anyone have experience with Cala? Are their recordings just releases of previous material (e.g., like Musical Heritage Soc., or Time-Life)? With Stokowski, I know some of Cala's offerings are the _same_ Phase-4 offering on Decca sets.
> ?


Cala's recordings are not all of previous material that's been remastered. I have their Debussy discs of Geoffrey Simon conducting The Philharmonia. They were recorded in the early 90's with digital equipment used at every stage (DDD). The sound is excellent. There are very few disc of theirs still in print, and prices vary widely where they are available (amazon.com has Debussy vol. 1 for less than $3 and vol. 2 for just over $30).


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## Holden4th (Jul 14, 2017)

13hm13 said:


> This one?


Yes, that's the one. The Rimsky is with the LSO, The Capriccio Espagnol with the New Philharmonia and the Borodin with the RPO.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

Cala is a historical label and everything it produces has been released previously. Sometimes it sounds better the second time around with them, sometimes not.


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## chill782002 (Jan 12, 2017)

There are a number of smaller labels doing this, Naxos Historical and Pristine Classical spring immediately to mind. I haven't heard of Cala before though, I'll check them out. Thanks for the info.


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## 13hm13 (Oct 31, 2016)

Holden4th said:


> Yes, that's the one. The Rimsky is with the LSO, The Capriccio Espagnol with the New Philharmonia and the Borodin with the RPO.


A vlogger on YouTube posted this a few years back:




Not sure whether the vlogger is using that actual CD (London Jubilee ADRM, from the 1980s I think) or just the artwork (i.e., audio from Cala, newer Decca or Japanese???).
Nevertheless, anyone with the "poor sounding" London Jubilee should be able to compare it to whatever copy/version they posses. Sound similar?

*Anyway...*

I do _now_ have a copy of the Cala Stokowski Scheherazade (2006) _and_ Stoky's Original Masters, Vol. 2: Decca Recordings, 1964-1975 (2004). 
I can compare both Scheherazade's ... and say that I can notice_ very few _diffs EXCEPT track 1 on Cala has the L/R channels reversed.

I also have the Cala Brahms Sym 1/Elgar Enigma album and same recordings on the Decca set. Again, very small diffs. Maybe a slight edge to Cala.

What I dislike about many recording pre-mid-1970s is the overload distortion ("clipping") on loud and/or dynamic passages. There's quite a bit of that in these Stoky releases


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## Joe B (Aug 10, 2017)

larold said:


> Cala is a historical label and everything it produces has been released previously. Sometimes it sounds better the second time around with them, sometimes not.


Did you read Post #8?


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## 13hm13 (Oct 31, 2016)

The Complete Stokowski Compact Discography article/guide from classical.net I posted a few messages back noted that early Scheherazade (London Jubilee ADRM, from the 1980s I think ???) was poor.

classical.net has another page with review of of both Decca Stoky box sets:
http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/l/lon75145a.php
http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/l/lon75609a.php
"As I already mentioned, Decca's remastering is absolutely magnificent ..."

The author of both above pages (reviews) is different from the author of _The Leopold Stokowski Club -- Complete Stokowski Compact Discography_:
http://www.classical.net/music/guide/society/lssa/disco.php


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