Head-Fi.org › Forums › Misc.-Category Forums › Music › Beethoven Symphonies
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Beethoven Symphonies - Page 7

post #91 of 944
2/24/05 at 5:04pm
Reply
post #92 of 944
2/24/05 at 9:13pm
Any idea when these were recorded? I've found that "reprocessed" old recordings (e.g., the new Living Stereo releases, and the new Mercury releases) mostly have inferior sound. Although these releases have outstanding performances, they lack outstanding sound.


Quote:
Originally Posted by LFF
Definately the ones to get are these:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...ce&s=classical
Reply
post #93 of 944
2/24/05 at 10:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeg
Any idea when these were recorded? I've found that "reprocessed" old recordings (e.g., the new Living Stereo releases, and the new Mercury releases) mostly have inferior sound. Although these releases have outstanding performances, they lack outstanding sound.
Quote:
To my knowledge this is the third appearance of Karajan's 1963 Beethoven cycle available domestically on digital disc.
[Quoted from the Amazon.com site.]

BW
Reply
post #94 of 944
2/24/05 at 11:57pm
Thanks. What I'd really prefer are recent/modern high quality recordings, which are preferably available in SACD or DVD-A. Most of what I've seen discussed are performances that were recorded in the 1960's or earlier. Is the sound of these on par with what's recorded using more modern technology?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Ward
[Quoted from the Amazon.com site.]

BW
Reply
post #95 of 944
2/25/05 at 12:05am
Thread Starter 
[QUOTE=mikeg]Thanks. What I'd really prefer are recent/modern high quality recordings, which are preferably available in SACD or DVD-A. Most of what I've seen discussed are performances that were recorded in the 1960's or earlier. Is the sound of these on par with what's recorded using more modern technology?

You may want to look on sites lie sa-cd.net for performances. But there is more to it than recording technology, if the performance isn't good, then all the DSD in the world won't cover that.

Scott
Reply
post #96 of 944
2/25/05 at 3:34am
Although I agree about the importance of performance quality, at least for me, sound quality is equally important. I've been disappointed lately with some Living Stereo SACDs, and Mercury Living Presence SACDs, which were promoted as offering audiophile quality sound. Instead, I found the sound to be second rate, bloated, and unresolved. I think that some of these great performances, which have been reissued as SACDs, are hyped as having outstanding sound, which they do not.


[QUOTE=scottder]
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeg
Thanks. What I'd really prefer are recent/modern high quality recordings, which are preferably available in SACD or DVD-A. Most of what I've seen discussed are performances that were recorded in the 1960's or earlier. Is the sound of these on par with what's recorded using more modern technology?



You may want to look on sites lie sa-cd.net for performances. But there is more to it than recording technology, if the performance isn't good, then all the DSD in the world won't cover that.

Scott
Reply
post #97 of 944
2/25/05 at 7:51am
[QUOTE=mikeg]Although I agree about the importance of performance quality, at least for me, sound quality is equally important. I've been disappointed lately with some Living Stereo SACDs, and Mercury Living Presence SACDs, which were promoted as offering audiophile quality sound. Instead, I found the sound to second rate, bloated, and unresolved. I think that some of these great performances, which have been reissued as SACDs, are hyped as having outstanding sound, which they do not.


I don't know - I would have to agree to disagree with you about that. I find that the Mercury Living Presence SACD's are indeed wonderful. I find them to be the exact opposite of what you said. - Just my opinion though.
Reply
post #98 of 944
2/25/05 at 7:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by scottder
You may want to look on sites lie sa-cd.net for performances. But there is more to it than recording technology, if the performance isn't good, then all the DSD in the world won't cover that.

Scott
I couldn't agree with you more.
Reply
post #99 of 944
2/25/05 at 10:20am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeg
Although I agree about the importance of performance quality, at least for me, sound quality is equally important. I've been disappointed lately with some Living Stereo SACDs, and Mercury Living Presence SACDs, which were promoted as offering audiophile quality sound. Instead, I found the sound to second rate, bloated, and unresolved. I think that some of these great performances, which have been reissued as SACDs, are hyped as having outstanding sound, which they do not.

Well, I wish you luck on that journey, the Living Stereo relreases are from fairly early on in the Stereo era, and recorded on analog equipment. I'm not sure what's available for modern perofrmances on SACD and the like, I think you'll find your selection sadly limited.

Scitt
Reply
post #100 of 944
2/25/05 at 12:29pm
Well, I have to agree with Scott. Good sound is only the suit of clothes that goes over the body. If the body is deformed and badly shaped, the clothes can only highlight the deficiencies. If the body is well formed and proportioned it will still look great, even in a bad suit.
Reply
post #101 of 944
2/25/05 at 4:18pm
I'll be the first to admit that I'm not really a connoisseur of performance. I really can't tell whether a third violinist, or a piccolo player are a smidgeon off. As long as a well recognized orchestra produces a respectable performance, and as long as the recorded sound is outstanding, I'm generally delighted. As for a well formed body, and well cut cloths, is it unreasonable to think that well formed musical bodies are still routinely generated today? And if not, then are all the audiences listening to current concerts being cheated or duped?


Quote:
Originally Posted by Bunnyears
Well, I have to agree with Scott. Good sound is only the suit of clothes that goes over the body. If the body is deformed and badly shaped, the clothes can only highlight the deficiencies. If the body is well formed and proportioned it will still look great, even in a bad suit.
Reply
post #102 of 944
2/25/05 at 4:26pm
Do you mean that the best sounding SACDs can only be produced from performances that are recorded on yesteryears' analog equipment? Can't optimal sounding SACDs and DVD-As be produced from contemporary performances, using modern (probably digital) equipment?

Quote:
Originally Posted by scottder
Well, I wish you luck on that journey, the Living Stereo relreases are from fairly early on in the Stereo era, and recorded on analog equipment. I'm not sure what's available for modern perofrmances on SACD and the like, I think you'll find your selection sadly limited.

Scitt
Reply
post #103 of 944
2/25/05 at 4:33pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeg
Do you mean that the best sounding SACDs can only be produced from performances that are recorded on yesteryears' analog equipment? Can't optimal sounding SACDs and DVD-As be produced from contemporary performances, using modern (probably digital) equipment?
No what I am saying is you'll be limiting the number of peroformances quite a bit by only getting modern ones, I absolutely love the Chailly Mahler recordings, modern and wonderful, but if I didnn't like the performances as well, I wouldn't keep them. and by going with SACD and DVD-A it limits the field even more. I don't know if there are ANY modern performances on SACD of Beethovens Symphonies. I too wish there were more, but sadly, it costs a lot to produce these recrodings, so it's not being done as often as anyone would like.
Reply
post #104 of 944
2/25/05 at 4:57pm
I bought one or two Mercury Living Presence SACDs, and thought that they sounded strangely artificial (i.e., possibly over engineered), and I put them in some pile to sell on e-bay. Unfortunately, I can't find them at the moment in order to give them another hearing. As for Living Stereo SACDs, to one degree or another, the ones that I bought had poorly resolved sound (i.e., they sounded dated). I kept one of them (i.e., Beethoven's and Mendelssohn's violin concertos with Heifetz/Munch). While Heifetz's playing is magical, and his solo sound is nicely reproduced, the sound of the orchestra is poorly resolved, and therefore disappointing. IMO, there is little point in buying top notch, very expensive audio equipment, and then be disappointed by purchasing SACDs which are hyped as providing audiophile-quality sound. And, unless I'm mistaken, the Mercury Living Presence, and the Living Stereo SACDs were hyped in advertising as having audiophile-quality sound.

[QUOTE=LFF]
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeg
Although I agree about the importance of performance quality, at least for me, sound quality is equally important. I've been disappointed lately with some Living Stereo SACDs, and Mercury Living Presence SACDs, which were promoted as offering audiophile quality sound. Instead, I found the sound to second rate, bloated, and unresolved. I think that some of these great performances, which have been reissued as SACDs, are hyped as having outstanding sound, which they do not.


I don't know - I would have to agree to disagree with you about that. I find that the Mercury Living Presence SACD's are indeed wonderful. I find them to be the exact opposite of what you said. - Just my opinion though.
Reply
post #105 of 944
2/25/05 at 4:59pm
Thread Starter 
Best of luck with what you are looking for then. If you spread out to CDs, you may have some more luck (say the Zinmann set that's been discussed) finding what you are looking for.

Scott
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Music
Head-Fi.org › Forums › Misc.-Category Forums › Music › Beethoven Symphonies