2. music
  3. 176418-89202

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.
 

 

rvpiano

Showing 1 response by jimcrane

jimcrane
174 posts
 

I agree that sound quality has a major influence on my enjoyment of a recording. If I have two recordings of the same piece, I’ll play the better recorded one far more often regardless of performance. This is especially true for recordings of pieces that are new to me. When I first heard Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues at home, it was Jarrett’s recording. A bit later I listened to Scherbakov’s (on Naxos?). I’m not so knowledgeable as to be able to rate the two, but I enjoy the sound of Scherbakov’s much more and, consequently, it’s the one I play.

From this site and others, I have the impression that many musicians find the sound less important than the performance, but I just don’t listen the way they do.

More to discover