Monthly Archive: April 2005
45 SACD & DVD-A Reviews Part 3 Jazz, Pop & Rock
45 SACD & DVD-A Reviews This Month April 2005 – Pt. 3 of 3 (Jazz, Pop & Rock) [Part 1] [Part 2]click on any cover to go directly to its review Bilocation 1 “This is a Journey…” – Binaural sound experience for surround speakers – music and location recordings – produced by Steve Marshall. DTS 5.1 DVD (no video). [For more information: www.bilocation.co.uk] ****: A most unusual DTS (only) disc. There are several different processes which are designed to allow the amazing spatialization of binaural reproduction with headphones to be experienced with loudspeakers. Some, such as Lexicon’s, are part of a complete processor which cross-cancels the signals from the opposite channels so the effect is similar to wearing headphones as long as you keep your head in an extremely precise position in front of the two speakers. Others process the original binaural signal on the CD so that a similar effect can be had by the listener in front of the stereo speakers without additional equipment. This disc takes original binaural recordings and processes them for five discrete channels of a surround system. The producer decided to use DTS rather than Dolby Digital because most recent DVD players and […]
45 Hi-Res Reviews, Part 2 Classical concl.
45 Hi-Res Reviews This Month! April 2005 – Part 2 of 3 – Classical cont. [Part 1] [Part 3] click on any cover to go directly to its review BERLIOZ: Symphonie fantastique – Vienna Philharmonic/Sir Colin Davis – Philips DVD-A B0003347-19, about 56 min. ***: Davis is known as a master Berlioz interpreter, and has recorded most of his works for Philips CDs. This is a 5.0 surround recording, with the both the surround and stereo options at the same sampling rate as CDs – 44.1K. What is also odd is that the stereo option – normally a higher resolution than the surround – is also the same word length as CDs – 16-bit; whereas the surround mix is 24-bit. Go figure. Also, most standard CDs (with a 80 minute max limit) contain another Berlioz or associated work as filler to the Fantastic Symphony. Being a DVD, this disc has 90 minutes or more capacity but features only the Symphony. My fav Fantastic Symphony on both LP and CD has been the Chesky reissues of Massimo Freccia conducting the Royal Philharmonic in a 1962 taping produced by the Gerhardt/Wilkinson team. Davis has more distant micing but a more spread out […]
45 SACD and DVD-A Hi-Res Reviews, Pt. 1 Classical beg.
45 & Reviews This Month! April 2005, Pt. 1 of 3 – Hi-Res Classical, beg. [Part 2] [Part 3] click on any cover to go directly to its review ********MULTICHANNEL DISC OF THE MONTH ******** BRAHMS: Symphony No. 1 in C Minor; Tragic Overture; Academic Festival Overture – London Philharmonic Orchestra/Marin Alsop – multichannel SACD Naxos 6.110077, 72:42 *****: American female conductor Alsop has been garnering many positive reviews lately and fully deserves them. She is principle conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony now, after having directed the Colorado Symphony for a decade, and she guest conducts all over the world. At her first concert with the London Phil five years ago she included the Brahms First on the program, so her masterful grasp of the score is not unexpected. This 5.0-channel recording was made just last year. (I notice Naxos no longer lists what sampling rate and word length was used in recording – as Universal still does – causing eagle-eyed audio buffs to ask why they use similar resolution to ordinary CDs rather than the 96K-24-bit that is easily available.) Anyway, whatever technical specs used, this is a magnificently-captured sonic experience in both the two-channel and […]
Extreme Prejudice and the Pursuit of Hi-Res Audio
Editor John Sunier forwarded me the following email message he recently received: You should stop allowing Tom Gibbs to publish reviews of DVD-A and DualDisc releases because of his extreme prejudice against these formats. I think it’s now generally understood that multi-option DVD-A discs require use in a system (home theater, usually) with a video display to select menu options. Reviewers who refuse to (do) this are not qualified. The comments no doubt reference my reviews from the Jan/Feb issue detailing my first experience with DualDisc; while I do not deny that my impressions were indeed negative in tone toward the fledgling new format, I take the gravest offense at the characterization of “extreme prejudice” on my part. I generally reserve those kind of heavy-handed remarks for individuals or institutions I really despise. I’m also troubled by the inference that I don’t bother to use the available technology to avail myself of all the wonders that these “multi-option” discs offer the consumer-at-large – which engenders a distinct lack of credibility on my part as a reviewer. I’d like to take a moment to describe my personal circumstances as they relate to my enjoyment of our hobby/addiction – and as often […]
“SACD Is Dying…or Not?”
Ardent Studios’ Andrew Curry operating a 24-track Sonoma DSD recorder/editor on John Hiatt’s new SACD recording project. Others pictured are John Hiatt and engineer John Hampton. Audiophile Audition has been championing the hi-res SACD format ever since its introduction, and has been reviewing more SACD discs than any other publication web or print. 3500 SACDs have been released worldwide so far. So it pains us to see some other audio publications and forums – both online and in print – report that SACD is dead or dying. [See our DualDisc Reviews this issue for our take on the latest from the DVD-Audio camp.] For example, this month’s SOUND & VISION – the largest-circulation print AV magazine – reports: “With new releases having come almost completely to a halt…” (Where are they getting this misinformation?) We asked some of the leading producers and recording engineers involved in SACD and DSD for their feedback on this rumor. Here are just a few of their comments: Everett Porter of Polyhymnia International – who record projects for such labels as Pentatone, Telarc, Caro Mitus and Avie: SA-CD dying off is news to me, and the record companies we work for! We now do far more […]
18 Classical Reissue Reviews Part 2
April 2005, Pt. 2 of 2 [Pt. 1] Moura Lympany Decca Recordings 1951-1952 = RACHMANINOV: 24 Preludes; Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30/KHACHATURIAN: Piano Concerto in D-flat Major Moura Lympany, piano Anthony Collins conducts New Symphony Orchestra of London Anatole Fistoulari conducts London Philharmonic (Khachaturian) Decca Original Masters 475 6368 75:39; 69:59 (Distrib. Universal)****: Only a few issues ago, I reviewed the Testament installment of the January 1951 Rachmaninov Preludes with Dame Moura Lympany (nee Mary Gertrude Johnstone), here issued by the parent company. To date, no company has remastered Moura Lympay’s first integral Rachmaninov Preludes from 1941. A gifted pupil of Tobias Matthay, Lympany possessed a powerhouse technique, girded by a facile legato, a lovely jeu perle, and quicksilver runs and octaves. Lympany’s fondness for Russian music made her a counterpart and contemporary of William Kapell in America, each of whom championed the Khachaturian Concerto only a few years (in Lympany’s case 1940) after Lev Oborin had given its premier in the Soviet Union. For the Rachmaninov Third (recorded 1952), Lympany and Anthony Collins use the heavily edited version the composer authorized for his own inscription with Ormandy. In her later days, Lympany favored the longer […]
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
