Post by wehecht April 26, 2011 (21 of 39)
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krisjan said:
Polly - I listened to this one about 4 or 5 times over the past several weeks and came to the conclusions I reached in the review. I will be interested in your take.
Thanks for the review. I've listened to this three times in the past two days and can't hear the "shouty" resonance you've described, but I've listened in MC not stereo. I do, however, note the occasionally reticent quality of the piano tone. I attribute this partly to the piano itself, which I'm guessing is a somewhat differently voiced Hamburg Steinway and not its American cousin, and partly to the players' interpretation, which, as you've suggested, tends to be understated in comparison with other performances (or have the others I've heard been hyper-emotional in comparison to this one? I can take my Rachmaninov and Shostakovich either way depending on my own mood). So in summary I guess I like this recording somewhat more than you do without regarding it as a "reference" version of either of the main works.
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Post by krisjan April 26, 2011 (22 of 39)
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armenian said:
If you are not overly impressed with this Rachmaniniv, who in your opinion offers the most satisfactory performance on SACD?
Vahe
I don't have either of the two other SACD's of the Rach sonata (according to Zeus's database). As a performance, I prefer the Thedeen/Pontinen on BIS RBCD and the Finkel/Han on ArtistLed RBCD.
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Post by mwhite April 26, 2011 (23 of 39)
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Interesting review,actually i thought that this was a very unique recording, its probably one of the very few recording of Rachmaninov's sonata which is not played with too much sentiment and melancholy or wildly passionately but is rather beautifully pure and sincere much like the performances of Rachmaninov himself (his concerto recordings)
I also liked the Shostakovich very much though the Rostropovich recording unbeatable.Borodin is not a great piece but very nicely done,as for vocalise its one of the most touching i have heard. Overall its a first class recording played by true musicians
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Post by krisjan April 29, 2011 (24 of 39)
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Victor Carr of Classics today gave this a 10/10 rating: http://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=13325
Interestingly, he is saying pretty much the same thing I did in my review as far as performance is concerned, yet still rates it a 10 out of 10 and I say 4 out of 5. This just points to the danger of relying on the numbers alone.
He doesn't have much to say about the sonics other than to praise it and here we disagree. Still waiting for more input from the SACD community on this one.
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Post by Fugue April 29, 2011 (25 of 39)
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Can anyone compare it to Borislav Strulev and Serguei Yerokhin's recording, both sonically and interpretively?
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I have listened to this disc and I too cannot hear the "shouty resonances" described in Krisjan's review.
Krisjan, have you listened to this disc on another system?
Something as you have described seems to me to most likely be a unique circumstance of system/room/disc interaction, rather than something inherent in the disc, especially if nobody else seems to hear it.
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Post by krisjan May 2, 2011 (27 of 39)
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I have not heard the SACD on any other system but I trust my system to tell the truth relative to the real thing. Perhaps folks are making more out of my sonic comments than necessary. There is a slightly odd quality to the sound of both the cello and piano about an octave above middle C - I referred to it as "shouty" but it is probably better described as a slight emphasis or resonance in that range which I attribute to the venue. It is not annoying by any means but is does make the instruments sound ever so slightly unnatural in that register. That along with a reticent low end for the piano caused me to downrate the sound a bit. It is by no means a bad recording. Just not what I know is possible for this combination of instruments.
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Post by Hitters May 9, 2011 (29 of 39)
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Post by hiredfox September 4, 2011 (30 of 39)
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At the risk of incurring the wrath of nay-sayers anonymous, having played this disc about two dozen times, all the time comparing it with similar earlier BIS recordings in SACD Stereo, I will put my neck on the line and say most definitely significant differences can be heard in both sound-stage depth and the more spatial presence of soloists on this new disc - the first of Robert's 88/24 breed that I have heard - call it more air if you like (a meaningless phrase to me) or in my terms soloists have greater three dimensionality and presence in the room and are less etched onto a flat sound-stage 'over there'.
It's not DSD that's for sure but it's sounding a whole lot more exciting to persnickety old fuddy-duddies like me.
If others agree surely, Robert,this must become your de facto standard for future BIS recording especially as you can't abide DSD (;-) Noting that the performance was recorded at St George's, Bristol, England, does this explain the higher sample rate recording facilities?
Oh! By the way, an exceptionally fine recording to boot with faultless playing by both soloists and around 80 minutes worth. Every home should have one!
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