Music of the week: Rhapsody in Blue
This week, I reorganized the speakers in my room and wanted to test the change by listening to a wide variety of music. The first piece that came to my mind was “Rhapsody in Blue” by Gershwin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhapsody_in_Blue, as I have a fantastic recording of it made by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. That said, I know that I’m not a music maniac enough, as I do not have it on vinyl, but rather as a digital download from HDTracks: https://www.hdtracks.com/#/album/5de7b4c75935a842dd765e23. Rhapsody in Blue already sounded great with the original setup, but placing the speakers farther away from each other and turning up the volume made wonders. Even in a middle-sized room, it suddenly sounded as if I was in a huge concert hall.
TIDAL: https://listen.tidal.com/album/79240363
Once the album was over, I wanted to experiment further. That’s when I realized that I have a few more recordings of Rhapsody in Blue. Well, not the original, but various adaptations. The next one I listened to had a completely different style: progressive metal. It is on the third album of Liquid Tension Experiment. This was the only time when the new setup did not improve the sound. I mean, it wasn’t bad at all, but a bit more bass would have helped :-) I listened to this music from a Blu-ray disk.
TIDAL: https://listen.tidal.com/album/168567035
The third song featuring the melodies of Rhapsody in Blue was recorded by Hiromi, a jazz pianist from Japan. I have this album as a CD from Japan, but I also have it in high resolution FLAC files from HDTracks: https://www.hdtracks.com/#/album/5dfb7dc30a58de3182f046f0. I know the sound of the piano pretty well, as there was at least one piano in my home most of my life. Turning up the volume a bit and listening to a good recording made wonders: it was a lot more lifelike than usual.
TIDAL: https://listen.tidal.com/album/119047940/
The new speaker arrangement gives a nicer, more realistic sound. However, it also needs to be louder, as I’m farther away from the speakers. So, for now, I just note the position of the speakers and move back everything as it was previously…
I am looking for even more Rhapsody in Blue recordings. Do you have any recommendations, either for the original or for other arrangements?
