Getting into the groove of Classical music

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Re: Getting into the groove of Classical music

Postby Mamimili » Mon Aug 03, 2009 6:40 pm

In the mood for something to push my new phono stage a bit, i selected a sealed copy of Beethoven's 5th.
DG, Vienna Philharmonic, Carlos Kleiber.
For a sealed LP, too many tics and pops, but worst of all is reading the notes and seeing this comment:

"Everything Else is Gaslight" Von Karajan's unambiguous verdict on digital recording.

What a stupid comment to include with vinyl.
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Re: Getting into the groove of Classical music

Postby boytoy24 » Wed Aug 19, 2009 9:29 am

Image
Review By: Michael Fremer


This charming 1978 Harmonia Mundi release was a big audiophile favorite when vinyl was still king for reasons that will become obvious to you should you choose to pick up this Speakers Corner reissue.

The 17th century music, played with almost ponderous but appropriate dignity by the Clemencic Consort and arranged for both traditional western instruments (strings, cornets, trombones, trumpets, drums, lutes, virginals [an oblong plucked instrument similar to a harpsichord], harpsichords and small organs) and those found in Hungary and Transylvania at the time such as the cimbalom and the bagpipe comes from what’s called the Vietoris Codex (no relationship to MP3!) compiled around 1680 in the Hungarian- Slovakian-Ukranian and written in organ tablature.

Read the liner notes should you wish to know more. That’s what I did. What’s important to know is that this program includes dances, secular and spiritual songs, plus church and court music, all of which will conjure up fanciful images of medievals dancing and cavorting just as the cover painting of a couple dancing suggests.

The arrangements of the series of short compositions feature a wide variety of unusual instruments including the buzzy regal and the bombarde, a Cornish reed instrument that’s a cross between an oboe and the non-drone part of a bagpipe that produces melody. There are lutes, flutes, various percussion instruments, strings and brass, all combining to produce an ever-changing landscape of musical textures and tonalities.

The recording is a model of transparency, spectacular textural veracity (particularly the drums), harmonic fullness and staging bombast. The music’s mystery is well-served by a somewhat distant and depth-charged perspective, wet with reverberant ambiance.

You’ll feel immersed in the musical past, emotionally and physically and experience musical crosscurrents that combine British formality with what was, as the notes describe, music growing out of “ ...a unique cultural melting pot at the extreme fringe of the European world.”

I compared an original French pressing with a later bar-coded German one, and with this recent 180g reissue. The original French issue is best, containing both textural weight and cleanly drawn transient percussive sparkle. The bar-coded edition was bass-shy, and a bit too bright and “literal.” It missed the original’s mystery. The Speakers Corner reissue was somewhere in between, being sufficiently mysterious and deep but somewhat lacking in the original’s sparkle and airiness. Still, without comparison to the original, it is an excellent sounding reissue pressed on super quiet vinyl and well worth your attention.
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Re: Getting into the groove of Classical music

Postby TheAnalogSource » Wed Sep 09, 2009 7:31 am

no time to listen lately and these will take a lot of time.....

VIVALDI'S violin concertos

this is 18 lp set
Image

but still lacking so i have to get this to hopefully complete.
Image


:geek: :geek: :geek: :geek: 8) 8) 8)
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Re: Getting into the groove of Classical music

Postby TheAnalogSource » Wed Sep 09, 2009 7:35 am

there is a complete passion from the gospels in boxset too....but i only have the excerpt of the first one.

BACH ST. MATTHEWS' PASSION
DECCA ORIGINAL 2ND PRESSING OF 1967. WIDEBAND FFSS
very rare in nearmint condition

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:angel: :angel: :angel: :angel: 8) 8) 8)
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Re: Getting into the groove of Classical music

Postby Jon Agner » Wed Sep 09, 2009 10:20 am

halls wrote:no time to listen lately and these will take a lot of time.....

VIVALDI'S violin concertos

this is 18 lp set
Image

but still lacking so i have to get this to hopefully complete.
Image


:geek: :geek: :geek: :geek: 8) 8) 8)


So this is what's keeping you busy :)
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Re: Getting into the groove of Classical music

Postby TheAnalogSource » Wed Sep 09, 2009 7:53 pm

Jon Agner wrote:
So this is what's keeping you busy :)


yup....pambayad dyan jon ;( ;( ;( :sweat: :sweat: :sweat:
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Re: Getting into the groove of Classical music

Postby ordo » Fri Sep 11, 2009 6:14 pm

halls wrote:Image
:angel: :angel: :angel: :angel: 8) 8) 8)


:clap: :angel: :clap: :angel:
very nice... and nice to listen to such works.
got myself a week to finish listening the whole set of both sts. john and matthew's passion :D

nice :clap: sir halls.
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Re: Getting into the groove of Classical music

Postby chefharvard » Sat Sep 12, 2009 12:13 am

Winner! Nice Halls sana makakuha din ako ng copy nyan :D :) :clap: :clap: :clap:

ito poh yung sa akin

Image


Of the many St.Matthew Passions that I've heard on record, this one features perhaps the best solo singing. Voices are well matched (listen to "So ist mein Jesus nun gefangen", in which the soprano and alto perfectly match their vibrato, for example. Good grief, they sound like they've actually rehearsed!). The evangelist is superb and Walter Berry gives a once-in-a-lifetime performance. Woeldike provides relaxed tempi and space for the singers to express themselves. It sounds like they really mean it. The orchestral playing is superb (and sounds like chamber music during the most intimate numbers)..... :)
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Re: Getting into the groove of Classical music

Postby TheAnalogSource » Sat Sep 12, 2009 7:41 am

Thanks Father Ordo, Chefharvard....

frankly, i havent been indepth with the album yet... just a pass to check the playback condition :$ i'll try it this weekend. thanks for the reco :) 8)

hopefully, you'll also share some of your impression with your favorite classical pieces here for our aprreciation. :) :) looking forward to them ah. thanks in advance :)
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Re: Getting into the groove of Classical music

Postby ordo » Sun Sep 13, 2009 10:09 pm

halls wrote:Thanks Father Ordo, Chefharvard....

frankly, i havent been indepth with the album yet... just a pass to check the playback condition :$ i'll try it this weekend. thanks for the reco :) 8)

hopefully, you'll also share some of your impression with your favorite classical pieces here for our aprreciation. :) :) looking forward to them ah. thanks in advance :)


sure bro, why not ;)
just need some moment to determine which would really be my favorite...
halos lahat po kasi paborito ko :D :D
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Re: Getting into the groove of Classical music

Postby ordo » Sun Nov 01, 2009 10:05 am

info link for some DGG Label Collectors

http://fischer.hosting.paran.com/music/ ... -intro.htm

happy hunting and listening :D :D :D
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Re: Getting into the groove of Classical music

Postby paeng » Mon Jan 11, 2010 3:52 pm

Thanks to everyone for sharing what you have. I sold my phonograph player years ago, which is why I've been collecting classical music on CD since. I got most from the last few years of annual local sales, then several more from the Decca box sets on sale during one trip to HMV HK. Right now, HM has a box set of sacred music available, and I might order it online bec. the cost comes out to only around P150-200 a disk. DG and Chandos also has anniversary box sets for sale.
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Re: Getting into the groove of Classical music

Postby TheAnalogSource » Thu Feb 04, 2010 10:29 am

i usually shy away from DG digital until i listened to this....deep and weighty but still digital sounding....pwede na :)

Image

i think im beginning to enjoy contemporary classicals now 8)
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Re: Getting into the groove of Classical music

Postby TheAnalogSource » Thu Feb 04, 2010 10:31 am

some more recent DGs.... digital and not

Image
Image
Image

...NEARMINTS as guaranteed by BEBOP 8)
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Re: Getting into the groove of Classical music

Postby pican » Sat Feb 13, 2010 9:46 am

The beautiful 1st and 3rd Movements from Bruch's Violin Concerto performed by Annie Sophie Mutter and Kyung Wha Chung.
You be the judge.

1st Movement:


3rd Movement:
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Re: Getting into the groove of Classical music

Postby pican » Sat Feb 13, 2010 10:05 am

More violin music from Anne Sophie Mutter:

Anne-Sophie Mutter plays Mendelssohn violin concerto:



Anne-Sophie Mutter at 13 plays Meditation from Thais with Herbert Von Karajan:



Anne-Sophie Mutter plays Méditation from Thais much later:



Anne-Sophie Mutter - Air aus der Suite Nr. 3 von Johann Sebastian Bach 2008:



Zigeunerweisen played by Anne-Sophie Mutter:


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Re: Getting into the groove of Classical music

Postby ordo » Sat Feb 20, 2010 11:39 am

TAS wrote:i usually shy away from DG digital until i listened to this....deep and weighty but still digital sounding....pwede na :)

Image

i think im beginning to enjoy contemporary classicals now 8)


pwedeng pwede po talaga sir TAS... for sure deep and weighty esp sa Candide Overture
:clap: :clap: :clap:
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Organ Music from Westminster

Postby audiostar » Sun Feb 28, 2010 11:04 am

Sunday Life
The Philippine Star

'Clair de Lune'
AUDIOFILE By Val A. Villanueva
Sunday,February 21, 2010

Image

I almost got burned by this third movement of Suite bergamasque by Claude Debussy. Years ago, I had an earful of it each time my second car, which I had bought from a friend, blared out a poorly recorded excerpt from Clair de Lune whenever it was backing up. It was the in thing in the mid-80s when cars came equipped with a sound gadget which aimed to warn inattentive motorists and pedestrians that a car was about to rear-end them. The tune was as irritating as it was fancy; I got rid of it as fast as I could. Suddenly, the tune became a garbage call in the neighborhood of my parents’ home in Santa Mesa. You could hear it three times a week at the break of dawn from a public address system mounted atop the garbage truck. Yes, it was time to get your garbage out, oh boy!

Clair de Lune, inspired by Paul Verlaine’s poem, is easily the most recognizable piano piece, but I never realized that it would sound gloriously from a pipe organ. Hearing it again after all these years, made me realize that there is much to appreciate from the piece. I haven’t heard Clair de Lune’s organ version of French composer Louis Vierne, but I gathered it was from him that Dr. Edward D. Berryman (S.M.D, Organist) drew the inspiration when he recorded it along with other classical masterpieces in the 1971 album Organ Music From Westminster (Ark Records).

The album is the latest in my ever-growing pipe organ music LP collection, which include Michael Murray’s The Great Organ At Methuen (Telarc), and Virgil Fox’s At The Organ Plays Johann Sebastian Bach and On Top of Bach (Command Classics). Westminster, however, stands out as the most accurately recorded among them. The album was recorded at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Record engineer R. W. Fulton pulled out all the stops to ensure that the mighty eloquence of this Kimball organ will be faithfully captured. The pipe organ was built in 1927. Its principal reed and choruses were replaced in 1958, and it was totally revoiced in 1971.

There’s something about this magnificent royal-looking musical instrument that can leave one awestruck. It is solemn and at the same time playful; it can evoke different emotions from a single track. Majestical, mystical – the sound from this ostensible ‘king of instruments’ has been unfortunately thrown into oblivion and relegated to church music. And even in churches, the organ only serves as an accessory to choir hymns. This is totally disheartening because an affluence of good concert music was exclusively written for the organ.

The pipe organ is also one of the better ways to gauge how well your sound system widely reproduces the audible frequency range. In a well-configured system, you can expect to feel the deepest lows. In an organ, one pipe equals one pitch, far different from other orchestral instrument, like the flute or trumpet, which can produce multiple pitches through the keys on the instrument. There are no keys or holes in the pipes of the organ to control the pitch. An organ pipe’s pitch is determined by the length of the pipe. If I’m not mistaken, the longest pipe is where those floor-crawling 14 hertzes come from.

How well your analog sources team up to retrieve otherwise hidden musical information determines how the pipe organ will finally sound in your system. The plinth, platter and tonearm should as much as possible be made from materials that ensure complete isolation of the turntable from vibrations; the tonearm tracking should be precise; the motor should be able to rotate exactly at 33.3 or 45 rpm, and the cart should be able to accurately ‘scratch’ the record’s groove to retrieve even the faintest musical information – these are just some of the things which make an analog system well-configured. And if your system is such, then you will no doubt be able to hear the heavenly music contained in Dr. Berryman’s Organ Music From Westminster.

Both sides of the album contain masterpieces that will glue you to your ‘sweet spot.’ Fantasy In Echo Style by Jan Sweelink, Adagio-Allegro-Adagio by W. A. Mozart, Finlandia by Jan Sibelius and selections form Pastolare by J.S. Bach, Louis Vierne’s Scherzo From Symphony II , Clair de Lune selections for Sonata V by F. Mendelssohn, and the finale from Symphony VII by C. M. Widor -- all of these selections have those pleasantly jolting lows with the slithering air movements that can either shake your seat or tickle your toes.

For comments or questions, please e-mail me at audioglow@yahoo.com or at vphl@hotmail.com. You can also visit http://www.wiredstate.com or you can tweet audiofiler at http://www.twitter.com for quick answers to your audio concerns.
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Re: Getting into the groove of Classical music

Postby Mamimili » Sun Feb 28, 2010 11:36 am

Val, i grew up with the sound of a church pipe organ so this brings back fond memories and also reminds me of how stupid people can still be in this so called information age :@
My family were the main founders of the village church so the organ "belonged" to my grandmother, she would play that monster with real passion but when the church was rebuilt, the idiots cut it up and scrapped it :o :o I told my mother to wait and let me work out something but all she said was "You are too far away, it has to go".

The pipes were French powder blue with very ornate gold leaf decoration, cathedral style, of the pipes on show the center pipes must have been at least 2 stories high and there were hidden pipes as well. As a kid it was my job to pump the bellows (hard work) while my grandmother played, she also had a rear view mirror to see who was late for church or not singing! I can't remember how many pedals that thing had, but they seemed to fill my view and i was amazed at the work she had to do with her feet.

Yet another missed opportunity! I don't remember anyone asking me to learn to play it, of course i was too dumb to ask :(
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Re: Getting into the groove of Classical music

Postby audiostar » Sun Feb 28, 2010 2:43 pm

Thanks for sharing this bit of your life story Paul. At least here something is being done to preserve the bamboo pipe organ in Las Piñas. The folks there have done a marvelous job in restoring and maintaining it to its original form. They hold concerts every now and then and the organ is not only a sight to behold; the sound can really be uplifting :)
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