Most Realistic Recordings


I was recently listening to my daughter practice the piano and I was enjoying quite a full-body sonic experience. I later went to my system and picked out a few piano recordings that I suspected were recorded well, but as I listened, I just didn't have anything close to the same experience. The piano just didn't sound right, nor nearly as full as I had just experienced while listening to my daughter. I know what pianos sound and feel like. I grew up playing many different types and understand their differences. I've done some research on recording pianos and have learned they are particularly difficult to record well.

As I've delved deeper into this audio hobby/interest and acquired more respectable gear, the more general question that keeps coming to my mind is this: How did this music sound at the time it was recorded? (presuming it was a person playing an instrument, not something "mixed" or electronic). Meaning, if I had been in the room, would I have heard or felt the same? Or is there something about the recording setup/micing/mixing/etc. that has failed to capture the moment? Or has the audio engineer intentionally filtered some of that out?

Now, being an audiophile (i.e., a music lover) has many paths and many goals. For me, I love lots of different kinds of music and am not too caught up in the ever changing landscape of audio gear and the need to try something new. I hope to get to the point where a well-captured recording sounds realistic in my room on my system. I like full-spectrum sound (i.e., if the note/sound is in the track, I want to hear it). I know that accurate, realistic reproduction through any system is depends a great deal on the equipment and the room it's being played back in. I don't expect my system to give me that jaw-dropping "I'm there" experience (yet), but some day I hope to get there.

So, to my question above, I would very much love to hear if anyone feels they have heard an album, a track, a recording of some kind that could be used to test out the "realism" of one's system. What would you say is a recording that more accurately captured the sonic hologram of the moment it was performed. Any genre is ok. And if you think a particular studio/company does this well, I'd love to hear about it!

And, please, I don't want the conversation to about gear or room treatment. This is about the recording itself, the source material, and how accurately the entire moment is captured and preserved. I respect everyone's personal experiences with your system, whatever it's comprised of. So, please don't argue with each other about whether a recording didn't sound realistic to you when it sounded realistic to someone else. Let's be civil and kind, for how can you deny what someone else's ears have heard? Thank you! I'm excited to learn from you all!

tisimst

Nick Cave - Idiot Prayer recorded live in an empty Alexandra Palace during Covid lockdown. Just him and a Fazioli piano.

Good day, I did not go through all the responses so please forgive me if I overlooked someone else giving this option.

I play bass and not piano but love to hear piano. I have this recommendation for you and any other listeners. This is a one step live recording to disc so no monkey business in between. It is an older album and difficult to find😡

From: American Gramaphone

Title: Sunken Cathederal

ID: AG-361 Stereo

Pianist: Jackson Berkey

Piano: Baldwin SD-10

Date: 1978

Hope you can find it and enjoy the listening as much as I do.

For the Vivaldi concerti I listed, the conductor is Alfredo Bernardini and the group is L’Armonia L’Inventione.  I leant the CD to the people running the Audio Note room at the most recent Capital Audiofest; it was their go-to classical piece.

I always find it so interesting that "realistic" is the always the dragon that audiophiles chase. I do love the phenomenon of acoustics and capturing them, the history etc, but I'm also actually looking for is to be transported to somewhere totally abstract, surreal, etc that comes with production, overdubbing, layering, manipulation, etc.

@tisimst - going by what got you started on this thread - the experience of your daughter playing her piano, I can only think of one that will bring you that same intimacy of realism - Keith jarrett’s ‘the melody at night with you’ on ecm : )Â