Berlin Philharmonic / Simon Rattle / Sibelius cycle / Barbican R3 live 10-12/02/15

[Bryn]

I listened to the 5th live on DAB, and there were some odd noises,I thought at the time there were two cracks in the horns very early on, (rather surprising !) but perhaps they were glitches.

I pumped the volume up a bit, ( on a Marantz MCR610) and the sound was all a bit ordinary, to my non tech ears.

The 4th is also littered with strange stutters in the audio stream. Whether they are aac coding artifacts I doubt. Having taken a close look at the waveform of the aac resolved to PCM (.wav). There is no sign of classic glitches. All 'looks' alright, but it certainly does not sound it. I suspect the problem lay earlier in the audio capture chain than the encoder.

I am more than a little surprised that jlw has not commented on these disruptions of the audio stream.

[jayne lee wilson]

Restricted as ever to The Home Concert Hall... I reached the end of the 5th feeling... a sense of disappointment. It was an interpretation of some interest - Rattle maintained the tension, and managed the transition, well in Part 1 (FWIW, a little better than on his CBSO recording). Tempo variations in the andante were nicely emphasised. But I didn't feel there was anything terribly distinctive about the performance, brassy splendours at the end notwithstanding. And sometimes Rattle's tendency to extreme ppp can draw attention a little too much to the playing rather than the music. Again, stressing "as broadcast", I could have done with those swan-horns singing out rather more above the orchestra too. Still found it hard to take much pleasure in the sound itself. Balance seemed OK... hmm.

The temptation for an instant comparison being irresistible, I listened to the BBCSO/Storgards Beethoven 8 live from the very Barbican tonight, and what a contrast! Fresh, open, natural and detailed, but above all - the well-balanced & well-produced sound of an orchestra in its home acoustic. Relieved to enjoy it once again, and I think the engineers were too. (And a very good Beethoven 8th it was!).

There's nothing new about all this of course. It's years since I approached Visiting-Orchestra relays (to RFH, RAH or Barbican) with anything other than a slight apprehension, after too many disappointments in the resulting sound (whether on FM or any digital platform). Especially if I was recording them . (Of course when Rattle and the CBSO played Beethoven in the Frankfurt Alte Oper, the result was marvellous, as we all heard here! But then you're hearing a very good orchestra in an excellent acoustic, so...)

I have a free pass for the DCH, so I'll try to listen to some Sibelius there. Feel disinclined to press on joylessly with the Barbican 6 & 7, though their more reserved characters should sound better there...

**EDIT - No problems here this evening Bryn, either live (Beethoven 8) or on iPlayer recordings (Sibelius 5). Accessed via JRiver through the Radio 3 iPlayer page.

[Bryn]

**EDIT - No problems here this evening Bryn, either live (Beethoven 8) or on iPlayer recordings (Sibelius 5). Accessed via JRiver through the Radio 3 iPlayer page.

You hear no disruption to the audio stream, starting a few seconds into the BP/Rattle Sibelius 5? Are you quite sure? I am not alone in hearing these problems, you know. I have used a number of methods to access the HD Sound stream and all come up with the same disruption at the same points.

I have to be up early for work tomorrow but can PM you a link to relevant samples tomorrow evening.

[jayne lee wilson]

You hear no disruption to the audio stream, starting a few seconds into the BP/Rattle Sibelius 5? Are you quite sure? I am not alone in hearing these problems, you know. I have used a number of methods to access the HD Sound stream and all come up with the same disruption at the same points.

I have to be up early for work tomorrow but can PM you a link to relevant samples tomorrow evening.

Whoa Bryn, whoa... chillasecond.

Just for you, I ran the Sibelius 5 again, from 4'20 to 17'20 off the iPlayer (BBC Radio - Stations - 3 - Simon Rattle Celebration - Sibelius Symphonies... etc.) and the only glitch was... me not enjoying it very much. Again. . No technical problems....

God these Sibelius concerts have been hard work. 3 & 4 better, but sonic pleasure centres largely unengaged...
Glad I heard that Beethoven 8 tonight, faith restored in, etc...
(Anyway, what about the Ryan Wigglesworth Etudes-Tableaux in the Barbican last Friday? They sounded brilliant too.)

"The King and The Land are One..."
The Orchestra and The Hall....


.

[edashtav]

[...]
God these Sibelius concerts have been hard work. 3 & 4 better, but sonic pleasure centres largely unengaged...
Glad I heard that Beethoven 8 tonight, faith restored in, etc...
(Anyway, what about the Ryan Wigglesworth Etudes-Tableaux in the Barbican last Friday? They sounded brilliant too.)

"The King and The Land are One..."
The Orchestra and The Hall....

.

Yes, Jayne, Wigglesworth wriggled free of Barbican blight. In fact, I didn't realise that his fine Concert emanated from the "50 Shades of Grey" pit.
And.. you're right, Beethoven 8th was fresh and delightful.
How do they do it?

[Nick Armstrong]

Just caught up with this thread, and given it a scan.... the tide seems to have turned with a vengeance. Are Rattle / the BPO / the BBC engineers only very good in the early symphonies then?

[Beef Oven!]

Just caught up with this thread, and given it a scan.... the tide seems to have turned with a vengeance. Are Rattle / the BPO / the BBC engineers only very good in the early symphonies then?

They were uniformly excellent, IMV.

I don't trust people who change their avatar

[vinteuil]

I don't trust people who change their avatar

... and there was me thinking that we only ever used our own likenesses for our avatars - praps Caliban has had some work done - and taken to contact lenses?

[Nick Armstrong]

praps Caliban has had some work done - and taken to contact lenses?

I don't trust people who change their avatar

I think I now look rather like Wilson to your Mainwaring, Beef Tea!!

(Noted re the Sibelius series. I shall be doing some listening in due course...)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I think I now look rather like Wilson to your Mainwaring, Beef Tea!!

I think I preferred Albert Tatlock - somehow Maurice Wilson looks untrustworthy!

[Nick Armstrong]

I think I preferred Albert Tatlock - somehow Maurice Wilson looks untrustworthy!

I suspect Albert will be back; but for now I wanted to mark my current (and perpetual) regard for Maurice and all his works, esp after Thursday evening (see 'latest concerts')

[Beef Oven!]

Forgot about tonight's TV broadcast - just caught the last 5 chords of #5!!!

Oh well 6 & 7 are great too

[mercia]

"you can watch them ALL on the iplayer" she said

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/group/p02jn8nd

[PJPJ]

Forgot about tonight's TV broadcast - just caught the last 5 chords of #5!!!

Oh well 6 & 7 are great too

I think they'll appear on iplayer for a month - Symphonies 1 to 4 are there already.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b053s0ys

[Bryn]

"you can watch them ALL on the iplayer" she said

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/group/p02jn8nd

Many thanks for the prompt. I am recording tonight in SD anyway (no HD BBC FOUR in this area as yet, despite it having been promised for 2014). However, I will have to, um, get iPlayer to do its trick with 1 to 4, etc.