I have heard that too. It doesn't surprise me. Of course having been a violinist I have known enough of them as well. They are very particular and picky people when it comes to sound and I don't blame them
They stand quite uniquely in the world of musicians (and perhaps most other professions) in that the tools of their trade will regualry exceed the size of their mortgages. Many end up using instruments on loan because understandably they don't have the $200,000 - $4 million to pay for them.
I was brought up in the analogue era and when I studied the violin we referenced professional recordings on LP and open reel tape, plus of course live performances. The first CD I ever bought was one of Itzhak Perlman playing the Beethoven Spring Sonata. Whilst my jaw dropped at the silent noise floor and complete absence of wow and flutter, his violin did not sound anything like it was supposed to
I then thought back to the recordings of youth, such as the late 1950s recordings of Oistrakh and Schneiderhan on DG. Now
those sounded like violins. Of course, CD has come a long way, but still I hanker for the sound I know should come from stringed instruments but doesn't ever seem to do so.
Having been party to more live performances than I can remember, plus hearing my teacher play her Carcassi at short range, CD has never ever been able to come close to that sort of sound, but analogue does, whether it be vinyl or open reel.
I will make one concession to digital though in terms of string sound. Nowadays, most players use synthetic strings, and in my opinion these synthetic strings have done the same to string sound that digital has done to recording. So we get a double-wammy effect. In the old days, analogue got a helping hand in my view, because the players really only had three main choices - Eudoxa, Olive or Kaplan - all wound gut. There were others, but those were the main ones for non-Baroque players. Those older strings are warmer, have more complex overtones, respond differently and require a more subtle bowing technique. Listen to old recordings by players such as Menuhin and Szeryng and the differences the strings made were quite clear. Nowadays, Anne Fontanella is probably the best example of a living player who can emulate the sound signatures of the players of yesteryear.
What has surprised me, however, is the good results DAT can provide in reocrding violin sound. The closeness to the CD standard would suggest otherwise, however in my experience the result is more than the sum of the parts. I could live reasonably happily with DAT if it were more robust, but I guess my main use for it would have been LP archival.
Incidentally, I found a very good high resolution recording of the violin on the net. That company High Definition Tape Transfers has Edith Peinemann playing the Dvorak - it's an open reel tape transcribed to 24-96. I'm not convinced about the equalisation curve, but the sound on that comes much closer to the real thing than CD.
Anyway, as to the question as to whether SACD address the problem, it certainly helps alot with regards to whole sections (i.e the sound of the first and second violins as a group, the violas, cellos, etc), but I have not yet had an opportunity to hear a solo violinist on SACD yet. I would be very interested indeed to hear one.
I do have a two track 24-96 version of the Prokofiev second Concerto on Linn Records, but I must confess I don't feel it was much better than the redbook version, even though I could hear differences between them. I certainly have to agree that the influence of the delivery format comes further down the chain of importance than getting the mics and balance right to begin with (in other words, I would stil much rather listen to a near perfectly produced CD than a mediocre SACD, DVD-A or HDAD).
