Robert Deutsch
Jonathan Antoine: Tenore
Jonathan Antoine, tenor; Latvian National Orchestra, London Session Singers, Julian Reynolds
Portrait 88843085372 (CD). 2014. Anna Berry, prod.; Neil Hutchinson, Andris Uze, Gary Thomas, engs. DDD. TT: 45:21
Jonathan Antoine first came to prominence in 2012 as one-half of the duo Jonathan and Charlotte, on the British TV show Got Talent—which some opera pundits might consider automatic disqualification for serious consideration as an opera singer. If so, in my opinion, the pundits would be wrong. Tenore, Antoine's…
Jon Iverson
Ray LaMontagne: Part of the Light
RCA 19075837892 (24/96 download). 2018. Ray LaMontagne, prod.; Kevin Ratterman, eng. DDD. TT: 46:07
The way I figure it, Ray LaMontagne was dropped on his head sometime last year and woke up days later, thinking it was 1971, he was Pink Floyd, and he had to go into the studio right now and make an album. Granted, his guitar soloing never reaches Floydian genius level, but LaMontagne's sensual Americana tendencies mesh perfectly with this album's mellow Meddle-era vibe. His breathy, Gilmour-ish vocals wrap you in a…
Sidebar 3: Specifications
Description: Two-way, reflex-loaded, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" titanium-dome tweeter, 8" polypropylene-cone woofer. Crossover frequency: 3kHz. Crossover slopes: third-order, 18dB/octave. Frequency response: 55Hz–22kHz –2dB. Sensitivity: 88dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Amplifier requirements: 15W minimum.
Dimensions: 22" H by 11" W by 11" D. Weight: 38 lbs/pair.
Price: $949/pair (1989); no longer available (2016). Approximate number of dealers: 50.
Manufacturer: Rogers Loudspeakers Ltd., Mitcham, Surrey, England (1989). Rogers…
We're celebrating the imminent arrival of our January 2017 issue, chock full of great stuff. MartinLogan's superb Renaissance ESL15A electrostatic is featured on the cover, but we also have a rave review of B&O's groundbreaking BeoLab90 speaker, measurements of Auditorium 23's retro Cinema Hommage speaker, reviews of headphone amplifiers from Audeze and Woo Audio, and an interview with a veteran of both the audio and music industries, Joe Harley of AudioQuest and Music Matters.
Plus all the usual features, including Art Dudley trading in his antique Altec Valencia speaker for equally…
In "Music and Fractals" in the November 1990 issue, I discuss how digital audio's quantization of amplitude information in what was originally a continuous waveform represents a fundamental difference between analog and digital representations of music. In a letter published in the English magazine Hi-Fi Review in January 1990, John Lambshead conjectured that naturally originating sounds were pseudo-fractal in character; that is, their waveforms have a wealth of fine detail, and that detail itself has an even finer-structured wealth of fine detail, and so on, until the crinkliness of the…
Having got everything arranged to our satisfaction, the very first session on the Friday afternoon of the show went awry. The Esoteric transport uses an internal clamping system that completely covers the label surface of the CD; this turned out not to be compatible with the retaining rings for The Mod Squad Damper that had been fixed to two of the discs. I had prised these rings off to continue with the tests, only to find that a small amount of latex-like adhesive had been left on the CD's surface. When the disc was inserted into the Esoteric transport, this adhesive stuck to the…
To a certain breed of music collector, the longer the tale, the fewer records sold, the greater the hunger and given the twisted saga of Ice or the Lafayette Afro-Rock band, it’s no wonder they have over the years been the object of fevered funk/soul music crate diggers everywhere. Originally from Long Island, NY and led by singer Bobby Boyd, the septet, then called the Bobby Boyd Congress, moved to Paris in 1971 and recorded under several names, including Ice and Krispie and Co.. Late in their career, they also recorded with jazz pianist Mal Waldron and bluesman Sunnyland Slim before…
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Blockbuster debut records are a curse and blessing and in the case of Norah Jones, who’s new record Day Breaks I have been listening to on vinyl, she’s someone who, call me distracted, has never quite equaled the passionate delivery nor the easy-to-like pop material of her first record, 2002’s Come Away With Me. While its followup, Feels Like Home was good, surprisingly flecked with country leanings, and containing covers of tunes by Townes Van Zandt, Duke Ellington and Tom Waits, 2007’s home-recorded Not Too Late seemed like a letdown, and the Jacquire King-produced The Fall (2009) and her…
Eighteen years after 21-year old Matthew Shepard was robbed and beaten by two men who lured him to their truck, tied him to a fence in a field outside Laramie, WY, and left him to die, Harmonia Mundi has released a two-hybrid SACD set of Craig Hella Johnson's touching requiem, Considering Matthew Shepard. Johnson's sweet tribute, an apt reminder of the consequences of homophobia, is lovingly performed by Johnson's excellent, Grammy-winning Austin-based choir, Conspirare, and an occasionally augmented group of eight acoustic instrumentalists.
Considering Matthew Shepard was superbly…
