I wonder how many participants in the classical music thread use Class A amplification?
I just switched to Class A (Gryphon). When I was listening to more rock and blues, Class A/B - Naim in particular - gave me what I wanted. Now that I’m in a heavier classical phase, though, I find Class A better presents the timbral separation that I listen for in this music.
No one answer of course! My 250DR made classical sound great too, just different.
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Loved the Essence combo which I evaluated - but it’s tough to leave the Accuphase champagne house sound behind when you’re used to it.
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Paul Lewis’ second Haydn record starts with the best performance of the large C minor sonata on records (IMO).
Cheers
EJ
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And now for something completely different: Bach on historically informed oil drums - including the original version of the Prelude from BWV 1011 before it was transcribed to cello.
Cheers
EJ
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What next? Wagner’s Ring Cycle arranged for bagpipe ensemble?
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That’s 14 hours of bagpipe goodness!
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Perianes finds the structure in Goyescas and manages to lifts its recurring theme with slight emphasis while playing it straight for the most part. It works wonderfully well for this work, and when he arrives at the epilogue (movement VI), you almost don’t notice the atonality because it all fits so well together.
Cheers
EJ
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Lovely. I had never listened to these works before. Really enjoying them so far. And the performance is first rate. Thank you for the rec!
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The last volume of the Casals Quartet’s Shostakovich cycle is a good place to start: the second movement of op. 142 must be one of the most beautiful slow movements ever written. Cuarteto Casals, in a great sounding recording, does it full justice.
Cheers
EJ
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A stunning performance of the clarinet/viola trio, but preceded by music that comparatively falls flat.
Cheers
EJ
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I decided to dip into the profoundly dark and unsettling world of Allan Pettersson over the last few days.
The music is deep and very powerful but also tragic and filled with pain and suffering (as was the composer himself).
I started with the 8th and was drawn-in to his dark world by the compelling themes and development that switches between total chaos and lanquidity.
The 8th is a good place to start and I also ‘enjoyed’ the 6th and 7th.
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Agree with the 8th, probably his most powerful work. And for such dark music, almost all of it is surprisingly accessible. Pettersson never succumbed to the atonal dark side 
Cheers
EJ
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@PeakMan ‘s post a week or so ago and the following discussion brought me to pull out this LP, which in my collection is part of a 4-LP Deutsche Grammophon boxset.
I agree that it’s certainly not the best sounding version, but Kleiber’s sense of rhythm and maniac passion for details can be heard throughout.
Claude
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