Willi Boskovsky – Philharmonic Ball (2007, LIM) – Audiophile Music

Willi Boskovsky – Philharmonic Ball released by Deca in 1959 and has now been reissued as an XRCD24 by Winston Ma. LIM, a division of FIM Music, uses only the best master tapes they can find and remaster them in the celebrated XRCD process, using the JVC replication plant in Japan.  The results are very good and very expensive, but unless you have a quality sound system you may not appreciate the improvements.

Boskovsky conducted the Vienna Philharmonic’s famous New Year’s concerts for twenty-five years, from 1954-1979, and in the late Fifties Decca wanted to produce an album of music that reflected the kind of program such an event would include. If you are a fan of Mr. Boskovsky, of the Strauss family, or of the Vienna Philharmonic, this album is among the best things you can find. Nobody did the Strausses better than Boskovsky, and no orchestra knew or played the Strausses better than the VPO. Among the selections, you’ll find the familiar–the “Blue Danube” and “Voices of Spring” waltzes, “Auf der Jagd,” “Pizzicato Polka,” “Perpetuum Mobile,” and the less familiar– “Ohne Sorgen, “Transsktionen,” among others.

JVC’s XRCD24 technology is an extension of its XRCD and XRCD2 technology. It uses the same purist philosophy and the same signal chain, except that the K2 digital processor has been extended to 24 bits. As regular readers know, I have been very impressed with the sound of XRCD and XRCD2 discs. The XRCD24 process should be even better.