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| Decca (Full price) (CD) 400 084-2DH. From SXDL7548 (2/82). Also issued as (Cassette) KSXDC7548. |
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I wrote enthusiastically of the sound quality on this recording's first appearance, speaking of its "impressive detail, remarkable clarity and splendid presence" as well as its "vivid, exceptionally clean, well-focused and transparent textures". Our "Sounds in Retrospect" panel found that it "gave little or no impression of the United Artists Auditorium, Detroit, where it was recorded, but the brilliance of the digital sound made a stunning impact with every strand in Stravinsky's complex textures clearly audible". The Compact Disc version seems to have added range and presence, and is among the most striking of the bacth I have heard. The percussion in particular are very real and there is a body to the sound which makes the LP version sound like a carbon copy—and, as I have indicated, the LP itself is something of a demonstration disc. Reservations about the quality of the Detroit orchestra that I made in my original review stand and I would not pretend that th is outclasses the Sir Colin Davis, Karajan and Muti performances in every respect. There is hardly any pause between the first and second parts which seems to me quite extraordinary so that one is unable to relish the silent background. There is no want of it elsewhere—as, for example, before the "Danse de la terre".
RL