primephonic Magazine - Evolution of Sound

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C L A S S I C A L M U S I C O N L I N E P L AT F O R M

EVOLUTION OF SOUND The Printed Issue 2015 1

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www.primephonic.com 2

FOR CLASSICAL MUSIC LOVERS AND AUDIOPHILES

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CONTENTS 5 Editorial

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20 Chisels & Varnish

The primephonic Vision A Store and More

27 Johannes Moser How Do I Listen?

28 Spectrograms Explained

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31 City Portrait: Amsterdam

Evolution of Sound

18 The Community 24 Music Should Not be a Luxury

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CONTENTS

46

36 From the Recording Session

What the Critics Say

47 The Headphone Revolution

38 The Genesis of “The Rite of Spring”

42 Stravinsky by Picasso

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49 Historical Calendar

Evolution in our Catalogue

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EDITIORIAL

From the Editor primephonic reminds me of life. Music is a living thing that encapsulates our world. Music is alive and well, and never ceases to inspire and evoke the profoundest of feelings and memories. It is constantly evolving and mutating, just as are our preferences in music and the way we choose to listen to it. From a historical viewpoint, the musical timeline is bursting with creative milestones and triumphant feats by our cultural heroes.

How wonderful it is to be able to showcase such human achievement in a manner that is entirely fitting in the digital age. primephonic brings to the public forum some of the greatest (in)famous compositional breakthroughs as well as those well-loved classics, to be discovered in high definition. With high-end speakers and headphones, spectrograms and an increasing amount of releases in the highest quality lossless formats, primephonic is at the cutting edge of the audiophile community.

From innocence to enlightenment, from tradition to innovation, from youth to golden age, from creation to resurrection, from the big bang to the digital boom: primephonic’s vast treasure chest of sound embodies the richness of artistry and audio throughout the ages. Our mission is to deliver music files to you in the same audio format in which they came into being – an uncensored and uncondensed classical music experience.

Rachel Deloughry, Editor

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COLOPHON

Editor: Rachel Deloughry

Contributors: Kevin Painting Mimis Chrysomallis Sander Zwiep David W. Robinson Wolfgang John Erdo Groot Johannes Moser Brendan Jan Walsh Don McIntosh Emile Stoffels Lauran Jurrius Marcel van Tilburg

Creative director: Simon M. Eder Art direction and design: Joost de Boo Creation: Silvia Pietrosanti Erika Tandirau (Assistant) primephonic platform manager: Veronica Neo

Primephonic B.V. Prinses Marielaan 10C 3743 JA Baarn, Netherlands

Proofreading: Emily McCullough Fiona J. Stroker-Gale

info@primephonic.com www.primephonic.com

Printing: Drukkerij Pascal Utrecht, Netherlands

Chamber of Commerce No. :61197041 VAT No. : NL854249394B01

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WE GIVE A#FLAC ABOUT CLASSICAL MUSIC Join our community for classical music lovers and audiophiles: primephonic.com/community

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A “Store” and More

By Veronica Neo

As the new kid on the block in the digital download sphere, primephonic is first and foremost a classical music digital download platform – but we are so much more than that.

The primephonic dream is to co-develop a classical music platform with audiophiles and classical music lovers, which aims to deliver high resolution content to them.

You can stay updated with the new developments we are making every single week by signing up to receive our bi-weekly email updates, or by joining

us in achieving our goals by actively being part of the Circle of Experts or guest contributors. Write to us at: info@primephonic.com.

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THE PRIMEPHONIC VISION

Our Vision Listening to music can be as simple as turning on the radio. On the other hand, it can also be extremely complicated when it comes to finding the right audio files, defining your taste in music and setting up your audio hardware in a manner in which you can hear the real difference.

At primephonic, we want to break down all the barriers standing in the way. We want to understand what frustrates you with and build a solution for you within primephonic.

“Just the right dose of tech” WAV, FLAC, DSD, PCM, kHz, MHz… and we have lost half the audience. The bits and bytes of audio formats is, often so technical and debatable that no two audiophiles can see eye to eye on any given level. When is specification of audio files enough? At primephonic, we keep the bits and bytes for the audiophiles, but also define the sound qualities simply with ‘CD quality’ or ‘Studio quality’, and differentiate 2.0 and 5.0 or 5.1 audio channels as stereo or surround.

If you are unsure of wich file formats your current audio hardware setup can support, or if you would like to upgrade your audio set-up so that you can get the most out of the listening experience, the primephonic Sound Advice Tool is there to guide you every step of the way.

“Bringing classical music closer” “Not alone in the vision” The labels presented on primephonic have so many outstanding recordings to share. We are proud to deliver their content on primephonic and share their label information on the highly personalized label pages and also highlight some of their best artists. With every album available on primephonic, you have the opportunity to read all about the artists and record labels, to truly enjoy the fruit of their excellent work.

Besides working in close proximity with our labels and partners, we also want to create an all-inclusive community for audiophiles and classical music lovers alike. Your very own profile and account on primephonic will allow you to interact with people who share a similar interest or taste in classical music. You can also get to know other audiophiles and hold one-to-one or group conversations.

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Throughout history, there have been so many commemorative events that have taken place which we rarely hear about.

Yet the influences of those legendary composers, the glory of those majestic premières and even the simple daily turn of events that have sparked inspiration, are great milestones, deserving to be remembered.

Primephonic brings them to life with the historical calendar.

As the pioneering genre of music, classical music sometimes seems uncool or only for the more mature audience. From the primephonic team, with members of an average age of 28, we are going to stand against this motion with everything we do. We deliver fresh new articles five times a week, sharing our points of view on a broad spectrum of how relevant classical music is to our lives, and we are constantly expanding our network of guest contributors. You can play a very active role in interacting with us by leaving comments to share your thoughts on our insights after reading our articles.

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“We break down barriers, offer enriched content and create an allinclusive, interactive community”

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PRIMEPHONIC

Evolution of Sound

By Mimis Chrysomallis Mimis Chrysomallis guides us through the audio formats, from wax cylinder to lossless compression of digital audio.

1877

Phonograph cylinder was invented

1982

Compact Disc was made available

1889

Emil Berliner’s earliest disc records appear in Europe

1991

The initial release of the WAV format

1992

MiniDisc was invented

1935

The world’s first practical tape recorder (the AEG Magnetophon K1) is demonstrated at Berlin’s International Radio Exhibition

1993

The initial release of the MP3

1999

The initial release of the DSD format

1948

LP record was made available 2001

The beginning of the FLAC format

1963

1876

Compact Cassette was introduced

1877

1888

1889

1891

TECH INSIGHTS

Phonograph Cylinder

Vinyl Record

Initially designed to reproduce speech, Thomas Edison’s “talking machine” became the earliest commercial medium for recording and reproducing sound. Reaching the peak of its popularity around the early 1900s, the phonograph cylinder consisted of a wax cylinder with an audio recording engraved on the outer surface. The musical notes could be reproduced when it was played on a mechanical cylinder phonograph.

Also known as gramophone or phonograph records, vinyl records were the primary medium for music reproduction throughout most of the 20th century.

A vinyl record, commonly referred to simply as a “record.” is an analogue sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed spiral groove that starts near the periphery and ends near the disc’s centre. Vinyl records are usually described by their diameter in inches (i.e., 7”, 10” or 12”).

In the years preceding World War I, phonograph cylinders co-existed with gramophone records and competed for public favour until the latter eventually prevailed in the 1920s. However, cylinder phonograph technology continued to be used for dictation purposes by companies such as Dictaphone, and one could still encounter cylinder dictating machines in the 1950s.

Commercial production of disc records first began in the early 1890s, with Emil Berliner’s “gramophone record” the first disc record to become publically available. The LP (Long Play) record was introduced

by Columbia Records in 1948 and it quickly became the new standard for the entire industry. The LP was particularly suited to classical music recordings because of its extended continuous playing time.

Cylinders were sold in cardboard tubes with cardboard caps on either end.

During the vinyl era, stereophonic sound recording became the standard internationally, and records gained widespread appreciation for their level of fidelity and high quality of sound reproduction. Although challenged significantly by the advent of digital technology, vinyl records have remained popular among audiophiles and are still used extensively by DJs.

American composer John Philip Sousa (1854–1932) once referred to their content as “canned music.”

1903

1913

1915

PRIMEPHONIC

Compact Cassette

Compact Disc

Originally designed for dictation machines, the cassette (also called cassette tape or audio cassette) is a magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. The Compact Cassette was introduced

by Philips in the early 1960s, with a relatively poor sound quality: however, it improved significantly by the early 1970s and displaced the 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel tape recording. It also grew increasingly popular as an alternative to the 12-inch vinyl LP, thanks to its small size and re-recordable nature.

Originally planned as a successor to the gramophone record, the standard Compact Disc (CD) format was produced by the combined efforts of Philips and Sony in the late 1970s. A digital optical disc developed to store and play sound recordings, the CD was met with enthusiastic response by audiophiles and received significant praise from the classical music community.

As the price of CD players gradually decreased, the new audio disc also became popular in the wider pop music market.

The cassette’s popularity grew even further after the emergence of portable pocket recorders and high-fidelity players such as the Sony Walkman. After its peak in the late 1980s, the market for cassettes began to decline considerably; by the early 2000s, most of the major U.S. music companies had stopped producing cassette tapes. Although increasingly marginal in commercial music sales, cassettes are occasionally still chosen by independent record labels for some of their releases.

In 1990, recordable CDs were introduced, quickly became a common alternative to magnetic tape technology for recording music and copying music albums. Although CDs are still used extensively, their sales have started to see a decline over the past few years, largely owing to the popularity of digital audio formats and file-sharing of audio files over the Internet.

In India, film and sacred music continues to be released on cassettes due to the low cost of the format.

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1935

The first CD pressed was a recording of Richard Strauss’s “An Alpine Symphony” conducted by Herbert von Karajan.

The first commercial CD was produced on 17 August 1982. It was a recording of Chopin waltzes performed

by Claudio Arrau.

1940

1948

TECH INSIGHTS

WAV File Developed by Microsoft and IBM, WAV (or WAVE: Waveform Audio File Format) is the main format used on Windows systems for raw audio, and it is also compatible with Macintosh and Linux operating systems. WAV files can also contain compressed audio: however, the WAV audio format is usually uncompressed audio in the linear pulse code modulation format (which is also the standard audiocoding format for CDs).

Despite their large size, uncompressed WAV files are frequently used for retaining original high quality audio files, especially when no space limitations apply. The familiarity and simple structure of the WAV format has ensured its continued use, and it has remained popular for a variety of applications, such as audio editing.

Uncompressed WAV files are sometimes used by radio broadcasters such as BBC Radio.

1963

MiniDisc The MiniDisc is a magneto-optical, disc-based data storage device that was released by Sony in September 1992. Unlike cassettes or CDs, the MiniDisc is a randomaccess medium (which means significantly less time is required to read and write data) that offers the option to easily split, combine, move or delete tracks.

Although it had a loyal customer base mostly among musicians and audio enthusiasts, and was highly popular in Japan and the rest of East Asia during the 1990s, MiniDisc had only limited success in other markets.

Moreover, its position in the media storage market was greatly affected by the widespread use of other playback devices and portable media players that were introduced in the late 1990s. Sony eventually announced that MiniDiscs would no longer be developed, and the last devices were sold in March 2013.

1982

PRIMEPHONIC

MP3 File

Super Audio CD / DSD

Commonly used for the storage, transfer and playback of music on digital audio players, MP3 (MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is an audio-coding format for digital audio, which uses a form of lossy data compression. Lossy compression works by reducing the accuracy of certain sound parts not audible to most people, thus significantly reducing the amount of data required to represent the original audio recording. In effect, lossy audio encoding represents a trade-off between the amount of space used and the sound quality of the final result.

Introduced in 1999, the Super Audio CD (SACD) is a read-only optical disc for audio storage that uses the Direct Stream Digital (DSD) format for digitally recreating audible signals. An SACD disc has precisely the same physical dimensions as a standard CD: however, it features a longer playing time, a greater audio bit rate, and also permits surround sound recordings (up to 6 channels).

There are more than 10,000 titles released on SACD, approximately 60% of which belong to the classical music genre.

Toward the late 1990s, MP3 files grew increasingly popular following the release of Winamp and the first portable digital audio players. At the same time, their small size facilitated extensive (and often unauthorized) peer-to-peer file-sharing of music over the Internet, which had previously been almost impossible. MP3 files remain popular to this day as they allow fast transmission over the Internet and take up less space in media memory.

The song “Tom’s Diner” by American singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega was the first song used for testing purposes by audio engineer Karlheinz Brandenburg while he was developing the MP3 format.

1991

1992

1993

1999

TECH INSIGHTS

FLAC File An open format with royalty-free licensing, FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is an audio-coding format for lossless compression of digital audio. Unlike lossy formats such as MP3, FLAC is a lossless format, which means the original audio recording can be perfectly reconstructed from the compressed data.

FLAC is especially suited to preserving audio collections and archiving music from CDs or other media, as it ensures that an exact duplicate of the original data can be recovered at any time, should the original media somehow be damaged or lost. In addition, the FLAC format offers CD-level audio quality at roughly half the size, whilst being compatible with most audio players and playback devices.

2001

2006

1876

Alexander Graham Bell made the first successful telephone call

1888

The earliest known recording of music that still exists is George Frideric Handel’s “Israel in Egypt,” recorded on an Edison wax cylinder.

The performance took place at the Crystal Palace in London, with a choir of several thousand singers

1891

Carnegie Hall was opened, featuring performances of works by the guest of honour, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

1903

The first narrative movie, “The Great Train Robbery,” was released. Instead of synchronized recorded sound, a piano player performed the live soundtrack in the theatre

1913

Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony was the first ever complete recording of a symphony

1915

The first trans-continental telephone call

1927 First feature-length talking movie, “The Jazz Singer” 1940

Walt Disney’s “Fantasia” becomes the first commercial film featuring 8-track stereophonic sound

2006

New York’s Metropolitan Opera launched its “Live in HD” programme, a series of six opera simulcasts transmitted in HD to 100 movie theatres across North America

2015

PRIMEPHONIC

The Community

Don McIntosh Audiophile

Veronica Neo Platform manager at primephonic

Lauran Jurrius Clarinettist and Audio Engineer

“I attend live concerts as frequently as I can, even making a point of attending one while abroad. When I am still, unplugged from the digital world and watching the performers on stage work magic on their instruments, I find myself transported into another universe. I observe the purity of the instrument sound and always listen for what is actually going on behind the audio mixers.

“My favourite choice of seat is as near the mixing booth (if there is one) as possible, because I know that is where the audio experts determine the level of the audio mix and projection during soundchecks. Concerts always leave a final burst of emotions, like fireworks in my heart, and I can’t wait to find a premium-quality recording of what I have just heard ‘live’ in order to relive that moment of magic again.

“Every moment in life worth remembering is never without a song.”

“On occasion, when I listen to music, I turn down the lights, sit myself down in the sweet spot of my carefully placed surround set-up and really let myself be immersed in the music. But the more time spent in studios listening critically and technically, the less desirable it becomes to sit oneself down between speakers when trying to achieve some peace of mind.

“More so, I can enjoy music while doing the dishes or driving a car; in situations where I’m less prone to be confronted with ‘imperfections’ in the music that my ears would involuntarily seek out.

And sometimes, after a long day of listening, the best thing to listen to is silence. But still, if I can get into the right state of mind, there is nothing quite like listening to that perfect recording and being carried away by the musical (im)perfections, be it at home on the couch or at work behind a studio desk.”

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“Music is a foreground activity, not a background one. It’s my inspiration, my balm, my beauty, my sadness, my joy, my rage, my catharsis.

“I have been a music lover for more than 50 years. I attend symphony orchestra concerts and other musical events on a regular basis. To me, listening to music is a foreground activity, not a background one. Being able to reproduce the sound of live music in the home as realistically as possible has been a long-time goal. I have a collection of about 2400 LPs and CDs. I listen to music of all eras including some pop and jazz, with a special interest in contemporary classical and film music. As an ‘audiophile,’ I have regularly upgraded my stereo system, and have LPs, reel-to-reel tapes, cassettes, CDs, SACDs, Blu-rays and now high-resolution downloads. Highresolution digital files bring us even closer to our elusive goal. It is marvellous to have a service like primephonic that caters to both the classical music lover and the audiophile.“

COMMUNITY

Emile Stoffels Classical music reviewer at Luister “Last autumn, I was invited by primephonic to take part in a brainstorm session, in which members from a focus group were asked to give input on the primephonic pilot website.

I myself am, in the first place, a musiclover, but also an audiophile.

“I strongly believe that music is the most powerful form of communication.

One of my life’s missions therefore is to help people – myself included – to explore the sheer beauty of the infinite world now known as classical music.

Listening for instance to Bruckner’s 8th Symphony, one can hardly imagine how a composer can write such a personal piece of music and yet totally serve and carry the spiritual world. It’s an example of a living masterpiece, which makes us raise our gaze to the heavens. The worse our world becomes, the more we need music that consoles us: music that is full of repose and is restful in itself.

“We can of course make an attempt to speak about something we cannot comprehend. But we’d prefer just to listen to it and perceive the sheer beauty and nobility, which strikes us time and again.”

Marcel van Tilburg Media producer for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Audiophile “At the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, we strive for the highest possible artistic level and we try to capture this in our recordings, aiming for a sound quality as close as possible to ‘the original.’ With the current move from physical sound-carriers to downloads and streaming, we are happy our recordings are finally available not only in hi-res stereo, but also in surround, offering a superior experience.

“I think primephonic has chosen exactly the right time to offer a new high-resolution download platform.

At this moment, people are becoming increasingly aware that MP3 isn’t the right thing. But at the same time, people also accept that they no longer have to buy a physical CD in order to have good quality-music. Among those that provide better quality digital audio, primephonic stands out as supplying actual recording quality. I personally enjoy listening to music in concert-halls and at home, allowing me to compare live and recorded performances.”

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Brendan Jan Walsh Creative Director of the Classical Music Rave “Music Escort Service: I’m picky when it comes to ‘my clients.’ With the classical music rave I stimulate the young and beautiful Generation Y to join the luscious party that is art music. With my classical music deejay duo Mengel & Berg, we’re always treasure-hunting for high-quality recordings of brilliant and rhythmical performances We want our listeners to lose themselves in the groove and flow of the music. Music listening is fun anyhow, but for it to be unforgettable you want the setting to be just right. Every detail counts.

Quality over quantity!

“It is my task to protect you from nasty clients that bite your ears. So stop flirting below your class and start gold digging for primephonic.”

JOIN THE COMMUNITY! Create your own profile at primephonic.com/community

PRIMEPHONIC

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PORTRAIT

Chisels and Varnish Although the modern violin has not changed much in 400 years, the profession of a violin maker has evolved significantly in recent times, as primephonic editor Rachel Deloughry delves into violin making and restorer Tomoko Koizumi.

By Rachel Deloughry

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“Nowadays... it is more of an artisan profession, rather than an industry that manufactures”

At the atelier of Tomoko Koizumi in Den Haag

HAVING grown up in a house full of instruments, with a father who makes violins, mandolins and guitars, I was delighted to venture into the Boomsma and Koizumi workshop in The Hague, where I felt quite at home. Chatting with Tomoko Koizumi, a violin maker and restorer, I gained a fascinating insight into the life of a full-time craftswoman. Koizumi is one half of the husband and wife team who run their own violin making, restoring and dealing business, Boomsma & Koizumi.

Koizumi studied violin making in Milan, while her husband Jelle Boomsma studied in Cremona. The couple have a charming workshop and way of life.

Three centuries ago, a violin brand would have been named after the maker who established the business, thereby spreading his name far and wide, while a number of people, including many apprentices, worked on his behalf. Although all the violins

“A glimpse of a violin maker’s workshop” were sold under one name, the man himself, perhaps past his “golden age,” may not even have made very many violins himself. Nowadays, according to Koizumi, it is more of an “artisan” profession, rather than an industry that “manufactures,” in that individuals are setting up their own small businesses instead of working for large violin making companies. There are fewer machines to manufacture the products because the violin makers of today receive increasingly advanced training in making everything by hand. Violin making and repairing has moved from the factory to the studio, where the individual artisan is are making the instruments from start to finish.

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In Koizumi’s native Japan, local violin makers had a great sense of community due to Japan being so geographically distant from the European birthplace of the violin. Sharing information and referring customers to one another was the norm in Japan and they all seemed to be more closely networked.

Moving to Europe - to Milan, London and The Hague - it appeared to her that there was less of a local network and more of an international one.

Tomoko Koizumi is happy with the recent changes in information-sharing in Europe. “We are connected more globally,” she says. “Even up to 20 years ago, violin makers were more likely to say ‘this is my secret, I don’t want to share it.’ But now the sharing of information is seen as something cool.” Everybody is proud to be telling, sharing and spreading the word on Facebook and Twitter. In her own

PORTRAIT

lifetime, so much has changed. I ask her “Do you feel that sense of community among violin makers in the Netherlands, like in Japan?” “Yes but not much. Dutch violin making is very individual.” She explains that, although makers are aware of one another, the network has dispersed into a realm that is so broad that there is very little sense of the “local” for makers, especially when you consider that you can get to Paris in less than 3 hours. In essence, someone is as likely to travel to visit a violin workshop in Paris or Brussels as in The Hague.

Koizumi’s specialisation is in violin and cello repairs. Cellos tend to get much worse breaks, which is a considerable source of work for Koizumi – she draws my attention to a cello in an extreme state of disrepair in front of us, a common occurrence since musicians often leave them on the floor during orchestra

practice! This one looks as though someone’s boot went through it.

I am interested to know about raw materials, and whether or not instrument makers have easy access to good quality supplies. “Yes and no,” she tells me. Maple, one of the most popular woods for violin, comes from the Balkans, and for a period in Koizumi’s career, the political situation made it more difficult to obtain materials. Today it is a much easier process. Spruce, on the other hand, comes from the Alps and has always been very easy to source. For the backs of the instruments, maple with a “tiger-striped” appearance is popular aesthetically. In the Boomsma & Koizumi studio, it is wonderful to look around and examine the vast array of instruments. A colourful variety in qualities can be seen in woods that were sourced from different eras

ALBUM RECOMMENDATION

Now available on www.primephonic.com

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and areas. Koizumi shows me some examples of wood originating from a time and place that experienced prolonged cold weather: you can see that the grain was in finer stripes. As it is getting warmer now, the trees grow very fast, affecting both the aesthetic quality and the density of the wood.

“Even up to 20 years ago, violin makers were more likely to say ‘this is my secret’”

CATAGORY PRIMEPHONIC TITLE

Music Should Not Be A Luxury

By Wolfgang John

For 33 years, Wolfgang John has been a managing partner and managing director at ELAC, the German manufacturer of high-end loudspeakers.

On 1 January 2015, he retired. In this column, Mr. John shines light on the true values behind great music, the laws of physics and ELAC’s partnership with primephonic.

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POINT OF VIEW

DURING a recent interview, a journalist asked me a seemingly trivial question: “Can music be a luxury?” My immediate response was “No, music should be accessible to everyone. The luxury is conveying a sense of the scale of the music.” By way of an example, I recalled an experience from my youth. Although slightly sentimental, it is relevant nonetheless. I grew up in Austria and lived for many years in the world’s music capital, Vienna. Did the Vienna Philharmonic make an impression on me? Of course it did. However, I vividly recall how a group of us youths unpacked our guitars in the woods and played music together in a small circle.

Some of my friends sang so well that guests at the various hostelries would invite them to share a glass of wine.

Some may argue that music is a luxury, though this is not always quantifiable.

This little anecdote illustrates the complexity involved. To experience great music, you always need two participants: the creator and the recipient. Our company ELAC acts as the intermediary. Or rather, ELAC strives to act as the bridge – with loudspeakers that add nothing, and

take nothing away. This is no easy undertaking. It’s every bit as challenging as capturing good music using microphones and mixing consoles.

This is why I am particularly delighted about our partnership with primephonic. I know the team and I value the expertise, creativity, and professionalism of this group of sound engineers.

In particular, Jean-Marie Geijsen of Polyhymnia has given us a few pointers on how to make a very good loudspeaker even better. We have listened to his advice. Ultimately, all of our engineers at ELAC understand that the laws of physics can measure many things, but Jean-Marie’s experience is second to none. As a sound engineer, he knows the great concert-halls of the world, he knows the legendary conductors, and he understands how

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the great artists want things to sound.

He is a master at combining all these values and bringing them to life. And this leads on to what is almost a crisis of faith. As a listener blessed with the finest high-end system and the best recordings, can you honestly say that it’s the same as witnessing a live performance in the Bayreuth Festival Theatre or the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein? You can argue the point, but the acoustic reality is something that cannot be forced. A reproduction can never be anything more than that.

Then why bother with recordings and loudspeakers? Because great recordings inspire us and are themselves works of art. We’re all familiar with the heroics involved in the early days of stereophonic sound, the documentaries of the Beatles’ recording sessions or Herbert von

POINT OF VIEW

Karajan’s meticulous approach in the studio. Can such epoch-defining achievements be surpassed? I believe they can. In my view, the sound engineers of today are in a different class and play an even greater role as artistic partners to the musicians. Those wishing to experience this need look no further than primephonic. Here’s the thing - I like the idea of high-definition sound, delivered directly from the label to the listener.

- which will only sound good if all the musicians perform in the same room and the recording is not sent to the leading tenor in Milan, New York or London so that he can add his part to the music afterwards. Building good loudspeakers requires a team effort, exhaustive listening sessions, high precision machinery, and a surprisingly large amount of skilled manual work.

Historically speaking, this is a unique opportunity. ELAC made its name in the consumer electronics industry as a manufacturer of turntables. A record was and still is – even in today’s vinyl boom – a copy of a copy of a copy.

In almost all cases, a CD is the compressed version of much larger and richer sources of information held in the archives of record companies.

With primephonic, listeners are gaining access to the masters - the highest benchmark within the studio itself.

What I like about this business model is not only the tonal authenticity, but also the sense of fairness. Many labels rely on reissues, remastering, remixing.

However, the focus at primephonic is on the original master. Committed to delivering the ultimate in transparency, primephonic not only documents details of the recording sessions, but also provides the spectrogram of the recording to prove the authenticity of the high-resolution recording chain.

As a result, the question foremost in my mind is what proof of honesty can a loudspeaker manufacturer offer? Here at ELAC, “Made in Germany” is more than just a label on our packaging, but something truly dear to our hearts.

It is like a full-scale opera recording

1 dB. These are honest values, not just to us, but also to the journalists and sound engineers around the world who agree with us. This is something we want to expand - together with primephonic, and our customers.

From now on, selected pairs of our loudspeakers will also include a voucher for high-quality primephonic downloads. At major trade fairs, we will use tracks from primephonic to showcase the abilities of sound engineers and loudspeaker engineers.

This is because music should not be a luxury, but rather an event, a stimulus, a gateway to new experiences.

“…music should not be a luxury, but rather an event, a stimulus, a gateway to new experiences”

ALBUM RECOMMENDATION Wolfgang John

Those who outsource the individual production steps will not achieve the same end result as a company that operates a continuous production chain at a single location. For example, the legendary JET-tweeter, an intricately folded tweeter membrane, is manufactured exclusively here at our company headquarters in Kiel.

We could do “showy” design, but we prefer to rely on strict criteria instead.

The linear tuning of our loudspeakers has a maximum deviation of plus/minus

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Now available on www.primephonic.com

COMMUNITY

How Do I Listen: Cellist Johannes Moser Born into a musical family in 1979 as a dual citizen of Germany and Canada, Johannes began studying the cello at the age of eight. He is now “one of the finest among the astonishing gallery of young virtuoso cellists” (Gramophone Magazine).

bustle around me. I have stopped listening to compressed files like MP3s altogether, since the lack of overtones and depth really takes a huge toll on the listening experience and does not do any justice to the music. Up until now, I therefore had to use a CD player or the DVD player of my laptop, or upload my CDs without compression to my mobile devices.

He recently signed as an exclusive artist with the record label PENTATONE. His first release - Dvorák & Lalo Cello Concertos- is available as high-definition download on primephonic in September 2015.

“I am hugely excited about using primephonic because it meets the demands of my mobile lifestyle perfectly: I can acquire and listen to any of my favourite pieces of music, anytime, anywhere, without any concession to sound quality, brilliance and richness.

Primephonic is truly taking my listening experience to the next level.”

“Music is an essential part of my life: when I am not performing, I love to listen to pieces that I don’t get to play myself, like symphonies, operas and of course music of other genres. Given my busy concert schedule, I travel around the globe for most of the year. However, being on the road does not mean that I want to compromise when it comes to sound quality and enjoyment of music.

“When I travel, I use noise-cancelling headphones by BOSE or Sennheiser to block out airplane noise and the hustle and

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Spectrograms Explained

By Sander Swiep

Sander Zwiep, editor of “De Klassieken” at the Dutch broadcasting station AVROTROS, is also a music producer and a passionate lover of Bach. He shares with primephonic an insight into how we can best understand the spectrogram.

To enjoy classical music in “near-live quality,” I see the importance of high-quality audio files. But, before you pay for digital music, you might want to doublecheck the audio quality. Primephonic provides a unique feature for this purpose: the spectrogram. Yes, it sounds very Star Trek-ish, but the spectrogram is quite a common thing in the professional audio world.

Essentially, a spectrogram is a visual representation of the spectrum (range) of frequencies in a sound, as they vary with time. People actually use spectrograms to analyse animal sounds (whales, dolphins), seismological activity and – obviously – music.

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CATAGORY TITLE

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TECH INSIGHTS

Spectorgram

A musical spectrogram is mostly two-dimensional. The horizontal axis represents time (music being played), whereas the vertical axis shows the frequency of the music. This kind of graph gives a great insight in a piece of digital audio. Please bear with me, since we’re indeed not talking about vinyl or good old cassettes, but invisible bits and bytes.

with its limited frequency response above 15,000 hertz. The “normal” CD was already a great improvement with a maximum frequency of 44.1 kHz (44,100 hertz). “Okay,” you might say, “so that’s already twice the frequency range of our ears. What’s the need for digital audio with an even higher frequency?” Well, that has to do with the Nyquist Theorem. “The what?”

If you want to interpret frequency data, it is good to have some points of reference. Let’s start with our human hearing. The frequency range stated for us humans is 20 to 20,000 hertz.

So, from 20 up to 20,000 sound waves per second. Most adults however already have an inferior response, with 15 or 16 kHz (kilohertz) as maximum audible frequency (which is still not bad, considering a tuna only hears up to 1.1 kHz, but then again, it doesn’t listen to classical music).

The Nyquist Theorem stems from back in 1928 and was thought up by Harry Nyquist (hence the name…). Nyquist proved that, when you want to convert an analogue signal into a digital signal, the frequency of that digital signal has to be at least twice as high as the original source frequency, in order to provide digital playback without audible quality loss. Yes, this theorem is quite complex. Just remember this: when you want to have the concert hall experience in your living room, the sound of the orchestra, as it was recorded, has to be stored at such a quality level that - with your eyes closed - you find yourself in the midst of a live concert.

But hey, let’s say we can hear up to 20,000 hertz. Then we want to fully exploit the potential of our ears. So the music we playback, should also provide audible “sound information” all the way up to that 20,000 hertz. The good old cassette tape was not that great,

On primephonic, this quality level averages 96 kHz. Meaning that the

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audio file has a frequency resolution of 96,000 hertz! When you play back an audio file, a complex process takes place to make the music audible. When we take a resolution of 96 kHz and combine that with the Nyquist Theorem, we have a supreme audio-quality level: our ears won’t hear anything of difficult digital reproduction processes, filtering or “aliasing.” No, just sheer musical bliss.

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Amsterdam: “A Classical Portrait”

By Mimis Chrysomallis From majestic neoclassical structures to intimate churches and futuristic buildings, Amsterdam boasts plenty of magnificent locations nurturing its vibrant classical music scene.

IT ALL BEGAN in 1883 with construction in what was then a pasture in the city’s outskirts. More than two thousand 12-metre long piles were sunk into the moist Dutch soil in order to support what would become Amsterdam’s main concert-hall, known today as The Royal Concertgebouw. The hall’s opening concert took place on 11 April 1888, with a 120-piece orchestra and a chorus of 500 singers performing works by Wagner, Handel, Bach and Beethoven. Due to its excellent acoustics, the Concertgebouw is widely considered one of the finest concert-halls in the world. Displayed on the balcony ledges and the walls of its impressive main hall are the surnames of 46 composers (from Bach and Mozart, to Mahler and Bartók), surrounding the imposing organ that has stood proudly on the stage since 1890.

One of the most visited concer- halls world-wide, the Concertgebouw is also famous for its resident orchestra. One of the world’s leading orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is one of the world’s leading orchestras, and has collaborated closely with conductors of great renown, such as Eugen Jochum, Riccardo Chailly and Bernard Haitink — who once praised the Concertgebouw as the best instrument of the orchestra that it houses. For many decades, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra have also been regular performers at the Concertgebouw.

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PRIMEPHONIC

“One of the most visited concert-halls world-wide” Housed inside the Stopera building complex on the edge of the Amstel River, the Dutch National Opera & Ballet (formerly known as Het Muziektheater) is the home of the Dutch National Opera (the Dutch National Ballet and Het Balletorkest formerly Holland Symfonia). With an impressive curved façade facing the Amstel River and a capacity of 1,600 seats, Amsterdam’s principal operahouse features a diverse programme that combines classical repertoire with innovative productions, modern operas and avant-garde ballets.

The Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ opened its doors in 2005 and has since established itself as one of the city’s foremost music venues, a true haven for enthusiasts of contemporary classical music. The prize-winning building rises over Amsterdam’s waterfront, which also connects to the city’s principal jazz venue, the Bimhuis, and is wrapped in a glass skin that follows the style of modern Scandinavian architecture.

With a capacity of 725 seats, the main auditorium features a variable acoustic (with reverberation time ranging from 1.5 to 3.5 seconds), and is equally suited to both chamber music and large orchestras thanks to its adjustable ceiling, walls and floor. The Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ houses several music ensembles — Nieuw Ensemble, Ives Ensemble, Amsterdam Sinfonietta — and stages the World Minimal Music

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Festival, a biennial music festival inspired by minimal music.

Another recent addition to the city’s classical music venues is the new building of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, which opened in April 2008 on the Oosterdokseiland, just to the east of Amsterdam Centraal railway station. A fresh and striking presence against the city’s skyline, this grand structure features three concert-halls for classical music and jazz, including the spacious 450-seat Bernard Haitinkzaal and the 120-seat Sweelinckzaal, both of which have windows that permit the daylight to enter and make for a special and extra bright listening experience.

Next to the formal and renowned concert-halls, Amsterdam also boasts cultural venues of exceptional

CITY PORTRAIT

elegance that occasionally host classical music performances. Raised from the ashes of its predecessor, wich burned down back in 1894, the Stadsschouwburg (Municipal Theatre) is housed inside an impressive neoRenaissance building on Leidseplein, and is the former home of the Dutch National Ballet and Opera. Founded in 1887, Royal Theatre Carré is another of Amsterdam’s elegant and historic venues. Starting out as a circus, it was used for vaudeville shows in the early 20th century and occasionally held Italian operas and operettas. The theatre has retained its graceful façade and interior design, and is now mostly used for musicals and cabaret performances. Last but not least, the Beurs van Berlage (c. 1896-1903), with its characteristic red-brick building and rich history, is also used for classical concerts. It was also the home of the

Dutch Philharmonic Orchestra until 2012.

Classical music in Amsterdam also thrives in its beautiful churches and temples. Right in the heart of the Jordaan, the Noorderkerk hosts a series of Saturday afternoon concerts that allow talented young soloists and new ensembles to introduce themselves to the public. Meanwhile, organ concerts regularly take place throughout the city in churches such as the Nieuwe Kerk (where Gustav Leonhardt served as a permanent organist), the Oude Kerk (where celebrated Dutch composer Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck is buried), or the Basilica of Saint Nicholas, all of which feature exquisite pipe organs.

Moreover, the atmospheric Uilenburger Synagogue holds monthly concerts with works by Jewish composers, while

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classical music performances also take place in locations such as the Amstelkerk or the Bethaniënklooster, a former 15th-century monastery in the red-light district whose main hall has been converted into a concert-hall.

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PRIMEPHONIC

In the summer, Amsterdam becomes an especially attractive location for classical music enthusiasts. This is in large part due to a number of important festivals that promote classical music in all its shades and colours, making it available in a variety of venues throughout the city.

the world’s foremost performers. In the past, the Holland Festival has held notable world premières, including Karlheinz Stockhausen’s HelikopterStreichquartett (“Helicopter String Quartet”) in 1995.

From the end of June until the end of August, the Concertgebouw hosts the Robeco SummerNights series, an integral part of Amsterdam’s summer cultural agenda. Held for the first time in 1988, Robeco SummerNights features a varied programme from classical and jazz to cabaret and film scores. Extending over two months of exciting concerts, the festival includes performances from world-famous soloists and maestros, with previous editions hosting German violinist Julia Fischer and Swedish conductor Herbert Blomstedt.

Established in 1947, the Holland Festival is the oldest performing arts festival in the Netherlands, bringing together theatre, music, opera and modern dance. Performances take place every June in numerous locations, such as the Dutch National Opera & Ballet, Stadsschouwburg, Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, as well as more unconventional venues like the Gashouder in Amsterdam’s Westergasfabriek complex. The festival’s programme focuses primarily on contemporary works, and typically features some of

N

The ten-day Grachtenfestival (“Canal Festival”) is one of the highlights of the city’s musical calendar. It has been held from mid- to late August every year since 1998. The Grachtenfestival provides a stage for young and talented classical musicians, with performances taking place in specially selected settings on or beside Amsterdam’s waterways. Part of the Grachtenfestival (although independently organised) is the renowned Prinsengrachtconcert, a free open-air classical music concert that has been held annually since 1981 on Amsterdam’s historic Prinsengracht canal. The orchestra performs on a floating platform while the audience gathers alongside the canal to listen to the music, or watch from nearby boats, thus creating a unique atmosphere that perfectly combines the Amsterdammers’ two great loves: water and classical music.

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CITY PORTRAIT

A.Royal Concertgebouw Concertgebouwplein 10 1071 LN Amsterdam +31 (0)20 573 05 73 www.concertgebouw.nl

H. Noorderkerk Noordermarkt 48 1015 NA Amsterdam +31 (0)20 6266436 www.noorderkerk.org

B. Dutch National Opera & Ballet Amstel 3 1011 PN Amsterdam +31 (0)20 551 8117 www.operaballet.nl

I. Nieuwe Kerk Dam 1012 NP Amsterdam +31 (0)20 626 8168 www.nieuwekerk.nl

C. Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ Piet Heinkade 1 1019 BR Amsterdam +31 (0)20 788 2000 www.muziekgebouw.nl

J. Oude Kerk Oudekerksplein 23 1012 GX Amsterdam +31 (0)20 625 8284 www.oudekerk.nl

D.Stadsschouwburg Leidseplein 26 1017 PT Amsterdam +31 (0)20 624 2311 www.stadsschouwburgamsterdam.nl

K. Basilica of Saint Nicholas Prins Hendrikkade 73 1012 AD Amsterdam +31 (0)20 330 7812 www.nicolaas-parochie.nl

E. Conservatorium van Amsterdam Oosterdokskade 151 1011 DL Amsterdam +31 (0)20 527 75550 www.ahk.nl/conservatorium

L. Uilenburger Synagogue Nieuwe Uilenburgerstraat 91 1011 LM Amsterdam +31 (0)20 876 5225 www.beithachidush.nl

F. Royal Theatre Carré Amstel 115/125 1018 EM Amsterdam 0900 2525255 www.carre.nl

M. Amstelkerk Amstelveld 10 1017 Amsterdam +31 (0)20 520 0090 www.amstelkerk.net

G. Beurs van Berlage Damrak 243 1012 ZJ Amsterdam +31 (0)20 530 4141 www.beursvanberlage.nl

N. Westergasfabriek complex Polonceaukade 27 1014 DA Amsterdam +31 (0)20 586 0710 www.westergasfabriek.nl

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CATAGORY PRIMEPHONIC TITLE

From the Recording Session

By Erdo Groot

Erdo Groot, sound engineer at Polyhymnia International, provides us with a fascinating glimpse of a recent session with the Russian National Orchestra, conducted

by Mikhail Pletnev, recording a Scriabin programme for PENTATONE. “... there are individual accents and phrasing that bring out the deep feeling behind the notes and make the whole ensemble sound as one.�

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TECH INSIGHTS

POLYHYMNIA International makes many different audio recordings in various locations around the world, including many for PENTATONE. One project I did recently was of Scriabin’s Symphony No. 1 and “The Poem of Ecstasy” with the Russian National Orchestra, conducted by Mikhail Pletnev. This was a particularly complicated and interesting recording to do. These pieces display a lot of the imagination of the composer (both early and later in life), and are easily shaped by the interpretation of the conductor and the musicians. The compositions also effectively highlight each individual player’s ability – there are wonderful trumpet parts in the “Poem”. The challenge was to find the right recording technique to capture it all, in a way that sounds as impressive on disc as it did live.

For this we went to Moscow’s DZZ studio. Its wonderful acoustic permits to use a microphone technique that provides the purest and most faithful sound registration, exposing all the different layers of sound. These are large ensemble pieces, with lots of brass and percussion. Particularly in surround sound, which allows for an even more faithful reproduction than in stereo, all of the sounds are beautifully layered - from the choir at the back to the orchestra in the centre, to the individual solo violin part up front.

Maestro Pletnev has a rapport with this music, which is reflected in how he plays the wonderful piano pieces

by Scriabin, and there is a sense during the performances that Pletnev is conducting the orchestra as if playing a piano. He and the orchestra navigate tempo changes together, and there are individual accents and phrasing that bring out the deep feeling behind the

Kirchengemeinde St. Ludwig in Berlin-Wilmersdorf

notes and make the whole ensemble sound as one.

The orchestration of these pieces is wonderful. The “Poem”, in particular, includes an organ at the end of the piece, and there is a steady build-up to a rousing climax, with the entire orchestra playing at maximum volume.

As the studio did not have an organ, we decided to record the organ separately (after finishing the orchestral recording) in a church in Germany.

It was difficult for the organist to play alone, yet make it appear as if he were playing with the orchestra. It was even more difficult for the recording team to record it in such a way, that it sounded like the organ was playing together with the orchestra in the original recording venue. For this challenge, I set up the microphones in the church, to match the set-up in the studio. When everything was set up, the organist listened to the orchestra over headphones and rehearsed until

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During the recording session

he was ready to play and record the part. As so often in a session recording, the piece was recorded various times until we had sufficient takes to edit and mix it all together perfectly. But how that process actually works can be the subject of another article... .

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PRIMEPHONIC

Dreams and the Shock of the New: The Genesis of “The Rite of Spring” The ballet The “Rite of Spring” by Igor Stravinsky 1882 – 1971 is one of the most famous and influential pieces in twentieth-century music. It sparked a furore on its first performance in Paris in 1913, owing its startling, coruscating score and the controversial theme of a pagan sacrificial rite. It has nevertheless become a wildly popular piece in concert, and retains to this day the power to astonish and enthral audiences.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica Yearbook of 1913 gives a fascinating, if curiously opinionated assessment of the musical developments of the time. Noting the apparent shift of the centre of musical creativity from Germany, it states that “a new life of music” has appeared in France, principally in the works of Debussy, Ravel and others of their school, but it appears to have died down again or dissipated itself into a morbid and precious trifling with the exquisite interpretation of things not worth interpreting.” The “Rite of Spring” changed all of that.

In his autobiography, Stravinsky says that the inspiration for the ballet came to him in a dream. “One day [in 1910], when I was finishing the last pages of “L’Oiseau de Feu” [The Firebird] in St Petersburg, I had a fleeting vision ... I saw in my imagination a solemn pagan rite: sage elders, seated in a circle, watching a young girl dance herself to death. They were sacrificing her to propitiate the god of spring. Such was the theme of the “Sacre du Printemps” [The Rite of Spring]”.

On the stark, uncompromising nature of the music, he continued the other-worldly musings by saying “Very little immediate tradition lies behind “The Rite of Spring” – and no theory. I had only my ear to help me; I heard, and I wrote what I heard. I am the vessel through which ‘The Rite passed’.” It seems only fitting that such startlingly original music, which sounds primitive in its iconoclasm, should have vaguely mystical origins, but Stravinsky is not always the most reliable of raconteurs.

Stravinsky achieved success early on in his career. While showing a musical precocity as a child, he instead studied law and philosophy at university, but nevertheless found time to have private lessons with the great Russian composer, Nicolai RimskyKorsakov 1844 – 1908. The young Stravinsky was talent-spotted by the aristocratic

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MUSIC FEATURE

impresario Sergei Diaghilev after a performance in St. Petersburg of the early works

“Scherzo fantastique” and “Feu d’artifice”. Diaghilev commissioned from Stravinsky some orchestrations of Chopin’s original music for the ballet “Les Syphides” for his newly formed itinerant ballet company, the Ballet Russes, which he was taking to Paris for the 1909 season. This was followed in 1910 by a commission for a full-length original score for the ballet “The Firebird”. Stravinsky was not Diaghilev’s first choice for the commission; that had originally been Anatoly Lyadov (in fact, Stravinsky was only sixth on Diaghilev’s list). With its vivid, lush orchestration, “The Firebird” was an instant success and made Stravinsky famous. Claude Debussy 1862 – 1918 is reported to have said to him about the work “Well, you’ve got to start somewhere!”.

“The Firebird” was followed by a commission for the ballet “Petrushka” (1911) – another triumph that Debussy adored, its clever, spiky and rhythmic orchestration and polytonality further enhancing Stravinsky’s reputation.

But any disquiet that some might have had for the barbaric edginess of the music in Petrushka was tame in comparison to that felt by the audience in Paris at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées on 29th May 1913, when the curtain rose on the first performance of his most ground-breaking work, the ballet The Rite of Spring. Disastrous first nights can have dire consequences – one recalls Sergei Rachmaninov’s nervous breakdown after a botched performance of his First Symphony by an ill-rehearsed orchestra and a plainly sozzled conductor, the composer Alexander Glazunov. But for Stravinsky and Diaghilev, the brouhaha that met The Rite of Spring, rather than being a catastrophe, was a public relations triumph and, as Diaghilev admitted immediately afterwards, it was “Exactly what I wanted!”.

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PRIMEPHONIC

Reports differ widely on what happened that night and even who attended. Certainly the audience enjoyed the first two items on the programme: the charming “Les Sylphides” and the latest crowd-pleaser, “Le Spectre de la Rose” performed by the fêted dancer Vaslav Nijinsky to music by Carl Maria von Weber. But it seems that laughter broke out during the opening bars of “The Rite of Spring” (where a solo bassoon plays at a painfully high tessitura) to be followed by jeers and whistles.

Stravinsky himself later recalled that when the curtain finally rose “… on the group of knock-kneed and long-braided Lolitas jumping up and down, the storm broke.”

There is no evidence of fisticuffs, rather an inchoate rowdiness that surged between different factions in the audience (but it does seem to be a miracle that the conductor, Pierre Monteux, ever managed to reach the end of the work). The archly conservative and older statesman of French music, Camille Saint-Saëns 1835 - 1921 may or may not have been present, and may or may not have joined in with the braying of the audience, but he did later tell Stravinsky that he thought him insane and, of the opening bassoon solo, “If that’s a bassoon, I’m a baboon!”.

Undoubtedly the highly unconventional choreography by the dancer Nijinsky was a major factor contributing to the uproar, with dance steps that emphasized the primitiveness of the spectacle (with angular movements and instructions, variously, to land flat-footedly after leaps). This was a flagrant break with tradition and was shocking for its time. However, it was not as if the theatre was cleared after the ensuing fracas; the audience stuck around for the final item on the programme, the second act of Borodin’s “Prince Igor” with its famous “Polovtsian Dances”.

The music of the “Rite of Spring” is difficult to categorize; it is neither atonal nor is it in any particular key; it freely uses polytonality, snarling dissonance, octatonic scales and other modes but, rather than sounding experimental or aleatory, it has great harmonic and rhythmic coherence and an unstoppable drive. With its extraordinary orchestration, this “rhythmic juggernaut” has a distinctly primeval feel to it. The percussive, rhythmic and relentlessly mechanical sound of the music is even more apparent in the version for piano duet, which pre-dates the orchestral version.

Stravinsky had originally composed most of “The Rite of Spring” at the piano in a hotel room at the Swiss resort of Clarens in the spring of 1912; shortly thereafter, he gave a private reading of a duet version at the home of the distinguished critic, Louis Laloy, with his older friend and champion, Claude Debussy, who effortlessly sight-read the base part while Stravinsky hummed the missing lines. What a glorious performance that must have been!

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MUSIC FEATURE

Concerning the influences in “The Rite of Spring”, Béla Bartók (1881 – 1945) was on to something when he said in a lecture at Harvard University in 1943 that all three of Stravinsky’s ballets for Diaghilev were based on “Russian peasant music”, especially in “The Rite of Spring” where “even the origin of the rough-grained, brittle and jerky musical structure backed by ostinatos ... may be sought in the short-breathed Russian peasant motifs.” Bartók was a great admirer of Stravinsky, and was inspired in his own music through his extensive collection and study of folk music from what is now modern-day Hungary and Romania. But Stravinsky flatly denied the influence of folk music, even saying some years after Bartók’s death “I never could share his [Bartók’s] lifelong gusto for his native folklore ... I couldn’t help regretting it in the great musician.”

Bartók was of course absolutely right. Musicologists have since identified at least a dozen derivations from folk music, including a Lithuanian wedding song used for the opening bassoon solo that had so exasperated Saint-Saëns. It seems that Stravinsky tried to distance himself from the “Rite’s” folkloric origins: “The Rite of Spring” as sui generis, without precedent, without peer, revealed to him in a dream. Maybe it didn’t occur to him that Bartók was paying him the highest of compliments.

Kevin Painting

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Stravinsky by Picasso

By Silvia Pietrosanti Igor Stravinsky and Pablo Picasso met in Italy in 1917 and worked together on Pulcinella, a ballet inspired by the Neapolitan Commedia dell’Arte character of the same name (Punch in English).

Since then, Picasso and Stravinsky became engaged in an artistic dialogue in which they created miniature works of art for each other as expressions of their friendship, attempting to capture something of each other’s medium in their own work as a sign of intimacy.

On 13 April 1917, Stravinsky used a hotel telegram to create a “Sketch of Music for the Clarinet” for Picasso, in which he acknowledged Cubism by creating a confluence of lines over this short fivebar piece. In return, Picasso didn’t only limit his work to the design of costumes and scenery, but also made several sketches of the composer. This artistic exchange was essential in order to find and establish the artists’s complementary roles in the Pulcinella’ s project.

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Evolution Of Our Catalogue Our catalogue spans the ages and here is just a small selection that reflects the evolution that has helped to shape music. From the early days of the symphony with Stamitz and Richter we are guided through to the radical sounds of Daugherty. From Schutz’s Matthaus-Passion to Fauré’s Birth of Venus through to Jón Leifs’ Creation of the World, we can get the essence of progression and growth even within similar themes. From Equinox to Solstice by is as apt a title as any for this development in musical nuances. This selection from primephonic’s extensive collection represents the richness of artistry and audio throughout the ages.

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CATALOGUE

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What The Critics Say

Hildegard von Bingen: Vox Cosmica CARPE DIEM Hildegard of Bingen: O tu suavissima virga, Karitas Habundat, Ave Maria, O quam mirabilis, O virtus sapientae; Petter Udland Johansen: Meditations; Peter Abelard: Dolorum solatum

Reviewed by David Fallows, Gramophone Magazine, Issue 04/2015

Sacred Songs of Life and Love PENTATONE Arvo Pärt: Bogoroditse Djevo, Magnificat, Nunc dimittis, Seven Magnificat Antiphons; Algirdas Martinaitis: Alleluia; Knut Nystedt: Two Prayers of Kierkegaard; Sven-David Sandstrom: Four Songs of Love; Ivo Antognini: I am the rose of Sharon; Eriks Ešenvalds: O salutaris hostia.

The South Dakota Chorale started their recording career relatively recently but they are more than well suited to this full-bodied repertoire. They address the common lyricism of the music through a warmth of sound and sonority that is not only notably varied in tone and

Hildegard of Bingen is now firmly enough established that she has almost achieved the Bach-like status, according to which it is generally believed that her genius remains however you perform the music: she is an entirely distinctive figure, musically bold and with an astonishing ability to modulate and vary her melodic patterns. And Arianna Savall is also firmly enough established as a singer that you can expect whatever she does to be convincing. But some listeners may find that her latest issue tests the boundaries. She sings five of Hildegard’s works very slowly, accompanied by a range of instruments – from Norway a hardanger fiddle

and a nyckelharpa, a santur from Persia, a Tibetan singing bowl, what sounds like a tromba marina played as an open-string drone, and various reconstructions of medieval instruments. In between there are four compositions “Meditations” in a related style by Petter Udland Johansen. And the longest track is the 16 minutes of Johansen singing Abelard’s “Planctus David” with Savall’s harp accompaniment.

This creates a kind of New Age atmosphere, soothing, devotional and absolutely sincere. Oddly, the texts and the musical form come through most strongly in the online “free” bonus track, for which you need to subscribe to the label’s newsletter; otherwise they tend to get buried in the surrounding colour. But the sounds are all so gorgeous that it no longer seems to matter. The instrumental playing is flawless.

colour but which is all but perfect in blend, ensemble and intonation, and this does particular justice to the dramatically contrasting works of Martinaitis and Nystedt (both of whom died in 2014) and the substantialbut-ephemeral “O salutaris hostia” by Ēriks Ešenvalds, whose profile has rightly been raised considerably over recent years by single-composer discs of his work. They apply the same open-throated approach to the works

by Arvo Pärt with which the disc is bookended.

Reviewed by Caroline Gill, Gramophone Magazine, Issue 04/2015

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TECH INSIGHTS

Headphone Revolution

By David W. Robinson

David Robinson, editor of Positive Feedback High-End Audio Magazine shares with us his verdict on the Oppo HA-1 Headphone Amp in an extract from his article in issue 77 of Positive Feedback.

I might as well come out and admit it. I’ve been a big fan of Oppo Digital and their product lines since I first tried them out, years ago now. I think that I’ve been through almost every one of their players from way back when.

I haven’t heard anything like the Oppo HA-1/PM-1 for the quality of its sound and the exceptional degree of utility that it offers the audiophile or music-lover. To get Single, Double, and Quad DSD playback, plus DXD, plus PCM out to 384kHz … and have a superior headphone amp … and Bluetooth … and iPhone/iPad connectivity … and a preamp, to boot … is simply a terrific package.

The Oppo HA-1 headphone amp is a potent blend of capabilities; the PM-1 is a very fine planar magnetic design. I have spent many months with the HA-1 and PM-1 combination, right up to the present, listening to DSD sound while I am finishing this review. During all of this time, I listened to the tandem quite extensively, on a daily basis: first in their stock configuration as a baseline, and then trying a number of changes in their cabling, as they became available.

I found that the baseline was very good. At its price point,

Many audiophiles are grumpy about prices in the current high-end audio market, and grumble about not being able to afford new products. Well, amigos, this is your chance to get substantial value at a great price. In fact, it’s a while since such a reasonably-priced pair of components has impressed me quite the way that the Oppo Digital HA-1 and PM-1 have

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done. The baseline combination is very fine at a combined MSRP of $2298, a relative steal in the world of audiophile pricing.

Finally, for all of these reasons I have given the Oppo HA-1 and PM-1 Positive Feedback Brutus Awards in 2014 for their fine performance and exceptional value. They are certainly not leaving here; I am adding them to my standard reference desktop system here at Positive Feedback for quality and value. If you are a desktop system/personal fi/headphone lover, you should do the same….

However, and if or when you have the budget for it, when you add the new, upgraded version of the PranaWire Photon USB cable, and the Double Helix Cables Complement3 fourpin balanced cable, with the Oppo adapters, then suddenly the HA-1 and PM-1 open up, bloom gloriously, become more spacious, more detailed, and their tonal balance to your ears improves noticeably. This will add about $900 for the DHC Complement3, and around $1500 or so (depending on length) for the PranaWire Photon USB cable.

Here are the full names of each product referred to in this article: Oppo Digital HA-1 Headphone Amp/DSD DAC/Preamp, MSRP USD $1199

If you can afford some extra scratch, then you absolutely must go with the final hardware configuration that I’ve outlined here, by adding the Kubala-Sosna Elation! and XPander to your system (price varies with length). This is a big step financially, but it will definitely take the headphone listening experience to a whole new level. When you add Single, Double, and Quad DSD to the source mix of what you listen to, I think you’ll find that it will revolutionize your experience of headphone-based music.

Oppo Digital PM-1 Planar Magnetic Headphones, MSRP USD $1099 PranaWire Photon USB cable, price depends on length Double Helix Cables Complement3, price depends on length and configuration of connectors and adapters; contact DHC for pricing Kubala-Sosna Elation!, price depends on length; contact Kubala-Sosna for pricing

And if you decide to start out with the standard configuration of the HA-1 and PM-1, isn’t it reassuring to know that there are new levels of audio possibility when you’re ready to purchase and explore them?

You will not be the same. And isn’t that what we’re all looking for in our audio journeys?

DOWNLOAD DSD Discover all albums available in DSD (stereo and surround) by filtering the quality at www.primephonic.com/store

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HISTO RIC AL CAL ENDAR CATAGORY TITLE

Day by day primephonic takes you on an historical journey throught classical music

primephonic.com/calendar

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1687

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LULLY DIES OF SELF-INFLICTED INJURY 22 March 1687

Jean Baptiste Lully died as a result of a self-inflicted injury while conducting his “Te Deum”. In the French court in those times, it was customary to conduct with a large wooden staff, beating on the ground to keep time. Lully unfortunately stabbed his foot with the staff, the wound became infected and gangrene started to spread throughout his leg.

Despite good care from his doctors, the injury finally killed him.

1779 LORENZO DA PONTE IS EXILED FOR HIS BEHAVIOUR 17 December 1779

Lorenzo da Ponte, the librettist of many of Mozart’s famous operas, such as “TheMarriage of Figaro,” “Don Giovanni” and “Cosi Fan Tutte,”, was exiled from Venice because his overly liberal view of the world was seen as outrageous at the time, both in terms of his political opinions and his relationships with married women. The latter caused a massive uproar, not least due to the fact that he was a priest. Da Ponte moved via Prague to London, eventually ending up in the United States. He died in New York, where his funeral service at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1838 was attended by huge crowds.

1808 HUMMEL IS SACKED BY PRINCE ESTERHAZY 25 December 1808

Johann Nepomuk Hummel was sacked by Prince Nikolaus Esterházy for spending too much time composing works for the theatre when, in his employer’s opinion, he should have been composing for the court. Hummel made an appeal and got his job back – perhaps because of the festive time of year?

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1818

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FRANZ SCHUBERT’S FIRST PUBLIC CONCERT 31 March 1818

The very first public concert that featuring work by Franz Schubert took place on this date, including one of his two ‘Im Italienischen Stil’ overtures.

At this time, the composer had vast amounts of unperformed works, never yet heard by the outside world: by the age of 20, the young composer had to his name five symphonies, over 300 songs, four masses, seven string quartets and a large number of other smaller works, yet none of these pieces had ever been performed publicly. This would soon change, however.

1844 THE TERM LISZTOMANIA IS COINED 25 April 1844

The term “Lisztomania” was coined to describe the hysteria that reigned at Franz Liszt’s concerts. Heinrich Heine wrote accounts of the Parisian concert season when ladies fainted and swarmed around him, some even wearing his portrait on brooches. Many women would try to get strands of his hair or cigar stubs, and looked for opportunities to snatch any broken piano strings that may be lying around on-stage after the concert to have them turned into jewellery.

1872 THE FOUNDATION STONE OF THE BAYREUTH FESTIVAL THEATRE WAS LAID 22 May 1872

The foundation stone of the Bayreuth Festival Theatre or Festspielhaus was laid. The theatre was conceived by Richard Wagner and is dedicated solely to the performance of his operas. The building was finally opened for the premiere of the complete cycle of the ”Der Ring des Nibelungen” 13 - 17 August 1876. Today, the Bayreuth Festival has a cult following, the Ring cycle and ”Parsifal” being the most frequently performed works.

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CATAGORY TITLE

“The trouble with music appreciation in general is that people are taught to have too much respect for music...

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...they should be taught to love it instead” – Igor Stravinsky

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