In Classical music the effect of SQ on appreciation

I got deeply involved in high end audio in 1979. I expanded my musical interest from rock to include classical in the early 80’s. I found that the quality of the recording typically was more important than the conductor / orchestra in most cases… there were some conductors I simply did not like, for instance Michael Tilson Thomas. Switch forward to 2010…I got season tickets to the symphony, and have attended religiously until the pandemic, I found live… really good fidelity performances make or break it. So, in general, for me sound quality trumps performance… much of the time. Poor performances, are poor and just don’t rate. Symphonic music is hard to produce on a system… but well done, is really compelling to me. 

Mahler is a very important case. The importance of fidelity in mass orchestrations is particularly challenging for home reproduction. In live performances it comes alive, to do that at home takes a very special system. I had noticed long ago that many of the most expensive systems were owned by folks primarily interested in classical music. Not sure if it was a confluence of people with both the means and interest in classical. I guess, in retrospect, it was people that really loved classical were dedicated to reproduce it in there home.

About 30 years ago I went to Harvard for a four day seminar with many of the countries top CEO’s… like from Kellogg, Kraft , etc. They shut down the Boston Museum of fine arts for us. We gad dinner on the main entrance with the Harvard Choir sang for us. We had wine and cheese and the whole museum open for our enjoyment. I was let to gaze upon Monet’s and Van Gogh for as long as I wished. The CEOs of a couple major American corporations came up to the same painting I was looking at and made ignorant comments about what trash these paintings were. I was completely shocked and disillusioned… realizing the lack of sophistication and simple capitalistic focus of some of the leaders in industry. Wow, clueless, uncultured, unappreciative cads. It was a real eye opener for me.

I’m not sure what that story has to do with Mahler… but it made me realize that money isn’t everything. It doesn’t help you appreciate the truly amazing things in life. Art and music are a couple of them worth appreciating.