The new audiophile vinyl series DECCA PURE ANALOGUE presents iconic recordings from the Decca and Philips archives in a whole new sound quality. The renowned Emil Berliner Studios have remastered in 100% analogue quality (AAA) using technologies developed specially for the series. Each release in the series is pressed on 180g heavyweight virgin vinyl records and presented in deluxe gatefold editions, with original artwork and liner notes, and additional photos and facsimiles of the tape boxes and recording documentation. Furthermore, each hand-numbered limited-edition release includes new essays by Dominic Fyfe, Label Director of Decca Classics, and Rainer Maillard (EBS) detailing the history of the recording and the technical background and procedure for the release. Pressed at Pallas on 180g virgin vinyl, these limited-edition deluxe gatefold releases will feature: the original artwork and liner notes; archival photos and facsimiles of original recording session sheets. Each individual release includes bespoke notes detailing the history of the recording, the technical background and the mastering process. Colin Davis’ first Sibelius cycle with the Boston Symphony Orchestra was released in 1977, one of the world’s most august record clubs — the Carnegie Hall Selection Committee — deemed it definitive: “the leading Sibelius conductor of our time joining forces with what may well be the finest Sibelius orchestra in the world.” 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. “No one listening to Colin Davis’s cycle of Sibelius symphonies will be left in any doubt that here is a born Sibelian and that these recordings are a very considerable achievement.” — Gramophone, 1977
