SACD from Esoteric and Toshiba/EMI Japan:

 I have been getting quite a few of the Esoteric SACD's from Japan, astonishingly high priced if bought from domestic dealers like Elusive Disc, Music Direct and Acoustic Sounds, a bit more if brought in from overseas (JPC gets them faster, cheaper and charge less to ship than any domestic source). Price is typically not the main driver to real hard core audiophiles, but wit Esoteric, the sonics have some question marks. Hi-res digitally sourced, the sound is incredibly transparent and detailed - but the warmth and tonality seem to be missing. It's all very "audiophile", but misses the organicness and tonality of a great remastering. Still, they have their strengths, and are alluring.

The remastered box of Rudolph Kempe's 1970's Beethoven symphonies may seem an odd choice. Kempe's Beethoven cycle was issued first as a quad novelty, never issued at full price in North America, and has critically not been placed at the top of the mountain of Beethoven cycles. So it is actually an absolutely inspired choice by Esoteric, as Kempe is hugely regadred in Japan, and in Europe, and only his unfortunate early death (Karajan so highly regarded Kempe that he stopped a concert in London to mark a minute of silence in tribute to Kempe) prevented him from reaching the age where conductors become legends.

As far as the music, Kempe's vision of Beethoven is quite unique, it is of the Germanic tradition, and at times is old worldly, but is very compelling, and musical, and is neither Klemperer, nor is it Karajan, it is certainly not Krips. On it's own this is a fine cycle, very German, by a singularly fine musician and an orchestra totally idiomatic. Here it sounds better than it ever has and Esoteric has given it very loving care.

A final tribute to Kempe - this set virtually sold out the minute it hit the market, almost entirely on the back of Asian sales. They know a great musician even if North Americans don't.

 It's safe to say that there are no classical music buyers who don't have an opinion on Herbert Von Karajan. Many myths abound about him as a person, particularly by Americans who want to hang on to falsehoods to validate their own angry politics. But as a musician, and advocate for classical music, there can be no denying that Karajan, from the late 60's through to past his death, was the market maker around whom the classical recording industry was built. As he entered the digital age, he became increasingly trapped by the machinery he helped to create, until shortly before his death, when unburdened by a BPO that had turned on their rainmaker, he made some transcendent recordings with the VPO that abandoned the pursuit of technical perfection in favor of exposing Karajan's soul. His VPO Bruckner 8 will never be equalled.

Esoteric bring a rather misleadingly labelled disc featuring his EMI digital recording of the Sibelius 2 which is glorious. The power of the final bars has never been equalled and Karajan invokes an other worldliness that is transformative. Fillers are earlier analog recordings of The Swan Of Tuonela and Finlandia, favorite Karajan lollipops - but without the En Saga listed on the cover, which would have been a better choice.

 Karl Bohm's BPO recording of Brahms' first is rightly regarded as one of the best ever made. Here it is given a very full bodied, yet detailed and transparent presentation that outshines any previous issue. Bohm's Brahms is worth every penny this disc costs. A great choice.

Last from Esoteric, Schubert's Great from Rudolph Kempe. A 1968 Munich recording, once again, Kempe is solidly in the modern Germanic tradition, but his virtues of being an exceptional musician and eschewing any flash or ego makes this one of the finest Schubert 9th ever recorded, and Esoteric give it a warm, detailed, and very transparent remastering. Highly recommended, as are virtually all Kempe recordings.

 Moving on to Toshiba EMI who have begun a new series of 100 hybrid SACD's newly remastered from original tapes at Abbey Road, directed at the Japanese market. Expensive, but about half the typical price of an Esoteric, these new transfers are exceptionally good. Far superior to earlier EMI remasters of this material, particularly the "Great Recordings Of The Century" series, these have been carefully and sympathetically remastered, and although the Prism noise reduction system has been used, it has been used judiciously, and in conjunction with a superior DSD chain.

The sound is better than I have ever heard from EMI, even better than the budget priced series of a few years back that was mastered in Japan without noise reduction and sounded very good. Martinon's 1960's complete Debussy recordings with the ORTF is a great example, wonderful tonality, big dynamic range, clarity, transparency, and not a hint of digititis.

Same with Samson Francois' Ravel Concertos recording, where the piano, so difficult to record correctly, has the tone and percussiveness it should, enveloped in a real acoustic surrounded by a wonderfully alive and vibrant orchestral bed.

In many ways, I have to judge the Toshiba EMI remasterings in this series superior to the sound Esoteric gets for a much higher price. Sometimes Abbey Road is criticized for the sound they produce, wrongly, as this series proves. Some of these are finding their way into a much more limited, and lower priced, domestic series. Grab those, and as many as the Japanese titles as you can. These are the best classical remasters to come around for a long time, and without a doubt, are being produced with a view down the road to EMI entering the high resolution download business with a bang.