TOMITA has actually released THREE NEW CLASSICAL SYNTHESIZER QUADROPHONIC SACDs!!
They are CLAIR DE LUNE, THE PLANETS, and PLANET ZERO!!!
These are like totally new albums with some new tracks. Plus many of the old tracks have new intros, new mixes, and truly awesome new sounds and new music.
I had read that SACDs never caught on, and after buying some Classical ones I wasn’t surprised. Most SACDs don’t sound much better on my surround system than regular CDs do in my car. And why is there never anything in the rear channels on most?? But I am finally very glad to have a surround system that can play SACDs! These new TOMITA SACDs are TRUE QUADRAPHONIC with absolute 4-Channel Separation. They are ultra clean, with pure bright highs, and deep powerful bass. I listened on a Yamaha RX-A1000 Surround Receiver, Polk Tower fronts, Axiom bookshelf rears at ear height, and an OPPO blu-ray player through a top rated HDMI cable from Amazon.
CLAIR DE LUNE 2012 (SACD 4.0 Surround Hybrid – says 5.1 while playing)
Finally! A NEW TOMITA CD!! And this CD is superb. The original album had 10 tracks. This has 13. It adds the never before released “Second Arabesque” (which is delightful fun as it should be), plus “Whistle and Chime (The Art of Sound Creation)”, and “Nauges.” It is a completely new experience. “Footprints in the Snow” was moved to the middle, and several tracks feature new and different mixes with new sounds and a new opening. Although I was hoping for a different sounding “Nauges,” the new PLANETS makes up for that!!
THE PLANETS 2011 (SACD 4.0 Surround Hybrid – says 5.1 while playing)
The new SACD PLANETS album has a nice long new Introduction with Control Room, Spaceship Interior, and Pre-Launch Communications that knocked my socks off! And the new beginning of “Mars” is light years beyond the old one!! There’s even a brand new track called “Itokawa and Hayabusa” between “Jupiter” and “Saturn.” The whole new PLANETS album is just astounding. I couldn’t have been more surprised, amazed, and delighted.
PLANET ZERO 2011 (SACD 4.0 Surround Hybrid – says 5.1 while playing)
AKA: FREEDOMUNE ZERO Session with DAWN CHORUS
I cannot recommend this one. It’s another PLANETS, but with the Pre-Launch, “Venus” and “Saturn” cut way short; “Itokawa and Hayabusa” added twice; and no “Uranus” or “Neptune.” “Liebestod” from “Tristan Und Isolde” was a nice idea, but has a lot of tape hiss; and there’s a new trumpet mixed over many parts that just doesn’t work.
All three are Hybrid SACDs, so they will also play on regular CD players. AND CLAIR DE LUNE adds m4a files.
There are two more QUADROPHONIC SACDs by TOMITA. But they are not Classical Music on Synthesizer performed by him...
He wrote SYMPHONY IHATOV. But it was performed by Symphony Orchestra and Children's Choirs, and TOMITA himself did not perform in it at all.
He also re-released TALE OF GENJI - Symphonic Symphony (SACD Hybrid 2 CDs)
"Originally released in 2000, expanded version with Japanese traditional instruments, synthesizers and the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, and Yoshiko Sakata's narration of the famous old Japanese tale, translated into modern Kyoto dialect. SACD 5.0ch Surround, SACD Stereo, CD Audio." But again, this is not TOMITA performing Classical Music by other composers on Synthesizer.