Post by diw July 20, 2013 (1 of 11)
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Don't know if we will get any more recordings of the War Requiem on SACD this year. So I am wondering if anyone else can give their opinion of this disc. I would really only want to purchase 1 version.
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My understanding is that the original Decca Britten recording is due on Blu-Ray audio this autumn but of course won't be multi channel.
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Post by Johnbs July 20, 2013 (3 of 11)
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I consider this a very special piece of music - WR and Peter Grimes are my favourite Britten pieces
have the Hickox version, which I like, but would happily buy any high resolution version of my favourite - the original Decca version and plan to buy the 50th anniversary version on Bluray (video and audio)
John
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Post by hiredfox July 20, 2013 (4 of 11)
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Kurt Masur with the London Philhamonic is the one I would recommend from the various versions on SACD but in fairness have not heard van Zweden personally only read reviews. Bear in mind that the LPO own label no longer records DSD SACD, only RBCD so the few earlier SACD titles including this one might be rare and costly
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The Zweden performance is OK, but the sound nothing special. I find the Hickox better in both respects (and despite its relatively lo-res provenance). It also offers an excellent Sinfonia da Requiem.
But the original Britten recording is nonpareil, of course. That and the other great Britten/Decca recordings would make fabulous SACDs, if transfered properly from analog straight to DSD. If only...
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Post by hiredfox July 21, 2013 (6 of 11)
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Jonalogic said:
But the original Britten recording is nonpareil, of course. That and the other great Britten/Decca recordings would make fabulous SACDs, if transfered properly from analog straight to DSD. If only...
+1
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Post by diw July 21, 2013 (7 of 11)
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Jonalogic said:
The Zweden performance is OK, but the sound nothing special. I find the Hickox better in both respects (and despite its relatively lo-res provenance).
Interesting. I was interested in this disc because the review on this site suggests that the sound is the best of the available SACD's of this piece.
Obviously, you disagree. I would try the Hickox, although I am very leary of those early Chandos SACDs. The ones I have tried have that classic distant excessively reverberant Chandos soundstage that I dislike, as opposed to a number of their more recent discs, which I greatly enjoy.
Similarly, I have one LPO disc, the Symphonic Dances, which I did not like. So I have hesitated to try another.
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Post by Johnbs July 21, 2013 (8 of 11)
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Jonalogic said:
But the original Britten recording is nonpareil, of course. That and the other great Britten/Decca recordings would make fabulous SACDs, if transfered properly from analog straight to DSD. If only...
It appears the original WR will be a 96KHz/24 bit PCM stereo transfer available next month on Blu-ray (and I would guess available soon as stereo download as well).
I was quite happy with the Peter Grimes transfer to 96KHz/24 bit download
John
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diw said:
...although I am very leary of those early Chandos SACDs. The ones I have tried have that classic distant excessively reverberant Chandos soundstage that I dislike...
Oh, you mean the realistic row J front stalls seat with coherent hall sound and unbuggered dynamic range? You sure won't like it, then!
De gustibus...
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Post by diw July 22, 2013 (10 of 11)
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I have not been in any of the halls where Chandos records. But their traditional sound, to me, was more like row Z or the upper balcony than Row J. As I said, more recent Chandos discs sound noticeably different, and I have wondered whether they have changed their miking technique in the last few years.
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