Records & Recording: All Kinds of Good Stuff: Catching Up on Our Backlog of Demo-Quality CD's (Issue No. 14 Summer through Winter 1989-90)

There have been discussions with volunteers as well as mercenaries who would like to relieve your Editor of the chore of writing this column, but no one so far has gained his unqualified confidence.

There is a basic difference between critical reviewing and personal opining that seems to elude a lot of would-be critics. The right talent will undoubtedly be found sooner or later; meanwhile you will just have to put up with the old one-man band.

All Kinds of Good Stuff:

Catching Up on Our Backlog of Demo-Quality CD's

By Peter Aczel Editor and Publisher

This is a temporary switch from vertical to horizontal coverage; so many CD's worth mentioning have come my way since the last go-around that I would rather discuss more than the usual number of them briefly than to focus on one subject or just a few selected items in depth.

Bainbridge The company behind this audiophile label is Mobile Fidelity Productions of Nevada, and they seem to have some kind of tie-in with By The Numbers, another Nevada company that makes the Colossus digital recording system.

The Bainbridge catalog is small, but the quality is high.

"Rhapsody in Gold & Blue." Works by Bach, Gershwin, Rogers, Bernstein, et al., arranged for percussion ensemble. Percussion 90, West Virginia University. Bainbridge Records BCD2104 (made in 1989).

The trouble with most of the demo-quality percussion recordings (such as, for example, The Sheffield Drum Record) is that it is boring to listen to more than three or four minutes of purely percussive instrumental sounds without melody or harmony, even if the rhythmic interest is considerable. Percussion 90 is a virtuoso ensemble that happily includes melodic/percussive instruments like the Xylophone, marimba, celeste, etc., in addition to the usual drums and assorted bangables, so that an hour's worth of their percussing on this CD will probably hold your attention even if you are not a witch doctor. How about a short contrapunctus from The Art of the Fugue played on a dozen and a half percussion instruments? After all, J. S. left it in open score, an invitation to "realizations." I love it; they play it so convincingly. The recording is state-of-the-art, fully documenting the alleged strengths of the Colossus digital processor and of the MS coincident microphone technique. The spatial and directional clues are extraordinarily clear. All in all, hog heaven for the percussionado, not to mention the imaging/soundstaging freak.

CBS One mainstream label that occasionally comes up with better-than-mainstream sound. What will happen now, after the Sony takeover, remains to be seen.

Samuel Barber: Concerto for Cello & Orchestra, Op. 22. Benjamin Britten: Symphony for Cello & Orchestra, Op. 68. Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, David Zinman, conductor; Yo-Yo Ma, cello.

CBS Records MK 44900 (made in 1989).

Both of these mid-20th-century works are of surefire appeal to those who are not necessarily on good terms with modern composers. Barber, the neo-Romantic, and Britten, the postmodern eclectic, are highly accessible and technically brilliant in all of their music, but in these large-scale opuses they rise to permanent repertory stature. I find the Barber especially beautiful, but the Britten is also riveting in a cooler vein. Yo-Yo Ma plays the cello parts with the utmost virtuosity and command of the idiom; as for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, they definitely sound like a major-league outfit here. The recording is a good example of the Schoeps omni sound, a little more closely miked than most, resulting in a drier and tighter quality than some may like, but in this kind of music I want analytical clarity, and that is exactly what I get. The massed strings sound a little aggressive now and then, but not so different from their front-row sound in the concert hall. I am sure the recording would have a much less straightforward, more heavily processed, committee-designed sound if this were more of a big-bucks glamour production.

Delos So far I have reviewed only the big sound-sym phony orchestra and organ-on this outstanding label, but what they call their "intimate sound" is of equally praise worthy quality and shares the spotlight here.

Johannes Brahms: String Quintet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 111;

Quintet for Clarinet and Strings in B Minor, Op. 115. Chamber Music Northwest: David Shifrin, clarinet; Ani and Ida Kafavian, violins; Walter Trampler and Steven Tenenbom, violas; Fred Sherry, cello. Delos DE 3066 (made in 1989).

The late B. H. Haggin, whose articles and books were among my earliest and strongest influences in matters of music criticism, bluntly listed these two quintets among the

"Bad Works" of Brahms. ("The Best Works" were the 4th symphony, and the Haydn and Paganini variations.) He thought Brahms' chamber music was pretentious, labored, and often saccharine. Now that I am my own strongest influence, I respectfully disagree, at least as far as Op. 111 and Op. 115 are concerned. This is enchantingly beautiful music in the autumnal mood of the composer's later years.

The idiom is inimitable, and the magic endures. The instrumentalists here are largely world-class; their performances are as good as any I am aware of; and the one and only John Eargle provides recorded sound that is about as vivid, natural, spatially palpable, and just plain gorgeous as the present state of the art permits.

Howard Hanson: Symphony No. 1 in E Minor ("Nordic"); Elegy in Memory of Serge Koussevitsky; Symphony No. 2 ("Romantic").

Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz, conductor. Delos D/CD 3073 (made in 1989).

To my knowledge, this is the only available recording of these works on CD, and certainly the only DDD version, so the panoramic John Eargle sound is merely a bonus here because one listenable performance of this music belongs in every serious music lover's collection. I find it very puzzling, indeed frustrating, that every little musical hiccup of Respighi, for example, is performed and recorded over and over again, whereas the only 17 years younger Hanson's masterpiece, the "Romantic" Symphony-no less accessible than the "Pines of Rome," with glorious melodies and harmonies, masterly symphonic structure, and brilliant orchestration-Languishes in relative obscurity. The other pieces on this disc are also far from negligible, and Schwarz is good at this sort of thing. Highly-nay, enthusiastically-recommended.

David Popper (1843-1913): Romantic Cello Favorites. Janos Starker, cello; Shigeo Neriki, piano. Delos DE 3065 (made in 1989).

If you think it was Fritz Kreisler who invented the short, schmaltzy, hummable, virtuoso encore piece for string soloists, I have news for you. David Popper, the greatest cellist of his time and a prolific composer for his instrument, had already perfected the genre a full generation earlier. Janos Starker, possibly the greatest cellist of our time, plays 20 of Popper's superb bonbons on this CD, each of them more delightful than the one before. Yes, they are a little corny to the late-20th-century ear but disarmingly and endearingly so. Starker plays them as if nothing in the cello literature gave him greater pleasure; I have never heard better cello playing-and some of these pieces are monstrously difficult to play. The man's artistry is a perfect blend of scholarly musicianship and virtuosity. As for John Eargle's recording, the cello is very up-front and vivid but always sweet-sounding; the piano also sounds excellent but is mostly in the background, strictly as an accompaniment.

I have played this disc so many times that, if it were an LP, it would already be full of ticks and pops. Delos has a world-class product in this instance Robert Schumann: Overture, Scherzo and Finale, Op. 52; Konzertst IIck for Four Horns and Orchestra, Op. 86; Symphony No. 1 in B-flat Major, Op. 38 ("Spring"). Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz, conductor. Delos DE 3084 (made in 1989).

There are those who believe that Schumann's orchestration is thick, turgid, and muddy. And there are those who believe that Gerard Schwarz ain't no Toscanini. This CD will be an ear-opener to adherents of either belief. The

"Spring" Symphony is as transparent as Mozart's "Jupiter" if the conductor sticks to Schumann's original, unaltered scoring and to the left-right deployment of first and second violins that Schumann took for granted. As for Maestro Schwarz, he is nothing short of inspired when he is proselytizing in behalf of Schumann as a symphonist of the first rank. My own prejudice about Schumann is more along the lines of the cruel quip that he "began as a genius and ended as a talent." I like the early works. The earliest work on this disc is the symphony and it is by far the most beautiful. The other two are merely interesting, except for some of the horn passages in the Konzertstuck, which are quite dazzling.

The recording is standard-issue Eargle/Seattle, the qualities of which need no further reiteration in this column.

Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 11 in G Minor, Op. 103 ("The Year 1905"). The Helsinki Philharmonic, James DePreist, conductor. Delos D/CD 3080 (made in 1988).

John Eargle's symphonic recordings remind me of my sainted Hungarian uncle's mot: "Women are like whiskeys-they're all good but some are better." This is one of John's better ones. The hall in Finland is smaller than his usual Seattle venue; both the orchestra and the conductor are very different but very good; the Colossus digital processor, which he does not always use, was in the recording loop-it is not the standard Eargle setup but it works out just right. The sound is only moderately live but far from dry; the orchestral choirs are very precisely located and have great presence. I would put the 11th on the junior varsity of the Shostakovich symphonies-it is basically anti czarist program music with a movie-sound-track flavor- but DePreist conducts it with tremendous conviction, as if it were great music, and while it lasts I almost believe him.

Good demo material, with lots of brass, drums, ostinatos in the low strings, etc.

Anton Arensky: Trio in D Minor, Op. 32. Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Trio in A Minor, Op. 50. Andres Cardenes, violin; Jeffrey So low, cello; Mona Golabek, piano. Delos DE 3056 (made in 1989).

This is another example of superb chamber music sound by John Eargle, recorded in a totally different hall and with different musicians than the Brahms but just as lovely tonally. The music is perhaps not as great but deeply affecting if you have the slightest feeling for the Russian Romantics, and it is performed here with a great deal of verve and emotional involvement by excellent instrumentalists. This is what stereo in the home is all about--the violin is on the left, the piano in the middle, the cello on the right, and you, the listener, are sitting in front of them in the same room. It is all very plausible, very close to the live experience. We have entered the golden age of audio.

Dorian This new label has had a great start, but so far they are almost exclusively into keyboard (piano, harpsichord, organ) and voice (solo and choir) recordings. In those categories, Craig Dory makes the most beautiful-sounding digital recordings known to me, bar none. I can hardly wait for his first symphonic release, which at this point is only a gleam in his eye (and in the eye of A-and-R partner Brian Levine). There is, however, a luscious Dvorak chamber music CD in the pipeline, already excerpted on Dorian Sampler Vol. II (DOR-90002).

"Wachet Auf!" J. S. Bach: Cantata No. 56 (Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen); Cantata No. 140 (Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme); Motet BWV Anh. 159 (Ich lasse dich nicht). The Bach Choir of Bethlehem & The Bach Festival Orchestra, Greg Funf geld, conductor; Henriette Schellenberg, soprano; David Gordon, tenor; Daniel Lichti, bass. Dorian DOR-90127 (made in 1989).

For the sake of brevity, I refer you to my enthusiastic review of Dorian's first Bach cantata CD (Issue No. 12, pp.

45-46). This sequel is identical in every respect-per formers (except for the soprano soloist), performance style, recording venue, recording team, sound quality-but of course the program is different. These cantatas are perhaps more popular, and No. 140 includes one of Bach's instantly recognized themes, the sublime and almost mesmerizing chorale Zion hort die W IIchter singen, which also recurs as the first of the six Sch IIbler chorales for organ. If you are comfortable with the Bethlehem style of performing Bach, grab this one.

Julius Reubke (1834-1858): Sonata for Organ in C Minor ("The 94th Psalm"); Sonata for Piano in B-flat Minor. Jean Guillow, at the Aeolian Skinner organ of Trinity Church, New York City, and on the American Steinway D concert grand. Dorian DOR-90106 (made in 1989 from masters recorded in 1987).

The doomed young genius who died in his early or middle twenties was almost a stock figure of the German speaking world of the 19th century, or so it seems. The playwright Georg B IIchner, the poet Moritz von Strachwitz, the composer Julius Reubke, and the philosopher Otto Weininger come to mind as quick examples. Reubke was a pupil of Franz Liszt and an admirer of Wagner, although the latter's finest works had not yet been composed when Reubke died. This CD represents the sum total of Reubke's surviving compositions and is a monument not only to the composer but also to Jean Guillou as one of the most aston ishing keyboard artists of our time. The man turns out to be as great a virtuoso and interpreter on the piano as he is on the organ. (See my comments in Issue No. 13, pp. 53-54.) Both the organ and the piano sonata are grandiose, bombastic, declamatory, and then some, in the best Liszt/Wagner tradition, perhaps criticizable as the work of an over wrought young man, but I find them quite magnificent- possibly because Guillou performs them magnificently. The recorded sound is fabulous; the piano was recorded in the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, a national treasure in acoustics, and is absolutely thrilling in dynamics and tonal quality; the Tinity Church organ sounds better than in real life from the floor of the church. Esoteric music that is not boring-and an audio blockbuster to boot-is not issued on CD every day; Dorian deserves the highest praise.

Reference Recordings I was hoping to review RR's promised Ravel album by Nojima, but so far it has not been forthcoming. Anyway, it will probably deserve a longer review in a less crowded column. Meanwhile:

Kurt Weill: Threepenny Opera Suite. Edgard Varése: Octandre.

Paul Bowles: Music for a Farce. Bohuslav Martinu: La Revue de Cuisine. Chicago Pro Musica ensemble. Reference Recordings RR-29CD (made in 1989).

The Chicago Pro Musica group consists of members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and they are superb.

Nobody plays better than this; every one of them is a major-league virtuoso. The music they play here covers the period between the two World Wars, all of it highly access ible and mostly delightful. The Weill suite takes up about 40% of the whole program, and I have a stylistic quibble about it. The Chicagoans play it too well, too precisely. The style of Die Dreigroschenoper requires a sleazy manner of delivery, that of a bunch of beer-guzzling 1920's German nightclub musicians who think they know how to play rag time or a tango ("Mack the Knife" was originally a sort of diabolical tango). Playing every note perfectly, in strict time, exactly as written, takes some of the tawdry authen ticity out of the music. The other pieces fit in more readily with the symphonic caliber of playing. The recording by Keith O. Johnson is sensationally good; the instruments are miked quite close up, with a very precise "bite" but no harshness, and their localization in space is perfect. The sound of the trumpet, especially, is incredibly real. On top of it, the KOJ microphone hiss appears to be gone. Who could ask for more? Telarc Of all the labels known for consistently top-notch sound, this one still has by far the greatest depth in artists and repertory. You could say that Telarc has brought the audiophile boutique sound into the mainstream.

Hector Berlioz: La Marseillaise & Other Berlioz Favorites. Baltimore Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, David Zinman, conductor;

Sylvia McNair, soprano; Richard Leech, tenor. Telarc CD-80164 (made in 1988).

There are other recordings of the usual excerpts from Romeo et Juliette, La damnation de Faust , Les Troy ens, etc., that I prefer, although these are by and large very respectable performances by a very respectable orchestra.

The reason for owning this Berlioz collection is the rarely heard performance of the composer's 1830 arrangement of all six verses of "La Marseillaise" for soloists, double chorus, and full orchestra-a nine-minute blowup of what is surely the world's best national anthem (as all Casablanca fans know). It is an experience to which even Francophobes should expose themselves, at least once. Formidable! The recording is in the classic Jack Renner tradition: Schoeps omnis, 12th-row perspective, gorgeous tonal texture, not much in the way of spatial/directional information, out standing dynamics, stupendous bass drum. Pour yourself a Pernod and check it out.

Benjamin Britten: War Requiem, Op. 66. Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Robert Shaw, conductor; Lorna Haywood, soprano; Anthony Rolfe Johnson, tenor; Benjamin Luxon, bari tone; Atlanta Boy Choir. Telarc CD-80157/2CD (made in 1989).

No other audiophile-oriented label, with the possible exception of Denon, has works on this gigantic scale in its catalog, so it is hard to make sweeping comparisons. This is certainly an achievement in the same league with Telarc's 1985 Berlioz Requiem (also Shaw/Atlanta), made with the old but far from inferior Soundstream digital technology.

The Britten recording sounds even better, of course; it is one of the first made with the dbx/CTI 18-bit analog-to digital recording processor. In fact, it represents a whole new ball game for Jack Renner, who abandoned his usual Schoeps omnis here for a combination of Sennheiser omnis and cardioids to achieve a soundstage of tremendous width and depth, along with great clarity of all instrumental and vocal parts of this complex score. I cannot imagine a better workout for a great stereo system, this is transparent, low distortion sound with unlimited dynamics, the way audiophiles have always wanted it. I have mixed feelings about the music itself; some of it is fascinating and of great originality, such as the instrumental/choral passages of the Dies Irae; the rather stark solo settings of Wilfred Owen antiwar poems, with which the Latin text is interspersed, I find somewhat boring on the other hand. (Obviously these poems meant more to Britten than to me; for the generation that produced Pound, Eliot, and Cummings, they strike me as a bit provincial.) The performance by the Shaw/Atlanta forces is very fine, insofar as my limited familiarity with the work permits me to judge.

Aaron Copland: Third Symphony; Music for the Theatre. Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Yoel Levi, conductor. Telarc CD-80201 (made in 1989).

This is the latest product I know of from the "new" Jack Renner, the one with the dbx/CTI digital processor and the Sennheiser microphones (see above). In this particular recording I find the violins to be a bit on the bright side for my taste; otherwise the sound is more "panoramic" (a la Delos), with more crisply defined inner detail, than what I am used to from Telarc; the dynamic range is spectacular, as usual. Do I prefer their "new, improved" flavor to the old? I am not sure. It is a step in the direction of greater clarity, more information, but the edges need to be rounded off a little, at least in this kind of music. The Copland works are highly enjoyable in this performance; to me Copland is always exciting and fun but not very involving or moving.)

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[adapted from TAC 14]

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Also see:

Box 978: Letters to the Editor

Various audio and high-fidelity magazines