Deutche Grammaphone LPs

[Madfloyd]

I didn't want to pollute Christian's thread so I'm starting this one.

I know that DG recordings aren't overly respected but I recently have been enjoying several of them. A week ago I found a treasure trove of DGs from the 70's in a used record store. They were mint and probably the best pressings I have ever heard. Not a crackle let alone a pop throughout. No low frequency surface noise - truly silent - even the loop at the end of the LP was silent (first time I've ever experienced this).

The recordings themselves seem clean with texture. Not as immediate as Deccas or Mercurys but still enjoyable to me.

What are your thoughts on these?

[Johnny Vinyl]

I have about 50 of them and they sound perfectly fine to me.

[JCOConnell]

the earlier labels with tulips on the perimeter sound better than the later, but they are all pretty good if not outstanding.

[Steve Lefkowicz]

I bought a lot of DGs in the 70s and early 80s. They were mostly fine and still sound good.

[MylesBAstor]

As has been mentioned, the early tulips are the ones to get. As they went on, the pressings got brighter and brighter. But there's a lot of great music on the label. Take Carlos Kleiber doing Beethoven's 5th! Or Jochum doing Carmina Burana. Or the von Karajan's. Or the great baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. He of all the artists on DGG, seemed to get the best sound (as are many of his other recordings on other labels).

But the sound. Meh..... I often wondered what speakers they used as monitors.

[JCOConnell]

maybe the mastering engineers just got deafer and deafer.

[JCOConnell]

My favorite DGG is the nine symphony box set of Beethoven, conducted by Herbert Von Karajan (1963 version). Its excellent. I have it on the original tulips label.

[JCOConnell]

never heard the 1981 digital version. supposedly both the performance and sound is inferior to the '63 version.

[Johnny Vinyl]

Mine is from 1975...Made in Germany.

[Steve Lefkowicz]

you are correct. the 1963 edition is the one to have.

[astrotoy]

My favorite DGG is the nine symphony box set of Beethoven, conducted by Herbert Von Karajan (1963 version). Its excellent. I have it on the original tulips label.

The 1963 Karajan box was the first classical LP set that I ever bought. I was a freshman in college in the fall of 1963 and the local college store (the COOP in Cambridge MA) was also the biggest record store in town. I impulsively bought the 8 record set for $18.95 or something like that. Didn't have a hifi system in my room - no turntable, nothing. That led me to get a part time job at the college to earn a few bucks which I used to assemble a rudimentary hi-fi system - headphones, a small amp, an AR Turntable and Shure cartridge ($57 for the TT IIRC and $19 for the cartridge) and I was off to the races.

Larry

[astrotoy]

I generally agree with earlier statements about the quality of sound (vs. pressing quality). I don't have very many DG's compared with other labels (probably a few hundred). However they did have a bunch of great artists who often recorded with them - not quite the consistent stable of stars, but ones who also recorded for other labels. Karajan with his BPO was most consistently a DG artist, but still did many recordings with EMI and Decca. Taking a quick look at my DG records - mostly boxes - since that is what I can see easily and strike me as particularly fine performances -

One can often find DG boxes in Italian pressings which were issued by some record society (along with many Philips boxes). They should be very cheap - a couple of bucks per record and the pressings were done quite well. I started with those for the Paganini Violin Concerti and Milstein's Bach Sonatas and Partitas, but eventually found nice German pressings to replace them.

Haydn Creation - Karajan
Brahms German Requiem - Karajan
Bach Sonatas and Partitas - Milstein - the best performance! (also have Szeryng's box)
Haydn 12 London Symphonies - Jochum
Paganini 6 Violin Concerti - Accardo
Beethoven Symphonies - Karajan 1963 (better than the later 1978? set) (also have the Bernstein Vienna Phil set)
Brahms Piano Concerti 1-2, Gilels
Beethoven 5 Piano Concerti Wilhelm Kempff, Felix Leitner cond. - (my wife's favorite set - she has played all of the concerti with local orchestras!)
Schubert String Quartets - Melos SQ
Carmina Burana - Jochum (approved by Carl Orff) early large tulip version is best
Beethoven Symphony 5 - Carlos Kleiber not available on early large tulip
Mozart Magic Flute - Karl Boehm (with the great Evelyn Lear as Pamina)
Wagner Ring Cycle Karajan (an interesting alternative to the great Solti Ring and some of the Bayreuth Rings) - more intimate in conception
Bartok String Quartets - Tokyo String Quartet
Beethoven Early, Middle, Late String Quartets - Amadeus SQ
Beethoven Complete Piano Sonatas - Wilhelm Kempff (mono, reissued by DG in the stereo era, but in mono)

Also for those who have R2R capability, I have found that in general, DG tapes (4track stereo 7.5ips) are of quite fine sound quality, better than their records (much like my experience with Columbia tapes).

Larry

[Guest]

Try these Bartok concertos.

Try the Sibelius and Mahler box sets from DG - they are not tulips, but offer excellent performances with fine sonics.

I find that as my system improves, many DGs sound better and better. Lots of great artists. I buy them without hesitation.

To follow on astrotoy's comment, avoid the Italian pressings - I only acquire German issues. As is often the case with box sets, many records may be unplayed.

[JCOConnell]

Try these Bartok concertos.

Try the Sibelius and Mahler box sets from DG - they are not tulips, but offer excellent performances with fine sonics.

I find that as my system improves, many DGs sound better and better. Lots of great artists. I buy them without hesitation.

Regarding the Bartok DGGs, all of my DGGs are originals, I have yet to buy a DGG reissue.

[JCOConnell]

I guess I should say I have yet to buy a 180g DGG reissue. Technically one could say some of the non tulip DGG discs are DGG reissues.

[rockitman]

One less label to worry about. My record rack capacity thanks you.

[MylesBAstor]

Clearaudio also reissued some DGG albums too. I have a few but it was so long ago don't remember anything about them.

[banditcat200]

I have about 100 in my record collection, most are with tulips as they generally sound better, but don't discard the newer ones, some of these are in the league with the Decca´s
But you will have to sort a lot of records to find these gems, the main part will be noise free, but will sound dark and dull and restricted.


From my collection

[banditcat200]

Here is some deeper insight into the DGG label, see the added link.

[Madfloyd]

I don't find the EMI's that much better than the DGs... EMI's sound very restricted in the highs...

[MylesBAstor]

Hmmm...I don't find that Ian. What albums are you referring to and old or new pressings? Also EMI ASDs under around 2500 are a crapshoot. Some early ones dark but more often sound bright.

[rockitman]

You need to be more specific as the title sound quality varies within the labels. There are great EMI Columbia SAX and many that sound like crap. You can be sure the great sounding golden age records for the most part are expensive when you are talking EMI SAX, 33CX, ASD, ALP and DECCA UK (SXL). You cannot make a generalization like that. I can say that DG for the most part is pretty crappy sounding save for the few classic Tulip label titles.... ime