Classic Pick Switzerland - Classical QS LPs

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steelydave

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Continuing my excavations of Swiss classical quad output (talk about a niche within a niche!) this is, I believe, almost everything that the Classic Pick (a subsidiary of regular ol' Pick) put out between 1974 and 1977. All the album sleeves credit Hellmuth Kolbe for doing the mixes, usually as "Recording supervisor and sound engineer" and most of them also state something along the lines of "A multichannel Quadraphonic Dolby-system recording".

Only a handful of these are listed in @Mark Anderson 's quad discography, and probably only half of them have discogs entries, so a good chunk of this represents "new" information, I believe.

70-104 definitely represents the start of the QS encoded titles (I checked 100-103 and they're all stereo only), but I'm not sure if 70-122 is the final entry - I can't find any information at all about what 70-123 is, and while I know 70-124 is called Maria Livia Sao Marcos plays Baroque Music, I can't find any pictures to verify if it's not QS-encoded or not, though I suspect it probably isn't as it was released in 1978.

I'm also looking for information on what 70-120 might be as I can't find anything at all about it online.


Additionally, based on the fact that 70-108 has a cassette equivalent with catalog number MC 7108, I suspect that some (or possibly, all) of the titles in this series have a cassette counterpart in the MC 71xx series although I couldn't dig up any other pictures online.

Catalog numbers in this table are linked to either discogs (if an entry exists) or whatever other site I found photographic "proof of life" of thes titles.

CAT. NUMBERCONDUCTOR / ORCHESTRACOMPOSER / WORKYEARNOTES
Camerata BernVivaldi - Locatelli - Müller - Pergolesi (Ricciotti?)
1974​
Armin Brunner Orchestra / Wiener KammerensembleFranz Joseph Leonti Meyer Von Schauensee ‎/ Eine Engelberger Talhochzeit
1974​
Double LP
Camerata BarilocheMarcello - Grieg - Hindemith - Gandini
1974​
Luciano Sgrizzi (Cembalo-Harpsichord)Bach - Scarlatti - Englische Virginalisten
1974​
Edith Peinemann (violin) / Helmuth Barth (piano)Josef Suk / Bela Bartok / Ernest Bloch
1975​
Cassette: MC 7108
Chumachenco StreichquartettDebussy: Quartett Für 2 Violinen, Viola Und Violoncello, Op.10 / Brahms: Quartett In B-Dur Für Zwei Violinen, Viola Und Violoncello, Op. 67
1975​
Baroque Strings - feat. Peter Grummer (cello) Frank Gassmann (violin)Vivaldi / Hindemith / Albinoni / Pergolesi
1975​
Gilbert Schuchter (piano)Schubert: Zwolf Walzer op.18a / Schumann: Davidsbundler Tanze Swiss
1975​
Annette Weisbrod (piano)Lizst: Etude de Concert No. 2/No. 3/Consollations / Rossini: Quelques Riens Pour Piano
1975​
Margarita Schack (soprano) / Cornelius Eberhardt (piano)Ost Trifft West
1975​
Felipe Ledesma / Mexikanischer KinderchorNiños Cantores De Puebla
1975​
Räto Tschupp / Camerata ZürichOthmar Schoeck / Elegie Op. 36
1975​
Anton Diakov (bass) / Harry Rodmann (piano)Mussorgsky / Tchaikovsky / Rimsky-Korsakov
1975​
Lux Brahn (clarinet) / Neues Zürcher Quartett (Chumachenco)Brahms: Klarinettenquintett h-mol op.115 / Stamitz: Klarinettenquintett Es-dur op.84
1976​
Maria Livia São Marcos (guitar) / Solisti di ZagrebVivaldi / Kohaut / Brouwer / Martin
1976​
Anton Diakov (bass) / Annette Weisbrod (piano)Russische Lieder (Rimsky-Korsakov / Glazunov / Glinka / Tcherepnin)
1976​
70-120​
UNKNOWN
Yoan Goilav (contrabass) / Streichensemble WinterthurMusik Für Kontrabass (Montag / Bloch / Mortari / Lancen / Sperger)
1976​
Neues Zürcher Quartett ‎(The New Zurich Quartet)Debussy: Streichquartett G-moll Op. 10 / Ravel: Streichquartett F-dur
1977​
70-123​
UNKNOWN
Maria Livia São MarcosBarockmusik auf der Gitarre
1977​
Solisti di ZagrebIn Concert (Tchaikovsky / Vivaldi / Britten)
1976​
Camerata BarilocheTelemann / Bach / Handel
1977​
 
Last edited:
I found one more to add
PICK 70-128a.jpg

PICK 70-128b.jpg

PICK 70-128c.jpg


As for the cassette releases I have only seen MC 7108
Pick MC 7108 (QSC)b.jpg

Pick MC 7108 (QSC)c.jpg


Pick 70-124 Might be quad
Pick 70-124.jpg
 
Man, this is in the weeds indeed. The Zagreb Soloists recorded a lot for Vanguard, are we sure these aren't licensed recordings from them? Also interesting they recorded the Debussy String Quartet twice in only a few years.
 
Thanks

Who wants to plan a trip to Switzerland and start looking for these in their used music and thrifstores. Doubt will ever see one of these here.
The cassette Dolby symbol likely refers to the noise reduction not surround d but who knows.
 
Pick 70-124 Might be quad

It is indeed, I managed to dig up the corresponding back cover which has the QS notation:

marcos_barock_2.jpg


So I've added that one, along with 70-128 (Solisti di Zagreb In Concert) which you provided, and I found a further one, 70-130 (Camerata Bariloche) which I've also added to the first post. 70-125, 70-126, 70-127 and 70-129 are definitely marked as stereo only, so that only leaves us to determine if 70-120 and 70-123 (the ones I can't find a trace of at all) are QS or not.

Man, this is in the weeds indeed. The Zagreb Soloists recorded a lot for Vanguard, are we sure these aren't licensed recordings from them? Also interesting they recorded the Debussy String Quartet twice in only a few years.

I'm not sure, but if there was licensing here I would think it was the other way around (ie Vanguard licensing from Pick) because these were all recorded in Europe by Pick's engineer, Hellmuth Kolbe.

Who wants to plan a trip to Switzerland and start looking for these in their used music and thrifstores. Doubt will ever see one of these here.
The cassette Dolby symbol likely refers to the noise reduction not surround d but who knows.

I think the Dolby logo on the tape itself is referring to noise reduction, but the front of cassette sleeve has the QS logo in the bottom left hand corner just below the [PICK] logo. In any event these recordings are single-inventory I believe, so they should all be QS encoded no matter if the artwork in any other subsequent reissues or different formats state it or not.

Anyone actually have any of these titles, and if so, how does it sound?

No idea (classical is really outside the limits of my know-it-all-ery) but I always feel like the first step with these obscure quad recordings is to dig up proof of their existence so people can check them out and report back. It's the reason I did the same thing with some of those Japanese QS jazz recordings like the Toshiba Pro-Use Jun Fukumachi ones and the Crown Shigeru Suzuki and Huckleback cassette - amazing that they've basically been "hiding in plain sight" of Western quaddies for 40 years and we only just found some of this stuff this decade. I'm not sure how aggressive these Classic Pick quad mixes might be, but I would expect the sound quality to be good - Hellmuth Kolbe has a ton of classical recording credits to his name, including the location recordings (I think Ray Moore did the actual quad mixes) in East Germany for the E. Power Biggs Six Organ-Concerto Sinfonias LP that was one half of one of the recent Dutton Epoch SACD 2fers.
 
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