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Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty DVD Audio Review

David Johnson | Williams Bay, WI | 07/16/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In these recordings, (?Sleeping Beauty?, Silverline DVD-Audio #81031-9; and ?Swan Lake?, Silverline DVD-Audio #81032-9), the London Symphony Orchestra is under the baton of Don Jackson whose renditions of these orchestral ballet suites are performed with almost digital accuracy. The recording quality is utterly fantastic. The surround channels never sounded intrusive or overemphasized and were primarily used for ambience. That said it is important to note that there are practically no annoying digital reverb effects anywhere to be found on either of these discs. The surround mixes sounded more like improved 2-channel stereo mixes than it did an experiment to see how audibly ?dizzy? the recording engineers could make the listener (as is often the case with DTS CDs). The mix is very clean and true to each individual instrument?s sonority. The presence of the orchestra is equally impressive. It sounds almost as if I were sitting in the third row of a concert hall. When played side by side with a CD recording, the difference is obvious. P>Music performance: 3 stars ? These renditions are very accurate. P>DVD-Audio Recording: 3 and ½ stars ? The recording quality of these DVDs were quite impressive. The visuals can be changed from still pictures of nature scenery (which don?t really enhance or detract from the overall listening experience) to highly informative program notes. If these two DVD-Audio discs are any indication of where DVD-Audio is heading, I am very much enthused!!!"