Favorite MCH Audio Recordings?

[DonH56]

Hi all,

Just upgraded my surrounds and rears and need some tunes to exercise them a bit. I like jazz, new age, some rock, classical (though not an opera fan), country, but figured it was a better idea to open this up to any genre. Only have a few SACDs and music DVDs/BDs now so open to pretty much anything.

If you had to list your top multichannel discs, audio or video, what would they be?

Curious, thanks - Don

 

[pierre]

Hans zimmer live in Prague
Mastering is excellent, for once bass balance and surround are correctly setup. Musicians are also excellent.

 

[pierre]

Schiller atemlos. Schiller has done a few records on Blu-ray audio. This one is not bad.

 

[DonH56]

Thanks! I have the Zimmer, need to get the Schiller.

 

[NorthSky]

Pink Floyd DSOTM

 

[restorer-john]

Thanks! I have the Zimmer, need to get the Schiller.

This Zimmer?

 

[DonH56]

Not yet...

 

[Fitzcaraldo215]

Don - get to know this excellent site:

www.hraudio.net

It lists every SACD and BD-A ever made, and is easily searchable for just Mch, as well as genre, artist, album name, composer, composition, etc. once you get to understand the navigation. Hint: for a search by Genre, go to the --- vertical) on the far right, top of the homepage next to Search. Then select Music, and you get a search window including Genre.

Useful reviews and commentary are also often there. I have never seen anything else even remotely this good in terms of music recordings. It is the main reason I was able to commit completely to collecting Mch SACDs and BD-As over a decade ago. It has been a treasure.

Links for each album are provided to some major retailers like Amazon. Downloads in Mch may also be available from several sites. There are no Mch streaming sites - too much bandwidth, too small a niche.

But, go there and search for the music you like. However, understand that some may be OOP and difficult to obtain.

Some Mch Albums off the top of my head:

First, in pop/rock/jazz, of course is the Dark Side of the Moon Mch SACD, probably the biggest selling SACD of all time.

I wish I had more popular music to suggest, but there are some good ones with Kim Stanley, Diana Krall, Dianne Reeves, etc.

My favorite rock albums are long OOP, but they are from Mercury Quad-era remasters:

Allman Bros. At the Fillmore East
Allman Bros. Eat a Peach

You know I am a classical fan. Here are some without getting into music that is too, too deep:

Ivan Fischer/Budapest FO: Dvorak-Slavonic Dances (Channel Classics)
Manfred Honek/Pittsburgh SO-Strauss Tone Poems(Reference)
Paavo Jaervi/Cincinnati SO-Ravel Orchestral Works(Telarc)

BD videos can be very engrossing, like these with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony:

SFS at 100
Berlioz-Symphonie Fantastique

I could go on and on for days, but I will stop here.

 

[DonH56]

Hi Fitz,

I have that site bookmarked ever since you told me about it a year or three ago. I just don't think to go there often enough, and in this case I was hoping for a few favorites by those of you doing MCH now, so thank you for the suggestions! And very much for the reminder to check out the website -- need to rearrange my bookmarks bar so it is always visible).

I do have the DSOM recording, forgot to list what I already had but it is only a few titles. I have a McCoy Tyner SACD, and a few by the San Francisco Symphony (but do not think I have that BD -- the Berlioz is a fav so I should get it!)

The OOP issue I keep hitting as well. I got rid of the vast majority of my record collection long ago (couldn't move it, no place to store it) and have a few hundred left in some boxes in the basement. Now and then I go on a quest to pick up a CD of something I remember only to find it is not available; either OOP, or was never converted. Then there is the conversion issue -- a lot of "remastered/reissued" CDs are very poorly done IME/IMO.

Thanks,
Don

 

[Furio]

One pop rock issue that was designed, played and recorded to be mch.
Peter Gabriel - "Up"
One warning: he is quite uncommon, a little extreme, you can love his music or hate it. I think he is a genius.
SACD is in terms of hifi is really good and innovative.
Not easy to be found to buy it, common in the net...
Have fun

 

[jhaider]

R.E.M. - Green and Automatic for the People on DVD-A (Automatic for the People is also on an Atmos BRA disk)
Radiohead - The King of Limbs Live from the Basement
Beck - Sea Change
Les Brown and his Band of Renown - Session 55
Adele Royal Albert Hall Blu-Ray

The classic rock MCH standards (WYWH, DSOTM, Quadrophenia, Brothers in Arms, Allman Bros Fillmore East Blu-Ray, etc.) are also great

 

[NorthSky]

• Roger Waters - Amused to Death
• Yes - Tales from Topographic Ocean
• Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
• Pink Floyd - Wish you Were Here

* You can also click on my sig (just above the trumpet, on the musical notes).

 

[pierre]

Genesis We can't dance
The Alan Parson Project Eve
* Inception Hans Zimmer
Dire Straits Brothers in Arms
* Jean Michel Jarre - Aero / Oxygen / Teo and Tea
* Edward Grieg - Piano Concerto Bluray Percy Grainger
* CPE Bach - Sinfonia for Strings - Pinnock
* Howard Shore - Lord of the Rings
Kaoru Akimoto - A whisper of verdure

+ plenty of opera, tell me if you are interested.

(*) significant improvement over stereo

as always a hifi system enhance mistakes in recording/mixing/mastering: heavy compression is as annoying as in stereo mix. Most of Genesis SACD are less good than the original release. Same for Alan Parson.

Los Angeles Percussion Quartet - Rupa Khandha DR 26 still strange music

 

[Dogen]

Was looking to see if this has already been asked and found this thread.
Last night, I was absolutely blown away by King Crimson “Larks Tongues in Aspic”. The dynamics are awesome, from the impossibly delicate to heaping slabs of metal. It opens up the mix and this 5.1 version is a revelation.
I’d appreciate any other favorite multichannel mixes.

 

[SMc]

Michel Legrand Twenty Songs Of The Century reissued on Dutton Vocalion.

 

[Shadrach]

Aaron Neville, Warm Your Heart.

 

[warp2600]

Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection mch SACD
Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms mch SACD
Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues DVD-A
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells mch SACD (4.0)
CONCORD Jazz Sampler Vol.2 mch SACD
Isao Tomita - Daphnis et Cloe mch SACD (4.0)
Jethro Tull - A Passion Play 5.1 DTS96/24 on the DVD
Steven Wilson - To the Bone BluRay

 

[Dogen]

Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection mch SACD
Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms mch SACD
Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues DVD-A
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells mch SACD (4.0)
CONCORD Jazz Sampler Vol.2 mch SACD
Isao Tomita - Daphnis et Cloe mch SACD (4.0)
Jethro Tull - A Passion Play 5.1 DTS96/24 on the DVD
Steven Wilson - To the Bone BluRay

Good ones! All the Isao Tomita discs are amazing. I didn’t fully appreciate how talented he was - I has him pegged as “electronic music” but he’s more than that.

 

[LightninBoy]

One pop rock issue that was designed, played and recorded to be mch.
Peter Gabriel - "Up"
One warning: he is quite uncommon, a little extreme, you can love his music or hate it. I think he is a genius.
SACD is in terms of hifi is really good and innovative.
Not easy to be found to buy it, common in the net...
Have fun

I usually like the multi-channel experience to be subtle and enhance the "you are there" illusion. However, "Up" is a great example of throwing out convention and subtleties, and exploring the radical possibilities of multi-channel. It is a masterpiece, IMO.

 

[pierre]

the mixing and mastering is top notch at least in the BluRay version.