Hold On by Angus and Julia Stone.
If you like some rock, Hiraeth by Nightwish has a little bit of everything. Very cool, in my opinion.
Music to audition equipment
When I was much younger I would bring music cds and vinyl of which I was familiar. To evaluate soundstage and instrument separation I would listen to The Who Who’s next, Jimi Hendrix Electric Ladyland, and Mike Oldfield Tubular Bells. For drums Genesis Invisible Touch and for female vocals Carole King Tapestry, The Bangles Different Light and music by The Cranberries. For deep bass I would listen to Bach Toccata and Fugue in D Minor played by Michael Murray on the Organs at the First Congregational Church in LA. For piano I would listen to cds by Vladimir Ashkenazy or Vladimir Horowitz and violin played by Itzhak Perlman, flute played by James Galway and finally cello music played by Yo Yo Ma or Mstislav Rostropovich. For some Jazz I would listen to the Dave Brubeck Quartet Time Out. I have not auditioned any equipment for many years. I would like to find what others listen to and why when auditioning stereo equipment. I am hoping to discover new music for critical listening. Thank you in advance for new suggestions.
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The high resolution downloads of the Shostakovich Symphonies performed live by Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony are the most realistic sounding recordings that I know of. I was at one of the concerts and this is how they sounded. The composer uses a wide palette and I would choose either the Fourth or the Tenth |
I tend to listen to a lot of vocals first to be sure the coherency is right, then on to bass, dynamics, and other aspects. Acoustic guitar and piano are helpful too. Alison Krauss, Enya, Gregory Porter, Johnny Hartman, Dean Martin, James Taylor, Tracy Chapman, Mark Knopfler, Chet Atkins, Michael Talbot. |
I'm not one who's constantly embracing new genres, new sounds, so for me, assessing new gear isn't about testing the limits of what it's capable of. It's about whether it plays what I'm familiar with in a compelling fashion. Miles of Aisles, Crystal Silence, Bill Evans Live at V. Vanguard, Europe '72, First Rays... by Hendrix, The Band, Joan Armatrading's self-titled, Emmy Lou Harris' Luxury Liner, Kenny Garret's Songbook and Pentangle's Basket of Light are disc's I typically pull off the shelf when trying out new gear. |
Philip Glass opera Akhnaten... The bass and the recording are exceptional to test space and bass...
The three penny opera with Of Kurt Weill (1955) The recording was a masterpiece which in my acoustic/room/ system was one of the most astonishing recording i ever own... perfect to test sound with singers walking and singing...
A piano recording well done is necessary : Chopin Nocturne by Hans Moravec... Bach organ music with Marie Claire Alain (one of his few )
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- For the reproduction of depth and orchestral layering/imaging contained in the recording, as well as the sound of the hall in which the recording was made: Holst The Planets, The New Philharmonia Orchestra with Chorus conducted by Sir Adrian Boult. EMI ASD 2301 (LP). - For transient attack and immediacy: The Missing Link. Sheffield Labs S-10 (LP). - For lifelike reproduction of the human voice: The recording I made of my two year old son’s speaking voice, made with a small capsule condenser mic plugged into a Revox A77. - For a female singing voice: "I’m An Old Cowhand", Dan Hicks And His Hot Licks, featuring Maryann Price. Produced by Tommy LiPuma, engineered by Bruce Botnick. Blue Thumb Records BTS 36 (LP). - For the sound of a live band: The recordings I made of my own band, both in a club and in a living room. - For reproducing the timbre and tonality of acoustic string instruments: A Meeting By The River by Ry Cooder and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. Water Lily Records LP and CD.
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Oh, and for the ability to allow one to appraise the ability of a component (or complete system) to make audible every individual voice in densely-packed choral groups, there is one record label that is of particular usefulness: ARK Records, a small label based in Minneapolis Minnesota. The label was a division of Fulton Musical Industries, owned and operated by Robert Fulton. Robert gained notariety in the mid-70’s, when in his Stereophile magazine J. Gordon Holt heaped praise on the FMI Model 80 and J-Modular loudspeakers. I heard a pair of the J’s at Fulton’s San Jose dealer, and immediately sold my Magneplanar Tympani T-I’s and bought the Fultons. The J-Modular used the Model 80 for the midrange, RTR ESL tweeters (also used by Dave Wilson in his original WAMM), and a transmissionline-loaded woofer. A very, very transparent and wide range loudspeaker. TOO transparent, as I eventually came to realize. Fulton’s ARK label specialized in recordings of local amateur choral groups, often recorded in churches. Fulton made his own tube electronics for the tape recorder he used, and his recordings are astonishingly transparent, with every single voice in the group being clearly audible. Fulton also made recordings of church pipe organs, the recordings capturing even the 16Hz notes produced by the lowest foot pedal of the organs. You can hear the "shuddering" sound of those low notes, assuming your loudspeakers and/or subs can reproduce a 16Hz tone (my Rythmik’s can The LP’s may be hard to find and acquire, but they are well worth searching for. Far, far better recordings than most "commercial" LP’s.
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@mahgister do you mean Ivan Moravec? |
oups! Probably the first sign of dementia when we know that Ivan Moravec is one of my Pianist God... It is incredible... i apologize for my mistake which could be not a symptom i hope...
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