"I have heard these two works (and also by the same performers the 7th and 8th Symphonies) many times both live in different halls with different orchestras as well as many recordings. However, I have to confess I was never satisfied by those performances either at the artistic level (both live and recorded) or at the aural level when recorded. Artistically they were never right, mostly because of extraneous changes to the original instrumentation and orchestration and when recorded, because of the invariably banal sound. Happily, I can say here and now that this SACD in either its Pure Tube Stereo or Real Surround Sound version as created by Tacet, has finally moved me to think of it as my long-sought "reference" CD both artistically and aurally." (John Nemaric)