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High Resolution
Digital Audio
Music Reviews
First look: The Rolling Stones Remasters - Hybrid Stereo SACDs - ABKCO records
I received 3 hybrid SACDs of the Rolling Stones remastered albums. ABKCO records are remastering 22 of the early Rolling Stones albums. The good news is that they can be played on SACD and regular CD players. Their list price is $18. I received a sampler from the 22 discs, plus Beggars Banquet and Their Satanic Majesties Request. One interesting thing is that they do not push the fact that it is a SACD. The only place it is denoted is on the disc itself, it has the SACD symbol. The sampler is not available to the public. It serves as a good sampling of the series however. I first compared I Can’t Get No Satisfaction on the sampler with my CD of Hot Rocks. The CD layer of the remaster was very close to the in sound to the standard CD. The SACD layer was only slightly better. This was kind of disappointing. I tried other cuts with much better luck. In all of the cuts the SACD layer was better than the CD layer. On some cuts, from early albums, the improvement was slight. On other cuts there was a very big difference. On these cuts the CD layer was usually superior to the standard CD. On Sympathy for the Devil off of Beggars Banquet, the sound is greatly improved. The CD layer is quiet a bit better than the standard CD. The SACD layer is quiet a bit better than the CD layer. After listening to the SACD layer it would be hard to listen to the standard CD without a lot of disappointment. I tried various other cuts with similar results.
I had wondered why they sent the two albums they did. When I put on Their Satanic Majesties Request, I found out why. This album really sounds very good for an older rock album. I had not heard it before, and was somewhat surprised. The CD layer was not as crisp and sharp as the SACD layer. I consider the music on this album, which could be thought of as The Rolling Stones go psychedelic, as sort of weak. I put on Beggars Banquet, and listened for a while. I thought to myself that the sound was only OK. I then noticed that I was listening to the CD layer. When I switched to the SACD layer thing got a lot better. Even within a single album there seems to be variation in general sound quality. To me the Rolling Stones have some of the best songs in Rock and Roll. Their albums however have a tendency to have a couple of good songs and filler. I doubt that too many people will fork out for all the albums, unless they are Rolling Stones fanatics. I think that this is a very worthwhile project. It is too bad the some of the early albums did not better masters. If you are looking for better sound of great music, this is it. If you are expecting audiophile sound, you may be a little disappointed.
- Clay Swartz
BIG HITS (HIGH TIDE AND GREEN GRASS)-The Rolling Stones- Stereo SACD abkco 90012:
This is one of the newly remastered Rolling Stones album done in hybrid SACD stereo and CD. I t is basically a 1966 early Rolling Stones compilation. The songs that it contains are: I Can’t Get No Satisfaction, The Last Time, As Tears Go By, Time Is on My Side, Its All Over Now, Tell Me, 19th Nervous Breakdown, Heart Of Stone, Get Off My Cloud, Not Fade Away, Good Times Bad Times, and Play With Fire. The sound varies from one track to the next. This is because of different recording sessions. I compared the CD layer vs. SACD layer vs. the tracks of a regular CD. In every case the CD layer was better than the standard CD. Then the SACD layer was even better. The amount of improvement varied from cut to cut. As an example, on Satisfaction, the standard CD sounds pretty dull and has poor focus. There is little sense of drive to the music. Instruments are fussy and dynamics are poor. The CD layer, of the remastered album, adds a sense of crispness and life. Instruments are better placed and have a more proper size. There is more dynamics and sense of drive to the music. The SACD layer improves on the CD layer in about every way. The song is starting to sound like real musicians performing it. The bass is much tighter and more controlled. The sound has more impact. There is much more sense of pace and nuances. I would say the standard CD has a C minus sound. The CD layer has a B minus sound. The SACD has between a B and B plus sound. The album is in a paper jacket. One nice touch is the addition of some album art from the original album. The album is about 37 minutes long. After hearing the SACD or even the CD layer, you will have a hard time listening to the old CD.
HOT ROCKS 1964 through 1971-The Rolling Stones-abkco Stereo SACD 96672:
This is a 1972 compilation of the Rolling Stones. It is also hybrid SACD stereo and standard CD. It is a two-disc set. The first disc contains: I Can’t Get No Satisfaction, As Tears Go By, Time Is on My Side, 19th Nervous Breakdown, Get Off My Cloud, Heart of Stone, Mothers Little Helper, Paint It Black, Under My Thumb, Ruby Tuesday, Let spend the Night Together, and Play With Fire. The second disc contains: Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Street Fighting Man, Sympathy For The Devil, Honky Tonk Women, Gimme Shelter, Midnight Rambler, You Can’t Always Get What You Want, Brown Sugar and Wild Horses. This contains almost all of the Rolling Stones early greatest hits. This is a must album to have for any rock fan. The sonic comparison between the standard CD, CD layer and SACD layer can be dittoed from the last review. The general sound of the later recordings even provide better initial sound, with even more improvement heard. Some of the newer recordings on SACD border on being audiophile sound. The discs are 38 and 46 minutes long.
- Clay Swartz
James Taylor - JT - Multi-channel SACD, Sony SONSAM69801:
With both hi-res mediums in their infancy, and with the relative shortage of really well-mixed multi-channel SACDs, a lot of audiophiles out there have seized on a relative handful of titles which offer an excellent presentation of multi-channel sound, with a good blend of the front channels and judicious use of surrounds. One of these is James Taylor’s Hourglass, which has received much-deserved praise and is a frequently used demo disc for many a multi-channel setup.
I regularly visit various online audiophile forums and chat rooms; I often find links to really useful information and they serve as a really good barometer of what’s going on in our “hobby” (feel free to substitute profession, obsession or addiction as applies). Since the release of Hourglass I’ve read nothing but praise for all the right reasons, but with the arrival of JT, I’m finding a really mixed bag of comments, many of them really negative. Everyone seems to agree that the surround presentation is in the same league as Hourglass, but that’s where the niceness stops and the nitpicking begins. A commonly used adjective describing the performance is “weak”. WEAK!I can only come to one conclusion, that many of those folks so enamored with Hourglass may be audiophiles, but they’re not James Taylor fans. I know that there’s a really strong tendency among audiophiles, when offered an opportunity to demo their system, to reach for that one disc with which everything clicks, and for the moment – the skies open, the gods smile and you and your guests (victims) have reached sonic Nirvana. Hourglass for many is that disc, and I have to count myself among the guilty – it’s just an exceptionally good disc, and a strong return to form for James Taylor after several mixed-bag releases spanning the eighties and nineties.
JT was the last great album from James Taylor’s fertile, creative period from the seventies in which every successive album was filled with a mix of folk, pop, rough-edged rock and blues, and they all meshed successfully creatively and commercially. There’s not a bad song on this disc, and the surround engineers have done a sterling job as well, making JT a sonic delight. As usual, the real gems are the ones that got little or no airplay; Another Grey Morning, Secret O’ Life, Looking for Love on Broadway; it’s really good to hear these in hi-res surround done right. Don’t listen to the naysayers – this album is every bit the showpiece that Hourglass is, and a real treat for James Taylor FANS! Highly recommended.
-- Tom Gibbs
DAVE’S TRUE STORY - Unauthorized - Chesky Records multi-channel SACD 233:
Dave’s True Story consists of Kelly Flint vocals and Dave Cantor on guitar. They are backed up by large variety of musicians and three backup vocalists. All songs are written by Dave Cantor. I am greatly surprised by this album. When I got this for review, I went “oh, another Chesky jazz album.” The song writing is very good. It reminds me of the best of the 30s and 40s best songwriters as for quality. The lyrics are very clever. The songs have influences from Latin jazz, blues and even klezmer music. Each cut has it own character. There were no cuts that I felt like hitting the next button. Kelly Flint’s voice does a great job of conveying the lyrics. She has a great ability to have crisp clear enunciation. Her voice is very pleasant to listen to. She takes full advantage of SACD’s ability to convey pace and enunciation. The music arrangement is top notch. The sound, as usual for SACD, is crisp and clear. If you like really good song writing, with witty lyrics, this album is highly recommended.
- Clay Swartz
Laura Nyro-Angel in the Dark - Rounder Records 11661-3176-6 -Hybrid Stereo SACD:
Laura Nyro is one of the best pop songwriters of the 50 years. She has written top ten songs for Three Dog Night; Fifth Dimension; Barbara Streisand; Peter, Paul & Mary; and Blood, Sweet & Tears. She is also a very good singer songwriter. This her last recording before her death in 1997. This is a 19 cut album and 66 minutes long. Three of this cuts are a bonus on the SACD and not on the standard CD. This three are alternative takes of songs on the regular CD. On 11 of the cuts it is just her and her piano. The other 8 cuts are with guest musician band. The three alternative takes differ in the not only in interpretation, but also accompanied differently. She does seven new songs of her own composition as well as other composers songs. Her choice of songs is very good. Her interpretations are excellent.
Now for the good news, about this album. It sounds very good. It shows what SACD can do, when used right. Her voice is well captured and has very good presence. The piano is well recorded, with good dynamics. The percussion is crisp and snappy. Other backup instruments are also well recorded, as are backup vocals. If you want to put the sound of a live concert in your listening room, this disc will do it. Recommended. Sound A Music A- Performance A-
- Clay Swartz
Rebecca Pigeon-The Raven-Chesky Records SACD 205 - Stereo Hybrid SACD:
Rebecca is a singer-songwriter from Chesky records. This a recording from 1999in which she performs her own compositions. There are thirteen songs on the album. This album has appeared on CD, 96/24 CD and now SACD. It was recorded with 128 times over-sampling technology. The songs are surprisingly good quality. Rebecca has more upper range to her voice than Laura Nyro. The recording is even a little bit better than the Nyro album. But the music is not quiet as strong as The Nyro album.
I could cut and paste my comments on the sound of the Nyro album and use it as a description of this album. No piano, however. This recording conveys a little more sense of energy than the Nyro album. I compared the CD layer and the SACD layer for sound. The SACD layer was definitely better sounding than the CD layer. It was crisper, with more clarity and presence. It was also more dynamic. The CD layer did however sound very good and slightly better than the standard CD. Recommended. Sound A Music A- Performance A-
- Clay Swartz
CLAIRE MARTIN-Perfect Alibi - Linn Records - Stereo SACD AKD 149:
Claire Martin is a British jazz singer that has won many jazz vocalist awards in England. This album has a wide variety of music styles that show off her voice. She sings songs by such artist as Jimi Hendrix, Phoebe Snow, AL Cooper, Julie Fordham, Laura Nyro, Todd Rundgren. This is a hybrid disc with a standard CD layer and a stereo SACD layer. The CD layer comes across as a good sounding CD. When you put the SACD layer on, you are in a different world of sound. The CD layer is much flatter sounding. There is less dynamics and crispness to the sound. The instruments on the SACD layer come out of a deeper and blacker sound stage. By blacker, I mean that there is less sense of something else beside the music in the soundstage. It is closer to a real person singing in real space. The SACD layer also has more three-dimensionality to the voices and instruments. Highs are definitely better on the SACD layer. The bass is tighter and has more impact.I only recognize one song on the album, it is “How Can I be Sure?”. The music is very pleasant and relaxing to listen to. I would say she is closer to the pop side of jazz. Her voice is very good. The accompanying instruments are very well played. The one thing that I would like to hear from her, is a little more emotion in her singing. If you want a good sounding recording to relax to, this is a good choice.
CLAIRE MARTIN - Take My Heart - Linn Records Stereo SACD AKD 137:
This is another stereo hybrid SACD from Linn Records, of the English jazz singer Claire Martin. It was recorded in 1999.The CD layer of this disc would be considered a very good sounding disc. The SACD layer is clearly better. There is more depth to the sound. The images are more three-dimensional. There is a better sense of pace and enunciation. Instruments are crisper and better defined. There is also more ambience in the sound stage. The songs are pop in nature, but her interpretations add a jazz tinge. The only song I recognize on the album is a rather interesting interpretation of the Lennon-McCartney song Help. She includes two songs that she co-wrote, Inter City Girl and Pleading Guilty. Both are pretty decent songs. The highlight for me was her version of Rupert Holmes song Queen Bee. She also does songs written by Dan Hicks, Nick Drake, Paul Simon and Elvis Costello. The mood of the album is relaxed. The sound of this SACD is very near reference. It creates a very real-sounding concert in your music room. For late night listening with a good drink or to help you wash the pressures of the day away.
- Clay Swartz
BILLY JOEL: Fantasies & Delusions - Music for solo piano - Richard Joo, piano - Sony Classical Columbia stereo SACD-only CS 85397:
Yes, this is not only the same pop singer-songwriter Billy Joel, but the same album I reviewed 11 months back in our Classical CDs section. Only now it’s an SACD-only release. Back then I felt the ten piano pieces were nearly all in the Romantic vein of Schubert and Schumann, sometimes seeming almost to be quoting from them. Yet others echoed a bit of Beethoven or Mozart. Three waltzes are perhaps influenced by Brahms and Chopin. I hadn’t heard the album since then and this time around I listened really closely, late at night. Also, my system is better tweaked now, including an extensive mod on my stereo SACD player, the Sony 9000ES. Back then the pieces sounded like forgettable, rather bloodless salon music. Now, whether due to the improved resolution, better playback quality or just increased familiarity with the music, Joel’s pieces still sound derivative, but now many of them sound like Rachmaninoff rather than Schumann! The emotional communication of the far-ranging dynamics is strong and I genuinely enjoyed them this time around. Well, being lazy I’ll just paste in here the rest of my original review to save your having to go to our search engine, OK?
Joel selected a better pianist than himself to record the works and the session was held in Vienna because of the musical/philosophical connections for him. He alludes in his own notes to ghosts or spirits - that there is something in the atmosphere in Vienna that connects one to this sort of music. That connected me with the recordings by Rosemary Brown of some years back who claimed to have a string of famous composers such as Schubert and Beethoven dictate new piano pieces to her from the Beyond. Joel's pieces remind me strongly of Brown's - having many qualities undeniably of the particular composer in question but still sounding like that composer on a rather "off" day. The most original aspect of this CD is the cover art - an accurate imitation of the front of the G. Schirmer piano music collections which every piano student has carried around and struggled with.- John Sunier
BELA BARTOK: Concerto for Orchestra; The Miraculous Mandarin - New York Philharmonic/Pierre Boulez - Sony Classical SACD only SS 87710:
The Concerto for Orchestra was considered one of the classical quadraphonic must-haves back in l972. I still have the SQ LP somewhere but couldn’t put my hands on it for this review. Thomas Shepard was the original producer and he tried to put the listener in the middle of the orchestra to spotlight even more than Bartok’s original score already did the various instrumental sections that are featured in this sort of successor to Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. I received an email from a reader who complained that this was basically a three-front-channels recording similar to the Everest surprise I covered a couple months back that was labeled multi-channel but had absolutely no signal in the surrounds. However, I find the surround channels to be fairly normal for recent multi-channel orchestral CDs that are not trying to put the listener in the middle of the band. Perhaps in mixing it was decided to minimize the exaggerated surround effects of the original four-channel tapes, keeping in mind that there are no longer serious losses of separation a la SQ and QS, since each channel is now discrete. The Concerto is right up there with the preferred choices of this exciting modern work and the surround makes it easier than ever to isolate the special sounds of each instrumental section even after they have been melded together for the big finish. The suite from the Mandarin ballet is a good introduction to a strange work steeped in a scenario of sex and death, but I prefer the recent CD version by the Lyon Orchestra that I review this issue in the Classical section.
- John Sunier
The Palladian Ensemble - Held By the Ears (Pamela Thorby, recorders; Rachel Podger, violin; Susanne Heinrich, bass viol; Wm. Carter, guitar/lute/theorbo) - Linn Stereo SACD CKD 168:
This sparkling hi-res disc stuck me as similar to the many chamber-ensemble Baroque albums on the Dorian label, but somehow it resonated with me even more successfully. Usually an entire album of such intimate early music is a stretch for my ears unless it features harpsichord prominently or the music of one of my favorite Baroque composers such as Zelenka or Scarlatti. Being entirely instrumental helped, as well as the fact that the Palladian Ensemble takes a dashing and exuberant approach to this music, not allowing themselves to be weighed down by overly hewing to academic/musicological correctness. In fact, the four players sound like they have spontaneous connections that reminds one of the interplay of the best jazz quartets. Add to this the repertory on this SACD, which is mostly music of an obscure Italian composer who was active in England in the 17th century - Nicola Matteis. The subtitle of this album comes from a contemporary description of one of the violin virtuoso/composer’s performances. He qualifies as creating some of the wildest music of the period - in a class with Gesualdo, Zelenka and Kuhnau. When they first began rehearsing some of his pieces, one of the Palladian players observed that it sounded a bit like rock n’ roll. Matteis was also known for his improvisation skills, his variations on folk tunes, and the immense volume of his compositions. The Palladians have chosen some of the very best and mixed them with anonymous and their own variations on various Scottish airs. A delightful musical discovery enhanced via the crystalline reproduction of this DSD recording.
- John Sunier
Two Sides of Schubert in our next hi-res disc pair...
SCHUBERT: The Trout Quintet; Four Impromptus for piano solo D899 - Alvarez Quartet & Carmen Piazzini, p. - Tacet Multi-channel DVD-Audio DVD 106:
An energetic and lively version of the familiar Schubert quintet, with a Frankfurt-based quartet and a near-anonymous pianist - whose solos were also familiar to me since I once played some of the Impromptus as a piano student. Tacet omitted any listing of the pianist on either the jewel box credits or in the note booklet, and neither is her photo included with the quartet’s inside - they’re standing in front of a piano! After much search I found a paragraph bio of her buried in the middle of the notes. If I were Carmen I’d be pizzed. Tacet dubs their DVD-As “Real Surround Sound.” What they mean is they are applying pop studio techniques to classical music in surround and not tying themselves to the conservative approach of putting the musicians up front and having only subtle ambience of the venue in the surround channels. There are even diagrams much as Telarc and others include with surround discs, showing the exact layout of mikes and instruments - or in this case of the listener’s head and the instruments. For the Quintet the piano is dead ahead in the center channel (woe to those anti-home-theater surround fans who lack a center channel). The violin occupies the left front, the viola the right front, the bass the left rear and the cello the right rear. You can’t help but become highly involved in the music this way. In some ways it is similar to binaural listening but without the headphones. So far I’ve found it fascinating and great classical demo material for newbies to SSfM [Surround Sound for Music].
However, the solo piano tracks by Ms. Piazzini employ an entirely different alignment that may seem just plain perverse to some listeners - the piano is directly behind you and the front three channels carry only the hall ambience. Producer Andreas Spreer argues among other things that this will be more appropriate if you have a DVD player in your car. Why? Because with a normal surround recording the piano would seem to be sitting on the hood of your car. Uh, huh. Well, one of the many advantages listed early in the game for the new multi-channel media was the flexibility to use the six channels available in any way the producers/engineers/mixers might see fit. So let’s celebrate such initiative! At least I don’t have to change half of my amp and speaker connections plus moving speakers, as with some of the other hi-res alternatives to 5.1 (which I will eventually get to in upcoming issues).
SCHUBERT: Sonata in E Major D.157 (unfinished), Sonata in G Major D.894, Der Mutter und der Bach (arr. by Liszt) - Arcadi Volodos, piano - Sony Classical Stereo SACD-only SS 89647:
Russian pianist Volodos has blazed a highly successful concert career since his New York debut in l996. His few recordings have won him awards and honors from many publications and organizations. We covered his Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 on SACD recently. This latest disc features three Schubert works which are not as virtuosic as Rachmaninoff but have their own unique nature. Although Liszt championed Schubert’s music and created this arrangement of one of his Schone Mullerin lieder, the thing to avoid is imposing Lisztian or Chopinesque virtuoso nuances onto Schubert. Volodos carries this out and allows the lovely and abundant Schubertian melodies to sing out. The G Major is Schubert’s longest sonata, of symphonic proportions, but Volodos holds it together from start to finish with unflagging forward motion. The piano sound is of great clarity and specificity not heard on most 44.1 CDs and the surrounding ambience is broad and natural. Playback via Pro Logic II imparts a very subtle improved image of the hall; I don’t see how a 5.1 version could be much better. An interesting acoustic note is that this was the very last recording made in the acclaimed “perfect acoustics” of Vienna’s Sofiensaal. It burned to the ground in August of 2001.
- John Sunier
Romantic Piano Trios - CHOPIN: Trio in G Minor Op. 8; NIELS GADE: Novelletten for piano, violin, cello Op. 29; Trio in F Major Op. 42 - ABEGG Trio - Tacet DVD-Audio DVD D112:
The chamber works of Chopin have taken a back seat to his solo piano pieces, but this is an absolutely lovely trio that should be more heard than it is. Though an early work, it is the epitome of a skilled and polished Romantic period composition. Scriabin said of Chopin “almost from the first opus he was a complete composer, with a quite special individuality.” Danish composer Gade had more ties to Schumann and Mendelssohn’s styles than to Chopin’s and while his pieces here are full of affecting melody they seem rather second-string after Chopin. The ABEGG Trio has made more than 20 recordings and are topflight players. Tubed mikes were used for the most natural string tone, and like all DVD-As there is a Dolby Digital 5.1 layer if you don’t happen to have a DVD-A-capable player. There is a subtle but noticeable degradation of the string and piano tone if limited to this option.
Tacet’s spatial experimentation continues apace with this hi-res DVD. They refer to it as attempting to use the whole acoustic space for the musical experience, and they are certainly doing that. The violin here is on the left front, the cello on the right front, and the piano behind the listener. Producer Andreas Spreer says that most trio recordings group the two string instruments very close to the grand piano and the result is too little spatial presence and too similar information coming to the listener from the same direction. By placing the Bosendorfer Imperial Grand at the rear by itself, the full grandeur of its magnificent tone can come thru without competition from the two strings. (But if your surrounds are not full range or if you don’t have a rear subwoofer you won’t get that extra low bass heft due to the Bosendorfer’s additional keys. Actually Tacet doesn’t use the LFE channel, so my rear sub had no signal for it.) It’s an interesting effect for sure; at first I felt a bit like Lucy leaning against Schroeder’s piano, but after awhile it didn’t seem so topsy-turvy. Bear in mind the violin is not confined strictly to the left front channel nor the cello to the right - there is leakage to the center and opposite speakers, and the piano is already heard at a lower level from all three frontal speakers. So even playing the disc with the surrounds entirely off one has a pleasant enough balance of the three instruments - it just sounds as though the piano was miked rather distantly - something like most of the Nimbus piano recordings if you don’t play them back with Ambisonic decoding.
- John Sunier
J.S. BACH: Concertos, Vol. II = Violin Concerto in G Minor BWV1056, Concerto for oboe and violin in C Minor BVW 1060, Violin Concerto in A Minor BWV 1041, Concerto for 2 Violins in D Minor BWV 1043, Violin Concerto in E Major BWV 1042, Concerto for 3 violins in D Major BWV 1064 - Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra/Benjamin Hudson - Tacet DVD-Audio DVD D1111:
Originally founded by Karl Munchinger, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra has been around for well over a half century, made many recordings and toured the world extensively. This is a fine collection of six of the “hit” concertos of Bach, including three which are reconstructions based on his keyboard concertos for one, two and three harpsichords. The D Minor Concerto for 2 Violins is probably the most perfect work ever written for that instrumental combination, and it boasts a longish and very heartfelt center slow movement. The label’s plan to take multi-channel reproduction of classical further than the typical players in front & ambience in back is realized even more extensively on this DVD. Not only is every single piece recorded with a slightly different assignment of individual instruments to individual channels, but in one case there are even changes during a piece! The first two concertos have the single solo violin in front with the orchestra proper laid out in a U pattern behind the listener. The balance of the various instruments in the orchestra is slightly changed between the two concertos. In the C Minor Concerto the violin solo is at left front, the oboe solo at right front, the rest of the violin section at the center speaker, the harpsichord behind and the bass group at the rear - centered between the viola and second violin. The most effective spatial layout of all is in the final concerto for 3 violins - a sort of Violin Summit. The three solo violins are assigned to the L, C and R frontal channels, with the orchestra itself again in a horseshoe pattern behind the listener. This is really effective and exciting when a theme is heard first from the right violin, then taken up by the center violin and finally joined by the left hand instrument. The change during a work happens in the second movement of the Concerto in E Major for one solo violin. In the first movement the orchestra sounds rather close and the violin soloist is more distant; the second movement moves the orchestra further away and brings the listener closer aurally to the solo violin to better hear the subtleties of this intimate movement. All these works - whether in multi-channel or not - would never fit onto a standard CD - they run a total of 87 minutes. Only DVD allows the greater length.
- John Sunier
JOHN WILLIAMS: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, Elegy for Cello and Orchestra, Three Pieces for Solo Cello, Heartwood - Yo-Yo Ma, cello/Recording Arts Orchestra of Los Angeles/John Williams - Sony Classical multi-channel SACD-only SS 89670:
The overall album title here is “Yo-Yo Ma Plays the Music of John Williams.” The two musicians have been friends for years and have performed some of the standard cello concertos together in concert. The major work of the Cello Concerto here resulted from a suggestion of conductor Seiji Ozawa. It was first performed in l994 at Tanglewood and is in four non-stop movements. All of them provide plenty of opportunity for Ma’s virtuosity to be demonstrated. The second movement is a Blues, and Williams reports he was influenced by the ghosts of Ellington and Strayhorn in this section. The Elegy grew out of some of the material Williams had penned for the soundtrack of the movie Seven Years in Tibet, for which Ma was cello soloist. Both these works are less tonal and accessible than Williams’ film score music, but Ma’s glistening cello tones seem to hold things together. In Heartwood Williams was inspired partly by a collection of tree photographs given him by a friend, and partly by his memories of listening to the moody and impressionistic arrangements of the Claude Thornhill Orchestra in the 30s and 40s. The surrounds provide a subtle feeling of the concert hall or studio - no details are given on the recording venue, and Ma’s cello is dead center. So I hope you’re not saddled with a center channel speaker whose timbre is entirely different from the other four main speakers - as so many are.
- John Sunier
ROBERT SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 2 in C Major; Symphony No. 4 in D Minor, WEBER: Oberon Overture - The Cleveland Orchestra/George Szell - Sony Classical stereo SACD-only SS 89382:
This has been out for awhile but somehow I missed it when I first received its mate - the symphonies 1 & 3, also with Szell and the Cleveland. Some reviewers have dismissed these SACD stereo reissues of historic recordings from the archives, saying more new recordings should be made. That’s true but I would like to see both. Expenses of recording major orchestras in the U.S. have become exorbitant, and what current orchestra could surpass these gorgeous Szell iterations? The Epic LPs were never vinyl state-of-the-art, and the increased resolution of these DSD-processed l960 tapes sound like the sun has come out, sonically speaking - especially in the jovial and jaunting C Major symphony.
- John Sunier
Zephyr: Voices Unbound - A Cappella Voices - Works of Morley, Janequin, Le Jeune, Wm. Schuman, Anon., and to lyrics of Shakespeare and Dorothy Parker - Aix Records DVD-A & V AIX 80012:
Again one cannot avoid being impressed by the work and effort that goes into each Aix Records DVD-A; no other label is giving purchasers so many options for their money, and these are all brand new recordings and videos - not recycled stuff from the past. This session in the Aix studio brought a dozen of the best singers on the West Coast to perform 23 a cappella selections ranging from early polyphony to a song by William Schuman using words of Walt Whitman. I usually begin auditioning by viewing the video side of the DVD, which is a complete video record of the entire concert. This one lacks a feature of some of the AIX discs with two different viewing angles for the video - such as the entire orchestra or just close-ups of the conductor. However it does include two different “audio angle” choices - one that puts the listener in the audience as in a typical recording approach, and another that gives a “stage” presence - in this case surrounded by the circle of singers. You have a choice of either Dolby Digital 5.1 or stereo. I optioned for the former and found that seeing the singers performing - arrayed in a large circle - added a great deal of interest to this music which is not necessarily my first choice for listening - especially the predominately early music part of the program. The Dolby surround track was created and mixed in 24bit/96K from start to finish; it was so good I heard only minimal improvement in clarity with the 96K track on the DVD-A side of the disc, but on that side of the disc you had only a single still image for each selection and no more live action video to watch. Some of the “call and answer” play of voices in the madrigals was fun with the spatial displacement of the singers in the circle around the listener. I liked especially the four short songs to Dorothy Parker lyrics and the humorous sound effects and vocal percussion in Freddie Mercury’s “Seaside Rendezvous.” Seeing the smiles of the singers in performing this delightful track greatly enhanced the musical experience.
- John Sunier
First two DVD-As from an extensive new series recorded in Hungary...
MOZART: Symphony No. 25 KV 183 - Europa Philharmonia Budapest/Maximianno Cobra - Hodie DVD-A (no number):
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 9 - Soloists/Europa Philharmonia Budapest Orch. & Choir/Maximianno Cobra - Hodie DVD-A and V (2 discs, no number):
This is only the beginning of the new series from Hodie - the rest includes three DVDs of various Mozart overtures, which I plan to cover next issue. Packaging is in standard DVD-video boxes, and a booklet is enclosed in all the albums with an essay by French-Brazilian conductor Cobra on “Tempo, Space and Music.” The Europa Philharmonia Budapest Orchestra and Choir was founded by Cobra in l999 and brought together the elite of Hungary’s instrumental and vocal musicians. The Mozart receives here a spry and jovial treatment plus excellent sonics no matter which of the three options you choose for playback. The 51-minute running time exceeds other recordings of the work by several minutes, but it doesn’t sound draggy. The second side of the DVD is designed to play on all DVD players, and includes both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 plus Stereo PCM -- all three of these at 48K sampling rate. There is a single illustration for each movement and the artwork and titles change for each. Hodie refers to this as a slide show; I kept looking for more images but none appeared. The 48K DTS is very good and the 96K MLP six channel surround is somewhat better, but I would be hard put to identify a further improvement on the front channels only of the 192K sampling option.
The Beethoven Ninth is a more major project all around. There are two discs - Disc 1 is double sided, with the 192K stereo option on one side and the 96K 6-channel surround option on the other side. Disc 2 boasts a 48K Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, but on this the entire full motion widescreen video of the performance by the Philharmonia is seen. A multi-mic'ed approach fed a 96-channel console and recorded onto a 48-track recorder. Conductor and producer Cobra wanted the aural effect of the listener being placed right in the middle of the orchestra. The studio was covered in black fabric so that the musicians and choir stand out starkly The camerawork is good, although all the performers seem to be bathed in a sort of reddish-yellow light. Sonic placement of solo instruments as well as vocal soloists doesn’t always agree with what is viewed on the screen. For example, at the start of the last movement Ode to Joy choral section the vocal soloist is on the left of the side screen, yet his voice is clearly heard from the front right speaker. The other over-riding and more major problem here is that this is the slowest Ninth I have ever heard. It almost sounds as though it is a rehearsal at half speed to work out all the details more easily. The choral climaxes of the Ode to Joy don’t seem joyful at the lugubrious tempo. One is tempted to get behind the orchestra and give them a push. The video disc also includes a beautifully-photographed PBS-style documentary on Beethoven’s life at the time of the composing of the Ninth, narrated by conductor Cobra in his inimitable thick accent and alternate English vocabulary. The overall notes for the entire set state that there is a similar documentary with each DVD album, but after a very thorough search of the Mozart symphony disc I failed to come up with one there. It may be there someplace but due to the continually frustrating navigation/programming of nearly all DVD-As it didn’t make itself apparent to me.
- John Sunier
Ana Caram - Blue Bossa (with Paul Braga, drums; Nelson Faria, guitar; David Finck & Joe Fitzgerald, bass; Cliff Korman, Fender Rhodes; Paul Levi, sax) - Chesky multi-channel SACD226:
Bossa nova seems to be having a rebirth of interest recently, and Brazilian siren Caram brings back the l960s’ cool Brazilian music invasion just like it never went away. But now we have a better voice (than Astrud Gilberto) and much better sonics with multi-channel SACD. Many of the hits of the past are here as well as some newer ones. There’s a jazz bossa from Kenny Dorham and Caram concludes her concert with one of her own originals. She’s mostly up front, with various batterie heard occasionally on the surround channels. Sit back, put your feet up, and you’ll be in Caram’s spell in no time. Tunes: Desafinado, Blue Bossa, Triste, Corcovado, So Tinhad de Ser Com Voce, Inutil Paisagem, Fly Me to the Moon, Anjo de Mim, Telefone, O Vento, So Por Amor, Pura Luz.
- John Henry
The Band - The Last Waltz - With guests Paul Butterfield, Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Ronnie Hawkins, Dr. John, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, The Staple Singers, Ringo Starr, Muddy Waters, Ron Wood, Neil Young - Warner Bros./Rhino DVD-A R9 78260:
It all happened live at Winterland in San Francisco on November 25 and 26, l976. The Band - who had revolutionized rock, played with Bob Dylan and many others, and released eight recordings, decided to call it quits. This was their farewell concert with a long and amazing list of super guest performers. Rock matured into a new and unique language with The Band. They melded strains from both Appalachia and Harlem, gospel and boogie-woogie, music on Sun and Chess Records, and came up with songs that communicated Americana myth and history with a compelling strength. This DVD appears to be highlights from the 4-CD Last Waltz package on Rhino. Of course there is the recently re-issued Martin Scorsese film of the same title, which I haven’t yet seen. But after auditioning this wonderful disc I certainly plan to. I don’t know if the exactly selections heard here - 30 tracks in all - duplicate the soundtrack of the film.
A pox on DVD-A navigation! I was again thrown by certain screens and options never appearing. It took forever to locate the opening menu screen, and several times a partial list of the first group of tracks came up, but the track list was slightly greyed out, making it impossible to select any track. Another huge frustration is that so far none of the DVD-As in which one can select viewing the lyrics onscreen will advance those lyrics in sync with the music being heard - you have to manually punch “Next” to change to each and every page. There are a few still photos for each of the tracks. It’s difficult to choose which of the many exciting turns by the guest performers to highlight, not to mention the straight Band tunes which sound more in tune and together than I recall on their Big Pink album. Well, let me list just a few: the Band’s own versions of their Ophelia, Up on Cripple Creek, and (with Bob Dylan) The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down. The Staples Singers joining the group on The Weight, Muddy Waters laying it on down in Mannish Boy, Eric Clapton in Further On Up the Road, and Dr. John’s evocative Such a Night. There’s lot more in the surround channels than just applause. One really is drawn into the celebration - you’ll have a big smile on your face when the almost classical opening Last Waltz theme is repeated at the end of the concert. Don’t miss this wonderful tribute to rock n’ roll. By the way, the mixing and production of the DVD-A was financed by MicroSoft’s Paul Allen, who also built the Experience Music Project in Seattle, even though Jimi Hendrix doesn’t play a note in The Last Waltz.
- John Henry
Carmen Meets Kharma Live - Carmen Gomes, vocals (Cajan Witmer, piano; Marcel van Engelen, drums; Peter Bjornild, bass) -STS Digital multi-channel SACD 611126:
This SACD from The Netherlands was obviously at least partly sponsored by the Dutch makers of the great-sounding, outrageously beautiful and expensive Kharma loudspeakers - they’re more prominently featured on the front cover art than the singer. Philips, Marantz and Siltech were also heavily involved. The background or nationality of singer Gomes is not revealed; she’s young, blonde and seems to have no accent, but I found her enunciation somewhat slovenly. Her voice is superb and she tackles a variety of tunes, of which only two of the dozen total are not either her originals or her arrangements. The two exceptions are Billie Holiday’s Billie’s Blues and Gershwin’s Summertime, the latter opening the album. The producers of this SACD adopted a variation of the center channel approach used on the James Taylor SACDs. Carmen’s voice is not 100% in the center channel but only a rolled-off low-level version of it is audible in the left and right front channels. If you don’t have a center channel you’ll have to listen to the stereo mix of this SACD. The surrounds are used only for a feeling of the room’s natural ambience, with some sounds - such as higher-pitched percussion - standing out in the reflective acoustics. The live audience is amazingly quite during the music - the liner note writer attributes this to their all being subscribers to a Dutch audio magazine. Had they made just a low-level babble it would have contributed to the envelopment feel of the surround. But what really wakes you up to this being a live session is the audience applause between tunes. Applause has always been a great audio test source, and here it demonstrates how seamlessly your front and surround speakers create the sounds around you. Tunes: Summertime, Heaven is a State of Mind, Pastora, I Believe, Take it Al, I’ll Pay the Band, Gazing at the Sun, Green and Blue, Soul, Billie’s Blues, September, It’s About Time.
- John Henry
Wynton Marsalis - Marsalis Standard Time, Vol. I - (with Marcus Roberts, piano; Robert Leslie Hurst III, bass; Jeff Tain Watts, drums) - Columbia Jazz Stereo SACD-only, CS 40461:
This is a 1986 session by Marsalis and his quartet and in some ways it has a more relaxed, less forced feeling about it than his recent work in which he seems to be trying to be another Duke Ellington. It was done with a 24-track studio setup, so don’t expect holographic spatial information, but the improved clarity and slam from all four instruments is certainly a feature. The Standard Time concept alludes to the dozen tracks being nearly all standards that have been played and recorded by countless known and unknown performers over the years. So the efforts of Marsalis and his quartet are put up against the best of the whole tradition of jazz - quite a challenge. And for the most part they meet it, although some tunes running as long as seven or eight minutes have solos that seem to be stretching a bit too far to come up with something different from what’s ever been heard before. I especially enjoyed the extended Foggy Day, and the closing second version of Cherokee is really a romp of a trumpet solo. Tracks: Caravan, April in Paris, Cherokee, Goodbye, New Orleans, Soon All Will Know, A Foggy Day, The Song is You, Memories of You, In the Afterglow, Autumn Leaves, Cherokee.
- John Henry
Billie Holiday with Ray Ellis and his Orchestra - Lady in Satin - Multi-channel SACD-only Columbia Legacy CS86697:
I approached this re-mix for multi-channel with some trepidation because the initial Billie Holiday stereo SACD release was and has remained the first and only real stinker of a SACD I have heard. It was equalized insanely. Not so this time around, and now we have the additional attractions of a full orchestra backing and multi-channel surround. It would have been interesting if the note booklet included just a paragraph about creating the multi-channel mix from the original 1958 tapes; there’s a good chance they were three channel rather than two, meaning there was more to select from in mixing to multi-channel. Holiday is front and center-speaker, with only a slightly distanced ghost of her voice in the front left and right channels. The orchestra is spread around almost encircling the listener, but without any strong sounds drawing attention to the surrounds. Lady Day was the stimulus for doing this session with string and vocal choir backgrounds - she loved Ellis’ and arranger Claus Ogermann’s work and felt this album was the best she ever did.She had a strong hand in choosing the songs, and chose to end with Alec Wilder’s I’ll Be Around. 17 months later she was dead. Many top jazzmen appeared on this session - it‘s not only string section and chorus. They included Billie Butterfield, Urbie Green, Hank Jones, Barry Galbraith, Milt Hinton, J.J. Johnson, and Mal Waldron. The contrast of the lush arrangements behind Holiday’s often shaky and emotionally raw voice now stands out more via hi-res multi-channel than it ever did on the stereo LP version. It’s definitely not the Billie of the 1940s, but who would ever have thought we’d eventually have Billie Holiday in glorious surround sound? Tracks: I’m a Fool to Want You, For Heaven’s Sake, You Don Know What Love Is, I Get Along Without You Very Well, For All We Know, Violets for Your Furs, You’ve Changed, It’s Easy to Remember, But Beautiful, Glad to Be Unhappy, I’ll Be Around.
- John Henry
Tommy Smith - The Sound of Love - The Ballads of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn (Smith, tenor sax; Kenny Barron, piano; Peter Washington, bass; Billy Drummond, drums) - Linn Stereo SACD AKD 138:
I was unfamiliar with Smith, and from the album photo and title I had expected a jazz vocalist rather than a tenor player. Being less into vocals, I was pleased, and more so upon seeing all the tunes tie in with Ellington and Strayhorn. There are 11 classics by one or the other or both of the famous pair - some of the loveliest ballads in 20th century music. The exception is Charles Mingus’ Duke Ellington’s Sound of Love. Smith was in Gary Burton’s group in the mid-80s and his style has been compared to Ben Webster, Illinois Jacquet and Stan Getz. He’s recorded eight previous albums, so he’s definitely paid his dues. He gives Isfahan the longest treatment here at nearly nine minutes, and the shortest track is his two-minute totally unaccompanied version of Ellington’s Solitude. Soundstaging is excellent in this direct-to-two-track recording. (You might want to compare it to the multi-tracked Marsalis SACD above.) The tracks are: Johnny Come Lately, The Star-Crossed Lovers, In a Sentimental Mood, A Flower is a Lovesome Thing, Chelsea Bridge, Isfahan, Duke Ellington’s Sound of Love, Sophisticated Lady, Passion Flower, Solitude, Prelude to a Kiss, Cottontail.
- John Henry
Grover Washington, Jr. - Winelight (with Eric Gale, Steve Gadd, Paul Griffin, Ralph MacDonald, Richard Tee, Bill Eaton, Ed Walsh, Robert Greenidge, plus vocal trio and guest vocal by Bill Withers on Just the Two of Us) - Elektra/Rhino DVD-Audio R9 78350:
While I may never forgive Grover Washington for inspiring Kenny G. , I admit to having enjoyed some of Washington’s CTI albums in the past, and none more than this 1980 breakthrough into the mainstream. His melding of jazz and R & B was commercial but still tasteful and accessible by a wide range of audiences. The major hit of Winelight was Just the Two of Us, which may No. 2 on the pop charts and No. 1 on the R & B charts. It also won two Grammys for Best Jazz Fusion and Best R & B Song. Hearing it again, but now in glorious surround sound is a big kick. The varied arrangements and exotic instrumental contributions help make Winelight a consistently fascinating album. There is clavinet, steel drums, drum synth, Fender Rhodes, and two Oberheim synthesizers at various times behind Washington’s soprano, alto and tenor saxes. The DVD includes a photo gallery and the lyrics to Just the Two of Us. Again: Why don’t the lyrics change automatically to keep in sync with the vocals? Can that be so difficult to program, eh? Tracks: Winelight, Let It Flow, In the Name of Love, Take Me There, Just the Two of Us, Make Ma a Memory (Sad Samba).
- John Henry
B.B. King & Eric Clapton - Riding With the King - Reprise DVD-Audio 9 47612-9:
Clapton and King had been talking for years about getting together in the studio and now it’s finally happened. What a kick! Both were beside themselves at being able to carry this off and it sounds like they had a fabulous time of it from start to finish. There are a dozen tracks, and their sidemen include such top names as Joe Sample and Tim Carmon on keyboards (piano, Hammond B3 and Wurlitzer organ). Many of the tunes have a duo or trio of backup vocalists and most have digital drums. But all of ‘em have plenty of fantastic guitar licks from the two greatest guitarists in blues and rock respectively - what more could you want? Four of the tracks are King originals and a big surprise is the closing, decidedly non-blues track of the Johnny Mercer/Harold Arlen Broadway classic, with lush orchestrations by Arif Mardin. The 5.1 mix has instruments and voices all over the place but B.B. and Eric right up front at all times. As with many pop DVD-As, the infectious quality of the music makes you want to see more than just a still photo or two of the performers. Perhaps there will be a music video of this session; it’s unfortunate the hi-res surround and video can’t be combined at the same time! Man, this is my kind of blues! - lots of B3 and other backing - none of this raw-boned single out-of-tune guitar/vocal stuff for me.
The navigation/authoring of DVD-As still needs lots of work. It is possible if you are very patient to actually play the whole thing without turning on your TV display, but it defaults to the surround tracks and you may want the stereo tracks instead. Each of them has a separate screen, but the tunes list is the same - unlike another DVD-A I viewed recently. The lyrics again refuse to progress to the next screen automatically if they require more than one page to display. (Fortunately with these blues lyrics they seldom do.) I’ve tried three DVD-A players now so I know this is not a player fault. Tracks: Riding with the King, Ten Long Years, Key to the Highway, Marry You, Three O’Clock Blues, Help the Poor, I Wanna Be, Worried Life Blues, Days of Old, When My Hearts Beats Like a Hammer, Hold On I’m Coming, Come Rain or Come Shine.
- John Henry
