Cantate Domino (UHQCD)

„Cantate Domino” is probably the most famous audiophile recording of church music. There should be hardly anyone who does not own one of the various versions of this legendary recording of the concerts in the Oscarskyrhan in Stockholm. Recorded on a Revox A-77 tape machine with only two microphones, the 1976 recordings offer the highest level of spatial information and naturalness.

It was Winston Ma who, in the train of the album’s release in UHD format, revealed the great mystery about the size of the choir. He heard about the story of the sound engineer Bertil Alving who, four days after the actual recording, went to Oscar Church again because of his dissatisfaction with it. Equipped with his recording equipment and loudspeakers, which he placed in the gallery, he listened to the choir again and again, tweaking the sound with his machines until he was satisfied with the result. When Ma now counted how many singers actually made up the choir, which critics ascribed sizes between 250 and 400 people, he came up with the astonishing number: 38. Plus organist, choir master and soloist.

Fabio Camorani has taken on the original tapes once again in 2021, in order to capture them in the best possible quality on UHQCD. This appears in a box with detailed booklet and certificate and is limited to 1,111 copies.

UHQCD stands for Ultimate High Quality Compact Disc and is a joint development of the Japanese CD replication company Memory-Tech and the Audio Quality CD Company from Hong Kong. Unlike conventional CDs, UHQCDs are not pressed from polycarbonate, but cast from a photopolymer and cured with UV light. Another layer of high-purity polycarbonate is applied to the softer photopolymer for scratch protection. The combination results in significantly reduced reflection of laser light inside the CD and an unmatched precise edge transition between pits and lands of the CD. UHQCDs are 100% compatible with standard CD players. Musically, the result is a sound image strongly reminiscent of analog master tapes.

Lista pieselor

1. Cantate Domino

2. Konsert För Orgel, A-Dur

3. Advent

4. Dotter Sion, Fröjda Dig

5. Josianna Davids Son

6. Fröjda Dig, Du Kristi Brud

7. Lullaby

8. Il Est Né Le Divin Enfant

9. Julsång

10. Den Signade Dag

11. Stille Nacht

12. Mariæ Wiegenlied

13. Jul

14. Zither Carol

15. White Christmas