Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Concert 2025

[kernelbogey]

What a superb player, Sophie Dervaux is.

There is an entertaining and heartwarming film about her and music on her website:

https://sophiedervaux.com/en/filmportrait/

[MickyD]

I suppose the one thing you can say is that he entered into the fun of it, but I know he's very much an acquired taste! He had an interesting link I believe, in that he was once a cellist in the orchestra before taking up his Concentus Musicus Wien.

[pastoralguy]

There is an entertaining and heartwarming film about her and music on her website:
https://sophiedervaux.com/en/filmportrait/

[Keraulophone]

He had an interesting link I believe, in that he was once a cellist in the orchestra before taking up his Concentus Musicus Wien.

He played in the Vienna Symphony Orchestra for seventeen years and continued to do so (until 1969) after founding the Concentus Musicus with his wife Alice.

[MickyD]

Thank you, I knew there was a connection.

[gurnemanz]

As an alternative ClassicSelect's current free download has some quite rare older recordings of Viennese Waltzes. Willi Boskovsky leads his own ensemble from the first violin in versions with the original small-scale scoring. Mp3 only but it's free and the early 60s stereo from Baumgarten Hall Vienna comes across beautifully and very enjoyably. In this generous 6 hour consignment you also get Anton Paulik conducting the Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper in "Strauss Dynasty: Vienna Dances". Slightly less good sound but well worth a listen.

[Petrushka]

As an alternative ClassicSelect's current free download has some quite rare older recordings of Viennese Waltzes. Willi Boskovsky leads his own ensemble from the first violin in versions with the original small-scale scoring. Mp3 only but it's free and the early 60s stereo from Baumgarten Hall Vienna comes across beautifully and very enjoyably. In this generous 6 hour consignment you also get Anton Paulik conducting the Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper in "Strauss Dynasty: Vienna Dances". Slightly less good sound but well worth a listen.

I have those three Boskovsky CDs on the Vanguard label which I picked up at a local charity shop several years ago. They are indeed in very good sound and would be worth reissue.

[Barbirollians]

For older ones try Erich Kleiber from the late 1930s .

[Dave2002]

Not all modern TVs have optical outputs. Increasingly TVs rely instead on HDMI for all connectivity. If Dave2002's TV and amp both have optical connections, that would be provide an easy and effective solution to his issue.

I checked on HDMI too. I think nowadays most HDMI cables and HDMI ports are bi-directional, but that wasn't always the case. Certainly I don't always think about this. Also how they are used in kit will probably vary from one manufacturer to another. Whether that's deliberately carefless or mean I've not been sure.

I think the particular Toshiba TV which is currently in place has at least one output HDMI port, but I've not checked for the optical output yet. It's a faff trying to get behind the TV to check, so maybe would be easier to try the manual - if I can find one which matches exactly. I would like an optical output [or failing that a digital audio output for screened cable], as it can feed directly into my DAC, otherwise I'd need to buy an HDMI to audio converter of some sort - either analogue or digital.

[Dave2002]

There are so many stages in the broadcast chain where compression can be introduced it’s impossible to be sure where it’s being introduced. Even controlling the level of an instrument through using a fader is a form of level control if not overt compression. I’m told that the effective dynamic range on FM these days from my relay is about 40db. I reckon freeview on my tv is even less than that. A live symphony orchestra is probably around 70 to 80 db range from quietest pianissimo to full blast . Possibly less for a lighter weight Strauss band,
I didn’t find the FM sound particularly compressed by todays standards.

I might give the sounds recording a listen later. One thing the balance on the TV version might be very different from the Radio . They tend to do a different TV balance with a “wider “ sound stage to compensate for the fact that most people have a sound bar with poor (ie too close ) left and right channel separation . The problem is that doesn’t sound so good on a well set up hifi.

Indeed, the way broadcasts and recordings are made nowadays can give rise to rather different results. Even if at the source point the engineers get the widest dynamic range - without exaggerating it - different broadcasters down stream may want to change that for a whole bunch of reasons. I rather cyncally feel that the only real interest some broadcasters have is in maximising advertising revenue, so the actual sound content of any programme is largely irrelevant to them. After all, if 95% of viewers or listeners aren't really listening attentively, but a few adverts for dog food, high end EVs or other products can be inserted - then what's the harm?!!!!

OK - I know that in the case of this particular event it may often be streamed over non commercial channels, or at least one which termporarily suspends adverts for a few microseconds, but .... !!!!!

[Ein Heldenleben]

Indeed, the way broadcasts and recordings are made nowadays can give rise to rather different results. Even if at the source point the engineers get the widest dynamic range - without exaggerating it - different broadcasters down stream may want to change that for a whole bunch of reasons. I rather cyncally feel that the only real interest some broadcasters have is in maximising advertising revenue, so the actual sound content of any programme is largely irrelevant to them. After all, if 95% of viewers or listeners aren't really listening attentively, but a few adverts for dog food, high end EVs or other products can be inserted - then what's the harm?!!!!

OK - I know that in the case of this particular event it may often be streamed over non commercial channels, or at least one which termporarily suspends adverts for a few microseconds, but .... !!!!!

Very definitely not “largely irrelevant” . TV broadcast sound is produced to very high technical guidelines which are publicly available. The commercial broadcasters work to precisely the same standards as the publicly funded ones .With live sound obviously things can go wrong but an enormous of time and money is expended on TV sound production when recorded, edited, track laid and dubbed . On recent film I made 30 percent of the total post production side went on sound work - track laying and mixing down .
With Dolby Atmos now becoming the default system for film and streamers like Apple even more money is being spent on sound post production - I’ve heard estimates of forty per cent more, The fact is that recording decent location sound for a drama or music performance is a very demanding art - made more difficult by the demands of getting pictures. But with AI and ADR (automated dialogue replacement - there are swathes of it in the current SAS Rogue Heroes series ) most TV sound has never been better.

The real problem is that most peoples TV sound systems are inadequate or poorly set up,

PS just been listening again to the
TV version on iPlayer
R3 version on Sounds .

The TV sound is ok but as I suspected has a “hole in the middle “ - wide and artificial lh and rh separation to create a wider sound image on a TV sound bar .
The radio version is better (higher stream rate ? ) and has no hole in the middle .
Both are fine when played through decent speakers and through a dac.

[Prommer]

Always wished that at least one conductor would make it to conducting their 100th birthday concert. Some have nearly got there but none has made it.

Personally, I've been saying for some time that they should book Manfred Honeck. He's a former member of the Vienna Philharmonic but perhaps they don't like former members who jump ship so it won't happen.

Agree about Honeck. They should get over themselves! May happen once all the senior chaps, who were playing as his colleagues, have left...

Willi Boskovsky really was unique...

[Dave2002]

Very definitely not “largely irrelevant” . TV broadcast sound is produced to very high technical guidelines which are publicly available.

I am sure that much of the audio is produced to a high level of quality. What happens then may depend on a whole bunch of factors.

The real problem is that most peoples TV sound systems are inadequate or poorly set up,

Probably, though then some broadcasters may try to adjust the sound to “compensate” in some way for what they think replay equipment might be used. Whether they do that these days I’m not sure, but in the past recording companies pretty much knew that most people playing LPs would have kit which have specific forms of distortion [frequency distortion, end of side distortion etc.] so would distort the sound on the LPs even further. This meant that anyone with really good equipment actually heard more distortion of some kinds than otherwise. It probably also explained why some recordings sounded different and some sounded better on some kit than others. Another assumption is that the objective was to produce really high quality sound - which certainly was the case in some places, but accountants and investors might have been more concerned about maximising profits, so been happy to sell products of lower fidelity if more people - possibly different demographics - would buy them.

PS just been listening again to the
TV version on iPlayer
R3 version on Sounds .

The TV sound is ok but as I suspected has a “hole in the middle “ - wide and artificial lh and rh separation to create a wider sound image on a TV sound bar .
The radio version is better (higher stream rate ? ) and has no hole in the middle .
Both are fine when played through decent speakers and through a dac.

Thanks for these comments. I think I’ve found ways to check the sound quality again, assuming the data streams haven’t been altered since the broadcast. Also I may now have found several ways to integrate the TV video with the better quality hi-fi system close by - one of them should be with an optical cable, but other approaches are possible, such as using both audio and video feeds from a computer, rather than the TV circuitry, so the TV would just become a computer monitor.That might reduce the video quality though, even if the audio were improved. The TV in question is fairly high resolution so at least a 4K input would be preferred. I’ve possibly got devices which can do that if I put them in the circuits, thought currently it’s the audio I’m most interested in.