The hi-res collector's edition is very good. It sounds better and the non-acoustic CD has an average DR of 12. The acoustic CD has an average DR of 13. Again it sounds quite good.
The demos and live tracks are CD format and of lower DR.
Brahms - The symphonies - Chailly/Gewandshausorchester (DECCA)
Excellent performances overall, but It has no right to sound so extremely harsh and hard, it is recorded in 2012 and 2013 for crying out loud! No matter what headphones I use, the sound gets unbearable after a couple of minutes. The sound isn't completely crap, there is warmth, an organic richness, but at the same time there is this glassy hardness, especially in the strings which is just unacceptable for a 2012/2013s classical recording. The weird thing is that many people rave about the sound of this recording.
Chailly's Beethoven recordings are similar in sound, but fortunately the strings sound less strained.
Yes, strange indeed. I have a couple of early 90's Decca recordings, (Ravel recordings by Dutoit for instance) which are generally considered to have this early digital hardness, but they sound just fine to me. Maybe it is just me, that my ears are sensitive to that particular frequency that is boosted in the Brahms recordings? I think the recording or mastering is too loud and distorted? My ears literally start to ache after a couple of minutes and that is unique, even Red Hot Chili Peppers' Californication sounds better, I have less trouble finishing that record without much fatigue.
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