I’ve re-encoded all the pieces in this blog using VBR, which I think has improved the sound quality notably. (Now why I didn’t do that in the first place?) For those of you not familiar with the term, variable bit rate encoding basically increases the sound quality at sensitive moments when your ears are likely to detect the difference.
The MP3s still don’t sound as good as the better-than-CD-quality originals — sorry, I just don’t have the bandwidth to post those! — but they now have more of the clarity and transparency of the originals, as if a thin veil was lifted from the sound.
If you’re hanging on to all these recordings, I recommend re-downloading the ones you already have, particularly Three Places, which is my personal favorite of the recordings I’ve posted so far.