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Discussion: Elgar: Sea Pictures, The Dream of Gerontius - Connolly, Skelton, Soar, Davis

Posts: 10

Post by Luukas September 24, 2014 (1 of 10)
At last, The Dream of Gerontius on SACD! I haven't PentaTone's recording, but I guess that this is better. Any comments?

Post by Arell September 24, 2014 (2 of 10)
Luukas said:

At last, The Dream of Gerontius on SACD! I haven't PentaTone's recording, but I guess that this is better. Any comments?

Difficult to comment since it hasn't been released yet.
Musically it will be hard to beat the old Barbirolli recording, including the formidably Janet Baker (EMI, now Warners). But that one is 50 years old so soundwise of course this will be a giant step forward.
I have not heard the Pentatone either. But generally speaking I prefer the sound that Chandos provides in their sacd releases.

Jan
(This is my first posting on this forum. Read my profile if you want to.)

Post by Jordan September 24, 2014 (3 of 10)
My copy just arrived today. Will post my impressions later, but it's very nicely packaged! Recording is 24/96 & 5.0 . Have both the Pentatone and Davis/LSO Live versions.

Post by Jordan September 24, 2014 (4 of 10)
As far as my ears go, in surround, this is the best recorded Gerontius there is. Done with clarity and dynamism, but richness too. The organ parts are felt as well as heard, and there is a pleasing use of the surround channels: the opening of "Praise to the holiest" in part 2 seems to surround the room. Pity that they chose to put the mighty crash at the vision of the Almighty at the start of a new track...always a mistake when recorded in such dynamic sound!

My early impression is that this may be coming close to being my ideal Gerontius, certainly in the recording department.

Post by JohnProffitt October 7, 2014 (5 of 10)
This is a splendid recording and performance. The performance is the equal of any, IMO, and the recording the best ever (I listen in 5-channel surround). Very interesting to note is the phenomenal reproduction of the low pedal notes in the organ, which according to the booklet notes is an Allen Quantum electronic instrument. Be that as it may, the 32' and 16' pitches as reproduced in Chandos's 5.0 sound is truly breathtaking.

Post by Johnno October 9, 2014 (6 of 10)
While on the subject of "Gerontius", does anyone have the HALLE recording conducted by Sir Mark Elder?

I think it's very fine in both performance and recording but I am concerned that the discs appear to be CD-Rs rather than 'pressed' CDs and assume they are producing them 'in house'. As I have recently had a number of unfortunate issues with CD-Rs (muting, skipping, swishing noises), I wrote to Halle for confirmation and I also noticed on their website that their releases are available as MP3s so I asked them (very courteously) if they intended bring out hi-rez FLAC or WAV files as alternatives.

That was many weeks ago and I have never received a reply to that e-mail, which obviously disappoints me.

Post by Jordan October 9, 2014 (7 of 10)
Yes, I've got the Elder/Halle version. As far as I can tell, my disc are proper CD's, not CD-R's. I think I got my copy fairly soon after release, so perhaps original ones are proper CD's and later ones are CD-Rs.

I will add that it's certainly worth hearing, but the recording is not as good as the new Chandos edition.

Agree it's a shame that they never replied to your email query.

Post by Johnno October 12, 2014 (8 of 10)
Thanks for your comments, Jordan, and to read that you appear to have a 'proper' CD release. The playing surfaces of my discs have that light cyan-green look about them characteristic of CD-Rs and all it says at the bottom of the back cover is MANUFACTURED AND PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN (in upper case).

How does the Andrew Davis performance compare to Elder's, as I confess I do love the Chandos SACD sound? I like the Elder soloists, although I have some reservations about Terfel's Priest in Part One. He seems better as the Angel of The Agony later. Alice Coote may not be the equal of Dame Janet but I still like the sound of her voice and, with repeated hearings, I have warmed to Paul Groves as Gerontius. For me, the work is Elgar's supreme masterpiece and I love the way Sir Mark handles the score - right from the beginning of the glorious Prelude.

Post by Johnno October 12, 2014 (9 of 10)
Whoops... I see it hasn't actually been released yet.

Post by JohnProffitt October 12, 2014 (10 of 10)
The Chandos SACD of Gerontius IS released and IS for sale. I have had mine for over two weeks, shipped via Air Mail to Texas by MDT.

Gerontius is blessed with many fine recorded performances, including, among others, Boult and Elder; but I do believe Sir Andrew Davis goes right to the top of the list. The individual roles, chorus and orchestra are as fine as, if not better than, any I know. The recorded sound in MCH is hands down the very best this masterwork has received to date.

No one who loves this superb work will be disappointed. I speak as one who has listened to the new Davis 2 times + in multichannel, not however in stereo.

Closed