Vladmir Horowitz - Well Mastered/Remastered Collections?

[LL21]

Hi...I have Vladmir Horowitz DG Collection. Great piano (my favourite pianist) and well mastered/remastered. Some of his recordings are quite hissy. There are two other collections:

Any one have any recommendations about these...or others? Just looking for Horowitz...without the hiss. Thanks!!

Vladimir Horowitz Live At Carnegie Hall (70CDs...everything he ever recorded at Carnegie...being released next month)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81448MgFufL._SL1500_.jpg

Vladimir Horowitz - Complete Original Jacket Collection - Sony

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Kfq5FwngL.jpg

 

[Keith_W]

Thanks for the heads up, however i've had it with giant boxed sets. I find I rarely listen to them because of the hassle of finding the CD, removing it, and then replacing it exactly where it came from.

 

[LL21]

Hi Keith,

Actually I was hoping actually someone could tell me if there was a well remastered set of Horowitz recordings. I don't know if these 2 are any good. The DG set I have is good.

I have some boxed sets but usually of things like Bach Cantatas of which there are scores and scores, or all the Boccherini quartets, Mozart sonatas, or of course Beethoven symphonies or Brandenburg concertos. But I only have a few box sets pf performing artists (as opposed to composer) such as Horowitz, Rostropovich and du pre.

Fortunately, they categorised and alphabetised so no worries...so far anyway.

 

[Keith_W]

I'm not aware of a well mastered set of Horowitz recordings, but that's because I haven't been looking

Are you more of a fan of the early, middle, or late Horowitz style?

 

[hvbias]

Those original jacket collections are usually very good with minimal tweaking. I have the Oistrakh and Heifetz collections and there is some hiss on the early recordings. Personally I would rather have the hiss than it being removed by noise reduction, which will also truncate higher overtones.

 

[LL21]

I'm not aware of a well mastered set of Horowitz recordings, but that's because I haven't been looking

Are you more of a fan of the early, middle, or late Horowitz style?

Thanks....DG Collection is very late and well mastered. I do like them. Not as familiar with his apparently more dynamic younger self. Have read the middle years (HMV/EMI) are not particularly well recorded. Have heard good things about the RCA Red Seals (both early and again later post '62 or so).

 

[LL21]

Those original jacket collections are usually very good with minimal tweaking. I have the Oistrakh and Heifetz collections and there is some hiss on the early recordings. Personally I would rather have the hiss than it being removed by noise reduction, which will also truncate higher overtones.

The full original jacket collection (70 CDs) runs about $10/CD...ouch. There is a Japanese 44-CD version of 'all Sony Classical and RCA Red Seals'...but I cannot find out the difference between the 2 box sets. I've read the full original jacket gives 1 CD per LP, so some CDs are shorter than they could be if they used up all 80 minutes and doubled up on some LPs. Perhaps that is the difference but do not know.

 

[AMP]

I have the 70CD set which I purchased back in 2011 (price was MUCH lower then), but I have yet to actually listen to any of the discs. I bought 4 box sets at the time and several more since so I'm swimming in classical CDs that I simply haven't gotten to yet. With my conversion to file-based playback I've managed to rip all of the sets, but haven't gotten to editing the metadata on the Horowitz set yet.

From what I've experienced with the LSC, Merc, Heifetz, Millstein, Tortellier, and Decca sets the only way to attack these and get anything out of them is to play them back via computer. There are so many gems buried in these collections that the only way to really enjoy them is to browse through carefully edited metadata.

Lloyd, if you can point me at a couple of discs that you're interested in getting a judgement on I'd be happy to spin them up over the weekend and report back.

 

[LL21]

I have the 70CD set which I purchased back in 2011 (price was MUCH lower then), but I have yet to actually listen to any of the discs...
Lloyd, if you can point me at a couple of discs that you're interested in getting a judgement on I'd be happy to spin them up over the weekend and report back.

Wow...that is incredibly kind of you. How about 2 discs...an earlier one (pre-1942) and the Brooklyn one (one of the last)? I have heard the Brooklyn recording is one of the best examples of Horowitz playing and well mastered. The reason for an earlier one...is to find out just how 'scratchy' they are. I have Furtwangler's Beethovens...I tried to get what many scholars find as their 'favourite' of each Beethoven Symphony...particularly ones that were reasonably well remastered by specialist labels...and I found I really enjoy them...but when I just want to listen to 'some Beethoven symphony' without being critical about musical interpretation...the Remasters of Karajan '63 are just so much nicer to listen to (ie, no scratchiness, thinness)

If this proves to be too troublesome, don't sweat it! Thanks for any help!

 

[hvbias]

The full original jacket collection (70 CDs) runs about $10/CD...ouch. There is a Japanese 44-CD version of 'all Sony Classical and RCA Red Seals'...but I cannot find out the difference between the 2 box sets. I've read the full original jacket gives 1 CD per LP, so some CDs are shorter than they could be if they used up all 80 minutes and doubled up on some LPs. Perhaps that is the difference but do not know.

Actually the Oistrakh wasn't an original jacket, it's a compilation by EMI. There is usually a condensed edition (10 or 15 CD) of the complete original jacket collections for the respective artist. It will give you a taste of the sound quality. For my Heifetz set the sound quality is very close to the Audio Mirror Living Stereo SACDs.

 

[AMP]

Wow...that is incredibly kind of you. How about 2 discs...an earlier one (pre-1942) and the Brooklyn one (one of the last)? I have heard the Brooklyn recording is one of the best examples of Horowitz playing and well mastered. The reason for an earlier one...is to find out just how 'scratchy' they are. I have Furtwangler's Beethovens...I tried to get what many scholars find as their 'favourite' of each Beethoven Symphony...particularly ones that were reasonably well remastered by specialist labels...and I found I really enjoy them...but when I just want to listen to 'some Beethoven symphony' without being critical about musical interpretation...the Remasters of Karajan '63 are just so much nicer to listen to (ie, no scratchiness, thinness)

If this proves to be too troublesome, don't sweat it! Thanks for any help!

No problem at all. I've felt bad for not listening to any of these and now I have a good reason to do so.

 

[LL21]

Actually the Oistrakh wasn't an original jacket, it's a compilation by EMI. There is usually a condensed edition (10 or 15 CD) of the complete original jacket collections for the respective artist. It will give you a taste of the sound quality. For my Heifetz set the sound quality is very close to the Audio Mirror Living Stereo SACDs.

Thank you...yes, there is an original jacket 'abridged' for Horowitz which is more like 10 CDs. I just thought if the full collection was just absolutely AWESOME, I might put it in my Wish List and when I feel crazy someday, I might actually buy the darn thing. Or if the 44-CD version for about a third the price is supposedly awesome, I MIGHT just stomach that one. Yeesh, I thought I was buying CDs cause music was cheap. then again...compared to when CDs were new in the 80s and sold for $15 each...and that is over 20 years ago...I guess 6 bucks per new CD is cheap(er).

 

[LL21]

No problem at all. I've felt bad for not listening to any of these and now I have a good reason to do so.

Thanks again!

 

[AMP]

I listened to a few discs last night and here's what I found:

The Brooklyn recital was a previously unreleased recording from 1967. While the performance was excellent I found the recording itself to be unremarkable. While a quiet recording the piano lacked the percussive bite that gives the instrument so much power. This may have been due to any number of factors, but it's not likely to make it into heavy rotation for me.

For pre-1942 recordings I played a couple of selections with mixed results. One was an arrangement of Danse Macabre that was originally recorded in 1942 and the transfer sounded like it was from the playback of the original LP (surface noise and periodic ticks included). I tend to filter this stuff out as I listen to a lot of vinyl, but I can see where it could be annoying in a system that can emphasize the upper frequencies.

Another one that I tried was the Brahms Piano Concerto with Toscanini and the NBC Orchestra. This was a quieter transfer, but the recording itself made it sound like I was listening to a recording of the performance played on an old console radio. Even the liner notes for this one stated that it was only released due to popular demand and that it was well below the technical standards of the time. Sonic issues aside, this was a wonderful performance and I found myself drawn in regardless of the technical deficiencies. A shame really as had this was an excellent performance.

Granted, this was a very small sampling of the set and I'm sure that the bread and butter recordings are of a higher standard, but if your interest is in the historical works then you'll likely be disappointed with the sonics, especially given the cost. This is unfortunate as the Heifetz collection, which I've explored more thoroughly, has surprisingly good sonics on the older recordings.

As an aside I found that two of the three discs that I played were noisy in my player (as if the disc itself was out of balance). The Boulder spins the disc at a faster rate (up to 8X) so as to be able to read ahead while still performing error correction and this may have been the reason for the additional noise. Odd, though as the thing has always been dead quiet otherwise.

Let me know if there are any others which you'd like me to spin up.

 

[LL21]

I listened to a few discs last night and here's what I found:

The Brooklyn recital was a previously unreleased recording from 1967. While the performance was excellent I found the recording itself to be unremarkable. While a quiet recording the piano lacked the percussive bite that gives the instrument so much power. This may have been due to any number of factors, but it's not likely to make it into heavy rotation for me.

For pre-1942 recordings I played a couple of selections with mixed results. One was an arrangement of Danse Macabre that was originally recorded in 1942 and the transfer sounded like it was from the playback of the original LP (surface noise and periodic ticks included). I tend to filter this stuff out as I listen to a lot of vinyl, but I can see where it could be annoying in a system that can emphasize the upper frequencies.

Another one that I tried was the Brahms Piano Concerto with Toscanini and the NBC Orchestra. This was a quieter transfer, but the recording itself made it sound like I was listening to a recording of the performance played on an old console radio. Even the liner notes for this one stated that it was only released due to popular demand and that it was well below the technical standards of the time. Sonic issues aside, this was a wonderful performance and I found myself drawn in regardless of the technical deficiencies. A shame really as had this was an excellent performance.

Granted, this was a very small sampling of the set and I'm sure that the bread and butter recordings are of a higher standard, but if your interest is in the historical works then you'll likely be disappointed with the sonics, especially given the cost. This is unfortunate as the Heifetz collection, which I've explored more thoroughly, has surprisingly good sonics on the older recordings.

As an aside I found that two of the three discs that I played were noisy in my player (as if the disc itself was out of balance). The Boulder spins the disc at a faster rate (up to 8X) so as to be able to read ahead while still performing error correction and this may have been the reason for the additional noise. Odd, though as the thing has always been dead quiet otherwise.

Let me know if there are any others which you'd like me to spin up.

Thank you, AMP!!!!!!!!!!!! Those collections have skyrocketed in price, and I think you have just saved me a lot of money. the DG collection is excellent and provides me 6-7 CDs of stuff, plus a few other discs I have...I may selectively pick up the well mastered ones case by case...but putting down hundreds of dollars into a box collection which may be a mixed bag...not for me. Thank you again for taking the time. I am sure at the right price, which I think you said you may have paid years ago, it is great to own...but at the resales prices, again I think you've helped me save quite a lot. Thank you!