Description
180-gram gatefold LP
Numbered edition limited to 3,100 copies
Part of the Decca Pure Analogue Series
Iconic recordings from the Decca & Philips Archives
Remastered from the original quadraphonic 1/2" 4-track recording
Mastered by Rainer Mailard and cut by Sidney C. Meyer at Emil Berliner Studios
Pressed by Pallas in Germany
"No one listening to Colin Davis's cycle of Sibelius symphonies will be left in any doubt that here is a born Sibelian and that these recordings are a very considerable achievement." — Gramophone
Sir Colin Davis chose the music of Sibelius to open one of his inaugural concerts as principal guest conductor of the Boston Symphony in October 1972. It was a pivotal moment: Colin Davis had reawakened the Boston Sibelius tradition. This album of Symphonies Nos. 5 and 7, recorded in Symphony Hall, Boston, in January 1975, was both the first release in the now-legendary Davis/Boston Sibelius cycle and what also proved to be the swansong of Philips' era of quadraphonic recording.
Introducing Decca's new all-analogue vinyl series, Decca Pure Analogue, presenting some of the most iconic recordings from the Decca & Philips archives. The series is mastered by Rainer Maillard and cut by Sidney C. Meyer at the renowned Emil Berliner Studios, pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Pallas, and presented in deluxe gatefold sleeves in hand-numbered limited editions.
Only original analogue sources are used — 2-track stereo and 4-track quadraphonic tapes, plus analogue masters of early digital recordings — and no extra devices are utilized in the signal path, i.e. no digital sound processing at all.
Each album features the original artwork and liner notes, archival photos and facsimiles of original recording session sheets, and bespoke new notes detailing the history of the recording, the technical background, and the mastering process.
For this release Maillard has used the original, edited four-track quadraphonic master tape to make a new stereo mix sent directly to the cutter head. This preserves a pure analogue path throughout. The Philips engineers of the 1970s would similarly have mixed the four front and rear channels before cutting but this downmix would have resulted in a two-track stereo copy for mastering, whereas here the lacquer is cut directly from a 'live' mix into stereo from the four Quad channels. Sonic results have been further enhanced by distributing the recording across three sides instead of the original double-sided LP. This has also enabled Decca to include Davis' December 1975 recording of Sibelius' last major orchestral work, Tapiola, on the fourth side.
