ORG brings the Ravel Daphnis from Monteux back to life:

I admit to being harsh lately on ORG (and ORG Music, the offshoot label more so) - not for sound quality, which is the best in the market, consistently. But rather for quality control at RTI - the copies I have been receiving, the same as any of you would as I buy them straight out from the usual online sources, just have too many defects. That's just not good enough for the highest priced reissues in the market. I have to pay shipping to me, return shipping, then some added element of shipping when I get a replacement copy - that makes it really silly stupid, getting in the range of $80-90 to get a good copy.

And that can only hurt sales for ORG. People will still buy the really essential titles, but more often than not will take a pass on titles that fall into the 'nice but my life won't be incomplete if I pass" category.

So I am happy to report that the new Ravel "Daphnis and Chloe" London 45 rpm reissue, conducted by Monteux in a near classic performance, is perfect in every way and is more than outstanding sonically. Grundman gives it a wide, rich soundscape wholly appropriate to the magical reading of Monteux. More so than the Munch Daphnis of some years ago on Classic 33, which was also done by Grundman and sounds very good, Monteux brings out the primal elements of Daphnis and his reading is better suited to the wider dynamics afforded by the 45 rpm format.

If you are in the market for a great Daphnis & Chloe, this one can't be beat. And for once, the cover art is interesting, maybe more so than the original Decca.