Post by wehecht August 31, 2008 (1 of 11)
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Castor's review very accurately describes these performances and closely mirrors my own perception of the sound on my first listen. On a second playing I tried cutting the level a bit, and found that with a 4db cut in volume most of the hardness and shrillness evaporated. Nothing changes the French sound of the orchestra, no bad thing in itself but not exactly what we think of as a model for Strauss, the perspective is still something like a seat in the first three rows, and there's not much depth to the image (mc), but the tonal balance is much more pleasing.
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I just received this and gave it a first listen last night. The sound is rather impressive I must say. I think finding the appropriate volume is critical but that is true of many SACDs. This one is a little "hot" and I turned it down about 20 db from my usual listening level.
I have to give it another listen or two before I make any statements about the treble. I was of two minds on that subject last night. Right now I think this recording gives us an extraordinarily good (accurate that is) sound picture of an orchestra, and this just might be the best recorded sound that Richard Strauss' music has ever had!
But that Orchestra is the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, certainly not to be expected to be as sumptuous as the Vienna Philharmonic....but then listen to that opening of Till! On my system it seems so beautifully executed that I can not imagine anyone playing it better!
Then there is the matter of stunning percussion and brass (except for some rather pedestrian horn playing in Don Juan, which, BTW, is beautifully recorded).
I am ordering 4 more copies for Christmas presents! For me this disc conceivably might have been better, sure, but it is still a clear winner.
But then I am NOT comparing it with Reiner, Szell, von Karajan or anyone else NOT recorded on a modern multi-channel sacd. I got tremendous satisfaction from listening to this disc, and strongly look forward to another session with it tonight!
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Post by ARQuint September 6, 2008 (3 of 11)
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I picked this disc as one of my seven "Multichannel Marvels" for the next installment of the column in Issue 187 of The Absolute Sound. Apart from issues of sound, I think the interpretations are wonderfully fresh, given how over-recorded these pieces are.
Andy Quint
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Post by Chris October 17, 2008 (4 of 11)
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Having just listened to this recording through my just upgraded system that now includes the GRADO GS 1000 Statement headphones, I can only comment on the SACD Stereo layer as usual.
But I certainly beg to differ with those who find faults with this recording.
I strongly suspect the faults are to be found within the reprodcution chains and not the recording.
To me it sounds, from a technical point of view , almost on par with my two other reference recordings of Strauss´s music on SACD, Luisi´s recordings on Sony classical .
I hear here, as there, a very natural recording in a spacious, clear and coherent acoustic!
I hear a very realistic recording of classical music with no overly obvious spotmiking ,cut and paste, or other artificial effects.
Ok, there is some extraneous noise here and there, but I also hear the sound of the acousic as a part of the recording, the way I also hear it on old simply miked analogue recordings from Living Stereo for example.
I do not hear ANY of the harshness or hardening of string tone mentioned in the two reviews here?
Strings may not be quite as sweet and sonorous as Dresden´s but definitely not harsh on my equipment!
A bit thin maybe?
I do wish that everyone who writes reviews here would openly declare on what equipment they have heard the recording!
I see no reason whatsoever why site reviewers should be exempt from revealing how they come to the conclusions they do regarding sound quality!
Now musically, these interpretations may not be quite on par with old renderings from Reiner,Böhm, Karajan or Kempe.
Nor is the orchestra in question quite the Berlin Philharmonic or the Vienna Philharmonic nor 'Statskapelle Dresden , but nevertheless they aquit themselves quite well under Albrecht junior and as far as the recording quality is concerned no recording I have ever heard comes even close in these particular works!
I´m of course eagerly awaiting Luisi´s follow up on Sony classical,but until then this recording certainly rules in these works for me.
I would even say this is one the best recordings I´ve heard from Pentatone recently and as such at least on my system, better than both their recent Dvorak and Prokofiev recordings where I hear both more of multi-miking and in particular in the Prokofiev a slight hardening of tone at times.
This may sound pretentious and "besserwisserish" for lack of a better word,but my references for recorded music are always live and I do sometimes get to hear both the live orchestra in the hall and then the mike feed.
I haven´t done that with this particular recording but for a reference to what I consider a close approach to the truth as I heard it live I often play the BIS recording of Tchaikovsky´s 2nd symphony where I was actually present at the recording sessions.
I heard the live sound in the hall the mike feed and then the final SACD.
There I know what I heard live and how it came out in the final product.
Pretty close I must say, but a bit overmiked compared to the live sound.
I have since then been to several other sessions and concerts that where recorded for SACD.
To give another reference to what I consider realistic and not, I must say that for example Exton´s recordings seem sometimes grossly overmiked!
Recordings that have been hailed both here and elsewhere as a models of their kind are Ashkenashy´s Respighi discs on Exton.
To me they sound clearly and sometimes grossly overmiked!
Impressive on a MID FI system probably but not to me.
Play those discs next to Luisi´s Strauss and you will know what I´m talking about.
I have also been present, as a photographer, at some of Exton´s recordings both in Prague and Stockholm and have never ever before seen such a veritable forest of microphones as during those sessions.
Apart from the Sibelius series discussed here , I think they have at least Schumann´s second in the can .
It was recorded only a couple of weeks ago at a live concert I attended.
Good performance under the new conductor Sakari Aramo.
But I suspect the final recording will sound just what it was very multi-miked indeed!
All the best and happy listening to all the great music we´re still getting on this "dead format"
ps my next disc will be Alban Berg on RCO Live. I Have already heard it once and was duly impressed.
Chris
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Chris said:
"I hear here, as there, a very natural recording in a spacious, clear and coherent acoustic!" - clearly the stereo layer via headphones sounds dramatically different than the MCH layer...
"I do not hear ANY of the harshness or hardening of string tone mentioned in the two reviews here?" - umm, I mentioned no such thing!
"I do wish that everyone who writes reviews here would openly declare on what equipment they have heard the recording! I see no reason whatsoever why site reviewers should be exempt from revealing how they come to the conclusions they do regarding sound quality!" - like everyone else here, neither I nor any other contributor to the site is required to declare their equipment. As has been nearly done to death, many stick to the principle that the room is one of the biggest contributing factors to the listener - given that for a few exceptions, no-one else knows my acoustic nor (I would hazard a guess) that of most others here so listing the equipment used (unless one uses headphones) is, at best, indicative only. As I do not use headphones, I see no virtue in listing my equipment as it will be of no practical use to anyone.
Regards
PN
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Polly Nomial said:
- clearly the stereo layer via headphones sounds dramatically different than the MCH layer...
Regards
PN
If you read my post on this matter of September 5th, I think you may find this conclusory (?) statement is really NOT so clear - my observations regarding the sound were more akin to those of Chris even though I listened exclusively in MCH. As I said, setting the volume was critical though.
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Post by Edvin October 17, 2008 (7 of 11)
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I greatly prefer the Pentatone Don Juan to the RCO Live. Both as a performance and sound wise. The piece has much more character under Albrecht and I love the Strasbourg horn section.
The Alpine symphony, well I wouldn't waste more than two minutes listening to the crap.
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Post by notelover February 16, 2009 (8 of 11)
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I find the orchestra's string section too thin. I am surprised pentatone would contract a second
rate french orchestra to play this glorious teutonic repertoire. Sounds like they should stick to fluffy french music.
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Whilst I have not auditioned the Pentatone Don Juan, I agree with Edwin that the RCO version sound & performance especially the Alpine Symphony is mainly total crap.Do not buy this lousy SACD. All the reviewers who gave this rubbish a rave review must have had wax in their ears that requires cleaning out. A very poor advertisement for SACD My equipment: The best current CD/SACD player for surround sound Sony XA5400ES via HDMI into Onkyo 706 bi-wired & bi-amped into 4 way floor standing TLS speakers room matched, centre speaker Dali Vokal 2, rear speakers B& W MI's.
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Post by Peter June 7, 2009 (10 of 11)
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Disbeliever said:
All the reviewers who gave this rubbish a rave review must have had wax in their ears that requires cleaning out.
Funny, that, I was thinking the same of you but am too polite to say so.
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