User Details - Russell


Name:
  Russell Low
Details:
 
Location:
  San Francisco, CA, USA
HiFi:
  Sony SCD-777ES SACD Player (modded by APL)
Simaudio Moon P-5 Preamplifier
Simaudio Moon W-3 Power Amplifier
Dynaudio Special 25 Anniversary Edition Loudspeakers
Email:
  orgrsl@mac.com
Web:
 
Posts:
  42

 
 
Reviews
Found: 12 show all

Puccini: Madame Butterfly - Leinsdorf        (22 of 22 found this review helpful)
  September 9, 2006

This has been one of my very favorite opera recordings for many years now (in fact, it was the recording that got me into opera in a huge way) and I’ve owned it in all formats (LP, open reel, CD, and now SACD). Recorded in 1962, it was always one of RCA’s better-sounding operas—despite the LPs ... more
Mahler: Symphony No. 8 - Haitink        (22 of 22 found this review helpful)
  June 2, 2006

I was quite excited about this 1972 recording being reissued on SACD, as it's been one of my favorite performances of the work ever since LP days. I've always felt this recording was underappreciated, both for performance and recording quality. The LP had the misfortune to be released around the ... more
Robert Craft Collection, Vol. II - Stravinsky        (7 of 7 found this review helpful)
  March 28, 2005

This is certainly the best sounding Naxos SACD I've heard, and probably because it wasn't engineered by Naxos. It's a reissue of a recording originally released on the MusicMasters label in the late 1990's, and was recorded in EMI's Abbey Road studio. The recorded sound, though slightly soft and ... more
Grieg: Sigurd Jorsalfar, Landkjenning etc. - Ruud          (3 of 3 found this review helpful)
  June 2, 2004

The engineers at BIS have really upped the ante with this new disc of mostly unknown (and decidedly minor league) works by Grieg. This is, I think, the third volume of BIS's ongoing Grieg cycle with the Bergen Philharmonic under Ole Kristian Ruud. Musically speaking, don't expect inspiration on the ... more
Beethoven: String Quartets Op. 18 Nos. 1, 4 & 5 - Prazak Quartet          (1 of 4 found this review helpful)
  December 31, 2003

Just glorious. Warm, flowing, fluent, relaxed yet energetic performances by this quartet, previously unknown to me. The Op. 18, No. 1 quartet is particularly engaging. I wasn't going to give this disc a try until I saw a favorable review of it on the December 2003 Audiophile Audition website ... more

 
 
Latest Posts

Live recordings and applause
April 4, 2012
Count me as one who loves applause in live recordings. As a veteran collector of 'pirate' opera and symphonic recordings (all live, of course) where applause is left in, I'm very much used to it and I feel it's a natural part of the 'live' experience. It adds immensely to my enjoyment of the performance. I'm always a bit leery of so-called 'live' ... more
Signature Collection - SACDs from EMI
February 28, 2012
This is great news, but I won't be happy until EMI releases the Previn/LSO Shostakovich 8th from 1973 on SACD. Don't remember whether it was an original quad release or not, but the time certainly was right... Russell ... more
CHANNEL CLASSICS THREAD
February 28, 2012
Yeah, until something like a fire comes along and ruins your whole collection, which is what happened to me 6 years ago. I didn't lose all of my CDs--only about 300 out of 5000 or so--but nevertheless many of them were long out of print and therefore hard to replace. Russell ... more
Chandos removes Reich recording from hi-rez shop
February 23, 2012
Ralph Couzens removed the Reich album from The Classical Shop's hi-res downloads page last year after I ran an Audacity spectrum analysis and sent a copy to him (well, to The Classical Shop, who forwarded my letter to him). The spectrum analysis revealed that the files were brickwalled at around 22kHz. I posted about this experience in the ... more
Discussion: Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 5 - Vänskä
January 12, 2012
I've only had a chance to listen (via headphones) to the first movement and a bit of the second of the 2nd Symphony, but I have to echo Chris's words about the sound quality: it's really impressive, particularly in the 'blackness' of the background in quiet passages. Interpretively I was a bit surprised to see that Vanska has slowed the pacing of ... more