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What are we listening to right now..

oceansize

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I love Beak. It's no wonder that Robert Plant has snagged Billy Fuller as the bass player for his non-Americana (and better) stuff.

 

TimF

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In science fiction movies it isn't unusual for a child to declare that his mother is someone else, or for a wife to declare that her husband isn't any longer her husband. And they aren't because they have been taken over by aliens or replaced by replicants who are aliens. And I'm telling you this cd set of Brahms symphonies aren't Brahms. I'm not crazy. I'm not. It isn't Brahms. It is disturbing. I've had the 4 cd set by Barenboim conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Warner Classics 2006) of Brahms symphonies for a number of years and rarely played it. It's not Brahms--it is some alien I music I tell you. Today I compared the Barenboim cd to the Carlos Kleiber Wiener Philharmoniker cd of the same symphony, and I was right: the Barenboim is alien and the Carlos Kleiber is the real Brahms. Very odd. It is as if Barenboim removed the specific quality of the music that renders it as Brahms. He took out the Brahms and otherwise left the rest. I kid you not. What he did is essentially to take out the violin section or to have a much reduced violin section. Very clever and devious. I don't like it.
41fUMrYjeiL._SX487_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
 

Ken Tajalli

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In science fiction movies it isn't unusual for a child to declare that his mother is someone else, or for a wife to declare that her husband isn't any longer her husband. And they aren't because they have been taken over by aliens or replaced by replicants who are aliens. And I'm telling you this cd set of Brahms symphonies aren't Brahms. I'm not crazy. I'm not. It isn't Brahms. It is disturbing. I've had the 4 cd set by Barenboim conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Warner Classics 2006) of Brahms symphonies for a number of years and rarely played it. It's not Brahms--it is some alien I music I tell you. Today I compared the Barenboim cd to the Carlos Kleiber Wiener Philharmoniker cd of the same symphony, and I was right: the Barenboim is alien and the Carlos Kleiber is the real Brahms. Very odd. It is as if Barenboim removed the specific quality of the music that renders it as Brahms. He took out the Brahms and otherwise left the rest. I kid you not. What he did is essentially to take out the violin section or to have a much reduced violin section. Very clever and devious. I don't like it.
41fUMrYjeiL._SX487_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
The label says clearly, it is not Brahms.
 

amadeuswus

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In science fiction movies it isn't unusual for a child to declare that his mother is someone else, or for a wife to declare that her husband isn't any longer her husband. And they aren't because they have been taken over by aliens or replaced by replicants who are aliens. And I'm telling you this cd set of Brahms symphonies aren't Brahms. I'm not crazy. I'm not. It isn't Brahms. It is disturbing. I've had the 4 cd set by Barenboim conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Warner Classics 2006) of Brahms symphonies for a number of years and rarely played it. It's not Brahms--it is some alien I music I tell you. Today I compared the Barenboim cd to the Carlos Kleiber Wiener Philharmoniker cd of the same symphony, and I was right: the Barenboim is alien and the Carlos Kleiber is the real Brahms. Very odd. It is as if Barenboim removed the specific quality of the music that renders it as Brahms. He took out the Brahms and otherwise left the rest. I kid you not. What he did is essentially to take out the violin section or to have a much reduced violin section. Very clever and devious. I don't like it.
41fUMrYjeiL._SX487_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
What a vivid description of your listening experience!

I assume you are comparing the Barenboim and Kleiber versions of the Brahms Fourth Symphony?
I just pulled up the Barenboim recording (streaming it now on Amazon Music HD), and I can't hear the reduction of the violin section that you noted. But you must love the music dearly (I do too) to have such a visceral reaction to the recording. Who knows, maybe the Warner reissue on CDs was botched.
 

amadeuswus

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81C6-aIFCGL._SX425_.jpg

This is part of a series of Sinfonia of London/John Wilson SACDs on Chandos that has received many raves. I found the following (hilarious) review on Amazon. I had to go back and listen to the Bolero track to see if I could hear the "fleet footed snare drummer" wandering all over the soundstage:

[T]he snare drum(s) that is so prominent in any performance of the Boléro, is inaudible until 3:22 on the SACD. [Huh??] . . . . Having listened to the multichannel DSD layer of the Boléro several times in anticipation of the revelation of what the ‘Premier Recordings’ entailed, I was struck by the shifting location of the snare drum(s) which abruptly changed channels in much the same way as early recordings of steam locomotives on Decca Phase 4. The snare drum, as noted, appears at 3:44 in the left channel and abruptly moves to the right channel at 5:44. At 6:24 it moves back to the left channel and at 7:11 remerges in the right channel with no image or echo in the left channel. At 7:56 it then moves to the left with no image on the right. moving back to the right at 8:44 and to the left at 9:31. At 10:14 it again moves to the right moving back to the left at 11:00. At 11:46 it moves back to the right with greater emphasis (the possible addition of the second snare drum at Figure 16 that was noted by another Amazon reviewer as “hardly noticeable unless specifically listening for it”?). At 12:39, the snare drum is present in both the left and right channels. This wandering snare drum effect, is no doubt the result of the mixing and mastering of the DSD files rather than a exceptionally fleet footed snare drummer. While less pronounced, the wandering snare drum is also audible on the CD layer and contrasts with any and all performances of the Bolero that I’ve heard over the past 60 years where the location of the snare drums(s) is fixed.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R2VVN1MHJS50K0?ref=pf_vv_at_pdctrvw_srp

It's hard to imagine Chandos would intentionally or unintentionally pan the critical snare drum all over the place. Maybe, instead of having the second snare drum player sit idle until Figure 16 in the score (where he/she joins in), Wilson split the snare duties between the two players? Anyway, perhaps this falls into the category "of interest to no one" except cranks.
 
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Wendigo79

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DSJR

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Has this world always been s**t and it's just our perceptions that change as our lives progress through it? From Dylan in the 60's and to this from a favourite album when I was a very young hippy type (without the beard, hair and sandals to go with the vibe inside). What the heck happened to all the so-called hippies out there? Did they/we just get assimilated into the machine and the positive vibes just evaporate into the universal human apathy?


 
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