Hi-Res Downloads

96kHz & 192kHz/24-bit FLAC, CKD516 (supplied by www.linnrecords.com)

If you have seen Amadeus on stage or film, you’ll recall the words the late Peter Shaffer ascribed to Salieri on the ‘miracle’ of the Adagio from Mozart’s great Serenade for 13 wind instruments (no double-bass with Pinnock’s performance). It is coupled here with a Haydn Notturno in his revised scoring, its scampering finale in ‘hunting’ idiom. The Royal Academy wind players give a thoroughly musical and largely satisfying account of the Mozart – almost ‘too clean’ thought the Guardian reviewer. I can see what she means, given Pinnock’s evident control over a group which, frankly, it would have been interesting to hear without a conductor. (The many available recordings are roughly equally divided, with/without.) No misgivings about the actual sound here from St George’s, Bristol. CB

Sound Quality: 80%

Hi-Fi News Lab Report

Tested here in its 96kHz guise, the available ~45kHz bandwidth is still more than sufficient to capture the orchestra’s output (typically <10kHz). However, note bursts of ultrasonics linked to the horn section as here in the Allegro Molto. PM