Wayne,

Sorry you didn't like it.

The term "classical" is pretty slippery. There is the classical period that ended sometime around the time Beethoven died. But it is often used quite generally to describe orchestral music into the 21st century. I looked at the metadata for Wine Dark Sea, and the genre is "Classical". It fits my definition of same. Each of us has our own favorite periods within that range of time.

I liked Wine Dark Sea the best, with the Clarinet Concerto a close second. Ticheli, the composer of the Clarinet Concerto, manages to mimic the styles of Gershwin, Copeland, and Bernstein in each of the three movements, yet he retains his own voice in all. Brilliant, if not as listenable as Wine Dark Sea.

While I do like to listen to small ensemble recordings (I like almost all music in general), I am oriented more towards orchestral, and my objective with my system is to put myself in the audience listening to an orchestra on stage. For that reason, I prize depth of sound stage, imaging, detail in brass and strings, and dynamics. This recording fits that bill.

There are around 60 musicians on stage at times, so this could be described as a wind orchestra, with a lot of percussion.

For testing, I found the most telling piece is the first quarter or so of the last movement of Wine Dark Sea. That is where I thought I was able to hear more ambience. (This is low level detail stuff.) There are also some very fast and short clarinet riffs in the Concerto for Clarinet where I could hear the riff echoing off the hall walls.

No matter what test recording you use, you are still going to be buying two versions of something, one of which will probably die a slow death on your hard drive. My 16/44 version of Wine Dark Sea will not be listened to except for testing purposes.

Finally, I described the 16/44 version as sounding "dark". What I meant was the extra detail of the 24/176 recording was as if a light were turned on illuminating the corners of the stage. You can see the cockroaches, but you have to look hard.

Charlie

Thanks Charlie, agreed. I knew when I wrote what I did that my use of the word Classical was more like a classic car sorta thing. The older and more beloved classical orchestral scores.
But you were right to call me on it. ----Turns out that I have 3-4 Wind ensemble CDs, Dallas Wind more often than not, some Jerry Junkin already in my library and for whatever reason, I had forgotten that I do not like any of them, not a one even made a good enough impression on me to remember I had them. There is some marvelous music and playing, but I guess I just miss all the strings in what I consider good orchestral music. My problem.
And so, what you shared is very well written, your description of the light shining on the cockroaches.
You write more concisely and descriptively than I do. Well done.
I actually thought about going back and editing what I wrote and not using the term classical so loosely, but for some reason when we post (or when I post) on this thread the Moderator Dude has to sign off on it first, before it sees the light of day here on the forum. Not sure why that is, I don't think that anything subversive or anti-GEt will be written here.
Anyway, I thought of what I will probably do, AFTER I wrote what I did, but could not go back and add it.
I have a DSD download of Rachmaninoff's Symphony number 2 that is superb, delicious!!!! In fact it is so good that I found it on Amazon as a SACD, hybrid. And intend to order it when it is back in stock. I can listen to the 16/44.1 layer on it to compare it with the 64fs stereo DSD version I have. AND then listen to the 5 channel surround layer on the disc in my home theater for an even better, more enjoyable sound.
This music is not quite in my definition of demo discs where you feel like your head is inside a guitar or piano, or up close and personal with a singer. So it may not work all that well, but it is music that I really enjoy, so much so that I was gonna buy, I am hoping to buy it on disc simply to hear the surround sound version on my system. Yet, it will afford me the opportunity to compare normal redbook res to a hi res copy.
Now I just have to listen to this baby more often until I feel I am very familiar with the music, a task I am looking forward to immensely.
Sorry the above is so poorly written, I went back and stuck in some explanations and then hoped to edit it, but was not able to.
You may have to read me like Faulkner or Joyce, a little stream of consciousness on the GEt forum here, sorry.
God Bless,
Wayne

Great back and forth, Charlie and Wayne!

It's funny. We just yesterday were at a dance recital our grand daughter was in, and for me, the performance was marred by a sound system that just destroyed the music. Muddy bass, even cabinet resonances, harsh treble. I kept looking at the speakers, thinking, "is that all there is??"

We're spoiled. We have speakers that are so natural sounding. I totally agree with feeding them the best SQ, because they actually deliver it, unvarnished, unadulterated, and so pure.

Keep looking and searching for sources that do those speakers justice!

Rick

Well, Nativedsd keeps sending me emails and offering me discounts on downloaded DSD music. And I am a sucker for good music and a discount.
BUT I am NOT a careful reader.
I REALLY am enjoying the Rachmaninoff Symphony #2 that I downloaded, mentioned here already, so I decided to dl Sym #3 as well. Especially since it also included his Rhapsody on a Theme by Paginini, a piece that I really love.
So I dl it with another work I will share next time, once it gets finished dling, taking forever, it is huge!!!
This is a DSD 64 fs stereo file, but it turns out to be Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto #3 instead of Symphony.
Well, got it last night, took it for my walk today and it was marvelous.
It is lovely weather here after some rains, I walk at sunset, a bit of heat yet, but with a breeze and I was listening to these luscious sounds. You can look at the cover to see who was playing, I don't know any of them.
But it is great music.
RECOMMENDED. I hope these mini reviews help someone out there.
God Bless,
Wayne

So, I am officially a dumb ass.
I tried for days to download 2 versions of The Brahms Project "The Complete Piano Quartets" at the highest DSD rate offered, 256 fs, the stereo file is over 11 GB and the multichannel file is over 27 GB. No way I could stay connected long enough to dl them. Try as I might, staying up half the night, finally I had to get a program called Internet Download Manager, which "grabs" the download and speeds it up and starts again when things get disconnected, starts back up where things left off, NOT START ALL OVER AGAIN!!!!
Well that worked.
Then I found out that my DAP cannot play 256, will only play up to 128.
SOOOO, I am doing it all over again, will report on the music when and if I ever get to listen to it.
God Bless,
Wayne

Some days you can't win for losing....