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by R. D. Darrell Quintessence of quadriphony. Most current evaluations--pro or con--of four-channel sound inexplicably fail to consider the ideal medium tape. Yet until you've heard a good quad recording of appropriate music in a fully discrete Q-reel (or at least Q-8 cartridge) edition, you can't accurately estimate how much compromise is involved in SQ. QS, or CD-4 disc versions. Nor can you fully realize the ability of quadriphony at its best to enhance not only the sonic realism of any performance, but also the dramatic impact of the music itself. There is potently persuasive new evidence for this claim, including the first two Q-reel releases from the reactivated (and now Dolbyizing) Stereotape/Magtec Company. One of these might have been created with quadriphony specifically in mind: Certainly stereo-only recording and reproduction never can do justice to the complexities of Charles Ives's Fourth Symphony. The 1974 Sere brier/London Philharmonic stereo version has been widely acclaimed, to be sure, for the clarity of its tempo and texture differentiations. But how relative that clarity actually is becomes apparent only when you turn to the Dolby-B Q-reel edition of the same performance: RCA/Stereotape ERQ 1-0589, $12.95. Ives's free-for-all rowdiness and his rhythmic and harmonic intricacies obviously aren't made easier for tender-eared listeners (the "sissies" Ives despised), but here they do become even more intelligible than in the concert hall. And given the instant-replay advantages of any recording, Ives is enabled to argue his own case more eloquently than ever before. The other new RCA/Stereotape Dolby-B Q-reel (ERQ 1-1151, $12.95) is of Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky in its 1975 Ormandy/Philadelphian version. Somewhat less demanding than the Ives symphony in its sheerly sonic needs (although these are consider able), this vividly depictive film score asks even more in scene and mood evocations. In the earlier non-Dolby stereo cassette edition, the same performance lacked dramatic conviction, for me at least, whereas in Q-reei playback it achieves irresistibly grip ping power and grandeur. Both works also are available in RCA's own Q-8 cartridge edition, but without the Dolby quieting and notes of the Q-reel productions. I should note, too, for the benefit of potential purchasers unfamiliar with the cur rent tape marketing situation, that the principal--if not only-open-reel retailers remaining are two specialist mail-order companies: the four-year old Barclay-Crocker (11 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10004) and the recently established Reel Society (Box 651, Arlington Heights, Ill. 60006). Sonar (and other) repertory expansions. Pending the imminent arrival of the first stereo reels from London/Stereotape and the Musical Heritage/ Barclay-Crocker series, Q-reels continue to fascinate me. There are four new state-of-the-art examples on the technologically perfectionist (and correspondingly expensive) Sonar label. Vols. 1 and 2 of each double program also are combined on a single stereo reel, but I've heard only the quad editions. In one of the double programs, Sonar expands its impressive series of quad demos to represent pipe organs as played by Yale professor/organist/designer Robert Baker. Vol. 1 (QR 1160, $19.95) features the two-section Austin-Baker organ of the First Church of Christ, Wethersfield, Connecticut; Vol. 2 (QR 1161, $19.95) the unitary Austin-Baker instrument of the First Presbyterian Church, New York City. Each is a modern design admirably free from nineteenth-century over-romantic and excessively "symphonic" tonal qualities--particularly well suited for the Brahms Prelude and Fugue in G minor on Vol. 1 and the Reger Introduction and Passacaglia in D minor. Myron J. Roberts Nova. and Franck Chorale No. 3 in A minor on Vol. 2. But Baker discreetly lightens his registrations for the baroque-era works: Ernst-Bach S. 592 Concerto, Bach S. 546 Prelude and Fugue, and Purcell Voluntary for Double Organ (Vol. 1); the Harvey Grace arrangements of the sinfonias to Bach's Cantatas Nos. 18 and 106 (Vol. 2). The performances themselves are routinely straightforward, but the sonic realism more than atones in rousing dramatic effectiveness--not least in the synthetically pretentious Nova's exploitation of frequency spectrum extremes. The imaginative chamber orchestra/concerto programs proffer (in Vol. 1, QR 1150, $19.95) the first recording of the original 1924 version of the rock-ribbed Ruggles Men and Mountains and Mozart's original Salzburg version (without first- and last-movement flutes and clarinets) of his Haffner Symphony, both played by the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra under Thomas Nee. Don't let these little-known names scare you off: The ensemble proves itself not only professionally skilled, but tautly controlled and zestfully inspirited by its young conductor. Yet of course it's the arrestingly vivid immediacy and presence of the quad sound that gives both works their exceptional distinction. That's also true of the familiar Telemann concerto for trumpet, two oboes, and continuo on Vol. 2. The piece never has been heard before in a recording that captures as piquantly the true brilliance of the trumpeter's (Thomas Lisanbee's) clarino register or the spiciness of the oboes and of the bassoon, which here shares the continuo part with a harpsichord. In the coupled Vivaldi P. 79 Concerto, however, the same sonic transparency reveals only too candidly that even Leone Buyse's virtuosity can't justify the "pauky peeping of the piccolo" as a satisfactory substitute for the original Vivaldian sopranino recorder. And here the accompanying string playing is barely adequate. Harold in (a too sunny) Italy. Turning reluctantly from quadriphony to stereo and from reels to cassettes, I'm obliged to report that aficionados of the great Colin Davis Berlioz series may be disconcerted by its latest addition, the Op. 16 work for viola and orchestra. They certainly will be if their earlier model of Harold in Italy is the memorable Cooley/Toscanini or Primrose/Toscanini version. Yet others may bask delightedly in the rich warmth of this mainly relaxed and suave performance by the London Symphony with the enchanting Japanese violist Nobuko Imai (Philips 7300 441, Dolby-B cassette, $7.95). For ideal concertante balancing of viola and orchestra and as a tonally magical experience this version is unique. What it lacks is vitalizing Byronic/Berliozian impetuosity and fire. Postdescripts. The sonically impressive Barenboim/Chicago Saint-Saens Organ Symphony (October 1976) is almost as impressive in Dolby-B cassette, Deutsche Grammophon 3300 619, $7.98. The Karajan "Adagio" program (November 1973) is just as good in DG 3300 317, $7.98. And the Melkus Ensemble's novel "Viennese Dance Music, Classical Period" (November 1975) is even more delightful in Archiv 3310 182, $7.98. ++++++++ ------------- (High Fidelity, Feb 1977) Also see:
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