Had a great listening session tonight.
Just got my tuner tuned up. New PS caps, some analog coupling caps and new dial lamps. Just using my old Samet 15W integrated amp. The radio station WCPE was playing their weekly "Monday Night at the Symphony" show, where they feature one symphony and play a bunch of recordings from that band.
Tonight was Pittsburg:
starting with Beethoven 7th symphony, Manfred Honeck. This one was just OK, I'm used to Vanska more straight up interpretation, this is more 50s style romantic interpretation, but not bad.
This one was jaw dropping. The Goldmark Concerto is extremely beautiful, harmonically very sophisticated but with feeling of simplicity and intimacy. Goldmark was a trained violinist so he knew how to write for it, and knew how to make it difficult and memorable. Perlman simply vaporizes it. I've never heard a violist play like this. It might be the most technically skilled thing I have ever seen/heard any human ever do. No modern players can touch this. 1974 w/Andre Previn.
This Karelia is very beautiful, Maazel conducts is perfectly. So beautiful, so rich.
Dvorak Rusalka Fantasy Manfred Honeck Pittsburg Symphony on Reference Recordings. Very beautiful, powerful, a prophecy of his later 9th symphony.
I adjusted my tweeter to tilt down a couple dB this weekend. What a difference it makes. I can sit and listen for hours now and music draws me in, no matter what the source. Plenty of treble to serve the music, but that extra sizzle for audiophile detailgasm is gone. What a relief. Feels like my old Legacys again!