In Classical music the effect of SQ on appreciation

What newbee sez...

I feel I need to make one caveat.
As I mentioned in my opening post, the symphonies of Mahler are a special case.
They were really the impetus for my starting this conversation.
The orchestration is so rich, varied and complex in these works that the physical sound has more bearing on the final product than on most other composers’ works
Thusly, SQ becomes of paramount importance. A really fine performance which obscures the instrumentation can have a very deleterious affect on our judgement.
Conversely, a not so great but beautifully recorded account can be very seductive by the very nature of its sound.

In Mahler the orchestral pallet is all important.

One could make a similar argument for the impressionists.

One should attend at least one live performance of a Mahler Symphony. The last I attended was one of his 5th. I got to sit in the 'audiophile' section, Isle F (as I recall) and dead center. I was treating a couple of other concert goers who had not yet experienced Mahler except for a few CD's I'd lent them. They were wilted when we left. Oh my.....

Talk about being blown away. If you could get 10 percent of this experience in your home you'd be lucky. RV's last comment on this is correct but it is still, for me anyway, going to be no more than a pale reminder of the live event. 

Thanks for the MTT info. Is his 8th worthwhile? If so I'll get it - I really don't have many and still enjoy/prefer Solti's.

Mahler is a very important case. The importance of fidelity in mass orchestrations is particularly challenging for home reproduction. In live performances it comes alive, to do that at home takes a very special system. I had noticed long ago that many of the most expensive systems were owned by folks primarily interested in classical music. Not sure if it was a confluence of people with both the means and interest in classical. I guess, in retrospect, it was people that really loved classical were dedicated to reproduce it in there home.

About 30 years ago I went to Harvard for a four day seminar with many of the countries top CEO’s… like from Kellogg, Kraft , etc. They shut down the Boston Museum of fine arts for us. We gad dinner on the main entrance with the Harvard Choir sang for us. We had wine and cheese and the whole museum open for our enjoyment. I was let to gaze upon Monet’s and Van Gogh for as long as I wished. The CEOs of a couple major American corporations came up to the same painting I was looking at and made ignorant comments about what trash these paintings were. I was completely shocked and disillusioned… realizing the lack of sophistication and simple capitalistic focus of some of the leaders in industry. Wow, clueless, uncultured, unappreciative cads. It was a real eye opener for me.

I’m not sure what that story has to do with Mahler… but it made me realize that money isn’t everything. It doesn’t help you appreciate the truly amazing things in life. Art and music are a couple of them worth appreciating.

@ghdprentice 

Thanks for sharing that experience. 

Charles