Sensible Sound articles from April 2005

Sensible Sound archives from April 2005

Ramblings.(Matthias Lupri Group )(Editorial)
April 1, 2005... Welcome to Issue 103, an issue with a strong focus on music, wherein we have included our annual roundup of our favorite recordings from the past year. The response from our writers to my request for input was better than ever this time around,...

One last thought.
April 1, 2005... One Last Thought: "It would be brilliant to have younger audiences but it's not catastrophic if you don't. Concerts will never have mass appeal. The only things that genuinely do are food and sex."

Surveying the soundscape.(Movie Store)(music in Paris)
April 1, 2005... Audio, ETC: In the introductory days of audio componentry and the search for quality in reproduced music at home, Edward Tatnall Canby wrote a series of columns on the topic for The Saturday Review. These columns, and related commentary by C.G....

Arcam DiVA CD73 and DiVA CD192 CD players.(Product/Service Evaluation)
April 1, 2005... Distributor: Audiophile Systems, 8709 Castle Park Dr., Indianapolis, IN 46256; 317/841-4100; www.audiophilesystems.com Price: $699 (DiVA CD73), $1699 (DiVA CD192) Source: Distributor Loan In my home, good ole' red book CD playback...

Lowther 2.5 MK II/PM6C speakers.(COMPONENTS)(Product/Service Evaluation)
April 1, 2005... Distributor: CommonSense Audio, 120 San Angelo Drive, Chesterfield, MO 63017; www.lowtherspeakers.com Price: $1,395/pr Source: Distributor loan Background: Somehow I seem to review the interesting speakers. Hey, no complaints: a...

Soliloquy 6.0i loudspeakers.(Product/Service Evaluation)
April 1, 2005... Manufacturer: Soliloquy, 2609 Discovery Drive, Suite 121, Raleigh, NC 27616; 919/876-7554; Solspeak.com Price: $1599.95/pr Source: Manufacturer Loan Sometimes things are just not what they seem. I have always appreciated subtlety and...

Usher CP 6311 loudspeaker.
April 1, 2005... Manufacturer: Usher Audio Technology 67 Kai-Fong Street Sec. 1, Taipei Taiwan US Contact: Thee High End, 6923 Inwood Road, Dallas, TX 75209; 214/704-6082; www.theehighend.com Price: $2,195/pr Source: Manufacturer Loan My...

Our favorite things: recordings.(STAFF PICKS)
April 1, 2005... Once again, we have asked our staff to pick their 10 favorites from among the many recordings they have encountered, employed, and enjoyed during the past year. We think you will agree that this is quite an eclectic list, and we hope that you...

More jazz than not.(THE MUSIC)(Sound Recording Review)
April 1, 2005... Bach: Suites for Solo Cello; Sonatas in G and D Major for Cello and Piano Janos Starker, cello/Gyorgy Sebok, piano (Mercury Living Presence 470 644-2) This two-SACD set contains SACD three-channel stereo, SACD stereo, and CD stereo (I...

Double double.(THE MUSIC)
April 1, 2005... Some time ago, Tom and I did a comparison of two recordings of Nielsen's Symphonies Nos. 4 and 5. This time around we are comparing two recordings of his Symphony No. 5, pitting our favorite CD from that previous comparison, featuring the...

Carousel corner.(THE MUSIC)
April 1, 2005... One of the original premises for this column was the notion of "one thing leading you to another," rather like a deejay intuitively spinning a song which complements or comments on its predecessor--Bill Goldsmith at radioparadise.com is a...

The Living Stereo SACDs Revisited and the Belafonte-Carnegie Shootout.(Reissue Roundup)(Column)
April 1, 2005... Those who read this column frequently will recall that just two issues ago I reported some minor disappointment in the sound quality on some titles in the first batch of RCA Living Stereo SACDs. Since then, the second round of ten reissues in...

Adams: Shaker Loops; The Wound-Dresser; Short Ride in a Fast Machine.(Sound Recording Review)
April 1, 2005... Adams: Shaker Loops; The Wound-Dresser; Short Ride in a Fast Machine. Nathan Gunn, baritone; Marin Alsop, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Naxos 8.559031. It's not hard to understand why composer John Adams' Shaker Loops is one of this...

Antheil: Symphony No. 3 "American"; Tom Sawyer; Hot-Time Dance; McKonkey's Ferry; Capital of the World.(Sound Recording Review)
April 1, 2005... Antheil: Symphony No. 3 "American"; Tom Sawyer; Hot-Time Dance; McKonkey's Ferry; Capital of the World. Hugh Wolff, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. CPO 777 040-2. In the 1940s a survey indicated that the four American composers whose...

Beethoven: Triple Concerto; Rondo in B flat; Choral Fantasy.(Brief Article)(Sound Recording Review)
April 1, 2005... Beethoven: Triple Concerto; Rondo in B flat; Choral Fantasy. Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano; Thomas Zehetmair, violin; Clemens Hagen, cello. Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Warner Classics 2564 60602-2. I immensely enjoyed...

John Denver: Definitive All-Time Greatest Hits.(Sound Recording Review)
April 1, 2005... John Denver: Definitive All-Time Greatest Hits. RCA/BMG 82876-60764-2 (2-disc set). It's true that a little of John Denver goes a long way, which may explain the decline in his popularity during the eighties after a decade of superstardom...

Elgar: Violin Concerto; Vaughan Williams: the Lark Ascending.(Sound Recording Review)
April 1, 2005... Elgar: Violin Concerto; Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending. Hillary Hahn, violin; Sir Colin Davis, London Symphony Orchestra. DG B00003026-02. I have to admit that it's hard for me to remain attentive through music that I don't...

Honegger: Symphony No. 3; Pacific 231; Pastorale de'ete; Rugby.(Sound Recording Review)
April 1, 2005... Honegger: Symphony No. 3; Pacific 231; Pastorale de'ete; Rugby. Takuo Yuasa, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Naxos 8.555974. Because most other record companies produce maybe one or two discs a month, it isn't hard to decide which one or...

Marches in Hi-Fi.(Sound Recording Review)
April 1, 2005... Marches in Hi-Fi. Arthur Fiedler, Boston Pops Orchestra. JVC JM-XR24020. I read once that Arthur Fiedler had sold more classical albums than any conductor who ever lived. I can imagine that, considering the man lead the Boston Pops...

Mozart: Flute Concertos; Symphony No. 41 "Jupiter.".(Brief Article)(Sound Recording Review)
April 1, 2005... Mozart: Flute Concertos; Symphony No. 41 "Jupiter." Jacques Zoon, flute; Martin Pearlman, Boston Baroque. Telarc CD-80624. Taken on its own, this is a delightful, zesty treat, the Boston Baroque playing on period instruments without...

Rhapsodies: Music of Liszt, Enesco, and Smetana.(Sound Recording Review)
April 1, 2005... Rhapsodies: Music of Liszt, Enesco, and Smetana. Leopold Stokowski, RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra. JVC JM-XR24019. Many years ago I fell in love with Stokowski's vinyl recording of Smetana's "The Moldau" from Ma Vlast. It was recorded in...

Strauss: the Strauss Family.(Sound Recording Review)
April 1, 2005... Strauss: The Strauss Family. Willi Boskovsky, Johann Strauss Orchestra of Vienna. EMI 5 86019 2 (Six-disc set). I read somewhere that the performers in his orchestras didn't particularly like working with conductor Willi Boskovsky, but he...

Stravinsky: The Firebird, complete; Fireworks; Tango; Scherzo a la russe; The Song of the Nightingale.(Sound Recording Review)
April 1, 2005... Stravinsky: The Firebird, complete; Fireworks; Tango; Scherzo a la russe; The Song of the Nightingale. Antal Dorati, London Symphony Orchestra. Mercury SACD 470 643-2. Dorati's complete Firebird ballet on this hybrid SACD from Mercury is...

Suppe and Auber Overtures.(sound recordings)
April 1, 2005... Suppe and Auber Overtures. Paul Paray, Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Mercury SACD 470 638-2. CD, DVD, DVD-Audio, HD-DVD, Blu-ray, SACD. If you're like me, you probably keep up with most new technology but you still have a hard time deciding...

Wind Concertos By Cimarosa, Molique, and Moscheles.(Domenico Cimarosa)(Wilhelm Bernhard Molique)(Ignaz Moscheles )(Brief Article)(Sound Recording Review)
April 1, 2005... Wind Concertos By Cimarosa, Molique, and Moscheles. Mathieu Dufour, flute; Alex Klein, Oboe; Paul Freeman, Czech National Symphony Orchestra. Cedille Records CDR 90000 080. Three highlights of this disc are the enthusiastic playing of the...