Fritz Reiner/CSO and Living Stereo

I am really liking this combo. Tne Mousorgsky Pictures was excellent, and now I prefer their Sceherezade to the one by Reference Recordings. It is just more lively and involving

Reiner was a conductor of the old school - a strict disciplinarian, he ruled his orchestra with an iron fist, with no velvet glove in sight!

Yes, when you brought that Mussorgsky Pictures CD to my place for the MBL speaker audition I was very impressed and now have my own copy.
The Rimsky Scheherezade is very good, too - I went on to investigate that - but I still prefer Mackerras on Telarc for its better sense of ebb and flow - and for its sound quality, too, one of the highlights of my 3000 CD collection.

I tried Reiner's Living Presence Beethoven 5th and 7th symphonies, but found them too unyielding and lacking subtlety. The Coriolan overture on that CD is very exciting, though.

Jerry (and others), don't tell anyone but Justin is beginning to like classical. I suggested he try out Pictures and he did say he likes both the orchestral and the piano version.

I haven't heard Mackerras, will try that. The 2nd movement of Scheherezade is an audition favorite, it is great on brass instruments and dynamics. I find Reiner's livelier than Jose's

Justin quite enjoys a Shostakovich track - the brief 4 minute Allegro 'portrait of Stalin' from the 10th symphony - aka my "system buster" .
Neeme Jarvi on Chandos. Stunning recording and performance!

Why system buster, is it that dynamic?

Yes!

I've used it as a test track for years - but it was someone else who heard me play it that coined the name 'system buster'.

Most systems don't get close to capturing the sheer power and dynamism of the track, and many lapse into screechy harshness as well, and others just smear out the complexities of a large symphony orchestra going at full throttle.

A problem is that unless you have heard it played on a good system you don't know how impressive it can sound!

Cue for me to tell you, if you try that with a NAT preamp you will hear much more. Tracks with a lot of orchestral dynamics is where NAT just shoots ahead. Will get that CD.

JANDL100 said:

Yes!

I've used it as a test track for years - but it was someone else who heard me play it that coined the name 'system buster'.

Most systems don't get close to capturing the sheer power and dynamism of the track, and many lapse into screechy harshness as well, and others just smear out the complexities of a large symphony orchestra going at full throttle.

A problem is that unless you have heard it played on a good system you don't know how impressive it can sound!

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Ah well - that's the fun of the hobby - there's always something better to strive for.

bonzo said:

I am really liking this combo. Tne Mousorgsky Pictures was excellent, and now I prefer their Sceherezade to the one by Reference Recordings. It is just more lively and involving

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Hi bonzo. Just picked this up actually. My player seems to have trouble w the Pictures sacd for some reason. It takes awhile to cue up and sometimes it takes several attempts before it plays. You have any issues like this ? Stereo sacd layer.

Re sound quality. I found it good but nowhere near the quality of my jarvi swan lake on chandos or my Mahler 2nd with the San Fran orchestra. What do u think of the sound quality compared to other material you have? Thanks. Tim.

Kedar, check out this thread:

http://www.martinloganowners.com/forum/showthread.php?16028-Music-Recommendations-to-Friends

Bernard it's closed

timm said:

Hi bonzo. Just picked this up actually. My player seems to have trouble w the Pictures sacd for some reason. It takes awhile to cue up and sometimes it takes several attempts before it plays. You have any issues like this ? Stereo sacd layer.

Re sound quality. I found it good but nowhere near the quality of my jarvi swan lake on chandos or my Mahler 2nd with the San Fran orchestra. What do u think of the sound quality compared to other material you have? Thanks. Tim.

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Hi Timm, no trouble with playing the SACD. The mastering imay not be the best, in fact it has a background hiss, but I just enjoy listening to it more. I am comparing it to other Pictures, same for Scheherezade

bonzo said:

Bernard it's closed

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You missed my point. Check Tom's post in that thread.

Oh ok, it should be on the other thread. Sorry

such a great thread this is... but like the one you mentioned, this is a recommended recording... please post it in there with the proper formatting.