CAUTION! Before playing, see page 10
The Telarc CD is ancient, from 1984, but wow did it pack a wallop! The drums on the “Imperial March” from Empire Strikes Back rendered the piece with the best energy and dynamics since I heard John Williams conduct the piece live a decade ago.
All this got me to start thinking and pondering. The lack of dynamic range in much of today’s music has left us impoverished. Compressing dynamic range assumes, in my mind, that music is a background activity. We’ve taken out such an important, emotive aspect of music. Dare I even say that compressing dynamic range makes it sound more like a recording and less like a live performance.
More than any CD in recent memory, this Telarc CD with it’s intriguing warning has reminded me once again how important a recording and it’s subsequent mixing can be to bring music to life and make it as though I’m experiencing it live.