A Curious Wedding

Miah Persson / Joseph Breinl - Portraits: Songs by Clara and Robert Schumann
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 221 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: BIS # BIS-SACD-1834 | Country/Year: Europe 2011
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic

BIS engineers have produced a very naturalistic recording of piano and singer in the former Academy of Music hall in Stockholm. However, the large hall is very obviously empty, from its notable resonance, tending to reduce the perceived image of the players somewhat. These songs were meant for drawing rooms and salons, not large reverberant auditoriums, and personally, I felt that the essential intimacy of a lieder recital was somewhat lacking, and the 5.0 multichannel version rather emphasised this. The resonance does contribute to blurring the singer's diction and also tends to cloud some of the rapid piano figuration. These are minor points, and can be partly overcome by raising the playing volume level.

Various Composers - Capella Pratensis / Joshua Rifkin - Vivat Leo! Music for a Medici Pope
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 435 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Challenge Classics # CC72366 | Country/Year: Europe 2010
Genre: Classical | Style: Renaissance

…and the album as a whole would serve that goal well. It leaves the listener understanding the Renaissance sacred a cappella repertory better than he or she did before playing it. Strongly recommended. All notes and texts are in English, French, German, and Dutch.