first-rate; the conductor is
quite famous locally and
obviously excellent. As for
the sound, the Great Hall
of the Moscow Conservatory has superior acoustics,
the dynamic range of the
recording is outstanding,
low-level detail is particularly fine, and an overall
naturalness is very much
in evidence. Gene Pope
claims an utter breakthrough
in audio quality; I'm inclined to wait for more
PopeMusic releases before
seconding that.
Reference Recordings
This is the only label
I'm aware of that has completely bought into HDCD,
the digital audio enhancement technology claiming
to correct for the "shortcomings" of ordinary linear
PCM without disclosing
how it's done. (See also
my review of the EAD
DSP-7000 Series III in this
issue. That's the HDCDequipped processor I used
to audition this recording.)
•
George W. Chadwick: Sym-
phonic Sketches (Jubilee,
Noël, Hobgoblin, A Vag-
rom Ballad); Melpomene
Overture; Tarn O'Shanter
(symphonic poem). Czech
State Philharmonic, Jose
Serebrier, conductor. RR64CD (1995).
George Whitefield Chadwick (1854-1931) is a seriously neglected but far
from negligible American
composer in the general
stylistic mold of Brahms
and Dvorak. These are
highly listenable pieces,
beautifully played and
conducted here. Good music, good orchestra, good
conductor—those are the
reasons why this CD is
worth having. As the first
HDCD release, ever, of
symphonic music with
strings, it is on the other
hand very disappointing.
The HDCD-decoded sound
is distant, hollow, poorly
balanced, blunted on top,
and strangely restricted in
dynamics—far from natural. One is tempted to use
the word processed. What
could be the weak link?
Keith Johnson, although
not as experienced in recording the full orchestra
as, say, John Eargle or
Jack Renner, has certainly
made some superb symphonic recordings (e.g.,
the Arnold overtures on
RR-48CD), so why not in
this instance? Maybe he
was totally unfamiliar with
the hall (Stadion Hall in
the Czech city of Brno)
and was forced to work
under pressure. But maybe
it's that hush-hush, tweako
HDCD process? Maybe it
can't sound natural? I'll
reserve judgment on
that—but not forever.
Telarc
Slowly Telarc is running out of standard repertory pieces to record in
great digital sound and
may have to turn to more
esoteric music to keep the
label going. Or will it be
Brahms and Tchaikovsky
all over again in 20-bit
versions?
•
W. A. Mozart: Le nozze di
Figaro. Alastair Miles,
Figaro; Nuccia Focile, Su-
sanna; Alessandro Corbelli, Count Almaviva; Carol
Vaness, Countess Almaviva; Susanne Mentzer,
Cherubino. Scottish Chamber Orchestra & Chorus,
Sir Charles Mackerras,
conductor. CD-80388 (3
CDs, 1994).
Mackerras seems to be
intent on repeating the
mid-1930s "miracle of
Glyndebourne" and record
the digital era's model version of each major Mozart
opera. This is No. 3, after
Die Zauberflöte and Così
fan tutte. He has the musi-
cal culture, the conductorial ear, and the orchestra to
go all the way; I don't
think he has the voices.
This Figaro is effervescent, authoritative, complete, and wonderful in 17
different ways, but the
singing in it is musical and
spirited rather than beautiful. I was spoiled in my
youth Figaro-Wist (Siepi
as Figaro, Steber as the
Countess, etc.) and am unable to be thrilled as I listen to this. Too bad, because the next more
excitingly sung version
will undoubtedly lack the
musicianship of this one.
I'll leave the details to the
more scholarly reviewers.
Jack Renner's 20-bit recording is all one could
ask for (same venue, same
equipment as in the Cosi
of 1993).
•
Gioacchino Rossini: "Overtures." Guillaume Tell, La
gazza ladra, L'italiana in
Algeri, Semiramide, La
scala di seta, Tancredi, II
barbiere di Siviglia. Atlanta Symphony Orchestra,
Yoel Levi, conductor. CD-
80334 (1992-93).
Recorded in two sessions almost a year and a
half apart, this collection
was then delayed more
than a year before being
released. I don't know
why Telarc wasn't more
excited about it because, in
terms of balancing performance against sound quality, this is arguably the
Rossini-overture CD of
choice for the discriminating audiophile. The playing is crisp, buoyant, accurate; the surprise sforzandi
are delightful; yet corniness is happily avoided at
all times. The Semiramide
overture receives one of
the best performances
known to me (shades of
Toscanini!); the others are
not quite as good but
close. The Atlanta orchestra sounds like one of the
Big Five here, especially
the woodwinds, and Michael Bishop's stunning
demo-quality recording
gives them an almost unfair advantage over their
compeers. Good stuff!
•
Arnold Schönberg: Ver-
klärte Nacht, Op. 4; Pelleas und Melisande, Op. 5.
Atlanta Symphony Orches-
tra, Yoel Levi, conductor.
CD-80372 (1993-94).
This is the postromantic Schönberg, not the later
dodecaphonist. That means
the music is enjoyable, not
just mandatorily admira-
ble. Wagnerians like me
eat it up, of course. The
main course here is not the
superb but smaller-scaled
Verklärte Nacht, of which
many better versions exist,
but Pelleas und Meli-
sande, which is scored for
a huge post-Wagnerian orchestra and gives the ex-
cellent Atlanta forces, not
to mention recording engi-
neer Michael Bishop, the
chance to produce some
wonderful sounds. Not a
masterpiece, not for everybody, but highly recom-
mended if you dig it.
•
Franz Schubert: Sonata in
A Minor, D. 959; Moments
Musicaux, Op. 94, D. 780.
John O'Conor, piano. CD80369(1993).
The sonata is one of
the posthumous three from
Schubert's miraculous last
summer (1828). It is sublime, but O'Conor's playing is too laid-back and
monochrome (albeit fluent
and polished) to project
adequately the sprawling
magnificence of the work.
The lighter, more casual
Moments fare better, and
Jack Renner's B&K 4006
recording is exemplary,
exactly as close-up as I
like it.
•
Richard Strauss: Salome's
Dance; Suite from Der Rosenkavalier; Burleske, Op.
11; Festival Prelude for
Organ & Orchestra, Op.
61. Cincinnati Symphony
Orchestra, Jesús LópezCobos, conductor; Jeffrey
Kahane, piano (in Burleske). CD-80371 (1994).
Another 20-bit sonic
blockbuster engineered by
Michael Bishop. Only the
Rosenkavalier music is Al
Richard Strauss here, but
everything the man ever
composed is hugely enjoy-
able as sheer sound, and
this CD indulges you with
that near-guilty pleasure as
few others. Want to show
off your $50,000 system to
a visitor? The lush strings,
big bass, and open soundstage of this recording will
do the job. The Cincinnati
forces play better than I recall them in any previous
effort, and López-Cobos
conducts them like a dedicated Straussian. Kahane
is suitably flashy in the
Burleske. I loved every
minute of the 65 on the disc.
Teldec
It's nice to observe
that the supposedly ultracommercial Warner empire is making recordings
that often rival any audio-
phile boutique label in
sound quality.
•
Aaron Copland: Old
American Songs (Orches-
tral Version); Down a
Country Lane; Eight Poems of Emily Dickinson;
Billy the Kid (Selection).
Dawn Upshaw, soprano;
Thomas Hampson, baritone. The Saint Paul
Chamber Orchestra, Hugh
Wolff, conductor. 9031-
77310-2 (1992-93).
Apple pie? This is as
American as pumpkin pie
at Thanksgiving! Two of
America's finest singers
perform one of America's
finest composer's settings
of some of the finest ailAmerican texts. The Emily
Dickinson poems are
definitely the centerpiece
here, but there's also my
favorite nonsense song, "I
Bought Me a Cat" ("My
cat says fiddle eye fee"),
and all sorts of other goodies. Great singing, good
playing by the half-sized
orchestra, very acceptable
sound (but not Teldec's
best).
•
Engelbert Humperdinck:
Hansel und Gretel. Jenni-
fer Larmore; Ruth Ziesak;
Hildegard Behrens; Bernd
Weikl; Hanna Schwarz;
Symphonieorchester des
Bayerischen Rundfunks,
Donald Runnicles, conductor. 4509-94549-2 (2 CDs,
1994).
The Bavarian radio orchestra must be able to
play this in their sleep be-
cause they recorded it only
four and a half years earli-
er for EMI, in the same
hall yet, with some overlaps in the cast and Jeffrey
Tate conducting. This new
version is a little lighter in
touch, less "operatic," better balancing the childlike
aspects of the work against
the Wagnerian harmonies
and orchestration. The recorded sound is also better, state-of-the-art I'd say;
more transparent, freer on
the dynamic peaks, firmer
in the bass than the already
excellent EMI. Of the versions I know—and I've
been listening to this since
the age of eight—this is as
good as the best. Of
course, to appreciate this
music to the fullest extent,
you must dig the whimsical quasi-Wagnerisms of
the score.
•
Richard Wagner: Tristan
und Isolde. Siegfried Jerusalem, Tristan; Waltraud
Meier, Isolde; Matti Sal-
minen, König Marke;
Falck Struckmann, Kurwenal; Marjana Lipovsek,
Brangäne; Berliner Philharmoniker, Daniel Baren-
boim, conductor. 4509-
94568-2 (4 CDs, 1994).
I just want to add a
few comments to David
Ranada's longer review
above. I agree with his
overall view of the recording, but the singers are a
little better than he avers.
Meier is a musically very
credible Isolde, if no Flagstad, and Jerusalem, likewise no Melchior, at least
doesn't shout here as is his
wont and sings intelligently. Barenboim's terrific
conducting took me by
surprise; he has advanced
several pegs in my rankings.
Troy
This label is a division
of Albany Records.
•
Jacques Ibert: "Jacques
Around the Clock" (Cham-
ber Music for Flute). Sue
Ann Kahn, flutist, et al.
Troy 145 (1991-93).
This collection is interesting for a number of reasons. These short, light,
1920s/' 30s/French-modern
pieces are unavailable
elsewhere. Sue Ann Kahn
is an excelent flutist who
has the idiom down pat.
Her collaborating colleagues are also fine musicians. The recording is by
Max Wilcox in the American Academy of Arts and
Letters, meaning it's lucid,
natural, lovely-sounding.
Most important of all, the
music is sheer fun. Try it.
80
THE AUDIO CRITIC