Discussion:
UMG BluRay/CD Combo change
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Randy Lane
2020-06-14 01:57:28 UTC
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Universal now packages CD/BluRay combo releases in clamshell boxes rather than the book-like format that started with the Decca opera releases a few years ago.

I welcome the change. Difficulty getting discs out of the book format sleeves was sometimes frustrating and has high risk of disk damage.

The recent Abbado Carmen and Schneiderhan Beethoven Violin Sonatas both in clamshell format this week. And the Carmen still has libretto in French and English.
Oscar
2020-06-14 02:50:30 UTC
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I welcome the change, too. Wish it could have been that way from the beginning. I like a standalone booklet. Randy, we need to come up with a list of all the CD/BD releases since the first one, which I believe was Ashkenazy's Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos with Previn and LSO, issued in July 2014. I have many (most?) but not all. And some are OOP.
j***@gmail.com
2020-06-14 14:58:44 UTC
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HDTT has now begun to release its multichannel recordings in Digipak combos of Blu-ray Audio plus Compact Disc.
Randy Lane
2020-06-14 20:18:30 UTC
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Post by Oscar
I welcome the change, too. Wish it could have been that way from the beginning. I like a standalone booklet. Randy, we need to come up with a list of all the CD/BD releases since the first one, which I believe was Ashkenazy's Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos with Previn and LSO, issued in July 2014. I have many (most?) but not all. And some are OOP.
I did a preliminary cont,and I have over 50 of these with 3 more coming by the end of June. I include BRA only releases, like the two Ring cycles and the Richter Bach Cantatas, all three being too large to warrant including the CDs also. Compiling a worthwhile list would take me a while, but it is a good idea - time permitting, which is not the case right now.

I am glad UMG is revisiting some of these and releasing higher definition versions. The Kleiber Die Fledermaus was the first - and the results warrant the new 192k remastering. I expect the Karajan Die Walküre and especially the Kleiber Der Freischütz to have similar improvements - all of the digital versions of that outstanding recording have been disappointing IMHO - but that could be because it was recorded by the East Germany owned Deutsche Schallplatten, given it was made in Dresden before the iron curtain collapse.

Two large-scale series I would like to see UMG do just like they did the Richter Bach Cantatas (BRA only, forget the CDs) are the Colin Davis Berlioz Cycle on Philips, and Dorati's Haydn Symphonies.
drh8h
2020-06-26 01:25:47 UTC
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The "new" Karajan and Kleiber issues apparently are the same remasterings previously issued. Why did they bother?

DH

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