Mercury Living Presence SACDs Scheduled for October 12th (1 Viewer)

[Lee Scoggins]

Here is an updated announcement from Universal.

http://www.highfidelityreview.com/ne...umber=10934318

I'm also looking forward to the Allman Brothers a week from Tuesday.

By the way, The Absolute Sound is working on a story on how these discs are being mastered. The will have all three channels (L-C-R) as originally recorded by Wilma Cozart Fine. Her technqiue has been used by many (including a variation by Chesky's recording team) to capture orchestral and acoustic works in a very natural fashion. I would expect the rear channels to include room tone or something mild based on what I am hearing.

If you have any interest in classical music, I would highly recommend these for both sonics and performance.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Lee, this story has been posted several times. I'll believe the MLP Sack-Dees when I see them. They have been put off for about a year thus far.

 

[Phil A]

I believe the text date is wrong and should be July 1 (07/01 vs. 01/07) as Brian Moura posted this on Audio Asylum on July 1: http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/hi...es/182861.html

Yes there have been numerous delays for both hi-rez formats so we'll see if that date really holds.

 

[Doug Otte]

Right, Phil. HFR uses the European date shorthand = DD/MM/YY. So, the item was posted on July 1.

Anybody familiar w/ the Prokofiev/Rachmaninov Piano Concerti recording? I've become a big fan of Russian composers, but I haven't heard this one.

I'm also leaning toward the Schubert Lieders disc. I remember singing (and I'm using that term lightly) some Schubert songs in voice class in college and thought they were quite lovely.

Regards,
Doug

 

[Lee Scoggins]

I've heard it and it is pretty good.

I would not worry about the release coming out. I have a friend who is a very famous audio writer and he is actually been following the MLP story very close (in fact knows Wilma Cozart Fine very well) and they are definitely going to be out in the fall.

 

[Seth--L]

Janis's Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.3 is among the very best recordings of the concerto. The trick to playing such hard keyboard music successfully is to make it sound easy to play -- Janis's hands effortlessly glide across the keys.

Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No.3 is another one of the very best works of the keyboard concerto genre. Pletnev's recording is quite good, but you can do better. I think that only Gary Graffman's recording with Szell/Cleveland best captures Prokofiev's (and Stravinsky's) concept of neo-classicism.

As I've said in other threads, October looks to be the German/Europe release date for the MLP discs, so if you're waiting for them to be released in the US, you might be waiting until the winter.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Yes and you can still find inexpensive copies of the Red Book CD with very good sonics.

 

[Doug Otte]

Thanks for the recommendations, Lee and Seth. I'll look forward to that disk. And:



Although I played a Prokofiev sonata in college, I doubt if I can do better!

Sorry, I couldn't resist. I know you meant: I can do better w/ the Graffman disk.

Cheers,
Doug

 

[Seth--L]

My one contention with the redbook, which may have to do with how it was downmixed from 3-channel, is that the piano is too forward (though superbly recorded) and dwarfs the orchestra. The piano sounds wonderfully vivid, but the orchestra sound is somewhat muted and flat. I'm hoping that being able to playback the recording as it was meant to be heard in 3-channel sound will correct this. Janis is so much the star of the recording that this problem really doesn't detract.

 

[Seth--L]

I thought that was pretty clear.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

I have to agree. The orchestra levels should come up. We should hear an improvement with the newer releases.

 

[Seth--L]

Lee,

The orchestra also lacks depth -- they're going to have to do more than just raise the levels.

Do you know who is doing the remix, and if that was the reason why this release was delayed over and over again?

 

[Lee Scoggins]

I have been told by reliable sources that Wilma Cozart Fine is involved but I do not know the exact mastering team.

Harry Pearson of The Absolute Sound has been an authority on this label for some time. Perhaps we will see a story from him at some point...

 

[Marc Colella]

I can't seem to find any of these Mercury Livine Presence SACDs on Amazon.com (maybe I'm not looking in the right place).

Can someone provide me with a link to the Janos Starker SACD?

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Here's the link for the Starker Bach, but you may not appreciate it:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...794362-0199651

Odd how neither Amazon US or www.arkivmusic.com have these listed yet. I can usually find almost anything between those two sites.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Acoustic Sounds is a better source of information in my opinion.

Don't worry in any event as these will get wide press coverage.

 

[DanFe]

www.sa-cd.net is even better:

http://www.sa-cd.net/showtitle/1686

and

http://www.sa-cd.net/showtitle/1542

 

[Seth--L]

Official website for the MLP SACDs:

http://www.deccaclassics.com/music/m...nce/index.html

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Thanks Seth. Those album covers bring back pleasant memories. Time for all of us to connect the center channel speaker.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

How odd. US Amazon has them, but I can't find them using their search engine. I can only find them on US Amazon by linking them through the www.sa-cd.net site. Amazon wants [rant]list price[/rant], Arkivmusic is cheaper, and CDnow is cheapest.