|
|
|
(This post was originally in answer to one of Kal's posts which mysteriously got deleted just as I was posting my comment. In addition, it had a comment from rammiepie, to which I refer below.)
I've had this recording for about 3-4 weeks. It's a very beautiful performance with a wide open soundstage. The one criticism I'd make of it is that there are a few places where I feel the music needs some sharper accents and definition. Right after playing this new recording, I played my plain old CD of the 1980 Sinopoli/CzPO performance on DG - it was amazing how the soundstage (if it can be called a soundstage at all!) scrunched up, and the dynamic and frequency ranges became noticeably restricted compared to this beautiful new Naxos recording from Warsaw. Nevertheless, Sinopoli had the punch and accentuation I missed in this new performance. This new recording is so ravishing in its interpretive shaping (and its wonderful sound quality, even if it's perhaps just a bit distant for my taste) that it's still a keeper for me. I haven't had the time to compare it with other performances I have on hand (very few of which are in hi-rez however).
I agree with rammiepie that the Naxos Mahler Eighth blu-ray audio from these forces is stunning indeed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
A VERY fair assessment, Chris.
Will definitely add it to my growing BD~A collection.
I wish Naxos would release some of their film music collections on a single BD~A, a MOST underrepresented genre in hi res physical disc.
Naxos promised us two BD~A releases a month and they seem to have slowed down a bit and I hope this is no way heralds their departure from BD~A as they did with first DVD~A and then SACD.
Though in no way the last word in interpretation, I still feel Naxos at a very fair price has given us some outstanding releases on BD~A.
May they continue to do so!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chris from Lafayette said:
(This post was originally in answer to one of Kal's posts which mysteriously got deleted just as I was posting my comment. In addition, it had a comment from rammiepie, to which I refer below.)
.......... This new recording is so ravishing in its interpretive shaping (and its wonderful sound quality, even if it's perhaps just a bit distant for my taste) that it's still a keeper for me. I haven't had the time to compare it with other performances I have on hand (very few of which are in hi-rez however).
I agree with rammiepie that the Naxos Mahler Eighth blu-ray audio from these forces is stunning indeed.
Thanks. I have several HD recordings already so this will go to the bottom of the to-do pile for now.
P.S.: The posts were removed at my suggestion because my initial post was a little out of line.
|
|
|
|
|
|
rammiepie said:
. . .
Naxos promised us two BD~A releases a month and they seem to have slowed down a bit and I hope this is no way heralds their departure from BD~A as they did with first DVD~A and then SACD.
. . . I still feel Naxos at a very fair price has given us some outstanding releases on BD~A.
May they continue to do so!
Yes - this has been disappointing. At one time, Naxos had the Wit/Warsaw disc of the Brahms secular chorus and orchestra works (Schicksalslied, Nänie, etc) slated for release on blu-ray audio, but with the cutback in their BD-A releases, it never materialized. I actually wrote to Naxos to see if that disc was going to get back onto the BD-A release schedule, and they said there are now no plans to. What a shame, because those performances were, if anything, even better than this new one of the German Requiem.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chris from Lafayette said:
Yes - this has been disappointing. At one time, Naxos had the Wit/Warsaw disc of the Brahms secular chorus and orchestra works (Schicksalslied, Nänie, etc) slated for release on blu-ray audio, but with the cutback in their BD-A releases, it never materialized. I actually wrote to Naxos to see if that disc was going to get back onto the BD-A release schedule, and they said there are now no plans to. What a shame, because those performances were, if anything, even better than this new one of the German Requiem.
Unfortunately, Chris, it appears that Naxos is going to bow out of BD~A production, altogether.
When one considers that the cost of mixing/mastering for 5.1, authoring and manufacturing a BD~A in the EU and then shipping the disc worldwide is not all that profitable and the fact that they show up on AmazonUS for prices as low as $8 (from third party vendors) makes one wonder why they bother at all.
We'll probably see a few more (already prepared, I'm assuming) in the coming months but that 'promise' of at least two BD~As a month is already way off course.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Just an update, one of the reviewers today at the Audiophile Audition site has named this Brahms/Wit recording the "multi-channel disc of the month" and gives it five stars. Apparently, he likes it even more than I do. Here's an excerpt:
". . . the ethereal and otherworldly nature of “Selig sind” in the beginning is magnificent, and when the power and fervency needed in “Denn wir haben” is called for, nothing is lacking. Both soloists are wonderful as well, and the whole enterprise smacks of something of a milestone in recorded art for this composition, as the surround sound is extremely spacious, deep, and very warm with great dynamic range."
Yup! But if only the linear definition and accentuation of "Denn wir haben" were just a bit more explicit! ;-)
|
|
