Rediscovering records

@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 ...

@rvpiano I agree, and the distortions in microgrooves pose real problems.  That said, I've found that most good vintage pressings do pretty well, if you allow for a certain degree of tolerance.  OTOH, I'm sorry to say that a well-done digital remastering from master tapes eliminates many issues.

You need to find a music loving friend, locally, hopefully an Audiophile.