Tower–Japan About To Release Barenboim/CSO Bruckner Cycle on CD

[James Meckley]

I understand that Tower Records–Japan will be releasing a remastered version of the Barenboim/Chicago Bruckner Symphonies sometime next week. Although they don't plan to officially export them outside Japan, John F. Berky is going to import some on his own and sell them through his Website for "approximately $150.00 plus shipping."

http://www.abruckner.com/newreleases/featurednewrelease/symphonies09barenb/

I have no connection to Mr. Berky other than occasionally visiting his Website, but this set of recordings has been mentioned here several times and I thought there might be general interest in this release.

I have the original DG CDs of these and I also have the remastered DG two-fer of Symphonies 4 & 7, and can assure you that the remastered 4 & 7 sound considerably better than the same symphonies in the original set. I therefore retain high hopes for similarly improved sound in the new Japanese set.

James

[John Kim]

I second that this is really a very fine Bruckner cycle. I'd rank Barenboim's B6th as one of the greatest on a par with Klemperer. The other are also first rate. I particularly like the 0th, 3rd, 5th, and 8th, besides the 6th.

That he was able to elicit such an idiomatic playing (for the music) from the American orchestra is just amazing.

John,

[alpsman]

That's really good news.
What do you think about the remastrered( I hope) sound. Will  that be much better than the european pressings? The official Universal Japan releases are very good indeed. But I don't know  of these Tower cds.

[waderice]

For those of you who may miss out on getting the Japanese CD reissue of this cycle, a copy of the original DG integral LP set will appear in auction catalogs every once in a while, such as Polyphony (Larry Jones) out of Chicago.  That was how I got my copy.  They mail a paper copy of their catalog to established customers and also post them online at http://www.lucidum.com/polyphony/.

Wade

[James Meckley]

What do you think about the remastered (I hope) sound? Will that be much better than the European pressings? The official Universal Japan releases are very good indeed. But I don't know  of these Tower cds.

I have only one of these exclusive Tower-Japan CD releases—the 1967 RCA Ozawa/Chicago Mussorgsky-Ravel Pictures and Britten Young Person's Guide, which I privately imported. The sound is absolutely stunning and, although in this case there's nothing to compare it with (amazingly, there has never been an official RCA/BMG release of this!), I can't imagine a better-sounding CD of these performances, which I've known and loved on LP since I was in high school (in terms of performance, it's the finest YPGttO I've ever heard, and among my very favorite Pictures).

BTW, for those who don't yet know, Mr. Ozawa has recently been diagnosed with esophageal cancer and has canceled all engagements for the next six months to undergo treatment.

James

[mister bob]

How do the performances compare to his Berlin Phil cycle, which I already own and enjoy?  [And which, BTW, can be purchased on Amazon UK for just over £15, a real bargain.]

[Russell]

What do you think about the remastered (I hope) sound? Will that be much better than the European pressings? The official Universal Japan releases are very good indeed. But I don't know  of these Tower cds.

I have only one of these exclusive Tower-Japan CD releases—the 1967 RCA Ozawa/Chicago Mussorgsky-Ravel Pictures and Britten Young Person's Guide, which I privately imported. The sound is absolutely stunning and, although in this case there's nothing to compare it with (amazingly, there has never been an official RCA/BMG release of this!), I can't imagine a better-sounding CD of these performances, which I've known and loved on LP since I was in high school (in terms of performance, it's the finest YPGttO I've ever heard, and among my very favorite Pictures).

BTW, for those who don't yet know, Mr. Ozawa has recently been diagnosed with esophageal cancer and has canceled all engagements for the next six months to undergo treatment.

James

That Ozawa/CSO LP was also the one I grew up with (I always used it as a 'demo' recording), and I still think it compares well to anything out there today interpretively and sonically.  I've got the 'Pictures' on a Japanese RCA Ozawa compilation CD (2 CDs, actually) that I got from HMV Japan a few years ago, and it sounds great as well.  Is the CD you speak of a JVC/XRCD release?  I saw that listed on HMV Japan's website and considered ordering it, but the cost was prohibitively high.

Sorry to hear about Ozawa's cancer.....

Russell

[James Meckley]

Is the CD you speak of a JVC/XRCD release?  I saw that listed on HMV Japan's website and considered ordering it, but the cost was prohibitively high.

Russell,

The CD I have is a Tower Records Japan limited edition release, No. 17 in their "Tower Records RCA Precious Selection 1000" series, manufactured for them by BMG Japan, Inc., with a production date of 2007. Great care appears to have been taken in the remastering. It contains the Ozawa/CSO Mussorgsky–Rimsky-Korsakov Night on Bare Mountain (originally coupled with Tchaikovsky 5 on another RCA LP) as well as the Britten and the Mussorgsky–Ravel Pictures mentioned above. It cost ¥1,050 (a real bargain) and was imported for me by a friend who teaches in the US but plays in a Japanese orchestra and makes many trips back and forth.

James