Brahms Symphony No. 4 - Fritz Reiner conducts the Royal Philharmonic - Pure DSD

Good but Something’s Missing

This is a good recording of a great performance, but something seems to be missing to my ears. It does not sound as “alive” as, for example, Manfred Honeck & the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra playing Brahms 4th symphony or the HDTT recording of Bruno Walter & the Columbia Symphony Orchestra playing Mozart's Symphonies 40 & 41. (All three in DSD 256)

Great on all levels

The performance (conducted by Fritz Reiner), recording (engineered by the legendary Kenneth Wilkinson), and transfer (thank you HDTT!) are all superb. It's one of those golden age releases that put even many present day recordings to shame. The sound is clear. The imaging: superb. There's no clipping or distortion to speak of. The smooth analog sound is adequately conveyed. The string tone is never harsh (which is sometimes a problem with Brahms). If you love this symphony, you owe it to yourself to add this top-notch re-issue to your collection. I downloaded it in DSD 128 and experienced no problems. So glad I discovered this website.

What a find !!

When this recording emerged over 60 years ago it received superlative reviews but since it was part of an otherwise unremarkable Reader's Digest anthology (with other orchestras and conductors) it was hard to get. So I never had the LP but it has been on my wish lists for that period. I knew of the Chesky CD of it, but that didn't sound very promising as to quality of transfer. But now I find it in the HDTT collection processed from 15 IPS tapes. The results are incredibly beautiful. The sound is very full and since it came from the team of Mohr/Layton (who were responsible for much of the Living Stereo catalog) it has been meticulously engineered. Since their productions really launched the consumer stereo era one might assume that they were especially careful in all aspects of their recorded productions so that the stereo launch would be successful. The result is that Living Stereo (RCA) productions are still legendary recordings 60 years later...and rightly so. This recording is a treasure !!