There is good and bad news to report about this reissue in RCA's SACD Living Stereo line. On the positive side, there are few performances of the Offenbach/
Rosenthal ballet Gaîté Parisienne to match
Arthur Fiedler's delightful 1954 recording with the
Boston Pops Orchestra; the companion piece, the
Rossini/
Respighi ballet La boutique fantasque, is similarly a joy to hear again, and the 1956 performance is still a classic among few competitors. Both historic recordings represent RCA's exceptional efforts in pioneering stereo reproduction, and as early examples of the art, they are astonishingly fresh and vibrant. Even by today's digital standards, they stand up quite well in clarity, color, and frequency range. On the downside, however, there is little that the multichannel separation can do to improve this ADD package, since only front left and right channels are used to reproduce the original dual-track masters. Because fabulous sound with extraordinary depth is the SACD's raison d'être, some audiophiles may feel this is just glorified stereo, far from a surround sound environment. Additionally, this SACD is purported to be compatible with all CD players, but because of the great amount of data it carries, it is in fact not playable on some older equipment.