Pentatone Remastered Classics Series Is Now Complete

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bmoura

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Pentatone Classics has announced on their website that "Our Remastered Classics Series Is Now Completed".

Pentatone Remastered Classics Series Is Completed.jpg


http://www.pentatonemusic.com/catalog
 
Not a shock, and hopefully Universal Classics will pick up the mantle on its own label. And we got so much good stuff - but a darn shame it ended when it did. 115 SACD issues (comprising probably one and a half times that many LP issues) makes it by far the biggest quad reissue campaign ever.

Still annoyed they didn't complete the Kubelik Beethoven cycle with the 3rd Symphony, though.
 
Not a shock, and hopefully Universal Classics will pick up the mantle on its own label. And we got so much good stuff - but a darn shame it ended when it did. 115 SACD issues (comprising probably one and a half times that many LP issues) makes it by far the biggest quad reissue campaign ever.

Still annoyed they didn't complete the Kubelik Beethoven cycle with the 3rd Symphony, though.

I'm sure sales were robust and royalty payments to Universal were on the conservative side for this magnificent reissue program to have flourished as well as it did. I know I did my part accumulating probably half of the Pentatone RQR SACDs.

With Universal now gravitating toward BD~A/RBCD combos for their newer classical releases, pairing 3, 4, 5 titles or more on one BD~A may be their best solution to release the remaining titles but I'm not sure I enjoy the redundancy [and bulk] of including RBCDs in the package to compensate for the lack of a CD layer on a BD~A as opposed to SACD.

But then beggars can't be choosers, I suppose.

Now let's get busy on those Angel/EMI Quads. There were some incredibly diverse titles in that lot!
 
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I'm sure sales were robust and royalty payments to Universal were on the conservative side for this magnificent reissue program to have flourished as well as it did. I know I did my part accumulating probably half of the Pentatone RQR SACDs.

With Universal now gravitating toward BD~A/RBCD combos for their newer classical releases, pairing 3, 4, 5 titles or more on one BD~A may be their best solution to release the remaining titles but I'm not sure I enjoy the redundancy [and bulk] of including RBCDs in the package to compensate for the lack of a CD layer on a BD~A as opposed to SACD.

But then beggars can't be choosers, I suppose.

Now let's get busy on those Angel/EMI Quads. There were some incredibly diverse titles in that lot!
The initial owners of Pentatone were senior management of Philips, so I'm pretty sure Universal gave them a sweet deal when they closed that branch down. The new owners aren't (I believe) connected to the history of Philips, so it's not shocking that they were less interested in the series. The whole operation is, I suspect, being funded by Gordon Getty now, which allows them to record essentially what they please and go after big name artists like Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Alisa Weilerstein. It is what it is, and I'll continue to purchase their new recordings selectively.

I actually think it's a good thing Universal is doing these releases directly - especially as the years went on, it seemed pretty clear Pentatone was only getting the "second-tier" material to work with - stuff that otherwise was only being rereleased as part of big box sets, if at all. I think it was generally understood that Pentatone would never get the Steinberg Planets for instance - it was too popular of a release and would compete with Universal's own issues, which included the "Originals" RBCD that's been in print for 20+ years, a briefly marketed and then cancelled stereo BD-Audio, and a 24/96 download in stereo. But if Universal is selling it themselves, the popularity of a release is a feature, not a problem.

I'd love to see the EMI issues get out, but I don't see a clear pathway. I'd much rather Dutton focus on mining deeper into the Columbia/RCA classical vaults, since they already seem to have excellent access and there's an incredible bounty there. Warner doesn't seem that interested in doing anything terribly creative with the treasures in the EMI vaults it purchased at auction, which is a darn shame.
 
Hows the Beethoven/Kubelik cycle? Good mix and performance? Is there a better option in surround for the Beethoven symphonies?
 
Many. Vanska or Haitink are the recs for modern, but there's a dozen cycles on SACD now and most are pretty good. If you want really active sound go with the symphony cycle on Tacet.

The Kubelik ones are fine, note that the 3rd never made it out. It's kind of for completists and Kubelik fans, but the sound is pretty tame and not up to modern standards.
 
Hows the Beethoven/Kubelik cycle? Good mix and performance? Is there a better option in surround for the Beethoven symphonies?
I made a list of all the available ones five or so years ago: http://www.sa-cd.net/showthread/109126/109182 (note that some are only stereo), and you need to add Abbado and Barenboim on DVD-Audio (the Barenboim in particular is excellent, but it's a pain to assemble).

And, looking, I made a similar list here: https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...en-symphony-cycles-in-digital-surround.23631/

I make a lot of lists, apparently. There's also been a recent outpouring in Japan of vintage Beethoven cycles on stereo SACD. I've mostly avoided them, but I did pick up the Szell/Beethoven cycle from Sony (I feel like Sony's Japan offerings tend to be a bit more widely marketed anyway, for whatever it's worth).

I just realized that if Deutsche Grammophon boxed up Polyhymnia's transfers of Kubelik and completed the cycle with the 3rd, it would be an interesting offering.
 
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