Post by Castor August 21, 2012 (21 of 38)
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KHeymann said:
"Unfortunately, no other independent classical label supported the DVD-Audio format which, in my opinion, was a better format for surround sound than SACD and also allowed longer playing times."
Blu-ray also allows longer playing times.
For example a recent 2L blu-ray disc I have plays for 3hrs 18minutes. Had you issued, say, all four Szymanowski symphonies on 1 blu-ray disc I would certainly have purchased it. Your Verdi Ballet Music (1 blu-ray instead of 2 CDs) was also moving in the right direction in taking advantage of the extra capacity available to give both more music and higher quality sonics.
I doubt that many will want to pay the extra for your latest blu-ray offerings
Hector BERLIOZ (1803-69)
Le corsaire – Overture, Op. 21
Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14
Orchestre National de Lyon • Leonard Slatkin
24-bit, 96 kHz Stereo and Surround recordings
and
Sergey PROKOFIEV (1891-1953)
The Year 1941, Op. 90
Symphony No. 5 in B flat major, Op. 100
São Paulo Symphony Orchestra • Marin Alsop
24-bit, 96 kHz Stereo and Surround recordings
How about the complete Petrenko RLPO cycle of Shostakovich Symphonies (when completed) on 4 or 5 blu-ray discs?
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Post by Cicero August 21, 2012 (22 of 38)
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Castor said:
How about the complete Petrenko RLPO cycle of Shostakovich Symphonies (when completed)on 4 or 5 blu-ray discs?
Or the complete Denève/RSNO cycle of Roussel's music?
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BTW, Naxos is now the distributor for AIX Records which has resulted in very competitive prices for their interestingly diverse catalogue.
Amazon has some great deals on AIX at present so for those interested in bluegrass, jazz, Latin music, etc and 3D BD discs should avail themselves of this wonderful label's offerings at some very nice prices.
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Post by Castor August 21, 2012 (24 of 38)
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Cicero said:
Or the complete Denève/RSNO cycle of Roussel's music?
Agreed!
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Post by seth August 21, 2012 (25 of 38)
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Cicero said:
Or the complete Denève/RSNO cycle of Roussel's music?
Now that I'd buy.
Excellent suggestion.
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hiredfox said: Hence the mood of pessimism amongst audiophiles when Naxos like so many other labels discontinued production of SACD for probably economic reasons. I guess the argument then was that "there is no market for it". Ironic then to note your quote now that "SACD, for all its faults, has been with us for a long time."
Of course, Naxos can really only blame itself. Of course the sales were going to be bad if they release them at twice the price ON TOP OF the fact that the same recording was available as the normal low Naxos price.
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Post by KHeymann September 1, 2012 (27 of 38)
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Here are my comments on the many comments on my original submission.
1. Taking advantage of the longer playing times of BR-A
The big question here is whether collectors will be willing to pay for the longer playing times. Where it makes sense, we now release the equivalent of two CDs on one BR-A disc, e.g. Schumann Faust, Schubert overtures, Mahler 8, Verdi Ballet music. But would collectors pay an additional $5.00 for every additional hour of playing time over and above the two CDs? And for us there's the added cost of having to pay mechanical copyright by playing time for copyrighted music.
2. Turning on the TV set to play a BR-A disc
We're not using the Pure Audio format but developed our own. To play our BR-A discs people don't have to turn on their TV set either. But unlike the Pure Audio, our BR-A discs are capable of carrying useful additional content that can be displayed on a TV set, e.g. opera/oratorio texts, front and back covers, rehearsal footage, etc. That's why I think Pure Audio is a dead end concept.
3. Additional content
The suggestion of putting a set of FLAC, booklet and cover files, probably tagged on our BR-A discs is a good one and we will take up this idea.
4. Coupling core repertoire with late 20th and 21st century repertoire
I don't think that's a very good idea unless there is a unifying concept. But we will see how sales develop and whether more people are willing to spend money on the format for rare repertoire. With late 20th and 21st century repertoire there's also the added cost of having to pay mechanical copyright to publishers – about $1.00 per hour of playing time.
5. Front cover image on disc
This is a good suggestion and will be taken up.
6. Sound quality
There are advantages and disadvantages to some of the technologies suggested. Ultimately, good microphone placement and recording in a hall with great acoustics is far more important than any new technology. Of course, our producers and engineers use state-of-the-art microphones they think are best for the particular repertoire.
7. The EuroArts Zaslavsky disc was mastered by the same studio as our own BR-A discs. Sounds excellent but no better than our best recordings.
Klaus Heymann
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Post by seth September 1, 2012 (28 of 38)
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KHeymann said:
Here are my comments on the many comments on my original submission.
1) That seems like a fair. While NAXOS doesn't do a lot of opera, eliminating awkward breaks is a huge upside to BR-A. And I'd rather have a multi-disc box set as a single disc -- it simply takes up less space.
2) I just want to remind other posters that there are upsides to how the TV can be integrated into the play back, such as having the libretto or translations like NAXOS did with the Mahler 8.
3) Having a FLAC version of the audio on the disc so I can rip it to my iPod would be a major value enhancement. Audio or video interviews with the artists could also be interesting. I really like the mini interviews Channel does with Ivan Fischer.
4) I don't think it's too hard to put together programs featuring music from different centuries -- conductors do it all the time. Looking at the tickets I have to Carnegie Hall this year, I have concerts with these composers: RESPIGHI/HILLBORG/MUSSORGSKY, RAVEL/GOLIJOV/SHOSTAKOVICH, GUBAIDULINA/BEETHOVEN/STRAVINSKY, KNUSSEN/RAVEL/STRAVINSKY.
Bottom line: I'd be a lot more interested to buy another recording of a Mahler symphony if it came with a recording of by a contemporary composer like Daugherty, Higdon ro Adams.
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Post by Tourboots September 1, 2012 (29 of 38)
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KHeymann said:
Here are my comments on the many comments on my original submission.
1. Taking advantage of the longer playing times of BR-A
The big question here is whether collectors will be willing to pay for the longer playing times.
Thinking about cost, another question for me is, if I want to enjoy this music and particular performance elsewhere in the house or a car, where there is not a BR-A player, do I have to buy a CD copy or download at extra cost? That is why for me the hybrid SACD is a perfect solution, is offers me multichannel hi-res sound and the flexibility to enjoy the disc in places other than my main music system. For me reasonably priced SACDs present exceptional value and something I want to buy. Also I don't want to be paying for extras that I am not interested in, I buy a disc for the music not the art work or any pictures to be viewed on screen (I prefer the booklets that come with a disc) and videos of rehearsals and interviews etc, I would never look at or watch, I just want the music on the disc with surround sound. So SACD offers me exactly what I want.
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Post by armenian September 2, 2012 (30 of 38)
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Tourboots said:
I buy a disc for the music not the art work or any pictures to be viewed on screen (I prefer the booklets that come with a disc) and videos of rehearsals and interviews etc, I would never look at or watch, I just want the music on the disc with surround sound. So SACD offers me exactly what I want.
For me audio is repeatable, video is not, just like viewing a movie once or twice I quickly reach the limit, after a few plays I simply can not watch that thing again, with repeated replay a video becomes awfully boring and gets in the way of music.
Vahe
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