......the recent discussion here about ambiance or lack thereof got me
thinking about and then resampling many of my orchestral SACD disks.

The one that impresses me the most as representing a really first class
recording of an orchestra and piano coupled with an equally first class
performance is the Phillips recording of Mozart's Piano Concertos K271 and
K503, featuring Alred Brendel, with Sir Charles Mackerras leading the
Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

To begin with, this is first class Mozart-playing. This is perhaps the best
I have ever heard Brendel play, and I am not alone in that opinion....I
exposed this disk to my friend, the professional pianist, who had not heard
it before and who has ambivalent feelings about Brendel (as do I). She sat
in rapt attention throughout and proclaimed at the end that it perhaps the
finest recording of these pieces she has ever heard, and her reference
standard for Mozart is Martha Agerich, so her standards are high. So even
should you not agree with me the sound, you will be doing yourself a
favor regarding the music-making if you go out and buy this one.

As to the recording itself, it is an "early" (i.g. June 2001) Polyhymnia
all-DSD recording, with no disclosure of the actual recording location. In
multichannel SACD mode, the piano is front and center (a first row
perspective) perhaps highlighted a bit, perhaps not, with the orchestra
spread naturally behind the piano, again about as you would hear sitting in
the first through third rows. The depth sounds completely natural. The
recording is not overly reverberant, nor overly warm. But it is also not
cool and clinical...in fact the balance in this regard is nearly perfect.
There is no distinct "hall sound" but there is a natural sounding ambiance
to the recording. In multi-channel form, IMO the recording is
near-perfection and very much akin to what I hear when I go to concerts.
Brendel's playing is exquisitely nuanced, as is the orchestra behind him.
The piano is full and natural in the bass, and pure, soft, and clear in the
treble. Nary a hint of digititus. There is no compression, so one gets the
full dynamic range, and to really hear it one needs to have the volume at
realistic levels. Conceivably this could tax some systems; on mine it
sounds marvelous.

Switching to the stereo mix, but still in SACD, the sound stage loses quite
a bit of its depth. The piano still sounds natural, but the orchestra is
kind of "flat" very close behind it. Also, whoever did the mix got the
violin (left) side of the orchestra a bit too strong in the mix, in my
opinion. Accordingly the violins sound a little out of balance to me at
times. But only by a small amount. While there is not the air or space
around the orchestra that the multichannel has, the SACD stereo version
still has SACD articulation. Just before the two minute mark in the first
movement, the first and second violins and the violas all come in together,
and it is possible to hear the individual instruments making up the sections
(almost) and the sections differentiated one from the other (for sure). And
as I mentioned before, the bass and the treble registers of the piano sound
exceptionally life-like (I have recorded a lot of classical grand piano, and
know good from bad in this respect).

Finally, switching to CD. The sound remains very fine overall, as befits a
DSD recording. But there are some subtle differences. First, although I
can't be sure, I believe some (relatively) light compression has been
applied. This results in the bass not sounding as natural as on the SACD
layers. A prime example of this is just after the five minute mark of the
first movement, where the low register is used by itself. In the SACD
layers, the sound is full and natural, without being boomy, but definitely
sound "round" as it does in a good hall. On the CD layer, this section has
a slightly hollow "thunk" quality that I believe is related to compression,
although conceivably it could be the transient quality of the medium itself.
It is a quality that I often hear on CD orchestral versions that I don't
hear on the SACD version (Walter's Beethoven Fifth is a prime example,
Mingus's Ah Um is another). The other difference is at the high end of the
strings register. On that section I mentioned above (just short of the two
minute mark) when the three sections of strings come in in unison, it is
still possible to hear that they are three sections, but at the very top of
the frequency range their is a "smear". If the sections were like letters
of icing on a cake, it is as if somebody drew a knife across the top of
them, blending the letters together with a smear of colored icing. The
effect is subtle, but it is there. And finally, as "collapsed" as the
stereo SACD layer sounds compared to the multichannel, the CD version lacks
yet less "air" and is flatter still. Don't get me wrong, this is still a
fine recording as a CD....but the differences from SACD are there.

In any case, I wanted to draw this recording to your attention. It is
superb playing and superb sound no matter which media you use, and if you
have a SACD player you are in for a real treat, especially if you are set up
for multichannel. Highly recommended.