LATEST ADDITIONS

Todd Garfinkle, guiding light of <A HREF="http://www.marecordings.com">M&bull;A Recordings</A>, travels the globe recording provocative music in unbelievably wonderful acoustic settings. Todd travels to exotic climes such as Macedonia and Southern Siberia to capture unique and beautiful traditional ethnic music and song. He records with only two omnidirectional microphones, the signals of which are fed into handmade recording equipment designed especially for his work. Kathleen and I caught up with him at St. Peter's on 20th Street, a popular recording venue in the West Village. After wrapping a session, Todd stopped by our loft, where we rolled some tape of our own...

Our interview with Hiroyasu Kondo&mdash;founder of Audio Note Japan, and a legendary figure in his own time&mdash;took place during HI-FI '96 last June at the Waldorf=Astoria. It seemed very natural; the crowd at the Show was <I>very</I> internationalist. Herb Reichert of Audio Note New York found us a quiet corner after lunch, and we sat down to talk.

Treasured as much for her bubbling personality and administrative acumen as for her extraordinary voice, coloratura soprano Beverly Sills died of lung cancer on July 2. One of the finest high-flying sopranos of the latter 20th century, she leaves behind a rich legacy of recordings and an opera scene revitalized by her tireless efforts on behalf of American singers.

John Vanderslice's "New Zealand Pines" is the very first song I ever <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/091605where/">mentioned here</a>. It's an interesting choice for a first, and I'm glad I made it.

Take time out for beauty. The Brooklyn Museum has posted all 118 (!) woodblock prints from <I>One Hundred Famous Views of Edo</I>.

At the sight of blackbirds
<BR>
Flying in a green light,
<BR>
Even the bawds of euphony
<BR>
Would cry out sharply.

Bagheera watches Huckleberry bird watch. If he starts making the <I>chit chit</I> noise, she'll reckon it's worth checking out for herself.