Dutton Epoch June 2020 SACD Surround Sound Classical Releases

[warp2600]

@ubertrout
so if you're fond of those 'Man with a huge organ' (ha ha) types of classical albums this one might be up your alley.

The info given on the Dutton site mentions a Rodgers Touring Organ, so it is the type of sound you encounter on the Handel organ concerto recordings, I assume.

 

[oxenholme]

Well, the opening 1 minute 44 seconds of Also Sprach Zarathustra are incredible. And Le Sacre Du Printemps is a quadraphonic tour de force!

 

[humprof]

The Saint-Saens half of the disc features Virgil Fox, who I understand was sort of like RCA's version of E. Power Biggs - although funnily enough, I did come across an interview with him recently where he was chiding Biggs for being too much of a traditionalist in his arranging and playing - so if you're fond of those 'Man with a huge organ' (ha ha) types of classical albums this one might be up your alley.

My mother was a part-time church organist and loved organ music--till her dying day, she looked forward to the weekly radio broadcast of Pipe Dreams--and, not surprisingly, she was a fan of both Biggs and Fox. (She'd be mortified by that "big organ" joke, though.) I remember one Mother's Day buying her two Virgil Fox albums on the direct-to-disc "Crystal Clear" label, The Fox Touch, vols. 1 & 2. I had just begun putting together my first decent stereo, with big, home-built 3-way floor speakers. Those albums were real demo discs. I don't know which of us enjoyed them more.

http://www.virgilfoxlegacy.com/

 

[humprof]

All the Columbia albums (Firebird, Rite of Spring, Wooden Prince, Dance Suite, Haydn 93 & 94) feature quad mixes by Ray "Bitches Brew" Moore, aside from Haydn 95 which is a Larry Keyes mix, so these should all be agressive mixes, in classical terms.

For the "classi-curious" who might be on the fence about this batch of releases, this is really worth emphasizing. Larry Keyes's pop quad credits speak for themselves, but in the classical realm, he also did the E. Power Biggs Bach album on Dutton, which is a real demo disc, and he worked on Leonard Bernstein's Mass, a fabulous mix that's yet to be re-released in a modern format. He also did the Pulcinella half of Dutton's Boulez Conducts Stravinsky.

As for Ray Moore: he did the Stravinsky Petrushka, which has a crazy-active mix, as well many more of the Dutton Epoch discs that people have crowed about on these boards over the past couple of years, starting with the Bartok Concerto for Orchestra (a quad benchmark that belongs on everyone's shelves) and continuing with Copland's Appalachian Spring, Orff's Carmina Burana, and Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder. (He also mixed a fabulous cast recording of the 1974 revival of Leonard Bernstein's Candide, which I dearly hope is somewhere in the Dutton queue.)

Anyway: these are tough times and people's budgets may be more than usually strained. But if you've got the dough, I'd say go for any or all of these.

 

[ubertrout]

@ubertrout has given an excellent summation of the artistic merits of the albums in this batch of releases, but I just wanted to add a few things:

All the Columbia albums (Firebird, Rite of Spring, Wooden Prince, Dance Suite, Haydn 93 & 94) feature quad mixes by Ray "Bitches Brew" Moore, aside from Haydn 95 which is a Larry Keyes mix, so these should all be agressive mixes, in classical terms.

This batch of discs completes the "stealth release" of two full quad LP's. The bonus material on the Wooden Prince disc, Dance Suite, is from Masterworks MQ 31368 - the other half of this LP (The Miraculous Mandarin) is on the Dutton Epoch release Boulez Conducts Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra (CDLX 7360) from November 2018. The bonus material on the Bernstein Conducts Haydn 93 & 94, Haydn 95 is from Masterworks MQ 32598 - the other half of this disc (Haydn 96) is the bonus material on the Epoch release of Bernstein Conducts Hadyn: Mass in Time of War (CDLX 7346) from October 2017.

The Firebird (MQ 33508), The Rite of Spring (M 34557) and The Wooden Prince (M 34514) were all SQ-only LP releases, so these discs represent the debut of the discrete mixes for all three of these albums. The Rite of Spring album, from 1978, was one of CBS's very last quad releases of any type, coming nearly a year after their final pop quad releases.

I'm not sure who did the quad mix of the Die Todt Stadt opera (it was a co-production between RCA and German radio, and the sleeve only credits a German engineer I've never heard of) but the two Ormandy albums were both engineered by Paul Goodman, who did most (if not all) of Ormandy's other RCA quad albums. So, I expect these are of a similarly high calibre - especially given that the original Also Sprach Zarathustra LP sleeve carried the subtitle "An Awesome Sonic Experience," suggesting that it was sort of RCA's equivalent of the Columbia Masterworks LPs that boasted of being "A Quadraphonic Spectacular." The Saint-Saens half of the disc features Virgil Fox, who I understand was sort of like RCA's version of E. Power Biggs - although funnily enough, I did come across an interview with him recently where he was chiding Biggs for being too much of a traditionalist in his arranging and playing - so if you're fond of those 'Man with a huge organ' (ha ha) types of classical albums this one might be up your alley.

Thanks! There are some great choices here, and I hope they (continue to) sell. I'm also curious as to whether the opera releases do well - Deutsche Grammophon has continued their program of releasing operas as CD/BD sets, some with the quad mix included as well, albeit sometimes in a 5.1 or Atmos upmix.

I'll admit this cover from 20 years earlier is sort of eternally my view of Virgil Fox.

However, he was active on the quad front as well - his "Heavy Organ at Carnegie Hall" was originally released in two volumes in quad by RCA, and later as a Dolby Surround CD (his Bach Live at the Fillmore East album for Decca seems to have been stereo only):

His album "The Entertainer" was also released in quad, consisting of Scott Joplin rags and other pieces on the organ: Virgil Fox - The Entertainer

 

[J. PUPSTER]

I'll need to strap up for a new DV order; and while I'm here, this is one I keep going back for a listen to.
https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDLX7337

 

[ubertrout]

I'll need to strap up for a new DV order; and while I'm here, this is one I keep going back for a listen to.
https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDLX7337

Really a great one. I kind of feel like D-V shot themselves in the foot on marketing by portraying this as a Wagner disc instead of a Bach disc with a Wagner bonus track.

 

[McCrutchy]

Just saw these, excellent news!

I'm personally very excited for another full opera release, so Die tote Stadt had to be mine. I have yet to buy La bohème (it was in my cart when I logged in) but as funds are tight, I opted only for the new Korngold release, which is a blind buy for me.

Then, it was a matter of which other title to get for an even number of ordered items, and it was between the Stravinsky and the Ormandy discs. In the end, I chose the Stravinsky, again a blind buy, though of course, I've heard both pieces by others before.

Can't wait to get the discs.

 

[GOS]

Just ordered 5 of the 6. Left out the Opera. Added another copy of Breakaway- Garfunkel. Yeah, I know. Another copy.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Just ordered 5 of the 6. Left out the Opera. Added another copy of Breakaway- Garfunkel. Yeah, I know. Another copy.

And this time it wasn't even a mistake -

 

[4-earredwonder]

Just received notification from the folks at Dutton Vocalion that my order for 5 of their June 2020 Classical Quads have been shipped via Priority/Royal Mail.

 

[~dave~~wave~]

...However, he was active on the quad front as well - his "Heavy Organ at Carnegie Hall" was originally released in two volumes in quad by RCA, and later as a Dolby Surround CD (his Bach Live at the Fillmore East album for Decca seems to have been stereo only):

I'll get the lava lamp and black light ready.
I remember reading about the Fillmore East concert when I was in high school.

His was one of the first CDs I bought, nothing like a pipe organ to demo full-range high fidelity performance.


AllMusic Review by Zach Curd
An interesting record of Baroque organ pieces, recorded live at the Fillmore East in 1971.
Bach's pieces thunder in a hippie-mist of enlightenment.
The crowd is appreciative and excited.
And yes, the concert was accompanied by a light show.

 

[Which_One_Is_Pink]

While I have little interest in classical music (enjoy and appreciate it when I hear it, but never enough to acquire) it is nice to see them shifting back into drive and moving forward again

 

[4-earredwonder]

Just received my latest 5 Epoch SACD QUAD releases today [only 1 cracked case] and played this astonishingly remastered SACD. The opening organ chords of Also Sprach Zarathustra will rattle your listening room .... front to rear! As the blurb on the cover states: A SUPER SOUND SPECTACULAR!

 

[jefe1]

4Ears let us know how you like the Haydn symphonies.
I am a fan of Szells performances though of course they are not in surround.

 

[ubertrout]

4Ears let us know how you like the Haydn symphonies.
I am a fan of Szells performances though of course they are not in surround.

I think Bernstein's Haydn had a lot in common with Szell - it's big band Haydn of a type somewhat out of fashion now, but I find preferable. Bernstein doesn't gild the lily with these the way he sometimes did later in his career.

 

[GOS]

Just received my latest 5 Epoch SACD QUAD releases today [only 1 cracked case] and played this astonishingly remastered SACD. The opening organ chords of Also Sprach Zarathustra will rattle your listening room .... front to rear! As the blurb on the cover states: A SUPER SOUND SPECTACULAR!

The odd number syndrome!

 

[4-earredwonder]

The odd number syndrome!

And Gene, it wasn't even the odd numbered one they put on top ........ thankfully, I have a slew of blank CD cases so NO BIG DEAL! The ELVES will hear about THIS!

 

[4-earredwonder]

Nothing remotely Wooden about this performance ....... Princely, to say the least and Discrete as well
with stunningly replicated sonics.

 

[fredblue]

Nothing remotely Wooden about this performance ....... Princely, to say the least and Discrete as well

oh Ralphie, you wooden have it any other way