Bolero:why can't my system reproduce snare well?

Frogman makes an excellent point and I agree with him except for one caveat; that most modern day performances of "Bolero" would be close-mic'd. The overall sound is determined by the record label producers (many classical labels have a 'house sound"), in conjunction with the engineers. The top conductors can also be involved in how their orchestra should sound.

Here's an example of Bolero with a well defined percussion section. The snare does start as pianissimo and builds to forte, but it is very prominent in the mix.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KK23BhEQVyU

So the question is which recording are you listening to? A good suggestion by Frogman is to also listen to the string pizzicato and the woodwinds.

Lowrider makes very good points about the role of the conductor and producer in determining the sound of the orchestra and solo instruments (in the case of a piece like Bolero). Sometimes the end result of a producer's "artistic license" can be a good thing; other times, as in the Dudamel/Vienna Youtube clip, not so good. Yes, the snare is very well defined in that clip, but it is unlike anything one is likely to hear at a performance. The balance between the snare and opening flute solo is totally wrong. The players may be playing a true pianissimo but it doesn't sound that way due to the miking. It is true, as Lowrider points out, that most modern recordings of the piece will be close(r) miked; an unfortunate reality from the standpoint of faithfulness to the score, even if sometimes sounding "better defined". Not even sitting on stage will one hear a snare sound that way when the player is playing a true pianissimo.

In this other performance, notice what the snare drum player has done which is fairly common: he has placed a small towel on the drumhead in order to further mute the sound (he also is situated further upfront within the orchestra); it is possible that is what the OP is hearing as "muffled". This is closer to what one is likely to hear sitting in the audience at a live performance:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A2BYkJS8GE0

Great points by Frogman and Lowrider, as might be expected. I would add one other thought, which is that putting all other factors aside the nature of our hearing mechanisms is such that a snare drum will tend to sound at least a little bit "muffled" when played softly, in comparison to when it is played loudly. The reason being the Fletcher-Munson Effect; i.e. the sensitivity of our hearing to upper treble frequencies (as well as deep bass frequencies), relative to its sensitivity to mid frequencies, declines as volume decreases.

Regards,
-- Al

A further and probably more significant point than the one I just mentioned: Take a look at these graphs, which are presented in this article. The high frequency content of a snare drum hit, relative to the lower frequency content, is much greater when the instrument is played loudly compared to when it is played softly.

As the article says, "the harder you strike a snare drum, the louder it becomes, and the more energy is radiated at higher frequencies."

As Frogman noted, in "Bolero" the snare "gets louder only as other instruments join in."

Regards,
-- Al

Great article, Al; interesting read and thanks for sharing. Would be interesting to see similar graphs showing the effect on high frequency content relative to low frequency content at different distances from the microphone. On a lighter note:

http://m.imgur.com/r/classicalmusic/9cuc2