Interesting article

[namefail]

because life is suffering.

Poor lill' Vlady wanna hug.

 

[Covenanter]

I have a slight problem with classical music. I enjoy it ten times more when I can watch the performers than just playing the audio. (The BBC Proms is an excellent example. I can watch and listen to virtually any performance - for hours on end - engrossed by the orchestra, soloists, choirs and conductor.)

I've done the same with the Young Musician of the Year and the Leeds Piano Competitions.

When visiting London I have often watched a lunchtime concert at St. Martin In The Fields (although I haven't managed to get up to the smoke much in the last couple of years).

Choral and organ recitals at our local cathedral have always been pretty special too. (And Chichester cathedral.)

However, just playing classical audio has never been anywhere near as absorbing.

With a few exceptions, it's not the same for me with rock, pop and jazz. I have never really needed the visual element to enjoy the music.

I wish all my favourite classical music was on DVD too.

Roll on July 18th.

I find recorded classical music absolutely wonderful. The one area where I would go along with you is opera which is to a large extent a visual medium. I love live concerts too though but they are somewhat different because you go for the experience as much as the music.

Chris

 

[Vladimir]

because life is suffering.

Poor lill' Vlady wanna hug.

All I needed was lunch. But I appreciate the hug.

 

[Vladimir]

because life is suffering.

Poor lill' Vlady wanna hug.

Apparently all I needed was lunch. But I appreciate the hug.

 

[davedotco]

@Dave

I meant real live event vs recorded and produced live event for sonic merits. Me standing in the crowd vs profesisonaly recorded and produced audio. It's beer vs engineer.

Enjoying live music has nothing to do with sonic merits and the art itself. It's about everything else.

We are ready to pay more for the system that makes us halucinate more in our living rooms. Hi-fi is a legal drug and we are all trying to get in the state of trance and make life bearable because life is suffering.

Sorry vlad but you really do not get this.

Live music exists on all levels, from Woodstock to this. Last year we talk a walk (against our normal better judgement) to a proper Irish bar close to our home. We had been told it was good, which it wasn't, except for the 'Band'.

Two guys playing acoustic guitars, one playing percussion and singing. No PA whatsoever, even for the singer, and realistically they were not very good, bit here and there, for a song or two they brought tears to your eyes, well mine anyway. Genuinely emotional and actually heart reading performances of a couple of really sad songs.

Not exactly the Allegri Quartet at the Wigmore Hall in terms of technique (I have seen them too) or ability but moving never the less.

Even if we are just discussing audio, I am a huge fan of live recordings, musicians are never better than performing in front of a live audience, the difference is huge, (go back to my examples above) far more important in musical terms than the 'perfection' of the studio.

 

[Vladimir]

Sorry vlad but you really do not get this.

Live music exists on all levels, from Woodstock to this. Last year we talk a walk (against our normal better judgement) to a proper Irish bar close to our home. We had been told it was good, which it wasn't, except for the 'Band'.

Two guys playing acoustic guitars, one playing percussion and singing. No PA whatsoever, even for the singer, and realistically they were not very good, bit here and there, for a song or two they brought tears to your eyes, well mine anyway. Genuinely emotional and actually heart reading performances of a couple of really sad songs.

Not exactly the Allegri Quartet at the Wigmore Hall in terms of technique (I have seen them too) or ability but moving never the less.

Even if we are just discussing audio, I am a huge fan of live recordings, musicians are never better than performing in front of a live audience, the difference is huge, (go back to my examples above) far more important in musical terms than the 'perfection' of the studio.

What brought you the tears from the terrible band in the acoustically non-friendly bar?

a) The actual music as an art form.

b) The more realistic pluck of guitar strings.

c) Alcohol + nostalgia.

Go to your next live event, pick a random band, don't drink, go alone, put on a blindfold and just listen.

You will cry to go back to your Hi-Fi.

 

[hifikrazy]

I'm surprised nobody has suggested yet that a double blind test will reveal that live music and hifi music sounds exactly the same.

 

[matthewpiano]

When it comes to acoustic rather than amplified music, nothing comes close to hearing it live no matter how good and/or expensive your hi-fi - just as no matter how good digital pianos get they are still miles off sounding convincingly like the real thing.

 

[DocG]

Then I played a Cd of Ane Brun - Live at the Stockholm Concert Hall.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPI_3U8I0I4&index=2&list=RDh5MfQ-Wa584

A completely different feel but just as real !

I am so lucky

That is a brilliant album indeed, Electro -- even on Spotify! Thanks for the tip! :cheers:

 

[davedotco]

Sorry vlad but you really do not get this.

Live music exists on all levels, from Woodstock to this. Last year we talk a walk (against our normal better judgement) to a proper Irish bar close to our home. We had been told it was good, which it wasn't, except for the 'Band'.

Two guys playing acoustic guitars, one playing percussion and singing. No PA whatsoever, even for the singer, and realistically they were not very good, bit here and there, for a song or two they brought tears to your eyes, well mine anyway. Genuinely emotional and actually heart reading performances of a couple of really sad songs.

Not exactly the Allegri Quartet at the Wigmore Hall in terms of technique (I have seen them too) or ability but moving never the less.

Even if we are just discussing audio, I am a huge fan of live recordings, musicians are never better than performing in front of a live audience, the difference is huge, (go back to my examples above) far more important in musical terms than the 'perfection' of the studio.

What brought you the tears from the terrible band in the acoustically non-friendly bar?

a) The actual music as an art form.

b) The more realistic pluck of guitar strings.

c) Alcohol + nostalgia.

Go to your next live event, pick a random band, don't drink, go alone, put on a blindfold and just listen.

You will cry to go back to your Hi-Fi.

I'll try and answer realistically. First of all the 'band' were not terrible, I didn't say that. Aspiring young(ish) musicians still a fair way from 'professional' standard sure, but not terrible.

Their best songs were unknown to me, whether self penned or just obscure I do not know, so not nostalgia, the later 'singalong' stuff was awful though.

I deliberately gave this as an example to get past the visceral appeal of loud rock and roll or the impact of a full orchestra, I love both but have a realistic appreciation of why they are so enjoyable.

I refer you back to the Joy Division examples in an earlier post, play the two tracks and tell me your reaction, I saw them a lot back in the day, but I would be interested in the reactions of someone who did not.

 

[Jota180]

A good Hi Fi/Home Cinema should be faithful to the original recording (Warts and All) and not add any sound characteristics of its own, thus only leaving the room acoustics to sort out via physical and/or electronic management.

Bill

But what Johnny is saying is the recording is naff. No recording even gets close.

"If you haven't heard it live, you haven't really heard it – and yet 90% of judgments on classical music are made from hearing recordings.When an orchestra starts from silence in a quiet room it's glorious. Or a solitary singer. It doesn't matter how much you spend on your speaker stands, you can't reproduce that in your front room, any more than the National Geographic channel reproduces Madagascar. It's all a con. If you're interested, hunt out live classical music, especially the kind that doesn't rely on PA systems."