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does anyone know much about the french Alpha label? I understand that some of their (low-key) releases are SACD but you'd never tell from their website.
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Post by zeus December 1, 2003 (2 of 13)
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nucaleena said:
does anyone know much about the french Alpha label? I understand that some of their (low-key) releases are SACD but you'd never tell from their website.
SACDs from this label?
http://www.alpha-prod.com/
News to me ...
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nucaleena said:
does anyone know much about the french Alpha label? I understand that some of their (low-key) releases are SACD but you'd never tell from their website.
I think the Alpha label is absolutely outstanding.
I contacted their U.S. distributor (Premiere) a couple of months ago to ask about the possibility of SACD releases.
The answer was that there were none actually planned as yet, but Alpha was open to the idea (though was very unlikely to do anything in 2004).
Some of the standard CD releases on this label are the very finest early music/baroque recordings I've heard.
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Post by LC June 8, 2004 (4 of 13)
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nucaleena said:
does anyone know much about the french Alpha label? I understand that some of their (low-key) releases are SACD but you'd never tell from their website.
Just noticed this post and had to comment. Alpha is one of the two or three finest labels I know of, regardless of genre. My only complaint is that they have not shown any interest in SACD yet (I wrote to them [in English] but received no reply), although this is mitigated somewhat by the fact that their recording quality is about the best I have ever heard on CD. The packaging, liner notes and photography are lavish and genuinely interesting.
The Alpha website is helpful, but the best on-line resource is here (in French only, unfortunately):
http://classique.abeillemusique.com/result.php?mots=&label=4&ref=&x=5&y=10
I suspect the reason there was some confusion about Alpha SACDs is that all of their CDs have a logo on them which includes the letters "S A C D" down the left side. I have no idea what this indicates but, needless to say, it is not SACD.
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Post by izamber June 8, 2004 (5 of 13)
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LC said:
I suspect the reason there was some confusion about Alpha SACDs is that all of their CDs have a logo on them which includes the letters "S A C D" down the left side. I have no idea what this indicates but, needless to say, it is not SACD.
SACD is tha name of the French Societe' des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques (Society of Drama Writers and Composers), in that case.
I asked the Italian distributor about the possibility of Alpha SACDs. HE told me they are considering that, but, for the time being, they are happy with what they feel is a premium product, with very good recording quality and packaging.
Igor
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Post by zeus June 30, 2004 (6 of 13)
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izamber said:
I asked the Italian distributor about the possibility of Alpha SACDs. HE told me they are considering that, but, for the time being, they are happy with what they feel is a premium product, with very good recording quality and packaging.
Unconfirmed, but it looks like this title from Alpha will be re-released on SA-CD in August.
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Post by nickc June 30, 2004 (7 of 13)
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zeus said:
Unconfirmed, but it looks like this title from Alpha will be re-released on SA-CD in August.
Hi Zeus and everyone
I didn't want to say anything until they did but I have been in email contact with Alpha and, yes, LA Tarantella WILL be being released on SACD! Being the MC addict that I am I begged for a MC layer; I don't know the answer to that one though.
This is FANTASTIC news for classical/world music lovers as Alpha is one of the most exciting new labels (or new to me I mean) around. Their CDs are always full of fascinating, sometimes "off the beaten track" material. I actually bought La Tarantella a few weeks ago and let me say the sound is about as good as I have ever heard on a CD and I have about 800!
Let's keep our fingers crossed that this will only be the first SACD release for Alpha
Best wishes
Nick
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nucaleena said:
does anyone know much about the french Alpha label? I understand that some of their (low-key) releases are SACD but you'd never tell from their website.
Does this mean you're back??? :-)
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Post by izamber July 1, 2004 (9 of 13)
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zeus said:
Unconfirmed, but it looks like this title from Alpha will be re-released on SA-CD in August.
Yeah, seen it on the Abeillemusique site today (I was alerted by a guy on the Italian forum I co-moderate, thanks Talli if you're reading this).
What am I to say? Maybe that's what the distributor meant by "considering" :-))))
Igor
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Post by LC July 1, 2004 (10 of 13)
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nickc said:
I have been in email contact with Alpha and, yes, LA Tarantella WILL be being released on SACD!
Hurray! This is very exciting. La Tarantella is a great recording and Alpha is a great label, and now they've both gotten even better. I hope this is the first of many.
Two other high quality labels of similar interest and appeal that have already released a few SACDs are Alia Vox and Opus 111. They seem to have been quite cautious so far, although when I had the priviledge of speaking with Jordi Savall several weeks ago (when my Early Music Society presented him in concert), he indicated that Alia Vox would release another SACD this Fall. Hopefully with Alpha on board, these elite Early/World music labels will begin to feel a bit more confident about releasing SACDs.
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