[SACD-R][OF] Antonin Dvorak - Symphony No. 8; Johannes Brahms - Symphony No. 3 (Herbert von Karajan, Wiener Philharmoniker) - 2010 (Orchestral)

Masterpiece collection from Decca
The reissuing of the Decca masterpiece series has attracted a lot of attention, both for its uncompromising commitment to recreating the original master recording and for using our hybrid Super Audio CD/CD re-mastering technology to improve sound quality. This series marks the first hybrid SA-CD/CD release of two selections that have been mainstays of the Decca catalog since their initial release on LP, later making their way on to CD. These new re-mastered audio versions feature newly created DSD master.

Karajan's Decca recording project marked a new era
The works of Herbert von Karajan (1908 to 1989) have been re-evaluated from various angles since 2008, which marked the 100th birth anniversary and the 20th death anniversary of the pioneering conductor who was dedicated to recording albums with a never changing, lifelong passion. Karajan left a large volume of recorded works spanning from SP recording to digital recording.
In the course of those recordings, Karajan reached the peak of his long career during a period when he was literally considered to be the “premier conductor” in the Western classical music industry, after he was appointed musical director of the Berlin Philharmonic in 1955, and artistic director of the Salzburg Festival and Vienna State Opera in 1956. Karajan was associated with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London from the early 1950s and made recordings with this orchestra for EMI. From 1959, Karajan also started recording with the Berlin Philharmonic for Deutsche Grammophon and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (VPO) for Decca. At that time, the recording industry was gaining momentum because of newly introduced stereophonic technology and consequently Karajan began to dominate the market. In particular, Decca's recordings, which were made with the VPO in collaboration with the great producer John Culshaw, resulted in many remarkable tracks for the diverse orchestral compositions including pioneering recordings of “Also Sprach Zarathustra” and “Planets” and for complete operas with superb musicians and vocalists, in addition to the standard symphony recordings of the time. Among Decca's recordings, ESOTERIC has produced a coupling of Dvorák's Eighth Symphony and Brahms' Third Symphony, recorded in 1961, to offer two highly admired performances on a single CD.

Elegant performances inscribed with the long and close relationship between Karajan and the Vienna Philharmonic
In autumn 1959, Karajan joined in a large-scale concert tour with the VPO to Asia including Japan, the U.S., and Canada. In 1960, Karajan conducted the VPO for the opening of a new festival hall “Grosses Festspielhaus” for the Salzburg Festival and their performance of “Der Rosenkavalier” (The Knight of the Rose) was filmed. Through these performances, the relationship between Karajan and the VPO grew rapidly.
In 1961, the year when the two compositions on ESOTERIC's re-master were recorded, Karajan also made a complete recording of “Othello” with Mario del Monaco and Renata Tebaldi in May, and a superb recording of a Christmas album with Leontyne Price in June. When the Vienna State Opera season started in September, Karajan worked intensively with the VPO to make recordings equal to the contents of five LPs, in parallel with the opera performances. These recordings include the “Nutcracker,” “Peer Gynt,” “Giselle,” and “Planets,” as well as two other pieces on this CD. (Karajan conducted Dvorák's Eighth Symphony, which is one of the pieces on this album, for periodical concerts during the same time.)
The close relationship between Karajan and the VPO are fully reflected in the first recordings of two pieces conducted by Karajan that are on ESOTERIC's CD. It is well worth listening to the striking sound of the VPO that spontaneously plays its own music as the orchestra sensitively reacts to the baton of Karajan.
Ultimate sound quality by Super Audio CD (SACD) / CD hybridization

Gordon Parry, a renowned sound engineer, worked for the recording sessions which took place at Safiensaal, in Vienna. These recordings vividly capture the distinctive sound of the Vienna Philharmonic. Beginning with the beautifully mixed sound of cellos and horns introducing the first movement of Dvorák's Eighth Symphony, and up until the exciting climax of the fourth movement, the recording portrays the Vienna Philharmonic in a characteristic performance that never deviates from the original sense of beauty.
Brahms' Third Symphony is conducted in a straightforward manner from Karajan's viewpoint, and a fine performance that only the VPO can offer is effectively demonstrated in many segments of this piece. For example, the delicate sound of clarinets in the second movement, and the melancholy sound of cellos and warm and full-bodied sound of Vienna horns in the third movement. After these recording sessions between September and October in 1961, Karajan made further recordings with VPO for an equivalent of only two LPs until 1965, besides “Carmen” and “Tosca&Rdquo; (complete operas), which were recorded for RCA. The larger body of Karajan’s works can be found in recordings made with the Berlin Philharmonic for Deutsche Grammophon, such as all the Beethoven symphonies (started in late 1961) and all the Brahms symphonies (started in 1963).
SA-CD.net:
Review by Jonalogic July 14, 2010 (3 of 5 found this review helpful)
Performance: Sonics:
I'll start with a question. Why do strange folk like me buy stupidly expensive SACD remasters of 40-50 year old analog recordings? Are we totally deranged? Yes, of course, that goes without saying, but anyway...
1) For great, classic performances or
2) For great old analogue sound
3) On a really good day, for both!
So, how does this stack up, then? I'm afraid it's 'null point' on both #1 and 2.
This is a golden age Decca, of course, so that's a good start. But, sonically, it doesn't hold a candle to the contemporaneous Esoteric remaster of the Maazel/Sibelius, which is absolutely stunning.
And the performance is also problematical: too smooth, too Karajan, too Teutonic. Regretfully, the timeless and throughly idiomatic Szell performance on Sony obliterates it: and - surprisingly - this is one of the better early Columbias and also sounds better. In short, Karajan conducting Dvorak was - frankly - not a good choice for Esoteric's remastering.
The best sound of all in this symphony is of course for the Fischer Dvorak 8 and 9 on Philips, now reissued on Channel Classics. As others have accurately indicated, this offers great, natural sound, showing all the merits of a good SACD. But the performance still doesn't hold a candle to Szell.
My recommendation on the Dvorak is to find the Szell/Sony/Columbia SACD, whilst you can still get it.