Well, I suppose it is a function of hearing acuity, perhaps also a question of having absolute pitch or not. I don't know. I listened to a lonely flute player in a Zurich park yesterday and the way his tones formed and carried had plenty of air. Afterwards I went home and listened to solo flute music, similar to what was played outside on this beautiful spring day and at least a third of the air was gone. "Air" is what lets the music spread in space and our stereos certainly have (indeed sometimes shockingly!) less of it. Especially as far as orchestral music on CDs, without upsampling are concerned.
I agree partly with Jetter, that you can listen to a musical interpretation as a cohesive whole. But then, I suppose its training, you can easily focus on a single, or a group of instruments, even in big orchestral music. What do you suppose conductors do, when in rehersals they form the sound of a given orchestra according to their ideas of interpretation? Even during a tutti, they have to differentiate their hearing to grasp what the horns, the celli, the woodwinds etc are doing and this goes down even to single players of whatever section. Cheers,
I agree partly with Jetter, that you can listen to a musical interpretation as a cohesive whole. But then, I suppose its training, you can easily focus on a single, or a group of instruments, even in big orchestral music. What do you suppose conductors do, when in rehersals they form the sound of a given orchestra according to their ideas of interpretation? Even during a tutti, they have to differentiate their hearing to grasp what the horns, the celli, the woodwinds etc are doing and this goes down even to single players of whatever section. Cheers,