[bosiemoncrieff]

As transported as I have been at Wagnerian venues, I always feel constrained and afraid of tapping my toes, as most Wagnerian opera patrons, particularly at the Met, will turn around or tap others on the shoulder disapprovingly.  ... An opera is full of introverted patrons.  A Dead concert is full of extroverted ones.  The music from an opera is very, very filled with awe and wonder - as is the whole of the experience from a Dead concert.  
I digress. 

I make a point to laugh openly and exuberantly whenever I'm amused by an opera performance. I watched Amadeus a few too many times as a young child, and have appropriated the movie's impression of Mozart's laugh. It's quite something to hear, for instance, when an obese Walther absurdly pulls his sword out in Act 2 of Meistersinger to fight Beckmesser (singing to Magdalena). 
 
Debating whether to wear something scandalous to opening night at the met. 

 

[Baldr]

  I make a point to laugh openly and exuberantly whenever I'm amused by an opera performance. I watched Amadeus a few too many times as a young child, and have appropriated the movie's impression of Mozart's laugh. It's quite something to hear, for instance, when an obese Walther absurdly pulls his sword out in Act 2 of Meistersinger to fight Beckmesser (singing to Magdalena). 
 
Debating whether to wear something scandalous to opening night at the met. 

The first time I attended James Levine's Der Ring at the Met I was amazed to see someone dressed in green trimmed gold boxing shorts (as boxer would wear) with a Green T-Shirt with Das Rheingold in huge gold letters.  Quite a few patrons stared at him with  pinched, constipated and furtive glances.  Sure enough, the T-Shirt lettering changed at every performance to the appropriate opera.  On the Gotterdamerung performance evening I finally sought him out and spoke to him.  It turned out that he was a Viennese tourist on his fifth Ring cycle.  He explained that the Staatsoper's dress code would not permit such garb, so he came to the Met assuming a more lax dress code -- he was right.

 

[Baldr]

 
Debating whether to wear something scandalous to opening night at the met. 

I double dog dare you!!

 

[rnros]

Rudy has moved on...

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/celebrities/index.ssf/2016/08/rudy_van_gelder_jazz_recording_engineer_obituary.html

Thanks for the passion, perfection, and most of all, the music.

 

[lauren312]

I was really impressed by the ESLs system because of its high quality. Even though I do exercise, it also works on great ways. It makes me so satisfied.

 

[Baldr]

Rudy has moved on...

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/celebrities/index.ssf/2016/08/rudy_van_gelder_jazz_recording_engineer_obituary.html

Thanks for the passion, perfection, and most of all, the music.

Wow,
What a loss.  These already classic recordings will be listened to a hundred years from now by future audiophiles in wonder of just how amazing those antique recordings sound; the giants he recorded are and will be well served for posterity.

 

[Vigrith]

That's so sad, what a tragic loss.

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

 
Wow,
What a loss.  These already classic recordings will be listened to a hundred years from now by future audiophiles in wonder of just how amazing those antique recordings sound; the giants he recorded are and will be well served for posterity.

I sometimes think that we'll never have Wagnerians such as we had in the '30s. Frida Leider, Max Lorenz, and Lauritz Melchior above all. Flagstad is good but Nilsson almost equals her. Is Kaufmann doing Siegfried anytime soon?

 

[rnros]

Wow,
What a loss.  These already classic recordings will be listened to a hundred years from now by future audiophiles in wonder of just how amazing those antique recordings sound; the giants he recorded are and will be well served for posterity.

True. No doubt as long as someone is left to appreciate Homo Sapien culture as we know it, the Van Gelder recordings will be valued.

Is it possible to imagine a history of Jazz without these Van Gelder recording sessions?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Gelder_Studio

 

[kstuart]

 

Wow,
What a loss.  These already classic recordings will be listened to a hundred years from now by future audiophiles in wonder of just how amazing those antique recordings sound; the giants he recorded are and will be well served for posterity.

True. No doubt as long as someone is left to appreciate Homo Sapien culture as we know it, the Van Gelder recordings will be valued.

Is it possible to imagine a history of Jazz without these Van Gelder recording sessions?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Gelder_Studio

This is a good point to mention that about the only group of recordings that are consistently "best" in the most recent masterings are those on "Blue Note" label that are released through HDtracks on 24/192 - generally mastered by Alan Yoshida and Bernie Grundman.  The six most popular works were done by Alan Yoshida and most of the rest by Grundman.   Of course, most if not all of these were originally recorded by Van Gelder.

 

[rnros]

 
This is a good point to mention that about the only group of recordings that are consistently "best" in the most recent masterings are those on "Blue Note" label that are released through HDtracks on 24/192 - generally mastered by Alan Yoshida and Bernie Grundman.  The six most popular works were done by Alan Yoshida and most of the rest by Grundman.   Of course, most if not all of these were originally recorded by Van Gelder.

Thanks. I'll have to look for some of these, haven't ventured into any of the remasters. I know Van Gelder also did some remastering in his later years.

 

[rnros]

  That's so sad, what a tragic loss.

True, but what he left behind!
Astonishing that in the fifties this thirty-year-old audio-geek-musician-optometrist was recording in his parents living room with the likes of Miles, Monk, Mingus, Coltrane, Rollins, Milt Jackson, Horace Silver, the list goes on... And selling those sessions to Blue Note and Prestige. His recordings put a smile on my face but so does his story!

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

Looks like next summer at Bayreuth they're doing the mature canon: ring, meistersinger, tristan, and parsifal. I'll be there!

 

[limelake]

Just curious Mr. Moffat......whatever happened to the original GAIN system you helped build at Mobile Fidelity ? Did someone purchase it ? It would be great if someone is using it and still mastering CD's and such with it.

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

here's another question: which digital source do you hate least? Jason goes on and on in SH about how you compulsively follow "USB" with "barf," but i'm curious what your gold standard is.