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Recorded in the shadow of impending war in Europe, this remarkable recording of one of the great masters at work has never been heard to its full potential before now. Although several restorations of this recording have been issued, and are currently available to purchase, until now nobody has been able to res0lve the issue of the 78rpm final side.
The producer's note on the current Naxos issue states that a "...flaw in the original recording, however, could not be remedied: the second half of the Fourth’s finale was only ever issued in a sonically-compromised dubbing which sounds noticeably different from the rest of the symphony".
What this means for the listener when the sides are edited together is profound, as the side change comes at a point where it is impossible to mask a dramatic change in sound quality and acoustic, halfway through an orchestral 'tutti'. From there on in, the sound is dreadfully compromised.
It is this problem (after the others one expects in a recording of this vintage, including a persistent swish) that I have sought finally to rectify. By taking readings of the overall tonal balance of the final two sides, I've aimed to match the final side to the penultimate side. Getting a more pleasant sound for the final side was not too difficult, thanks to an ingenious piece of recent audio software, Har-Bal. Getting the two halves of the orchestral tutti to blend (one literally cuts off as the next begins - there is no overlap), proved much harder.
After many attempts I finally reached a result I was pleased with - you can hear the entire movement in our streaming sample on this page.
I then went a step further with the overall sound balance, in a quest to overcome general shortcomings in early microphones and recording equipment, by taking a modern recording of the 4th Symphony as a reference to further tweak the sound quality heard here and bring out the full-bodied tone of this excellent orchestra.
The result, surely, comes closer to what Toscanini would have heard and created in June 1939 than ever heard since, and this marvellous recording of Beethoven's wonderful Fourth Symphony can finally live again!
Our MP3 files are encoded at at a constant rate of 320kbps for all issues since mid-August 2008, and using the LAME encoder at high variable bitrate settings for older issues.
Each recording is presented as a single, long MP3 which can be split using the CUE sheet at the bottom of the page, automatically adding track titles and other tag information.
Most modern CD writing programs such as Nero and Burrrn can write these files directly to CD with all track information added using MP3+CUE - see our tutorial
Alternatively a cue splitter program can automatically cut and name the MP3 into individual MP3 tracks
There are also media players which use the MP3+CUE system, allowing gapless playback of all long MP3 files - essential for opera and many other classical works
Save money when you buy several downloads together
Use the following discount codes in the shopping cart:
Buy 5 or more - save 10%: Code: 85187052
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How To Use: Once you've made your selections, copy the correct code into the space marked Discount or Coupon Code in your shopping cart, then click the Update Cart button to apply the discount before heading to the checkout.
N.B. These discounts apply to all our FLAC and MP3 downloads only. Discounts do not apply to CD purchases
Our CDs are made to order on highest quality Taiyo Yuden Watershield CD-R discs, recorded directly from our original masters.
CDs are shipped by Priority Air Mail from France. Orders over €200 qualify for free international tracked and recorded delivery.
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Up to €10 = €1.50
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Over €200 = FREE
All our CDs hold the same quality of audio - the Standard €10 CD comes in a slip case with no covers, the Premium and Ambient Stereo €14 CD comes in a jewel case with printed covers.
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