I have to nail my colours to the mast also. I submitted a review of this disc on 10 August. It won't appear for a little while because Nick "beat me to it" but my welcome for the disc is every bit as warm as his.
We all hear music differently, as this correspondence is proving, but I found the Wilson/Sinfonia of London performances excellent in every respect. The performances excited me. As for the sound, it's spectacular and I have commented in my review that one can only wish that those great recordings by Toscanini and - especially - Reiner - had had the benefit of such terrific engineering.
That most measurable of all things; the tingle factor! Obviously such things are deeply personal. I know the Reiner & Silvestri versions (and the Batiz Ralph mentions which is very good too - and one of the first discs Naxos made with a 'major' orchestra so a bit of a calling card for them as a company) and all are good but personally this new disc tops them - which is a bold statement in the presence of greats such as Silvestri and Reiner (or Kertesz or many others). Did you hear this new disc in its SA-CD format or via a streamed option? If the latter, perhaps that accounts for the lack of engagement - the excellence of this recording technically is a significant part of this disc's success. If you measure the effectiveness of a performance by the end of "Pines" do check out Svetlanov who is genuinely Epic - more Ben Hur out of The Greatest Story Ever Told than anyone else!
But as you say - Happy Listening!
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