STRAVINSKY Petrouchka (1947 version) Scherzo à la Russe (1945 version) Firebird Suite (1919 version) Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra/Paavo Järvi TELARC SACD 60587
Listen especially to the Firebird Suite. The performance and sound (purity and transparency) are excellent. Instrumental timbre sounded so right. The bassoon and horn solos sounded so real and beautiful. The bass drum sounded awesome.
Wow, I was transported to the Palace of Arts in Budapest! The performances are superb. The orchestra sounded tangible, resonant and like the real thing. The woodwind sounded airy and sweet. The strings shimmer. The brass has the bright brassy tones. Dynamics are awesome and lifelike. The soundstage is huge. Play loud.
Strauss - Don Juan & Eine Alpensinfonie Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Mariss Jansons RCO 08006
State of the Art performances and recordings! Listen especially to the Eine Alpensinfonie. The storm and summit tracts are electrifying. The sound is vivid, refine, pure, detailed, and totally transparent. The strings sounded ravishing. The woodwind evocative. The dynamics/fortissimos/bassline sounded effortless, awesome, powerful, clean, and pure. The soundstage is massive. The orchestra sounded exactly like it sounded in the resonant Concertgebouw.
I have the Stravinsky / Jarvi and Stauss / Jansons recordings - recordings you listed recently - not available as sacd but as dsd64 files that are stored locally on one of my 8tb harddrives. The former I play (quite) a lot, - in particular the pieces ‘round of the Princesses Khorovod’ and ‘infernal dance of King Katschei’ from the Firebird suite - because they sound (indeed) mighty fine. The Strauss recording I rarely play but will listen to it with new interest soon.
Schubert Unfinished and Great Symphonies Dresdner Philharmonie, Marek Janowski Pentatone PTC 5187 065 SACD
Listen especially to the Unfinished. A very emotive and polish performance. Right from the start, you can hear the bassline resonating in the recording venue with great clarity. Listen also to the beguiling woodwinds with wonderment and emotional outpourings. The strings too sing so richly and lushly.
These are very enjoyable and very good performances. The recordings are vividly detailed and transparent. Amsterdam's Yakult Hall live acoustic is well captured here. Gramophone says it all: "An excellent issue of distinctive performances in a relatively rare coupling. Vivid recording in Super Audio."
Ravel Piano Concerto in G major Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 5 Schlime 3 Improvisations
Francesco Tristano Schlime (Piano) Russian National Orchestra / Mikhail Pletnev Meitner DSD AD Converter PentaTone PTC 5186 080 SACD
Wow, awesome dynamics, purity and transparency and the percussion can startle you! Via my sound system, it sound like it is coming from a top-notch turntable.
Gramophone rightly says: "Here is music-making to wonder at. Rarely in their history can the two concertos have been performed with such meticulous care and affection. ... What sadness and introspection he conveys beneath Ravel's clowning surface, shadowed, as it were, by the Left Hand Concerto, by an inwardness mirrored in his own haunting Three Improvisations. The central Adagio emerges as a timeless reverie, making it hard to recall a performance of greater magic or tonal translucency, a far cry indeed from a more superficial tradition emanating from Marguerite Long, the work's dedicatee. In the Prokofiev Schlimé and Pletnev take an almost chamber music-like view of the grotesquerie and acrobatics and the result is lyrical and musicianly in a wholly fresh and unsuspected way. Nothing sounds bleak or conventionally percussive and a mysterious, winterfairytale aura hangs over the entire work (never more so than in the Larghetto)."
Amazing colors, details, transparency, control, refinement, scale, and power. The bassline is dark, powerful, crushing, thrilling and scary. Tsibulko's voice is first-rate and so are the male choruses.
Mendelssohn Choral Works. MDR Leipzig Radio Choir, conducted by Philipp Ahmann. Pentatone PTC 5187 064 SACD
If you love classical choral music, this is the album to acquire. Listen to the gorgeous sound of mass voices sung by the MDR Leipzig Radio Choir. Balance, tone quality and the blend are all excellent. I was transported to one of the finest, most naturally resonant recording venue!
Tchaikovsky: The Tempest; Francesca da Rimini; The Voyevoda; Overture and Polonaise from "Cherevichki".
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Alpesh Chauhan Chandos CHSA 5300 SACD
Wow, this is a record to die for! The performances (atmospheric, spellbound and intensive) and recordings (stunning) are exceedingly satisfying. The dynamics are awesome and lifelike. The fortissimos and bassline are scary, hair-raising and terrifying. The love themes are deeply felt and beautifully phrased. The soundscape is huge, airy and deep.
Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker. State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia "Evgeny Svetlanov", Vladimir Jurowski. Pentatone PTC 5186 761 SACD
A very refined and polished performances by the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia. The woodwinds sounded enchanting, dazzling. The strings shimmer. The brass is brilliant and powerful. Fortissimos are awesome and effortless. Play loud.
Brabant 1653 Julie Thyana Roset, Deborah Cachet (soprano), Alex Potter (alto), Mirko Ludwig, Carlos Negrin López (tenor), Dominik Wörner (bass)
Holland Baroque PENTATONE PTC 5186 895 SACD
For those who love Baroque music, this is a disc for you! Beautifully performed and recorded. The voices and musical instruments sounded like the real thing and naturally reverberant. The soundscape is huge (wall to wall and floor to ceiling) and atmospheric.
This beautiful music is beautifully recorded by Telarc: listen in particular to the Scherzo: Presto and Romanza: Lento - part 2 respectively 3 - of Vaughan Williams’s 5th Symphony.
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, Op. 64 & Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, Op. 35, Arabella Steinbacher, violin; Charles Dutoit, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Pentatone PTC 5186 504 SACD
Here, Steinbacher's performance of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto is virtuosic, passionate, dreamy, expressive and of upmost beauty! The violin and orchestra sounded tangible, sweet, natural and lifelike.
Richard Strauss Ein Heldenleben; Burleske Denis Kozhukhin (piano); Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra/Marc Albrecht Pentatone PTC 5186 617 SACD
A very impressive performance of Ein Heldenleben by Richard Strauss! The soundscape is wide (beyond the speakers) and deep and naturally resonant. Dynamics, fortissimos, drums, and brass are awesome. The woodwinds are enchanting. The strings are vivid and gorgeous.
Soirée
Magdalena Kožená (mezzo-soprano)
Wolfram Brandl (violin), Rahel Rilling (violin), Yulia Deyneka (viola), David Adorjan (cello), Andrew Marriner (clarinet), Kaspar Zehnder (flute), Sir Simon Rattle (piano) Meistersaal, Berlin PENTATONEPTC5186671SACD
These are exquisitely performed collection of songs! Kožená's voice is one of great beauty and emotional intensity. The recordings are utterly transparent, pure and lifelike.
Mahler: Song Cycles Alice Coote (mezzo-soprano) Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra/Marc Albrecht Pentatone PTC 5186 576 SACD
Alice Coote's mezzo is rich, intense, warm, powerful and colorful. The soundscape is very spacious, airy and resonant. The voice and orchestra are tangible, pure and transparent. Via my sound system, the orchestra bassline sounded like the real thing.
Beautiful sounding Alia Vox recording by Jordi Savall. Listen for example to the massed voices in Alleluia (track 2) or the last track (an adaption of the final part of Beethovens 5 th symphony).
I am very impressed with the performances and sound! The sound of the voices and instruments were reproduced with excellent detail, immediacy and 'presence'. Everything here (including hall ambience) sounded true-to-life. Instrumental timbre is spot-on.
A truly amazing and demonstration quality disc! The performances are also world-class. The orchestral dynamics are awesome and effortless in these recordings. The strings are ravishing. The woodwinds are enchanting. The brass are radiant, lifelike and rich. The soundstage is immense and resonant.
