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Good sounding Deutsche Grammophon recordings

We have a pretty big classical CD collection and many are Deutsche Grammophon. Many of these recordings don't sound that great and I have to say that some of the Deutsche Grammophon vinyl we have is average sounding. But the performances are usually top notch. After upgrading my cartridge to an Audio Note iQ3 I took a chance on some mid 60's Herbert Von Karajan/Berlin Philharmonic vinyl from Ebay. I thought I would share some of the outstanding finds I came across.

Brahms four symphonies-outstanding sound and amazing playing. These symphonies can sound thick and muddy. Not here.
Brahms Violin Concerto- Christian Ferras violin.
Beethoven Violin Concerto- Christian Ferras violin -Simply amazing sound.

Karl Bohm and the Berlin Philharmonic Schubert 5th Symphony. Elegant interpretation and excellent sound. I think from the 60's

A live performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto no1. from 1979 Carlo Maria Giulini conducting the Vienna Philharmonic- Sonically amazing.

I found most of these less than $15 and mint minus ratings- not bad :)
Jet
jetrexpro

Showing 3 responses by lowrider57

lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
3,018 posts
 
My take on DG is that they always had some of the best artists and performances of any label, but the recording quality was inconsistent. I also own DG records from the 60s and 70s and many times have been disappointed by the recording quality.

IMO, these should have been excellent sounding LPs, as they were from the golden age of vinyl and made in Germany/Holland. I've often wondered if the many mergers and sale to Polygram in 1972 had anything to do with the engineering or quality control.

But Decca from that time period was always a sure thing.
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
3,018 posts
 
As to Karajan's recordings, those done in the Berlin Philharmonie from around 1978 onwards are compromised. Earlier ones are much better, on both DG and EMI.

Agree with your Karajan DG findings, which makes little sense since late analogue recording was SOTA. Must be the DG multi-miking techniques (and Karajan's insistence to have control over recording).
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
3,018 posts
 
Jetrexpro, that explains a lot.
But don't get me started on DG's entrance into digital. They ruined some great recordings.
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