NOTE:  Each of these CDs contains three versions of the program.  With a standard CD player you can hear the regular two-track stereo version,
with a SACD player you can  hear either the SACD (super audio stereo) tracks, or the SACD surround sound version.

DVORÁK:  Slavonic Dances, Opp. 46 and 72
Budapest Festival Orchestra/Iván Fischer, cond.
PHILIPS 470 601 (F) (DDD) TT:  70:28

This Beethoven Ninth has been around for well more than two decades—It was recorded in September 1976.  Now, perhaps as an ill-advised homage to Karajan, a major money-maker for the label, DG has released it in SACD (Super Audio Compact Disc) and "surround sound."  The merits of Karajan's Beethoven symphony recordings (one complete set on EMI, three on Deutsche Grammophon) have been expounded endlessly, the general consensus being that his 1961/2 DG set interpretively is his finest. It's difficult to understand why DG elected to issue this 1977 recording in the new super-audio format. The added dynamic range and clarity of SACD cannot improve what technically wasn't a very good recording to begin with. Balances are askew, there is minimal stereo spread to the large performing forces, no bloom to the sound; even what is identified in the notes as "New surround mix and new stereo mix" (credited to Gernot von Schultzendorff) doesn't add much to the audio experience aside from some welcome ambience from side speakers.  Surround sound playback information indicates 5.l channels, the ".1" specifically for low bass—but there is little in the original recording.

From an audio standpoint, the Philips release is another story.  It is an original multi-channel recording made in the Italian Institute in Budapest in March and May 1999.  The CD doesn't give any information about the surround sound, but this one is 5 channel, not, for whatever reason, 5.1.  This means there is no "low frequency effect" channel, a channel mostly used for videos when loud, low effects are required.  This LFE channel perhaps isn't necessary generally for music but there is no question that it could, on occasion, help provide super-low bass. One wonders why there is a low-frequency channel on the Karajan Beethoven Ninth mentioned above. On the Philips Dvorák release, surround channels provide a splendid amount of hall ambience—none of the instruments come from the sides, but their reflected sound does. You won't find quite the snap and authority in some historic recordings of these dances, notably by Ancerl, Sejna, Szell and Kubelik, but Fischer and his Hungarian forces do a fine job.  The Philips SACD is highly recommended.

R.E.B. (December 2002)