Sunday 10 May 2015

Mravinsky on Praga Digitals

I have noticed recently that the Czech company, Supraphon, now has excellent recording quality. I have also noticed that Praga Digitals, another Czech company, does some very high quality transfer and restoration work. The latest evidence of this is Yevgeny Mravinsky conducting the Leningrad Philharmonic in 1961 (live recording) of Shostakovich's 8th Symphony. Only the somewhat recessed major climaxes reveal the age and limitations of the recording. Magnificent!

And is it my imagination, or have the orchestral strings of the Berlin Philharmonic under Furtwängler and the Leningrad Philharmonic under Mravinsky not been equalled since? I certainly basked in the Leningraders in this performance.


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