The best discussion I could track down--on the Sinatra rollout--starts here on SinatraFamily.com and goes a few pages.
What do you think of that London Symphony "Messiah"? Is there reason (interpretation, performance, sound quality) to get that if one has a "Messiah" they're fine with. I could be completely wrong but I'm not aware of that as a historic performance . . .?
If you want to discuss High Res Mahler, I have an embarrassing amount of it. I have full or nearly full HR cycles by Zander/Philharmonia, Tilson Thomas/San Fran & Gergiev/London, plus some individual ones from Slatkin/St. Louis (and 6-7 more cycles on CD), plus a fair amount of Tchaikovsky, though some of it is upscaled early Telarc recordings. The HR stuff is split between SACD and downloads from HDTracks.
New Mike: More later but a quick LOL in response to your saying "Clive Owen" re that "Messiah" conductor as opposed to Colin Davis.
Paul:
It IS an historic performance! Clive Owen and the London Symphony in 1966. It's really very, very good. Should you get it if you already have a favorite? Only you can answer that! I had a few...even SACD...and this one, I think, is the best. Fidelity is exceptional. That original recording must've been very good indeed.
As for Wagner and Mahler...none of it has ever clicked for me. Tried 'em. Didn't like 'em. Of course I haven't listened to it all...but I've got enough Mozart and Bach to keep me happy for the rest of my life. As for Tchaikovsky, I pretty much only know the high-profile works.
Before Frank? A must have. If you know Sinatra at the Sands, this disc is that...just without Frank. Basie and his band at the absolute top of their game. It's really an exciting disc. These were performances by Basie's band that were played (and thankfully recorded) that they played before Frank took the stage. I have the DVD-A of Sinatra at the Sands. This is fabulous stuff.
I got my BA of Can't Slow Down today. Worth every penny. When I mentioned "various" releases, the one I purchased is supposed to be a UK version of the release (I'm sure it's probably identical to the US version). And I have read about some high-rez digital downloads available. Online reviews are really positive.
Paul, no Blu-Rays for me yet. I just haven't delved into them. Once I started getting HDTracks downloads, I like the idea of being able to play them however I want, with whatever DAC I want. The DC-1 is such an excellent DAC, especially fore the price, I hesitate to buy anything I can't use it for.
Regarding the early Telarc recordings, even though the original CDs didn't keep the full resolution, they're only 16/50, so they are still significantly upscaled to SACD. They sound as good as they can, and they include some of my all-time favorites, plus I loaded up on them, CHEAP, about 5-6 years ago when Telarc more or less vanished and they were being dumped. I was ordering them ten at a time, often for $4-6 each shipped. I just counted them and I have 60 Telarc SACDs and probably paid about $5 average on each one.
I need to point out that I'm just not a fan of historic recordings. I understand the idea, but there's more than one way to skin a cat, and someone like Mahler in particular can be done many different "right" ways. So, I don't have any Walter, Szell, Ormandy, etc. I need a great recording, so my classical stuff doesn't generally date back before the mid '70s and that is mostly limited to Solti, since he did so many great recordings in the '70s.
As far as Mahler, my gut tells me my favorite #1 is Zander. I seem to recall liking the Slatkin Telarc, but it's been a long time since I've listened to it. #2 might be a tie between MTT and the Telarc Slatkin. Kathleen Battle single handedly elevates that one, though the Mezzo knocks it back down a bit. I agree with the Zander 2nd on Linn. Mostly, I recall something being just weird about the recording, but I don't recall what it was. I think something with the soloists was wrong. It was a technical thing.
Otherwise, #4, I think I like the Solti/Kiri CD. #5, again, I think I like the Solti, but I don't think I've listened to my HR versions in a while. I just don't recall. #6, I'm kind of fond the the HR Gergiev, but I recall liking the Zander as well. Mahler is just too massive to explore those recordings in too much depth or too often. As far as Das Lied, I admit I'm not nearly as fond of the lyric stuff as the more conventional Symphonies, so I don't have a suggestion.
Telarc's first digital recordings utilized the Soundstream recording system which is based on a sampling rate of 50kHz compared to a standard Compact Disc which has a sampling rate of 44.1kHz. The higher rate of the Soundstream system offers an extended frequency response up to 25kHz and increased to detail. To produce the original Compact Disc the Soundstream signal had to be converted from 50kHz to 44.1kHz, a process that inherently causes a loss of quality not only by lowering the frequency response but also by the complex mathematical process needed to drive 44.1kHz from 50kHz.
Until recently no digital system has had the capability to capture the full quality the Soundstream process had to offer. The advent of the Direct Stream Digital DSD technology and its frequency response of 100kHz allows the Soundstream tapes to be remastered to DSD presenting to the listener the true sound of the recording. Not only is the original bandwidth preserved, the sonic defects produced by the awkward sample rate conversion are eliminated as well. The end result is the sound of the recording team intended even though it had to wait for more than 15 years!
I think they just made it up.
That's where your misunderstanding is coming from. The original Telarc recordings on SACD are NOT in unaltered Soundstream on SACD, they just haven't been downsampled. They have been converted (and upsample to DSD64) but their resolution remains at the original 16/50, because you really can't increase resolution. What Telarc is really saying is that there are no longer lost bits, like there were on CD. SACD stereo is DSD64, not Soundstream. You can't actually gain resolution by upscaling, but Telarc is just stating that you are no longer losing resolution. Again, stereo on these early Telarc SACDs is in DSD64, period. There's also an allowance for lossless compression with SACD, but that's immaterial. Maybe someone else can explain it a different way. Did I somehow give the impression this is a bad thing? Because it isn't. All I'm stating is that the old recordings aren't truly full DSD64 sound quality, but they are as good as they can be. I love some of those recordings (Shaw/Carmina Burana in particular) and I'm glad to have them in as good a form as they can be.One is the Soundstream stuff that was originally presented at lower rez on CD and then later ORIGINAL rez on SACD