Classical Music on sacd

Today we're starting a new series of reviews following installing the Super Audio cd player and you might think I'd just have regular cds but as it happened I already had a few with that higher quality layer present.

When it comes to older pop and rock titles actually I have a good number because they were issued by companies that specialize in making the best possible sounding editions and many of theirs are of the sort that have a layer for super audio cd players and another for regular cd players so buying them is like buying those dual dvd and blu ray editions in that they allow you to move over from the original format to a better quality one at your convenience .

Until a few months back I had only a few classical music Super Audio cds, usually buying the High Definition Naxos downloads as they don't make sacd's instead and playing them over my stereo (on a high quality portable player) but I was keen to start a basic small collection on sacd  by favourite composers not least cos there just is something in holding a disc in your hand.

I do openly admit to enjoying classical music and had music appreciation classes at my boarding school and one composer I do like is Ravel.

This double sacd recorded in 1994 is quite valuable for having a wide selection of his works such as the Mother Goose Suite and Bolero on it, exceptionally well performed by the late Pierre Boulez and the Berlin Philharmonic in both stereo and also surround sound for those who have player that can output it. The reproduction is simply outstanding.

An enterprising company has lead the way releasing classical super audio cd's is Pentatone Records which as the name suggests are interested a lot in surround sound discs too as the sacd format often allows space for both stereo and multichannel versions.

They have been doing for a period reissues of recordings from the 1970's and early 1980's  from the Philips and Deutsche Grammophon catalogues in this form and it is fair to say I loved the recordings usually on Deutsche Grammophon made by the Boston Symphony Orchestra during that era often having the record or cassette versions.

 While I make no bones about my preferred version on cd of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring being the Claudio Abbado recording conducting the London Symphony Orchestra coupled with a good version of the Firebird suite, this recording from 1972 has an opulence that is lacking in that cd with fuller sounding transfer of the analogue tapes.

The rendition of the "King of the Stars" which is the second piece (I'm used to the French titles but am using English to aid accessibility) is exquisite in its choral moments sang by the Men's chorus of  the New England Conservatory choir.  It replicates the original lp but like most of their discs can be had for around £9 to £10 is good value for money.

In 1974, Seija Ozawa recorded a four lp set of the entire Ravel orchestral output, later issued as a three and then a budget two long playing cd set which doesn't quite equal the sound on record in 1993, but Pentatone have issued a new stereo/quadrophonic transfer of just over one and half lps worth of that original set sounding much more fuller and open that takes in Le tombeau de Couperin, Menuet antique and Valse nobels et sentimentale which runs to about 76 minutes.

As a fan of the originals-they were my introduction to Ravel as a child- these sound just fantastic in their new Super Audio cd form.

I also got a disc performed by the Boston Symphony Chamber Players of three Debussy's Sonata's which was the first Quadraphonic (four channel surround sound) recording Deutsche Grammophon made which remains a first class performance.

 I was very taken with this work by Berlioz around the age of 12 and 13 which my therapist discussed with me while I was under him at the time and so finding a really good version that matches a need for 'hifi' (wide difference between loud and soft sounds, good reproduction of low and high frequencies) and the ability on the part of the performers to summon up the darkness of the Witches Sabbath with its shrieking torment of the artist in death has been a life long challenge having gotten through many a version.

This recording from 1974 was a favourite of mine but the cd versions sounded muddy until Pentatone mastered this direct from the original tapes and managed to restore the very wide dynamic range and inner clarity that easily makes this the best overall bet with its rich atmospheric feel.

Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique

Berlioz was a composer I got into fairly early in and recently I bought this cd re-issue of a recording  I am familiar with.

That lp jacket below is familiar to me because I bought the record used before the mania for vintage classical records really took off and many believed newer recordings were automatically better.

That was not what I felt about this performance that doesn't lose its romantic core by not overdoing the orchestral forces but having enough 'pep' in the March To The Scaffold to take us to the dark outcome of this story.

I bought in 2011 the Seraphim cd of this coupled with other conductors accounts of works by Berlioz but this cd, actually a super audio cd  that can be played on a regular player rightly adds the conductors account of  Ravel's La Valse with the Philharmonia and Berlioz's Le Carnival romaine with the O N R F instead .

This disc was issued in 2015 by Tower Records in Japan in conjunction with Warner Japan who have the rights to the EMI classical catalogue.

It is packaged in a lovely thick card digipak with a booklet with an illustration of the original mono lp jacket - the one on front is the stereo version I had - and the OBI strip.

I have on regular cd the EMI Studio disc of Berlioz Overtures by André Cluytens and the Colin Davis recording with the Philharmonia Orchestra of Harold In Italy from 1963.