Opinions Deutsche Grammophon Vinyl Reissues

[audioguy3107]

Was curious what the classical music fans here on AA think of all the vinyl reissues of many of DG classic releases when it comes to sound quality. I’ve read that audiophiles as a whole may prefer the sound on other labels like Decca, Mercury, Telarc and RCA In Living Stereo to name a few, but that the performances on DG are of excellent quality. It looks like they’ve taken the recordings from the original analog master tapes. Anyone have any experience with the newer reissues? So many great artists to choose from.

- Buck

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by audioguy3107

Was curious what the classical music fans here on AA think of all the vinyl reissues of many of DG classic releases when it comes to sound quality. I’ve read that audiophiles as a whole may prefer the sound on other labels like Decca, Mercury, Telarc and RCA In Living Stereo to name a few, but that the performances on DG are of excellent quality. It looks like they’ve taken the recordings from the original analog master tapes. Anyone have any experience with the newer reissues? So many great artists to choose from.

- Buck

Buck, who is doing the reissues? Is it DG themselves? I agree with others that original DGs did not, on the whole, sound as good as original Decca, Argo, Mercury, London, RCA, Harmonia-Mundi, EMI, Reflexe, Lyra-Loiseau, etc. I have a lot of original DGs and, on the whole, they sound rather dark and veiled compared to other labels from the time. I guess you could buy one that is the same as an original you may have and compare.

[62caddy]

I have a variety of DG originals from the '70s & '80s. Not a huge array, but a fair sampling. I've found the recording quality of this label to vary significantly. Most I would rate G to VG with one particular album EX, that one being Verdi: Overtures and Preludes by the Berlin Philharmonic cond Herbert von Karajan.

The one that stands out as very poor is Vivaldi: The Four Seasons also performed by Berlin Philharmonic/von Karajan, Michael Schwalbe' soloist.

I've noticed that some other labels seem to exhibit a distinct sonic "signature" when compared to others. I always found the London/ffrr a/k/a Decca to a have a "full robust" character that I've always enjoyed.

-My apologies if I strayed too far off topic.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by 62caddy

I have a variety of DG originals from the '70s & '80s. Not a huge array, but a fair sampling. I've found the recording quality of this label to vary significantly. Most I would rate G to VG with one particular album EX, that one being Verdi: Overtures and Preludes by the Berlin Philharmonic cond Herbert von Karajan.

The one that stands out as very poor is Vivaldi: The Four Seasons also performed by Berlin Philharmonic/von Karajan, Michael Schwalbe' soloist.

I've noticed that some other labels seem to exhibit a distinct sonic "signature" when compared to others. I always found the London/ffrr a/k/a Decca to a have a "full robust" character that I've always enjoyed.

-My apologies if I strayed too far off topic.

If you want a great recording and superb performance of The Four Seasons, I highly recommend the Argo LP with The Academy of St. Martin-In-The-Fields led by Neville Marriner. Regarded by many classic music critics as one of the finest, if not the finest, recording of The Four Seasons ever made. It was also, IIRC, the single biggest seller in the entire Argo library, with well over 500,000 copies. So, its not hard to find a nice, used original LP.

[62caddy]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

If you want a great recording and superb performance of The Four Seasons, I highly recommend the Argo LP with The Academy of St. Martin-In-The-Fields led by Neville Marriner. Regarded by many classic music critics as one of the finest, if not the finest, recording of The Four Seasons ever made. It was also, IIRC, the single biggest seller in the entire Argo library, with well over 500,000 copies. So, its not hard to find a nice, used original LP.

Good to know.

[audioguy3107]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

Buck, who is doing the reissues? Is it DG themselves? I agree with others that original DGs did not, on the whole, sound as good as original Decca, Argo, Mercury, London, RCA, Harmonia-Mundi, EMI, Reflexe, Lyra-Loiseau, etc. I have a lot of original DGs and, on the whole, they sound rather dark and veiled compared to other labels from the time. I guess you could buy one that is the same as an original you may have and compare.

According to Acoustic Sounds when you click on the individual album, it says that they are remastered from the original analog tapes by .......... and it tells you who the mastering engineer is. One album says mastered at Universal Music while others don't list a location. I may grab a couple to see how they sound. My thinking is that if they did an excellent job with the analog tapes, then maybe they would sound a lot better than the originals.

- Buck

[clpetersen]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

If you want a great recording and superb performance of The Four Seasons, I highly recommend the Argo LP with The Academy of St. Martin-In-The-Fields led by Neville Marriner. Regarded by many classic music critics as one of the finest, if not the finest, recording of The Four Seasons ever made. It was also, IIRC, the single biggest seller in the entire Argo library, with well over 500,000 copies. So, its not hard to find a nice, used original LP.

Yes, good to know - thx!
Located the CD version of this performance .... I am just a vinyl lurker at present...
sorry to switch topics a bit -

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by audioguy3107

According to Acoustic Sounds when you click on the individual album, it says that they are remastered from the original analog tapes by .......... and it tells you who the mastering engineer is. One album says mastered at Universal Music while others don't list a location. I may grab a couple to see how they sound. My thinking is that if they did an excellent job with the analog tapes, then maybe they would sound a lot better than the originals.

- Buck

Good to know, thanks! I know that Speakers Corner often will bring in the same mastering engineer who mastered the orginal recording prior to pressing LPs.

They did this with the same mastering engineer that originally mastered their outstanding Midsummer's Nights Dream re-issue on Decca, the actual Decca guy! Pretty cool.

[tima]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

If you want a great recording and superb performance of The Four Seasons, I highly recommend the Argo LP with The Academy of St. Martin-In-The-Fields led by Neville Marriner. Regarded by many classic music critics as one of the finest, if not the finest, recording of The Four Seasons ever made. It was also, IIRC, the single biggest seller in the entire Argo library, with well over 500,000 copies. So, its not hard to find a nice, used original LP.

This is a great recording. Listen for the organ that Marriner adds to the orchestration. Ideally you want this on the original oval label Argo for richer tonality vs the rectangular label shown in the picture but either is good.

[tima]

Originally Posted by audioguy3107

Was curious what the classical music fans here on AA think of all the vinyl reissues of many of DG classic releases when it comes to sound quality. I’ve read that audiophiles as a whole may prefer the sound on other labels like Decca, Mercury, Telarc and RCA In Living Stereo to name a few, but that the performances on DG are of excellent quality. It looks like they’ve taken the recordings from the original analog master tapes. Anyone have any experience with the newer reissues? So many great artists to choose from.

- Buck

It depends on the recording and who is doing the reissue. As my system improves the better Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft sound better and better; with so many great artists I would not dismiss the label. DG did tend to over-mic some performances and some tended to sound brittle. Do a little research on tulips and tulip size with this label. It is not hard to find original editions.

If you're starting out with classical, consider DGG's issuance of Karl Bohm with the Vienna Philharmonic performing Beethoven's Symphony No. 6. (2530 142) NM copies are quite reasonable.

I avoid DGG reissues on HQ Supercuts and Analogphonic labels. Don't have much to say about DGG on CD.


Tulips Baby!