Mendelssohn Symphonies Nos. 4 'Italian' & 5 'Reformation' - Blu-ray with 7.1 3D Surround Sound | Alexander Jero | Classical Music Art Experience | Perfect for Home Theater & Audiophile Collections

Product Description

Product Description This music-only Blu-ray discs delivers 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio if and when connections are made with 1.3 and/or 1.4 HDMI cables. If connected with optical cables it will only deliver 5.1 or 6.1 standard DTS quality sound. For the purpose of this review I only used high-speed 1.3 cables connecting the Blu-ray player and the 7.2 AV receiver. I should mention that the present receiver is one of Onkyo s new generation of THX-certified products built around high quality Burr-Brown DACs. The DTS-HD MA encoding of this recording as connected with 1.3 HDMI cables produces a variable bit rate (VBR), bit-for-bit (lossless) stream that includes 7.1 channels with sample rates of 96 kHz. Just as well the DTS-HD MA-encoded files also contain a backward-compatible DTS Digital Surround 5.1 (and 6.1) core with a bit rate of 1509 kbps. However, this review concerns itself only with 7.1 DTS-HD MA channels reproduction. The unique acoustic reality experience that his recording affords to my ears as to the musical phrasing and playing of these two very complex scorings, the orchestral presence, instrumental sections separation, high and low dynamics and instrumental solos are far superior to anything I have heard on so-called true surround recordings. We are placed at the same location that the conductor assumes in the podium, we are not part of the audience - we hear what the conductor hears. Orchestral sound is very close and all around, especially the sound coming out of the two side-surround speakers. In my mind the use of these side speakers totally redefines surround sound; this is a new experience and something to behold. -- John Nemaric (Audiophile Audition Review) Review Video: Masterpieces from Greatest Artists of All Times (Slideshow 1080p HD) Audio: 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio 24/96kSystematism in Audio Arts represents Artistic View and Exploration of possibilities of Sound that started with Edison's invention of the phonograph in 1877 until the 1950s. Second stage of Stereo was based on inventions from the 1930s, reached the public in the mid-'50s, and has provided great listening Pleasure for four decades. Stereo improved the reproduction of timbre and added two dimensions of space: the left- right spread of performers across a Stage, and a set of acoustic cues that allow listeners to perceive a front-to-back dimension. Current Age represented by Multichannel surround sound technology, natural involving presence in A way that is robust, reliable and consistent there each individual sound can has its Unique location in 3-dimensional space. --Definition The Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90, commonly known as the Italian, is an orchestral symphony written by German composer Felix Mendelssohn. The work has its origins, like the composer's Scottish Symphony and the orchestral overture The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave), in the tour of Europe which occupied Mendelssohn from 1829 to 1831. Its inspiration is the colour and atmosphere of Italy, where Mendelssohn made sketches but left the work incomplete: 'This is Italy! And now has begun what I have always thought... to be the supreme joy in life. And I am loving it. Today was so rich that now, in the evening, I must collect myself a little, and so I am writing to you to thank you, dear parents, for having given me all this happiness.' In February he wrote from Rome to his sister Fanny,'The Italian symphony is making great progress. It will be the jolliest piece I have ever done, especially the last movement. I have not found anything for the slow movement yet, and I think that I will save that for Naples.' The Italian Symphony was finished in Berlin, 13 March 1833, in response to an invitation for a symphony from the London (now Royal) Philharmonic Society; he conducted the first performance himself in London on 13 May 1833, at a London Philharmonic Society concert. The symphony's success, and Mendelssohn's popularity, influenced the course of British music for the rest of the century. However, Mendelssohn remained unsatisfied with the composition, which cost him, he said, some of the bitterest moments of his career; he revised it in 1837 and even planned to write alternate versions of the second, third, and fourth movements. He never published the symphony, and it appeared in print only in 1851. The piece is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings. It is in four movements: 1.Allegro vivace 2.Andante con moto 3.Con moto moderato 4.Saltarello: Presto The joyful first movement, in sonata form, is followed by an impression in D minor of a religious procession the composer witnessed in Naples. The third movement is a minuet in which French Horns are introduced in the trio, while the final movement (which is in the minor key throughout) incorporates dance figurations from the Roman saltarello and the Neapolitan tarantella. It is among the first large multi-movement works to begin in a major key and end in the tonic minor, another example being Brahms's first piano trio. The Symphony No. 5 in D major/D minor, Op. 107, called the Reformation Symphony, was composed by Felix Mendelssohn in 1830 in honor of the 300th anniversary of the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession. This Confession was a key document of Lutheranism and its Presentation to Emperor Charles V in June 1530 was a momentous event of the Protestant Reformation. The symphony was written for a full orchestra and was the second extended symphony that Mendelssohn had written.The symphony is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, serpent (fourth movement only), 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani and strings. The symphony is in four movements: 1.Andante - Allegro con fuoco 2.Allegro vivace 3.Andante 4.Andante con moto - Allegro maestoso A typical performance lasts about 33 minutes. --Alexander Golberg JeroModern recording techniques have come alarmingly far in just a few short years. I've had the pleasure of having several commercial recordings released, and my earliest days in the recording studio were spent amid the flutter of reel to reel tapes. Later, exciting 'improvements' like audio Betamax (yep, you read that right) and then digital media like ADATs came into play. Over the past couple of decades-plus, we've seen the advent of hard drive recording systems, with the ubiquitous use of bells and whistles like ProTools, which can make even amateurs (are you listening, Ashlee Simpson?) sound at least passable, what with pitch correction, WAV editing and the like. Casual listeners to modern day product might be quite surprised to see how a recording is assembled, and assembled is, for better or worse, the correct term. Even back in the days of analog recordings, it wasn't unusual for rhythm tracks to be laid down first, often with 'scratch'; vocals, and then for the vocalist to come in to take their final version at a later date. While editing was certainly a more involved procedure back in the day, tape editors became so facile with their 'archaic' medium that even syllables could be fairly seamlessly fixed for a final product. (Anyone wanting a good laugh should listen to John Barry's commentary on You Only Live Twice, where he details the editing lengths they had to go to get a final take of Nancy Sinatra's vocal on the title tune). However, as often as pop, rock and even Broadway cast recordings were 'assembled' in the halcyon days of the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's, even after the advent of hard drive recording, you could count on one genre to preserve at least a semblance of the 'live' ensemble experience, and that was of course classical music. Not anymore. Choral composers like Eric Whitacre have pioneered the idea of a 'virtual choir' where people separated by continents are able to 'join together' to sing via such media as YouTube. And now we are introduced to an 'assembled' orchestra under the 'virtual baton' of Alexander Jero. Jero has been a pioneer in audio Blu-ray and has released several outstanding discs where he's licensed previously recorded material and repurposed for hi-def audio in often rather striking surround versions. Jero is recording a glut of classical warhorses anew, hiring college students to come into his private studio to work under his own baton. However, these are not live ensemble recordings in the traditional sense. Jero brings sections in separately, and records them, often utilizing previous recordings as reference material. He then assembles the final product in the mixing room. It's an unusual approach for a genre as hopefully organic as classical music, and listeners' reactions may be colored by the knowledge that high tech wizardry has at least helped to craft the architecture of any given performance. --Jeffry Kauffman (Blu-ray.com)