Actually, of the three discs that arrived today, one is not an SACD, but an "ordinary" CD of the Brahms "Ein Deutches Requiem" which is Gramophone's top choice. I thought I was ordering an SACD, but this recording (conducted by John Eliot Gardiner on Phillips) isn't available in that format, having been recorded in 1991.

The two others that arrived are Valery Giergev's recording on Phillips of "Scheherezade," and Telarc's newest, Paavo Jarvi and the Cincinatti Orchestra with yet another recording of Mussorsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition," orchestrated by Maurice Ravel.

I had actually purchased a CD of Giergev's "Scheherezade" a few years back, and gave it away. The sound was so horribly overmodulated that I couldn't stand listening to it. I thought that the SACD wouldn't have those sonice shortcomings, and I was right. Still, this is far and away the loudest disc I've ever heard, and there's no reason for that. I had to crank the volume control back considerably to avoid shattering my eardrums, as well as my speakers!

The best term I can think of for Giergev's performance is "furious." One can almost see him sweating like a pig while conducting this piece with unmitigated fury, and that makes for a most unusual and interesting interpretation of this famous work. Still, the sound seems to be a bit processed, so the definitive recording of this wonderful work still eludes me. I'd give the disc a solid "B," but nothing more.

Then I put on the Mussorsky SACD. THIS is what an SACD should sound like!
Jarvi plays this piece with such style that it seems as if much of it is brand new, but it is the phenomenal sonics on this Telarc SACD that now place this disc at the very top of my entire collection of any recorded material, regardless of the medium.

I'm old enough to remember the phenomenon created in 1959 with the Command LP, "Persuasive Percussion." The sound of that record was far and away the best ever at the time, and the record was a huge success (and even pirated!). This Telarc SACD deserves the same accolades "Persuasive Percussion" received almost 50 years ago.

It seems that on almost any recording of "Pictures...," "Night on Bald Mountain" is added. So it is here too, and what a thrilling piece of music it is on this disc.

Anyone who doesn't believe in the superiority of the SACD medium need only listen to this disc on a high quality system. You won't be disappointed!