Spinning Today (Classical version)

[Ronksley]

A bit of serious evening listening



Pre and post tea appetiser

[jandl100]

From a new charity shop haul (14 LPs ) yesterday ....

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[Ronksley]

Todays charity shop haul £1 5Cds

Good version of Tchaikovskys Pathetique Very good sound



and 4CDs of Dowland had a good kip to the first CD earlier
hopefully the second will help me sleep in a bit

[jandl100]

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I was so pleased to find this Shosty - I had never even heard of the recording.
But sadly I have to agree with the reviewer who has posted ...
"Whatever his prowess in 19th- and 20th-century Romantic music of Eastern European origin, Kertész simply does not connect with Shostakovich’s frenetic, highly strung idiom. He emphasizes the symphony’s classical structure, employing crisp phrasing and rendering the music with a strangely chilly detachment."

And the sq is rather mushy and unfocussed. Ah well, it does have its points of interest.

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Ahhh, that's more like it - lovely music previously unknown to me - I was particularly impressed with the Borodin piano quintet.

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Wow - love the Mayr piano concerto - I've never even heard of the guy before! Played it 3 times now - I want to hear the Ries as well, but the Mayr always draws me back.

[jandl100]

Fantastic! What a pianist.

[img]



--- absolutely phenomenal playing - probably the very best Liszt sonata I have heard. Jaw dropping.
But in stereo the sound is 'atmospheric' rather than focussed - I listened in Mono.

[Andrei]

Fantastic! What a pianist.

--- absolutely phenomenal playing - probably the very best Liszt sonata I have heard. Jaw dropping.
But in stereo the sound is 'atmospheric' rather than focussed - I listened in Mono.

Thanks, I will keep a look out.

Not sure what you mean about mono though in the Houston

[jandl100]

The Houstoun (note the 2nd u) recording stretches the piano all the way from the left to the right speaker and is very unfocussed and 'billowy' in stereo. I guess some folks will like it but I find it very distracting.

In mono you get a nicely focussed and precise central image which works well, for me, with piano.

Does that make any more sense?

[Ronksley]

All amps should have a mono switch
not heard the recording but there can be too much stereo sometimes

[Andrei]

The Houstoun (note the 2nd u) recording stretches the piano all the way from the left to the right speaker and is very unfocussed and 'billowy' in stereo. I guess some folks will like it but I find it very distracting.

In mono you get a nicely focussed and precise central image which works well, for me, with piano.

Does that make any more sense?

OK, I think I get it - you played a stereo record in mono? I guess that was, as David says, via a mono switch on the amp. Another option I suppose it to mute one channel and now you would be listening from the position of the unmuted microphone. Having listed to a piano recital recently I was impressed the way the sound filled the room - so I am rather surprised that listening in mono could be an improvement.

Incidentally although he is a kiwi I have not heard him play live.

[jandl100]

OK, I think I get it - you played a stereo record in mono? I guess that was, as David says, via a mono switch on the amp. Another option I suppose it to mute one channel and now you would be listening from the position of the unmuted microphone. Having listed to a piano recital recently I was impressed the way the sound filled the room - so I am rather surprised that listening in mono could be an improvement.

Incidentally although he is a kiwi I have not heard him play live.

Ah sorry - yes, mono button on pre-amp. I was still being obscure!

Yep, Michael Houstoun, he's a Kiwi - Check Him Out ! - superb Beethoven sonata recordings as well. But with the same blown-up wishy washy sound quality - maybe that's what you guys like Down Under?

I hear quite a few recordings - and in my estimation Houstoun is one of the great pianists of our time.
Check out his Shostakovich piano concertos on Naxos as well - that CD was my intro to him and set me investigating other recordings by him. I've been in search of a great recording of the Shosty piano concertos and have tried pretty much all of the 'usual suspects' - some of them very good, but not quite nailing the exquisite slow movements - then for 1p plus postage from Amazon I thought I may as well try the Naxos offering even if the pianist is not a Big Name; Houstoun ... who? F**k me, it's near as damn perfect! Forget the rest, Houstoun's the best!