EMI Classics Signature Collection on SACD

Maybe they learned something from the Beatles remastering project - that a little CEDAR may be all that is needed. At least one of the engineers worked on that project.

 

Listening now to Carl Schuricht's Bruckner 9 with VPO. Recorded November 20-22, 1961 at the Musikverein, Vienna. Produced by Victor Olof, balance engineer was Francis Dillnut. Pretty damn good sound, of course the performance is one of the greatest B9's. Not familiar with orig. vinyl. There is audible tape hiss, but I can tell it's been sensibly reduced (go to trk 1, 23:30). Not a bad-sounding remastering by any stretch. So great to have this back in the catalog on 2SACD w/ the 8th for $16! Don't pass this one up.

P.S. Is there a Series Two in the works??

 

You should work for EMI Eddie, because you just sold me one.

 

NOT a good endorsement, IMO. I've got bootleg Beatles that sound better than their finished professional product.

I bought the set of these SACDs, but haven't had time to sit down with them.

ccm

 

There are quite a few people on this forum who would disagree.

 

I played the Triple Concerto with Oistrakh yesterday and it sounded very good. I ordered the du Pre Elgar discs tonight. I don't have this performance and have been getting into cello recordings lately.

 

On special offer and very cheap currently at mdt.co.uk:

http://www.mdt.co.uk/special-offers/emi-signature-collection-sacds.html

 

I have lots of 1950's classical recordings on SACD and CD, and I don't think noise reduction is required here, even when the tape hiss is quite high. The brain quickly adapts to that constant hiss and then ignores it. On the other hand, even the slightest excess in noise reduction makes the sound unnatural.

The times are long over when newbie buyers complained about tape hiss on CD reissues, so there is no reason to try to reduce it.

 

Claude,

Maybe I missed something reading this thread quickly, but how badly are these SACDs affected by noise reduction?

 

Hans,

I only have a couple of the EMI SACDs (european and japanese series) and none of the pre-1960s recordings, which are more likely to be affected by higher tape hiss and thereby the use of noise reduction (Gieseking, di Stefano, Fischer-Dieskau).

On the SACDs I have heard (Bruckner/Schuricht, Mahler Lied/Klemperer, Mahler 9/Barbirolli, Richter concertos, Oistrach concertos), I didn't notice any negative effects of noise reduction. Not sure if the low level of noise itself is a proof of the use of noise reduction

Appart from a few discs which noticeably better mastering or better tape sources, I'm not very excited by the series. Many discs sound very close to the previous Great Recordings of the Century CD.

Maybe due to the "multi-generational" mastering process (analogue --> 24/96 PCM --> analogue --> DSD), the hi-rez benefit on the SACD layer is also very small.

At least the european releases are cheap.

 

Thanks Claude. As I posted earlier I wasn't impressed by the "Great Recordings of the Century" remasters (I generally prefer the older CD versions, even though many of them don't sound great to my ears either), so it seems likely that I won't like the sound on the CD layers of these new discs either.

However, since this series seems to be cheap, maybe I should try one of the discs.

 

Too bad EMI, unlike RCA/Sony, doesn't have enough faith in its own engineering legacy to transfer this analogue material straight to DSD.

If Gibson et al. have chosen the PCM domain in order to reduce tape hiss and other artifacts, what's the DSD value-added? Isn't the final product a tarted-up version of hi-res PCM.... In contrast to, say, the Living Stereo material, or PentaTone's reissues of old Philips material?

 

Listened this weekend to the du Pre and Janet Baker set. Really sounded nice to my ears.

 

Guys, after reading your opinions on this SACD series I added the Bruckner/Schuricht set to my wish-list. But what's about the Liszt/Czifrra set (there's definitely a lack of reviews of this one), is it a significant improvement over my single CD from the GRotC series containing only a selection of Rhapsodies? Should I get the 3SACD set based on the sound quality alone or should I upgrade to a more complete 5CD set issued by the French EMI branch? I really love Cziffra's Liszt, so it's a pretty important choice for me. Thanks in advance!

 

This is the one I have and enjoy:



amazon link

The sound is fine and it's cheap. That French set you posted above might be simply a reissue of the one I have. Mine was remastered almost entirely in 2001. Only the Transcendental Etudes were remastered in 1998. I say buy either set ASAP!

 

Any further insights in/opinions on the sound of these SACDs?

 

Is this series dead now?

 

Probably, now that EMI Classics doesn't exist anymore after having been sold to Warner by Universal. Warner started a reissue series of EMI recordings on their own label; for instance, Bernard Haitink's EMI cycle of Vaughan Williams symphonies with the London Philharmonic Orchestra was reissued on the Warner Classics label.

 

I hoped that more of these new transfers would be released as 24/96 downloads on HDtracks or elsewhere, but there doesn't seem to be true policy in that respect.

 

That's a damn shame Why didn't Universal keep EMI and add it to the family? After all they have DG, Decca, etc... So what's wrong with EMI as well?

 

HDTracks had a lot of classical EMI titles, including a number from this series. The problem was they were far more expensive than the SACDs.

Maybe they have been deleted?

 

They are more expensive than the ridiculously cheap european SACD sets, but cheaper than the japanese SACDs

Here's the label link on HDtracks:

https://www.hdtracks.com/index.php?file=browse_music&type=label&id=316

 

Universal didn't have a choice, they had to sell parts of EMI. It was one of the conditions to get the European Union's permission for the acquisition of EMI. They sold EMI Classics, Virgin Classics and Parlophone to Warner.

 

Forgot about the Debussy/Martinon. Gotta pick that up at the next sale.