First Special Feature on 2+2+2 Multichannel Discs

This may well be hurdle No. 2 in your Aurophony exploration. Not everyone will want to mount two pipes to the ceiling of the room directly over the front two speakers.  Another option is to mount the two height speakers – which may be smaller versions of the normal front speakers – on stands sitting on top of the front speakers. But this would probably not be very sturdy. Yet another option is mounting the height speakers on the side walls in line with the lower front speakers but at a height above them of half of the distance between the front speakers.

OK, now to John’s reviews:

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“Into A New Dimension” – 15 Tracks Classical Music/30 Tracks Test Sequences – Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm (MDG) multichannel DVD-Audio 2+2+2/SACD/Stereo, MDG Gold 906 1069-5, 118:45 *****:

My intention is not to put the disc and its producers on trial to judge whether their technology and choice of musical samples is good or bad, presently my intention is to put my system on trial and judge whether it can reproduce this rather new high resolution technology – new to me anyway. From the top it should be mentioned that MDG positions this demo recording as DVD-A 2+2+2 primarily and if it cannot be played as such it still can be heard as a SACD and/or Stereo version, in another words this is a hybrid DVD-A LPCM 96 kHz/24 Bit disc; I just want to make it clear that my review will be concerned only with the 2+2+2 audio format. It should also be clear that 6 full range speakers are a must and that the center and the subwoofer speakers play no part in this format though their audio channels are used for speakers 5 and 6.

I started by setting up my system as directed in the booklet – a few words about the booklet: it is written in German with a very succinct English translation which at times suffers from its brevity. Following the directions I started setting up my 2+2+2 (6) speaker array beginning with the test tones found in tracks 16 through 30. I must confess it took considerable time physically and mentally to arrive at a good-sounding system, which in the end I checked at least 3 times to make sure it was set up as indicated. I should point out that my sweet-spot (my chair) isosceles triangle distances are 7×11 feet (same as 84×132 inches or 2.14×3.35 meters) with the extra 5 and 6 front speakers at a height of 70 inches (1.8 meters) from the floor and above the floor front speakers at 42 inches = 1.1 meters – location…vertical location, it’s everything with this high resolution format! Please remember this: 4 speakers up front and 2 in the rear.

Next I selected (see list below) Track 1 and right from the beginning I knew this recording was as different as anything I had ever heard…the music (Händel) was coming from everywhere, mostly from the ceiling with a very strong ear level or floor foundation and as MDG claims the response was truly 3D from my listening perspective. My chair in my listening room became instantly Teatro Colon’s mythical Row 14 center seat and I equated my room’s warm/live acoustic feel RT (reverb time) at between 1.7 to 2.0 seconds – a rather unbelievable experience! The Colon’s RT is 1.7 to 1.8, according to noted acoustics engineer Leo Beranek.

By the time I got to Track 4 I definitely knew this audio format’s 3D sound imaging was something to behold; the clear transparent musical line of a small ensemble was coming at me in a way that was not only comparable to that of a music hall, it was even better, and this is also something I was not prepared for, that of an intimate perfect acoustics small hall. Track 6 (Telemann) is basically a natural two-horn concerto; the sound of the horns just hangs up there in the rafters slightly in the back as it should – marvelously bright, brilliant and dreamy at the same time. Now to Track 8 (Cartellieri), which is music from a flute concerto, here the RT is barely 1.5 seconds to my ears but perfect for this type of music with the solo flute in a virtual center point between the 4 front speakers with the ensemble magically positioned over the breadth and depth of the dry recording studio. On to Track 13 (Schumann): a late variation of his one and only piano concerto. I must confess I never liked this concerto until now when I could really hear the marvelous sound of the piano and the orchestra for the first time in my life and as Schumann once said about his concerto “…not for a piano virtuoso, but for a live piano…”, and live it is! Now I like this concerto …shall I say more?

I had to wait almost to the end to come to the two most impressive pieces of this demo disc: tracks 14 and 15. Track 14 (Vidor) is the powerful Toccata from his Symphony No. 5 for organ solo played on one of the worlds best Cavaillé-Coll organs at the Cathedral of Saint Rouen in Rouen, France. This organ at the back of the immense nave (440 feet long by 108 feet high = 134×33 meters) of this Gothic style cathedral is nested some 22 ft. (7.2 m) above the floor and it extends upwards a further 50 ft (15 m.); it is also graced with all the concomitant acoustics typical of those spaces and an RT in the neighborhood of 2.3 to 2.4 seconds. In this recording, if the gain is raised anywhere from 3 to 5 decibels it will blast you out of your room…guaranteed! As for Track 15, Ottorino Respighi’s full orchestra (around 110 members) Tarantella from Rossiniana is to my mind the best-recorded full orchestral piece I have ever heard on a recording…again, almost live just like in my favorite music hall, the Teatro Colon.

As I said somewhere else here, 2+2+2 is a technology to behold and a complete revolution in recorded sound…a true 3D perspective and we (I) need more of it. However there exists a real logistical problem with this technology, in that very few DVD or SACD players can actually reproduce the desired 2+2+2 sound and that has to do with each player’s firmware and software. Most multichannel players, AV preamps and receivers bandwidth-limit the sixth or LFE channel to only those frequencies under about 80 Hz, and the 2+2+2 format requires a full-range channel 6 – just like the other 5 channels!  I know for certain that my 2 year old Pioneer (AV-578A) DVD/SACD player can play it, I have also been told that some Sony and Denon players will play this format as well, though I don’t know what models. My suggestion is as follow: get this sampler and assuming you have any of these Pioneers, Sony and/or Denon upscale DVD players and a 5.1 or better AV receiver, it’s worth the try. The biggest problem with this technology is as follow: how would you know if your system can play this format? As I said before it’s our systems that are on trail now. I don’t have a good answer for the rest, sorry; I suppose MDG should state somewhere which players are adequate for their technology. I will buy more of these recordings and stay tuned for my next review dedicated to a full orchestra MDG 2+2+2 recording. [With the ascendancy of SACD as THE classical surround format, MDG has stopped releasing their 2+2+2 recordings on DVD-A and they are all now on SACD. We have been shamefully tardy in reviewing these wonderful recordings, partly because of the equipment and logistical concerns in properly reproducing them, so some were issued a few years ago…Ed.]

Final words: MDG’s discs using 2+2+2 (a Swiss invention) are truly 3D sound with the highest transparent instrumental sound image I have ever experienced, thus get my highest rating. My system, my listening room and my ears are no longer on trial, mission completed…successfully. By the way, MDG was never on trial…they are serious, very serious on everything they do and I believe that just about everything they do is to be relished.

TrackList:
Track 1: HÄNDEL/Finale Part III (from Susanna HWV 66)
Track 2: Applause
Track 3: BACH/Allegro (from BWV 1034)
Track 4: VIVALDI/Largo (from Concerto RV 564)
Track 5: VIVALDI/Allegro (from Concerto RV 436)
Track 6: TELEMANN/Largo & Allegro (from Concerto TWV 52)
Track 7: MOZART/Rondo KV 485 in D major
Track 8: CARTELLIERI/Rondo Allegro (from Flute Concerto)
Track 9: MOZART/Adagio (from Gran Partita KV 370a)
Track 10: MOZART/Finale – Allegretto (from Piano Concerto KV 503)
Track 11: MOZART/Andantino (from Sinfonia Concertante KV C 14.01)
Track 12: BRAHMS/ Andante (from Sting Quartet op. 67)
Track 13: SCHUMANN/Allegro appassionato (from op. 134)
Track 14: WIDOR/Toccata (from Symphony No. 5)
Track 15: RESPIGHI/Tarantella (from Rossiniana)
Track 16-45: Test Signals for all six channels
 

CLAUDE DEBUSSY: Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune; Le martyre de Saint-Sébastien: Fragments Symphoniques; MAURICE RAVEL: Ma mere l’oye; La valse – Orchester der Beethovenhalle Bonn/Marc Soustrot – MDG Gold multichannel DVD-Audio 2+2+2, MDG 937 1099-5, 64:36 *****:

Both Achille-Claude Debussy (1862-1918) and Joseph-Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) are noted for having scored music with wide dynamic shifts and above all instrumental precision which if not recorded well will not suffice. The four works included in this DVD-A are reproduced in MDG’s multichannel 2+2+2 format which essentially consists of the standard four surround speakers plus the addition at a prescribed height of two more speakers above the two front speakers; my extra speakers (channels 5 & 6) are 70 inches above the floor. This configuration produces what in fact is a 3D sound effect if played loud enough…neighbors beware and don’t forget the SOAE (significant other acceptance factor)!

Debussy’s two pieces are noted for their intricacy and precision at the instrumental and orchestral level, while Ravel’s works are noted for their vertical and horizontal sound layers, both invariably difficult to capture in recorded sound. There are dozens of recordings in the catalog of these four pieces but I know of none that does real justice to the music. The 2+2+2 speaker configuration adds a superlative spatial third dimension to these sound layers as they are in real life spread over the floor (breadth and depth) and height (sound tends to go up) which translate into superlative sound imaging by layering the sound of the orchestra as in a live concert. Good example of this could be found in Track 4 at 4:53 with the timpani and in Track 5 exactly at the beginning with the long C3 sustained contrabassoon chord and its phenomenal sound effect. Also in Track 5 the beginning of the finale at 4:45 (especially at 5:55) with its exciting and intoxicating psychoacoustic manipulation of our senses.

Hall acoustics are never linear anywhere but chaotic and very complex in nature, on the other hand the sound and the acoustic space created by 2+2+2 is artificial but at this point we don’t care as long as the sound is pleasant to our ears. Hall acoustics are for the most part uncontrolled though it can be manipulated at times; however, 2+2+2’s 3D acoustic effect can be completely controlled by listeners to fit our “acoustic space” by adjusting the position of the speakers to suit our taste. In a way this particular recording makes me think that Debussy and Ravel created the perfect music to be recorded rather than be heard live given all those known subtle nuances which require silences of the kind one only can obtain in our listening rooms – absent within the confines of the music hall. Again, with 2+2+2 the most striking and noticeable difference from other formats is the vertical layering of the sound which is most evident in La Valse. For example: the strings (violins 1 and 2) followed by the woodwinds and then the full orchestra beginning at 4:29 (Track 11), and also the very end of this work. 

MDG’s 2+2+2 recorded sound takes on another dimension and by design it’s integrated as it should be with the artistic rendition of the performed piece. I am beginning to ponder about all those works that I would rather listen in 2+2+2 recordings than live or on a poorly recorded form; the most obvious of all at this time is Henrik Gorecki’s Third Symphony, a marvelous work but so difficult to listen both at the concert hall and/or recorded. All in all Soustrot’s total technical and artistic control of the orchestra and the physical properties of the recording venue acoustics plus the vivid quality of the 2+2+2 3D recording make this disc a must-have.

Final words: in my humble opinion MDG’s 2+2+2 recording technique is the best 3D sound available to date and as such it has the potential to be the perfect music to listen in our own created space. This is a recording that may challenge because of its marvelous sound all our preconceived artistic perceptions and at the same time entertain us – highly recommended!

TrackList:
Track 1 – Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (The afternoon of a faun).
Track 2-5 – Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien. Fragments Symphoniques (The martyrdom of Saint Sebastian: symphonic fragments).
Track 6-10 – Ma Mère l’oye (Mother goose).
Track 11 – La Valse. Poème choréographicque pour Orchestre (La Valse: a choreographic poem).

Arp-Schnitger Organ, Norden – Agnes Luchterhandt and Thiemo Janssen (organists) – MDG multichannel SACD 2+2+2, MDG 906 1363-6, 72:08 *****:

The question of great sound is decisive, because any pipe organ’s tones, voices, choices of ranks and registers to be used for any particular work are always (I should say almost always) one of the major decisions organists have to make for the performance of any work.  Composers of the 15th, 16th and 17th Century almost never went beyond basic black and white notation in their scoring. Just about all live and/or recorded realizations we now hear from organists are “solutions” of their own creation albeit based on the original score, but tailored to their organ’s capabilities – which are not always and everywhere the same. To wit, the composer composed the original tune and the organists are now in charge of realizing an interpretation that will somehow adhere to the composer’s original intentions within the limitations imposed by the unique characteristics of the organ to be used. The reality is that no two pipe organs anywhere in the world are exactly alike and composers have compensated for that by not scoring any desired registrations. However, things will change in time with the advent of modern symphonic organs beginning with the Cavaillé-Colls in mid 19th Century and the likes of César Franck; but that’s another story altogether.

Presently the two organists in this disc had to create their own solutions as far as the choosing of any particular registrations for each work recorded – we can find them notated in the accompanying booklet. It should be noted that these registrations, everything being equal, would only work for this particular Arp-Schnitger organ because they are tailored to it. For example, Bach’s F major Toccata and Fugue, BWV 540/1 (Track 5) is performed here as he intended originally with a long sustained F major note on the pedals from m.1 to m.54 (0:01 to 1:00) and the also long sustained c´ note from m.82 to m.136 (1:36 to 2:37); they are faithfully rendered which gives this piece the correct tonal character. This not-so-minor adherence to the original score speaks loudly about these two organists’ musical integrity. In most live and recorded performances I have heard that f´ note is transposed to a c´ (C3) note unfortunately. I am very much for the come è scritto version if at all possible in everything, like in the present recording. It gives this piece a very special and authentic flavor obviously reflecting Bach intentions, and we must thank our organist (Ms. Luchterhandt) for her commitment to authenticity. This Arp-Schnitger organ is located at the Ludgerikerche in Norden (not far from Bremen and Hamburg) in Germany.

The Arp-Schnitger organ employed in this recording is an instrument that embodies in aural terms the image of the Baroque organ: lean, capable of great power, refined, agile, athletic and with a very fast mechanical action. Bach in his own time favored not only the Silberman organs but also these Arp-Schnitgers. Invariably these organs as far as I know were all pitched at A=480 Hz which makes for a brilliant and lively tone and timbre throughout all the organ ranks and MDG’s 2+2+2 marvelously and faithfully captures that very special sonority for greater sound impact and sonority. There is nothing dull about the sound in this disc and the clear fine playing of these two organists attests for the fact that one (or two) can make good without rattling the listening room’s windows and I like that – unless I decide that I am willing by raising the gain to rattle these windows!

Given the rank disposition of this Arp-Schnitger which beautifully lends itself to a stereo effect MDG’s 2+2+2 sound engineering aptly captured that division effect as well as the natural not too long reverberation of the church itself. This is a beautifully balanced recording horizontally and vertically (please remember MDG’s 2+2+2 six speakers 3D disposition). A good demonstration well beyond its obvious remarkable artistic merits of this 3D effect is Buxtehude’s Toccata in D minor, BuxWV 155 on Track 11; do not miss this track, raise the gain some 3 to 5 decibels and hear one of the most extreme examples of the so-called “stylus phantasticus” and especially the ending, beginning at about 6:20.

The 2+2+2 process was able to capture with this recording every detail of the music with great vividness achieving visceral impact and all the inherent drama in the aural dimension with subtlety, precision and energy. The two performers make this organ recording captivating and compelling, for a very satisfying set of performances. The formal outlines of the works are actually enhanced by one “great” organ and one “great” sound reproduction system – a great symbiosis – and they cannot be separated from each other.

Final words: this is one of the most honest, unpretentious, unostentatious approaches to organ keyboard and pedal-board I have heard in a long time. Sound perception reaches very high levels – a highly recommended disc.

TrackList:
1 –  Matthias Weckman: Magnificat II. Toni
2 –  William Byrd: Passamezzo Pavana
3 –  Dietrich Buxtehude: Canzona BuxWV 166 in C major
4 –  Johann Sebastian Bach: An Wasserflüsen Babylon BWV 653b
5 –  Johann Sebastian Bach: Toccata BWV 540/1 in F major
6 –  Arnolt Schlick: Ascendo ad patrem meum
7 –  Francisco Correa de Arauxo: Tiento L III de medio registro
8 –  Samuel Scheidt: Echo ad manuale duplex forte & lene SSWW 128
9 –  Dietrich Buxtehude: Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ BuxWV 188
10 – Georg Böhm: Ach wir nichtig, ach wie flüchtig
11 – Dietrich Buxtehude: Toccata BuxWV 155 in D minor

CLAUDIO MERULO: Organ Works Vol. 1, Opera Omnia per Organo – Stefano Molardi (organ) – DIVOX Antiqua multichannel 2+2+2, CDX 70309/10-6 (2 discs), 126:11, Performance *****; Sound *****:

This is a two-disc production from the Swiss record company Divox with 24 tracks in the multichannel 2+2+2 version (126:11) and 26 on the regular stereo version (137:28); I will only review the 2+2+2 version.

The sole composer featured in these two discs is Claudio Merulo (1533-1604); the performer is Stefano Molardi, born in Cremona, Italy in 1970. For these two discs he is performing on the Colombi organ which is the last surviving instrument from the Venetian school of organ building during the Renaissance; the organ resides in the cathedral church of Corpus Christi, Valvasone, Pordenone, Italy, some 20 miles Northeast of Trieste. The organ was built in 1532/33 by the organ builder Francesco Zanin of Codroipo, Udine, Italy. This organ is also said to be the second oldest working organ in the world. A bright, radiant and brilliant organ pitched at a1= 492.5 Hz (the tenor register), still able to produce deep and warm sounds with a characteristic mellow timbre of great depth and nobility. The organ has just one manual keyboard with only 47 diatonic and chromatic keys as well as 20 pedal notes. Three types of musical forms all composed by Merulo are recorded on these two discs which include 9 Toccatas, 10 Canzonas and 3 Ricercares.

The term Toccata as applied during the Renaissance period derived from the common verb toccare, meaning to probe and explore the technical potential of the full organ configuration. In each of the long toccatas included in these two discs the great overall sound of the full organ comes to fore in the high registers on the upper front speakers and the low registers including the pedals in the low front and also in the rear speakers albeit greatly attenuated in the latter but still providing a semblance of ambience very effectively; the best of all examples is in Disc 1 – Track 13: Toccata prima from 1604.

Canzonas or Canzonis are adaptations and/or arrangements of original vocal pieces through the addition of keyboard ornaments (pedals are absent) and virtuoso trills similar to those found in most typical lute music of the period. The three best examples are in Disc 1: Track 12 (La Pazza), Disc 2: Track 5 (La Palma) and the Languissans of Disc 2 (Track 10) with the beautiful sounds of the flute and fife pipes coming out of the front’s low and upper speakers respectively with some veiled high pitch echo from the rear speakers. Three very incisive and highly sentimental pieces played with great devotion by the organist.

Ricercares develop a musical structure based in the progressive transformation and elaboration of a theme or motif presented in contrapuntal variances such as fugues and double fugues on the keyboard and pedals which have an improvisational undertone at all times; best examples are in Disc 1: Tracks 2 and 8.

The all important characteristic about Merulo’s type of toccatas and ricercares is that their basic structure was to be found at later times in Dietrich Buxtehude’s (1637-1707) toccatas and preludes, the so-called “stylus phantasticus”, for example: the Toccata in D minor, BuxWV 155. By extension this musical structure under J.S. Bach (1685-1750) saw further significant transformations, for example: the Toccata in F major, BWV 540/41 and Fantasia sup Komn Heiliger Geist, canto fermo in Pedal, BWV 651. A version of the latter exists as well as BWV 652 for pedal-clavicord.

An extremely quiet recording with very clear and natural sound; no great visceral impact is obtained at any time by Molardi with this very small organ although he is still able to convey all the brilliancy this organ is capable of, considering the scoring. This is a very quiet multichannel recording so well engineered by Divox that we can clearly hear the organ’s operating mechanical action as well as the pedals; the mechanical sound is indeed very discreet and just adds the right amount of reality to the recording, and I like that very much – definitely not filtered sound of this very early organ!

Final words: pre-Baroque organ music at its best engineered with superb 3D sound.

VIVALDI: Sinfonie d’opera – I Virtuosi delle Muse/Stefano Molardi – Divox Antiqua CDX 70501-6, multichannel 2+2+2, 61:23; Performance ***** Sound *****:

I imagine that in 1730 one could expect to hear any of Antonio Vivaldi’s (1678-1741) works to be faithfully rendered in any major metropolis like Venice, Florence, Dresden or Paris, however, by the mid 1900s a good Vivaldi was a rarity and a great Vivaldi a distant memory. There was neither time for intricate preparations nor the inclination to respect the original scores; period performances were and still are seldom welcomed and much less accorded a fair review if and when performed. However, as Mr. Bob Dylan (a non-classical to the bone musician) sang more than once in The Times They Are A-Changin,’ things are coming back to something that may approximate original instrumentation and performance practices (vis-à-vis 1730) through the efforts of ensembles like the present I Virtuosi delle Muse who recorded this disc between October 27 and 30, 2005. We all should welcome this shift in performance practice, for a better understanding of a much-maligned composer…of 600 similar concerts for 600 different instruments if we believe what uninformed FM radio DJs tell us. Other ensembles that are making substantial inroads into this practice include the Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca, the Cappella Real de Catalunya with Jordi Savall, the Les Musciciens du Louvre with Marc Minkowski and Europa Galante with Fabio Biondi just to name a few.

As of this very moment a major Internet music retailer lists 1757 Vivaldi recordings and I dare say everybody who is anybody and is included in that list has more likely than not recorded Vivaldi’s masterpieces without any other incentive than homogenized “interpretations” where “sameness” is assumed to be a virtue to be admired, and yes, I am grinding an ax here…for what is worth it, as one notorious (and much admired by me) music commentator and writer called “the Coca-Colaisation of music.” There is nothing like an original Vivaldi and this disc is a welcomed breath of fresh air in this polluted recording environment – where as a rule poor artistry is second to bad sound. Here, great artistry in total symbiosis with phenomenal 3D sound (it is a 2+2+2 multichannel recording) creates the necessary synergy that can make listening of a recorded disc an acquired addiction. I should add that I “auditioned” this disc no less than ten times before I forced myself to write something about it; I knew that sooner or later I had to tear myself from my audio system and sit and write – so here it is!

In my view most orchestras of the large kind, conductors of the millionaire kind and recording labels of the populist kind have pretended during the last 90 or so years to ignore musical masterpieces in their original state and assumed they could shape audiences to their “unique” interpretative values…and guess what? It did work, much to our dismay, and Vivaldi became known solely on the merits of his Four Seasons Concertos from his Opus 8 that sounded most of the time like a Brahms symphony arranged by Mahler following his 8th Symphony of a Thousand model! But not all is lost, enter some resemblance of musical honesty and we arrive to this marvelous disc; times-a-changin’ and big label attitudes are being replaced by small conscientious boutique labels like Divox with no longer dull or predictable recordings, and small period instrument ensembles not gripped by continuous rigor mortis and sameness. It may no longer be acceptable to continue with those 90-year-old practices nor, to parody a famous saying “…damn the composer and full speed ahead…” Just because the composer is long dead and not likely to present an opposite argument the myopic practice to view him/her, for example, from the end of a three-meter-long piano rather than a period harpsichord, is just plain ludicrous, as our intrepid editor remarked elsewhere while grinding his own ax…though I agree that Fazioli makes the greatest pianos!

And as it turns out the much heralded Viotti-Mozart three-part model goes back to Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725) and others including Vivaldi who built his opera’s overtures as well as his sinfonias following that same structure. We find 9 opera overtures and 2 sinfonias in this marvelous disc which represent some of his output from the years between 1716 and 1735, and, by-the-way, who said that Mozart was the inventor of everything in music? If not convinced, please listen to the different adagios in tracks 2-6-9-12-15-21-27-29-31 and 34 for example, sandwiched in between different forms (as far as tempo) of allegros and allegrettos and then tell me if life is not worth living. Did anybody ever offer a comment on Vivaldi’s creativity in reference to adagio scoring? We all know that Mozart was able to differentiate in his compositions 17 different adagio tempi, but what about Scarlatti’s, Frescobaldi’s, Albinoni’s, Hasse’s and Händel’s adagios to name just a few others as well?

We may also add the following: what a miniature period instrument orchestra can do with Vivaldi that we have not heard before with an orchestra more appropriate to Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand? The answer: a sound that is not overwrought by ambivalence! That’s all and that’s a lot! A “realization” that has not suffered the decay and stagnation that modern “interpretations” have brought to us, one that rescues a Vivaldi from the category “dreadful bore” to “alive”. Also one that crosses successfully the emotional line that most everybody is afraid even to reach. This is something we sorely need in this musical industry drenched with sameness, where bigness is a virtue and smallness something to be avoided unless it’s a string quartet. If this argument is not clear please listen to the Sinfonia in Fa maggiore (F major) in Tracks 11 to 13 and specially Track 12; too bad this sublime adagio lasts only 3:34 minutes…I guess I could repeat it 1000 times with my disc player to satiate my appetite, right?

As far as the multichannel 2+2+2 sound is concerned I believe this is one of the most vivid and realistic recordings I have ever heard and I put it alongside the best of old such as those produced by Robert Fine/Wilma Cozart, John Culshaw and John Pfeiffer with their three-microphone setups (for different labels of course). Although Divox discloses here the name and type of microphones used they do not specify how many, namely, Brüel & Kjäer (DPA) 4006’s (omnidirectional condensers) and 4011’s (cardioid condensers), and Neumann KM-184 which are digital microphones. I highly recommend this inspired recording, a must-have for Baroque music lovers.

Auf Flügeln des Gesanges = Piano Works by MENDELSSOHN, LISZT, SCHUMANN and MAHLER – Claudius Tanski, piano – MDG multichannel 5.0 or 2+2+2, MDG 912 1489-6, 67:42 *****:

From the top, this is another multichannel 2+2+2 disc produced by MDG and to the point; the sound is clear and transparent providing well with well defined musical lines as executed by Claudius Tanski. The piano is a 1901 Steinway model D No. 100398; with a very fast action which seems to be very flexible, however the sound is not as powerful as one might expect from a modern grand such as a Fazioli F308, a Bösendorfer 290 or even a modern Steinway.

The first selection by Mendelssohn: On Wings of Songs is a simple, unpretentious, unambitious, but lively piano arrangement by Liszt of the eponymous song, delicate and fresh…a forever mesmerizing song. Tanski’s keyboard technique is superb; he plays for the music rather than for the audience and lets the music sing with a very delicate touch. For example in Mendelssohn’s Variations sérieuses, op. 54 in Track 2 beginning at 5:20 and in a subsequent passage beginning at 8:07 shows him as an accomplished pianist able to convincingly demonstrate that Mendelssohn did not write piano music only for the right hand as many have voiced here and there. Moreover, this right and left hand interplay effect can also be heard at the beginning of Track 4, and in Track 5 beginning at 2:03, with some marvelous delicate keyboard touch and judicious pedal work.

Tanski is able to make the sharps sharper and deep notes deeper; his keyboard technique allows for the left hand not only to produce the expected bass notes but to add as well wonderful syncopation to the right hand melodies with just the right amount to make the songs sing as they should. In general, there is a bit of a playful devil in Tanski with his almost improvisatory approach – just my feeling – which may be derived from his known ability for piano arranging and transcriptions. Tanski is full of energy and optimism in Schumann’s otherwise gloomy three part fantasy (Tracks 3-4-5) – here it sparkles and sways – he lulls us into a realm of rapt spirituality while with Mendelssohn and Mahler he takes us by the hand into poetry evoking luminous awakenings with songs that will soar high, so high that will touch the face of the Gods…much like a prayer.

Tanski’s own transcription of Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Track 7 to 10) is a wonderful rendition of a crucial work which Mahler experts always have thought to have been conceived originally in 1896 for solo piano and low voice (baritone or mezzo) to reappear in its final full orchestral form in 1897; please take note of the particular marvelous poetic tone in Track 10 beginning at 3:10. I think Tanski had overtly much interest in Schumann and Mahler’s psychology and emotional catharsis but also showed a commitment to display extremes of dynamic range and the deadly accuracy of his keyboard technique. Altogether this disc reveals a pianist of great expressive genius who nonetheless allows the music to speak for itself making music that is always searching for mood and meter.

Let’s move now to the sound, pure sound that is. A cautionary note here is necessary, although MDG in all their 2+2+2 recording booklets clearly state that lesser height speakers could be used up front (Speakers 5 and 6) seating well above speakers 1 (LF) and 2 (RF), after repeated auditions of four different 2+2+2 discs I have come to the conclusion that if better speakers are used the 3D ambient effect is indeed greatly enhanced. Employing in this case two full range speakers for 5 and 6 makes for a substantial improvement in the overall sound to great effect and I certainly recommend that, however difficult that might be to achieve, for example: how to hoist and stabilize two big and heavy speakers as in my particular case, some 70 inches (2.1 meters) off the floor – not an easy task but worth the trouble. Moreover, if I use two smaller 2- way speakers the bass notes and pedal points in Track 3 beginning at 6:50 provide very little air; with the full range speakers the notes seem to hang a lot longer radically improving the acoustic impact. Such is the case that if and when turning up the overall gain by only 3 decibels the sound becomes so powerful from the lows to the sharps that even listening from another room in my house, at one point more than 30 feet away with doors and walls in between, the resultant sound impact becomes spectacularly palpable…verging on the addictive.

Throughout all these auditions I have asked myself the following question: how can I go back or accept less. I still don’t know the answer to this conundrum and for a reviewer this is a real dilemma, and not an easy one to resolve assuming the overall neutrality one is supposed to exhibit. This musical engraving format continues to evoke nothing but wonderment on my psyche – it also revives the feeling that not all is lost with the predicted soon to be “moribund” classical recording industry. Multichannel 2+2+2 gives me high hopes that not all is lost yet thanks to MDG  for their efforts in producing true audiophile sound. Highly recommended and a true audiophile demonstration disc.

TrackList:
MENDELSSOHN: Auf Flügendes Gesanges (On Wings of Songs).
MENDELSSOHN: Variations sérieuses op. 54.
SCHUMANN: Fantasie in C major op. 17 for piano.
LISZT: Die Loreley (arrangement for piano solo).
MAHLER: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Traveling Journeyman or Songs of a Wayfarer) transcribed for piano solo.

— All above reviews by John Nemaric

[There will be more 2+2+2 features coming soon…]