Tidal MQA Classical Gems

[austinpop]

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.

1. 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.
2. 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
3. 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.
4. 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!
5. 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.
6. 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.

[austinpop]

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.

[Norton]

 

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:

[Daverz]

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. 

[austinpop]

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.

[austinpop]

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.

[Daverz]

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

[Daverz]

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

[Daverz]

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.

[Norton]

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?

[rodrigaj]

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.

[austinpop]

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.

[austinpop]

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:

1. 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
2. Locate the album on the Tidal web app in a browser (I use Chrome)
3. Add to Favorites.
4. Switch over to my playback software (Roon). Locate the album in Tidal favorites, and Add to Library
5. Rinse and repeat
6. 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.

[Daverz]

[Daverz]

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.

[Norton]

My Classical MQA of the Evening:

 

 

A high octane  performance  of possibly the most OTT of all romantic symphonies.  Love it.

[Norton]

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. 

[austinpop]

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.

[Daverz]

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

[austinpop]

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!

[austinpop]

 

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.

[Norton]

Great performances of  some  old favourites on an interesting theme. Excellent SQ (77617360)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[austinpop]

 

A very decent Trout.

[Musicophile]

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]

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.