|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
24.5.58.84
In Reply to: RE: The Moscow Conservatory Great Hall posted by rbolaw on June 16, 2015 at 18:31:57
Yes - you're right about the odd 1994 competition with no first prize winner. Of the four names that I mentioned, I'd pick Lugansky, who only placed "second", as my favorite - especially the recordings he made in the Netherlands (for Dutch Vanguard) soon after "winning" that '94 competition.
Getting back to Ghindin, I'll have to seek out his recordings. I no longer have Spotify to do any spot checks, but I'm sure I'll find a way - thanks for the heads up!
Follow Ups:
You no longer have Spotify? But it's free, as I'm sure you know. Looks like Ghindin has at least six titles on there: Rachmaninoff concertos 1 and 4 with Ashkenazy (original versions); Moments Musicaux; Tchaikovsky-Rachmaninoff-Stravinsky; Scriabin Sonatas and Poemes; Music for Two Pianos with Petrov; and Brahms violin sonatas 1-3 with Spivakov.
Or, more likely, my Facebook account which was required to log on to Spotify, was hacked. I called Spotify and explained what was happening last month, and I want to make sure I'm not seeing any more credit card charges to the account (which they supposedly just closed for me) before I sign up again. I suppose I could sign up for one of the other streaming services instead. Jeez I hate Facebook - especially that little worm Zuckerberg - what a big whoop over nothing. And people act like he's another Jobs - unbelievable. (Occasionally, I like to let my bitterness shine though!) ;-)
I won't subscribe to Spotify. Actually, I'm now dippin' my toes in the 24/96 download pool. I tried some free samples, with impressive results, except for eClassical.com. Their free sample was the only one that wouldn't play. Do any of you partake, which do you recommend, and do any of them have classical offerings as wide as those of Spotify?
Although I'm spending most of my listening time these days checking my rips to iTunes (and listening to the Tchaikovsky Competition!), I've downloaded a fair amount of hi-rez files over the past few years, and I'm a big believer in them. (BTW, in answer to your question, none of these sites have the depth of catalog that you'll find on Spotify.) My exposure to download sites doesn't seem to be as extensive as a few others' here (Russell, et al), but here are some brief comments on the sites I've had experience with:There's a German site (can't remember the name) that I had bad luck with on my single download (Mehta's "Verklarte Nacht" - I just left out the Umlaut in order to avoid having my post cut off from this point!) which, although nominally a 24/96 file, showed a hard frequency responce cut-off on my spectrograph SW at just over 20kHz. Not good.
- The Classical Shop (UK) - a really first-rate operation with (high-side) prices to match, and real boon to those of us who are into multi-channel hi-rez downloads. I think it's run by Chandos, although many other labels are available there too. I used to have trouble on this site with slow download speeds, but the last couple of downloads have been fine from a speed perspective.
- eClassical - another well run and impressive operation, with generally good pricing (even better on the occasional sale items). I have not downloaded from this site for years however, because Robert and George have been promising that hi-rez multi-channel downloads are just around the corner. (The latest info I have from Robert - this site is an offshoot of BIS, and as with the Classical Shop, other labels are available here too - is that they are in beta testing now for their multi-channel downloads.)
- HD Tracks - This is a more controversial site, because some of their "hi-rez" tracks seem to be only CD-resolution (i.e., 16/44.1) files shoe-horned into higher-rez containers. This appears to be especially true for pop and rock music - it's much less of a problem for classical. This site is 2-channel only, and there are some hi-rez files available here from what used to be the "major" labels, such as DG and Decca. Given the 2-channel limitation, I've been generally happy with what I've downloaded here, and, speaking personally, I've never had a problem with the resolution being less than advertised. In some cases (such as Lisa's recording of the Brahms Violin Concerto), I was VERY impressed by the hi-rez SQ.
- Pro-studio Masters (Canada) - These folks have a very good classical selection too (as download sites go), with some of the same titles from the "majors" as HD Tracks. Also like HD Tracks, they're limited to two-channel downloads. BTW, it's worth comparing prices on the two sites, because, depending on what kind of sales and promotions are going on at any given time, a given title might be considerably cheaper on one site compared to the other.
- High-Definition Tape Transfers - This is a special case site that mostly offers older recordings transferred from commercial open reel tapes. Their recent work has been superb, and I particularly recommend their last four Steinberg/Pittsburgh recordings originally on the Command label. (The HDTT downloads I'm talking about - Brahms 1, Brahms 2, Beethoven 2, and Wagner Overtures, Preludes and Orchestral Excerpts - reproduce the original Command cover art. Nice!)
- iTrax - Mark Waldrep's download site mostly offers titles from his own AIX label, but there are some other titles he offers that no one else seems to, such as the hi-rez multi-channel version of the Zenph "Rachmaninoff Plays Rachmaninoff" re-performance - quite an improvement over the CD IMHO.
I also wanted to mention another site, Presto Classical (UK), which I haven't yet used. They have a number of titles that other sites do not offer, including the German acousence catalog. I used to download these acousence albums from the Linn site (which now no longer offers recordings from acousence or any other non-Linn other labels), and, at 24/96 (two-channel only unfortunately), they're magnificent!
I may be forgetting some sites, but what I've listed may be enough to provide a little help.
Robert von Bahr is a good and very intelligent guy, we once had a lengthy e-mail discussion about certain European music publishers. I'll probably give the first two sites on your list a try to begin with.Edit: OK, it seems that 24/96 downloads are still far from the norm even in classical music, and those that are available are usually sold at a large premium over 16 bit downloads. Maybe all that will change before too long.
Edits: 06/18/15
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: