I'll point out, as I have elsewhere, that the Dorian disc is an audiophile's delight, because it was recorded in the Meyerson Hall in Dallas in two different acoustics. For the Jongen, since the organ is featured as a solo instrument, the hall acoustics were set to be more reverberant; for the Saint Saens, where the organ is meant to be part of the orchestra, a more normal concert setting of the acoustics was used (for those of you who are unaware, the Meyerson hall has adjustable panels in it which can change the acoustics of the hall itself). A good system will easily show the differences. In the performance, Guillou doesn't use the 32 foot stops that much in the Saint Saens as he does on the DeWaart recording, but he sure does on the Jongen--if you have subs prepare to be shaken!
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There is a lengthy review of recordings of the Saint-Saens No. 3 here: http://hometown.aol.com/gothamauricle/Saint-SaensReviews.htm/ |
I have eight versions of this favorite warhorse and sonic blockbuster, and I'm surprised no one has mentioned one of the best, somewhat more recent versions, which has excellent sound: it's the SECOND Telarc version, also with Michael Murray as organist, with Christian Badea conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, recorded 1990-91. (The first Telarc version, with Murray, Ormandy, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, was recorded back in the early days of digital in Feb. 1980.) |
Another estimable version not mentioned here so far is the one recorded circa 1976 on DG with Gaston Litaize, organist, and Daniel Barenboim conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. By the way, I have on hand all three remasterings for CD that RCA has issued of the famous old Zamkochian/Munch/Boston SO version of 1959. These are the first CD issue of 1987, the "Living Stereo" remastering of 1993, and the DSD/SACD/hybrid remastering of 2004. I'm listening in two-channel only, but there is no question that the SACD hybrid of 2004 is the best-sounding of these three. |
The BSO/Munch sacd is not bad sonically, there are plenty of classical cds that sound worse. I can't tolerate the harshness in classical as much as other genres for some reason. I stopped buying classical cds for an entire decade and I just started building up my collection again last year so I have some catching up to do. Cbrentc, thanks for the link. So Texasdave, which telarc version do you prefer? |
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