Recordings Review (AA, One, 1980)

Recordings Review, by editors Williamson, Gloeckler and Boak

The English record company "Lyrita" have carved a special niche for themselves in the market by concentrating on British com posers, particularly those in the 20th century.

This means inevitably that many of their issues are of specialist interest, since there are some British composers who do not export well. One cannot include the ebullient Malcolm Arnold in this category and a new issue from Lyrita (SRCS 109 sponsored by the Pioneer Co.) includes all his dance suites-the English Dances, suites one and two, the Scottish Dances and the more recent Cornish Dances. Brilliantly scored, this very approachable music will please any music lover of almost any nationality; and coupled as they are with first class engineering that one has come to expect from Lyrita, the record is sheer joy throughout and a sonic showpiece of the highest calibre. It is pleasing to report too, that the engineering-a straightforward mixdown to two track, with cutting from the actual edited master-tape ( Dolby A and 38cm/sec) was done by one of the younger generation of sound engineers, John Dunkerley. It is encouraging to every record enthusiast that the balance of an older generation's skills are being preserved. One detects the influence of an older colleague, the veteran Kenneth Wilkinson whose name has appeared on many past and highly praised issues from Decca/London. A highly recommended recording on all counts but try, obviously, to get a British pressing.

-REG WILLIAMSON

TAPE REVIEW ADDENDUM

AFTER I COMPLAINED that the notes provided no information on the performers for Barclay-Crocker tape MHS C 0841 (reviewed in TAA 3/79, p. 52), reader George W. McLellan wrote to say the Musica Viva Ensemble is the pseudonym of the Monadnock Festival ensemble. The travel section of The New York Times of 12 August, 1979, has additional information.

[And a superb group they are indeed.-Ed]

FRED GLOECKLER

Hello, Hank Jones, East World EWLF-98003, and Eiji Kitamura: Swing Sessions, RCA (Japan) RDCE-10. $15.00 each.

These two records are among a large group of Japanese direct-to-disc recordings that Audio-Technica are now distributing in the U.S. These two, in particular, stand out from many direct-to disc efforts in that they are satisfying both sonically and musically.

Swing Sessions features Eiji Kitamura and his All Stars, a swing jazz outfit that successfully evokes ''Big Band'' memories although on a smaller scale.

Kitamura himself is a jazz clarinetist who is apparently well-known in Japan. He does quite nicely here on what is basically middle-of-the-road material. Several cuts also include vocals from American-born Judy Anton, whose style blends well with the group but is, for my tastes, a bit affected.

My tastes are more at home with Hello Hank Jones. Here we have a solid jazz quartet consisting of Clifford Jordan (tenor sax), Hank Jones (piano), Reggie Workman (bass), and Freddie Waits ( drums). These four are masters of their craft, and they do an excellent job on the three cuts in this set-"Bohemia After Dark", "Love For Sale", and " Vienna." If you like good, solid jazz, you can't go wrong with this one. My only complaint is that it ends too soon.

Sonically, both discs are similar in that they are exceedingly clean, dynamic and airy. Stereo imaging is excellent and transients are crisp and sharp. My only quibble is that both discs have a very close perspective due, I suspect, to the extensive multi-making. However, this effect doesn't do too much violence to small groups such as these, and (fortunately) the all-important musical balances on both records are right.

FRED GLOECKLER

THE THREE ARK RECORDS

I review here neatly illustrate some of the problems facing both large and small record companies. Robert Fulton, of Fulton speaker fame, produces and engineers ARK records.

Lacking a personal interest in the artists, few people are likely to treasure these performances; I suspect the per formers and repertoire were selected chiefly because they happened to be available. (I think it possible, however, that audiophile oriented record companies are now starting to pay more attention to their releases' musical aspects.) My system being broken, I first played these discs on an 11-year-old mid-priced setup; the sound was unremarkable and the imaging poor. After my system heal ed, I played them again: the sound was natural with bloom, presence, and wide dynamic range, and imaging was consistent and coherent. Another high quality system produced the same good results. If your system isn't top flight, you'll probably be disappointed in these discs.

I suspect a two-microphone pickup was used in making the recordings. Pressings were quiet and flat, but I could hear hiss (from the tape?) and pre-echo on several cuts. I don't think these records are worth the money for the performances, but they are good test or demonstration material if you want natural sound.

For their complete catalog, write to:

ARK Recording Company, 4428 Zane Ave. N., Minneapolis, MN 55422.

Bethel College Male Chorus. Owen: Unto Thee All Praise Be Given; Dawson (arr.): Ain't That'a Good News; Handel: Thanks Be to Thee; Schubert: Gloria; Bright: I Hear a Voice A-prayin'; Haydn/Red; Word of God, Across the Ages; Brahms/Track: Psalm 13 (Op. 27); Romer: Sing, Make a Joyful Noise; Work: My Lord, What a Morn in', Runyan/Bock: Great Is thy Faithfulness; Wilson (arr.): West Indian Christmas Carol; Dawson (arr.): Ev'ry Time I Feel the Spirit; Williams/Red: Rise Up, O Men of God; Mueller: A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. Oliver A. Moyck, conductor. ARK 4079-S, $15.00

This disc contains some good singing; the chorus is well controlled and you can understand every word. Unfortunately, many of the arrangements seem to me awful-a kind of cross between "beautiful music" and barbershop.

The choir sounds up-front and natural, but the accompanying instruments drown in a sea of reverberation, and the organ should have been put out of its misery long ago. Pre-echo and hiss are quite audible.

Organ Music from Westminster. Sweelinck: Fantasy in Echo Style; Mozart: Adagio Allegro-Adagio (K. 594); Sibelius/Berryman: Finlandia; Bach: Selections from Pastorale; Vierne: Scherzo from Symphony II; Clair de Lune; Mendelssohn: Selections from Sonata V; Widor: Finale from Sym phony VII. Edward D. Berryman, organist. ARK 10251-S, $15.00.

The romantic music on this disc's flip side comes off well: Berryman plays with a fine sense of style and matches the instrument's available sounds to the music.

The 1927 Kimball organ, as revised by Mueller, doesn't sound exactly baroque, or French romantic, or even American classic: it's more like a theater organ.

Perhaps Berryman used its more cloying registers a little too liberally.

On the front side, the Sweelinck receives a straightforward reading, but the Mozart sounds like late 19th century music and the Finlandia arrangement is heavy (handed). And the Bach is so far from my conception of Bach that when I heard it my mind boggled and I broke into laughter.

The sound is powerful with lots of low frequencies; hiss is prominent in a couple of selections.

Organ Sounds from Mount Olivet. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in B minor; Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring; Rejoice Now Christian Souls; Metzker: Beautiful Savior; Persichetti: Sonatine for Pedals; Karg-Elert: From Heaven Above; Lindberg: Shepherd's Prayer; Nystedt: Fantasia Triomphale.

Diana Lee Metzker, organist. ARK 1094-S, $15.00.

Judging from this recording, Ms. Metzker is a skilled, earnest organist without soul. She communicates to me no sense of musical values; she plays Bach with metronomic regularity, and this Moller organ lacks the brilliance and articulation needed for Bach. Harvey Grace's arrangement of Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, is, thank goodness, straightforward and un-gimmicky.

Metzker's own setting of the hymn, Beautiful Savior, introduces the melody on chimes-a corny trick to my mind. The Persichetti piece allows Metzker to display her considerable pedal technique.

I liked her pacing and registration of the Karg-Elert, though the registration shifts are somewhat stark and yet romantic; the Nystedt is typical contemporary bombast.

The recording is full-blooded and immediate. Organ enthusiasts will be disappointed that the organ specifications are not given.

San Francisco Ltd. Alberta Hunter: Reap What You Sow; Robert Earl Scott: Mambo Del Norte; Just a Closer Walk with Thee (trad.); Lil Green: What's the Matter with Love?; Bob Dylan: I'll be Your Baby Tonight; Philip G. Smith: Cannonball. Crystal Clear CC S 5004, $16.98.

This disc has the cleanest sound in my collection-the result, I think, of direct-to disc cutting at 45 rpm and quiet surfaces.

The recording sounds high-powered rather than natural; all the material is somewhat loud but the dynamic range is nonetheless wide. The wind instruments' tone projects nicely, but the voices seem curiously flat in perspective.

The music is a night club amalgam of jazz, rock, and blues with a steady beat; the performance, by a group of San Francisco musicians, "cooks." I like it.

Evolutions I. Free Improvisations Op. 1 & 2, 9/23/78. Jon Jarvis, piano/composer. Crystal Clear CCS 8004, $16.98.

Apparently Jarvis improvised these selections at the recording session; they are fancy cocktail lounge-type doodling, though with a different feel on each side.

Op. 1 blends snippets of familiar music, "messing around" on the keyboard, and plucked or externally struck piano strings.

Op. 2 is more conventional, quoting from a number of old standards. While the blending is skillful, the material is relatively undeveloped.

The Hamburg Steinway sounds like a big piano in a small room; the direct-to disc grooves capture a lot of resonance.

Imaging varies from a coherent piano sound to a keyboard apparently spread from speaker to speaker. My pressing had a few tics and pops.

Romance de Amor. Romance de Amor (trad.); Sor: Introduction and Allegro, Op. 14; Andante, Op. 31, No. 4; Britten: Nocturnal, Op. 70. Kazuhito Yamashita, guitar; Hiroshi Isaka, producer. RCA ( Japan) RDCE-8, distributed by Audio Technica, $15.00.

I commend this direct-to-disc recording for musical merit as well as for sonic splendor. The first three pieces should be familiar to guitar aficionados. I had not before heard Benjamin Britten's pleasant, conservative Nocturnal, which makes effective use of the guitar's resources. I think he wrote it for Julian Bream who has also recorded it (though the liner notes give his name as "J. Breme").

Yamashita was born in 1961, but these are definitely not student performances: he plays with brio and precision and develops the pieces' musical content. His style is rather cool; if maturity adds a little romance to his sound I think he will receive great acclaim.

The recording sound is extremely clear and detailed, perhaps a little bright but with a good sense of ambience. The wide dynamic range-some plucks are almost explosive-gives a larger than life sound.

The recording was made in a small concert hall, using seven microphones.

My pressing is very quiet, and the packaging is first rate: the outer plastic envelope even has a re-sealable flap to keep out dust. Technical details, as well as the usual liner notes, are provided in Japanese-style English.

-FRED GLOECKLER

ORGANS, TO JAZZ

It is my pleasure to recommend unreservedly a superb artistic and technical achievement: Virgil Fox's The Fox Touch ( Crystal Clear Records, #CCS-7002; about $18.00). This Direct-to Disc (D/D) recording features a spirited and moving performance on a large, modern pipe organ, the Ruffatti organ of Garden Grove Community Church. Fox's florid technique is just right for the selection of romantic "showpiece" works (including the demanding toccata from Widor's fifth organ symphony), and the flawless recording provides the perfect medium (I seldom experience two complete octaves below 60Hz). The definition of the low pedal notes is almost visual; in deed, the image is so clear the walls of my listening room seem illusory. Surface noise is virtually nonexistent, and the spatial accuracy and presence of the recording are uncanny: the sense of a real pipe organ situated just outside the room is at times overpowering.

The purity of the notes is no illusion: I placed an oscilloscope across my 18" sub woofer terminals and saw 16 cycle sine waves so clean they looked like the output of a signal generator. The rest of the range is equally precise, with the tiny mechanical sounds an organ makes presented just as cleanly as the pipe voices themselves. Recordings like this one justify the long hours put into creating and adjusting a complex sound reproduction system.

Even more than the pipe organ, the solo piano is a difficult instrument to record and reproduce accurately. The large at tack/sustain ratios, difficult harmonics, and extended frequency' response make maximum demands on every element in the recording chain.

I have many solo piano recordings in my possession, but from a strictly technical viewpoint they are, with one exception, less than satisfactory at best.

That one exception is a D/D 45rpm recording by RCA (RDC-4; about $20.00) of Ikuyo Kamiya performing Beethoven's Appassionata sonata (#23 in F minor) on a mammoth Bosendorfer Imperial piano.

The voicing is so precise that the individual timbre and coloration of the strings are clearly distinguishable, as are the hammer sounds, pedal changes, and even occasionally the performer's breathing.

The sound is just as detailed at crescendo as during the quieter passages.

The 45rpm recording speed may have something to do with this accuracy. The hum and noise components on the record are very different from 33 1 /3 pressings, but all the D/D records are so clean this is not really a problem. The most significant difference in sound appears to be in the up per midrange and high end.

The higher speed does result in less playing time, which is a little surprising at first (I have a 33 1/3 recording of the Appassionata which also has two movements of the Pathetique, all on a single side; the RCA 45 uses both sides of the 12-inch disc and still barely packs the single sonata in).

But then, what price excellence? This recording is truly superb, and if I had to stack records as in the old 78 days to achieve this level of sonic perfection, I would gladly do so. Without records like this, only those with studio-grade recording equipment and the skill and patience to use it to the full could experience such spellbinding performances.

Lorin Maazel and the Cleveland Orchestra combine forces with Telarc records (Telarc 5020; $18.00) to produce a showpiece offering which for sheer technical excellence is unsurpassed. From an aesthetic viewpoint the work, a series of orchestral chestnuts by a variety of composers, cannot compare with the recordings mentioned above, and I think this demonstrates a tendency to produce flashy, brilliant D/D music at the expense of artistic expression. Unquestionably, however, this record comes very close to reproducing the "feel" of a live sym phony orchestra, with a truly phenomenal power and dynamic range.

Sheffield Labs, who surely rank as pioneers in the D/D field, have at least one exception to the tendency described above in their Lab-8 ($19.00), a recording of Erich Leinsdorf and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Starting with the heavy, embossed jacket and the booklet which accompanies the record, and continuing through the rich, passionate performance of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, the ambitious task of producing a large scale work D/D has been accomplished with taste and consummate skill.

It is only to be expected, from a historical perspective, that the newest recording technologies will initially be more playthings than serious media; the people who first push out the boundaries are not necessarily those with the most profound artistic sense. For this reason the Leinsdorf/ Los Angeles recording is all the more praiseworthy. I hope this type of effort will create a climate where increasingly ambitious musical fare will be at tempted, and where the problems of bringing such quality recordings to the public will be controlled well enough to concentrate on the musical excellence as well.

One area where this seems to have occurred is jazz; jazz fans must be having a field day with the many "purist" efforts being produced. I still remember the first time I heard a studio master tape on my home system; the absence of any background noise, the ambience, and the recording's punch were a revelation.

Although this was in pre-Dolby days, when a dynamic range of 70dB and distortion less than 1% were considered state of-the-art, the difference between this second-generation master of a Detroit jazz band and anything I had ever heard before was so striking that a new world of sonic possibility was opened for me, and I realized that excellence could be achieved.

The same "night and day" difference is now occurring in the field of commercial recorded jazz, except the differences are even more striking. Distortion below 0.1 % and dynamic ranges in excess of 85dB are being achieved. The resulting recordings are a real challenge to reproduce, even on the best home system.

Toshiba-EMI, on the East World label, has produced a session (EWLF-98005; $16.00) that has soul as well as sonic appeal. Cadillac and Mach, by a group of able and seasoned jazzmen who call themselves the Detroit Four, is reminiscent of the music you might hear in one of Detroit's small clubs after midnight. The group consists of Barry Harris on piano, Charles Greenless on trombone, Ray Brooks on drums, and Vishnu Wood on bass. They work with and against each other in innovative yet straightforward ways, weaving tight, accurate patterns.

The music is mellow and expressive, and says a lot in a quiet way; the D/D recording is so precise you can hear the bassman shift his instrument between riffs.

The small group is ideal for the purist D/D technique since it is often possible to cover everyone with a single pair of microphones, reducing the placement and phasing problems (and the resulting blur red or unstable images). On this recording two mikes were used for the piano, one each for the horn and bass, and four for the percussion, resulting in a slightly more live sound that was really necessary. Nonetheless, if this record is any example of the trend in recorded jazz then we have some very exciting recordings to look forward to.

A high-quality alternate recording technology has been making inroads into D/D markets. The digital mastering technique pulse-code modulation (PCM) is not new; both the military and Bell Telephone were doing significant PCM transfers before 1970, and the theory and application are well established. The PCM signal has a number of advantages over analog equivalents. It is virtually immune to channel-induced noise and distortion; it is modulated, filtered, and shaped fairly easily by a standard digital computer, using numerical rather than analog techniques; and the speed of transfer and storage is independent of the final output frequency, eliminating the need for accurate speed control throughout the recording.

Ideally, we would encode our signal at the source (the microphone) and decode it at the output of our home stereo power amp. Theoretically, the largest contributor to noise and distortion would be the microphone itself. This may be the way music is stored in the future, but at the moment there are a number of missing links in the audio chain. The industry has not yet agreed on a standard format, although 50kHz sampled 16 bit PCM seems to be gaining favor and is used by Soundstream on their digital studio equipment.

More importantly, the means of en coding and decoding the digital information for mass distribution is not yet agreed upon, and no clear leader has emerged.

Philips have produced a laser-driven video disc with a huge information capacity which can be mass-produced for about $10 cost; this is more expensive than standard record pressing costs. Floppy discs can also do the job, but cannot be conveniently reproduced; the medium is also not rugged enough for the consumer market. Several efforts at a compromise vinyl disc technology show a great deal of promise. Once this hurdle is passed, the digital preamp and power amp development is not difficult (Infinity Systems already have a high-quality amp which uses an internal digital format).

But the important question is, what do digital recordings sound like? Are they a real alternative to the best analog techniques, given the compromises paid to mass production? Telarc Records have produced several analog pressings using the Soundstream digital mastering technique, and the resulting records indicate the answer is a qualified "yes." There are technical reasons why the record master may be optimized if the energy and frequency distribution of the material to be recorded are known; the master can also be cut with lower distortion if it can be cut at half speed (since the cutting head velocities are also reduced).

Both these techniques are obviously out of the question for a D/D pressing where nothing is known about the recording before mastering since it is mastered on the-fly; for the same reason it must be mastered at the normal playback speed.

As a result, digitally mastered records can be produced which make more efficient use of the record surface, thus allowing longer playing times and wider dynamic range without any sacrifices in quality. Some compromises are inherent in the analog to digital conversion and back again; but these seem to have been well controlled by the Soundstream system, and the potential benefits (lower distortion from half speed mastering) may balance them out.

A potential argument against the digital master is that it reintroduces the opportunity to doctor the performance. The usual tricks with multitrack recording and mixdown editing can be employed, but with much lower noise and distortion ( virtually none added for a digital manipulation). Moreover, filters and frequency shaping circuits which are physically impossible or exorbitantly ex pensive in the analog world are just another equation to the digital signal processor. This processor and its programming are also not inexpensive, however-a standard joke in the digital labs claims, "We can build a $5.00 highpass filter for only $50,000.00." The manipulation of the original master tape can be a strength or a weakness depending on the integrity and vision of the producer and the audio engineer. As long as the market continues to support endeavors where the sound is as important as the sales potential, however, I look forward to continued improvement in the state of the recording art.

In Telarc Digital (Stereo #38, $16.00) Frederick Fennell and the Cleveland Sym phonic Winds present a stunning argument for digital technique, especially in Holst's First Suite in E Flat. The album also features wind music by Handel and a transcription for wind instruments of J.S. Bach's Fantasia in G. Perhaps not the equal of D/D in detail and presence, this digital has nonetheless spectacular dynamic range and an almost unbelievable low end power which will endear this recording to fans of live band music. Fennell and the Cleveland Sym phonic Winds give a sparkling, impassion ed, and tight performance. Despite the high energy sound, I felt no strain after listening to the album straight through at wall-shaking volumes. Instead, I was exhilarated by the music's crisp power and the solid, foot-tapping rhythms. While perhaps not yet the purist's medium, a digital recording is clearly superior to the better conventional pressings.

-JAMES E. BOAK

----

Also see:

Test Report: Listening tests of the PAT-5/WJ-1A, by Laurence L. Greenhill, M.D.

The Williamson 40/40, Power Amplifier--Return of an improved favorite after a decade

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