Hi-Fi: Favourite Music
These are just a few of my favourite recordings, displaying fantastic performances and exceptional recorded sound. I have a large collection and can only represent a few of the very best ones here. Enjoy!
Classical
Vivaldi
/ Four Seasons
Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble
CD BIS CD-275
Yawn! The Four Seasons are the most well published of all classical music pieces and surely everyone has heard them tinkling away in the background at all the most expensive bars. Music for lifts?
Not this version. Don't put it on as background music, play it at concert level and prepare for an experience. Of all the versions I have heard, this one is played by an ensemble who most clearly relish their music. The venue, Petrus Church in Stocksund, Sweden, helps create a real sense of immediacy. The playing is superb with particular credit going to the violin soloist, Nils-Erik Sparf. The ensemble play wilfully and demonstrate musicianship of the highest order. Most importantly, they make this hackneyed work sound very exciting.
The 1984 recording was made on a Sony PCM F1 digital recorder, not a very promising sign, and yet it easily stands comparison with the latest high bit-rate recordings. Bright but not harsh, the players are well arrayed with Sparf centre stage and very 'up-front'. Dynamics are stunning (the storm in Summer, track 4, explodes from a dark background) and the double-basses are caught with more than customary deep underpinning. Detail is very impressive, the sense of the church's acoustic and Sparf's heavy breathing coming through in equal measure. A treasured disc.
Grieg
/ Piano Concerto in A minor, Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor
Radu Lupu, LSO & Andre Previn
CD (24/96 remaster) Decca Legends 289 466 383-2
Recorded at the height of his powers, before he went the way of so many concert pianists into introversion and a reduction in public performances, Radu Lupu played the famous Grieg in a commanding performance. If there is a musical equivalent of enunciation, Lupu plays in a style of extreme clarity where every note is well defined. Listening to the slow movement, the word which crosses my mind is 'dancing' - his fingers dance over the keyboard. Previn, always underrated, gives the perfect accompaniment and the LSO are on good form.
The recording is the usual Decca treat from that period. Recorded in 1973 in the sadly demolished Kingsway Hall in London, the piano is well spotlit and the orchestra brightly highlighted. This disc could veer towards sounding too bright on a system with that tendency, otherwise it allows an appreciation of everything going on in the mix. Indeed, for those with a subwoofer, the Underground trains are very obvious during the entire performance but especially so in the Adagio. This 24/96 remaster is appreciably better encoded than the original release.
Holst
/ The Planets
Royal Scottish National Orchestra, David Lloyd-Jones
DVD-A Naxos 5.110004
I like this performance very much. The orchestra are in fine form, particularly the brass section. Mars sounds suitably menacing and they hang back to make the crescendos all the more menacing. Jupiter is big and jolly and not too syrupy through the well-known hymn section.
The usual menu issues of requiring a TV are present here. When advanced resolution stereo is selected, the disc tells you to select 5.1 surround instead and set the DVD player to 2-channel. This makes me wonder exactly what I'm listening to? The player reports 24/48 in this mode, but it could well be decoded Dolby. Nevertheless, the sound is good with a well-spread but not in-you-face presentation (similar to Telarc recordings), sparkling highs and a bass drum with real impact.
Vivaldi
/ Gloria & Bach / Magnificat
AAM & Choir of Christ Church Oxford, Simon Preston
CD Decca 414 678-2
I first heard this recording on vinyl at the Cornflake Shop while listening to a Roksan Xerxes turntable (which I subsequently purchased). I didn't know much Vivaldi then, apart from the ubiquitous Four Seasons. This performance of the Gloria is special and unlike any other version I've heard in one respect; it uses boys as well as an adult choir and sounds all the better for it. The playing of the AAM (on ancient instruments), the choirs and the soloists are superb and highlight the joyful inventiveness of Vivaldi's music.
This analogue 1978 recording sounds quite wonderful on CD, with the layering of the choirs and the wispiness of the boy's voices providing one of the widest, deepest and most satisfying soundstages of any choral recording in my collection. It is a pure delight to listen to from start to finish and recommended to anyone who likes massed vocals and wants a reference recording from the classic Decca era.
Saint-Saëns
/ Symphony No 3
San Francisco SO, Edo de Waart, Jean Guillou (organ)
CD Philips 412 619-2
The performance is a nice straightforward one, well played and enjoyable, if not quite as glowing as the Enrique Bátiz account with the LPO on ASV. The soundstage is typical Philips, a little distant but with good stage width and excellent depth - very much 'there' if you close your eyes. Of special note is the organ playing by the great Jean Guillou, who brings the instrument's part to greater attention than is the case in many recordings of this symphony.
The sound quality is quite stunning and world class in respect of the organ. The Davies Symphony Hall features a Ruffatti of immense power and this 1984 Philips recording has captured the lowest pedal notes to great effect. Rarely has my system produced subsonic vibrations of such power and pitch focus. Be warned: if your system does not have a sizeable subwoofer you won't even hear what I'm talking about. A very enjoyable and potent listening experience.
Shostakovich
/ Symphony No 13 'Babi Yar'
Concertgebouw Orchestra & Choir, Bernard Haitink, Marius Rintzler (bass)
CD Decca 417 261-2
I've had this recording for years and decided to list it here because the music is quite stunning and the recording one of Decca's finest. Shostakovich wrote this choral symphony to the words of Yevtushenko's poem Babi Yar, describing some of the darker moments of the communist Soviet Union. I don't really know how to describe it, but it is quite unlike any other classical work and very gripping once you start listening. Predominantly choral and featuring a bass soloist throughout, the mood varies between abject bleakness and pure terror. I don't know of anything more scary, musically. Not one, then, for a happy gathering, but if you want to try something powerful and very moving on your own, I highly recommend it.
Modern
Jewel
/ Spirit
CD (HDCD) Atlantic 82950-2
This is Jewel Kilcher's second album. Her voice ranges from the slightly nasal folky singer-songwriter of the first track, Deep Water, through to a Sharleen Spiteri sounding rock chick on Life Uncommon. This latter, track 11, makes a good introduction to the album with its tight arrangement and spacious recording. Her best song, however, is track 3, Hands, delivered with a smooth, velvety voice positioned up front in the mix.
The recording deserves special mention for two attributes. Firstly, it portrays beautiful arrangements with a wide and deep soundstage and especially well captured acoustic guitars. Secondly, the bass is immense, trouser-flappingly deep and huge while never quite overwhelming Jewel's voice. Track 10, Barcelona, is a beautiful song and fantastic test of any system. Deep, deep bass with her crystalline voice always focused centre stage. The CD is special because it makes you want to listen to it from start to end. Great voice, great songs.