SQ or performance?
In classical music, how much does the sound quality influence your enjoyment of a particular piece? I find it plays a large part. A recording is an artifact in itself. There are many factors which contribute to the final product. And even a great performance can be sabotaged by poor engineering, poor pressing, poor microphone placement and the like. Conversely, a mediocre performance can be attractive to us because of sterling acoustics.
In “historical” recordings we may allow for bad sound, but in contemporary performances the sound can have a significant bearing on our perspective.
Also, our appreciation of a given performance can be affected by other factors. For example, if we grew up loving a certain version, all others may suffer by comparison in our view.
Well I like the "Opry" and Chet Atkins. I like the 50-60s. Enrico Caruso was my fathers favorite, the recordings were pretty bad. I think they were on wire or something. I didn't dare go near it. I tip-toed around that guy. He did encourage me to be good at listening and not at talking. :-) When I hear the younger newer media it still reminds me of that old wire recorder he used when the right song comes on. I like your post mahgister. Nothing like putting a fine point on things. :-) |
