Don’t Forget Silver Discs!

Streaming is lots of fun. The option to choose a song with a light touch of your tablet is pretty tempting. We are so spoiled!

Yet for those of us who listen to entire works, or ALBUMS (can you imagine?!), please don’t lose track of your silver discs. That would include Red Book CD, and of course SACD.

I for one, still cherish standing in front of my stash of silver discs. Since I chose every disc in the collection, each disc has much to offer to me. I’ve never bought a disc for one song. There’s always an album concept or musical work, usually with multiple movements, I want to enjoy.

As a lousy amateur piano player, I often get stuck on Chopin. Nobody wrote better for the piano! Chopin’s Preludes fit well and make for a great CD. If he had only known.

As I peer at the discs, I enjoy having to make a decision. Do I choose the classic 1975 CD of 26 Preludes by Murray Perahia? The sound is quite good- an analog master. Or might I prefer the state of the art sound offered by Ingrid Fliter’s SACD recorded in 2014? Which ever the choice, I’ll play the disc all the way through.

I’ve never seen anyone with tablet in hand make it through more than one song. The temptation for something different is just too great. We fall into the name that tune mode far too quickly. Streaming typically doesn’t allow music to marinate as I like it.

I prefer silver discs to vinyl. As a piano hound first and foremost, I’m just not willing to suffer the annoying clicks, pops & surface noise. We don’t have to!
A customer loaned me a fine LP of Schumann works by Arrau. His playing is marvelous. But even on DG with all the care in the world, the surface noise was high and the clicks & pops- untenable. Some listeners might be able to pretend these distortions aren’t endemic to the format. That’s not me. With harder driving pop/rock music, LP noise is more hidden and acceptable. For those of us that want to enjoy the last drop of Chopin’s genius (not to mention Perahia & Fliter), I simply won’t accept distortion in the road. Silver discs reign!

Even if you have a high end BALANCED system, we have great disc players for you, from $600-$7k. I highly recommend that you sometimes TAKE THE TROUBLE to enjoy a complete, silver disc. You will love reading the notes that come with.

Don’t fall for the name that tune trap if you want to drink in untold musical glories. Streaming is best when you have friends over and play pass the bottle with your iPad!