Opinion: Half of the reason to listen to choral works is the acoustics in the recording


As I was listening to KCSM ( I always want to call it KFC)  this morning I got a big dose of choral music and I thought to myself that for this particular type of music, the recording venue is at least half as important as the music if not more so.  Perhaps no other type of recorded music has so much of an implicit dependence on the original room acoustics, and therefore, demands our own listening environment be more receptive than average.


erik_squires

Showing 1 response by bdp24

The @newbee recommendation is a real good one (as are many other Harmonia Mundi---both French and USA---recordings).

In your hunt for LP’s, keep a look out for any of those on the ARK Records label. ARK was loudspeaker designer Robert Fulton’s (FMI---Fulton Musical Industries. Did you ever hear his Model J, or even the Model 80? JGH gave them rave reviews) record company, releasing recordings he made of local Minnesota church choirs and organists (he captured the sound of pipe organs as few have, including that of the 32’ pipe, which produces a 16Hz tone!).

In addition to the exceedingly natural vocal timbre and performance venue acoustics Fulton captured on his Crown, his recordings have inner detail rarely heard: each individual voice in the complex choir tapestry can be heard. Genuine, true audiophile-quality recordings. Whether or not you like the music is a separate question