Decca Legends - Finally we get real 24/96 resolution

Posted by Chris from Lafayette (A) on April 8, 2012 at 18:40:51

When the Decca "Legends" series of reissues began to appear around 1999-2000, one couldn't help but notice the prominence of the booklet cover message, touting the 24/96 digital transfers of these classic analogue recordings. (We also saw the same kind of messages on the "Originals" series of reissues later in the decade.) My reaction was always, "Great - I'm glad there's a 24/96 copy of these masters. But, personally, it doesn't do me that much good, because I have to listen to the finished CD, which plays in the plain old CD resolution of 16/44.1." Nevertheless, I was glad that the "Legends" series became available, just so I could get access to so many of those classic recordings I'd enjoyed on LP.

Now however, it seems that we ARE getting access to the full 24/96 resolution of at least a few of these recordings, as several download sites have recently made the 24/96 incarnations available. The first one I tried was the Ansermet/OSR Debussy release:

As you can see from the booklet cover of the CD above, the 24/96 pedigree of this transfer is prominently displayed - but as I mentioned above, we lowly end users never had access to the the 24/96 resolution until now. Once I got my HD Tracks download, I used Spek software to view the spectrograph, and, unlike a CD, it does indeed show signal above 20kHz. I focused on the 1957 recording of La Mer, which I had not heard before (not being an Ansermet addict). In some respects, the recording is amazing in showing the range and depth of the orchestra which could be captured at that time. In other respects however, I was just a bit disappointed - because although we are getting the extended frequency response, there are other indications that the technology of the time was being uncomfortably pushed to its limits. For instance, there's a certain roughness to the sound that precludes my ability to hear as much subtlety as I'd like. Nor do the louder passages blossom out as much as they can. OTOH, the performance itself really surprised me: it's brimming with so much life, that you really do forget the occasional unkempt moments of ensemble. From what I read, this is the second of three recordings of La Mer that Ansermet made for Decca - there's a later one from the early 60's that some listeners apparently like better than this one. But I must say I was impressed by this '57 version! Going a bit off subject, I noticed one online review (on MusicWeb?) where the reviewer made what I thought was a good point: at this point in recorded history, most of the better known French conductors (Ansermet, Munch, Paray) conducted this work in just the opposite of what might be thought of as an "impressionistic" way - their recordings featured slashing clarity and sharp, hard, clear delineations of texture. It was such non-French interpreters as Stokowski, Barbirolli, and Karajan who conducted this music more sensuously and, if you will, "impressionistically".

Just by chance, this Ansermet download features the same repertoire as a recent LSO Live SACD with Gergiev conducting the same works (minus Khamma). I must say, that despite all the artifice that I know goes in to these modern recordings, I preferred the Gergiev recording to the simple, classic engineering as I hear it on this hi-rez Ansermet download: it's hard to explain, but part of the explanation has to do with the subtlety I mentioned. The LSO Live recording just seems to have a greater variety of sound available to it: for instance, there's a very clear sense of crispness on both recordings, but with the LSO Live recording, the crispness is not "in your face" as it is on the Decca download - it's just more subtle and natural. So here's a recording that was no doubt "reconstituted" in the mixing room that I feel sounds better than one of the classics of the Golden Age of recording.

It will be interesting to see how other recordings in the Decca Legends series sound as they become available in 24/96. The Ansermet download, despite some of my negative comments about it, has piqued my interest enough so that I'm game to try more.

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Topic - Decca Legends - Finally we get real 24/96 resolution - Chris from Lafayette 18:40:51 04/08/12 (24)

I knew this record very well--some moments of vivid imaging, some hard strings.... - jdaniel@jps.net 12:09:19 04/10/12 (0)

RE: Decca Legends - Finally we get real 24/96 resolution - layman 06:07:42 04/09/12 (7)

I would expect that the Sample Rate Conversion to PCM would block the high ultrasonics - John Marks 06:27:09 04/09/12 (6)

RE: I would expect that the Sample Rate Conversion to PCM would block the high ultrasonics - layman 07:28:51 04/09/12 (5)

Here's a sample - Chris from Lafayette 08:13:02 04/09/12 (4)

RE: Here's a sample - layman 08:25:00 04/09/12 (3)

I can't output that type of graph, but. . . - Chris from Lafayette 09:44:49 04/09/12 (2)

RE: I can't output that type of graph, but. . . - Russell 10:00:51 04/09/12 (1)

Thanks, Russell! [nt] - Chris from Lafayette 10:41:00 04/09/12 (0)

Thanks for the detailed review, Chris - jult52 04:17:17 04/09/12 (1)

Yes - I almost added a comment about the Boulez recordings - Chris from Lafayette 07:45:08 04/09/12 (0)

The Sutherland 'Art of the Prima Donna' also sounds excellent... - Russell 00:01:58 04/09/12 (0)

Great news! - rbolaw 19:46:57 04/08/12 (7)

RE: Great news! - ahendler 21:56:18 04/08/12 (5)

RE: Great news! - rbolaw 08:40:43 04/09/12 (3)

RE: Great news! - ahendler 10:08:23 04/09/12 (2)

RE: Great news! - Chris from Lafayette 12:39:52 04/09/12 (0)

That may well be. nt - rbolaw 12:10:21 04/09/12 (0)

Yup. "Garbage in".... Myself, I consider that so-called Golden Age worthily titled. Within the most - tinear 07:41:04 04/09/12 (0)

Yes - I'm hoping they get around to the Crespin disc and some Karajan/VPO stuff soon [nt] - Chris from Lafayette 21:12:19 04/08/12 (0)

RE: Decca Legends - Finally we get real 24/96 resolution - zako 18:50:06 04/08/12 (3)

RE: Decca Legends - Finally we get real 24/96 resolution - Chris from Lafayette 21:37:02 04/08/12 (2)

RE: Decca Legends - Finally we get real 24/96 resolution - ahendler 22:00:51 04/08/12 (1)

Alan - we're just saying the same thing in a different way [nt] - Chris from Lafayette 07:41:04 04/09/12 (0)

Decca Legends - Finally we get real 24/96 resolution

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