Pictures at Exhibition

If you know Isao Tomita's name, you also know his music.He was truly a whiz with the Moog, Arp, and any synthesizer put in front of him!. He could create sounds that, you'd swear, were voices, singing to you. And, of course, there were the "typical" effects that only a synthesizer could deliver. Tomita is no longer with us, but he left an incredible library of music for us to enjoy.This release features Moussorgsky's "Pictures At An Exhibition". It's a guide through a famous art museum, musically representing the pictures depicted on the various canvases. Tomita-san's interpretation of "Ballet of the Chicks in their Shells" is bound to make you chuckle. "The Great Gate at Kiev" has all the majestic glory of the gate itself. In a word, it's wonderful.This is more than just a CD. In fact, it's what CD's could have become, if a certain company hadn't bungled it. These Super Audio CD's, or SACD's, can deliver on much higher sound quality, in both stereo and discrete surround sound. Hybrid SACD's, as this disc is, do all that, plus they can play, in stereo, on any regular CD player. This could have been the disc of the future, but...Buy this disc! In stereo or surround, you'll love it.

I consider this one, as well as the Debussy and Planets discs, the epitome of Isao Tomita's daring reflections on the artistic movements forward within the timeline of the classical progress of music, reimagined as only a true composer could envision the same progress in his contemporary era. Whatever you hear stricter classical music fans denouncing about the arrangements as Tomita saw in his heart, are the same, misinformed cries of belligerence luddites at the time of the original compositions would spew.These are not "faitfhful" renditions of hundred-year-old dogma; they are a peek into the future of both forward-thinking music, and the radicalism of the synth finding its' place within the legitimate firmamant of serious music. These are not only the same treatments that shocked your ears back in the '70s-onward, but the same leaps in the technical arts that can progress with the same claim to artistry in mind. Before he left us, Tomita took his quadrophonic ideas, and re-formed them for a 5.1 listener...and on SACD, the sonics are again second to none.You may have heard how some of Tomita's original recordings were passed-by in favor of fresh performances in some of his back catalog? Should not bother you one bit. The spirit of the original, groundbreaking revelations still hidden within the composers' original scores are still there for the discovery.And the best part? For the western listener, there are still more Tomita albums for you to discover - as startling a discovery as the Dead Sea Scrolls, illuminating this giant of electronic artistry!

Excellent sound

I have loved this recording ever since it came out in the early 1970s as a CD-4 quadradisc. This was a dream come true to have a digital multichannel SACD. There is one drawback. Being true to the original 4 channel recording, there is no sub-woofer channel. You must make sure you have your bass cutoff settings on the 4 channels set up to send the low frequencies to the sub-woofer otherwise it sounds "thin" (=weak bass). Of course if you have 4 full range speakers this is not a concern. Otherwise simply stunning...enjoy a classic in every sense of the word.

I learned Pictures at an Exhibition on 33 and a third vinyl records. Tomita adds a dimension only he could have thought of. It gives a new life to a classical piece of work and still portrays what Mussorgsky was trying to tell us when he wrote. I love Tomita's work as much as I love Mussorgsky's

They don"t get any better than this for four-channel surround.I wish somebody could tell me when more of his old classic recordings will come out in SACD Multi-channel.His recordings were considered demonstration quality 4-cnannel in the 70's, when quadraphonic sound first appeared. He hasn't put out the Firebird suite as of yet in the Ultimate version.

Repackaged, multichannel edition of the 1975 album; a must for music lovers.

Pictures is one of my favorite pieces of music, however I did not enjoy/like/listen to this ELECTRONIC version. Just NOT my style. It is great sound quality if you are into this genre.

Sad news today as it was announced that Isao Tomita passed away on May 5th. He will be sadly missed. To me he will always be a genius."Tomita (22 April 1932 – 5 May 2016) died of chronic cardiac failure, with family at his bedside.Tomita started his career as a composer for Nippon Columbia Co.,Ltd where he composed numerous works, including music for the first NHK Taiga drama and animation of Osamu Tezuka.In the 70’s, he was among the first to introduce the analogue synthesizer to Japan and released numerous ambitious albums like Snowflakes Are Dancing and The Planets."As expected (from having purchased the SACD versions of "Snowflakes are Dancing" (re-titled "Clair de Lune") & "The Planets" I was hoping that this ultimate edition would be as good as the others. It is - superb sound quality that brings a new level of clarity. The 2 additional tracks were a nice bonus. Not much else to say - if you're reading this you're probably already a fan of his work. Buy it

Not cheap but worth it. If you care about top quality and have possibility to listen a quadraphonic version. The point is on almost equally balanced 4 channels. Not like in modern 5.1 surround sound. Some times it looks like any pair of 4 speakers might be the front one.

The sound is so good it is difficult to believe it was recorded so long ago. The surround sound mix is awesome. Just wish that Tomita did not occasionally resort to stupid 'quacking' noises that mar otherwise quality work. Be warned about the price. I got this for a reasonable price from Amazon but within days the price had doubled!

Good sound quality, but not an easy listen. Isao version seemed rather stuttering and unsettling at times. Could have flowed better. His Debussey cd alot better.

thanks