In 2017 Berlin Classics in partnership with Tower Japan undertook a remastering project for many of the label's classic recordings, now branded for European CD release as "Established 1947". The remastering was the essence of simplicity: analogue master tape signal fed directly into the DSD converter, with no "signal processing" whatsoever, to produce a high-resolution digital file for direct SACD manufacturing. For CD production, a downsampled PCM file was made.
I have the Bruckner 5 SACD, as well as the Konwitschny Beethoven Symphony SACD set, and both reveal sonic glories hitherto only hinted at...along with an x-ray exposure of all of the (minor) faults of the original master: some tape hiss, tape pre-echo, and more easily noticed edits. For me, these are small prices to pay for having these extraordinary recordings in extraordinary master-tape sound.
The Konwitschny Bruckner 5 and Beethoven symphonies are treasures of the recorded legacy of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, captured in its "golden age" of the central European orchestral tradition.
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