Organ Works Played on the Great Silbermann Organ in Freiberg Cathedral

I must respectfully disagree with the May 6, 2014, review by Amazon Customer. Perhaps multi-channel SACD recordings sound different on my equipment from the way they do on his/hers, but I find this to be simply one of the most magnificent recordings of any music that I have ever heard. In fairness, the other reviewer does state his/her personal preference for smaller organs with a more distinct tonal array in spaces with less reverberation, and that is not the great Silbermann in the cathedral of Freiberg (Silbermanns and other organs of the central German school can sound a bit "blaring" in smaller spaces with less reverb, but not here), which has an almost French sound. (To hear how good this organ sounds in French music, please listen to Hans Otto's French Organ Music for Christmas CD on the Berlin Classics label.) But to state that this is simply a stereo recording with artificial reverb added later evinces a fundamental misunderstanding of the SACD concept. You will not be artificially surrounded with sound, the way you are when playing a stereo recording with Dolby Pro Logic or DTS Neo:6. You will be placed sonically in the cathedral itself - a presence also achieved by the sadly out-of-print Deutsche Grammophon SACD of Olivier Latry playing Cesar Franck at Notre Dame in Paris, another mind-blowingly spectacular recording which incidentally has been subject to the same sort of criticism leveled against this recording by the other reviewer. I attended an organ concert in Freiberg Cathedral in 1980 (when it was in East Germany) and know whereof I speak. This recording took me back there in a way no other recording made in that venue has done. The playing on this recording is suitably sober, non-exhibitionistic, free of hyperhistorical excesses, technically assured and thoroughly pleasing. I have heard other recordings of the monumental Passacaglia and Fugue that seemed to have more varied registration. Karl Richter's recording on this same instrument, available in a hard-to-find Deutsche Grammophon 3-CD set that also features other works on a smaller, modern instrument in Denmark that would probably be more to the liking of the other reviewer, offers an interesting apples-to-apples comparison. Here it is presented as a tour de force that highlights not only what a magnificent organ and space this is (and why the organ is justly considered Gottfried Silbermann's masterpiece, even though it came relatively early in his career), but also why a demonstration quality multi-channel SACD such as this blows traditional CD sound out of the water. As the fugue came to its thundering conclusion, I was in tears!

As I mentioned in an earlier review SACD is a big disappointment. I feel there was no attempt by the recording companies to actually record for multi-channel sound, and instead they opted to add it through additional reverb after the normal Stereo recording had been made. In general SACD mushes the sound together making the instruments less distinct, their timbres less distinct and in general the STEREO version on these discs sounds 100% better than the SACD version. With this approach it is no wonder SACD recording did not become a viable commercial product.Concerning the organ performance in stereo, the sound is what you would expect in such a large space with a large instrument. It is impressive, but my preference is for smaller performances in normal size churches with less long echo return, and more distinct separation of timbres and notes.

An organ recording captured with great realism - even to the extent that in the climactic moments, the pedal can overwhelm the top manual! Otherwise a wonderful experience of great music played without affectation on a well-preserved-rennovated Silbermann, and an utterly convincing sense of the setting - the acoustic of Freiburg Cathedral. The customer who said that all SACDs are fraudulent, just adding fake echo clearly needs a better surround system, or their ears cleaning out.

Auch wenn es auf der der Verpackung und auf der CD steht. Sagt mein SUPER AUDIO CD PLAYER SCD-XE597 von Sony kein Hybrid CD. Das heißt eine die normale CD wird wieder gegeben. Andere Hybrid CD werden in 6 Kanal Ton wiedergegeben. Mein Gerät scheint in Ordnung. Was soll ich davon halten?