As far back as Aristotle, people have recognised that contrasting and comparing one thing with another is a practical and powerful method of learning and assessing things. If we attend, a classical concert in Prague we could identify what is similar and what is different with the audio playback of those pieces of music with our own and other systems. With something to compare to, a reference, we might notice things that may be overlooked.
So let us go to a Concert in Prague. It is off-season so there aren’t many people attending. The room isn’t huge, and you’re sitting close enough to feel involved with the trio of violin, cello, and piano. When the players enter the room you reflect on just how many pieces of music have been played in this magnificent Palace.
What do we notice right from the first note? Ravishing beauty that pours out effortlessly. Razor sharp timing, yet with so much body and the music lingers with a natural decay. It has a ‘pick you up by the scruff of the neck’ power. The music played goes from super soft and restrained to loud effortlessly, warmly and quickly. It also speaks in the language of the tactile, you can hear the contribution of wood, of the bow on the strings, of the hammers striking in the piano. The performance is expressive, it doesn’t feel restrained like its straight jacketed by formulas when one is playing the notes on the page rather than rendering a wide range of emotional colours. The trio are reaching out to garner a response from the audience.
A reference like this is challenging for many hf implementations. So you are now back home and you play a CD or a LP of the same music and what do you now notice? Where is the beauty the warmth and the liquid effortlessness? Is there any sense of the tactile nature of the interaction with the instruments coming through. What are the points of difference? What is the difference in how we are responding to the music? How do we now feel about the music?
It is a tough test, a tall order to have a system which evokes anything like the response to the live Prague Concert. With this frame of reference, even a system that may be considered superior to many, can still rate poorly in comparison. Does it matter? If the qualities that come from skilful passionate musicians playing live with outstanding music matter, then it does matter. One of the invaluable riches of recordings is access to events we could never get to even if we wanted to. The reproduction of the performance allows the music to ‘live again’.
