Regrettably, a 'no go'

Sadly, I cannot recommend this release. There is tape slippage/pitch insecurity at the opening of the Tchaikovsky that continues for some time and there are slight hints of slippage elsewhere too. A pity, as Heifetz and the Chicago Orchestra are as strong as ever in this famous recording. Far be it from me to criticise such a grand master of his instrument, but the Mendelssohn does not, for me, sit comfortably in this recording: here, Heifetz - during the first movement in particular - seems unrelaxed; not a 'Desert Island' recording in my opinion. Additionally, I find a silence run in of 4.5 seconds annoyingly long at the beginning of the Mendelssohn first movement. In general, I'd appreciate run ins of around a second and run outs of about 7 or 8 seconds following a work - 'digestion time', if you will. I know home software can easily edit such things, but - despite what others may claim, I do believe there is always going to be some loss of quality of sound, no matter how slight, when file lengths are altered. I hope HDTT manage to access another tape of the Tchaikovsky some day as I was looking forward to hearing the recording sourced from the reel 2 reel format. Sorry, but a 'no go' for me.