When will there be decent classical music recordings?


With "pop" music the recordings are such that you can hear the rasp of the guitar string, the echo of the piano, the tingle of the percussion ... and so on .... and in surround sound.
Surround sound is brilliant in picking out different instruments that would otherwise have been "lost" or merged with the other sounds.
Someone will say well that is not how you listen at a concert, but that is just archaic. As a friend said many years ago to me ... whats wrong with mono?!
I am sure Beethoven or whomever would have been excited if they could have presented their music in effectively another dimension.
I have yet to come across any classical recording that grabs me in the way it should, or could. Do they operate in a parallel universe musicwise?
I used to play in an orchestra so I am always looking out for the "extra"  presence in music ... in amongst it, not just watching and listening from a distance


tatyana69

As I mentioned, if you want recordings with mikes throughout the orchestra, check out the Deutsche Gramophone catalog.  They place mikes throughout the orchestra (almost in the laps of the musicians, in the early years), run everything through a mixer, and let their tonmeister, together with the artist, decide on the final balances.  Ironic that you call out a DG artist (HVK) who used the very technique you're calling for.  There are also plenty of mikes throughout the orchestra used by most recording engineers--Decca, EMI, Reference Recordings and most labels, in addition to their arrays in front of the orchestra, liberally use spot mikes in various sections, especially over the woodwinds or a soloist, to add presence to those instruments, depending on the particular piece being recorded. 

I found it illuminating when I listened to master recording files of the NJ Symphony Orchestra and other artists (such as the Kissin recital at Carnegie Hall) with Tim Martyn, their recording engineer, on my system running through his mixing console.  We were able to play with the levels of all of the many spot mikes throughout the orchestra, as well as the Decca tree with outriggers in front of the orchestra and the spaced omnis out in the hall used for picking up the hall ambience. I found that I'm not a purist by any means--if I were, I'd prefer just the omnis for the sound I heard in the hall, but that sounded way too vague and distant, and not at all what I'd heard in the hall.  This was especially true with the Kissin concert, where adding the mikes placed over the piano to the omnis out in the hall gave the performance life and presence that the omnis by themselves lacked.  Tim, as do many of today's classical recording engineers in conjunction with the artists, will use the spot mikes judiciously to add that presence and life to the music.  You would call for more of that, I guess, but as an amateur performer (singer in a number of choruses and vocal ensembles) and member of the audience I far prefer a slightly more distant perspective so I can hear the blend of voices and instruments called for by the composer.  To each his own.

Many thanks for those excellent comments. Yes Deutsche Gramafon recordings are ruined by Von Karajan lifeless presentation. I could  bash a tin can with more feeling than all his recordings put together.And there were FAR to many of them.
I wonder how I can search a catalogue for specifics of recording techniques, as you have mentioned?
It is very dispiriting. For example I must have 7 or 8 recordings of Schubert Impromptus and also of Tchaikowsky Violin Concerto (No 1 ha ..ha) yet only one of each is half decent. Strangely the best recording (sound and interpretation) of the Tchaikowsky was my cheapest - a vinyl lp at 99p. Quality seems to have no correlation with price, but we all know that ! .
And recordings of the most well known orchestras are often disappointing when compared with those lower down the hierarchy   And don't get me started on overrated engineers. Most of them couldn't tell a trumpet from a cornet, or a violin from a viola.
How do I track down the good ones????

 
Actually, I wouldn't overrate the engineers, it's the producers who have the most say in the final mix, along with the artists.  I would rate most Harmonia Mundi recordings, particularly those produced by Robina Young, as among the best I have heard on a consistent basis.  Take any recording of Nicholas McGegan and the Philharmonia Baroque, for example, those might satisfy your craving for both musical values and recordings with texture to the instruments (they're a small enough ensemble for that to work, I think).  That they had Peter McGrath and Tony Faulkner as recording engineers was a plus as well.  Also, Craig Dory's recordings of the Baltimore Consort on Dorian also might be worth your time.  Finally, as a rule I have felt Decca recordings, particularly where the recording engineer was Kenneth Wilkinson, seem to strike a reasonable balance between a broad picture of the orchestra and adding a little presence through some spot miking.
Hi been audiogoner for about 6years first recap i know exactly what you mean if want excellent classical recording it's called great Russian classics includes tchaikovskys1812 overtures my best clasicals cd knock your socks off let me know. Jeff 
A hearty seconding of rcprince's recommendation of the Harmonia Mundi label recordings. Great sound, great repertoire, great artists and performances. My favorite contemporary Classical label, by far.