Deutsche Grammophon Announces New Original Source Releases, Re-Pressings - and EBS Has a Signed Test Pressing Giveaway
All the latest news from the Original Sources Series - and a Call for Questions from Emil Berliner Studios, plus a chance to win a Free Signed Test Pressing
The Deutsche Grammophon Original Source series continues apace with four first-rate titles which represent such a wide range of repertoire that - as always with these releases - there is something for everyone here, from the classical newbie to the seasoned collector.
All mastered by Emil Berliner Studios directly from the 4 and 8 track master tapes to the cutting lathe, pressed at Optimal on 180gram vinyl, and presented in handsome gatefold jackets, this series continues to set the standard in AAA audiophile classical reissues, as I discussed extensively in my recent 2-part series of articles (you can read Part 1 here, and Part 2 here).
Before I get into the detail of each release, I will note that two of these titles were records which, from the inception of this series, I was especially hoping would receive the Original Source treatment, so I am thrilled to see them make their appearance here.
And stay tuned after the new release run-down for a special video message from Rainer Maillard and Sidney C. Mayer at Emil Berliner Studios asking you, dear readers, to submit your questions about the Original Source Series for a special video they will be producing in the New Year… By sending in your questions you can win a signed test pressing!
When any classical music lover thinks of great Mozart performances and recordings of the 20th century, the conductor Karl Böhm heads the list of interpreters closely associated with the composer. One of the headliners in the DG catalogue for decades, Böhm completed one of the first complete cycles of the symphonies which remains a benchmark to this day.
Karl Böhm
Mozart’s Requiem was famously left incomplete at the composer’s death, and is most often performed in a version completed by his former pupil Franz Xaver Süssmayr. The work attained a level of notoriety in the popular culture through its dominant role in the Oscar-winning film Amadeus (1984).
Needless to say, the Requiem has been recorded many times in all manner of styles and performing editions completed by various scholars of modern times. However, this 1971 recording of the Süssmayr version by Karl Bohm, with a star-studded line-up of soloists, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus of the Vienna State Opera, has long remained a favorite.
It is a full-blooded, grand performance in the old tradition. Do not expect to hear any period instrument manners here. However, this is a work that responds well to this approach, and I cannot wait to hear how the Original Source remastering freshens up the sonics. This might well turn out to be the sleeper hit of this batch.
Now, any time I see a record of Scriabin’s music, I usually end up buying it - and this one’s a classic. Scriabin is simply one of the most unusual, iconoclastic composers of any time, and on this record we have the great Claudio Abbado and the Boston Symphony Orchestra going full tilt at the composer’s most iconic work, Le Poéme de l’extase (The Poem of Ecstasy).
Claudio Abbado
Fans of the Original Source Series already know that some of the most sonically bravura titles have emanated from the recordings made in Boston’s Symphony Hall, including Abbado’s own record of Debussy and Ravel. Scriabin’s tone poem is the kind of work ideally suited to an audiophile makeover. It’s full of Romantic Technicolor music and emotion, brilliant orchestral writing, and - yes - Ecstasy with a capital “E”!
It’s coupled with one of the mainstays of the classical repertoire, Tchaikovsky’s Fantasy Overture, Romeo and Juliet. Okay, so this is a bit of an old chestnut which we’ve all heard way too many times, but experience has taught me that the Original Source refresh can wake up even the most jaded ears.
All of this is music which Abbado and the Bostonians play to the manner born. Can’t wait to hear this one.
Boston strikes again in a record which I know many have been hoping would make an appearance in this series - I know I have! A few months ago I got an email out of the blue from Rainer Maillard containing a video clip of him and Sidney cutting this title, with him declaring this to be far and away the best version of this symphony he’d heard, and one of the best sounding recordings per se in the series so far.
Yes, yes, yes! This is one of the greatest Tchaikovsky recordings in the catalogue, and it is all the sweeter that it is of one of the composer’s least known works, the utterly beguiling First Symphony, known as “Winter Dreams” I first encountered it when I bought the DG Tchaikovsky Symphony Edition box when I was 13, which also contained the legendary Yevgeny Mravinsky recordings of Symphonies 4, 5 and 6.
Michael Tilson Thomas
Michael Tilson Thomas is one of the musical treasures of our age. I had the great pleasure of recording and producing for NPR his summer series of concerts at Great Woods (near Boston) with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra back in the 1980s. His interviews were as insightful, communicative and exciting as his performances, and his recorded catalogue yields to no-one in its range and quality. But people forget he began his recording career with DG in Boston, and the collaboration yielded a clutch of superlative records. This Tchaikovsky is the jewel in his DG crown, and it’s a mandatory purchase.
Speaking of mandatory purchases… This has long been one of my favorite Karajan recordings, period - and, indeed, one of my favorite Mahler recordings. I will confess that some time ago I started dropping strong hints to Rainer Maillard and Johannes Gleim at DG that this should definitely be on their radar for reissue in the Original Source Series. When I heard the news that this was coming out I was thrilled beyond measure.
This recording was hailed by the critics when it was first released in 1978, and I bought a copy the week it appeared in record stores. Unusually for a DG vinyl LP of this era, the sound was exceptionally vivid, and it has remained my reference for the work in every regard since that time (pace the excellent Bernstein, also on DG, but from the digital era).
Herbert von Karajan at New Year's Concert, 1978
Karajan really connects with this symphony, which is one of Mahler’s most emotionally fraught, evoking Humanity’s struggle to transcend the shackles of Life itself - to reach transcendence in the face of abject reality. It concludes with actual massive hammer blows that literally fell the orchestra, casting the composer’s “heroic” alter-ego protagonist into the abyss and oblivion. This is an incredible work, which Karajan and the Berliners give the workout of its life.
This release is directly cut not only from the original 8-track master tape, but also from an additional master tape of cow bells and church bells specially recorded for the original sessions (and associated live performances at the time). For this OSS remastering Emil Berliner Studios ended up having to run four 8-track machines, syncing them manually, in order to realize this new LP, and have made a special video showing the process (which will be released when the record comes out - watch this space!). As Sidney Meyer admits on the commentary track - this was the greatest mixing and cutting challenge of the series so far.
I can’t wait to hear the end result!
All of these new titles will be available for preorder from the DG sites in Germany and the US, plus the usual Acoustic Sounds and Elusive Disc sites here in the US. (They are being released at the beginning of February). As always, these will be individually numbered, limited edition runs.
In addition to the above new titles, DG has also repressed several earlier releases in the Original Source Series (unnumbered), and all of these are highly desirable.
You will be able to look up detailed reviews on this site of all of these releases, but I will put in a special plug for the Ozawa Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique, which I gave a rave review of when it was first released. If you missed this one, do not hesitate. Details are on the DG site.
ASK EMIL BERLINER STUDIOS A QUESTION AND WIN A SIGNED ORIGINAL SOURCE TEST PRESSING!
There are more exciting new OSS releases on their way, in particular something that will absolutely be a mandatory purchase - another title that I have been quietly hoping would appear. Not allowed to say what it is yet, but I know many of you out there have been hoping for this one...
In association with future releases, Rainer Maillard and Sidney C. Meyer will be putting together a video answering questions you all have about the series. Here is the video they have just dropped soliciting those questions, and I urge you all to submit in a timely fashion before the deadline at the end of November. The email address to which you should send your questions is: oss@ebsberlin.com.
This is your chance to ask about anything related to the Original Source Series. Don’t be shy - they’d love to hear from you.
And when you submit your question(s) you will be entered into a raffle to win one of three test pressings being offered by EBS, signed by Rainer and Sidney!
So - time to dust off your interrogatories!
And, as always, Tracking Angle will be following this remarkable series of audiophile reissues every step of the way. Be sure to read (or re-read) our extensive collection of articles, reviews and videos covering the Original Source Series from its inception. The reviews by my colleague Michael Johnson of the most recent batch can be read here and here.
