Alice Sara Ott – The Chopin Project

Upsides, it looks beautiful and the tracks that are quiet are wonderful. But even just taking it out of the sleeve it was obvious that this was going to be a rough experience; the vinyl was filthy, covered in dust and paper shreds.

All downhill from there. Sadly this is a mediocre pressing that disappoints given how beautiful the music is. My copy is not as bad as some others here, but there are pops and crackles on the majority of tracks, even after an ultrasonic cleaning. Classical in particular demands a quiet, well-made pressing, and this album just is not where it should be in of quality control.

This is once again proof of my thesis in the numerous reviews I have written that the people working in the pressing plants today either/and/or have no idea/motivation/knowledge, because how else can the countless miserable pressings be explained? The customer is supposed to carry out quality checks, and returns of faulty discs are already factored into the price. In other words, the customer has to pay for the mistakes made by the pressing plants. Somehow it all seems rather familiar ... Politics? The only power we have as consumers is to consistently return such pressings and avoid the label in question.
This pressing is also pretty much the worst I've heard. Even after several washes with Ultrasonic and Okki Nokki, there was hardly any real improvement. And that even with such a beautiful classical recording. An insult to the artists. A disregard for the creative work of these artists. And what must not be forgotten: a further contribution to the waste of resources and destruction of the environment. Because the production of vinyl requires an enormous amount of electricity and water.

Should have read the comments first - vinyl quality is a desaster. so many crackles, sounds like an old fleemarket record. even tried woodglue cleaning with no effect. CD is better choice here.

Incredible composition and recording mired by awful vinyl quality. You're better off with the digital release, especially since Arnalds and Frahm are well-equipped for digital productions.

Pretty noisy record, much better after a proper vacuum cleaning. Of course beautiful music.

Great album but pretty noisy vinyl.
My first brand new copy had two small but deep enough scratches that made the record rather unlistenable, had to return it. My second copy has some pops especially on side B, maybe deep cleaning could solve it, but overall I think it's OK.

By the way, neither of copies had downoad coupon.

This album was released around the time my son was born, in San Francisco. Brings back memories of those special first moments.

One of the more profound music experiences I have had, with the microphones so close to Sara that you can hear her moving on her chair, and hear her breathe. It's such an immersive experience! My record sounds great, no pressing issues. Compared to the 96k/24bit files out there it sounds wonderful.

Same here. Beautiful album. Pressing is shameful
These Czech Republic vinyls spoil the day.

Beautiful album. One of my favorites from these two. Terrible pressing :(