2. music
  3. 1277149663

best recordings for a sense of scale

One of the main things that facsinates me about high end audio is it's ability to convey a sense of space. Play one album and your in a small jazz club with a very intimate feel, play a different album and you can very well be transported to a huge capacious expanse.

in this months Stereophile, one of the writers wrote, audiophiles at their best are custodians of many libraries.

That got me thinking it might be a good idea to open the question up:

What are the best songs you could recommend to best illustrate a sense of scale?

I'm personally not real interested in classical and opera which would be the obviouse choices.

Thanks for any help.
hahnzie
buff's avatar
buff
210 posts
 
Cowboy Junkies Trinity Sessions is the best non-classical or orchestra example that comes to mind.

Recorded in St Peter's cathedral I believe it has a very good sense of the space and the environment in which the recording took place.

There was also a follow up dvd made about 10-15 years later which showed the actual venue and had other famous musicians join the Cowboy Junkies and replay the album - included Natalie Merchant I think......
the_smokester
174 posts
 
If you mean a good sense of space, then I would suggest Duke Ellington's "Jazz Party in Stereo".
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,865 posts
 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/There-Are-Many-Sides-Night/dp/B000006XAU

Somewhat classical perhaps, but this live mostly acoustic guitar recording by Steve Hackett (former guitarist of (Genesis) really conveys the acoustics of the hall it was recorded in better than most recordings.
learsfool
1,215 posts
 
Oscar Peterson 6 at Montreux, for a nice jazz record on Pablo label. I could name many classical and opera selections, but you said you were uninterested.
More to discover