Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #6)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by coopmv, Jan 30, 2009.

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  1. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    Well, that's the way I remember it, at least among those serious enough about classical music to follow reviews in the magazines and newspapers and try to make informed choices (that is, the reasonably discriminating general public with some awareness of recording quality--I can't speak to more hard-core audiophiles, but then, in those pre-Internet days finding a boutique issue aimed at the high end crowd was much more challenging than it is today, and most of us lived or died by what part of the mainstream issues the brick and mortar stores chose to stock). For example, I had a flyer from the Audio Control equalizer mfg. company published ca. 1980 that gave basic instructions for assembling and connecting a stereo system, and in one section of advice emphasizing that equipment choices are all about enjoying music, its examplar of classical recordings was "exquisite Deutsche Grammophon records from the '50s that sound better in mono than [others] in stereo," or words to that effect. Granted, it was referring to records earlier than current, but that same aura of quality still clung to DG products in the public mind. Mind you, even then I wasn't a DG groupie, because even then I just couldn't abide the label's "house conductor," but that's a different story.

    I should add that my experience was, and is, strictly in the US market. Perhaps things were different in Japan.
     
  2. yasujiro

    yasujiro Senior Member

    Location:
    tokyo
    Thank you very much for the explanation. :righton:

    As far as I remember, I saw many people talking about the problems like their multi miking distortions and the heavy equalizer treatment heard in the recordings of DG in the 80s in the U.S. and U.K.. And meanwhile Decca and EMI were already highly regarded by them. Rather Japan, along with Hong Kong and Korea, had the situation as you described. But by any means these are only my subjective impression.
     
  3. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    My recollection, too, is that DG and Philips recordings in the USA would often bear stickers that read "imported pressing," which was meant to convey a higher quality than their domestic counterparts. The recordings may have been only average, but the idea that they were "imported" brought a certain amount of perceived "poshness," at least for me at the time. OOOOooooo.....imported!
     
  4. yasujiro

    yasujiro Senior Member

    Location:
    tokyo
    The QC in disc pressing was really poor in the US of A at that time. :shh:
    However, I remember quite some instances in which the US vinyls, while with some noise and/or distortions, had deeper bass. It looked rather common that the European pressings had the deep, unwanted (for the Europeans) signals cut.
     
  5. aaronfirebrand

    aaronfirebrand Well-Known Member

    I really should have said "opinion".

    There's no way I'd call it an audiophile recording, but I wouldn't exactly call myself an audiophile, either.

    As an inexperienced listener, I've found some highly recommended works to be a bit difficult. The Strauss disc is more engaging to me at this point.

    On the other hand, I've really enjoyed some fairly esoteric material (Partch, Morton Feldman, Steve Reich).

    Of course, I grew up on Moondog and Captain Beefheart.
     
  6. aaronfirebrand

    aaronfirebrand Well-Known Member

    Thank you for that. I'll do so soon. Is that available on JSACD?
     
  7. aaronfirebrand

    aaronfirebrand Well-Known Member

    Thanks!
     
  8. yasujiro

    yasujiro Senior Member

    Location:
    tokyo
    I could not find it. Possibly it was a limited edition.
    However, from my experience, the JSACDs in the series sound readily inferior.

    BTW, Haitink is one of my favorite conductor. I attended his opera performances some times and always had fun!
     
  9. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    To me, the funniest instance of such a thing came when I encountered boxes and boxes of cheap LPs for sale at my college bookstore, set out on long tables in pretty much of a jumble and priced at a couple or three bucks a pop. Lots of really also-ran labels like Oryx and Saga, but each put on airs by sporting a glitzy gold sticker reading "A quality recording imported from EUROPE." (That said, I still have some of them that had some interesting off-the-beaten-track material on them, like an Oryx record of baroque music for two organs.)
     
  10. aaronfirebrand

    aaronfirebrand Well-Known Member

    Thanks again.

    I'm surprised to hear that any JSACDs are inferior to our domestic issues!

    I'm tempted to pick up Haitink's Beethoven 1-9 set. It's cheap, but I've read wildly varying reviews. Any thoughts?
     
  11. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    Oh, by the way, although most of us probably know this already, in case anybody missed it, this week's special at ArkivMusic.com is a Brilliant 35-disc box set of Brendel's complete Vox/Turnabout and Vanguard recordings for $89.99, which is to say less than $3 per disc. I think one or another of the Amazon resellers may have it for slightly less, but that's still a pretty good price, I think.
     
  12. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    If you're looking for SACDs, don't know the Haitink set, but I'd commend Kurt Masur's set on Pentatone to your attention. These are '70s coproductions of Philips and East German Eterna, and I think they are a fine basic set available at a fairly modest price, something you could live with for a long time. Pentatone takes advantage of the multichannel capabilities of SACD to present them in their original quad configuration as well as standard stereo. Sonically not necessarily state of the art, but quite passable; the performances let the music speak persuasively without imposing personal idiosyncracies, and the vocal work in the 9th is really beautiful. As such, they make a good starting point for learning the works before venturing into more "personal" territory like Toscanini or Furtwangler or what have you.
     
  13. yasujiro

    yasujiro Senior Member

    Location:
    tokyo
    The SACD is the EU 'import'. I've never seen the USA pressing.
    I've not listened to the Haitink set. But I would think you can't go wrong with it in terms of the interpretations.
     
  14. RussellG

    RussellG Forum Resident

    I haven't heard Haitink's Beethoven, but I can highly recommend Leibowitz with the Royal Philharmonic from the early 60's, on Chesky (mind you I've only heard the disc with Symphony 6 & 8 on it, but the rest of the cycle is very highly regarded as well). If you like the sound on the Living Stereo SACD's (and I agree the Strauss one with Also sprach Zarathustra and Ein Heldenleiben is wonderful), if anything, Chesky's remastering technology from the mid 90's sounded even better!
     
  15. yasujiro

    yasujiro Senior Member

    Location:
    tokyo
    And the recording itself was one of the great jobs by the G-R-E-A-T mixer, Kenneth E. Wilkinson!
     
  16. RussellG

    RussellG Forum Resident

    Ah yes, my remarks on Chesky's work should not detract in any way from what was obviously superbly recorded material in the first place.
     
  17. yasujiro

    yasujiro Senior Member

    Location:
    tokyo
    In his lifetime, Wilkie made only two complete cycle (and one which is almost complete) of Beethoven Symphonies. Another set is Solti and Chicago's first cycle.
    These two automatically became the two best sounding cycles ever produced in the history of recorded music. However, there has been no good reissue of Solti's cycle that deserves its great sound. A shame.
     
  18. George P

    George P Notable Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Who was the conductor for the two complete cycles?
     
  19. Jay F

    Jay F New Member

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    I remember the first time I bought a DG LP, a cheapie with said "house conductor" playing Pachelbel and Albinoni. When I brought it home, both of my roommates and some girl who was over visiting all started kvelling about "Oh, Deutsche Grammophon," the way they might have if I'd brought home a really good bottle of wine, or some tenderloin to make for dinner. Yeah, DG had a coolth factor in the USA (in 1982, btw).
     
  20. yasujiro

    yasujiro Senior Member

    Location:
    tokyo
    Rene Leibowitz and Sir George Solti.
     
  21. George P

    George P Notable Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Thanks!

    :)
     
  22. RussellG

    RussellG Forum Resident


    That Leibowitz cycle keeps coming up again and again George. You know you want it ;)

    Mind you, it mainly keeps coming up because I keep mentioning it :D
     
  23. George P

    George P Notable Member

    Location:
    NYC
    I need more Beethoven like I need more hair loss. :D
     
  24. George P

    George P Notable Member

    Location:
    NYC
    I just read that Leibowitz is a lot like Toscanini in much better sound. I'm now a few steps closer to trying a disc out, probably the one with 4 and 7.
     
  25. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    Based on what I heard during our Beethoven syms. discussion thread, my take was that L. was a bit more "classical" than T.--which is to say, somewhat more reserved, but very nicely done. Of course, I never got past no. 2 with L., so....
     
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