Telarc question

[Foxman]

Alright,

I realize I should probably know this by now, but, well I simply don't. I was reading S&V mag while getting my hair cut today and there was an article about Telarc's Requim(sp?) and I know I have seen some discussion about this. From the article it sounded like this Telarc version was very impressive, but I didnt have a chance to do much reading (not much hair).

So, I stop by BB and snuck a few multi channel purchases. I was struck by how much stuf had the Telarc symble. So, question is what exatly does Telarc mean to me when choosing a disk? I have no experiance with classical or not much anyway and wouldnt know what to buy. I enjoyed the movie Amadeus if that helps. Requim peeks my interest a bit, but wanted to ask the gurus.

I did buy Telarc's SACD sampler 3 and it is Jazz and I purchased Telarcs The Sound of Glory. Not sure I will like either, but I took a stab, they both play on my cd at work so I gave them a once over.

Anyway, any input would be appreciated.

[Burke Strickland]

1) What does "Telarc" mean on a recording?

Telarc consistently produces recordings (mostly classical and jazz) with absolutely first rate sonics -- usually "audiophile reference quality". I have never heard a Telarc release that sounded bad. They strive to achieve as much realism as possible within the constraints of the recording and playback process, and seek out new ways of promoting the state of the art. For example, they employed DSD recording techniques even before SACDs were commercially available and use the higher resolution recordings as the basis for extremely high quality CDs as well as SACDs.

Their stable of artists range from top-tier, world class leaders such as Charles Mackarras (who conducted what many consider to be the definitive recordings of Brahms four symphonies) to the lesser known and "second tier but still excellent" performers such as the Atlanta Symphony -- an excellent ensemble, but without the longstanding top-tier reputation of orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Symphony or Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Although there are a lot of other labels out there which also produce some excellent recordings, Telarc is a dependable brand. If you buy Telarc, at a minimum, you know you'll be getting excellent recording quality. Of course, since tastes in music vary, there can be no guarantee that you'd enjoy a particular musical selection or performance even with stellar sound.

2) Since you enjoyed "Amadeus" (it is a fabulous flick -- one of my all time favorites) and were intrigued by the Requiem, then that masterpiece you are thinking of getting on the Telarc label is Mozart's Requiem. Telarc has two performances by different groups with different performing styles in their catalog.

One is a sort of "traditional modern" interpretation with a full orchestra and massive choir, beautifully done by the late Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony and Chorus. The sound is glorious and I know several people who swear this is "the one to get". If you tend to go for massive sound, exquisitely produced, this performance will fill the bill nicely.

The other performance is with Martin Pearlman conducting Boston Baroque, a smaller ensemble using period instruments of Mozart's day and with scaled back vocal forces to give Mozart's Requiem a more "authentic" performance. This one would be closer in sound to the performance on the soundtrack, which was by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields conducted by Sir Neville Marriner, The "Amadeus" soundtrack is available on the Fantasy label, while the full "Requiem" performed by the Academy, et al, is on the Philips label.

Either one, the Shaw/Atlanta, or the Boston Baroque, makes for great listening.

3) Other classical recordings on Telarc that you might enjoy:

During his lifetime, Robert Shaw did many recordings with both the Atlanta Symphony/Chorus and his own Robert Shaw Chorale for Telarc. A couple of other standouts which are fun to listen to even, whether or not you have a lot of experience with classical music, is Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, a boisterous romp that the chorus obviously has fun with, and on a different CD, Stravinsky's "The Firebird" coupled with Borodin's "Polovetsian Dances" (some people may recognize the "Dances" as the music to "Stranger In Paradise").

The Boston Baroque has other recordings in the Telarc catalog as well, most notably, stylish renditions of Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks and Water Music, and Handel's Messiah in separate CD or SACD packages. They also did a superb job on J.S. Bach's "Complete Orchestral Suites" on SACD.

A few of the many other interesting Telarc classical releases I have in my collection and highly recommend include:

Richard Strauss: "Eine Alpensinfonie" (An Alpine Symphony) with Andre Previn conducting the Vienna Philharmonic (They also do a fine job on Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra" on a different Telarc CD.)

Rimsky-Korsakov "Scheherazade" along with the “Russian Easter Overture" with Robert Spano conducting the Atlanta Symphony. I think they've trumped the more famous conductors and orchestras with this one -- it is hauntingly exquisite -- not at all gimmicky, but very enjoyable to listen to over and over.

Respighi "Church Windows", "Brazilian Impressions", "Roman Festivals" with Jesus Lopez-Cobos conducting the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra -- colorful evocative, highly entertaining.

I've already mentioned Brahms "Symphonies 1-4" with Charles Mackarras conducting the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Not just academically "correct" interpretations of some of the greatest music ever written, but fully realized audience-pleasing performances. They are in my 300 DVD/CD changer al the time.

Another truly spectacular orchestral recording is Prokofiiev's "Romeo and Juliet" with Paavo Jarvi conducting the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. The SACD is a standout for use of the surrounds for "you are there" ambience and has foundation-shaking bass in the places where the score calls for it. This is a demo piece that is also respectable music, not just bombast for bombast's sake.

There are many other fine recordings and performances in their catalog, but those are some good ones to get started with.

Enjoy!

Burke

[Foxman]

Burke,

You are the MAN! That is exactly the kind of insight I was hoping for. Thank you very much. A couple of follow up questions I have.

I think I would prefer multichannel but I am not sure if with classical that format is as prevalant as it is with other genre's.

Anyway, I was wondering if you had a chance to listen to the Amadeus sound track and was a well done recording?

Also, Telarc's Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture has been recomended to many on another sight and I was curious if you've been able to give that a listen.

Thanks again for the review.

[Burke Strickland]

1) You're right about it seeming that many more classical SACDs are two channel stereo instead of multichannel. If a SACD recording is stereo only, then obviously you don't get the room ambience from the surrounds, but you do typically get a lot more detail with richer instrumental textures as a result, and in some recordings, that means picking up on supporting melodic lines that might have been obscured on a CD version of the sme recording, or at he very least, a more "realistic" sound, since there are fewer "holes" in the musical "fabric" for your brain to have to interpolate.

However, even though I typically have preferred two channel recordings in the past, with SACD classical releases, I enjoy the multichannel sense of realism as long as the producers don't get gimmicky and stick to using the surrounds to convey the "you are there" ambience.

While a lot of classical SACDs do come in multichannel, most of those use the surround channels for ambience (re-creating the space where the recording was made with subtle "echos" and other aural cues) rather than unrealistically placing instruments back there. One thing I hate about the otherwise classic, (but not classical) :>) "Hell Freezes Over" DTS recording by The Eagles is the way the recording engineers put guiitars and percussion in the rear channels, while on the DVD video we can clearly see that those instruments were up front on stage. Usually, classical recordings are not skewed that way -- if the instruments are up front during the performance, they stay there for the SACD.

However, there are some classical SACDs where the performance was purposely staged to be a "surround" experience and so the recording reflects that. One example is a Telarc release of a guitar ensemble where the main players were positined at the four corners of the hall, and so they come at you from the four corners of your room. It actually works quite well -- but that's because it's the way the performers intended it, not something "engineered in" after the fact.

One thing that multichannel SACD allows if properly done (using the surrounds for hall ambience instead of gimmicky repositioning of the instrumetns) is letting the listener move around the room, and having the uncanny snesation that the performers a re anchored in postion up front and spread out the same way -- you're just hearing them from a different angle. With a stero recording, moving to the left side of the room usually means that everything sounds like almost everything is coming from the left speaker. Not so with multichannel SACD (at least as rendered on the Telarc releases) where the orchestra is still arrayed all across the front when you move to the left (or the right, for that matter). That means the "sweet spot" is just about everywhere in the room!

2) The "Amadeus" soundtrack is a well done recording in that the performances by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields are all first rate and the music is wonderful but it is a two channel disc and was not recorded with system demos in mind. It's purpose in life is to recreate the music of Mozart in an easy-to-digest format. (OK, its REAL purpose was to cash in on the popularity of the movie, but what the hey, we still get all that great music.) :>) But it is well recorded. It serves as kind of a "sampler" of :"Mozart's greatest hits". You don't really get the complete versions of his longer works, but it is worthwhile as a tantalizing introduction to the variety of music he composed. Then if a particular piece suits your fancy, you can look for a recording of the complete work and build up your collection a piece at a time. (That's basically the strategy I've employed with it.)

3) As for Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, the folks on the other site were not misleading you regarding Telarc's SACD if they told you it is a technical tour de force which can tax the limits of your system as demo material. However, I'm guessing that a lot of folks who buy it play it a couple of times as a demo and then leave it on the shelf. You can take "realistic" cannons only so many times before your neighbors start calling the sherrif. :>)

Frankly, for musical enjoyment and repeat playing, as opposed to out-and-out bombast for demo purposes, I prefer the performance of the 1812 Overture on a Delos DVD, titled "DVD Spectacular", which was produced with the heavy involvment of Dolby Labs. That performance of the 1812 is by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrew Litton. In addition to a couple of alternate renditon of the 1812 in different recording formats (full surround and two channel) and a piano number in full ambient surround (Richard Rodney Bennett's Barcarolle) the disc also includes some audio and video test tracks and four classic Dolby trailers (the archtypical lightning flash and helcopter flyover, Egyptian temple, cave and cliff with "Dolby Digital" carved in stone, "locomotive in a snowstorm").

It sure doesn't hurt to have a copy of the 1812 Overture as demo material, (I've got several that I've acquired over the years including a couple on vinyl), and either the Telarc or the Delos will sound sensational. But I'm glad you're already looking beyond it for other classical music (Mozart's Requiem is a terrific choice) since there is a lot of great music out there to fill every mood in addition to lease-breaking. :>)

Enjoy!

Burke

[John Holmes]

Well, I can add nothing to an excellent discription by Burke. As he stated, they put out some of the best sonics in the business!

[David Meek]

I'd say Russel put one pitch right in Burke's strike-zone, eh? Excellent posts Burke. :T Info like this is great for all of us.

[Foxman]

I'd say Russel put one pitch right in Burke's strike-zone, eh? Excellent posts Burke. :T Info like this is great for all of us.

Yes this is by far the most informative post on Telarc and Classical music to found on the internet.

One example is a Telarc release of a guitar ensemble where the main players were positined at the four corners of the hall, and so they come at you from the four corners of your room. It actually works quite well -- but that's because it's the way the performers intended it, not something "engineered in" after the fact.

I think this is the group you refered to.
Los Angelas Guitar Quartet.

That S&V mag actually made mention of this disk as well.

[Burke Strickland]

Glad you folks have found the information useful.

I think this is the group you refered to.
Los Angelas Guitar Quartet.

You've done your homework. That's the one!

Burke

[Bam!]

Dang Burke! :E ....That's what I call a post!

:T

[Chris D]

Okay, added to my Amazon wish list. Thanx for the suggestion! :T:

[Foxman]

Burke,
Again I wanted to thank you for your input and expertise. I decided on two titles for now with a few other on the back burner. I went with:

And


I was slightly dissapointed that Telarc didnt offer the Messiah in multichannel, but I went with it anyway. If nothing else I will have both formats and can decide for myself if this format is something to concern myslef with this genre.

My next purchase in this genre may vary well be the LAGQ that was previously mentioned.

Anyway, just a FYI