Rediscovering records

Unfortunately, as I’ve delved more deeply into my collection, I’ve found that my optimism is somewhat unfounded. All records are definitely not created equal. Of a sampling of about 30 I actually found the majority to be indeed mediocre.  Of course some were wonderful sounding, as were the few that prompted me to post this thread.  I don’t know if 30 is a representative enough of a sample, but the results were disappointing.

Of course, the MUSIC’S the most important thing but my findings are what they are.

I listen mainly to orchestral music which has very complex textures.  Solo singers or instruments or small groups sound very decent on most of my records. It’s the very large forces that are difficult to reproduce.

@rvpiano 

 It’s the very large forces that are difficult to reproduce.

Indeed!  I wish there was a shorthand to describe large scale orchestral music.  Calling it classical does not work for me, as classical really only defines a brief period.

The best I can come up with is short music (for pop, rock, etc) and long music.  

The cutoff between them is somewhere between 6 and 8 minutes, mostly.

The difficulty of reproducing large-scale orchestral music seems behind Bostjan Holc's creation of his air-bearing, tangential tracking, Holbo system.

@richardbrand  

You’re quite right.

The term “Classical” can be used to describe a short period in music history or, generically, as a term for Western art music in general.  It can be confusing. 

 It describes not just orchestral music, but all kinds of art music (solo, chamber,   song, cantata,  etc.). There can also be short or long classical music.

@rvpiano 

There can also be short or long classical music

The exception always breaks the rule, but I can't think of many 'classical' music pieces that are under 8 minutes long ...