My favorite CD before I lost it in a fire evacuation | Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade; Stravinsky: Song of...

Great Sound, One Of The Best Performances Of Scheherazade | Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade; Stravinsky: Song of the Nightingale [Hybrid SACD] | Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Igor Stravinsky, ...

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	• Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade; Stravinsky: Song of the Nightingale [Hybrid SACD] Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Igor Stravinsky, ... RCA, 2005 average customer review:based on 16 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Listen in COMPLETE Surround--if you dare

Hear a new revelation in sound with this SACD.

RCA originally recorded this in 1960 using 3 channels. That makes this recording nearly 50 years old. Don't let that fool you. This is an EXCEPTIONAL recording. The fidelity is remarkable. It is not flawless and the highs can have a bit of an edge. Also, crashes on the cymbal occasionally overload the left channel. But the spatial aspects of this recording defy its half century age. In the 3 channel presentation there is a presence and dimensionality too often missing in more recent recordings. There exists a soundstage that extends beyond the left and right speakers and there is a depth of sound where the instruments have height combined with front to back spatial integration creating a convincing 3D image.

The performance itself is stellar. I have the SACD of the Kirov Orchestra recorded in 2002. The great Russian (actually Ossetian) conductor Valery Gergiev gives an invigorating reading of this score, but for me the orchestra lacks the finish of the CSO under Reiner. Reiner's performance has a mystery, that Gergiev lacks. And Reiner has fire and passion that explodes across the stage. For me, Reiner gives the definitive reading of this magnificent score.

The following FOR SACD AUDIOPHILES ONLY--
BUT--if you really want to launch your rocket, try putting your SACD player in 2 CHANNEL mode and switching your receiver into Dolby PLIIx music mode. With this setup (this ONLY works if your player AND receiver are connected via HDMI cable) you will get the full SACD dynamic range expertly and convincingly distributed into your 5.1, 6.1, or 7.1 surround system. Suddenly you are not just listening from the audience, but you are quite literally in the middle of the orchestra. Now if you are a purist you will never go there, but if you want a really involving experience (and you have the system to pull it off) give this a spin. WARNING: If you try listening this way, going back will somehow sound a little FLAT. And MORE, you might even dare try this with regular CDs or other 2/3 channel SACDs. I promise, you will Hear a new revelation in sound with this SACD.

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My favorite CD before I lost it in a fire evacuation

Gaaaaah!
I loved this CD. For me it is even better than the Reiner Pictures at an Exhibition recording, which says quite a bit. Scheherezade is masterfully written, and is by far my favorite piece by Rimsky-Korsakov, especially the middle two movements. Every single one of the four movements are far beyond the standard musical performance however, and I highly recommend listening to all four over and over again.
My crackpot theory I developed from the Wikipedia article about the composer is that Rimsky-Korsakov had help from his wife when writing this piece, as it is an excellent synthesis of a variety of musical styles, not just the conservative Russian style found in many of Rimsky-Korsakov's other works, and the end product in this CD is life-changing, at least for me it was.
The Stravinsky piece is also nice, although this piece is in the opposite situation as Scherezade, as I find that some other pieces by Stravinsky are a bit easier to understand for those who mostly listen to older musical styles. Contemporary music is undeniably important however, and I highly recommend this recording as it is well performed and is not as well known as some of Stravinsky's other works.

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Great Sound, One Of The Best Performances Of Scheherazade

Legend has it that conductor Fritz Reiner had a very foul temperament. I'm sure there must be some truth to this, because what we have here is one of the best performances of "Scheherazade" I've ever heard. Like all great conductors, Reiner was had magnificent control over his orchestra. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra plays with a lot of passion and anyone with ears can hear this in this performance.

This is a beautiful performance and should be essential listening to anyone interested in classical music. There is also a great version of Stravinsky's "Song of the Nightingale" that is noteworthy.

I would wager that Reiner's "Scheherazade" is one of the finest I've heard so far. Highly recommended.

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Historic -- the best Scheherazade ever! Details follow...

Scheherazade is performed a LOT. Fritz Reiner was well-aware of this fact in 1960 when he conceived this historic recording. As a consequence, he fostered no desire to yield just another run-of-the-mill performance. Here's a blurp from the notes which explains his subsequent efforts more fully:

"Some weeks before the actual recording was made, most of the existing recordings of the music were studied, re-studied, judged and re-judged. The best were very good, but short of that perfection for which all mortals strive. One version reveled in buttery sound and not always accurate execution; another proferred razor-sharp execution and equally ear-rending decibel content; still a third beckoned you from afar with a 'concert-hall' pickup, and so it went. To capture the Arabian temptress in all her glittering changes was not a simple task...

Once each of the facets of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was heard [referring to the lengthy orchestra practice sessions], music making was in order. During the morning session the first two movements were recorded, the last two during the afternoon period. Throughout the six hours required, there was constant exhortation by Dr. Reiner to the men in the orchestra 'to play with glow, not perspiration'. The performance had to be supple and sensuous, the sound alternately to shimmer and stun, with clarity in its definition, sonority and intensity in its climaxes."

Folks, this is about as perfect as it's ever going to get.

Just to follow up, the 1956 recording of Stravinsky's "Song of the Nightingale" is also quite good and is a piece that, in this level of quality, isn't all that easy to find. And it's also a perfect second, complementary piece to Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade".

This is an ADD recording/CD.

A must-have for collectors and a superb choice for all others.

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Outstanding performance!

Reiner's conducting and arrangement of this classic is, for me, the definitive version. The performance is stunning. The quality of the recording is such that its hard to believe that this performance is almost 50 years old. A must buy.

This is a classic recording of these two works, led with grand authority by Fritz Reiner. The Chicago's brass and wind section play gloriously throughout, and the final movement of Scheherazade (we learn from the original producer [1960] in an accompanying essay) was recorded in one take--an almost unheard-of feat. This fast movement is taken at breakneck speed, with no loss of clarity or power, with the strings in the hands of magicians. Stravinsky's Nightingale has never sounded so exotic, so bristling over with color, since this 1956(!) recording under Reiner, and the wonderful surprise with this new release of old material is the revamped sound: the original "Living Stereo" was a fantastic breakthrough in recording, and this new SACD format has returned the spatial relationships to something so "real" that it comes as close as I've ever heard to a true concert hall experience. Simply glorious. --Robert Levine

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

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