a vinyl resurgence for classical music albums ...... November 2014 news

[Daverz]

You need a pretty good table and arm to get the most out of orchestral recordings on LP (IMO, the popular Rega entry level tables don't cut it for orchestral music).  Mediocre equipment will do a poor job reducing noise and resonances.  I think low dynamic range music like pop and chamber music work best.  I have to admit that since I got a really nice DAC I don't spin records very often, and the convenience of the Squeezebox has made me very lazy.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Saw a few of these at my local record store while stocking up on the Blue Note 75th Anniversary LP reissues (which are awesome BTW). However, they're going to have to start releasing more interesting material before I start buying--$75 for four Kleiber LPs? meh. $30 for DudeUhMel doing the Mendellsohn 3? I would like to start seeing some Richter (Sviatoslav and Karl), Furtwängler, Oistrakh, Kempff reissues and some of the more obscure stuff from their catalog. This first batch is just not that interesting IMO.

[Jay F]

You need a pretty good table and arm to get the most out of orchestral recordings on LP (IMO, the popular Rega entry level tables don't cut it for orchestral music).  Mediocre equipment will do a poor job reducing noise and resonances.  I think low dynamic range music like pop and chamber music work best.  I have to admit that since I got a really nice DAC I don't spin records very often, and the convenience of the Squeezebox has made me very lazy.

I had a Rega P3 with three different cartridges. It was good enough with the Rega and Dynavector cartridges to distinguish between good and bad-sounding records.

[CRCulver]

The Sibelius Academy library recently got a few releases by Berliner Meister Schallplatten a boutique classical and jazz label that puts out only vinyl. It's a strange decision to do only vinyl, but there must be some market for this.

I've pirated a lot of pop-music FLACs and then bought the vinyl because the cover art is sometimes a real work of art (e.g. 1980s and 1990s releases from the 4AD label, Belle and Sebastian's discography). However, I can't think of any classical releases that have cover art so impressive that I would just have to own it in a large format. For classical, I don't see any need to purchase a format other than CDs.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

One vinyl attraction is the physical appearance of it.  It just looks cool.  Also, the LP cover is a work of art when done correctly.  I have thousands of LP's - listen to them all the time.

Also, a lot of LPs (especially box sets) have great liner notes, many of them not reproduced (or truncated) in the CD issues. The original CBS Webern/Boulez box comes with a detailed essay by the composer Humphrey Searle, who studied with Webern, as well as notes on the individual works, a timeline, and song texts. In other words, they took the whole project seriously, and put a lot of thought into its presentation. I think Sony's cheapo reissue boxes nowadays come with no notes at all.

And, it's much more comfortable to read opera libretti and song texts when they come in that big LP-sized format.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

And, it's much more comfortable to read opera libretti and song texts when they come in that big LP-sized format.

Making it "big-letter" is a good way to entice the aging demographic, which is a big slice of the population pie. Could it be someone has sniffed this out and is hoping to cash in?

[jut1972]

I've bought a lot of vinyl lately it doesn't sound better than a decent cd / streamer / dac combo but it's much more satisfying to own.   The Kleiber boxset for example is beautifully presented compared to the bluray / cd box and it's that pride of ownership you're buying into.

If it was only about sound quality we would all have moved to downloads long ago.

[Daverz]

I had a Rega P3 with three different cartridges. It was good enough with the Rega and Dynavector cartridges to distinguish between good and bad-sounding records.

The P3 had an improved motor over the older Planar 3 that I had, though the motor was still mounted to the plinth.  I had a Dynavector 10x5 on it for a while, which required using a shim to raise the Rega arm, since Rega does not believe in adjusting vertical tracking angle or azimuth.

[Jay F]

The P3 had an improved motor over the older Planar 3 that I had, though the motor was still mounted to the plinth.  I had a Dynavector 10x5 on it for a while, which required using a shim to raise the Rega arm, since Rega does not believe in adjusting vertical tracking angle or azimuth.

I may have had the 10x4ii. There was no shim, and I had the cartridge installed at the local Rega dealer.

[Bogey]

For "classical" vinyl, the sound can be problematic.  Older DG's on my system are mostly dogs.  And speaking of shaded dogs from RCA, they are hit or miss, but seem to miss more than hit.  The Mercury Living Presence are usually top rate and the Columbia monos (6 Eyed) are almost a sure bet.  But that is on my lower budget, vintage Marantz driving the floor speakers from the 60's with a Project 3 turntable.  However, when it is a hit, WOW.  Maybe its the sound that it recreates my childhood and that plays into the equation, but whatever it is, it is a sound that I am glad to have.

With newer classical lps, they seem to do well.  Chamber seems to be a bit better on my system though movie soundtracks do well.  So many factors. 

[Mister Sharpe]

Holy frijoles!  Sony is back in the vinyl game:  http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/30/news/sony-music-brings-back-vinyl-records/index.html