Classical Music for Aficionados

gdnrbob
Recorded music will never be equal to 'live' performance. Unless they can make a microphone that duplicates our individual ears, it seem we will have to accept that it comes pretty darn close.
'Suspending disbelief' is an interesting premise and one that I think has merit.

Apparently you’re not familiar with the monaural binaural recordings of yore that employed a dummy head microphone arrangement that simulated a human head and ears.  

Upon reflection this what I think . All the physics are irrelevant, the psyche rules .
A 90 year Maestro who , given a hearing test, is doing good to hear
5000Hz . Yet he ,while conducting, hears the symphony as well as he did
at forty . The brain has a vast store of memory that can, and does, make
him hear that symphony as real as he ever did . The brain is always
looking to maintain a stasis as job # 1, and for that particular brain not to do so brain knows would be a major upset to its apple-cart .

Not speculation but research done at Cambridge, the worlds leading University on all things neurological .

Now I’m not Herbert Blomsted, who at 92 is still in demand ,
but I’ve heard him conduct many times and all told have heard well over a thousand live symphonic events .
I am certain the Brahms 1 I played a few weeks ago sounded very close
to the one I heard live a few hours before . And often does .
I do speculate my brain has  enough memory and knows where my passions lie to make sure that happens because at nearly 84 its not looking to upset its apple-cart .

YBMV (Your Brain Might Vary )

agree with these comments
now listening to casals/serkin beethoven sonatas
if i listen for them, i can hear imperfections
but then that casals tone takes over, and i am gone
I have a picture of casals thibaud and cortot in their young prime
they are so certain of themselves, and they have so much reason to be
it has not gotten any better
technically perhaps yes maybe it has
but the musical essence is total
and that is what i hear

It’s really amazing how that works.
 The imperfections melt away as you get into the music.