Search - Modest Mussorgsky, Valery Gergiev, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra :: Moussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition; Night on the Bare Mountain [Hybrid SACD]

Not as good as it should be

J. T. Brown | Albuquerque, NM United States | 12/24/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"while the SACD sound is very good and 'Pictures' sounds very lively, the other recordings on this disc sound bad. even with the SACD sound, it is as though the orchestra is playing in a room down the hall from the recording devices. now, just because the sound is good on 'Pictures' doesn't mean it is a good recording. the Reiner recording with the CSO is so much better than this, it makes me wonder why anyone would produce a recording if it could not compete with the Reiner/CSO recording. i never get the feeling while listening to this new recording that the orchestra is really into the music. it almost sounds rush an unrehearsed. perhaps i am just biased, but i would rather listen to the older Reiner recording than this newer one."

Another good Gergiev Release

A. Craig | Grand Junction,CO | 10/10/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is the Hybrid SACD version of Valery Gergiev's recording of Mussorgski's "Pictures at an Exhibition". Recorded with theVienna Philharmonic, instead of the Kirov Orchestra. The performance is good, a little bit better than most, but then itis hard to make too many mistakes with the Ravel orchestration.All that is required is a good conductor and a good orchestra.Gergiev and the VPO deliver good solid performances, and Phillipsdelivers good sound as usual. I am only basing this on hearingthe CD portion of the disc, as I do not yet own a SACD player.The other works are also performed well "Night on Bald Mountain"gets a rousing performance as expected, but all the performancessound good if a little too polished. I think I wanted a little more risk taking on them. But all in all a good disc."