Herbert Kegel, Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, René Collot, Anne-Catherine Gillet - Parsifal: Kegel / Leipzig Rso / Kollo T.Adam Schroter - Import 3 SACD Hybrid

Credits:

Herbert Kegel, Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, René Collot, Anne-Catherine Gillet

Description:

Clarity and beauty. Everything is of a high standard in this astonishing Parsifal. This live performance, renowned as one of Kegel's best, has now been reissued in high sound quality! New reissue from the original ETERNA analog tape. This is the world's first SACD release! Mastered only in the analog domain and directly converted to DSD! The 14th SACD hybridization of the latest reissue project from the original ETERNA analog tapes in Japan. This recording was made live on January 11, 1975, and although it is not a session, it is a masterpiece known as "Parsifal" with astonishing perfection, including each singer. Kegel had performed the opera in concert format many times. In fact, there are not so many opera recordings including sessions (there are superb recordings of Carmen, Wozzeck, Moses and Aron, etc.), so it is precious that this recording has survived. In the case of German operas, the sharp and intense performances of later operas by Schoenberg and Berg come to mind, but this "Parsifal" maintains Kegel's typical clarity and tension while never becoming bland, and the sound never bores me at all. The sound is absolutely unboring. In a sense, it may be said that this performance is the opposite of Kuna's 1951 DECCA recording (PROC 1661, available on CD from Tower). R. Kolo's Parsifal, in his prime, and U. Cold's Grunemannz are especially outstanding, and the world created by these two is overwhelming. The chorus of the former East Germany is also at a very high level, and the stability of the other singers is one of the factors that make this a masterpiece. Kegel's conductor, who leads the entire performance, is superbly balanced with a moderate sense of forward motion while maintaining a firm resonance. This rare performance is now being released as the first opera project of this Berlin Classics reissue, and since the SACD is highly adaptable to the vocal sound, we expect that the high sound quality of this release will further enhance the appreciation of the performance.For this reissue, the master tapes were flown from the label to Vienna-based mastering engineer Christoph Stickel's studio, mastered in the analog domain, and then digitized using separate systems for DSD for the SACD layer and PCM for the CD layer. The project was then digitized into a product. This project realized the ideal method of mastering as far as currently conceivable. The effect is remarkable: it is now possible to reproduce the quality that was left on the master tape with extreme fidelity, and the mastering and direct DSD conversion in the analog domain only has even greater sonic benefits. The result is a performance that is so clear and resolved compared to the previous version that further appreciation of the performance can be expected. The manual also includes a photograph of the outer box of the original analog master tape used in this project.