[SACD-R][OF] Rimsky-Korsakov – Scheherazade, Stravinsky - Song Of The Nightingale - Fritz Reiner – Chicago SO - 2006 (Classical, Orchestral)

Great Work, Great Performance & Great recording
I just love this work! The performance & sound quality are just great (like the majority of the recordings in this SACD living sterero collection)
As usual, the SACD layer provides audio to 3 speakers (left, centre & right), the sound engineers have achieved beautiful balance. The sound is bright, but never brittle, the dynamics are never compressed, & as for clarity … well, it’s all there. Reiner must have worked his musicians to the max because on this recording they hold nothing back. I have absolutely no doubt there’s not a rival recording out there that could match this performance in terms of energy, expression & sheer joy. I heap this near ridiculous amount of praise upon the recording of a work that has always, in part, troubled me, because with Schezerazade I am always aware of a conflict between popular & populist.
So many times this work has been reduced to utter treacle. Tragically the treacle belongs to our own time. Our capacity to render great work mere sentimentality hasn’t done Rimsky-Korsakov any favours. Additionally the near totalitarian rise of digital recording technology has often corrupted the idea of an authentic performance being captured on tape or disc. The worst culprits have to be DG who, in the 1980s, embarked on the most insane cut & paste series of recordings, where the idea of the note perfect recording quickly got out of hand…
With Living Stereo recordings there are very few edits between takes, & anyway these takes are recorded back to back in a very short space of time.
In summary, a masterpiece on every level.
***Big thanks to wildsam for the iso***