Review by DSD August 21, 2005 (13 of 18 found this review helpful)
|
|
This is a DSD recording and has a new symbol on the case that says: DSD Recording maybe the industry will pick up on this on.
My SACD player is the 2 channel tubed Xandak SCD-2 SACD player so I only listened to the 2 channel high resolution layer.
It is beautifully packaged and box, case and spine are in English with the removable paper japanese outer strip. Booklet is in Japanese and English, though the notes on the individual pieces are in Japanese only. The notes on de Waart and the Radio Filharmoniusch Orkest Holland are in both Japanese and English.
On first listening I thought many of the tempo's were too slow. On the second playing I noticed that the Symphony No. 1 doesn't have the fire of the Leonard Slatkin version but it is more romantic and overall better performance.
The Third Symphony is the one that actually sounds slow in places especially the climax, both Boult, LSO (RCA Living Stereo) and Zinman (Telarc) climaxes are twice as fast. I don't have the score so I don't know who is correct.
However the Symphonic Dances is superb and really exciting and beats all of my previous favorites (Johannas, Dallas on Athena / Vox LP, de Waart's earlier version on Phillips LP, Zinman on Telarc CD, and Oui on Reference Recordings HDCD). Isle of the Dead is also great beating out my Reiner Living Stereo LP.
This is the complete symphonies but I know of one Orchestra work not included: Vocalise, anyone know if there are others?
Anyway this these are excellent sounding SACDs with good inner detail but it does sound closely mic'ed with more than a few microphones. So it doesn't sound as real as the SACDs from Telarc, Delos, BIS and others. But the music is superb and this is most of Rachmaninov's Orchestra output.
I highly recommend this set!
Performance Ratings 1-10 with 10 being the best
SACD 1: Symphony No. 1 (9) Caprice Bohemiem (9)
SACD 2: Symphony No. 2 (9.5) Youth Symphony (9)
SACD 3 Symphony No. 3 (9) Isle of the Dead (10) Scherzo in D Minor (10)
SACD 4 Symphonic Dances (10) Fantasy "The Rock" (10) Prince Rostislave (10)
Happy listening, Teresa
|
Was this review helpful to you?
yes |
no
|
|