Deliriously sublime

Good tip, thanks!

Patrick, I forgot to tell you that we share some of our musical background. I, too, am an avid live venue fan with memories from the hundreds of live concerts, operas, symphonies and club performances I’ve attended over five decades.

I sat practically on top of the Chicago Symphony for ten years, having second row center, first balcony seats. I must have been less than a hundred feet from the maestros. Unfortunately, the balconies at the Lyric Opera House were further away but thankfully the venue has great acoustics, as does Chicago’s Auditorium Theater.

The Chicago orchestra is known for its Mahler and Mahler is all about brass. Hearing the brass section stand up and blast out into the audience still gives me goosebumps. It was a great seat from which to enjoy the interplay of instrument groupings and learn what depth, width and staging sound like. Listening to crescendos or a beautiful adagio now inevitably brings tears to my eyes.

I lived five blocks from the Green Mill Lounge, a frequent Capone hangout hosting incredible jazz and other small band performances. I listen to well-recorded jazz in my new rig and it takes me right back to seating at a front table having a drink. The instruments sound just like the real thing. Do they ever! Fortunately, I never had so many drinks that I saw the ghost of Capone nearby, but it would have been cool.

It was good to learn of your background. Thanks for sharing. I’m glad for the pleasure your excellent audio rig brings you.

If the bias is set higher the amp will run hotter. If one channel is hotter than the other that would indicate a difference in the bias setting between the channels.

Did you ever hear/see Patricia Barber or Kurt Elling at the Green Mill?

Thank you so much for that information. I will check temperature on both sides. It’s comments like yours that make this forum so worthwhile.

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Spent many hours in balconies, including 35 glorious years & counting, in the same front row center balcony seat at the Met, although I did have a truly immersive experience in a friend’s private box a quarter century ago for Elektra. That close to the action, Hildegard Behrens riviting performance had me on the edge of his very expensive seat the entire opera. Also, many memorable performances from the balcony at Carnegie Hall including a Staatskapelle Berlin Mahler 8th conducted by Pierre Boulez. As for Capone, a friend’s mother was a nurse who treated Al during his final days. Stay close to the music.

Not Patricia. I left Chicago in 1999 to come to Palm Springs in Southern California. However, I was at the live recording on the first of two nights of Kurt Elling’s first live album recorded at the Green Mill, just before leaving for the West Coast, a pretty awesome experience.

I was fortunate enough to go to college at Louisiana State University (Go Tigers!) and spent oh so many nights at New Orleans jazz clubs in my youth. Walking through the streets of the French Quarter and popping into clubs or hearing the music sometimes from the street is quite an experience. Had there been jobs available after graduating from college circa 1971 in New Orleans I’d probably be living there now.

Are you from Chicago and a Green Mill patron?

You can say that daily.

You are a lucky man. I discontinued my live appearances after moving to Palm Springs. I could go to L.A., but it’s a 2-4 hour drive, sometimes more. Now having a very nice audio system, I don’t mind avoiding the traffic and general congestion of a large city.

I have friends in New York who are actors and singers and I used to visit them frequently, going to as many musical and theater performances as I could squeeze in during my stays. I miss what you have. You are a lucky man indeed.

It’s good to talk to a Mahler fan. I can imagine the experience you described. I wish I did not love the 1st, 2nd and 5th symphonies so much that I bypass the others looking for best performances in those three. I’ll give the 8th more than a cursory listen.

I currently live in Orland Park, IL. a southwestern suburb of Chicago. No, I have never been to the GM, but I do frequent a music club in Berwyn.IL, Fitzgerald’s. On Sundays the have big band jazz which would blow your hair back, when I had hair. A small venue. One Sunday a hip looking guy comes in with sheet music under his arm. Kurt, before his first cd ever came out. He seemed to be friends with a sax player in the band, Chris Leiga. Man, he blew me away. Did a great version of Fly Me to the Moon. He played there several times over the years. As he developed his own “style”, his performances became more daring, edgier. He was on a tightrope giving a 110 per cent. In my opinion, as he became more popular, he pulled back on his edginess. Still like him a lot. Back then, admission was 6 bucks at the door. No drink minimum.

I lived in Chicago then in Mount Prospect from '71 to '99. Your description took me back and makes me miss the days of low admission prices and no drink minimums :slight_smile:

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There’s a terrific Berlin Philharmonic Mahler 6th on their Digital Concert Hall, which is free for 30 days.

Also, several RCA Living Stereo Analogue Productions SACDs are half price ($15). The classic Reiner/CSO’s: Alexander Nevsky, Zarathustra, Pictures at an Exhibition, Scherazade, Bartok Concerto for Orchestra, Pines of Rome, Kije are all available & many other non CSO recordings, There are also some half price AP Decca SACDs worth a look along with many AP Jazz SACD releases.

https://store.acousticsounds.com/index.cfm?get=results&searchtext=analogue+productions&labelid=4868&orderby=price_d+asc&categoryid=4&ResultsPerPage=100

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One more low admission post, then I will quit. There used to be a venue that had a “head trip” vibe, Aaron Russo’s Kinetic Playground. My parents would not let me go there. He was Bette Midler’s manager at one time. Near the Aragon Ballroom. In 1969-70, they had an all ages 5 dollar admission three band show on a Sunday afternoon. Finally my parents gave me the green like to go. The acts were ho-hum : Lighthouse, Santana ( riding the wave of their first Columbia album ), and a little known band, Led Zeppelin. This was back in the day when Jimmy was using a bow to play his guitar ( latter spoofed by Spinal Tap). There is also a $5.50 ticket price story to see Derek and the Dominos at the Auditorium theater that was ruined by the opening act, Elton John. Not! But that’s another story for another post.

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Man, oh, man, Winston. I love hearing this history! I have Roon and am constantly reading about singers, actors, composer, conductors, orchestras, you name it. Thanks for sharing.

'69-'70 was before I arrived in Chicago, but I remember the Aragon Ballroom well. A club I belonged it rented it annually for incredible original productions for benefits. What a place it was, is? The history is amazing.

Got to know Stanley Drucker through a mutual friend. Over dinner one night he told me recording the Mahler symphonies with Bernstein was exhilarating. That set belongs in every Mahler collection.

When Bernstein gathered the best musicians in the world for the Beethoven 9th at the fallen Berlin Wall, one of the first he called was Stanley Drucker. 91 years old, he’s still playing at Carnegie Hall & other area venues.

As a CSO follower it might be of interest that Ricardo Muti, who I saw lead the Vienna Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall In a beautiful all Mozart program some years back, said one of the reasons he looked forward to conducting the New York Philharmonic was Stanley Drucker, because he always made eye contact & played each piece as a give & take chamber like collaboration.

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Incredible. Thanks for turning me on to the BPO site. I’m now registered. Looking for the Mahler 6. Who is the conductor? There’s so much good stuff in the Digital Concert Hall.

Ooops, never mind, I found it. Thanks anyway.

There’s more than one. Petrenko is the one I watched.

The site offers search by Composer, Conductor, Soloist, Ensembles, Seasons, Periods & Categories. There’s also a phone app which is easier to navigate looking for, and reading background about, content. There are a total of 54 Mahler available including all symphonies (most in multiple versions) & Das Lied von der Erde with Anne Sofie von Otter (who I saw perform this years ago at Carnegie Hall with the Met Orchestra under Levine) & Stuart Skelton.

Hi- I know this is an older post, but was wondering what your room measurements were for the focal 1038-I am thinking of grabbing a set tomorrow. thanks!