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 Perfect antidote for classical (and audio) snobbery May 18, 2008
Attention all music snobs! This SACD is just what you need to clean out your ears, and your soul. I just finished listening to it after spending a dispiriting morning with a 2004 multichannel release of a major, very serious violin concerto from a major label, major soloist, major orchestra and conductor. On that disc, tepid music-making, oh-so-careful recording and mastering. Oh so boring.
Now here's the real thing. Made back when people enjoyed making and hearing "light classics" -- and it really shows. Although I'm a boomer, I was not familiar with earlier iterations of this famous Boston Pops recording. Therefore I can't comment on whether it's as good as this remastering or that original shaded dog or whatever.
All I can say is, wow! This three-channel SACD really hits the spot. The pianist, Earl Wild, is probably unmatched in this repertoire. The orchestra, under its founding conductor, plays with matching exuberance. Everyone seems to be having a ball, first measure to last. When's the last time you heard a classical recording like that?
The recorded sound is open, colorful, engaging, and totally persuasive. Sure, the soloist is brightly lit, and there's a bit of suspect reverb. But I can hear the hall, the imaging is pretty good, and it's just so involving! Bless you, Richard Mohr and Lewis Layton and all the rest. Why can't they make 'em like this anymore?
So, unconditionally recommended. Once you've heard this, you can go back to your Magnus Lindberg or Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach or Pierre Boulez or 13th-century Moldavian motets or whatever and feel like one of the few, the precious few again. But at least you will have had some fun.
I have enjoyed many of the Living Stereo SACD remasterings, but this one is quite special.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
The best SACD transfer, period! Jul 03, 2007
It is unbelievable to listen to these almost 50 years old RCA recordings.
The sound stage and transparency, spatial information and autholative bass equal to today's best audiophile recordings.
You can "SEE" the interior of Boston symphony hall and feel the walls vibrating in awesome tutti!
Wonderful performance and incredible recording technique.
Must Have!
28 of 30 found the following review helpful:
 Special, If Not Spectacular Jan 27, 2005
The reason I could not give this SACD a 5-star rating is that in some of the loudest passages the music becomes congested and compressed. And, I don't remember that occurring in my previous experiences with this special recording of the Boston Pops led by Arthur Fiedler. It is truly amazing, however, that such an historic recording can sound so uncannily present.
The stereo SACD layer of this disc does what SACD is supposed to do: the instruments are much better placed within the three dimensional sound stage, timbre is more accurately rendered, the instruments are, also, resolved more finely, more of the ambience of the venue is captured and the air around each of the instruments more realistically clarifies their positions, bass is much more controlled and real, which adds up to more realism and more musical drama. Some moments on this SACD are truly transcendent (I could tell you where, but I'll leave the wonderful surprises to you), while the rest is damned good.
I guess I hoped for more, though.
Why?
When this RCA Living Stereo recording of Rhapsody in Blue was last released on CD in 1997, the remastering used 20 bit technology, a customized Studer transport, Cello electronics and UV22 Super CD encoding (per the CD cover). This remastering had done a phenomenal job in getting as much musical information onto the CD as possible. Consequently, this raised the bar that the present SACD had to outstrip, which it does. However, it does not do so as handily as other Living Stereo SACDs whose prior CD release did not have such wonderful remastering.
Another problem I noticed with this SACD and some other RCA Living Stereo SACDs that have been released recently is that there is something missing at the very top end. I thought though that maybe I was just now hearing these recordings as they sounded from the master tapes, as all the hype has stated. However, Harry Pearson has the same problem. As he expressed recently, "The top octaves sound rolled off, and harmonically depleted."
Is this better than the most recent CD iteration? In most respects, yes, except for the caveats just stated.
If you treasure the RCA Living Stereo series as I do, the improvements that this SACD brings to the table are well worth the price of admission.
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