Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Holst The Planets Waveforms + extras for JohnK

Since Waveforms seem to be the latest craze, I pulled out my Gustav Holst The Planets CD that JohnK recommends often to people. I wanted to see how it stacks up to other cd's that are not recorded in high quality.

Mars the Bringer of War


Venus the Bringer of Peace


Mercury the Winged Messenger


Jupiter the Bringer of Jollity


Saturn the Bringer of Old Age


Uranus the Magician


Neptune the Mystic


And special bonus waveforms....

Star Wars main title


Close Encounters of the Third Kind suite

Gorgeous, Randy; I was barely able to control myself while looking at those.

A few questions about these gorgeous wave forms:

1) How do you listen to them?

But seriously,

2) What is the version of the cd that John K likes?

3) And, the idea of cds being recorded too loud has been brought up elsewhere on the forum I believe. You can tell it is recorded too loud by seeing if the wave forms are squashed around the top and bottom? Is there any other purpose to wave forms? Just curious.

Well Don, if viewing those waveforms didn't thrill you sufficiently(blew me away!)and you insist on actually listening to the music, Randy undoubtedly measured the performance by Mehta with the LA Phil which is my favorite of the six that I have(but by a very narrow margin over Dutoit with Montreal)and is a great bargain as well(even better at $5.99 from Tower ), especially if you order over $25 and get free shipping.

Now I'm hoping that Randy will do the Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances and really put me in a state of ecstasy.

As far as the factors that the waveforms show, besides the clipping that would take place if the recording level was beyond 1.0 or -1.0, the main point would be illustrating graphically the dynamic range by showing the highs and lows in the sound levels(i.e. how much or how little is blue), which is probably an even greater source of complaints, since an occasional clip would probably be unnoticed in a generally good recording.

I have 2 versions of Holst now, Andre Previn and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Mehta version. I know the Mehta is louder as I recently compared the 2 and had to turn down the Mehta version to equal the same output SPL as the Previn.

Waveforms to follow, if my 4 yr old allows me some time later today.

Those pesky four year olds! Getting in the way of research. I decided to let my four year old turn five - so maybe I am out of the woods now?

I generally don't like full orchestras / symphonies - but the Holst will probably be an exception. I liked it when I heard Tomita's version. The one you recommended comes up as the most popular on Amazon (and only $4 plus shipping).

Thanks John for all your recommendations. I am really interested in the chamber stuff - but I think you have given me slews of recommendations before, so I won't ask again. I have more than I have time to listen to right now!

Ask and you shall receive.

Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances op.45

Non Allegro


Andante con moto (Tempo di valse)


Lento assai - Allegro vivace

Randy, I better not ask for more; those Symphonic Dances waveforms have me so worked up that I can barely type this.

Don, sure, you can order from either Amazon seller Importcds or Moviemars(I've used them twice)for $6.99 with shipping; great buy.

It is pretty easy to create these graphs John. Would be glad to include others from Rach's Symphonies if you would like. I also have his Piano Concerto's from Andre Previn.

The dB waveforms and the spectrum (energy) waveforms are neat to look at as well...

Well Randy, I've now calmed down enough that I want to see more, more! Bring on the Rachmaninoff!

Incidentally, I'll add a comment on the Rachmaninov vs Rachmaninoff spelling. Rachmaninov tends to be used in Europe and it's closer to what the transliteration of the Russian name in cyrillic letters into the latin alphabet is. However, after he fled communism Rachmaninoff lived mostly in the U.S.(became a citizen shortly before his death), used that pronunciation and signed his name that way, so Rachmaninoff is typically used here. One problem in looking up recordings is that sometimes you have to check both spellings or you might miss something.

Intereting history John, I was just copying the front of the DVD case. I'll try to use Rachmaninoff in the future. More coming soon...

Well John, I must say, I think that's the first time I've seen you use exclamation points....!

Mr. Quack, you must supply John with these graphs so I can see this phenomenon continue!

Yeah Randy, he would never return to Russia. One rather touching commentary on this was the note that Stokowski himself wrote for the recording he did with Anna Moffo(one of my recent suggestions in the "Stunning Recordings" thread, available from Arkiv), referring to the concluding remarkably beautiful "Vocalise": "Rachmaninoff's Vocalise is like a self-portrait in tone of the composer-his intense love of Russia as he knew it as a child...his melancholy realization that it is a dreamworld he could never again experience...his emotional inner life of nostalgia".

Symphony No1 in D minor op13

Grave - Allegro ma non troppo


Allegro animato


Larghetto


Allegro con fuoco



Symphony No2 in E minor, op27

Largo - Allegro moderato


Allegro molto


Adagio


Allegro vivace


The Isle of the Dead, op.29

L'lle des morts - Die Toteninsel

Yes!!!(extra exclamation points added as a bonus to compensate for previous under-utilization).

John, I'm glad you enjoy these graphs!! I'm going to call it a night pretty soon, but will work very hard over the next day or so to get you some more Rach!!!

ps: not to be confused with Bach.

Yes, although as we know, Ken would rather Bach then Rach, that's not my view of the matter.

Dude, that fachin Rachs!

The UPS guy just brought me my copy of the Holst cd. I am becoming yet another disciple of JohnK!

What would JohnK do? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.axiomaudio.com/boards/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=196260&fpart=1

The "stunning recordings" thread. Not to be confused with the "What are you listening to tonight" thread.

I posted this in the Audacity thread:

I finally took some time before heading off to bed to scan the 2 copies of Holst - The Planets, well only Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity. It does show the difference in loudness very well. The top is the Andre Previn version apparently done as all digital(DDD) according to the jacket. The bottom is from Mehta's version which was Analog to Digital(ADD). Other than needing to turn up the volume on the Previn version I can't tell any difference.



I had my SPL meter out to check for any difference in Dynamic range while listening on the M80s and they both run in the mid 50 db range for the most part.

Mine's not yet shipped, but will be.

Holst Planets a'la Mehta/LAPO sounds pretty good. I turned off my surrounds, though. I think I have them up too high, and there is a lot of material the dolby pro logic 2 puts into my QS4s. Or maybe I had too much coffee, one can never tell.

The WAF unit came home and told me to turn off the Holst - it was too edgy. It wasn't even a loud piece! She does like Knopler, though.

Yeah Don, I definitely use DPLII when listening to The Planets, and the expansion of the sound field is helpful, but rather subtle, when the surrounds are properly calibrated. So, maybe you do have your surrounds set a bit too high in an effort to "hear" them operate.

Incidentally, Ray3 would probably have a suggestion as to female units who complain about The Planets.

I've always enjoyed them in 2.1.

I am afraid to ask. (By the way, I like my WAF unit).