Best Recording of Scheherazade

The sound a live classical orchestra makes is indeed awesome.  No stereo system playing any recording, analog or digital,  comes even close.

Depending, of course, where you happened to be seated. I remember the old Acoustic Research catalogs from the 1970's, where they would show pictures of some recital hall with AR speakers (usually 12 or so speakers) providing the sound for the venue.  

Rich 

JVC has remastered the Fritz Reiner - Chicago Symphony version in to XRCD format.  It is the best I have heard.

I love the Beecham.  Not the best SQ, but a beautiful recording.

Charles Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony (Decca 410 253-2)is a DDD digital recording from 1984 and sounds fantastic.  When I listen to this performance, I not only look for interpretation, I also listen for microphone technique and how it affects sonic image, sound staging and instrument location. Decca, at one time, used to close mic everything.....and it used to be horrible. But this time, Decca got it very right...even in the early days of digital. They must have used a good binaural mic. Even through a good pair of Sennheiser HD800s and a great amp and DAC, you get a holographic 3D mental/sonic image of instrument location. It’s hard enough to do this with loudspeakers!! I also have the Gergiev version which is a jumbled mess of close miked instruments with a reasonable interpretation.
The Reiner version, von Karajan version, etc...are pre or early Dolby days and the tape hiss robs the recording of realism. And isn’t realism what we’re after?