Eugene Ormandy - In Memoriam: Strauss, Bartok, Liszt, Sibelius etc. (1978-81) [2016 SACD Definition Serie]

The masterpieces left by Ormandy & Philadelphia on the old EMI label are collected into three pieces, except for some concerto sound sources. With the introduction of SACD, the finest sound that was one of the best orchestral performances in the world is revived with high quality. Reprint the wonderful heritage of the last years in the best form. For this reprint, a new mastering was performed separately for the SACD layer and the CD layer using a master (excluding digital recording) digitized at 96kHz / 24bit from the master in the home country. It is a permanent storage board.
As a sound source that faithfully records the sound of the last years of the Ormandy & Philadelphia Orchestra, this old EMI recording has great brightness. However, in the CD era, it was not the sound source that fully conveyed the last rich sound, probably because it was an early digitized sound source. In the last few years, the best sound they aimed for could not be recorded and faithfully reproduced, probably because of the somewhat artificial impression of RCA rather than recording. Rather, the CBS era simply conveyed their sound. Under such circumstances, the old EMI label at that time struggled to select a recording location (it was said that 14 places were considered), and then selected a song other than the RCA repertoire or that they stand out (Zara was in 1975 RCA version, but it was re-recorded in '79 as a song that was easy to show its characteristics), and the wonderful tone of the last Ormandy & Philadelphia Orchestra was left. This time, with regard to analog sound sources, new mastering is performed after high-quality digitalization (96 kHz / 24 bit) again with current technology, SACD conversion from the master, and mastering is separately performed on the CD layer, then reprinted I will. Finally, the true figure is revived.

The song was a compilation of five albums from Sibelius's `` Four Legends '', which was the first recording of the former EMI label, to December 1981, a co-star with Katsaris (one more, Two songs with Perlman are on the old EMI label, but have been excluded from this set due to rights). For this product, we used the LP called "In Memoriam", which was released in the United States in 1985 as a commemorative edition of Ormandy, and adopted a board called "In Memoriam" for the design of the jacket, combining old EMI sound sources. Indeed, it is an expanded form of "InMemoriam", and it became a valuable set that conveys their last days. "Barber: Adagio for Strings" was a song that was recorded in 1978 but had not been released until it was recorded on this memorial album. At that time, the label was worried about what to combine this song with, but it turned out to be the last track as a memorial. It seems that this song has been used many times on various compilation boards regardless of domestic imports since its release, but I guess this set is almost the first time to reproduce it in its original form.
The commentary book is rich in content that combines the affectionate reminiscence of Omandy by Mikito Ichikawa and the discourse and materials of the members at the time, which are also familiar in the explanation of the reprinted CD between our company and SONY CLASSICAL. In terms of sound quality, it was a level where they could clearly see how rich they had at that time. It is a sound source that should be listened to forever, as a completed figure of the orchestra, not only for Ormandy fans.

*As it is a machine translation, the result may not provide an accurate description.
Please use it only as a reference.


Tracks:



SACD 1
01-09. Richard Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra, TrV 176 Op. 30
10-13. Jean Sibelius: Lemminkäinen-sarja (Suite), Op. 22



SACD 2
01-04. Béla Bartók: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, Sz. 106 BB 114
05. Béla Bartók: A Csodálatos Mandarin - Suite, Sz. 73 BB 82 Op. 19 'The Miraculous Mandarin'
06. Franz Schubert: (arr. Franz Liszt) Grosse Fantasie 'Wanderer', S. 366



SACD 3
01-04. Paul Hindemith: Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber
05-06. Paul Hindemith: Konzertmusik for Brass and Strings, Op. 50
07. Franz Liszt: Piano Concerto in the Hungarian Style, S. 714 (compl. Tchaikovsky)
08. Franz Liszt: Fantasie über ungarische Volksmelodien, S. 123 (after S. 244 No. 14)
09. Samuel Barber: Adagio for Strings, Op. 11a

Personnel:

Cyprien Katsaris (piano)
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Eugene Ormandy (conductor)