Recordings That You Are Considering

[amw]

Haitink's cycle and the Menuhin Fifth...that would be my choice too if I had to choose just one (one cycle, one Fifth).

Sarge

The Fifth in the Haitink cycle has the slowest, most elegiac, least romantic* Lento on record (that I've found yet). Actually sounds like it was written in 1941. Okay, he still over-romanticises quite a bit (I mean, it is technically called a Romanza) but he does get a beautiful string tone with very little vibrato, which adds a sense of timelessness. I don't like so much what he does with the first half of the finale—it seems like he's missing the point somehow, I can't put my finger on how just now. Second half benefits from the same string tone as the Lento and almost no dynamic variation, making it close to the ideal conclusion. Scherzo is... slow. Though I very much like that Lento, I do think two Fifths will be essential.

What sold me on 'Tink was the Sixth, though. Remarkable piece. I thought I knew it well. >_> Anyway the cycle will be in my collection as soon as it's done downloading, and then I'll decide whether I need more alternatives for individual works. (I already a Hickox 2nd, but it's a different version of the piece so not sure that counts.)

* Though as far as anti-romanticism goes there's something to be said for the composer's quite understated recording on Somm. Quite fast and non-elegiac though.

[Todd]

I heard Tomáš Netopil conduct for the first time last night leading Honegger, Chopin, and Dvorak.  (I went for the Chopin since Grosvenor was soloist.  It was well worth it.)  All the works were extremely well done, and Netopil led more incisive, rhythmically vigorous playing than even Carlos Kalmar gets sometimes.  The Dvorak 6th was splendid.  A quick glance at Amazon shows that he is currently relegated to Czech music on disc, and these two are the most intriguing.  Based on the Honegger and Chopin, I hope he gets to record more, and that he comes back to town.

[Brian]

I have the Glagolitic CD. While you could critique it for maybe not being quite "wild/grandiose" enough, it is pretty much by default the best recording of Janacek's (better) original version of the score. Mackerras on Chandos is too rushed, and the various BBC Proms are (1) radio broadcasts, and (2) afflicted by poor singing and/or Pierre Boulez. Eternal Gospel is a really nice little piece. A good CD for sure, a great one...maybe.

[Karl Henning]

(* chuckling at the thought of Boulez as an affliction *)

[Todd]

I'm a physical media kind of guy.  But these two releases are download only.  The Silverman is part of a series that will ultimately include 24 of the sonatas from a live cycle from a few years back.  The Ugorskaja is to whet aural appetites for her upcoming WTC.  What to do?

[(poco) Sforzando]

I'm a physical media kind of guy.  But these two releases are download only.  The Silverman is part of a series that will ultimately include 24 of the sonatas from a live cycle from a few years back.  The Ugorskaja is to whet aural appetites for her upcoming WTC.  What to do?

Buy something by Mrs. Mills.

[Mandryka]

I'm a physical media kind of guy?

Get over it. It's as absurd as saying "I'm a gas light kind of guy."

[Madiel]

Get over it. It's as absurd as saying "I'm a gas light kind of guy."

It's absurd to assume that newer is always better. Digital downloads did not leap into the world perfected and fully formed.

I'll switch to downloads when I don't have to deal with crappy formats like mp3 (beginning to be solved, but still), crappy metadata (a LONG way from solved) and crappy stores that make it harder to order internationally than if I had bought physical media.

[mc ukrneal]

Get over it. It's as absurd as saying "I'm a gas light kind of guy."

What I don't understand is why digital versions are sometimes (even often) MORE expensive than physical versions...

[The new erato]

I simply like having physical media around me and the memories some of them bring. I can't see being nostalgic about music files, just as I cannot imagine being sentimentally attached to pdf or other files the way I am with books. For a quick read of a timewaster novel while on travel it's OK (and spacesaving), likewise for magazines with a lifetime of a few week, but not for things of value. I picked up my physical copy of Huxley's "Point Counter Point" yesterday and vividly remember buying it and reading it the first time (in 72). Will never happen with ebooks. 

[Sadko]

Get over it. It's as absurd as saying "I'm a gas light kind of guy."

People still like to sit in front of a nice fire :-)

No doubt a nicely packaged CD adds an emotional experience, for me as well, but with a larger collection I simply find it more convenient to have everything ready on two big harddisks, for the ease of playback as well as for cataloging.

And one has more freedom to assemble different playback programmes or to join works that are split over several CDs.

[Todd]

No doubt a nicely packaged CD adds an emotional experience

There's also a practical aspect: making sure everything is backed up properly takes time and effort.  I've lost some files due to not backing up, but I've never not been able to play a CD.  Plus, CDs are always WAV, and downloads may not be lossless.  If it ain't lossless, I ain't interested.

[Jo498]

One also needs more gadgets. Hardly anyone will give up their CD players, probably not even their record players. So in most cases harddiscs (many, for backups) etc. will have to be bought, maintained etc. on top of the already present equipment.
(And to store CD in the cellar instead of a living or listening room one needs a nice dry cellar... not everyone has that, especially when living in an apartment building, it's not that they miraculously take up less space in the cellar than in the living room...)

As I probably mentioned before: Even where I live now I do not have sufficiently fast internet for easy streaming. And it seems an open question how long cheap flat rate streaming will be economical (amw just mentioned one provider becoming insolvent) and how many (rare, historical etc.) recordings I might be interested in will be offered by spotify etc.
I do not want to make myself dependent on such infrastructure more than necessary.

[Mandryka]

There's also a practical aspect: making sure everything is backed up properly takes time and effort.  I've lost some files due to not backing up, but I've never not been able to play a CD.  Plus, CDs are always WAV, and downloads may not be lossless.  If it ain't lossless, I ain't interested.

The backup is easy because it becomes part of your routine. I back up once a week on the day when we change the sheets. I use a good backup programme (Karen's replicator), which makes the task a piece of cake.

I prefer lossless but will accept 320 Kbps, I really can't tell the difference most days. It is very rare that I can't fin suitable high quality downloads, in fact I can only recall one occasion Labyrintho Josquin M. Pange Lingue.)

One reason it has worked so well for me is that I play music from files directly via a streamer, so I have no need for CDs at all. In fact, I haven't had  a CD player connected to my Hifi for about five years.

[Mandryka]

One also needs more gadgets. Hardly anyone will give up their CD players, probably not even their record players. So in most cases harddiscs (many, for backups) etc. will have to be bought, maintained etc. on top of the already present equipment.
(And to store CD in the cellar instead of a living or listening room one needs a nice dry cellar... not everyone has that, especially when living in an apartment building, it's not that they miraculously take up less space in the cellar than in the living room...)

As I probably mentioned before: Even where I live now I do not have sufficiently fast internet for easy streaming. And it seems an open question how long cheap flat rate streaming will be economical (amw just mentioned one provider becoming insolvent) and how many (rare, historical etc.) recordings I might be interested in will be offered by spotify etc.
I do not want to make myself dependent on such infrastructure more than necessary.

See post above about giving up CD player. You need a streamer and I have a high quality external DAC. The equipment is reliable (no moving parts, no lasers.)

You do not need fast internet to stream your own music, as it works through your homes wifi network.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Ripping everything indeed does take a lot of time and effort, especially for things that do not come up in the database. In those cases, everything needs to be entered by hand: name of composition, key, opus number, performers, etc (jazz is far easier). Still, it is worth it to me--I now have 1000 of my CDs ripped to FLAC, and have a few hundred more to go. I  have a few big box sets on my wish list, so I'll have a few hundred more after those purchases.

I rarely listen to actual CDs anymore. I haven't even fired up the CD player in months. Having everything very well arranged (my own folder system I've used for years) on my HDs and Fiio player encourages me to listen to things that have been neglected for years, if not decades. The activation energy needed to hit "enter" on my Foobar 2000 or on my Fiio is far less than that needed to go to my shelf, open up a CD case, put it in the player, etc.

Still, I'm keeping my CDs--just as yet another backup. I also need to keep the liner notes. I have not gotten into downloads yet, primarily because I'm after lossless files. It is really time Amazon got with the program and started offering these.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Considering... Is is so cheap even if I dislike two thirds of the performances (highly unlikely), it is still worth the money. But I wonder what "limited edition" means here? Any chance these are going to sell out any time soon? I don't mind buying individual CDs used, but for a huge set like this, if there is even one missing or damaged, it is a serious downer. 

[Mandryka]

Ripping everything indeed does take a lot of time and effort, especially for things that do not come up in the database. In those cases, everything needs to be entered by hand: name of composition, key, opus number, performers, etc (jazz is far easier). Still, it is worth it to me--I now have 1000 of my CDs ripped to FLAC, and have a few hundred more to go. I  have a few big box sets on my wish list, so I'll have a few hundred more after those purchases.

Nearly all of them will be tagged automatically. It's important to have a sensible tagging system, yours sounds too ambitious. I remember taking 50 CDs at a time to the computer, and every time I passed I ripped a new one -- you pass the room with the server every time you go to the loo in my house, so that helped! Obviously you don't have to watch it rip, so it was a pretty painless process. After a few months everything was ripped, more or less.

[Jo498]

I thought there was a lot of older stuff available only on CD, so you need a player (or at least a player in a computer to rip it).

[jlaurson]

If I had an unpaid intern who would reliably rip my collection and run it through the MusiChi tagger, which is the only acceptable way to tag music and not do it by hand, then yes, I would love to have that also, alongside my CDs. But it would take months... and I don't have the time or patience and I also don't even quite "GET" what I need. A NAS, yes... and then a dedicated computer just to play it? Because surely the whole point of doing this is not to have to futz around with a crummy (or great) streamer (gapless is a huge issue) where I can't search for albums with the greatest of convenience. (MusiChi library manager allows that, but that's where I need the computer.) That, plus the "ownership" idea (the feeling and the legal bit; you don't actually own downloads, after all) of actual hard copies and the joy of walking to the shelves and finding (or not) what I was looking for. Fortunately I have a very helpful partner in crime who refuses that I even play streamed music for her ("hey, what do we have those shelves in the house for, then...!"  )

I think downloading will be dead long, long before the CD and LP will be. Streaming will be the way of the future, surely, but as has been mentioned, quality is actually quite dismal (hiccups, reliability, gaps et al.) and we'd never accept it from CD players to act like that. And the revenue model hasn't been made to work yet, for much of the type of music we listen to.