Search - Mussorgsky, Ravel, Bartok :: Moussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition/ Bartok: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta

CSO does it again!

tubaguy63 | Farmington Hills, MI United States | 11/14/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a must buy for classical lovers! This recording is from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and is one of their best! Hear Arnold Jacobs, one of the greatest, if not The greatest, brass players ever, play the Bydlo solo on a Tuba, which is rarely attempted because of its high range! If you love orchetral pieces, Pictures at an Exhibition is one of the greatest pieces ever orchetrated! The CSO does a phenomenal job!"

Staggering Performance

Doug - Haydn Fan | California | 04/05/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD manages, and I don't know how, to capture most of the amazing sound captured by the Mercury engineers. And what amazing sounds indeed!

Listen to the opening horn solo on the sample. Sensational player, and hear how the colors of the various instruments are captured. There is a sense of their individual timbers missing from almost every stereo recording. If this is ever reissued at a normal price grab it! And as an added bonus there's the Bartok. The blackest bass section I've ever heard, and this from a monorual recording. If only we could have heard Toscanini with these engineers, what a momento that would make. The Chicago never sounded better as a full orchestra, more accurate perhaps, but never playing with this degree of overall solidity. One of the wonder recordings in the history of recorded sound. If you can appreciate great monorual orchestra sound, this is for you.

This performance has been reissued in a box set of other Kubelik Chicago performances. None of the others approach the Pictures, but they can be very good, especially the Bohemian music. The reissue captures the same remarkable sound."