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This DVD will stir your blood -- an outstanding perf of Gustav Holst's The Planets, showing an amazing group of instrumentalists in marvelous detail captured by 37 cameras:

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Signum/SIGDVD009

The only curious move is the last movement fading into another work instead of fading away as Holst wrote it.

Highly recommended -- Larry

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I like the new version of Robin Trower - Bridge of Sighs.
Put this one on and stand back.... Excellent recording...

Thanks for the recommendations on this one...... I Google'ed the LP, gave it a limited listening to, and promptly purchased a copy on CD.

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I've got the first pressing of Bridge of Sighs on LP and the MFSL version on CD.

I don't either of which really that great for SQ... I mean it is good, but not anywhere near great.

perhaps it's just the grungy nature of the music itself.

I have it on CD and agree that its SQ isn't great, but I like the music. That's why I'm interested in the new version. Can someone give me the details on the new version? How do you know it's the new version and is its SQ better?

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If you'd just like to watch a YouTube of The Planets, rather than buy a DVD or CD, this is outstanding

Thank you Larry. Will definitely be getting this one. :emotion-21:

24:16 sounds like where DreamWorks Animation lifted their trademark sound from.

...and yes, I spent too much time on this website: http://www.disney4you.com/soundalikes.html :blush2:

The orchestral B side of Peter Gabriel's New Blood on CD ain't too shabby either.

Edited by Quiet_Hollow
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I've got the first pressing of Bridge of Sighs on LP and the MFSL version on CD.

I don't either of which really that great for SQ... I mean it is good, but not anywhere near great.

perhaps it's just the grungy nature of the music itself.

I have it on CD and agree that its SQ isn't great, but I like the music. That's why I'm interested in the new version. Can someone give me the details on the new version? How do you know it's the new version and is its SQ better?

I just listened to it again and as they say: Its good but not necessarily better. Its so nice to not have clicks and pops from a tired LP when listening to this great rock album at volume. I do notice the cymbals and that could be artificial.

Like all who enjoy Zep its not about SQ as it is about PQ and recording rock can be a challenge. There are those here that can speak to the specifics of how a recording was mastered for LP and what was done. I suffered then and now from the limitations of my TT and cart. Good digital has revealed details I never knew existed in many recordings. But Bridge of Sighs it was more of what it was like to hear it loud and clean. Of course, horn speakers help a great deal in this respect.

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Zappa Apostrophe... On LP or high bit CD. I actually think the CD might be slightly better, or at the very least it's better is a different way.

RCD80519.jpg

"These albums were meticulously re-transferred and remastered from the original "Dolby A" master tapes. Playback was through a specially-enhanced Ampex ATR-102 using audio cards upgraded by John Musgrave. No EQ, compression, limiting or other "enhancements" were used in the transfer. The analog-to-digital conversion was accomplished using the dB Technologies™ AD-122 A/D converter with 20-bit resolution, recorded directly to the hard disk of the Sonic Solutions digital mastering workstation. Once edited into the final form, the program was transferred through the Sony Super Bitmapping process integrated into the Sonic System. This "noise-shaping" process allows the music to be captured in 16-bits while maintaining the optimal signal-to-noise equivalent of 20-bits. This 16-bit “Super Bit Mapped” PCM 1630 master was then used in the production of the Au20 CD. These discs will be distributed on 24K gold plated CDs, each individually numbered and registered with Rykodisc. All work was done at the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen, utilizing the latest and best sounding equipment available. For those of you that crave the sound and the editing of the original vinyl releases, we believe that these Au20 CD's come the closest yet to capturing that original magic"

Edited by Schu
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If you'd just like to watch a YouTube of The Planets, rather than buy a DVD or CD, this is outstanding:

Powerful performance, but other than initiating the performance, please explain the purpose of having a "Conductor". Not one musician is watches him once the song/verse is underway, but he's having a good time all the while flailing away with that little baton.

Edited by Gilbert
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Powerful performance, but please explain the purpose of having a "Conductor". Not one musician is watching him, but he's having a good time standing there and flailing away with that little baton.

O, believe me they are all carefully following him exactly, but out of the corner of their eye. They couldn't stay together, especially in such complex music and rhythms, without sticking exactly to what the conductor is indicating for entrances and note endings. Sometimes -- not sure about this recording -- you can see a player's eyes flit to the conductor, then back to the music, etc. This is a very well practiced skill for professional players.

The conductor also gives a lot of non-verbal cues, as to the amount of emphasis and just when it comes. Watch the conductor in the closing chords of "Mars." The orchestra is unanimous in playing the cords, and conveys the drama just like the conductor does.

There is also the amazing and very exposed piccolo outburst from out of the blue in "Uranus." This has to be extremely difficult for a piccolo player to do flawlessly (these players are well up to it), and it must absolutely be done just when the conductor indicates if.

If you want, I can watch it and note exact times of examples, if you're interested and willing.

Maybe Tromprof can chime in, since he's been a professional orchestra player.

Edited by LarryC
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If you'd just like to watch a YouTube of The Planets, rather than buy a DVD or CD, this is outstanding:

Powerful performance, but other than initiating the performance, please explain the purpose of having a "Conductor". Not one musician is watches him once the song/verse is underway, but he's having a good time all the while flailing away with that little baton.

If you'd just like to watch a YouTube of The Planets, rather than buy a DVD or CD, this is outstanding:

Powerful performance, but other than initiating the performance, please explain the purpose of having a "Conductor". Not one musician is watches him once the song/verse is underway, but he's having a good time all the while flailing away with that little baton.

Gilbert. They have rehearsed many hours and pretty much know how it's supposed to go by the time they hit the stage. Plus, peripheral vision comes into play.

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Watch the entirety of "Uranus" and just tell me how all that could have been played with that enormous precision without the conductor. I didn't see any examples of flitting eyes, but you can tell the players are exactly with him and seeing him "out of the corner" of their eyes. He has a VERY large visual beat, so they don't have to look very hard. (edited)

Uranus starts at min. 39:10 -- the opening brass entrances are absolutely unified.

The piccolos (two in extremely rapid sequence followed by a clarinet) are at 41:25. You can't see them, unfortunately, but there's no way w/o the conductor.

Toward the end of the movement, an incredible fray includes two tympani playing some of the most complicated 2-tympani parts in the literature. The quiet passage right afterward is a segue without a break into the last movement, Neptune.

Edited by LarryC
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