Deutsche Grammophon sound quality

As with other labels, it depends on the engineer. Recordings by Heinz Wildhagen will almost always sound great.

 

I have 50 or so recordings of avant- garde music on DG and have always been impressed by how quiet the pressings are and how good the recordings sound. Plus some of them have up to 37 minutes/side!

 

I know a lot of people have this company in very high regard, and yet I have hard time warming to their records.
I do not have a lot of them - may be 20 or so CDs and dozen records. But for whatever reason I never can warm up to them.
The worst offender to my ears is Horowitz in Moscow CD - it is just sounds absolutely wrong and glassy, and I was on this performance myself.
Another case is Haydn "London Symphonies", pressed in 1973. It really sounds unnatural to my years. Just to confirm I put afterward some old Living Stereo record - and nope, it is not my equipment, Living Stereo sounds like magic, despite being circa 1961.
So is it "company sound" which I simply do not like, something wrong with my ears, my equipment or I just poorly choose recordings and some much better samles exist? As of pressing quality I have no complains.
I am not huge classical fan (outside of post-minimalism), but my wife is )).

 

I'd be happy to take them off your hands.

 

So your answer is - it is my ears )))

 

I was teasing. I have only a few DG recordings and I am quite happy with them, but everyone's ears and preferences differ. What sounds good to me may sound like screeching cats to you, and vice versa.

 

You didn't say whose Haydn "London Symphonies" you are referring to, just that the records were pressed in 1973, which doesn't say anything about the orchestra and conductor who recorded it, so it's almost impossible to figure out which performances you are talking about.

 

It is Eugen Jochum with London philharmonic Orchestra. I am not knowledgeable enough to judge performance.

 

There are many DG recordings of Haydn's London Symphonies and some sound better than others, that's why I asked. Knowing who the performing artists are makes it easier to identify the recording.

 

Here is Discogs link Joseph Haydn - Eugen Jochum, London Philharmonic Orchestra* - 12 Salomon Symphonies

I know them as London Symphonies ))

 

I think it's difficult to generalize a sound signature for a 100-year-old label because over time, sound variances will be obtained from different engineers using different equipment—even if the recording venue is the same. Nevertheless, I think when people laud to DG's "house sound" they're probably referring to those 1960s recordings made in the Jesus Kirche (a church in Berlin) -usually with the Berlin Philh or the BRSO under Karajan, Bohm, or Jochum. At that time, the sound was somewhat distant and resonant (due to the church acoustic) but still clear and relatively detailed. In the 1970s, DG, like most other labels, starting using more microphones and positioning those mikes closer to the source, while also starting to move away from the Jesus Kirche as a recording venue. It's probably not good to cite that Horowitz in Mosc0w disc as an example of DG sound as that was done live, probably with time and distance constraints. Regarding those 1973 Haydn-Jochum recordings, true, those are poor sounding —not sure who the engineer was or why they sound so bloated.

 

Thank you for such detailed answer, will help to locate records sound of which would be more to my liking )). And looks that I am not crazy after all. )))

 

Compairing DG with the living stereo records, DG sound overall is much more glassy (to use your words) that de LS wich are much more warm. I would say that the DG sound is on the glassy side of the spectrum. I agree that somehow this type of sound, when compared with warmer sounds, feels not so natural, but personaly I like it most of the times.

ECM imo has this type of sound also.

 

The engineer was Klaus Scheibe and the producer/recording supervisor was Günther Breest. The recording venue was the Assembly Hall, Barking, London, UK.

The recording venue you mentioned is the Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Dahlem, Berlin:

 

With ECM jazz recordings I actually appreciate cold sound, especially on small piano trios. Dunno if it works in classical..

 

For me, the hunt is almost as much fun as the listening - I enjoy reading others' impressions of various recordings, seeking them out, and seeing how I like them. My search for the preferred version of a given recording often starts with "Hoffman forums best vinyl version of ...." or "Hoffman forums best CD version of..." and goes from there.

 

I too tend to have some reservations about the sound of their orchestral or chamber recordings vs. the other good labels'. The solo instruments not so much it seems - I suppose these are easier to record well. The one below from 1968 (because tube-cut?) sounds deep, warm and splendid to me:

 

What other "good labels" you prefer for orchestral pieces?

 

The usual suspects... Decca/London, HMV, Telefunken...

...Even a digitally recorded LP like the one below, which just popped up to my brains... You gotta hear this one to believe it...

 

Interesting. I have a few DGs and non of them are sonic world beaters. So I’m on the same page as our OP on this one.

 

Philips Classics*, Decca*, Sony Classical, EMI, BIS, Ondine, to name a few.


* - due to consolidation in the music industry, Philips and Decca are part of Universal Music Group with DG. Similarly, EMI is now part of Warner, RCA is part of Sony. This makes shopping for remasters tricky because we now see complete artist boxes appearing on labels for which they never released anything! I too have never been enamored of DG's sound, though there are undoubtedly many classic recordings on the label, but you have to find the ones that appeal (which will likely mean stuff from their analog era, as they tended to record completely digitally in contrast to Philips and Decca who ran the signal analog to the mixer and only went digital after that -- live analog mix to 2-ch digital).

 

Your equipment is too forensic for these to sound good to you, save for a possible very few. You buy most DGG for the music, not to be audiophile focused on forensic, revealing audio equipment. They're OK sounding on less forensic, more focused on the music systems.

 

All my DG albums are of avant-garde music and I love them. They were my bible as a teenager. I think they sound good as well.

 

It is a little broad statement for someone who did not hear my system that it is not focused on music -not OK, assume it is.. ) Then why it is "focusing on music" on another recordings? ))

 

I've just played Symphony #1 from the set below, from 1962, my copy being a pressing from circa 1967, so still the "Tulip label" one, tube-cut... Frankly I may have been a little hard upthread re. their orchestra recordings, to say the least... Recorded by Gunter Hermanns.