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

[Yuen A.]

Jean Sibelius Symphonies Nos. 1-7 Berliner Philharmoniker/Sir Simon Rattle Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings BPHR 150073 SACD)
(rec. Dec 2014/Feb 2015, Philharmonie, Berlin / 24-bit/96kHz)

The BBC Music Magazine says: "Rattle has undoubtedly prepared his Berlin Philharmonic to the highest level for this Sibelius project, and the results are rarely less than impressive … Rattle is at his best in the grandeurs." Yes, these are highly polished performances together with lifelike sound.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

OF course, the BBC MM would say that.

 

[Yuen A.]

OF course, the BBC MM would say that.

Because he is a British conductor?

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Because he is a British conductor?

Francis Urquhart: "You might very well think that; I couldn't possibly comment." ​

 

[Yuen A.]

Francis Urquhart: "You might very well think that; I couldn't possibly comment." View attachment 155768​

Everyone's musical preference is to some extent subjective.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Yes, it's because he is a British conductor.

 

[LL21]

Just got Klemperer Brahms Symphonies...enjoying it. Have the Jochum LSO Brahms remastered on the way, and currently have the Otmar Suitner, Barenboim and Furtwangler. I started with the Suitner and like it. I wish Furtwangler had better physical sound but like his interpretations. Have to go back and revisit Barenboim but do not recall it massively moving me. Starting to get to know Klemperer.

 

[Yuen A.]

Franz Schubert Symphonies Nos 1-8 (Neue Schubert-Ausgabe numbering system) Berliner Philharmoniker/Nikolaus Harnoncourt
(BERLINER PHILHARMONIKER RECORDINGS BPHR 150063 5 SACD)

These are very enjoyable recordings - colorful and dramatic. Dynamics, phrasing, tone and tempi are all excellent! Precision is outstanding. The audio quality is also great. Shimmering strings, enchanting woodwinds, clean bass lines. The Sunday Times says: "Nos 1-6, are miraculously alert and affectionately Viennese in style. Harnoncourt’s lilting tempi and phrasing sound freer and more spontaneous than in his studio recordings with the Concertgebouw Orchestra. ... An exhilarating set."

 

[LL21]

Just got Klemperer Brahms Symphonies...enjoying it. Have the Jochum LSO Brahms remastered on the way, and currently have the Otmar Suitner, Barenboim and Furtwangler. I started with the Suitner and like it. I wish Furtwangler had better physical sound but like his interpretations. Have to go back and revisit Barenboim but do not recall it massively moving me. Starting to get to know Klemperer.

View attachment 155808

Revisiting the Barenboim now...Symphony 4 sounds promising.

 

[DasguteOhr]

a Masterpiece, pitch correction

 

[Yuen A.]

Leoš Janáček: Sonata 1. X. 1905, On an Overgrown Path, Reminiscence, In the Mist Slávka Pěchočová’ (piano) (PRAGA Digitals DSD 250 266 SACD)

Beautiful playing here by Slávka Pechocová! Gramophone says: "The layered melodic lines that are a characteristic of the 'Presentiment' movement of the Sonata are clear and expressive, and she responds beautifully to the undertow of sadness that lies in this work but also in much of the other music." The sound is as good as it gets, with excellent power, clarity, sustain and overtones.

 

[Yuen A.]

Johannes Brahms Piano Music Opp. 116-119 Seven Fantasies for piano (Sieben Fantasien) Sets 1 and 2, Op. 116 Three Intermezzi for piano (Drei Intermezzi) Op. 117 Six Pieces for piano (Sechs Klavierstücke) Op. 118 Four Pieces for piano (Vier Klavierstücke) Op. 119 Elisabeth Leonskaja, piano (MUSIKPRODUKTION DABRINGHAUS UND GRIMM SACD MDG 943 1349-6)

Classics Today says "Leonskaya’s ear for polyphonic clarity allows her to generate and sustain harmonic and dramatic tension at slow tempos that would be suicidal in less seasoned hands. Op. 116 Nos. 2 and 5 persuasively illustrate my point. If the central episodes of Op. 117 Nos. 2 and 3 are not quite “con moto”, or Op. 118 No. 4’s busy triplet figurations are not as “agitato” as Brahms indicates, there’s nothing static about Leonskaya’s subtly inflected long lines. I’m especially moved by how she fuses tender vulnerability and inner strength in the beautiful Op. 118 No. 2 and Op. 119 No. 1 Intermezzi. Given the expansive mood that permeates these interpretations, I was caught off guard by Leonskaya’s bubbly and graceful rendition of the C major Op. 119 No. 3 Intermezzo (shades of Myra Hess, the work’s one-time “owner”), as well as by her forceful, decisive dispatch of the cycle’s concluding Rhapsodie."

The Steinway D here sounded lifelike, with excellent immediacy, power, resonance, sustain and color .

 

[Yuen A.]

R Strauss: Salome – Dance of the Seven Veils; Der Rosenkavalier – Waltz Sequence • Liszt: Mephisto Waltz No. 1 • Korngold: Straussiana • Busoni: Tanz-Walzer • Schreker: Ein Tanzspiel Orchestre de la Suisse Romande/ Kazuki Yamada (PentaTone PTC 5186 518 SACD)

BBC Music Magazine says: "The orchestra’s playing matches the luxury of Pentatone’s warm, rich recording at Geneva’s Victoria Hall. In Yamada’s hands Liszt’s first Mephisto Waltz really sounds like a dance with the devil. Smoochy strings and perky woodwinds characterise the ‘Dance of the Seven Veils’ from Richard Strauss’s Salome, while the opulent swing of the first Rosenkavalier waltz sequence left me panting. The Busoni, best of the rarer items, needs a little more momentum (Markevitch’s 1950s recording remains my ideal), but still casts a spell with its sinuous harmonic shifts."

Indeed, the recordings are of demonstration quality and with a real sense of space. Dynamics are awesome! Timbres are spot-on.

 

[wil]

View attachment 154961

Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 8 in E flat major Concertgebouw Orchestra/Bernard Haitink (PENTATONE PTC 5186 166 SACD)

Wow, during the listening session, I was transported to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam! Music Web International says: "This Pentatone SACD is altogether more spacious and glowing, clear and thrilling in effect and with greater body. The fortissimo passages have considerably more impact, particularly those special occasions such as the return of the hymn opening (tr. 5, 4:58) when all sing or play fortissimo. Those separately stationed four trumpets and three trombones added at the climaxes of both parts (trs. 7, 2:53 and 21, 4:00) provide a visceral sound boost I haven’t heard on recordings before. The Concertgebouw acoustic is more recognisable. It’s more like being there."

Great thread

 

[Yuen A.]

Dmitri Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 77 Violin Concerto No 2 in C Sharp minor, Op. 129 Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin)
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester/Alan Gilbert (BIS-2247 SACD)

These are awesome recordings (both in performance and sound quality)! The recording engineer give us a very realistic concert hall perspective. Clarity, detail, dynamics and transient response are excellent via my sound system. The perceived spatial location of the instruments in the audio create a sense of spaciousness and depth.

BBC Music Magazine says "[these recordings] stand out as formidable achievements. They match technical mastery at the highest level with profound insight. No less impressive is the compelling interaction between Zimmermann and the excellent NDR Elbphilharmonie under Alan Gilbert, a crucial component in music that is so symphonic in design."

 

[Yuen A.]

Marcel Tyberg Mass No. 1 in G Major for Mixed Chorus and Organ Mass No. 2 in F Major for Mixed Chorus and Organ Christopher Jacobson (organ) South Dakota Chorale/Brian A. Schmidt (PENTATONE PTC 5186 584 SACD)

MusicWeb International says" "The Sanctus, firmly underpinned by the organ, blossoms majestically before retreating into a meditation for the organ alone. The high voices create a lovely corona of sound at the start of the Benedictus, and the discreet organ part in the Agnus Dei is perfectly judged. Ditto the ecstatic soprano solo that rises from the choir’s midst. For me at least the closing pages, so radiantly rendered, bring to mind the musical genuflection that crowns Bruckner’s unfinished Ninth Symphony."

Yes, the choir and the organ sounded lifelike, full, heavenly and resonant. Phrasing, dynamics, diction and tone color were all wonderful.

 

[Yuen A.]

Bachs Königin – Organ works (arr. for orchestra by Judith & Tineke Steenbrink) Holland Baroque (Pentatone PTC 5186 971 SACD)

These recordings are as good as it gets - lifelike, spacious, detailed and with beautiful timbre.

Gramophone says: "Holland Baroque begin with an arrangement of Bach’s Organ Sonata No 5 in C, BWV529, conjuring a sumptuous sense of benevolence. There is so much in the texture to enjoy: the violins articulate with a charming naivety, there’s impressively expansive bassoon-playing from Wouter Verschuren, and the general zest and zing is infectious.“

 

[Yuen A.]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 15 in B flat, K. 450 Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat, K. 595 Martin Helmchen (piano)
Netherlands Chamber Orchestra/Gordan Nikolić (PENTATONE CLASSICS PTC 5186 508 SACD)

MusicWeb International correctly says: "What you have here is an acoustic well suited to Mozart, with a nice halo of resonance which doesn’t echo eternally, but helps those legato lines and subtleties of dynamic and phrasing which make the simplest-seeming of music so effective."

Yes, all the important elements are there - the 'you are there' presence, the weight and aliveness of the piano and the orchestral sounds, the air and space around the piano, etc.

 

[Yuen A.]

Giacomo Puccini Madama Butterfly Melody Moore (soprano) – Madama Butterfly Stefano Secco (tenor) – Pinkerton Elisabeth Kulman (mezzo-soprano) – Suzuki Lester Lynch (baritone) – Sharpless Alexander Kaimbacher (tenor) – Goro Kevin Short (bass-baritone) – Lo zio Bonzo
Amatai Pati (tenor) – Il principe Yamadori Liesbeth Devos (soprano) – Kate Pinkerton Florian Köfler (bass) – Il commissario imperial
Coro & Orquestra Gulbenkian/Lawrence Foster (PENTATONE PTC 5186 783 SACD)

BBC Music Magazine says: “The opera’s symphonic quality is emphasized to the max by conductor Lawrence Foster. Much of the orchestral playing, flatteringly recorded, is voluptuous – shimmeringly beautiful at Butterfly’s entrance, in the love duet and in the intermezzo. Melody Moore’s deeply resonant, almost mezzo-like voice is a thing of beauty, and she certainly brings intensity to the opera’s ending.”

Yes, this recording of Puccini Madama Butterfly is very lifelike. The orchestra and the vocals have the 'you are there' presence.

 

[Yuen A.]

​

John Williams E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (The 20th Anniversary) (MCA Records 08811 28182 SACD)​

Wow, this is one of the most lifelike soundtracks available! The soundscape is completely transparent, huge, atmospheric and alive. The orchestra performance is world-class, very intense and dynamic.