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Riccardo Muti & Wiener Philharmoniker – Neujahrskonzert 2021 / New Year’s Concert 2021 / Concert du Nouvel An 2021 (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:44:47 minutes | 1,85 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical
The 2021 Vienna Philharmonic New Year’s Concert takes place on January 1, 2021, under the baton of Riccardo Muti in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna. After 1993, 1997, 2000, 2004, and 2018, this year’s concert will mark the 6th time that Riccardo Muti, whose close musical partnership with the Vienna Philharmonic has now extended nearly 50 years, conducts this prestigious concert event.
The 2021 New Year’s Concert will be broadcast in over 90 countries and followed by millions of television viewers around the world. The 2021 New Year’s Concert will take place without an audience.
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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.
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Yannick Nézet-Séguin & Wiener Philharmoniker – Sommernachtskonzert 2023 / Summer Night Concert 2023 (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:21:51 minutes | 1,38 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical
The Vienna Philharmonic’s Summer Night Concert is one of the most visited classical music concerts every year, because it takes place in the festively illuminated palace park of Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna in front of 100,000 visitors. In Germany, the popular concert will be broadcast by 3SAT, in Austria by ORF. in 2023, the Latvian mezzo-soprano Elina Garan\u010Da will be the star soloist for the first time, and for the first time Yannick Nézet-Séguin will be on the podium of the Vienna Philharmonic, which will take the audience to France with a varied program this year: the concert will open with two classics by Georges Bizet: the orchestral suite No. 1 with themes from his famous opera “Carmen” and with the famous “Habanera” aria from “Carmen”, sung by Elina Garan\u010Da. The piece “D’un matin de printemps” by the French composer Lili Boulanger, the first female laureate of the prestigious “Prix de Rome” of the Paris Conservatory, who tragically died at the age of only 24 and still left 50 works, is about a spring morning. The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra will perform the overture “Le Corsaire” by Hector Berlioz and Suite No. 1 from “Daphnis and Chloe” by Maurice Ravel, as well as the famous “Bolero” as the crowning finale of the concert. Elina Garan\u010Da presents as a star soloist three arias from Georges Bizet’s “Carmen”, from Charles Gounod’s “Sapho” and from Camille Saint-Saën’s “Samson et Dalila”. The concert will be released by Sony Classical as a CD, as a digital album as well as on DVD and Blu-ray, which reflect the atmospheric staging in the festively illuminated park of Schönbrunn Palace particularly well.
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Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Wiener Philharmoniker – Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 5 (2004)
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 73:06 minutes | Covers & PDF Booklet | 4,34 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Covers & PDF Booklet | 1,28 GB
Live Recording / Features Stereo and Multichannel surround sound
The word ‘vision’ is much misused these days yet to talk of Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s ‘view’ of Bruckner’s Fifth won’t quite do. This is more a realisation than an interpretation, musically vivid but spiritually serene.
I’ve seen it said that the real Bruckner is to be found in his themes, not his developments; that he was an embodier rather than a seeker. Not the least remarkable feature of Harnoncourt’s performance is his refusal to manipulate the structure of the long outer movements – the transitions in particular. This is risky. Scholars worry about what they call ‘disjunction’; so do conductors and listeners. I confess that after first hearing the performance I was more than happy to turn to Franz Welser-Möst’s more theatrical, structurally explicit reading, recorded live with the London Philharmonic in Vienna’s Konzerthaus during the 1993 Whitsun holiday.
Harnoncourt, however, drew me back to his serene – I suspect Baroque-inspired – view of this ‘Symphony of Faith’. Serene but now slow. By the clock, this is one of the quickest Fifths on record, though only the Adagio is taken more swiftly than usual. It was here that Bruckner began the symphony in the pit of despair in 1875 with a keening oboe melody which he marked ‘Sehr langsam’ but scored alla breve. Harnoncourt treats it allegretto after the manner of a threnody by Bach or Mozart, whose Requiem is quoted during the course of the movement. Furtwängler, surprisingly, took a similar view of the movement, as does Welser-Möst.
The ‘liveness’ of the live performance owes much to Harnoncourt – his persona fuelling the music-making not the concept, which is as it should be – though the superlative playing of the Vienna Philharmonic is also a factor. The light-fingered realisation of the exquisite string traceries is a constant source of wonder; tuttis are glowing and unforced. The hall of the Musikverein helps, too; with an audience present it offers a uniquely natural-sounding Bruckner acoustic.
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Wiener Philharmoniker, Mariss Jansons – New Year’s Concert 2016 / Neujahrskonzert 2016 (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:52:40 minutes | 2,15 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical
The Vienna Philharmonic New Year’s Concert took place under the baton of Mariss Jansons on January 1, 2016, in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna. Mariss Jansons, whose musical collaboration with the Vienna Philharmonic goes back to 1992, conducted the New Year’s Concert for the third time, following 2006 and 2012. The New Year’s Concert 2016 also represented the 75th anniversary of this unique cultural event.
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Mirella Freni, Jose Carreras, Wiener Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan – Verdi: Aida (1980) [Japan 2012]
PS3 Rip | 3x SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 155:04 minutes | Scans included | 6,23 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 2,48 GB
Japanese SACD Reissue 2012 | EMI Classics / Esoteric Company, Japan # ESSE 9074~6
The reissue of classical music masterpieces by ESOTERIC has attracted a lot of attention, both for its uncompromising commitment to recreating the original master sound, and for using hybrid Super Audio CD (SACD) technology to improve sound quality. This series marks the first hybrid SACD release of historical recording selections that have been mainstays of the catalog since their initial release.
The criterion of re-mastering is to faithfully capture the quality of the original master. ESOTERIC’s flag ship D/A converters, model D-01VU, Rubidium master clock generator model G-0Rb and ESOTERIC MEXCEL interconnect cables and power cords, were all used for this re-mastering session. This combination of highly advanced technology greatly contributed to capturing the high quality sound of the original master.
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Maurizio Pollini, Wiener Philharmoniker, Karl Böhm – Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos.19, K.459 & 23, K.488 (1976/2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 55:10 minutes | 1,82 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
[One] of the best versions of these works we have had in recent years… [O]ne could say that in general Pollini is a shade more open and direct in his projection of the solo part than Perahia, so that there are times when he suggests a greater freshness of feeling… Pollini is robuster in the finales, more overtly brilliant… Comments such as these are inadequate to pin down the qualities of…magnificent artists at the top of their form… –Gramophone
. . . la version de Maurizio Pollini, d’un luxe sonore inoui, présente une synthèse entre les grandes versions symphoniques et les approches chambristes, entre la simplicité de chant et la maîtrise supérieure de la forme . . . Il faudra attendre Wilhelm Kempff et la stéréo pour qu’enfin justice soit rendue à un ancien. La tendresse, la clarté, le style déclamatoire du pianiste sont incomparable. –Bertrand Dermoncourt, Classica – Repertoire
Pollini plays with classical poise and clarity, and the accompaniment, from Karl Böhm and the Vienna Philharmonic, is very lively . . . as a Mozartian he was almost faultless. –David Mellor, Mail on Sunday
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Maurizio Pollini, Wiener Philharmoniker, Karl Böhm – Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 23 & 19 (1976/2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 55:10 minutes | 1,82 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
On his first concerto disc for Deutsche Grammophon and his first devoted to works by Mozart, Maurizio Pollini performs two perennial favourites: the sunny A major work and the lively F major K.459 with its overwhelming fugato finale. The veteran conductor Karl Böhm and sumptuous accompaniments by the Vienna Philharmonic provide the perfect background to Pollini’s immaculate playing.
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Wiener Philharmoniker, Claudio Abbado – Lucerne Festival Historic Performances Vol. V – Claudio Abbado conducts Schubert, Beethoven & Wagner (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:17:42 minutes | 793 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Audite Musikproduktion
MusicWeb Review by John Quinn :: No doubt the record industry will issue any number of commemorative editions in memory of the late Claudio Abbado (1933-2014) over the coming months. This disc of Lucerne Festival performances was already in the pipeline, I believe, so Audite have been able to issue this tribute very promptly and it is a fitting one.
We learn from Peter Hagmann’s very good booklet tribute that Abbado made his Lucerne Festival debut back in 1966: at that time he was so unknown that, as Hagmann relates, when he arrived to take his first rehearsal there the doorman didn’t know who he was and nearly didn’t admit him. Over the following years the Italian maestro became ever more closely linked with the Festival, appearing there many times and eventually emulating Toscanini by assembling a hand-picked orchestra to make music with him there. The combination of Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra was to be a potent one. Here, however, we find him with two other orchestras with whom he enjoyed long and close relationships.
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Wiener Philharmoniker & Leonard Bernstein – Beethoven: String Quartet No.14 In C Sharp Minor, Op.131 (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 45:58 minutes | 1,86 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
Leonard Bernstein’s otherwise harmonious relationship with the Vienna Philharmonic hit a few bumps when he proposed that they perform this string quartet transcription of Beethoven’s Quartet in C-sharp Minor, op. 131. But only a few minutes into the first rehearsal, all static evaporated. One hears why: this great, idiosyncratic piece–along with the Quartet in F, op. 135–is played with startling freshness and affection. The unanimity of the orchestra ensures that textures are rarely muddied, while the sound of massed strings gives the music a grandeur always implied but never realized by conventional string quartet performances. What comes most to the fore in this version is the music’s meditative qualities. At times, the slow movements sound like Mahler, with whom Bernstein identified even more strongly than with Beethoven.
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Leonard Bernstein, Wiener Philharmoniker – Beethoven: Symphonie Nr. 9 (2005)
SACD ISO (MCH only): 3,79 GB | Full Artwork | 3% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Deutsche Grammophon “Eloquence” # 476 7368 | Country/Year: Germany 2005, 1980
Genre: Classical | Style: Viennese School
I want to add a very quick review, and I hope it will provide some information on this. I’ve had this on RBCD from its original release in the 1980s. I’m very familiar with this performance and it’s been one of my favorites of all time, next to the Bohm (also with Gwyneth Jones) and the last Karajan one.
In fact right after I ordered the SACD of this one (from JPC using the links from SA-CD.net), I pulled out my old RBCD and listened to it several times before someone bought it from me through my Amazon.com store. It was very fresh in my mind. I received my JPC shipment today and I’ve listened carefully to it on SACD.
Since I love the performance, I’m giving that high marks on performance. The playing is so exciting, and the tempi, which is pretty variable (but we all love that about Bernstein’s perfs), always keeps you guessing. The soli are really great, and I love hearing Kurt Moll do this. Dame Jones can sometimes be slightly off pitch but her musicianship outweighs that.
Regarding the sound, I am NOT impressed with what they’ve done to this. I am very disappointed. While the recording still sounds the same, it sounds like someone just hit the “loudness” button on an old amplifier. There’s no gain in clarity or fidelity — in fact it sounds a little more diffuse that it already did. I expected that the original sound recording would be filled with detail given the size of the piece and all the multi-miking that was going on. But nothing extra is elucidated here. The rear channels just have a little bit of echo to add some sense of space. But overall it all sounds wrong. I’m not impressed by the SACD transfer. I am certainly going to check out the CD-Audio layer and report back about how that sounds in comparison to my RBCD. Hopefully, they didn’t mess that up, too.
If you want this performance on SACD, you can’t really go wrong since it at least sounds as good as the RBCD, and it’s cheaper anyway than the RBCD-only version. I’m torn because I love this performance, but I can not rightfully give it high marks for sound. At least it’s not as awful as the SACD job that was done on Karajan’s second recording of the 9th. ~sa-cd.net
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Leonard Bernstein, Wiener Philharmoniker – Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde (1966/2016)
DSD64 (.dsf) 1 bit/2,82 MHz | Time – 01:06:49 minutes | 5,27 GB
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:06:49 minutes | 1,02 GB
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Artwork: Digital Bookelt | Genre: Classical | © Decca / HDTT
Herbert von Karajan, Wiener Philharmoniker – Richard Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier (1984) [Japan 2019]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 198:33 min | Scans incl. | 7,99 GB
or FLAC (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/96 kHz | Scans included | 3,94 GB
Japanese SACD Reissue 2019 | Decca / Esoteric Company, Japan # ESSG-90215~17
This three SACD set contains Richard Strauss’ opera “Der Rosenkavalier” performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Herbert von Karajan, and the Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor, led by Helmut Froschauer. Sung in German. This reissue series of classical music masterpieces by Esoteric has attracted a lot of attention, both for its uncompromising commitment to recreating the original master sound. This series marks the first hybrid SACD release of historical recording selections that have been mainstays of the catalog since their initial release.
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Herbert von Karajan, Wiener Philharmoniker – Dvorak: Symphonies Nos.8 & 9 (1985/2021)
DSD64 (.dsf) 1 bit/2,82 MHz | Time – 01:19:17 minutes | 3,12 GB
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:19:17 minutes | 1,12 GB
Souce: SACD-R | Artwork: Front Cover | Genre: Classical | © Deutsche Grammophon