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Re: [ARSCLIST] Digital firsts in Europe
Hello Tom,
if I recall correctly, DG has been recording digitally for release
before that time with the LSO in London. The three last Tchaikovsky
Symphonies under Karl Böhm come to my mind, of which at least one must
have been digital and recorded in 1979 or 1980. I'll dig out the LPs and
post the details tomorrow.
Best wishes,
Ulrich Sieveking
Tom Fine wrote:
Hello All:
I am trying to track down the first digital recordings by all the major
European classical labels.
For my ARSC Journal article, I confirmed Decca as being first to make a
for-release digital
recording, the New Year's Day 1979 concert in Vienna. Philips followed
the next day with Marinner
recording Handel's Opus 3 concerti grossi (although another listmember
has pointed out that Philips
lists a different recording date on the CD issue; I will take the word
of former Philips executive
Franz van Dongen). Decca developed their own digital recording system
(described in an AES
convention presentation by F.A. (Tony) Griffiths), and Philips used a
Sony 1600 system for their
first sessions.
EMI's "Great Recordings of the Century" reissue of Andre Previn's July
2-3, 1979 recording of
Debussy works states in the booklet this was EMI's first digital
for-release recording. The booklet
talks about a videotape-based system sampling at 50khz. Does anyone know
any details -- was it a
modified Sony or JVC system or an EMI in-house development? Or was the
booklet author wrong about
the sampling rate?
DGG's website:
http://www.deutschegrammophon.eu/about/aboutdgg4.htms?PAGE=page4
states:
"Deutsche Grammophon was the first to enter the (CD) market, when
Herbert von Karajan recorded
Richard Strauss's "Eine Alpensinfonie" with the Berlin Philharmonic in
1981 - the first classical
work to find its way on to compact disc."
So was this 1981 Karajan recording DGG's first for-release digital
session? And, what equipment did
DGG use in the early days?
Thanks in advance for any/all facts/answers.
-- Tom Fine
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