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I had collected several versions of the Organ Symphony through the years on LP and CD after hearing on the radio one day decades ago. In many (most?) recordings the organ just doesn't really pop the way it should. The organ is not prominent throughout the work. You hear it in the slow poco...

Yes, the Eschenbach one you linked is the one. I also have a Blu-ray Audio disc conducted by Slatkin, but it does not have the presence of the Eschenbach SACD version. I do not have the Munch recording, but it has long been considered the reference recording of the work. I have a few of the...

The Utah recordings are sometimes a tad underpowered. I don't know if they needed more rehearsal or if that was as good as it could be for them. Still, I admire them for just doing it. I have that M3 on DVD-A but have not listened to it in ages. I like the Chailly RCO version on SACD. The Utah...

The SACD recording of Mahler 2 by the amateur conductor Gilbert Kaplan has some creative use of the multichannels for the offstage brass and the organ. I bought some cheap DVD-As a few years ago of Mahler by Abravanel and the Utah symphony. I always thought of Abravanel's Mahler cycle as "the...

I'm a pretty big Mahler fan, and have a lot of recordings, but I do not listen all that often to SACDs of Mahler because there are so many great recordings on redbook CD that I prefer. I am not a fan of MTT's Mahler. To me it is just "blah" and not distinctive. If you want a good deal on an...

Paul, in the case of Come Fly With Me, in the absence of a MOFI release, the HD download is the way to go. CFWM was originally a mono release. All the "regular" CDs of it are in stereo. The MOFI release was going to be in mono before they stopped the series. I think the Hi-rez mono download is...

I bought them all because I am a Sinatra at Capitol fanatic. I was somewhat disappointed with some of the choices. You already have SFSL. I would rank the remaining ones in this order: 1. A Swingin' Affair! - This is basically the twin to SFSL. I love both equally. One of the great albums of...

My latest purchase is Dvorak: Complete Symphonies,Tone Poems, Overtures & Requiem (9 CD/Blu-Ray Combo). This is a repackaging of all the Dvorak recordings conductor Istvan Kertesz made with the London Symphony Orchestra in the 1960s. I originally got into these recordings during the LP...

I ended up getting that Sa Chen SACD recording of the two Chopin concertos. What swayed me were the timings. I'm one of those guys who like his slow movements really slow. Some people complain that conductors like Bernstein wallow too much in slow movements - I love that stuff. Sa Chen takes the...

Those discs look interesting. I have several Pentatone discs of Mari Kodama (Mrs. Kent Nagano, BTW) playing the better-known Beethoven piano sonatas that are among the best-sound things I have ever heard. Even though they are solo piano, they sound like the piano is in the room. I may have to...

I really have not gotten much high-rez lately either. 99% of the time I listen to classical. Even though classical is very well represented in high-rez formats, I find that too many releases are 2nd rate orchestras and conductors who don't appeal to me. I assume this is to cut down the costs of...

I do not have the Reiner Das Lied, so I do not know about the liner notes in English. I have several redbook CD versions with the notes, so it would not concern me overmuch if it did not. I'd be surprised if it does not include them. I really should get that recording myself as I have read...

I bought several of those Living Stereo SACDs when I first started collecting SACDs. That one by Reiner is great. Likewise the Mercury Living Presence SACDs. When I was buying them, they were fairly cheap. The RCA ones still are. the Mercury ones are OOP and very expensive now.

I also just got my notice on Nat's Xmas album SACD shipping from Amazon. Glad I have not played the old redbook version yet this year!

Nice, thanks!

I burn downloaded HD tracks to DVD-A format and play them with my Oppo BD player. I use a program called HD SOLO AUDIO ULTRA from a company called Cirlinca. It cost about $60. The program isn't very intuitive, but it does work well. You can download it for free and it lets you burn several discs...

I hate to tell people how to spend money, but if you are into Nat, I think all three of those SACDs are indispensable. Certainly, the NKC Story will give you most bang for the buck as it covers hits from Nat's entire career, but I think Love is the Thing is a stunning album. I like it more than...

I'll probably go the Audio Fidelity route myself for Nat's Xmas SACD. I suspect the Amazon problem relates to having priced it nearer the price of a CD rather than SACD.

And it's not THE Mathis Xmas album (the one where he's holding the skis on the cover).

Mike, thanks for the news on the Nat Cole Christmas album. It is a staple at my house every Christmas, and I love the sound of the previous Cole SACDs. I just pre-ordered it.

Mike, keep in mind that the resultant disc burned with the Cirlinca is a DVD-Audio, and not a standard DVD. they will only play on a player capable of playing DVD-A discs. You can also add more than one album to the DVD if it holds more; and you can export the files to a Blu-ray to hold even...

I downloaded some hi-res music file albums for the first time over the weekend from HD Tracks after hearing about them at the Sinatra forum. In 2013 and 2014, MFSL was issuing SACDs of several of Sinatra's Capitol albums. they had announced 8 albums, but only managed to release 6 after Capitol...

Paul, I also bought the CD set of the Brahms symphonies as well so I could listen in my truck, rip to iTunes, etc. Two overtures are also included (Academic Festival and Tragic). The CD set also comes with a DVD which includes both Brahms piano concertos and the violin concerto. These are...

Not Hi-res audio per se, but I picked this up last month: Brahms ~ The Four Symphonies, Thielemann, Staatskapelle Dresden This is a Blu-ray set with DTS Master Audio in 5.0, so it does contain hi-res audio along with hi-res visuals. There is nothing revelatory in these performances, but...

I think my favorite these days is the live Tennstedt recording with the LPO. His studio recording is also good. In High-res, I rather like the Eschenbach Philly recording. Eschenbach does sort of wallow in the andante, but I am old school and I like my slow movements slow. I don't dislike the...

Paul, if you get the Zander Mahler 2, please post your reaction. I have read that it's a rather slow reading, especially in the finale, Apparently, Zander recorded it a couple of years ago for Telarc as part of his continuing Mahler cycle and decided not to release the recording. The new one is...

If you like The Who, and Tommy by The Who, you should really like Quadrophenia. I don't listen much to rock music anymore, but when I did, Quadrophenia was one of my favorite albums. It was one of the first CDs I purchased when CDs came out. Besides, having lots of great songs, it is the story...

I'm still waiting for Songs for Swingin' Lovers! But Music Direct did something strange and sent A Swingin' Affair! By priority mail. I played it yesterday and it sounds great.These two discs are the last of the Mofi Sinatra Capitol SACDs. They originally had announced 8. However, since UMG...

Received an email yesterday from Music direct that my order of the Mofi SACD of Songs for Swingin' Lovers! has shipped. That was fast, considering that I pre-ordered this in December of 2012!