Walter Susskind, Londton Symphony Orchestra - Copland: Appalachian Spring / Gould: Spirituals for Orchestra (2001) SACD

One of the finest CD reissue series of recent years has been the Everest masters reissued by Vanguard – especially those originally recorded on 35 mm mag film, as these selections were. The CD reissues used 20-bit process plus Super Bit Mapping, so the SACD/CD comparison is probably going to be quite close. Musically, there have been several other fine recorded performances of both of these gems of American music, including ones conducted by each of these composers. However, they all pale in comparison to the deeply felt emotional communication of the Copland work and the white-hot excitement of Gould’s dynamic five-movement work inspired by black spirituals. Combine these great performances with the knock-out sonics of Everest’s original 1962 mag film sessions and you have a sure winner here.
Appalachian Spring relies heavily on the string section of the symphony orchestra, and the first difference noticed in the CD/SACD A/B comparison was the much wider and deep layout of the strings on the stereo stage. Also, each individual instrument seems more delineated on the SACD, both spatially and timbre-wise. At about 3 min. into the ballet suite the music increases in complexity, with the strings on the left playing a repeated dance-like figuration while the brass section on the right emphasizes the main melody of this section. While this isn’t on the level of the climax of a typical Mahler symphony, it does pile on more simultaneously-occurring sounds than heard at the opening of the work. This is where the SACD shines – continuing with the same detailed, crystalline clarity as in the earlier passages with only a few instruments. The CD, on the other hand, clots up and becomes rather opaque as the sounds increase in complexity.
Spirituals opens with a loud series of declamations involving the strings and a very violently-struck xylophone. On the CD version these transient peaks were almost disrupting – with a roughness and rather unmusical timbre to them, plus a sudden unnatural increase in the hall reverberation that quickly disappeared as the loud notes died out. On the SACD they seemed faster, cleaner and more in tune, with no aurally-upsetting increase in the hall sound during the peaks.