[Fife12]

By Wong Fei Hung soundtrack do you mean the Once Upon a Time in China soundtrack?

Yup.

[corwin99]

So nelson, we meet again!

Why don't you try a Vivaldi cd? go for the ever ubiquitus 4 seasons (especially winter) seems to be a good test track.  

PS.  still want the maggies?

Is that you Carlton? You told me to email you with my phone # but then you never called me! Can't afford the maggies right now.. just dropped a bunch on a new Plasma... broke-ass is me.

try Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov

Very good selection!  the exact pressing I am looking for has eluded me, at least at the price I am willing to pay, for some time now. (I will keep that to myself until I find it).

One of my favourite Scheherazade recordings is the one on Chesky LP with Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony.

Thanks everyone for all the recommendations. I don't mind the Chesky stuff its just that its so darn hard to get around here... I like to be able to walk into the store and just grab them usually.

Russell you are in Victoria?? Dang! Being just up-island in Nanaimo that's pretty darn convenient. I will email you shortly.

Boult/LPO Planets - I do have this on LP as well... haven't really listened to it as I never really like the Planets.. but perhaps I will give it another shot.. maybe pick up the CD version.

I think i may have to print off this whole thread  

[Enrico]

Here are 2 which will impress:

Rachmaninoff, Symphonic Dances

Copland, Fanfare and Symphony 3

BTW I don't understand the objection to audiophile labels; a CD is a CD.

[GHM]

Enrico

Are these recordings made live with close mikes? I'm looking for some live uncompressed orchestra music as well. I can always tell when the recording engineer went to sleep in the booth! Or the recording was originally made mono and redone in stereo. It never sounds just quite right.

TIA

[Florian]

This is from my buddy in the apogee forum.

Hi guys,
Think you know what really good recordings sound like??? Check out the demo cd on the Royer Labs microphone website. This company makes some of the best ribbon microphones around and their ability to capture proper tone of instruments is simply ASTOUNDING.

I have the cd from which the orchestra cuts on track 14 a and b on the demo cd derive and I can say without hesitation that it is the best recording I have with regard to dynamic range and tone color and it was made with ONE stereo microphone!!!

www.royerlabs.com

They have some on-line snippets to whet the appetite but they are compressed .Mp3, the real things are even more dramatic.

[scottielee]

For excellent sonics (but not so great performance in my opinion):
Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1
Arthur Rubinstein and Erich Leinsdorf with Boston Symphony
JMXR-24023

[kallitype]

The Ricardo Muti version of Carmina Burana---minimalist miking, huge dynamic range, extremely lifelike sound.  Watch out, the first sound on the disc is a tympani slam that will scare you!

  Angel Seraphim Classics CDR 7243 5 73573

  For deep bass, the Brahms Deutsches Requiem, Telarc, cond Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony.  Opening bars have pedal organ  and double basses, very clear sound.  

   On the Orff, Arlene Auger  sings what might be the longest held note by a soprano!

Telarc CD-80092

[mellowman]

Nelson,

Not the heaviest music around, but try the disc of Rossini Overtures with the Montreal Symphony & Charles Dutoit on Eloquence 467 427-2.  Fantastic sonics and priced at $10 or less!  Also good is Sibelius' Lemminkainen Suite with the Toronto Symphony & Jukka-Pekka Saraste on Finlandia.  Regrettably, I can't recall what else is on this CD right now.  Sibelius' Karella Suite is another potential house-rocker, but I don't have a ready performance recommendation, alas.

If you don't mind baroque music, check out the Missa Salisburgensis by Biber on the Archiv label.  The performers are The Gabrielli Consort & Paul McCreesh.  The introduction to this one could bring down plaster if you have the volume cranked...  Once again, this is quite well recorded.