BaL 12.10.24 - Beethoven: Symphony 4

[Nick Armstrong]

Very glad that Järvi was shown the door, as it were. "Breathless" indeed, just like his 8th. … An enjoyable BaL, I thought.

Agreed on both counts.

Looking forward to exploring the Manacorda performance, previously unknown to me (likewise other symphonies from the same musicians)

[Rather surprised no mention of Carlos Kleiber (who had a magical way with the 4th) but perhaps the recording/s are unavailable or video only…]

[Barbirollians]

Agreed on both counts.

Looking forward to exploring the Manacorda performance, previously unknown to me (likewise other symphonies from the same musicians)

[Rather surprised no mention of Carlos Kleiber (who had a magical way with the 4th) but perhaps the recording/s are unavailable or video only…]

Good point about Carlos kleiber .

[Barbirollians]

Depressing to see Mackerras nla on Hyperion . Universal’s destruction of the works available on Cd well under way.

[smittims]

I always marvelled at Hyperion's ability to issue so many new CDs and keep them available, shaming the 'big companies' as many of them were of adventurous repertoire.

[Goon525]

Depressing to see Mackerras nla on Hyperion . Universal’s destruction of the works available on Cd well under way.

Perfectly easy to find on Qobuz. Presumably not selling enough to keep in the physical catalogue. Time to enter the 21st century?

[Pulcinella]

Perfectly easy to find on Qobuz. Presumably not selling enough to keep in the physical catalogue. Time to enter the 21st century?

Sadly, joining the C21 means denying the physical pleasure of having the CD and accompanying booklet.
While streaming can be very handy (and money saving: great for doing comparisons when I'm listening to different recordings in preparation for a BaL, which I then don't listen to ), the lack of documentation can be annoying. Having it viewable (or printable) as a PDF file isn't really the same.

[french frank]

Sadly, joining the C21 means denying the physical pleasure of having the CD and accompanying booklet.
While streaming can be very handy (and money saving: great for doing comparisons when I'm listening to different recordings in preparation for a BaL, which I then don't listen to ), the lack of documentation can be annoying. Having it viewable (or printable) as a PDF file isn't really the same.

At least one's heirs won't have to wonder how to dispose of all those ruddy classical CDs .

[Pulcinella]

At least one's heirs won't have to wonder how to dispose of all those ruddy classical CDs .

That's true: my godson/executor would be delighted not to have that problem, I'm sure!
I'm hoping that the University of York might like all the scores, though.

[Barbirollians]

Perfectly easy to find on Qobuz. Presumably not selling enough to keep in the physical catalogue. Time to enter the 21st century?

Insulting and unnecessary post.

[Goon525]

Insulting and unnecessary post.

I’m sorry you feel that way, but take a look at relative record company income from streaming and CDs. (I’ll post some figures if it would help.) Why is it insulting to suggest that CDs need to achieve some level of sales to be worth keeping in the catalogue?

[LMcD]

Sadly, joining the C21 means denying the physical pleasure of having the CD and accompanying booklet.
While streaming can be very handy (and money saving: great for doing comparisons when I'm listening to different recordings in preparation for a BaL, which I then don't listen to ), the lack of documentation can be annoying. Having it viewable (or printable) as a PDF file isn't really the same.

Quite - and what I've seen of the 21st century so far in general hasn't impressed me that much. I'm tempted to convince myself that it was cancelled.

[Goon525]

Perhaps my reference to entering the 21st century was unnecessarily sharp - sorry. But I will mention that in many cases - admittedly not all - access to booklets is given on Qobuz. There’s very little difference in the listening experience, except of course that classical streaming is mostly at 96/24, compared with CD, stuck in a 1980 decision and capability, still at 44/16. And yes, on a good system you can hear the difference.

[richardfinegold]

Perhaps my reference to entering the 21st century was unnecessarily sharp - sorry. But I will mention that in many cases - admittedly not all - access to booklets is given on Qobuz. There’s very little difference in the listening experience, except of course that classical streaming is mostly at 96/24, compared with CD, stuck in a 1980 decision and capability, still at 44/16. And yes, on a good system you can hear the difference.

Qobuz sounds very good, but two comments:
1) the 96/24 stream is in most cases achieved by upscaling. Most of the recordings we listen to were simply not issued in any higher resolution than 44/16 and the streaming companies upscale them (or not). A home listener can do the same thing if they have an upscaling DAC (or a CDP with an upscaling DAC), as I have been doing for some time
2) streaming companies also use some compression. They have to because they are pushing the content down so many tubes. Try comparing a Qobuz stream vs a High Resolution download, as I had done when I had a Qobuz subscription . And DSD from an SACD also beats a stream, but I suspect not many here are into DSD

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Sadly, joining the C21 means denying the physical pleasure of having the CD and accompanying booklet.
While streaming can be very handy (and money saving: great for doing comparisons when I'm listening to different recordings in preparation for a BaL, which I then don't listen to ), the lack of documentation can be annoying. Having it viewable (or printable) as a PDF file isn't really the same.

Plus buying CDs gives the artists decent royalties. Streaming gives them a pittance, and recording companies would cease to exist if required to live by streaming alone.

[Goon525]

Sorry, but your 1 simply isn’t true. Almost everything recorded for Classical in the last 15 years or so is recorded at 96/24 or similar. Older stuff is rarely upsampled - but of course analogue masters may be remastered at higher rates than previously.
As for 2, I think much depends on the quality of your streamer. I’ve compared live Qobuz steaming vs downloads and not been able to distinguish. Incidentally, there are some Qobuz DSDs.