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| January 1, 2005 Catching Up with 2004 -- Part One  Just two years ago, it was difficult to find three
high-resolution format releases to recommend each month. This woeful condition changed
dramatically in 2004 as more titles were released, a large percentage of them with stellar
sound. Suddenly, there were so many four-star releases that it became impossible to review
all of them. There were also a few that fell in the cracks, received too late for December
consideration, too early for January. Here I’ll fill you in on some titles that will
make you glad you have an SACD, DVD-Audio, or universal audio/video player.
Silverline has been releasing a number of titles from the Vanguard catalog that were recorded by the Utah Symphony Orchestra. The most recent, Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker, is not a DVD-Audio but a DualDisc release: DVD-A on one side, CD on the other, and theoretically playable in any DVD or CD player. The DVD-A sound, remastered for 5.1 channels, is singularly clean, with incredible presence. There are also a few video interviews and a still-frame archive. To my amazed eyes, a review popped up that I’d written years ago for The Laser Disc Gazette, covering the initial CD release of the title! The CD side is not long enough to carry the complete ballet, but contains much more than the usual suites. Bigger news from Silverline, this time on a straight-out DVD-A disc, is the release of the 1956 Vanguard recording, by Sir Adrian Boult and the London Philharmonic, of Beethoven’s Symphony 6, Pastoral. This work is my favorite piece of classical music; I’ve heard almost every recording of it ever made. I am also a great admirer of the late Boult, an eclectic conductor known mostly in the US for his interpretations of British music. His Decca and EMI recordings have received short shrift in the remastering sweepstakes, but justice is served by the high-resolution processing on this disc. It has the most robust, detailed, and exciting sound I have ever heard for this work. The Pastoral was a signature piece for Boult, and his lyrical, sweeping reading is tops; this is that rarity, a five-star disc. Vanguard was bought some two years ago by Artemis Classics, which has since put out some dynamic SACD releases. The most recent of these display a mix of different channel configurations, but all Artemis SACDs are CD hybrids. Sony has remastered Johannes Somary’s quadraphonic recording of Handel’s Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks. It now sounds buoyant and breezy, open and transparent, yet never lacks presence or impact. On the two-channel front, SACD’s higher resolution reveals new details in Anton Heiller’s 1964 recordings of J.S. Bach’s organ music, performed on the organ at St. Mary’s church, Helsingbord, Sweden. The most impressive release of all is a three-channel master of Mozart’s Piano Concertos 9 and 14. Alfred Brendel, ably backed by I Solisti di Zagreb, plays with youthful energy and drive while not overlooking these works’ more lyrical portions, and the sound is bright and chipper, the piano anchored solidly in the center channel. That these recordings sound so wonderful, whether on SACD or DVD-A, is a tribute to Vanguard’s original producer, engineer, and CEO, the late Seymour Solomon. What an innovator he was -- one of the first to use Dolby Noise Reduction and to record in quad. His recordings hold their own today against anything of this century. Next time, I’ll catch up on some other missed glories of 2004 while keeping you in touch with the best that 2005 has to offer. Here, to take you into the New Year, are three great recordings I heard during the last month of 2004.
Once in a blue moon, a recording comes along that is so vital it becomes an "event." This is such a happening. Before I heard this set of five hybrid multichannel SACDs, the name Jaap Van Zweden was unknown to me. Now I will be salivating for every new recording the maestro and his virtuoso Dutch musicians put out. Van Zweden’s Beethoven is a revelation. He mixes tradition with insights gleaned from recent editions of the symphonies to come up with a highly personal view that seems just right. New details emerge, yet never in a distracting manner -- more like "wonder why we didn’t notice that before." He secures virtuoso playing and singing from his fine musicians, and walks with ease the line between lyricism and drama. As good as the high-resolution Abbado and Karajan sets are, this collection bypasses them and goes straight to the top. I put it up against any in existence, high resolution or not. But the sound, too, excels -- warm, rich, full, yet never lacking in detail. Van Zweden secures an incredible dynamic range, from ppp to fff. Even in the quietest moments, the instruments have the same presence they do in louder ones. When they’re played with more force, the side and rear walls of the auditorium come to life with reflected sound, just as they would in a live performance. Symphony 9 was recorded in concert, complete with resounding applause after the finale, but the others are studio recordings. This set deserves every international award, not to mention your immediate attention as your first purchase of the New Year.
I had no idea that so many contemporary composers had set texts by Shakespeare for unaccompanied chorus. It makes sense, though. When you need the best public-domain words you can find, why not start at the top? There are many delights here: the gently swaying, jazz-tinged "It Was a Lover and His Lass" of Matthew Harris; Frank Martin’s Songs of Ariel from Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest,’ with its graphic buzzing figuration in "Where the bee sucks, there suck I"; the vocal slides and colorations of Jaako Mäntyjärvi’s demonic "Double, double, toil and trouble"; and Dominick Argento’s somber yet conciliatory setting of Sonnet LXIV, which became a remembrance of 9/11 as it was being written. Charles Bruffy, a student of Robert Shaw, conducts the 24-voice professional chorus. He learned a lot from his mentor, and coaxes the most beautifully homogeneous sound from his singers that I have heard since Shaw passed away. The acoustic is warm and reverberant. (The fine print tells us the recording location was Camelback Bible Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona.) All factors combine for one of the most realistic choral sounds I have yet heard.
This album was recorded at Strawberry Studios, in the Château d’Hierouville, near Paris, thus its title. It featured two of Elton John’s biggest hits, "Honky Cat" and "Rocket Man." The latter became a huge hit in the US. This multichannel reissue has been produced by Gus Dudgeon and remixed by Greg Penny, both of whom participated in bringing the fab Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road to SACD and DVD-Audio. The results here are even better. The vocals are centered, razor-sharp, and clear. The instruments are spread around the room, though the focus is kept up front. There are some chilling moments. "Rocket Man" begins with Elton and his piano up front; then, at "And I think it’s gonna be a long, long time," the synthesizer and choral backup surge 360 degrees around the listener. That moment practically lifted me out of my listening chair. Nor have the synthesizer sweeps that distinguish this song ever sounded so good. What’s remarkable throughout is that each instrument has such presence, impact, and clarity, all in equal measure. Four other Elton John albums have received the same tender, loving care: Madman Across the Water, Elton John, Tumbleweed Connection, and Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. Hear one and you’ll want them all -- they’re that revelatory. ...Rad Bennett
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Beethoven: Symphonies 1-9
Shakespeare in
Song
Elton John: Honky
Château