I am into classical, just getting back into vinyl, so the latest vinyl releases from Hyperion suit me, especially their new recording of Beethoven Triple Concerto and their recent vinyl release of the Shostakovich Piano Concertos. I have used the SACD of the latter for years, especially the slow movement of the 2nd, to judge how much 'air' a system could reproduce.
Showing 4 responses by richardbrand
On the Shostakovich, the pianist is the brilliant Canadian Marc-Andre Hamelin. The newly released vinyl is a tariff short of the original CD / SACD release - it drops the Shchedrin concerto, which is a pity as it includes a jazz band. The digital versions were released in 2003. Hyperion is one of the best British recording labels for classical, and seem to be just getting into vinyl! The Beethoven Triple Concerto I was thinking of features Nicola Benedetti (violin), Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello) and Benjamin Grosvenor (piano) but is a new Decca (London?) release, not Hyperion. My mistake. I have ordered the new vinyl stampings of the 2001 recordings of Saint-Saens Piano Concertos from Hyperion with Stephen Hough, but they have not arrived yet. These recordings all get top reviews from Gramophone magazine and are available from Presto at https://www.prestomusic.com/ |
I took a vinyl copy of the Telarc 1812 when I auditioned the Holbo turntable! Almost all my vinyl pre-dates CDs, and I have a few dbx companded records which I can no longer play because my dbx capable player got stolen, together with everything else just before I did a round-world business trip. I listened to Quad speakers in LA and Salt Lake City, then visited Peter Walker of Quad in the UK who told me he thought classical CDs were brilliant. I bought Quad pre-amp, amp and ESL 63 speakers in the UK and an early Philips CD player in Singapore, plus every CD that I could find. I went through Australian customs with the amp in my suitcase, the pre-amp in my briefcase and declared the CD player. The customs officer invited his mates over, and as they opened the box, about 50 CDs fell out. It was the first CD player they had seen. No worries, mate, enjoy! I had to ship the speakers, and there was plenty of weight available, so my dad gave me his old Garrard 301 which I have just started to restore, hence I am buying selected vinyl again. (Wollongong City Library had a huge selection of classical records which they lent for free so not much need to buy any in my good old days). There is one Decca (London?) vinyl recording which I would use for auditioning, if I could get one at a reasonable price. It is Benjamin Britten's recording of his Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra which dates back to Decca's heyday around 1963. It has never been out of the catalog, at least in its digital form. Under 20 minutes long, it covers every instrumental section, until subsiding to almost inaudible triangle tickles then rising to a crescendo of complex cross rhythms. A serious critic has said it is his favourite piece of classical music, to boot! It is the only piece of music I needed to play when considering purchasing my KEF Reference 1 speakers - my dealer had it already queued up on his streamer! |
The latest Stuart and Sons 108-note concert grand piano also hits a very low 16-Hz - see Audiogon Discussion Forum on pianos! As far as I know, there is no technical reason why CDs should not go very subsonic - close to 0-Hz. |