Munch LVB symphony No.3 XRCD worth the money?

Hi folks, While I was reading Rob's review on those new bunches of EMI great conductor sets, I am pleased to learn that the Munch LVB 9 is finally available in the US again. When I was preparing to order it, I found that his Eroica is also available in XRCD format. I guess it will have a great sound based my experience of Reiner's LVB 7. Now, here is my question, is it worth the money (I mean at twice of the regular CD price)? Or should I wait for an even better sounded but cheaper SACD one to come out some time in the future (or will it ever)? Thanks in advance.

Are you willing to wait for *any* particular recording to come out on SACD? Consider that Reiner recordings should be prime material for release on SACD. They are well known for both performance and sound, and have an enthusiastic following among audiophiles. Yet to my knowledge, there is not a single Reiner release currently on SACD. So what do you think are the chances for a Munch/Eroica SACD release?

As for whether this XRCD is worth the money, you might decide based on whether the premium cost of XRCD for the Reiner was worth it to you.

Would somebody explain to this Luddite what this means? As for Munch's Eroica, the performance itself is priceless: one of the very best in an overcrowded field. No first-movement repeat, though.

-david gable

Actually it is XRCD2, called extended resolution compact disc 2. Basically a 20bits front end remastering (JVC engineers seem do have access of those original master tapes, and craftily restored them extremely well). But, again, it is just another 16bits Redbook CD for our player. Good this technology may be, I still believe, ultimately, SACD should be able to surpass it. Many Sony released ones are clear evident. Yes, I do notice that you have been championing this specific performance for quite a while. That's why I am so itching. But for 27 bucks? I mean we can easily get 4-5 budget ones from BRO for that amount of money! On the other hand though, considering BMG/RCA down turn in their business model, I am really worried if this one will ever appears in SACD format. Maybe not even in a regular one!

Nick

It sounds a little better than the Gold Seal (or whatever it is) mastering in terms of frequency range and sense of space, but the differences are subtle; whether you would consider them sufficient to justify the much greater expense I can't say - depends on your system, your ears, etc.

says...

Expensive ($30 at Tower) Japanese remasterings done by JVC (I think; the result is a CD, not an SACD or whatever). What's annoying about this series is that (a) they tend to duplicate the initial LP release and are thus often absurdly short (e.g. Heifetz/Reiner Tchaikovsky concerto with no filler) and (b) have one or two items no previously released on CD as far as I can tell (e.g. Munch's Till Eulenspiegel, which sounds magnificent). Tower's recent sale helped, but still....

How's the performance?

More-or-less as good as David Gable keeps saying it is.

Regards, Eric Grunin

The commercial Beethoven Fifth omits the 1st movement repeat. The stereo Schumann Spring omits expo repeats in the 1st & last movements. Scherzo repeats are omitted in the Schubert Ninth. Not that this proves the omission of the trio repeat in the Eroica is intentional, but I believe it shows a tendency to omit repeats that many others take. In fairness, his mono Schumann Spring took all of them.

Thanks Curtis, and thanks also to the very helpful lurker who has just provided me with a Scherzo from a 1961 broadcast, which shows that I am absolutely wrong. Munch doesn't repeat the Trio there, either.

Somehow, listening to this movement out of context, I wasn't bothered. The movement as a whole came off as a kind of charming miniature. But in the context of the symphony as a whole I still feel that omitting this repeat goes too far.

Regards, Eric Grunin