Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 - Charles Munch Boston Symphony Orchestra

There are details I haven't heard from the LPs (standard or the half speed master recordings) that I now hear in the HDTT version. Good job!

Incredible Transter from the Classic Performance

Charles Münch conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra, performing Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 sounds incredible (and that might be an understatement). The HDTT transfer of the recording reveals all of the magnificence, emotion and excitement of the master tape/performance.

Good organ recording

Fantastic lows, good stereo sonics overall, but noticed some distortion in the highs of cymbals.

Amazing recording

This is IMHO the best recording of this symphony. And the organ is in the symphony hall !!!

Superb Performance and Magnificent Sound

Saint-Saens’ Organ Symphony is his most popular work and the advent of stereo recording allowed listeners for the first time to experience some of the mind-blowing sound you hear in the concert hall. That said in terms of performance Toscanini and the NBC SO remain hors concours. His control of tempi, exceptional rhythmic articulation of the first movement’s obsessive groups of semiquavers and Scherzo, the Adagios glorious phrasing and the coruscating drive and power of the finale, are off the scale (one can only hope Bob Witrak can lay his hands on a master-tape) but the mickey-mouse organ sound is totally unacceptable. Enter Charles Munch and in 1959, by a mile, the world’s greatest French orchestra, who take a similar forward moving approach, doesn’t distort the tempi, carefully balances every passage, which enables the performers to build massive, yet transparent climaxes and the listener to hear that all the strings bar the basses are sub-divided, starting at 1.17 in the Adagio. More than this this the performance flows completely naturally, always sounds right and the playing is magnificent. Sound-wise the DSD256 is in a different class to the RCA and Analogue Productions SACDs it was compared to, having greater projection and power (the organ and timpani are superb), far richer, more faithful instrumental timbres, which rival the first label Living Stereo LP it was also compared to, better definition and much more space around the instruments. All of which makes this a must have download and the finest remastering I have heard of a Munch Living Stereo album.