Piano - Claudio Arrau
Claudio Arrau, Schubert boxed set. Philips, recorded 1980, ADD. The Chilean maestro is one of my favorite pianists. His playing is never forced, he never rushes to get through a piece. He becomes one with the music, with the composer, and you can hear that there is a lifetime of playing and understanding behind him. He was 77 years old when this recording was made. At this point in his life he already had an experience of performing 72 years of concerts. He was famous for performing the entire works of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, and other composers many times in his life. Thus, he had an extremely deep understanding of these composers, and through his vast experience and familiarity, he is a dependable interpreter of these composers. Well, how did the composer intend it? Nobody truly knows, are they are long dead. However, by being exposed for decades to a composer, you will start to feel what interpretation is right and what is wrong. By my own reckoning, his Schubert, Chopin and Beethoven is deep and authentic. (I want to hear more of his interpretations! In the future, I will go though more of his recordings. If you have a chance, grab his recordings! He mostly recorded with Philips.)
While many virtuoso pianists just pick a few pieces and play only those until they seemingly perfect them at a mere technical level without ever learning the mindset of the composer. Thus, they can play it fast, loud, dynamic, etc - without getting close to understanding the core, the message of the piece. Music is not a competition, playing faster or louder is not something to be desired. Music is life and understanding. Claudio Arrau has 77 years to back it up in this absolutely magnificent recording.
Even though it's a CD, and it was recorded in the early digital era, the sound quality is top notch. Stu used to say that you can tell a that a system sounds good when from the next room it sounds as if they are playing live in the other room. This recording flew by this test. It was past 9PM, summer of 2016, and I was listening to it at live concert volume. (Akin to a live grand piano playing in my living room.) Around 10PM I got a desperate call from my neighbor: the playing is absolutely superb, but could I kindly ask the pianist to stop the performance soon as she and her daughter have to get up early next morning. She thought that somebody was actually playing a grand piano, and it was not a recording! It was an embarrassing and rewarding moment at the same time. (It was a hot night, I left all windows open so it must have been truly "enjoyable" for the otherwise classical music-lover poor neighbors...)
This Swedish label portrays different genres (classical and jazz) with very high quality content in a superb recording quality.
Their most famous recordings are the Jazz at the Pawnshop and the Cantate Domino. These could be two of the most played and revered audiofile records of all time. Certainly, I have played them both enough times to drive my neighbors crazy, many times over! Has anyone asked you why do you love Christmas so much? I had this question asked, and was very surprised. What makes you think that? "It's because you listen to Christmas music all the time." I drew a huge blank, and then the ahha moment arrived! She was referring to Cantate Domino! I think I maxed out with 10+ hours of Cantate domino on one of the tweaking weekends preceding that conversation. I'm not even counting those times when I left in on repeat for an entire day, or more to burn in a component... (The Micromega Stage 3 player could easily take playing on repeat for an entire week, without overheating or breaking!) Between 2010-2013 I played Cantate Domino at least 2-3hours each week. It was my reference CD for systems changes. This was the CD that I used for my rectifier shootout test (once I find it, I'll post it). Believe or not, I got the CD at Jelly's for under 4$. Best find ever, I could not believe my eyes!
As good as the CD is, the vinyl version tops it. By quite a bit. The reissue has the black background, and although still very rare, but probably that's the one you will come by if ever. The first pressing has the white background, and is again, a big jump in sound quality. Rare as the proverbial golden egg. If you ever find it, just know that you have come across the best version of perhaps the most iconic audiofile recording in the history of high end audio. While I do not subscribe to spending silly money on collectible records, I would recommend this record as an exception to this rule. You will be rewarded with the widest grin of joy and satisfaction, and not a hint of remorse. Guaranteed that it will be the recording everyone will remember at audio club meetings. Just don't tell your spouse how much you spent on it. (Although, if she is a true audiophile, she will understand...)
Jean Michelle Jarre: Oxygène September 2019
This music is one of my absolute all time favorites. It's barely remarkable when you listen to it digitized, or on an old compact stereo setup. Reading the reviews, the US / UK reviewers generally tend to diss it as not captivating and uneventful, lacking impact. True, given a mediocre playback system. On a dynamic, highly resolving system this album pushes your system's limits, gives absolute thrills by providing an absolutely all-powerful and permeating ambience. I dare say this could be the closest experience to actually going to space. It's not an acid dream, rather a direct experience of something truly grand and timeless. You are literally transported to another planet, hearing music that did not come from this Earth, but is rather a form of communication that aliens would use if they were to reach out to us. This music is beyond genius, has tremendous transformational power. If I could keep only 5 records in my collection, this would be #1.
Here, I'm comparing the 1976, Polydor/ Dreyfus French pressing to the 1976, Polydor Japan pressing. The Japanese pressing is cleaner, with more top end. More spacious. Bass is cleaner, yet the French pressing has more power, I think it has much more very deep bass, but with my current speakers (the rebuilt Lancers, in 2019) I can't tell anything definitive on the sub 30Hz region.
Both pressings are fabulous, and if this recording does not become an instant favorite and one of your top five demo discs, then there's either something substantially lacking in the stereo chain or you were unfortunate to get a poor quality copy. Maybe I'm just too enthusiastic about this album, as it has touched me so deeply, I cannot imagine it can leave anyone unaffected. Although your music taste could be far off mine and this music could leave you cold, which is perfectly all right. However, even in case you have heard it before but never on a revealing system, then give it a go! You will be shocked. Just as there is an explosion in experience when listening to a jazz piece on a revealing system versus a muzak or boombox, you get this exponential increase of experience with Jarre's Oxygen.
Jarre is one of the fathers of electronic synthesizer music, in case you are wondering who this "unknown" Frenchman is. Sadly, he is largely unknown in the US, while perhaps one of the best known musicians anywhere else on this blue planet (this album alone sold 15,000,000 copies worldwide!) Jarre had a number of concerts that dwarfed Woodstock. Certainly he is a big chunk of the trunk from which today's electronic music stems from. Since, the rest is just trying to reach up to his genius, mostly in vain - although there are stellar exceptions such as The Glitch Mob. If you do not know Jarre, seek him out! He will enrich your life.