I got talked into NOT thinking so highly of the Colin Davis M8 (RCA), and I wished I hadn't. Thus, I decided to order a used copy from a third party provider via Amazon.com. (you can get some great used bargains this way). When my package arrived, I found a 4 cd set that also included the Maazel/Vienna Phil. M8 as well (Sony Classics). That was another one that I had sold off, and the original booklets to both sets were included. I'm glad that I have both of them back now.
Yes, yes, I know: the Colin Davis M8 has some vocal solos that are terribly far forward (I think amplification might have been used at the performance). But it also has some great things going for it on the plus side. For one thing, the double adult choir work is outstanding and you can hear the Tolzer Knabenchor throughout the entire performance (I hate it when you can't hear the kids). I also think Davis' pacing of the work is outstanding. He sounds relaxed and comfortable from start to finish; yet, he knows just when to turn up the juice. I very much like his conducting in the 8th. Also, Ben Heppner does a better job here than he did on the, otherwise, better sung Chailly M8. Also, the tam-tam sounds huge in the closing page. But more than anything else, I love how Davis - via tempo choice - has the unison choirs hang on to the very last syllable in the entire symphony: "h i i i i i i i - n a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a an". It's positively thrilling! It just sounds as though Davis really knows what he's doing because of his many years of conducting all those huge hybrid vocal-symphonic works by Berlioz.
On the other hand, the Maazel M8 doesn't have quite as much going for it. However, the two pluses it does have, are truly outstanding. Tenor Richard Leech gives THE best of performance of the two difficult tenor solos in Part II of anybody. I think he's better than Kolo or anybody else. Maazel also has the best tam-tam smashes of any one, as he employed a 50 inch (130cm) Wuhan Chau Gong (you can see it on live Wiener Oper performance that's on Youtube). Unfortunately, Maazel is excrutiatingly slow in Part I, while rushing the end of Part II. But his M8 has pretty good sound, and the women soloists are quite good also (far better than Davis', I'm afraid). I'm happy to have this one back as well. I'll probably just play the Richard Leech solos from time to time, then jump to the huge tam-tam smashes at the end (too little organ though).
Thanks for reading.
Topic: a very nice surprise came with my Colin Davis M8 from Amazon (3rd party) (Read 7240 times)