SPOTLIGHT The classical music general discussion thread

[windhoek]

I came across this YouTube video earlier following a recommendation from someone in the know who says it's very Bruknerian in nature. It's a movement from Martin Scherber's second symphony and I think it's quite compelling - so much, in fact, so I'm already hooked! The thing is, you can't buy the symphony, you can't stream the symphony and, well, unless you know somebody who knows somebody, you'll never get to hear the symphony in full as apparently, it's only ever been recorded for and released on CD once and in very limited numbers!

I may have a lead on knowing somebody who knows somebody but it's early days. Are any of you guys familiar with Scherber's second symphony, and if so, is the symphony as well as his other work, Bruknerian in nature as I'm so far led to believe?

 

[humprof]

The latest discounted new release from BIS is the first in a projected Saint-Saens cycle. I don't know how excited I am by that, per se, but what caught my eye in the email announcement was that Bissie gave a shout-out to the mixers, Jens Braun and Ingo Petry of Take5--something I don't remember him doing before.

In looking for more info about Braun and Petry, I came across the feature below, which offers lots of insight on BIS and on Take 5's approach to surround recording, including diagrams of mic placement in different venues. It seems clear enough to me that they're going for more than mere hall ambience, putting careful thought into the placement of both main mics and spot mics. Here's Take 5's Tonmeister Thore Brinkman:

I want to create a sound picture that has both depths and a rich and warm closeness to each instrument. Sometimes it can be in a reverberant acoustic and sometimes it is better in a dryer place. In any case, enough direct sound that touches us emotionally - not too far from the audience - but with the right amount of space around it, never hearing the microphone, but just the source. This is more so the smaller the ensemble is, of course. But for instance the Mahler Symphonies are so full of details that it is important to catch the clarity of each line and integrate it in a total picture that has both impact/power, closeness and distance where it is demanded by Mahler. If everything becomes distant, then where is the effect if something is really distant?​

http://classicalmusicrecording.blogspot.com/2018/10/bis-records-and-take-5-music-production.html

 

[4-earredwonder]

The latest discounted new release from BIS is the first in a projected Saint-Saens cycle. I don't know how excited I am by that, per se, but what caught my eye in the email announcement was that Bissie gave a shout-out to the mixers, Jens Braun and Ingo Petry of Take5--something I don't remember him doing before.

In looking for more info about Braun and Petry, I came across the feature below, which offers lots of insight on BIS and on Take 5's approach to surround recording, including diagrams of mic placement in different venues. It seems clear enough to me that they're going for more than mere hall ambience, putting careful thought into the placement of both main mics and spot mics. Here's Take 5's Tonmeister Thore Brinkman:

I want to create a sound picture that has both depths and a rich and warm closeness to each instrument. Sometimes it can be in a reverberant acoustic and sometimes it is better in a dryer place. In any case, enough direct sound that touches us emotionally - not too far from the audience - but with the right amount of space around it, never hearing the microphone, but just the source. This is more so the smaller the ensemble is, of course. But for instance the Mahler Symphonies are so full of details that it is important to catch the clarity of each line and integrate it in a total picture that has both impact/power, closeness and distance where it is demanded by Mahler. If everything becomes distant, then where is the effect if something is really distant?​

http://classicalmusicrecording.blogspot.com/2018/10/bis-records-and-take-5-music-production.html

Sounds intriguing, humprof, but I have more than a few box sets of Sibelius' 7 symphonies in surround and will await your review of Bissie's latest recording venture.

I used to chide Bissie over at the old SACD.net about his ultra conservative approach to surround .... so quite possibly, with this latest venture he has come FULL CIRCLE!

 

[mkt]

Any thoughts on the Blomstedt Brahms from Pentatone? (No SACD? Only available in surround as a download?) I see the latest release in the BBC Music Magazine - June 2021 Choices
https://www.prestomusic.com/classic...-choices-bbc-music-magazine-june-2021-choices
PS. 15% off storewide at
https://www.nativedsd.com

 

[humprof]

Sounds intriguing, humprof, but I have more than a few box sets of Sibelius' 7 symphonies in surround and will await your review of Bissie's latest recording venture.

I used to chide Bissie over at the old SACD.net about his ultra conservative approach to surround .... so quite possibly, with this latest venture he has come FULL CIRCLE!

I don't think BIS will ever do what some of us think of as "aggressive" surround. But the fact that they're trying to avoid everything sounding equally "distant," and that they selectively close-mic, shows a very deliberate approach and explains some of the detail and clarity I've heard on recent recordings like the Vanksa Mahlers.

 

[gene_stl]

AIX DVD A of Haydn Trios. A lucky purchase on fleabay (I think)

 

[Lute]

View attachment 67137

AIX DVD A of Haydn Trios. A lucky purchase on fleabay (I think)

I picked up one of these AIX DVD-As. It offered 2 options in surround. One was at 96/24 in 5.1 with ambient surround. The other was DTS 5.1 with a stage perspective similar to TACET’s surround. The musicians were a young group but very capable. Worth giving a try at a bargain price.

 

[4-earredwonder]

One of my $3 SACDs from Berkshire Records stunningly recorded and performed in Multi~CH SACD

 

[gene_stl]

Killer pricing makes it even more fun.
Somebody mentioned Berkshire not long ago and I think I bought like 31 SACDs

 

[4-earredwonder]

Killer pricing makes it even more fun.
Somebody mentioned Berkshire not long ago and I think I bought like 31 SACDs

I only purchased 12 and I can kick myself because two of the SACDs I purchased I already owned. IMO, without pics of the album covers and the fact my discs are all over the place makes NOT duplicating titles rather difficult.

But at those bargain basement prices and the quality of music ..... Berkshire is doing classical lovers a HUGE favor!

 

[J. PUPSTER]

I only purchased 12 and I can kick myself because two of the SACDs I purchased I already owned. IMO, without pics of the album covers and the fact my discs are all over the place makes NOT duplicating titles rather difficult.

But at those bargain basement prices and the quality of music ..... Berkshire is doing classical lovers a HUGE favor!

a @GOS intervention sounds necessary - and free kicks also, so you don’t have to

 

[4-earredwonder]

a @GOS intervention sounds necessary - and free kicks also, so you don’t have to

Pupster, I have well over 3000 SACDs ..... and they're not where they should be .... in any type of order!

 

[gene_stl]

In the process of multiple visits to Half Price Books I managed to duplicate about four CDs.

One thing that dupes do is prove that your musical taste is somewhat consistent.

I am trying to to beat these CDs into order. The SACDs ,DVDs and BDs are not quite a problem. Yet.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Since LINN Records is no longer manufacturing Multi~CH SACDs [ONLY downloads], I consider this a nice score from Berkshire Record Outlet.

https://www.hraudio.net/showmusic.php?title=10424#reviews

 

[ubertrout]

Got a smallish order from the Berkshire Record Outlet...I don't know how much longer Pentatone will be producing SACDs, but it's nice to be getting them cheap at least.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Got a smallish order from the Berkshire Record Outlet...I don't know how much longer Pentatone will be producing SACDs, but it's nice to be getting them cheap at least.

Nice batch, ubertrout! Silly me again.....I duplicated at least 3 titles from my latest Berkshire purchase .......have to be MORE prudent in the future!

From my latest batch: This lovely and well recorded Decapo Multi~CH SACD from Danish composer Rued Langgaard

 

[4-earredwonder]

Cannot have enough Gershwin in my life. Although my new go to Rhapsody in Blue/American in Paris is D~V's discrete QUAD SACD remaster with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting and Gershwin's own original 1925 piano rolls, this sterling SACD from Pentatone fills the bill quite nicely

https://www.hraudio.net/showmusic.php?title=1619#reviews

 

[humprof]

Got a smallish order from the Berkshire Record Outlet...I don't know how much longer Pentatone will be producing SACDs, but it's nice to be getting them cheap at least.

On the upside: Pentatone now sells multi-channel FLACs and ISOs on their website--including for releases (like the new Luna Pearl Woolf) that are otherwise only available as RBCDs.

 

[ubertrout]

Is there a modern high-res/multichannel version of Dvorak's In Nature's Realm? I have the 9CD/BD box of Kertesz conducting Dvorak's orchestral works including it, but it's stereo-only.

 

[Kal Rubinson]