Prom 44 (9.09.21) - Bach’s St Matthew Passion

[edashtav]

Not too keen on the sound balance, with soloists who sound 4 metres tall, alongside an orchestra of miniature instruments.

It can’t easy to recreate the concert hall sound tastefully, which why I nearly choked on the suggestion I quoted in the OP - that the work is ideally suited to the RAH.

I experienced similar problems with the sound balance. I like your expression ‘miniature instruments’ and the was distressed by the ‘violino piccolino’

[jayne lee wilson]

Big fan of Rogers 5/8’s . Never heard them bettered . There’s a company in Devon that used to make very similar speakers having bought the design . 40 years ago they would probably been used in balancing tonight’s Prom ….from distant memory they were powered by separate Quad 303 amps….

The Tradition Lives On.....

There's a review of the latest Rogers LS5/9 in HiFiNews, May 2021. A glowing one of course, with much detail about the BBC tradition ("Auntie Beeb's Boxes") and earlier models, from LS3/5A lover Ken Kessler.

https://www.hifinews.com/content/rogers-ls59-classic-se-loudspeaker

Spendor are releasing more affordable Classic Series models too (see 3/1 review on the HFN site), in the same BBC monitoring tradition. Along with Harbeth, its a natural, neutral, open sound listeners tend to fall in love with and stay in love with. A particular feature is the thin-walled cabinet of such designs, with carefully-controlled damping allowing vibrational energy to escape, rather than attempting a totally inert enclosure.

****

(Trying to stay awake as Emma Raducanu approaches the Making of History in the Arthur Ashe...
0445 hrs....She's Done It! 6-0 6-4! Aged 18, ranked 150, beating the no.17.... Raducanu is the first UK Woman in the US Open final since Virginia Wade in 1968...and the first qualifier ever to do it...)

[Ein Heldenleben]

The Tradition Lives On.....

There's a review of the latest Rogers LS5/9 in HiFiNews, May 2021. A glowing one of course, with much detail about the BBC tradition ("Auntie Beeb's Boxes") and earlier models, from LS3/5A lover Ken Kessler.

https://www.hifinews.com/content/rogers-ls59-classic-se-loudspeaker

Spendor are releasing more affordable Classic Series models too (see 3/1 review on the HFN site), in the same BBC monitoring tradition. Along with Harbeth, its a natural, neutral, open sound listeners tend to fall in love with and stay in love with. A particular feature is the thin-walled cabinet of such designs, with carefully-controlled damping allowing vibrational energy to escape, rather than attempting a totally inert enclosure.

****

(Trying to stay awake as Emma Raducanu approaches the Making of History in the Arthur Ashe...
0445 hrs....She's Done It! 6-0 6-4! Aged 18, ranked 150, beating the no.17.... Raducanu is the first UK Woman in the US Open final since Virginia Wade in 1968...and the first qualifier ever to do it...)

Never quite as big a fan of Spendors but that’s partly because I associate them with recording some fairly tedious speech programmes . Whereas LS 3/5’s make me think news and 5/8’s music recording and weirdly tv and film dubbing where once they seemed to be everywhere.
If my memory is correct 5/9’s were supposed to replace 5/8’s but I think people preferred the 5/8’S and the latter were still in use in the mid noughties in places .
Don’t even know what the speakers of choice are now in those places - probably Tannoys …
The problem with having either 5/8’s or 5/9’s in my living room is that taken as a package with boudoir Blüthner it would not , how shall I put it , find favour ..
On topic I listened to this Prom on 50 year old KEF’s and it sounded fine!

[gradus]

Never quite as big a fan of Spendors but that’s partly because I associate them with recording some fairly tedious speech programmes . Whereas LS 3/5’s make me think news and 5/8’s music recording and weirdly tv and film dubbing where once they seemed to be everywhere.
If my memory is correct 5/9’s were supposed to replace 5/8’s but I think people preferred the 5/8’S and the latter were still in use in the mid noughties in places .
Don’t even know what the speakers of choice are now in those places - probably Tannoys …
The problem with having either 5/8’s or 5/9’s in my living room is that taken as a package with boudoir Blüthner it would not , how shall I put it , find favour ..
On topic I listened to this Prom on 50 year old KEF’s and it sounded fine!

'You'd hardly notice them' doesn't find favour here either but in our case 'them' were ELS63's which are a little dominant in a sitting room and are now in a separate place (also sharing with a Lipp boudoir grand) free to speak truth unto anyone who cares to listen.

[jayne lee wilson]

Never quite as big a fan of Spendors but that’s partly because I associate them with recording some fairly tedious speech programmes . Whereas LS 3/5’s make me think news and 5/8’s music recording and weirdly tv and film dubbing where once they seemed to be everywhere.
If my memory is correct 5/9’s were supposed to replace 5/8’s but I think people preferred the 5/8’S and the latter were still in use in the mid noughties in places .
Don’t even know what the speakers of choice are now in those places - probably Tannoys …
The problem with having either 5/8’s or 5/9’s in my living room is that taken as a package with boudoir Blüthner it would not , how shall I put it , find favour ..
On topic I listened to this Prom on 50 year old KEF’s and it sounded fine!

You have Codas or Crestas or something?

Fascinating detail here on the Proms Control Loggia (scroll well down), from 2014..... excellent hall microphone diagram too...

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/bbc-proms

...offers a very precise account of just how complex the challenges across TV and Radio etc are. I like this:
"The stereo Radio 3 mix traditionally has a glorious width and scale, and emphasises the character and spaciousness of the RAH"....
Pretty much what I've heard this year most of the time....

Interesting that the BBCSSO, the NOW and the BBCPO have their own soundbalancers, which may well account for some of the sonic variations we hear, beyond the orchestral characters themselves...

[jonfan]

There’s been some glorious sounds this year, particularly in orchestral music. Maybe because the orchestras are more spread out across the stage we experience the ‘spaciousness’ mentioned above. Whatever has been the magic, we’ll have it again next year.
Talking about favourite speakers, I still find my historic Yorkshire setup of Castle Howard and Sugden does for me!!

[Ein Heldenleben]

You have Codas or Crestas or something?

Fascinating detail here on the Proms Control Loggia (scroll well down), from 2014..... excellent hall microphone diagram too...

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/bbc-proms

...offers a very precise account of just how complex the challenges across TV and Radio etc are. I like this:
"The stereo Radio 3 mix traditionally has a glorious width and scale, and emphasises the character and spaciousness of the RAH"....
Pretty much what I've heard this year most of the time....

Interesting that the BBCSSO, the NOW and the BBCPO have their own soundbalancers, which may well account for some of the sonic variations we hear, beyond the orchestral characters themselves...

Cadenzas but so tempted by 5/9’s …
I remember I found Spendors a bit too bright but that’s a joke compared to things like Genelecs you come across nowadays …

[Nick Armstrong]

The sweet, precise expressive tenor singing of Stuart Jackson as the Evangelist was a major discovery for me.

Not a weak link among the singers though: top drawer stuff (playing too, for that matter)

[jonfan]

The sweet, precise expressive tenor singing of Stuart Jackson as the Evangelist was a major discovery for me.

Not a weak link among the singers though: top drawer stuff (playing too, for that matter)

Agree, having been persuaded by the positive responses to have a listen. Top drawer soloists except for soprano who wasn’t sensitive to the period. Not sure why the conductor bothered playing the harpsichord, better a second organ? All the singers and players were seated and stood as pre-pandemic.