Label : DG
Format : Flac (image + cue)
Cover : Yes
Tracklist :
Béla Bartók (1881-1945)
Violin Concerto No. 2, Sz 112
Tibor Varga - violin
Berliner Philharmoniker, Ferenc Fricsay
Dance Suite, BB 86, Sz. 77
RIAS Symphony Orchestra Berlin, Ferenc Fricsay
Cantata Profana 'The Nine Enchanted Stags', BB 100, Sz. 94
Helmut Krebs - tenor, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau - baritone
RIAS Symphony Orchestra Berlin, St. Hedwig's Cathedral Choir Berlin, Ferenc Fricsay
Label : Erato
Format : Flac (image + cue)
Cover : Yes
Label : Erato
Format : Flac (image + cue)
Cover : Yes
Label : DG
Format : Flac track
Cover : Yes
Label : Calliope
Format : Flac image
Cover : Yes
Label : Decca
Format : Flac (image + cue)
Cover : Front + Back
Label : DG
Format : Flac track
Cover : Yes
Label : EMI
Format : Flac (image + cue)
Cover : No
Label : Memories
Format : Flac (image + cue)
Cover : Yes
Label : Harmonia Mundi
Format : flac track
Cover : Yes
Label : Naxos
Format : Flac (image + cue)
Cover : Yes
Label : Calliope
Format : Ape
Cover : Yes
Label : Harmonia Mundi
Format : flac (image + cue)
Cover : Yes
Label : Scribendum
Format : Flac (image + cue)
Cover : Yes
Label : Harmonia Mundi
Format : flac (image + cue)
Cover : Yes
Label : Philips
Format : Ape
Cover : Yes
Label : Decca
Format : Flac track
Cover : No
Decca’s legendary Phase 4 series started off in 1961 with a number of gimmicky titles designed to showcase their bold new approach to stereo. The company had already set new sonic standards with their Ernest Ansermet/Orchestre de la Suisse Romande recordings from the 1950s and early 1960s; those pioneering efforts, reissued countless times, sound wonderful in their most recent re-masters. In contrast to that emphasis on high seriousness – both musical and technical – Phase 4 was aimed at a broader, less demanding audience in search of aural excitement and adventure. Indeed, the word ‘Spectacular’ appeared in both the Phase 4 logo and in several album titles.
In 1964 Decca launched their Phase 4 Concert Series with a string of safe bets. These included Grofé’s Grand Canyon Suite with Stanley Black and the London Festival Orchestra (PFS 4036) and an all-Tchaikovsky disc from the same ensemble conducted by Robert ‘Bob’ Sharples (PFS 4044). The LFO, a mainstay of the Phase 4 project, was set up in the 1950s as Decca’s ‘house orchestra’. Meanwhile, as composers, arrangers and band leaders both Sharples and Black had an established reputation that made them an ideal ‘bridge’ between the light catalogue and the more serious one. Black is particularly well represented in this new Decca box; Sharples leads the charge in the bonus disc, Battle Stereo (PFS 4034).
Once the Concert Series had gained traction Decca introduced some heavyweight conductors, among them Antal Doráti, Leopold Stokowski, Arthur Fiedler and Bernard Herrmann; they hired high-profile orchestras too, notably the Royal Philharmonic, the New Philharmonia and the London Symphony. Even their roster of soloists improved, with mezzo Marilyn Horne singing excerpts from Bizet’s Carmen, violinist Ruggiero Ricci in Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn concertos, and pianist Ilana Vered in Mozart, Stravinsky and the faddish Yellow River Concerto.
Label : Praga
Format : ISO
Cover : Yes
Label : Philips
Format : Ape
Cover : Yes
Label : Decca
Format : Flac track
Cover : No
Decca’s big box “Mono Years” retrospective focuses on orchestral and instrumental recordings made between 1944 and 1956, many of which appear for the first time on CD. Its 53 discs are packaged in original jacket facsimiles (many including generous “bonus” fillers), ordered alphabetically by performer, and for the most part transferred from the best possible sources. If Decca lacked the strong artist and repertoire policies that distinguished EMI and RCA Victor during that time, its early outreach into local European markets actually yielded a surprisingly eclectic, far-reaching, and unpredictable catalog. Unpredictable, in fact, is the operative word regarding the set’s overall artistic and sonic quality.
Decca’s “Full Frequency Range Recording” engineering yielded some of the mono era’s best-sounding releases, like the Jean Martinon/London Philharmonic Lalo Suites from Namouna and concerted works with pianist Kathleen Long contained on Disc 38. By contrast, the Eric Tuxen/Danish Radio Symphony Prokofiev Symphony No. 5 sounds as if the hard-pressed orchestra had been shoved into an airless closet. Yet another dynamically constricted Danish Radio Symphony release conveys vivid detail and far superior playing in Sibelius’ complete Lemminkainen Suite under Thomas Jensen. Similarly, London’s orchestras could be strident and scrappy in Elgar and Vaughan Williams with Anthony Collins in charge, or positively shine in Haydn, Kodály, Mozart, and Bartók when the young Georg Solti wielded the baton.
You never knew what you’d get from the post-war Vienna Philharmonic: phoning in Haydn and Beethoven for Karl Münchinger; oozing charm (if not tip-top precision) for Hans Knappertsbusch in Bruckner’s Third Symphony, corrupt text and all; or trying hard to reconcile their genial style within Erich Kleiber’s forthright rhythmic integrity in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
Label : Decca
Format : Flac track
Cover : Front
In the late 1940s, the pioneering Decca recording engineers perfected a new set of microphone techniques that allowed the full range of frequencies to be fully heard by listeners for the first time, and the term ‘full frequency range recording’ was launched. It was a major revolution in sound quality, and the beginnings of high fidelity.
Perfected with the birth of stereo in the mid-1950s, Decca’s ‘Full Frequency Stereophonic Sound’ became a worldwide hallmark of sonic excellence and a golden age of classical recorded music was born. THE ANALOGUE YEARS presents a 50-Album overview across 53 CDs, in original jackets, of the celebrated international recordings that emerged from the London-based record label in that pre-digital era.
Label : Hyperion
Format : Flac (image + cue)
Cover : Yes
Label : Praga
Format : ISO
Cover : Yes
Label : Decca
Format : Flac track
Cover : Yes
This set is a marvel, a mostly wonderful 50-CD tribute to some of the finest stereo recordings ever made in the Classical medium. Smartly packaged, and intelligently chosen, the box is worth having even if one owns some of the contents already. And you are bound to, for even a novice collector will recognize the great singers, conductors, and soloists on display. It's also reasonably priced on both sides of the pond, and is undoubtedly a limited edition, in the sense it will be pulled soon and sold at outrageous eBay prices. So if the prospect interests you, by all means indulge.
By and large the historical recordings are of more worth than the more recent offerings. Argenta, Martinon, and Maag all get a nod, and it's equally nice to see that Ashkenazy is being recognized as both an arranger and conductor here. Karajan and Solti naturally appear, although it must be said that those are wholly successful appearances, Dorati gets tons of kudos on Mercury, so one disc will do here; I wish only that it were Haydn. Schiff's justly famous Goldberg's are here, and Radu Lupu gets a disc, even if it's hardly the best. Britten's War Requiem with the composer conducting has been jammed onto one disc, as if it could get any more essential, and Kerstez's Vienna 9th and London 8th make a memorable Dvorák disc indeed.
