The Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell – Schubert: Symphony No. 9 (1970-2019/2019)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 00:50:18 minutes | 2,02 GB
Genre: Classical | Publisher (label): EMI / Tower Records Japan – TDSA-110
セルとクリーヴランド管の最期のセッション録音群である”グレイト”を、本国オリジナル・アナログ・マスターテープから最新でSACDハイブリッド化。新規マスタリング。新規解説付
1970年の大阪万博で初来日した直後の7月に亡くなったジョージ・セル(1897-1970)が、直前の4月にドヴォルザークの交響曲第8番他と共に旧EMIレーベルに録音を行った、まさに白鳥の歌である”グレイト”が最新SACDで蘇りました。その年の年末に追悼盤としてLPがリリースされ、かつての雄姿を彷彿させる決定盤的演奏として長く親しまれてきた演奏です。尚、市販のSACDシングルレイヤーでリリースされています。今回の復刻のために、本国のオリジナル・マスターから96kHz/24bitでデジタル化したマスターを用い、SACD層、CD層別々にマスタリングを新規で行いました。新規解説付。永久保存盤です。
セル&クルーヴランド管弦楽団の超名盤がSACDハイブリッド盤で登場。市販でSACDシングルレイヤー盤としてリリースされていますが、SACDハイブリッド盤としては初めてのリリースです。同じステレオ録音盤では1957年録音の旧盤も強固な造形と緻密なダイナミズム、特に第4楽章における曲調に準じた機敏な反応は見事でした。本盤では加えて、両者の結び付きの強さから来る安定感と芳醇なまでに昇華された音楽性の向上が顕著に感じられます。最新の高品位でのデジタル化とマスタリングにより、さらに完成された素晴らしい両者の世界を感じ取れると思います。尚、この録音はマスターに起因するノイズ等や一部の歪、また、当時の録音による手法も散見されますが、従来通り、復刻に当たりましては原盤を尊重し、楽器の質感や音楽性を重視したマスタリングを心掛けました。この歴史的名盤の芸術観をより感じ取っていただけますと幸いです。
このシリーズでは、SACD層では伸びのある高域と柔らかなニュアンスと共に高い解像度と豊かな音場を、CD層はまとまったしっかりとした音と共に押し出される実在感ある音色を目指しています。CD自体のポテンシャルも高く、むしろ両方の良さを堪能できるSACDハイブリッド盤としてもお楽しみください。今回のDefinition Series第22弾は、計3タイトルを発売いたします。
＜制作ノート＞
マスタリングに当たりましては、本体の解説書内にも表記してあります通り、過去に発売された音源と極力比較する検証も行なった上で音楽を最大限に生かすべく、オリジナルのアナログ・マスターテープを尊重した上での最適なマスタリングを心がけております。一般的にマスターテープはあくまで製品前の段階での素材であり、収録年代や保存状況、原盤に対するレーベルの方針により状態や程度がそれぞれ異なります。そのため各最終製品形態に合わせ、程度の差はありますがほとんどの場合、基本的に必要最小限の整音が前提となっています。
The Cleveland Orchestra, Gina Bachauer, Robert Casadesus & George Szell – Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30 – Ravel: Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D Major, M. 82 & Le tombeau de Couperin, M. 68a (Remastered 2024) (1959/2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:11:32 minutes | 721 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Archipel
Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30, was composed in the summer of 1909. The piece was premiered on November 28 of that year in New York City with the composer as soloist, accompanied by the New York Symphony Society under Walter Damrosch. The work has the reputation of being one of the most technically challenging piano concertos in the standard classical piano repertoire.
The Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D major was composed by Maurice Ravel between 1929 and 1930, concurrently with his Piano Concerto in G major. The piece was commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein, a concert pianist who had lost his right arm in the First World War.
Le Tombeau de Couperin (The Grave of Couperin) is a suite for solo piano by Maurice Ravel, composed between 1914 and 1917. The piece is in six movements, based on those of a traditional Baroque suite. Each movement is dedicated to the memory of a friend of the composer (or in one case, two brothers) who had died fighting in World War I. Ravel also produced an orchestral version of the work in 1919, although this omitted two of the original movements.
Read more
David Oistrakh, Mstislav Rospropovich, The Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell – – Brahms: Violin Concerto & Double Concerto (1970) [Japan 2011]
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 74:15 minutes | Some Scans included | 2,08 GB
or DSD64 2.0 (from SACD-ISO to Tracks.dsf) > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | Some Scans included | 1,89 GB
or FLAC (carefully converted & encoded to tracks) 24bit/96 kHz | Some Scans included | 1,6 GB
Warner Music Japan # WPGS-50107 – Features the latest EMI Remastering (2011)
This is one of two recordings of the Double Concerto that Mstislav Rostropovich performed. That the cello’s repertoire has been so wonderfully enriched during the 20th century is due largely to Mstislav Rostropovich, the most influential cellist of his time, a champion of liberty, and also a noted conductor and pianist. Rostropovich was closely associated with EMI Classics (now Warner Classics) for more than 50 years, having made 100 recordings with the company between 1954 and his death in 2007, just a month after celebrations for his 80th birthday at the Kremlin.
Read more
The Cleveland Orchestra & Franz Welser-Möst – Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5 (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 42:53 minutes | 790 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Cleveland Orchestra
Written during the final months of World War II, Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 was described by the composer as “a symphony of the greatness of the human spirit, a song of praise of free and happy mankind.” While these words must be taken with a grain of salt — more likely to have been generated by an apparatchik than Prokofiev himself — melody, rhythmic invention, and unfettered delight abound within this beloved work.
Read more
The Cleveland Orchestra, Christoph von Dohnanyi – Dvorak / Smetana (1986/1995) [Reissue 2005]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 77:47 minutes | All Scans included | 4,18 GB
Warning: Features Multichannel surround sound ONLY | Label: Decca / Eloquence # 476 782-6
Christoph von Dohnányi is recognized as one of the world’s most distinguished conductors. Von Dohnányi served as sixth music director of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1984 to 2002, having been appointed music director designate in 1982. He conducted the orchestra in subscription concerts, in semi-staged concert version opera performances at Severance Hall, and on domestic and international tours to Asia and Europe. He initiated a project conducting world premieres of composers from the Cleveland area. The renovation and the extension of Severance Hall, the founding of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and Youth Chorus were significant achievements during his era as music director. He recorded numerous works with the Cleveland Orchestra: CD releases by Decca feature wide ranging repertoire with works by Mozart, Mahler, Bruckner, Dvorak, Strauss, Ives, Varese, Bartok, Adams, Ruggles, Webern, Ran, Shostakovich and all Schumann symphonies. A compilation of all Beethoven symphonies was recorded by Telarc, and a collection of all Brahms symphonies by Teldec. Live radio broadcast recordings were released by the Cleveland Orchestra, one set in celebration of the orchestra’s 75th anniversary and one commemorative box upon finishing his tenure in Cleveland representing his 20 years as music director. In 2002, he was named the first music director laureate of the Cleveland Orchestra. Since ending his tenure in Cleveland, von Dohnányi has been a regular guest conductor with the Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Chicago Symphony and Los Angeles Philharmonic, as well as the Cleveland Orchestra.
Read more
The Cleveland Orchestra & Franz Welser-Möst – Schubert: Symphony No. 9 in C Major “The Great” – Křenek: Static and Ecstatic (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:17:02 minutes | 1,24 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Cleveland Orchestra
This new album is the second release from the conductor Franz Welser-Möst and his Cleveland Orchestra on Welser-Möst’s own label. It also marks their final performances before their entire tour around Europe and the UAE was cancelled due to coronavirus. This recording took place on March 12, 2020 in front of a few donors and staff members under Ohio’s strict state rules. This feeling permeates Franz Welser-Möst’s rendition of Andante con moto from Schubert’s 9th Symphony and it sounds as though the conductor is conscious of the fact that this would the last time he would be conducting his orchestra for a while. This gives the calm, quiet work a very personal twist. The album also includes a work by Ernst Krenek commissioned for the Swiss patron Paul Sacher in 1972. Static and Extatic consists of ten short movements for chamber orchestra, percussion and piano. They are like musical haikus, each one lasting between one and three minutes. They are written in a serial style and present a retrospective of Ernst Krenek’s compositional technique that he developed throughout his long career. The resulting atmosphere is unexpected, enchanting and truly poetic. – François Hudry
Read more
George Szell, The Cleveland Orchestra – Mahler: Symphony No. 6 “Tragic” (Remastered) (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:13:40 minutes | 2,98 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical
George Szell (/ˈsɛl/; June 7, 1897 – July 30, 1970), originally György Széll, György Endre Szél, or Georg Szell, was a Hungarian-born American conductor and composer. He is widely considered one of the twentieth century’s greatest conductors. He is remembered today for his long and successful tenure as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra of Cleveland, Ohio, and for the recordings of the standard classical repertoire he made in Cleveland and with other orchestras.
Szell came to Cleveland in 1946 to take over a respected if undersized orchestra, which was struggling to recover from the disruptions of World War II. By the time of his death he was credited, to quote the critic Donal Henahan, with having built it into “what many critics regarded as the world’s keenest symphonic instrument.”
Through his recordings, Szell has remained a presence in the classical music world long after his death, and his name remains synonymous with that of the Cleveland Orchestra. While on tour with the Orchestra in the late 1980s, then-Music Director Christoph von Dohnányi remarked, “We give a great concert, and George Szell gets a great review.”
Read more
George Szell, The Cleveland Orchestra – Schumann: Symphonies 2 & 4: Weber: Oberon Overture (2001)
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 61:28 minutes | 2,88 GB
FLAC 2.0 Stereo (PS3 ISO extract / Weiss Saracon conversion) 24bit/88.2 kHz | 1,48 GB
Japan Import | Year: 1960, 2001 | Full Scans | 3% Recovery Info
… the recording sounds as though it had been made just last week. George Szell and the Clevelanders render Schumann in the grand manner of the middle of the last century, before the horrendous politically correct, period instruments craze hit the classical world. To anyone who’s heard any of the more “authentic” recordings of the last couple of decades, this may sound somewhat bombastic, but that’s what makes this music so wonderful.!
Read more
George Szell, The Cleveland Orchestra – Schumann: Symphonies 1, 3 & Manfred Overture (2001)
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 63:40 minutes | 2,99 GB
FLAC 2.0 Stereo (PS3 ISO extract / Weiss Saracon conversion) 24bit/88.2 kHz | 1,55 GB
Japan Import | Year: 1960, 2001 | Full Scans | 3% Recovery Info
These performances remain as great as ever, and the remastering is a source of wonder; if you don’t own these recordings, here’s a rare chance to correct the oversight. Take advantage of it while you can.
Magical and stunning music! You don’t have to spend a fortune going back to vinyl, these SACD versions of 50 year-old analog recordings contain all that warmth and transparency you’re looking for. It’s not about digital vs analog, it’s about superb reproduction qualities with no gimmicks or artificial studio effects.
Szell’s Schumann is a MUST for any serious listener of nineteenth-century music. These discs are not merely an essential addition to a collection: this is the only account of the Schumann symphonies you should have. So why Schumann? And why Szell?
Read more
Rafael Kubelik, Orchestre de Paris, Wiener Philharmoniker, The Cleveland Orchestra – Beethoven: Symphonies 6, 7 & 8 (1973-75) [Reissue 2017]
SACD Rip | 2x SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 54:59 minutes | Scans included | 4,49 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/96 kHz | Full Scans included | 2,15 GB
Features Stereo and Quadrophonic Surround Sound | PentaTone # PTC 5186 250
PentaTone’s third release from Rafael Kubelik’s acclaimed Beethoven cycle of symphonies in its Remastered Classics series is his commanding reading of the sixth, seventh and eighth symphonies performed by the Orchestre de Paris, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Cleveland Orchestra.
Read more
The Cleveland Orchestra – Berg: Three Pieces from Lyric Suite – Strauss: Suite from Der Rosenkavalier (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 56:57 minutes | 1018 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Cleveland Orchestra
This recording of Alban Berg’s Three Pieces from Lyric Suite and a Suite in Three Parts from Richard Strauss’s opera Der Rosenkavalier, compiled by Franz Welser-Möst, pairs two early-20th-century masterpieces grappling with an all-consuming love and lust through vastly expressive but different means.
A member of the Second Viennese school, Berg wrote the Lyric Suite while he was infatuated with Hanna Fuchs-Robettin. Both were married, yet Berg inscribed and intertwined their initials into a six-movement suite for string quartet. These cyphers and codes simmer subliminally under music that merges 12-tone techniques pioneered by Arnold Schoenberg with echoes of early 19th-century romanticism. Berg later arranged the second, third, and fourth sections for string orchestra to create the Three Pieces, a trio of intense and passionately argued movements captured on this recording.
Read more
George Szell and The Cleveland Orchestra – Live In Tokyo (1970) [Japanese Reissue 2000]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 83:39 minutes | Scans included (PDF) | 3,37 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included (PDF) | 1,62 GB
This 1970 concert, recorded live in Tokyo by NHK radio engineers, is the stuff of which legends are made. Already fatally ill with the cancer that would kill him two months later, George Szell led the orchestra he had nurtured since 1946 on a triumphant tour of the Far East, sharing the podium with Pierre Boulez, husbanding his strength, refusing to give in to increasing frailty and exhaustion. On the evening of May 22, he directed the program recorded here, and it remains arguably the single-most astonishingly perfect live performance ever captured by the microphones. This is all music that Szell conducted in the studio, and superbly well too. What, you already own those recordings? Never mind. The Oberon Overture has not been available in anything other than the Japanese Sony Szell Edition (in which this concert also features prominently), so its presence here is doubly welcome. The Mozart G minor Symphony should erase any notion of this conductor’s lack of flexibility. Yes, he was a severe disciplinarian, but his reputation tends to cloud people’s judgment (and clog their ears) when listening to the actual performances. This rendition thrives on subtle variations of pulse; Szell’s always-fresh way of introducing the upbeats to the principal theme whenever it returns offers one example, just as the unparalleled elegance (and yes, even playfulness) of phrasing throughout the slow movement provides another. Szell recorded a stellar Sibelius Second with the Concertgebouw for Philips, recently reissued in magnificently remastered sound. It has long been a version of reference for the work. This performance resembles the earlier one, interpretively speaking, but even the excellence of the Dutch orchestra cannot approach the ferocious virtuosity on display here. Start with the extraordinary energy and finely layered sonorities of the first movement’s central development section, and move on from there to the dazzling sectional interplay that ignites the second movement’s agitated climaxes (another classic example of Szell flexibly and fearlessly exploiting a huge range of tempo). By the time you reach the sizzling yet lighter-than-air strings in the scherzo (like Mravinsky/Leningrad at their peak, only with more colorful articulation), it should be clear that this performance sets a standard that remains unmatched to this day, technically and interpretively. Listen to the way Szell constructs the transition to the finale, and to its ideal mixture of Romantic expansiveness and structural solidity. The final climax rises out of the depths of the orchestra like a force of nature, a massive physical presence, and an incomparable musical experience. Berlioz’s Rákóczy March, the brilliantly played encore, is merely the icing on the cake.
Read more
David Oistrakh, The Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell – Brahms: Violin Concerto in D, Op.77 (1970) [Japan 2010]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 40:40 minutes | Scans NOT included | 1,63 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans NOT included | 726 MB
This new audio version feature newly remastered DSD master / Esoteric Japan # ESSE-90044
David Oistrakh, the celebrated Russian violinist, was one of a small group of Soviet artists invited by EMI to participate in their program of recording for the first time with major orchestras in the USA, following the end of the company’s long-standing reciprocal licensing arrangements with CBS and RCA. EMI’s first venture in this field was a set of Beethoven Piano Concertos with Emil Gilels as soloist, made with the Cleveland Orchestra under its Hungarian conductor George Szell in the Severance Hall, Cleveland, in April and May 1968. This was followed in May 1969 with the Brahms Violin Concerto with Oistrakh and the Brahms Double Concerto with Oistrakh and Rostropovich. The Penguin Guide said of the LP of the Violin Concerto that the performance was “full of controlled feeling and disciplined vitality that must be numbered among the finest of the full-price versions available”.
Read more
Technical Specs
Blu-ray
BD-25 Single-Layer Disc
Video Resolution/Codec
1080i/AVC MPEG-4
Aspect Ratio(s)
1.78:1
Audio Formats
DTS-HD MA 5.1 (48 kHz / 2403 kbps / 24-bit)
LPCM 2.0 (48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles/Captions
None
Supplements
Pre-concert talk with Dee Perry, Franz Welser-Möst and William Cosel
With its majestic themes soaring upwards like gothic pillars and its brilliant chorales and fanfares glowing like stained – glass windows, Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8 is the most monumental of his orchestral works, a cathedral in sound that grows out of pianissimo murmurs. Coming after the triumphs celebrated by the composer’s Seventh Symphony and Te Deum, the Eight was considered by Bruckner as the artistic climax of his career. Cleveland‘s Severance Hall is the venue for this performance. This hall, an eclectic yet elegant mix of Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Classicism, Egyptian Revival and Modernism was inaugurated in 1931 and is still hailed today as one of the world‘s most beautiful concert halls. The Cleveland Orchestra, founded in 1918, began its ascent to the upper ranks of the world‘s ensembles after it moved to Severance Hall in 1931.
Recorded live at Severance Hall, Cleveland, August 2010.
The Cleveland Orchestra, Franz Welser-Möst – Richard Strauss: Three Tone Poems (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 45:42 minutes | 855 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © The Cleveland Orchestra and Musical Arts Association
This fourth release for The Cleveland Orchestra’s own label again showcases the unparalleled artistry, refined Polish, and emotional power of this ensemble under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst. The album features three of Richard Strauss’s early tone poems, providing a tantalizing window into Welser-Möst’s reputation as a renowned conductor of Strauss’s music. Strauss wrote a total of nine tone poems-orchestral works that depict a storyline. Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks are among his earliest successes and became instant hits with audiences worldwide. These Cleveland Orchestra recordings were captured in September and October 2021. The album includes a 40-page booklet featuring an essay by Franz Welser-Möst about Strauss’s tone poems and artistry, along with program notes about each piece and an overview of Strauss’ career and legacy.
Read more