Strauss: Ein Heldenleben; Der Rosenkavalier waltzes. Mark Gorenstein, Russian Symphony Orchestra. PopeMusic PMG2012-2.

Strauss: Ein Heldenleben; Der Rosenkavalier waltzes. Mark Gorenstein, Russian Symphony Orchestra. PopeMusic PMG2012-2.

PopeMusic is the brainchild of producer/engineer Gene Pope, who records with the instincts of a born audiophile. Using state-of-the-art equipment from Nagra, Cello, Apogee, and the like, and by doing virtually no fussing with the tapes afterwards, he has succeeded in these discs to produce results comparable to and surpassing the efforts of other like-minded high-end companies. PopeMusic must now be counted among the ranks of Reference Recordings, Sheffield, Chesky, and others in creating some of the best-sounding classical recordings available today.

The discs I reviewed both came on 24K gold, and I did not have Pope's silver discs for comparison. Therefore, whether or not the gold improved the sound further I could not tell you; but what I am sure of is that these gold discs are indisputably excellent. For example, by comparison to five other regular silver versions of Ein Heldenleben I had on hand from DG, EMI, Philips, Denon, and RCA, it was the PopeMusic edition that sounded the smoothest, the most effortless, and the most dynamic. Add to these conditions an ideal tonal balance, a wide frequency range, and good imaging and depth, and you come away with a sonic picture that made the comparison discs pale.

Interpretively, Gorenstein's direction of Ein Heldenleben is characterized by a somewhat mild-mannered Hero, one whose gentle attitude must be shaken a little more than usual finally to erupt with any determination on the mock battlefield with this critics. Once awakened from his passivity, however, his fervor builds persuasively and the music takes on its requisite excitement. Gorenstein has formidable competition in this work from Reiner, Karajan, Haitink, Blomstedt, Kempe, and others, but he manages, at least in the second half of the work, to acquit himself well. The audiophile looking just for demonstration fare, though, is better advised to seek out the Russian Pops disc, whereon 14 short items provide more varied material for quick auditions. If neither of these discs impresses your friends, they don't understand the meaning of high fidelity.