Quote Originally Posted by -Jar-
I took classes with Jack Renner in college. I can attest to the fact that they seldom use more than a couple mics to record an orchestra. usually a cardiod ORTF pair in the middle and a pair of spaced omnis farther back. Sometimes they have an accent mic over a particular instrument if it's featured, but they do not multi-mic, multi-track like DG does. This is of course, as of the early 90's. Telarc may have changed their policies, but I doubt it. Their concept is to get the widest dynamic range possible. I would say that some of their recordings lack the "warmth" of other labels recordings, but that "warmth" is probably due to processing and mixing the those labels are doing themselves. For realism, Telarc does very well.. their way is one of many possible ways to record classical music. Not the only correct one by any means. If anything, I don't find Telarc recordings to be as engaging as others, especially in the softer parts.. but for the loud, bombastic sections that come in Walton, Mahler or Stravinsky, you'd be hard pressed to find recordings that pack as much bang.

-jar
To me the most important parts of the music are the quiet parts. I own a set of Magnepan MMG's that I've settled with over some time. These speakers don't give me the fireworks like the competition does but for me there is more to the music than the macro dynamics. Magnepan has a slogan that says, "when you want to get someones attention...whisper". The Maggies do that just right. Quiet parts are still completely comprehendable. When I listen to these Telarc recordings it's like "hey what the heck is the orchestra still alive?". Then the crescendo arrives and it sounds like a milkshake. I actually have an analog version of Petrushka on Phillips and while not as loud as I might like it is well balanced and seems to come from "blackness". Anyway to each their own enjoy your recordings