Customer Reviews

Berlioz: Requiem Op. 5 ;Grande Messe des Morts [Hybrid SACD]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

THIS IS PHENOMENAL!!!

I own all the surround versions of this music in SACD and DVD-audio formats. Much as I like the Norrington on SACD, this one is the best, musically. The original LPs and RBCD issues, while good, did not do justice to what the Philips engineers had captured on their master tapes at Westminster Cathedral in November of 1969. The Spano on Telarc, while good, is way too polite for the fire and brimstone this work really needs. His also lacks the acoustics this work needs to envelop the listener, not to mention Spano is tame, when compared to Davis. Davis can be completely sweet and lyrical, then suddenly ferocious, while always succeeding in maintaining the long lines of musical argument.

This is wonderful. Colin Davis has made a specialty of this work for many, many years. The best thing about the wrap-around sound of this disc is that it reproduces the sound of this amazing piece in an acoustic that does it justice. No, it does NOT have Telarc-size bass! The perspective is more distant, but it captures the sound of inspired performers making impassioned music and responding to the work AND the acoustics of the space in which they are performing the work. The tempos are unfailingly musical, while never dragging, and the performance works on all levels. The acoustics, though not mentioned in the Pentatone booklet, are those of Westminster Cathedral, according to the Matthew B. Tepper Internet site which lists all of the recordings of the work.

The performance is subtle but has great ferocity when needed in the big moments. When the men push to sing through the barrage of percussion and brass in the Tuba Mirum, they cut loose with wonderful energy that is quite hair-raising. As the other sections of the choir join in, they respond with the same level of energy and purpose. The engineers resist the temptation to change the dynamics of the work, so the dynamic range of the piece is pretty much on the tapes as transferred. The Lacrymosa manages to have both rhythmic precision AND long, singing lines, with amazing bite when needed. The counterpoint of the orchestral accompaniment and the syncopations are pointed and really well-proportioned, so the rhythm just blooms around the superb choral work.

The recording is 4.0 surround. The best way to hear it is with matching, full-range speakers around the listening area. The bass response has NOT been ticked up. It sounds like huge forces in a huge building, enveloping the listener in waves of sound. There is plenty of clarity for the smaller moments, but the building sings right along with the Godly racket when the full forces are unleashed.

This classic recording has been brought back in the format that finally does it justice. Do not buy this unless you intend to open it wide on the system and let it roll through the house!

If you love this piece, as I do, and you want to hear one of the great recordings of this work in the best format to ever do it justice, this release is self-recommending!

GET THIS and SUPPORT PENTATONE Classics! BRAVO to all concerned, in 1969 AND 2008!!! PLEASE, PentaTone, give us more of the Davis recordings from Philips in Boston, especially the COMPLETE Sibelius with that great, gleaming Boston Symphony Orchestra!!!

I have owned nearly every commercially available recording of this wonderfully bizarre and beautiful piece including Charles Munch's Bavarian Radio and Boston Symphony, Berntein's French Radio Orch recorded in Les Invalides, Shaw's and Spano's Atlanta Symphony & Chorus and at last have heard the long heralded Colin Davis recording captured in Westminster Cathedral. It's a revelation to hear it remastered in 4.0 surround with the smooth response curve of SACD technology.

Philips has long provided outstanding sonics in their recordings so their SACDs do not tend to stand out quite as much as say, RCA's rerelease of the Munch 1959 performance recorded in Boston's symphony hall. Yet, this recording's surround channels add a sense of depth and ambiance likely not found on the original LPs and CD releases. I'm greatly pleased with Davis' approach to the piece. Not quite as subdued as some of his other Berlioz recordings, this one contains the drama and sense of occasion the piece demands. The chorus is well disciplined yet exuberant and one always marvels at the ability of the tenors to sing the cruel tessitura of the piece. The solo tenor is quite attractive, though I have always been most pleased with Leopold Simoneau's performance on the Munch Boston recording. I agree with the other reviewer that Spano is too prosaice and his recording venue in Atlanta sounds downright constipated even with Telarc's SACD technology. Shaw was even more prosaic and stuck with the same dry acoustic. In my opinion, the three finest recordings of this piece remain the Bernstein recorded in the sight of its premiere, the Munch Boston recording on SACD and utlimately this Philips SACD.

I prefer Munch due to the contribution of the tenor, but he only has one solo in he piece so most would likely prefer this recording for its somewhat clearer sonics.

If you do not already own Colin Davis' gripping reading of this amazing dramatic music, then it's an easy decision to get this recording on Pentatone. Although this performance , which first came out in the 70's on Philips, has always been considered one of the best, if not definitive, the Philips CD suffered from weaknesses in the sound. The sound has been commented upon by many reviewers over the years, preventing an unqualified recommendation. With this SACD release, that restriction has been removed.

What about those of us who already have had this recording on Philips all these years, but do not have SACD equipment? What do WE do?

Well, I compared the Philips version side-by-side with the Pentatone recording using my non-SACD equipment. The sound of the Pentatone IS an improvement in several areas: frequency response, separation, hiss, and volume. I would not classify the improvements as "an order of magnitude", but it IS noticeable on good equipment. Read on:

Frequency Response:
From top to bottom, I noticed I could hear more. The bass is a bit fuller, yet clean, for example in the opening of the great Dies Irae or in the menacing grumbling in the basses in the Lacrymosa. The treble is cleaner and less shrill, for example in the female chorus during the Hosanna section of the Sanctus. The improvement in frequency response has an associated increase in realism throughout.

Separation:
Left/Right separation is much improved. This must be a result of Pentatone working with the original quadrophonic master. Trumpets and trombones are not on top of each other in the Tuba Mirum, for example. This also improves the sound stage, with a better sense of space. I am more able to hear the auditorium (or cathedral in this case).

Hiss:
All remastered analog music has accompanying hiss, due to the original use of tape. That hiss has been very much reduced on this disc, although it is not absolutely gone. Sometimes it is quite striking, though. The reduced hiss allows me to hear other aspects of the music more clearly, particularly since the frequency response is better. Delicate sounds, such as the texture of the bowing, are thus a bit more audible; and naturally the quieter moments are less marred by hiss, for example the Quaerens Me and Agnus Dei.

Volume:
This is loud music and no apologies! But by comparison the Pentatone music is less forward, more naturally loud. This means that it is not as loud, or as forced sounding, as the older Philips discs. On the older CD, it sounds like everyone is up front in a line, equally loud during the louder moments. I am able to discern everyone better on the Pentatone discs. It's less of a wall of sound, if you will. To get the same physical "feeling" of sound as on the older CD, I then turned up the volume a notch on the Pentatone. Your mileage may vary.

Where does this leave us?
Keep in mind I compared the old and new versions track by track which does make it easier to hear the differences. If you own this recording and are familiar with it, and you are listening to it on a good sound system (as opposed to say, your computer or iPod) you should notice a better experience. It will not make you jump out of your chair, invoking the gods. But it will make you smile at certain of your favorite moments.

By adding another dimension, with surround sound, I can see why other people are raving about it.

I love this recording. The orginal version was very good, but some of the loud parts or sections with deep base were difficult to appreciate. This new version is tremendous. It is amazing how clear this recording sounds with Pentatone's work after all these years. All aspects are clear with a huge dynamic and frequency range. In comparison to the recent Spano version, this sounds so much more mature and emotional. Buy this disc without hesitation.

I will agree with the other reviewers that this is a classic recording. I owned this on LP, buying it in preparation to participate in a live performance while still in college and yes, this approximates a live performance experience quite well. That said, I must warn prospective buyers that the Phillips engineers were quite conservative in their miking and, at a time when Columbia was gimmicking up "Quad" with recordings like Bernstein conducting "Le Sacre" and them placing the 8 horns in the rear channels, here everyone is placed "in front." So, while Dies Ire cranks up the volume and the rear channels begin to bloom, it is with the sheer sonic loading of the cathedral, and NOT with 2 of the 4 additional brass ensembles! Yes, one can get more of a sense of 4 separately-placed brass sections, but we do not get the full sense of "North-East-South-West" placement noted by Berlioz in his score. Granted, it is rarely heard this way due to time-delay problems encountered in real space when ensembles get spaced too far apart. This is why every live performance I've attended of this work usually only places the choirs in pairs as far stage left and right as possible, but that's about as far as it goes. So, again, a great recording of a classic performance that truly simulates attending a live concert, but do not expect the full "surround" experience. For that, you must look elsewhere.