Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #63)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by George P, Nov 22, 2014.

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  1. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Now playing the following CD from my early music collection for a second listen ...

    [​IMG]
     
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  2. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Would have preferred a soprano singing the Cantata 140 over a boy soprano. Unfortunately, HIP really means only boy soprano is allowed. At least the late Christopher Hogwood relaxed the rules a bit to give us the wonderful Emma Kirkby in many other baroque choral works ... :righton:
     
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  3. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    This was a PITA comparison going back and forth between the not-very-responsive DG website on my iPad and the Spotify app, but for the Mozart, I had a slight preference for the version on Spotify.
     
  4. Fafner88

    Fafner88 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Haifa, Israel
    The reason is that the watermark noises are relatively low volume, so they are more easily audible on soft passages and sustained notes- when the music is louder or faster it's less of an issue. But also if you listen to the Debussy piano samples, it gives the piano sound an odd vibrato quality, which pretty much ruins it.

    But it's supposed to be the same remaster on both Spotify and DG's website.
     
    Last edited: Nov 25, 2014
  5. scompton

    scompton Forum Resident

    Location:
    Arlington, VA
    I prefer women to most countertenors as well, although it's not universal. I think quite a few men who sing those parts are really at the very edge of their range.
     
  6. scompton

    scompton Forum Resident

    Location:
    Arlington, VA
    This really reinforces using streaming to check out albums I'm thinking of buying as opposed to having it replace buying the album. A big problem I also have with them is occasional hiccoughs in the stream due to connection problems or heavy CPU use.
     
  7. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Re the Debussy - I cannot play it on my iPad. I've stated this twice.

    Re the Mozart - they were close (and I couldn't A/B them very effectively), but my premium Spotify sounded slightly better to me. Is the download from DG at 320 kbps?
     
  8. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Interesting to follow the conversations on download/Spotify etc. When I buy computer, I almost always buy the fastest or the second fastest available at the time and have been using cable modem for years since I never care much for the DSL (is the FIOS any faster than cable modem?). At any rate, I think I will probably be like the present-day vinyl diehards when CD availability becomes much more limited ...
     
  9. scompton

    scompton Forum Resident

    Location:
    Arlington, VA
    Just looked and it looks like FIOS and Comcast are comparable price wise for the same speeds. Comcast has more tiers though and a higher top speed. I don't know if it's still true, but with cable, you used to share the pipe with a few of your neighbors. My father had it and he said he would notice a decrease in bandwidth when the neighborhood kids got home from school.
     
  10. Soulpope

    Soulpope Common one

    Location:
    Vienna, Austria
    [​IMG]

    (CD Sony Japan SCCI 485/88) - KV 330, 331, 332, 397 and 576
     
  11. Fafner88

    Fafner88 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Haifa, Israel
    But have you heard the fluttering on Spotify at the beginng? It is very noticeble, while on DG it's clean (and it's 256 kbs).
     
  12. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    No, I don't.

    I do agree with you that both the Dvorak nor the Beethoven 9th on Spotify (Premium in my case) were disappointing SQ-wise. In the case of the Beethoven, I was able to do an A/B comparison to both the redbook and DSD layers of my SACD. I am not ready to ascribe a cause to this.

    Listening to the first few seconds of the Mozart on my iPad though high quality IEMs, I was satisfied with the sound quality. I did not hear a significant difference between that and the version on DGs website (although I was unable to do a fast A/B-ing).
     
  13. Daedalus

    Daedalus I haven't heard it all.....

    Now playing the Schubert Rosamunde et al CD from the Decca Analog box. Karl Munchinger and Vienna Philharmonic. What a great box set to have in the collection!
     
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  14. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    I don't think this has much to do with internet connections or computer speeds. Actually, Time Warner just upgraded my internet speed (for free!), and I didn't even use my computer for these comparisons. My only techno glitch was that the DG website did not make it easy to play the samples on my iPad. It did not always respond to my finger on the touch screen, and I couldn't figure out how to jump back to the beginning of the sample to allow for effective A/B-ing.

    Edit - I suppose, I did use my computer a bit as my Squeezeboxes are controlled by the Logitech Media Center on my music server. But that was not a problem.
     
  15. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Haven't gotten to that one yet. Working my way back in time (as per the order of the discs in the set).
     
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  16. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    [​IMG]

    Now enjoying another recent $2 find. Both works are new to me. And apparently this CD is fetching almost $25 on amazon.
     
  17. J.A.W.

    J.A.W. Music Addict

    Schumann: Kinderszenen, Op.15; Kreisleriana, Op.16 - Martha Argerich - DG

    [​IMG]
     
  18. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    The first disc I ever bought by her. Recommended to me by Omus Hirshbein. From his obituary in the NY Times.

    A thin, avuncular man with a quick sense of humor, Mr. Hirshbein had a knack for getting people to believe that whatever he was enthusiastic about at the moment — a particular pianist’s Beethoven, the lesser-known works of Schubert, a restaurant he had just happened upon — was something you had to look into. And he used that knack to help shape New York’s concert life from the late 1960s to the early ’90s.

    So true.
     
  19. RelayerNJ

    RelayerNJ Forum Resident

    Location:
    Whippany, NJ
    I recently purchased Argerich's Chopin preludes (DG). Does anyone find her performances a bit rushed?
     
  20. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    No - I find them more than a bit Martha. :)
     
  21. J.A.W.

    J.A.W. Music Addict

    Not the Schumann. Haven't heard her Chopin.
     
  22. RelayerNJ

    RelayerNJ Forum Resident

    Location:
    Whippany, NJ
    Explain. I wasn't familiar with every prelude until I spun this a couple times.
     
  23. Fafner88

    Fafner88 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Haifa, Israel
    I do hear a significant difference, and it has nothing to do with the mastering or the EQ- and I don't have fancy headphones (Grado sr80i's). Maybe what happens is that the watermarks are removed for premium accounts.
     
  24. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Just referring to her intensity. I have this vague recollection of reading somewhere that she treated them as a single work.

    (For some reason, accessing some sites - not this one - are very slow today, so Googling has become a PITA. Otherwise, I would try to track it down.)
     
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  25. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    I think she's very good in Chopin, but I find others to be better. For the preludes, my favorites are Sokolov (Naive), Moravec (Supraphon), Lucchesini(EMI) and Fiorentino (online download.)
     
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