Die Walkure from Paris

[DracoM]

Act 3 is indeed fantastic, Bert.

The expert pacing and orchestral textures, and their careful handling, were a revelation, and lovely sound balance. Real ppps, and savage brass on top of their game and a truly affecting Wotan.

Wonder if this is going to come out on CD or DVD? Certainly worth it. Why on earth need the BBC go to the Met when THIS Ring is far closer, and far better sung / conducted, frankly. Like others, I'd love to see more of the sets / production.

[Stunsworth]

Why on earth need the BBC go to the Met when THIS Ring is far closer, and far better sung / conducted, frankly. Like others, I'd love to see more of the sets / production.

I only heard the last half hour of this in the car after leaving work, but it sounded wonderful. The Met connection was there when some moron started to applaud before the end of the last note. At least it got a mention in the studio.

[Flay]

Chris,

I've also sent one too, but using the iPlayer complaints: https://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co....rms/emailPage?

Thanks, John. I have done so too - what a kerfuffle it is to do on the iPlayer site!

[Alf-Prufrock]

And more Philippe Jordan please.

I have been keeping an eye out for him since he conducted that stunning Carmen at Glyndebourne with Otter. His conducting then was full of verve and grip. Obviously a coming man, I thought.

[Petrushka]

Act 2 still not on i-player - says 'coming soon'.

[johnb]

Act 2 is now available on iPlayer!

[ostuni]

Good news - thanks for the update! I'll start Freecording...

[Chris Newman]

Thank goodness for Act 2 is back on stream. Not for long though. Grab it quick. The Act 1 Siegmund (Robert Dean Smith) brought back memories of the sweet clean sound of Alberto Remedios. Such lovely lyrical singing with very little can belto caterwauling.

[Flosshilde]

Good news - thanks for the update! I'll start Freecording...

I've just rrecorded Act 1, so I'll do Act 2 tomorrow.

One problem I have - the volume on iPlayer when I listen to Radio 3, even on maximum volume, is very low; it's fine when I listen to Radio 4. When I replayed the recording of Act 1 it was similarly quiet. Anybody have any suggestions why Radio 3 is quieter than Radio 4?

[johnb]

Flosshilde,

First of all - you are absolutely correct to set the iPlayer volume on maximum, otherwise it attenuates the volume of the original aac stream.

As far as Radio 3 vs Radio 4 etc is concerned - the best comparison I can think of is: imagine you are in a restaurant. One table close by has all the people talking near the top of their voices (Radio 4) and but at another table the people are sometimes very quiet, sometimes talking at normal volumes and occasionally raise their voices as loud as the people on the first table (Radio 3). Putting it another way - the dynamic range used by Radio 4 is fairly narrow and that range is broadcast towards the top of what is possible (like the adverts on TV), whereas the dynamic range of Radio 3 is much greater so the climaxes are just as loud as Radio 4 but the mid volumes and quiet passages are much, much quieter - giving the impression that Radio 3 is quieter than Radio 4.

[Flosshilde]

Thanks for the explanation John - I can understand what you are saying, but I'm not sure if it applies - the climaxes on Radio 3 still sound pretty quiet! Anyway, I've just listened to the beginning of Walkure using headphones, & the volume is fine. Now for Act 2.

[johnb]

Actually you are correct in your impression - there is an additional factor.

The Radio 3 streams on iPlayer have quite a lot of headroom - i.e. the loudest peak is often -6 or -7 dB compared to the maximum it could be (dBs are just a (logarithmic) ratio of two levels). I've just looked at one of the Martin Sixsmith Russia series that was broadcast on Radio 4 - the peaks there are -2 dB. The difference is not enormous but it is noticeable.

I suppose you could argue that the headroom (or margin of error) is required because of the very nature of classical music, especially with live broadcasts. However, I'm not sure that really holds water these days.

[Flosshilde]

Meanwhile, back to the Ring. We've had Rhinegold & Walkure in consecutive weeks, but no sign of Siegfried this week. I know there is a fairly long gap, chronologically, between the end of Die Walkure & Siegfried, but I hope we won't have to wait too long for the next instalment.

[johnb]

I seem to remember Jonathan Swain saying that Siegfried will be in three weeks (from Walkure).

PS Next week we have Opera North's Rhinegold on Friday's Po3!

[ostuni]

[QUOTE=johnb;63412
PS Next week we have Opera North's Rhinegold on Friday's Po3![/QUOTE]

And it's at Symphony Hall (Brum) on this Fri: I'll be there! I'm glad to see that it's been getting excellent reviews, excerpted and linked in the latest post on The Wagnerian.