Brahms Symphony No. 2 and Shostakovich Symphony No. 5

Brahms Symphony No. 2 and Shostakovich Symphony No. 5. Seiji Ozawa conducts the Saito Kinen Orchestra. Released 2010, disc has 5.0 PCM 96kHz/24 bit sound for both symphonies and valuable bonus features. It is also one of the titles in the Seiji Ozawa 75th Anniversary Box Set. Grade: A+

Here comes the Saito Kinen Orchestra (Saito Memorial Festival Orchestra) with my favorite symphony musician, the blind violin player (see 00.31 and 26:59). The recording of the Brahms Symphony No. 2 was made in 2009 only 10 months before it was released in early summer 2010. The NHK folks were trying hard; and with this title, they moved up to a new level of excellence in the recording of symphony music. Seeing this was the first time in my life when I felt I had supped with Brahms, a composer I usually listened to from a sense of duty rather than desire. So this is one of the best played and recorded symphony performances I have experienced. 

Why is this recording so good? The Saito Kinen group was fired up (you see that best after the performance). The NHK engineers had perfected their 96kHz/24 bit sound recording techniques in the large venue, and the SQ is unexcelled. The PQ of the video is also unbelievable realistic and pretty. Plentiful lighting of the stage allowed the cameramen to take PQ for granted and focus on framing their images. Finally, the picture content was expertly planned and recorded in accordance with our standards for HDVDs of symphonic concerts.

The Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 was recorded three years earlier in 2006 with a huge orchestra. (Probably only about 25% of the players in 2006 were also in the orchestra in 2009.) The musical performance is intimate, nuanced, mysterious, and spiritual. Due at least in part to the 96kHz/24 bit sound recording techniques used, the sound is clean and accurate.

The raw PQ is also fine. But, alas, this video suffers from a distinct case of DVDitis. There is way too much emphasis on the conductor and there are many of the dreary rear shots which show the conductor over the backs of 30 to 45 musicians. There are only a few whole orchestra shots and almost no shots of whole setctions or groups of setctions. For example, the video never shows you the five horns as a group.  Instead, we see too many small portions of sections. There is too much senseless panning within sections and zooming in and out just to be doing something. Many times we see weakly framed shots such as an instrument without its player or the concert master from behind. There are too many focus issues and  shots that suffer from inadequate depth of field of focus. So this recording violates most of our standards for HDVDs of symphonic concerts. 

it appears that in 2006, not even the experts at NHK understood that HDVD shows of the symphony have to be photographed differently from DVDs. But by 2009 (when the Brahms Symphony No. 2 was recorded) the NHK folks had figured this out.

In summary: for superb playing, sound recording, and video, the Brahms Symphony No. 2 is graded "A+."  The Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 would get a "C" for DVDitis. But thanks to its superior 96kHz/24 bit sound, the grade for the Symphony No. 5 is marked up to Grade B.