Another solo piano recital, and by virtue of that, I'm not sure too much is lost in being mono, rather than stereo.
However, it sounds a little like an old recording, and the original recording equipment wasn't as sophisticated as some later examples, but that's no fault of the disc itself... rather, the ever reliable Columbia disc brings as much out of it as can be done... perfectly clear, no ambient noise, and an incredible acoustic weight you get with these vinyls, and it's even evident on this solo piano in the lower notes.
The Chopin Waltzes, I'm sure Classi-fans will already know, are highly intricate, yet delicate and sprightly affairs that happily bubble away, and are great escapist pieces, that you can just lay back, close your eyes, and fall into a trance to, while they bob and weave about you.
At this rate, I'll be buying a Columbia logo T-shirt and mug!
Further investigation reveals this exists in yet another sleeve... but this one seems to have variation with the disc too.
There is also a stitched edge sleeve which has a large white horizontal band across a dark navy blue cover, with "Columbia" in bold white block letters in the top blue section... or you could say, a white cover, with thick blue borders.
The disc on this one has deep grooved labels... so this is undoubtedly the earliest.
Must have been a very popular title to survive all these changes then.
(I shall have to listen to mine, and see what the fuss is about)
...that is, it is a part of the series with that cover.
The disc - the labels - are identical, and it has the same cat# and back cover details, so I think it is the same disc just rehoused in a new sleeve. As to whether this came first or the cover shown here did, I was inclined to think that this did, and then it was co-opted for the series with white cover-coloured-cord. But having moseyed a little, and from what I can see comparing the two (this, and my copy), I now think it is probably the other way round.... with this being initially issued as part of that series, and then issued "in it's own right" with a new sleeve.
This is because my sleeve has the scalloped flip-backs, and is un-laminated card - usually a sign of an earlier issue standard. Also, my plate numbers after the matrix are only 8 and 9... so quite early numbers, even if not the earliest.