echo Archive

Audio News for March 13, 2017

Wolf Cinema Announces Series of 4K Video Projectors for the Home –  This maker of high-performance home cinema projectors has announced the release of four 4K imaging home projectors. Three use the sixth-generation three-chip D-ILA light engine technologies; plus there is a flagship laser/phosphor 4K/UHD projector. All may stand alone or by mated with two Wolf Cinema eternal 4K video processors. They start at under $10,000 and the first three are traditional lamp-based editions, plus the high-output Blu-escent laser/phosphor flagship projector. Each model delivers the imaging prowess the company has become known for, on home theater screens up to 18 ft. in width. They all have full 18Gbps Ultra HD HDMI 2.0 inputs with HDCP 2.2 compatibility and increases in peak white performance up to 3200 ANSI lumens. The series delivers some of the most revealing black level performances in its class, full HDR10 imaging compatibility, multiple aspect ratio memories, custom factory gamut and gamma calibrations, and an all-metal chassis for improved thermal coefficients. Battery-Powered Speaker for Echo Dot Launches –  Ninety7, a technology lifestyle company, has launched a unit to elevate Dot’s home automation capabilities. The VAUX allows second-generation Dot owners to set their Dot free and enjoy portability […]

Audio News for February 28, 2017

Home Electronics Spying on You? –  The convenience of your Amazon Echo and Google Home could come at a cost, according to some security experts. The “wake word” is either “Alexa” for the Echo or “Hey, Google” for Google Home, but in order to recognize those words, the two devices are, by definition, listening to everything you say, even when you think your are out of earshot. That’s just a bit scary. And it’s not just those two companies who can access your devices. Somehow outside your home can access your machine and potentially use these items to spy on you. One security expert says “Make sure you have a firewall, and certainly use antivirus and malware software on your computers.” Google Home Adds Voice Shopping – You can now order everyday items just by asking Google Home. You’ll have to set up a default address and payment method, of course. Just to the Google Home app More Settings and select Payment under the Google Account Setting section. Agree to the terms, enter your card information and billing address under Payment Method. Follow the on-screen prompts and select your delivery address.  Over 50 retailers already participate and thru April 30 […]

Audio News for February 17, 2017

Your Next Home Phone May Be an Echo or Google Home – Both Amazon and Google are reportedly looking into bringing speakerphone functionality to their smart little speakers. It’s the next local step for increasingly popular devices, and one some consumers have asked for. The current roadblocks are concerns about privacy, telecom regulations, access to emergency services and user experience. The new feature could however arrive as soon as this year. Both voice-enabled devices have had a meteoric rise lately. Epson Home Cinema for Winter Dream Staycation – The Cinema 3700 projector ($1,499) is compact and has 3000 lumens of color brightness and 3000 lumens of white for a bright images in a range of viewing environments. The 3LCD technology gives up to 3 times brighter colors. Setup is simple, with a range of placing options from a bookshelf to mounting on the ceiling. Its 1.6x zoom ensures easy installation – you can project a sharp-focus 110-inch image from just 10.5 ft. away. It supports HDMI and MHL and delivers full HD 1080p images. Dolby Labs is Among Fast Company’s Most Innovative Consumer Electronic Companies – Its focus on innovation has led to breakthrus across its major product lines: Dolby […]

FOSS: “Piece’s of Genius” – three chamber works – var. soloists – Albany

FOSS: “Piece’s of Genius” – three chamber works – var. soloists – Albany

FOSS: “Piece’s of Genius” – three chamber works – NY New Music Ensemble / Jean Kopperud, clar./ Stephen Gosling, p./ Linda Quan & Deborah Wang, violins/ Lois Martin, viola/ Christopher Finckel, cello – Albany Troy CD 1644, 62:17 (10/1/16) ***1/2: A fine survey of Foss chamber music covering a quarter century of composition. It was sad when Lukas Foss passed in 2009. He was a creative maelstrom of ideas, and while never truly mainstream, he was influential in the musical world, and he has left us a rich collection of music. Foss was an advocate of and became fascinated by the possibilities offered by aleatoric or “chance” music, and set up an improvisation ensemble. He was well-known as a conductor as well as a composer, and in life he was controversial, being praised and attacked by fellow musicians. This CD features the renowned New York Music Ensemble performing three of Foss’s chamber works. This collection is presented in reverse chronological order of composition. The recording opens with Tashi (1986), working its way backwards through Solo Observed (1982), and concludes with Echoi (1961-63). This is music that is challenging to listen to, and difficult to play. The NYME excels at these […]

Audio News for January 13, 2017

Things Alexa Cannot Yet Do – The shortfall of Alexa’s IFTT integration is the lack of any actions whatsoever. You cannot complete a task for have Alexa play a tune. You must divide every command into its own statement – no trying to get Alexa to do more than one thing at a time. There are currently no notifications, audio or visual. It would be nice if Alexa spoke the name of the person calling you, but no. Only three words wake Alexa devices: Alexa, Amazon or the name of the device – no customized wake words. There is no voice-memo function – you cannot leave messages for others in your household. Alexa does not distinguish different voices. If you have multiple Amazon devices around the house, you cannot speak to just one of them and Alexa will not stream the same music to all your Echo speakers, but you can with Google Home and Chromecast. “This Decade Belongs to Gustavo Dudamel and His Innovative Ways” is a statement by the author of an article Can Classical Music Survive With Shedding Its Obsessions with Purism? It came about due to the current musical film La La Land, which has swept […]

Audio News for December 30 2016

The 2016 Year in Classical Music –  Two of the most influential musicians of both centuries took their final curtain calls during 2016: Pierre Boulez (who blew minds in conservative classical music with his compositions) and Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the Austrian cellist, conductor, music researcher and founder of historic performance practice.  Also deceased was Peter Maxwell Davies, Master of the Queen’s Music at the British court and composer of symphonies, concertos, operas, ballet and film music. South African tenor Johan Botha also died, a celebrated singer of Wagnerian roles. Terrorist and other attacks in other Bavarian cities affected the 2016 Bayreuth Festival.  German conductor Hartmut Haenchen stepped in with little rehearsal time and was well received, but the same didn’t go for the new stage director Uwe Eric Laufenberg. The Salzburg Festival had a varied program, including works by Thomas Ades and Friedrich Cerha. The Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival revolved around the central theme of Joseph Haydn. Next year it will be Maurice Ravel. At Bonn’s Beethovenfest, director Nike Wagner present a program with the theme “Revolutions.” A number of prizes were handed out: Greek-Russian conductor Teodor Currentzis got one, as did Cecila Bartoli and German conductor Thomas Hengelbrock. Turkish pianist/composer Fazil […]

RAVEL: Miroirs; Gaspard de la Nuit; Pavane pour une infant defunte – Ragna Schirmer, p. – Belvedere

RAVEL: Miroirs; Gaspard de la Nuit; Pavane pour une infant defunte – Ragna Schirmer, p. – Belvedere

RAVEL: Miroirs; Gaspard de la Nuit; Pavane pour une infant defunte – Ragna Schirmer, p. – Belvedere 08002, 60:10 (11/4/16)  [Distr. by Naxos] ****: An excellent Ravel interpretation, though a strange cover.  Ragna Schirmer has won the highly regarded International Bach Competition in Leipzig twice and been the recipient of Germany’s top classical music award, the ECHO Klassik. Her tutors include Bernard Ringeisen in Paris, himself a student of Marguerite Long, friend and student of Maurice Ravel. She performs in prestigious concert halls of Europe, China and New Zealand, as well as at renowned music festivals such as the Heidelberger Frühling (artist in residence 2010), the Beethovenfest Bonn, the MDR-Musiksommer, the Haydn Festival Eisenstadt, and the Salzburg Festival. Ragna Schirmer is also active as a teacher. Having been appointed professor at the College of Music and Performing Arts in Mannheim at the age of 28, she has taught talented young pianists at the Musical Department of the “Latina August Hermann Francke“ in the city of Halle an der Saale since 2009.  The Ravel recording derives from sessions 8-10 January 2014 in Germany. The somewhat disturbing cover art for this CD – of pianist Schirmer’s fondling a puppet of Ravel – […]

Audio News for November 15, 2016

Battle Between Amazon Echo and Google Home Device – The artificial intelligence home platform is the place where the two gadgets are duking it out. The Echo ($179) is larger but the two sound similar, but both are only mono unless you plug them into a stereo system. The Google Home is $129 and looks like a solid deodorizer. Both have female voices to speak to. They can give you news, check your daily schedule, play games, tell corny jokes, play music, answer questions and control certain home devices. The Google device works best with Android smart phones, and you have to have a home Wi-Fi system. The Echo can only play millions of ad-free tunes if you belong to the $99-a-year Amazon Prime. If you have two Google Homes, you can sync the music so it plays thruout your home. HTC Bolt Multimedia Smartphone Introduced – It uses the Sprint LTE network and can reach up to 450 Mbps download speed. It has capabilities for hi-res audio (with a 24-bit DAC) and UHD video, a 5.5-inch Gorilla Glass 5 display and comes with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. It is also water resistant and allows for a […]

Audio News for Tuesday, November 8, 2016

75% of Japanese Want Hacker Protection for Devices – Japanese consumers are very concerned about hacker attacks on the smart electronics in their homes. Most want an automated update service that prevents unauthorized access to data in devices over the Net. Electronica Trend Index 2020 surveyed 7000 consumers in seven countries and the Japanese consumers were the most aware of the data risks associated with smart electronics. But many Japanese also see smart electronics as a way to reduce risk in many areas of their lives. 79% favor alert systems making it safe for older people to stay in their own homes longer. And 74% want a car that autonomously alerts police and reports its location when stolen. New Google Home is a Winner – It competes with Amazon’s Echo and may be a better deal, but the sound from it is terrible. It is a Wi-Fi speaker that reacts to voice commands like Echo, but with shocking accuracy. The vast Net knowledge of the search giant is part of its free Google Assistant app that comes with their Pixel smart phone. It is a personal and customized helper. It’s very small (smaller than the Echo), looking like a futuristic […]

“Shadow, Echo, Memory” = NW U. Cello Ensemble – Music by ZACHARY WADSWORTH, GABRIEL FAURÉ, MICHAEL VAN DER SLOOT, RACHMANINOV, AARON JAY KERNIS, LIGETI, HANS THOMALLA and MAHLER – Sono Luminus

“Shadow, Echo, Memory” = NW U. Cello Ensemble – Music by ZACHARY WADSWORTH, GABRIEL FAURÉ, MICHAEL VAN DER SLOOT, RACHMANINOV, AARON JAY KERNIS, LIGETI, HANS THOMALLA and MAHLER – Sono Luminus

“Shadow, Echo, Memory” = NW U. Cello Ens. – Music by ZACHARY WADSWORTH, GABRIEL FAURÉ, MICHAEL VAN DER SLOOT, SERGEI RACHMANINOV, AARON JAY KERNIS, GYÖRGY LIGETI, HANS THOMALLA and GUSTAV MAHLER (TrackList follows) Hans Jorgen Jensen, dir. – Sonos Luminus SLE-70004 CD, TT: 63:05 (7/9/16) *****:  Hauntingly beautiful cello music. This disc was an unexpected surprise. In my stack of review discs for the month, I placed it near the bottom thinking I would not find it very interesting. Instead, this disc was a pleasure to listen to, containing eight works transcribed for cello ensemble. I should begin by saying I’ve never heard a cello ensemble, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I imagined a small group of cellos, but instead some of these selections feature up to 58 players, mostly cellists, but there are also bass, guitar, percussion and harp. The music on offer includes classical, and contemporary music, some familiar, some not. It’s all excellently presented and very nicely played. Some of these transcriptions, like Ligeti’s Lux Aeterna. I predicted would simply not work for cellos. It did, and it’s lovely. So is Fauré’s Apres Un Reve. Same for the Mahler Adagietto from the Symphony No. 5. […]

Audio News for September 20, 2016

Amazon’s Echo is Taking Over the World – The $180 small cylindrical speaker is much more than that, and there is a new $50 version called the Dot which can also be used with existing audio systems, and software which keeps multiple units from answering your voice commands. Amazon is building its Alexa army, tied in somehow with Kindel (which the company itself spells Kindel but Amazon insists on spelling it Kindle). Alexa is a plug-and-play hardware now integrated with Lutron and Creston, and Nucleus has a home video intercom device with Alexa built in. Echo is controlled by your voice, and streams music from top services via its 360-degree mono omni-directional audio. It can hear you even on top of music playing and from across the room. It can answer questions, read audiobooks, give the news, info on local businesses etc. It can control lights, switches, and thermostats on smart home devices. Things are constantly being developed to expand what it does. One observer called the virtual assistant the closest thing to a Star Trek computer available today. (But an audio club member complained that the speaker part is mono and has no bass end.) BBC Radio 3 Observes […]

Audio News for September 6, 2016

Amazon Wants to Lower Music Streaming Prices Like It Did Books – Amazon is considering offering it own music streaming subscription service which would only work on their Echo voice-assisted small speaker at only $5 a month instead of the now-industry standard of $10 a month rate. The record labels exchanged their physical CDs for downloads for music-as-a-service, and made less money every time. That is why they blocked Apple Music from doing a sub-$10 streaming plan, which would further eat away at their profits. But perhaps the $5 Echo subscriber would be an entirely new audience that has never paid for music. Amazon refuses to comment, but they want to get more people into their Amazon Prime network at $99 a year, with free shipping. Voice Control for Smart Speakers & Music Streaming –  In an effort to simplify the lives of consumers, the industry is planning voice control and other connected device capabilities. Sonos will soon have voice control with any Amazon-enabled device, such as the Echo. It has teamed up with Alexa, Spotify and oher music streaming partners to integrate third-party stream services into their connected audio platform. The integration is on the software side. Sylvania’s Smart […]