Brahms Piano Trios from Ma, Ax, and Kavakos

Brahms Piano Trios from Ma, Ax, and Kavakos

Overflowing with heart, Brahms' three Trios for violin, cello, and piano are amongst the most venerated chamber works in the literature. Completed over a span of 35 years, they reveal Brahms forever true to his love and longing. Again and again it surfaces, expressed through an irrepressible love for melody, Hungarian and gypsy sentiments, romance and drama that sings and sighs at its most vulnerable in this special, two-disc Sony recording of the Brahms Piano Trios from cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pianist Emanuel Ax, and violinist Leonidas Kavakos.

Maria Schneider's Jazz Orchestra: Thanksgiving Week at the Jazz Standard

Maria Schneider's Jazz Orchestra: Thanksgiving Week at the Jazz Standard

For 13 years now, Maria Schneider and her Jazz Orchestra have played Thanksgiving week at the Jazz Standard in New York City, and, judging from the late set on Tuesday, they just keep getting better and better.

Our Final Binaural Video Report from the NYAS

Our Final Binaural Video Report from the NYAS

Here's our final report from the New York Audio Show. Thank you to everyone who watched our previous videos, all of which featured Herb Reichert (left above in JA's photo) and gave us feedback—positive and otherwise. We started making these videos as a response to feedback, and will continue monitoring feedback to help improve our future videos.

Pass Laboratories XA60.8 monoblock power amplifier

Pass Laboratories XA60.8 monoblock power amplifier

Years ago, when I was young and foolish (instead of old and foolish, as now), I was hanging out with a friend at a strip-mall strip club in a small southeastern city. A youngish lady approached our table in G-string and pasties and did a tableside dance. My friend's jaw scraped the floor; I, noting her lack of enthusiasm, was unmoved. The stripper noted my impassivity and stated, with irony that at the time I somehow missed, "You're a hard man."

John Atkinson, too, is a hard man, at least when it comes to audio gear. When, in January 2014, he reviewed the Pass Laboratories XA60.5 monoblock amplifier, he concluded, "It is the best-sounding amplifier I have ever used." High praise.

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