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John Miller |
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Retired geologist (BSc, PhD) and former Senior Lecturer and Director of Open Studies, Edinburgh University. Published a number of geological research papers, but Classical music has been a life-long love. I played piano and church organ as a youth, bought my first "hifi" at the age of 15 and have been upgrading ever since. I taught music courses in the Edinburgh Adult Education programme for many years, especially social history of music, illustrated studies of composers including Bach, Beethoven, Elgar, Sibelius, Richard Strauss and Mahler. Several courses attempted to introduce people to post-Impressionism musical instruments, and I also ran courses on Scottish Music. I was particularly interested in the period instrument movement and did extensive research on this. Gave interval talks for the then Scottish National Orchestra in Glasgow and Edinburgh and Festival Lectures on featured composers at the Edinburgh Festival for over 10 years. Despite the classical bias, I have wide tastes in music. Also, I enjoy painting in watercolour, pastel, acrylic and oils. |
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Edinburgh, Scotland |
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Having had to take early retirement, I sold my 2800+ CD teaching collection in 2005 to take up high-definition multichannel and begin an SACD and DVD-A collection (much smaller!). Have upgraded several components since then, and present system is approaching nirvana... or so I think at the moment!
Marantz DV9500 SA-CD, DVD-A & DVD player. Optimises automatically for each source - expensive but a superb performer and extremely convenient
Audiolab 8000AV preamp and 8000X7 power amp, bridged to give 150 watts rms for front left and right, 100 watts for other speakers in the 5.1 system.
Magnaplanar MG5/QR front speakers, Magnaplanar CC3 centre, Magnaplanar wall-mounted LM1 surround speakers, Quad Lite subwoofer. I consistently use the Marigold Signature Mat v2 when playing discs, it helps the transport recover more information and makes an astonishing improvement in definition, ambient information, instrument location and sheer musicality. |
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May 8, 2008
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A regrettable tradition seems to have grown up that Dvorak's first five symphonies should be rarely performed live, and recorded less. One might just as well dismiss the early symphonies of Beethoven or Schubert as juvenilia. Dvorak began his symphonies at the age of 24 in 1865, and together they ... more |
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May 6, 2008
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The Westminster Cathedral Choir is apparently the only professional Catholic choir in the world to sing daily Mass and Vespers, so their musicianship is grounded in worship as well as the professional training which they receive from their music director. Martin Baker, the present incumbent, ... more |
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May 4, 2008
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A disk of Czech 'Sturm und Drang' chamber music: three piano trios to add to the seminal ones by Dvorak and Martinu.
Smetana, father of Bohemian musical nationalism, wrote mainly for piano and orchestra, and his G minor piano trio Op. 15 (1855) is one of only a few chamber works from the master. It ... more |
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April 30, 2008
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There are presently six functional performing versions of Mahler's sketched Tenth Symphony. He left fully scored versions of the first and third movements, with the rest completed in short score of various complexities. The most recent edition by Italian musicologists Giuseppe Mazzuca & Nicola ... more |
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April 21, 2008
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Handel's evergreen duo of orchestral pieces has been celebrated in many fine recordings, both in period and modern instrument versions. Jordi Savall's disc was set down in 1993 and obtained almost universal acclaim for its flair and superb period instrumental playing from Le Concert des Nations. ... more |
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April 19, 2008
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| Jonty,
I didn't know that playing surfaces had different colours, that is really helpful! Cello Fiesta! is silver and thus a mislabelled CD. I looked on the profil site too but there was no sign of it. I was suspicious from the start, it not being listed on SA-CD.net, but JPC checked, must have seen the sticker on the wrapping and assured me it was ... more |
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April 18, 2008
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| Hi Claude,
Yes, I looked at the cover on the JPC site, where I purchased it, and several other sites too. It was very sneaky to find that the usual Hybrid/Multichannel label was on the outer cling-wrap! The Haenssler website was no help, it seems not to be up to date.
I must stop buying new discs....
Geo ... more |
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April 18, 2008
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| Well, this seems to be an authentic German product. I have returned the disc to JPC, It certainly has not got an SACD layer, whether because it was never intended to have one and is mistakenly labelled, or it is correctly labelled and badly pressed. Whatever, it doesn't suggest 'best practice' in quality control - I've had 3 major problem discs ... more |
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April 18, 2008
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| Fafnir,
I wish you good luck with your discs from the excellent MDT! If they also have the dud surround channels, then it would confirm suspicions of a pressing plant disaster, and if not then my discs were individually faulty. Like others, I really want to hear a new Ashkenazy Sibelius Cycle in top quality sound.
I'm beginning to think that buying ... more |
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April 18, 2008
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| The Sibelius discs were recorded in 2006/2007 so one could indeed expect them to have the latest technology. I did mention in my review of the Debussy that I suspected a possible synthesis of surround from a stereo master, but in the light of the Sibelius discs with an identical surround syndrome it seems possible that my Debussy disc, also being a ... more |
