Newsgroup: rec.audio.high-end

In article <5481@drutx.ATT.COM> hjb@drutx.ATT.COM (H. Jack Barnard) writes:
>in article <21555@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU>, hugo@griggs.dartmouth.edu 
>(Peter Su) says:
>>>...
>>>
>>>If you love music, there is NO SUBSTITUTE for live concerts (good and
>>>bad ones alike)!
Recorded music is beter than concerts in many ways:

- In a recording performing errors can be virtualy eliminated by
  rerecording parts that were not done right.

- Mixing techniques and a properly designed recording studio can give a
  better balance and depth perception than a concert hall designed for
  some hundreds of listeners.  In the days of stylistically lean opera
  performances, studio recordings can sometimes be more realistic than
  the actual performance (the Solti/Deca Niebelungen Ring comes to mind).

- A lot of the background noise (coughing sneezing etc.) is eliminated.

- One can listen a piece many times, stop it etc.  One can also get a
  more relaxed position than the one imposed by the uncomfortable concert
  chairs.  Listening to opera one can follow the libreto, something quite
  difficult to do in an opera house.

- I have also often found that I like to listen to music at a sound level
  higher than the one that can be found in the concert seats I can afford.

For the reasons above I like recordings and think that good quality
reproduction equipment is important.

However I still go to concerts, operas, live performances etc.  Why?

Music has a social dimension.  Our first ancestors played music during
work or for recreation usualy in groups.  Man is a social animal and
this we can not ignore.  The applause at an end of an aria is part of
that aria and being part of that applause increases the satisfaction
gotten from the piece.  (I know that people will comment here about
people giving applauses at the wrong time etc., but it should be
remembered that applausing in between parts is a tradition of many
types of music.)  I often hear recordings of deceased performers
and wish I could have been there.  Also the sudden elimination of
coughing and sneezing at the most difficult part of a piece draws
your attention to it in way more powerful than any sound equipment
could achieve.

As someone else in this group noted, both recordings and live performances
are integral parts of listenting to music.  None of the two can substitute
the other.

Diomidis
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