Sony/BMG hints at continued classical SACD support (1 Viewer)

[Seth--L]

From today's New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/12/ar...ic/12sony.html

Before the merger, Mr. Hetherwick restored some of RCA's legendary recordings, reissuing them as hybrid conventional and Super Audio CD's. He said he would do the same for Sony's Masterworks Heritage series, an archival project that was shelved after several well-regarded releases in the late 90's.

More Ormandy, Szell and Lenny SACDs please.

 

[Rich Malloy]

Those RCA Living Presence SACDs are about the best damn things I've heard in hi-res, and also the best music bargains I've seen in years (particularly that great Tower sale when they were newly released). I suspect Sony will be charging more than RCA, and perhaps more in line with the Mercury Living Stereo releases, but this is excellent news!

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Very good news indeed!

 

[Danny Tse]

The following titles were all DSD-remastered and have been released on CD. I suppose Sony can easily reissue these on SACD. The list came from Sony Classical directly and came from a now-abandoned project of mine to list every single DSD-remastered CD....

Leonard Bernstein/NY Philharmonic - Barber's Adagio and other Romantic Favorites for Strings (Sony Classical)
Leonard Bernstein/NY Philharmonic - Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition; Night on Bald Mountain (Sony Classical)
Leonard Bernstein/NY Philharmonic - Bernstein: Candide Overture; Symphonic Dances from West Side Story; Symphonic Suite from the Film On The Waterfront; Fancy Free Ballet (Sony Classical)
Leonard Bernstein/NY Philharmonic - Dvorák: Symphony No. 9; Carnival Overture; Slavonic Dances (Sony Classical)
Murray Perahia - Dvorák: Symphony No. 9; Carnival Overture; Slavonic Dances (Sony Classical)
Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, Richard Stoltzman - Brahms, Beethoven, Mozart: Clarinet Trios (Sony Classical)
Issac Stern - Bach: "Double" Concerto for Two Violins in D minor; Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 (Sony Classical)
Murray Perahia - Mozart: Concertos for Piano and Orchestra Nos. 9 & 21 (Sony Classical)
Murray Perahia - Mozart: Concertos No. 17 & 18 for Piano and Orchestra (Sony Classical)
Murray Perahia/Radu Lupu - Mozart: Concertos for 2 & 3 Pianos; Andante and Variations for Piano Four Hands (Sony Classical)
Murray Perahia - Schumann, Grieg: Piano Concertos (Sony Classical)
Rudolf Serkin - Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 & No. 5 "Emperor" (Sony Classical)
Bruno Walter - Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 (Sony Classical)
Rudolf Serkin - Schubert: Trout Quintet & Mozart: Clarinet Quintet (Sony Classical)
Issac Stern - Humoresque - Favorite Violin Encores (Sony Classical)
Issac Stern - Schubert: Piano Trio No. 1; Brahms: String Quintet No. 2; Bach: Sarabande & Double from Partita No. 1, BWV 1002 (Sony Classical)
Vladimir Horowitz - Horowitz: Favorite Chopin (Sony Classical)
Vladimir Horowitz - Horowitz: A Reminiscence (Sony Classical)
Vladimir Horowitz - Beethoven: Piano Sonatas No. 14 "Moonlight"; No. 21 "Waldstein" & No. 23 "Appassionata" (Sony Classical)
Yo-Yo Ma/Emanuel Ax/Issac Stern - Fauré: Piano Quartets Nos. 1 & 2 (Sony Classical)
Glenn Gould - Bach: Two and Three Part Inventions and Sinfonias, BWV 772-801 (Sony Classical)
John Williams (the guitarist) - The Seville Concert (Sony Classical)
Berlin Philharmonic - Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 "Choral" (Sony Classical)
Isaac Stern - Bach: Violin Concertos, BWV 1041, 1042, 1043, 1060 (Sony Classical)
Michael Tilson Thomas - Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue (1925 Piano Roll); An American In Paris; Broadway Overtures (Sony Classical)
Glenn Gould - Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 (1981 Recording) (Sony Classical)
Leonard Bernstein/NY Philharmonic - Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring & Suite from "The Firebird" (Sony Classical)
Yo-Yo Ma/Emanuel Ax/Issac Stern - Mozart: Piano Quartets, K. 493 & K. 478 (Sony Classical)
Yo-Yo Ma/NY Philharmonic - Concertos from the New World (Sony Classical)
Rudolf Serkin - Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 19 & 20 (Sony Classical)
Eugene Ormandy/The Philadelphia Orchestra - Orff: Carmina Burana (Sony Classical)
Leonard Bernstein/NY Philharmonic - Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture; Marche Slave; Romeo and Juliet; Capriccio Italien; Hamlet (Sony Classical)
Murray Perahia - Bach: English Suites Nos. 1, 3 & 6 (Sony Classical)
Wynton Marsalis - The London Concert (Sony Classical)
Vladimir Horowitz - Favorite Encores (Sony Classical)
Midori/Berlin Philharmonic - Tchaikovsky & Shostakovich: Violin Concertos (Sony Classical)
Bruno Walter - Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2 (Sony Classical)
Glenn Gould - Bach: Keyboard Concertos 1, 4 & 5 (Sony Classical)
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Claudio Abbado - Mozart: Symphonies No. 31 "Paris" & 25; Masonic Funeral Music; Posthorn Symphony (Sony Classical)
Midori/Berlin Philharmonic - Bartók: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 (Sony Classical)
Giuliano Carmignola - Vivaldi: The Four Seasons (Sony Classical)
Isaac Stern - Bernstein Conducts Barber and Schuman (Sony Classical)Leonard Bernstein - Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris & Grofe: Grand Canyon Suite (Sony Classical)
Glenn Gould - Bach: Goldberg Variations (1955 Version) (Sony Classical)Wynton Marsalis/Yo-Yo Ma/Cho-Liang Lin - Haydn: Three Favorite Concertos -- Cello, Violin & Trumpet Concertos (Sony Classical)
Philip Glass - Glassworks (Sony Classical)
Yo-Yo Ma/Emanuel Ax - Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev: Cello Sonatas (Sony Classical)
Isaac Stern/Yo-Yo Ma - Brahms: Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra in A Minor, Op. 102 & Piano Quartet No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 60 - (Sony Classical)
Vladimir Horowitz - Horowitz: The Celebrated Scarlatti Recordings - (Sony Classical)
Aaron Copland - Copland Conducts Copland (Sony Classical)
Yo-Yo Ma - Simply Baroque (Sony Classical)
Rudolf Serkin - Beethoven: Sonatas for Piano No. 14, 8, & 23 (Sony Classical)
John Williams - The Guitarist (Sony Classical)
Pierre Boulez - Handel: Water Music; Royal Fireworks Music (Sony Classical)
Bruno Walter - Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 (Sony Classical)
Isaac Stern/Yo-Yo Ma/Emanuel Ax - Dvorák: Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat Major, Op. 87; Sonatina in G, Op. 100; Romatic Pieces, Op. 75 (Sony Classical)
Murray Perahia/Radu Lupu - Mozart: Sonata in D Major for Two Pianos & Schubert: Fantasia in F Minor for Piano, Four Hands, D. 940 (Op. 103) (Sony Classical)
Eugene Ormandy/The Philadelphia Orchestra - Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker Ballet, Op. 71 (Excerpts) (Sony Classical)
Glenn Gould - Bach: Preludes, Fugues and Fughettas (Sony Classical)
George Szell/The Cleveland Orchestra - Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition (Sony Classical)

 

[Seth--L]

Considering that almost all of those recordings have rarely been out of print, are available in half a dozen different packages, I hope that Sony brings OOP recordings back into print instead of just reissuing the same old. Chamber music would also be nice.

And above all, be conscious about what repertoire is already out there. No more Dvorak 9.

 

[PaulT]

Seth - thanks for the info - at least it sounds like Sony may be willing to support something in SACD....

Danny, some of the Glenn Gould's have already been released by Sony as SACD in 1999:

1981 Goldberg Variations SS37779
Italian Concerto Partitas no 1 & 2 SS06141
The Two & Three Part Inventions SS06622

 

[Seth--L]

On an aside, let's look at this and wonder why the classical music industry can't make any money. There are 4 different versions of the '81 recording available in the US: the original CBS Masterworks CD, the SACD, the analog version in the 3 disc Gould Wonder set, and the most recent Expanded Masterworks version. While Glenn Gould remains a top seller from beyond the grave, does Sony really think that his devotees are going to buy all 4 versions? You could correctly argue that the SACD and 3 disc set versions offer better sonics, but the E.M. version offers nothing new.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

...and they could easily do analog to DSD transfers with their vast tape collection...

 

[PaulT]

This could be asked of almost any artist really. Classical may be more of a niche market though. I've followed certain recordings through every release and bought every one (eg. DSOTM, wore out 2 LP's, even had the 'cough' 8-track, cassette, CD, SACD). Whether I could listen to Glenn's humming through 3 or 4 format changes is another question, even though he is (was) a genius.

 

[Seth--L]

Well, Gould has quite a devoted following. Since the debut of CD, Sony has reissued his recordings over and over again (and there really aren't all that many), and people have kept buying them over and over again making Gould one of the top selling pianists despite there not being a new recording in nearly 25 years. But even for him, 4 US versions of the '81 Goldberg is a bit much (this doesn't include separate international releases).

I don't understand why people get so out of shape over his humming. If you think that's annoying, live in concert pianists do far worse things, like loudly tap their foot. Suddenly there is a percussion section. Anyway, haters of the hum should check this out:

http://www.andante.com/article/article.cfm?id=25349

This company converted the '55 recording into a piano roll, played back the piano roll on a piano, and recorded it. They claim to have perfectly captured Gould's dynamics.

 

[PaulT]

Not annoying or hated, just distracting