Classical Music - Reviews by Magic Marmalade

Classical Music - Reviews by Magic Marmalade

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Member	Item		Review/Comment
Magic Marmalade 28th Jan 2016		Classical Item Wilhelm Kempff - 3 Intermezzi Op.117 (1964)	Review Perfect rainy day music. If you find yourself stuck indoors, just staring out the window at the rain, this could be a perfect piece of music to listen to. You could easily settle back and read a book with this on in the background without it being a distraction. It's a solo piano recital by Wilhelm Kempff.... just him, alone with a piano. No other instrumentation. In fact, it would be a great thing to listen to if you were studying piano at a high level I should imagine, or maybe even learning, as it is delicate, meditative music with an occasional flourish. It begins very delicately, and is a little on the quiet side, which I initially thought was the recording itself being that quiet.... but by degrees it lifts as it moves through the pieces so rather it's just the delicacy of his piano playing at the outset. The pieces become only a little more vigorous as it goes, which leads nicely to the vinyl and pressing itself: Because curiously, side 1 comes in at about 28 mins. whereas side 2 only has about 12 minutes of music, to give a total of approximately 40 minutes of music. ... this great length for side 1 I attribute to the sparse music being undemanding of the grooves, so they could press it with a "tighter spiral", and get more on it, and so side 2, which has a little more purpose in Kempff's playing, and a little more weight, they opened it up a little more... of course, they could have comfortably put more on side 2, but the length and number of the pieces by Brahms decided this. As you'd expect, the vinyl is nice, super silent around the piano, with room for power where it's needed (as much as this is the case), and has great detail in the quieter parts. I've had a little mosey on the web, and this record is quite a difficult one to find online... not that it may necessarily be considered rare in the sense that it'll give you goose bumps on your eyeballs, but rare in that it just doesn't seem to be generally considered at all (There are probably hundreds of copies languishing in charity store record bins all around, but I did find a listing on Amazon for a stereo version... ... but this being a mono or stereo record I think in this instance is a redundant point, as it is only one instrument that encompasses the entire audible "field of view". I may be listening to this quite regularly actually. 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 27th Jan 2016		Classical Item Enrico Caruso - The Art Of Caruso	Review As can be seen from the back cover notes, these are very old recordings, and as such, sound like they were recorded on very early equipment.... probably just one mic (Equivalent kit of the time). Caruso's voice is to the fore, with only faintly detectable instrumentation more distant. Which is Ok, in that it's Caruso's voice you want to hear, but bear that in mind and you'll enjoy these 'atmospheric' recordings of the early twentieth century. A couple of the tracks have audible hiss on them... Tosca, and Fedora particularly...whether this is the actual recording machine picking up the sound of it's own operation, the quality of the original recording medium, or just ambient noise is difficult to tell, but it doesn't really spoil the experience. Except in the case of Fedora, which is a slightly wobbly recording, and ends rather abruptly, which leads me to believe that the master for this disc (at least on this track), maybe a straight needle to needle lift from another record. The vinyl is of course, fantastic here, and just gets out of the way to allow you to hear the original recordings themselves - warts and all. Lovely sleeve and beautiful labels which someone could find themselves just gazing at for many minutes (ahem) with all that lovely Gold print on the white background. All makes for a lovely package, and an atmospheric, cosy afternoon's listening. (This came in at just under an hour of music, about 58 mins.) 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 25th Jan 2016		Classical Item NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini - Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 5 And 8	Review Just listened to this. "Ooooh, I know that one!" ...Was my first thought. Symphony No.5 is the 'DA. Da. DA. DAAaaa'.. one (know the one?) Of course you know it, it's Beethoven as droogs might know it. So I won't spend too much time out of depth describing the music itself, but rather talk about the vinyl and recording... It's something of a let down I have to say, but that may be because I've been spoiled rotten with recent Stereo classical acquisitions, and this being mono, suffers greatly by comparison. Thsi is because this is probably a 'bigger' bit of music than those others I've recently listened to - a full symphony - but in a smaller sound-stage than those others. It needs more room to gallop, so to speak. In fact, the problem is that it feels like the vinyl has revealed the shortcomings of the original recording (I don't know if there is a Stereo version of this), but the recording itself sounds like a very old recording on quite an unsophisticated set up... it almost sounds like there's just been a couple of mics at the front of the orchestra to pick up the whole band (he he). As such, the strings overwhelm the whole affair, and you can only faintly detect anything further back in the orchestra as it struggles to fight it's way through this dense thicket of drama and power that the vinyl delivers. And even so, the whole thing, as I say, sounds old (don't know when this was recorded), thin for anything but the cellos, narrow, and middle distant. A smaller and tighter unit like a rock band always sounds better in mono to my ears, benefiting from the punch and unity of that kind of recording, but an orchestra needs a wide open space to play in, and also to contain it... here it's altogether too much music for so little room. I can now see where all the extra bucks go for the early stereo vinyls, because this is vinyl of such quality that's crying out to have it's full potential explored with a decent stereo, or even mono recording, and basically, by this point, the vinyl was more capable than the music they put on it at this time. 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 25th Jan 2016		Classical Item Vladimir Ashkenazy - Piano Concerto In C Minor, Op. 18 / Etudes (1964)	Review Really enjoyed this one. Very meditative music, even soothing. Ashkenazy's piano is incredibly subtle, precise, but rolls like liquid through the pieces. No jarring changes of tempo or style, but consistent throughout. The kind of thing you want to have on when you're contemplating your Navy. (Or plotting world domination in your volcano base :) 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 24th Jan 2016		Classical Item Philharmonia Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan - Philharmonia Promenade Concert (1961)	Review Continuing my further adventures in Classical music, I was pleased to find this one when out on the dig. It's a real joy to listen to this one, as it's packed with popular classics, of the prom variety, which will appeal to more casual Classical listeners who perhaps like the BBC proms, but aren't into the more demanding stuff (like myself!), or are looking for an easy way into the world of classical music. Tunes you can recognise, even if you aren't particularly aware of the names of the composers or the works themselves (tunes you can hum too!). A very bouncy, vigorous "romp", that certainly had me bopping around the room. A note on the vinyl: This is another of the "big" labels of classical music... the Powder-Blue/turquoise Columbia label, which signifies the early stereo pressings for this label, and along with the Decca "wide Band" labels (SXL catalogue number prefix), and the HMV White and Gold rimmed "Nipper" labels (ASD prefix - (As with a handful of Columbias also having the ASD prefix, instead of SAX)) represent the very best, and most sought after classical pressings. (Some of the titles on these labels fetch truly mind melting prices at auction - couple of thousand in a few cases ((this particular title is perhaps one of the cheapest, but can still get upwards of fifty quid in mint))). ...And it's easy to see (and hear!) why... the vinyl of these; Of which I now have an example of each; is incredible. They can reach places other vinyl cannot touch... deeper, wider, and higher in frequency and range, and deliver unparalleled detail, power, breadth. Although only an observation of my own, I can discern that this is not because of any special quality in terms of thickness of vinyl, or weight... but the fineness of the vinyl substance itself (a finer grain maybe, or a purity of the plastic). And also the absolute precision of the press or cut... the grooves are razor sharp, and incredibly finely pressed. This is best seen when you gently roll the vinyl around under a light source, as this fineness of detail in the pressing causes a kind of "oil-slick- rainbow" effect to be visible on the disc... that is: the grooves are so precise, I suppose you'd say they split the reflection of the white light into it's constituent colours of the spectrum (A greater degree of refraction (?)). Great stuff. 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?

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