The Planets / Also sprach Zarathustra (1971) Quadraphonic Blu-ray Audio from DG

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McCrutchy

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Deutsche Grammophon will release a Blu-ray Audio / CD edition of William Steinberg's recordings of Gustav Holst's The Planets and Richard Strauss' Also sprach Zarathustra (1971) on or around April 6th, 2018.

Apparently, the recordings have been remastered at 192/24, but most notably, the Blu-ray Audio disc will feature quadraphonic (4.0) sound.

You can purchase it here at Amazon.com:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079B3587V

Or internationally, by using the same ASIN product number, for example:

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B079B3587V

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B079B3587V

https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B079B3587V

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B079B3587V
 


Deutsche Grammophon will release a Blu-ray Audio / CD edition of William Steinberg's recordings of Gustav Holst's The Planets and Richard Strauss' Also sprach Zarathustra (1971) on or around April 6th, 2018.

Apparently, the recordings have been remastered at 192/24, but most notably, the Blu-ray Audio disc will feature quadraphonic (4.0) sound.

You can purchase it here at Amazon.com:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079B3587V

Or internationally, by using the same ASIN product number, for example:

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B079B3587V

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B079B3587V

https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B079B3587V

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B079B3587V

Best price on the .de site, 18,99 euro. Quite a bargain.

Intresting that is a 1971 recording. Maybe part of the famous "shelved quad masters" from DG?
 
Best price on the .de site, 18,99 euro. Quite a bargain.

Intresting that is a 1971 recording. Maybe part of the famous "shelved quad masters" from DG?

Thanks for that wonderful listing. Pre~ordered!

I also notice that DGG has released Leonard Bernstein's classic interpretation of the 9 Beethoven Symphonies on 5 RBCDs/1 BD~A in Stereo 192/24/5.0 96/24 https://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Sy...rd_wg=V6WS6&psc=1&refRID=RHDDWMR77NF09W75KVF9

Further info/review @ blu~ray.com http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Beethoven-The-Symphonies-Leonard-Bernstein-Blu-ray/187069/#Review

Decca Records has also released a single BD~A 96/24 STEREO disc of Herbert van Karajan's interpretation of the 9 Symphonies, as well: http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Beethoven-The-Symphonies-Blu-ray/157259/#Review
 
Thanks for that wonderful listing. Pre~ordered!

I also notice that DGG has released Leonard Bernstein's classic interpretation of the 9 Beethoven Symphonies on 5 RBCDs/1 BD~A in Stereo 192/24/5.0 96/24 https://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Sy...rd_wg=V6WS6&psc=1&refRID=RHDDWMR77NF09W75KVF9

Further info/review @ blu~ray.com http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Beethoven-The-Symphonies-Leonard-Bernstein-Blu-ray/187069/#Review

Decca Records has also released a single BD~A 96/24 STEREO disc of Herbert van Karajan's interpretation of the 9 Symphonies, as well: http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Beethoven-The-Symphonies-Blu-ray/157259/#Review

Great info! I’ve pre-ordered the Strauss/Holst. I can afford to buy only one of the Beethoven’s.

If you had to pick a winner (sonics and performance) between the Leonard Bernstein and Herbert van Karajan presentations, which would you recommend?

(FYI I have the LSO’s interpretation of Beethoven 1-9, w/Bernard Haitink. It leaves me a bit flat on both counts.)
 
Great info! I’ve pre-ordered the Strauss/Holst. I can afford to buy only one of the Beethoven’s.

If you had to pick a winner (sonics and performance) between the Leonard Bernstein and Herbert van Karajan presentations, which would you recommend?

(FYI I have the LSO’s interpretation of Beethoven 1-9, w/Bernard Haitink. It leaves me a bit flat on both counts.)

I do have the van Karajan [Stereo only] BD~A and they're uniformly excellent interpretations and from the reviews @ Blu~ray.com, the Bernstein in 5.0 is ambience only and I've only heard his Beethoven 8th from a SONY Japan 4.0 SACD* [which is likewise excellent and ironically costs more than 1/2 of what the complete symphonies on BD~A are going for] but I'd probably opt for the VERY highly regarded van Karajan NOW and wait for the price to come down on the Bernstein [which eventually, it WILL].

*Bernstein did record a complete Beethoven cycle for Columbia Records [now SONY] before being signed to DGG.

BTW, another excellent BD~A/3 RBCD digipak from DECCA and VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED [also at a nice price point]: http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Beethoven-The-Piano-Concertos-Blu-ray/199746/
 
OMG.

I was hoping for this when I heard a 2-disk pack with a blu-ray was being issued but I assumed it would just be stereo-only. Pre-ordered.

These recordings are legendary just in stereo. Steinberg was one of those conductors who didn't get as much attention as his flashier colleagues but was held in the highest esteem by musicians. These recordings in particular are held to be among the best recordings of The Planets and Also Sprach Zarathustra ever, and they've been in print consistently snce their release.

Like almost all of the Boston Symphony recordings for Deutsche Grammophon from this period, these recordings were produced by Thomas Mowrey, whose active use of surround has been showcased on a number of Pentatone releases, including Leonard Bernstein's recording of Carmen, the Ozawa/Berlioz discs, and more. This likely isn't going to be a "hall ambience" recording - expect to hear discrete use of the rear channels in ways that are more aggressive than modern classical recordings.

I assumed we'd never get this one from Pentatone, and I was right - it's a recording that's sufficiently popular and important that DG wouldn't license it out. Instead they saw the demand and released it themselves.

And let that sink in - this is Universal Classics doing a quad remaster/reissue themselves. I'm not aware of this having been done before - the best we got was was a few upmixes of quad to 5.1 almost 15 years ago (Karajan Beethoven 9 & Mozart Requiem, Kleiber Beethoven 5+7, Pollini Chopin). There's so much more quad sitting in the vaults of Universal Classics - Not just Deutsche Grammophon but Decca too - hundreds of albums, many of which were only released in stereo. Pentatone did a pretty good job with the Philips vaults but they barely scratched the surface for DG. Now Universal is doing it themselves.

Universal has already been doing a program of box sets that include a blu-ray audio as well as CDs, but they've almost all been in stereo (the only previous one with multichannel has been the Kleiber orchestral set, which included the Beethoven 5th and 7th Symphonies, already reissued on SACD and DVD-A, along with upmixes of the Schubert and Brahms symphonies). There have been some great stereo-only ones - the Solti Ring Cycle, Kertesz doing Dvorak Orchestral Works (already OOP), the Takacs Quartet doing the Beethoven String Quartets, Maazel doing the Sibelius Symphonies, Solti/Ashkenazy in the Beethoven Piano Concertos, and both Karajan and Bernstein's Beethoven Symphony Cycles.

Let's hope this is only the beginning.

FYI, Thomas Mowrey's producing discography is here: https://www.discogs.com/artist/272491-Thomas-Mowrey?filter_anv=0&subtype=Production&type=Credits (and he's said everything DG recorded from 1970-1975 was mixed for quad, although most other producers were making mixes that were more conservative)
 
OMG.

I was hoping for this when I heard a 2-disk pack with a blu-ray was being issued but I assumed it would just be stereo-only. Pre-ordered.

These recordings are legendary just in stereo. Steinberg was one of those conductors who didn't get as much attention as his flashier colleagues but was held in the highest esteem by musicians. These recordings in particular are held to be among the best recordings of The Planets and Also Sprach Zarathustra ever, and they've been in print consistently snce their release.

Like almost all of the Boston Symphony recordings for Deutsche Grammophon from this period, these recordings were produced by Thomas Mowrey, whose active use of surround has been showcased on a number of Pentatone releases, including Leonard Bernstein's recording of Carmen, the Ozawa/Berlioz discs, and more. This likely isn't going to be a "hall ambience" recording - expect to hear discrete use of the rear channels in ways that are more aggressive than modern classical recordings.

I assumed we'd never get this one from Pentatone, and I was right - it's a recording that's sufficiently popular and important that DG wouldn't license it out. Instead they saw the demand and released it themselves.

And let that sink in - this is Universal Classics doing a quad remaster/reissue themselves. I'm not aware of this having been done before - the best we got was was a few upmixes of quad to 5.1 almost 15 years ago (Karajan Beethoven 9 & Mozart Requiem, Kleiber Beethoven 5+7, Pollini Chopin). There's so much more quad sitting in the vaults of Universal Classics - Not just Deutsche Grammophon but Decca too - hundreds of albums, many of which were only released in stereo. Pentatone did a pretty good job with the Philips vaults but they barely scratched the surface for DG. Now Universal is doing it themselves.

Universal has already been doing a program of box sets that include a blu-ray audio as well as CDs, but they've almost all been in stereo (the only previous one with multichannel has been the Kleiber orchestral set, which included the Beethoven 5th and 7th Symphonies, already reissued on SACD and DVD-A, along with upmixes of the Schubert and Brahms symphonies). There have been some great stereo-only ones - the Solti Ring Cycle, Kertesz doing Dvorak Orchestral Works (already OOP), the Takacs Quartet doing the Beethoven String Quartets, Maazel doing the Sibelius Symphonies, Solti/Ashkenazy in the Beethoven Piano Concertos, and both Karajan and Bernstein's Beethoven Symphony Cycles.

Let's hope this is only the beginning.

FYI, Thomas Mowrey's producing discography is here: https://www.discogs.com/artist/272491-Thomas-Mowrey?filter_anv=0&subtype=Production&type=Credits (and he's said everything DG recorded from 1970-1975 was mixed for quad, although most other producers were making mixes that were more conservative)

Splendid, ubertrout, that Thomas Mowrey was very much involved in this upcoming coupling. BTW, the DGG Bernstein Beethoven BD~A is 5.0 [96/24] but according to Blu~ray.com's review is ambience only. http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Beethoven-The-Symphonies-Leonard-Bernstein-Blu-ray/187069/#Review

Hopefully, Universal will likewise release some of the many hundreds of Angel/EMI QUAD recordings from the 70's. Complete listing of Angel/EMI QUAD recordings: http://www.surrounddiscography.com/quaddisc/quadclas.htm [actually, ALL Classical QUAD recordings].
 
Splendid, ubertrout, that Thomas Mowrey was very much involved in this upcoming coupling. BTW, the DGG Bernstein Beethoven BD~A is 5.0 [96/24] but according to Blu~ray.com's review is ambience only. http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Beethoven-The-Symphonies-Leonard-Bernstein-Blu-ray/187069/#Review

Hopefully, Universal will likewise release some of the many hundreds of Angel/EMI QUAD recordings from the 70's. Complete listing of Angel/EMI QUAD recordings: http://www.surrounddiscography.com/quaddisc/quadclas.htm [actually, ALL Classical QUAD recordings].

FYI, Warner now owns the EMI catalog, so we're not going to get it from Universal.

I didn't realize the Bernstein Beethoven was in 5.0 - they were live recordings, so I'm not surprised it's just audience perspective.
 
I've ordered the BDA, I don't have an orchestral version of The Planets and now I will in Quad. Interesting to compare with Tomita's version! I don't know sprach Zarathustra, I'll have to look through my late father's LPs to see if he had it and give it a listen if he had.
 
I've ordered the BDA, I don't have an orchestral version of The Planets and now I will in Quad. Interesting to compare with Tomita's version! I don't know sprach Zarathustra, I'll have to look through my late father's LPs to see if he had it and give it a listen if he had.

Also Sprach Zarathustra is better known to the public as the music from 2001, FWIW. And while Tomita's version is interesting, I don't think it holds a candle to the original.
 
Thanks, now I know why Sprach Zarathustra seemed familiar!

Also Sprach Zarathustra is better known to the public as the music from 2001, FWIW. And while Tomita's version is interesting, I don't think it holds a candle to the original.
 
This is fabulous news indeed.

For anyone wishing to compare this upcoming Quad release of The Planets, you may also get this version by André Prévin and The London Symphony Orchestra. Two versions were released. The first on DTS CD, which sounds sublime and the second on DVD-A (with bonus tracks).


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And let's not forget the original Quad SQ LP release. I actually love the cover of this one.


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ooooohh....
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Hopefully. it will be the first of many!

EDIT: Steinberg's Beethoven Box Set recorded on Magnetic Film (Command Records) was one of my early introductions to Ludwig's ouvre !!!! AND I still have the LPs!!!

I'm a big fan of Steinberg's recordings for Command. As you say they were recorded to 35mm magnetic film by the same team who made the Mercury Living Presence records (Bob Fine etc.) For whatever reason they've not had a properly complete release on digital formats save for a couple of MCA CD releases in the 80s, only representing the 2nd, 4th, and 9th Beethoven Symphonies, the complete Brahms symphonies, and Bruckner's 7th symphony (I wasn't a huge fan of the sound quality either). I've heard some rumors that the masters have been lost, which is a darn shame.

EMI put out a very nice nearly complete 20-CD box of his recordings for them from the 50s, but it's largely OOP now: http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=642555

In honor of this release I gave a listen to Steinberg's 1961 recording for Everest of the Brahms 4th Symphony, in MQA from Tidal (Command had him re-record it a year later to have a complete cycle). Good stuff.
 
I'm glad you guys are excited about this. I hope it will be a great release, doubly because I believe it's the first true quad release from Deutsche Grammophon themselves, at least in the West, and almost certainly on Blu-ray Audio. If I understand it correctly, the 5.1 from the Bernstein Blu-ray Audio release was created for the DVD releases, and the symphonies were originally recorded in stereo only.

Also, it will be interesting to see what the sampling rates are, just out of curiosity. The packaging for the Bernstein Blu-ray (which wrongly lists TrueHD/LPCM, when in fact, both tracks are DTS-HD MA) implied that the 5.0 was 192/24, but on the disc it is actually "just" 96/24, while only the 2.0 is 192/24. Of course, that program was almost five times as long (368 minutes, versus about 76 minutes for this Steinberg release), and required a BD-50 because of its length and the multichannel audio (it's 38 GB in size), so DG probably couldn't fit both the stereo and 5.0 at 192/24 on the one disc. On the other hand, the Chicago Blu-ray Audio releases prove that it is possible to have DTS-HD MA 4.0 and 2.0 at 192/24 for a program of 77 minutes, and only use about 12.5 GB of space, so even using a BD-25 should provide more than enough room for this release to have both audio tracks in 192/24, as advertised.
 
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