Post by emaidel March 4, 2009 (1 of 6)
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This is far and away the worst sounding, and least involving recording of Beethoven's 9th I've ever heard. It is especially disappointing, following as it does Runnicles' superb performance of "Carmina Burana" also with the ASO on Telarc.
A first class dud, and one well worth avoiding.
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emaidel said:
This is far and away the worst sounding, and least involving recording of Beethoven's 9th I've ever heard. It is especially disappointing, following as it does Runnicles' superb performance of "Carmina Burana" also with the ASO on Telarc.
A first class dud, and one well worth avoiding.
Wait for Teresa (DSD) to come in and say it is the best thing since sliced bread since it was "recorded in PURE DSD" and is the best recording because Telarc recorded it.
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Post by emaidel March 4, 2009 (3 of 6)
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flyingdutchman said:
Wait for Teresa (DSD) to come in and say it is the best thing since sliced bread since it was "recorded in PURE DSD" and is the best recording because Telarc recorded it.
Somehow I doubt she'll do that, as this recording really is THAT bad. The Minnesota Orchestra with Osmo Vanska on BIS is the best I've ever heard - bar none - and had Concord Music not announced the dissolution of future Telarc SACD's, they should have been ashamed to put their logo on this awful sounding recording. It's especially bad because it IS a DSD recording, and should be at least the equal of the Vanska/BIS recording, but it doesn't even come close.
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emaidel said:
Somehow I doubt she'll do that, as this recording really is THAT bad. The Minnesota Orchestra with Osmo Vanska on BIS is the best I've ever heard - bar none - and had Concord Music not announced the dissolution of future Telarc SACD's, they should have been ashamed to put their logo on this awful sounding recording. It's especially bad because it IS a DSD recording, and should be at least the equal of the Vanska/BIS recording, but it doesn't even come close.
Ed,
Bad covers a lot of ground. Specifically what didn't you like about the recording? This recording has been out quite awhile, released in 2003, and received rather mixed reviews, here and elsewhere. I have it, listened to it recently, and find it okay.
I do agree with you that the Vanska/Bis Ninth is pretty good.
Steve
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Post by emaidel March 4, 2009 (5 of 6)
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stvnharr said:
Ed,
Bad covers a lot of ground. Specifically what didn't you like about the recording? This recording has been out quite awhile, released in 2003, and received rather mixed reviews, here and elsewhere. I have it, listened to it recently, and find it okay.
I do agree with you that the Vanska/Bis Ninth is pretty good.
Steve
The quality of the recorded sound is plainly and simply awful. As a noted reviewer said, it's as if a blanket were placed over one's speakers. As I stated initially, the Runnicles "Carmina..." is one of the very best recordings and performances of that piece, and I had hoped for the same in this recording but, alas, it just didn't deliver.
Incidentally, I didn't mean to start this thread. I had been scanning through the "reviews" section of sa-cd.net, and found a listing for this recording and thought I was adding my own comments to the review, but wound up posting a thread here. And, I know it's an old recording, as I purchased the redbook CD of it upon its initial release, and then the SACD recently, both with equally lousy results.
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Post by DSD March 4, 2009 (6 of 6)
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flyingdutchman said:
Wait for Teresa (DSD) to come in and say it is the best thing since sliced bread since it was "recorded in PURE DSD" and is the best recording because Telarc recorded it.
I'm not a Beethoven fan and currently don't own any Beethoven Symphonies but I did hear this one and I didn't think it was very well recorded, Telarc doesn't have a 100% success rate but close.
When I came back to SACD I tried the Runnicles' performance of Orff's Carmina Burana and but I didn't like it. I sold it and repurchased the original SACD I had Orff: Carmina Burana - Atlanta Symphony Orchestra/Shaw on Telarc's historical Soundstream series.
Here are some other SACD duds I've discovered from the Telarc catalog IMHO:
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6, Romeo & Juliet - Paavo Järvi
Bartok, Lutoslawski: Concerto for Orchestra - Järvi
Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2 - Paavo Järvi
This one I reviewed:
"Paavo Jarvi finally let me down his Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2 is a big disappointment.
Paavo plays it too slow and he misses or under stresses some very important accents though out Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2. Plus Michael Bishop let me down as well as the sound texture is too thick, the high frequencies are muffled and the string tone is almost digital sounding. Doesn’t sound anything like a Telarc recording at all! I looked to see if it was recorded at a different location and it is not, it is recorded in Music Hall in Cincinnati. So what gives? This is by far the worst recording of Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony I have ever heard!
I am sad and disappointed and hope this was just an off day for both Paavo and Michael!
On the other hand the fillers: the Scherzo and two dances from “Aleko” sound excellent, extremely clear and no trace of a digital signature and Paavo plays the hell out of these. They are fun and exciting, this is the Paavo I know and love. I am keeping this SACD for the 15 minutes of rare filler after the symphony and as a monument that even gods can let you down."
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That is a small number of duds from Telarc and over 50% of my collection are Telarc's, but I also love the newer Chandos DSD SACDs, the PentaTones, Exton, BIS and others. And I do end up selling nearly half of all SACDs I buy as many sound to me like they are from low resolution PCM master tapes, some of these have included Membran, Naxos, Albany and Cala.
Just because something is released on SACD does not mean it is high resolution, nor does it mean it was correctly recorded.
This is one of the reasons an updated SPARS-type code would be a good idea.
http://sacdlives.blogspot.com/2009/02/sacd-format-needs-more-complex-spars.html
But that only warns against low resolution, I know of no way to warn against botched performances or recordings other than reading reviews such as the ones on sa-cd.net and posting reviews of the worst offenders such as I do.
Happy listening,
Teresa
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