[Audio Empire]

On Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:39:21 -0800, Doug McDonald wrote
(in article ):

On 2/15/2012 10:56 AM, Jenn wrote:
In ,
Doug wrote:

That said, telling a performer blind is almost impossible,
except in rare cases where you recognize the exact
performance. A well-listened person can tell, using
violinists, can tell Elman (who recorded well into the
hi-fi era) from Heifetz or any of a huge number of
modern virtuosi. But can they tell Heifetz from any of those
modern folks ... or the modern ones from each other?

Sure, in many cases. Many performers approach certain challenges in the
literature in predictable ways, and some tonal qualities are quite
unique.

Sure ... how many Joyce Hattos can YOU identify? How many
Joyce Hattos WERE identified without non-blind A-B comparisons
with the originals?

How many Youtube live performances can you identify
just listening?


Doug McDonald


I can tell Rubenstein from Horowitz on the piano, but that's about the size
of it. OTOH, I can distinguish many different composers from their style,
even if the work is unfamiliar to me. For instance Beethoven sounds like no
one else. Sibelius is unique as is Vaughn Williams, Tchaikovsky, Ravel, and
Debussy. I can do this with perhaps 20 major composers (and all of the major
film composers). But performers are harder. At one time I was pretty good at
picking-out a performance by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra
because Ormandy whipped that group into an unmistakeable "sound". But he's
been gone for several generations, and whatever it was that he brought to the
Philadelphians is long gone with him.