Agreed .. This Monk album shall be added to my Library...
I am listening to two beautiful pieces .. Two Requiems although I am not on any particularly morbid mood.. I find the music beautiful and full of well .. Life. From Telarc:
Faure and Durufle requiems
The SHM CD is the 3 track WPCR-13246 released by WEA Atltantic Japan and it says on the back that it was Digitally Remastered By Joe Gastwirt at Ocean View Digital. According to Amazon it was released in 2008. It appears to be the exact same re-issue/re-mastered in 1994 released as 3 track 82666-2 Atlantic release which was Digitally Remastered By Joe Gastwirt at Ocean View Digital; I have this disc for comparison. It is not the Rhino reissue/remaster with any of the additional tracks or any of the Japanese SHM minidiscs with the HDCD.
I have listened now twice to the disc. My initial impressions follow those that I read on-line and confirms that the performance of these SHM CDs are going to be recording/mastering specific. I agree that I am hearing more detail in the recording with better separation from what I remember for the 1994 digital remastering and release. Instruments appear to better rendered and placed in space for both imaging and soundstaging. Additionally, bass is stronger and tighter and overall the sound is quite dynamic with a more natural presentation and more life like sound to the instruments and Jon's voice. I am not sure but I may be hearing a wider and possibly deeper soundstage as well, but I will need to listen more and make some direct comparisons. This seems to be due to the fact that the re-mastering was done quite well (I guess back in 1994) from the original tapes, and it is performing quite well with the Polycarbonate material of the discs.