Very nice recording;. You sink into the room where it was recorded and wish you could have been a part of the session.
But there is one issue. Sometimes the trumpet position in the soundstage moves because other mics pick it up as its volume increases. This can be quite annoying, but the recording as a whole is too good to ignore.
Whilst the guitar is to the fore, other instruments are allowed to shine through and the recording places instruments really well in the sound stage. Listen out for the violin!
The acoustic version of "Stormy Monday" was the ideal track on which to end the album. The recording captured so much detail.
Besides Handel and Purcell, all of the other composers are new to me. My « coup de coeur « is by far Track 5: Sonata No. 8 Fantazia by Lawes.
This album can serve as background music or be enjoyed as pure audiophile listening. Rachel is not stealing the show by displaying her virtuosity. The complete ensemble serves you an outstanding performance.
Robert Len plays wonderfully eclectic music that is both a joy to listen to and mind inspiring. He is obviously a very talented musician, but his music goes beyond that.
I started out with Crossroad and quickly decided that I wanted more in my collection. For listeners who want more than the standard fare, this is the good stuff.
The recording quality is, as usual, very high, which adds to the whole experience.
Anyone who thinks that the harmonica cannot be expressive should listen to this album with an open mind.
I bought the FLAC 96Khz version of the album and was, at times, a little disappointed in the recording: for example, the recording levels seemed inconsistent. Despite this, I recommend the album.
The recording, with its excellent dynamics, is atmospheric yet at the same time the vocals and the instruments are given plenty of space and the sound is fabulous.
I found the music to be almost hypnotic, particularly the grooves. It drew me into the album’s own little world.
The album will repay repeated listens because there is always something new to discover.
Robert Len is an extremely talented artist. Every one of his albums is not only a masterpiece in composition and listenability, but has exceptional, top-notch recording quality.
These are must have albums. Every one is surprisingly different and yet so immersive and pleasing including this one.
Owning all three of his previous albums in DSD, I am a fan of Nicholas van Poucke thanks to TRPTK and Native DSD.
In this new album, he plays with lively expression, warmth and sensitivity throughout. His playing of the Sonata K311 reminds me of the widely-acclaimed Mozart interpreter Mitsuko Uchida's recorded in the 1980's.
TRPTK's sound is excellent, as usual. Audience noise is thankfully minimal. Highly recommended.
I think the album is fantastic. Sober as it characterizes the time of its author (A Cabezon) with the adornments typical of his time and without sinning into excess of flourishes that in my opinion "cloud" the nature of the work.
As it happened, I had the opportunity to compare the DXD (384kHz PCM in FLAC files) recording of this live performance with the original DSD 256 version in Stereo.
Leaving aside, for the moment, the quality of the performance the quality of the recording is about as good as it gets. But my home-made DAC revealed noticeable differences between the two formats:
On the DXD version, the differences between oboe and cor anglais, piccolo and flute were discernible, but required an increase of the amplifier gain to be sure. On the DSD version, the differences were immediately obvious even at low sound levels. On DXD, the brass sounded a little plastic, but on DSD it opened up into a whole section of different instruments lucidly.
Both the performance and the recording have a massive dynamic range, as they should for this exploration of fascism, Russian or Nazi military might and the corresponding fear. Noseda manages to maintain listener interest throughout all of the 73 minutes of this long symphony. Other performances take much longer and may drag a little in the later movements, but not this one.
The famous military theme with almost inaudible snare drum (at first) starts off so quietly (like Ravel's Bolero) that it is necessary to turn the volume up cautiously, bearing in mind the size of the crescendo that has just been embarked upon.
The second movement has myriad instruments playing the beautiful themes, including three flutes (one of them an alto, I think) and a bass clarinet. Highly enjoyable. The LSO woodwinds are particularly tight, and obviously enjoying themselves.
The later movements are less distinctive, but Noseda brings the whole symphony to a very satisfying conclusion. Not sure who won; was it the Nazis or the Russians.
I bought this album on CD and have always thought this was an excellent sounding recording. The DSD 128 version smokes the CD version! So much more detail. So much more depth to Barbers vocals. The sound stage opened up as well.
I am very pleased with this version and fully recommend it (or even higher rate DSD versions) to all Patricia Barber fans and fans of modern, progressive jazz.