[SACD-R][OF] Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Paul Paray - Suppé & Auber Overtures - 2004 (Orchestral)

SA-CD.net:
Review by sgb December 15, 2004 (11 of 11 found this review helpful)
Performance: Sonics:
I'd be hard-pressed to say which one of the nine initial _ORCHESTRAL_ MLP SA-CD releases is the absolute best sounding, but the Suppé Overtures would be one of my three top candidates. There's an openness and spatiality to it that verges on the astonishing, and a you-are-there sense to the textures and transparency that defies description. Of course, the same can be said of the other two of these top three — the Rimsky-Korsakov and the Chabrier — all of which, it seems to me, are must-haves for the audiophile who is also a dedicated classical music enthusiast.
These overtures are light-hearted fun, all in all, and just the thing for those casual moments. Highly recommended.
Review by Ivymike July 29, 2005 (8 of 8 found this review helpful)
Performance: Sonics:
Ditto sgb's comments. This is an extraordinary disc both in terms of perfomance and sonics.
The performances are perfect of examples of Paray in top form: incredibly energetic, vigorous, verging on over the top. In terms of sheer excitement they just can't be outdone; the only performances of such music I've heard that I'd consider their equal are those by Solti and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra on an old London blueback and on a recent double CD, also on London, of the same tapes.
The sound is a bit aggressive in the typical Mercury fashion, but terribly exciting. The three-channel playback is superb, with dynamics that seem impossible from non-Dolby analogue tape. Soundstage depth is superb.
This type of music might best be heard in small doses, perhaps one track at a time in an evening's programming. Too much at once might push blood pressures up too high!