Romantic Dynamics

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 5 & Romeo & Juliet
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - Daniele Gatti
SACD ISO (2.0/MCH): 3,12 GB | 24B/88,2kHz Stereo FLAC: 1,04 GB | Full Artwork
Label/Cat#: Harmonia Mundi USA # HMU 807381 | Country/Year: Europe 2004 | 5% Recovery Info
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic

…Tchaikovsky's orchestration is brilliant in Gatti's lucid and finely gauged readings, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra offers great depth of sound and vivid timbral distinctions. Is the restoration Earth-shattering? Perhaps not to the extent that Baroque works sound radically changed in authentic re-creations. With Tchaikovsky, the differences are subtle and may be less obvious to the untrained ear. Even so, these are refreshing alternatives to the commonplace performances of the past, and Gatti's reappraisal of these warhorses opens a new area for debate.

Miah Persson / Joseph Breinl - Portraits: Songs by Clara and Robert Schumann
SACD ISO (2.0/MCH): 2,74 GB | 24B/88,2kHz FLAC (2.0): 937 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.

Anton Bruckner - Symphony No. 8 WAB 108 (Version 1890) in C minor
Beethoven Orchester Bonn / Stefan Blunier
2xSACD | EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 331 MB | Full Artwork: 98 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: MDG "Live" # 937 1713-6 | Country/Year: Germany 2011
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic, Orchestral

"Even though Stefan Blunier's 2011 recording of Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 in C minor is a lot to digest, timed at over 88 minutes and stretched almost to the breaking point, this is a deeply compelling performance and an impressive recording that deserves all the time listeners devote to it. (…) MDG's natural, unprocessed sound is a great aid to capturing the orchestra's subtle dynamics, and the live recording has very few extraneous sounds. Highly recommended." ~AMG

The young violinist Alina Ibragimova is already established as an admired recording artist, standing alongside great artists of the past and present with her versions of Bach and Beethoven’s violin works. She appears on this latest release with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Vladimir Jurowski (in his Hyperion premiere) in a programme which includes a classic of the concerto repertoire: Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor, Op 64.

Robert Schumann - Symphony No. 3 "Rhenish" / Symphony No. 1 "Spring"
The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen / Paavo Järvi
SACD ISO (2.0/MCH): 3,25 GB | 24B/88,2kHz Stereo FLAC: 980 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: RCA Red Seal # 88697 96431 2 | Country/Year: Europe 2010
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic

…A treasureable and revelatory disc of the alpha and omega of Schumann's symphonies; I can hardly wait for the other pair.

Robert Schumann - Complete Works For Violin And Orchestra
Ulf Wallin / Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie / Frank Beermann
SACD ISO: 3,28 GB (Stereo + MCH DSD) | FLAC @ 24bit/88.2kHz: 1,16 GB | Full Artwork | 5% Rec. Info
Label/Cat#: BIS # BIS-SACD-1775 | Country/Year: Europe 2011
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic

This SACD is a delight! (…) If you are not familiar with Schumann’s violin concerto, by all means avail yourself of this excellent BIS SACD – I think you will be happy to make its acquaintance.