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In September 2019, I made an afternoon visit to National Sawdust, a vibrant, innovative performance space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to attend a demonstration of the new Constellation and Spacemap systems installed there by Meyer Sound. According to Meyer Sound designer Steve Ellison, the two systems permit control of the space's acoustics (Constellation) and empower performers and sound designers to construct a soundscape (Spacemap) in which voices, instruments, and other sounds can be located virtually anywhere within as well as beyond the confines of the performance space.
On Friday, January 17 from 5-9pm, Innovative Audio in New York City will debut the Wilson Chronosonic XVX, Wilson's flagship loudspeaker. Peter McGrath of Wilson Audio will present the system with his master recordings, played through D’Agostino Momentum M400 Monoblock Amplifiers and Momentum HD Preamplifier, Berkeley Alpha DAC Reference Series-3, and Transparent Opus cables and power products. Space will be limited, and reservations are required. Please visit innovative.nyc/events for more details and to reserve your seat.
My first exposure to current-mode phono preamplification was maybe a dozen years ago, when such products were new. The one I received, though nicely packaged, was not ready for prime time. I never smelled smoke, but I never heard sound, either: If it wasn't DOA, it was at a minimum DSAA—Dead Soon After Arrival.
If you've followed our coverage, you know that prime time has arrived for current-mode phono preamps. Over the last year, Stereophile has reviewed, in columns or regular reviews, The Loco ($8200) and Little Loco ($3400), both from Sutherland Engineering; the Lino C 2.0 from…
It's 3am. You're lying in bed. Something woke you up—you don't know what it was. You pull back the covers, get up, and tiptoe out to your listening room.
There, standing by your record rack, thumbing through your prized LPs, is a man in black (no, not Johnny Cash—a different man in black). You see a bulge in his pocket; it could be a gun. Something shiny catches your eye—there's a switchblade knife between his teeth! At his feet, leaning against your record shelf, is a cudgel. Oh, and it looks like he might have some infectious disease. You, of course, are in your PJs.
You notice…
Rafe Arnott
Boards Of Canada: Music Has The Right To Children
Matador OLE 299-2 (CD). 1998. Marcus Eoin, Michael Sandison, prods.
An emotronic psychedelic head-music album that defies being dated, Music Has the Right to Children eschewed late-'90s synth/electrowave norms and sentimental watercolor-painted, bleak landscapes awash in analog warmth. This music was, to me, the future from my past, and with each new listen another angle of melancholy would rise forth from deep in my chest. Created by two brothers from Scotland who pirated part of a Canadian public…
Brian Damkroger
Sarah Vaughan With Count Basie And His Orchestra: Count Basie/Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Vaughan, vocals; Freddie Green, guitar; Sonny Payne, drums; Edward F. Jones, Jr., bass; Chas. Baker Fowlkes, Frank Wess, Billy Mitchell, Frank Foster, Marshall Royal, saxophone; Thad Jones, Joe Newman, George Cotton (Sonny Cohn), Eugene E. Young, trumpet; Albert T. Grey, Henry Coker, Benjamin Powell, trombone; Kirk Stewart, piano (not credited)
Roulette Birdland Series R 52061 (LP). 1961. Teddy Reig, prod.; Bob Arnold, eng.
Count Basie/Sarah Vaughan isn't Sarah…
Larry Greenhill
Felix Mendelssohn: Six Organ Sonatas, Op.65, Andante with Variations in D.
Thomas Murray, organ
Raven Recordings OAR-390 (CD). 1996.
Lincoln Mayorga, William T. Van Pelt, prods. David Griesinger, Edward Kelly, Stephen Fassett, engs.
I learned about this recording from Kal Rubinson's 2017 review of the Kii Audio Three, which used the fourth movement of Organ Sonata No.1—his "go-to for low-frequency articulation and extension"—to evaluate the speaker's bass response.
In 1973, Lincoln Mayorga recruited Thomas Murray to perform…
Sasha Matson
Ravel: The Complete Edition
Various artists
Decca 478 3725 (14 CDs). 2012. Various prods.; various engs.
If I'm going to die for records, or take them to a desert island, I might as well get my money's worth. For less than $4 per CD, you can pack this superb collection of everything Maurice Ravel composed into a small carry-on. Spanning virtually the entire stereo era, with a global collection of artists and terrific sound, plus all of the vocal texts in a 183-page book, there are no weak links. Organized by type—three discs of piano works, two…
Kalman Rubinson
Kurt Weill, Et Al: Bye Bye Berlin
Marion Rampal, vocals; Raphaël Imbert, saxophone and bass clarinet; Quatuor Manfred
Harmonia Mundi HMM 902295 (CD). 2018. Alban Moraud, artistic dir. and prod.
A gentle bass clarinet introduction, Rampal's soft and breathy voice, and a plucked bass in a habanera rhythm set us up for the entry of her full voice, with strings, as they launch into the eager, longing tango of Weill's "Youkali." Rampal, the quartet, and—importantly—Imbert's low winds share a moderately dry acoustic whose subtle ambiance is just…
Cecilia Bartoli: Farinelli
Cecilia Bartoli, mezzo-soprano; Il Giardino Armonico, Giovanni Antonini, cond.
Decca 4850214 (24/96 download). 2019. Arend Prohmann, prod. and editor; Philip Siney, eng.
Performance: *****
Sonics: ****
Cecilia Bartoli, mezzo-soprano; Il Giardino Armonico, Giovanni Antonini, cond.
Decca 4850214 (24/96 download). 2019. Arend Prohmann, prod. and editor; Philip Siney, eng.
Performance: *****
Sonics: ****
When I first heard mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli in person some 29 years ago, at her West Coast debut in the "Cal Performances" series at Berkeley's Hertz Hall, she was just 24 years old. Along with the rest of the audience, I was astonished at her ability to ally phenomenal coloratura technique with an out-of-the-box range of expression—unheard…