Here is another collection
of fabulous RCA Living Stereo recordings.
Reiner’s 1960 Scheherazade recording
sounds superb in its new SACD format.
As I have remarked about other recordings
in this series, each incarnation of
this famous, acclaimed recording, through
LP, digital, CD etc, reveals more and
more detail. Now, with no evidence of
any tape hiss (it is understood that
no filtering was applied in the engineering
of this SACD), the sonic splendour of
this popular warhorse reaches right
out at you. The finale builds up to
a tremendously thrilling climax at "The
Shipwreck". Balance, spread, dynamics
are all brilliantly realised, the strings
have a radiant sheen, the solo violin
(Sidney Harth) representing the young
queen whose storytelling skills prolong
and finally save her life in the court
of the cruel Sultan is seductively and
elegantly played, while the brass, burnished,
ring out heroically, and woodwinds sing
gloriously.
The booklet has the
very interesting original LP note by
the recording’s producer, Richard Mohr,
in which he describes the Scheherazade
recording session. He notes the acoustic
challenges of Chicago’s Orchestra Hall
and the ups and downs of the actual
sessions, hour-by-hour, on February
8 1960. Mohr comments that "the
final movement in this recording is
a complete performance, without benefit
of splicing, an orchestral achievement
rarely equalled." Reiner’s reading
is sumptuous, exciting and wonderfully
sensuous.
There are, of course
many, many alternative recordings of
Sheherazade. Many more recent
ones are spectacular in modern engineered
sound (I especially treasured Kyril
Kondrashin’s 1963 Philips recording
with the Concertgebouw Orchestra with
the sweet solo violin of Herman Krebbers
(the Concertgebouw’s leader) but for
this reviewer this Reiner recording
remains near the top of the list together
with my own personal favourite, the
venerable, celebrated Beecham recording
(1957) with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
(now available on the super budget HMV
label in the UK)
It is astonishing to
note that the Reiner recording of Stravinsky’s
Song of the Nightingale
was recorded as early as 1956, only
three years after RCA’s first experimental
"binaural" recordings. The
fidelity is amazing, the spatial elements,
the sound stage extraordinarily wide.
Reiner delivers a feast of shimmering
colours, a reading of exotic chinoiserie,
finely delineating and contrasting the
beauty of the real nightingale with
the harsh coldness of the mechanical
one, and evoking the colourful court
of the Chinese Emperor.
Superb new SACD refurbishments
of two more classic Reiner recordings.
The clarity and presence of the sound
is very impressive.
Ian Lace
Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Fritz Reiner 
BMG
RCA RED SEAL SACD 82876 66377-2 [66:51] 
