6 New Dutton Epoch Classical Surround SACDs from quad masters (December 13, 2024)

haikubass · Dec 13, 2024

Merry classical Christmas!

ubertrout · Dec 13, 2024

Whoah. Been waiting for a new classical quad lot for a while.

ubertrout · Dec 13, 2024

Okay, I feel like a rundown is a bit of a tradition now, so why not (I'm also proctoring an exam and kind of bored). I imagine this will be moved shortly and that's fine.

https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDLX7403 - Nice coupling of Stokowski's late (he was in his 90s) Tchaikovsky 6th made for RCA with Eugene Fodor's debut record of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with Leinsdorf. Calling the Violin Concerto a "bonus work" is interesting as it isn't much shorter than the Symphony. Dutton has released a number of Stokowski's RCA quads, and it's nice to get more of them.

https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDLX7416 - This gives us the other work from Eugene Fodor's debut album in quad - the Saint-Saens Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso - along with his record of the Paganini 1st Violin Concerto and Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in stereo only. It's nice that D-V is giving us this showcase of Eugene Fodor - he was a prodigy who kind of burned out (more on his story here, although he lived another 22 years and died at 60 in 2011: https://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/06/...o-heroin-a-brilliant-violinist-s-decline.html). He didn't record enough to get a box set so it's nice it's being made digitally available. Would have been nice to get a quad remix of the other tracks but I understand it's not always possible or feasible. So far as I can tell only his first album is on streaming.

https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=2CDLX7414 - A two SACD set giving us (I think) all of Pierre Boulez's quad recordings of Ravel, following the earlier release by D-V of his complete Daphnis and Chloe. Self-recommending. These were earlier issued on Sony SACDs which either ignored or mangled the quad mixes.

https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDLX7415 - A very nice selection of Elgar from Barenboim and the London Phil, with his Falstaff and Cockaigne along with the five Pomp and Circumstance marches (if you've been to a graduation you've heard the first one). This leaves the Crown of India Suite and Imperial March from the second LP for subsequent issue perhaps.

https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDLX7418 - Well, this is cool. Bernstein conducts Haydn's Harmoniemesse and a previously unissued quad mix of Bernstein conducting Haydn's 101st Symphony. We've already gotten 93-96 and the Mass in a Time of War from D-V, and apparently there's still an unissued quad mix of the 99th waiting for reissue. At least maybe - the record came out in 1977 so it's possible a quad mix was only made of the 101st and shelved. Haydn weirdly showed Bernstein at his best - much more disciplined and musical and less histrionic than one might expect.

https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDLX7417 - probably the biggest crowd-pleaser of the bunch, and issued as a single-layer SACD only because it's too long for a regular CD. This gives us the Dvorak 'cello Concerto with Lynn Harrell and and James Levine conducting coupled with Eugene Ormandy's RCA recording of the Dvorak New World Symphony (not the much more common one made for Columbia and readily available on Sony). Both lovely performances and out of print and not on streaming as far as I can tell.

humprof · Dec 13, 2024

ubertrout said:
Okay, I feel like a rundown is a bit of a tradition now, so why not (I'm also proctoring an exam and kind of bored). I imagine this will be moved shortly and that's fine.

https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDLX7403 - Nice coupling of Stokowski's late (he was in his 90s) Tchaikovsky 6th made for RCA with Eugene Fodor's debut record of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with Leinsdorf. Calling the Violin Concerto a "bonus work" is interesting as it isn't much shorter than the Symphony. Dutton has released a number of Stokowski's RCA quads, and it's nice to get more of them.

https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDLX7416 - This gives us the other work from Eugene Fodor's debut album in quad - the Saint-Saens Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso - along with his record of the Paganini 1st Violin Concerto and Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in stereo only. It's nice that D-V is giving us this showcase of Eugene Fodor - he was a prodigy who kind of burned out (more on his story here, although he lived another 22 years and died at 60 in 2011: https://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/06/...o-heroin-a-brilliant-violinist-s-decline.html). He didn't record enough to get a box set so it's nice it's being made digitally available. Would have been nice to get a quad remix of the other tracks but I understand it's not always possible or feasible. So far as I can tell only his first album is on streaming.

https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=2CDLX7414 - A two SACD set giving us (I think) all of Pierre Boulez's quad recordings of Ravel, following the earlier release by D-V of his complete Daphnis and Chloe. Self-recommending. These were earlier issued on Sony SACDs which either ignored or mangled the quad mixes.

https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDLX7415 - A very nice selection of Elgar from Barenboim and the London Phil, with his Falstaff and Cockaigne along with the five Pomp and Circumstance marches (if you've been to a graduation you've heard the first one). This leaves the Crown of India Suite and Imperial March from the second LP for subsequent issue perhaps.

https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDLX7418 - Well, this is cool. Bernstein conducts Haydn's Harmoniemesse and a previously unissued quad mix of Bernstein conducting Haydn's 101st Symphony. We've already gotten 93-96 and the Mass in a Time of War from D-V, and apparently there's still an unissued quad mix of the 99th waiting for reissue. At least maybe - the record came out in 1977 so it's possible a quad mix was only made of the 101st and shelved. Haydn weirdly showed Bernstein at his best - much more disciplined and musical and less histrionic than one might expect.

https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDLX7417 - probably the biggest crowd-pleaser of the bunch, and issued as a single-layer SACD only because it's too long for a regular CD. This gives us the Dvorak 'cello Concerto with Lynn Harrell and and James Levine conducting coupled with Eugene Ormandy's RCA recording of the Dvorak New World Symphony (not the much more common one made for Columbia and readily available on Sony). Both lovely performances and out of print and not on streaming as far as I can tell.

Thanks, as usual, for those informative (and deeply informed) reviews, @ubertrout. I thought I was done shelling out for music this year, but I guess I'll have to do a little deficit spending and borrow against my 2025 budget.

ar surround · Dec 13, 2024

Oh geez, I've still got about a half dozen Epoch quads unwrapped. Bad, bad AR.

4-earredwonder · Dec 13, 2024

ar surround said:
Oh geez, I've still got about a half dozen Epoch quads unwrapped. Bad, bad AR.

I've spent the last week playing my 15 fabulous multi~CH classical SACDs from a small 'boutique' label in the Netherlands called Trptk and I have 6 more multi~CH Classical SACD titles enroute from the EUDORA label in Spain.

But how can I resist this current crop of classical titles from D~V! And just noticed that the Bernstein Hadyn Harmoniemesse & Symphony No.101 were remixed in QUAD by remix engineer wunderkind Larry Keyes!