[KoshNaranek]

re: "Quite a last few months..."

Mr. Moffat, I don't know you but I'm going to presume to advise you to take some time to recover from your traumas, both physical and emotional.  We need you at full strength; I'd rather know you've taken sufficient down time to recover than that some product or other is right around the corner.  As a fellow grey hair (although I have very little left) Vietnam Vet I know it takes longer and longer to get up to full speed than it used to, and that trying to go full speed while still in pain doesn't work well.  I also know there's nothing more powerful once we do get there.  Heal.  Then kick ass. 

I second that. Take care of yourself and please do wear the bone stimulator, if prescribed, for the requisite time. You will be thankful later.

 

[kstuart]

FYI - his avatar is the generic Head-Fi one that is used when you do not upload one, and should not be taken as an endorsement.

 

[kstuart]

For Bruckner - after listening to Bernard Haitink and the Royal Concertgebow Orchestra, I find that I cringe at any other version.  It is the only one that understands the rhythm and tempo.
 
Furtwangler is great for Wagner  .... and he performs everything else as if it were written by Wagner.  Bruckner, depite similarities was quite different from Wagner.
 
The only other composer for whom I have such specific tastes is Handel, where I find Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert (1980s) to be a level above everyone else, with Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music in second place a level above the rest.

 

[landroni]

  Before I address my Wagner obscession, (Next post) please allow this brief clarification addressing prior questions of why the Bimby and Mimby have fewer taps and 4x oversampling than the Gumby and Yggy (8x). 
 

Are the taps specs published anywhere? (They don't seem to be in the Specs on the respective product pages.) I only know that Jason has mentioned once that Yggdrasil had 18000 taps, but I can't find this spec for the other Schiit MB DACs...

 

[wink]

Would any of these pass as an acceptable Wagner...?   

 

 
or,
 

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

  For Bruckner - after listening to Bernard Haitink and the Royal Concertgebow Orchestra, I find that I cringe at any other version.  It is the only one that understands the rhythm and tempo.
 
Furtwangler is great for Wagner  .... and he performs everything else as if it were written by Wagner.  Bruckner, depite similarities was quite different from Wagner.
 
The only other composer for whom I have such specific tastes is Handel, where I find Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert (1980s) to be a level above everyone else, with Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music in second place a level above the rest.

I love the concertgebouw. Haitink is awesome. The Missa Solemnis I heard him perform in Chicago was perhaps the best concert of my life (Esa Pekka and Linda Watson doing the middle act of Tristan also w/ CSO is the other rapturous experience). 
 
No question they're different composers, more different than they get credit for being (credit goes to Bruckner for structural innovations re symphonic form). I'm less picky than you are, perhaps because I'm less informed. I like Giulini's ninth, furtwangler's 8th and 4th, and Jansons 3rd, in addition to the Jochum indicated above. Solti isn't bad, perhaps better at Mahler. For the C18, I consistently turn to Harnoncourt, though Jacobs and Gardiner are wonderful (Gardiner's Mozart Piano Concerti can be a bit try, granted). Ditto Leonhardt, RIP.

 

[AndreYew]

I wonder if Baldr had a chance to attend these concerts, but a few years ago when Esa-Pekka was still directing the LA Phil, they put on something called the Tristan Project which was a full staging of Tristan&Isolde, but on an orchestral stage so the set (designed by Peter Sellars the theater director, not the actor) was minimal, but they had these huge 30-foot projections of slo-mo video by Bill Viola. To say that it was trippy was an understatement, especially the Liebestod when the video was of someone rising off an altar while water fell up all in super slo-mo. Anyway, as a musical and theater-going experience, it was something else. They did a few versions: 1 act per night (went to a couple of those), and then the whole burrito in one night. It was cool to get there, see the first act, then have a dinner break with people of all ages and backgrounds sitting on the hallway floors of Walt Disney Concert Hall eating their box dinners, and then heading back into the auditorium for the rest of the opera. It was definitely one of those transcendent concertgoing experiences.
 
Here's some example footage that were first used here in LA. You can see the Liebestod water scene starting around 1:40:
 

 

[Baldr]

  I ask only because the Grado house sound (pictured in your avatar) has a reputation as being unsuitable for classical music (not neutral enough). Can you illuminate in which circumstances you prefer tubes, and in which you prefer solid state?
 
I find myself utterly transfixed by almost everything Harnoncourt has recorded (RIP). The Beethoven and Schubert symphonies perhaps above all, but the 2006 Salzburg Figaro (production too!) was the freshest take I've heard of the opera in years. I like Karajan for Puccini, Callas too, so it's disappointing that the Butterfly they did together in Chicago didn't turn out better. I love Jochum in particular for Bruckner. Much better than for Wagner—I find his Meistersinger maddeningly lethargic. Domingo sounds great, but especially the mob scene in act 2 is just so tepid—Karajan may be my favorite Meistersinger, though Furtwangler has Lorenz, and the combination is sublime.
 
Do you have a favorite Beethoven set? Furtwangler is great (1943 ninth above all!), I think Toscanini is frankly overrated, Solti and Bohm are both great, Karajan for the finale to the seventh—

 
Please excuse the brevity:
 
I generally prefer tubes, except when it is an impedance/current issue to drive cans directly.  I suppose that means hybrid.
 
I once had the extreme pleasure of attending a Harnoncourt led performance of The Abduction from the Seraglio in the early eighties.  What a delight!
 
Puccini I am arguably too pleasantly distracted by the soloists to appreciate the conductor - after all, they are only light Italian operas; i.e. de Los Angeles's Mimi and too many others to mention.
 
Amen to Jochum for Bruckner.  Bruno Walter's 1941 New York Phil performance is an amazing 8th, once you adjust to the tempi.
 
No favorite Beethoven set per se - Bruno/CBS orch 6th and slowed down 9th, Reiner's 3rd and 9th, of course Furtwanglers 1943 9th.  Toscanini doing Kraut music is as one would expect.
 
Wagner is a book length topic.  Do you ever attend Rocky Montain?
 
Finally - re Mahler.  Bruno Walter, Bruno Walter, Bruno Walter.  Particularly the First with the only describable as beyond orgasmic coda.  Except for Horenstein, who approaches the tension/release.  There is a CBS box set of all CBS Mahler/Walter releases on Amazon available for less than $13.00 new.  Symphonies 1,2,4,5, and Das Lied von der Erde, and Songs of a Wayfarer.

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

Traveling during the year is a bit dicey for me, as my day job is an English teacher, though I do try to go on trips for Spring Break and New Year's. I'm taking two days off in September to go to opening night at the Met and a third to spend Labor Day weekend in Chicago (college town) but Tristan w/ Stemme and Rattle is an exception to the rule. The weekend in October would be a bit hectic; I'll try, but we get enough shows here in SF. (Why didn't you send Rag/Yggy stack to July meet here?) 
 
I admit I haven't yet been bitten by the Mahler bug. I've heard 2, 4, 7, and 9 at the CSO, and the rest on record (usually Solti or Sinopoli, though I'm listening now to 5 w/ Walter and the NYP). So much of his music (eg the finale to the fifth, which is going on now) gives me the impression of being cute in a sappy sort of way without the severity and rigor that I love so much in Wagner. Now, I have time—I am young—but my next horizon seems to be the C20—Schoenberg, Alban Berg, Webern, Ligeti, Boulez, Reich, Adams, Glass, Poulenc, etc. I do not give up on Mahler, and try to listen to a whole symphony every few months, but it may be that he is simply not what my ear desires...though that may change.
 
Here's a question about Meistersinger. When Kothner calls the Mastersingers to order in Act I to hear Walther (on the line 'Nun, Meister'), there begins an imperious theme that I've had difficulty tracing throughout the rest of the opera. Is there a clear semantic meaning to this music? Where else does it appear in the opera (explicitly or subtly)? 

 

[Baldr]

Quote:Originally Posted by AndreYew /img/forum/go_quote.gif
  I wonder if Baldr had a chance to attend these concerts, but a few years ago when Esa-Pekka was still directing the LA Phil, they put on something called the Tristan Project which was a full staging of Tristan&Isolde, but on an orchestral stage so the set (designed by Peter Sellars the theater director, not the actor) was minimal, but they had these huge 30-foot projections of slo-mo video by Bill Viola. To say that it was trippy was an understatement, especially the Liebestod when the video was of someone rising off an altar while water fell up all in super slo-mo. Anyway, as a musical and theater-going experience, it was something else. They did a few versions: 1 act per night (went to a couple of those), and then the whole burrito in one night. It was cool to get there, see the first act, then have a dinner break with people of all ages and backgrounds sitting on the hallway floors of Walt Disney Concert Hall eating their box dinners, and then heading back into the auditorium for the rest of the opera. It was definitely one of those transcendent concertgoing experiences.
 
   
Regrettably missed them-- I dropped my LA Opera season seats when I moved up to Agua Dulce.
 
 

 

  Traveling during the year is a bit dicey for me, as my day job is an English teacher, though I do try to go on trips for Spring Break and New Year's. I'm taking two days off in September to go to opening night at the Met and a third to spend Labor Day weekend in Chicago (college town) but Tristan w/ Stemme and Rattle is an exception to the rule. The weekend in October would be a bit hectic; I'll try, but we get enough shows here in SF. (Why didn't you send Rag/Yggy stack to July meet here?) 
 
I admit I haven't yet been bitten by the Mahler bug. I've heard 2, 4, 7, and 9 at the CSO, and the rest on record (usually Solti or Sinopoli, though I'm listening now to 5 w/ Walter and the NYP). So much of his music (eg the finale to the fifth, which is going on now) gives me the impression of being cute in a sappy sort of way without the severity and rigor that I love so much in Wagner. Now, I have time—I am young—but my next horizon seems to be the C20—Schoenberg, Alban Berg, Webern, Ligeti, Boulez, Reich, Adams, Glass, Poulenc, etc. I do not give up on Mahler, and try to listen to a whole symphony every few months, but it may be that he is simply not what my ear desires...though that may change.
 
Here's a question about Meistersinger. When Kothner calls the Mastersingers to order in Act I to hear Walther (on the line 'Nun, Meister'), there begins an imperious theme that I've had difficulty tracing throughout the rest of the opera. Is there a clear semantic meaning to this music? Where else does it appear in the opera (explicitly or subtly)? 

 
 
Mahler was my gateway to classical music.  Whereas I believe I am being objective, my Mahler preferences may be inspired at least partially by sentiment.  I've had difficulty appreciating the Second Viennese School.  I used to believe it was best played to drive out unwanted company, even given my hard science academic background.  I then was born again thanks to Moses und Aaron.  As a result of our exchange, I have been listening to the Furtwangler/Flagstad/Suthaus Tristan und Isolde and am re-amazed.  Next up is my favorite forest bird, Dawn Upshaw in Gorecki's 3rd. 
 
I will soon again listen to Meistersinger and listen for the theme you mention.

 

[wink]

  I wonder if Baldr had a chance to attend these concerts, but a few years ago when Esa-Pekka was still directing the LA Phil, they put on something called the Tristan Project which was a full staging of Tristan&Isolde, but on an orchestral stage so the set (designed by Peter Sellars the theater director, not the actor) was minimal, but they had these huge 30-foot projections of slo-mo video by Bill Viola. To say that it was trippy was an understatement, especially the Liebestod when the video was of someone rising off an altar while water fell up all in super slo-mo. Anyway, as a musical and theater-going experience, it was something else. They did a few versions: 1 act per night (went to a couple of those), and then the whole burrito in one night. It was cool to get there, see the first act, then have a dinner break with people of all ages and backgrounds sitting on the hallway floors of Walt Disney Concert Hall eating their box dinners, and then heading back into the auditorium for the rest of the opera. It was definitely one of those transcendent concertgoing experiences.
 
Here's some example footage that were first used here in LA. You can see the Liebestod water scene starting around 1:40:
 

Yeah, nice and heavy.
Perhaps you could even extend your tastes to some real classicx, such as:-
 

 

[Baldr]

Quote:Originally Posted by wink /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Yeah, nice and heavy.
Perhaps you could even extend your tastes to some real classicx, such as:-
 
 

 
 
The lonesome tenor voice in Sir Mix a Lot's Baby Got Back never fails to bring a tear to my eye.

 

[ThePianoMan]

The second viennese school remained quite impenetrable to me until I studied for a few years with one of the leading music theorists and performers of contemporary music. Underneath the Tone Rows, strict structure and dissonance Schoenberg, Webern and Berg are actually deeply romantic composers. Webern's music the most analytical on the surface and hardest to approach. Webern also had a terrible taste in poetry, although the music in his songs is brilliantly composed. Schoenberg's early works such as the Hanging Gardens and Pierrot Lunaire are more accessible, as is Berg's five Songs for Orchestra for example. Verklarte Nacht by Schoenberg is rather corny, but it has some pleasant moments too. Berg's music is really an amazing fusion of serialism and romantic orchestral writing. Schoenberg's piano concerto played by Mitsuko Uchida is wonderful. She really nails the subtle lyricism and long line most miss in this music. The music actually reminds me quite a lot of Baroque music because it is so formally structural. Schoenberg's Guerre-Lieder is absolutely beautiful too if you enjoy more romantic music, and Schoenberg's Survivors from a Warsaw camp is a haunting piece up there with Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time. The last movement of the quartet for the end of time is a spiritual experience (and I don't say that lighlty) If you enjoy Moses und Aron, you may enjoy Berg's Lulu or Wozzeck as well, and Strauss' Salome. Salome particularly is a compelling opera to me. There's nothing quite like the Interlude from Wozzeck though, it's up there with some of biggest, most bombastic pieces in classical music. Tough music to understand, even for the super highly musically educated, but when it reveals itself it can be stunning. 
 
I do find it rather amusing that Schoenberg believed his music was going to be the music of the future, he went on record saying it would be played on the radio 50 years after his death, and that people would not consider it dissonant. Talk about wrapped up in one's ego! I'm sure he'd squirm if he could see Sha na na : )
 
I'm a huge fan of more recent work particularly John Adams and Steve Reich. Eight Blackbird does some excellent work as well. 

 

[Letmebefrank]

Mike, I received my Modi Multibit today. I sat here awestruck like a vegetable listening to my favorite album for about an hour before posting this initial impression. I know you said earlier you aren't a big Floyd fan these days but the sense of space and the clarity of the mix by Alan Parsons is amazing on DSotM. Multibit really brings the 24/96 vinyl rip to life.
 
I was a bit skeptical about Multi bit making that much of a difference... boy was I wrong. 
 
Thank you sir. My ears have never been happier.
 
-Frank

 

[kstuart]

Originally Posted by Baldr /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Quote:
 
Next up is my favorite forest bird, Dawn Upshaw in Gorecki's 3rd. 
 

I have that recording and it is highly recommended.
 
People have it only if they were listening to classical music in the early 1990s, when it was a bit of a fad.