Great recordings of classical music

[EERecordist]

That would shift his tuning upward, I suspect A > 440 for that recording. Good thing it's strings only; he wouldn't have been able to play with woodwinds because they go flat at cold temperatures. Since temps affect their pitch in opposite directions, strings & woodwinds can only play together in tune in a range of "normal" room temperatures.

All the classical musicians I know with acoustic instruments have their beater instrument for outdoors.

 

[dualazmak]

We lost Alfred Brendel today, age 94:

Rest in peace....

 

[Vuki]

We lost Alfred Brendel today, age 94:

RIP
When Brendel was 10yo my grand-grandfather was his piano teacher...

 

[Robin L]

RIP
When Brendel was 10yo my grand-grandfather was his piano teacher...

Wow.

 

[Mark617]

An extraordinary recording: interpretation and sound quality.

 

[Robin L]

One of the blessings of streaming: Tidal has Blandine Verlet's complete Philips recordings. It's mostly J. S. Bach and whatever instrument she's playing, it sounds glorious:

 

[Keith_W]

I had a friend over for a listening session over the weekend. I told him we were going to do a shootout. He said he loves shootouts, what will we be comparing? His face dropped noticeably when I told him "10 different recordings of 4'33".

I ignored him and started playing the recordings. We got through almost all the recordings and I was still undecided. By this point he was complaining that he's sick of 4'33" and he wanted to listen to something else. That's when I realized that I had forgotten to turn on the amplifier so we had to repeat the listening. He was not happy.

IMO, this one was the best:

She brings a mellifluous intensity to her performance. Of the hundreds of 4'33"s I have listened to, this performance was by far the most gripping.

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

I had a friend over for a listening session over the weekend. I told him we were going to do a shootout. He said he loves shootouts, what will we be comparing? His face dropped noticeably when I told him "10 different recordings of 4'33".

I ignored him and started playing the recordings. We got through almost all the recordings and I was still undecided. By this point he was complaining that he's sick of 4'33" and he wanted to listen to something else. That's when I realized that I had forgotten to turn on the amplifier so we had to repeat the listening. He was not happy.

IMO, this one was the best:

View attachment 475241

She brings a mellifluous intensity to her performance. Of the hundreds of 4'33"s I have listened to, this performance was by far the most gripping.

I hope that you both had a damn good drink as you listened. Obviously, you couldn't chat, for fear of missing performance differences!

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

I had a friend over for a listening session over the weekend. I told him we were going to do a shootout. He said he loves shootouts, what will we be comparing? His face dropped noticeably when I told him "10 different recordings of 4'33".

I ignored him and started playing the recordings. We got through almost all the recordings and I was still undecided. By this point he was complaining that he's sick of 4'33" and he wanted to listen to something else. That's when I realized that I had forgotten to turn on the amplifier so we had to repeat the listening. He was not happy.

IMO, this one was the best:

View attachment 475241

She brings a mellifluous intensity to her performance. Of the hundreds of 4'33"s I have listened to, this performance was by far the most gripping.

Also, shouldn't this post be in "A Call for Humour? (Or, humor, if you insist.)

 

[ahofer]

I had a friend over for a listening session over the weekend. I told him we were going to do a shootout. He said he loves shootouts, what will we be comparing? His face dropped noticeably when I told him "10 different recordings of 4'33".

I ignored him and started playing the recordings. We got through almost all the recordings and I was still undecided. By this point he was complaining that he's sick of 4'33" and he wanted to listen to something else. That's when I realized that I had forgotten to turn on the amplifier so we had to repeat the listening. He was not happy.

IMO, this one was the best:

View attachment 475241

She brings a mellifluous intensity to her performance. Of the hundreds of 4'33"s I have listened to, this performance was by far the most gripping.

You SINAD people.

 

[olds1959special]

Is classical music mastered differently? I was playing some older Ute Lemper and noticed the levels were a bit lower on average than other records, but there’s lots of dynamic range. I also saw it was labelled as “classical.”

 

[MRC01]

Is classical music mastered differently? I was playing some older Ute Lemper and noticed the levels were a bit lower on average than other records, but there’s lots of dynamic range. I also saw it was labelled as “classical.”

As is often discussed here at ASR, classical music is usually free from the heavy dynamic range compression and other over-processing that plagues most other recorded music. It seems those who enjoy this music, and the professionals who record & master it, want to preserve the music as it naturally sounds instead of crush it into a squashed caricature of itself.

 

[olds1959special]

As is often discussed here at ASR, classical music is usually free from the heavy dynamic range compression and other over-processing that plagues most other recorded music. It seems those who enjoy this music, and the professionals who record & master it, want to preserve the music as it naturally sounds instead of crush it into a squashed caricature of itself.

It is a different thing from popular music where the compression can be part of the presentation, for better or for worse. I just love the warm, generous (tube?) compression that was used on, for example, the Julie London records. It sounds so smooth, but I've heard much newer records that really just sound bad/loud (like Tony Bennet with Lady Gaga.)

 

[olds1959special]