An inquiry on the future of classical music DVD-A

V

Von Soundcard

Enthusiast
This is a question adressed to the more informed members. There are currently two DVD-A formats: one with 2 channels at 192 KHz / 24 bit and one with 5 channels, sampled at lower rates. I'd like to know which of those, in your connoisseur opinion, will become the preferred format for classical music, if any.
 
Rip Van Woofer

Rip Van Woofer

Audioholic General
Given the parlous state of the classical music market (always a niche market at best) one wonders if the labels will spend the bucks to make more than a small handful of multichannel classical recordings, regardless of format.

There is also the fact that there has been little research and informed experimentation in multichannel recording techinques for live, acoustical music such as classical (as opposed to multichannel, panpotted pop studio recordings). From what (little) I've read, there are only a small handful of recording engineers and theorists who have given it serious, sustained thought since the quad days of the '70s. The movie industry has so far driven most of the research and set the standards for multichannel sound -- as was the case in the early days of stereo -- and movie soundtracks, even those that aim to portray 'natural' sounds, are far more artificial and layered than even pop studio recordings, and have different aims.

AFAIK, I think that outside of the subjective audiophool community there is general professional agreement that 192/24 is overkill -- far in excess of what is needed to produce recordings of the highest fidelity and dynamic range. Corrections and comments from pros will no doubt follow here.

So to your question -- who knows? For that matter, will DVD-A in either incarnation survive as a music format?
 
Rob Babcock

Rob Babcock

Moderator
Classical music is becoming a "threatened species," I'm afraid. Partly I think it's because many of us bury our heads in the sand and tell ourselves that classical would never be allowed to die. But the sad truth is that sales are poor, and money for music education in gradeschools & middle schools is in decline. To a large degree the biggest labels aren't helping either when they pay the lions share to a few big names & record the same warhorses over and over.

Naxos at least is a light in the storm- their brilliant philosophies & marketing have made them the biggest classical label. They wisely realized you could record musically competent performers that aren't superstars with superstar baggage, and record a much wider range of music. With their very low prices, they can sell enough copies to make money without gouging people. And at $7, you're not paranoid that you'll go out on a limb and try something new only to be burned by getting an expensive disc you don't like.

As for classical music on disc, that's hard to say. A good amount of the SACD & DVD-A material is old analog reissues from the 70's (sometimes even the 50's). I realize you need legacy material, but to succeed they'll need recordings that showcase the strengths of the new formats. I think the odds are good that the next great music format will be Blu-ray or HD-DVD, but who knows.
 
H

hlesser

Audioholic Intern
Classical music is alive and well on SACD

You are right that the market for classical is limited. Sales of 5000 (that's right, five-thousand) discs are considered very good! Despite this, there's no shortage of fine recordings out there on redbook CD. There is also a growing catalog of superbly recorded multichannel discs. While the catalog is not as broad as anyone would like, there is a wealth of new and well performed music out there.

CHANNEL CLASSICS
Channel Classics web site produces uniformly superb discs. A brief list of their many fine releases:

Love & Lament - Monteverdi et al choral music
Mozart Requiem
Rachmaninoff Symph #2 (Ivan Fischer, Budapest Festival orchestra)
M. Ravel - Retrospection - Dejan Lazic, piano
Telemann, Tafelmusik - Florilegium

Numerous other fine discs/labels are out there including:

HYPERION
Rachmaninoff piano concertos - Stephen Hough - Dec 2004 on SACD

SFO
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra's private label (Harmonia Mundi distributes it)
Mahler's Symph 1 - Michael Tilson Thomas / SFO
San Francisco Symph Orchestra web site

DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON
Organ Transcriptions / Oliver Latry - true demonstration quality disc


So, support your classic music artists. Buy, don't burn, your music. And go out and find some great SACD material. If consumers don't catch on, it will wither on the vine.
 
H

hlesser

Audioholic Intern
A Telarc addendum to my list ...

Not to slight Telarc either ...

Baroque Music for Brass & Organ - SACD 60614

(New 2005 release)
Mozart Flute Concertos & Symp 41 (Jupiter)
Martin Pearlman conducting Boston Baroque
SACD-60624
 
C

Colonel_Tomb

Audioholic Intern
Von Soundcard said:
This is a question adressed to the more informed members. There are currently two DVD-A formats: one with 2 channels at 192 KHz / 24 bit and one with 5 channels, sampled at lower rates.
I don't wanna be a hair-splitting nerd here, but there's only one DVD-A format (or "spec" might be the right word), and it allows rates up to 24/192 (two channels) and as low as 16/44.1, with lots of combinations in between. Six-channel DVD-As are typically 24/96, but it's all the same format.

Anyway, I haven't heard a stereo 24/192 recording, but I'm told that that word length and rate are deep overkill. I generally prefer surround mixes if they're well-done, that is, mixed for ambience and spaciousness, not for gimmicky effects.
 
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markw

Audioholic Overlord
I'll buy that for a dollar!

Colonel_Tomb said:
I generally prefer surround mixes if they're well-done, that is, mixed for ambience and spaciousness, not for gimmicky effects.
Amen. Let us feel the venue it was recorded in.
 

Simond

Audiophyte
DVD-Audio Source

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D

drogulus

Audioholic Intern
Standards exist for classical music MC both for remastering and new recordings. In the case of remasters of older material, 3 track stereo is often used, appropriate when original session tapes are available, which were recorded on the Ampex 300-3 machine. Recordings on 2 track, and some 4 track as well, are stereo only. There are quadraphonic masters from the early '70s, which make excellent 4.0 or 4.1 SACDs (I've been listening to E. Power Biggs playing 4 organs simultaneously in the Bach Toccata and Fugues). It's obvious that no new standards are necessary for this sort of material.

For new recordings it's more a matter of suiting the technique to the material. There won't be any 5 channel chamber music, but MC Mahler symphonies are already available on DVD-A and SACD. Usually the center/surrounds are used to enhance the stereo perspective rather than to surround the listener. It's a conservative approach, but one expected by the intended audience.
 
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