MAHLER: Symphony No. 5 in C# minor.
Philharmonia Orch/Benjamin Zander, cond.
TELARC 60569  TT: 69:55 & 78:21
(5.1 channel)

Zander is a leading Mahler conductor of our time and is recording a complete Mahler cycle for Telarc; this is the first release in multi-channel sound.  Recorded in Watford Colosseum, England in August, 2000, it offers a rather unresonant acoustic attractive in its own way— with the advantage of multi-channel sound, orchestral detail is extraordinarily clear. A bonus disk offers Zander's fascinating and detailed discussion of the symphony with illustrated musical excerpts. There is no charge for the discussion CD.

Organ Music of DUPRÉ, FRANCK and WIDOR played by Michael Murray on the organ at St. Sulpice, Paris
TELARC SACD 60516 TT:  66:23
(5.1 channel)

Telarc's organ recordings have always been outstanding, this one is particularly so.  The added channels give remarkable presence to the sonic picture - you are right there in the huge expanses of St. Sulpice Church in Paris listing to Michael Murray performing six works of Marcel Dupré, Cesar Franck's Grande Pièce symphonique, Op. 17, and the finale from Widor's Symphony No. 6.  If organ music interests you, don't miss this one.

R.E.B. (NEXT SURROUND REVIEW)