Classical music, poor quality?

lakitu

lakitu

lakitu

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I own a complete box set of Beethovens work recorded by RCA Classics/Arte Nova/Sony Classics and am have noticed the recordings to be of poor quality and they produce a lot of noise.

Now when I compare this to Chopin Noctunes/Arthur Rubinstein also by RCA Sony Classics the difference is huge. Why is this? I would like to buy more classical music but am scared to be lumbered with a poor quality CD.

Any advice on what to look out for?
 
It's a minefield innit? For starters, if you can bear it, maybe install iTunes, at least that way you can get an idea of subjective quality. I do most of my previewing there. Alternatively try the big online music retailers, some of them have online previews. OK it's not audiophile quality but it gives you an idea.

Modern recordings are usually superior in that they use more modern equipment, however it's not always the case that older recording are subjectively inferior- listen to Georg Solti's 1965 recording of Wagner's ring, and be blown away.

If you go to a large store with a dedicated classical section, they are usually more than happy for you to get a preview. Bring your own 'phones if you can.

Other than that, good luck!
 
Thank you for your reply, I think I might just download iTunes and give that a try and see if I can gauge the quality that way.
 
I've got Solti conducting the Chicago playing Mahlers 1st Symphony.
Maybe there's something wrong with my ears but when I play it wirelessly with Itunes through my hifi setup it sounds brilliant.
 
lakitu said:
I own a complete box set of Beethovens work recorded by RCA Classics/Arte Nova/Sony Classics and am have noticed the recordings to be of poor quality and they produce a lot of noise.

Now when I compare this to Chopin Noctunes/Arthur Rubinstein also by RCA Sony Classics the difference is huge. Why is this? I would like to buy more classical music but am scared to be lumbered with a poor quality CD.

Any advice on what to look out for?
Click to expand...

One tip could be to buy one of the classical CD review books (e.g. Gramophone classical music guide) which list the main selection of recordings of each work and give a star rating on each along with normally a few paragraphs highlighting which are rated highest/lowest and why.

N.b. I think "complete works" sets can be a bit of a minefield as often they are put together by buying up rights for old recordings to bundle together and as such it may just be a matter of transferring the old recording onto the CD with little effort to check quality. Others are better in that they do low cost new recrording using "up and coming" ensembles/solists for much of the material. Having said that, if you read the reviews you may well come across comments like "this set contains the 19.. recording of .... by ... and this on its own is worth the price of the box as its not available on its own any more"

PS fully in agreement over Solti Ring (and Mahler synphonies!)
 
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