Post by Aleph October 27, 2011 (21 of 115)
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All in all, this is one of the most important and impressive news that we could ever expect. An embarrassment of riches if I ever saw one. If anything, it is enough to prove that a major player still believes in sacd as a viable format. We could all go on and on discussing the dangers and delights of A-D and format conversions but I doubt anyone wouldn't agree that this is a clear and very clever marketing move.
Our western-centric minds can argue that it is a "niche of a niche japanese thing" but an audiophile in Japan could say exactly the same thing about Analogue Productions releases. A wider north american/european release would, of course, be an ideal scenario... But maybe just this time we could try to calm down our belligerent and troller nerves and celebrate one of those "Christmas has come earlier" moments.
World, nay- and doomsayers, guess what... SACD is still alive and kicking!
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Post by rammiepie October 27, 2011 (22 of 115)
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hiredfox said:
One doubts EMI will be forthcoming on any infromation about recording but not all of the analogue era stuff made it to CD so hopefully the transcriptions will be from Analogue master tapes to DSD direct.
The nagging worry is of course taht they have been busy digitising their archive for future download and streaming in which case it would be likely 96/24PCM
There's really nothing wrong with 96/24 but the bigger question is that EMI, being a British Company, retains the master tapes in their vaults in England (?) and all the Japanese have to work with are 2nd or 3rd generation analogue masters, anyway......but I'm sure, in any event, they'll better their 16/44.1 counterparts, the RBCD!
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Post by Claude October 28, 2011 (23 of 115)
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I think EMI Japan will either use the analogue copies they have, or request hi-rez digital copies from the archive where the original masters are stored and probably already archived in hi-rez PCM (as other japanese labels did for SACD reissues, Universal, Esoteric, etc)
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Why wouldn't they do it like they did the recent Furtwänglers -- remastered directly from the original source at Abbey Road: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfA61_noOQQ? Because of the sheer volume of what's coming out?
PT
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Post by hiredfox October 28, 2011 (25 of 115)
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Claude said:
I think EMI Japan will either use the analogue copies they have, or request hi-rez digital copies from the archive where the original masters are stored and probably already archived in hi-rez PCM (as other japanese labels did for SACD reissues, Universal, Esoteric, etc)
Could this be the beginning of the end of the Esoteric project?
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Post by stvnharr October 28, 2011 (26 of 115)
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hiredfox said:
Could this be the beginning of the end of the Esoteric project?
Why?
Esoteric and EMI Japan are independent of each other. The Esoteric and Toshiba discs are the same price in Japan, the target market.
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Post by Jonalogic October 29, 2011 (27 of 115)
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hiredfox said:
Could this be the beginning of the end of the Esoteric project?
One interesting thought, here. Let's recall that Esoteric started on Decca and other labels. Some of their early releases were damn good, moreover. Their batting average only went down the toilet when they started on vintage EMI.
Now Toshiba/EMI is releasing more of this repertoire in a few months than Esoteric could remaster in a lifetime, maybe it's time for them to revisit Decca?
There are a few million recordings I could recommend...
However, they have a track record of daft repertoire choices, seemingly determined by 1) personal taste of the CEO and 2) what recordings are in favour/known about in Japan.
So the omens are not good.
By the way, some sources in Japan I have seen have Esoterics more expensive than the new EMIs. It would be commercial suicide for Esoteric to continue ploughing the EMI furrow, I should think.
But who knows? I can already see some potential duplication here. Crazy.
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Post by Esacede November 1, 2011 (28 of 115)
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Interesting that EMI Classics have chosen to re-master the Cluytens L'Arlesienne Suites again as TOGE 12082 so soon after the Esoteric effort which was far from satisfactory....
Also:
TOGE12010 Mahler: Das Lied Von Der Erde (Ludwig / Wunderlich / PO / NPO / Klemperer, 1964)
TOGE12003 Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique (Paris O / Munch, 1967)
TOGE12017 Brahms: Violin Concerto / Double Concerto (Oistrakh / Rostropovich / Cleveland Orchestra / Szell, 1969)
Except for the double concerto.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
/library/7548
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Post by hiredfox November 2, 2011 (29 of 115)
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Esacede said:
Interesting that EMI Classics have chosen to re-master the Cluytens L'Arlesienne Suites again as TOGE 12082 so soon after the Esoteric effort which was far from satisfactory....
Also:
TOGE12010 Mahler: Das Lied Von Der Erde (Ludwig / Wunderlich / PO / NPO / Klemperer, 1964)
TOGE12003 Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique (Paris O / Munch, 1967)
TOGE12017 Brahms: Violin Concerto / Double Concerto (Oistrakh / Rostropovich / Cleveland Orchestra / Szell, 1969)
Except for the double concerto.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
/library/7548
Indeed
One can but wonder what conversations go on behind the A & R doors.
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Post by Ubertrout November 2, 2011 (30 of 115)
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Um, wow.
This seems like a game-changer for SACD, in great and terrible ways.
The great EMI recordings of yore are finally going to be available on SACD, but at ridiculously inflated prices. I understand that the Japanese market is more expensive anyway, and that there are costs attendant to this remastering/release.
But doesn't this mean that SACD is a small label / Japanese market ghetto now? The classic recordings with big names are being released in stereo only, for the Japanese market, at over twice the cost of regular SACDs. Small labels continue to put out SACDs, and there does seem to be interest in the classical sector, but the majors have lost interest.
So is this a reinaissance, or a sign of retreat to a stronghold? I'll be frank that I'm not likely to purchase a lot of these at this price point, beyond those which are true "desert island" choices.
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