SACD

Münchner Bach-Orchester, Karl Richter – Bach: Brandenburg Concertos 1, 2 & 3 (1967/2011) [SACD / Archiv Produktion – UCGA-9002]

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Münchner Bach-Orchester, Karl Richter - Bach: Brandenburg Concertos 1, 2 & 3 (1967/2011)

Title: Münchner Bach-Orchester, Karl Richter – Bach: Brandenburg Concertos 1, 2 & 3 (1967/2011)
Genre: Classical
Format: SACD ISO

An encore pressing of the immortal masterpieces of J.S. Bach. Included are Nos. 1-3 from the Brandenburg Concerto Collection recorded in 1967 by Carl Richter, the greatest Bach performer of the 20th century. The concertmaster of the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra, Schneeberger, horn virtuoso Baumann, trumpeter Thibaud, and other top-notch soloists of the time are also a must-hear. [DSD Master 2004, produced by Emil Berliner Studios, Germany.]

hraudio | universal-music.co.jp | discogs

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SACD

Aurèle Nicolet, Münchner Bach-Orchester, Karl Richter – Bach: Orchestral Suites Nos. 1 & 2 (1960-1961/2010) [SACD / Archiv Produktion – UCGA-9001]

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Aurèle Nicolet, Münchner Bach-Orchester, Karl Richter - Bach: Orchestral Suites Nos. 1 & 2 (1960-1961/2010) [SACD]

Title: Aurèle Nicolet, Münchner Bach-Orchester, Karl Richter – Bach: Orchestral Suites Nos. 1 & 2 (1960-1961/2010) [SACD]
Genre: Classical
Format: SACD ISO

An encore pressing of the immortal masterpieces of J.S. Bach. Richter’s performances of J.S. Bach are universally acclaimed for their depth of spirituality, even in today’s era of period-style music. Coupling of Orchestral Suites No. 2 and No. 1 with Nicolet as soloist. [DSD Master 2004, produced by Emil Berliner Studios, Germany.]

hraudio | universal-music.co.jp | discogs

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SACD

Wuerttembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, Ruben Gazarian – Simply Strings: Bartok, Janacek, Sibelius, Britten (2010) [SACD / Bayer Records – BR 100 371]

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Wuerttembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, Ruben Gazarian - Simply Strings: Bartok, Janacek, Sibelius, Britten (2010)

Title: Wuerttembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, Ruben Gazarian – Simply Strings: Bartok, Janacek, Sibelius, Britten (2010)
Genre: Classical
Format: MCH SACD ISO

Bartók: Divertimento, Janáček: Suite for String Orchestra, Sibelius: Impromptus Op. 5 Nos. 5 & 6, Britten: Simple Symphony Op. 4 

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SACD

Karl Suske, Giorgio Kröhner, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Kurt Masur – Bach: Violin Concertos (1970-1978/2021) [SACD / Berlin Classics x Tower Record – 0302713BC]

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Karl Suske, Giorgio Kröhner, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Kurt Masur - Bach: Violin Concertos (1970-1978/2021)

Title: Karl Suske, Giorgio Kröhner, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Kurt Masur – Bach: Violin Concertos (1970-1978/2021)
Genre: Classical
Format: SACD ISO

Zuske’s masterpiece, which is a rich fruit of the performance style nurtured in Leipzig, a city associated with Bach, has been reissued in the best sound quality! New reissue from the original ETERNA analog tape. This is the world’s first SACD release! Mastered only in the analog domain and directly converted to DSD! The world’s first SACD reissue of Bach’s Violin Concertos by Carl Zuske (1934.3.15-), recorded for the ETERNA label in 1977 and the following year under the direction of Mazur. This is one of Zuske’s most highly acclaimed recordings, which evokes the traditional style of Bach performance cultivated in Leipzig. After joining the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (LGO) in 1954 at the age of 20, Zuske worked as the second concertmaster before becoming the first concertmaster in 1959. He was appointed as the first concertmaster in 1959. He is not only a soloist, including chamber music, but also a representative violinist of the former East Germany, leaving a great impact both at home and abroad. He has been a standard-bearer especially in the performance of Bach and Beethoven, and many people in Japan are familiar with his performances of these works. This recording is a milestone in modern instrumentation and technique, and the neatness and emotion of the playing is captivating. The recording is also excellent, and since the effect of the latest high-definition digitalization is significant, the SACD version will allow the listener to appreciate the beauty of the recording even more. The three Beethoven pieces in the margins were originally recorded as a coupling of three solo pieces by Zuske and “Rondo for Piano and Orchestra WoO6” with Peter Lösel on the occasion of Beethoven’s bicentennial in 1970, conducted by Bongartz. (Zuske later made a digital recording of the Violin Concerto under Mazur in 1987.) Again, Zuske’s violin is naturalistic and beautiful, conveying to the listener the charm of Beethoven’s music, which is based on a solid melody line. The last part of the recording includes a rare “Violin Concerto (section)” (the last part of the piece is played up to the point where Beethoven put down his pen, where the score breaks off). For this reissue, the master tapes were flown from the label to Vienna-based mastering engineer Christoph Stickel’s studio, mastered in the analog domain, and digitized separately in DSD for the SACD layer and PCM for the CD layer. The project was then digitized into a product. This project realized the ideal method of mastering as far as currently conceivable. The effect is remarkable: it is now possible to reproduce the quality left on the master tapes with extreme fidelity, and the mastering and direct DSD conversion in the analog domain only has even greater sonic benefits. The result is a performance that is so clear and resolved compared to its predecessor that one can expect to appreciate the performance even more. The manual also includes a color photo of the outer box of the original analog master tape used in this project.

hraudio | tower.jp 

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SACD

Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki – Bach: The Complete Secular Cantatas [10 SACDs] (2003-2017/2019) [SACD / BIS – BIS-2491]

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Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki - Bach: The Complete Secular Cantatas [10 SACDs] (2003-2017/2019)

Title: Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki – Bach: The Complete Secular Cantatas [10 SACDs] (2003-2017/2019)
Genre: Classical
Format: MCH SACD ISO

In 1995 Masaaki Suzuki and his Bach Collegium Japan began the monumental task of recording J.S. Bach’s extant church cantatas – an adventure that was brought to a close 18 years later. But Bach also composed a number of cantatas for secular occasions of which some twenty works have survived intact. Released on individual discs between 2004 and 2018, Masaaki Suzuki’s recordings of these works have now been gathered in a box set, available as a limited edition. The secular cantatas were written (both the texts and the music) for special events in the family, social, academic or political calendar – a wedding, a birthday celebration, an academic ceremony or a tribute to a prince. Although they were normally only performed once in their original form, Bach was keen to reuse material from them, if the opportunity arose. The best-known examples of using secular arias and choruses with new sacred texts are found in the Christmas Oratorio, for which Bach drew extensively on three festive cantatas written for the Prince-Elector of Saxony and his family. Included in the box is a 156-page booklet with an introduction by Bach specialist Dr Klaus Hofmann (in English, German and French) and the texts of the cantatas with English translations.

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SACD

János Starker – Bach: Suites for Solo Cello BWV 1007-1012 [2 SACDs] (1963-1965/2016) [SACD / Stereo Sound – SSHRS-011～014]

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János Starker - Bach: Suites for Solo Cello BWV 1007-1012 [2 SACDs] (1963-1965/2016)

Title: János Starker – Bach: Suites for Solo Cello BWV 1007-1012 [2 SACDs] (1963-1965/2016)
Genre: Classical
Format: SACD ISO

The joy of audiophiles is to listen to great performances and recordings of masterpieces. Analog master tapes of “historical masterpieces and recordings of eternal value” are stored by record companies around the world. Stereo Sound has started the “Audio Masterpieces Collection,” which unearths high-quality master tapes from among these and uses the latest technology to create the “best sound” possible. 　This product is a digital version of the original analog master tapes with virtually no processing. Therefore, as a rule, no correction processing such as equalization to make the sound easier to hear, noise cut or dropout caused by the master tapes, let alone cutting of ultra-low frequencies, has been performed. This is based on the product plan to deliver the sound of the master tapes to audiophiles as faithfully as possible, which was previously available only to a limited number of people involved in the production. The sound image of the cello, which draws on Bach’s miraculous music in a fresh way, is slightly larger, but maintains a holographic shape in medium perspective. Low-level texture and natural timbre are of a phenomenal standard. The sound of strings hitting the fretboard and breath sounds are delivered with a sense of distance, but even in single-note passages, not to mention heavy notes, the chords created in space by resonance create a grand architecture of sound. It would be too much to say that this is a moving recording that transforms the place into the center of the world. (Excerpt from “The Ultimate Guide to Classical Masterpieces” by Mamoru Shima, published by our company)

hraudio | stereosound-store.jp | discogs

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SACD

Anner Bylsma – Bach: Partita BWV 1006 and Sonatas BWV 1003 & 1013 for Violoncello piccolo (1988/2019) [SACD / Sony Classical – SICC-10297]

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Anner Bylsma - Bach: Partita BWV 1006 and Sonatas BWV 1003 & 1013 for Violoncello piccolo (1988/2019)

Title: Anner Bylsma – Bach: Partita BWV 1006 and Sonatas BWV 1003 & 1013 for Violoncello piccolo (1988/2019)
Genre: Classical
Format: SACD ISO

Anner Bylsma, a cellist with a long history of baroque cello activity, passed away on July 25. He was 85 years old. Bilsma was born in February 1934 in The Hague, the Netherlands, and was one of the leaders of the Dutch antique music movement, along with Gustav Leonhardt (harpsichord) and France Brugghen (flute and recorder). In honor of Mr. Bilsma’s achievements, we are releasing his masterpiece Bach on SACD hybrid. The cello piccolo is a small cello among many types of cellos that developed in the 17th century based on the large cello of the 16th century, which also existed at that time as a five-stringed cello. Baroque cello master Anner Bylsma put this cello piccolo into practice in Bach’s “Suite for Unaccompanied Cello,” No. 6, for which it is best suited. This album is an unprecedented effort by Bylsma ten years later, in which he plays the beautiful instrument at his command and expresses Bach’s world to perfection. 

hraudio | sonymusic.co.jp 

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SACD

Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Rudolf Mauersberger – Bach: Matthaeus Passion BWV 244 / St. Matthew’s Passion BWV 244 [3 SACDs] (1970/2021) [SACD / Berlin Classics x Tower Record – 0302061BC ]

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Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Rudolf Mauersberger - Bach: Matthaeus Passion BWV 244 / St. Matthew's Passion BWV 244 [3 SACDs] (1970/2021)

Title: Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Rudolf Mauersberger – Bach: Matthaeus Passion BWV 244 / St. Matthew’s Passion BWV 244 [3 SACDs] (1970/2021)
Genre: Classical
Format: SACD ISO

The monumental masterpiece recorded in 1970 by the former East Germany with all its efforts is reproduced in the best sound quality ever. On the 50th anniversary of Rudolf Mauersberger’s death, it was newly reissued from the original ETERNA analog tapes in its home country. World’s first SACD release! Mastered only in the analog domain and converted directly to DSD! This is the 13th SACD hybrid version of the latest reissue of the original ETERNA analog tapes in Japan. The two prestigious East German choirs led by the Mauersberger brothers in 1970 were the Dresden Holy Cross Choir on the left and the Leipzig St. Thomas Church Choir on the right, and together with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, they recorded “Matthew” in analog stereo at Luke’s Church in Dresden. The smoky silver tone and humble performance attitude dedicated to the work were captured in the best possible conditions. The warmth of sound and rich emotion in the chorale is now unheard of, and as the work progresses, the colors of sorrow deepen, beautifully depicting the scenes of the Passion story. The singers are all East German, with Schreier and Adam from the Dresden Choir of the Holy Cross singing with a beautiful voice that is one of a kind, showing a dramatic tension building in their clean, beautiful voices. This performance is what most listeners would agree is the “authentic” Matthew. This recording is a masterpiece representing ETERNA as a recording of the best members of the former East Germany at that time. The recording has been reissued several times, but the appearance of this high-quality disc with renewed sound quality is noteworthy. The recording was made by the famous engineer Streuben, and the breath of the chorus and the atmosphere and realism of the recording location are outstanding. The soloist, 35-year-old Schreier, is a masterpiece. He has been the Evangelist in many recordings, and this disc is considered the best of them all. The chorus is also very skillful and of a high level, which is unique to the former East Germany, and is a great feature of this recording. Furthermore, the Mauersberger brothers’ recording of the Mauersberger Chorus is a compilation of the Mauersberger Brothers’ works, as their older brother Rudolf died the year after this recording was made. For this reissue, the master tapes were flown from the label to the studio of Vienna-based mastering engineer Christoph Stickel, where they were mastered in the analog domain, and then digitized separately in DSD for the SACD layer and PCM for the CD layer. Then, the digitalization was done in two separate systems, DSD for SACD layer and PCM for CD layer. This project realized the ideal method of mastering as far as currently conceivable. The effect is remarkable: it is now possible to reproduce the quality that was left on the master tape with extreme fidelity, and the mastering and direct DSD conversion in the analog domain only has even greater sonic benefits. The result is a performance that is so clear and resolved compared to its predecessor that further appreciation of the performance can be expected. The manual also includes a color photo of the outer box of the original analog master tape used in this project.

hraudio | tower.jp | discogs

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