^^ I have both Books of those Preludes and concur about his playing and the sound. Anyway, I found this site today while searching for information on this DSD256 file!
The sound is crystal clear but a little too close and dry for my taste. If you want the sound of a concert grand in your living room, then this ought to do the trick! At times his playing reminds me of Glenn Gould with his emphasis on clarity of voices and use of detaché. If you scroll down, you'll see images from the recording session. He seems to have a tiny audience in the studio. I think that's why I prefer the sound on the Debussy--it was recorded in a hall and has much more hall sound. https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/my-reel-club-experience-your-own-reference-recordings.28788/
Both of them are definitely masters in their fields, but when I listened to this album last night, I somehow couldn't get a hand-in-glove feeling from the music.
I walked past a neighbor's house this morning and heard a mangled attempt at playing the main theme from Concerto No.1, so I had to clear my head of it! This SACD was just the tonic I needed.
^^ I have that CD, too, and enjoy it. I prefer the original version of the Sonata No.2, even though it's harder to play. (Not that the revised version is all that easy!) Lugansky's is a good compromises--he restores most of the cuts except for a few places where the thick harmonies do get rather unwieldy.
I enjoyed this today. A pity that they didn't make it a 2-SACD set and include Op.106 the "Hammerklavier Sonata.
It did not care for the Etna or the Allnic Puritas. Its gotta be the vdH Colibri Master Sig ... that's the only thing I can think of that caused this previously sketchy noisey 2 LP set to turn into the stunningly gorgeous album that it always wanted to be. Still not perfect, but my oh my I'm so happy to have it back in circulation. Granted its numerique, but clean new Mahler on vinyl isn't exactly falling out of trees nowadays. Incredible beauty.