The subtitle of this SACD is "The Ultimate Audio Experience". But open the notes, and you discover that all the tracks save one are from 44, 48, and 96KHz PCM sample original sources. There are some great performances here –- forever trapped in mid-definition resolution. They date from 1993 to 2003, a surprising number of them being recorded in 2001-2003, after DSD recording was available. In listening to this SACD, I was beginning to have doubts about the SACD format until I noticed the sources in the liner notes.
Vladimir Ashkenazy's recording career spans almost four decades, beginning in the heyday of LP and now encompassing the arrival of the latest audio disc technology, SACD. For his first SACD release on Decca, the great Russian pianist returns to his beloved Chopin with a program framed by two of the composer's greatest works, the Fourth Ballade and the Barcarolle. And, for the first time, Ashkenazy's Chopin can be enjoyed in four-channel SACD surround sound. This solo recital also demonstrates the advantages that SACD surround sound can bring to a solo piano recording greater clarity and fidelity of piano sound, but also a compelling immediacy that brings the listener 'into the presence' of the actual performance.
Available in multi-channel surround SACD only!
Telarc offers this multi-channel discrete surround classical SACD sampler featuring some of our top classical artists including Paavo Jarvi, Erich Kunzel, Benjamin Zander, Donald Runnicles, Robert Spano and many others…
This is a welcome addition to my collection. These little gems sparkle and make me want to look at other Vivaldi pieces. It's time to go beyond the Four Seasons. These pieces show compositional variety, the playing is nuanced and exciting, and the SACD recording is superb.
Leonard Bernstein’s recording with the New York Philharmonic of Gustav Holst’s famous The Planets, along with Benjamin Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from his opera Peter Grimes. There is a difference of opinion as to whether this multi-channel SACD is a good re-mastering of the original discrete 4 channel Quadriphonic master in which the orchestra actually surrounds you or is it taken from a 2 channel master and the rear channels and center channel have been re-produced artifically with just reverberation sounds which means the orchestra only sounds like it’s in front of you, but not behind you.
The reissue of classical music masterpieces by ESOTERIC has attracted a lot of attention, both for its uncompromising commitment to recreating the original master sound, and for using hybrid Super Audio CD (SACD) technology to improve sound quality. This series marks the first hybrid SACD release of historical recording selections that have been mainstays of the catalog since their initial release. These new audio versions feature ESOTERIC's proprietary re-mastering process to achieve the highest level of sound quality.