Popular Post austinpop Posted April 6, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted April 6, 2018 The purpose of this thread is to create a compendium of classical albums on Tidal that are encoded as MQA (Tidal Master) that we collectively consider gems. What's a gem? Anything that we would feel compelled to recommend for whatever reason - sound quality, performance quality, or any other noteworthy feature. As most of you who have gone on this quest have found out, the collection of MQA-encoded classical albums on Tidal is rather sparse. Couple that with the atrocious search feature in Tidal (or Tidal-communicating apps like Roon), it is hard to find whatever content there is. My hope for this thread is to generate a repository to benefit all of us looking for "good" MQA classical content on Tidal. Since MQA is a fraught topic, let me, as OP, set some ground rules. This is not an MQA is good vs. evil thread. There are plenty of ongoing threads on CA to quarrel to your heart's content. Any attempts to take the discussion in that direction will be discouraged. You don't need an MQA DAC to make a recommendation. All are welcome. But recommendations should be limited to albums that are Tidal Master You absolutely do not need to compare the MQA-decoded version with any other version, although if you have multiple versions, by all means give your impressions. Please apply your own critical standards before making a recommendation. Remember, we want to curate the recommendations here to only the really good stuff. So, think to yourself - is this a recording that excites me enough to recommend to a friend? If yes, please post here and tell us! Please limit recommendations to the broad western classical genre. This is only to keep the thread's focus. This includes, but is not limited to orchestral, symphonic, choral, concertos, chamber music, etc. In addition, please tell us your location (darn Tidal regional constraints sometimes limit MQA albums by region) what aspect of the album you're recommending - i.e. the sound quality, the recording quality, the performance, the singing, the soloist, whatever. With that, here we go. In my next post, I'll kick it off with some of my gems. Mark Dirac and BacHolz 1 1 My Audio Setup Link to comment
Popular Post austinpop Posted April 6, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 6, 2018 All of these recommendations are from Tidal in the US. Reason for recommendation: everything! Excellent recording, SQ, and a sparkling, spirited performance that is quintessentially Gustavo! Another one that has it all. The circa 1977 recording quality is astonishing. Excellent everything. Listen to the track Elephants on a system with good bass, and you'll find yourself giggling. Not the greatest recording or SQ, but what a performance! Glorious SQ, and beautiful performance of the Sibelius. The Walton is new to me, and I like it too. I'm picky about Mahler conductors, but Dudamel and his Simón Bolivar Orchestra of Venezuela really won me over with this performance. Excellent sonics, and the orchestra's playing is inspired and exquisite. Mozart piano concertos and Uchida are synonymous, and these new recordings of her also conducting the Cleveland Orchestra sound fabulous. As for the playing - it's Uchida. 'Nuff said. opus101, agladstone and miguelito 3 My Audio Setup Link to comment
Popular Post Norton Posted April 6, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted April 6, 2018 The best Ma Vlast I've heard so far (Tidal 83066082 in UK). Superb SQ and a conductor and orchestra who clearly own this piece. I own very many recordings of Elgar 1 and 2, but these standout to me both for superb SQ and performances: 77610506: 77695915: agladstone, miguelito and Musicophile 3 Link to comment
Daverz Posted April 6, 2018 Share Posted April 6, 2018 I don't have the MQA service, only the "lossless" service, but I'll often see duplicates of Warner stuff, like https://listen.tidal.com/album/32966322 https://listen.tidal.com/album/74351532 Is one of those MQA? I don't see any difference between them in the web interface. ...OK, figured out that I can already set quality to "Master" in the desktop app. Unfortunately Airplay is stuck at 44.1k. Link to comment
austinpop Posted April 6, 2018 Author Share Posted April 6, 2018 They look to be the same album, but neither is marked M here in the USA. It'll be interesting to see if @Norton sees otherwise in the UK. I've noticed this before, and it seems to be a clue when an album is region-limited. There'll be 2 albums, but neither will be marked MQA. Very annoying. My Audio Setup Link to comment
austinpop Posted April 6, 2018 Author Share Posted April 6, 2018 2 hours ago, Norton said: The best Ma Vlast I've heard so far (Tidal 83066082 in UK). Superb SQ and a conductor and orchestra who clearly own this piece. I own very many recordings of Elgar 1 and 2, but these standout to me both for superb SQ and performances: 77610506: 77695915: The Smetana is inaccessible in the US. The 2 Elgar's are indeed visible here. My experience with Elgar is limited to the Cello Concerto, Enigma Variations, and Pomp & Circumstance. The Symphonies are still an Enigma! Added both to my listen queue. My Audio Setup Link to comment
Popular Post Daverz Posted April 7, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted April 7, 2018 Karajan's Bruckner 7 on EMI is marked [M] (I'm in the U.S.) https://tidal.com/album/68733754 A great recording of the Bruckner 7. His EMI recordings in Berlin were always warmer than the DG recordings. Is it consistently the first entry in an album listing that gets the [M] (if it gets an M at all)? Anderzewski plays Mozart PC 25 & 27. Beautiful playing. https://tidal.com/album/82500042 Ah, sometimes it's the second entry that gets the M: Kyung-Wha Chung plays Bach Sonatas & Partitas: https://tidal.com/album/71458707 So my search strategy is to go to Presto and look for new Warner releases: https://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/classical/new-and-future-releases?date_range=Last+90+Days&search_query=warner&size=10&view=large&page=4 agladstone and miguelito 2 Link to comment
Daverz Posted April 7, 2018 Share Posted April 7, 2018 I haven't found any Sony MQA releases. I notice a lot of the recent Bernstein remasters have duplicates, but no [M] over here. So I searched on Decca Hi-Res downloads at Presto: https://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/classical/search?format=3&search_query=decca&size=10&view=large&sort=date&page=3 Example: Freire plays Brahms: https://tidal.com/album/79118250 Nilsson: Salome: https://tidal.com/album/77735491 Elektra: https://tidal.com/album/79118104 No Ma Vlast yet, but we have Dvorak: Stabat Mater: https://tidal.com/album/77600975 Symphonies & Concertos: https://tidal.com/album/77552639 The latest Kertesz Dvorak hi-rez remaster is there, too. I'll stop here because this is a fabulous recording of the Shostakovich Trios (Ashkenazy and friends): https://tidal.com/album/77610682 agladstone 1 Link to comment
Daverz Posted April 7, 2018 Share Posted April 7, 2018 So what happens when you can see the MQA album, but you don't get the [M] in your region? Is the MQA played back unfolded in "compatibility" mode, or is the true 16/44 PCM file? If the former, it would seem that one could accidentally end up play the lossy unfolded MQA. Link to comment
Norton Posted April 7, 2018 Share Posted April 7, 2018 12 hours ago, austinpop said: It'll be interesting to see if @Norton sees otherwise in the UK I can't find these catalogue #s at all, what is it? Link to comment
rodrigaj Posted April 7, 2018 Share Posted April 7, 2018 Bertrand Chamayou. Making his NY Philharmonic debut in May playing Mendelsson's Piano Concerto #1: https://nyphil.org/concerts-tickets/1718/shostakovich-and-mendelssohn https://tidal.com/album/68736685 https://tidal.com/album/68729051 https://tidal.com/album/79465652 If you like Ravel and Debussy. His Schubert is not bad either. These are available as Masters (MQA) in the USA. "The function of music is to release us from the tyranny of conscious thought", Sir Thomas Beecham. Link to comment
austinpop Posted April 7, 2018 Author Share Posted April 7, 2018 13 hours ago, Daverz said: So what happens when you can see the MQA album, but you don't get the [M] in your region? Is the MQA played back unfolded in "compatibility" mode, or is the true 16/44 PCM file? If the former, it would seem that one could accidentally end up play the lossy unfolded MQA. If the album is region limited, you will just get a regular 16/44.1 stream. One might ask - if limiting the region, why not suppress the limited version, rather than show duplicates? I haven't studied this deeply, but I have noticed that labels often precede the MQA encoding step with a remaster, so perhaps the duplicate is the remastered version, without the MQA encoding. As to what happens with an MQA-encoded album, it depends on your playback HW and SW. MQA tracks are encoded at either 24/44.1 or 24/48. For non-MQA DACs, playing back on non-MQA software (pretty much everything except the Tidal Win/Mac desktop apps and Audirvana 4+): your DAC sees a 24/44.1 or 24/48 stream With MQA-enabled players like Tidal app and A+ 3, the SW does the first unfold, so your DAC typically sees 24/88.2 or 24/96, except in the cases where the original master was at 44.1 or 48, in which case there is no unfold. With MQA DACs, of course, you get the full unfold and MQA filtering. My Audio Setup Link to comment
Popular Post austinpop Posted April 7, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 7, 2018 15 hours ago, Daverz said: So my search strategy is to go to Presto and look for new Warner releases: https://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/classical/new-and-future-releases?date_range=Last+90+Days&search_query=warner&size=10&view=large&page=4 Here's my search strategy: Consult a crowd-sourced master list. There have been several, but at this time, this appears to be the most comprehensive: The most complete list of MQA albums so far found on Tidal. Search the csv file in the first post. Locate albums by URL in the form https://listen.tidal.com/album/XXXXXXXX Locate the album on the Tidal web app in a browser (I use Chrome) Add to Favorites. Switch over to my playback software (Roon). Locate the album in Tidal favorites, and Add to Library Rinse and repeat Another way - when I'm looking for specific pieces like, say, Trout Quintet - I'll search in the Tidal web app, and look for the M in the search results. So far, I've found the list in bullet 1 above pretty comprehensive. With all that said, the number of MQA classical albums, and the ability to search is abysmal. w4ik, jhwalker and agladstone 1 2 My Audio Setup Link to comment
Daverz Posted April 7, 2018 Share Posted April 7, 2018 5 hours ago, Norton said: I can't find these catalogue #s at all, what is it? Sorry, it's the Karajan Sibelius disc in the post above. Link to comment
Norton Posted April 7, 2018 Share Posted April 7, 2018 My Classical MQA of the Evening: A high octane performance of possibly the most OTT of all romantic symphonies. Love it. agladstone 1 Link to comment
Norton Posted April 7, 2018 Share Posted April 7, 2018 5 hours ago, Daverz said: Sorry, it's the Karajan Sibelius disc in the post above. Thanks, I've found them now and yes, they seem identical other than catalogue # - both are 16/44. Interesting to note though that the companion Karajan Columbia recording of Sibelius 2 also has 2 Tidal catalogue #s, but in this case one (68733741) is MQA. Link to comment
austinpop Posted April 7, 2018 Author Share Posted April 7, 2018 5 hours ago, Daverz said: Dave - are you in the US? If so, not sure where you found it in MQA. There are 2 listings here, but neither are MQA. https://tidal.com/album/32966322 https://tidal.com/album/74351532 Just like @Norton found in the UK. My Audio Setup Link to comment
Daverz Posted April 7, 2018 Share Posted April 7, 2018 38 minutes ago, austinpop said: Dave - are you in the US? If so, not sure where you found it in MQA. There are 2 listings here, but neither are MQA. https://tidal.com/album/32966322 https://tidal.com/album/74351532 Just like @Norton found in the UK. Right, I see both without an M here in the US. So neither has an M in the UK, either? Perhaps the duplication is just an error. BTW, it's available as a hi-Rez download https://www.primephonic.com/album23779 Link to comment
austinpop Posted April 8, 2018 Author Share Posted April 8, 2018 8 hours ago, Norton said: My Classical MQA of the Evening: A high octane performance of possibly the most OTT of all romantic symphonies. Love it. Agree. Excellent find! My Audio Setup Link to comment
Popular Post austinpop Posted April 8, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 8, 2018 https://tidal.com/album/77695697 in the USA. Another wonderful Dvorak. While perhaps not at the performance level of the du Pré or the Rostropovich, this is an outstanding recording with lovely SQ. agladstone and opus101 2 My Audio Setup Link to comment
Norton Posted April 8, 2018 Share Posted April 8, 2018 Great performances of some old favourites on an interesting theme. Excellent SQ (77617360) austinpop 1 Link to comment
austinpop Posted April 9, 2018 Author Share Posted April 9, 2018 A very decent Trout. My Audio Setup Link to comment
Musicophile Posted April 9, 2018 Share Posted April 9, 2018 6 hours ago, austinpop said: A very decent Trout. I agree: https://musicophilesblog.com/2017/11/05/a-new-trout-quartet-recording-with-daniil-trifonov-and-anne-sophie-mutter-very-enjoyable/ Other reviews however don't like it as it is clearly focused on Mutter. austinpop 1 Check out my blog at musicophilesblog.com - From Keith Jarrett to Johannes Brahms Link to comment
austinpop Posted April 11, 2018 Author Share Posted April 11, 2018 On 4/6/2018 at 7:22 PM, Daverz said: Anderzewski plays Mozart PC 25 & 27. Beautiful playing. https://tidal.com/album/82500042 Just listened to this. Agree. Another great recording. Maybe it’s nostalgia, but I still prefer Uchida, but this is right up there. opus101 1 My Audio Setup Link to comment
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