THE BEST MUSICAL SOUNDTRACKS TO TEST YOUR SPEAKERS

Put your multi-room set-up through its paces with musical theatre to make your speakers sing

Carousel Rodgers/ Hammerstein

The first track, The Carousel

Waltz, does away with the traditional concept of an overture comprising a medley of the show’s best songs. Instead, you get a jewel of a piece in its own right. A solo flute plays a pensive melody. It is joined by another, and soon we’re thrust into a dream-like sequence of action – and an orchestra playing at full pelt.

Candide Leonard Bernstein

The overture from this 1974 musical is one of the most frequently performed orchestral compositions by a 20th century American composer, but the solo has become a calling card for the gifted soprano. If that doesn’t test your system, not a lot will. The whole musical has a raucous, satirical quality and it’s nothing short of glorious in its entirety.

Tommy The Who

A musical that’s considered one of the tougher pieces for sound engineers to stage thanks to the band’s ridiculously strong lineup, each of whom could make any ‘top ten best rock musician’ list. Pinball

Wizard, which Elton John graced with his own inimitable vocal and piano wizardry in 1973, is an absolute banger of a track.

Chess Andersson/ulvaeus/ Rice

You know you’re in safe hands when the music is co-written by ABBA’S Benny and Björn. A notable ballad here is I Know Him So Well, but Chess employs a huge selection of styles, from pop to orchestral, with huge bass tones nodding to the Cold War tension between Russia and America in the 1980s.

Jesus Christ Superstar Lloyd-webber/rice

If you want to test the agility of your speakers, play

Gethsemane. The time signatures are all over the shop, with an incredible vocal range on show. It’s not considered the cleanest recording, so it’s a good test of the transparency of your system. You’ve also got Judas’s shocking and astronomical tenor vocal as he takes his own life.