Khachaturian: Gayne (Complete Ballet); Selections from Spartacus; Masquerade Suite

Aram Khachaturian (Composer), Loris Tjeknavorian (Conductor), National Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra), London Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: National Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Loris Tjeknavorian
• Composer: Aram Khachaturian
• Audio CD (March 22, 2005)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B0007INY2Q
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61,483 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Great performance, horrendous CD transfer, February 12, 2006

By 

yaztheman - See all my reviews

This review is from: Khachaturian: Gayne (Complete Ballet); Selections from Spartacus; Masquerade Suite (Audio CD)

I love this ballet & performance, and have had the LP for years, so I was thrilled when it finally came out on CD. But what a disappointment -- they have butchered the CD. There is a loss of frequency on both the high & low end, with the lush strings from the LP being muffled throughout. Plus, they dynamic range is less than the LP. (And BTW, I'm not one of those "back to LP" types -- I prefer CDs). Unfortunately, this is not worth the money. Stick with the LP.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Only flaw I found was the sound quality, March 8, 2006

By 

Eric S. Kim (Southern California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Khachaturian: Gayne (Complete Ballet); Selections from Spartacus; Masquerade Suite (Audio CD)

Khachaturian's Gayne Ballet (in its 1942 original version, not the 1962 revised version) is wonderful and fulfilling. The selections from "Spartacus" are a pleasurable feast for the ears, and the Masquerade & Russian Fantasy are flawless through the baton of Loris Tjeknavorian. The tempi are precise, the orchestral emotion is outstanding, and the sound quality is awfully unsatisfactory. I mean, seriously, the BMF transfer is weakly done. Half of the tracks are frail in volume, and the bass sound is heard incorrectly. All in all, if you want a complete version of Khachaturian's Gayne and the Masquerade suite, then this is the 2-CD set for you. Otherwise, you better find a more recommendable recording...if there are still any out there.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A dreadful sonic abortion......, November 23, 2006

By 

Hannibal (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Khachaturian: Gayne (Complete Ballet); Selections from Spartacus; Masquerade Suite (Audio CD)

I certainly don't want to be guilty of "piling on", but RCA is guilty of a felonious assault by issuing this set. - It simply defies belief that the same record company responsible for the magnificent SACD "Living Stereo" series of reissued RCA recordings is the same one which has issued this sonic disaster! - One understands that John Newton and Soundmirror were not responsible for this atrocity, but the engineers who were responsible should hang their heads in shame and find another field of work.

Khachaturian may have composed some "junk" in his time, but a lot of this is quite good (particularly in this fine performance) and sonically it deserves at least a decent transfer from the original tapes. Three stars for the music, zero stars for the engineering. GET TO WORK, RCA!