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Hi gang! I just bought a universal player (McIntosh 861)to replace my old Theta setup. Thing is, I don't have any SACDs to check it out with. I am a classical music nut with a stereo system (not surround sound; 3000+ vinyl records). I am going to CES, where there will be lots of SACD vendors, but what to buy, what to buy? I'd like to come back with 10 SACD's. Suggestions?
Thanks much.
Follow Ups:
Here are the four discs that sold me on SACD three years ago: performances I've known for 20 years, finally brought to life. For me, the real value of SACD is restoring the back catalogue:Beethoven 6th Walter/CSO (Sony)
Copland conducts Copland (Sony)
Mozart 38 and 40 Walter/CSO (Sony)
Brahms 4th Walter/CSO (Sony)
I also love the Vaughan Williams collection on Vanguard Utah/Abravanel. I have the Hanson and Suppe Mercury discs, which jump out of the speakers at you (in a good way).
For the newer SACDS, I like the Volodos Schubert collection (Sony) and the Beethoven/Mendelssohn concertos Mullova/Gardiner/ORR (Phillips)
So, about 80% of my SACD listening is the old stuff, and there is plenty there for you.
...here are my full DSD pics, recordings and performances, (with one exception), which have left me breathless, and most overtly demonstrate the superiority of discreet multi-channel.Gliere, "Symphony #3" Telarc. Just listening to this last night--one of the most transparent, gargantuan, tactile recordings ever. A tight performance, and yes, the gong *is* there if you have good equipment.
Bartok, "Concerto for Orchestra" Hungaroton. Again, a effortlessly stunning recording--sounds good on humble equipment as well as spectacular. Makes good use of the center channel too. Kocsis and the Hungarian National know what they're doing, too.
Bartok, "Bluebeard's Castle" Philips. The opening of the 5th gate is worth the whole price of admission. Mastered by Polyhymnia in their typical voluptuous style, Fischer and the Budapest are the stars here, and never has Bartok's soundworld sounded so immediate and grand. The singers are more than competent.
Mahler, 3rd and/or 9th Symphony, Decca. Chailly is unusually inspired in these last readings of his complete cycle. How lucky we are that they made it to SACD. Are there nits to pick? Of course, but *so* much is gotten right and to be enveloped by the Concertgebouw strings, or hear that bass drum crescendi from what seems to be 20 feet back in my kitchen is pure magic. How lucky we are as listeners at home.
Mahler, 1st and/or 6th Symphony, SFO Media. Again, routinely jaw-dropping recordings. The 6th is the one that turned me on to SACD--it was playing in my local stereo store and I stopped dead in my tracks asking what amplifier or speakers were going. (It makes me laugh that some can't hear the difference between CD and SACD.) The 1st is excellent, and takes MTT's mannerisms very well, the 6th falls a little short of the Bernstein DG recording, esp the slow mov't, but is ultimately satisfying. Both clearly illustrate the advantage of both hi-rez music and discreet surround.
Durufle, "Organ works." I know, organ works, but there is such variations of color, hue and dynamics, it might as well be and orchestral performance. Gotta bass fetish? You're gonna love this one. It is also very modestly-priced at $16.99. CPO should be rewarded for this. Organ music in discreet surround is a must hear, and you can't do better than this artistically and technically, much better than DG's Notre Dame compilation.
Prokofiev/Mussorgsky, "Alexander Nevsky/Pictures" Sony. *The* best Nevsky. Listen to Battle on the Ice first and you'll be in love. Pictures at an Exhibition needs no into. It's much better than the RCA Reiner. There. I said it. But it's true. *ONLY SURROUND LAYER* Yes, it's only in surround but so enveloping, you can practically smell the armpits of the Tartars. The Westminister Choir is compelling.
Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto/Violin Concerto, Pentatone. A Gramophone Editor's Choice--very satisifying performances of these to warhorses. Another recording in which the center channel is used a great extent and demonstrates how much better to have the soloist front and center. So many textures in the orchesta and the interplay between soloist and orchestra become clearer. Listen to how SACD presents the strings in the repeat of the opening big theme--weighty, but smooth as silk.
Prokofiev/Glazunov/Katchaturian, Violin Concerti, Pentatone. Buy it for the Prokofiev--a magical early work, extrememly lyrical stuff! A fav for years and how lucky it's out in SACD. Once again, the Center is used aggressively and very successfully to show what 5.1 does for orchestra/solist material.
Ravel/Gershwin, Piano Concerti, Oehms. You'll have to order this one overseas, unless your over there, but come on: Roge doing Ravel's G major on SACD surround? The RSO Wien might as well be a "top 5" orchestra. You wouldn't know any different, and the recording and acoustic is perfection.
Tallis, "Spem in Alium" etc., Linn. A classic already--Spem in Alium in surround, (it's for 8 choirs in different parts of the church), another demo disc, and the best performances on any format to boot.
Vivaldi, "Concerti for the Emperor" Harmonia Mundi. Unusually for HM, it's a full DSD recording. Manze's credentials don't need to be repeated here--infectious, and many times poetic playing. Even if you don't think you like Vivaldi, I suspect you'll like this SACD. The realism in surround is astonishing, and if you have a good center channel, it will be used to great effect.
Some more:
--Shostakovich, Piano Concerti 1/2. Hyperion
--Rachmaninov, Piano Concerti, Hyperion--surpising performances at first, very satisfying upon repeated listening. Excellent in 2 channel, strings open up in surround, but piano sound becomes slightly diffuse, but only slightly. Might be a problem with speakers that don't image well. Hyperion's first full DSD recording--they should be rewarded.
--Holst, "The Planets" Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs
--Berlioz "Requiem" Telarc. OK, Spano does everything he can to make this a tasteful requiem, which has pros and cons, but sorry, the recording is genius-level, and a must if you have surround.
--The BIS Greig series is excellent as well.Yes, there are no Chandos, DG, or Naxos on here though I own many. I *have* to say, as much as I like these companies, their PCM to SACD remasterings just don't work, and are only marginally better than standard CD. Sorry. All the hallmarks of PCM are there--harsh strings, flattening of sound going into tutti, or dense orchestral passages at loud levels. I can't include them as part of what the "best SACD has to offer." Perhaps straight hi-rez PCM to DVDA will be better. We shall see.
SHAMELESS PLUG:You will find a Telarc booth with ***SURROUND SACDs*** at CES - just don't know which venue. I'm not in Marketing/Sales...
Happy New Year and Happy Listening!
Best Regards,
Telarc is at Alexis Park in the Parthenon Room (AP1)during CES '05.
Best Regards,
nt
In case you are not aware yet of the Pentatone label which specializes in multi channel recordings of classical music for release on SA-CD, here is our website:
www.pentatonemusic.com.
So far we have some 70 items to offer. New recordings as well as historical quadraphonic recordings. For next year we plan approx. 20 new releases.
I've seen these on various websites and am tempted by the beethoven symphony set. Are these pentatone sacd's pure dsd recordings?
They may be single layer discs, they may be stereo, but performance and sound are superb.Some favorites:
Dvorak: Slavonic Dances -- Szell/Cleveland
R. Strauss: Tone Poems -- Szell/Cleveland
Copland: Dance Suites -- Bernstein/New York
Bach: Goldberg Variations -- Gould and/or Perahia
Brahms: Symphony No.4 -- Walter/Columbia Orchestra
I would not recommend the Gould recording of the Goldberg variations, because it is a 16/44 PCM recording, unlike the recent CD re-reissue made from the better analog tapes.But the other two Bach/Gould recordings available on SACD sound great.
nt
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nt
perhaps a futile attempt at fiscal restraint, but perhaps I can do better at this than the federal government.Also, which ones are most likely to show the advantages of the center channel ?
There are way more than 10 killer classical SACD's-so your taste matters.
Good question, but hard to answer. I like a lot of stuff. My 3000 records cover the gamut. Easier to answer what I'm not particularly fond of, maybe. I don't listen much to Renaissance, early baroque, "intellectual" (my term) moderns (Hindemith, Schoenberg, Berg, etc.), "light" Classical (Johann Strauss, Lehar). Otherwise, on any particular day, I might call my favorite composer anyone from Bach to Poulenc. Does that help?
I agree that the Mercuries might be a good start. My favorites:Resphighi Ancient Airs and Dances
Stravinsky Firebird
Rachmaninov ctos 2, 3
Bach Cello Suitesbut I don't think there's a dud.
Also, of the RCA's my favorites are the Munch Ravel Daphis et Chloe and the Reiner Bartok, but they are all enjoyable.
I would look at the Fischer recordings of Dvorak 8,9 on Phillips. Also the Pentatone Mozart horn concertos, the Sony Midori/Eschenbach Mozart, the Fine Arts Quartet/Gandelman Mozart Quintets on Lyrinx, and the Bach Christmas Oratorio on Channel. Also for Bach, the Orchestral Suites on Telarc. For Mahler, any of the MTT/SFO recordings. I think the Haydn Symphonies disc on Pentatone is enjoyable, as is the Vivaldi concertos on Sony.
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