Since we have been involved in some discussions about our dive into the SACD realm, we thought we would share a couple of reviews of our first two SACDs from Audiophile Audition.
“Tutti!” Orchestral Sampler from Reference Recordings – stereo-only SACD RR-906SACD, 71:33 [Distr. in U.S. by Allegro] *****:
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.
Click to read the entire review at Audiophile Audition
“Exotic Dances from the Opera” – Eiji Oue cond. The Minnesota Orchestra – stereo-only SACD RR-71SACD, 60:33 [Distr. in U.S. by Allegro] *****:
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.