What are you listening to and WHY might anyone be interested? (Vol. X)
Posted by: Richard Dane on 31 December 2013
On the cusp of 2014, we start a new thread...
Anyway, links:
Volume IX: https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...16#22826037054683416
Volume VIII: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...nt/12970396056050819
Volume VII: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...6878604287751/page/1
Volume VI: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878604097229
Volume V: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878605140495
Volume IV: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878605795042
Volume III: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878607309474
Volume II: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878606245043
Volume I: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878607464290
I am really enjoying the new Anouar Brahem album on ECM. Lovely late night music, full of atmosphere. The subtle use of orchestration on the album is a nice development IMHO. For me the star of the show is the lovely piano of Francois Couturier.
Nice to have you back Adrian. Like Haim I didn't like the album.
God help me I just found this on an external HDD I have filled with music and played a little of it. Absolute rubbish.
Now trying to remember why I put it on one in the first place.
Reminds me of the time when I got thrown bodily out of a door of a swanky hotel after getting drunk at a free bar and telling Mr Kenny he was rubbish. RCA never invited me to any other party after that and I don't wonder why.
After first spin of these recordings from the early 2000s. I think Haydn may have been the greatest symphonist in history; but it really takes a conductor with guts, like Harnoncourt, to bring the genius out to the fullest. Harnoncourt's penchant for exaggerated tempi and hard hitting attacks are in full evidence here, and I've never heard these symphonies performed with more energy and passion. But there is also the undercurrent of pathos; of a deeper relevance than just the notes. Harnoncourt's Haydn points directly to Beethoven.
Recommended unless you prefer your Haydn gentle and tempered. No doubt, a performance like this in his own time would have the ladies fainting at the first notes.
Now, on the lookout for an equally good performance of nr 88.
EJ
I bought this when it came out - really was impressed with it and loved the freshness and excitement of the recording - it was my first Harnoncourt recording at the time and it inspired me to buy a lot of other of his recordings as a result.
Will put it on my list, I likeHaydn.
I like the playing of Evgeni Kissin. I don't know how to describe it differently, but it gives a very natural feel ....., like this is how it should sound. Not perfect, but at the same time very enjoyable and relaxing.
Talk earlier on the HD download thread prompted me to play this. Not the disappointing HD download I paid too much for but my old, inferior but more listenable CD.
I'm surprised at this, I thought the HD download was way better than my CD version which sounds flat in comparison?
Maybe your HD download is better than mine, dayjay. Mine was from highresaudio.de. My CD is old and on the Asylum Records label. The problem I have with the download is, yes, there's more detail but the bass is loose and over-bearing and top-end a bit shrill. I find myself listening to these characteristics rather than the music. So having tried the HD download a few times I've had to admit to myself that it is less listenable that my old CD. Maybe a case of less is more (in data). More seriously, I suspect the problem lay with how the HD version was captured. A HD version of a poor re-master is simply going to shine a brighter light on those deficiencies.
Word is the Barry Diament CD is the one to have.
Apparently,
If its a Barry D? you will find his name in/on the CD book/cover listings 
.