John Smyth wrote:

>Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic are releasing Stravinsky's
>"Rite of Spring" and (possibly--a rumor), Ravel's complete "Daphnis" on
>their own house label and on SACD. That makes three house labels
>releasing SACDs.  LSO Live and Royal Concertgebouw Live are the other two.

The San Francisco Symphony has also been releasing SACDs: A Mahler
cycle by Michael Tilson Thomas that has received some critical acclaim.
I think they have released symphonies #1-4 and 6 so far.  These are
multichannel hybrid SACDs.  I don't think they are releasing a CD only
version.

>I also picked up Julia Fischer playing Russian Violin Concerti of
>Khachaturian, Prokofiev, and Glazunov on Pentatone SACD. ...  It's nice
>to see a new recording of the Glazunov.

It's nice to see Pentatone releasing new recordings on SACD.  I just
picked up their release of early string symphonies by Franz Xaver and
Johann Stamitz by the New Dutch Academy - beautiful string playing.  I
believe these new recordings are all 5.0, as opposed to the older quad
recordings they transfer directly from the original discrete 4-channel
analog master as 4.0 surround.

>(Of course, virtually *all* SACDs contain a layer that will play on your
>standard CD player.)

Well, most SACDs being released now are hybrids (meaning they can be
played on most CD players).  Sony/CBS released over 100 SACD-only discs
during the initial push a couple of years ago, and most of these are
still available.  Be sure to check the label.


Dave Harman responds to Ramiro Arguello:

>>I will not buy another CD wich is not SACD or DVD-A.
>
>Well, OK ...
>
>But let me ask you .. which is more important - the music or the sound?
>
>Sure, I wouldn't buy  a bad sounding CD of a piece I really liked but I
>also wouldn't pass by a regular CD of a piece I really wanted to add to my
>collection just because it wasn't SACD or DVD-A

I agree completely.

Nor am I even remotely considering selling my treasured CDs in the hopes
they may be re-released as SACDs or DVD-As.  This is primarily because
I see it as extremely unlikely that SACD or DVD-A will become mainstream
anytime in the foreseeable future.  Neither technology has taken off,
though SACD is doing better than DVD-A, and SACD is getting some traction
with the independent classical labels we love such as Hyperion, Chandos,
Telarc, etc.  In fact, according to the latest sales numbers released
by RIAA, SACD and DVD-A are losing market share.  Combined sales of both
media fell considerably in the last year.  Total sales now number about
that of LPs.  That's not good news, and does not bode well for SACD
achieving much more than a niche market share among audiophiles.  Meanwhile,
low-fi music downloading (both legal and illegal) is continuing to
explode.  There seems to be some level of consensus among industry pundits
that physical media is going to go into decline over the next few years,
which is not good news for hi-rez audio.

Ramiro Arguello continues:

>Yes and no. My bet is that must new recordings are going to come out in
>SACD or DVD-A.

I hope this does come to pass, but trends are strong in the opposite
direction.

>You see, most of the time I am in front of my Computer, and I listen to
>Radio Classique, Andante, BBC etc..  I would say from 6 to 8 hours every
>day, except weekends when the average is 4 hours. I hear them as well as
>if was playing a CD in my computer.  And to hear all that music in CD's I
>would have to have over 15,000.
>
>So if I buy a CD it has to be of better sound then I can get in my Computer.

Well, in my not so humble opinion, just about any CD sounds considerably
better than anything you can download.  In fact, I'm willing to bet that
listening as you do actively works against our dream of all new releases
in SACD.  If people are willing to listen to low-rez downloads and are
satisfied with them, there's little incentive for investment in hi-rez
formats.

David Harbin wrote:

>I would like to buy the Cleveland Orchestra/Boulez La Mere (DG) but am
>uncertain whether it will reappear as an SACD soon.

This is a tough call.  That recording has been out for over nine years
now.  DG hasn't made a huge commitment to SACD, but what they have
released is mostly new recordings.  When they do re-release on older
recording, it's typically been something that's been a big seller for
them in the past.  For instance, they have just released the Carlos
Kleiber recording of Beethoven's symphonies #5 & 7 on multichannel hybrid
SACD.  This recording is now 30 years old, but I think it's been one of
their bigger sellers as a re-release.  It was first released on CD in
1984, then remastered and re-released in 1995 in their "The Originals"
series, and now just released on hybrid SACD.  The 1995 release is ranked
as Amazon's 583th best-selling music CD in any genre!  That's pretty
amazing.  It certainly explains why it has now appeared on SACD.  I'd
expect this sort of thing to continue over the next few years - only
big, big sellers will be re-issued on SACD.  (As I've bought every digital
version over the years, their marketing strategy has certainly worked
on me.)

>May I please aks, I would like to get the Munch/BSO Daphnis et Chloe but
>it is only on SACD. Will there be any appreciable difference to the CD
>version if was to play this on a CD player and not an SACD (which I hope
>to get one day?)

As John Smyth pointed out, the carefully remastering of this recording
has benefits even for the plain 'ol CD layer of the SACD.  I just bought
this, and it is truly stunning.  This is another example of a big seller
(in this case from RCA) that's been released and remastered and re-released
over the years.  You should still be able to buy the older CD release
however.  Here are the Amazon links for each:

CD -

   US: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000003FKN/classicalnetA/
   UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000003FKN/classicalnet-21/

SACD -

   US: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002TKFHW/classicalnetA/
   UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002TKFHW/classicalnet-21/

 From John Smyth's response to David Harbin's question above:

>That's a good question.  I would say yes, as all three layers are from
>new, very careful transfers of the old tapes.

Just for the sake of accuracy: there are only two possible layers on
SACD - the CD layer and the SACD layer.  Each is at a different depth
in the substrate, and each requires the laser to focus at that depth
to read it.  The SACD layer may contain either a stereo version, and
multi-channel version, or both.

>...  Nothing wrong with 2 channel either, as the Munch Daphnis is two channel.

I believe that, as with the Mercury Living Presence SACDs, the multi-channel
version on the RCA Living Stereo SACDs is three-channel (3.0) - left,
center, and right - following the microphone layout of the original
analog master.  It's important to note that there's no attempt on these
SACDs at synthesizing surround sound channels, which is likely a good
thing.

Dave
http://www.classical.net/