Sibelius: Symphonies 5 & 7 (Decca Pure Analogue)

When ‘Symphonies 5 and 7’ were recorded to four-track in January 1975, Symphony Hall Boston was no stranger to experiments in quadraphonic recording ever since Deutsche Grammophon became the orchestra’s exclusive record label in 1970; however by the mid-1970s, quadraphony was all but abandoned and this album was never released as a quad LP.
For this release Rainer Maillard at Emil Berliner Studios has used the original, edited four-track quadraphonic master tape to make a new stereo mix sent directly to the cutter head.
This preserves a pure analogue path throughout.
The Philips engineers of the 1970s would similarly have mixed the four front and rear channels before cutting but this downmix would have resulted in a two-track stereo copy for mastering, whereas here the lacquer is cut directly from a ‘live’ mix into stereo from the four Quad channels.
Sonic results have been further enhanced by distributing the recording across three sides instead of the original double-sided LP.
This has also enabled us to include Davis’ December 1975 recording of Sibelius’ last major orchestral work, ‘Tapiola’, on the fourth side.