In general I'll choose an excellent performance over excellent fidelity.. But it really depends on my mood. Sometimes I want to hear what a particular group of singers & musicians have wrought.. Sometimes I want to dive into the soundstage, relish the sheer lack of distortion, and glory in the tone quality & slam. In any case, though, spitty sibilants drive me nuts.
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.
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- 43 posts total
- 43 posts total