Hi-Res Downloads

192kHz/24-bit, ALAC, FLAC; Linn CKD521 (supplied by www.linnrecords.com)

Robin Ticciati’s R&J or the Andrew Davis/Chandos [HFN Feb ’17]? The Swedish brass is leaner than the BBC SO’s and Chandos made more of the antiphonally set second violins. But the Linn has more dramatic light and shade, and a natural concert hall balance. Listen to the precision of rapid tenor/chorus/orchestra interchanges in the scherzetto [track 4], and it comes as a surprise to read that this is a live recording – although producer Philip Hobbs achieves an atmospheric off-stage chorus effect in Nuit sereine [trk 7]. The 30-strong group, like the BBC’s, doesn’t sound truly idiomatic in their French but Ticciati has finer solo singers: English tenor and bass (Andrew Staples, Alastair Miles) and a Swedish soprano, Katija Dragovic, quite wonderful in her long narrative passages. The Grande fete… [trk 6] has all the brilliance and colour of a great fireworks display. CB

Sound Quality: 90%

Hi-Fi News Lab Report

Tested in 192kHz guise (also available at 96kHz), spectral analysis suggests some ultrasonic noise shaping and the use of a notch filter (with the phase distortion this implies) to remove a spurious tone, perhaps, at 20kHz. Very unusual... PM