Key dates in CD history
April 1981
- Europe's first public presentation of the CD format, made by Sony, Philips and PolyGram at the Salzburg Festival, at the invitation of the Herbert von Karajan Foundation[1].
- Sony/Philips "Red Book" format approved as standard in Japan[2].
Late Spring/Early Summer 1982
- PolyGram presents Herbert von Karajan with a copy of the first "industrially produced" CD[3], presumably manufactured at PolyGram's Hanover plant. The recording, Richard Strauss' Eine Alpensinfonie, Op. 64, performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker with Karajan conducting, was publicly released as Deutsche Grammophon 400 039-2[4] in the initial European launch of the format.
1 October 1982
- First fifty CD titles released in Japan.
References
- ^ "Karajan honored with CD"", Billboard, 10 July 1982
- ^ "High tech poised for digital replay", Billboard, 29 Aug 1981
- ^ Ibid.
- ^ "Richard Strauss - Eine Alpensinfonie. H. v Karajan, 1982 DG original?" (Steve Hoffman Forums thread)