Thread: Beethoven: Symphonies 5 & 7 - Honeck

Posts: 9

Post by diw November 19, 2015 (1 of 9)
This recording already seems sufficiently controversial that I thought it deserved it own thread.

John Luke REALLY doesn't like it. Do others agree with or dispute his conclusions?

Post by srl1 November 19, 2015 (2 of 9)
I partly agree. The SACD in stereo (my only option) sounds a lot like an old DG/Karajan recording with some reverb added. Very multimiked and congested at times. I do like the performances a lot. Forceful and driven Beethoven, especially for the 5th, is the best.

Listening to the HD stream of this on ClassicsOnlineHD with headphones sounded better and cleaner. I'll have to listen to both a few more times to see if my conclusions change.

Post by sunnydaler November 20, 2015 (3 of 9)
I get the sense that winds are a little overpowered in tutti by the mighty brass section. But they are all there and don't get lost in the mix.

Post by Chris November 20, 2015 (4 of 9)
diw said:

This recording already seems sufficiently controversial that I thought it deserved it own thread.

John Luke REALLY doesn't like it. Do others agree with or dispute his conclusions?

It seems Graham Williams here does like it though,and I rarely disagree with him.
But I think he got one thing a bit wrong in his review this time,possibly even two things.
I think the last movement of the 7th should really go as fast as the players are capable of playing it and still articulate without stumbling over all those notes they have to play: presto is surely what Beethoven intended and that is how it should be played imho.
The fact that they play it fast as marked, might be reason enough for me to aquire it
But the recording is not a DSD 64 master recording as he states in his review. It is a HORUS DSD 256 master recording edited in DXD unless the download site I checked has got its information wrong, which I doubt since they are selling it both in DXD masterfile form and also DSD 256 DSD 128 and DSD 64 conversions both stereo and mch.
I am as usual this time of the year on a superslow wifi connection in Sri Lanka and downloading DXD is not an option right now. But I suspect that the congestion someone here hears could be system related and not really a fault of the recording a such. Multimiked like the others probably. But on my systems they are not congested.
On the contrary even a bit too "well lit" at times in a way one would not hear things live.

Post by Adrian Cue November 20, 2015 (5 of 9)
diw said:

This recording already seems sufficiently controversial that I thought it deserved it own thread.

John Luke REALLY doesn't like it. Do others agree with or dispute his conclusions?

It is a mixed bag, really. Some will be thrilled and others may not like it at all. Controversial? Yes indeed. Here is my review (and the one of Graham Williams as well): http://hraudio.net/showmusic.php?title=11073#reviews

Post by Castor November 21, 2015 (6 of 9)
Hi Chris

The technical information in my review was taken from the Soundmirror notes with the disc that state " this recording was made and post produced in 64fs DSD on a Pyramix workstation....".

This is the only information I have.

Post by Chris November 21, 2015 (7 of 9)
Castor said:

Hi Chris

The technical information in my review was taken from the Soundmirror notes with the disc that state " this recording was made and post produced in 64fs DSD on a Pyramix workstation....".

This is the only information I have.

Hello Castor,
Not worry chicken curry, a good review as usual,and the incorrect information is obviously supplied with all the SACDs in this series so far.
But Mark Donahue has stated that they record in DSD 256 since quite a while it seems. But there is some contradictory information. The recent Mahler 1 for example is supposedly a DXD recording and the other two,Strauss and Bruckner DSD 256 recordings.
Even if limited to DSD 64,SACD won't deliver the theoretically highest possible SQ from a DXD or DSD 256 or 128 master recording,they will bring the benefit of less high frequency noise,the achilles heel of DSD 64,to the end product.
Anyway,why did you find the last movement of the 7th too fast?
Didn't they cope with all the notes. Or was it just too fast in your opinion?
I find most recordings of it too slow.
Karajan got it right in his later recordings imo, when the Berliners could actually play all those notes at breakneck full presto speed.
I heard them do so live in Vienna and will never forget the experience, intoxicating!
Cheers Chris

Post by Kal Rubinson November 24, 2015 (8 of 9)
Only played it once (DXD) but I found it exhilarating. We'll see how it wears with repetition.

Post by toddao November 25, 2015 (9 of 9)
Kal Rubinson said:

Only played it once (DXD) but I found it exhilarating. We'll see how it wears with repetition.

Good point. I'm still enjoying it very much after a few play throughs.

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