“Tutti!” Orchestral Sampler from Reference Recordings – stereo-only SACD RR-906SACD, 71:33 [Distr. in U.S. by Allegro] *****:
TrackList: RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Dance of the Tumblers, CHADWICK: Intermezzo & Humoreske, NELSON: Rocky Point Holiday, STRAVINSKY: Firebird – Berceuse & Finale, MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 21 – Andante, PARAY: Symphony No. 1 – Allegretto, BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 9 – Scherzo, VIVALDI: Concerto in F – Allegro, ARNOLD: The Padstow Lifeboat, IBERT: Escales – Valencia, R. STRAUSS: The Times of Day – Der Morgen, JANACEK: The Makropulos Case – excerpt, OUE: E.C.F. from Presque Isle, MUSSORGSKY-RAVEL: Pictures at an Exhibition – Baba Yaga; Great Gate at Kiev – Minnesota Orch./Oue; Czech State Philharmonic; Seattle Sym.; Dallas Wind Sym. & others
These are the first two SACD releases from Reference Recordings, whose main efforts in the hi-res release area have been their 176.4K/24-bit HRx recordings, designed only for computer music servers. Although all their CDs have used HDCD encoding, which squeezes enhanced fidelity out of the standard CD format, and they have also issued audiophile vinyl in the past, Reference held off on make SACD versions available because they now record everything in 176.4K PCM and would have had to convert it to DSD – the native SACD format. They felt that conversion originally caused losses, but new technological improvements now make it no longer an issue. So with support from their distributor in China and Hong Kong – Naxos International Far East, (where there is more interest in SACD than in the U.S.) here are their first two hybrid stereo SACDs. They will shortly issue their first multichannel SACD, of this release we just reviewed.
Tutti! is a packed program of spectacular orchestral demo selections, and all of them are complete movements or sections – no fading out anywhere here as on many samplers. 15 of the selections come from already-released Reference Recording albums, but the 16th is a world premiere recording of a movement from conductor Eiji Oue’s suite Presque Isle. Track 12 is not strictly orchestral, but includes the Turtle Creek Chorale with orchestra in a song of Richard Strauss. Track 6 is the Andante movement from Mozart’s”Elvira Madigan” piano concerto, with Eugene Istomin as the soloist.
I could see some of the selections successfully invegeling purchasers to explore the complete CD they came from – such as the delightful album of works by George Whitefield Chadwick, the symphonic movement by conductor Paul Paray from the CD of his works, or the exciting and dynamic interpretation of the Scherzo from Bruckner’s Ninth by Skrowaczewski and the Minnesota Orchestra. There’s a page or more of notes on each of the selections in the note booklet. The sonics are of course cleaner, more detailed, and with greater dynamic and frequency range on the SACD layer than the CD layer. The excellent bass foundation heard on most Reference Recordings is there on both, but with the SACD it just sounds more precise and part of the whole than on the CD.
“Exotic Dances from the Opera” – Eiji Oue cond. The Minnesota Orchestra – stereo-only SACD RR-71SACD, 60:33 [Distr. in U.S. by Allegro] *****:
TrackList:
1. RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: The Snow Maiden: Dance of the Tumblers
2. RICHARD STRAUSS: Salome: Dance of the Seven Veils
3. TCHAIKOVSKY: Mazeppa: Hopak
4. MUSSORGSKY: Khovanschina: Dance of the Persian Slaves
5. RABAUD: Marouf, Cobbler of Cairo: Dances
6. DVORAK: Rusalka: Polonaise
7. ANTON RUBINSTEIN: The Demon: Ballet Music
8. SAINT-SAËNS: Samson et Dalilah: Bacchanale
This is the second two-channel SACD release from Reference Recordings, captured originally on analog tape masters using Prof. Keith Johnson’s custom focused-gap recorder, in January of 1996 in Minneapolis’ Orchestra Hall. The program is a good one, with eight examples of the fusion of opera and dance, which might also be regarded as similar to the several “opera without singing” albums that have been released over the years. While there are some big hits such as Salome’s Dance, and Samson and Delilah’s Bacchanale which closes out the disc, many of the selections are just as exotic and less well known. The dances from Rabaud’s early 20th century opera Marouf, Cobbler of Cairo, are extremely exotic in their middle Eastern mood, and at a quarter-hour length by far the longest track on the SACD.
Somebody at Reference Recordings really likes the Dance of the Tumblers by Rimsky-Korsakov, because this SACD starts out with it again, the same as Tutti! Its tune was derived from a Russian folk song, and it certainly provides a smashing orchestral demo. Johnson captures a very strong but not out-of-balance deep bass end on this track and all the rest that seems to meld with the rest of the orchestral sound even better than some of Telarc’s vaunted bass drums.
The Rubinstein ballet music was once popularized via a piano 4 hands transcription. His opera The Demon was based on an oriental tale about a fallen angel who loves a princess. The music maintains its exotic character with a number of orientalisms. Both these compilation discs are superb hi-res demo material and would be especially of interest to those SACD fans whose systems are strictly two-channel.
– John Sunier
