Reports of the demise of SACD have been greatly exaggerated with recent reports of new budget-priced high-res audio disc spinners emerging from Onkyo and others are anything to go by.
Now audiophile record label and manufacturer of finely tuned hi-fi systems Linn is offering selections of its SACD catalogue at below half price throughout July. There are two ten-disc collections on offer, the Jazz Collection (though it includes some folk), and the Classical Collection, or you can buy both as the Complete Collection.
The Jazz Collection includes two BBC Best Jazz Vocalist Award winners in Ian Shaw and Claire Martin, as well as singer Fiona Mackenzie’s Celtic flavoured songs and Judith Owen’s self-penned tunes. Carol Kidd tackles American Songbook standards on her 1987 classic Nice Work and there’s some dazzling fretwork from Django Reinhardt-influenced guitarist Martin Taylor.
The Classical Collection features some highly regarded albums of the popular and specialist repertoire including pianist George-Emmanuel Lazaridis’ interpretations of Liszt’s startlingly difficult Sonatas and Etudes, and soprano Emma Bell’s take on Strauss’s songs. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra performs Sibelius Theatre Music, Pamela Thorby explores Handel’s music for recorder and Maximiliano Martin’s gives his clarinet a thorough workout on his Fantasia album.
Linn’s CDs are normally £13 from their website, with hi-res downloads available for a tenner per album. The Jazz and Classical Collections each cost £50, or you can pick up the 20-disc Complete Collection for a very cool £100.