very professional performance
579979
Bruckner getting a little lovin' from the Philidelphia Orchestra, what's not to like.

The usual big, clear, mid-60s Philly sound and the performance itself is a model of clarity, a very professional endeavor in all respects.

The only complaint I have is that it's maybe just a touch too professional; despite the really lovely playing throughout there is also a certain coolness in places, almost a perfunctoriness, primarily in the closing minutes of the two outer movements. The adagio is fortunately mostly free of this, it's quite nicely done, as is the scherzo.

And just an FYI, the Te Deum which filled out the original LP release is available for free in the downloads of the month section at abruckner.com
3261510
I love its performance, looks and the nice clear  metalic sound it has. It's very responsive to blowing.  I use it for blues and country music, though is excellent for any kind of music. Thank you very much.
3246820
Whenever I see the term audiophile recording, I am usually skeptical. But this is a very good if not a true audiophile quality recording. I really enjoyed the twist this album put on these classic recording. The generous use of bass, coupled with very good performances of these artist was very satisfying. I am fortunate to own a very good audio system. If you do also, this album will certainly entertain and reward the listener with outstanding crystal clear audio quality.
1608541
Great performance by a Master of the instrument. The recording however isn't perfect.  You can occasionally hear some scratchiness but the performance is so superior that I give it a 5 star rating.
3665254
I bought this set on advice from previous reviewers. Thank you. It is outstanding performance. Very different from the modern performance practices were the orchestra is blazing and singers have to scream to be heard. None of these here. It is the singers opera. And they do a superb job. Tagliavini is outstanding all the way. His duets with Pagliughi is unsurpassed. The only minor complain is Lina Pagliughi's coloratura in the last Amina's caballeta. Not as clean as it could be. But that does not spoil overall quality of performance. The parformance has a very intimate, almost chamber feel to it.

Very highly recommended.
2172689
Ok, Ok, there were some engineering problems with the recording, transfer, and/or mixdown - sometimes the board sounds saturated...BUT, there are some tremendous performances.  Erskine, Bernhardt, Zingg, etc. deliver the goods.  Walter Becker's vocals on Book of Liars is considerably stronger  than on 11 Tracks of Whack.  There are numerous subtle and not so subtle  tasty arrangement changes on Reelin' in the Years, Sign in Stranger (the  horn chart at the end is tremendous), Aja (a little more loose that the  studio version and at least as beautiful), Green Earrings, etc.  Damn fine jazz/fusion performances.
1999590
Great performance. Very energetic. Very enthusiastic audience. Excellent video and sound quality. A vast improvement over the DVD version, which I bought before the Blu-ray Disc version was available. Nice bonus tracks from concerts in Japan, China and Argentina.
2094326
Wonderful ,beautiful performance and recording. Highly recommend it.
4157324
thisperformances his performance of the planets suite is very good.  the sound quality is excellent and the st Louis orchestra performs very well.
3351882
Brings out the very best of these talented performers.  A little overproduced, but the voices are more than equal to the task.
1830768
This is really good.  From a 1988 live performance, directed a bit statically by Sonja Frisell, it is very well-played and paced, and, on the whole very well sung.  The video direction by Brian Large is good, though it does at times accentuate the rather un-kinetic quality of the direction, but these are small matters when so much is right here.  Levine gets a sound from the orchestra that is both refined and expressive, and his musical pacing of the scenes seems just right.  The only reservation I have about the singing came towards the end of Act 3, after a splendid "O patria mia" from Aprile Millo -- things went off the boil a bit with the entrance of Sherrill Milnes as Amonasro, who sounded rusty and uneven, although he looked great.  Domingo sounded a bit tight when he entered -- at "Pur ti riveggo" -- and even Millo lacked a bit of luster as the scene came to an end.  Both Millo and Domingo were back on form splendidly in the final scene, which Levine paced just beautifully and in which both singers did some very lovely soft singing --and in which Large solved, simply and effectively, the visual challenges that a filming of the scene poses.  In the previous scene, Act 4, Scene 1, Domingo and Dolora Zajick, as Amneris, sang with a passion and intensity that perfectly set up the different character of the final scene.  Zajick's performance and singing, in the year of her Met debut, were impressively strong throughout -- powerful or tender as needed -- and her ovation was well-deserved.  Ramfis was impressively taken, if you could get past the weird hat, by Paata Burchuladze.

Domingo, at 47 when the recording was done, sounded much better than he did six years earlier with Abbado.  Aprile Millo, at 30, was really outstanding in all the big moments and most of the small ones.  The voice has power, delicacy, and steadiness, and if it wasn't memorably distinctive, as, say Tebaldi's or Price's is, that is no criticism of her performance and one can understand how she went on to become a favorite for years at the Met.  Her recordings of "Luisa Miller" (on CD) and "Ballo" (with Pavarotti, on DVD) are cherishable too.  An all-round fine job!
1830295
Okay, why is it that your neighborhood amateur orchestras survive?  My theory is that you have enthusiastic amateurs, often skilled, often not, who give their all into a performance.  Sure, the strings are often out of  tune, the woodwinds miss their entrances, and the brass flub left and  right, but you don't go there to hear perfect technique; you go there for  the music, which can transcend the limits of the performers when presented  with enthusiastic magnetism, especially when the podium is bearing a  talented, patient leader.
The Vienna Symphony was a mighty scrappy bunch  when Horenstein made these recordings.  But Horenstein was on the podium,  and every player believed in him to the last man, or so it sounds.  You  have not heard Mahler's 1st until you've heard this incredible performance.  Forget that the horns can't play in tune at all in the Finale; forgive the  strings for their wildly undisciplined playing.  It all comes together into  a transcendental experience.
The Bruckner 9th I can't comment on in  detail since I don't know it as well.  All I do know is that when I listen  to it, gee, it sounds well, short!  Yet it gets its own disc, so I assume  it is in the ballpark timingwise of other performances, and I enjoy it too.  Same comments, btw, about the engineering and the orchestra.
The  engineering:  it's mono.  It's not too bad.  It doesn't hinder the  performance, so I guess it is "open" enough.  I rarely buy mono  performances, but Horenstein's outings on Vox are an exception I'm almost  always happy to make.
4062559
I find it perplexing that someone could rate this album so low as one other reviewer has done.

This is a excellent recording of a live performance of two Rachmaninov piano concertos, performed remarkably well. The Conductor, Valery Gergiev teams up with Lang and the result is a very special recording. Rachmaninov needs the high energy that Lang brings to these works, and yet at the same time Lang is thoughtful and reflective enough to let ones heart soar during the Concerto No. 2.

Although I love Rachmoninov, many recordings are overly enthusiastic to the point of becoming tedious. Lang and Gergiev are able to be fiery and and dynamic while letting the more subtle passages of these two pieces shine.

I would guess that most people looking for a well recorded, finely played Rachmoninov piano concerto will absolutely fall in love with this cd.

Enjoy!
25654
great sound , very beautiful speaker.very professional.
highly recommend
2735466
Beautiful performance and very clean and dynamic recording
1583102
In re the entire serenade, this is an excellent performance in a daunting field, including Bohm/BPO, Lehmann/BPO, Furtwangler/VPO, de Waart/Netherlands
Winds and Klemperer/PO Winds+ London Winds. The sound throughout is mostly an asset, but the BPO winds do lack some
of the mellow soft edged euphony of the Bohm and Lehmann recordings  which possibly employed some of the same winds.
Tempi are a bit quicker than those in the Klemperer and Furtwangler reading (neither of which drag).  However, the performance
as whole is exuberant and sunny, well worth investigating.
2170381
Very solid and highly aesthetic. Great performance overall.