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Hi folks. Having recently bought a copy of the Zdenek Macal M3 for half price at Grooves Land, I was finally able to do an A/B comparison with that and the Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi M3. Both are on the Japanese Exton label. Both are with the Czech Philharmonic. The copy I have of the Kobayashi M3 is a pair of 'burnt' discs, most likely made on a computer burner. They were sent to me years ago. The sound quality is not as good as it is on the Macal M3, although there may have been a small amount of degradation in making the Kobayashi copy on a computer. In order to make the comparison somewhat more comparable, I played them both on my Sony five-disc CD changer, and not on the Toshiba DVD player I own, that can also play SACD layers. Enough of the preliminaries.
I like both of these performances very much. The timings are rather similar. Both are performances that 'flow along' nicely. Kobayashi is a bit heavier and more intense, particularly in the two outer movements. Macal's performance is more relaxed; has excellent sound quality, and can be described as a thoroughly 'musical' rendition. As a result, I like Kobayashi more in the two outer movements (the climax of the long brass chorale in the finale is outstanding!!!), and Macal more in the inner four movements. Macal clearly has the better mezzosoprano with Birgit Remmert (she's also on the Simon Rattle/Birmingham M3).
The offstage posthorn solo (third movement) is excellent on both recordings (same trumpeter?). Although, it could be argued that it's not far enough in the distance on both recordings. Personally, I like that, as I hate having to struggle to hear any offstage instruments. As I recall, everybody praised the offstage posthorn on the Vaclav Neumann recording on Supraphon as well. Perhaps it was the same trumpeter for all three (?) . . . And speaking of 'offstage', the brief offstage snare drum solo in the first movement is much better on the Kobayashi recording.
To summarize: Kobayashi for the two outer movements, Macal for the four inner movements (particularly the second movement). The sound quality is excellent on the Macal M3.
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