Favorite SACD's

If you like classical music, you should hear the sacd of the Budapest Fesztival Zenekar, conducted by Fischer Ivan. They have two outstanding records: Bartók Bluebeards' Castle, Philips.

... and the second is Rachmaninov II. symphony, Channel Classics.

All of Fischer's Philips recordings are good--his Dvorak 8 and 9 are excellent. Springbok, that Beethoven 6 even sounded superb on CD, I think it's probably Walter and the music as much as an extraordinarily minimalist (ESPECIALLY for CBS) recording.

A recent SACD I find myself listening to a lot is the Higdon Concerto for Orchestra on Telarc with Spano and the Atlanta Symphony--she is one contemporary composer whose work I could listen to all the time. Very dynamic, rhythmically exciting piece, and very well-recorded. And another plug for the SFO/Tilson-Thomas Mahler cycle, not a bad one in the bunch so far and it's the SF Symphony's own label, so you're supporting them as well.

Tim: I finally picked up on your question from October. I still do not have an SACD player, but I like listening to some hybrid dual-layer CD's both GYBR and Roxy Music's Avalon because even in PCM, the remastered versions sound terrific on the Capitole MK II.