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Thought I would share my experience with some recent SACD acquisitions.
1. Brahms/Ligeti Horn Trios (BIS): A wonderful-sounding disc. The perspective might be a bit distant for some tastes, but this allows the sound of the horn to expand in all its room-filling glory. Tempos are on the brisk side, excessively so in the final movement of the Brahms, which sounds more hectic than exuberant. Still, a keeper.
2. Sibelius: Symphonies 2 and 5 (BIS): This disc has stirred no little controversy in the SA-CD.net forum, and I can see why. Vanska makes some very odd choices in the familiar 2nd Symphony, and not to the music's benefit, IMHO. The 5th is terrific: I don't think I've ever heard a better coda to the final movement. The 5th also sounds terrific, but the 2nd suffers from a quirk that afflicts many Vanska/BIS recordings, i.e. pianissimo passages that hover on the threshold of complete inaudibility. I know this subject has been debated in this forum before (especially in the context of Vanska's Beethoven cycle), but it's just not to my taste--and it does not square with my own experience as a veteran concert-goer.
3. Rachmaninov: Symphony 3/Paganini Rhapsody (BIS): We've needed a first-rate 3rd Symphony on SACD, and here it is. (DeWaart? Don't get me started....) I recall that a reviewer in High Fidelity magazine referred to this as Rachmaninov's most "Mahlerian" score, and this recording/performance shows that the comparison is apt. The Paganini Rhapsody is also a cracking performance in superlative sound. The recording allows numerous orchestral felicities to beguile the ear (at this point in his career, Rachmaninov was really on top of his game as an orchestrator). Performance-wise, Sudbin and his colleagues pull off the challenge of making a familiar work sound fresh without being eccentric. I doubt we'll hear a better Rachmaninov SACD all year.
And here's another SACD that you really should consider acquiring: Saint-Saens: Ballet Music (Melba). The music is colorful and immensely entertaining, and the sound is absolutely gorgeous. Melba, an Australian label, really knows how to put out a superlative product. Definitely worth seeking out.
Thanks for allowing me to share my opinions. Happy listening!!
Follow Ups:
Anyone wanting to listen to the new Vanska without buying can go to Spotify. It's there, as well as the old version
FD - I agree with you about how useful Spotify has turned out to be as a kind of extended sampler and preview of a huge number of recordings. I've had the service for a couple of months now and I'm amazed at all the stuff I can find there (not everything, but enough so that the service is really helpful in influencing my buying decisions).
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I personally like Vanska's handling of of the Sibelius #2 very much. Yes, it is quite outside the norm for performances of this old warhorse. But, I think it is a freshly valid and new perspective, and that is why I like it - a lot. Agreed that #5 is similarly excellent. The Mch sound is superb and takes us to a new era of higher Rez, BIS sound, which was already excellent. It is most certainly the best disk of Sibelius Symphonies in Mch at this point. One can only hope for more.
The new Vanska Sibelius No. 2 came as a disappointment to me because I so much enjoyed his earlier recording (with the Lahti orchestra--RBCD only). Are you familiar with that previous recording, and if so, have you compared the two? Just curious.
I have to disagree here. I think that the new Sibelius 2nd is quite terrific (as well as the 5th). I thought that, by reading the reviews that it would be a slow Barbirolli type recording. I like that kind of interpretation for a contrast, but Szell was always my favorite. Vanska keeps things moving along very well except for a slightly slow (as I hear it) 2nd movement.
I'm also surprised that no one has mentioned the magnificent playing of the Minnesota Orchestra. A superior group to the Lahti in his earlier recording.
The SACD surround is also quite realistic to me, as long as one can adjust the rear channels to a higher level than usual. I can do that, so it's now one of my favorite SACD's.
If you are not stuck on one interpretation, do give this one a listen.
Roy
No, I have not. My entire focus these days is entirely on Mch SACD and Blu-ray. But, I have many other older stereo versions in my collection, and I have heard it live countless times here in Phila. This new Vanska is quite different from all those performances and uniquely personal, though I admire many of those older performances, as well. This is by quite a bit the best sounding performance I know of.
I admire Vanska tremendously as a conductor - I have seen him perform live with the SFS a few times, and have quite a few recordings, but my reaction to the new Sibelius 2 is exactly that - it is a very personal interpretation. I have typically preferred readings that treat the music with more rigor - Szell (both the Concertgebouw and the Cleveland) is perhaps my favorite conductor in this music, and I also like the Davis/ BSO a lot. Not a fan of Paavo Jarvi or Barbirolli, for example. I have heard the new Vanska twice, and still remain puzzled and on the fence. OTOH, the performance of Sibelius 5 is terrific.
The problem is that we always try to compare a new performance with our fav one. I also was not moved by this new one. I am still as fan of Ashkenazy
version on Decca. Sure it i a very romantic version but it can also sound frightening and goose bumps are guaranteed. The Decca sound is also excellent.
Dr brahms, thanks for that.
Question: Is your Sibelius review on sonics based on 2 channel or 5.0? The reason I ask is that Robert's eclassical download service allows one to download only the 5th (since you poo-poo the 2nd) and in the original (read; not DSD-converted) 24/96, all for $7.52! However, it is of course only the 2 channel version.
I love SACD and DSD as much as anyone (own two DSD-capable DACs), but since BIS's majority of SACD recordings are PCM-based (includng this one), thought I'd ask. I can fully understand, however, if the beauty, etc comes from the multichannel..in which case I spring for the SACD currently. Thanks.....
Sorry--should have stated that my system is stereo only in my OP.
Great, that means obtaining the master files for the Sibelius 5th for less than $8 and playing them on your 24/96+ DAC of choice. (thumbs up).
Brahms horn also, but 88/24.
The new releases are being offered at the 44/16 price for the higher resolution downloads, at least for a while. And the older albums are being offered 50% off, one randomly each day. Very good music site...
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
Another outstandng Bis that I just picked up is
Tchaikovsky Violin concerto with Gluzman as violinist
Best performance I have ever heard of this concerto. Even better than Heifitz
Alan
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