Thread: Best surround sound recording list?

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Post by GregFNC January 17, 2007 (1 of 21)
Are there any lists of the best multi-channel surround sound recordings?

It seems that most SACD recordings only use the rear channels for ambient sounds and I had hoped when I got into SACD a few months ago that I would be getting real channels out of all my speakers (except the subwoofer). For me, that is the real selling point of SACD - the ambient sound adds little to the sound environment as far as I'm concerned.

The only SACD recording that I've bought so far that I've found really thrilling is the Bernstein West Side Story where all the channels are used. (I'll soon have the Davis recording of Tosca on Pentatone where I understand the orchestra is presented using all of the channels and I'm looking forward to it!)

I'd love to have some choral recordings where there is each voice part comes out of different channels! Are there any?

If there isn't a list, which SACD recordings do members of this forum think has the best surround sound?

TIA,

Greg Fitzmaurice
Durham, NC

Post by Peter January 17, 2007 (2 of 21)
Go to "labels" and check out Tacet's website.

Post by Edvin January 17, 2007 (3 of 21)
Also the Mozart violin concertos on 2L.

Post by fafnir January 17, 2007 (4 of 21)
The Harmonia Mundi recording of Stravinsky Les Noces makes fabulous use of the rear channels.

Post by mandel January 17, 2007 (5 of 21)
GregFNC said:

I'd love to have some choral recordings where there is each voice part comes out of different channels! Are there any?

Cori Spezzati - Nicol Matt
This disc has voices spread all around the listener. I keep meaning to pick up a copy myself.

The Berlioz Requiem is another good one, most of the instruments and the choir are at the front but there are two brass ensembles placed in the rear corners. The Spano/Atlanta SO recording even has the tenor soloist at the rear.

Post by Windsurfer January 17, 2007 (6 of 21)
GregFNC said:

Are there any lists of the best multi-channel surround sound recordings?

It seems that most SACD recordings only use the rear channels for ambient sounds and I had hoped when I got into SACD a few months ago that I would be getting real channels out of all my speakers (except the subwoofer). For me, that is the real selling point of SACD - the ambient sound adds little to the sound environment as far as I'm concerned.

The only SACD recording that I've bought so far that I've found really thrilling is the Bernstein West Side Story where all the channels are used. (I'll soon have the Davis recording of Tosca on Pentatone where I understand the orchestra is presented using all of the channels and I'm looking forward to it!)

I'd love to have some choral recordings where there is each voice part comes out of different channels! Are there any?

If there isn't a list, which SACD recordings do members of this forum think has the best surround sound?

TIA,

Greg Fitzmaurice
Durham, NC

Phew!

It's amazing that people can be so radically divided on this issue! For me, used to, as I am, attending live concerts in some outstanding halls, (Boston Symphony Hall, Troy (NY) Music Hall, New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall, Carnegie Hall and Baltimore's Meyerhoff Symphony Hall; and indoctrinated as I am to the notion of the Absolute Sound as promulgated many years ago by Harry Pearson, I feel that use of the different channels to do anything other than recreate the sense of being seated in a prime location in a very fine hall is a misuse...a gimmick. See akiralx's review of the Tchaikovsky which I recommend below.

If you truly believe "the ambient sound adds little to the sound environment" I wonder if you should look to your listening room configuration, furnishings etc or to the setup and or quality of your rear channels.

Off the top of my head I suggest the wonderful Tchaikovsky 5th symphony on BIS as a recording which should open your eyes, making the walls of your listening room drop away as you perceive the feeling of being in a MUCH larger and pleasingly more resonant space.

Post by GregFNC January 17, 2007 (7 of 21)
Windsurfer said:

Phew!

It's amazing that people can be so radically divided on this issue! For me, used to, as I am, attending live concerts in some outstanding halls, (Boston Symphony Hall, Troy (NY) Music Hall, New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall, Carnegie Hall and Baltimore's Meyerhoff Symphony Hall; and indoctrinated as I am to the notion of the Absolute Sound as promulgated many years ago by Harry Pearson, I feel that use of the different channels to do anything other than recreate the sense of being seated in a prime location in a very fine hall is a misuse...a gimmick. See akiralx's review of the Tchaikovsky which I recommend below.

If you truly believe "the ambient sound adds little to the sound environment" I wonder if you should look to your listening room configuration, furnishings etc or to the setup and or quality of your rear channels.

Off the top of my head I suggest the wonderful Tchaikovsky 5th symphony on BIS as a recording which should open your eyes, making the walls of your listening room drop away as you perceive the feeling of being in a MUCH larger and pleasingly more resonant space.

I will try the Tchaikovsky.

But to defend my position, it isn't at all unusual for orchestras to stage brass choirs around an auditorium to give a multi-dimensional effect. And as one who sings in a large choir and has performed large choral works in the midst of the choir in very close proximity to the orchestra, I can attest how exciting surround sound can be in concert on a regular basis.

Personally, I feel the audience member receiving the sound in basically a 2 dimensional format is missing out on much of the drama and excitement of the music. While not trying to be put anyone down, I do think it is easier to assimilate in that format.

Greg Fitzmaurice
Durham, NC

Post by Beagle January 17, 2007 (8 of 21)
GregFNC said:
And as one who sings in a large choir...

You are "preaching to the choir" here...

Post by Windsurfer January 17, 2007 (9 of 21)
GregFNC said:

Personally, I feel the audience member receiving the sound in basically a 2 dimensional format is missing out on much of the drama and excitement of the music. While not trying to be put anyone down, I do think it is easier to assimilate in that format.

Greg Fitzmaurice
Durham, NC

I am not sure I know what you are saying here. Are you suggesting that members of the audience are receiving the music in two dimensions? I think not!

A great hall sings with the orchestra in terms of reflections and resonance. For example, I have never heard a hall that flatters the sound of strings like Boston's Symphony Hall. In that hall the Sibelius Second has moments when the tuba is enhanced by the acoustic of the hall to establish an acoustic power that I believe can only be realized in properly recorded multi-channel sound where the rears contribute to the sound of the hall rather than the direct sound of the instruments.

While I have been fortunate to hear not only the Berlioz Requiem there played by the Boston Symphony, there have been many other performances with orchestra members located in the second balcony and yes the effect is startling and interesting and sometimes even wonderful. I wholeheartedly endorse the recording of such works where the composer dictates such location of the instruments - and some halls have organ pipes in the rear so works with organ played in such halls also should be recorded this way.

But I really do not want to have to hear the orchestra wrapped around me, in an upclose and artificial fashion when listening to Dvorak, Debussy, Beethoven or Mozart or Haydn etc - as I say I feel that is a gimmick I can live without.

As far as is possible and today it is within reach, I want to replicate the experience of hearing a live orchestra in a fine concert hall when I listen to recordings. That has always been the goal for me and now with multi-channel SACD it is very close to being attainable. At least there is much less effort expended in terms of suspension of disbelief.

Bruce

Post by Polly Nomial January 17, 2007 (10 of 21)
mandel said:

The Berlioz Requiem is another good one, most of the instruments and the choir are at the front but there are two brass ensembles placed in the rear corners. The Spano/Atlanta SO recording even has the tenor soloist at the rear.

Agreed but this is much, much more exciting musically: Berlioz: Requiem - Norrington

Out of the Tacet recordings that, as others have suggested, make extensive use of the surround channels, I can recommend these on musical grounds as well:
Bach: Brandenburg Concertos - Stuttgart Chamber Orchester
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 7 & 8 - Rajski

From a recording point of view, this Coronation of King George II - King's Consort/Robert King is good but some of the chants are a little underwhelming and quite stilted.
East meets West - Les Percussions de Strasbourg is quite extraordinary but not easy listening.
Gabrieli: Music for San Rocco - McCreesh is very good musically but I find the sound (attacking you from all sides) harsh.
Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro - René Jacobs makes very good use of the surrounds at times and is a wonderful performance.
For the choral singer in you Greg, try this: Tallis: Spem in Alium - The Sixteen which is simply wonderful; as is this: Immortal Nystedt - Ensemble96

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