Nice Slate of Classical SACDs Soon! (1 Viewer)

[Lee Scoggins]

From SACD web site guru Stephen at Audio Asylum:

Time to save up some money.

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Posted by Stephen (A) on March 12, 2004 at 06:33:17

A few selected highlights:
The first three SACDs from Naïve, out the end of the month:
Vivaldi: Vespri per l'Assunzione di Maria Vergine - Alessandrini
Accentus - Transcriptions
Schumann: Cello Concerto etc. - Anne Gastinel

The first of a complete cycle of Shostakovich symphonies from Capriccio:
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8 - Kitajenko

LOTS more from DG, including these in the coming months:
Mahler: Symphony No. 5 - Abbado
Handel: Messiah - McCreesh
Mozart: Don Giovanni - Bryn Terfel/Claudio Abbado
Verdi: La Traviata - Carlos Kleiber
Gluck: Orphée et Eurydice - Marc Minkowski

These from Hyperion, both out this month:
Francois Couperin: Keyboard Music 2 - Angela Hewitt
Monteverdi: The Sacred Music 2 - The King's Consort/Robert King

The latest from Harmonia Mundi:
Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro - René Jacobs

The first title from CPO, out now:
Ries: Symphony Nos. 7 & 8 - Griffiths

The second title from Farao Classics:
Barber: Symphony No. 1, Schumann: Symphony No. 4 - Sawallisch

Three titles now from Ars Produktion:
Shostakovich: Cello Sonatas - Friedrich Kleinhapl
Pietro Torri: La Baviera - Christoph Hammer
Romantic Cello - Kerstin Feltz

Also to come, more SACDs from BMG on the Arte Nova and DHM labels. Avex Classics (in Japan) are starting out with lots of titles including Shostakovich symphonies from Sanderling. I gather Artemis Classics will begin on the Vanguard remasters as well.

And let's not forget the first five Mercury remasters, out June/July.

This is in addition to on-going releases from Chandos, Audite, Telarc, Decca, Linn, Tacet, Praga, Naxos, BIS, PentaTone Classics, Proprius, Channel Classics, Caro Mitis (in Russia), FIM, Lyrinx, Exton, Cybele, NorthWest Classics, Fone, Albany etc.

Stephen

 

[Seth--L]

DG never ceases to disappoint.

Mahler 5: Abbado - What a remarkably routine recording. Has DG forgotten about their Bernstein cycle? Bernstein's Mahler wasn't always my cup of tea, but his 5th is quite special, and by general consensus is among the best.

Mahler 4: Boulez (not on your list but coming soon) - again, where is Bernstein? (better question: will Sony ever releases Szell's brilliant 4th? Hopefully Sony Japan will get around to it since Sony USA has seemed to stop issuing stereo recordings from their back catalogue).

Don Giovanni: Abbado - When will the madness stop? This is yet another unenergetic Abbado recording when energy is much needed. I guess DG still hates John Eliot Gardiner too much to release his Giovanni which features a better cast, better playing, smarter interpretation, and the required drama.

Kleiber's La Traviata is about the only exciting release in the lot.

I'm surprised about the total lack of Karajan (and the already mentioned Bernstein).

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Geez Seth, you never seem happy about the titles. Maybe you should join the labels and issue what you want.

Many of these titles are highly regarded. Grammaphone has been very positive on the Hyperions, the Mozart Figaro, and the Sawallisch is considered very good as well.

Smile.

 

[Mike Broadman]

Ok.

I've never heard Schumann's cello sonatas having only recently fallen in love with his 4 symphonies. That and my general love of the cello (I don't know why) makes me eager for this.

I've also started listening to Shostakovich (most recently Hillary Hahn's performance of the violin concerto on Sony SACD, what do you guys think of it?) and am thrilled that the whole symphonic cycle is coming out. I have Telarc's 5th and I've listened to is many times but have yet to decipher it.

Seth, I didn't even realise Szell did Mahler. Didn't figure it would be his cup of tea, but I'd love to hear it.
But you have to be fair about the Boulez: a controversial conductor, but he has his fans. I find the Bartok SACD of his to be... compelling.

And I think operas being released on SACD is freakin' cool.



Has anyone heard this, or his work with this music? What's the verdict? I'd love a great version of Figaro on SACD, preferrably surround.

 

[Seth--L]

Lee,

I'm bitter about what Universal has been doing with SACD, or rather the lack. Many of their analog recordings would greatly benefit from DSD transfers (as Sony has demonstrated), but instead they seem to be deciding what makes it to SACD based on if the recording can be mixed to surround sound.

At this point I rather see BMG make their plethora of Japanese only CD releases available in the states than release SACDs here. Ordering from Japan gets expensive quickly.

The Sawallisch release is interesting, only he just recorded the Schumann Symphonies with Philadelphia last year.



So am I, but if Universal is going to do Mozart, I would much prefer Gardiner's. I guess it's only a matter of time until Solti's Ring makes it to SACD.

 

[Mike Broadman]

This is not surprising. Oistrakh is just a master in every sense of the word, and I'm hesitant to even compare these two players. It remains to be seen if Ms Hahn has that potential in her.
But I sometimes think it can benefit a listener to hear an adequate or good interpretation before hearing a personalised, masterful one, in order to get familiar with the work, especially with a composer like Shostakovich. But I'm in a minority on this.

Well, you certainly piqued my curiosity with Szell's Mahler. I have nothing to compare the 4th against, but I have Tilson's 6th, and hearing a that back-to-back with the Szell recording you speak of would be quite a treat.

 

[Seth--L]

 

[DanFe]

Here's Stephen's own website url:

www.sa-cd.net