Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture - TELARC - Kiev Symphony Chorus & Children's Choir, Greater Cincinnati.

Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture, Op 49. Erich Kunzel conducting the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. (Multichannel Hybrid SACD) [Hybrid SACD - DSD] First, let&start out by admitting this was meant to be a demo disc. Since the LP was invented, Tchaikovsky&1812 Overture has been used to show how close audio reproduction is getting to "perfection" - whatever that is. This 6.0/5.1-channel SACD does not disappoint. The cannons are so realistic that my dog was arching her head to try to figure out where the sound was coming from (the only other time that happened was in the "barking" sequence of the remastered "Hey Bulldog"). Since cannons come out of all four corner speakers, it made quite an interesting scene. My multichannel SACD player directed the low bass to the LFE channel - make sure to set your bass management properly on your multichannel SACD player, such as the Sony SCD-CE775, before playing the disc. The equalization and levels are very consistent with other multichannel SACDs. The orchestra sounds very realistic, as you would expect with a multichannel SACD. The orchestral recording is designed to surround the listener rather than have discrete points, unlike the cannons. In addition to the 1812 Overture, the disc also contains a number of Tchaikovsky&other works. At the end of the multichannel SACD are 6 tracks of test tones for help in balancing the SACD player. I found the LFE track to be invaluable and better than the player&test tones. The voice used to introduce...