|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
198.54.202.226
I listened to the Rattle version I liked the performance but the audio is a little bland (flat) I also believe that performance wise there is nothing much relevant on SACD?????
So I am left with the Naxos which got extremely favorable reviews or the
remastered Decca cd with Britten conducting.
I tend to like to have my cake with some cream on top thus my question,
can I get good audio with a great performance.
Follow Ups:
Have heard most versions up to around 2010 and favor the 1963 London Symphony/Benjamin Britten version released in 96kHz-24-bit. Wonderful choir/chorus/solo performances from beginning to end.
More expensive doesn't necessarily mean better.
Live performance from 2009 on SACD, now costs a fortune. I thought it was an excellent performance, and the sound on the CD pressing I heard was outstanding: http://ww.sa-cd.net/showtitle/6543
Hickox is a cheaper alternative with fine sound and a superb performance, if you don't want Britten's own. Also, there is a new SACD on Challenge Classics conducted by van Zweden--haven't heard it yet.
I didn't even know that this recording existed. The work is an Ozawa favorite; I heard him conduct superb performances with the BSO in 2000, with Goerke, Bostridge, and Quasthoff.
Decca also announced another recording with the same forces except for a different baritone, this time recorded live a year later in Carnegie Hall. But the issue was canceled.
I listened to the 2009 Saito Kinen performance (on CD) again yesterday, and I was struck by how clear all the musical lines were (I listened with the full score), but it didn't sound heavily multi-miked. The sound quality is much clearer than the CD issue of the Hickox, which tends to get muddy in the climaxes.
Nobody has mentioned the Shaw CD version on Telarc. Benjamin Luxon did a great job with the baritone role, the chorus was oustanding as you would expect from Shaw. But interpretively, I found it bland. Sold it on ebay.
If you listen to the original Decca/London Britten recording on vinyl you don't have to worry about the alleged tape hiss, and you get a much better sound than on the CD transfer. The Hickox version is the best I've heard on CD, in terms of both performance and sound quality. Philip Langridge and Heather Harper are superior to their Decca counterparts in my view, and John Shirley-Quirk yields little to the late and lamented Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.
And the sound is stereo from magnetic audio tape from the Boston Symphony Transcription Trust. I think it's a very good performance--supposedly the audience applauded for 20 minutes. But I am not an expert on the piece, so I can't compare it to anything else.
JM
No question the original recording, not only for the sonics, as someone else said, but also the performance.
I have heard three great recordings that are also in superb sound - the original Britten recording on Decca (yeah, there's a little bit of tape hiss, but sonically speaking, this is among the greatest recordings ever made), the Hickox on Chandos (still available), and the Rilling SACD version on Hanssler.
I have not yet heard Noseda's version with the LSO.
And one on Hanssler. The LSO got good reviews and one poster on Amazon likes it. There used to be a version conducted by Richard Hickox that when issued, it was said to compare favorably with the original version. That's the one I have, and haven't listened to it very much, the lasting impression I have of it is the high levels of tape hiss audible.
Edits: 05/25/12
I do not need the SACD as I am a stereo listener, and it was cheap 3.60 GBP
for a double cd, not bad.
I listened to that and the new LSO SACD. The latter is a nice performance but the sound lacks weight and presence.
How is tape hiss possible on a digital recording (Hickox, War Requiem)? In any case, I have this recording in CD form (it is also available as an SACD, and there is no tape hiss or other unusual noise. It's a fine performance.
I was referring to the Britten conducted original recording.
"I was referring to the Britten conducted original recording."
Had Decca's double CD of Britten conducting his War Requiem and not a hiss heard throughout, then again my disc player is connected through a Adept Response aR6TS.
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: