<B>RENÉE FLEMING: <I>Haunted Heart</I></B><BR>
Renée Fleming, vocals; Bill Frisell, guitar; Fred Hersch, piano, arrangements<BR>
Decca B00004406-02 (CD). 2005. Renée Fleming, prod.; Elliott Scheiner, prod., eng.; Peter Doris, Aya Takemura, Brian Montgomery, Anthony Ruotolo, asst. engs. DDD. TT: 63:58<BR>
Performance <B>*****</B><BR>
Sonics <B>****</B>
The first National Critics Conference in US history took place May 25–29 at the Omni Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Subtitled "Critical Unity in Critical Times," the gathering brought together US and Canadian members of organizations devoted to visual arts, dance, jazz, classical music, and theater criticism.
With new music download services, including the move to higher resolutions, one vital question still remains for the music business: Will the majority of consumers prefer to continue purchasing music <I>à la carte</I>, one track or album at a time, or will they prefer to subscribe to an unlimited library?
Last week's question implied that high-end audio dealers are getting scarcer. Let's back up a bit and ask if that's really the case. Do you find that high-end audio dealers are getting more scarce in your area?
Not every interesting audio component gets a full review in <I>Stereophile</I>. Many more products are covered in Sam Tellig's, <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/artdudleylistening">Art Dudley's</A>, Michael Fremer's, <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/musicintheround">Kal Rubinson's</A>, and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/thefifthelement">John Marks'</A> regular columns than I have the space to publish measurements for. However, I do ask for samples of products that I feel deserve to be measured, particularly when our original coverage raised more questions than it answered.
I'm always eager to fulfill my prime <I>Stereophile</I> directive: "To go where no audiophile has gone before," as JA often quips. As it happens, I've long suffered an itch to audition OTL (output-transformer–less) amplifiers, wondering how eliminating the output transformer might affect the sound. Enter the Graaf GM 200, with nothing but wire between its power tubes and the crossover.
An acquaintance in the world of CD distribution recently gave me an astonishing statistic: that the average classical title sells fewer than 2000 copies worldwide in its first year of release; which in turn means that many titles sell only about 500 copies! Given that the cost of producing a classical orchestral album can include up to $100,000 in union-mandated musician fees, such minimal sales guarantee financial disaster.
Starting on Sunday, June 4, and continuing through Friday, June 10, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) will broadcast all of <A HREF="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/beethovenexperience/pip/archive/">Beethoven… compositions</A> as "The Beethoven Experience."
Magnolia Audio, the upscale west-coast subsidiary of Best Buy, has signed an agreement with ReadyTo Play, a Palo Alto, CA–based digital music company, to offer in-store and point-of-sale promotion of RTP's CD ripping service to Magnolia's customers.