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

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

That's a good find, Frogman, Muti with the Philadelphia playing Bolero as it was intended to be. And it is a modern-day recording.

Yes, the snare is very well defined in that clip, but it is unlike anything one is likely to hear at a performance.

I haven't seen Bolero live, but in the case of the Vienna performance, it's true that when seated in the audience, the piece would sound completely different than the recording. (do to the fact that no mic's are used in the concert hall when played live; they are only being fed to the audio recorders).

Having said that, I'll bet that Elegal's recording is similar to the Muti performance. Even the sound from the woodwinds is from a distance and evenly mixed with the snare.
I don't know how over the years the engineering took priority over keeping the integrity of the performance. Since the mid 1970s the mic's were getting placed closer to the instruments and then progressed to adding even more mic's.

I would much rather hear classical music recordings sound natural and open rather than unbalanced and up close. With today's technology, it is possible to use minimal miking and still have good detail.

I just realized I'm ranting, so the bottom line in this thread is to use a reference recording and not Ravel's Bolero.

The Evelyn Glennie version of Bolero on THis CD prominently features percussion instruments, including snare and drums, compared to many others.