What Are You Listening To?

Manfred Mann's Earth Band ~ The Good Earth

thought I scored original vinyl but this is a 1973 repress

Unplugged Collection - Vol 1
Some good cuts on here

Jane's Addiction
Yeah

1980 reissue on MCA.

Riding with the King on a great morning in Cleveburg.

Adrian Belew ~ Lone Rhino

Dark Side of the Moon. SACD

Freedom 'thru the years' promo vinyl

rednedtugent wrote: »

Moose68Bash wrote: »

Is there a way of getting an executive summary of the best of these?
The high points? I can't listen to them all

rednedtugent,

As I noted in another thread, my wife gave me "Yo-Yo Ma: 30 Years Outside the Box" for my recent birthday.

This wonderful present consisting of 90 CDs happened to arrive during the period in which I was accumulating the 250 hours of break-in time necessary for the new crossovers Trey built for my SRS 1.2s to "TL" them.

I have been listening to them now for over 100 hours and am now listening to CD 46.

The early CDs sounded "nice," but not what I was hoping for. As time accumulated on the crossovers, the sound began to open up remarkably.

Even the Chopin Piano Trio, to which I am now listening and that was recorded in 1994, has a full rich, extraordinarily engaging sound. I had not listened to this CD before the most recent mods, but I can say that I cannot discern from the sound that it is a "vintage," remastered (in 2009) recording.

The individual instruments are clear. Their timbres are realistic. The transients of the piano runs are distinct and fast. Overall, the sound quality is superb -- the best I have heard.

Perhaps, the most succinct statement I can make is that the rendition of these CDs is now consummately engaging. For example: When I put this CD in, I was on my way tot he garage to change the oil and coolant in my tractor. However, once I started listening, I could not get up and leave. The music gripped me and held me.

I love Chopin, by and large. With respect to the music in this remarkable collection that is most worth listening to, I would advise: Look for composers or pieces that you personally like or are interested in experiencing, and take a listen. The performers are uniformly excellent (no surprise there) and with a good system the recording are very good to superb.

So far, my favorites have been:

CDs 8 & 9: Bach | The Six Unaccompanied Cello Suites
CD 14: Japanese Melodies
CD 24: Dvorak | Piano Trios
CD 30: Anything Goes: Stephane Grappelli and Yo-Yo Ma Play (Mostly) Cole Porter
CD 36: Hush [Bobby McFerrin and Yo-Yo Ma]
CDs 38 & 39: Brahms | String Sextets | Theme and Variations for Piano
CD 42: Faure | Piano Quartets
CD 45: Beethoven and Schumann | Piano Quartets
CD 46: Chopin | Piano Trio | Polonaise brillante | Cello Sonata

You will note the trend is to appreciate the later CDs (they are more or less in chronological order of the original recordings) more than the earlier ones.

I suspect that this has something to do with the breaking in of the crossovers as well as with the quality of the recordings, and even, perhaps, with the characteristics of Yo-Yo Ma's performance. With respect to the latter, I would say that over the years his performances strike me as more "relaxed" and emotive, while still retaining the technical excellence of his craft. [I first heard him live in the mid 1980s.]

It is pretentious of me even to deign to judge his playing, but I would say that he has evolved over the years covered int he first 46 CDs from superb technical mastery of his instrument to equally superb creativity in his musicality.

One last comment: At about 165 hours of break-in time, the speakers and crossovers took a quantum leap in sound quality. I was listening to "Bang Bang," a track on the recent 2 Cellos's CD "In2ition," when I was suddenly (and I mean "suddenly") shocked by how the sound became open, incredibly real, and present. It was truly and "ah hah" moment in my listening experience.

Chopin Japan redbook
14 waltzes
Maria Joao Pires, Klavier Steinway

Fever Tree ~ For Sale........white label promo