Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade; Stravinsky: Song of the Nightingale [Hybrid SACD]
![Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade; Stravinsky: Song of the Nightingale [Hybrid SACD]](/images/Rimsky-Korsakov-Scheherazade-Stravinsky-Song-of-the-Nightingale-Hybrid-SACD-B0006PV5VC-L.jpg)
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Free Music Notes for Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade; Stravinsky: Song of the Nightingale [Hybrid SACD]
Free Music Review: best recording I could find
Hit: 5 Stars
I heard Scheherazade live with the NY Phil. The power of that full orchestra in Russian forte was something, but even more memorable was the beautiful violin played by the concert master. This recording manages to balance the two opposites sonically. Mr BillFree Music Review: Outstanding performance!
Hit: 5 Stars
Reiner's conducting and arrangement of this classic is, for me, the definitive version. The performance is stunning. The quality of the recording is such that its hard to believe that this performance is almost 50 years old. A must buy.Free Music Review: Amazing Sound
Hit: 5 Stars
Best Scheherazade I ever heard. The performace was exciting and touching. The SACD provides so much details and dynamics of the recording that it makes me really feel that I was there.
Free Music Review: Dynamic
Hit: 5 Stars
I remember Scheherazade being played on our stero when I was a child, which is why I bought it. This arrangement is powerful. I love it.Free Music Review: Never sounded better than this
Hit: 4 Stars
Rimsky-Korsakov's kaleidoscopic sea adventure "Scheherazade" is one piece of classical music that, more than most others, screams for the highest level of sonic production. The classic Reiner-Chicago Symphony version gets it in this SACD treatment. The sound is more vivid here than I can ever recall with great clarity exposing orchestral details -- the snare drum in the third movement and coincidental timpani and cimbal beats in the finale -- never before so apparent in the recording.
This SACD, unlike some other re-releases of RCA classic performances, plays in three channels. I like all this and it sounded wonderful in my living room. I was somewhat disappointed with violins coming from the center right channel, a position opposite of their setting in orchestral format. Still this is an update of a classic performance of the music that is still considered by some critics the benchmark in this music.
The makeweight Stravinksy piece is a delightful 22 minute excursion into that composer's fine mind. Hearing that music for the first time on this recording, I made a quick link between this and the film music of Bernard Herrmann in the way both composers used portamento strings for effect, as opposed to musical value.
Having said this, I still think the best version of Rimsky-Korsakov's wonderful music goes to either of the modern recordings led by Leopold Stokowski, a conductor with far more imagination and influence on musicians than the stern and hard-driving Reiner, who was often hated while respected by his players.
Stokowski's two modern stereo versions -- on the Decca/London label with the London Symphony and on BMG/RCA with the Royal Philharmonic -- are both superior readings, in my opinion. Stoki leads a more leisurely and luxuriant adventure than Reiner, a noted literalist with great projection. While Reiner focuesd on orchestral detail, precision playing and generating excitement in big moments, I think Stokowski's renderings are more in tune with the romantic nature of this wonderful music.
Stoki's Decca/London reading was re-released a few years back to much critical accalim. I believe the BMG/RCA recording is a more "Russian" rendering of the music. Both recordings are in manufactured sound, meaning the recordings were made with many microphones and mixed by the conductor and technicians to present a personalized Stokowski sound that may or may not reflect reality. In this respect, the Reiner recording is far more honest.
Whether or not the Reiner-Chicago rendering is your favorite or one you've never sampled, there can be no question this is a classic performance that sounds better than ever in its current dressing.