Record Review: non-BaL discs reviewed, etc.

[LHC]

I tuned in a little before 10 o'clock this morning to hear Kate Kennedy and Andrew McGregor uttering the most bizarre twaddle about the recording process used for the new Elschenbroich/Grynyuk Brahms Cello Sonatas CD/digital download. All that bogus fuss about it originating in a reel-to-reel analogue master and edit, supposedly because the performers did not want the intervention of a 'computer'. Yet they finally dumped the result to the digital domain and not analogue vinyl. Just how ignorant of the relative merits and demerits of the analogue and digital recording and editing processes are the two pairs? It was laughable enough that the performers took the ignorant stance they did but to have Kennedy and McGregor going alone with their bogus contentions was, frankly, a disgrace. Then, to top it all, we just had Seckerson recycling his evidence-free story about a mysterious, unreproduced handbill claiming a Mahler re-ordering of the middle movements of his 6th back o scherzo-andante. What has Record Review come to? Yes, I know that Mahler's 6th does not fit the title of this thread but I heard Seckerson's recycled comment as I was typing.

I was amazed at their earnest acceptance of the absolute twaddle being peddled by the performers of the Brahms pieces, especially when they then noted without demur that it was only available as a digital download. Any self-respecting reviewer should at least have acknowledged the levels of ignorance and hypocrisy involved in this recording.

[jayne lee wilson]

Anyway. (contd. from #960...)
"Brahms Analogue" in the actual listening?

On Qobuz at 24/192, the instruments are set close, a very vivid and immediate sound with a warm and full, even rich, character.
Detail was impressive and involving - bringing the performers and instruments into your room with a very realistic, individual presence. Does the cello’s closeness and rich timbre become a little too dominant, even oppressive as the album wears on? I think it might….
Individually, the piano was rather soft-focus and unvaried, not especially distinctive tonally; a supporting act to the more distinctive cello. No Instrumentarium in the notes; another disappointing lack.

But I did miss a sense of space or acoustic “air” ; not many sonic clues to the recording venue; just the two instruments in mutually supportive intimacy. (A burst of the Queyras/Tharaud album brought a swift sense of liberation. Out into the fresh air!)
Stereo or instrumental separation was limited: cello and piano were close together spatially, although still easy to follow clearly, together or apart.

Musically, I enjoyed the performances here; they are quite free and impassioned readings, with urgency, lyrical flight or nonchalance where apt; the delicate micro-dynamics are beautifully done: very involving.
So on this level, rewarding; but still with some reservations, especially about the piano - its role and its sound, and the balance generally, which is rather airless, too contained.

As for hearing “how it sounds in the studio”…. such wonders, like the sound of the analogue, computer-free, open reel mastertape itself, will have to remain, for me, a fantasy….

[jayne lee wilson]

Anyway. (contd. from #960...)
"Brahms Analogue" in the actual listening?

On Qobuz at 24/192, the instruments are set close, a very vivid and immediate sound with a warm and full, even rich, character.
Detail was impressive and involving - bringing the performers and instruments into your room with a very realistic, individual presence. Does the cello’s closeness and rich timbre become a little too dominant, even oppressive as the album wears on? I think it might….
Individually, the piano was rather soft-focus and unvaried, not especially distinctive tonally; a supporting act to the more distinctive cello. No Instrumentarium in the notes; another disappointing lack.

But I did miss a sense of space or acoustic “air” ; not many sonic clues to the recording venue; just the two instruments in mutually supportive intimacy. (A burst of the Queyras/Tharaud album brought a swift sense of liberation. Out into the fresh air!)
Stereo or instrumental separation was limited: cello and piano were close together spatially, although still easy to follow clearly, together or apart.

Musically, I enjoyed the performances here; they are quite free and impassioned readings, with urgency, lyrical flight or nonchalance where apt; the delicate micro-dynamics are beautifully done: very involving.
So on this level, rewarding; but still with some reservations, especially about the piano - its role and its sound, and the balance generally, which is rather airless, too contained.

As for hearing “how it sounds in the studio”…. such wonders, like the sound of the analogue, computer-free, open reel mastertape itself, will have to remain, for me, a fantasy….

Any more views on this please? A very distinctive sound....

https://www.qobuz.com/au-en/album/brahms-cello-sonatas-12-four-serious-songs-leonard-elschenbroich-alexei-grynyuk/t7dp4v1lnxada

[teamsaint]

I listened again to the "Brahms Analogue" album as aforementioned (#955, #956)....certainly a very distinctive record...... but has anyone else any views after a hearing or two...?

Certainly the music is no hardship to listen to.......... as great & gorgeous as ever.

Well I was in the mood for some Brahms but got detoured by Previn/Dvorak.
anyhow, Apple Music has the Brahms disc in " Hi -Res Lossless".

So I'll listen to that, but take advice as a non audiophile on whether I am missing out on a lot.

[Alison]

I feel I want all the recordings introduced by Steven Osborne today. The guests for this slot have been pretty good of late.

[Pulcinella]

I feel I want all the recordings introduced by Steven Osborne today. The guests for this slot have been pretty good of late.

You mean you don't already have the Maazel Ravel operas, or just the new releases?
Streaming the new Rite/Firebird as I type.

[Alison]

You mean you don't already have the Maazel Ravel operas, or just the new releases?
Streaming the new Rite/Firebird as I type.

The Maazel is the one disc I’ve ordered so far. Everyone has that except me!