Karajan's analog Mahler 9th will be on SACD this month.

[John Kim]

http://www.hmv.co.jp/en/artist_Mahler-1860-1911_000000000019272/item_Symphony-No-9-Herbert-von-Karajan-Berlin-Philharmonic-1979-1980-Single-Layer-Limited_8194175

The recent Japanese SACD of Giulini/CSO/DG M9th was phenomenal!

[waderice]

Thankfully, I still have my Barclay-Crocker pre-recorded reel of that recording, so I don't need the SACD.

Wade

[John Kim]

Wade,

I trust the fidelity of your reel tapes, but you may still wish to get the SACD. The Giulini/CSO/DG M9 SACD is by miles the best sounding version of this famous 40 year old recording and it sounds like no other previous versions either on LP or CD. I am sure they will have done the same good job on the Karajan.

John

[waderice]

Wade,

I trust the fidelity of your reel tapes, but you may still wish to get the SACD. The Giulini/CSO/DG M9 SACD is by miles the best sounding version of this famous 40 year old recording and it sounds like no other previous versions either on LP or CD. I am sure they will have done the same good job on the Karajan.

John

John,

I did purchase the Giulini/CSO/M9 SACD, and it is phenomenal.  Unfortunately, years ago, I initially purchased Magtec/Stereotape's issue of it, which was in the later days of that particular company putting out reel tapes, and I was disappointed in the duplication transfer, which had channel imbalance problems, so I returned it.  Magtec/Stereotape went out of business shortly thereafter.  Their earlier owner, The Reel Society, was a much better company with superior products.  One of the Reel Society's major accomplishments was to issue the Solti Wagner Ring using a newer master tape, which sounds great.  Barclay-Crocker hung on for a couple of years longer than did Magtec/Stereotape, and was a vastly superior seller of pre-recorded reel tapes in that they duplicated their issues at a slower speed and used better quality blank tape than did Magtec/Stereotape.  Unless I find a decent price for the Karajan SACD version, I'll just stick with my reel tape.

Some of DG's famous late analog recordings are being reissued on Blu-ray audio-only disks, as well as a few by London/Decca.  It seems that Blu-ray audio-only is more readily available in the U.S. generally at a much better price than many of the SACD issues are in Japan, unfortunately.  I believe that most of DG's and London/Decca high-resolution audio reissues are remastered at 24-bit, 96-kHz for the most part, with these particular remasterings being used for both SACD and Blu-ray-only audio.

Thanks, Wade

[barryguerrero]

That price from Japan comes out to about $41!!!

I like Karajan's first, analog M9 very much, but I'm perfectly satisfied with the reissue of it with the "Kindertotenlider" and "Ruckert Songs" thrown inn for good measure (Christa Ludwig). Still, I'm glad that this sacd is coming.

[SteelyTom]

After buying the phenomenal HvK/BPO Mahler 6 on JSACD, I'm probably in for this new one, though with somewhat of a guilty conscience: Do I really need Karajan's analogue version if I've got the subsequent, live one?  Though I've always found the latter a bit harsh and glassy in that early-digital way (I have the CDs as originally issued in the early eighties).

[James Meckley]

Do I really need Karajan's analogue version if I've got the subsequent, live one?  Though I've always found the latter a bit harsh and glassy in that early-digital way (I have the CDs as originally issued in the early eighties).

If you do have the very first CD release of the Karajan live digital Mahler 9, I think you'd find the later "Karajan Gold" remaster to be a significant—one might even say dramatic—improvement. It has an identical cover save for the "Karajan Gold" logo in the lower left corner.

[SteelyTom]

Thanks, James--  I've got the very first, hot-off-the-presses set of the live Ninth (as well as the earlier analogue recording on LP), so I'll have to look at upgrade options-- like the new SACD of the first recording....