What are you listening two?

[mcq]

I have a great many SACD classical recordings in my collection which I wasn't able to fully appreciate prior to purchasing my new Esoteric.  These are all wonderful Redbook recordings but I have read many reports concerning the superiority of the SACD transfers.  The quality of Channel Classics' SACD recordings are legendary and I have been listening to two favourite recordings today.

The first was Ivan Fischer's radiantly beautiful reading of Mahler's Fourth Symphony.  The SACD transfer is exquisite  - smooth, warm, rich and deeply satisfying.  The orchestral details are presented very natually and the SACD recording creates a deeper soundstage and a wider frequency range.  It just feels so much more textured and rounded.  Gorgeous, just gorgeous.

Many of these aural qualities are also present in the SACD transfer of Jos van Veldhoven's majestic reading of Bach's St. John Passion but what I also hear is just how well the Esoteric reproduces the human voice, whether it is in isolation or in a massed choir.  There is a resonant quality to the articulation of a phrase which is particularly impactful and which commands your attention.

Perhaps the most striking feature of the Esoteric is its ability to present the emotional temperature and tonality of each recording as separate and unique entities.  As I have moved from CD to CD this weekend, sometimes across different genres and sometimes staying within the same genre, I have been confronted with a myriad of different acoustic environments and emotional micro-climates, all of which have have been reproduced as vividly as the musical instruments and voices.  This tells me that the Esoteric engineers rely as much on listening as they do on measurements and, considering just how much emotional information is preserved from the original musical performance, perhaps they value listening most of all.  

[mcq]

Listening to Gardiner's classic version of Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea on DG Archiv tonight.  Not much to say but I'm speechless.  Amazing music, fantastic hi-fi system, cracking bottle of wine.  Wonderful way to kick off the weekend.  As I write this, the extraordinary closing duet, "Pur ti miro, Pur ti godo"', is playing and I am in tears.  This is pure emotion delivered straight to my heart.

[markof]

[Diapason]

I always loved that music, Markof. I'm not familiar with that recording, though. Any good?

[markof]

I always loved that music, Markof. I'm not familiar with that recording, though. Any good?

A great record IMHO.

It's a bit old now, dating from 1978, but I haven't heard a better version.
I like the recent Harmonia Mundi recording too but the ECM sounds better to me.

It's a real testament to their recording process that it's held up so long.

Which one do you enjoy?

Mark

[Diapason]

Which one do you enjoy?

I have the Ensemble Modern version on RCA, recorded in the late 90s. I really like it, but I've never put it against other recordings to compare. Maybe I should!

[markof]

Here's something interesting, the score was never found but the libretto was found in St. Petersburg in 2009.

The performance was assembled using music from other Bach works, which he was won't to do himself (eg. the B minor Mass) and the performance is very pleasing.

Mark

[markof]

[markof]

[Naimaste]

Currently streaming this via Tidal.
Till 2 days ago I had only really known Glenn Gould in connection with this music!
Then I listened to the 1957 recording of the Goldberg Variations. Even on yout00be it is awe inducing. Now I have a whole canon of works to listen to.

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