Hi Jult52, Noted that you were referring to Rachmaninoff's Sonata not Chopins. I just happened to have Birets Rachmaninoff's recordings and played some of them this AM. including the Sonata #2. Different than the Chopin, perhaps a bit more balance in the lower frequencies, but like the Chopin Sonatas, far from muddy/mushy/distant on my system, and yet I do believe you heard what you heard as you described it. It is just your speaker system.
I came across a post you (I assume) made on Audioasylum and noted that your speakers are Maggies. These are excellent speakers and loved by many BUT they are not renowned for excelling at 'specificity', quite the contrary. So a recording with information coming from one point on a stage will tend to smear when reproduced by a panel speaker (especially when the design doesn't include a separate tweeter, such as a line stage ribbon etc). The greater the denseness of the information, the greater the smear and this could certainly sound muddy/mushy.
While panel speakers sound fine on orchestral music and listening from places in the room other than the sweet spot (of carefully located speakers/chair/room) when faced with reproducing music or voice originating from a specific source they don't do so well. The classic example is the voice of a singer which should localize very specifically is spread across the stage created by the speakers and make the singer sound grossly disproportionate to what you might hear live. Same applies to violins, pianos, etc.
FWIW, I'm posting this not so much to create controversy with you over what we are hearing, but more so to insure that any folks who might be otherwise interested will not be put off by your (I think) indiscriminate denigration of Biret's recordings on Naxos).
I came across a post you (I assume) made on Audioasylum and noted that your speakers are Maggies. These are excellent speakers and loved by many BUT they are not renowned for excelling at 'specificity', quite the contrary. So a recording with information coming from one point on a stage will tend to smear when reproduced by a panel speaker (especially when the design doesn't include a separate tweeter, such as a line stage ribbon etc). The greater the denseness of the information, the greater the smear and this could certainly sound muddy/mushy.
While panel speakers sound fine on orchestral music and listening from places in the room other than the sweet spot (of carefully located speakers/chair/room) when faced with reproducing music or voice originating from a specific source they don't do so well. The classic example is the voice of a singer which should localize very specifically is spread across the stage created by the speakers and make the singer sound grossly disproportionate to what you might hear live. Same applies to violins, pianos, etc.
FWIW, I'm posting this not so much to create controversy with you over what we are hearing, but more so to insure that any folks who might be otherwise interested will not be put off by your (I think) indiscriminate denigration of Biret's recordings on Naxos).