Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #3)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by -Ben, Dec 7, 2008.

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  1. -Ben

    -Ben Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Washington DC Area
  2. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    Got a bit of a curiosity tonight: an Ormandy Nutcracker Suite, reissuing a Columbia LP, remastered with DSD--but NOT an SACD. Is this sort of thing common? I didn't think DSD was in use for consumer releases except in the SACD world.
     
  3. PreciousRicky

    PreciousRicky Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY, NY USA
    Haydn
    Die Schöpfung (The Creation)
    Karajan, BPO
    DG
    1969

    I wasn't sure I would like this(choral music doesn't do it for me most of the time) but I did. Rousing.
     
  4. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Mostly jazz yesterday. But last night:

    Russian Violin Concertos (Khachaturian, Prokofiev No. 1 and Glazunov)
    Julia Fischer/Russian National Orchestra - Kreizberg
    Pentatone SACD 2004

    I bought this disc a while ago, but last evening was the first time I just sat back and listened to it. The music was new to me, and very appealing.

    This morning:

    de Machaut - Motets
    The Hilliard Ensemble
    ECM CD 2004

    On a point from the now-locked part 2, I do get down to J&R once in a while. The entire CD department (not just classical) is nowhere close to what it was. More than anything else, it looks like the stepchild. I started going to J&R in 1978 and watched the rise and fall.

    But with the departure of Tower (and HMV) it's the best we have. The Times Square Virgin Megastore has some selection. I don't get to the Union Square store very often.
     
  5. coopmv

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

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Our views on the current J&R classical department are exactly the same. Its best years were when it was in a separate building from the rest of J&R and occupied two floors and the basement. It rapidly went downhill once it was combined with other types of music. I stopped shopping there a number of years ago.
     
  6. coopmv

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

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Bill/Jay, I started playing the first disc of the Helmut Walcha's JS Bach Organ Works very early this morning. What a revelation it was! He is indeed the best organist I have ever heard. While I do have a number of his recordings on LP, they have been largely forgotten since I rarely play my LP's. This will hopefully change when I start my vacation in a week. The most amazing aspect of Walcha's life and accomplishment was, he had been blind since he was 19. I was stunned when I read about this in the following wiki article. Even someone with a 20/20 vision could not have played the organ the way Walcha did.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmut_Walcha
     

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  7. George P

    George P Way Down Now

    Location:
    NYC
    Really? Their new releases section is pretty comprehensive IMO. I see stuff there from labels that I don't see in any other brick and mortar stores. Also, they have actually expanded into another room, which is now exclusively vocal/opera CDs.

    On the same floor, they have a small section for Audiophile pop/rock stuff. I hope to get my AF CDs there when they start coming out.
     
  8. coopmv

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

    Location:
    CT, USA
    I think I last walked into the store about 3-4 years ago and what I noticed was a downward spiral. The selections just got smaller and smaller compared with the time prior to the classical department was first moved from its own building.
     
  9. George P

    George P Way Down Now

    Location:
    NYC
    I have 373 Beethoven CDs. Multiple recordings of the sonatas, symphonies, string quartets, piano concertos and various chamber works. He is my favorite composer. I identify with the tension and struggle in his works. From what I read of his life, there was a lot of similarity between mine and his.

    Chopin and Schubert have gained ground over the years for me, as I have heard better and better interpretations of their work in the last few years. Bach and Mozart occupy a special place in my listening. Bach is wonderful for those days when I identify with the intellectual side of my nature. No other composer satisfies this for me. Mozart's balance, beauty and order calms me when life gets stressful there are times when I only want to listen to Mozart. Listening to Rachmaninov can get me out of a depression better than any other music. His music has a way of uncovering repressed feelings and setting them free. For this, I will always feel something very special for his music. I am a big believer in Music Therapy and feel that music absolutely has the power to heal. I almost studied for a Masters in Music Therapy at NYU, but the audition revealed that I was not proficient enough in two instruments. I got a late start and had to come to terms with this.
     
  10. George P

    George P Way Down Now

    Location:
    NYC
    I never knew them in those days, so perhaps that's why I think they are fine. Like I said, last year they expanded the classical department to a third room. Also, they have one of the managers form the uptown Tower store. Sure, nothing like the selection at the uptown Tower Records, but I'd rather have less selection and competitive prices than great selection at retail prices. I hate paying retail for any CD. All of JandR's stuff is a few bucks below retail and often cost the same as if I had bought it online.
     
  11. OE3

    OE3 Senior Member

    Non-SACD DSD

    Yes, Sony Classical 'Great Performances' reissues from 2004-2006 were both non-SACD DSD. Sony Studios engineers got those recordings to sound as good as they ever will, in some cases bettering SACD mastering (e.g. Glenn Gould Two- and Three-Part Inventions 2006 remaster by Andreas Meyer). Sadly, there have been no GP releases in USA in almost two years.
     
  12. Jack White

    Jack White Senior Member

    Location:
    Canada
    I believe that all of Columbia/ Sony/ Legacy's SACD releases were re-issued as DSD CDs. Off the top of my head, I can think of a "Copland conducts Copland" DSD CD in my music library (amongst others).
     
  13. OE3

    OE3 Senior Member

    Great Performances

    Most were straight redbook DSD reissues of masters prepared in the initial 1999-2000 SACD roll-out. However, latter-day GP titles done in 2006 after a graphic redesign were mastered by Andreas Meyer and are different restorations. Leonard Bernstein's Rhapsody in Blue/American in Paris is one and the aforementioned Two- and Three-Part Inventions is another (this title was released as SACD in 1999, DSD redbook in 2003 as GP, and again as DSD redbook with superior mastering in 2006 as GP again).
     
  14. Jay F

    Jay F New Member

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    I think Sony DSDed a number of its classical recordings intending to make them into SACDs, and changed its mind when SACD tanked. Then they had a bunch of DSDed CDs, so they released them as "remastered." I don't know this; I just assumed it.
     
  15. coopmv

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

    Location:
    CT, USA
    I have found JS Bach's works to be intellectually stimulating and even challenging. Beethoven's works tend to be more emotionally driven. This is why I have over 15 Complete Beethoven Symphonies on CD alone, though that is unlikely to repeat for his other composition types such as sonatas or chamber music. I will likely add another 100 JS Bach CD's to my collection over the next year. Top on the list will be the complete cantatas cycle by Nicholaus Harnoncourt and some other choral works such as Christmas and Easter Oratorios as I am almost done with the passions.
     
  16. coopmv

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

    Location:
    CT, USA
    During the good old days when the Tower stores were around, I never shopped there until they ran those big sales around the holidays. Tower Records had its pricing all messed up in my opinion. Its everyday price was always list price and that is a non-starter for me. J&R has always been better with its prices. The NYC sale tax and the shipping generally tend to wash each other out. As such, availability is key for me. Between Amazon and its MarketPlace partners, J&R has a hard time to compete on availability.
     
  17. coopmv

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

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Now playing: Handel Joshua
    Emma Kirkby and the King's Consort.
     

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  18. coopmv

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

    Location:
    CT, USA
    HvK did not record many choral works. I have this work on CD. BTW, I think the JS Bach St Matthew Passion (DG) and the Brahms German Requiem (EMI) by HvK/BPO are excellent recordings.
     
  19. darkmatter

    darkmatter Gort Astronomer Staff

    Excellent disc, Performance & sound :righton:
     
  20. coopmv

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

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Just listening to Emma Kirkby sing is well worth the price of the set. While the King's Consort performed just fine, I still prefer the older recordings Emma Kirkby made with the Academy of Ancient Music under Christopher Hogwood. I think many of those recordings are the gold standard for the respective works.
     
    bluemooze likes this.
  21. sungshinla

    sungshinla Vinyl and Forum Addict

    I have finally found an affordable and clean Hi-Fi A La Espanola conducted by Fennell on the original US Mercury Living Presence Stereo with FR-1, FR-1 on the dead wax and a color-back cover! Yippieeeeeeeeee!

    It does sound gorgeous!
     
  22. coopmv

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

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Now Playing: Brahms Complete String Quartets, Quintets and Sextets Disc 3
    Amadeus Quartet
     

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  23. Jay F

    Jay F New Member

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    Xmas music today.

    Lately I've spent a big chunk of time sending versions of "S/he Thinks I Still Care" (not classical, in a big way) back and forth with an old friend.
     

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  24. George P

    George P Way Down Now

    Location:
    NYC
    I love Christmas Classical music about as much as I don't love non-Classical music. So much great stuff. I intend to dig into my Gardiner JS Bach Sacred DG Box soon.
     
  25. coopmv

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

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Here is a nice one ...
     

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