Complete Maria Callas EMI Recordings remastered at 96/24 at 1/3rd the price of HD Tracks

[astrotoy]

One of the major projects that Warner has undertaken in mining the vast EMI Classical catalogue that they now own (after the breakup of EMI in 2012 when the pop side went to Universal and the classical side went to Warners) has been the quite fine remastering of the 39 albums that Maria Callas recorded, both mono and stereo, in studio with EMI. They were mostly produced originally by Walter Legge, the famous (or infamous) producer who was the first to sign Callas in the late '40's and produced her most famous and arguably best recordings (like the mono Tosca in 1953 with de Sabata conducting).

 

Born in Brooklyn, but raised in Greece, Maria Callas is considered the finest dramatic soprano of the 20th century. Her voice has a unique character, one that is instantly recognizable. Her earlier mono recordings are usually considered her best, while the stereo recording came when her voice began to to take on a wider vibrato. She retired fairly young and also gained recognition for her love affair with Aristotle Onassis and rivalry with Jacqueline Kennedy who eventually married Onassis.

 

HD Tracks has 30 of these albums for sale (96/24 downloads) for $30 for 17 multidisc albums - almost all of the complete operas, and $16 or $18 for 13 single albums, mostly recitals with two complete shorter operas.

 

I got an offer from B and W to buy the complete collection of 39 albums (including 9 additional complete operas and recitals) for 200GBP, or $320. If you could buy all 39 albums from HD Tracks, the cost would be about $960. The 30 they have for sale total up to $730. So this is a real bargain. I bought the set and have started listening to the albums. The remastering was very well done and definitely an improvement over the original or reissued vinyl that I have of about 2/3rds of the albums. I think it is unlikely they will ever redo these albums at a higher rez.

 

Warner has also released the albums in a box set of 70 CD's for $240 at Amazon (of course at 16/44), compared to $320 for the 96/24 downloads. So the equivalent cost for a 96/24 download album is about $4.50 per download ($320/70).

 

http://www.bowers-wilkins.co.uk/Society_of_Sound/Society_of_Sound/Maria-Callas?utm_source=Bowers+%26+Wilkins&utm_campaign=5c257184aa-Maria_Callas_Remastered%2BbonusCD_9_17_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_22ec1c80b7-5c257184aa-49960501

 

Larry

[Milt99]

I went to the B&W site and noticed ALAC is 30GBP than FLAC.

My Oppo plays ALAC. Any reason not to go with the cheaper option?

[astrotoy]

No experience with ALAC on anything. Sorry. Maybe somebody else.

 

Larry

[Milt99]

Thanks.

After exploring the B&W music site it looks like all of their downloads are available in ALAC and FLAC.

The difference being the ALAC are 16/44.1 and FLAC are 24/xx hence the price difference.

[dummy]

Qobuz now has the official Warner Classics complete 24/96 new remasters boxset for 225€ (about 282$ US).

 

For those wanting a bit of Callas new remasters in full 24/96 glory without going crazy with the complete boxset, Qobuz also has a new compilation named "La renaissance d'une voix" with 46 arias for 14€. Same price as the "Pure" compilation that came out in september but with much more songs...

 

Enjoy!