The Metropolitan Opera is not giving up without a fight. Beginning on December 30, the Met will broadcast the first of six star-studded productions, live and in high definition, in movie theaters in the US, Europe, and Canada equipped with high-…
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We all know the refrain. Classical music is losing its audience. With shorter attention spans, the ascent of the iPod, a penchant for music (and spoken word masquerading as music) in the background, and the submergence of audio by home theater, fewer and fewer people in the United States are being exposed to art music of the past and present.
The Philadelphia Orchestra, one of America's prestigious "Big Five" orchestras, has established its own digital online music store to directly market its soundboard recordings of current Philadelphia Orchestra performances.
Other major American orchestras, such as the New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic, have also made performances available for download, but Philadelphia appears to be the first to do so without a distributor. Selling direct allows the PO to sell its MP3 downloads for less—$4.99, about one-third the price of a typical CD. Philadelphia's downloads have…
Telarc, Classic Records, AIX, Cisco Music, Elusive Disc, Reference Recordings, and M•A Recordings have all pulled out of CES 2007, citing new restrictions on sales of merchandise that they feel to be unacceptable. Chesky remains undecided. Music Direct, May Audio, and Acoustic Sounds will exhibit, but will not sell product. Only 5.1 Marketing and Sales is currently committed to selling music.
Reasons given for the pullout vary from label to label. One spokesperson for several companies initially opined, "Music is now [considered] 'software' and not welcome in the Consumer Electronics…
After a series of unforeseen delays, for which we apologize, the CD of Robert Silverman's performance of Beethoven's monumental work for solo piano, the Diabelli Variations (Variations, STPH017-2), is available for purchase from our e-commerce page today, Monday, October 2.
Variations, which couples the Diabelli Variations with Beethoven's little-performed 32 Variations in C-Minor, is the first recording for which I dispensed with tape altogether. Instead, I recorded the output of Ray Kimber's IsoMike microphone array straight to hard disk, with a sample rate of 88.2kHz and 24-bit…
On September 26, Sirius Satellite Radio announced the availability of the $350 Stiletto 100, "the company's first live portable radio, featuring WIFI, Yahoo music purchasing software, and the ability to save music subscribers love for playback later."
The 4.7" by 2" by 1" Stiletto can store up to 100 hours of "live Sirius Satellite Radio programming," albeit in segments of programming lasting no longer than six hours. Users can also save up to 10 hours of favorite songs they designate with the "love" button. The Stiletto 100 can connect to Sirius' Internet radio services via WiFi. It also…
New Naims: At CEDIA 2006, Naim introduced two new products to the North American market: the $1500 NAC122x preamplifier and the $5750 n-Vi all-in-one home entertainment system (DVD-CD player/processor/five-channel amplifier).
The NAC122x is meant to replace the NAC112x; it is based on Naim's NAC202 and features a hardwired motorized Alps volume control, rather than the NAC112x's resistor-ladder volume control. The 122x has six DIN relay-switched inputs, with two (CD and Aux) duplicated on RCA sockets. In addition to the usual DIN and RCA outputs, the 122x also has an RCA output "optimized…
On Saturday, September 30, Ayre Acoustics founder and president Charlie Hansen sustained serious injuries while bicycling in the foothills near his Colorado home. Hansen is currently recovering in Boulder Community Hospital ICU, following surgery.
Hansen, a former top-rated amateur cyclist, was descending a steep grade when he encountered a motorcyclist passing traffic headed up the hill. There were apparently no witnesses at the scene.
Ayre's North American sales manager Steve Silberman told Stereophile that Hansen was in good spirits and had a poor opinion of the functionality…
On September 14, Sonos, Inc., the company whose well-designed wireless Controller adorns the cover of our October issue, announced the release of its Sonos System Software 2.0. John Atkinson and I rode to the 11th floor of Manhattan's glitzy Trump International Hotel and Tower, overlooking Central Park's brilliant canopy of green trees, to meet with Sonos co-founder Thomas Cullen and CEO John MacFarlane for a brief demonstration.
"We're very excited," said Cullen. "We truly believe that [Sonos 2.0] is the biggest thing to happen to music at home since the introduction of the CD player…
Classical music specialist Channel Classics, headquartered in the Netherlands, has begun releasing the first DSD-native, hybrid multichannel SACDs recorded in China. Issued under the Channel of China imprint, the first two titles, Ambush on All Sides (CCS-SA-80106), featuring Zhang Hong Yan on solo pipa, and Soliloquy at Cold Mountain Temple (CCS-SA-80406), with the China National Symphony Orchestra under Li Xin Cao, have recently reached the US. A third SACD, featuring Yu Hong Mei on erhu (CCS-SA-80206), is scheduled to reach European shelves at the end of September and the US three or four…
On October 4, Wisdom Audio announced the appointment of its new president, industry veteran Mark Glazier, to oversee the company's sales, customer development and support, marketing, distribution, and overall business development.
Most recently employed at AudioQuest, Glazier is best known for his 22-year stint at Madrigal—both as an independent company and as part of Harman International—where he oversaw the development and corporate philosophy of the Mark Levinson, Proceed, Revel, and Audioaccess marques. For 16 years, Glazier also served as Madrigal's president.
Glazier told…