LATEST ADDITIONS

I first met Tony Federici at a 1986 high-end show in Lucerne, Switzerland. He was at that time distributing Perreaux amplifiers in the US; the dem room Perreaux shared with KEF and McIntosh overlooked Lake Lucerne and Wagner's villa at Tribschen, perhaps the most idyllic setting for Show sound I have ever experienced. Tony was educated as a philosopher: In the 10 years I've known him, I have never known him at a loss for an opinion. It's all the more strange, therefore, that <I>Stereophile</I> has never asked him to submit to the ordeal of a formal interview.

In debates about audio, philosophy, literature, fine art, or whatever, people often adhere to either <I>absolutism</I> or <I>relativism</I>. Absolutism supposes, for example, that <I>either</I> analog or digital is superior and that whichever is better holds for <I>all</I> parties concerned. Michael Fremer, for instance, is not just advertising his opinion about the superiority of analog; he believes that <I>everyone</I> would acknowledge it if they paid attention to the evidence. Relativism, on the other hand, teaches that no such absolute and univocal consensus can be reached. In the end, we all have our own subjective preferences, and that, quite simply, is that. If we disagree about whether tube amps are better than solid-state, or single-ended is better than push-pull, <I>c'est la vie</I>.

<B>MOZART: Piano Concertos 21 & 24, K.467 & K.491</B><BR> Eugene Istomin, piano; Gerard Schwarz, Seattle Symphony Orchestra<BR> Reference Recordings RR-68CD (CD only). Adam Stern, J. Tamblyn Henderson, Jr., prods.; Keith O. Johnson, eng. DDD. TT: 59:34

<I>"There are two kinds of fools: One says, 'This is old and therefore good.' The other says, 'This is new and therefore better.'"</I>&mdash;<A HREF="http://www.digido.com">Bob Katz</A>

<B>DAVE HOLLAND: <I>Ones All</I></B><BR> Dave Holland, acoustic bass<BR> Intuition INT 21482 (CD only). Dave Holland, Clare Holland, prods.; James Farber, eng. AAD. TT: 57:27

To get some background information both on Aerial Acoustics and on the 10T loudspeaker that I <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/466/">review this month</A>, I gave Aerial's Michael Kelly a call. When had he got involved in loudspeakers, I asked...

<B>COPLAND: Piano Concerto</B><BR> <B>MENOTTI: Piano Concerto in F</B><BR> Earl Wild, piano; Jorge Mester (Menotti), Aaron Copland (Copland), Symphony of the Air<BR>Analogue Productions APC 029 (LP). Seymour Solomon, prod.; Jack Bryant, Ed Fiedner, engs.; Doug Sax, Gavin Lurssen, Ron Lewter. remastering engs. AAA. TT: 49:23<BR> <I>Also available on a spectacular CD transfer: Vanguard SVC-3.</I>