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As with most 2L releases, we're treated to both a Blu-ray, withthree audio options, as well as an accompanying SACD. 2L does not skimp on its recordings, and that love anddevotion are evident throughout all three of the Blu-ray's rather pristine soundingmixes. The Blu-ray offers two DTS HD-MA mixes, a 7.1 at 24/96KHz and a 5.1 at24/192kHz, as well as a standard PCM 2.0 at 24/192kHz. The recording itself wasmade with a 352.8 kHz sampling rate, in an audio format known as DigitaleXtreme Definition, which preserves 8.4672 Mbit/s per channel. That's a lot ofnumbers, but what it adds up to (no pun intended) is an amazingly lifelikeperformance with abundant hall ambience. The listener is literally surroundedby the orchestra, though I was a bit surprised to hear the piano playingthrough all the surround channels rather than being focused front and center. Iwas also a bit underwhelmed by the thinness of the piano sound in all but theViolin Concerto, something that may have to do with the piano rolls themselves.I'm not sure if that ancient technology was able to record with any realfidelity such things as attack and decay (though evidently one of the editingtricks Grainger "cut and pasted" was a pronounced sostenuto).The piano utilized was a concert Steinway, but it has little of the renownedSteinway resonance and full spectrum, at least in the Concerto and the pianosolos. Strangely, it sounds just great on the Violin Sonata, but that is theone piece whose piano roll provenance is not clearly explained in the linernotes. Conductor Rolf Gupta and the Kristiansand Symphony do a remarkable jobstaying with Grainger's odd phrasing choices, and both DTS mixes offerremarkable warmth and immersion. Grieg's lovely use of reeds and winds is especiallylyrical in this recording, wafting through the surround channels with appealingdirectnes