Audiophilepure

http://www.theaudiobeat.com/equipment/vienna_acoustics_beethoven_concert_grand_reference.htm

The second movement of Peteris Vasks’ Concerto for Viola and String Orchestra (Maxim Rysanov and Sinfonietta Riga, [BIS-2443 SACD]) is both beautifully recorded and performed — and a one-stop shop when it comes to appreciating the qualities of the Beethoven Concert Grand. The dispersed, pizzicato phrases that scatter across the stage to create the staccato opening reveal the scale and nature of the church acoustic, the Concert Grands not just re-creating a coherent sense of that towering space, but locating each section of the orchestra precisely within it, defined in terms of height, lateral placement and depth, scale and specific tonal character. It’s a spatial tour de force, helped of course by the depth and transparency of the speaker’s bottom end. But that is only the start. The plucked notes have a real sense of life and attack, naturally rich harmonics and the size of the sound box behind them. There’s no confusing the violins and violas, or the identity and character of the solo instrument, with its plangent, almost melancholy tonality.

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