State-of-the-Art Recordings of Classical Works (SACDs)

[Yuen A.]

Sergey RACHMANINOV All Night Vigil (Vespers), Op. 37 Latvian Radio Choir/Sigvards Klava
ONDINE ODE 1206-5 SACD

Gramophone says it all: "This is a sublimely beautiful yet rapturous recording." I was transported to the recording venue! This level of realism was only now possible via my updated DAC. The soundscape is immense and atmospheric. Low level/micro details and hall ambience are all there and reproduced effortlessly. The sound is totally transparent and pure. Play loud.

 

[Yuen A.]

A Unique Classical Guitar Collection - Bach, Brahms, Debussy, Sor, etc. / Peter Riis, Stockholm Guitar Quartet Opus 3 CD 22062 SACD (A Revisit)​

In the past and on the whole, I found this album boring and lifeless. However, this afternoon, I was pleasantly shocked to hear the transformation! What has changed you might ask? Nothing has changed except updating my DAC. And for the first time, I can distinctly hear the four guitars in three dimensions and the subtle dynamic nuances and micro details including the mechanical noises created by picking or fretting. Yes, for the first time, the guitars recorded on this album sounded like the real thing!

 

[Yuen A.]

BEETHOVEN Symphony No.6 in F Major, Op 68 Steven STUCKY Silent Spring
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/Manfred Honeck REFERENCE RECORDINGS FR-747 SACD

Hi guys,

I am just going to comment on Steven Stucky's Silent Spring. This is one great piece to test your sound system. My upgraded DAC was able to pick up every nuance and inflection of the Pittsburgh's players/recording. The first thing you will noticed about this recording is the wonderful acoustic of the Heinz Hall (if your sound system is able to reproduced it) and that you have a sense of an acoustic field, which means that we feel as if we are in a real sound field. Next, you would noticed that instrumental timbre sounded so right and alive here and finally, you will noticed that fortissimos, dynamics and transient sounded so lifelike as well.

 

[Yuen A.]

Popular Classics for Spanish Guitar
Heitor VILLA-LOBOS Chôros No.1 (arr. Garcia) Étude in E minor Federico Moreno TORROBA Madroños
Joaquín TURINA from Homenaje a Tárrega Garrotín Soleares Heitor VILLA-LOBOS Prelude in E minor
Isaac ALBÉNIZ From Suite española, Op.47 Granada (arr. Bream) Leyenda (Asturias) Manuel DE FALLA
Homenaje ‘Le tombeau de Claude Debussy’ TRADITIONAL: arr. Miguel LLOBET Canciones populares catalanas: El testament d’Amelia Joaquín TURINA Fandanguillo Julian Bream (guitar) The Library, Kenwood House, London. BMG RCA RED SEAL LIVING STEREO SACD 8697-04606-2

Wow, via my updated DAC, I can clearly discerned the wonderful acoustic of The Library as never before and Bream's guitar comes alive with all the micro details, the three dimensionality, the space and air around the guitar, the lifelike transient, the speed, the decay, sustain and so on.

 

[Yuen A.]

Johannes BRAHMS Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5 Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24 Jonathan Plowright (piano) BIS 2047 SACD

Wow, via my updated DAC and when I close my eyes, there is a sense that Jonathan Plowright is in my listening room playing the Steinway D Grand Piano which was reproduced by the way with extraordinary lifelike clarity, pureness and presence and I was spellbound by his stunning Brahms performance!

 

[Yuen A.]

Johannes BRAHMS Theme and Variations, Op. 18b Ballades, Op. 10 Fantasies, Op. 116
Denis Kozhukhin (piano) PENTATONE PTC 5186 568 SACD

Another wow! A great test disc. My updated DAC can reproduced the Steinway Grand D like the real thing and devoid of distortion (listen esp. to tract 1, 4, , 8 and 12). Quiet passages are so delicate, beautiful, and transparent and fortissimos have great strength and power and ring like a fine tuned bell.

 

[Yuen A.]

Bernard Herrmann Suite From Wuthering Heights Keri Fuge (soprano), Roderick Williams (baritone); Singapore Symphony Orchestra/Mario Venzago Chandos CHSA 5337 (SACD)

Wow, a new reference recording by Chandos to show off the new and stunning EMM Labs firmware update! Yes, the recording is so scarily lifelike and three dimensional with an immense, deep and wide resonant soundstage. Listen also to the threatening timpani strokes that sounded so real and frighteningly powerful in the opening of the Suite. The Singapore Symphony is in excellent form and the vocalists always crystal clear and the orchestra vivid, dynamic and enchanting. BBC Music rightly says: "This snapshot, stunningly recorded, serves as a tantalising sample of what it might be to go on Herrmann’s entire emotionally wrought journey."

 

[Yuen A.]

Franz Liszt Transcendental Études (Études d’exécution transcendante S. 139) Soloists: Haochen Zhang (piano) BIS 2681 SACD

Wow, stunning performances by Haochen Zhang and stunning disc from BIS! My updated DAC is able to reproduced Haochen's dazzling fortissimos with extraordinary attack, speed, decay, sustain and release. Gramophone concludes: "In sum, these Transcendental Études stand up to any – and stand well above most. BIS’s exceptional engineering doesn’t hurt, either. No lover of Liszt, or of 19th-century piano repertoire more generally, can afford to miss it."

 

[Tuckers]

View attachment 122136
BEETHOVEN Symphony No.6 in F Major, Op 68 Steven STUCKY Silent Spring
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/Manfred Honeck REFERENCE RECORDINGS FR-747 SACD

Hi guys,

I am just going to comment on Steven Stucky's Silent Spring. This is one great piece to test your sound system. My upgraded DAC was able to pick up every nuance and inflection of the Pittsburgh's players/recording. The first thing you will noticed about this recording is the wonderful acoustic of the Heinz Hall (if your sound system is able to reproduced it) and that you have a sense of an acoustic field, which means that we feel as if we are in a real sound field. Next, you would noticed that instrumental timbre sounded so right and alive here and finally, you will noticed that fortissimos, dynamics and transient sounded so lifelike as well.

I got this one in 24-192. Silent Spring is an interesting piece, the performance of the 6th is good but not great. But the acoustics of this album is odd to me. On my system it is kind of a confused sound field, strings are a bit grainy and quiet passages sound like you are sitting in the middle of them, and when they crescendo sound like they are coming in from a distance. It must be the spotlight mics they are using and the editing.

 

[Yuen A.]

Brahms German Requiem (Ein Deutches) Robert Spano Conductor Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus Twyla Robinson, Soprano Marius Kwiecien, Baritone TELARC Hybrid Multichannel SACD-60701

A world class recording! However, there's a caveat: I got to play it much louder than usual for the recording to come alive (-18 dB of the maximum) but without any stridency and constriction. The soundstage was huge (wall to wall and floor to ceiling), totally transparent and immersive. Instrumental timbre was spot-on. There were plenty of air and space around the two soloists.

 

[Yuen A.]

Brahms: Complete works for Violin & Piano Arabella Steinbacher (violin) & Robert Kulek (piano) Pentatone PTC 5186 367​

There is so much tenderness in Arabella Steinbacher and Robert Kulek approach to these works that produces a sensuous sound. Listen especially to the Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op.108 and the Sonatensatz. Every note is clearly heard and the sound of the violin and piano is gorgeous. There is plenty of air space around the two instruments.

 

[zbub]

View attachment 110604

Strauss: Ein Heldenleben Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Manfred Honeck, conductor, Michael Rusinek, clarinet ​

Giuseppe VERDI La forza del destino: Overture Alan FLETCHER Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra Richard STRAUSS Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40
Exton SACD OVCL-00338

Wow, listen especially to the dramatic Verdi's overture La forza del destino! This particular recording/performance is a tour de force! A true demonstration quality piece. Listen to its awesome dynamics, airy sound, transparency, clarity (woodwinds), timbres (especially the brass), immediacy, aliveness, imaging and soundstaging.

It's unfortunate that Exton SACDs do not get much exposure and coverage outside Japan (and Asia). The overall recordiing quality is usually very good to great.

My favorite Exton is probably Duo di Basso. A couple of Mahler symphonies were also quite good.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

It's unfortunate that Exton SACDs do not get much exposure and coverage outside Japan (and Asia). The overall recordiing quality is usually very good to great.

IMHO, too few were multichannel.

 

[Yuen A.]

BELA BARTÓK Concerto for Orchestra Järvi, Paavo Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Telarc 60618

Wow, another great recording! The orchestra sound is truly exceptional, totally transparent and like the real thing. Brass are full and resonant. The strings and woodwinds atmospheric. The soundstage is huge. The virtuosity of the Cincinnati's players was astonishing.

 

[Yuen A.]

Hector Berlioz Requiem: Grande Messe de Morts, Op. 5 Ronald Dowd (tenor) Wandsworth School Boys’ Choir/Russell Burgess
London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus/Sir Colin Davis Recorded in November 1969, Westminster Cathedral, UK. Pentatone PTC 5186 191 SACD

A top-notch performance and recording of this grand work. Awesome bass line - full and deep. Powerful brass. The orchestra sound is rich, full, pure, powerful, detailed and lifelike. Play very loud!

 

[Yuen A.]

Bruckner Symphony No.5 in B flat Major Residentie Orchestra, The Hague/Neeme Järvi
CHANDOS CHSA 5080

The above recording has great transparency and spaciousness in a wonderful acoustic that has an ideal amount of resonance for Bruckner’s music. The woodwind especially sounded airy and spacious and enchanting! The brass has the right amount of brilliance, edge, buzz, weight and refinement and the strings shimmer. The bass line sounded just like the real thing via my sound system!

 

[Yuen A.]

Bruckner Symphony No. 4 Original Version Bayerisches Staatsorchester Kent Nagano Sony Classical SACD

A state-of-the-art recording and performance of Bruckner Symphony No. 4 by the Bavarian State Orchestra! The so-called Bavarian Sound here is awesome. The clarity of line and architectonic approach to the interpretation produces extraordinary results. A truly refined and dynamic performance of the fourth symphony.

 

[Yuen A.]

Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 7 in E major Wiener Symphoniker/Yakov Kreizberg
PENTATONE PTC 5186 051 SACD

Wow, this is one of the most lifelike orchestra recordings in my entire collection of SACDs! It is easy to think that I am now at a world class concert hall listening to a world class symphony orchestra! The performance is truly awesome and the Wiener Symphoniker directed by Yakov Kreizberg is as good as the Vienna Philharmonic here. The dynamics and energy are so satisfying.

 

[Verdier]

Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 7 in E major Wiener Symphoniker/Yakov Kreizberg
PENTATONE PTC 5186 051 SACD

Wow, this is one of the most lifelike orchestra recordings in my entire collection of SACDs! It is easy to think that I am now at a world class concert hall listening to a world class symphony orchestra! The performance is truly awesome and the Wiener Symphoniker directed by Yakov Kreizberg is as good as the Vienna Philharmonic here. The dynamics and energy are so satisfying.

Hi Yuen, thanks for all the SACD references in this thread. Could you please briefly describe which components (amps, speakers, ....) you use to achieve your results? Many thanks in advance!

 

[Yuen A.]

Hi Yuen, thanks for all the SACD references in this thread. Could you please briefly describe which components (amps, speakers, ....) you use to achieve your results? Many thanks in advance!

Hi, please see this thread (page 5 of 8), dated July 1st, 2023.