Customer Reviews

Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition; Night on Bald Mountain [Hybrid SACD]

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

 

 

I will not make an argue about the performance from Maazel about this recording, which in my opinion is really good (there are many versions out there to enjoy off course) but this version in particular is spectacular and one of the finest versions I've listened. Thanks to SACD technology we have this recordings (Soundstream original recording) at all the splendor from the original 50 KHz sampling rate Digital process, the original LP's sounded incredibly (I still have my copy) and this SACD make justice to those Soudstream recordings

This SACD is a sure bet, either you have a SACD player or not because this is an Hybrid disc so you can listen to it in the CD layer, and there is a plus, the CD layer has been made from the DSD remaster to produce the SACD layer, so there's an improvement in the audio quality compared to the older conventional CD, and if your player is capable to display cd text this disc contains that info...

It would probably be a bit pricey, the entire program lasts 40 min. but it worth it (I remember the LP cost me more than 20 bucks by 1981!)

Don't spect to find SURROUND in any of the Soundstream recordings all are stereo only!!

Lorin Maazel produces a big, pompous rendition of this Moussorgsky classic, presumably for the "Sound Surround" audience. Sounds good, but the price of the CD is twice what a technically more conventional recording would be. Is it worth it? Only the buyer can tell, but beware! Unless you own the special equipment, stick with another recording.

Great music! However this CD is particularly uninspiring. Apparently there's a reason there are jokes about Cleveland.

I must own six or eight albums of Pictures (orchestral and piano) and this is the second to the worst. All my others are on vinyl and this is my only CD. As for Horowitz's version, stay away at all costs. As someone has previously stated, he sprayed graffitti all over the score. His treatment of the Great Gate of Kiev would have made a second year piano student blush with embarrassment for the craft. I've heard house rock bands improvise better music than that.