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Review by steviev December 20, 2013 (1 of 3 found this review helpful)
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All three orchestrations of Liszt's pieces are more enjoyable than as originally composed for solo organ, especially Ad Nos and Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen. The Prelude and Fugue on BACH isn't as appealing, but then I'm not a big fan of the organ original anyway. The organ solo Orpheus, largely gentle and entreating and placed third between WKSZ and BACH, gives the ears a respite from the tension, drama, and sheer loudness of its discmates.
Mr. Schmitt's playing is fiery and exciting in Ad Nos and touching-tender in Orpheus. The band sounds like it knows what it's doing -- no complaints.
Both works including the organ were laid down at the cavernous Philharmonie Luxembourg while the orchestra-only works were recorded at the Smola Saal, an SWR recording studio just large enough for an orchestra. Despite this, there's no difference sonically from track to track. Amazing. The sound is reasonably clear though I've heard better (tutti passages are a tad congested and two-dimensional), organ is realistically balanced with the band, and bass is powerful. This is a 5.1 disc with built-in subwoofer action, yet the bass is no stronger with my subwoofer turned on. But then again, my five Polk RTI A7s are pretty badass.
Sonically, this disc is more impressive than cpo's two previous Widor organ+orchestra discs, with less of their cloudy reverb, and stronger bass. Plus I find Liszt's music simply more interesting. In fact, with the possible exception of Fantaisie Triomphale - Ian Tracey, Rumon Gamba, this is the best organ+orchestra SACD I've heard. Even if you don't care for Liszt's organ originals, you'll probably enjoy this.
No rear-channel spatial F/X.
Because timings vary so much in recordings of these works, and it might determine your interest in grabbing this disc, here they be:
Ad Nos - 27'12 / WKSZ - 18'18 / BACH - 13'17
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Sonics: 
