Sir Thomas Beecham's 1958 EMI recording with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra holds its own against any competition, in my opinion. Beecham's interpretation is certainly the most poetic even if his orchestra does not match the precision of the LSO. Steven Staryk's violin solos, the voice of the lady Scheherazade, are magnificently soaring in their lyricism. And excitement is here in full order, especially in the big closing numbers.
As heard in the HDTT DXD Redux transfer, the sound quality is excellent, demonstrating that EMI's recording engineer Christopher Parker was also doing an excellent job in Kingsway Hall.
Another among the trio of great Scheherezade recordings from the golden age of stereo available at HDTT, all in excellent sound. The other two? Monteux/LSO and Ansermet/OSR. One needs them all because you will learn something different from each.
24/352.8 DXD PCM Flac Digital Download
