Jump to content

Musical preference


Findus

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 135
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Also in addition to the Gould being the bomb diggity, I can heartily recommend the following recording without any reservation:

 

Martha Argerich's Rach 3 on the Phillips label with conductor Chailly. it is the benchmark with all sonic standards.

 

Also I encode all of my cd's in 64 kbps mp3 VBR on my 60 gb iPod. I'm not the highest end audiophile but it's good enough (i notice the shortcoming but don't care) for lugging around the max number of songs around on a portable setup.

Link to post
Share on other sites

PS,

I should have mentioned the Dire Straits as my (benchmark) band.

 

B+W CDM-7NT speakers selected from a number of speakers using a test disk

NAD 370 integrated amp

Rotel RCD-1070 CD

 

I would never have guessed that the Mark Knopfler, Emy Lou Harris album would be so strong.

 

Michael

Link to post
Share on other sites

I have a vinyl turntable. It is awesome but it is not portable. I'm afraid the iPod wins in many respects. I can lug around my complete collection of CD's. I bet that there are many who use the iPod regularly with their hi-fi systems.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest leica_mage
[...] I can heartily recommend the following recording without any reservation:

 

Martha Argerich's Rach 3 on the Phillips label with conductor Chailly. it is the benchmark with all sonic standards.

No! It does indeed boast a yellow sticker that reads: 'THE BEST RECORDING OF RACH 3' ('Rach 3' - the world is going mad!), but Argerich is in my opinion over-worshipped (for the same reason that Carlos Kleiber was - they appeared rarely and if so very hesitantly in public after a certain point). She is a brilliant pianist, but in the Rachmaninoff - though she is certainly effective because she has the bravura and draws on her own mental anguish (she is depressive) to give the music a tormented poignancy - at the pinnacle I would place both Rachmaninoff himself (Philadelphia Ormandy 1939/40) and Horowitz (especially the recordings with the NYPO under Barbirolli (1940/41) and the same forces under Ormandy (1978), the latter not being as "devastating" but perhaps even more penetrating for its penetrating lyricism lack of hystrionics). With LCT I distinctly agree about the Janis/Munch but would also add William Kapell (live 1948), and would certainly never be without the truly great Gilels (with Cluytens, 1955), who always brings a unique insight to all the music he touches.

 

Best,

Link to post
Share on other sites

...Horowitz (especially the recordings with the NYPO under Barbirolli (1940/41) and the same forces under Ormandy (1978)...

I do like the Ormandy version as well but i don't know the Barbirolli.

Any link to it K.P.?

thanks.gif

Link to post
Share on other sites

Albert

 

Argerich's Rach 3 isn't the best recording in the house by far, and the performance leaves a lot to be desired. Rachmaninoff's own recording is marvellous but he leaves a huge chunk out of the last movement. I often wonder if they lost a side and never bothered to re-record it. As Leica_mage points out, Gilels made one of the great recordings but he also makes cuts. I still have the original LP I bought back in 1957. I'm rather fond of Lazar Berman though he's not to everyone's taste.

 

If you want a great recording from the sound point of view, you can do no better than Petrushka and the Rite of Spring on Decca with the Montreal Symphony and Charles Dutoit. You'll need really good equipment to bring out the best though.

 

Bryan

Link to post
Share on other sites

Yes, but I didn't say that Argerich's Rach 3 is necessarily the best one played but the best one overall. I can't see a recording from the late 1950's have better sonic engineering than the recordings from the 1970's and 1980's. Sorry but the engineering and restoration can't match up to a higher quality recording at the 1st time than say, a Marston remake here.

 

I think that Kapell recordings are awesome but the RCA remastering need to be improved on. In fact, I pretty much stick to classical recordings made during the past 40 years as they are in stereo from the early 1960's. Mono recordings are just not able to capture the feel of the atmosphere as well as stereo. It's cool for historical purposes but that's about it.

 

Actually, Lupu has some awesome recordings too. Richter is probably my favorite pianist in general although I still think that Gould is the thinking man's pianist, the most intellectual of them all.

 

It's good that we can talk about classical recordings. Most kids my generation don't even know who Mozart is. Saddddddddddd.... :eek:

Link to post
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...