Editorial for December 2014

by | Dec 1, 2014 | Editorial

PrintFor this December’s drawing we have one set of the unique PentaTone collection of ten of the top operas by Wagner, with leading Wagnerian soloists and the Rundfunk Symphony and Chorus of Berlin conducted by Marek Janowski. This is the only all-SACD set, consisting of 32 multichannel discs plus a DVD with an interview with Janowski and video excerpts from Götterdämmerung. All the recordings were made live, utilizing the highest technical standards. Conductor Janowski avoided any staging, to allow the music to stay true to its nature. Critics were unanimous in praising the entire set of operas, and there are only 350 such boxes out there. The RSB is Germany’s oldest radio symphony orchestra and R. Strauss, Hindemith and Schönberg have conducted their own works with them. The winner will be chosen from AUDIOPHILE AUDITION readers who register this month using our simple form and will be listed below next month.

Here are the two lucky winners of the 45-CD DGG set of the recorded performances by famed conductor Ferenc Fricsay—our November drawing:  Steven Molnar, Hopkinton MA; David Hoehl, Silver Spring MD.


EDITORIAL

AUDIOPHILE AUDITION began as a local program in San Francisco and then in 1985 as a weekly national radio series hosted by John Sunier, and aired for 13½ years on up to 200 public radio and commercial stations. In September 1998 its web site for program listings was expanded to this free Internet publication. December 2014 is our 189th issue. All disc reviews are added thru the month as they are written and received, usually daily. The most recent reviews appear at the top of each Section Index. The Home Page lists the five latest published reviews, the Section Index lists the past two months of reviews, and the Archive goes back to January 2001. The Disc Index lists all past reviews.  Vinyls and Pure Audio Blu-rays (and some DVD-As) are included in the SACD/Hi-Res Section, as well as exceptional xrcds.

You probably have some friends who would like to know about AUDIOPHILE AUDITION.  Please pass on our URL and help expand our elite group of readers and collectors. It’s easy to do at the bottom of every review, by just clicking on the “Email this page to a friend” link. Thanks in advance for getting the word out! And remember that every time you purchase a disc via our Amazon buttons, you are also making a small contribution towards the continuation of AUDIOPHILE AUDITION. We welcome your feedback, and we have a Reader Feedback section. Please send us your comments, and we will review and possibly post them. Check with us frequently for more reviews and news, and be sure to register for our monthly giveaways! When you do, please give us all the non-intrusive requested facts, and include your first and last name, Email and street address – otherwise we are unable to ship you your winning item to you!  We don’t ask financial details, and we never share your information with anyone else (except the address for shipping the discs).

— The AUDIOPHILE AUDITION staff

Archive of Past Editorials Here

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© John Sunier 2014 

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