What's a good classical surround demo???

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aquadad

400 Club - QQ All-Star
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Hi Everyone,

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

I don't have a very deep working knowledge of classical music, much less in surround. For the purpose of demonstrating my system to those that do like this kind of music, to show them what surround is capable of, I am soliciting suggestions from all of you. I would be interested in titles that are available in QS, SQ, CD-4, DVD-A, DTS, & SACD. I would prefer suggestions that demo things like panning, ping-pong, & discrete separation etc. I realize this may be a stretch for this genre, but it doesn't hurt to ask.
 
For 5.1 MLP DVD-A, I have a superb version of The Planets suite.
Disc is by Royal Scottish National Orchestra, conducted by David Lloyd-Jones.
Also, Carmina Burana by Carl Orff, London Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Mehta.

SQ Vinyl? Wagner's Ring Cycle. It's across 4 boxed sets with a total of 21 albums in all. I am in the process of making this into a full set of DVD-A discs, but it is not a high priority at this time.

Nimbus have also done some reasonable discs - it's UHJ MLP, and is not as well done as the others, but the recordings are superb.
 
The Tacet label, which has mostly DVD-A material, but some SACD releases, does a particularly good job with surround mixes of classical, especially chamber music. I suggest you visit their webs site a give it a look, www.tacet.de, anything you get whether Bach, Schubert, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, or Rachaminoff will be good.
 
LAGQ: Latin
a great quad choice
or
Scottish Chamber Orchestra (Mackerras) - ‘Bartók: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste’
both sacd
 
aquadad said:
Hi Everyone,

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

I don't have a very deep working knowledge of classical music, much less in surround. For the purpose of demonstrating my system to those that do like this kind of music, to show them what surround is capable of, I am soliciting suggestions from all of you. I would be interested in titles that are available in QS, SQ, CD-4, DVD-A, DTS, & SACD. I would prefer suggestions that demo things like panning, ping-pong, & discrete separation etc. I realize this may be a stretch for this genre, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

PentaTone has released a sampler: cat nr 5186 043. All tracks on this sampler are taken from different new dsd recordings. There is a wide variety of genres on the disc. Have look on www.pentatonemusic.com, click on "catalogue" in the margin at the left on the home page and scroll down till you find cat. nr 5186 043. You can order from the site as well. Fulfilment is handled the same day. Next month PentaTone will release a specially priced album with movements from recent PentaTone recordings. On this compilation also test tones and sound effects are included. Total playing time of the SA-CD layer is more than 90 minutes.

Best,Pentaman
 
neil wilkes said:
For 5.1 MLP DVD-A, I have a superb version of The Planets suite.
Disc is by Royal Scottish National Orchestra, conducted by David Lloyd-Jones.
Also, Carmina Burana by Carl Orff, London Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Mehta.

Thanks Neil, I picked up a copy of this and the quality of the recording is excellent. The graphics are nice too. The big dissapointment for me however is the lack of rear channel information inherent in this kind of music. For me the synthesizer in the variomatrix transforms this into a much more palatable surround experience. Is the Orff selection that you recommended in the same vein?
 
solaris said:
LAGQ: Latin
a great quad choice
or
Scottish Chamber Orchestra (Mackerras) - ‘Bartók: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste’
both sacd

Thanks Solaris, The LAGQ recommendation is right up my alley. I love classical guitar and these guys are great. This will be much more than a demo for me. I will be listening to this a lot!!! Couldn't find the other title yet, is it more than just a well recorded ambient surround?
 
Guy Robinson said:
The E. Power Biggs Bach Organ SACD (originally Quad). All speakers used all the time and equally. Very discrete. Huge amounts of very low bass. Have a look at this link.
http://www.highfidelityreview.com/news/news.asp?newsnumber=12267497

Hello Guy, Thanks for the suggestion. I haven't found a copy yet but I know I've seen it around. From what I've read about this it sounds as though it has the potential to be a great demo.
 
Zephyr: Voices Unbound was a great "All channels used" disc but the music did not do it for me.
OK Now the Bartok rears are not that great but a great recording
Turangalîla-Symphony Messiaen by Riccardo Chailly on Decca has good use of the rear speakers, best I can think of.
West side story conducted by Bernstein has a great use of rear speakers.
But so many classical recordings have nothing but echo. Yea it's why the 3 channel Living Stereo and Living Presents disc are as good as most newer recordings
 
solaris said:
But so many classical recordings have nothing but echo.

That's because most of us classical listeners like it that way. :D

You might try Coronation of George II on Hyperion, the new Biber Missa on Harmonia Mundi, or the Music for Organ, Brass, and Timpani Duncan Patton, timpani on Sonoma. They have more than ambience in the surround channels.

Kal
 
aquadad said:
Thanks Neil, I picked up a copy of this and the quality of the recording is excellent. The graphics are nice too. The big dissapointment for me however is the lack of rear channel information inherent in this kind of music. For me the synthesizer in the variomatrix transforms this into a much more palatable surround experience. Is the Orff selection that you recommended in the same vein?

The Orff one has much more in the rears than the Planets suite does.
Seems a lot of the classical material is almost Rhinophonic...
 
THe best thing about the Zephyr: Voices Unbound disc is they let you place yourself in the audience or on the stage with them. I see this as a great choice for chamber music. I still would love a string quartet mixed like the LAGQ: Latin disc. I love the Arvo Part De Profundis for the ambiance from the surrounds.
 
solaris said:
THe best thing about the Zephyr: Voices Unbound disc is they let you place yourself in the audience or on the stage with them. I see this as a great choice for chamber music. I still would love a string quartet mixed like the LAGQ: Latin disc.

Try some of the Tacet discs. Most are DVD-As (and the Mendelssohn Octet is superb) but all have 'innovative' use of the channels. They are now releasing SACDs, some of which have what they call "Moving Real Surround Sound" that you might like. I don't.

Kal
 
Kal Rubinson said:
Try some of the Tacet discs. Kal
ct said:
I suggest you visit their webs site a give it a look, www.tacet.de, anything you get whether Bach, Schubert, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, or Rachaminoff will be good.
Any idea why Tacet doesn't list this "Best Of" title on their website:

http://cgi.ebay.com/The-Best-of-TACET-on-SACD-2004-2005-Hybrid-Multi-Ch-New_W0QQitemZ4761398654QQcategoryZ46354QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Is this a bootleg or did these guys buy all there inventory? I did buy my "Brothers In Arms" SACD from this eBay vendor without any problems.
 
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Kal Rubinson said:
They are now releasing SACDs, some of which have what they call "Moving Real Surround Sound" that you might like. I don't.Kal

So do you have a copy of "Peter & the Wolf" that you would like to part with?:)
 
aquadad said:
So do you have a copy of "Peter & the Wolf" that you would like to part with?:)

Nope. I gave the SACD to my granddaughter but I still retain the DVD-A.

Kal
 
aquadad said:
Any idea why Tacet doesn't list this "Best Of" title on their website:

http://cgi.ebay.com/The-Best-of-TACET-on-SACD-2004-2005-Hybrid-Multi-Ch-New_W0QQitemZ4761398654QQcategoryZ46354QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Is this a bootleg or did these guys buy all there inventory? I did buy my "Brothers In Arms" SACD from this eBay vendor without any problems.

Nevermind, I telephoned Tacet and they are saying that they do have it. Just that it is a new item and they haven't updated their website yet. It would still be cheaper for me to get it from the outfit above in Hong Kong than from Tacet's distributor in Jersey. Go figure?:cool:
 
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