New releases

[Petrushka]

Just been listening to Decca's re-release of Krauss's Strauss - very good re-mastering from the early days of tape. I think I have lost count how many times I have bought these same recordings.....

This box was another of my birthday CDs. The only one I ever had was Aus Italien in an electronic stereo on a Decca Eclipse LP so getting to know this set has been a joy.

[PJPJ]

...and did it all start with ACL16?

I think it started with the Eclipse series supplemented with a long-play cassette which the car player chewed up after a few years, and at least one LXT original which I still have, Aus Italien. I missed the later Salome which is why I felt justified buying this new box even though I have the Testaments. Before all this buying I borrowed the ACLs from the library. It has been a long love-affair.

[PJPJ]

This box was another of my birthday CDs. The only one I ever had was Aus Italien in an electronic stereo on a Decca Eclipse LP so getting to know this set has been a joy.

Krauss's ASZ has the rudest tubas I have ever heard! A really quite uplifting sound.

[cloughie]

Krauss's ASZ has the rudest tubas I have ever heard! A really quite uplifting sound.

I sometimes think that had these recordings been ten years later benefitting from the great Decca Stereo sound of the sixties they would have been competing with the best of today's.

As an aside is it just my computer or is anyone else having problems logging on to Amazon at the moment?

[Don Petter]

I sometimes think that had these recordings been ten years later benefitting from the great Decca Stereo sound of the sixties they would have been competing with the best of today's.

As an aside is it just my computer or is anyone else having problems logging on to Amazon at the moment?

No probs here.

[Petrushka]

As an aside is it just my computer or is anyone else having problems logging on to Amazon at the moment?

No problem here.

[cloughie]

Seems OK now.

[HighlandDougie]

Not all that new a re-release but

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rachmaninov-Piano-Concertos-Paganini-Rhapsody/dp/B00JEPZVT2/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1406457316&sr=1-3&keywords=rachmaninov+piano+concertos+ashkenazy

sounds as if it were recorded yesterday (and that's just the CDs - I haven't sampled the Blu-Ray Audio version yet). It always was a fine-sounding set but the care with which the Decca engineers have approached the re-mastering is greatly to be applauded. It comes in handsome packaging, too (along the lines of the recent reissue of the first BPO Karajan Beethoven cycle). I suspect that it would be too much to hope that Decca might accord similar treatment to the same performers' Prokofiev Piano Concertos but I'll live in hope about that.

[Dave2002]

Not all that new a re-release but

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rachmaninov-Piano-Concertos-Paganini-Rhapsody/dp/B00JEPZVT2/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1406457316&sr=1-3&keywords=rachmaninov+piano+concertos+ashkenazy

sounds as if it were recorded yesterday (and that's just the CDs - I haven't sampled the Blu-Ray Audio version yet). It always was a fine-sounding set but the care with which the Decca engineers have approached the re-mastering is greatly to be applauded. It comes in handsome packaging, too (along the lines of the recent reissue of the first BPO Karajan Beethoven cycle). I suspect that it would be too much to hope that Decca might accord similar treatment to the same performers' Prokofiev Piano Concertos but I'll live in hope about that.

When we see remastered sets how often wo we check that the sound quality really is better? Maybe we just believe that it is, without checking/comparing! I'm sure that some marketeers would be happy enough for us to do that.

I really don't know though. I have the first of the Decca Sound boxes, and to me many of those CDs are very good - but then I don't have the first issue CDs for comparison in most cases, or even a playable LP equivalent.

[HighlandDougie]

I too tend to a certain scepticism when I see, "Remastered", but, having compared the Rachmaninov PCs in this February 2014 remastering with their Decca Double incarnation, the sound is cleaner and more detailed, without it sounding too "digital". When I get the chance, I'll do a comparison with the LPs. I bought this reissue for the Blu-Ray disc but am very taken with the quality of the remastered CDs.

[Ferretfancy]

I have both the Decca boxes, together with quite a few of the original CD issues, and where I have made a comparison there hasn't been a significant difference. My system handles everything digitally up to the DACs in the speakers, and is usually very transparent.I also have a mode for rear speaker ambience which is very convincing.

One astonishing remastering is the luxury set of the Decca Ring, which includes standard CDs, a DVD of John Culshaw's documentary The Golden Ring, and a single blu ray DVD of all four operas. I've played this on my Panasonic blu ray player via its optical output through my Meridian system, just as I do for film soundtracks. The sound is truly astounding in its focus, warmth and vocal placing. The only snag is that track access is rather awkward, the original CDs are better in this respect

[Dave2002]

it looks as though a Decca box (32 discs) of Rachmaninov is coming soon. I have no further details.

http://www.amazon.it/gp/product/B00KZ73VDG/ref=pe_115211_52316261_pe_epc__1p_1_ti

[Dave2002]

Another box set - looks like a new release of early music. I haven't heard about the SEON collection before - 85 CDs. Again, I have no further details - http://www.amazon.it/gp/product/B00K...e_epc__1p_4_ti

Also looks as though Bruggen in Beethoven is available from Italy - not sure about availability from UK suppliers right now. http://www.amazon.it/Beethoven-The-C...0W6PYJSVS3XH8P

Checked - Bruggen will also be available in the UK soon - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beethoven-Co...ggen+beethoven

[Radio64]

..

Also looks as though Bruggen in Beethoven is available from Italy - not sure about availability from UK suppliers right now. http://www.amazon.it/Beethoven-The-C...0W6PYJSVS3XH8P
..

Italy amazon says 'available from 2nd September 2014'.

[Roehre]

Another box set - looks like a new release of early music. I haven't heard about the SEON collection before - 85 CDs. Again, I have no further details - http://www.amazon.it/gp/product/B00K...e_epc__1p_4_ti...

SEON was an important early music label in the 1970s, in the course of time distributed by a couple of companies, including Philips (I recall Handel's sonatas opus 1 in 3LP-set with Brüggen, I've got the JSBach flute sonatas [2LP-set]), Sony/CBS (I've got Stolzer Psalms [1 CD]) and ABC records (American, I've got Dufay [Missa Que le Face est pale] and Desprez [Missa La sol fa re mi] with Capella antiqua München/ Konrad Ruhland [both 2LP-sets]).
The HIP Esterhazy quartet with Jaap Schröder made quite a lot of records for them, including Haydn quartets opus 20 and some Boccherini. There is also a HIP recording of concertante movements from Mozart serenades (Schröder soloist and conductor)