sdyer@bbncca.ARPA (Steve Dyer) (05/06/84)
Having just purchased a CD player, I would like to hear owners' recommendations
of high-quality CD recordings--at $19 a disk, it is a bit risky to buy
on intuition.
I'm primarily interested in classical music, though a good pop disk is always
welcome. I'm trying to avoid analog recordings which haven't been remastered
for the CD, poorly miked orchestral works, and analog recordings whose hiss is
objectionably high. In general, if you think the recording sounds good, the
performance high-quality, and it demonstrates the capabilities of the CD
medium, tell me about it.
--
/Steve Dyer
{decvax,linus,ima}!bbncca!sdyer
sdyer@bbncca.ARPArfg@hound.UUCP (R.GRANTGES) (05/07/84)
Don't give up on digitized analog recordings. If from an excellent master, you will hardly know the difference from one completely digital. One example I know of is the Delos Tchaikovsky 5th, Eugene Ormandy and the Philly Orch. This sounds super despite being an analog original. I understand the Delos (ditto) 6th is equally good but I haven't heard it yet. I do not find, as some do, that you cannot go wrong with Telarc. Some of their stuff is pretty poor, even if technically its supposed to be ok. On the other hand, don't get me wrong, <most> of the Telarcs sound pretty darn good. Perhaps my favorite is Telarc'c Le Sacre (Stravinsky), so far this is the most outstanding CD in my collection. Good luck, let the net know what you find best. Its hell not having reliable reviews of CD's, and, the last few months, I haven't seen many reviews of CDs at all. Something happened in the industry and I don't know what. It may have been the publicity given (by High Fidelity) to the horrible abortions put out by some mfrs. It may have been the disc mfrs telling the mags to take another look at their bread to see which side it was buttered on. In any event reviews seem to have dried up and I find the ones left not very helpful. hound!rfg
fish@ihu1g.UUCP (Bob Fishell) (05/07/84)
The Telarc line of CDs is possibly the best around. I have also
heard good things about -- and on -- Angel/EMI recordings. I have
recntly done business with an outfit called Ethel Enterprises, which
carries th entire Telarc line and a good selection of others, e.g.,
Deutsche Grammophon. I have yet to get my first order (I just sent it
in a few days ago), so I cannot say whether they are a good source or
not.
--
Bob Fishell
ihnp4!ihu1g!fishjho@ihuxn.UUCP (Yosi Hoshen) (05/08/84)
These are the CDs in my collection that I cosider to have both great sound and great performance: Composer Work Perfomers Label --------------------------------------------------------------------- Beethoven Symph #5 Boston Symph, Ozawa Telarc Hendel Water Music LA Chambr Orch., Schwartz Delos Hendel Messia(expts) Musica Sacra, Westenburg RCA Beethoven Symph #9 Berlin State Orch. Suitner Denon Wagner Ring (Orch exp) Berlin Phil. Tennstedt EMI(angel) Mozart Piano Con #23  Philarmonia Orc. Ashkenazy London Schubert Trio #1 Op.99 Borodin Trio Chandos Mozart Quintets K174,593 Smetana Quartet+Suk(vla)* Denon Brahms Piano Cello Sonat. Serkin, Rosropovich DGG -------------------------------------------------------------------- * I think all Beethoven and Mozart works performed by the Smetana Quartet (Denon) are super. Please Note!!!!! My list does not imply that other CDs under the obove labels are recommended. Each disc has to be individualy evaluated, no generalizations should be made. -- Yosi Hoshen Bell Laboratories Naperville, Illinois (312)-979-7321 Mail: ihnp4!ihuxn!jho