Thread: Karajan Beethoven: Symphonies Nos 1-9 & Overtures 24bit 96kHz

Posts: 9

Post by onenairb July 20, 2015 (1 of 9)
Currently on offer for £11.69 (with 19 other 24/96 Karajan recording @ 20% off) on Qobuz.

www dot qobuz dot com/gb-en/album/beethoven-symphonies-nos-1-9-overtures-edition-studio-masters-herbert-von-karajan/0825646244195
(sorry but no too sure of the URL rules on this site so please adjust the URL)

Is this a good cycle?
Worth the purchase?

Post by Ubertrout July 20, 2015 (2 of 9)
The sale page is here: http://www.qobuz.com/fr-fr/search?q=karajan-2015

This site has a partnership with Qobuz, as I understand it links are encouraged.

Post by samayoeruorandajin July 20, 2015 (3 of 9)
Not usable for many of the patrons here who live in the US.

Post by Johnno July 20, 2015 (4 of 9)
I've just checked it out and it's not available for me either (New Zealand).

In addition, there are a couple of other download sites that don't seem to like us.

Post by Claude July 21, 2015 (5 of 9)
They certainly like everybody willing to spend money on their site, but they are contractually limited in the territories they can sell to.

Post by hiredfox July 21, 2015 (6 of 9)
Which recordings are they the 1962 recordings or the later 76/77 set? It was the first set that received most accolades. Both were recorded in analogue. The SQ was better on the later set obviously but the original readings remain peerless in the catalogue.

Post by Chris July 21, 2015 (7 of 9)
hiredfox said:

Which recordings are they the 1962 recordings or the later 76/77 set? It was the first set that received most accolades. Both were recorded in analogue. The SQ was better on the later set obviously but the original readings remain peerless in the catalogue.

Neither!
This is the EMI Philharmonia set from the 50s mainly.
But there are some recordings in this PROMO that for interpretative reasons alone ,would be worth investigating. I already have Karajan's Sibelius 5th from this Karajan remastered series and it is imho one of the great recordings of this symhony.
But don't expect modern SOTA SQ.
Karajan's Bruckner 7 is probably from the 1970 EMI LP set originally coupled with the 4th and is still in some respects my reference recording for this work. And at least in its LP form a very good recording by any standard!
At 6.65€ per album it looks tempting.
But after sampling a bit most sound like they are old thin and scrawny fifties recordings.
If anybody is looking for SQ improvement over rbcd I guess the safest bets would be the two 70s recordings ie Bruckner 7 and Karajan in Paris.
But I have both on LP so I think I will actually skip the PROMO this time.

Post by onenairb July 21, 2015 (8 of 9)
Well the sleeve says 1951 - 1955.

Post by Claude July 21, 2015 (9 of 9)
Interesting promo. I think the Karajan EMI albums are usually 11€ on Qobuz. Not sure they sound better than the existing CDs, given the mastering method at Abbey Road Studios.

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