John Smyth wrote:

>I've just been listening to Kempe's Ein Heldenleben on EMI's Great
>Recordings of the Century and I'm very taken with the performance.  I
>was a little disappointed by some of the compression in the recording,
>however.  Any modern digital recordings that even come close to Kempe's
>warmth or should I just be happy and shut up?:)

Ever since I was introduced to this piece with the Reiner recording,
some 25 years ago, I've been on a quest to find a comparable performance.
These days, I my standards for recording quality have risen beyond what
the Reiner recording offer, so I don't find myself listening to the
Reiner much.

With that in mind, the recording that I've settled on is with Oue and
the Minnesota Orchestra. It an HDCD Reference recording that's very
nicely engineered, with superb sound. I would characterize the performance
as enthusiastic and spirited.

Mike Leghorn
Evanston, IL