Author Archives: The Mighty Thunderer

About The Mighty Thunderer

We write about music, audio, and technology. Like the namesake of this blog, Ludwig van Beethoven, we are hammer of polite society. We will point out the absurd and educate on the sublime...

Is classical music racist?

Posted on July 29, 2019

About a month ago I was sent an article entitled “It’s Time To Let Classical Music Die” on New MusicUSA. In essence, the article posits that classical music, due to its establishment in “white” and mostly “male” enclaves is inherently … Continue reading →

Posted in Classical Music | Leave a comment

July 16, 1989

Posted on July 16, 2019

“Karajan ist tot.” Thirty years ago today, one of the musicians largely responsible my love of classical music — symphonic music and opera, in particular — died. Herbert von Karajan is the greatest conductor of the twentieth century, unmatched in … Continue reading →

Posted in Classical Music, Recordings | Leave a comment

Sound Advice has left the building…

Posted on August 28, 2018

Sound Advice, an audio and video retail fixture in South Florida, is dead — again. The Boca Raton store of the current incarnation closed in early 2017; Pinecrest was shuttered around the middle of October 2017; the last remaining store … Continue reading →

Posted in Audiophilia, Cinephilia | Leave a comment

January 9, 2007

Posted on January 9, 2017

Ten years ago today, a product was introduced that would revolutionize the way people use technology as part of their daily lives. began. I bought mine as soon as I was contractually able to do so. The iPhone has changed … Continue reading →

Posted in Macs and PCs | Leave a comment

Analog redux

Posted on October 3, 2016

In a a previous post, I mused about the new age of digital sound reproduction and how amazingly good — no, scratch that: great — DSD and Blu-ray Audio sounds. In this listener’s opinion, digital sound has finally come of … Continue reading →

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Quo vadis, ‘analog’? Or, how I learned I’m not spending thousands on a losing proposition

Posted on February 24, 2014

Next year, 2015, I will celebrate forty years as an audiophile. I didn’t know I was an “audiophile” back in 1975 when I purchased my first “stereo” for the amount of $500—a daunting sum for an eighteen year old mail … Continue reading →

Posted in Audiophilia | 1 Comment

The Furtwängler Conumdrum

Posted on February 23, 2014

The very talented young conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic  Orchestra, Gustavo Dudamel, is in a bit of hot water. His silence on the topic of the popular uprising against the socialist government of Nicolas Maduro in his home country … Continue reading →

Posted in Classical Music | Leave a comment

The Mac is dead. Long live the Mac.

Posted on September 5, 2013

As I reported ten days ago my old iMac died after giving me six years, eleven months and ten days of service. Notwithstanding the two hard drive crashes, and a dead SuperDrive after two years, I think I eked out … Continue reading →

Posted in Audiophilia | Leave a comment

Of Macs and Men, part deux

Posted on August 25, 2013

Back in 2011 I experienced the second of two catastrophic hard drive crashes on my late 2006 vintage iMac. I was able to replace the hard drive and it worked until some time very early this morning after 2 AM … Continue reading →

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The Perfectly Realized Illusion: why high-end audio matters

Posted on August 20, 2013

One day, in the late nineteen-seventies, I visited my local high-end audio salon, Sound Components, in search of my favorite classical record magazine Gramophone. As I walked in, I was stopped in my tracks by a piano recording that was … Continue reading →

Posted in Audiophilia | 2 Comments