What are you currently listening to (Classical)?

[LL21]

The imaging is a little off on this first disc--the musicians seem huddled in the center and right--not a lot of direct sound in the left channel. Since so many venues were used, it will be interesting to see how the sound changes.

I listen to 99% of my music while working in the evenings or during the weekends, so i tend not to pay attention to placement. I tend to focus on the playback and audiophile elements that grab me as if i were in a cafe working with musicians in the background. I will try to pay more attention to placement next time i listen. thanks!

 

[Bachtoven]

I listen to 99% of my music while working in the evenings or during the weekends, so i tend not to pay attention to placement. I tend to focus on the playback and audiophile elements that grab me as if i were in a cafe working with musicians in the background. I will try to pay more attention to placement next time i listen. thanks!

If I had your lovely system, I certainly wouldn't relegate music to the background!

 

[LL21]

If I had your lovely system, I certainly wouldn't relegate music to the background!

Funny that you should say that, I am one of those people who really thrives on things i love and really enjoying them to the fullest. In my case, working is a passion, so being able to work while listening to my system and in the back of my mind enjoying the music but also the articulation, etc...and sitting at the big partners my wife and I share while we work is my favorite on the weekends when i can work at home or in the evenings back from the office. I can work til 3am no sweat...and fortunately with a low noise floor...our neighbors can sleep!

 

[jn229]

The Jack Sheldon Quartet ~ Stand by For

 

[Bachtoven]

Sonatas 5-10 today. While I might prefer certain passages played by other pianists, such as Horowitz, Ashkenazy, or Richter, this is certainly a satisfying set of Sonatas. Now onto to Preludes!

 

[LL21]

Anyone heard this (2015 Remastered from original master tapes)? Amazingly good music, so just ordered it. Enjoythemusic and Grammophone seemed highly complimentary and recommended it.

 

[LL21]

From theaterbyte.com review (https://www.theaterbyte.com/classic...ncient-musichogwood-blu-ray-audio-review.html) :

"...Audio Quality

[Rating:4.5/5]

In comparison with the original CD set in my library, this Pure Audio disc is simply better in every conceivable way. The dynamic range is broader, the soundstage is deeper, and the voices receive warmth that was simply lacking on the red book CDs. Small orchestral details emerge with a clarity that was less audible on the CDs. This set also contains a pair of remastered CD that probably used the same 96kHz/24-bit masters although this is not specified in the program booklets. While not the equal of the Blu-ray Disc, these CDs are a vast improvement over the originals. Regarding the Pure Audio formats, there was little noticeable difference in sound quality between the LPCM 96kHz/24-bit and the Dolby TrueHD versions...."

Anyone heard this (2015 Remastered from original master tapes)? Amazingly good music, so just ordered it. Enjoythemusic and Grammophone seemed highly complimentary and recommended it.

View attachment 29952

 

[LL21]

Nigel Kennedy plays with bravado and his performance over-reaches above the music itself...you can hear Kennedy in his renditions. The question is whether that is because he is being too much of a virtuoso...or whether because we have grown accustomed to a formality and strict form of classical music...kind of like listening to Shakespearean actors who read the lines back with nobility...vs those actors who bring Shakespearean English 'back' to as understandable a form of English as possible by speaking Shakespeare's English with a more everyday rhythm.

For the moment, I have heard little of his interpretations but am willing at first glance to give him a LOT of credit for managing to do his thing in a way that brings a radical breath to classical music. For the moment, I am prepared to see it as kind of like his attempt at reaching back over 300-400 years of classic musical playback shellac and trying to figure out what a 33 year Bach or Beethoven was really trying to do.

 

[Bachtoven]

A Mozart day.

Followed by disc 3--the F major Sonatas.

 

[Bachtoven]

Disc 2

Disc 3

 

[andolink]

Wilhelm Friedemann Bach: Harpsichord Concerto in A minor, F. 45

This CD is so amazingly good in so many ways!

 

[Bachtoven]

A live recording of Jenny Abel playing solo violin sonatas by Henze, Bach, and Bartok on LP. (I didn't take the picture--it was the only one I could find...too lazy to take my own!) Superb playing and sound. I acquired it in an interesting manner: About 35 years ago I read an article about her and this recording, I then wrote her a letter (she lived in Germany) asking how to buy a copy, and a few weeks later, she sent me a copy free of charge--even autographed it!

 

[LL21]

A live recording of Jenny Abel playing solo violin sonatas by Henze, Bach, and Bartok on LP. (I didn't take the picture--it was the only one I could find...too lazy to take my own!) Superb playing and sound. I acquired it in an interesting manner: About 35 years ago I read an article about her and this recording, I then wrote her a letter (she lived in Germany) asking how to buy a copy, and a few weeks later, she sent me a copy free of charge--even autographed it!

fantastic story...i have received a few copies over the years this way as well though not from the artist directly but from the producers:

I contacted Lipinski regarding their exceedingly rare recording of Gorecki's 3rd Symphony...conducted by Gorecki himself in his home town. And they were so kind and pleased, they sent me a copy gratis, along with their equally legendary Pendericki recording. Both fabulously well done. I was invited by them to come listen to their flagship speakers in Poland, and no doubt we will go at some point. Just have to find the time!

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I am getting very tired of that image.

 

[MadFloyd]

Sounds like a story there...

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Sounds like a story there...

If you haven't seen it, you wouldn't know. I have, probably, 5-6 recordings with that cover art, most with more cropping.

 

[andolink]

This disc is a landmark recording of two truly great American Modernist orchestral scores. Wuorinen, it seems to me, has taken up the position, left vacant upon the death of Elliott Carter, of greatest living American composer.

Hopefully this album cover is not overly tiring to anyone...

 

[MadFloyd]

This disc is a landmark recording of two truly great American Modernist orchestral scores. Wuorinen, it seems to me, has taken up the position, left vacant upon the death of Elliott Carter, of greatest living American composer.

Hopefully this album cover is not overly tiring to anyone...

May I ask you to elaborate a bit on the music? What does American Modernist mean to you?

 

[andolink]

May I ask you to elaborate a bit on the music? What does American Modernist mean to you?

It denotes the line of American composers who more or less traveled the path blazed by Charles Ives and the 2nd Viennese School. It includes Serialists such as Roger Sessions and Milton Babbit as well as other atonalists such as Carter and, to a lesser extent, some of the "mavericks" such as Cowell and Partch.

Wuorinen's mature music sounds to me somewhat like an amalgam of post-1955 Sessions with the breadth and and refinement of Carter. The new Bridge release is easily the best introduction to Wuorinen's sound world that I've heard. It's typically American with the upbeat brightness and busy textures giving it a feeling of the bustling streets of a big city.

It's definitely not music for casual listening though. Repeat and focused listenings are the way in although the 4th Piano Concerto bowled me over the first time through like I haven't been for quite some time.

 

[Fiddle Faddle]

I did not even know the Bridge label was still putting out recordings. I assume this is the same Bridge label that has been around for many years? I don't think I've been aware of any releases from them since the mid 1980s!