Colin Davis – Boston Symphony Orchestra
Universal Music/Decca – Pure Analogue – Philips 487 1495
2x 180g Black Vinyl LP
By Roy Gregory
Major label vinyl re-issues are all the rage with today’s classical recording houses. Universal Music started their ball rolling with their Original Source Series, recordings drawn from the extensive DGG back catalogue, to run alongside the label’s current (generally impressive) LP releases. Hyperion have chipped in with their own re-issues which, judging from the increasing release tempo, have proved deservedly popular. Now UMG have doubled down with the announcement of a re-issue series drawn from the Decca back catalogue, under the banner Decca Pure Analogue. No great surprise, given the enthusiastic response to the Original Source releases…
Like the DGG re-issues, the Decca Series are drawn from 1970s Quadraphonic tapes, and are mixed down from four-channels to two, by the same team (mixing by Rainer Maillard, cutting by Sidney C. Meyer) using the same replay/cutting chain and venue – the Emil Berliner Studios. However, unlike the DGG discs, that are pressed by Optimal, the first Decca re-issues have been pressed at the highly regarded Pallas plant. Whether this is a qualitative decision or one forced on UMG by available capacity isn’t clear. The three Decca discs might also come as something of a surprise, at least to seasoned Decca collectors, with none of the earl SXL ‘classics’. Instead, UMG has selected the Solti Rite… (with the Chicago S.O.), Colin Davis’s recording of the Sibelius Fifth and Seventh Symphonies (with the Boston S.O. and released on Philips) and – somewhat bizarrely given the range of material available – the Boskovsky/V.P.O. Strauss-heavy, New Year’s Day Concert in Vienna. This last is probably the result of the original disc’s sales performance, rather than a sober assessment of current musical tastes. Either that, or clever, targeted marketing. After all, one suspects that the preponderance of US orchestras featured here and in recent Original Source releases is no accident.
When it came to slipping a toe into the Decca Pure Analogue waters, the choice of title was obvious, at least to this reviewer. A major fan of Sibelius’s work, I’ve always had a sneaking affection for the Colin Davis recordings released on Philips. Five and Seven on a nice, crisp, 180g re-issue is too tempting to pass up. We are not short of Sibelius symphonic cycles, often in exemplary recording quality. Berglund and Barbirolli (both on EMI) spring to mind, while Lorin Maazel’s Decca recordings are also fascinating, as are those by Neeme Järvi for BIS. More recently, we’ve seen complete cycles from Osmo Vänskä and Santtu-Matias Rouvali. And that’s barely scratching the surface, with a whole horde of other Finns clamouring for attention, let alone other nationalities: Alexander Gibson for the Fifth on RCA, anybody?
With so much competition, both new and used, vinyl and optical disc, the Decca Pure Analogue re-issue is going to have to be good to justify its price. Fortunately, the records more than justify their price, sonically and musically. The surfaces here are near silent, the discs perfectly flat, while Davis offers his own, idiosyncratic perspective on these familiar pieces. Perhaps predictably, given the presence of the Boston players, these readings are smoothly polished and refined, rich and fleshier than the more muscular orchestral sinews of Barbirolli or Berglund. Not as cool or dramatic perhaps, but these lusher, more fluid and more romantic readings have their own appeal, especially in the doleful depth of the brass which swells emotively, especially in the 3rd Movement of the Fifth. Indeed, I suspect that many will buy this set predominantly for the more familiar piece, but don’t ignore the Seventh or Tapiola: Davis and the Boston deliver sumptuous performances of both.
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