DOT NOT BUY THIS
J. Murray | 07/02/2008
(2 out of 5 stars)
"DO NOT BUY THIS!
These recordings, made between 1975-82, were first issued on CD in the mid/late 80s, and subsequently packaged as a box set in the early 90s. The performances are formidable; Karajan was one of the most inspired Bruckner interpreters of the post-war era. (Only the Sixth is a slight disappointment by Karajan's exatled standards.)
BUT: DG have chosen NOT to give these recordings state-of-the-art remasterings. They have, once again, merely been repackaged and are being sold at a cheaper (admittedly tempting) price. But the sound on these CDs are not very satisfactory by modern standards. The sound of the analogue recordings (Nos. 4-9) is poorly remastered: quite hissy, and surprisingly inconsistent from one symphony to the next. They suffer from the typical "glassy" sound DG achieved in the early days of remastering ADD recordings -- as can be heard on many early Galleria reissues at the time -- and especially noticable in BPO/Philharmonie recordings. Subsequent remasterings of other Karajan/BPO/Philharmonie recordings made around the same time, eg. the Tchaikovsky Symphonies, show how well these recordings can sound given good transfers (in that case it was DG's fantastic OIBP remastering system). The three symphonies recorded digitally (Nos. 1-3) suffer from over-bright, edgy sound, what some critics have called a "digital edge". DG have proven how beneficial OIBP remastering can be in early digital recordings, as can be heard when comparing the Karajan "Gold" series with their original CD incarnations.
No -- THIS IS SIMPLY NOT GOOD ENOUGH DG. If I could rate the recordings themselves out of five, I'd give them a SIX, but a ZERO for DG for missing this opportunity to remaster them satisfactorily.
The same comments apply to the so-called SHM-CD release.
***
PS: Please sign my online petition to DG to remaster this set!
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Bruckner-Karajan/index.html"
