SPOTLIGHT The classical music general discussion thread

[Kal Rubinson]

As Lute says, Channel's recordings aren't really discrete, but they're of such a high level I don't worry too much about it.

Sure, they are discrete as they are genuine multichannel, not using any synthesis. Perhaps you mean that the mix is not immersive because it does not place musicians around the sides/back (where they never are).

 

[windhoek]

The range of number of players varies widely and, depending on how one makes the calculation, I think her group is about average in sieze.

Thanks for the correction, Kal

 

[edisonbaggins]

So hard for me to get in to classical listening at home, though I do try!
I prefer to experience orchestral music live.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

So hard for me to get in to classical listening at home, though I do try!
I prefer to experience orchestral music live.

As do I but, even here in NYC, I can't do it as often as I want. Also, with the wealth of repertoire accessible to me at a mouse-click, I have become pretty picky about programming.

 

[windhoek]

As I mentioned earlier, this LSO Live Sibelius box-set claimed to include downloads in a variety of formats on the blu ray - mp3, WAV, 24/96 FLAC and DSD - and sure enough, the blu ray contains all these download options as well as media for playing. I take my hat off to LSO for not only knocking out a great box-set at a great price, but also for unlocking the blu ray so that user can consume the media, albeit in stereo only, in a format and on a platform of their choosing - well done LSO!

 

[humprof]

As I mentioned earlier, this LSO Live Sibelius box-set claimed to include downloads in a variety of formats on the blu ray - mp3, WAV, 24/96 FLAC and DSD - and sure enough, the blu ray contains all these download options as well as media for playing. I take my hat off to LSO for not only knocking out a great box-set at a great price, but also for unlocking the blu ray so that user can consume the media, albeit in stereo only, in a format and on a platform of their choosing - well done LSO!

The Berlin Philharmonic also has a Sibelius set (along with a number of others) that I've had my eye on for some time. The prices are nowhere near as fabulous as the LSO's, although the books and boxes are downright de luxe, and the recordings are quite wonderful. (And once they subtract the VAT for non-EU orders, the prices aren't exorbitant.) They, too, come with free downloads--24/192 MCh FLACs, I believe--as well as hi-res video, beautifully shot.

 

[ubertrout]

Sure, they are discrete as they are genuine multichannel, not using any synthesis. Perhaps you mean that the mix is not immersive because it does not place musicians around the sides/back (where they never are).

Correct, they're discrete multichannel, but the mix isn't terribly discrete in how the rear channels are used.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Correct, they're discrete multichannel, but the mix isn't terribly discrete in how the rear channels are used.

My biggest gripe with 99.9% of ambient~rear classical recordings is that since they are experienced IN THE HOME rather than in a CONCERT HALL, some liberties, judiciously applied, could be taken with making more creative use of the surrounds to compensate for a lack of visuals [the orchestra] experienced in the actual concert hall.

 

[Soundfield]

So hard for me to get in to classical listening at home, though I do try!
I prefer to experience orchestral music live.

Yes, that's the best way of course and it’s important to keep the ears calibrated! Despite our obsession with such things here, no audio system can reproduce even a pale representation of the experience of a 100 piece orchestra filling a 5,000 seat auditorium. I’ve just retired and so I’m lucky to be able to ramp up my live attendances, particularly opera these days, and was able to see these productions this year:

With hopefully even more next year (in fact I’ve already got tickets for Cosi Fan Tutte, The Magic Flute, Andrea Chenier and Tosca).
Happy listening to all in 2019!!

 

[Lute]

Yes, that's the best way of course and it’s important to keep the ears calibrated! Despite our obsession with such things here, no audio system can reproduce even a pale representation of the experience of a 100 piece orchestra filling a 5,000 seat auditorium. I’ve just retired and so I’m lucky to be able to ramp up my live attendances, particularly opera these days, and was able to see these productions this year:

View attachment 37150

With hopefully even more next year (in fact I’ve already got tickets for Cosi Fan Tutte, The Magic Flute, Andrea Chenier and Tosca).
Happy listening to all in 2019!!

I just went to see Falstaff live last weekend. The story & humor definitely come across better live. And the singing, for example in the quartet and octet, was simply amazing. It's a pity the score doesn't contain some more memorable melodies as in Rigoletto and La Traviata. The quality of the opera overall is excellent. All that it needs is a couple of hit arias.

But I agree with Kal that getting to the theater and then sitting in a cramped seat for hours does require a bit of an effort. I have become so spoiled with so much wonderful music at my home & at my finger tips to suit my every whim and mood swing. LOL!!! My living room might not be La Scala, but modern surround systems do a remarkable job of bringing the concert experience into our homes.

 

[Soundfield]

I just went to see Falstaff live last weekend. The story & humor definitely come across better live. And the singing, for example in the quartet and octet, was simply amazing. It's a pity the score doesn't contain some more memorable melodies as in Rigoletto and La Traviata. The quality of the opera overall is excellent. All that it needs is a couple of hit arias.

I think that was a revival of Johnathan Miller's production in Toyko wasn't it? If so, I've seen it in the UK and remember that it was very stylish. Any performance needs a great comic actor as Sir John to really pull it off though. The ROH staging this year was a new production (set in the 1950s - but it worked really well) and benefited from the brilliant comic timing (and magical voice of course) of Sir Bryn Terfel. Great fun.

 

[ubertrout]

My biggest gripe with 99.9% of ambient~rear classical recordings is that since they are experienced IN THE HOME rather than in a CONCERT HALL, some liberties, judiciously applied, could be taken with making more creative use of the surrounds to compensate for a lack of visuals [the orchestra] experienced in the actual concert hall.

I tend to enjoy discrete concert hall sound as well as artificially discrete mixes, depending how they're done. My pet peeve is really pieces where they're written for offstage instruments and they nonetheless don't use the surround channels for those.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Correct, they're discrete multichannel, but the mix isn't terribly discrete in how the rear channels are used.

And that's the way (uh-huh), I like it.

My biggest gripe with 99.9% of ambient~rear classical recordings is that since they are experienced IN THE HOME rather than in a CONCERT HALL, some liberties, judiciously applied, could be taken with making more creative use of the surrounds to compensate for a lack of visuals [the orchestra] experienced in the actual concert hall.

Perhaps as an option because such efforts are rarely successful and one cannot easily fix them at home.

I tend to enjoy discrete concert hall sound as well as artificially discrete mixes, depending how they're done. My pet peeve is really pieces where they're written for offstage instruments and they nonetheless don't use the surround channels for those.

Amen.

 

[windhoek]

I'm currently listening to this Podger-Brecon Baroque performance of The Four Seasons. It's The Four Seasons, Jim... and I like it

EDIT: I've just finished listening to the whole disc and oh my goodness, this release really is something special: it's bursting with clarity and detail, feels positively feral in places and all the better for it, and most of all, is positively fun from start to finish. This release could easily come with 'Boredom-free or your money back' guarantee as it's 75 minutes of mesmerising magic on just one shiny disc. Recommended!

 

[humprof]

I'm mostly lurking on this thread, since I'm more of a dilettante than a connoisseur when it comes to classical/contemporary classical/new music. But I always like hearing & reading informed opinions. I'm too much of a cheapskate to subscribe to Gramophone, but whenever they offer me something free, I take it! E.g.:

• Rob Cowan's guide to the best recordings of Debussy's La Mer
• Gramophone's 2018 Recordings of the Year

 

[windhoek]

I'm mostly lurking on this thread, since I'm more of a dilettante than a connoisseur when it comes to classical/contemporary classical/new music.

I'd never describe myself as a connoisseur either; part-time enthusiast, possibly. But connoisseur? I don't think so. We like what we like (for a variety of reasons I don't understand myself) and I'm happy say I like this and for others to say they do as well or don't accordingly.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Gramophone's 2018 Recordings of the Year

Interesting. Some puzzling. Some too predictable.

 

[windhoek]

I see this recomposed version of The Four Seasons by Max Richter comes with a DVD with a 5.1 dts soundtrack - has anyone here heard it and able to say whether the 5.1 mix is dynamically discrete?

 

[windhoek]

In other news, apparently, I'll be receiving The Glass Effect by Lavinia Meijer within a day or two. It's a 2-CD set but having heard snippets of it already I'm looking forward to adding it to my collection as Meijer plays Glass rather well on this mch SACD.

 

[Lute]

Lavinia Meijer's harp recitals are wonderful...especially the music of Glass. I have several of her SACDs. Let us know how you like those CDs.

Sorry... Can't help you on the DVD of Richter's Vivaldi.

I just picked up a couple of multichannel recordings of contemporary classical music by 2 female composers. The first is a Wergo SACD with 2 pieces by Chaya Czernowin: "Hidden" and "adiantum capillus-veneris: maidenhair fern - studies in fragility". "Hidden" is for string quartet and electronics. The multichannel recording is discrete and immersive on the 43-minute work. "Adiantum" is simply for mezzo-soprano voice, and breath, mostly in the front 3 channels. The rears are ambient on this piece. The music is very slow, abstract and experimental. It's not melodic, rather it's a cascade of rustling, crackling, and murmuring sounds. According to the composer, "Hidden tries to explore what lies concealed beneath the surface of expression - under the music." Here's a review link... http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2018/Feb/Czernowin_hidden_WER73552.htm

The second recording is a Sono Luminus BD-A with music by Anna Thorvaldsdottir: "In the Light of Air". This music is also very slow and experimental, but more accessible than the music of Czernowin. It's relaxing, meditative ambient music for viola, cello, harp, piano, percussion, and electronics. The MC recording is a wrap-a-round type and fully immersive. Here's a review link... https://www.secondinversion.org/201...ght-of-air-ice-performs-anna-thorvaldsdottir/