Dear Ed
You’re preaching to the choir! I fully expect to experience the full glory merely hinted at in your CD and presaged by the Xiang tape. I’ve been a reel-to-reel devotee for years now, but your efforts have impressed me the most: top-shelf musical performance coupled with uncompromisingly superb reproduction.
I am feeling much better, thank you. Perhaps your tape had something to do with it – just what the doctor ordered and better than a trip to Lourdes; music has a way of doing that!
Regards,
Peter
Dear Ed,
I’m starting to get the notion you’re a kindred audio spirit.
I took your CD to work with me yesterday and set my player on Repeat mode. I grew so “tired” of it, I returned to work today and reprised the experience. Just a virtuoso performance of some of the most sublime music these ears have ever been exposed to. And, by the way, the recording itself is the best I’ve ever experienced in the digital domain as well – and that engenders all the
varieties of encoding, be they cd, sacd and even k2hd…. you name it!
When I played it yet again just an hour ago at home through my super system, my wife was equally wowed, remarking “what gorgeous music” and “great recording.”
Well, I think you get the idea, so lest you get a swelled head, I think I’ll just stop and thank you once again.
I’m just bursting with anticipation awaiting arrival of those tapes!
Regards,
Peter
Dear Ed,
As I left for work this morning, my doorman announced to me that a package had just arrived, showed it to me, and I immediately recognized it as yours. I must confess, there was a temptation to “play hooky,” but I resisted and proceeded to go to work and torture myself all day with the knowledge of what lay awaiting my return home.
When I arrived home, I wolfed down dinner, and, FINALLY, started to listen….
What more could I possibly say about the Beethoven/Rachmaninoff/Chopin performance & sound than what I’ve already expressed? The only thing I would add is that my very high expectations were met….and then some. I am enamored of this recording!
As to the other goodies, I again thank you for the two extra cd’s; one will be added to my small but selective collection at work, the other for our car (we only have one – remember, we live in NYC, where garage spaces are less than plentiful).
And now to the final – and sonically, the best – that almost-jazzlike, modern classical-sounding Chinese cello piece. It reminds me, ever so vaguely, of a UHQR pressing on the Reference Recording label & mastered by Dr. Keith Johnson, an analogue recording of the Kronos Trio doing, of all things, a blues program. The recording per se was stunning and the program material worked beautifully, not gimmicky in the slightest.
I think your recording will have a similar appeal: It will blow audiophiles away with its stupendous sound (demo material for sure, and in spades!) and will appeal to those of us music lovers with truly eclectic tastes!
Now, what could you possibly do for an encore?
Regards,
Peter
Dear Ed,
Regarding my musical preferences, let me just put it in the following context:
My wife and I are “foodies”; we frequent some of New York’s best restaurants, and when we return to a favorite spot we invariably order the chef’s tasting menu. It’s basically our way of saying, “We completely trust your ability, and anything you prepare will make us happy.”
So it is with you. You are the “chef,” and just about anything you whip up will satisfy.
That being said, I do have more than a passing preference for cello/piano, percussion and just about any chamber piece. Since I’ve already indicated my love of small-scale jazz groups, I won’t continue to beat that dead horse…..but if you ever change your mind…
I trust we’ll be speaking again soon.
Regards,
Peter
Dear Ed,
Normally, I try to avoid hyperbole, because these days everything is characterized as the latest, the greatest, totally awesome (I’ve never come across anything merely “partially” awesome!) or amazing …. ad nauseum…
I played all three tapes last night, and I must say I’m having difficulty finding the right terms; surely those aforementioned are woefully inadequate. Even superlatives such as “breathtaking” and “ne plus ultra” fall short.
So let me just say these recordings, particularly the live performances, are the finest I’ve ever heard, and are of such a transcendent nature, in my humble opinion, will never be bested. The most anyone could possibly hope for (and this includes even you) is to equal them, and I won’t be holding my breath for that to happen any time soon. In short, the recordings were PERFECT…. not almost, but absolutely! I’ve never said that about any of my recordings or anyone else’s …. and just to think, you weren’t even sure they were good enough for publication!
Congratulations, and thank you, thank you, thank you!
Peter