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Purely electronic distortions are a different matter altogether, and here I'll make an unscientific observation: The simpler the device, the more benign the distortion. The electronic distortion products added to a music signal by a simple tube amplifier tend overwhelmingly to be the second harmonics of the affected frequencies. Add global feedback to the circuit and, despite a reduction in the amount of second-harmonic products, the far more objectionable odd-order harmonic products are not only left behind like audible driftwood but can actually increase in amplitude. Change the active…
I have to eat crow. I must retract a Record to Die For I handed out this time last year. [sigh] This has never happened before.
The pick in question is the recording, "remastered at Abbey Road" and bound as a book, of David Oistrakh playing the Brahms Violin Concerto and Double Concerto and Beethoven's Triple Concerto, with cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, pianist Sviatoslav Richter, George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra (Brahms), and Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic (Beethoven) (2 SACD/CDs, EMI Signature Collection 9 55978 2).
Why take back an R2D4? I will…
David Bowie: Divine Symmetry (An Alternative Journey Through Hunky Dory)
Parlophone (4 CD Box Set + Blu-ray). 2022. Various prods., engs.
Performance *****
Sonics ****
Parlophone (4 CD Box Set + Blu-ray). 2022. Various prods., engs.
Performance *****
Sonics ****
The David Bowie estate seems to raid more vaults than John Dillinger ever managed to. But then, if the quarry results in quality releases, why not?
Divine Symmetry certainly is a quality release. It's not just the title, which is great (although it's not the first time the "Quicksand" lyric has been used; there was also an unofficial release). Included in the box, alongside a lush book of essays and…
John Escreet: Seismic Shift
Escreet, piano; Eric Revis, bass; Damion Reid, drums
Whirlwind WR4793 (CD, available as download, LP). 2022. Escreet, prod.; Paul Tavenner, eng.
Performance ****
Sonics ****½
Escreet, piano; Eric Revis, bass; Damion Reid, drums
Whirlwind WR4793 (CD, available as download, LP). 2022. Escreet, prod.; Paul Tavenner, eng.
Performance ****
Sonics ****½
The jazz piano trio has accurately been called "the minimum complete jazz orchestra." It is an instrumental format of infinite possibility. The range of what is achievable with a piano trio runs from the ethereal to the tumultuous, from reductive single-note Zen to vast complexity. John Escreet's trio with Eric Revis and Damion Reid leans strongly toward the tumultuous and…
Nielsen: Symphonies 4 (The Inextinguishable) & 5
Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Fabio Luisi, cond.
Deutsche Grammophon (16/44.1 download). 2022. Bernhard Güttler, prod.; Mikkel Nymand, eng.
Performance *****
Sonics ****½
Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Fabio Luisi, cond.
Deutsche Grammophon (16/44.1 download). 2022. Bernhard Güttler, prod.; Mikkel Nymand, eng.
Performance *****
Sonics ****½
Luisi serves up forthright yet unusually cultivated Nielsen. His suave manner, a bit like Rattle's, smooths the music's rougher edges; he doesn't overplay, literally or figuratively, such characteristic gestures as the obsessive short motifs (ostinato, indeed!). In contrast to the Briton, Luisi does this without sacrificing propulsion, energy, or…
Since writing about Manhattan's renovated Geffen Hall in this space in our January issue, I've attended two concerts there. I thought I'd report back. The first of the two performances—the hall's "Grand Gala" concert, though they didn't invite me to the fancy dinner afterward—included works by young Puerto Rico–born composer Angélica Negrón (You Are the Prelude) and Ludwig van Beethoven (Symphony No.9). The second included works by Stravinsky (Symphonies of Wind Instruments), Bartók (Concerto for Two Pianos, Percussion and Orchestra, with Daniil Trifonov and Sergei Babayan), and Sibelius (…
Caroline Shaw: The Wheel
I Giardini: Shuichi Okada, violin; Léa Hennino, viola; Pauline Buet, cello; Eriko Minami, percussion; David Violi, piano
Alpha 881 (24/192 WAV download). 2022. Olivier Rosset, prod., edit., mastering.
Performance *****
Sonics *****
I Giardini: Shuichi Okada, violin; Léa Hennino, viola; Pauline Buet, cello; Eriko Minami, percussion; David Violi, piano
Alpha 881 (24/192 WAV download). 2022. Olivier Rosset, prod., edit., mastering.
Performance *****
Sonics *****
Prolific composer, vocalist, and violinist Caroline Shaw, who turned 40 just last year, possesses a unique gift—one that earned her the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music. Shaw has translated the old performer edict "Don't let them see you sweat" into her compositional craft and mastered the art of expressing complex thoughts…
"A 10" two-way?!?!" I couldn't help gasping in surprise when I unboxed the MoFi Electronics SourcePoint 10 standmounted loudspeakers, which cost $3699/pair.
Some background is in order. Using a large-diameter woofer endows a conventional two-way speaker with potentially high sensitivity and extended low frequencies. However, the large woofer's radiation pattern narrows at the top of its passband, whereas that of a tweeter mounted on a flat baffle is at its widest at the bottom of its passband. Even if the drive units' outputs are well-matched in the speaker's on-axis response, this…
Andrew talked about how he linearized the concentric motor system and by doing so stabilized the fixed field so it doesn't get modulated by the signal current, which leads to nonlinearities, ie, distortion products that, because they occur after the crossover, will not be attenuated. (The crossover filters the signal going into the cone, not the sounds coming out of it.) He also discussed how, in a concentric drive unit, there's always a limit to how much magnetic energy you can get to the tweeter, which you need for it to have a high sensitivity. Andrew came up with a structure where the…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Decription: Two-way, reflex-loaded, standmounted loudspeaker. Drive units: 10" (254mm) paper-cone woofer with concentrically mounted 1.25" (32mm) soft-dome tweeter. Crossover frequency: 1.6kHz. Frequency range: 42Hz–30kHz. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Minimum impedance: 6.2 ohms. Sensitivity: 91dB/2.83V/m. Minimum recommended power: 30W. Maximum power handling: 200W. Supplied accessories: magnetically attached grilles, adhesive rubber feet.
Dimensions: 22.5" (571.5mm) H × 14.5" (368.3mm) W × 16" (406.4mm) D (without grille). Internal volume: 50l. Weight: 46.…