My response was more to @beaur's notion of hearing different systems like seeing different artists'work in different rooms and Ron not having heard of the analogy. But yes, it's a classic. Try Muti with the Philadelphia Orch, MFSL 1-520
Natural Sound
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My response was more to @beaur's notion of hearing different systems like seeing different artists'work in different rooms and Ron not having heard of the analogy. But yes, it's a classic. Try Muti with the Philadelphia Orch, MFSL 1-520
Excellent...I have something like 12? piano, organ, different transcriptions and the Gergiev is one of them. My favorite of all is the Sokhiev by some margin. Precision and attack drive his sweepingly romantic and dramatic interpretation of this musical tapestry.
Separately for something more purely cerebral, I do also like the original piano version by Pletnev.
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Just experienced a live solo piano rendition of Pictures, on Sunday. Tyler Hay pianist.
SO enjoyable, and a really unique experience for us, seated at less than 3m from him.
SO enjoyable, and a really unique experience for us, seated at less than 3m from him.
makes a difference the distance...doesn't it. You can consider that impression against most piano recordings that are also made close up.
I made some not so close... just enough to get some room acoustics with only 2 mics.
This was nearly 30 years ago...
This was nearly 30 years ago...
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That's why I like to sit close to performers too, it gives you a more realistic perspective (including transients) of what's on recordings. I once sat about 5 meters (15 feet) from the piano during a concert of Stockhausen piano pieces.
Some of our Boston audio group were at "house" concerts with chamber strings and piano where we also sat up close, and I have sat up close on a number of other occasions.
What was fascinating was the seeming contradiction of the piano at that range being "loud", but at no point was the effect overwhelming or overloading. And because his dynamic control was so precise, your brain and body stayed relaxed until he accelerated the thrill of the ride, but even now there was total mental ease as to what you were hearing.
Imho, only horns, and only the best horns get anywhere close to this. But when they do, it's the closest direct line to the performance. And I've only heard two sets of horns that fit the bill.
Direct Drive ESL's are also very close... but they need to be big...
Lampie, I've feel super privileged to have heard the Denman Exponential Horn. A cosmic mind trip doesnt come close to summing up the sheer out of body experience of this.
Imagine being a cynical world weary adult, and for 2 hours revisiting your wide eyed super happy totally optimistic 5 year old little boy inside again, the outside world not even existing.
And then the comedown as you leave the demo...
Imagine being a cynical world weary adult, and for 2 hours revisiting your wide eyed super happy totally optimistic 5 year old little boy inside again, the outside world not even existing.
And then the comedown as you leave the demo...
The Denman played rainstorm from a single mono horn point source, 6 x 5' hornmouth, 30' long horn, custom 1.46W triode, field coil, in an untreated, knocked up conference-type space w room partitions for boundaries, maybe 1500 cub meters.
You could literally point to individual drops and touch them. I've never experienced ANYTHING like it.
You could literally point to individual drops and touch them. I've never experienced ANYTHING like it.
Mid or rear of the hall live will of course allow you to understand the live experience but it is less helpful in evaluating the "realness" of most recordings, which are not recorded from that distant perspective (assuming they are even not multi miked and mixed by a "tonmeister"...like DG does most of the time), then don't make the mental translation so easy. Up close and personal fits well with a lot of recorded classical and you can evaluate realism more easily, IMO. Also, smaller works up close are a LOT easier for a stereo system to replicate than a huge Shoshtakovic symphony, for example, which is literally impossible to get right for any system I have ever heard.
I once heard the 12th symphony at Tonhalle Zurich and sat near the back...it was still so powerful my ears were pulsating...I can't even imagine the sonic torture in the front rows...
He’s only heard the last 1/4” of the Great Gates of Kiev.
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I could ask my neighbors if they wouldn't mind if i make use of their gardens....
Sir Denman got around this by routing the horn thru his chimney, out through the stack onto the roof to curl fwds as maybe the worlds first PA spkr, maybe nearly a century ago, treating the London masses to BBC Light Music and Radio 4 classical.
They really don't make eccentrics like they used to Lol.
They really don't make eccentrics like they used to Lol.
Perfect! This is the cornerstone of “natural sound” how close you get to this state is about different levels of natural!
Volume is also important for the natural experience but is space dependent. You can listen at the same volume you heard at the concert if the system is up to it and the room big enough to handle it.
david
Yes, I love that piece, and I forgot about its analogy. Good point -- but I still like very much beaur's elaboration. I like Chesky's The Power of the Orchestra.
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