Universal Sets 6 SACDs for April 8th; Plans 31 More

Universal Music is continuing to ramp up its SACD release program. This week, Universal announced 6 SACD releases for April 8th and also updated its future SACD release list to include more than 30 additional SACD titles.

The Universal SACD releases for April 8th feature albums by Andrea Bocelli and Shaggy as well as four classicial titles that are already available outside the U.S. market. All 6 are shown as Hybrid Layer Multichannel SACDs which means that they will be playable on SACD and CD equipment and feature Multichannel SACD, Stereo SACD and Stereo CD versions of the music on the albums. The April 8th planned SACDs are:

  • Andrea Bocelli – Sentimento (Philips)
  • Valery Gergiev, Kirov Orchestra – Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade (Philips)
  • Kleiber, Vienna Philharmonic – Beethoven: Symphonies 5, 7 [Originals] (Deutsche Grammophon)
  • Goebel, Musica Antiqua Köln & McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort and Players – Biber: Missa Salisburgensis (Deutsche Grammophon)
  • Anne-Sophie Mutter – Beethoven: Violin Concerto; Romances (Deutsche Grammophon)
  • Shaggy – Lucky Day (MCA Records)

Universal Lists Future SACD Releases
In addition to the SACDs planned for April 8th, Universal Music has also released a list of over 30 SACDs that they plan to release in the near future. The list features a number of new SACD titles by artists including B.B. King, Aaron Neville, Dredg, John Hiatt, Allison Moorer, Sigur Ros and Shania Twain. This is in addition to albums in the Peter Gabriel catalog and some classical and pop music titles that were previously announced as coming to SACD.

Of particular note here is that several of the previously announced SACDs are now shown as coming out in Hybrid Layer format (compatible with SACD and CD equipment) instead of the Single Layer format (compatible with SACD equipment only) that was originally indicated by Universal Music. It will be interesting to see if this is the start of a move by Universal Music to primarily issue their future SACDs on Hybrid Layer discs vs. the past practice of issuing classical music titles on Hybrid Layer SACDs and pop and jazz titles on a mixture of Hybrid Layer and Single Layer SACD discs.

Here is the list of the upcoming Universal Music SACDs:

Hybrid Layer Multichannel SACDs

  • 3 Doors Down – Away From The Sun (Universal Records)
  • Leonard Bernstein – West Side Story (Deutsche Grammophon)
  • Boulez, Otter, Vienna Philharmonic Orch. – Mahler: Symphony 3 (Deutsche Grammophon)
  • Dredg – El Cielo (Interscope)
  • Renée Fleming – Bel Canto (Decca)
  • Juan Diego Flórez – Una Furtiva Lagrima (Decca)
  • Peter Gabriel – Up (Geffen)
  • Gardiner, Philharmonia Orch. – Holst: The Planets & Grainger: The Warriors (Deutsche Grammophon)
  • John Hiatt – Bring The Family (A&M Records)
  • B.B. King – Reflections On Life (MCA Records)
  • Roby Lakatos – Film Music: As Time Goes By (Deutsche Grammophon)
  • Yundi Li – Liszt (Deutsche Grammophon)
  • Allison Moorer – Show (Universal South)
  • Aaron Neville – Nature Boy (Verve)
  • Maurizio Pollini – Chopin: Polonaises (Deutsche Grammophon)
  • Sigur Ros – ( ) (MCA Records)
  • Steely Dan – Gaucho (MCA Records)
  • Thielemann, Vienna Philharmonic Orch. – Eine Alpensinfonie; Rosenkavalier-Suite (Deutsche Grammophon)
  • Shania Twain – Up! (Mercury Records)
  • The Wallflowers – Red Letter Days (Interscope)Hybrid Layer Stereo SACD
  • Johnny Cash – Unchained (American Recordings)Single Layer Stereo SACDs
  • Peter Gabriel – Birdy Soundtrack (Geffen)
  • Peter Gabriel – Passion: “The Last Temptation Of Christ” (Geffen)
  • Peter Gabriel – Peter Gabriel 1 [Car] (Geffen)
  • Peter Gabriel – Peter Gabriel 2 [Scratch] (Geffen)
  • Peter Gabriel – Peter Gabriel 3 [Melt] (Geffen)
  • Peter Gabriel – Plays Live [Highlights] (Geffen)
  • Peter Gabriel – Security (Geffen)
  • Peter Gabriel – Shaking The Tree: 16 Golden Greats (Geffen)
  • Peter Gabriel – So (Geffen)
  • Peter Gabriel – Us (Geffen)