Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 3, 5, & 6 (Great Recordings of the Century)

by

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Sir Thomas Beecham

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I purchased this disc for three reason: Schubert's symphonies are my favorites, I wasn't familiar with the Beecham recordings, and I wanted to see what the "ART" remastering process was going to do the recording.

Beecham and the RPO: I have never heard music where the conductor and orchestra were this sympathetic (empathetic might be a better term) to the work. For the first time, I've heard these symphonies performed as if they were written by Schubert, for the conductor and orchestra recording. Simply stunning.

On a technical (recording) level, there is much less tape hiss present than any other orchestal recording I've heard from the period (1956 & 1960). No. 6 is the "noisiest" (1956), with slight hiss in No. 5 (1960), and almost none in No. 3 (1960). Overall, hiss present is not to the detriment of the listening experience. There doesn't appear to be any sacrifice of air. Decay sounds natural, and soundstage is good. I don't know if this is due to "ART" remastering, but you can here sticky valves, pages turn, and chairs squeak.

Simply a wonderful disc.