I purchased it right away. I have all of Patricia's CDs and 2 of her SACDs, so I'm a decent position to make a comparison.
First of all, I'd say "A Fortnight In France" is fairly well-recorded for a live CD. As we all know, live events pose challenges to the engineer that studio recordings do not. Overall, it's about on par with her last studio album, "Verse". It's better sonically than most of her earlier CDs, IMHO.
That said, it falls short of SACD quality, including the quality of Patiricia's own SACDs (I have about 75 SACDs overall). As CDs go, I'd give it about an 8 out of 10 sonically. Of course, SACD is a higher order of sonic magnitude across the board, so it's probably somewhat unfair to compare redbook to the higher resolution format(s)...although that's a different argument altogether.
A quick note on content: Patricia chose an interesting program of both classic and original songs for this album. Those of you know have followed Patricia's career will note that she once performed "old standards" for an entire album, then radically departed to her own material on later discs. This was quite a jolt for a lot of her fans, for better or for worse.
"Fortnight" finds Patricia providing a survey of pretty much all the material she's done over the last several years, both old and new.
If you're looking for showmanship, look elsewhere...that's the last thing Patricia is known for in live performances. When I've seen her up close and personal at the Kennedy Center here in Washington, DC, she has registered small and occasional visual cues with the audience. This, of course, does not register on a CD, which makes it sound like the audience is basically watching her record a studio album.
That's not a bad thing...it's just a Patricia thing.
All in all, I'd give "Fortnight" 4 stars out of 5.
--Brian
First of all, I'd say "A Fortnight In France" is fairly well-recorded for a live CD. As we all know, live events pose challenges to the engineer that studio recordings do not. Overall, it's about on par with her last studio album, "Verse". It's better sonically than most of her earlier CDs, IMHO.
That said, it falls short of SACD quality, including the quality of Patiricia's own SACDs (I have about 75 SACDs overall). As CDs go, I'd give it about an 8 out of 10 sonically. Of course, SACD is a higher order of sonic magnitude across the board, so it's probably somewhat unfair to compare redbook to the higher resolution format(s)...although that's a different argument altogether.
A quick note on content: Patricia chose an interesting program of both classic and original songs for this album. Those of you know have followed Patricia's career will note that she once performed "old standards" for an entire album, then radically departed to her own material on later discs. This was quite a jolt for a lot of her fans, for better or for worse.
"Fortnight" finds Patricia providing a survey of pretty much all the material she's done over the last several years, both old and new.
If you're looking for showmanship, look elsewhere...that's the last thing Patricia is known for in live performances. When I've seen her up close and personal at the Kennedy Center here in Washington, DC, she has registered small and occasional visual cues with the audience. This, of course, does not register on a CD, which makes it sound like the audience is basically watching her record a studio album.
That's not a bad thing...it's just a Patricia thing.
All in all, I'd give "Fortnight" 4 stars out of 5.
--Brian