Reviewed by Bert Whyte, John M. Eargle
Some of the first CDs to be released in the U.S. are reviewed in this July 1983 Audio magazine article.
Stravinsky: The Firebird; Borodin: Overture to Prince Igor, Polovetsian Dances. The Atlanta Symphony and Chorus, Robert Shaw. Telarc CD-80039.
This was one of Telarc's earliest recordings on analog LP, and one that was deservedly highly praised. What a pleasure to have it in pure digital CD format. This is a prime example of how good a Compact Disc can sound with the aid of intelligent engineering. Jack Renner used their by-now-standard three-microphone spaced array, using omnidirectional Schoeps microphones. Jack positioned them to achieve a wonderfully natural balance, with a spacious ambience, good orchestral definition and stable instrument localization. Telarc has always sought to achieve wide dynamic range in their recordings and now on this CD, unfettered by the limitations of analog stylus/groove trackability, the "Firebird" is really stunning in this respect.
Always noted for their heavy percussion, Telarc's bass drum is heard with great impact. The other end of this dynamic range can be equally thrilling.
There is a string diminuendo just be fore the French horn entrance signaling the beginning of the finale, which reaches its pianissimo level against a background of total silence. Jack Renner's simple but effective microphone placement gives us a ravishing string tone without a trace of edginess-it can be done! In the choral section of the "Polovetsian Dances," the balance between voices and orchestra is excellent-nowhere does one swamp the other. All in all, a splendid recording which fully exploits the resources of the Compact Disc and my newly acquired Sony CDP-101.
-Bert Whyte
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 in D minor. The New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein. CBS CD-35854.
The New York Philharmonic was on tour in Japan when this recording of Shostakovich's monumental Fifth Symphony was made during a concert in Tokyo's Metropolitan Festival Hall.
Musically, Leonard Bernstein's performance is an unqualified triumph. Technically, alas, the recording suffers from a common ailment of most digital recordings, multi-miking. I have this recording on an analog LP, and it displayed the same anomalies as I now hear in this CD, except that the digital disc magnifies them many fold.
The recording was mastered on the 3M 32-track digital recorder. Now many recording companies have a predilection for multi-mike recording, and the 3M recorder certainly allowed them to indulge in this respect. For some reason, practitioners of multi-mike techniques all tend to use certain professional microphones which have a very bright (or as the British say, a "tizzy") top end. These mikes are placed close in to individual musicians or groups of instrumentalists. When analog records are made, either from analog or digital master tapes, there is a certain amount of processing loss that finally shows up in the finished pressing. By their nature, analog discs have a higher noise level which tends to mask some sounds on the recording.
In contrast, there is virtually no processing loss in a CD; since there is no noise in digital playback, no masking occurs and such a mike technique is starkly revealed.
The common ailment of many digital discs is first and second violins which are unbearably strident, edgy, shrill, over-bright. Other instruments suffer similar problems, but not to the very pronounced degree of the high strings.
To make matters worse, multi-miking usually begets spotlighting of individual instruments, increasing their amplitude until they are grotesquely louder than the rest of the orchestra. On top of all that, selective equalization of the musical spectrum is employed, either during the recording or after the session. Sometimes this can be of help in a hall that is less than acoustically perfect, but more often the equalization is applied with too heavy a hand, especially in the low frequencies.
This digital recording of the Shostakovich Fifth Symphony has the wide dynamic range expected of this medium and it is certainly dead-quiet. The multi-miking does not furnish much in the way of depth perspective, and the various choirs of the orchestra seem compartmentalized--an isolated patch of woodwinds, a bunched-up group of trumpets. The contrabassi and the bass drum appear to have been equalized, as they are tubby and lack articulation. There is a harp passage that sounds odd-this was a live concert yet the harp appears to be playing in a different acoustic perspective. Apparently, the harp was assigned a separate track and then run through an echo chamber.
The overall sound lacks cohesion and at times is jumbled and amorphous. While there are good sounds here and there which underscore the advantages of digital recording-magical pianissimos unsullied by any noise whatever-it is ultimately the strident high strings which mar this recording.
Too bad, for Bernstein's reading is taut, supercharged, highly emotional and the playing of the Philharmonic is of very high order.
-Bert Whyte
Dvorak: Symphony No. 9. The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Vaclav Neumann. Denon/Supraphon C37-7002.
As many readers may know, Denon, or Nippon Columbia, was the first company to record digitally. Their experience is considerable, and for years they have opted for sensible micro phone placement, avoiding excessive highlighting or accenting of individual sections. The results have generally been excellent, and this recording is typical of that approach. The recording venue is Dvorak Hall in Prague, and the sound is gorgeous. Listen for the natural buzz in the muted strings in the largo second movement. Nothing could be more accurate.
By the way, this disc carries subsection coding, and the program indicates the points within each movement where the CD player can automatically cue up.
-John M. Eargle
Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra. The Boston Symphony Orchestra, Ozawa. Philips 400 072-2.
This disc has more extraneous noises than any of the lot. With such a busy score-and with so many open microphones-all kinds of studio noises come through. And then there are Ozawa's bounces on the podium.
Problems such as these have been around for years, but the typical analog disc has tended to mask them a bit.
With CDs, they are bared all the more. But getting on to the music, Ozawa does not shape this sprawling work well enough to hold the listener's attention. In my opinion, the recording falls short in both the musical and technical departments. There is another version on CD, Mehta and the New York Phil harmonic, which I have not had a chance to hear; it is probably a better entry.
-John M. Eargle
Night Passage: Weather Report. CBS/Sony CD-84597.
This CD demonstrates the fact that much pop-rock music will not sound that much better in the new medium than it did in the old. These sometimes interesting cuts of jazz-rock fusion have been so processed and contained within a narrow dynamic range that you might just as well be listening to FM. This album also demonstrates something that will be no better with CD than it was with the LP: The lack of program information about many pop productions.
-John M. Eargle
Seiji Ozawa--The Digital Masterpiece Series. The Philharmonia Hungarica, Zoltan Rozsnyai. Real-Time Records CD-RT2001, $17.95.
This is a potpourri of short classical selections such as Chabrier's "Espana," Dukas' "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," Rossini's "Thieving Magpie Overture," and Lizst's "Les Preludes." All have appeared previously on analog LP and on dbx-encoded records.
The Philharmonia Hungarica is an orchestra originally founded by refugee musicians who sled from the 1956 Hungarian uprising. Rozsnyai was their original conductor, and RealTime Re cords decided to reunite him with the orchestra for their digital recordings.
Engineer Kenny Kreisel recorded the orchestra in a church in Vienna, with a simple spaced array using two modified AKG 414 microphones. By judicious placement of his mikes, Kreisel has achieved a nicely balanced sound-very natural, extremely clean and the first and second violins are smooth with plenty of presence without any stridency or edginess. The acoustic perspective is spacious without being over-reverberant, and a good front- to-back depth has been achieved. Dynamic range is outstanding, with the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" especially no table. This work also benefits from the absolutely quiet background. An unfortunately soggy bass drum mars the otherwise excellent percussion battery.
As to the performance and playing, best to say they are serviceable and enjoyable. The sound is the thing here and nicely proves the point that CDs can fulfill their promise of superior mu sic reproduction.
-Bert Whyte
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5 in B Flat, Op. 100. The Israel Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein. CBS CD-35877.
Here we have almost a carbon copy of the Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 Compact Disc. A sterling performance by Bernstein, great playing from the Israel Philharmonic, and, if anything, sound that is even more dismal than in the Shostakovich.
The high strings are dreadfully strident, the overall sound again lacks definition-a fact emphasized by the particularly lumpy and bloated bass response. Again, a pity, for the attributes of wide dynamic range and velvety silent background are obvious.
-Bert Whyte
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64. The Cleveland Orchestra, Lorin Maazel. CBS CD-36700.
Many similarities between this re cording and the Shostakovich and Prokofiev discs, the shrill high strings and compressed perspective, are still with us. However, overall balances be tween orchestral choirs are reasonable and there isn't much spotlighting.
While the bass is a bit overblown, it isn't as turgid and amorphous as in the aforementioned releases. Here again, the recording shines in the areas of wide dynamic range and absence of noise. Maazel turns in a good performance, although the first movement seems surprisingly slow-paced. The Cleveland Orchestra plays with its usual precision and panache.
-Bert Whyte
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5; Schubert: Symphony No. 8. The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Lorin Maazel. CBS/Sony CD-36711.
In the last few weeks, I have acquired a number of Compact Discs to go with my Nippon Electric Corporation (NEC) CD-803 player. The resulting listening sessions have been something of a revelation, since listening to CDs at a trade show gives one no idea of just how detailed their sound can be.
There is usually too much background noise, and they are often played far too loudly, exceeding the peak power out put capabilities of many power amplifiers. Played in the relative quiet of one's living room, the effect can be absolutely stunning-or disconcerting de pending on whose hand was at the controls during the recording.
The Beethoven and Schubert symphonies were recorded while the orchestra was on tour in Japan in 1981.
In an effort to hold audience noises to a minimum, close miking was employed and natural-sounding artificial reverberation was added. The balance between direct and reverberant sound is not quite real, and the Beethoven in particular sounds edgy in tutti pas sages. The Schubert fares better, since it is a quieter work. Maazel's readings are resourceful and masterful. Overall, the recording is adequate for what it is, but the launching of CD deserves better.
-John M. Eargle
Real HOT Jazz. RealTime Records CD-RT2002, $17.95.
It has been said, with some justification, that pure digital discs, with their wide dynamic range and signal-to-noise ratio, would be of principal benefit to classical recordings.
Surprisingly, it turns out that some of the pop recordings are among the better-sounding CDs now available. Al-Don Menza's Big Band though for the most part their dynamic range doesn't equal that of classical recordings, pop CDs have gained favor because of their cleanness, their clarity, and their punch. And it doesn't hurt to hear pop sound without the usual crackle of surface noise, either! This RealTime recording draws on four jazz groups recorded digitally a few years ago--Don Menza's Big Band, John Dentz Reunion Band, Freddie Hubbard and friends, and Jack Sheldon's Late Show All-Stars.
Most of the numbers selected are fairly unfamiliar originals, but there are such standards as "That Old Feelin'," "Sweet Georgia Brown" and "Star-eyes." In any case, this is a feast of swinging, plenty of hard-driving trumpets, 'bones and saxes, and solid percussion of great clarity and impact. Bass response is outstanding. Of course, this is multi miking, but this is where it belongs! The only problem with this disc is that in handling material from four bands, it was not levelized; inadvertently raising playback level on a low-level number could mean trouble when the next number is several decibels louder!
-Bert Whyte
(adapted from Audio magazine Jul. 1983)
Also see:
Compact Discs--Sublime From The Ridiculous (Jun. 1986)
London/Polygram ADRM compact discs (ad, May 1986)
Remasters of Living Stereo (Aug. 1993)
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