Herbert von Karajan - Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4

SHM-SACD (Super High Material SACD) is the ultimate Super Audio CD that utilizes the materials and technologies that were developed for the SHM-CD to further enhance the audio-resolution. These discs are made with polycarbonate developed for the screen of the liquid crystal display. As it has a higher transparency, players can read the signal more faithfully. Also, it excels in fluidity, which enables you to cast a more accurate pit. What works wonders for a low resolution format such as CD should offer even greater sonic improvements in a real high resolution format such as SACD.

- Two-channel SACD layer only, to secure enough reflectance and not to compress DSD file.
- Label of the disc is printed with a special green ink called 'Onsho Shiyou,' which minimizes diffuse reflection.
- Carefully selected master audio is used, from existing DSD files to newly converted from analog tapes.

One reason these symphonies are famous is for the care and imagination Beethoven lavished on the writing for strings, oboe, flute, clarinet and bassoon: a gift to Karajan's prodigiously gifted roster of young artists led by the incomparable first oboe Lothar Koch. This is especially noticeable in what is arguably the loveliest of all Beethoven symphonic slow movements. Cast in an innovatory sonata-rondo form, it is an essay in the interplay of stillness and motion, the rocking accompanying figure paradoxically helping deepen the sense of calm. It is said that Beethoven was in love with the Countess Therese von Brunsvik while at work on the symphony. One can easily believe it.