Please accept my sincere condolences.
Use a DAT portable deck, good minidisc recorder, or Sony D6C cassette player. Don't use a cheap mic, as you seem to be after the nuances. Use a "Low Cost Core-Sound" binaural microphone. You will be stunned by the high quality sound, especially (because of the binaural type recording) when played back through headphones. These omnidirectional mics are tiny, lightweight, and can be clipped easily to your shirt collar, hat, glasses, etc. The mics are available from www.core-sound.com.
Wishing you more peaceful times.
Use a DAT portable deck, good minidisc recorder, or Sony D6C cassette player. Don't use a cheap mic, as you seem to be after the nuances. Use a "Low Cost Core-Sound" binaural microphone. You will be stunned by the high quality sound, especially (because of the binaural type recording) when played back through headphones. These omnidirectional mics are tiny, lightweight, and can be clipped easily to your shirt collar, hat, glasses, etc. The mics are available from www.core-sound.com.
Wishing you more peaceful times.