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Posts: 273
Location: San Diego
Joined: March 15, 2006
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I received this SACD a week ago last Thursday. When I first played it I thought, at last, a version for two channel listeners that is not the ugly stepchild of the surround version. On the opening tracks the string sound was nice (no edge) with the sound spread broadly between the two speaker with woodwind, brass, and percussion clearly behind the strings. There was expansion in the sound with increase in volume and bloom on the sound. Do I dare say that the sound has analog qualities? However, continued listening to the end began to raise some concerns. But first, some words about the repertory. I too shy away from this kind of compilation disc. I have almost all of the music on LP, CD, or tape. Yet I wanted to hear the orchestra and engineering. I had never heard the Alfven before and it is well played. The Von Weber didn't start with the solo cello that I expected When the main theme was to enter, instead the players seem to have wandered out of the ballroom into the forest with chirping and twittering woodwinds. What was this? A quick check of the notes said this is the Weingartner orchestration, not the usual Berlioz version. This is where the harp glissandos occur that Robert talks about. I think the Sibelius has some of the best sound on the disc, and it is well performed. The Elgar is a tad too fast at the beginning, probably to avoid sentimentality, but it robs the piece of its delicate beauty. The tempo is slowed at the end and concludes very nicely. The Rimsky-Korsakov begins a bit tentatively, gains some momentum, and finishes with panache. This piece needs brilliant playing, which it doesn't quite get here. And what happened to the castanets? Don't buy the disc for Bolero. The sound doesn't serve it well except at the end. What then are my reservations, in spite of what is good sound? String sound is slightly less finely detailed, with the cellos having a vagueness about what they are playing, and the double basses are almost missing. Secondary themes in the strings, especially repetitive figurations, get lost in the acoustic. Brass don't ring out, and along with woodwinds, don't develop their full tonal colors. This is a big negative in Bolero, which is built on orchestration. I have the Reiner 2-track tapes of both Mephisto Waltz and Invitation to the Dance. I played them to check my concerns, which were confirmed. The old RCA recordings have bloom, the strings are detailed from violins to double basses, and brass and woodwinds have fully developed colors. No pallid sound anywhere. Only a little tape hiss betrays its age, but that disappears once the music starts. I have listened to the SACD 5 or 6 times. I consider the sound to be an advance over many SACDs. Robert is correct that the recording is closer to what one hears in the concert hall. That was exactly my thought as I have listened to the disc. Only I know the sound can be bettered in some respects. To end on a positive note, the SACD has satisfying weight with bass drum at climaxes, the hall has an excellent acoustic, and the disc is never a tough slog to listen to, as evinced by my repeated playing.
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RE: europe's finest - Robert C. Lang 23:44:34 11/02/09
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