RoxioNow Delivers Dolby Digital Plus – Sonic Solutions and Dolby Laboratories have announced a collaboration to deliver Dolby Digital Plus premium audio format thru the RoxioNow entertainment platform which facilitates high-quality surround sound experiences to more online entertainment services, plus a multi-manufacturer network of connected devices. DD Plus offers efficiency, interoperability and flexibility for online content delivery, Blu-ray disc manufacturers, broadcasters, mobile phone makers, and other entertainment providers. Sonic Solutions – who enable digital media from Hollywood to home – feature a cloud-based digital locker system for connected devices. Tens of millions of TVs, set-top boxes, Blu-ray players, AV receivers and mobile phones have shipped to date with Dolby Digital Plus, which supports up to 7.1 channels of surround sound.
Bernstein Complete Symphonies Set Released – Sony Classical is releasing this Monday a special 60-CD reissue set for the 20th anniversary of the death of Leonard Bernstein. The legacy of the conductor, composer and music advocate and its influence on 20th century American music cannot be overstated. For the first time all of his symphonic recordings are being released in a package, retracing his historic years with the New York Philharmonic. His complete cycles of the symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler and Sibelius are included, and the limited edition box presents each disc in a special package with 60 stunning photos of the maestro. There is a large-format book with essays by journalist Klaus Geitel and musicologist Wolfgang Stähr. The set is a fascinating document of a great conductor and composer at the height of his career.
Beatles’ Entire Catalog Finally Available Via iTunes – The Beatles’ Apple has finally given the other Apple permission to offer all of the Feb Four’s music at the ITunes store. You can even get their entire catalog for $149 along with the LPs and a few videos. Also, for the rest of the year you can stream a video of the Beatles live at Washington Coliseum in 1964, for free. Ringo is quoted as saying “I am particularly glad to no longer be asked when the Beatles are coming to iTunes.”
Composer Henryk M. Gorecki Dies in Katowice – Leading Polish composer Henryk Gorecki passed away November 12 at age 76. He reached a worldwide audience in the 1990s with his Symphony No. 3 “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs,” which attracted many with its special tonality and elegiacal simplicity. The Nonesuch recording sold more than a million copies. Gorecki had been at the forefront of the Polish avant-garde at the time of the post-Stalin cultural thaw, but in the 1970s he turned to a simpler and more monumental style. His music received more performances in the West as Poland opened up, and the renewed interest resulted in three major string quartets. Among his more recent works were a flute concerto and Kleines Requiem für eine Polka. Many of his recordings are on the Nonesuch label, and there was a recent BBC documentary on the composer featuring The Sixteen and some of his choral music.
Filmmaker Dino De Laurentiis Dies – De Laurentiis, who died last week in Beverly Hills at age 91, was born to be a movie producer. His credits include Serpico, Barbarella, La Strada, Nights of Cabiria, Blue Velvet and War and Peace. However, he also had his bombs: Dune, Body of Evidence, the remake of King Kong. He didn’t think a film was real without real money. He was a diminuitive but tough Napoleon on the set.
