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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Example of Fiedler's Magic and Musicianship,
By
This review is from: Hi-Fi Fiedler [Hybrid SACD] (Audio CD)
The woman who lives next to the house where I grew up has a scratched copy of the LP version of HI-FI FIEDLER. I know this because she lent it to me if I promised to be very careful. I was just developing an interest in classical music and she thought I would enjoy it. She was correct. I listened to it over and over again. I put it on my father's stereo, something I could only do when my parents were not home, took out a magic wand or some similar stick from my sister's toy chest, became Arthur Fielder and conducted the legendary Boston Pops Orchestra as the music emanated from the speakers. I thought I was alone in the house because I'd never want anyone to see this spectacle, but my younger brother was lurking behind me as I finished "conducting" the march from "Le Coq d'Or." I guess I decided the orchestra needed some extra practice and picked up the needle to play the march again. My brother startled me and the end result, I scratched the record and the needle kept getting stuck at the end of the march. When I returned the recording and asked my neighbor if she knew it had a small scratch, she nicely told me it did not and from that point on, anytime I listened to recordings from her collection, I listened to them at her house and she controlled the phonograph.Obviously I purchased this recording for nostalgic reasons, but each time I listen to it, I gain a new appreciation for Fiedler. As a Bostonian, I always acknowledged him as a revered cultural icon, but he took music seriously, and his recordings offered listeners a taste of the variety of great music available. One could argue that larger symphony orchestras under the direction of conductors such as Solti and Karajan offer fuller sounding renditions of these works, but listeners can detect Fiedler's love and his belief in the importance of these works in his interpretations. I think that it can be argued that Fiedler's conducting of Tchaikovsky's "March Slave" is one of the best versions of this work available (he loved Tchaikovsky's music), his vigorous interpretation of the overture to "William Tell" is exciting, and he's largely responsible for the popularity of both Charbrier's "Espana" and the music from "Le Coq d'Or." Perhaps this is why this recording, as well as so many other Fiedler recordings, have been reissued and seem to stand the test of time. I listen to it to bring up memories, but I also share it with young people to introduce them to classical music. Enjoy!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A mixed bag,
By
This review is from: Hi-Fi Fiedler [Hybrid SACD] (Audio CD)
As soon as you see the word 'hi-fi' or 'audiophile' in a title, there is reason to worry. This often means bad music, performers or mediocre playing, in hyped-up sound. There is a trace of this phenomenon here (in this primeval show-off disc), but fortunately only a smidgeon.The major piece here is the Rimsky Golden Coquerel Suite. Back when I was a lad (sometime around 1803) this was much more popular than it is today. Now it's gone into a slump, which is rather a shame. Cast palpably from the same mould as Scheherezade, it shares many of the exotic colourations and characteristics of that uber-popular piece - but maybe with a few less ravishing tunes. It's all part of Slavic composers' long-running love/hate relationship with the mysterious Orient. And it's all good fun. Think of Stravinsky's Firebird, and you won't go far wrong. It's well played here; however, some of the orchestral warhorses wheeled out later in the disc fare less well. I must confess I am not a great fan of Fiedler; his occasional tinkering is annoying, but more worrying is his tendency to rush, gloss-over and streamline musical lines. The Boston Pops, moreover (the BSO shorn of its front desks and principals) often sounds downright sloppy here. There is also a nasty fluff in the William Tell that should have received the razor blade and sellotape treatment. I find the sound here most interesting. The great Lewis Layton, in order to hype up the sound, has moved his mikes palpably closer than usual. This brings great immediacy of sound, but shaves away much of the hall sound. He is also running his tapes hotter than usual. The result is all too predictable, regretfully. After a quite exceptional-sounding first 20 minutes of the Rimsky, it runs flat into a brick wall and distorts at the end of the piece. There is also tape overload during the Lizst Rákóczy transcription. Shame - the sound would have easily received 5 stars otherwise. Let me stress, however, that much of this SACD sounds superb. It also - spookily - reminds me very much of some of the great Kenneth Wilkinson's early recordings for RCA, Decca and Reader's Digest. Think of it as a 'missing link' in evolutionary terms between two great masters of the recording arts.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Breathtaking !!,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Hi-Fi Fiedler [Hybrid SACD] (Audio CD)
I hate these long winded reviews that go on forever (not you Timothy). Having said that, I will briefly relate to you an very inspiring experience of mine. One summer evening long long ago I was at an Esplanade concert overlooking the Charles River in Boston where Fiedler and the Boston Pop were performing. One of the pieces they played was Marche Slave by Tchaikovsky. That was the first time I had heard the piece. It was electrifying. To that point I had never heard a piece that evolked such a responce from me. Those were the days, my friends. Ok, I'll stop now.This disc is absolutely awesome. The performances are wonderful complete with Fiedler's little flurishes. What makes this disc so great, however, is the technical quality of the recording. It is close miked giving you rhe feeling of hanging a few yards over the front center of the orchestra. Every single nuance is given full respect. The crispness, especially of the high end, and the dynamic range are unsurpaced. Very rarely does everything come together as well as here. Oh, did I mention, all of the pieces were originally recorded between 1956 and 1960. You all need to buy this disc. Get this specific one, the SACD version (plays on any cd player). There's another one with a similar cover that is not SACD. Even though I play it on a standard cd player, the mixing and whatever else might be different on the regular version. Not good to mess with perfection. And, of course, the better the sound system, the greater the thrill. Happy listening!
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