Tidal MQA Classical Gems

[Norton]

1 hour ago, austinpop said:

the Everest tapes on MQA to be head and shoulders above the much vaunted, but supremely disappointing (to me) Mercury Living Presence reissues on SACD

 

Funnily enough, I find the few  MLP I’ve tried in MQA to be uniformly disappointing with a very obvious “squashed” character  to the sound.  I much prefer the CD box sets.

 

But I can only dream of owning most of the MLP SACDs.  Apart  from a couple of titles, it looks like the opportunity to get them at a normal price passed long ago.  Some really expensive  examples on Amazon, although I can’t  work out who would actually buy them.  Of course, if you don’t want yours, happy to take them off your hands for  the cost of shipping.....

[austinpop]

12 minutes ago, Norton said:

 

Funnily enough, I find the few  MLP I’ve tried in MQA to be uniformly disappointing with a very obvious “squashed” character  to the sound.  I much prefer the CD box sets.

 

But I can only dream of owning most of the MLP SACDs.  Apart  from a couple of titles, it looks like the opportunity to get them at a normal price passed long ago.  Some really expensive  examples on Amazon, although I can’t  work out who would actually buy them.  Of course, if you don’t want yours, happy to take them off your hands for  the cost of shipping.....

 

The SACDs aren't any better...

[wdw]

Dear All,

just discovered this thread and it appears to be treasure trove......will be adding many of these to my Library.

My thanks,

Warren

[austinpop]

48 minutes ago, wdw said:

Dear All,

just discovered this thread and it appears to be treasure trove......will be adding many of these to my Library.

My thanks,

Warren

 

Hi Warren, enjoy! And please do add to the trove if you encounter something new.

[RJeff]

On 4/6/2018 at 4:12 PM, austinpop said:

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!

 

 

After I bookmarked this I did a quick search for Gustavo Dudamel on Tidal (USA) and found he had quite a few albums on various labels and with various orchestras in MQA.

[Norton]

On 5/25/2018 at 8:42 PM, austinpop said:

I spent a very pleasant few hours sampling the treasure trove of Everest albums on Tidal in MQA. Thanks again to @RJeff for bringing these to our attention.

 

I "grazed" about a dozen albums, and I completely agree that recording quality varies from album to album. I still stand by my assertions that these recordings, while outstanding, cannot escape the technical limits of the time. For me, this is most evident on crescendos. Perhaps it's because I favor orchestral music, but it's on the crescendos (or should I say crushendos) that these old recordings show their limitations.

 

To be fair, I find the best of the Everest tapes on MQA to be head and shoulders above the much vaunted, but supremely disappointing (to me) Mercury Living Presence reissues on SACD.

 

Of the dozen albums I tried yesterday, here are a few standouts for SQ.

 

Outstanding

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the heads up on the Mahler9. Outstanding indeed

[fevermd]

Hello: 

Thabk you for this Gem!! 

I am looking for MQA  playlists created by listeners that   I can import for my use . Can anyone share it with me ? 

[austinpop]

An excellent Mahler 4th:

 

 

I talk about it in this post: 

 

[agladstone]

This is a general Tidal Classical MQA recommendation, I find all of the Tidal MQA albums from the label 2L to be outstanding, including their “sampler” titled “2L: The Nordic Sound”. 

I’ll have to go through my Saved Favorites list in my Aurender Conductor to try and link or list to the specific albums later. 

[austinpop]

1 hour ago, agladstone said:

This is a general Tidal Classical MQA recommendation, I find all of the Tidal MQA albums from the label 2L to be outstanding, including their “sampler” titled “2L: The Nordic Sound”. 

I’ll have to go through my Saved Favorites list in my Aurender Conductor to try and link or list to the specific albums later. 

 

The only classical 2L album that I found amazing was this one:

 

 

Some of the others, at least on the 2L testbench (http://www.2l.no/hires/), like the Mozart, the Britten, the Vivaldi, and the Haydn, seem overly bright to me. I would love other recommendations of good 2L recordings on Tidal MQA.

[agladstone]

2 hours ago, austinpop said:

 

The only classical 2L album that I found amazing was this one:

 

 

Some of the others, at least on the 2L testbench (http://www.2l.no/hires/), like the Mozart, the Britten, the Vivaldi, and the Haydn, seem overly bright to me. I would love other recommendations of good 2L recordings on Tidal MQA.

Magnificat is a really good one! I like it a lot myself! 

I also like the Ola Gjeilo MQA albums from the 2L Label. 

There is also a Bartok from 2L (I can’t recall the name of the performer) I like a lot too (but Bartok is my favorite composer, so I may be biased). 

 

[agladstone]

@austinpop The 2L Bartok I was referring to is: Engegard Quartet - String Quartets Vol. II - Beethoven - Nordheim - Bartok 

[austinpop]

Here’s an exciting one, newly released:

 

 

Not it only is this one an excellent performance, up to MTT/SFS high standards, it’s also exciting if it suggests more SFS Media recordings are coming?  Like perhaps the Mahler cycle?

 

Keep your eyes out for more, please.

[rodrigaj]

Maybe I'm the only one who hates searching Tidal's convoluted system, but...

 

This thread would be far more useful if Tidal links were provided:

 

Album Thumbnail > 3dots (Show Options) > Share > Copy Album Link

 

 

[austinpop]

Agree, but I use Roon, and I don’t see an obvious way to get the links.

 

Will try to find it in future.

[rodrigaj]

I run Tidal desktop app just for stuff like links, screen capture, sampling, setting favorites and searches. I never use it for actual listening. I keep it open on my iMac all the time.

[austinpop]

On 7/12/2018 at 1:00 AM, austinpop said:

Here’s an exciting one, newly released:

 

 

Not it only is this one an excellent performance, up to MTT/SFS high standards, it’s also exciting if it suggests more SFS Media recordings are coming?  Like perhaps the Mahler cycle?

 

Keep your eyes out for more, please.

 

Here is the link:

 

https://tidal.com/album/90418715

[rodrigaj]

Well balanced recording of the two workhorses. I really like Lisa Batiashvili.

 

https://tidal.com/album/77613704

[austinpop]

I don't know these pieces, but am getting into them as i listen to this very fine recording:

 

 

https://tidal.com/album/84939293

[RJeff]

This. (Mic drop)
https://tidal.com/album/77599345

[flkin]

Love him!  Great bow work.

So happy that he's in MQA format now?

 

[Musicophile]

1 hour ago, flkin said:

Love him!  Great bow work.

So happy that he's in MQA format now?

 

Be warned, any positive comments about MQA on this forum could get you either banned or shunned ?

[austinpop]

1 minute ago, Musicophile said:

Be warned, any positive comments about MQA on this forum could get you either banned or shunned ?

 

Certainly not! This is a safe space. Especially in a thread entitled Tidal MQA Classical Gems.

[austinpop]

3 hours ago, RJeff said:

This. (Mic drop)
https://tidal.com/album/77599345

 

Excellent performance. But my heart still belongs to Starker on Mercury Living Presence!

[flkin]

Thanks, will try the Starker version.

Cello when played well is just so good.

Please try Fournier's Prelude in Suite 4, so beautifully majestic.