La Stupenda is no more. The brilliant coloratura soprano Joan Sutherland, who died a thousand deaths onstage after emitting flawless high E-flats, died at her home near Montreux, Switzerland, on Sunday, October 10. Her death was confirmed by her frequent stage partner and friend, mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne.
One of my favorite albums of the year comes from Brooklyn-based artist <a href="http://www.myspace.com/juliannabarwick">Julianna Barwick</a>. The album is called <i>Florine</i>. Michael Lavorgna <a href="http://www.twitteringmachines.com/2010/03/julianna-barwick/">told me about it</a>. It was months ago and I remember leaving work that day and rushing over to <a href="http://www.othermusic.com/">Other Music</a> to buy the album. I got one of the first 200, pressed on white vinyl. <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/last_night_in_other_music/">K…; congratulated me and told me that I’d be very happy with the music.
Michael Lavorgna’s October issue “As We See It” generated many more responses than we had space for in our December issue “Letters” section (a great bunch!), so we’ve appended all of the letters to the Web reprint, which you can find <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/why_music_matters_most/index.html"… here</a>.
There are two kinds of audiophiles: those who own original Quad ESL speakers and those who don't (footnote 1). This review is for the former, although the latter may find it of some interest. The Gradient SW-57 subwoofer attempts to do for the original Quad (footnote 2) what Gradient's SW-63 (footnote 3) does for the Quad ESL-63: supply the bottom octave while relieving the ESLs of the strain of reproducing low bass.
<B>Grinderman: <I>Grinderman 2</I></B><BR>
Anti- 87125 (CD). 2010. Grinderman, Nick Launay, prods; Launay, eng. AAD. TT: 41:19<BR>
Performance ****½<BR>
Sonics ****
<I>"Stanley, see this? This is this. This ain't something else. This is this."—Michael, in</i>The Deer Hunter
Good selection, deep knowledge, or simply cheap prices—what is the most important quality for a dealer to have, in your opinion?
<i>Photos courtesy Peter McGrath.</i>
Next weekend's <A HREF="http://audiofest.net/2010/index.php?Sid=860cc0cc7b60fd7f9bd2725ff657784… Mountain Audio Fest</A> (RMAF) is bigger than ever. Scheduled to be held October 15–17 in the Denver Marriott Tech Center, the seventh annual show has expanded from last year's 145 display rooms to a record 174. Add in silent displays in hallways, and there were products in every price range from a good 400 companies (up from 350 in 2009). Now occupying six floors in the Marriott Tower (including the mezzanine) and two in the Atrium, the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest has well earned its reputation as the largest consumer-audio and home-entertainment show in the US since the demise of the <I>Stereophile</I> Shows.