SACD

Budapest Festival Orchestra, Ivan Fischer – Dvorak: Symphonies 8 & 9 (2010) [SACD / Channel Classics – CCS SA 90110]

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Budapest Festival Orchestra, Ivan Fischer - Dvorak: Symphonies 8 & 9 (2010)

Title: Budapest Festival Orchestra, Ivan Fischer – Dvorak: Symphonies 8 & 9 (2010)
Genre: Classical
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

As orchestras and conductors have been demonstrating for more than a century, you don’t have to be Bohemian to play Dvorák. All you need is profound musicality, a deep love of life, and an overwhelming urge to communicate. These are all qualities that Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra demonstrate in full in this 2000 Channel Classics recording of the composer’s Eighth and Ninth symphonies. In these performances, one hears not only edge-of-the-chair excitement from the Hungarian musicians, one hears joy, happiness, and good old-fashioned fun. Listen to the rollicking horn trills in the Eighth’s Finale, the thundering timpani in the Ninth’s Scherzo; the interplay between winds, strings, and brass in the coda of the Eighth’s Scherzo; the lush string tone in the Ninth’s Largo; the headlong rush of the Eighth’s opening Allegro con brio; or the awesome power of the Ninth’s closing Allegro con fuoco. Although there are dozens of great recordings of both these works, these performances deserve to be heard by anyone who loves life, love, and joy. While the digital sound is a bit thin, it is also very clear, very clean, and very, very colorful.

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SACD

Budapest Festival Orchestra, Ivan Fischer – Beethoven: Symphonies 4 & 6 (2014) [SACD / Channel Classics – CCS SA 30710]

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Budapest Festival Orchestra, Ivan Fischer - Beethoven: Symphonies 4 & 6 (2014)

Title: Budapest Festival Orchestra, Ivan Fischer – Beethoven: Symphonies 4 & 6 (2014)
Genre: Classical
Format: MCH SACD ISO

Two fundamentally different symphonies: both works explore feelings from an entirely different point of view. The Fourth is about human feelings and moods: obsession, love (what a melody in the second movement!), happiness, fun, wit, (Beethoven’s most humorous finale!). The Sixth is about feelings that nature awakens in us: calmness, meditation, thankfulness.It has been an especially creative process to work on these masterpieces. We discovered that the Fourth Symphony sounds better with natural horns and trumpets. In the Pastorale we used a different seating arrangement, with the winds scattered among the strings, so that each soloist was surrounded by musicians playing the flow of Beethoven’s nature music. After the storm, when we hear the first tentative horn call with a bagpipe-like accompaniment, suggesting signals across the mountains, we found it appropriate to answer with a solo violin, which is gradually joined by the whole orchestra. Iván Fischer

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SACD

Bruno Walter & New York Philharmonic/Columbia Symphony Orchestra – Schubert/Beethoven: Symphonies (1999) [SACD / Sony Classical – SS 06506]

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Bruno Walter & New York Philharmonic/Columbia Symphony Orchestra - Schubert/Beethoven: Symphonies (1999)

Title: Bruno Walter & New York Philharmonic/Columbia Symphony Orchestra – Schubert/Beethoven: Symphonies (1999)
Genre: Classical
Format: SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

Just like the other three Bruno Walter releases in Sony Classical’s current crop of SACD reissues, this classic Beethoven/Schubert coupling benefits from the DSD transfer, which reproduces as faithfully as possible the musical content of the original reel-to-reel master tapes. The reviewers have noted elsewhere, the cost is a small amount of tape hiss, eminently preferable to the so-called “no noise” digital editing which tampers with the musical signal as it tries to remove noise. Here is a transfer which presents the original intentions of the artists in the best possible light, capturing the acoustic signature of the recording venue (American Legion Hall in Hollywood) perfectly — warm, reverberent, yet transparent, ideally matching Bruno Walter’s interpretive idiom.

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SACD

Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Jonathan Nott – Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 (2016) [SACD / Exton – OVCL-608]

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Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Jonathan Nott - Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 (2016)

Title: Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Jonathan Nott – Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 (2016)
Genre: Classical
Format: SACD ISO

Jonathan Nott, who has served as music director of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra since 2014, has released his first CD. Two years after taking up his post, this duo has enjoyed a honeymoon period of frequent collaborations. Now, they have finally released their first live recording. The beautiful sound of the strings leads the listener to heavenly heights. The woodwinds play with elegance. The brass section produces a powerful yet rich sound. Jonathan Nott’s meticulously crafted interpretation of Bruckner combines heavenly sounds with sensual and intense tones. While the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra has previously delivered remarkable Bruckner performances under the guidance of conductors like Hubert Soudant, this recording builds on that legacy with an even more intense and thrilling sound.

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SACD

Yakov Kreizberg, Wiener Symphoniker – Bruckner: Symphony No.7 (2005) [SACD / PentaTone classics – PTC 5186 051]

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Yakov Kreizberg, Wiener Symphoniker - Bruckner: Symphony No.7 (2005)

Title: Yakov Kreizberg, Wiener Symphoniker – Bruckner: Symphony No.7 (2005)
Genre: Classical
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Of Anton Bruckner’s 11 symphonies, the perennially popular 7th in E major is his most consistently melodious, evenly paced, & lyrically flowing, with comparatively few false starts, awkward pauses, or tedious fanfares. For this exceptional hybrid SACD from PentaTone, Yakov Kreizberg & the Vienna Symphony deliver 1 of the smoothest & roundest performances of the symphony heard in years. Yet it might actually be too polished for the liking of some old-guard Bruckner fans, who may argue that the orchestra is too mellow, luscious, & soft, & that Kreizberg’s inflections & phrases are too nuanced & sensual for the composer’s pure, almost sacred, intentions. But more important than the undeniably rich tonal quality found here is the interpretation, which draws on the style of Wagner’s most ardent music; some of the more ecstatic passages of Lohengrin & Tristan und Isolde may come to mind when one hears this disc. There is no reason why Bruckner’s symphonies must always sound chaste, devotional, or like ponderously orchestrated organ music, for they are secular works by a passionate man who wished especially to be counted in the Wagner camp, & who would have relished hearing such an emotive account as this. It also helps to remember that Wagner’s death inspired the slow movement of this work, & it should be taken as Bruckner’s most heartfelt tribute to the Bayreuth master. Purists may let Kreizberg’s recording pass by unheard, but anyone who wants to hear the symphony played with full-blown emotions & lush, late-Romantic timbres need look no further. The reproduction on this album is especially gorgeous & enjoyable, so in the unlikely event that the performance disappoints, the sound is still 1st-rate & sure to delight audiophiles.

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SACD

Wiener Philharmoniker, Karl Böhm – Bruckner: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 [2 SACDs] (1970-1973/2021) [SACD / Decca – PROC-2316/7]

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Wiener Philharmoniker, Karl Böhm - Bruckner: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 [2 SACDs] (1970-1973/2021)

Title: Wiener Philharmoniker, Karl Böhm – Bruckner: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 [2 SACDs] (1970-1973/2021)
Genre: Classical
Format: MCH SACD ISO

A project commemorating the 40th anniversary of Karl Böhm’s death. This collection brings together two Bruckner symphonies recorded by the Vienna Philharmonic and DECCA. The Third Symphony is being released on SA-CD for the first time worldwide. Experience Böhm’s mature-period masterpiece in high-quality sound with this latest reissue! Including Symphony No. 4, newly remastered in Austria from the original analog master tapes. Karl Böhm (1894-1981), who had been performing Bruckner since his youth, finally recorded Symphony No. 3 in stereo with the Vienna Philharmonic in 1970, and this release pairs it with the renowned 1973 recording of Symphony No. 4, considered one of the definitive interpretations of the work. The Symphony No. 4 was previously released on a single-layer SA-CD in 2004, and the same digitalized source was used for subsequent SA-CD hybrid editions. However, for this reissue, the master source has been digitally remastered from the original analog master tapes in the country of origin, resulting in a different master source than previous editions. Additionally, this is the first time the Symphony No. 3 has been released on SA-CD. Furthermore, in this series, the Symphony No. 7 and No. 8, recorded with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under DG after these DECCA recordings (released in September 2019 as PROC2224), have already been reissued on SA-CD hybrid discs. Böhm had already recorded Symphonies Nos. 4 and 5 during the early years of his tenure as Music Director of the Staatskapelle Dresden in 1934, and frequently featured Bruckner in his concerts. However, unlike Jochum and Karajan, he did not have many opportunities to record, and few session recordings remain. Although this DECCA recording is part of the label’s complete set of Bruckner symphonies with the Vienna Philharmonic, the two pieces conducted by Böhm are far superior to those conducted by other conductors. In particular, the Fourth Symphony, combining the strength of the Vienna Philharmonic at the time, Böhm’s mature period, and the peak of DECCA’s analog recording technology, stands out as a rare masterpiece of performance and recording, earning a reputation among many Bruckner recordings. The “Third Symphony,” based on the 1890 final draft of the Novak edition, is a masterpiece that truly showcases Böhm’s unique qualities, with the beauty of the second movement in this draft being particularly exquisite. Böhm’s inherent robustness and the Vienna Philharmonic’s flexible expression strike a chord with the listener. This is an unforgettable performance that has never been released on SA-CD, and this “Third Symphony” is undoubtedly one of the few masterpieces that helped drive the early Bruckner boom.

For this reissue, the list was traced back to the original analog master tape in the home country and digitized in high quality. Not only for this release, but also for the highest-quality flat master, we were able to achieve an excellent presence. The texture and spatial positioning are remarkably clear and precise, and the benefits of DSD conversion have been added to create an unprecedented level of sound quality. During production, the original analog master tapes from the UK were physically maintained and restored by former DECCA engineers at CLASSIC SOUND, followed by direct DSD conversion. The mastering process was carried out with meticulous care and attention to detail specifically for this series. On the SA-CD layer, you can enjoy high-resolution master sound. The CD layer has also been digitally remastered using the latest technology, resulting in sound quality that stands apart from previous editions. This series features the original jacket design and includes a new introductory essay by Daisuke Hirose. The 26th installment of the “Vintage SA-CD Collection” will release a total of three titles.

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