Prelude a L’apres-midi d’un faune
Berlin Philharmonic / Herbert von Karajan
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If you want a cost effective intro to Debussy in excellent performances and good sound;
Label: Philips Duo Catalog: 438742 Release Date: 02/15/1994 Number of Discs: 2
Composer: Claude Debussy
Performer: Vera Badings, George Pieterson
Conductor: Bernard Haitink, Eduard van Beinum
Orchestra/Ensemble: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
And Ravel;
Label: Decca Catalog: 460214 Release Date: 11/09/1999 Number of Discs: 2
Composer: Maurice Ravel
Conductor: Charles Dutoit
Orchestra/Ensemble: Montreal Symphony Orchestra
The are 2 disc sets at very reasonable prices on Archiv or Amazon.
This will give you most of their best in good sound and performances.
You need go no further unless you feel compelled.
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Those two works are often paired together.
I’ve found myself on a similar journey. My early focus seemed more bent towards the classical period but I find myself being currently drawn towards more romantic era pieces. Baroque is still something I haven’t much explored outside of the 4 seasons with Vivaldi plus some other random things I come across. The modern period seems much more hit and miss for me right now.
Streaming services are a blessing and a curse: there is so much out there you can jump around quickly and hear all kinds of music easily but this may be at the expense of truly studying a particular piece of work.
Having Primephonic just adds to this jumping around as there are frequent new releases and the curation is quite good so the recommended albums presented usually have one or two recordings that are worth exploring.
Remarkable that I’m complaining about having too much to listen to but I’ll frame it as just not having enough time to listen, yeah, that’s better.
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I think it’s the pastels that were putting me off, for both Ravel and Debussy, since the core of my classical listening was Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven for most of my life. I do like Verdi and Puccini but Mozart operas are still heaven for me. But my classical palate has definitely improved over the last few months, so I’m willing to give Ravel and Debussy a try again.
Thanks everyone for the recommendations.
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This morning I listened to the [only] user playlist of Handel on Tidal for an hour or so. Skipped the symphony, as I was really more interested in concertos and small ensembles. Quite enjoyable.
For a change of pace, I spent the next 45 minutes listening to MJQ (The Modern Jazz Quartet) TIDAL top tracks on shuffle.
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I guess I am endlessly intrigued by new music, also I also love going back to old favorites, but not so much that I become jaded with them.
I don’t listen to CDs or vinyl any more. My Flac and DSD files are not accessed very often. But what has taken me over is Qobuz and Tidal on Roon. I particularly LOVE Roon Radio. This makes reading music reviews of so much more meaningful, as I can do a quick search on Roon and usually find the piece being reviewed.
On Tuesday, Roon is coming out with version 1.8, which has specific features for properly cataloging, searching and comparing classical recordings. Should be interesting!
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Im looking forward to the new version. I probably wont have much use for the new classical search features though as almost all of my classical streaming is with Primephonic, which has been rumoured to be working on Roon integration for a while now.
Primephonic does keep upgrading itself and improving the user experience so I dont feel like Im missing out on much with not having the Roon interface and features. The Roon EQ and general stability could be a bit of a bonus at times, not that I really EQ anything, but its nice to have that option.
Radio features on any streaming service are just lovely for music discovery.
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Roon classical search through tidal is much improved on 1.8.
(In case anyone is feeling gloomy)
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His 8th string quartet is enough for me, thank you very much.
I havent had a chance to check out the new roon yet.
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Does it help to think of Debussy and Revel as impressionists, rather than pastels? Capturing the light and passage of time, etc, etc? They both rejected the term, but the influences of both are from the same bucket.
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Sure, but the terms Impressionism and say Late Romantic are classifications. I was trying to convey an easy visual reference to identify the different, generalized, sound characteristics of the music; pastel versus vivid. Although its often difficult to pigeon hole a composer to one style exclusively. There is a lot of crossover or mixing as all composers build on what they have absorbed from other composers, past and present, in the learning process towards becoming a composer and developing their own style. The greatest composers to my mind are those that take that accumulated knowledge and develop their own, unique, style of expression with their music.
Take Beethoven; his 1st and 2nd Symphonies sound like an extension of late Mozart with some future Beethoven-isms thrown in. Then comes his 3rd Symphony and his uniqueness of expression and style are cut in stone forever.
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I also meant impressionism as a visual representation of style and mood. Talking about art (visual or aural) is difficult. Bulletn boarding about art can be impossible.
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2 posts were merged into an existing topic: The General Advice/Questions Thread
… and the beauty is in the quiet passages.
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Is this the only recording that it happens with?
Have you listened to a different album or group with all 3 phones at the “exact” same volume level?
(keeping in mind that different efficiency’s of the HP’s may require an SPL meter and test tone to get them exact entailing different settings of the volume control)
Its nearly impossible to listen it at the exact same level as impedance and sensivity is different in all 3 headphones… but i would say its pretty much the same once i adjust it (by ear).
I ve been listening to many more song since yesterday and i feel my asgard was making the 560s shine a lot compare to the other headphones while my thx 789 makes my elegia shine. The 789 combined with the 560s is way too analytical and neutral i would say together 789 and 560s are sounding lifeless…
i hear new things in old songs using the 789 with the focals. Stuff i never noticed before.
BtW i got the 789 on tuesday so i just started using it 2 days ago. Its funny how diferent amp makes differents headphones shine. This make me wanna try tube amp next
Well then it sounds like it boils down to using components that complement each other from a sonic standpoint and work well together from an electrical standpoint.
I have no experience with any of the equipment you mention.
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wonderful recording of Mahler’s 5th on this set. looking forward to listening to the rest!
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a new piece for me. It fits the grey Seattle blah perfectly:
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