Tower Records Definition Series Classical SACDs

[McCrutchy]

I didn't realize it, but Tower Records in Japan apparently has a catalogue of exclusive music releases.

I found this link through Warner Music Japan Classic, who, it seems, are partnering with Tower Records to release newly remastered classical music onto Hybrid SACD. The first three releases are from French conductor Andre Cluytens, including a 5-disc set of his Beethoven Symphonies with the Berliner Philharmoniker. They will all be released on May 27th, 2015.

The information is somewhat difficult to glean in translation, but it appears that all of these have been remastered at 96kHz, 24-bit from the original analogue sources, and then each was mastered in DSD for the SACD layer.

Interestingly, though Tower Records does not ship internationally themselves, they openly advertise using the forwarding service Tenso.com for international shipments, even going as far as to have FAQ pages in English which make it pretty clear how to place an order with them via Tenso.

As such, I've signed up and pre-ordered the Beethoven Symphonies big box. Fingers crossed the experience goes smoothly...

[Paul.R.S]

Thanks.

They're going to have to do something different/other than yet another high rez LVB symphony cycle to maintain my interest though.

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by Paul.R.S

Thanks.

They're going to have to do something different/other than yet another high rez LVB symphony cycle to maintain my interest though.

I agree, but I am a sucker for both Beethoven and for remastered analogue recordings, so it made sense to me, even though I have two Beethoven cycles on Blu-ray already, to make my initial purchase the Cluytens box.

[McCrutchy]

Okay, just got the shipping notice from Tower Records. From here, it should go to Tenso, then I'll pay Tenso's fee, and hopefully, they'll ship it to me.

[McCrutchy]

Just received the request for payment from Tenso, and have paid the shipping charge via PayPal. As I suspected, Tenso can't hold a candle to Amazon Japan, but the charge was not that bad (¥2220 + ¥600 handling fee for EMS shipping). Now I just hope we have smooth sailing with the package actually being shipped and arriving in proper condition.

[McCrutchy]

Tenso e-mailed me a few hours ago to let me know they shipped the package, and it is already trackable at Japan Post.

[McCrutchy]

Okay, so I'd have had it in my hands today, were it not for missing the postman this morning. Not too shabby.

[richieb1971]

Post a little info on the release and if you feel the label is worth investigating further please.

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by richieb1971

Post a little info on the release and if you feel the label is worth investigating further please.

I will, once I have it.

[richieb1971]

Shipping must take ages.

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by richieb1971

Shipping must take ages.

I've had this in my possession for weeks. As I posted above, all I had to do was visit the post office to pick it up.

I have not yet had time to listen to any of it, however.

[McCrutchy]

By chance, I stumbled on three more recent releases in this series, that came out on December 23rd, 2015 in Japan:

TDSA-8: Emil Gilels / George Szell - Beethoven: Complete Piano Concertos (Cleveland Orchestra, 1968) (3 SACDs)

TDSA-11: Leonard Bernstein - Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique (French National Orchestra, 1976) (2 SACDs)

TDSA-13: Mstislav Rostropovich - Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade (Orchestre de Paris, 1974-1977)

Same deal as the last time: New 96/24 remasters from Warner Music Japan. This time the news article also has some details on the remastering, but alas, the Google translation is not good enough to glean all of the details, particularly confusing is whether there is editing being done in PCM and then conversion to DSD for the SACD layer.

http://tower.jp/article/feature_item/2015/11/18/1101

It seems that the third wave could arrive as early as next month.

I still have yet to fully check out the Cluytens Beethoven Symphonies release, unfortunately. I believe I've listened to two or three of the discs so far, but life got in the way and I never finished the set. Hopefully, after the Holidays, I can get some more time to listen to it.

[McCrutchy]

And clearly, when it rains, it pours, because I just got an e-mail newsletter with the third wave of titles, which will be released on January 20th, 2016:

TDSA-14: Andre Cluytens - Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique (and others) (Various, 1958-1961)

TDSA-15: Andre Cluytens - Musique Russe (Russian Orchestral Works) (Various, 1958-1959)

http://tower.jp/article/feature_item/2015/12/24/1101

[McCrutchy]

The fourth wave will be released on March 25th, 2016:

TDSA-16: Carl Schuricht - Beethoven: 9 Symphonies (Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, 1957-1958) (6 SACDs)

The symphonies were all recorded in mono, and are on the first five discs. The sixth disc contains a stereo version of the Ninth Symphony only.

http://tower.jp/article/feature_item/2016/02/24/1101