Otmar Suitner - Brahms: Complete Symphonies - Import 3 SACD

Credits:

Otmar Suitner

Description:

Sounds of Eternity! Starting with the analog recording of Brahms No. 2, the remaining three pieces were digitally recorded and are now available on the latest SACD release. This is the 34th SACD hybrid version of the Brahms cycle recorded in 1984-86, the final period of Otmar Switner's (1922/5/16-2010/1/8) career after his de facto retirement from conducting in 1990. The complete Brahms symphonies recorded between 1984 and 1986 are finally available on SACD! At that time, ETERNA was much slower to introduce digital recording than other labels, and only the second symphony recorded in 1984 was recorded in analog format. ETERNA (Berlin Classics) had officially stated that this No. 2 was a digital recording in the CD period, including the No. 2 LP (the jacket of the No. 2 LP also has DMM), but when we searched for the master tapes in Japan, we found that they were analog masters, so we decided to use the official (imported) version. However, when the master tapes were searched in Japan, they were found to be analog masters, and the official (imported) version has been corrected to an analog recording for the first time.However, with the reissue of Switner's Bruckner symphonies from the same period, we will be able to reissue the complete symphonies of Brahms, which were recorded in both analog and digital formats, in a form similar to the conventional process (please refer to the separate section on the mastering process of the digital recordings by Christoph Stickel). (For the mastering process of the digital recording by Christoph Stickel, please refer to the separate section.) Although the specifications of the original masters are different, the difference in sound quality reproduced on SACD is not so great that it is worthwhile to reissue the early digital recordings with the benefit of high-resolution recording. Above all, we have adopted the best possible method to preserve Switner's mastery of his later years for posterity. This is the only complete collection of Brahms symphonies that Switner completed in his later years, and while there are many session recordings of Mozart, Beethoven, and other Austro-German works, it is surprising that there are few sources for Brahms alone.Although he has performed them live (e.g. No. 3 with the NHK Symphony Orchestra), the only other recording of the Hungarian Dances (21 pieces) from 1989 (released in 2022 as TWSA1130 as part of Columbia's ORT project) was the only other recording of the Hungarian Dances. This collection, recorded about six years before his retirement, can be said to be a performance that exudes the state of Switner in his later years, and the overall impression is one of calmness. The overall sound is calm and emotionally charged, but it is the very sound of Germany itself, music that has matured over the course of a long career. This recording is the culmination of Switner's long career. (1/2)