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Was the ECM 1984 recording of 'Tabula Rasa' by Arvo Pärt digitally remastered? [message #94332]

Tue, 31 August 2021 11:50

bergholt
Messages: 5
Registered: August 2021
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Esquire

Hi fellow audio lovers,

I'm not sure I'm in the right sub-forum, but thought this the best match.

I've just received a 1984 pressing of Arvo Pärt's 'Tabula Rasa' composition from 1977, which consists of two parts, Ludus and Silentium, published by ECM Records. The musicians are Gidon Kremer, Tatjana Gridenko and Alfred Schnittke and the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra lead by Saulus Sondeckis.

From Discogs, the recording took place in 1977 in Bonn, Germany.

Does anyone know the recording's 'way' to vinyl - what interests me first and foremost is whether it's been digitally remastered / treated somehow.

I also got the Arbos album, which explicitly mentions 'Digital Recording', 1986/1987.

The reason I'm asking is that I've started a small project of listening to the same piece of music in different formats: Streaming, Tidal & Qobuz, vinyl and CD (there are two releases of 'Tabula Rasa', one from 1984 and one from 2010). A project I was inspired to by reading Greg Milner's book 'Perfecting Sound Forever -- The Story of Recorded Music', which I can highly recommend.

If other forums would be more adequate, please let know.

Thanks in advance,

Kasper Bergholt

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Re: Was the ECM 1984 recording of 'Tabula Rasa' by Arvo Pärt digitally remastered? [message #94350 is a reply to message #94332]

Wed, 01 September 2021 10:24

Rusty
Messages: 1205
Registered: May 2018
Location: Kansas City Missouri

Illuminati (3rd Degree)

I dunno Bergholt. What your asking may be a bit esoteric around here. I get the feeling it's kind of meat & taters around this forum, myself included. I don't know much of the classical genre. This might be another question for the Vinyl Engine. I know some people there post questions concerning classical symphonic music. I did listen to some of it and it's a nice quiet introspective type of music.
I think most vinyl music these days is derived from digital sources, with a few exceptions.
Vinyl is still my favorite medium. I haven't crossed into the streaming divide yet. May never. But I understand it can be more engaging than cd. Which I've mostly lost interest in.

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Re: Was the ECM 1984 recording of 'Tabula Rasa' by Arvo Pärt digitally remastered? [message #94351 is a reply to message #94350]

Wed, 01 September 2021 15:30

Wayne Parham
Messages: 18793
Registered: January 2001

Illuminati (33rd Degree)

I think the guys at "the tape project" might also be a good source of information like this. Their focus is finding, maintaining and supporting the archives of analog master tapes and the distribution of direct copies of the masters, e.g. material that has only been transferred once after the original master tape was made.

The Tape Project

There are lots of analog lovers here - and even some "analog purists" I suspect - but we do have a lot of digital lovers here as well. But even our most ardent analog enthusiasts here are mostly vinyl guys. I think we all respect the idea proposed by the "tape project" folks, but I think most of us find it a little too restrictive of source material.

I guess I should speak for myself - I think that way - I'd love to have such purity of recorded material but so much of the music I love isn't available in that format. And I do kind of think most of the rest of us that frequent AudioRoundTable.com are pretty much kindred spirits and would probably say the same thing. Just as Rusty said, we're kinda meat and potatoes audiophiles here.

Anyway, the tape-only topic isn't even really what you've brought up here - You're more interested in how the source was originally recorded and mastered, I think, yes? That's a step removed from the "only one transfer copy" issue, although they're similar issues and closely related. So that's why I think the folks on the tape project side may know the answer to your question.

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Re: Was the ECM 1984 recording of 'Tabula Rasa' by Arvo Pärt digitally remastered? [message #94374 is a reply to message #94351]

Sun, 05 September 2021 10:02

bergholt
Messages: 5
Registered: August 2021
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Esquire

Wayne Parham wrote on Wed, 01 September 2021 15:30

There are lots of analog lovers here - and even some "analog purists" I suspect - but we do have a lot of digital lovers here as well. But even our most ardent analog enthusiasts here are mostly vinyl guys. I think we all respect the idea proposed by the "tape project" folks, but I think most of us find it a little too restrictive of source material.

Anyway, the tape-only topic isn't even really what you've brought up here - You're more interested in how the source was originally recorded and mastered, I think, yes? That's a step removed from the "only one transfer copy" issue, although they're similar issues and closely related. So that's why I think the folks on the tape project side may know the answer to your question.

Thank you for the reply - and the link to the Tape Project, which I didn't know existed. I've signed up at their forum.

I agree with you that the purist position is quite limiting, and it's primarily for a couple of different recordings I'm interested the 'journey of the signal'.

Over the years, I've read audiophiles repeatedly stressing the importance of the shortest possible signal path, while the path of the actual recordings seem semi-messed and unacounted for, I guess that's why first pressings from the 50's and 60's are so expensive.

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