Two fantastic compositions on the same CD; these two would be in the top ten of every lover of classical music. Van Cliburn at his best.

In years past, I had never been able to embrace Van Cliburn's famed Tchaikovsky Piano Conerto #1. Poor sound reproduction on previous cd releases just did not allow the power of this incredible performance to shine through. All that has changed with this RCA Living Stereo Hybrid SACD edition. The brillantly improved sound and the enhanced spatial seperation on this version makes Cliburn's Tchaikovsky #1 a whole new listening experience. This is how this recording was meant to sound; this is the definitive edition of this monumental performance. Do not hesitate to add this release to your classical library, even if you own any previous incarnations of this record. This is one for the history books & a sure must have!

What a treasure! Both Cliburn and his lyrical, but intense interpretation of this classic will bring back memories for those of us who lived through the Cold War. Cliburn's music is as thrilling and emotional as it was when we first heard it 50 years ago.

Enough was said about van Cliburn's legendary performance at Tchaikovsky's competition. The Kondrashin's interpretation is sublime.
I'd like however to comment on Rachmaninoff's second. I'm a big fan of it and even try to play it. And listening how Reiner destroys it with one sway of conductor's baton is unbearable. It just physically hurts! He destroys, for instance, the finale of the first movement by making it excessively emotionless and rhytmic. Ok, all we know how easy it's to become sentimental while playing Rachmaninoff. Rhythm must be esteemed. But not at the expense of expressiveness!
The finale of the third movement is also spoiled. We can't hear a pianist over the orchestra's hauling! If you want to listen to a good performance, by Richter.

The sound of this SACD is less impressive than the other Living Stereo DSD remasters I have heard - this is almost certainly due to the fact that the original tapes were not as well done as the others, and not because of poor mastering. In fact, this is probably as good as the sound of this recording can get. It certainly bests any of the regular CD editions that have been produced over the years, and lets not even talk about my ancient mouldering LP!
Preserving the original three channel recording is a grand thing, and defineatly adds to the presentation - the only thing is that YOU have to have a sufficiently large listening room to fully appreciate it (to allow the three speakers to have enough distance between each other to get the most out of it). Without the proper space, the spatial imaging will to some degree be lost.
Regardless of this though, if this recording is important to you, then this is the edition to have beyond a doubt.

As for the performances, they are classics and you certainly can't go wrong with them - though I wouldn't say they are the 'best' for either of the respective pieces. For the Rachmaninov Piano Concerto N.2, my personal favourite is Reiner's other earlier (1956) recording with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra but featuring Artur Rubinstein as the soloist. Now there is a performance that is truly exciting, that really plays out the piece's romantic core to the fullest - both orchestra and soloist producing a rich passionate sound, bringing out the innate russianness of the music, truly bringing alive its inner meaning.