Artist: Tonu Karljuste, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Album: Arvo Pärt: Te Deum
Track: Te Deum
Label: ECM
Comments: This is another recording with a great feeling of the space around the ensemble. It’s also very, very quiet… so if you have noise in your system, you’ll find it annoying with this track.
Artist: Trevor Pinnock & The European Brandenburg Ensemble
Album: Bach: Six Concertos for the Margrave of Brandenburg
Track: Any of them…
Label: Avie
Why: Air, space. This is the best recording of the Brandenburgs that I have ever heard. Just buy it.
Artist: Karina Gauvin, Luc Beausejour
Album: Bach: Little Notebook for Anna-Magdelena
Track: Willst du dein Hertz mir schenken
Label: Analekta
Comments: This was recorded in the same church outside Montreal as the Graupner track mentioned above. I didn’t record this, but I wish that I had… One of my favourite recordings. The voice is clean clean clean – and sounds like it on a great pair of headphones or loudspeakers. The upper end of the harpsichord sparkles, and you can get a real feeling of the size of space that they’re in. It’s not a big church – but it sounds great.
Artist: Scottish Ensemble
Album: Ravel / Shostakovitch
Track: Petite Symphonies a Cordes (Assez vif – tres rythme)
Label: Linn Records
Why: It’s good. :-) It’s also on the SACD layer as a 4.1 recording.