Len Fehskens wrote:

>Norman Schwartz writes:
>
>>(1) A superior recording can influence a listener's opinion as to the merit
>>of a performance.
>
>True if the quality of the sound matters more to the listener than the
>quality of the performance.  But less true, I believe, for "sophisticated"
>listeners, especially once the sound quality crosses some threshold.

One example that springs to mind is the recent series of Haydn recordings
by Bruno Weil.  These have almost holographic sound quality and have been
highly reviewed.  Too highly in my opinion.  Their idiosyncrocies have been
brushed over because they just sound so good.

Sound quality does not matter more to me than the performance but it's so
easy to influenced by it.

Your threshold theory is a good one.  I recently got rid of a recording of
Gounod's Romeo and Juliet 1953 mono, very hissy unlistenable to me.  But it
got great performance reviews.

Bob Draper
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