Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue - Michael Camilo, Piano Izquierdo/Orquestra Simfonica de Barcelona
Telarc Jazz CD
The RCA Shaded Dog Boston Pops/Earl Wild recording of has long been my benchmark for Rhapsody in Blue and this does nothing to challenge that status, but........
This is a great CD to use to show off your system to non-audiophile friends. Very clean, very dynamic and a huge soundstage in terms of width and height. Not so much in terms of stage depth or hall ambience, but those are fine audiophile details that are more often than not lost on casual listeners, who don't really appreciate them even if the do hear them.. I would liken this recording to watching an IMAX movie where everything is very big and vivid., which is much more likely to impress a non-audiophile than most of the fine details that we strive to maintain.
The reading itself is very much like the recording, more focused on the hard charging dynamics. The Boston Pops version while less dynamic, I feel has more emotion and musical textures. But again, the more powerful reading of this Telarc would very likely be more impressive to a casual listener, who is not as into the more technical aspects of musical performances as we are as audiophiles.
Not a bad recording by a long shot. Just not what I would consider the top of the pile for this piece of music.
However, I did find it a very good CD for the car. While the hard charging nature of the reading reduces they dynamic contrasts compared tot he RCA, it also makes the lower level passages higher in volume. And while that loss of dynamic range may be a negative for main system sweet spot listening, it is a plus in the car because it prevents the lower level passages from getting wiped out by the ambient road noise. So like many other things this can be looked at as another right tool for the right job type of thing.