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Review by Oakland July 16, 2006 (3 of 5 found this review helpful)
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I’ve seen it mentioned that some of us buy SACDs by the batch load and then not get around to listening to some of them for a good while. Well, I am a card-carrying member of that club. More than two years ago I purchased the George Lloyd “Cello Concerto”. I considered listening to it over the ensuing months but didn’t want to waste precious listening time on a “long shot”. And the cover didn’t look particularly interesting. And I never even took the wrapper off.
Well, mother was right (as usual) again. Don’t judge a book by looking at the cover. The George Lloyd is some wonderful music and this is a wonderful recording. Expectations being low from the onset, I was only dutifully listening (I told myself I would stick it out no matter what) and it didn’t really begin to grab me until midway into the Concerto, so I will have to listen to it in it’s entirety again and submit a revision. But I was “all ears” by the time the "Orchestral Suite No 1 from the Serf", the companion piece, began to unfold.
First and foremost the music (both the Concerto and the Suite) is compelling but not overly complex, but not lightweight, and is enjoyable. Frankly, sometimes I simply was not in the mood for expanses of Mahler. But the seven short movements of the Suite (the Concerto, too, has seven movements), each very distinctive but connecting, hit the spot. The music is more modern, I guess, but it is a Romantic modern.
The recording is very accurate, very authentic. So, there is no need for any exaggerated sizzle or percussion. Hallmarks of recordings that I particularly like are ones that have substantial back-to-front layering of soundstage information. This helps me understand better what the composer or artist was attempting to convey. Some of the recordings that immediately come to mind that have this to varying degrees are Audioquest’s “Soul Survivor”, Telarc’s “Very Tall Band”, two of my Opus3 recordings, surprisingly (for me) RCA Living Stereo’s “Rhapsody in Blue” ( see my comments at: /showreviews/2674#3441) and my benchmark for soundstage depth, Telarc’s Sibelius Second Symphony, that has, in portions, some 6+ layers of front-to-back information extending 8 feet behind the speakers. Well, add this George Lloyd disc to this group. And the authentic bass whacks, particularly in the “Fate” and “Outrage” movements, are no slouch, capable, at the right volume level, of startling effect. Bass on steroids is not needed here.
Robert C. Lang
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