In Classical music the effect of SQ on appreciation
In classical music there are often many different versions of a single composition that you may own or listen to. How much influence does SQ have on your appreciation?
As a recording is an artifact in itself, the presentation of the sonic factor has to come into the equation as does the interpretation.
in Mahler, as an example, the orchestration is vital.
A recording that is just so-so interpretively may be very attractive to the listener because of the sterling sonics of the orchestra.
So, how much does the SQ affect your judgement?
For the most part, I want as high a quality of recording as possible. But, the fact remains that there are many artists that have unique interpretations that, due to the lousy mike placement/recording tech, have low quality recordings. In these cases, I can make allowances for poor audio quality as their interpretations/technique are so good. B |
I got deeply involved in high end audio in 1979. I expanded my musical interest from rock to include classical in the early 80’s. I found that the quality of the recording typically was more important than the conductor / orchestra in most cases… there were some conductors I simply did not like, for instance Michael Tilson Thomas. Switch forward to 2010…I got season tickets to the symphony, and have attended religiously until the pandemic, I found live… really good fidelity performances make or break it. So, in general, for me sound quality trumps performance… much of the time. Poor performances, are poor and just don’t rate. Symphonic music is hard to produce on a system… but well done, is really compelling to me. |
It matters quite a bit but I'm not averse to historical recordings. I recently bought a HD with all of Pristine Audio's offerings on it and it's fascinating to explore. In general these artists hailed from a time when the origins of the music weren't so remote and so there is much to be appreciated. It helps that Pristine has made most of these antique recordings very listenable |
+1 and also +1 @newbee . Very insightful commentary from both of you. Of course who wouldn’t want exceptionally good music performance and sound quality? I certainly do. From my perspective if the actual musician and performance is not inspired or emotionally connecting , sound quality will not fill the void. Music > sound quality if it has to be one or the other. I’d rather listen to Charlie Parker doing his thing on a poor quality 78 RPM recording than a mediocre saxophonist superbly recorded attempting to play Parker's music. Charles |
