Bach: Classics

I love Bach, and almost anything of his sounds good to me (if well-played, of course). But I had to downgrade the rating on this DTS disc because of the awful surround mix. Not only are the rear channels louder than the front (the orchestra seems to be behind you), but the levels vary noticeably from track to track (by about 6dB from loudest to softest).So 5 for musicality, and 1 for surround mix = 3 rating!This review refers to the DVD-A:  Bach Classics [DVD Audio/Video ]

A fine 48/24 recording - clean and musically very well done. Detailed sound with no hissing or other problems. Instruments each come through very well.

The good :- The sound on this recording is absolutely great in 5.1 surround. I played the DTS 5.1 track. My Yamaha receiver indicated a 1536 kbps bit rate and 48 kHz sampling rate, which is quite good. The DD 2.0 track is only 192 kbps and does not sound nearly as good. I couldn't try the MLP 5.1 track since I don't have a DVD-audio player (and my receiver's 6-channel input is taken by the SACD player).With the surround version, you really feel as if you are in the concert hall. I'm a Bach fan and I thought the performances were very good.The bad :- There are no useful notes packaged with this recording - nothing about the music or the pieces.There aren't even BWV numbers for most of the pieces.Unfortunately, this seems to be a frequent omission with discs from DTS entertainment (I'm judging by the dozen or DTS CDs I bought from them - this is the first DVD-audio I purchased).- I was unable to pause the music when playing the disc in my Panasonic RV60 DVD-video player. This is quite inconvenient. I can pause all other discs (DVD-video, CDs, ...) in the same player, but not this one. The "forbidden" icon is displayed, just like when playing FBI copyright warning tracks in DVD-video discs ... I hope that DTS will fix this in problem future discs !!!Note to "a music fan" :The disc does include an MLP 5.1 track which is only playable in DVD-audio players. So it is definitely a DVD-audio disc.If - you are using a DVD-video player, then you will only be able to select the DD 2.0 and DTS 5.1 tracks, but the MLP5.1 track is still visible, just not selectable.

Though I am generally more interested in complete works, this collection of Bach's better known movements is a delight and with the high resolution sound of DVD Audio, with surround sound, it is absolutely sumptuous. This is a taste of things to come, when we will be able to get more complete compositions by the great composers on DVD Audio. If you are a "Greatest Hits" type classical listener, you will love this DVD.

The actual musical content was a fair collection of Bach pieces ; however I can't understand why this has been issued as a DVD - Audio - the tracks seem to be old , mediocte sonic quality analogue recordings similar sonically to compact cassette. I could have awarded 4 stars for content if the disc had been of DVD - A sound quality.

Les morceaux sont bien choisis, et l'enregistrement MLP 5.1 est plus que correct. Le choix DTS ou MLP pour les lecteur DVD Audio est un must.