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Music in the Round #34

Sometimes, I think life would be easier if I were an audio customer. If I didn't have to wait on the priorities of the electronics companies, I might have gone out and bought a Blu-ray player months ago. Had I done so, I would have been shocked to find that almost all BD players are released with fewer than the advertised number of features, and sometimes require firmware updates—sometimes even a return to the manufacturer—to have them installed.

The issue is important—some preamplifier-processors and A/V receivers can decode all of the high-definition audio formats, but many can't, and…

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Parasound Halo P 7 preamplifier
When I first heard of Parasound's Halo P 7 preamplifier, at the 2005 Consumer Electronics Show, I was excited: a high-end stereo preamplifier made by a respected company and designed to interface with a multichannel system. In addition, it looked great and was expected to have a list price of $2000. Now, almost three years later, the P 7 is finally available, and it delivers on every point.

Parasound's literature talks about the P 7 as if it is a multichannel preamplifier. It is, of course, but I think of it differently. First, it's purely…

Music in the Round #34 Contacts

Sidebar 1: Contacts

Denon Electronics (USA) LLC, 100 Corporate Drive, Mahwah, NJ 07430-2041. Tel: (201) 762-6500. Fax: (201) 762-6670. Web: www.usa.denon.com.
DSPeaker, VLSI Solution, Hermiankatu 8B, G porras, 2 kerros, FIN-33720 Tampere, Finland. Tel: (358) 3-3140-8200. Fax: (358) 3-3140-8288. Web: www.dspeaker.com, www.vlsi.fi.
Parasound Products, Inc., 2250 McKinnon Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94124. Tel: (415) 397-7100. Fax: (415) 397-0144. Web: www.parasound.com.

Music in the Round #34 Recordings in the Round

Sidebar 2: Recordings In The Round

SCHNITTKE: Piano Concertos 1–3
Ewa Kupiec, Maria Lettberg, piano; Frank Strobel, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra
Phoenix Edition 103 (SACD/CD)

Alfred Schnittke's three piano concertos could not be more different in size and mood, nor could they be more in common as essential Schnittke. The Piano Concerto (1960) is big and unabashedly modern, à la Prokofiev, with much weight and attitude. The Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra (1979) and the Concerto for Piano (4 hands) and Chamber Orchestra (1988) are smaller but not sweeter. All…

Listening #73

I was walking through the woods one day when I happened on a large, flat rock near the base of an old ash tree. Conditioned as I am from such rambles with my daughter, whose interest in wildlife echoes that of my own childhood, I bent down and lifted one end of the rock, hoping to catch a glimpse of some exotic creature or another: perhaps a delicate ring-necked snake, or a plasticky-looking red eft. The rock came loose without too much effort and teetered on its broadest edge, but before I could let it flip to one side, I recoiled in horror: There, amid the millipedes and ant larvae, was a…

Listening #73 Page 2

Now, because a cutter head works on the same principle as a phono cartridge (only in reverse), then as long as its input voltage remains constant, velocity will remain constant as well—and groove amplitude will decrease as frequency rises. Thus, left to its own devices during the mastering stage, an electromagnetic cutter head cuts a constant-velocity groove, creating groove modulations that vary in amplitude with changing frequency.

Particularly within the three or four octaves that comprise the midrange, that's a piece of cake, and the systemic changes in amplitude introduced to the…

2008 Records To Die For

The value of music as a commodity, and as one of mankind's wonders, has never been in such flux. Retail record shops are dying, the former major labels are focused on making records for kids (the same kids they're suing), and the business overall remains wedded to an incredibly short view (get a hit or get out), but the music itself continues to trickle through to those who want it—and, yes, on some level would die without it.

If change exhilarates rather than terrifies you, the collapse of the traditional music-business model has made for a very exciting time. Like wine grapes…

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JOHN ATKINSON ELGAR: Violin Concerto
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: The Lark Ascending
Hilary Hahn, violin; London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis
Deutsche Grammophon 28947-48732-6 (multichannel SACD/CD). 2004. Martin Engstroem, Thomas Frost, prods.; Stephan Flock, balance eng., stereo & surround mixes; Sam O'Kell, eng. DDD. TT: 66:10

For the longest time I was sure I was going to nominate our May 2006 "Recording of the Month," Daniele Gatti's performance with the Royal Philharmonic of Tchaikovsky's Symphony 6 (SACD, Harmonia Mundi HMU 807394), for one of my 2008 "R2D4" slots.…

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JASON COHEN PARKS AND RECREATION: What Was She Doing On the Shore That Night?
Hush HUSH059 2006 (CD). Michael Johnson, prod.; Adam Selzer, eng. DDD? TT: 33:14

Classically trained Portlander Michael Johnson is best—if barely—known for making records as Reclinerland, a project that included members of the Decemberists and Norfolk & Western on 2003's The Ideal Home Music Library, ostensibly an unearthed trove of Tin Pan Alley compositions. His more recent project is (post)modern all the way—well-observed and keenly orchestrated indie bombast bubblegum that's far too unabashed and…

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ART DUDLEY BRAHMS: Piano Concerto 1
Clifford Curzon, piano; London Symphony Orchestra, George Szell
Decca/Speakers Corner SXL 6023 (LP). 1962. AAA. TT: 48:15 (Also available on CD: Decca 417 641-2, ADD.)

Much has been made of how Brahms waited until age 44 to compose his first symphony, feeling as he did the force of Beethoven's legacy at his back. Yet an arguably greater influence came from Brahms's mentor and friend, Robert Schumann, who urged the aspiring composer to begin writing orchestral music in 1853, when Brahms was only 20. That was also the year Schumann re-…