LATEST ADDITIONS

<B>WAGNER: <I>Glenn Gould Conducts &amp; Plays Wagner</I></B><BR>
<I>Siegfried Idyll</I>, original chamber version.* Piano Transcriptions (Gould): <I>Die Meistersinger</I>, Prelude to Act I; <I>G&#246;tterd&#228;mmerung</I>, Dawn &amp; Siegfried's Rhine Journey; <I>Siegfried Idyll</I><BR>
</I>Glenn Gould, piano, piano 4-hands (overdubbed), conductor; members of the Toronto Symphony<BR>
Sony Classical SK 46279 (CD only). Kevin Doyle,* Kent Warden, Frank Dean Dennowitz, engs.; Glenn Gould,* Andew Kazdin, prods. ADD. TT: 71:00

I have not listened to a compact disc at home in <i>months</i>. It's kind of crazy. It kind of makes me feel weird about even <i>having</i> a compact disc player. At some point along the road, I figure I'll transform all of my compact discs into invisible bits and pieces on a hard drive and trade the physical objects for more vinyl.

As <A
HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/100807jammie/">we reported</A> almost a year ago, US District Court Judge Michael Davis awarded record labels $220,000 in damages for Jammie Thomas' having posted digital files to the KaZaa peer-to-peer site. To date, that has been the RIAA's sole victory in its prosecution of file sharers and it hinged upon an instruction Judge Davis gave the jury, specifically Jury Instruction 15, which said that Capitol Records did not have to prove anybody downloaded the songs, only that Thomas had posted them. This is known as the "making available" argument and was vigorously opposed by Thomas' lawyer.

There is something refreshingly no-nonsense about the design and construction of this turntable. It looks as if someone just said, Okay, this, that, and the other thing need to be done. Let's do it. And then they did it. In appearance at least, it is about as simple a design as you're likely to find. What sets it apart from other simple designs is that this one is built like a battleship! Everything is heavy-duty (notto mention heavy), from the 10-lb, lead-laminated aluminum platter to the ¼"steel-reinforced subchassis.

I first auditioned a pair of Chario Academy One minimonitors five years ago, but the review was aborted when the Italian Chario company lost its US distribution. When I reheard the Chario Academy Ones at the 1997 WCES, I found their elegant cabinetwork appealing and their sound listenable and involving. I therefore requested a pair for review from the new US importers.

In June 2007, I again recorded Minnesotan male choir Cantus live on location, this time in the glorious acoustic of Sauder Concert Hall at Goshen College, in Goshen, Indiana. The resultant CD, <I>While You Are Alive</I> (Cantus CTS-1208), is the eighth I have engineered of the group; it is a collection of 20th- and 21st-century works that explores, illuminates, and celebrates all stages of life, from birth to death.

It seems like forever ago that I became interested in Santogold's music. In fact, however, it's only been four months. What made that time so hard to stand was that I couldn't listen to her music as much as I wanted to, in the way that I wanted to. Sure, I could listen online. And I did. But that wasn't enough.