I was able to sample the Ginette Neveu and decided to pass on it, it has typical PD type of mastering. I would be completely satisfied with good mastering of the Brahms Violin Concerto with either Desormiere or Dobrowen.
The Brilliant 10-cd Holliger box, which I've enjoyed, includes material leased from Phillips/Decca/Universal. Of course, the price of this 2010 set is now astronomical but searching may yield a good deal
They should be both remastered, otherwise they wouldn't be in 24/96. I have indeed listened to the Kubelík Mahler cycle remaster, which came out last year I think as a hi-res download, and it is a definite improvement over the old CD box (both the old CD box and the Collectors Edition contain the same mastering), sounding fuller without losing any dynamics. Apart from the 1967 Mahler 1 recording, though, they are not the best in terms of recording anyway. I've not heard the Kempff/Schubert remaster, but judging from the mid-'90s remastered selection of 2 CDs worth of that material, the old CDs can be definitely improved upon.
Amazing the Columbia catalog that guy has. Gottard Lieberman must have been his drinking buddy. +1 on a box of early mono & stereo. Already have the SACDs NOT gonna happen.
Yeah. I've seen that selling in "acceptable" condition for about $100. I've searched high and low and that's as good as it gets. Too rich for my blood. I'm surprised it is not in print or that more are available on the secondary market. But no worries, as I have created my own Philips box on Spotify as a playlist. (I've created several of these. It's a good way to preview a mega-box or even as a substitute for buying.) Listening to it now. Great stuff!
E. Power Biggs is a name to conjure with for me. My father researched the life of my great great great great great grandfather, organ builder David Tannenberg, when I was growing up, and wrote and published his first biography with Tannenberg as the subject. Just prior to final arrangements for publishing (University of Pennsylvania Press) my father was notified that E. Power Biggs had heard of the book and wanted to write a preface as he was an admirer of Tannenberg organs. My Dad was thrilled, as he had Biggs albums in his collection and that was a wonderful highlight for the publishing of his first book. I have a sense his catalog is huge. I ought to seek out a few highlight discs.
Biggs recorded an album of nothing but Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor on a variety of organs. I think it's only on LP, and not particularly cheap. I wouldn't mind seeing that on CD.
Yes, that sounds interesting. I'm not a big connoisseur or even really fancier of organ music. I got to pump a few Tannenberg organs in my youth during my Dad's research in Moravian communities, and I love to play piano, and I grew up in the church as my Dad was a minister and heard a lot of organ. . . . I have a few cds of recordings of two Tannenberg organs and that's about the extent of my collection. Need to get a few Biggs to hear. Thanks for that suggestion, I'll take a look.
Found an E/E for $2. There is a 'supercut' using excerpts from each organ on the Tribute to E Power Biggs 4-LP set which I found NM at the same time for $2.
The British company Dutton Vocalion, which has a number of expertly done remasters of classic Columbia and RCA quad recordings from the late 1960s and 1970s, has a quad recording of E. Power Biggs playing organ concertos by Josef Rheinberger, including a "Mini-Discourse" by Biggs on the music: duttonvocalion.co.uk store: E. Power Biggs/Maurice Peress/The Columbia Symphony - Rheinberger: Two Concertos for Organ and Orchestra & A Mini Discourse by E. Power Biggs [SACD Hybrid Multi-channel] | Epoch - Historic SACD | CDLX7334 | .
Thanks. I don't have quad or multi-channel playback. I did order a Sony cd of Biggs and after digesting that I may order the little box set of Handel concertos.
So, I found myself at a crossroads this weekend related to these sets. As I’ve mentioned here before, I have been continuously trying to rip the contents of all of my boxes so I have a lossless digital collection that I can sort and search in multiple different ways. This effort started out of a desire to be able to see at a glance what I had and what I didn’t, since I sometimes found that I was buying repeat music because I didn’t know what Was in my collection. The other dimension was portability - the idea that I could take 10,000 CDs worth of music on the road on my laptop, and never be without my collection. When I tried to curate a small selection (on an iPod, for example) I always found that the mood would strike me to hear something that I didn’t include. I will probably continue the effort for the first reason, but for portability I’ve decided to try streaming again. I ran across a classical streaming service called Primephonic and I am initially very excited by their offerings. They seem to have a large collection (offerings from all the major labels), offer CD quality streaming, and are working toward high-res streaming and offline playback capability (similar to Spotify downloads). For the record, I am not affiliated in any way with them, and my only vested interest is in seeing them succeed. They offer a free trial period if you want to check them out. After trying them out for a week, I went for the premium subscription. www.primephonic.com
There is a redbook layer on the disk as well in stereo, so one can still listen to it as a normal CD.
Didn't check there. Though their vinyl selections typically aren't very good (and overpriced) I have seen some pretty good deals there on occasion. It's always worth a check.
I just bought a CD player that has an independent DAC. I run Spotify through that, and I think it sounds better. I don't think it would be difficult to run an A/B comparison with my old set up (using the iPhone DAC). I may try that to confirm the "upgrade".
Smaller set that recently came out: As John Fowler notes in the review it doesn't include his Columbia recordings, I hope those will come out in a separate box (will be annoying if Sony packages them in a box that contains these RCA recordings) as I have the first set of Mazurkas on LP and they are very good. If I can steal Hank Drake's verbiage he sounds like a cross of American and Russian schools of pianism. I ordered the box, will post what I think if anyone is interested. I imagine since much of this is new to CD they will be done by Andreas K. Meyer.
I wish you best with that set. I had a single CD that compiled a number of different Chopin works and left it behind when I moved a few years back. I don't recall specifics, but his Chopin wasn't to my taste. And I own Chopin discs by dozens of pianists so my taste is quite varied.
Thanks, just made in time to cancel with no "we will try to cancel". Will see if I can sample more of it before thinking about it agian. I'll reply to your Classical Corner post when I am on a computer.
While not "mega," DG is issuing Karajan's 1970s Beethoven symphony cycle on two Blu-rays in stereo, 5.1 AND in Atmos, i.e., the latest in surround with speakers not only in front and behind but above! There has been a few rock albums in Atmos so far (INXS, R.E.M., and the Kraftwerk ouvre), but this must be a first for classical music. I don't know if these recordings were done in quadro back in the day, or if they are remixing available multi-track tapes from scratch. I saw it at jpc: Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphonien Nr.1-9 (Blu-ray Audio / Dolby Atmos) (2 Blu-ray Audios) – jpc .
Thank you. Hopefully reviews will be forthcoming as it's a pricey set ($300-$400 US) and I'd like to make sure there's no notable flaws before putting out that kind of $.
