This is obviously not the first Pictures to be released on SACD, but with an energetic performance by the Cincinnatians and the high-level 5.0 sonics provided by Telarc, it should appeal to many. The Reiner/Chicago Symphony Living Stereo SACD is a classic, but only in three front channels and lacking the overall transparency of the new Telarc version. (You do get 20 minutes more music on the RCA disc.) Telarc’s famed emphasis on the bass drum is not lost in this score – especially in its more colorful orchestration by Ravel. The concluding Great Gate of Kiev is a smashing bit of surround sound demo material, and the disc opens with a most Halloweenish Night On Bald Mt. which had me visualizing the Disney images in Fantasia.
– John Sunier