Japanese composer and conductor Joe Hisaishi releases his new album Joe Hisaishi Conducts, recorded during a concert at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall on July 31, 2024. The program features his suite The End of the World — inspired by New York after 9/11 and later expanded into five movements — as well as Steve Reich’s The Desert Music, shaped by the landscapes of America.
For the occasion, Hisaishi conducted the Future Orchestra Classics, an ensemble of young musicians he founded, joined by the Philharmonic Chorus of Tokyo and soprano Ella Taylor. The album is available digitally.

No physical CD or vinyl editions are available for this release: they are available for pre-order for delivery in March 2026. In the meantime, priority is given to digital formats, through streaming and online purchase. This choice, far from trivial, reflects the evolving strategies of the music industry — and affects in particular the field of classical music, where the production timelines for physical formats are even more restrictive.
This situation raises questions: are physical formats, once essential for music lovers and collectors, now reduced to a secondary offering, relegated to niche or prestige items? Admittedly, these delays can also be explained by industrial constraints. The release of Taylor Swift’s new album may be monopolising a significant portion of global pressing capacity, particularly for vinyl. But beyond this context, the entire hierarchy of formats seems to be changing.
Digital has now established itself as the dominant mode of music consumption: instant, universally accessible, and profitable for labels. Physical records, on the other hand, are becoming scarce, more expensive, and imbued with an almost “collector’s” value. This imbalance highlights the tensions within a market, particularly the classical sector — where the musical object is no longer conceived as a universal medium, but as a derivative product aimed at a narrower audience.

In short, the music industry, and in particular the classical music sector, seems to be entering an era where immediacy prevails, where the virtual reigns supreme and where the physical takes a back seat or becomes a collector’s item.

For this review, you will find both versions available:

• Ed 1: Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2025
• Ed 2: Tidal Max – 2025

Below you will find the description of the different editions, as well as the measurements of each edition in the following chapters.

The album is composed of 12 tracks:

1. Reich – The Desert Music – I. fast
2. Reich – The Desert Music – II. moderate
3. Reich – The Desert Music – IIIA. slow
4. Reich – The Desert Music – IIIB. moderate
5. Reich – The Desert Music – IIIC. slow
6. Reich – The Desert Music – IV. moderate
7. Reich – The Desert Music – V. fast
8. Joe Hisaishi – The End of the World (Version for Soprano) – I. Collapse
9. Joe Hisaishi – The End of the World (Version for Soprano) – II. Grace of the St. Paul
10. Joe Hisaishi – The End of the World (Version for Soprano) – III. D.e.a.d
11. Joe Hisaishi – The End of the World (Version for Soprano) – IV. Beyond the World
12. Joe Hisaishi – The End of the World (Version for Soprano Recomposed by Joe Hisaishi)

Summary, scoring and Samples

Ed 1: Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2025

Presentation

This is the Tidal Dolby Atmos presented in Dolby Digital Plus (768 kbits/s) or AC-4 (link).

Below the spatialization for all tracks. Click on the images to zoom in.

Below the video of the spatialization (Track 8):

Waveform and Spectrum: DR13

The waveform of the Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2025 shows a high range confirmed with DR13.

The spectrogram of the Tidal Dolby Atmos track in 7.1.4 is limited to 20kHz (yellow arrow) with no signal above (white arrow). This limitation is due to Dolby Digital Plus encoding, which is a lossy encoder that limits bandwidth to optimize data size for a bit rate of 768 kbits/s. The green arrow shows the 120Hz filtering of the bass channel (LFE).

The graph below represents the spectrum of the Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2025.
The spectrum of Tidal s Dolby Atmos version decoded in 7.1 shows that all channels are used. The LFE channel is used with a cutoff frequency of 120 Hz (green arrow). The white arrow indicates the high-frequency limit at 20 kHz due to Dolby Digital Plus encoding.

Synthesis and listening

The Dolby Atmos mix of this album meets Deutsche Grammophon’s production standards, offering exceptional spatialisation that immerses the listener in the concert hall thanks to a 7.1.4 mix. This is the version that most closely respects the dynamics of the original recording, as confirmed by the 2.0 waveform compared to the Tidal Max stereo version. However, the use of the compressed Dolby Digital Plus format limits the refinement of the sound reproduction. As Blu-ray audio releases with Dolby TrueHD Atmos remain rare, Deutsche Grammophon should consider offering online sales in this lossless format, which is particularly well suited to classical music in Atmos, in order to preserve all the subtlety of the recording and mix.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●●o (4)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Spatialization: ●●●●●●●ooo (6.8)
• Restitution: ●●●●o (3.5)

Sample : Joe Hisaishi – The End of the World (Version for Soprano) – I. Collapse 7.1 Dolby Atmos (Downmixed in 7.1) :

The sample is in 7.1 wav format, if you can not play the sample in your navigator, you can save it, right button menu and “Save Audio As…” and play it with an external player.

Sample : Joe Hisaishi – The End of the World (Version for Soprano) – I. Collapse Dolby Atmos (Downmixed 2.0) :

Ed 2: Tidal Max – 2025

Presentation

This is the Tidal Max presented in 24 bits 96 kHz (link).

Waveform and Spectrum: DR10

The waveform of the Tidal Max – 2025 version shows a correct dynamic range confirmed with DR10. There is a noticeable limitation in the dynamics present on the waveform, unlike the waveform of the Dolby Atmos version decoded in 2.0.

The spectrogram shows that the signal rises to 48 kHz (yellow arrow) with no signal above this frequency (white arrow) due to the 96 kHz sampling frequency.

The graph below represents the spectrum of the Tidal Max – 2025.
The maximum frequency up to 48 kHz (yellow arrow), due to the 96 kHz sampling frequency used.

Synthesis and listening

The stereo version offers a wide and balanced soundstage, highlighting the dynamics of the orchestra. It faithfully reproduces the subtlety of the instruments and the clarity of the voices. However, it is a shame to limit the dynamics in a classical music recording.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●oo (3)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●● (5)
• Restitution: ●●●●o (4)

Sample : Joe Hisaishi – The End of the World (Version for Soprano) – I. Collapse 24 bits 96 kHz:

This album offers a high-resolution stereo version (24-bit/96 kHz), providing sound quality that is as close as possible to the original digital recording, but with truncated dynamics.
As physical formats will not be available until March 2026, seven months from now, listeners have no choice but to enjoy this high-resolution version. Only those who prefer a vinyl edition will have to wait longer.
Deutsche Grammophon, which is a quality label, has accustomed us to much better, so let’s hope this is an isolated case.
As for the Atmos streaming version, it offers a remarkable immersion in the music, even if it does not achieve the refinement of the lossless stereo version.

Dynamic Range measurements are shown below.

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Measurements

Dynamic Range comparaisons

Dynamic represents the ability to reproduce a wide range of sounds from the softest to the loudest. The target is to compare the dynamics of the music and not of the media (CD, digital files or vinyl).

For our 2 editions reviewed have obtained the following Dynamic Range (DR) :

	Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2025	Tidal Max – 2025
Global	DR13	DR10
Min	DR12	DR8
Max	DR16	DR13
1. Reich – The Desert Music – I. fast	DR12	DR13
2. Reich – The Desert Music – II. moderate	DR13	DR12
3. Reich – The Desert Music – IIIA. slow	DR14	DR9
4. Reich – The Desert Music – IIIB. moderate	DR12	DR10
5. Reich – The Desert Music – IIIC. slow	DR13	DR9
6. Reich – The Desert Music – IV. moderate	DR12	DR9
7. Reich – The Desert Music – V. fast	DR12	DR12
8. Joe Hisaishi – The End of the World (Version for Soprano) – I. Collapse	DR15	DR10
9. Joe Hisaishi – The End of the World (Version for Soprano) – II. Grace of the St. Paul	DR16	DR9
0. Joe Hisaishi – The End of the World (Version for Soprano) – III. D.e.a.d	DR13	DR8
1. Joe Hisaishi – The End of the World (Version for Soprano) – IV. Beyond the World	DR13	DR8
2. Joe Hisaishi – The End of the World (Version for Soprano Recomposed by Joe Hisaishi)	DR16	DR8

As a reminder, the scale goes from 0 to more 20, but the dynamics are considered good from 12, quite good between 10 and 11, and deteriorate below 10.

Detail of the ratings :

• Dynamic :
  1. Significant dynamic compression, DR less than 7
  2. Compression of the present dynamics, DR between 7 and 9.
  3. Correct piece DR >=10
  4. No dynamic compression (DR >12), dynamic rendering
  5. No dynamic compression, high DR and very dynamic sound rendering
• Spectrum :
  1. Spectrum cut and less than 15 khz
  2. Spectrum cut at 15 khz
  3. Spectrum not conforming to the original and cut (not HD) or original but limited bandwidth (but less than 20 kHz)
  4. Spectrum conforming to the original (but not HD)
  5. Spectrum conforming to the original with HD resolution (higher than 24kHz)
• Surface noise (only for vinyl):
  1. Continuous audible noise
  2. Audible surface noise except on passages with a high level of noise
  3. Reduced surface noise, barely audible on low level crossings
  4. Low surface noise, very good quality
  5. Very low surface noise, no defects, almost inaudible on the quiet passages (exceptional disc)
• Spatialization :
  • Between 0 and 5 for 5.1 or 7.1 channels configuration
  • Between 0 and 10 for Atmos configuration (7.1.4)
  • For more information on spatialization, you can read the article describing this parameter here.
• Restitution :
  1. Low quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments.
  2. Average quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments.
  3. Quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments. Good record.
  4. High quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments. Very high level disc.
  5. Maximum quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments. Exceptional disc.

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