Silver Screen Classics (David Davidson/Intermusic SA-CD/Super Audio
Compact Disc Hybrid/Top Music International)
Sound/DSD
2.0 Stereo: B PCM 2.0 Stereo: B- Music: B-
PLEASE
NOTE:
This Super
Audio Compact Disc is only available from our friends at Top Music
International, has a Compact Disc layer that will play on virtually all CD
players and can be ordered at the link below.
One of
the most obvious sources for making an album of covers in a high fidelity
format like Super Audio CD would be themes from major motion pictures. Barbra Streisand did her Movie Album a few years ago and it became her first SA-CD release
(reviewed elsewhere on this site) with pretty impressive results, including
some of the best reproduction of her superior singing voice to date. Now, David Davidson has his collection
featuring violin with piano, harp, guitar and strings simply entitled Silver Screen Classics.
Mastered
in 32Bits/192kHz High Resolution Mastering and pressed in Japan, the
songs covered include:
1)
Moon River (3:09) from Breakfast At Tiffany's
2)
The
Way We Were (4:44) title theme
3)
Speak
Softly, Love (2:45) from The Godfather
4)
A
Time For Us (4:02) from Romeo And Juliet
5)
Edelweiss
(3:39) from The Sound of Music
6)
The
Shadow of Your Smile (4:40) from The
Sandpiper
7)
Our
Love Affair (4:23) from An Affair To
Remember
8)
Over
The Rainbow (3:54) from The Wizard Of Oz
9)
The
Sound of Music (4:02) title theme
10) When You Wish Upon A Star (4:43) from Pinocchio
11) Somewhere My Love (Lara's Theme) (4:22) from Dr. Zhivago
12) As Time Goes By (3:44) from Casablanca
There are
obvious choices throughout and the danger of that is that most of the songs are
overly familiar, so they do not always live up to expectations. For audiophiles, the fact that some of the
actual films are out on Blu-ray will lossless DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) and
Dolby TrueHD mixes (5 is about to join 3, 8, 10, 11 and 12 in this respect as
of this posting) means the original recordings (no matter how aged) can compete
with the cover versions more than ever.
Some may even have isolated music tracks, so Davidson and anyone else
recording such classics has a higher watermark to face than ever before. This disc still has its moments with that
being said and the curious who might be interested will not be outright
disappointed.
The DSD
2.0 Stereo sound is impressive enough throughout, but the decision to skip a
5.1 or similar multi-channel mix in this case may work against the final
product as 5.1 would distinguish these recordings from the many other covers
done (and overly often done) too much over the years. The PCM 2.0 Stereo CD tracks are not bad
either, but they cannot compete against the higher resolution of the DSD
(Direct Stream Digital) signal. Either
way, the recording is solid for those interested.
A paper
foldout with brief notes is also included.
To find
out more about ordering, start with this link, then go to the ORDER icon at the
top of the page on the right-hand side under the logo:
http://www.topmusic.com/sacd1212.2htm.htm
- Nicholas Sheffo
