The National Symphony Orchestra Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade Half-Speed Mastered 180g Import LP

TAS Rated 5/5 Music, 5/5 Sonics in the December 2023 Issue of The Absolute Sound!

Michael Fremer Rated 10/10 Music, 9/10 Sound!

Chasing The Dragon Audiophile Recordings presents Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, performed by the National Symphony Orchestra featuring Katerina Nazarova and conducted by Anthony Inglis. Recorded at Henry Wood Hall in London.

The feeling of space is palpable. To use another visual metaphor, you can 'see' the hall and the whole orchestra. From the tiniest sound, through the most sweet and seductive solo, to the most thunderous crescendo, that piercing clarity remains, each time triggering a visual impression as well as a sonic one. It's a hi-fi triumph and, as such, any budding audiophile should hear this.

definitely demo disc quality and quite spectacular, with dynamics as wide as you'll hear on a vinyl record... enjoy the sensuous fantasy musical narrative presented here with a performance as vivid, engaging and thrilling as the sound. Congratulations to all involved in this production!

Scheherazade is a musical warhorse, if ever there was one, with scores of recordings available by nearly all the world's major orchestras. So why this new release? In short, because it sounds incredible. Chasing The Dragon is a small, limited-production label with fanatical attention to the technical aspects of recording. This is all spelled out in the beautiful booklet that accompanies the vinyl version, which, in addition to excellent notes about the music and the performers, lovingly describes the array of vintage microphones, the Studer reel to reel tape deck, the half-speed mastering, and laborious post-production work. The result is evident at the first booming notes, with the massed strings, especially, as luscious, balanced and vibrant as any recording I know. There is no discernable background noise, just the reverberance of the hall. Fortunately, the performance is also very fine, if not nearly as virtousic and sizzling as, say, the Reiner / Chicago version, another audiophile favorite. This is not a difference in quality as much as a difference of style. The playing here is pleasingly unagitated and sweetly lyrical, and relates the fairy tale story with stealthy power.