2. music
  3. 195761-32629

The best reference is live music

For those of you who love classical music and care about imaging in your audio system, I recommend that you check out a San Francisco area group called Voices of Music.

They video record all of their performances and have most all of it on YouTube and free to access.  They are extremely well engineered recordings and more than worthy for the very finest audio systems.  What makes these recordings especially *useful*, as well as enjoyable, is that being video, you can see where all of the musicians are.  The best reference in audio is live performance.  Does  your system do an honest job of recreating the live performance?  Does your system give an image that at all matches what you see on the video?

Beyond this issue, Voices of Music is worthy to experience because they are very different from the large symphonic performances that most classical listeners hear.  Instead of the SF Symphony with 100 musicians, Voices of Music will typically have about 8 to 12 players.  There are some larger ensembles and some smaller.

They are an "early music" ensemble.  Just as rock 'n roll evolved from the early 1950's to what we have today, what we call classical music evolved as well.  The instruments evolved too.  A 19th century violin (what the musicians call "modern") has a neck pulled back, has steel strings and is engineered to be louder than an 18th or 17th century violin, which has a straighter neck and gut strings.  They are in fact, different instruments.

An 18th century instrument will articulate better.  The bow is lighter and faster than a 19th century bow.  Trumpets of that period had no valves.  Neither did French horns.  Flutes were typically wooden and had open holes.  That period also had instruments completely absent from "modern" orchestras.  If you haven't listened to a 1st rate early music ensemble, you're in for a totally new experience.

russbutton

Showing 3 responses by viber6

viber6
2,457 posts
 

As a performing violinist, I totally agree with russbutton.  Thanks for posting Voices of Music.  Look at Vivaldi RV 278.  The video shifts from about the 3rd row to extremely close when you see the intricate work of the solo violinist.  The sound is like the 3rd row.  In a reverberant space like that, to me even this is TOO DISTANT.  Too much reverberation which destroys the clarity when the small ensemble is playing together.  When the solo violin is playing alone, the clarity is good.  But put a medium size orchestra of 30 on that stage, and the clarity would be awful.  It would be a muddy mess.  Forget about a larger orchestra in a typical larger hall, sitting further away than the 5th row.  Compared to my Audiostatic 240 electrostatic speakers with great class D SS amps, I have the experience to know that I get better clarity at home.  I enjoy only the 1st row center in a hall, just considering sonics.  Mikelavigne is correct on that point.  Row M is totally bad.

Admittedly, I have the privilege of playing in groups where I am close to my fellow musicians.  That is an unparalleled experience where I hear maximum detail and appreciate the tonal sensitivity of instrumentalists and solo singers alike.  One group is in a small church.  The chorus is stands in the back of the orchestra about 25 feet from me in the front of the orchestra.  The chorus is severely muffled and muddy compared to musicians close to me.  Another video of Voices of Music has a solo soprano singer.  There is way too much reverberation which buries her tonal sensitivity.  I am shocked and delighted by the opportunity I have to hear singers 5 feet away from me who demonstrate much greater clarity in the minimally reverberant 5 feet of distance between us.

viber6
2,457 posts
 

@Stuartk Live music from a distant seat in the hall is radically different from where the mikes are.  The best position for full clarity and balance is the conductor's head--close up and centered.  I can enjoy music on youtube of 1930 recordings of my favorite musicians, forgetting about the sound, although even with those recordings, close mike sound is more musically enjoyable than more distant, muddy recordings.  Whether live or recorded, for me the priority is to hear the music with the greatest detail.  Often youtube has videos of solo piano with the score.  The piano score reveals lots of notes that are best revealed by recordings with greater clarity.  Most musicians strive to present interpretations with the greatest clarity and purity.  Even if his style is more vague, whatever it is, the recording should faithfully capture all his intentions.  Most of this is lost from a hall seat further away.  Try different seats--close and various rows back--to see what I mean.

viber6
2,457 posts
 

nsh123, 

Exactly!  The thrill of immersion in an orchestra/choir dwarfs the home audio system.  You were close to the action which no audience member can get.  Even the 1st row isn't acceptable to me, compared to the stage.  I admit I am spoiled.

Detail is the entire musical content enabled by full frequency extension.  This applies to a solo instrument or singer as well as the large ensemble.  I really don't understand why a music lover would not want to hear as much detail as he could perceive.  Whatever music he enjoys, full appreciation comes with more information retrieval.  Nuances of dynamic gradation and tonal subtlety come from detail.  The goal of every performer is to present the music in a balanced, pure and detailed way which always lets the listener learn more about the music.  The 16 first violinists must all play precisely together for best clarity.  Less skilled amateurs lack the clarity of pros.  The cohesive detail suffers and some of the music is buried  in the extraneous distortions, akin to muddy audio reproduction.

More to discover