Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site

Of course my newly re-tipped phono cartridge contributed, credit where it’s due, but I am also giving The Loudspeakers credit for making subtle differences in playback plain and Musically worthwhile. The performance in question is Klemperer/New Philharmonia, Bruckner 6 (LP). Listening now I can hear why I have had to work to relate to this symphony. While Bruckner is often elaborate, here he opens and lays his foundations using rhythm as a way to begin, hand off, join, counter and end musical threads. Because of the sheer number and variety of voices, their wildly varying intensities, and the intricate, interweaving and contrapuntal rhythms, B6 has previously sounded somewhat “congested” and discursive to me, which has muddied for me what Bruckner intended to convey. Today the rhythms and the melodies, harmonies, etc. they carry are simply clearer, without in any way losing density, and the parts and the whole both make Musical sense to me; I “get it”.

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Whatever else is going on with hi-fi, I first wish to be able to inhabit the Music and the performances. Check and Check. It seems to me like there is more variety with less smearing and confusion than before, like it’s finally, all of a sudden come into focus. Very nice. Nice scale, and nice depth, too. While I can believe that there are people who “get” Bruckner from a table radio, it’s so far worked best for me to scale it up, both volume and “size”, I suppose to “open it up”, which only works if the system has the headroom to do it. If I ever have to downsize I hope by then I have Bruckner figured out enough that I can fully appreciate a scaled down version. Of course my  present playback is scaled back compared to a live performance, but – apparently – it’s a matter of degree for me, and I am happy and very pleased to share that The Loudspeakers and the Namiki Micro Ridge stylus have combined to enable me to hear Bruckner 6 well enough to really appreciate it.>>

Paul S

Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site