Most Realistic Recordings


I was recently listening to my daughter practice the piano and I was enjoying quite a full-body sonic experience. I later went to my system and picked out a few piano recordings that I suspected were recorded well, but as I listened, I just didn't have anything close to the same experience. The piano just didn't sound right, nor nearly as full as I had just experienced while listening to my daughter. I know what pianos sound and feel like. I grew up playing many different types and understand their differences. I've done some research on recording pianos and have learned they are particularly difficult to record well.

As I've delved deeper into this audio hobby/interest and acquired more respectable gear, the more general question that keeps coming to my mind is this: How did this music sound at the time it was recorded? (presuming it was a person playing an instrument, not something "mixed" or electronic). Meaning, if I had been in the room, would I have heard or felt the same? Or is there something about the recording setup/micing/mixing/etc. that has failed to capture the moment? Or has the audio engineer intentionally filtered some of that out?

Now, being an audiophile (i.e., a music lover) has many paths and many goals. For me, I love lots of different kinds of music and am not too caught up in the ever changing landscape of audio gear and the need to try something new. I hope to get to the point where a well-captured recording sounds realistic in my room on my system. I like full-spectrum sound (i.e., if the note/sound is in the track, I want to hear it). I know that accurate, realistic reproduction through any system is depends a great deal on the equipment and the room it's being played back in. I don't expect my system to give me that jaw-dropping "I'm there" experience (yet), but some day I hope to get there.

So, to my question above, I would very much love to hear if anyone feels they have heard an album, a track, a recording of some kind that could be used to test out the "realism" of one's system. What would you say is a recording that more accurately captured the sonic hologram of the moment it was performed. Any genre is ok. And if you think a particular studio/company does this well, I'd love to hear about it!

And, please, I don't want the conversation to about gear or room treatment. This is about the recording itself, the source material, and how accurately the entire moment is captured and preserved. I respect everyone's personal experiences with your system, whatever it's comprised of. So, please don't argue with each other about whether a recording didn't sound realistic to you when it sounded realistic to someone else. Let's be civil and kind, for how can you deny what someone else's ears have heard? Thank you! I'm excited to learn from you all!

tisimst

MA recording does have a lot of piano recording and they sound so real and price is cheap.Sally Harmon has a piano recording that sound so real. Mapleshade is onother one. Check it if they have piano only cd.

@tom8999, I'm with you there. This is great to hear so many ideas for well-captured recordings. I'm excited to add all of these to my collection.

Thank you for this thread. Great stuff!  In my experience, smaller groups/ensembles are easier to “get me in their room” or “get me in theirs.” I’m always looking for larger, more complex music/recordings. in my experience, listening with eyes closed helps…

Most Sheffield Sound Labs recordings.  Pat Coil, Micheal Ruff are very good.

James Taylor Hourglass-“Enough To Be On Your Way” personal favorite 

Steely Dan “Aja” and “Two Against Nature.”  Completely different sounding but totally there 

Eva Cassidy Live At Blues Alley.  Read an article saying Sonor Fabus uses cuts from this record as reference  

Cannonball Adderley Something Else- A recent surprise. Recorded 1958  Miles Davis and Cannonball sound forward and Real. In your room.

Any recording by Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band.

Pat Williams Big Band album Aurora

John Gardiner’s recordings of the Beethoven Symphonies, especially #3 

The recent Boston Symphony recordings of the Shostakovich Symphonies. Stunning performances and beautiful recordings. 

+1 Keith Jarrett Koln Concert. Add to that Yesterdays Live. Keith is an audiophile, BTW. 
 

Frank Sinatra Only The Lonely. Another recent surprise. Recorded live with minimal mic-ing given when it was made. 

The most realistically-recorded piano recording I have heard is David Montgomery "The Piano" by Direkt To Disk Records.  He also did some others for this label and they show up on Ebay now and then. Also very good is "Nightfall" on the Naim Label.  Very well-recorded that captures the high harmonics of the strings inside the instrument.  "Bach on a Steinway" is also pretty good.  There are others, but I don't want this to get too long. 

Rachmaninoff concerto #3, Kondrashin / Symphony of the air with Van Cliburn on piano. Live concert recorded in 1958. Living  Stereo. Amazing!