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In Reply to: RE: New HiRes Sheherazade from Chandos posted by srl1 on July 21, 2014 at 15:31:27
I think I'll take you up on your suggestion and give that new Chandos recording a try. For some reason, Kal didn't seem to think that much of the performance (over on SA-CD.net), but I'll try to download it tomorrow and report back too.
I just obtained (yet again!) the Reiner/CSO Living Stereo recording (this time in the Analogue Productions SACD incarnation) a couple of months ago - IMHO the best remastering yet of that great and classic performance.
However, my favorite Sheherazade is the little known Pavel Kogan / Moscow State SO performance on Classic Records - the conductor is a crazy man, yet the performance never goes off the rails!
It's also 24/192 (but from an analogue source), but I regret the DVD-Audio did not have multi-channel tracks on it, since it was apparently originally recorded in surround.
As for the Toronto Symphony, they already have a recording that's one of the great audio touchstones IMHO - one of the best engineered recordings I've ever heard (can't remember if it's 24/48 or 24/96):
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I appreciate that Reiner was one of the favorites of the era, but his take on Sheherazade has (for me) not stood the test of time. It seems more of a knee-jerk recommendation these days -- a recording that is "expected" to appear on any list because .... well, because it always did in the old days.
The Kogan is an interesting choice, though. This was from the period when Russian orchestras had their own, distinct character. Before global homogenization. That kind of pedal to the metal intensity and balls to the wall brass playing really appeals to me as a sort of "authentic Russian" sound. I liked the original LP of this so much that I got the remastered Classic Records release.
I wouldn't list the Kogan ahead of the Stokowski recording on London Phase 4 Stereo LP, which is a brilliant performance with excellent audio. But I pull the Kogan out at times, which I cannot say about the Reiner.
"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)
The Stokowski Phase-4 Sheherezade is my favorite performance of this piece despite the re-orchestration here and there and the multi-miked spotlighting of the musicians. But my original LP is worn out, and the reissues on CD that I've heard (Cala and several Decca versions) reveal overloading distortion at the climaxes, which is ruinous. His 1975 remake with the Royal Phil isn't as inspired, unfortunately, although the sound is decent.
I just picked up an excellent copy of the Phase 4 London and I agree that the performance, sonics and pressing are all excellent. Just listened to it twice thru.
You are right, the CD releases just do not do justice to the original. I've tried them too, without happiness.
The LP is readily available on Ebay, and if you look through all the posts, you can find a NM copy for reasonably cost. I bought a second copy from an Ebay retailer and am glad I did.
"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)
I have the SACD of this performance in the BMG edition--it's a great performance, but the sound is very bright in either the CD or the SACD layer. Is the Analogue Productionds SACD different in some way?
Yes it is - the Analogue Productions SACD is a completely independent re-mastering from the one that Soundmirror did for BMG. There was a discussion about the two SACD incarnations over at SA-CD.net a month or so ago and the consensus of those who have heard both (including moi) was that the Analogue Productions SACD was worth its "3x the price for half the amount of music" in terms of slight improvements in spatial definition, tone quality, etc. (Sorry I have to report that, but it's true!) Same is true for the Reiner recording of Respighi's Pines and Fountains. I still think the BMG SACD's are excellent, but the couple of Analogue Productions SACD's I've heard (i.e., R-K and Respighi) are even better.
Former assistant conductor of the Utah Symphony Orchestra(and son of violinist Leonid Kogan).
Former, and NOT current, because the boards of Utah Opera and the Utah Symphony decided to save a buck and merge. Utah Opera Manager Anne Ewers sold them on the grand plan and was given control of BOTH organizations. She took over fundraising as well for BOTH organizations with the idea that she could save even MORE money by firing fund raisers at the Symphony and do both jobs.
Result?
Donors figured all they needed to do is write ONE check to Ms. Ewers for the combined organization, thereby enjoying a 50% reduction in the total donation. As a result, the respective budgets of both the Opera and the Symphony were magically halved!
This meant the assistant conductor had to go. Irrespective of the fact that the Symphony audiences favored him HUGELY over then music director Keith Lockhart.
The last concert that Pavel Kogan conducted in Utah he enjoyed so many standing curtain call as to be almost embarrassing.
What a loss for the Utah Symphony.
I did not know that - interesting - and thanks for the historical background! Somehow, I'm thinking that Anne Ewers MUST have a connection to Isaac Stern!
when I lived/worked in Utah.
Don't feel sorry for Anne, she left Utah for a job running the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia (at about $350K per year) in about 2007, and the 'Stupid White Guys' who run things in Utah were sad to see her go!
Utah now has BOTH a third rate opera company and a third rate symphony. OK, been a while but last I saw them in 2006 they were AWFUL.
That's too bad, but combining administrative staff didn't have to mean combining fundraising efforts or one organization cannibalizing another's donors. It did probably mean half as many people were trying to do the same work, and that may have been part of the problem.
Of course, if a manager is tasked with reducing operating costs but maintaining or increasing donations is someone else's problem, ...
She convinced the respective boards to combine the two organizations, cut staff including Symphony administration and fundraisers, put here in charge and allow her to raise funds for both organizations.
Didn't work out as planned as folks just wrote one check instead of two, and in most all cases, the numbers on that one check weren't twice as large.
Yes, I get your point. Not the first time a board goes for wholesale reductions in staff without thinking carefully about the consequences. I know nothing about that situation in Utah, but I do know that even if donors had no idea the two organizations were administratively combined, less staff = less work = less results can apply in the arts as in any other business. Sounds like Anne sold them on a bad idea to make herself more powerful and eliminate the competition of second similar organization (as you say, donors may have seen it differently and decided they could give half as much) and then left the mess for something else when she got a better job offer.
But I'd blame the boards for letting all that happen.
Yep, it was her plan from the git-go. The Utah Opera was a third rate organization at best, and she was the General Manager looking to move up to a better, more rewarding position.
The Utah Symphony while admittedly a second tier orchestra, has a GREAT hall (Abravanel Hall) and a music director who, while uninspiring at best, at least was a known guy (Keith Lockhart, Boston Pops, etc.).
Plus just about EVERYONE in Utah is trained to some degree in music, due to the influence of the Mormon Church. OK, they don't necessarily understand the concept of PAYING for it 'cause they get so much of it free. ;-)
"I'd blame the boards for letting all that happen."
Yep, yet again. Why they didn't see that having Anne Ewers knocking on the door to raise money for both institutions on the same call, 'cause she's only gonna get into the carpeted suits once a year, was going to create LESS total donations is beyond me. But the guys in Utah that sit on the boards of the non-profit institutions may have connections but they are not the sharpest in the world.
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