New Yorker piece on audiophiles

[welsh]

You're lucky you don't live in my world. We have two home of about 2200-2300 sq ft. We have a total of 8 sofas and love seats, 2 king size beds, 2 queen size beds, and 4 twin beds. Then there are the books, the guitars and amps, the records and stereo gear (total of 5 systems between the two homes), and 5 vehicles. I've decided to die in place and let my kids worry about it because, at this stage, it's too overwhelming to contemplate. I once thought I was a minimalist (about 35 years ago anyway...).

You are not a minimalist.

 

[welsh]

Nothing I said suggested that the prints I print were made in a darkroom. I was writing about the digital darkroom starring in the late 90’s.

Even when I use film (and there is no digital solution that offers as large a capture area as a 6x7 or 4x5 camera, despite that my main digital camera is a Pentax 645Z), I scan the negative and use an Epson printer.

I do still own my Omega D enlarger and all the rest of my darkroom equipment, but it’s in mothballs.

But I sustain a film scanning capability for the same reason I sustain vinyl playback capability. I have thousands of negatives and slides. There is no way I’m going to scan them all—that would simply take too long—but I still have plans for them.

Rick “no interest whatsoever in the film-vs.-digital debate” Denney

Either you go with the darkroom workflow or you do digital. Scanning film negs is a pointless halfway house.

 

[welsh]

The one musician I've had the greatest obsession for the longest time is Beethoven. I was lucky enough to be given a promo copy of the big, fat volume of the Oxford History of Music by Richard Taruskin that covered Beethoven's music. I didn't know until I read that book that when Beethoven went deaf, he started reading baroque music extensively and started incorporating more and more ideas from Baroque music into his own compositions. I'm thinking here, Beethoven no longer has the feedback of performing his music in public. His musical thought processes become increasingly dependent on recognizing visual patterns that "work". Much as Colin Nancarrow did. This is another case of the composer not really composing for an audience but mostly for himself and a few friends who can afford to pay him enough to keep on composing, no matter what.

In what is loosely called ‘Classical Music’ there are actually only three composers. Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. My heart is with Haydn.

 

[mansr]

In what is loosely called ‘Classical Music’ there are actually only three composers. Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. My heart is with Haydn.

No Bach?

 

[mansr]

There seems to be nothing that 6moons will not swallow. Often, they will start off by feigning incredulity (how could a simple brass gong change the sound?) before revealing that, yes, it makes a NIGHT AND DAY difference, audible from the next room!

But only with a "highly resolving system."

 

[ahofer]

No Bach?

No Schubert (sometimes called the last classical composer) or Scarlatti (usually called baroque, but forerunner of classical style)?

from Wikipedia- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Classical-era_composers

 

[Wes]

No Bach?

Baroque

 

[mansr]

Baroque

That's "loosely" classical.

 

[Wes]

as we say in New Orleans Funk, "you bettah tighten yo' wig"

 

[welsh]

Consider the late quartets.

I am definitely a fan of the late quartets.

 

[welsh]

Thou shalt use all of these twelve tones, not in succession, and without repeating a tone until all tones have been sounded? Thou shalt write music that is more fun to perform than to hear?

Andrew "not that into serialism, but open to having his mind changed" Hofer

Apparently when Schoenberg was called up to the army, his superior said: ‘Are you that controversial composer?’ Schoenberg answered: ‘Well nobody else wanted to be, so I took on the job’.

 

[welsh]

No Bach?

Bach is Baroque, not Classical.

 

[Robin L]

Bach is Baroque, not Classical.

And Metallica is metal, but also goes under the rubric of Rock. While I get what you're saying, it is pedantic.

 

[Anthony101]

I could be wrong; but what about Frederic Chopin? He composed fourteen musical pieces in rubato, i.e. Nocturne in G minor, Op. 15, No. 3.

 

[Robin L]

I could be wrong; but what about Frederic Chopin? He composed fourteen musical pieces in rubato, i.e. Nocturne in G minor, Op. 15, No. 3.

Sounds like a non-sequitur to me. Chopin is filed under "Romantic", "Romantic" is a subdivision of "Classical". Anyway, these pretty much boil down to bins for record stores, ain't too many of them making money by selling "Classical" records.

 

[mansr]

I could be wrong; but what about Frederic Chopin? He composed fourteen musical pieces in rubato, i.e. Nocturne in G minor, Op. 15, No. 3.

And then there's Liszt. And the various Russians. All classical in the loose sense, as opposed to jazz, rock, and whatever else appeared more recently.

 

[Anthony101]

Sounds like a non-sequitur to me. Chopin is filed under "Romantic", "Romantic" is a subdivision of "Classical". Anyway, these pretty much boil down to bins for record stores, ain't too many of them making money by selling "Classical" records.

Ok thanks, I was just wandering.

 

[ahofer]

I am definitely a fan of the late quartets.

The Quartets, the Symphonies, and the Piano Sonatas form three incredibly imposing sets of compositions that served as intimidating benchmarks for later composers like Brahms and Mahler. Not to mention the trios, masses, and string sonatas. This came up in another thread recently on classical music, wherein someone posted a silly video about how Beethoven isn’t really that great, it’s only due to white euro-centric supremacy or some such.

 

[MarkS]

In what is loosely called ‘Classical Music’ there are actually only three composers. Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.

Wow, you sure are missing a lot of great music IMO.

 

[mhardy6647]

...wherein someone posted a silly video about how Beethoven isn’t really that great

Lucy Van Pelt offered the same criticism decades ago.