Seiji Ozawa - Negro Spirituals/Musical Highlights (mastered 2024) - Japan SACD Hybrid Limited Edition

Credits:

Seiji Ozawa

Description:

The starting point of Seiji Ozawa's conducting activities! Two extremely rare choral works conducted by Seiji Ozawa, who was in the midst of his career as an elite young conductor, are reissued from the original analog master tapes in Victor's collection! The world's first SACD release! Musical Highlights" is the first time the commentary by "Rokusuke Ei," which appeared on the original release, has been included since the CD release! New preface commentary is included. The two 10-inch (25cm) stereo LP recordings made by the young Seiji Ozawa for Victor in 1961 were converted to DSD from the rare original analog masters stored by Victor, and are now included on one SACD hybrid disc. LP records by Seiji Ozawa and the Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus were released in December 1961 under the title "Negro Spirituals" (part number: SLV524), and "Musical Highlights" (part number; SLV526) was released in April 1962. These two albums were Seiji Ozawa's memorable first commercial recordings.This first SACD reissue is the first time in a long time since the first CD release as a Tower Records Victor Heritage Collection disc in 2008. Seiji Ozawa left for France in February 1959 at the age of 23. He won the Besançon International Conducting Competition in September of the same year, became the Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic in February 1961, accompanied Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic on their tour of Japan in April of the same year, and returned to Japan after a two-year and two-month absence. The reason why his debut was a choral work is partly due to the fact that the record industry at that time was reluctant to accept classical recordings by Japanese conductors, but it seems that Victor, which had a close relationship with the Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus, planned the recording because of the opportunity to perform with the choir as "Musical Highlights" was a live recording. It is thought that Victor, which had a close relationship with the choir, planned the recording. In the world of literature, it is often said that "everything is in the debut work," and these two recordings also reflect Seiji Ozawa's musical life very strongly. First, choral music was the starting point of Seiji Ozawa's conducting activities.He formed a choir, the "Hymn Group," with his fellow students on campus when he was in his third year of junior high school, and conducted it for the first time. He also appeared in the male chorus group "Coro Castelo" and sang Negro spirituals and Russian folk songs, recalling that "I was shocked to experience how the music changed depending on the conductor while voicing it myself" ("Owaranai Ongaku" by Seiji Ozawa, published by Nihon Keizai Shimbun Publishing). It was not a mere coincidence that the first one was "Negro Spirituals" by Tohmikaze. (1/3)