Today's High -Tech Receivers - …...Phase Linear DRS -250 integrated amp 23 Pioneer SX-7 receiver 26 Acoustic Research AR -48s speaker 24 JVC L -F71 turntable 28 *A New Generation

MAY 1982 $1.50ICD 08;-.98

THE MAGAZINE OF ALDIO, VIDEO. CLASSICAL MUSIC, AND POPULAR MUSIC

At Last -A Stereo Amp for Video & Audio! Test Results

Incredible New Cassette Deck Is It the Ultimate?

Are Simon & Garfunkel Together Again? They Tell All

Today'sHigh -Tech ReceiversBetter Sound and Better Value?

v

LINEAR TRACTM TURNT

The linear tracking tonearm is without question theideal way to recover information from a disc. It can vir-tually reduce horizontal tracking error to zero, eliminatecrossmodulation and significantly minimize stylus andrecord wear.

But until now there hasn't been a linear trackingturntable whose overall performance truly measuredup to the technology of linear tracking itself.

Pioneer's new PL -L800 has changed all of that.

THE LINEAR INDUCTION MOTORELIMINATES MECHANICAL CONTACT.

Unlike other linear tracking tonearms thatare driven by vibration -producing rollers, wormscrews or pulleys, the PL-L800's tonearm isdriven by Pioneer's exclusive linear inductionmotor. Through a process known as electro-magnetic repulsion, a magnetic field is set upthat gently propels the tonearm, allowing it totrack perfectly with no mechanical linkagesto degrade performance.

THE POLYMER GRAPHITE"TONEARM DAMPENS VIBRATIONS.

To minimize any tonearm resonancecaused by acoustic vibrations, the PL-L800's tonearm has been constructedwith an exclusive dampening materialcalled Polymer Graphite' The onlything we want you to hear through ourtoneann is music.

Our Coaxial Suspension System,on the other hand, will absorb vibra-tions that occur when someone walks ordances too hard in a room, or acciden-tally drops the dustcover. Because insidethe cabinet is a free-floating suspensionsystem which isolates the tonearm, platter

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THE PIOLINEAR TRA

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and motor from the rest of the turntable; vibrations thatreach the cabinet are absorbed by the spring-coupled in-sulators before they can harm the reproduction process.

11111

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THE STABLE HANGING ROTOR DESIGNREDUCES WOWAND FLUTTER.

The most advanced turntable platter motorwasn't advanced enough forthe PL -L800. So wecame up with a new direct drive system called theStable Hanging Rotor. The problem with thedesign of conventional motors is that the fulcrumis at the base of the motor, making it impossiblefor thewith the fulcrum. And that results in a wobblingof the platter, known as wow and flutter.

The Stable Hanging Rotor systemreduces the cause of this wow and flatter.Because the fulcrum lies immediately belowthe platter, it coincides with the platter'scenter of gravity.

And as if all this weren't enough, thePL -L830 also is equipped with Pionee-_-'sexclusive moving -coil cartridge. It has suchunusually high oatput that even a receiveror amp not equipped to handle mos.=moving -coil cartridges can be used withthe PL -L800.

If you find 't hard to believe that aturntable could be as remarkable as thePL-L800,we suggest you visit your near-est Pioneer dealer and see and hearthe PL -L800, along with our entireline of new turntables, for yourself.

No other linear tracking turntabledeserves your attention mo:e.

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...and then came the "Z"Receivers.There was a time when you

had to buy separate components toenjoy the control flexibility and powerneeded for true high fidelity musicreproduction.

Not anymore. Sansui now hasdeveloped its "Z" series receivers.

Whether you choose the super -powered 9900Z, the modestly -sized3900Z, or any of the four models inbetween, you get the full -frequencybenefits of Sansui's DC-servoamplifier technology. And distortion -free FM is assured by genuinedigital -synthesized tuning, with the

added accuracy of quartz PLL cir-cuitry in our three top models. Twelveconvenient instant -tune presets bringin your favorite FM or AM stations (6of each) at a button's touch.

Real-time spectrum analysis thatlets you see the shape of the soundyou hear is included in our three mostadvanced units, along with Dolby FMdecoding in the 8900ZDB. All but oneof the "Z" receivers include LED dis-plays that instantaneously show youjust how much power is going to yourspeakers. Touch -button FM tuningand volume controls, two -deck dub-

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bing facilities, dual phono capabilityand multi -system speaker switctingare all to be found, in various combi-nations, in the "Z" receivers. You'llalso find all the additional featuresyou've come to expect from a com-pany that has pushed high fidelky toits limits from its beginnings.

And for all their technologicalsophistication the six Sansui mcdelsin the "Z" series will appeal to ycureye no less than to your ear. Vist yournearest authorized Sansui dealer.He'll show you why "Z" stands for :helast word in high fidelity receivera.

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HighFidelity

32 Music on the Go

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35 Media Merger

42 Plucky Artists

62 Together Again?

* Cover Stories

VOLUME 32 NUMBER 5 MAY 1982

AUDIOHigh Fidelity News by the EditorsPhasing in; Jewel of a cantilever; HK goes HX Pro; DBX double header 13

Basically Speaking by Michael RiggsEvaluating phono-pickup performance 16

CrossTalk by Robert LongFM reach; Bumps in the night; Phono ceiling 18

Sound Views by Robert LongSpecs and tests: Information versus meaning 20

* New Equipment ReportsBang & Olufsen 9000 cassette deck 21 Sony XL -44L phono pickup 25Phase Linear DRS -250 integrated amp 23 Pioneer SX-7 receiver 26Acoustic Research AR -48s speaker 24 JVC L -F71 turntable 28

*A New Generation of Receivers by Len FeldmanAdvanced technologies are transforming today's models 29

* Autosound '82 by Gary StockA vivid stereo image, microprocessor -aided controls, and more 32

VIDEO TODAY & TOMORROWVideoFronts by the EditorsPower -loading VCR; Super High Grade tape; RF switcher

* Lab Test: Kenwood's KVA-502 Audio -Video Amp by Edward J. FosterThis innovative component undergoes a double scrutinyVideo Q. & A. by Edward J. FosterBeta -format camera?; Shifting speeds in midtapeVideoVignettes by Benjamin C. Patt, Jr.How (and how not) to videotape the ideal vacationTubeFood Edited by Susan ElliottHome video highlights on cassette

34

35

37

38

39

CLASSICAL MUSICGood(e) Piano:

On Tape by R. D. DarrellRichard Goode's first solo recordings offer superb technology and artistry 40

.. and Disc by Harris GoldsmithThe new Audiofon label debuts with pianists, serving the music well 41

Young Guitarists Show Some Pluck by Allan KozinnWith technique no longer a problem, the new frontier is "repertory expansion" 42

Behind the Scenes by James R. OestreichWorth its weight?; More old Stokie; Devil's swill 45

Reviews: Schubert's Lazarus; Mahler's songs examined; Kenyon on Cavalli 46

Critics' Choice 48

The Tape Deck by R. D. DarrellSelect imports; Exceptional domestic vintages; Philips/Barclay-Crocker reels 61

BACKBEAT/Pop ular Music* The BACKBEAT Interview: Simon and Garfunkel by Stephen Holden

In separate interviews, they reveal a shared hope to team up again 62

Input Output by Fred MillerEight -input line mixer; Unlimited limiter; Two- and three-way crossover 67

Funk and Blues Tenor Sax Giants by Crispin CioeTwo fine Prestige reissues from the era of the '50s to the early '70s 68

Pop Reviews: Smokey Robinson; John Hiatt; Lou Ann Barton 70

Jazz Reviews: Valaida Snow; Boyd Raeburn; Jabbo Smith 75

DEPARTMENTSLetters 8 Advertising Index

* Reader -Service Cards for FREE Product Information8265

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William Tynan.Editor -in -Chief

Shirley Fleming.Editor, Musical America

Susan Elliott.Managing Editor/Editor. Backbeat

James R Oestreich,Classical Music Editor

Robert Long.Audio -Video Editor

Robert Maddocks,Director of Graphics

Michael Riggs.Associate Audio -Video Editor

Peter Hemingson,Copy Editor

Susan E. Fingerhut.Assistant Music Editor

Janet Wolf.Editorial Assistant

Edward J Foster,Consulting Audio Editor

Contributing Editors: Crispin Cioe, R. D. Darrell, Har-ris Goldsmith. Edward Greenfield. David Hamilton.Dale Harris. Don Heckman, Stephen Holden. Nicho-las Kenyon. Allan Kozinn, Paul Henry Lang. IrvingLowens, Robert C Marsh. Fred Miller. Andrew Por-ter. Steven X Rea. Susan Thiemann Sommer, JohnS Wilson

Kathleen Davis.Director of Production

Randy Brozen.Audio -Video Production Editor

Lida A SilvermanMusic Production Editor

Susan M. Allyn.Circulation Director. Subscription Sales

Dominic Mustello.Circulation Director, Newsstand Sales

William P Johnson,Circulation Service Manager

Suzanne Hochman.Direct Mail Manager

Steven I. Rosenbaum.Publisher

Cover photo Lou Jawitz

ADVERTISING

Neer York: ABC Leisure Magazines. Inc 825 7th Ave8th Floor. New York. N Y 10019 Telephone (2121 265-8360Seymour Resnick. Advertising Director, Raymond Foster. Asso-

Manager. Ozzie Bruno. Eastern Advertising Manager. YettaPeltzman. Classified Advertising Manager. Robert Maddocks.Director of Graphics. Kathleen Davis, Director of Production.Janet Cermak. Advertising Production Manager. Cecelia Giun-ta. Administrative Assistant

Midwest: ABC Leisure Magazines. Inc . 190 N StateSI Room 632. Chicago. III 60601 Telephone 1312) 782-1173William P Gordon. Midwest Advertising Manager

Los Angeles: ABC Leisure Magazines. Inc . 2020 Ave-nue of the Stars. Suite 245 Century City. Calif 90067 Tele-phone 12131 557-6481 Andrew Spanberger. National Advertis-ing Manager Janet Endnionas. Western Advertising Manager

Tokyo: Japan Advertising Communications. Inc NewGinza Bldg . 7-3.13 Ginza. Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104. Japan Tele-phone (03) 571-8748. Shigeru Kobayashi. President

HIGH FIDELITY and HIGH FIDELITY/MUSICAL AMERICA arePublished monthly by ABC Leisure Magazines. Inc , a divisionof ABC Publishing, inc and a subsidiary of American Broad-casting Companies, Inc ABC Publishing, Inc Robert G. Bur-ton. President, Ronald Stuart. Vice President. Finance. ABCLeisure Magazines. Inc Herbert Keppler, Senior Vice Presi-dent. Photographic Publishing Division. Anthony F Mogan.Vice President. Finance. Ernest G Scarfone. Vice President.Graphics and Production. Steven I Rosenbaum. Vice Presi-dent. High Fidelity Group Member Audit Bureau of Circulation,indexed in Readers Guide to Periodical Literature Current andback copies of HiGH FIDELITY and HiGH FIDELITY/MUSICALAMERICA are available on microfilm from University Microfilms.Ann Arbor. Mich 48106 Microfiche copies of these magazines(1973 forward) are available through Bell 8 Howell Micro PhotoDivision Old Mansfield Road. Wooster Ohio 44691

Editorial correspondence should be addressed to TheEditor. HIGH FIDELITY 825 7th Ave New York N Y 10019 Eciilonal contributions will be welcomed and payment for articlesaccepted will be arranged prior to publication Submissionsmust be accompanied by return postage and will be handledwith reasonable care however. the publisher assumes no re-soonsibiiity for return of unsolicited photographs or manu-scripts

HIGH FIDELITY is published monthly at 825 7th Ave NewYork. N Y 10019. by ABC Leisure Magazines. Inc . a Subsid-iary of American Broadcasting Companies, Inc Copyright 91982 by ABC Leisure Magazines. Inc The design and contentsare fully protected by copyright and must not be reproduced inany manner Second-class postage paid at New York. NewYork. and at additional mailing offices Authorized as second-class mad by the Post Office Department. Ottawa. and for pay-ment of postage in cash Yearly subscription in U S A andPossessions $1395. elsewhere 519 95 Single copies SI 50Subscribers Send subscriptions, inquiries. and addresschanges to HIGH FIDELITY. P 0 Box 10759. Des Moines Iowa50340 Change of Address Give old and new adds-.'eluding ZIP Code Enclose address label from last ,allow live weeks for &dope to become elleclwe Postmastersend Form 3579 to HIGH FIDELITY. P.O. Box 10759. DesMoines. lows 50340 Postal identification Number 243820

The Standard of Excellence on AngelCircle 59 on Reader -Service Card Circle 5 on Reader -Service Card 110.

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LettersKicking HaloIn Davin Seay's article on Christian musicIBACKBEAT, February], the author states that"contemporary Christian/Jesus music . . . runsthe gamut from easy listening to almost -hardrock." Wrong! It runs to very hard rock-somemight even say heavy metal. The ResurrectionBand from Chicago, for instance, invites com-parison with the likes of Grace Slick, Rod Stew-art, Van Halen, and AC/DC.

Second, Mr. Seay says that "Christianmusic sounds a little bit like everything-withthe notable exception of . . . the avant-garde."Wrong again. Groups like Daniel Amos, GiantKiller, the Bill Mason Band, and Bamabas haveshown more than a passing interest in punk andnew wave sounds.

Although it is true that Christian music getsthe short end of the stick in terms of distributionand airplay, many of us in the "secular" segmentare convinced that it's only a matter of timebefore its status will change. Mr. Seay's articleshould help to speed things along.

Finally, if that 1980 survey by WarnerCommunications showed the sales of contempo-rary Christian music recordings to be higher thanthose of both classical and jazz discs, then whydo magazines like yours give virtually no cover-age to records of this type?Mark PettigrewCambridge, Mass.

Good point. We'll think about it.-Ed.

For over a year now, I've believed everythingI've read in HIGH FIDELITY. But Davin Seay'sarticle incorrectly states that Christian musicdoes not incorporate heavy metal and punk ele-ments. On the metal side, take a listen to theResurrection Band's "Awaiting Your Reply,""Colours," and "Mommy Doesn't Love DaddyAnymore." Forget AC/DC: These guys kickhalo! On the punk side, try Ismael United andAndy McCarroll and Moral Support. Also, Dan-iel Amos has a new wave album called"Alarrna."

It doesn't surprise me that these artists wereoverlooked. The Christian music industry is stillvery conservative and seems to want to keepthem a secret.Carvin KnowlesTulsa. Okla.

Orff and RunningI am heartily sick and tired of writers like PaulHenry Lang who dismiss the work of Carl Orffbased on some knowledge of Carmina buranaand a nodding acquaintance with the other scoresof Trionfi [January]. To correct the rife miscon-ceptions, incorrect implications, and outrighterrors of Lang's shrill denunciation wouldrequire volumes of verbiage; it must suffice torefute only the most salient.

First, to judge Orff primarily on the basis ofCarmina burana is similar to assuming a fullunderstanding of any composer based solely onhis Op. I. Does Stravinsky's Symphony in E flator Webem's Passacaglia afford us the full mea-sure of either composer's talents? Nowhere doesMr. Lang mention the works that Orff considers

Circle 2 on Reader -Service Card HIGH FIDELITY

his greatest-the gargantuan Greek trilogy com-prised of Antigonae, Oedipus der Tvrann, andPrometheus-or other fully mature scores suchas Astutuli, Die Bernauerin, or De Temporumfine comoedia. Yet these are the works that mosttruly represent the Orff aesthetic in full bloom,not the early Trionfi scores. Anyone (Mr. Langincluded) is free to dismiss these later scores aswell, but to ignore them is to do Orff a severedisservice.

Second, the author asserts that Orff doesnot correctly understand his sources. PresumablyMr. Lang's interpretations of Catullus and thepoetry of the Goliards are the only correct ones,so the fact that Orff sees something else in themmust automatically eliminate him from serious

consideration. This would then mean that there isonly one proper interpretation of the Requiemtext, of Romeo and Juliet, or of Walt Whitman'sverse, and woe be to the composer whose musi-cal setting suggests something other than this sin-gle "correct" interpretation! Which then is the"proper" Requiem, Mozart's or Verdi's? The"right" Romeo and Juliet, Berlioz' or Tchaikov-sky's? And is it Delius or Hindemith who really"understands" Whitman?

Third, Mr. Lang's broadside contains theinsidious implication that Orff's aesthetic predi-lections are somehow the result of-and a col-laboration with-the tenets of the German Nazimovement. Lang need only examine the earlySchulwerk editions and the pre-Carmina buranacantatas, all of which predate Hitler's ascendan-cy by some years, to find that Orff's fundamentalapproach was established long before the rise ofNational Socialism. Furthermore, Orff's implicitcriticism of the horrors of Nazism in works suchas Die Kluge and Die Bernauerin amply demon-strate his true feeling about Hitler and hiscohorts.

Last, Mr. Lang says that "nothing leads toOrff and nothing issues from him." Yet earlierhe correctly observed the relationship of Stravin-sky's music to Orff s, though this connection canbe (and often has been) overstated. Despite thewholly unique quality of Orff's work, much of itis anticipated in Les Noces. As for the notion ofOrff as progenitor, one need only witness thecurrent success of such composers as Steve Reichand Philip Glass, whose "minimalist" music isbased on the same precepts as Orff's-a vastsimplification of melody, harmony, counter-point, and texture in favor of a more static musicin which rhythm is often predominant. Yet Orff'scult -ritual stage works (again, I think of theGreek trilogy, not of Carmina burana), many ofwhich have never been presented in this countryin any form, predate the music of the minimalistsby some decades. This makes Orff something ofa prophet before his own time.

I will close by informing Mr. Lang of agiant of twentieth-century music who possessed aprofound admiration for Orff's work, despite itsradical polarity from his own: Edgard Varese.(Continued on page 10)

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Letters(Continued from page 9)The fact that Varese, a man not always charitablein his artistic opinions, found something of realvalue in his German colleague's music certainlyindicates that Carl Orff was doing somethingright!Christopher RouseAssistant Professor of CompositionEastman School of MusicRochester, New York

Mr. Lang replies: Mr. Rouse's is more a man-ifesto pro domo than a helpful clarification of thecontroversy he opens; his arguments are gauze -thin, and he never addresses the problems Itouched upon. I would decline the invitation to sotortuous a dance did his letter not demonstratethe age-old misconceptions (to which composersare understandably prone) of the nature of criti-cism.

I do not judge Orff primarily on the basis ofCarmina burana and its two sequels: these are theworks / was sent to discuss. /When Mr. Langproposed an article on Orff, he was sent the Phil-ips repackaging of Trionfi and several record-ings of Carmina burana as a launching point forhis discussion.-Ed.) To judge Carmina byOrff 's later works would violate the principles ofcriticism: Would anyone judge Beethoven's Op.I by invoking the Hammerklavier Sonata? Thecritic does not arrive at conclusions by a back-ward glance into the future. I have more than a"nodding acquaintance" with Orff 's laterworks, having been a working newspaper criticfor ten years and a serious student of music forsixty. But it is unnecessary to cite them to judge

Orff 's aesthetic "in full bloom"; the composerand his disciples put his long-established basicaesthetic beliefs in writing, which I quoted butwhich Mr. Rouse conveniently overlooks.

Mr. Rouse makes the ancient and tiredaccusation that the critic regards his interpreta-tion as "the only correct one." If critical viewswere always unanimous there would be no needfor criticism. Still, while a work of art may be tosome a plum and to others a prune, criticism isnot merely an application of "1 know what Ilike." Unlike Mr. Rouse, I do not get "sick andtired" of opposing views, especially when sowell presented as R.D. Darrell' s in the sameissue as my article: though Mr. Darrell and 1 maydisagree, I have nothing but respect for hisviews.

Yes, I not only express "insidious implica-tions," I plainly believe not that Carmina buranaever gave rise to Hitler, or vice versa, but thatthis work represents the synchronic politicallcul-tura! climate in the Germany of the 1930s, whichalso spawned the Nazi ideology: it is aggressive,oppressive, and regressive.

Finally, Mr. Rouse informs me that a "gi-ant of twentieth-century music." Edgard Varese,profoundly admired Orff 's work-which onlyillustrates the adage about plums and prunes.Perhaps he will permit me to mention anothergiant of the century, Bela Bartok, who was everso generous in praise and appreciation of whatother composers tried to do. But the neoprimitiv-ism of Carmina burana he regarded with gravemisgivings, wondering where surmise ends andfakery begins. (I won't quote Hindemith, whoalso questioned Orff s aesthetics, because he is

persona non grata with the avant-garde andhence eo ipso disqualified.)

Carmina burana was for a while the beautyqueen of "modern" music; rather too conscious-ly flaunting a new idiom, it shone like the per-petual fluorescence of the supermarket yet leftthe questioning intellect with small nourishment.The triptych shows a determined aridity of inven-tion; the ostinatos remind me of what Liszt said-only half jokingly-about the leitmotif: "It com-

forts the composer inasmuch as he does not haveto invent new ideas." I can readily understandwhy Orff attracted a large public: Carminamakes for a good show and the public sees in theevanescent fireworks an easily assimilable mo-dernity. What I do not understand-in fact whatreally amazes me-is how it could have becomeesoteric -enclave chic with the avant-garde.

Arts ProgrammingIn your December 119811 TubeFood column I

found several video programs of interest underthe "Arts Programming" category. Since I amoverseas I have no way of ordering them. Couldyou please send me the address for Dubs VideoCorp.?CWO-3 Jerry Shotts, Jr.FPO Seattle, Wash.

Dubs Video is at 535 Eighth Ave., PenthouseSouth, New York, N.Y. 10018.-Ed.

Once Again, NowI have read with interest Harris Goldsmith'sreview of the Itihak Perlman recording of the

ZX-7 Maximum Performance through Complete ControlWith the Nakamichi ZX-7 you command and optimize the vital record parameters-bias, level, andazimuth-which bring to life the true potential lying dormant in every cassette. This kind of control,plus the most advanced technology and features in cassette history, make the ZX-7 a seriousrecordist's dream -come -true.Maximum Performance The ZX-7 awaits you now at your Nakamichi dealer.

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Beethoven violin concerto [February].However, I wonder if your reviewer has

drawn erroneous conclusions from Perlman'sremarks on the subject of the video recording(published in an interview in Gramophone's Sep-tember 1981 issue) that have led him to suggestthat "the artists recorded the work and thenmimed it for show." This was certainly not thecase: There were two totally separate recordingactivities-one to produce the conventionalaudio recording and the other to produce theaudio/video recording. To date, this latterrecording has not appeared in the UK. Thesefacts are confirmed by EMI.Anthony C. PollardManaging Editor and PublisherGramophoneHarrow, England

Studio StudiesAll my life I have wanted to cork in a recordingstudio as a producer or engineer, but ! don't knowwhere to begin looking for information. I'm inmy senior year in college. Can BACKBEAT pointme in the right direction?Jeffrey W. VioletteBaton Rouge, La.

Yours is not the first inquiry we've received, andwe plan to run an article in the near future onaudio -engineering courses and career pro-grams. In the meantime, experience is the bestteacher. Why not spend next summer as a"gofer" in a local recording studio? That's howPhil Ramone started.-Ed.

Not Quite ProperIn his thoughtful review of Leonard Slatkin'srecording of Prokofiev's film music [January].John Canarina states that my album notes "arguethat Kizheh, rather than Pie, is the proper namefor Prokofiev's lieutenant. . ." This isn't quiteright.

The name, of course, is the same spelledeither way. The point I tried to make (in persuad-ing the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Voxto spell it "Kizheh" instead of "Kije") is simplythat the former is a more apt English translitera-tion, while the latter-which is, after all, a

French transliteration of a Russian name-is nothelpful to Anglophones.

There is a similar case in the matter of "Pe-trushka" and "Petrouchka." but the spelling israther more meaningful with the Prokofiev,because the proper sound of the name "Kizheh"is essential to the story itself. The tale is based onthe tsar's misinterpretation of the phrase "Paroo-chiki, je" ("the lieutenants, however") for "Paroochik Kizheh" ("Lieutenant Kizheh").

In any event, I see by the heading for thereview that HIGH FIDELITY remains unpersuaded.and I imagine that other periodicals will, too, fora long time.Richard I). FreedRockville. Md.

Great -Sounding TubesI have heard much taNtn-able continent aboutsome of the older preamps and amps that areavailable now, especially those using tubes.Some are said to be fine as -is, and others functionwell after modifications (such as capacitor substi-tution) have been made.

I recently purchased a Marantz Model 7(Continued on page 12)

BACK TALK.

Part of the pleasure you enjoy seated infront of Jensen System Series 500Speakers actually comes from the backof the speakers. A rear -firing high fre-quency driver augments the alreadyfull sound of these System SeriesSpeakers. The result -a pure, uncen-sored virgin sound. Hear it at fineraudio shops. For more information anddealer locations, call 800-323-0707.

JENSEN


-Mow?,Be sure and send us your newaddress 8 weeks before you moveso you won't miss any copies ofHIGH FIDELITY.And please include an old mailinglabel from our magazine whenwriting us about your subscription.Write to:HIGH FIDELITY,P.O. Box 10759, Des Moines, Iowa 50340

Change of address.Enter new subscription. 1 yr. $13 95payment enclosed bill me

r --1 . o1If you have no abet handy, print OLD address he'eacr,

6111% name 1 ..-a % i 'n.

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MAY 1982 II

WHAT lYPEARE YOU?

Power has its price. Unfortunately, with many receivers, youusually end up paying for a lot of power you may not necessarilyneed in order to get the computerized features you want.

At Kenwood, we don't think that's playing fair.Which is why every one of our new Hi -Speed'"' receivers

offers a host of very intelligent engineering advances.Like Direct Coupled, Hi -Speed amplifier circuitry for

absolutely brilliant musical clarity, down to 0Hz.And microprocessor controlled Quartz PLL Synthesizer

tuning to give you perfect, drift -free FM reception.We've even included the convenience of our computerized

AutoScan tuning. And instant, automatic computer -memorytuning of 6 AM and 6 of your favorite FM stations.

But best of all, we didn't restrict all this intelligence to just ournew KR -850 Hi -Speed receiver.

You can also find it on our new KR -830.And our new KR -820.And even our new Slimline KR -90.Examine all the possibilities at your Kenwood dealer. With

all the choices we offer, you'll find the computerized receiverthat's exactly your type.

At your type of price.

KENWOOCIThe audio company that listens.

P.O. Box 6213, Carson. CA 90749

Letters(Continued from page 11)tube preamplifier and a Model 7T transistorpreamp. Both sound good, but not great: Thetube unit sounds worse than the solid-state one,but the former is quieter and smoother. Do youhave a list of sources for modifications for theseolder components-brands such as Dyna andMarantz. for instance?Donald BisbeeColumbus, Ohio

You're in luck with the Model 7. Sidney S. Smith,the designer of that preamp, will perform (for$400) substantial modifications that are said tobring the unit up to rather impressive modernspecs. Smith can be reached at 37 Newtown Rd.,Plainview, N.Y. 11803. And the pages, both edi-torial and advertising. of Audio Amateur maga-zine (P.O. Box 576, Peterborough, N.H. 03458)are filled with information on modifications,many modestly priced, for Dynakits and otherveteran components. -Ed.

Blasters BoosterIt seems to me that, since its inception. BACK.BEAT has covered very commercial, mainstreamalbums. It was with great pleasure, then, that I

read Steven X. Rea's review of the Blasters'debut album IFebruaryl. With rockabilly enjoy-ing a resurgence of popularity. I hope HF willcontinue to review groups like the Blasters.Greg FaulkEugene. Ore.

One mart's backwater is another man's main-stream.-Ed.

Selecting the 76I realize that more equipment comes on the mar-ket each year than you can possibly review. Giv-en this, just what are the criteria you use inselecting components for "New EquipmentReports"?Darrell SellersSan Diego, Calif.

Your assumption is correct: With space for only76 test reports per year. we cannot hope toachieve blanker coverage in our equipmentreviews. Instead, we try to report on a represen-tative selection of types, manufacturers, andprices, plus any items that have especially note-worthy new features.-Ed.

Correction: In publishing William Gilmore' sletter on the availability of Stokowski' s early ste-reo recordings (March), we inadvertently mis-printed the zip code. The correct address is:Infant Hearing Assessment Foundation. 2625Park Ave., Concord, Calif. 94520.-Ed.

Letters should be addressed to The Editor, HIGHFioEurr. 825 7th Ave., New York, N.Y. 10019.All letters are subject to editing for brevity andclarity.

12 HIGH FIDELITY

AUDIO

High Fidelity NewsNew equipment and developments by the Editors

Going for New HighsShure's new top cartridge, the V-15 TypeV, uses a thin -walled beryllium cantilevertube and an improved Hyperelliptical stylusto achieve dramatically lower effectivemoving mass than the Type IV it super-sedes. The result, according to Shure, isflatter, more extended treble response andalmost double the high -frequency trackingability (as high as 80 centimeters per secondat 5 kHz). Other improvements include alower vertical tracking angle to match thevertical modulation angles of most com-mercial records, adoption of the Side -Guard stylus -protection system first intro-

duced in the SC -39 and M-97 pickups, andreduced sensitivity to capacitive and resis-tive loading. The Type V retains theDynamic Stabilizer damping brush assem-bly first used on the Type IV and comeswith a comprehensive set of mounting andalignment aids. Price is $250.


401111111111111011.11L

Phasing InPhase Linear's new Dynamic Range Sys-tem power amplifiers are designed for highefficiency and low operating temperatures.This is said to result from using a powersupply that automatically switches betweenlow and high positive and negative voltagesaccording to the instantaneous powerdemand. The top -of -the -line DRS -900 hasboth average and peak calibrations on itsLED power meters, which provide user -variable decay rates ranging from peak -hold to fast. The $1,100 amp is rated at 150watts (213/4 dBW) per channel into 8 ohmswith no more than 0.015% THD and is saidto deliver an impressive 43/4 dB of dynamicheadroom.Circle 85 on Reader -Service Card

20/20 Fit"Technidyne's new 11/2 -ounce CSE-108headphones have no headband; instead,they hook over your ears like a pair of

glasses. The company is also introducing itsCSH-101 headset, which uses rare-earthmagnets and weighs less than 2 ounces.Each model comes with a miniplug plus anadapter for standard 1/4 -inch headphonejacks and sells for $13.Circle 84 on Reader -Service Card

Micro -Magicfrom DenonHardly bigger than a record jacket, Denon'sfully automatic DP -11F turntable incorpo-rates an electronically damped DynamicServo Tracer tonearm for improved track-ing of warped records. A built-in micropro-cessor activates the automatic on/off func-tions, controls the tracking force and anti -skating compensation of the toneann, andregulates the speed of the platter. Controlsignals for the DC motor, which is designedto provide constant torque, are based ondata taken directly from the platter via aproprietary magnetic "tape -head" detec-tor. Other features include an antiresonanceplatter mat and isolation feet. The price is$200.Circle 83 on Reader -Service Card(Continued on page 14)

EXPANDHEADROOM.

With CX.TMBuilt into Audio Control's

new D -10X Octave Equalizer.Get up to 20dB more

dynamic headroom for louderlauds and softer soft passages,AND and kiss off hiss whenyou play any CX-encoded disc.

Instead of asking youto spring a C -note for yetanother add-on gizmo weoffer a feature -packed octaveequalizer with 18dB/octavesubsonic filter, great specs,low noise, over-the-counterwarranty and real oak endpanels. ..WITH CX BUILTIN for under $180 suggestedretail!

The Audio Control 13-10X'sCX circuitry includes leveladjustments and LED'S, plusa special CX test record youuse just once to calibrate thecircuit.

All for less than you mightpay for just a so-so equalizer.

The American -builtAudio Control D -10X OctaveEqualizer with CX. Becausenobody ever gets enoughheadroom.

AudioControl

In the Heartof the Northwest Rainforest

Lynnwood, WA(206) 775-846I.

MAY 1982 13 Circle 25 on Reader -Service Card

AUDIO High Fidelity News

(Continued from page 13)

I

V

Two for OneMaking tape copies requires only one cas-sette deck with Sanyo's dual -transportRDW-50. The $220 deck also includes anAutomatic Music Select System (AMSS) toscan tapes at high speed, seeking out thenext selection, Dolby B noise reduction,metal -tape capability, peak -reading LED

recording -level meters, and a recordingmute for the insertion of blanks betweenselections.Circle 80 on Reader -Service Card

DBX Double HeaderDBX has combined a dynamic -rangeexpander and its Type H noise reductionsystem into a single package. The Model228 can be used with two -head recorders,

and w hen you switch over to the 770'syou will smile aid say... iN magic

because there is nothing like itunder the sun!

Mission lorth America, 310 CarlingviEw Dr., Rexdale, Ont., MSW 5G1 Canaan

Mission E ectronics, George St., Huntingdon, Cambs., PE 18 6133 England

and will provide full monitoring capabilitywith three -head decks. It is said to provide30 dB of noise reduction for a total dynamicrange of 110 dB. The $500 unit also enablesplayback of DBX-encoded discs and can beused to enhance the dynamic range of unen-coded program material.Circle 79 on Reader -Service Card

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HK Goes MK ProHarman Kardon's top cassette deck 'in-cludes the Dolby HX Professional head-room -extension system, which fine-tunesthe recording bias to capture high -frequen-cy material at levels much higher thanwould otherwise be possible, reducing dis-tortion dramatically. The CD -401 alsoincludes independent recording and play-back heads, Dolby B and C noise reduction,metal -tape compatibility, bias and tape -sensitivity calibration tones, and electronicsearch. The rated frequency response of$750 deck is 20 Hz to 27 kHz, ±3 dB.Circle 82 on Reader -Service Card

RemovingInfrasonicsRecord warps, floor feedback, off -centerrecord holes, and turntable rumble can gen-erate unwanted infrasonic signals that cancause excessive cone motion in speakersand waste amplifier power. Ace Audio's4000b infrasonic filter attenuates theseharmful signals by rolling off at 18 dB peroctave below 20 Hz. The unit, which isespecially recommended for use withdirect -coupled amplifiers and receivers,can be connected between a preamp and apower amp or inserted in a tape -monitorloop. IM distortion of the 4000b is rated at0.002%. The price is $99.Circle 81 on Reader -Service Card

For additional news on new instrumentsand accessories see Input Output, page67.

14 Circle 10 on Reader -Service Card

Introducing TDK AD -X.The normal bias tape withSuper Avilyn technology.

New TDK AD -X is the first normalbias audio cassette to use TDK'sAvilyn magnetic particle-basedon the renowned Super Avilyn for-mulation that has kept TDK theleader in audio and videotapetechnology.

The Avilyn advan-tage offered in AD -Xis demonstrably clear.You now can recordand play bark-in thenormal bias/EQ positionwith complete compatibility forany cassette deck over a wider dy-namic range and with far less dis-tortion. Even at higher recordinglevels, the increased headroom in

ti

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new AD -X can easilyhandle strong signalinput without over -saturation.

When you hear thebrilliant playback re-sulting from the higher

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Avilyn magnetic partice act ievehigher saturation and lower noise.

noise you won't believethat your deck can"improve" so much.

The new AD -X hastruly versatile applications. Itshigher sensitivity makes it :deal forall-round home entertainment useand also suitable for any cassetteplayer.

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AUDIO

Basically SpeakingAudio concepts and terms explained by Michael Riggs

EvaluatingPhono-PickupPerformanceEVALUATING PHONO-CARTRIDGE perfor-mance is a complicated business. For onething, cartridges can sound fairly differentfrom one another-a fact that makes listen-ing unusually important (more so than forany other component category except loud-speakers-the electromechanical transduc-ers at the opposite end of the playbackchain). Fortunately, however, you canglean most of what you need to know fromspecifications.

Perhaps the most basic of these speci-fications is the one that relates groovevelocity to cartridge output volt-age: the higher the output for agiven groove velocity, the higherthe sensitivity. (This is much likea loudspeaker's sensitivity ratingturned on its head: Whereas aspeaker's sensitivity depends inlarge measure on its efficiency asan electrical motor, a cartridge'ssensitivity mostly reflects its effi-ciency as an electrical generator.Reciprocal functions breed recip-rocal specifications!) Sensitivityis usually given in millivolts percentimeter per second of groovevelocity (mV/cm/sec). Typicalratings for fixed -coil and high -output moving -coil cartridges range from0.5 to 1.5 mV/cm/sec, with most clusteredbetween 0.75 and 1.25 mV /cm/sec. Phonopreamplifiers are designed with these sensi-tivities in mind, so that they will not over-load on strong signals from very -high -out-put cartridges or be excessively noisy onweak signals from pickups of only moder-ate sensitivity. However, it is necessarilytrue that the lower the sensitivity of the car-tridge being used, the further you will haveto advance the volume control to obtain thedesired sound level and, all else remainingequal, the poorer the signal-to-noise ratiowill be.

This verity is a serious concern withmost moving -coil cartridges, which typi-cally have sensitivities an order of magni-tude lower than those of fixed -coil pickups.Unless you use an auxiliary step-up device(a transformer or head amp) between thepickup and the phono preamp, the resultwill almost always be inadequate volume

*50

and a thick layer of hiss and hum over themusic. Fortunately, as this type of cartridgehas become more popular, many manufac-turers have begun building head amps intotheir high -end electronics.

Regardless of what the output of a par-ticular cartridge happens to be, it is impor-tant that the sensitivities of the two channelsbe as nearly the same as possible. If onechannel is significantly more sensitive thanthe other, the stereo image will pull to thatside. Channel balance can be expressed indB relative to the mean of the sensitivitiesof the two channels at 1 kHz (channel bal-ance often varies slightly with frequency-hence the 1 -kHz reference). Therefore, achannel -balance specification of 5. ±V2 dBindicates that there is no more than a I -dBdifference between the sensitivities of thetwo channels. A rating of ± I dB is reason-

sively attenuates signals as they increase infrequency ("rolls off the high end," inaudio jargon). The bigger the coils, thehigher the inductance and, therefore, thebigger the bite out of the treble. Designersof fixed -coil (moving -iron and movingmagnet) pickups routinely balance this fil-tering action of the coils against the risingresponse of the mechanical system toachieve, with varying degrees of success,flat overall response.

One of the major difficulties faced bydesigners of moving -coil cartridges is thatthey must use small, low -inductance coilsto prevent the moving mass of the stylusassembly from becoming too high. Besidesextracting a penalty in sensitivity, this prac-tice makes the electrical response of a mov-ing -coil pickup essentially flat to wellbeyond the upper limit of the audible band,

leaving the engineers with theunenviable task of trying to makethe cartridge's mechanical re-sponse flat to 15 kHz orbeyond.

They do have the consola-tion, however, that whatever re-sponse they achieve will bealmost totally independent of theload presented by the resistanceand capacitance of the phonoinput combined with the capaci-tance of the connecting cables.This is not true of most fixed -coilcartridges, whose high induc-tances interact with the load,altering the electrical response.

Manufacturers have to anticipate this effectand design their cartridges for flat responseinto a standard resistance of 47.000 ohms(which all phono inputs are supposed toprovide) in parallel with some capacitance.The recommended capacitance varies ac-cording to the design of the cartridge, butrarely exceeds 450 picofarads (pF). Al-though you cannot normally remove capac-itance from a system that inherently hasmore than a particular cartridge demands, itis fairly easy to add what's necessary to onewith less.

Advances in cartridge technology arereducing the susceptibility of fixed -coil car-tridges to variations in loading and makingmoving -coil pickups flatter and more sensi-tive. Given the current state of the art,response within ± I dB from 30 Hz to 15kHz is excellent, and a variation of ±2 dBover that range is very good.

Next month, I'll discuss separation.tracking. and distortion. HF

FAr RESPONSE of caRrnr\I

MMi5 10 15 20 25 30

FREQUENCY -KILOHERTZ

A pickup's net frequency response is the sum of its mechanical(stylus) and electrical (generator) responses.

able, and any imbalance can be correctedwith your balance control.

As with most other high fidelity com-ponents, a cartridge's frequency response isone of the most important indices of itsquality (see "Basically Speaking," No-vember 1981, for an explanation of fre-quency response). Virtually all modernpickups have almost perfectly flat frequen-cy response through the bass and midrange.because at those frequencies the output isundisturbed by electrical or mechanical res-onances. At high frequencies, however, thestylus tip resonance (somewhere between15 and 40 kHz, depending on the design ofthe cartridge) causes a rise in the mechani-cal response. If this is not compensated. theresult will be a treble peak in the cartridge'snet frequency response.

Fortunately, a magnetic cartridge'selectrical circuit consists of a set of coils (orinductors, as they are sometimes called):these form a low-pass filter that progres-

16 Circle 32 on Reader -Service Card

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AUDIO

CrossTalkPractical answers to your audio questions by Robert Long

FM ReachMy present FM tuner is a Scott whosesensitivity and adjacent -station rejectiondon't even compare with those of my Pa-nasonic RF-4900 multiband radio. SinceI prefer to live in the country. I shallprobably always want high sensitivity.(Yes, I do use an FM -only deep -fringerooftop antenna.) And since I live 2,250feet up a mountain, with an unobstructedline of sight to New York City (100 milesaway), I need excellent adjacent -stationrejection plus, perhaps, very fine tun-ing -0.05 or 0.025- MHz per step-toseparate all the stations crowded shoul-der -to -shoulder on the dial. Is there any-thing in the $300-500 range that will fitthese criteria?-Stewart Dean, Wood-stock, N.Y.

First, I hope readers won't start throwingout their Scott tuners because of your expe-rience. The comparison with the Panasonicis unfair; all such radios have a relativelynarrow IF bandwidth-specifically to im-prove selectivity, but at the expense ofaudio bandwidth and therefore of audiblefrequency response.

Second, let's clear up the question ofadjacent -channel vs. alternate -channel se-lectivity, since I can't tell which is moreimportant to your "adjacent stations." Inany given market, stations may, by FCCproscription, be no closer than 400 kHz -0.4 MHz, or two channels-apart. If onlystations in New York City could bereceived at your aerie, the conventionalalternate -channel selectivity figures wouldtell all that need be known. In all probabil-ity, however, you're able to pick up somestations, from other markets, that are only200 kHz from New York stations-whichis "next door" in terms of dial spacing-and some may come booming in with asmuch signal strength as those in New York.Here, it's adjacent -channel selectivity thatis important. Unfortunately, few specsheets include this parameter. The best Iknow of is in the new SAE tuner, but it is alittle above your price range.

Before pursuing that thought further,however, let's take up the matter of tuning"resolution." It's not really a question ofthe spacing of the steps in a digital tuner(which obviously is what you have inmind). It's true that with a mechanical tunerand no AFC lock you can sometimes delib-erately detune a station in the direction

away from an interfering one, improvingreception. The fact that you're detuned,however, increases distortion. A bettersolution, if it's available, is narrowing theIF bandpass characteristic to exclude moreof the interfering station without creatingany asymmetry in the reception of the tunedstation. And even if you had tiny detuningincrements, you'd be unlikely to experiencemuch, if any, audible advantage. (See thearticle on receivers, page 29.)

So switchable IF bandwidth may be ofsome use to you (though the best adjacent -channel selectivity DSL has ever measuredfor us is the 12 dB of the Crown FM Two,which has no IF switch). A blend switch toreduce noise on weak broadcasts withoutkilling the stereo separation altogethershould be welcome in your location. Andpublished alternate -channel selectivity fig-ures will probably have to be your nearestapproximation to the more pertinent adja-cent -channel ones for most products.

Bumps in the Night

My system includes a Technics SL -10turntable with an Audio-Technica AT-152LP cartridge, a Concept receiver,JBL 166A speakers, a DBX 21 record de-coder, and two tape decks. About eightmonths ago, I started buying audiophilerecords-digital, half -speed masterings,and DBX. A few of the classical recordsproduce annoying thumps through thespeakers, even when I play back a tapecopy of the record, but not when I listenon my Sony MDR -5a headphones orwhen I listen to conventionally maderecords or FM broadcasts.

Since my receiver has no infrasonicfilter, I purchased a pair of Warp Knotplug-in filters, but they didn't help. I'vehad the turntable, the receiver, and thespeakers all checked. Not only could theyfind nothing wrong with them, but whenone repair facility played my record onmy equipment but with their speakers, thebumps were inaudible. JBL says theproblem has to be in the records.

At present, I'm paying $18 apiecefor nonreturnable records that are highlyunsatisfactory, and I'm disgusted. Do youhave any comments or suggestions?-Ralph G. Abbott, Anaheim, Calif.

Not without hazarding a few guesses. It'spossible that both your headphones and the

repair service's speakers have insufficientdeep -bass response to reproduce what isclearly audible in that region on the JBLs.It's also possible that feedback via the sur-face on which the turntable is mounted iscontributing to a problem caused by warp"information" that reaches up beyond theinfrasonic range. (Using headphonesbreaks the feedback "circuit;" the repairservice doubtless placed the turntable on itsown work surface.) So moving the turntableaway from your JBLs or placing it on anisolation mat or isolation feet might help.So might careful record storage to preventwarps, of course, though it would be verysurprising if the conventional recordsyou've had longer and taken no better careof were to suffer less from warpage thanyour superdiscs.

Phono Ceiling

Could you explain the importance of pho-no overload as a specification for pream-plifiers? Is 100 millivolts adequate? I amplanning to purchase either the Apt Hol-man or the RGR preamp, both with MMphono overload specs of more than 100millivolts, but I note that less expensivemodels often have figures in excess of250 millivolts.-Donard Carrow, Virgin-ia Beach, Va.

For a pickup with average -to -high sensitiv-ity-say, about 1 millivolt per centimeterper second-headroom to 100 millivolts at1 kHz should be adequate (though not nec-essarily generous) with most recordedmaterial. Some digital or direct -cut discshave very high peak velocities that couldcause problems-depending, in part, onthe spectral content of the signal and on thepreamp's overload characteristics at fre-quencies above 1 kHz-but the cartridge islikely to rebel before the preamplifier does.A cartridge with twice the sensitivity (2millivolts per centimeter per second, whichis much higher than that of any real -worldpickup within my ken) might profit fromtwice the headroom (to 200 millivolts), butoverload figures of 250 millivolts andabove generally strike us as a question oflily -gilding.

We regret that the volume of reader mail is toogreat for us to answer all questions individually.

18

MAXELL IS PLEASED TO PRESENT ANEVEN HIGHER PERFORMANCE TAPE.

If you're familiar with Maxell UD-XL tapes you probably find it hard to believe that anytape could give you higher performance.

But hearing is believing. And while we can't play our newest tape for you right here onthis page, we can replay the comments of Audio Video Magazine.

"Those who thought it was impossible to improve on Maxell's UD-XL II were mistaken.The 1981 tape of the year award goes to Maxell XL 11-S:'

How does high bias XL 11-S and our normal bias equivalent XL I -S give you such highperformance? By engineering smaller and more uniformly shaped epitaxial oxide parti-cles we were able to pack more into a given area of tape. Resulting in a higher maximumoutput level, improved signal-to-noise ratio and better frequency response.

o keep the particles from rubbing off on your recording heads Maxell XL -S also hasan improved binder system. And to eliminate tape deforma-tion, XL -S comes with our unique Quin-Lok Clamp/HubAssembly to hold the leader firmly in place.

Of course, Maxell XL 11-S and XL I -S carry a little higherprice tag than lesser cassettes.

We think you'll find it a small price to pay for higherperformance. IT'S WORTH IT.


AUDIO

Sound ViewsOpinion and comment on the changing audio scene by Robert Long

Specs andTests: A Caseof Informationvs. MeaningONCE, SO LUNG AGO that it now seems leg-endary, a friend told me to beware of har-monic -distortion specs. "It's intermod-ulation that makes the difference," he con-fided. "Anybody can get good harmonic -

distortion figures, but if you don't see inter-modulatin listed on the spec sheet, there'sprobably a good reason for it." Sureenough, within the next few months I

became aware that a specsmanship battlewas in progress. The better brands werebrandishing their low intermodulation fig-ures, while the also-rans were claiming"under 1% distortion" (yes, it was thatlong ago) and listing only THD on the specsheets.

Specmanship has never disappearedsince, though the realms in which its skir-mishes are fought have been transformedmany times over. As recently as a decadeago, for example, many companies wererating their FM tuners solely in terms ofusable sensitivity-though how meaning-ful that figure was, with total harmonic dis-tortion and noise a mere 30 dB below max-imum program levels, is another story. Justbeyond the rating point, the quieting curvesof many products suddenly flattened out;instead of increasing the quieting as signalstrength increased for good signal-to-noiseratios under normal listening conditions,they remained noisy even under ideal recep-tion conditions. It took a shift in emphasisaway from raw sensitivity and onto the qui-eting curves and the ultimate quieting fig-ures to bring the listening quality of budgetproducts into line with what was beingachieved at the high end.

We flatter ourselves that magazinessuch as ours have played a major role inkeeping specsmanship honest. Often it's aquestion of "plugging loopholes" by test-ing parameters that the spec sheets areducking in whatever era we're talkingabout-tuner S/N ratios, for example.Sometimes it's a question of variety ofapproach: testing in a nonstandard wayintended to explore a factor that the stan-dard approach tends to obscure. But some-times it's a question of not documenting aspecific that is inherently meaningless or

misleading, thus keeping the testing em-phasis where it belongs-on the factors thatmake the real differences between oneproduct and another.

It was with this last consideration inmind, for example, that we made a "shock-ing" decision in 1979. Beginning in ourJune issue, we would no longer concernourselves with distortion figures below0.01% and we would no longer show dis-tortion curves unless we were dealing withrelatively high distortion levels (as in tapeequipment) or distortion patterns that wereboth unusual and significant-and provid-ing that the curve would help to explain the

Too much datacan obscure thetruth as badlyas too little.

significance. Some readers, of course,thought they were being shortchanged;some still do when they see our reports side -by -side with those in other magazines. But Iam convinced that, at least for music -listen-ing purposes, there is no discemable differ-ence between 0.01 and 0.001% steady-statedistortion and that to document measure-ments like "0.0027%" is to mislead thereader into believing that the product willbe audibly better than one measuring, say,0.0083% distortion. If we show both mea-surements as "<0.01%," their signifi-cance becomes plain at once: Distortion istoo low to fuss about.

Distortion curves can be even moreconfusing for an unwary reader. BeforeJune of 1979, our amplifier distortioncurves often showed a huge rise betweenmidrange and ultrahighs, at least in full-power measurements. The immediate im-pression conveyed by such a curve is one ofdistorted highs in listening to music, thoughthe amplifier in question might sound veryclean. There are two reasons for this dispar-ity. One is that midrange distortion oftensinks to such ridiculously low levels thatdistortion can be much higher at high fre-quencies without being truly high; the otheris that musical program material neverdemands anything like full power from anamplifier at high frequencies. Even the dis-tortion figures at 0 dBW (I watt) representconsiderable headroom beyond normalpower requirements at, say, 10 kHz. So to

present these data graphically is to belaborthe issue-or, perhaps more accurately, thenonissue.

This viewpoint also is the basis for ouremphasis on using dBW, instead of themore familiar watts, as the unit of measurefor power. If you talk of two amplifiers, onerated at 125 watts and one at 140, the dif-ference appears significant: fifteen watts,right? Well, it is fifteen watts, but it's notsignificant-as you see immediately whenthe figures are expressed as 21 and 211/2dBW, respectively. If both are driven to rat-ed power with the same signal, the "larg-er" model will deliver a barely perceptible1/2 dB more power. In fact, we don't usedivisions smaller than fourths with anyunits expressed in dB, including dBW, dBSPL, dBf, and so on. The reason is, again,that we don't believe finer distinctions havepractical significance in listening to music,and their use therefore strikes us as poten-tially misleading.

That's not to say that, in making itsmeasurements for our equipment reports,Diversified Science Laboratories doesn'tmeasure anything beyond what you see inthe published reports. DSL measures manyspecifics-output and input impedances ofelectronics, for example-"just in case";we comment on such matters in the textwhen something of substance emerges fromsuch a test, but we see no reason to clutterthe page with evidence that what you'dexpect to be okay as a matter of course is, infact, satisfactory.

Then there are measurements that wetry to predigest for you. A good example isspeaker impedance: DSL gives us a plot ofimpedance versus frequency that we use asa basis for discussion, but that we don'tactually reproduce. Reference -level re-sponse curves in tape equipment are anotherexample. They give important clues to howa recorder will treat high-level high -fre-quency transients, but they represent whatyou will hear less directly than do the moreconventional curves, made at a level 20 dBlower. Therefore, we reproduce the latterand only comment on the former.

It is one of the conceits of audio that ifyou make enough measurements you cansay all there is to say about any piece ofequipment. In my view, that premise iswrong on two counts. First, we're alwaysfinding new technical perspectives fromwhich to perceive the virtues or failings ofstereo equipment. And, in the final analy-sis, too much information can obscure thetruth as badly as too little. HF

20HIGH FIDELITY

AUDIO

New Equipment ReportsPreparation supervised by Robert Long, Michael Riggs, and Edward . Foster.Laboratory data (unless otherwise noted) supplied by Diversified Science Laboratories.

A TriumphantDebut forB&O/DolbyHX ProfessionalBeocord 9000 cassette deck, with Dolby B and C andHX Professional headroom extension. Dimensions:201/2 by 11 inches (top), 5 inches high max. Price:$1,800. Warranty: "limited," one year parts and labor.Manufacturer: Bang 6, Olufsen a s. Denmark; U.S.distributor: Bang & Olufsen of America. Inc., 515Busse Rd., Elk Grove Village, Ill. 60007.

PLAYBACK RESPONSE (TDK test tape; -20 dB D N)

DB

0

5

HZ 20 50 100 200

ch

ch

L

R

f500 1K 2K 51< 10K 201<

+ 11/2, -31/4 dB, 40 Hz to 12.5kHzt-21/4 dB, 40 Hz to 12.5 kHz

RECORD/PLAY RESPONSE, TYPE 2 TAPE (-20 dB)

DB

0

-5HZ 20

MR 1St

50 100 200 500 II< 2t< 51( 10K 20K

L ch + -3/4 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHz- Rch +1, -1/4 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHzwith Dolby B noise reduction

Rch + 1, -4,4 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHzwith Dolby C noise reduction- - Rch + 1 -11/2 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHz

RIGHT UP FRONT, let's give you the bottomline: The Beocord 9000 is not only the fin-est deck we've ever tested from thisredoubtable Danish company, but one ofthe best decks available from any company.Superficially, it's indistinguishable fromthe 8000 (test report, November 1980),whose elaborate timer/indexing/real-time-counter/memory system it shares. But justa look at the response curves tells you thatthis is an exceptionally competent deck,even though they don't show some of thesophisticated details that set the 9000 apartfrom the 8000 and other lesser decks.

Foremost among the innovations, ofcourse, is the HX Professional circuit,developed by B&O and available to othercompanies as well via Dolby license. DolbyLaboratories developed the original HX

system, which uses the control voltage inthe Dolby B chip to sense the presence ofhigh-level high -frequency signal compo-nents. Using this information, the HX cir-cuit adjusts both bias and recording equal-ization to forestall the onset of saturationand self -erasure. In other words, HX per-mits you to load the tape with more signal atvery high frequencies before audible com-pression sets in. At least that's the way itworks in theory, though the decks with theoriginal HX circuit that we tested only par-tially justified the claims. HX Professionalis similar, but with a significant difference:The signal itself is evaluated after all pro-cessing-both noise reduction and record-ing EQ-has been applied to it (so theadjustment is made on the basis of what'sactually going onto the tape, rather than

Report Policy: Equipment reports are based on labora-tory measurements and controlled listening tests. Unlessotherwise notes, test data and measurements are ob-tained by Diversified Science Laboratories. The choice ofequipment to be tested rests with the editors of HIGHFIDELITY. Samples normally are supplied on loan from themanufacturer. Manufacturers are not perm.tted to read

reports in advance of publication, and no report or por-tion thereof may be reproduced for any purpose or in anyform without written permission of the publisher. All re-ports should De construed as applying to the specificsamples tested. HIGH FIDELITY and Diversified ScienceLaboratories assume no responsibility for produce per-formance or quality.

MAY 1982 21

AUDIO New Equipment Report,,

TIMER &TAPE CONTROLS

HEADPHONELEVEL ADJUST.

EJECT

RECORD/PLAY RESPONSE, TYPE 4 TAPE (-20 dB)

DB

0

-5

HZ 20

owlMOO

50 100 200 500 1K 2K 5K 10K 20K

Lch +1/4, -11/4 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHzRch +1, -3,4 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHz

with Dolby B noise reductionRch +1, -11/2 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHz

with Dolby C noise reduction- - Rch +1,-21 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHz

RECORD/PLAY RESPONSE, TYPE 1 TAPE (-20 dB)DB

0

-51E7

HZ 20 50 100

Lch- Rch200 500 1K 2K 5K 10K 20K

1/4, -21/2 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHz+1/2, -11/2 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHz

with Dolby B noise reductionRch +l ,-3 dB, 20 Hz to 18 kHz

with Dolby C noise reduction- - Rch +1, -2 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHz

S/N RATIO (re DIN 0 dB; R/P; A -weighted)Type 2 tape Type 4 tape Type 1 tape

without noise reduction591/2 dB 601/2 dB 581/2 dB

with Dolby B noise reduction661/2 dB 67 dB 651/2

with Dolby C noise reduction731/2 dB 75 dB 73 dB

METER READING FOR DIN 0 DBdepends on tape used: see text

METER READING FOR 3% DISTORTION (333 Hz)+1 to +2 dB with all tapes tested

DISTORTION (third harmonic: at -10 dB DIN)Type 2 tape s0.81%, 50 Hz to 5 kHzType 4 tape s0.59%, 50 Hz to 5 kHzType 1 tape s0.065%, 50 Hz to 5 kHz

ERASURE (333 Hz: DIN 0 dB)

CHANNEL SEPARATION

±68 dB

441/2 dB

SPEED ACCURACY 0.5% fast, 105-127 VAC

WOW & FLUTTER (ANSI/IEEE weighted peak; R/P)1-0.06% average; ±0.08% max.

SENSITIVITY (re DIN 0 dB: 333 Hz)line inputmike input

21 mV0.15 mV

MIKE INPUT OVERLOAD (clipping) 42 mV

OUTPUT (from DIN 0 dB) 1.3 V

REC. LEVELADJUST.

PROGRAMMER/TIMER CLOCKREADOUTSIGNAL -LEVELDISPLAYPROGRAMMINGKEYBOARD

TRANSPORT &MEMORY CONTROLS

what should theoretically be going there)and bias is adjusted to keep the total high-

frequency signal delivered to the tape con-stant in level. Thus, high-level signals athigh frequencies are conceived as part ofthe total bias influencing the tape.

Another important new feature in the9000 is the tape -matching system. The9000 automatically senses Type I , 2, and 4tapes (ferric, "chrome," and metal, re-spectively) and has a manual override set-ting at which both ferric and "chrome"pilots are lit and the deck is set for ferri-chrome (Type 3) tapes. (Incidentally, thesetape -type pilots are visible through win-dows in the cover, so you can double-checkthe setting even with the cover closed.) Inaddition, there's an automatic adjustmentwith optional storage for each tape type.When you don't direct the deck to adjustitself for the particular tape that's in thewell, it will follow the information you'vestored for that general tape type. There is nobuilt-in generalized setting to fall back on.

Because the 9000 has no provision formonitoring, you can't even hear the sourcesignal from the deck's output while you arerecording. The transport returns the tapefollowing its adjustment-and even cuesup just past the end of the leader, if you've

begun at the very beginning, and switchesexpectantly into the recording/pause mode,ready for action, when it's finished. Theactual adjustment program is uniquelysophisticated. Bias is optimized individual-ly for the two channels, and in addition torecording-EQ and sensitivity (Dolby -track-ing) adjustments, there is one for distortion.This last is used to calibrate the meters for2-3% THD at the 0 -dB indication, makingthe metering tape -responsive in a way wehave never before encountered anywhere.In addition, the metering is weighted; theidea is that the onset of the red portionshould correlate to the onset of overload nomatter what tape is in use or what the spec-tral content of the signal may be. This maybe the 9000's best feature.

This ambitious radicalism is consistentwith B&O's traditional attitude that it mustworry about technology so that its custom-ers don't have to-that the engineeringshould be left to the engineers and notfoisted onto the recordist. Our first reactionto the design, however, was that what itsimplified in one area it compensated forwith added complexities elsewhere. Withmore familiarity, however, we have cometo the conclusion that we are the victims ofour own experience: that, to some extent,

Controls hiddenbeneath the Beocord9000's cassette -wellcover includerecording -levelsliders, a noisereduction selectorswitch, a button toactivate the tape -matching system(REC CAL), anotherbutton to store theresulting adjustmentsfor the selected tapetype, a switch tooverride the deck'sautomatic tape -typeselection, and timercontrols.

22 HIGH FIDELITY

A Quick Guideto Tape TypesOur tape classifications, Type 0 through 4, are based pri-marily on the International Electrotechnical Commissionmeasurement standards.

Type 0 tapes represent "ground zero" 4) that theyfollow the original Philips -based DIN spec. They are ferrictapes, called LN (low -noise) by some manufacturers, re-quiring minimum (nominal 100%) bias and the original,"standard" 120 -microsecond playback equalization.Though they include the "garden variety" formulations,the best are capable of excellent performance at moder-ate cost in decks that are well matched to them.

Type 1 (IEC Type I) tapes are ferrics requiring thesame 120 -microsecond playback EQ but somewhat high-er bias. They sometimes are styled LH (low -noise, high -output) formulations or "premium ferncs."

Type 2 (IEC Type II) tapes are intended for usewith 70 -microsecond playback EQ and higher recordingbias still (nominal 150%). The first formulations of thisson used chromium dioxide; today they also i-icludechrome -compatible coatings such as the ferricobalts.

Type 3 (IEC Type III) tapes are dual -layered ter-richromes. implying the 70 -microsecond ("chrome") play-back EQ. Approaches to their biasing and recording EQvary somewhat from one deck manufacturer to another.

Type 4 (IEC Type IV) are the metal -particle, or "al-loy' tapes. requiring the highest bias of all and retainingthe 70 -microsecond EQ of Type 2.

the 9000 seems even more complex than itis because it differs so much from what wehave become used to. If a neophyte were toconfront both the 9000 and any other super -deck, chances are that the two modelswould appear on a par in complexity, butthat the other model would require muchmore long-term learning before the usercould obtain its best performance. Ofcourse, relatively few first-time owners willbe ready to jump directly into so heady aprice category, so most 9000 buyers willprobably have to do a little unlearning.

After we'd done ours, we continued toencounter moments of confusion only ontwo exceedingly small points: the automaticresetting of the elapsed -time display (insome instances we would have preferred toretain the previous benchmark) and thealternation of the time -remaining indica-tion, when it is chosen, with the standardelapsed time on the display. (Though thedisplay does show remaining time continu-ously during the tape's last minute or so, the9000 would be easier to use if it were pos-sible to switch back and forth at willbetween the two time modes). In sum, then,the comprehensive microprocessor modes,

for which we've had space only to skim thesurface here, offer all sorts of capabili-ties-some of them unique to the 9000-atsome cost in initial confusion, but surpris-ingly little when you consider all the deckwill do.

And among the things it will do isrecord superbly. All but incredible areDiversified Science Laboratories' responsecurves with Dolby C at 250 nanowebers permeter (our 0 -dB reference), which are flat-ter than those of many decks measured 20dB lower. Gone are the peculiarities wenoted in the HX decks we've tested; HXProfessional really seems to have solved theproblems, and it certainly is responsible forthe superb results at high levels and fre-quencies. For the record, the lab used TDKSA -X as the basic Type 2 tape and twoMaxell formulations for the remaining mea-surements: MX for Type 4 and UDXL-I forType 1. The tape -matching system gaveexcellent results with a wide variety oftapes, however, and we see no reason tourge exclusive use of the lab's formula-tions. All in all, we're in more than a littleawe of the 9000.Circle 98 on Reader -Service Card

MONITOR (SOURCE/TAPE, A/BSPEAKERS (A,

HEADPHONES

AC POWER

TONE TURNOVER, TONEDEFEAT, FILTERS, LOUIDNESS

TREBLESOURCE SELECT(COPY 10.2 20.1 AUXTUNER MM MC)

VOLUME

BALANCEBASS

Phase "DynamicDuo" In OnePackagePhase Linear DRS -250 Integrated amplifier.Dimensions: 171/2 by 34,4 Inches (front panel), 13Inches deep plus clearance for AC convenienceoutlets: two switched (300 watts max.). °cmunswitched (1,000 watts max.). Price: 5975. Warranty:"limited," three years parts and labor. Manufacturer:Phase Linear Corp., 20121 48th Ave. West,Lynnwood, Wash. 98036.

RATED POWER 17 dBW (50 watts) channel

OUTPUT AT CLIPPING (both channels driven)8 -ohm load 2112 dBW (140 watts) channel4 -ohm load 211/2 dBW (140 waits) channel16 -ohm load 201/4 dBW (105 wars) channel

DYNAMIC HEADROOM (re rated power.8 -ohm load) + 6 dB

IF WE ARE TO TAKE the manufacturer's wordfor it-and manufacturers have beenknown to miss the point of their owndesigns on occasion-dynamic headroomis the central issue raised by the new PhaseLinear line of amplifiers. The DRS desig-nation actually stands for Dynamic RangeSystem, specifying the proprietary amplifi-er design by means of which operatingdynamic range is increased considerablybeyond that implied by the continuous pow-er rating. The intent, according to PhaseLinear, is to create products equal to thedemands created by the dynamics of mod-ern recordings-digital or otherwise.

The DRS -250 is not only the sole inte-grated amp in the new line, it is the firstintegrated amp ever from Phase. If youwant to use it as separate amp and preampsections, you can: There are jumpers on theback panel for this purpose as well as for

making outboard -processor connections.Front -panel features include tape dubbingin either direction between the two decksfor which there are connections, a 20 -dBMUTE, a tone -bypass option, and dual -turn-over bass and treble controls. The radicaloptions of the latter -100 Hz in the bassand 6.5 kHz in the treble-tweak only thefrequency extremes; the alternate settings(250 Hz and 3 kHz, respectively) delivermore conventional tone -control operation.Maximum cut and boost in all options runsabout 10 dB-meaning that exaggeratedeffects are traded for finer control withintkeir moderate range. The LOUDNESS sim-ply adds about 6 dB to the response in thedeep bass (particularly below 100 Hz) rela-tive to the treble. The filters are not sharpenough to be supereffective; that for thehighs takes only a gentle, but useful bitefrom the audible range, while the infrasonic

MAY 1982 23

AUDIO New Equipment ReportsHARMONIC DISTORTION (THD; 20 Hz to 20 kHz)at 17 dBW S 0.020%at 0 dBW 5 0.037%

FREQUENCY RESPONSE+0, -11i5 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHz;+0, -3 dB, 12 Hz to 31.5 kHz

RIAA EQUALIZATIONfixed -coil input

moving -coil input

+<V4,-1 dB, 34 Hz to 18kHz; -16 dB at 5 Hz+ <V4, -1 dB, 27 Hz to 18kHz; -181/2 dB at 5 Hz

INPUT CHARACTERISTICS (re 0 dBW; A -weighting)sensitivity S/N ratio

fixed -coil phono 0.080 mV 721/4 dBmoving -coil phono 7.6 µV 72 dBaux 4.7 mV 75 dB

PHONO OVERLOAD (1 -kHz clipping)fixed -coil inputmoving -coil input

PHONO IMPEDANCEfixed -coil input

moving -coil input

165 mV15 mV

47.6k ohms: 170. 245,or 440 pF150 ohms

DAMPING FACTOR (at 50 Hz) 130

HIGH FILTER -3 dB at 7 kHz; 6 dB/octave

INFRASONIC FILTER -3 dB at 44 Hz; 6 dB/octave

filter shaves off a bit in the deep rumblerange as well as reducing frequencies thatare below audibility. The phono inputsalready have some infrasonic filtering, towhich the switchable filter adds its effect.(Note that our frequency -response figuresare measured through the band -limitedpreamp; the power section, considered byitself, is exceedingly broadband.)

The power amplifier section measuresvery well, with one exception-where it issuperb. That exception is the dynamicheadroom, of course; the 6 dB shown in ourdata is the champion figure since we begantesting this parameter a few years ago.Since the rated continuous power is 50watts (17 dBW), the added 6 dB puts theeffective instantaneous power with musicalsignals at 23 dBW, or the equivalent of 200watts. The actual midrange clipping levelson steady-state signals are not far below thislevel; even with a 16 -ohm load, the DRS -250 will pump out more than 20 dBW 0100watts), and of course the figures are higher

for the other two standard loads.Gain in the amplifier is higher than

usual (to make best use of the added dynam-ic range, according to a company spokes-man), with the result that sensitivity mea-sures higher than usual (that is, the numbersare lower), but the noise figures suffer com-mensurately. There is no cause for com-plaint here, however-just cause for com-ment. Also unusual, but not of any real sig-nificance, is the fact that high -frequencydistortion is very slightly higher at 0 dBW(I watt) than at full rated power.

Whether you're concerned with dy-namic power capabilities, preamplifierflexibility, or just overall specifications, theDRS -250 gives you essentially what youmight expect to find in Phase Linear sepa-rates-except, of course, that it's all in onepackage. The central property of thedesign-its dynamic range-is out of theordinary, but the rest of the design certainlyis not pedestrian, even by contrast to the250's "beauty spot."


A High -ValueThree -Wayfrom ARAR -48s loudspeaker system. Dimensions: 14 by 25inches (front). 11 inches deep. Price: $200. Warranty:"full," five years on parts. labor, and performance.Manufacturer: Acoustic Research (division ofTeledyne), 10 American Drive, Norwood, Mass. 02062.

WHEN WE TESTED the AR -28s almost a yearago (July 1981), it was the middle child in afamily of three two-way loudspeakers,dubbed by their maker the Super Valueline. The family has now grown by two,with the addition of the AR -48s reviewedhere and the just introduced AR -58s. Bothare three-way designs with their driversmounted in a vertical line on the front bafflefor best imaging. But where the Model 58suses a 12 -inch acoustic suspension woofer,a 11/2 -inch dome midrange, and a 1/4 -inchdome tweeter (reminiscent of the old AR -3aand the AR -11), the Model 48s uses a 10-

inch acoustic suspension woofer, a 4 -inchacoustic -suspension midrange, and a 1 -inchdome tweeter (more like the AR- 12 of a fewyears ago). Crossovers in the 48s are at 400Hz and 2.5 kHz. The baffle, which isrecessed slightly from the front lip of theenclosure, is normally concealed by aremovable black fabric grille. Amplifierconnections are made to a pair of color -coded spring clips inset in the back panel.There are (wisely, in our view) no driver-level or response -shaping controls of anykind.

AR's technical specifications indicatethat this speaker is intended for use awayfrom corners on a shelf or the floor with itsback against a wall. The user's manual spe-cifically recommends placement at ear levelfor best results and floor placement as agood second choice. Measurements madeby Diversified Science Laboratories sug-gest the opposite, however. Although thefrequency response curves DSL obtainedwith the 48s elevated were quite good,moving the speaker down to the floor

effected a notable improvement in smooth-ness, especially in the midrange. For thatreason, all lab and listening tests were per-formed with the speakers so positioned.

Sensitivity of the AR -48s proves to behigh (especially for an acoustic suspensionspeaker), as does power -handling ability.On 300 -Hz tone bursts, it took the full out-put of DSL's amplifier (69 volts peak,equivalent to 271/4 dBW, or 595 watts, into8 ohms) without distress. Based on themeasured sensitivity, that translates into avery loud calculated peak sound pressurelevel of 1171/4 dB at 1 meter.

As one would expect from a goodthree-way system, distortion is quite low.At a moderate output of 85 dB SPL, totalharmonic distortion never exceeds 1/2%

above 50 Hz and reaches a maximum ofonly 3% at 30 Hz-remarkable perfor-mance for so low a frequency. At 90 dBSPL, THD rises slightly, especially at thefrequency extremes (reaching 4% at 30 Hzand 11/2% at 10 kHz), but from 80 Hz to 6kHz it stays below 1% and at many frequen-cies is less than 1/2%. Only at a very loudlevel of 100 dB SPL does the 48s start togive up, with distortion reaching almost10% at the top and bottom of DSL's testspectrum (30 Hz to 10 kHz) and just belowthe 400 -Hz midrange/woofer crossover.Overall, these are excellent results.

The 48s has an unusually smoothimpedance curve with a maximum of 14.6ohms at 50 Hz (the woofer's resonance fre-quency) and a minimum of 4.2 ohms atabout 750 Hz. To get a better idea of theaverage impedance in the frequency rangeof most musical information, DSL has

24 HIGH FIDELITY

ROOM RESPONSE CHARACTERISTICS

DB

+50

5

710

HZ

...\-

20 50 100 200 500 1K 2K 51( 10K 2C

AR 48sboundary -dependent regionon -axis responseoff -axis (30°) response

SENSITIVITY (at 1 meter; 2.8 -volt pink noise;250 Hz to 6 kHz) 891/2 dB SPL

AVERAGE IMPEDANCE (250 Hz to 6 kHz)6.4 ohms

begun making a second impedance mea-surement with pink noise band -limited tobetween 250 Hz and 6 kHz. For the AR -48s, this measurement shows 6.4 ohms. Wewould expect this to be an easy load for anygood amplifier, although it might be wise toavoid running a pair of the 48s's in parallelwith another set of speakers. .

As we have come to expect fromAcoustic Research loudspeakers, the AR -48s yields very smooth and extended fre-quency response, remaining within about-±31/2 dB from 55 Hz to 20 kHz on axis. Offaxis, response begins to droop a little athigh frequencies because of the increasingdirectivity of the drivers, but it is still withinapproximately -±41/2 dB from 50 Hz to 15kHz.

Of course, what matters most is howthe speaker sounds, so we are happy toreport that the AR -48s comports itself atleast as well in the listening room as it doeson the test bench. Its overall balance issmooth and neutral with a superb bass reg-ister in the AR tradition-solid withoutbeing overblown. Imaging also is verygood, and the speaker maintains its compo-

sure all the way from very soft to very loudevels. Perhaps the most direct way of

expressing the listening quality of this newAR is to say that it keeps out of the way ofthe music-a high compliment.

Beyond sheer quality, however, is thequestion of value for dollar, and as ananswer to that question, the AR -48s is con-vincing. Although a well -executed three-way loudspeaker should have the edge inperformance over a two-way system, it isfar easier (and less expensive) to build agood example of the latter than of theformer. The design problems are trickier,and the crossover networks are typicallyboth more numerous and more complicatedthan in a two-way: All of which tends todrive up costs. Consequently, we are morethan a little impressed with the value thisnew speaker represents. Not only has ARdone a fine job of acoustical engineering,but it has brought in the product at a strik-ingly decent price. A three-way speaker ofthe quality of the 48s for only $200 is a rarebird, indeed, these days and is an achieve-ment in which AR can take jusitified pride.Circle 94 on Reader -Service Card

Sony's "Musical"Moving -CoilPickupSony XL -44L moving -coil phono cartridge withelliptical diamond stylus. Price- 5180, in SME-styleplug-in mount (XL -44), $200. Warranty: "limited," oneyear parts and labor. Manufacturer: Sony Corp.,Japan; U.S. distributor: Sony Corp. of America, 9 W.57th St., New York, N.Y. 10019.

FREQUENCY RESPONSE 8 CHANNEL SEPARATION(test record: JVC TRS-1007 Mk. I )

DB

0

5

-1015

- 20-25-30

MINIM MI- 441

MMEMIIM==MINIIIM

HZ 20 50 100

,117"-4

200 500 1K 2K 5K 10K 20K

Frequency responseL chR ch

Channel separation

+1, -2 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHz+11/2, -21/2 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHz

dB, 1 kHz to 3.5 kHz;?-19 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHz

To Order Test Report Reprints, send usa letter with the following information. thetype of product, the name of the product.the model number, manufacturer. and theissue in which the test report appeared.Also enclose a self-addressed stampedenvelope and send to Test ReportReprints, High Fidelity, 825 SeventhAve., New York, N.Y. 10019. Requestsfor 3 or less reprints will be filled free -of -charge.

THOUGH PHONOGRAPH PICKUPS must beconsidered a sideline in a company of suchwide-ranging interests, Sony has often beenin the innovative vanguard here-as,indeed, it has tended to be in most areas ofaudio and video equipment. The XL -44L isnot a radical design, however-"just" avery good moving -coil pickup. We chose totest it in its standard configuration; it also isavailable (as the XL -44, at a slightly higherprice) for direct plug-in mounting in "uni-versal" S- and J -shaped arms.

For the bench measurements, Diversi-fied Science Laboratories used Sony's HA -55 head amp, whose 95 -ohm input imped-ance is a close match to the 100 -ohm load-ing that Sony recommends. (The publishedresponse curves, however, show a load of500 ohms and 100 picofarads; our teststurned up no reason to suppose that loading

values are particularly important.) Calcu-lating from the gain of the lab's HA -55(which measures about 27 dB), the XL-44L's output into 100 ohms is 75 micro-volts per centimeter per second, within verytight limits (±<1/4 dB); but, because thevalue depends to some extent on the load,our data show the output through the headamp.

Far from exhibiting the "hot" highend that, according to critics of moving -coilpickups, has created a reputation for super -fidelity by overemphasizing this range tosome extent, the XL -44L exhibits only avery mild, broad peak in the 10 -kHz region,followed by a gentle rolloff above. And thesound. far from being edgy or hard (as afull-blown high -end peak would imply),tends to be round and warm-though it'salso beautifully detailed. With the JVC test

SENSITIVITY (1 kHz) 1.65 mVicmisec with head amp'

CHANNEL BALANCE (1 kHz) ±-1.4 dB'

VERTICAL TRACKING ANGLE L-24°

LOW -FREQUENCY RESONANCE (in SME 3009)vertical 9.5 Hz; 71/2 -dB riselateral 9.8 Hz; 8 -dB rise

WEIGHT 6.5 grams

"see text

SQUARE -WAVERESPONSE

Report Policy: Equipment reports are based on labora-tory measurements and controlled listening tests. Unlessotherwise noted, test data and measurements are ob-tained by Diversified Science Laboratories. The choice ofequipment to be tested rests with the edito -s of HIGHFioeurr Samples normally are supplied on loan from themanufacturer. Manufacturers are not permitted to read

reports in advance of publication. and no report or por-tion thereof may be reproduced for any purpose or in anyform without written permission of the publisher. All re-ports should be construed as applying to the specificsamples tested. HIGH FIDELITY and Diversified ScienceLaboratories assume no responsibility for product per-formance or quality.

MAY 1982 25

AUDIO New Equipment Reportsrecord, the separation appears good, but notexceptional; in the listening room, the ste-reo perspective is excellent: firm, precise,and distinct.

We hesitated to call the XL -44L "mu-sical" only because that term has some-times been used to cover certain sins (nota-bly, a want of high -frequency response or

an excess of even harmonics); but it is whatmight be called a "good listening" car-tridge. For a moving -coil model, it's notexpensive by today's standards (though ifyour system does not already include a headamp or step-up transformer, you'll have toinvest in one), making it a good valueamong its peers, in our opinion.

TUNING (UP/DOWN,AM/FM, MEMORY)

BALANCETREBLE

BASS _410

AC POWER Abiall

HEADPHONESCLOCK DISPLAY

SPEAKERS (A, B)

7.1 90307.

I I I I I I I I--r

Pioneer'sReceiver forthe EightiesPioneer SX-7 AM FM receiver. Dimensions: 161/2 by43'4 inches (front panel), 123,4 Inches deep plusclearance for controls and connections. ACconvenience outlets: one switched (50 watts max.),one unswitched (200 watts max.). Price: 5550.Warranty: "limited," one year parts and labor.Manufacturer: Pioneer Electronic Corp., Japan: U.S.distributor: Pioneer Electronics (USA), Inc., 1925 E.Dominguez, Long Beach, Calif. 90810

FM tuner section

MONO FREQUENCY RESPONSE

DB

0

5

HZ 20

4

50 100 200 500 1K 2K 5K 10K

±1/2 dB, 20 Hz to 15 kHz

STEREO RESPONSE & CHANNEL SEPARATION

DB

0

510

15

20

2530

35

40

Hi 20

20K

50 100 200


Channel separation

500 1K 2K 5K 10K 20K

-.1/2 dB, 20 Hz to 15 kHz-±39 dB, 20 Hz to 15 kHz

37 dB, 30 Hz to 7.5 kHz;>27 dB, 20 Hz to 14.5 kHz

MONITOR (TAPE/SOURCE, 1/2)

IF YOU ARE UNAWARE how Pioneer hasmoved into the Eighties by revamping itsentire component line, you simply haven'tbeen paying attention. (For remedial read-ing, try our reports on the A-5 integratedamp in January and on the CT -9R cassettedeck in March.) Now we come to the SX-7receiver, replete with the sort of electroniccontrols that are fast becoming the hallmarkof our era. Though Pioneer's managementof sizes, shapes, and colors prevents thefront panel from looking cluttered, there isa lot on it to examine.

The AM/FM digital frequency -synthe-sis tuner has memories for eight stations oneach band. (The front panel can be fittedwith frequency identification for each pre-set; Pioneer provides sheets of inserts thatcover the entire gamut of station assign-ments.) Scanning and stepping progress in100 -kHz increments on the FM band, 10 -kHz intervals in AM. (The latter can bechanged to 9 kHz, should you move to anarea requiring it, thanks to a back -panelswitch.) There is the usual single switch todefeat the mute and impose the monomode, for reception of weak FM stations.Curiously, the mono function combineschannels only at the output of the preampsection; if you're recording, the stereo andthe noise go onto the tape. This plan doesmake the mono mode available to otherinputs without requiring a second switch.but combining channels in playback won'talways get you as quiet or undistorted aresult as you would have if you recorded in

SELECT. (PHONE/AUX),VOLUME PRESET,MUTING ON/OFF

VOLUME

PHONO (MM/MC)

LOUDNESS (ON/OFF)INFRASONIC FILTER

- MONO/FM MUTE

mono in the first place.There is provision for two decks (TAPE

2 is also marked for "adapter" connec-tions, for an outboard signal processor),and dubbing from 1 to 2 is possible via afront -panel switch. There is a single phonoinput pair, but it can be switched at the frontpanel for either moving -coil (MC) or fixed -coil (moving -magnet, or MM, etc.) car-tridges. The AUX is also marked "video"-certainly an indication not only of things tocome from Pioneer Video (which recentlyassumed at least temporary control of theworld's laser video disc production), butalso of the growing interest in stereo soundon all television fronts.

All this is manipulated by micropro-cessor switching and volume setting. (Thetone controls operate, in conventional fash-ion, in a feedback loop that is part of the DCNon -Switching Vari-Bias amplifier.) It is,of course, digital technology that makespossible all those station memories. It alsoboth requires (because there's no volumeknob) and provides a volume -preset memo-ry that resets the receiver to your normallistening level when you turn it on, no mat-ter what volume vagary you might haveindulged in at the last listening. And themicroprocessor adds an ancillary function:multiple readouts in what otherwise wouldbe only a tuning device. When you touchthe VOLUME, for example, the SX-7'snumerical display automatically converts tothat function, showing the setting as a num-ber between 0 and 31. And when you turn

26

.

HIGH FIDELITY

FM SENSITIVITY 8 QUIETING

De

10

20

-30

4o

-so

so ".4

DBF 0 10 20 30 40 50

stereo quieting (noise)mono quieting (noise)

Stereo sensitivity (for 50 -dB noise suppression)39 dBf at 98 MHz, with 0.70% THD+ N(401/2 dBf at 90 MHZ; 381/2 dBf at 106 MHz)

Mono sensitivity (for 50 -dB noise suppression)161/4 dBf at 98 MHz

Muting threshold 324,4 dBStereo threshold 321/2 dBStereo S/N ratio (at 65 d131) 644/4 dBMono S/N ratio (at 65 dBf) 671/2 dB

60 70 80 90 100

CAPTURE RATIO 4'4 dB

SELECTIVITY (alternate -channel) 611/4 dB

HARMONIC DISTORTION (THD+ N)stereo

at 100 Hz 0.40%at 1 kHz 0.36%at 6 kHz 0.58%

mono0.23%0.17%0.15%

STEREO PILOT INTERMODULATION 0.37%

IM DISTORTION (mono) 0.057%

AM SUPPRESSION 59 dB

PILOT (19 kHz) SUPPRESSION 381/2 dB

SUBCARRIER (38 kHz) SUPPR. 52 dB

Amplifier section

RATED POWER 174,4 dBW (60 watts)/channel

OUTPUT AT CLIPPING (both channels driven)8 -ohm load 19 dBW (78 watts)/channel4 -ohm load 181/2 dBW (71 watts)/channel16 -ohm load 17 dBW (50 watts)/channel

DYNAMIC HEADROOM (8 -ohm load)+2 dB re 174,4 dBW (60 watts)

HARMONIC DISTORTION (THD: 20 Hz to 20 kHz)at 173/4 dBW (60 watts) S 0.085%at 0 dBW (1 watt) % 0.016%

FREQUENCY RESPONSE+0, -1/2 dB, 20 Hz to 37.3 kHz;+0, -3 dB, <10 Hz to 96.4 kHz

RIM EQUALIZATIONfixed -coil phono

moving -coil phono

1.41 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHz;-5 dB at 5 Hz+<V4, -1,2 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHz;-7V4 dB at 5 Hz

V

1.41.1E. MONK.. ,12,0,41.0nOrF

kJ Li

the receiver to STANDBY (there is no OFF) orpress CLOCK, the display tells you the time.

As you might expect, the incrementsof the volume control are much more regu-lar than is typical of the detented rotary con-trols so common in recent years. This reg-ularity, plus the opportunity for good track-ing between channels, are the justifyingconsideration for such a control, though thetaper of Pioneer's control presented us witha minor inconvenience. Toward the top ofthe range, the steps are very small-the toptwelve steps cover just 91/2 dB-but in themiddle of the range, where our measure-ments were made and our listening wasdone, the steps run 5 or 6 dB apart, whichwe judged a bit coarse. The shelving tonecontrols are gentle, but effective, withabout ± 10 dB of range. The LOUDNESS,too, is gentle, with some boost in theextreme treble as well as in the bass. Theinfrasonic filter nibbles very little from theaudible range, but is only moderately effec-tive below it.

The response and channel separationof the FM section are excellent, and thecapture ratio is outstanding. In other

t-wvi

At the heart of the SX-7is a microprocessor thatenables push pads to dis-place the usual rotaryvolume control. Shownabove are the volume -control pads and thepreset switch that letsyou program in the vol-ume setting to which theSX-7 will automaticallyreturn every time youturn it on.

respects, the tuner data are merely respect-able. The section evidently is conceivedwith urban or suburban listening in mind,however since the muting threshold is onthe high side, and the first of the three LEDsthat constitute the signal -strength displayonly begins to light at 33 dBf-completelyignoring the range just below, which is crit-ical for optimum mono reception in "fring-ier" areas.

Despite the obvious qualities andcapabilities of the receiver, we mast con-fess to some disappointment. Good as theSX-7 is, it doesn't strike us as the sort ofexceptional product for its intended marketthat the last two Pioneer models we'velooked into have been. Maybe we'rebecoming jaded about microprocessors, ormaybe the negative comments of old-timerswho miss knobs to twirl are getting to us.Either would be a pity, because there arereal virtues to the new receiver technologythat promise more capability for fewer dol-lars in this new generation of equipmentthan in its predecessors. And the SX-7 isunequivocally a child of the microprocessorgeneration.


INPUT CHARACTERISTICS (re 0 dBW: A -weighting)sensitivity S N ratio

aux 22 mV 70 dBfixed -coil phono 0.35 mV 65 dBmoving -coil phono 32 u.V 651/2 dB

PHONO OVERLOAD (1 -kHz clipping)fixed -coil phono 155 mVmoving -coil phono 14 mV

About the MIN . .

We currently are expressing power in terms ofdBW-meaning power in dB with a reference (0dBW) of 1 watt. The conversion table will enableyou to use the advantages of dBW in comparingthese products to others for which you have nodBW figures.

PHONO IMPEDANCEfixed -coil phono 48.3k ohms; 230 pFmoving -coil phono 100 ohms


INFRASONIC FILTER -3 dB at 18 Hz; 6 dB/octave

CONVERSION TABLE FOR POWER OUTPUT

WATTS dBW WATTS

1.00 0 1001.25 1 12.5

1.6 2 16

2.0 3 20

2.5 4 25

3.2 5 32

4.0 6 40

5.0 7 50

6.3 8 63

8.0 9 80

dBV.,

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

WATTS dBW100 20

125 21

160 22

200 23

250 24

320 25400 26500 27

630 28

800 29

MAY 1982 27

AUDIO New Equipment Reports

PITCH ADJUST.REPEAT

SIZE (12/7 IN.)SPEED (33 45 RPM)

CUE (UP/DOWN)START/STOPSKIPTRACK

Automationand Beyondfrom JVCJVC L -F71 automatic turntable, including sensingpickup with elliptical stylus. Dimensions: 161/2 by141/2 inches (top plate), 41/2 inches high with lidclosed; additional 10V2 inches vertically and 11/2inches at back needed to open lid fully. Price: $350;optional RM-71 remote control, $50. Warranty:"limited." one year parts and labor. Manufacturer:Victor Company, Japan; U.S. distributor. JVCCorporation, 41 Slater Dr., Elmwood Park, N.J. 07407.

SPEED ACCURACY no measurable error at eitherspeed, 105-127 VAC, when setexact at 120 VAC.

PITCH CONTROL RANGEat 33 rpm +9.0, -7.4%at 45 rpm +12.5, -9.7%

WOW & FLUTTER (ANSI/IEEE weighted peak)±0.04% average: ±0.07% max.

TOTAL AUDIBLE RUMBLE -69 dB

TONEARM RESONANCE & DAMPING(with supplied cartridge)vertical 9.6 Hz; 11 -dB riselateral 12.25 Hz; 71/2 -dB rise

STYLUS -GAUGE ACCURACY0.1 below measured VTF. 0.5 to 3.0 grams

TOTAL LEAD CAPACITANCE 90 pF

Supplied pickup

FREQUENCY RESPONSE & CHANNEL SEPARATION(test record: JVC TRS-1007 Mk. II)DB

0

-5-10

15

20

25

30

weax*IP

HZ 20 50 100 200


IN THE TOTAL SPECTRUM of automationavailable in today's turntables, JVC's L -F71 falls somewhere between the "fullyautomatic" (as some manufacturers stylethe models that will cue themselves up tothe beginning of a record and shut them-selves off at the end) and the "superauto-matic" (those with random programmingcapability). All the automatic functions-including REPEAT-are available here. Inaddition, you can pick any track from one toten, press TRACK that number of times, andthe arm will go straight to the chosen bandand play the remainder of the record.

An optical sensor built into the pickupaccomplishes this feat. And because thesensing is possible only thanks to the pick-up that JVC supplies with the turntable, thelab measured the L -F71 as a completeensemble. (If you don't want the sensingfunction and wish to use a conventionalpickup, you may not want to pay for theextras that come with the L -F71.) The car-tridge mounting-via a plug-in shell for thestraight -tube toneann-is standard, how-ever, and will thus accept just about anypickup. (JVC premounts the supplied car-tridge, so you needn't worry about over-hang; if you replace it with another model,you'll have to measure overhang distancewithout benefit of a gauge, since none issupplied.

There are a number of adjustments inaddition to the usual counterweight VTFcalibration and arm -base antiskating dial(which on the L -F71 has separate scales for

spherical and elliptical styli). In the tone -arm support there is an arm -height adjust-ment screw, and at the back of the arm baseis a set -down position adjustment. At theback of the top plate is a sensitivity adjust-ment for the optical sensor, while otherniceties are an easily removable dust coverand a jack that accepts an accessory remotecontrol, which we did not test.

The turntable acquitted itself very wellin tests at Diversified Science Laboratories.The adjustment range at both speeds ismore than a half -tone above and below nor-mal speed, which is generous. The arm/cartridge resonance is within the range con-sidered ideal. Response is quite flat, andseparation about average. More to thepoint, the L -F71 sounds good and workswell, giving us no trouble with standardrecords. (However, the optical sensor can-not be expected to give reliable results withlight-colored vinyl or picture records, as themanual warns.)

Obviously, the key issue here isweighing the convenience of the JVC'strack -finding feature against the traditionalprerogative of choosing your own car-tridge. In theory, a pickup and an arm thatare designed for each other should deliverbetter results than mix -or -match serendipi-ty, however good the individual ingredi-ents, making the option of choice a ques-tionable virtue. So if you want the semipro-grammability that JVC offers, it may beworth a little loss of buying flexibility.Circle 99 on Reader -Service Card

v="--NtChannel separation -20 dB. 20 Hz to 5 kHz, SQUARE -WAVE

500 1K 2K 10K 20K "15 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHz RESPONSE

SENSITIVITY (1 kHz) 1.04 mV cm sec

+V2, -3/4 dB. 20 Hz to 20 kHz+1/4, -1 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHz

CHANNEL BALANCE (1 kHz) ±V4 dB

MAXIMUM TRACKING LEVEL (re RIAA 0 VU; 14,4 gr.)lateral a+15 dBvertical a+12dB

L

28 HIGH FIDELITY

A NewGeneration ofReceiversAdvanced technologies-digital andotherwise-are transforming the featuresand performance of today's receivers.by Leonard Feldman

OBSERVING THE EVOLUTION Of stereo re-ceiver technology is somewhat like watch-ing friends grow older: You don't notice thegradual changes, but a ten -year -old photomakes it immediately apparent that theyhave taken place. Superficially, the modernstereo receiver seems pretty much the samemultiple -function audio component it hasbeen for the last decade or two. But if youown a receiver that's more than a few yearsold, compare its features and performancewith those of recent receivers from the lead-ing manufacturers-the differences will beclear both to your eyes and to your ears.There have been significant technicaladvances made in the three basic elementsof stereo receivers: tuners, preamp/controlsections, and power amplifiers.

Tuner Circuit Improvements

The most sweeping tuner circuit inno-vation in recent years has been frequencysynthesis. Normally, a frequency -synthesistuning system will provide an illuminateddigital frequency readout, but that is itsleast important aspect. (In fact, a tuner maydisplay frequencies digitally without usingfrequency -synthesis circuitry at all.) Thechief virtue of frequency synthesis is, verysimply, tuning accuracy.

Unlike conventional mechanical tun-ers, which use a variable capacitator toselect stations, frequency -synthesis tunersare governed by a quartz -crystal oscillator,which can be accurate to 0.003%. This isimportant because even a slight degree ofFM mistuning causes high levels of distor-tion. In other words, those impressively

Len Feldman, proprietor of Leonard Feld-man Electronic Laboratories and a memberof the High Fidelity Hall of Fame, is a well-known writer on audio topics.

low distortion figures quoted in manufac-turers' brochures apply only if the tuner isprecisely tuned to the center of the FMchannel. Of course, it is possible to adjust amechanical tuner properly, but becauseaccurate tuning depends on an often -mis-aligned meter or some other fallible indica-tor-or, in many instances, On your ears-it's easy to end up with some amount ofmistuning and the attendant distortion.Because the distortion that results fromslight mistuning shows up only during theloudest program peaks, all may appear wellif you mistune during relatively quiet pas-sages, but crescendos will quickly demon-strate the inaccuracies. Frequency -synthe-sis tuning, on the other hand, makes suchsubtle-but nonetheless annoying-errorsimpossible.

An ancillary benefit of frequency syn-thesis is the ability to preset the frequenciesof favorite stations for instant recall. Back-up batteries or, in some cases, storage -

.N11,10

INIE.N1011,1v

114.I. AIN( f.,1 -41 -SE -

IMP

I 1

AMINO.

OMIR

capacitor circuits "remember" theseinstructions even if the line power is cut offfor long periods of time. However, frequen-cy -synthesis tuning as originally introducedwas not without its drawbacks. Although itadded a measure of convenience andensured highly accurate tuning, it was inca-pable of delivering as high a signal-to-noiseratio as conventional tuners. In addition,early frequency -synthesis tuners were oftenhighly susceptible to overload from strongincoming signals, causing other forms ofaudible distortion. These problems havenow been overcome by the use of improvedtuning devices (known as varactor diodes),the adoption of higher crystal -controlledreference frequencies in the frequency -syn-thesizing circuits, and the introduction ofnew solid-state devices that can handlestronger radio -frequency signals withoutoverloading.

Another recent development in tunerdesign is how manufacturers approach the

MODE RECORD SELECTOR

11

*2nu

UAW

TREBLE LOl JONI SS

Increased flexibility in receiver preamp sections is typified by computerized pushpad tun-ing, balance, and volume controls on the Pioneer SX-8 (left) and the variable LOUDNESSand versatile RECORD SELECTOR on Mitsubishi's DA -R25 (right).

00

HIGH FIDELITY 29

-LOW SELECTIVITY (WIDE IF;

0 ..'10 // N

N

20 - \/30 /

1I/ HIGH SELECTIVITY (NARROW IF

140

50

eo

70

eo \90

too

ilo

103 104 105 108 10 7 108 109 110 II 1

IF (MHZ)

FIG. I

Electronic station presets and switchableNarrow IF (see graph) is best used when FMreduced at the price of increased distortion.

question of selectivity. Alternate -channelselectivity is a measure of how well a tunerrejects signals 400 kHz, or the width of twochannels, away from the desired signal, andin the past most designers strove for thehighest possible rating. But with the prolif-eration of FM stations in metropolitan areasand the relative scarcity of FM signals inmany rural regions, it has become increas-ingly apparent that higher selectivity is notalways better. As Fig. I shows, higherselectivity usually requires a narrower pass -band, or bandwidth, in a tuner's critical IF(intermediate frequency) section. Especial-ly for stereo transmissions (and even forsome mono signals), modulation levelsmay exceed the IF bandwidth if the selec-tivity is ultrahigh. The result is increaseddistortion.

Conversely, if the IF bandwidth wereto be made very wide, reducing selectivity,distortion would be significantly lower, butthen in crowded -signal areas interferencefrom adjacent or alternate channels (located200 and 400 kHz away, respectively) mightbecome intrusively audible. In the past,designers tried to solve the problem bycompromising-by choosing an intermedi-ate selectivity characteristic that wouldwork reasonably well in most situations.Now, thanks to low-cost, permanentlyaligned solid-state IF filters and integratedcircuits and other refinements that reduceoverall costs, some receivers offer literallythe best of both worlds: selectable or vari-able IF bandwidth, usually identified asWIDE (low selectivity) and NARROW (highselectivity). If the FM stations in your areaare adequately spaced, you can select theWIDE IF bandwidth for minimum distortion.But if you're faced with a crowded FM dial,you can choose NARROW and trade a mod-erate increase in distortion for interference -free reception. A few receivers will even

arrOV.

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TUNING

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QUARTZ FREQUENCY SYNTHESIZER

bandwidth are included on many new receivers, such as Mitsubishi's DA -R25 (above).stations are crowded on the dial, wide IF when there are few. In NARROW, interference isSome models (including the DA -R25) switch bandwidth automatically.

Frequency -synthesistuning is the mostsweeping innovation.

make the choice for you, switching auto-matically according to signal conditions.

Control-Preamp Flexibility

Receivers are also beginning to showsigns of intelligence in their preamplifiersections. Several recently introduced unitsforsake traditional rotary controls altogeth-er in favor of computerized pushpads that,in effect, tell a microprocessor what altera-tions to make in volume, balance, or tone.In addition, they have programmable mem-ory circuits tied into their processor chips,so that you can preselect certain settings ofthese controls for later recall at the touch ofa button. But the main improvements in thepreamplifier and control sections of modernreceivers have been in control versatilityand switching facilities. A good example isthe continuously variable LOUDNESS foundon several popular receivers these days.

Previously, most loudness controlsconsisted of nothing more than a front -pan-el switch controlling a circuit that intro-duced progressively greater amounts ofbass (and sometimes treble) boost as thereceiver's master volume control wasturned down. Unfortunately, with so manyother variables in a typical audio system(speaker sensitivity, program -source lev-els, etc.), this rudimentary type of loudnesscontrol was little more than an arbitraryapproximation of the intended compensa-

tion for the ear's altered "frequencyresponse" at low listening levels. By offer-ing a separate, continuously variable loud-ness control in addition to the VOLUME,some receivers now provide meaningfulloudness compensation that can be set to dothe job the circuit was intended to do.

With interest in home recording muchmore intense than it was a decade ago,receiver manufacturers have also devisedmore elaborate signal -control and switch-ing facilities for the serious home recordist.For example, some receivers now have aseparate recording selector switch so youcan listen to one program source (records,for example), while recording from another(FM, say, or a second tape deck). Front -panel switches that facilitate dubbing fromdeck to deck routinely show up on currentreceivers, as do two (and sometimes eventhree) tape -monitor circuits.

Recognizing that simple bass and tre-ble controls often can't achieve the kind ofoverall frequency shaping that many criticallisteners want, receiver manufacturers havedevised more sophisticated tone -controlsystems. These include variable -turnovertone controls that-with the aid of associ-ated selector switches-provide a choice of"hinge" frequencies at which bass or trebleboost or cut begins. More elaborate tone -tailoring schemes range from the additionof a midrange control to the incorporationOf a five -band graphic equalizer. Such com-plex systems are now practical, thanks tothe development of coil -less so-called "gy-rator" inductance circuits based on modernintegrated -circuit operational amplifiers (ICop amps).

Frequency response is also a hot issuein phono-preamp design. Although somepickup makers might be reluctant to admitit, differences in the loading or terminationof the cartridge output are often more

30 HIGH FIDELITY

responsible for variations in sound qualitythan are differences in design. All high -impedance magnetic phono cartridges (thisincludes most fixed-coil-i.e., moving -magnet and moving-iron-pickups) aredesigned to work into an optimum loadresistance (usually 47,000 ohms) in parallelwith an optimum amount of capacitance.

In the last few years, however, follow-ing the example of some makers of separatepreamps and integrated amps, a number ofreceiver manufacturers have begun to pro-vide a switch (usually on the back panel)that selects one of several loading capaci-tances. Even if you're not sure of the idealvalue, you will hear a difference as you flipthrough the available choices, and you canchoose the load that yields the sound youthink is best. In addition, more manufactur-ers than ever before are including infrasonicfilters in their receivers to block signalsgenerated by warped records and the likebefore they have a chance to waste ampli-fier power, increase distortion, and possi-bly even damage speakers.

Refined Power Amplifiers

Happily, the receiver wattage race thatwas at its peak a couple of years ago hasgiven way to more sensible and meaningfulimprovements in power -amplifier circuitdesigns. To be sure, many manufacturersare still obsessed with the idea of being ableto add another zero or two after the decimalpoint when they rate the harmonic distor-tion of their products. (Can anyone reallybelieve that 0.002% distortion is audiblylower than 0.02%?) [See "Sound Views"on Page 20 of this issue for more on thissubject.-Ed.] Furthermore, most of theseminiscule distortion specs apply to theamp's maximum rated output, even thoughfew of us listen to receivers operating at (oreven near) their maximum output levelsother than during rare momentary musicalpeaks. A more sensible goal is low distor-tion at the low power levels that are typicalin most listening situations.

Although available under a variety ofnames, most of the simulated Class A pow-er circuits aim for just that. By way of back-ground, a true Class A circuit has its outputdevices arranged so that they conduct a con-stant, high level of electrical current at alltimes. Because they are never switchedcompletely off, the audio signals theyamplify don't acquire the "glitches" or dis-continuities referred to as switching ornotch distortion (see Fig. 2), which can beadded by conventional Class B or Class ABamplifiers.

Unfortunately, true Class A circuitsare highly inefficient, wasting enormousamounts,of energy in the form of heat-andtherefore requiring expensive, oversizedheat sinks. Accordingly, most designers optfor Class B or Class AB power amps, par-ticularly for receivers, and simply try tominimize the inherent distortion. They have

been so successful at this effort that it isextremely unlikely you will ever hearswitching or notch distortion, even thoughthey are greatest at low power levels.

Still, to reduce that possibility to theabsolute minimum, several manufacturershave come up with power -output circuitsthat behave very much like Class A ampli-fiers. Their transistors are always in a state

UNDISTORTED SIGNALWAVEFORM

WAVEFORM SHOWINGSWITCHING DISTORTION

FIG 2

WAVEFORM SHOWINGNOTCH DISTORTION

New circuits that mimic Class Aoperation reduce distortion (above)at typical listening levels.

of conduction (and therefore cannot intro-duce switching distortion), but they retainthe efficiency of Class B circuits.

Some companies have developed am-plifiers that are even more efficient thanClass B circuits. These have been givensuch names as Class D, Class G, and ClassH by their respective originators. (TheClass C, E, and F designations have alreadybeen assigned to amplifier circuits unsuit-able for audio equipment.) Usually thesehigher efficiency systems use "stepping"power supplies that provide only theamount of power the amplifier needs at agiven moment, based on the instantaneoussignal level.

Finally, new approaches to negativefeedback and new types of feedback circuitshave found their way into receiver amplifiersections. Most of these designs are aimed atcountering certain very subtle types of dis-tortion, especially at very high frequencies.And more and more manufacturers havebeen building high -current amplifiers tohandle low -impedance and other difficultloudspeaker loads that might cause distor-tion or even output -stage failure in less con-servatively designed receivers.

Overall, there's little question thattoday's receivers pack more sophisticatedcircuitry and features into less cubic spacefor less money (even discounting inflation)than the receivers that seemed almost per-fect just a few short years ago. Better yet,this evolution should continue. HF

Hearall the musicwith Fultonthe original audio leads

You can dramas e yourazcurate re-creation of the live per-formance with Fulton audio leads.Designed specifically for audioreproduction, Fulton leads displaythe subtle harmonic nuances in themusic, making them the finestavailable.

Years of research and developmenthave gone into these head shellleads, shielded phono interconnectsand speaker cables to bring youcloser than ever before to the liveperformance. Now you can achieveoptimum coupling among yourcomponents and bring out your sys-tem's maximum potential with full,solid imaging. Call or write for thename of your local dealer carryingFulton audio equipment andaccessories.

FULTON.42C4 Brunswick Avenue North

Minneapolis. MN 55477(612) 537-7D76

Call 800-328-4815 Toll F-ee.

MAY 1982 Circle 55 on Reader -Service Card 10.

Move up to Futon andexperience the difference!

Autosound '82:Sophisticationand ConvenienceImproved stereo imaging and more versatilecontrols lead the way in this springs new car stereo models.by Gary StockTHEY SAY THAT READERS of high fidelitymagazines aren't interested in the businessside of audio, so I'll refrain from commenton the event that gave birth to the reportyou're reading-the 1982 Winter Consum-er Electronics Show in Las Vegas. I won'tmention the spectacle: floor space equal tothat of a Madison Square Garden, jammedto the rafters with people and about 40,000different pieces of electronic hardware. I'llpass over the hot-air balloons drifting over-head, the talking robots, the magicians, andthe hundreds of smiling hostesses in Lurex,satin, and gold lame; I'll ignore the full-sizehouses erected as set pieces for audio andvideo equipment, only to be torn down aweek later.

I'll also dismiss without comment theindescribable Naugahyde Xanadu of LasVegas! the mind -numbing din of a two -

block -long casino in full swing at midnight,the sad -eyed Keno players, and the flashycowboy high rollers. I won't even discussthe huge adjacent parking lot packed cheek -by -jowl with dozens of gleaming exoticcars, ranging from Ferraris to customPorsches to gullwing DeLoreans, all literal-ly shaking from the power of the megawattsupersound systems installed for promo-tional purposes. I guess "they" are right:Gary Stock is a free-lance audio/videowriter and auto buff.

Talking about business and how it's con-ducted is all too dull. I'll leave the humandrama and the spectacle for the movies andkeep my nose to the hardware.

A Genuine Stereo Image

The big news for automotive soundbuffs is the arrival of what might be calledthe second stage of autosound develop-ment-the evolution of mobile sound sys-tems that produce a real stereo image andsense of depth. Stage one (where we'vebeen since the popularization of car stereosystems in the early Seventies) gave us bassand volume-often in distressing quanti-ties-pumped into our ears and spines viabanks of speakers aimed to catch the listen-er in a multidirectional barrage of sound. Ifit didn't hurt, it wasn't high fidelity. Butthis year brought a number of advance-ments that render music -in -motion far morenatural in its depiction of a sonic "stage"with left -to -right and depth perspectives.

Most ballyhooed was Sony's demon-stration of its Soundfield components, per-formed in the sumptuous burled -walnut-

and -leather interior of a Rolls-Royce. TheSoundfield system uses a conventionalSony AM/FM/cassette writ and multipleamplifiers connected so an array of careful-ly placed individual drivers: a pair of rear -

mounted subwoofers that reproduce nondi-rectional deep -bass tones and either two orfour midrange and treble drivers in the frontof the vehicle.

The idea is to generate a conventionallateral stereo image at the front of the car bymounting the smaller mid- and high -fre-quency units on or near the dash in the samebasic arrangement used for home musicsystems. The woofers supply oomph at thelow end without betraying their specificlocations, and the listener perceives thesonic image (or field, if you will) as ema-nating from the area of the hood. It's amuch more natural arrangement than the"surround sound" of most traditional autostereo systems-and, depending on theconfiguration, it's not too expensive.

High -end companies such as Audio -mobile and Spectron have been using theindividual satellite speaker approach foryears in their multikilobuck custom sys-tems, so it's not surprising that several oth-er outfits would develop refinements on thetheme more or less simultaneously. ADS,for instance, has introduced an innovativecomponent speaker system called the 320i(catchy number-where have I seen itbefore?), which consists of a flush -mountbass/midrange driver with a high-tech coverplate, a passive crossover network, and abayonet -mount dome treble unit the size of

Three approaches to car speaker design. The GenesisAM -135 (far left) is an integrated flush -mounted sys-tem for doors or rear decks, while Linear Power'sBass Vent dual -driver subwoofer (left) mounts slot -upin rear decks. The ADS 3201 (above) uses a separatepassive crossover with woofers and tweeters that canbe mounted independently for best imaging.

32 HIGH FIDELITY

a pocket snuffbox. The treble drivers aresmall enough to be mounted on most cardashes or center consoles, thus enablingthem to generate a convincing frontal soundstage. The 320i can also be combined withthe ADS CX-400 subwoofer system to yielda setup similar to Sony's.

Another equally well constructed em-bodiment of the concept is found in Epi-cure's three-way LS -64I and LS -841 com-ponent speaker systems (the distinction is inthe size of the subwoofers), both of whichuse a midrange/tweeter module mounted ona single plate plus dual separate subwoof-ers. And one more exceptionally sleek ren-dering of the satellite speaker theme comesfrom an autosound newcomer called Clas-sic Research, which has developed satellitesubwoofer and midrange/treble modulesthat-though angled perfectly for optimumimaging-nestle snugly and unobtrusivelyinto the interiors of a limited range of priceysports/luxury machines.They've got enclo-sures for the BMW 320i, Mercedes 450SL,Porsche 911 and 930, Chevrolet Corvette,and Ferrari 308 GTS/GTB, but probablynot for my neighbor's 1966 Rambler Mar-lin.

"Smarter" Electronics

Microprocessors and other digital inte-grated circuits-those versatile but inex-pensive small computers that are turning upin many home receivers and amplifiers-are finding their way into a new generationof smarter automotive electronics. Most ofthe major car stereo suppliers have at leastone model with a skip button that enablesyou to pass over a selection and pick up atthe beginning of the next. Sanyo calls itsversion AMSS and uses it in three new mid -price AM/FM/cassette units (all less than$160). Marantz calls it Compuskip andemploys it in the CAR -312 ($200), a newbudget member of its Gold Standard fami-ly.

Fujitsu Ten has made much of theselection -skipping and other conveniencefeatures of its Dashboard Wizard micropro-cessor -controlled radio/cassette unit. Thatcompany is now making a smaller versionfor imports and minicars, available in bothblack and silver finishes, called the Mini -Wizard. And Clarion, which made a boldmove this year by replacing its entire line ofequipment with a new range of fifteen"downsized" receivers, is offering similarautomatic selection -finding and other con-venience capabilities in the top half dozenor so units of its range, calling the selection -skipping circuit APC.

The variety of cassette noise reductionsystems for use in home high fidelity sys-tems has expanded considerably in recentyears, generating no small amount of con-fusion. Perhaps in an effort to avoid suchconfusion in the fledgling car stereo busi-ness, a growing number of manufacturersare adopting a noise reduction system that's

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Three new "smart" receiv-ers (top to bottom): the Met-rosound Blue Sapphire CS -800, the Blaupunkt CR-3003, and the Fujitsu TenCE -4133 Mini Wizard. Allincorporate auto -reversecassette players and digitalfrequency -synthesis tunerswith station presets for bothAM and FM. In addition,both the Metrosound and theprogrammable Fujitsu haveautomatic selection -findingsystems.

been pitched as a universal approach-theDNR (Dynamic Noise Reduction) systemproprietary to National Semiconductor andnow offered by that company in inexpen-sive integrated -circuit form. Like the olderPhilips DNL system. DNR works by reduc-ing the frequency range of the system dur-ing quiet passages, when tape hiss wouldnormally be noticeable-relying on thehuman ear's relative insensitivity to limitedbandwidth at low sound levels. DNR is a"one -pass" system: It requires no encodingof the original recording and can be used toclean up the sound of radio broadcasts aswell as tapes.

The combination of broad applicabili-ty and low cost has drawn many automotivecassette -machine suppliers into the DNRfold this year. In addition to previous sup-porters. such as Autotek and Delco, Blau-punkt has DNR in it's new CR-300I receiv-er/cassette deck for Japanese cars, Metro -sound is using it in an expanded range ofhigh -end AM/FM/cassette units. and FAShas it in the top -of -the -line D- I a.

Convenience and Sophistication

A trend toward easier -to -install budgetautomotive systems is also discernible inthis year's showings. Kraco is packagingsome of its most popular speakers, receiv-ers and power boosters in suitcase -like box-es for one -stop shopping and easy, guaran-teed -to -fit installation. The two prepack-aged systems, which sell for less than $200,are called the TAS (Total Auto Sound)Series. Sanyo and newcomer K40 (knownto CB buffs for its antennas) are both break-ing affordable ground with AM/FM/cas-sette units priced at $60.

Among the high -end automotive sup-pliers, Audiomobile is also making a movetoward convenience and compactness byoffering its electronic crossover and power

amplifier systems premounted and wired ona single large plate suitable for concealedtrunk mounting. Linear Power stunned meand numerous other listeners with a clever4- by 10 -inch subwoofer system that actu-ally uses two large vertically mounted driv-ers: The mighty 1,600 watts of amplifica-tion fed to the speakers may also have hadsome influence on its mind -boggling bassoutput.

Two New England companies notedfor their smooth -sounding home speak-ers-Boston Acoustics and Genesis-haveintroduced two-way flush -mount automo-tive speakers similar in general format tothe well-known ADS 300i. And Philips-the giant Dutch concern that invented thecassette and the optical video disc-hasapplied its considerable engineering talentsto developing a superb -sounding line ofmultiple -driver speaker systems with styl-ishly high-tech faceplates. A favorite ofmine is a handy, adjustable -level add-ontreble unit, which can be used in pairs toimprove the stereo imaging of almost anyconventional auto sound system.

Also a home speaker manufacturer,but with a longer history in the autosoundmarket. Jensen has four new radio/cassettemodels ranging from the $150 JR-100 to the$240 JR-115. The top two (one with a stan-dard -size chassis, the other a mini) havefive station presets, a mono/stereo switch,and automatic local/distance switching toprevent front-end overload in strong -signalareas such as cities. All four units have sep-arate bass and treble controls and lockingfast -forward and rewind buttons.

Human Engineering

Distressingly absent from most of thesystems I saw at the show, however, werecontrols that a driver could use easily while(Continued on page 79)

MAY 1982 33

Du D C I m rVideoFrontsLatest video news and products by the Editors

Simulated stereo sound from a VCR, avideo disc player, or any mono signalsource is possible with Vidcraft's StereoSynthesizer. It divides the audio spec-trum into five bands and then feeds themin different proportions to the two chan-nels of a stereo receiver or amplifier. Aseparation control adjusts the outputfrom mono to the full "stereo" effect,and two dimension controls adjust therelationships between channels. A by-pass switch sends mono or stereo signalsthrough the system unaltered. The syn-thesizer sells for $190.Circle 90 on Reader -Service Card

Two video cable systems have beenannounced by Discwasher. Both the 75 -ohm and the 300 -ohm versions have sepa-rate outer grounding shields for interferenceprotection. Gold flashing is said to improvecontacts in these coaxial "F" connectors-the type frequently used for VCR hook-ups.Circle 87 on Reader -Service Card

Nonabrasive, nonmagnetic VHS and Betacassette -cleaning tapes are available fromAudio-Technica. Because both sides of thetapes clean, they can remove built-up resi-due from all heads, rollers, and tape guidesin one pass. Magnets in the tape housing

extract oxides from the cleaning tape, pre-venting recontamination. The cleaners areavailable in both VHS (AT -5001, shownhere) and Beta (AT -5002) versions, at $25and $22 respectively.Circle 88 on Reader -Service Card.

A combination RF switcher and amplifieris available from Quasar. With the ModelVE-581U Video Controller you can con-nect any of five RF input signals to any ofthree outputs. The built-in amplifier is

designed to boost all signals by about 6 dB;isolation is rated at more than 60 dB. Theprice is $120.Circle 92 on Reader -Service Card

A power -assisted front -loading cassettesystem is one of the features of Sharp's VC -8500 recorder. This $960 VHS deck alsohas a seven-day/one-event timer, a high-speed search system (at ten times normalspeed), still -frame capability, solenoid con-trols, a tape -remaining indicator, an auto-matic tape -winding system, and a 105 -

channel cable -compatible tuner.Circle 93 on Reader -Service Card

A new refinement of Fuji's Beridox parti-cle technology is embodied in Super HighGrade video tapes, said to provide a 4 -dB

increase in color and video signal for clean-er, brighter pictures. The improved formu-lation is designed to yield results in theextended-play modes comparable to thoseattained by conventional tapes at highertransport speeds. The special leader andtrailer and the cassette shell are treated withan antistatic formula to protect the tapefrom dust particles. The seven VHS lengthsavailable range from T-20 ($23.35) to T-120 ($37).Circle 91 on Reader -Service Card

The newest color portable receiver fromPanasonic, the Model CT -3311, contains a3 -inch screen appropriate for use as a mon-itor with portable VCRs. AC line current, acar battery, or an optional rechargeable bat-tery can be used for power. Other featuresinclude electronic tuning and Panabrite col-or control, which automatically adjustscontrast and color to changing ambientlight. The tiny portable also has automatic -search tuning. The CT -3311 will debut inJuly for $500.Circle 89 on Reader -Service Card

' - - - 2 I I I

A compact, versatile, front -loading Beta -max VCR measuring only a little more thanthree inches high is the latest addition toSony's video line. The SL -2500 ($1,500)features Betascan-II high-speed picturesearch; Swing Search multispeed, bidirec-tional playback; an electronic Tab MarkerIndexing System (for random access to anyof nine selectable tape locations); and a lin-ear tape counter, which displays the actualelapsed and remaining taping time. Videoinputs and outputs are provided, and a wire-less remote module controls most VCRfunctions.(Continued on page 39)

34 HIGH FIDELITY

Special Hands-On/Lab Test Report

Kenwood's KVA-502Audio -VideoAmplifierFor this video test report we have amendedour usual hands-on evaluation procedure;we have employed laboratory bench testsfor the audio portion of this hybrid product.The data appearing here are comparable tothat which regularly appears in our reportson new audio equipment.

Kenwood KVA-502 audio -video stereo integratedamplifier. Dimensions: 171/4 by 41/4 inches (frontpanel), 12 Inches deep plus clearance for controlsand connections. Price: 5400. Warranty: "limited,"two years parts and labor. Manufacturer: Trio-Kenwood Corp., Japan; U.S. distributor: KenwoodElectronics, Inc., 1315 E. Watsoncenter Rd., Carson,Calif. 90745.

RATED POWER 17 dBW (50 watts) channel

OUTPUT AT CLIPPING (both channels driven)8 -ohm load 19 dBW (79 watts)ichannel4 -ohm load 201/4 dBW (106 watts)/channel16 -ohm load 163/4 dBW (47 wafts)ichannel

DYNAMIC HEADROOM (8 -ohm load)+21/2 dB re 17 dBW (50 watts)

HARMONIC DISTORTION (THD; 20 Hz to 20 kHz)at 17 dBW ISO watts) s0.026%at 0 dBW CI watt) s0.017%

FREQUENCY RESPONSEt1/4 dB, 11 Hz to 20 kHz;+1/4, -3 dB, <10 Hz to 54 kHz

RIAA EQUALIZATION ±1/2 dB, 20 Hz to 17.5 kHz;-6 dB at 5 Hz

INPUT CHARACTERISTICS (re 0 dBW; A -weighting)sensitivity S/N ratio

tuner input 20 mV 821/4 dBphono input 0.31 mV 811/2 dBmike input 0.165 mV

INPUT OVERLOAD (clipping at 1 kHz)phono inputmike input

180 mV100 mV

PHONO IMPEDANCE 47.4k ohms; 240 pF


TO OUR KNOWLEDGE Kenwood's KVA-502Audio -Video Amplifier is the first attemptat an all -in -one control unit for the homeentertainment center of the future. True,you must repatch cables to perform certainvideo operations, but to some extent this isdue to the peculiarities of today's home vid-eo cassette recorders. One thing is certain:This is not another "accessory box"; it is aproduct whose design indicates howsmoothly audio and video technology canbe combined. Since there is no other singlepiece of equipment like the KVA-502,we'll describe how it works in detail. First,it is an integrated stereo amplifier with 17dBW (50 watts) per channel that can serveas the heart of your stereo system. Perfor-mance is fully comparable to the best audioamplifiers in its power class, as DiversifiedScience Laboratories' test data indicate.Distortion is below measurement limitsthrough 6 kHz and barely exceeds 0.025%at 20 kHz-just half of the published spec-ification. For music reproduction, the gen-erous 21/2 -dB dynamic headroom makesthis unit the sonic equivalent of an amplifierof 191/2 dBW (90 watts) per channel. Damp-ing factor is one of the highest that DSL hasmeasured.

The bass and treble controls providemore than 10 dB boost or cut below 100 Hzand above 10 kHz. While the controls lackcenter detents or a defeat switch to ensureflat response, they have little effect until

- . -

rotated beyond the "0" mark. At thatpoint, response is flat within 1/4 dB acrossthe audio band. The LOUDNESS switchcauses a substantial bass boost-as muchas 12 dB-at low volume settings; it grad-ually diminishes as the control is advancedtoward its maximum.

In addition to serving assa high -qualityamplifier for video sound sources, theKVA-502 handles an audio tape deck, anFM tuner, and a fixed -coil (moving -mag-net, etc.) phono cartridge. Phono equaliza-tion is flat to within 1/2 dB over the typicalbandwidth of a record, and the overloadmargin is more than adequate. Sensitivityand signal-to-noise ratios of the inputs aretypical for a high -quality audio product.

Two banks of pushpads select thesound source presented to the headphonejack, audio tape recorder, and speakers.You can hook up two sets of speakers, aslong as their combined impedance is at least4 ohms. The first four pads are mutuallyexclusive and select between VCR A, VCRB, VDP (video disc player), and AUDIO.

Pressing AUDIO relegates your choice to thesecond bank, where there are three push-pads-PHONO, TUNER, Of audio TAPE. PHO-

NO and TUNER are mutually exclusive; TAPE

serves as a tape/source monitor and over-rides PHONO and TUNER when it is engaged.In addition, there is a microphone input thatcan be mixed with any of the other sourcesvia a separate mike mixing control.

MAY 1982 35

The switching is less complicated thanit sounds. For example, the four -pad INPUTSELECTOR enables you to choose betweenthe three video sound sources individuallyand the four audio sources as a group; thethree -pad audio selector enables you tochoose among the audio sources individual-ly and enables you to add the microphonepickup as desired. By pressing AUDIO DUB-BING-the pad between the two switchbanks-you can record the audio source onthe soundtrack of VCR A, either as the vid-eo program is being recorded initially orlater, should you want to substitute a newaudio track for the original one. Thus, youhave the ability to record the soundtrack ofa simulcast concert from your FM tuner(which probably has higher quality audiothan your TV set) while you tape the videofrom the TV tuner. And you can record it instereo if your VCR has that capability. Youcan also easily dub background music andcommentary onto a video home movie.

Video dubbing is also possible, butonly on VCR A. The two VIDEO DUBBINGpush pads let you select either VCR B or thevideo disc player as the program source,and by placing the antenna selector switchin the TV mode, you can dub video whileviewing a regular TV program. To checkthe progress of the dubbing, you simplyswitch the antenna selector to VIDEO, andthe VCR signals are sent to your TV set oneither Channel 3 or 4. (Use this setup when-ever you wish to watch a video source thatis routed through the KVA-502.)

A PICTURE control allows you to softenor sharpen the detail of video images,whether you intend to tape the signal or justview it. Lab tests at DSL indicate that thepicture function works from I to 3 MHz andthat the maximum effect occurs around1.75 MHz, where a boost or cut somewhatgreater than 7 dB is possible. In practice,we found the PICTURE helpful in bringingout video detail, especially when dubbing

Standard audio jacks (left grouping) are complemented by a video -component cluster(right), which includes separate jacks for left and right video audio channels. The amp canaccommodate two VCRs and a video disc player simultaneously.

from VCR B to VCR A. The boost tends tocompensate for the rolloff in high -frequen-cy video information that is characteristic ofany consumer VCR. Some discretion isnecessary though; too much boost willemphasize the ghosts and video noise in thepicture. To use the PICTURE when viewingover -the -air TV, select the channel on thetuner of VCR A. Route the video throughthe KVA-502 by choosing VCR A on theKenwood's input switch and then send thesignal to the TV set (via Channel 3 or 4) byswitching ANTENNA to the VIDEO position.

Video Lab Test Report Policy: This test report isbased on laboratory measurements and controlledviewing and listening tests. Test data and measure-ments are obtained by Diversified Science Laboratories(DSL). The choice of video equipment to be tested restswith the editors of HIGH Flosury. Samples normally aresupplied on loan from the manufacturer. Manufacturersare not permitted to read reports in advance of publica-tion, and no report or portion thereof may be repro-duced for any purpose or in any form without the writtenpermission of the publisher. All reports should be con-strued as applying to the specific samples tested. HIGHFIDELITY and Diversified Science Laboratories assumeno responsibility for product performance or quality.

3H1NG INPUT SELECTORJCR A VCR VOP AUDIO

AUDIO DUBBINGAUDIT] P VCP A

If your receiver is a true monitor with adirect video input, you can avoid the deg-radation imposed by the additional RF linkby connecting the KVA-502's video outputdirectly to the monitor.

When stereo TV sound finally be-comes a reality in this country (as it is nowin Europe and Japan), the KVA-502 isready for it. Each video input has separateleft and right audio channels. In the mean-time, the KVA-502 creates its own pseudo -stereo image via a left/right crossfeedthrough time -delay phase -shift networks.(Tests at DSL indicate that the time -delayedcrossfeed does apportion the mono signalbetween left and right channels in a fre-quency -dependent manner and that the totalacoustic output is unaffected above 300 Hz.Below 300 Hz, the crossfeed creates a bassboost that amounts to about 41/2 dB at 50Hz.) A three -position MODE controlswitches between ENHANCER (pseudoster-eo), MONO, or STEREO. MONO sums what-ever information is in the left and rightchannels and presents it to both speakers. Ineither MONO Or ENHANCER, the output to the(Continued on page 37)

TAPE TUNER P1-40NO

BALANCE0

-Th I

2

411_4LEFT RIGHT

9

MIN 0 -----'NIA%

Integration of audio and video controls is apparent on front panel of the KVA-502. PicruRE (center bottom) lets you soften or sharpen avideo image, whether off -the -air or taped. Top row enables video dubbing (far left), selection of inputs, and audio dubbing. AUDIOactivates the separate TAPE/TUNERIPHONO selector panel. Mono TV (and audio) sources can be heard in pseudostereo via moDE's enhancerposition, and the denoiser switch (not shown) rolls off hiss.

36 HIGH FIDELITY

Video0.&A.by Edward J. Fostern Can / build a home satellite TV an-

tenna? Where I live I get just twochannels, and then only very poorly. The"home" dishes that I've seen advertisedare quite expensive. If I can build one,where do I point it?-Joe Sacino, Thun-der Bay, Ontario, Canada

A There's a lot more to a satellite anten-na than the big dish you see (although

mounting that, in itself, is a formidablemechanical engineering problem if youdon't want it to blow away in a heavywind). The dish functions like the mirror ofa large reflecting telescope, focusing theweak RF signal onto the antenna proper.

The signal itself travels thousands ofmiles to and from the satellite, whose trans-mitting power is quite low-usually only afew watts. Thus, the signal is very weakwhen it returns to earth and must be boostedby a low -noise amplifier (LNA) right at theantenna. And because the satellite transmitsat an extraordinarily high frequency-around 4 gigahertz (GHz), or 4,000 MHz-signals must be converted down to a muchlower frequency (about 500 MHz) before

the satellite receiver in your house can han-dle them. The receiver selects the channelyou want to view and converts that frequen-cy down to one your TV set can handle.

So unless you're a good mechanicalengineer, superb at electronics, and havesubstantial experience in ultra -high -fre-quency low -noise circuitry, you'll be over-whelmed if you attempt to build a completereceiving system. You may be able to savea few bucks by installing a system yourself,however. Heathkit, for one, offers a 3 -meter dish (the SRS -8100) with the neces-sary LNA, down -converter, and satellitereceiver. Most of the components are madefor Heath by Scientific-Atlanta, a companywith considerable expertise in this area. Thesystem handles 24 channels, which areselectable via an Zenith Space Commandremote -control unit (included). The SRS -8100 sells for about $7,000, but is a fairlysophisticated model with automatic orienta-tion to the proper polarization of each chan-nel on the link.

As a starting point, we'd suggest youget Heath's Site -Survey Kit (SRA-8100-10) for $30. It will tell you in what direc-tions the dish has to be pointed in yourreception area. If there isn't a clear line ofsight from your proposed antenna locationto the proper part of the sky, an antennasystem won't work.

QI've been an audiophile for sometime and am now about to begin as-

sembling a home video system. I'vethought about getting a video disc player

in addition to a VCR. One thing I don'tunderstand is how you clean video discs.And would I have to clean the laser -opti-cal type anyway?-Oliver Bryant, Mi-ami, Fla.

ALaser -optical video discs are not sup-posed to require cleaning, because the

laser focuses on information recordedbeneath a protective surface. Thus, finger-prints or minor scratches on the surface are"out of focus" for the laser, and it tends toignore them.

The stylus -in -groove CED discs mustbe kept scrupulously clean because thegrooves are very narrow and the informa-tion is tightly packed. Although the VHDsystem does not actually use grooves, thesurface of the record must be spotless none-theless. Even the tiniest dust particle wouldchange the spacing between the stylus andthe record surface and appear as "informa-tion" to this capacitance -sensing system.Because cleanliness is so important to theCED and VHD systems, each disc is pack-aged in a caddy, which you insert into theplayer. The player withdraws the disc fromthe protective package for playback andthen reloads the disc back into the caddywhen playback is complete. You nevertouch the surface of the disc itself.

Although we are not aware of any vid-eo disc cleaners on the market at this time,we expect to see many of them as soon asthe format takes hold. If and when that hap-pens, we'll try out some of the magic elixirsand report on them.

(Continued from page 36)audio tape recorder is mono, but that goingto VCR A is two -Channel; it must be com-bined with a stereo -to -mono Y -adapterbefore feeding the VCR's audio input.

The KVA-502 has one more strategyfor improving TV sound-a denoiser cir-cuit. The denoiser has essentially no effecton high-level signals that effectively masknoise, but as signal levels diminish and hissbecomes more of a problem the circuit rollsoff response above 4.5 kHz, reducing noiseby as much as 10 dB at 7.5 kHz.

RF signals are fed to and from theKVA-502 via standard 75 -ohm coax fit-tings. If your antenna uses 300 -ohm lead-in, you'll need a balun transformer to matchthe two impedances. Audio and video arehandled via RCA pin jacks; a supplementa-ry DIN connector is also provided for anaudio tape recorder. Try to keep the videocables as short as possible and use high -quality, low -capacitance cables to mini-mize signal loss. Speaker connections aremade to color -coded screw connectors, andthere are three convenience outlets-oneswitched (50 watts maximum) and twounswitched (for a total of 300 watts maxi-mum) to accommodate your VCRs andaudio equipment.

Kenwood recommends connecting

both UHF and VHF antennas to VCR A.The UHF link then passes directly to the TVreceiver, while the VHF output of the VCRroutes first through the KVA-502 and thento the television set. This allows the KVA-502's ANTENNA switch to feed either theChannel 3 (or 4) signal or the RF output ofVCR A to your TV set.

The direct video and audio output sig-nals of VCR A are connected to the VCR Aplay jacks of the KVA-502, while the cor-responding record jacks on the Kenwoodfeed VCR A's direct video and audioinputs. The second VCR and the video discplayer are logically equivalent; each feedsits direct video and audio outputs to the cor-responding play -input jacks on the Ken -wood amplifier. When the system is wiredin this way, it is impossible to record onVCR B.

If your VCR B has a tuner section, wesuggest connecting it to the antenna (viaantenna splitters) so that the machine can atleast record broadcast signals. With thishookup, the two VCRs can record indepen-dent programs while you watch a third, orVCR B can record off the air while youwatch a prerecorded tape on VCR A. (How-ever, it still would not be possible to dubfrom A to B without employing externalswitching.)

Although the KVA-502's control pan-el is laid out quite logically and the dia-grams in the owner's manual are clear, thewritten instructions could be more explicit.For example, there is no warning that manyVCRs are designed so that the direct audioand video inputs automatically override thetuner input; a novice videophile might erro-neously conclude that the system was notworking properly when this override oc-curred. Whenever connection is made tothese direct -input jacks-as is the casewhen the KVA-502 is hooked up-suchVCRs cannot record off the air. The solu-tion is simple: Disconnect the plugs (at thedirect inputs to VCR A) whenever you wishto record a broadcast. It may be a nuisance,but the design requires it.

While we may have complaints aboutthe instruction manual-and about theaudio control knobs, which are difficult tosee-generally, we find the KVA-502 to bea well -engineered product. At a very attrac-tive price, you get a first-rate integratedamplifier with ample power, pseudostereoenhancement of TV sound, a useful denois-er, a circuit that improves picture detail,and reasonably flexible video dubbingfacilities. That's an auspicious beginningfor this new generation of audio -videoequipment. HF

MAY 1982 37

VIDEO

VideoVignettesPersonal video experiences by Benjamin C. Patt, Jr.

A NoviceVideotapes a"Dream" Tripto Europe

As A TRAVEL JOURNALIST, I've learned totake as little as possible with me on assign-ments. Usually it's two ballpoint pens, adaily diary, a compact 35mm camera, and adrip-dry wardrobe that can easily be throwntogether just hours before departure.

My last trip, however, was very spe-cial: It was a "dream" trip with my wifeJudy to Europe, where our itinerary wouldtake us to the Flemish fairyland city ofBruges, the famous KD Rhine Cruise, andthe vacation mecca of Lucerne, and thenthrough the Alps to Salzburg (where TheSound of Music was filmed) and finally toVienna.

Somehow more than mere slides werecalled for to record this trip, but I cringed atthe thought of having to pay for a lot ofmotion picture film. So, although I didn'thave a great deal of technical expertise, Idecided to give video tape a try and visitedan area dealer. Convinced after an hour ortwo that making a video movie of our tripwouldn't be so difficult after all, I chose acolor video camera and portable VCR andwent home to practice before the trip.

In the final analysis, my decision tovideotape had both positive and negativeaspects, some of which are summarized inthe adjoining "Video Traveler's Tips".Most important, I found that I hadn't spentnearly enough time practicing with myVCR, and as a result the tapes of the earlypart of the trip are inferior in quality andcontent to those made later.

Also, I had completely overlooked thedifferences in line voltage between the U.S.and Europe, and thus lacked the proper con-verter for recharging the VCR's battery.My first attempt at recharging burned outthe charger unit, and it wasn't until I'dmade frustrating trips to video outlets inBruges, Amsterdam, and throughoutFrance and Germany that I finally got itfixed in Lucerne.

Would I videotape another trip?Knowing what I do now after a sometimesfrustrating initiation, sure! HF

Benjamin Patt is a free-lance travel writerand a novice videophile.

No power, no pictures was a lessonquickly learned by the author, whoburned out his VCR battery -chargerin Bruges. Later, with fresh battery

from atop Mt.Pilatus near Lucerne, Switzerland(as his wife monitors the batterypower) and operates the power zoomlens for a curious Austrian tourist onthe Mt. Pilatus cog -wheel railroad.The author's advice: Carry a sparebattery.

Video Traveler's Tips

If you're not totally familiar with your videogear, practice with it as much as you can. Makesure you know exactly what each control does.Learn to operate the transport controls withouttaking your eyes off what you're taping. Video equipment is a prime target for theft, andI'd suggest carrying as much of it with you as youcan, rather than checking it through. If you wantto check it, pack it in a well -constructed carryingcase made especially for video gear; if it's mis-handled, your VCR and camera won't be dam-aged. Be sure your system is covered by insur-ance, whether under umbrella coverage (such asa homeowner's policy) or a separate "floater." Be sure to register your video gear with U.S.Customs before you go. They will issue docu-mentation to show that you bought your equip-ment before your trip, so you won't have to payimport duty on your return to the U.S.

Take a power adapter that will allow you torecharge the VCR battery in every country you'llbe visiting. The option, of course, is to haul sev-eral fully charged batteries around with you, butthat's very cumbersome. On the other hand, hav-ing an extra battery saves you from running out ofportable power at a critical time. You can edit your tapes once you get home, butediting on the fly saves tape, battery power, andpost -production time. Briefly, long scenic shotswith no action can be just plain boring when youview them later. Unless there is something trulyspectacular, limit these shots to ten or fifteen sec-onds. Try to incorporate people. entertainmentevents, moving vehicles, etc., into what you'retaping. Remember to compose the tape with alogical thread of continuity to avoid a disjointedhodgepodge effect when you overdub it laterwith commentary or music.

38 HIGH FIDELITY

TubeFoodNew land sometimes original)video programming

Video Cassettes

CONTEMPORARY FILMS Columbia Pictures Home Entertain-ment: Only When I Laugh, Outrageous,Graduation Day, The Cat and the Ca-nary. MCA Videocassette: Raggedy Man,Continental Divide, High Plains Drifter. Media Home Entertainment: HellNight, Blood Beach, The Haunting ofJulia. MGM/CBS (rental only): Rich and Fa-mous. Planet Video: Snake Fist Fighter. Thorn EMI Video Programming: OneFlew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, S.O.S.Titanic, The Day the Earth Caught Fire,Scars of Dracula, Can't Stop the Music,

Sophia Loren-Her Own Story. Twentieth Century -Fox Video: Star-dust Memories, The Missouri Breaks,Comes a Horseman. Twentieth Century Fox (rentalonly): Dr. No, For Your Eyes Only, FromRussia with Love. Vestron Video: Fort Apache-theBronx, The Cannonball Run, Till MarriageDo Us Part. Video Gems: The Ultimate Thrill.Blood on the Sun.CLASSIC FILMS Columbia Pictures: Seventh Voyage ofSinbad, Sahara. Thorn EMI: Lord of the Rings, TheCruel Sea. Twentieth Century -Fox: The Apart-ment, A Streetcar Named Desire, SergeantYork, Exodus.THEATER/STAGE SHOWS MGM/CBS: The Life and Adventures ofNicholas Nickleby (four cassettes). Thorn EMI: Nicholas Nickleby. Vestron Video: The Lenny Bruce Per-formance Film, Here It is-Burlesque.

VIDEOFRONTS(Continued from page 34)

Front -loading ease and a variety of speedoptions mark Toshiba's V-9200 Beta -for-mat home VCR. Priced at $895, this deckallows operation in single -frame advance,slow motion (one -fifth normal speed), andvisual scan (forward or reverse at eighttimes normal speed). Other features includeautomatic tape rewind and one -event pro-grammability each day for as many as threedays. A wired remote control operates basicVCR functions.Circle 76 on Reader -Service Card

Wireless remote control capability is

included in Zenith's new VR-9775 Beta -format front -loading VCR. Also featuredon this $1,400 deck is the ability to programas many as four events on different chan-nels during a fourteen -day period. SpeedSearch operates at ten times Beta II speed,allowing you to locate specific sections ofthe tape visually. Other features include a

tape time -remaining indicator, a program -error indicator (to indicate conflicting pro-gramming requests), and the infrared Re-mote Video Action Control, which operatesall transport functions.Circle 75 on Reader -Service Card

Weighing in at slightly less than 3 pounds,Magnavox's new 8238 color video camera($750) features an f/1.4 I3-52mm zoomlens. Controls include auto/manual irisadjust, white -balance adjust, and a selectorfor indoor and outdoor light sources. Thecamera uses an electronic viewfinder.Circle 73 on Reader -Service Card

A compact portable home entertainmentsystem that includes a three-inch (diagonal)TV screen is one of the unusual new videoproducts from Sharp. Housed in a cabinetmeasuring approximately 15 by 5 by 5inches are the electronically tuned black -and -white TV set, an AM/FM stereo radio,a two -speed microcassette audio recorder,and two full -range speakers. Power is sup-plied via eight C cells or 110/220 volt(switchable) line current. Cost is $420.Circle 74 on Reader -Service Card

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MAY 1982 39 Oral* 19 on Roadar-Service Card

Good(e) Piano, on Tape .Richard Goode's first solo recordingsprovide a superb blend of technology and artistry.Reviewed by R. D. Darrell

NOT THE LEAST SIGNIFICANT current record-ed -music phenomena are those involvingtape: a continually rising tide of classicalmusicassette releases, now increasing at afaster rate than classical disc production:more and more premium -price, hi -tech.deluxe productions featuring digital record-ings and/or superchrome tapings, some-times in real-time duplications (i.e., 1:1

speed ratio); and a slower but steady expan-sion in the representation and caliber of newnative and adopted American artists, pia-nists in particular. Undoubtedly this lasttrend is a consequence of the staggeringcosts of large-scale domestic recording.both symphonic and operatic. But it hassurely been encouraged by the graduallygrowing number of independent and spe-cialist recording companies that, of eco-nomic necessity, must find and promotepromising new artists and that, while oper-ating on a limited production scale, can-indeed, must-devote exceptional, hand-craftsmanlike care to their releases in orderto distinguish them from the major compa-nies' mass productions.

One novel policy sees a few smallcompanies issuing new recordings either incassette editions only or in tapes releasedwell in advance of disc counterparts. InSync Laboratories and the Direct -to -TapeCo. pioneered here, but more recently thespecialist MusiCelli company and probablyothers have been following suit. And whilethe more ambitious Desmar and AAG linesinclude deluxe cassette editions of record-ings released earlier in disc versions, someof their latest programs have so far beenissued only in deluxe tapings.

The rationale of any tape -only or tape -first policy is straightforward: Whereas discpressing is economical only in large runs,recorded -tape duplication is done in rela-tively small batches, depending on thenumber of "slave" duplicators available.Such piecemeal production avoids the riskof an oversupply of releases that don't sellwell; for those that find a readier market,supplies can be quickly replenished to meetactual demands. Moreover, such produc-tion of small batches at a time not only isrelatively less costly, but also permits-indeed, encourages-closer care and mon-itoring of the processing, and in some caseseven such refinements as real-time duplica-tion, a choice of Dolby C or Dolby B, orDBX encoding.

Richard Goode: essentially an interpreter

Now, for music -lovers who may notalso be audiophiles, the best thing about allthese recent technological, manufacturing,and marketing developments is that they areoften devoted to the debuts or expansion ofrepertories of promising young, or at leastrelatively "new," performers. The yeomanearlier efforts of the Musical Heritage Soci-ety, Vox/Turnabout, Nonesuch, and a fewother notably enterprising companies arenow being increasingly augmented and imi-tated. And if, inevitably, not all the newmusic -makers are true masters, at leastsome of them reveal the unmistakablepotential of greatness, while many of theothers proffer, at their best, stimulatinglyfresh personalities and repertories.

Just this month, while planning a"Tape Deck" column featuring compari-sons of imported and domestic musicas-settes, I've been pleasantly startled by thenumber and outstanding quality of newdomestically taped solo -piano programsstarring mostly relatively young artists,both unfamiliar (at least on recordings) andestablished: Andre -Michel Schub in hissolo debut for Vox Cum Laude, RichardGoode for Desmar and Nonesuch, CharlesRosen for Nonesuch, Irma Vallecillo forAAG, Neal O'Doan for Pandora, and PeterSerkin, exalted by RCA to prestige -packag-ing status, digitally recorded on super -chrome tape. Most of these new releases aremore than ordinarily attractive, musicallyas well as technologically, but the three byGoode are so outstanding that they simplydemand feature attention.

Now in his late thirties, Goode haslong been known and respected in musicalcircles, especially in and around New York,primarily as a sensitively skilled ensemblepianist-the role he has assumed in all hisearlier recordings (with soprano BenitaValente, fellow pianist Peter Serkin, theBoston Symphony Chamber Players, andthe Lincoln Center Chamber Music Soci-ety). But despite his many honors-aYoung Concert Artists award in 1961, theClara Haskil Prize in 1973, the prestigiousAvery Fisher Prize in 1980, and selection asHIGH FIDELITY/MUSICAL AMERICA "Musi-cian of the Month" in October 1981-Goode has only recently begun to win widerhearing and recognition as a soloist, and toachieve in his first solo recordings near -epiphanies of his distinctive artistry.

For all his seemingly effortless techni-cal expertise, Goode is essentially a classi-cal/Romantic interpreter-an eloquentlycommunicative poet of the keyboard ratherthan a flamboyantly bravura virtuoso. Andhe could scarcely have chosen more fittingprogrammatic materials than the two lastSchubert sonatas, augmented by three ofthe composer's shorter but also late pieces,and two major Schumann works, one heardfrequently, the other rarely. Most of thesehave been recorded, often by big -name pia-nists, many times before; only the SchubertKlavierstiick isn't represented in the currentSCHWANN catalog. Lacking my colleagueHarris Goldsmith's encyclopedic experi-ence and fabulous memory, I scarcely daremake any all-time comparative evaluations.Yet I have no doubt at all that these versionswarrant very high rankings artistically, andI don't hesitate for a minute to give them tophonors for sonic and tape -processing excel-lence, virtually hors de concours.

What is extraordinarily striking, tech-nologically, about all three releases is thesimilarity of the final aural results. TheDesmar "Sound Research Series" pro-grams are uncompressed analog record-ings, made in an unspecified location andissued in limited -edition real-time duplica-tions (by In Sync Laboratories) on super -chrome tape; the Nonesuch program is a(Sony) digital recording, made at the Amer-ican Academy and Institute of Arts and Let-ters in New York and issued in ferric -tapeduplications at an unspecified speed ratio(and in a disc edition mastered at the CBS(Continued on page 80)

40 HIGH FIDELITY

and DiscA new label debuts with pianists, turning aconservative philosophy to the music's advantage.Reviewed by Harris Goldsmith

TODAY, WITH SO MANY audio producersblowing their own trumpets (not to mentionour speakers), it's refreshing to encounterthe quiet common sense of Audiofon's cre-do, as set forth on the jackets of these newlyissued discs: The small, independent Flori-da -based label evidently thinks that record-ings shouldn't sound like recordings, butrather, that sophisticated audio techniquesshould unobtrusively afford the listener aconcertlike experience in all its unvarnishedvitality. Its producers use analog methods,30-ips tape speed, and Mark Levinsonequipment and forgo noise reduction, limit-ing, and signal processing. They have thefurther good sense to mike their perfor-mances with a minimum of fuss (but a max-imum of expertise), use a spacious "audi-torium" acoustic, and-from what onehears in the finished results-put their art-ists at ease. Most significant, "Since themusical flow is of prime importance, wehave urged our artists to reduce editing to anabsolute minimum, so that the integrity of areal performance can be maintained.We . . . feel that an occasional wrong noteis far less bothersome than a note -perfectperformance that emerges as musically stqr-ile because the tape editor's scalpel has cutaway the spontaneous breath of life alongwith the wrong notes." In short, with itsinitial release, Audiofon turns a basicallyconservative philosophy to its-and themusic's-advantage.

For the moment, the label is focusingits attention on piano music, but within theconfines (?) of that genus, it runs the gamutfrom the succinctly austere (Leonard Shurein late Beethoven) to the tastefully garish(David Bar-Illan in the Moszkowski con-certo; Ivan Davis in Liszt's Norma para-phrase). Giving the three pianists the floor,the production team steps aside and letsthem weave their respective spells. And itall works out very nicely.

I'm particularly pleased to hear Davis'surging account of Schumann's Fasch-ingsschwank aus Wien, with its assertivedrama, spontaneous romanticism, and big,swashbuckling sonorities. Many of Davis'earlier recordings (and concerts) have beenmarred by ultrataut, nervously calculatedphrasing and neon -lit voicing, but hesounds infinitely more natural and commu-nicative here. His approach to Schumann'swriting is, to be sure, pianistically oriented,

yet none of his liberties ever transcendsdecorum or in any way violates the innateproportions or the ongoing line. In fact, hisreading is red-blooded and warmly poetic.The playing has surge and clarity, intermin-gled with some welcome humor. The big -hall resonance enhances the solidity of thebass line and makes the treble sound live,but never harsh. Davis also does well by theLiszt "Norma" Reminiscences; if I find lit-tle of interest in that composition (or theoriginal opera from which it derives), it isnot the pianist's fault.

Nor can I hide my extreme antipathyfor the billowing rhetoric and aggressive

It's refreshingto encountersuch quietcommon sense.

use of chromaticism and diminished -sev-enth chords that characterize Liszt's Bminor Ballade. (His B minor Sonata relieson this same sort of "my bathtub runnethover" compositional philosophy, butsomehow, that work's greatness overcomesits commonplace modus operandi.) On theother hand, the First Mephisto Waltz is awonderful inspiration, and the late, impres-sionistic En rive (composed in 1885, a yearbefore Liszt's death) has ravishing poetryand distinction. Bar-Illan plays these pieceswell, investing En rive with wistful nuanceand giving Mephisto more fleetness thanmore literal -minded artists sometimes do.(The slightly tipsy character of some of thephrases suggests that our devil has beendrinking margaritas at the village inn.) AndBar-Illan renders the Weber A flat Sonatawith grand sweep and style; this freewheel-ing, ardently nuanced account stresses thework's wild romanticism rather than itsdomesticity.

Bar -titan's recording of the Mosz-kowski E major Concerto, though made inGermany with a different producer, is ofequal excellence sonically; the orchestraltimbres are clean, the tuttis have magnifi-cent luster and solidity, and the piano's ara-besques are judiciously balanced. The solo-ist's volatility and seemingly limitless facil-

ity give this superficial but agreeably melo-dious music all it demands in a performancethat certainly supersedes the (very good)one by Michael Ponti and the PhilharmoniaHungarica (Candide CE 31030). This disc,in particular, is of demonstration caliber.

With the Beethoven album, Shurebecomes the first artist to have recorded theDiabelli Variations three times, just as hewas the first to have recorded it twice,twenty-five years ago (an accomplishmentsince equaled by Julius Katchen, AlfredBrenda and Rudolf Serkin-whose sec-ond version, of 1968, has never beenapproved for release). I first came to knowShure's forthright interpretation from hisearly Vox edition and regarded his subse-quent Epic recording as a relative disap-pointment: Formerly a brilliantly promisingperforming artist, he there seemed more thehighly esteemed pedagogue. The new ver-sion still has its occasional professorialpoints of stress: Var. 13, with its abruptpauses and dynamic contrasts, is too poker-faced and not rhythmically alert, and the"cops -and -robbers" Presto scherzandoVar. 15 is too heavy and humorless; nor arethe trills and broken octaves of Var. 16 wildenough. But other passages are really excel-lent-notably, the Andante Var. 20, brood-ing but rhythmic, the deliberately paced yetlucidly voiced Var. 26, and the greatminore Vars. 29 through 31. Following thetradition of his teacher, Artur Schnabel (andhis own two prior recordings), Shure puts inan extra repeat in Var. 2, where Beethovenomits one.

Technically, the playing is very con-trolled, although i few passages are exces-sively cautious, and Shure's left hand seem-ingly deserts him in the second half of the"None e giorno faticar" Var. 22. (There isalso a moment of scrambling toward theend of Var. 10.) And throughout, he seemsalmost consciously to be striving for anantisensual kind of tone color-never per-cussive, but unluminous and slightlyopaque. For all that, there is much toadmire here, and certainly, the moreimpactful dynamic range and greater spon-taneity of the Audiofon recording and per-formance put it miles ahead of the Epic (ifcomfortably in the shade of the antiquatedVox).

Shure's new version of the Op. 110Sonata is wonderfully robust and unprissi-(Continued on page 80)

MAY 1982 41

Young GuitaristsShow Some PluckWith technique firmly in hand, new artistsare looking farther afield for innovative repertory.Reviewed by Allan Kozinn

FOR GUITARISTS, THE BATTLE LINES havechanged dramatically over the last fewyears. One of the primary fronts used to bethe establishment of a performance stan-dard commensurate with that of ranking vir-tuosos on other instruments; now conserva-tories are turning out streams of twenty-one -year -old technical wizards, alreadypossessed of the speed, fluidity, and sheerdexterity that many of the instrument'selder statesmen could never quite attain.Like their violinist, cellist, and pianist col-leagues, these young technicians often needgreater humanity, warmth, and interpretivedepth; yet at least the technical basis isthere-quite different from the era, not sodistant, when interpretive warmth wasoffered (sometimes condescendingly) asmitigation for technical awkwardness.These days, guitarists can have it bothways.

By the same token, today's young art-ists no longer have to scratch around forsteady and serious audiences, although theguitar world does remain somewhat paro-chial. To the annoyance of many perform-ers, their audiences consist largely of otherguitarists or people who have come to theinstrument mainly through popular music; acomparatively small proportion is attunedto the classical -music mainstream. Butwhether those who attend guitar recitalsalso partake of opera, symphony concerts,and piano recitals is of secondary impor-tance and may in any case change as theguitar world continues to mature. What isimportant is that the audience is largeenough to sustain an unprecedented level ofactivity, on the order of 100 recitals per sea-son in New York alone.

This audience and its potential are notlost on record -company executives, whoalso appreciate that guitar discs are relative-ly inexpensive to produce. And while pros-pects on the recording front are not as brightas for pianists, violinists, and singers, thesedays every major label has one or two gui-tarists (not always the right ones, given theavailable talent) on its roster, and the small-er labels have taken up the slack.

Repertory, however, remains a dilem-ma, and now that there are more and better -trained players vying for attention, theproblem of having to repeat the establishedliterature has become more acute. Yet as

anyone who has done any research into thematter can attest, even this oft -bemoaneddearth of repertory is largely illusory. Itstems less from an actual shortage of impor-tant original works, than from the willing-ness of so many guitarists to follow closelyin Andres Segovia's footsteps. For a time,it looked as though the small body of workshe played were-with the addition of somenewer scores composed for Julian Breamand John Williams-just about the onlymusic available. Perhaps this was a neces-sary step in establishing a basic literaturefor the instrument; but by the early 1970s, itfinally dawned on guitarists that the moldhad to be broken.

Thus, the name of the game for guitar-ists these days is "repertory renovation."

For a time, it lookedas though Segovia'srepertoire was theonly music available.

Particularly among the younger generation,the race is on to stake out new territory, notonly with contemporary works, but withhitherto untapped literature from the past,and even with fresh looks at familiar tran-scriptions. Many guitarists are being aidedby a new breed of musicologists specializ-ing in nineteenth-century guitar music, andothers are themselves taking on the task ofsearching out scores in libraries.

One guitarist who has turned to obscurecorners of the nineteenth-century literaturefor his debut recording is New YorkerDavid Leisner, who recently made strongshowings at competitions in Toronto andGeneva. His explorations have unearthedthe music of Johann Kaspar Mertz, a Hun-garian guitarist -composer who lived inVienna from1840 until his death in 1856 andwas thereafter swallowed whole by history.The six selections here-short, light, and attimes kitschy-are full of Bohemian fla-vor, irresistible melody, and harmoniza-tions that, though sometimes common-place, are often striking. Leisner makes

these pieces sound quite attractive, and hisefforts may signal a full-scale Mertz reviv-al: He has also published a series of per-forming editions (sparking fierce debate inthe pages of the guitar journal Sound -board), and lately other players have beenadding Mertz to their recital programs.

The more substantial music here,though, is on the side devoted to MauroGiuliani, an Italian guitarist who lived inVienna between 1806 and 1819, returningto Italy for his final decade. His name iswell-known to aficionados, but only latelyhave his more substantial works returned tothe repertory. Guitarists have played-andrecorded-the first movement of the Op.15 Sonata for decades, avoiding the last twomovements primarily because the centralAdagio con grande espressione presentsformidable technical difficulties. Previous-ly, only Narciso Yepes has recorded thescore complete (DG 2531 113); but Yepeshas recourse to the fingering possibilities ofhis unusual ten -stringed instrument, and hemakes a number of unjustifiable cuts in thefinal movement. Leisner follows the scorescrupulously, and where Yepes emphasizesits Italian character by giving his melodylines a clipped, mandolinlike quality andthe work as a whole a quick -paced circusyatmosphere, Leisner focuses on its warmer,mellower Viennese aspects. His renderingis full of sensitive touches-for instance,the slight lingering on the first sixteenthnote in each group of four toward the end ofthe adagio-and is in all respects the moremusical of the pair.

A decade ago, the music of Paraguay-an guitarist -composer Agustin Barrios(who died in 1944) was only slightly better-known than Mertz's is now. But thanks inlarge part to Williams, who played a fewall -Barrios recitals and recorded one suchLP, the composer has become quite popularof late. The most recent entry is an all -Barrios LP by Belgian guitarist GuyLukowski, who repeats only two of theworks Williams recorded (Sueno en la flo-resta and Ch6ro de saudade). His approach(and that of EMI's engineers) is entirely dif-ferent from Williams' (and CBS's),though. Lukowski's conceptions aresteeped in Romantic lushness, Williams'more direct; and Lukowski's light touchgives his guitar an almost harplike sound,

42 HIGH FIDELITY

Sharon !shin: eye-opening Bach readings

bolstered by an extremely bright, larger -than -life room ambience, whereas Wil-liams is closely miked in a much drierroom. Lots of ambient sound can be seduc-tive in guitar recordings, at least on firsthearing. But when the sound is too ambi-ent, as here, the effect wears thin on subse-quent listenings, particularly through head-phones. Beneath all the reverberation, theclarity of Lukowski's playing is striking.Yet there is something disconcertingly gen-teel about his interpretations, making eachpiece sound like a sweet, dreamy lullaby.Some are just that, but others have a morerobust side that Lukowski seems intent onsuppressing.

If Barrios represents the continuationof the guitarist -composer tradition throughthe first half of this century, that tradition isbest exemplified in our own time by LeoBrouwer, a Cuban who writes in a style thatcombines avant-garde and popular ele-ments. Jeffrey Van, at the center of what isnow a hotbed of guitar activity in the Min-neapolis -St. Paul area, brings the requisitespirit and power to Brouwer's Danza carac-teristica, Elogio de la danza, and Canti-cum; unfortunately, the rest of his all -con-temporary recital, though competentlyplayed, does not convey the same sense ofexcitement.

Some of Van's students, however, aremore successful: John Holmquist, who wonthe 1978 Toronto international guitar com-petition and now teaches at the WisconsinConservatory, and Sharon Isbin, who leftthe Twin Cities guitar world for New Yorkafter winning the same Toronto contest in1975 and the 1976 Munich competition,have both recorded recitals of challengingrepertory that are first-rate throughout.

Holmquist shows a strong combina-tion of musicality and technical commandin his disc debut. The major item here isManuel Ponce's twenty -five-minute Varia-tions and Fugue on "Folias de Espana," ataxing work that covers an immense

expanse of ground. Holmquist makes muchof its darker, slower sections, allowing histempo to ebb and flow expressively; and ifthe quicker, brighter variations receive lessthan a bravura reading, they are never flac-cid. Elsewhere, he shows himself to be astylish baroque player in a Couperin tran-scription and adept at avant-garde timbreproduction in Gilbert Biberian's moodyMonogram. Between them falls JamesMcGuire's Suite No. 2 in Popular Style, aconservative work reminiscent in its easy-going manner of some of John Duarte'ssets-but with stronger French overtonesand a couple of quotes from Brouwer.

Isbin, on her Sound Environment disc,gives a splendidly atmospheric perfor-mance of Brouwer's finest guitar work, LaEspiral eterna, a swirling, almost electron-ic -sounding score. An equally vivid readingof Benjamin Britten's single contribution tothe solo guitar literature, Nocturnal, Op.70, rounds out the side. On Denon, Isbinoffers a similar pairing: Bruce MacCom-bie's Nightshade Rounds, with a shimmer-ing, oriental character, owes much toBrouwer's Espiral, while Stephen Dodg-son's Partita is more conservative-accu-rately played here but without the pricklytension of the Williams recording (CBS MS6696).

The centerpieces of the Isbin discogra-phy, however, are the Bach transcriptions,on which she collaborated with Bach key-board specialist Rosalyn Tureck. The FirstLute Suite, S. 996, on Sound Environment,is fitted out with an abundance of floridornamentation-particularly, as one mightexpect, in the repeats. The Bach chaconne,on Denon, is an entirely different affair,with the ornamentation reserved for ca-dences; and unlike the suite, played withedge -of -the -chair aggression, the chaconneis relaxed, with considerable attention paidto dynamic contrasts and shifts of color-ation. Both works are played with key-boardlike clarity and realistically recorded.On both technical and interpretive grounds,these performances are real eye-openers.

Another young player with a flair forbaroque style is Eliot Fisk, who offers aneven more profusely embellished reading ofthe S. 996 Suite. Coming several monthsafter Isbin's recording, this seemed on firsthearing to initiate a contest-a guitaristicshootout at the OK Corral-in which theseexceptional technicians would determinewho could add the most notes to a Bach fastmovement without easing the tempo. Fiskwins, and not only in the mathematical tal-ly. For the most part, his ornamentation isbetter thought-out and more fully devel-oped, and his use of sequential devicescasts an illusion of compositional unity overhis thickly embellished repeats. The ac-companying Scarlatti sonatas and Froberg-er suite are attractively embellished, too;the ornaments used in the latter are, accord-ing to Fisk's liner notes, based on thoseFroberger wrote into his keyboard toccatas.

David Starobin: contemporary specialist

The other Bach piece is sparer, with a per-sonalized rhythmic flow (but a surprisinglyplodding ending to the fugue). Particularlyin the Bach suite, both Fisk's and Isbin'sapproaches to ornamentation are provoca-tive and exciting; yet some listeners mayfind both versions too busy or too rich, pre-ferring the more straightforward readings ofBream (RCA LSC 2896) and Williams(CBS M2 33510).

The most uncompromisingly adven-turous of these releases show up on two newlabels specializing in guitar discs: JohnWager-Schneider's collection of postwarpieces on El Maestro and the first install-ment of David Starobin's "New Music withGuitar" series on Bridge.

Wager -Schneider begins with LouHarrison's Suite No. 1, originally for trou-bador harp. Written in an ancient mode ormeant to evoke an old Eastern instrument,each of the three movements creates aninteresting sonic aura. Stephen Paulus' dis-sonant Two Moments includes an "Agita-to" very much in the Brouwer mold.Albayalde, by Spanish composer TomasMarco, is actually an early minimalistpiece, built largely on a single chord andsingle notes, attacked with everything fromplain fingers to ping-pong balls and razorblades. Although Wager -Schneider plays itwith conviction, neither this nor Bruno Bar-tolozzi's Omaggio amounts to much morethan a showcase for sounds and techniques;very little is actually communicated. Wa-ger-Schneider's own Voyage, for electricguitar and tape, is one of the splashier andmore intriguing of these scores, and Regi-nald Smith-Brindle's Nocturne closes therecital with a gentle reminder of what usedto be thought of as ultramodern guitar writ-ing thirty-five years ago.

Starobin, also a specialist in contem-porary guitar music, has already made aconsiderable mark: Guitarist of choice forSpeculum Musicae, the Aeolian ChamberPlayers, and other ensembles, as their needs

MAY 1982 43

dictate, he has commissioned more than100 scores and recorded new works onTurnabout and CRI. A solider. more down-to-earth recital than Wager-Schneider's.Starobin's includes an unusually nonrhctorical three -movement work by Hans Wer-ner Henze. from 1974. as its centerpiece.The outer movements. "Carillon" and"Masque," arc lively, almost dancelike,and surprisingly tonal, and the central"Reeitatif " provides a tuneful and gentlyintrospective contrast. The scoring, for gui-tar, mandolin, and harp. appealingly blendsplucked sounds of inherently different tim-bres into a pointillistic fabric. CharlesWuorinen's imposing psalm setting islargely serialist, with hints of liturgicalchant: the guitar has the lion's share ofexpressive material, and the biblical textoften seems to provide interpretive com-mentary on the instrumental line rather thanthe other way around. In the solo works-Barbara Kolb's delicate but demandingThree Lullabies (with baritone obbligatohumming in the last) and William Bland's

Record companiesdon't always seethe need toexpand repertory.

more !rankly sirtuosic antasy-Homage.with its striking dynamic gradations andbrilliant tremolando chordal passages-Starobin's technique appears limitless. Andhe's also blessed with the taste and subtletyto make even the most cerebral music seememinently likable.

Repertory expansion may seem logical toguitarists and listeners who follow the gui-tar world closely, but record companiesdon't always agree. Many prefer to repeatthe tried and true, just as they do with theirviolinists, pianists, conductors, etc. And

there is something to the argument that.overplayed as the "Segovia repertoire"now is, newcomers should have the oppor-tunity to compete in familiar waters.

Of course, at this stage of the game.it's particularly telling when a guitaristcan't cope with the standard literature: andwhen that player has major -label backing.the waste of vinyl seems all the more unfor-tunate. Case in point: Liona Boyd. whoselatest (and unbelievably, seventh) LP is acollection of familiar Spanish pieces thatmost intermediate -level students can play atleast creditably. Even if Boyd had any def-inite or original ideas about these pieces.she would lack the technical finesse to carrythem out. Thus, her renditions of Tarrega'sCapricho arabe and Sor's Variations on aTheme by Mo:art-works available in per-fectly solid performances on many anotherdisc -are full of sloppy runs, dreadfulchord voicings. and meandering, witlessphrasing. Tarrega's Stieno. a tremolo show-piece. shows that she cannot produce an(Continued on page 80)

DAVID LEISNER: The VienneseGuitar.

David Leisner. guitar. [Jon Aaron andRalph Dopmeyer. prod.] TITANIC TI 46. $9.00(Titanic Records, 43 Rice St.. Cambridge. Mass.02140).

M. GIULIANI: Sonata in C. Op. IS: Vari-ations, Op. 9. MERTZ: Fantaisie hongroise, Op.65. No. I. Polacca, Op. 5. No. 3. Op. 13: No.I b. Romanze: No. 4b. Liebeslied; No. 6. Taran-telle: No. 8, Kindermarchen.BARRIOS: Guitar Works.

Guy Lukowski. guitar. ANGEL S 37884.$9.98. Tape: 4XS 37884, $9.98 (cassette).

CanciOn de tuna; Choro de saudade: Danzaguarani; Pagina de album: Preludio; Primavera-Vals: Romanza en imitation al violoncello; Sue -no en la floresta: Tua imagem.

JEFFREY VAN: Twentieth -CenturyGuitar Music.

Jeffrey Van, guitar. CAVATA CV 5011,$8.98 (add $1.00 for shipping: Cavata MusicPublishers, 941 Delaware Ave.. MendotaHeights. Minn. 55118).

BRINDLE: El Polifemo de oro. BROUW-ER: Canticum: Danza caracteristica: Elogio de ladanza. RODRIGO: Tres Pequenas piezas. VAN:Elegy. VILLA -LOBOS: Etudes Nos. II, 12.JOHN HOLMQUIST: Guitar Recital.

John Holmquist. guitar. 'Raymond Niemi.prod.] CAVATA CV 5001, $8.98.

BIBERIAN: Monogram. F. COUPERIN(arr. Lorimer): Le Tombeau de M. Blancrocher.McGUIRE: Suite in Popular Style, No. 2.

PONCE: Variations and Fugue on "Folias deEspana."

BACH: Suite for Lute, No. I , in Eminor, S. 996. BROUWER: La Espiraleterna. BRITTEN: Nocturnal, Op. 70.

Sharon Isbin. guitar. 'Russ Borud. prod.]SOUND ENVIRONMENT TR 1013. $12.98 (add$2.00 for shipping; Sound Environment. 2710 S.70th St.. Lincoln. Neb. 68506).

SHARON ISBIN: Guitar Recital.Sharon Isbin. guitar. ITamako Hashimoto,

prod.] DENON OX 7224 -ND. $15 (distributed byDiscwasher).

BACH: Partita for Violin. No. 2. in Dminor. S. 1004: Chaconne. DODGSON: Partita.MAcCOMBIE: Nightshade Rounds. D. SCAR-LATTI: Sonata for Keyboard, in G. K.259 (L.103).

ELIOT FISK: American Virtuoso.Eliot Fisk. guitar. 'Jeffrey Nissim. prod.(

MUSICMASTERS MM 20032. $8.98. Tape: MMC40032, $8.98 (cassette).

BACH: Suite for Lute. No. 1 in E minor.S. 996: Prelude. Fugue, and Allegro. S. 998.FROBERGER: Suite No. IS. D. SCARLATTI:Sonatas for Keyboard: in G, K. 146 (L. 349): inG. K. 390 (L. 234): in G. K. 391 (L. 79).

JOHN WAGER-SCHNEIDER: SonicVoyage.

John Wager -Schneider. guitar. (RichardStover and Morris Mizrahi, prod.] EL MAESTROEM 8004, $7.00 (add $1.00 for shipping: ElMaestro Records, P.O. Box 2223, Winnetka.Calif. 91306).

BARTOLOZZI: Omaggio. BRINDLE:Nocturne. L. HARRISON: Suite No. I. MAR-CO: Albayalde. PAULUS: Two Moments. WA-GER-SCHNEIDER: Voyage.

DAVID STAROBIN: New Music withGuitar, Vol. I.

David Starobin. guitar; Susan Jolles.harp*: Peter Press, mandolin*: Richard Frisch.baritonet. (David Starobin, prod.] BRIDGE BDG2001. $9.95 (distributed by German News Co..220 E. 86th St., New York. N.Y. 10028).

BLAND: A Fantasy -Homage to TomasLuis de Victoria. HENZE: Carillon. Recitatif,Masque.* KOLB: Three Lullabies.t WUORI-NEN: Psalm 39.tLIONA BOYD: Spanish Fantasy.

Liona Boyd. guitar. [Liona Boyd, prod.]CBS M 36675. Tape: MT 36675 (cassette).[Price at dealer's option.]

M. ALBENIZ: Sonata. DE MUDARRA:Fantasy. PUJOL: Guajira. SOR: Minuet. Op. 11.No. 6; Minuet. Op. 22: Etude No. 17; Introduc-tion and Variations on a Theme by Mozart, Op.

9. TARREGA: Gran jota de concicrto: Caprichoarabe: Suetio.

MANUEL BARRUECO: Guitar Recit-al.

Manuel Barrucco. guitar. TURNABOUT TV(cas-

sette).$5.98. Tape: CT 4770. $5.98 (c:as-

(arr. Bream): Sonatas forKeyboard: in A: in B minor: in D minor. M.GIULIANI: Variations on "Folias de Espana,"Op. 45: Gran sonata croica. Op. 150. PAGANI-NI: Sonatas for Violin and Guitar, Op. 3: No. 1,in A: No. 6. in E minor. D. SCARLATTI: Sona-tas for Keyboard: in A. K. 208 (L. 238): in A, K.209 (L. 428): in E minor, K. 292 (L. 24): in E, K.380 (L. 23): in D. K. 490 (L. 206).CARLOS BONELL: Showpieces.

Carlos Bonell. guitar. !Andrew Cornall.prod.] LONDON CS 7178, $10.98.

I. ALBENIZ: Asturias. CHAPI: Serenatamorisca. CHOPIN (arr. Llobet): Prelude, Op.28. No. 7. LLOBET: Scherzo vals. PAGANINI:Romanze e Andantino variato. TARREGA:Introduction and Fantasia on Themes from Ver-di's "La Traviata." VALVERDE (arr. Llobet):Clavelitos. VILLA -LOBOS: Etude No. 11; Pre-ludes Nos. I. 2.RODRIGO: Concierto de Aranjuez;Fantasia para un gentilhombre.

Carlos Bonell, guitar: Montreal SymphonyOrchestra, Charles Dutoit. cond. [Ray Minshull,prod.] LONDON LDR 71027. $12.98 (digitalrecording).

RODRIGO: Guitar Works.Pepe Romero. guitar. PHILIPS 9500 915,

$10.98. Tape: 7300 915. $10.98 (cassette).En los Trigales: Sonata a Ia espanola: Tien -

to antiguo: Junto al Generalife; Fandango: TresPequenas piezas; Bajado de Ia Meseta; Romancede Durandarte.

TORROBA: Concierto iberico*; Dia-logost

Pepe Romero, guitart: Los Romeros. gui-tars*: Academy of St. Martin -in -the -Fields,Neville Marriner, cond. PHILIPS 9500 749,$10.98. Tape: 7300 834. $10.98 (cassette).

44 HIGH FIDELITY

CLASSICAL

Behind the ScenesMusic news and commentary by James R. Oestreich

Worth Its Weight?Schirmer has weighed in with a leviathan ofa tome, Arthur Cohn's Recorded ClassicalMusic (2164 + xii pp., $75). One wantssimply to be overwhelmed at its size andscope and importance, as the notaries quot-ed on the dust jacket apparently were("nothing short of a miracle"; "like John-son's Dictionary"pin what must have beena hasty preview. Yet my own hasty sam-pling suggests the need for caution.

Despite its bulk, this is in no sense a"complete" guide to classical recordings,past or present-nor does it pretend to be.That said, however, one is hard put to deter-mine the bases for Cohn's selections. Heseems to have no clear or consistent notionof the level of collector he's aiming at orjust what his self-appointed mission is. Onelooks for guiding principles and finds onlyarbitrariness.

For an isolated yet important example,take Bach's cantatas: There is nary a men-tion of the Rilling series, about half -com-pleted on Musical Heritage (though a singleWemer/MHS recording from another siz-able series does edge in). Worse, there is nomention of the epochal Harnoncourt/Leon-hardt series on Telefunken until No. 58;then-still with no indication that they arepart of a larger project-two consecutiveHamoncoun sets (minus No. 57) are cited,running through No. 63, before darknessredescends. Is it possible that the seriesachieves "real stylistic authenticity" and"total success" within this handful ofworks and nowhere else? It's not as thoughCohn has anything better to offer; he givesno recommendations for Nos. II!) -3, 5-9,11, 13-29, etc. (Yet in contrast to suchglaring oversights, some three reams laterSchubert's D. 556 Overture rates the fol-lowing insipid entry: "Satisfactory, if notvery important Schubert. Satisfactory, ifnot a very inspired performance [byMiinchinger]. ")

Any such compilation necessarilydates quickly; since this ambitious projectwas undoubtedly years in the making, muchof it is out of date already. Cohn begs theissue of currency at the outset: "There willbe very few discs in the coming years thatwill surpass the artistry of the performancesendorsed . . ." -a half-truth even as itstands. Furthermore, currency involves notonly new issues (and novel recording fron-tiers and changing performance practices),hut the continued availability of recom-mended recordings. Here again, a decision

needs to be made: Availability either is acriterion or isn't. If the latter, Cohn'slaments over deletions and haphazard infor-mation about alternative available formatssimply waste space (precious in this con-text: Save a tree!). If the former, there areworse problems ahead, for some of Cohn'schoices have been out of the catalog foryears, and the rest are dropping like flies.

As for the recommendations them-selves, everyone will find many to agreewith, many to dispute. That I prefer Previnin Rachmaninoff s The Bells (currentlyavailable) to Cohn's Ormandy (currentlynot) is irrelevant, to the extent Cohn canjustify his choice; yet one hardly knowswhat to make of this rationalization (a fairsample, incidentally, of his distinctly un-Johnsonian style): "The text is sung inEnglish and for some this may diminish theauthenticity of the recording. Not for thisreviewer, because it's sufficiently difficultunderstanding a chorus in English withouttrying to do so when Russian is used." Aliberal sprinkling of dicta like "No one canfault the way these are played" neithersheds much light on the choices nor inspiresconfidence. And when substantial perfor-mance questions are raised, the groundshifts freely. For Cohn, the inclusion of"the expositional repeat in the openingmovement, which structures the material asit should be structured," is crucial in choos-ing a Schubert Fifth (Bohm), yet for Schu-bert's First and Second, the recording herecommends (Bohm) omits the repeats.

Eventually, one comes to visualizevast mountainous ranges of index cards,undigested by author or editor, thrown into"order" at the last (geologically scaled)minute. The Tchaikovsky deck should havebeen reshuffled. As though referring tosomething that came before, the Fatumentry begins, "Another Tchaikovsky workhe destroyed . . ."; only six pages laterdoes it become apparent that the referenceis to Voyevode: "The score . . . wasdestroyed by Tchaikovsky. . . ." And atleast some of the misinformation on thosecards was evidently never filtered throughCohn's ear. Having recommended Kipnisin Bach's Chromatic Fantasy, "a match-less harpsichord recording," Cohn contin-ues: "If piano is preferred there is Richter'ssolid performance, on Deutsche Grammo-phon 2530 035." The Richter, of course, isnot Sviatoslav, but Karl-playing harpsi-chord. No mere error of fact, this raises afundamental question as to how much ofthis music Cohn has actually heard.

Though further faults can be found(considerably more wasted space and mo-tion in the organization, etc.), this is not toclaim that the book lacks all merit. Just howmuch, the prospective investor might knowbetter after having tested it at the locallibrary for a time. Meanwhile, he shouldkeep in mind that a new edition of the Pen-guin guide is in preparation.

More Old StokieFor the sixth WFLN /Philadelphia Orches-tra Marathon, RCA Special Products hasmined its vaults for a two -disc set (DPM2-0534) that neatly ties together two of theyear's big centenaries-Stokowski's, dulynoted last month, and Stravinsky's, whichwe will observe next month. Included inthis limited edition are Stokowski's sec-ond-first electrical-recording of the1919 Firebird Suite, from 1927 (not the1935 third recording as stated in RichardFreed's fine annotations; Freed was appar-ently caught by a change of plans, and theinformation is given correctly elsewhere);Stokowski's first recording of Le Sacre,from 1927-29 (one of the items laudedhighly in Curtis Davis' discography lastmonth and indicated there as being unavail-able); and Stokowski's first recording ofPetrushka, from 1937 (not a "suite" asdescribed on the label; it's the overrideFirebird that should have been so identi-fied). These are all wonderfully vibrant per-formances, and the playing of the Philadel-phia principals is often brilliant. The superbremasterings, with Petrushka on a singleside running just over thirty minutes, arethe work of Stokowski enthusiast WardMarston, who also handled the transfers ofthe Bell Labs historical material discussedby Robert Long last December. The soundis remarkably well balanced in the olderartifacts, only in Petrushka do the brassessometimes become overbearing, and eventhat is probably just what Stokowskiordered. The set is available only throughmembership in the Philadelphia OrchestraAssociation, at a cost of $55 (add $1.00 forshipping; Philadelphia Orchestra Mara-thon, 1420 Locust St., Philadelphia. Pa.19102).

Devil's Swill, Recording Tartini concertosrecently with the English Chamber Orches-tra, violinist Salvatore Accardo had to giveup on the E minor, D. 56; totally inaccurateand unusable, the parts, t'was said, wereevidently "copied by a drunken man." HF

MAY 1982 45

CLASSICAL

Reviews

The late conductor Walter Susskind in one of his last recordings-see page 58.

BARTOK: Concerto for Violin andOrchestra, No. 2, in B minor.

Andre Gertler, violin: Czech PhilharmonicOrchestra, Karel Ander!, cond. [Eduard Herzog.prod.] QUINTESSENCE PMC 7181, $5.98. Tape:P4C 7181, $5.98 (cassette). [From CROSSROADS22 26 0012, 1968.]

Erick Friedman, violin; Southwest GermanRadio Symphony Orchestra. Zdenek Macal,cond. MUSICAL HERITAGE SOCIETY MHS 4386,$7.75 ($4.95 to members) (recorded in perfor-mance) (add $1.60 for shipping: Musical Heri-tage Society, 14 Park Rd.. Tinton Falls, N.J.07724).

Peter Zazofsky, violin; Belgian NationalOrchestra, Georges Octors, cond. [Rend Gaillyand Wolfgang Mitlehner, prod.] DG CONCOURS2535 012, $6.98.

Three new recordings of Bartok's violinconcerto (now often called the "Second,"since an earlier one has surfaced in morerecent years) attest to the special popularityof this work; along with the Concerto forOrchestra, it is probably his most frequent-ly heard orchestral composition. Thisshould not be surprising: Though one of the

simplest and most traditional conceptionsof the mature BartOk, it nevertheless carrieshis unmistakable stamp.

Of these three readings, Andre Gertlerand the Czech Philharmonic under KarelAneerl offer the outstanding one. A reissueof a recording made in 1965, the disc holdsup well with today's competition in regardto both sound and execution. The render-ing, the most accurate of the three, is alsothe most flexible in rhythm and the mostvaried in color. Gertler, a Hungarian bybirth, performed frequently with Bartok inhis earlier years; completely in command ofthe music, he balances the right degree offreedom with the requisite control.

It is just this balance that Friedmanlacks in his live performance with theSouthwest German Radio Orchestra. Yetmany aspects of his playing are impressive.He has sure technique and interesting ideasabout shaping the piece. But the rhythmsare too heavily accented and too carefullypatterned; and when he uses portamento,which he occasionally does for some reason

Reviewed by:John CanarinaScott CantrellKenneth CooperR. D. DarrellPeter G. DavisKenneth FurieHan -is GoldsmithMatthew GurewitschDavid HamiltonDale S. HarrisR. Derrick HenryJoseph Horowitz

Nicholas KenyonAllan KozinnPaul Henry LangIrving LowensKaren MonsonRobert P. MorganJames R. OestreichConrad L. OsborneAndrew PorterPatrick J. SmithPaul A. SnookSusan T. Sommer

(perhaps a nod to "Hungarian style"), itsounds stiff and calculated. His fast, tightvibrato also wears on the ear.

Finally, the recording with PeterZazofsky and the Belgian National Orches-tra under Georges Octors was recorded dur-ing the 1980 Queen Elisabeth InternationalMusic Competition, which Zazofsky won.He is no doubt an excellent young violinist,but the recording is so bad-combining adull, cavernous quality with an almostimpenetrable sonic opaqueness-that it isimpossible to judge with any certainty.Things sound very tentative indeed, espe-cially on the orchestra's part; no doubt theperformance had to be put together quicklyfor the occasion. This release hardly servesZazofsky well. R.P.M.

BEETHOVEN: Symphonies (9); Over-tures (4).

Sheila Armstrong, soprano*: Linda Finnie,mezzo-soprano*: Robert Tear, tenor*; JohnTomlinson, bass*, Philharmonia Chorus* andOrchestra, Kurt Sanderling, cond. [BeatrixMusker, prod.] EMI SLS 5239 (digital record-ing; eight discs, manual sequence). Tape: TCCSLS 5239 (eight cassettes). [Price at dealer'soption.] (Distributed by Brilly Imports, 155 N.San Vicente Blvd., Beverly Hills, Calif.90211.)

Symphonies: No. I. in C. Op. 21; No. 2, inD, Op. 36; No. 3, in E flat, Op. 55 (Eroica); No.4, in B flat, Op. 60; No. 5, in C minor, Op. 67;No. 6, in F, Op. 68 (Pastoral); No. 7, in A, Op.92; No. 8, in F, Op. 93; No. 9, in D minor, Op.125*. Overtures: The Creatures of Prometheus,Op. 43; Coriolan, Op. 62; Fidelio, Op. 72c;Egmont, Op. 84.BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 3, in Eflat, Op. 55 (Eroica).

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, MichaelGielen, cond. [Marc J. Aubort and Joanna Nick-renz, cond.] Vox CuM LAUDE D-VCL 9007,$10.98 (digital recording). Tape: D -VCS 9007,$10.98 (cassette).BEETHOVEN: Symphonies: No. 5, inC minor, Op. 67; No. 8, in F, Op. 93.

New York Philharmonic, Zubin Mehta,cond. [Andrew Kazdin, prod.] CBS MASTER-WORKS M 35892. Tape: MT 35892. [Price atdealer's option.)BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 5, in Cminor, Op. 67.

46 HIGH FIDELITY

Berlin State Orchestra, Otmar Suitner,cond. [Eberhard Geiger and Toni Yuki, prod.]DENON OX 7013 -ND, $15 (digital record-ing)(distributed by Discwasher).BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 9, in Dminor, Op. 125.

Jessye Norman, soprano; Brigitte Fass-baender, alto; Placido Domingo, tenor; WalterBerry, baritone; Vienna State Opera Chorus,Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Karl BOhm,cond. [Werner Mayer, prod.] DEUTSCHE GRAM-MOPHON 2741 009, $25.96 (digital recording;two discs, manual sequence). Tape: 3382 009,$25.96 (two cassettes).

In England, Kurt Sanderling's Beethovenhas been likened to Klemperer's. To test theanalogy, I made some comparisons with thefew Klemperer/Philharmonia discs on myshelf. (I never cared sufficiently for hiscycle to obtain it in toto.) What I foundproved instructive: For one thing, Klemper-er-for all his reputation for stolidity-was considerably more of a lapidarian thanI had remembered; in fact, his acute detail-ing and sophisticated shaping of woodwindlines in the Egmont Overture and the firstmovement of the Ninth Symphony sur-prised me with an almost Toscaninian agil-ity. Sanderling, on the other hand, rivalsKlemperer in solidity of rhythm, but not inshapely authority: He's the one who resem-bles the ficticious Klemperer of my faultymemory!

More importantly, although both con-ductors favor some exaggeratedly slow,ultra -Teutonic tempos, neither is nearly asphlegmatic throughout as those few in-stances might lead one to fear, In the Sev-enth Symphony, after an introduction cau-tiously unfolded with minimal accents onthe opening chords and a Vivace painstak-ingly articulated at something approachingslow motion, Sanderling goes on to give theremaining three movements a crisp, alertreading not all that far removed from thoseof Casals (CBS MY 37233) or Toscanini/New York Philharmonic (RCA VIC 1502).Similarly, Klemperer's notoriously lumber-ing three -to -a -bar third movement of thePastoral stays in the memory, making oneforget his succinctness in the Egmont musicand in most of the Ninth Symphony. Butwhereas Klemperer's effectiveness is large-ly nullified by the drab, coarsely fibrous,monotonously compressed domestic Angelsound, Sanderling's readings are euphoni-ously and solidly reproduced (though I havereservations about the sound's smoothed -out generality).

The essential point of the comparisonis that Sanderling, like Klemperer, adheresto a Germanic tradition, yet the two mae-stros have minds of their own. (One couldsay this equally for the late Karl Bohm,whose 1970 Beethoven cycle for DGreflects a similar basic point of view.)

From the opening lines of Sanderling'sFirst Symphony, one notes with approvalthe suave excellence of the Philharmonia'sexecution. After a hefty and perhaps overly

slow introduction, the work gets off to asuitable romp. All four movements havewell -sprung rhythm and a good deal ofbracing energy. An auspicious start.

But in the Second (as in Bohm's), apervasive heaviness breaks the music'sback. Though some might be less put off bySanderling's slow tempos, I find them asore trial-particularly in the Alberti pas-sages in the Larghetto and in the lumberingScherzo.

Things improve considerably In theEroica despite a first movement thatremains too sedate. But by now the blendedeuphony of the recorded balance begins topall a bit; one hears timbres well emmeh if

one listens for them, yet the instrumentaldetail never stands out in sharp relief.

The Fourth's introduction is onceagain extremely deliberate, but thereafter,things pick up. Sanderling's tempos aregenerally lively, and such niceties as thecelebrated bassoon pitfall in the finale aresplendidly managed.

The Fifth is stodgy and straightfor-ward; ifs', first movement, in particular,lacks the kind of molten energy Giulinibrought to this thrice familiar masterpiecein a recent broadcast performance with theLos Angeles Philharmonic. (DG shouldsurely record that truly distinguished inter-pretation.) By contrast, Sanderling's heft

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CLASSICAL Reviews

Critics' ChoiceThe most noteworthyreleases reviewed recently

BACH: Harpsichord Concertos (6). Koop-man. PHILIPS 6769 075 (2), April.BEETHOVEN: String Quartet No. I (orig.version). Pro Arte Quartet. LAUREL LR 116,Jan.BIRTWISTLE: Punch and Judy. Roberts,Wilson -Johnson, Atherton. DECCA HEADLINEHEAD 24/5 (2), Dec.BLOCH, E.; HINDEMITH: Viola -PianoWorks. Schotten, Collier. COMPOSERS RECORD.

INGS SD 450, April.CHOPIN, MUSSORGSKY: Piano Works.Schenly. DIGITECH DIGI 108, April.DELIUS: The Fenby Legacy. Royal Philhar-monic, Fenby. UNICORN-KANCHANA DKP 9008/9 (2), Feb.

DEL TREDICI: Final Alice. Hendricks. Sol -ti. LoNoon LDR 71018, April.DVOIUK, MENDELSSOHN: StringQuartets, Orlando Qrt. PHILIPS 9500 995,Feb.

FRANCK, SZYMANOWSKI: Violin -Pia-no Works. Danczowska, Zimerman. DG 2531330, March.HAYDN: Miseri not . . . Funesto orror;Arias. Mathis, Jordan. PHILIPS 9500 929, Feb.MAHLER: Symphony No. 5. STRAUSS:Tod and Verkldrung. Mitropoulos. NEW YORKPHILHARMONIC 881/2 (2), Nov.MARTINI: The Greek Passion. Mitchin-son, Tomlinson, Mackerras. SUPRAPHON 11163611/2 (2), April.MUSSORGSKY: Orchestral and ChoralWorks. London Symphony, Abbado. RCAARL 1-3988, Jan.PUCCINI: Tosca. Scotto, Domingo, Bruson,Levine. ANGEL DSBX 3919 (2), March.SCHUBERT: Song Cycles and Songs.Hiisch. ARABESQUE 8107-3L (3), March.

SCHUBERT, WOLF: Songs. Pears, Britten.BBC REGL 410, March.SCHUBERT: Trout Quintet. Sawallisch,Endres Qrt. EURODISC 25 567, April.SMETANA, SUK: String Quartets. Bohe-mian Quartet. PARNASSUS 1001, Feb.TANEYEV: Piano Quartet. CantilenaChamber Players. PRO ARTS PAD 107, April.TELEMANN: Instrumental Works. AulosEnsemble. MUSICMASTERS MM 20009, Dec.TIPPETT: King Priam. Harper, Tear, Bailey,Atherton. LONDON LDR 73006 (3), March.WEILL: Songs. Stratas, Woitach. NONESUCHD 79019, Feb.BOLCOM AND MORRIS: Rodgers andHart Album. RCA ARL 1-4123, March.GERMAN CHAMBER MUSIC BEFOREBACH. Cologne Musica Antigua. Goebel.ARCHIV 2723 078 (3), Jan.KIRI TE KANAWA: Song Recital. CBS M36667, Feb.HEAVY METAL. Film score by Elmer Bern-stein. FULL MooN/Asnust 5E 547, Jan.

lacks enlivening thrust, though it never fallsas wide of the mark as did Bernstein's dis-appointing and plodding rendition (DG2531 311). Again, Sanderling's reading canbe likened to Bohm's (DG 2530 062).

The Pastoral is a bit slow and heavy-footed, but apart from a few disruptiveritards, Sanderling captures a suitablybucolic aura.

The Seventh has already been dis-cussed, and were it not for that questionablefirst movement, this would have been oneof the high points of the set. The finale,with its granitic solidity and wonderfulstring articulation, is really terrific. And thesymphony is followed by a genuinely dis-tinguished account of the PrometheusOverture. (The violins dance with captivat-ing style and precision.)

Sanderling takes the Eighth withbroad, well -regulated tempos and a suitablehammering emphasis. One of the better per-formances on disc, certainly.

And the Ninth has a bronzen sobrietythat shares common features with Klemper-er -(Angel SB 3577), Monteux, Dorati(Mercury SRI 2-77013), and a few others.Particularly effective are the tempo rela-tionships in the choral finale, which con-cludes with a Prestissimo not unlike Tosca-nini's (RCA VIC 1607) in its authoritativemoderation. The chorus and soloists arevery good (bass John Tomlinson sings hisopening solo with an appoggiatura on"Tone"), but in a structural, uneffusivereading of this sort, teamwork counts formore than do individual bursts of tempera-ment.

Sanderling is a centrist with regard toBeethoven's original instrumentation: Heeschews the usual horn flares in the scherzoof the Ninth and seemingly opts for theoriginal trumpet parts in the coda of theEroica' s first movement ("seemingly,"

because it may be that the trumpets aremerely reticient in this highly resonantrecording ambience); yet he duly addshorns to the bassoons in the first -movementrecapitulation of the Fifth and -like Jo -chum and Toscanini-cellos and kettle-drums in the recapitulation of the CoriolanOverture. As for repeats, he observes all inNos. 1-4 and 8 but bypasses those in thelast movement of No. 5 and the first of No.6, all in No. 7, and both scherzo repeats inNo. 9. He does not take the spurious da-capo repeat in No. 1's third movement.

This is Beethoven conducting by asensitive musician thoroughly grounded inthe idiom and playing by a top orchestrarecorded in state-of-the-art sonics (leavingaside my purely personal reaction to theblending of sonorities). Anyone learningthe music from these accounts will get anhonest impression of it; my own admirationgrows with each replaying. At the sametime, Sanderling's more consistent ap-proach does not always catch lyrical fire theway those of more idiosyncratic conductorsdo-Jochum, Bernstein, and Karajan. Onfinal reflection, I suppose Klemperer'semphatic, granitic approach is the closestcounterpart. (Perhaps I should rehear hisversions in British EMI's improved remas-terings.)

I have not heard Michael Gielen's old-er Vienna Eroica for Audio Fidelity (nowavailable on Classical Cassette CCC 36),but his new account with the CincinnatiSymphony is superfast and purged of allrhetoric. There are also iconoclastic details,such as the placement of the fermata in Var.1 of the finale on E flat rather than having itapply to the E flat and its following D.Erich Kleiber also did this in his olderrecording with the Concertgebouw, andToscanini dabbled with this variant in thebroadcast performance of November 26,

1949. It's interesting, but it sounds unnatu-ral. Gielen does add the revised trumpets inthe first -movement coda, and his energysurges at the least excuse. On the whole, hisEroica resembles Scherchen's stereo ac-count, and if the Cincinnati Symphony is alittle hard-pressed and sour of intonation, itplays with far more assurance than didScherchen's Vienna State Opera Orchestra.Yet the reading sounds uncomfortably con-stricted -like metronome -chasing; detailsare audible but trivialized. At least after allthe somnolent, tensionless Eroicas likeOrmandy's (RCA ATC 1-4032) and Meh-ta's (CBS IM 35883), Gielen's hot -rodapproach is stimulating, however ephemer-al its effect.

About the best that can be said forZubin Mehta's coupling of the Fifth andEighth is that there have probably beenworse versions of both symphonies. TheFifth begins with a plausibly dramatic firstmovement, reasonably well executed.Thereafter, the decline is steep: Right at theoutset of the Andante con moto (which bothliner and record label persist in identifyingas "Andante con brio"), violas and cellosindulge in vulgar -sounding swells. In thecentral portion of the movement -wherepianissimo strings provide a vampingaccompaniment to clarinet, then bassoon,flute, and oboe -the conductor permits(encourages?) contrabasses and cellos toadd ungainly crescendos after attackingtheir notes; this not only disfigures the pas-sage's aesthetic appeal, but also throws therhythmic pulse seriously off kilter. In thescherzo, the New York Philharmonic hornplayers sound more like members of theteamsters' than of the musicians' local.(Surely a take could have been found inwhich their opening attack at bar 27 wasn'tflubbed so conspicuously.) And the intend-ed breadth of the finale turns to inertia,

48 HIGH FIDELITY

mainly because of laggardly, imprecisechording from everyone concerned (orunconcerned). The Eighth is even moreproblematical: The first movement, playedat pretty much the same tempo Sanderlingtakes, is sapped of its energy by a general-ized diffuseness of sonority and lethargicexecution. (The piano woodwinds in thecoda sluggishly sit on their notes beginningat bar 363, in embarrassing contrast to thepizzicato strings they are supposed to bematching.) Horns and clarinets, aggressive-ly miked. croon their way through the third -movement trio to the scratchy accompani-ment of unattractively stringy cellos andbasses. If the orchestral performance hadbeen merely coarse -textured and gruff, itmight have been allowed to pass withoutcomment; but with Mehta's syrupy overlayof phony Gemiitlichkeit, it somehow sug-gests a Bronx cheer with a Viennese "ec-cent." He keeps Beethoven's original scor-ing for bassoons in the Fifth's first move-ment (bars 302 et seq.) and includes first -movement repeats in both symphonies.CBS's sound and pressing are so-so.

Otmar Suitner's Fifth is the bestinstallment so far in his unfolding Beetho-ven cycle. Here the small forces and theconductor's tautly symmetrical rhythmproduce a Fifth in the astringent manner ofErich Kleiber's well -remembered (andoften reissued) version. The only things Iquestion here are the da-capo repetition ofthe scherzo and the repeat in the finale(which still seems wrong to me, try as I doto accept it). Suitner, like Mehta, uses theoriginal bassoon scoring in the first move-ment. If you like a nervously energetic Fifthrather than a hulking, massive one, thisshould suit your (good) taste.

Bohm first recorded the Ninth back inthe days of his Dresden tenure, and he madeat least three subsequent versions -all inVienna. This digital edition, taped in thefall of 1980, is noticeably slower than hisaccount of a decade earlier, and the ultra -sharp digital reproduction emphasized itsmartial clarity. In its way, it is a distin-guished reading albeit a bit too Prussian formy taste. (I kept thinking back to theScherchen version, which I haven't heardfor nearly thirty years.) B8hm favors a ripe,bass -oriented sonority, but the rhythmicexactitude verges on mummification; his1970 account (DG 2707 073), with detailenough, seemed less brash and more flow-ingly communicative. The soloists this timeare generally better-Jessye Norman, inparticular, more on -pitch than her 1970counterpart, Gwyneth Jones. Apart from itsSchwanengesang sentimental appeal and itssonic attractions, there seems to have beenlittle need for this remake. H.G.

BEETHOVEN: Variations on aWaltz by Diabelli, Op. 120; Sonatafor Piano, No. 31, Op. 110 -Seepage 41.

CAVALLI: Ercole amante.CAST:

JoleElenaPasiteaPageCinthiaGiononeDejaniraVenere/BeautyHylloLiccoLaomedonteMercurioErcoleTevere/Nettuno

Felicity Palmer (s)Eiddwen Harrhy (s)Rosemary Hardy (s)

Agnes de Crouzat (s)Marilyn Hill Smith (s)

Yvonne Minton (ms)Patricia Miller (ms)

Colette Alliot-Lugaz (ms)Keith Lewis (t)

Ricardo Cassinelli (t)Michael Goldthorpe (t)

Michel Corboz (b)Ulrik Cold (bs)

John Tomlinson (bs)Eutyro's Ghost Malcolm King (bs)

English Bach Festival Chorus and BaroqueOrchestra. Michel Corboz, cond. ERATO STU71328, $26.94 (three discs, manual sequence)(distributed by RCA).

Cavalli's Ercole amante is an opera morehonored in the history books than on thestage, and even by historians it is moreoften buried than praised. It was written tocelebrate the marriage of Louis XIV ofFrance to Maria Theresia and commis-sioned for performance in Paris by CardinalMazarin. This act of internationalism-Mazarin was well-known for his Italian cul-tural preferences -created many problems.Cavalli was familiar neither with the prev-alent French taste in opera nor with thecomplex organizational setup at court; it isthought that Lully may well have been jeal-ous and obstructed him.

The time Cavalli spent in Paris wasfrustrating and ultimately unsuccessful.First, his new opera was not ready for theactual wedding celebrations in 1660 andhad to be replaced with a new version of anearlier piece, Serse. Then Mazarin died in1661, removing the main impetus towardan Italian celebration of the Franco -Spanishmarriage. Finally, when Ercole was pro-duced at last, on February 7, 1662, it wasgiven in a theater that had dreadful acous-tics and interspersed with long ballet inter-ludes by Lully (who thus attracted most ofthe attention). One of the few favorableremarks on Cavalli's music came from a notunprejudiced source, the Venetian ambas-sador, who said that it was "very fine andfitting" and that in rehearsal it had beenmuch enjoyed.

Cavalli vowed after this experiencenever to work in the theater again. (In theNew Grove Dictionary, Thomas Walker'sfine entry on the composer somewhat per-versely suggests that this could have beenbecause he had earned so much money inFrance.) At any rate, Italian cultural influ-ence in France declined, French operadeveloped unaffected, and Cavalli wentback to write more operas for Venice.Ercole had never been revived until theadventurous opera company of Lyonsstaged it in 1979 under Michel Corboz.(The record box is decorated with a hand-some reproduction of Laumosnier's paint-ing of Louis XIV's marriage ceremony,

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CLASSICAL Reviewswhich formed a backdrop for that produc-tion.) A concert performance was also giv-en in London by the English Bach Festival,again under Corboz. This recording seemsto represent an amalgam of the two reviv-als, with a mixed English/French cast,English chorus and orchestra, and Frenchconductor.

Strong claims are made for the operain the extensive notes that accompany therecording: At one point, it is described as"quite simply, the quintessential master-piece of seventeenth -century baroqueopera." That goes a little far; apart fromeverything else, the work is so unusual as tobe unclassifiable. The mixture of French -style and Italian -style recitative; the greatimportance allotted to the chorus, whenItalian works rarely made use of it at all; thegrandeur of the opera combined with itsastute psychological penetration: All thesefactors make Ercole a most curioushybrid.

The most striking parts of the work arethe massive Prologue and the remarkablefifth and final act; through some of the restone has to remind oneself that the magnifi-cent stage machinery in the hall of the Tui-leries would have absorbed much of theaudience's attention. The best music issplendid. The double choruses of rivers inthe Prologue, rising gently in old-style imi-tative writing and then crashing in Venetianantiphony, are sung flexibly and lightly(though recorded rather too distantly) by theEnglish Bach Festival Chorus. In the fifthact the complexity of the relationships issignaled by a glorious succession of ensem-bles (another form in which Italian operawas not usually rich): a quartet, then a trio,a duet, a quintet, and a final tableau, with aduet for Hercules and Beauty as the center-piece, framed by two more double cho-ruses.

Throughout this performance Corbozseems intent on drawing long, smooth linesfrom his singers. There is very little inci-siveness either in the delivery or in therecording, which represents Erato at itsmost mellifluous. More variety of pace inthe recitatives would have been welcome,and greater rhythmic subtlety might haveimproved the less inspired arias. (Much ofCavalli's measured music is, as usual in hisoperas, in triple time, which after a pro-logue and five acts can become weary-ing.)

The singers, however, perhaps helpedby the fact that several of them have sungtheir parts onstage at Lyons, are sympathet-ic to the idiom and seem convinced by theircharacters. Corboz manages to take the acidbite out of Felicity Palmer's voice, which isan achievement; she sings Jole with poiseand dignity. Yvonne Minton is a slightlydarker, not always stylish Gionone. PatriciaMiller-a name new to me-is mostimpressive in Dejanira's two arias (which,though powerful, cannot match that charac-ter's contributions to Handel's Hercules,

surely unsurpassed in the whole baroque lit-erature). There are pretty, shapely contribu-tions from Colette Alliot-Lugaz and Agnesde Crouzat, and all the smaller female partsare excellently done. The men are less sat-isfactory, from Ulrik Cold's rather beefy,unfocused Hercules down to Corboz' owntiny cameo as Mercurio. John Tomlinson'ssharply etched Tevere and Nettuno repre-sent the exception.

One matter not touched on in the book-let (which contains reams of material on theimagery and political allegories implicit inthe libretto) is the musical edition used; therealization is simply credited to the harpsi-chordist, Luciano Sgrizzi. In Jane Glover'suseful book on Cavalli we learn that this isone of his few operas with writing for five -part strings; from Walker, in Grove, weglean the hint that "wind instruments mayhave been used." From this to Sgrizzi'sprominent pairs of recorders, oboes, andbassoons, plus trumpets, trombones, anddrums, is rather a leap. His additions areusually tasteful, but there is too much coun-terpoint added to the singing (a la Hamon-court/Monteverdi), and the twitterings of asolo recorder are a particular distraction. Ifthere are to be elaborations, surely theemphasis in an opera performed at theFrench court would have been on the oboes -and -bassoon texture of the Lully ouver-ture.

The conclusion must be that it is diffi-cult to say how faithfully this account ofErcole reflects the original. But it would bedemonstrably foolish in this case to attemptto re-create the exact circumstances of thefirst performance, so perhaps some poeticlicense should be allowed. This is certainlyan important work, well worth having onrecord. N.K.

Edith Mathis (s)Barbara Hendricks (s)

Claes H. Ahnsjo (t)Aldo Baldin (t)

Michael Devlin (bs)Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Antal Dora -

ti, cond. PHILIPS 6769 061, $32.94 (three discs,manual sequence).

Arias: Ah, tu non senti . . . Qual destraomicida (Ahnsjii); Tergi i vezzosi rai (Devlin);Se tu mi sprezzi (Baldin). Trio: Lavatevi presto(Ahnsjito, Baldin, Devlin).

On September 1, 1773, the Empress MariaTheresia and a large retinue visited Eszter-haza, where Prince Nikolaus honored herwith festivities lasting for three days. Theseincluded performances of Haydn's operaL'Infedeltd delusa (its second), his Sym-phony No. 48 (now called Maria Theresia),given in the middle of an elaborate maskedball, and his marionet play Philemon andBaucis. The princely Kapellmeister wassurely kept busy as both composer and per-former.

The librettist of Infidelity Outwitted,

HAYDN: L'Infedelta delusa.* Supple-mentary Arias and Trio.

CAST:VespinaSandrinaNencioFilippoNanni

Edith Mathis: mostly her excellent self

Marco Coltellini, Metastasio's successor asimperial court poet in Vienna, was highlyesteemed, and his librettos were set byTraetta, Gluck, and Galuppi, among oth-ers, as well as by the young Mozart (LaFinta semplice). But this is certainly noMetastasian libretto; the protagonists areTuscan peasants, not heroes of antiquity.There is neither clemenza nor nobiltd, andthe complicated subplots of opera seria playno part in this burletta-a farce, full ofearthy fun. The simple story comes fromthe old popular theater: A father wants tomarry off his daughter to a rich peasant, butthe girl prefers another, who happens to bepoor; meanwhile the latter's sister has hereye on the well-to-do agrarian. In the end,of course, things are straightened out tomutual satisfaction. Yet this sprightly, cap-tivating comedy has its serious side, withmusings on love, wealth, and poverty.Clearly, Le Nozze di Figaro was not thefirst great opera that reconciled the seriawith the buffa.

The several fine Haydn operas Philipshas issued, most commendably, all testifyto the emerging fact that the great master ofthe symphony was also a major opera com-poser; but perhaps none has so much musi-cal red meat as this little buffa. Composedwith unflaggingly high artistry, it containsbrilliant and virtuosic ensembles of a sortrare in the seria, and most of its arias arearie di carattere-Haydn creates charac-ters in music. Alongside the expected fastbuffo patter scenes occur pensive arias, amelting serenade, and mixed pieces thatstart amusingly but turn serious, or viceversa. Amazingly, everything-even theda capo pieces-is through -composed.

Haydn's imagination never slackens;the vocal writing is admirable, and thesmall orchestra is handled with string -quar-tet finesse. He uses the small preclassicorchestra of two oboes, two horns, and

50 HIGH FIDELITY

strings-yet surprisingly, he adds twodrums (seldom used without trumpets),which are very much in evidence. Most ofthe time they serve as bona fide musicalinstruments, but in the two remarkable fina-les, Haydn cleverly exposes them and thetwo horns to achieve the feeling of the pop-ular rousing and tumultuous ensemble fina-le despite the tiny forces at his disposal. Thesparkling wit and inexhaustible inventive-ness of this warmly human musician showup everywhere. It is fascinating, for exam-ple, to watch the second finale amble alongwith easy casualness, speaking in a conver-sational tone, a word here, another there:then almost imperceptibly the pace-not ofthe tempo but of the repartees-picks upuntil all the protagonists sing together.whereupon Haydn turns on the finale toneand tempo. His timing is really uncanny.

The opera is recorded on five sides, atthe expense of some recitatives. The sixthside is given over to four "replacement"pieces that Haydn. as opera director, felt itnecessary to insert in other composers'operas produced under his direction at Esz-terhaza. Three of them are "merely" finearias, but the fourth, a trio for two tenorsand a bass, is a masterpiece composed for apasticcio in 1789-long after Haydn hadceased to compose entire operas. Over 500measures long, it superimposes banteringvoices on a seamless symphonic web full ofthe delectable symphonic jokes and sur-prises of the jovial elderly master. A capitalpiece.

The performance of the opera. whilegenerally good. is less accomplished than inmost of Dorati's other opera recordings.The pace is somewhat uniform: even thefast buffo pieces need flexibility, and thepauses should not be taken literally. Theconductor is attentive to the chiseled part-writing in the orchestra, but the playing is alittle pale; the oboes are timid, and thehorns lack velvet. The engineers seem tohave placed microphones right under thekettledrums, which are disturbingly loudyet at the same time sound as if the kettleswere half filled with soup. The replacementpieces are much better played; the orches-tra, now fortified with flutes and bassoonsand perhaps a few more strings, soundsmore substantial, and without the timpanieverything is nicely balanced. The continuoin the recitatives is too thick and loud; itdominates everything instead of simply giv-ing the pitch to the singers. There is no needfor both a cello and a double bass, no matterwhat the "book" says; a very discreet celloand a really secco harpsichord withoutmuch strumming would suffice and notimpinge on the singing.

Surprisingly, the best performer is notEdith Mathis (Vespina). but Barbara Hen-dricks (Sandrina), who sings affectingly,musically, and with a finely modulatedvoice. Mathis overdoes the soubrette coy-ness a little-too many deliberately off -pitch tones can become annoying-but

elsewhere she is her excellent self. ClaesAhnsjo (Nencio) is a dedicated artist, andthough he pushes a bit above the staff, hesings agreeably and knows the style: theothers could learn from his execution ofrecitatives. The second tenor, Aldo Baldin(Filippo). tries his best, but his voice is notvery attractive, and the bass, Michael Dev-lin (Nonni), is quite acceptable. though inthe recitatives he displays the usual "basswobble."

Despite its flaws, this is still an enjoy-able and engrossing recording: no one inter-ested in opera in general or Haydn in par-ticular should miss it. Since score and partsare now available and the ensemble is

small. perhaps some enterprising smallcompany will come to realize that L'/nfe-dela delusa is not only a viable opera, butpotentially a popular repertory item. P.H.L

LISZT: Piano Works-See page41.

MACHAUT: Le Livre du voir dit*;Messe de Nostre Damet.

Taina Kataja. soprano*: Rene Jacobs* andJohn Patrick Thomast. countertenors: Mieczy-slaw Antoniak, altot: Yoshiharu Matsuura. ten-ort; Laszlo Kunz, bassi: Vienna Mozart Boys'Choirt: Ls Menestrels. [Klaus Walter. Michel

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CLASSICAL ReviewsWalter. and Eva Brunner, prod.] MIRROR MUSIC00006/9. $51.92 (four discs, manual sequence)(distributed by Brilly Imports, 155 N. San Vicen-te Blvd.. Beverly Hills, Calif. 90211).

This is one of the most arresting recordingsof medieval art to have come my way. Iwrite "art" rather than music, since what isrecorded here is primarily speaking. ReneJacobs (better-known for his recordings ofthe baroque and now the Romantic reperto-ry for alto voice) declaims virtually thecomplete spoken text of Machaut's Le Livredu voir dit-with some alterations, omis-sions, and additions-and the musicalinterpolations in that manuscript are in-serted where indicated. In addition, the sec-ond record of the set (also available sepa-rately) offers a complete performance ofMachaut's Messe de Nostre Dame in litur-gical context with chant and plainsong: Thisis a revelation. Scholars have written foryears about the primacy of Machaut's poet-ry in his output but have tacitly or overtlysuggested that we could not tolerate orunderstand it today. (See, for example, Gil-bert Reaney in Music and Letters, 1958, p.38; an illuminating introduction to the Voirdit is Sarah Jane Williams' article in theMachaut number of Early Music, October1977). Meanwhile, medieval music groupshave ripped the musical portions from theircontext, shortened them to a couple ofverses, and presented them as real Machaut(akin to performing only the first fewminutes of a Steve Reich phase piecebecause the rest sounds the same).

For Machaut and his generation, spo-ken texts were as much music as were sungtexts. This is made explicit in the treatise byMachaut's follower Eustache Deschamps,where he distinguishes "musique natu-relle" (poetry) from "musique artificielle"(voices and instruments). On this record,for the first time in my experience, one canhear that notion brought to life: The musicemerges naturally as an intensification ofthe poetry, a relationship not unlike thatbetween recitative and aria in later opera.

Le Livre du voir dit tells the long storyof a love affair, by all accounts a real one,between Machaut and Peronne d'Armen-tieres. The musical inserts often representthe formal communications between thetwo; thus "My noble lord and truefriend . . . I send you this rondeau"-andmusic follows. Jacobs' treatment of theFrench may well be totally ersatz; I am nojudge of medieval French. But he conjuresup a marvelous, hypnotic intensity, so thatlistening to these extensive recitationsinvolves no labor or drudgery. So far frombeing the artificial, repetitive conventional-ities that have been supposed, the texts haveall the tightness and depth of a ritual, inwhich meaning and emotion are hiddenbehind a formality of language.

It is a great pity that the musical set-tings are not performed on the same highlevel. Jacobs sings his solo pieces with con-siderable feeling-in interesting contrast to

Andrea von Ramm's much cooler approachto the complainte "Tels rit au main" on theStudio der Friihen Musik's disc of Machautchansons. (Reflexe EMI Electrola IC 063-30106, from German News Co.). But theensemble Les Menestrels (a Vienna -basedgroup formed in 1963 that appears on sev-eral other Mirror Music releases), does notsing or play with a matching sophistication.Besides, too many and varied instrumentalsounds are used. Deschamps's authority iscited for this, but Christopher Page'simportant reinterpretation of a crucial pas-sage in Deschamps's writings (also in theOctober 1977 issue of Early Music) puts theuse of instruments in a different light. Theunique instruction in the text of the Voir dititself that the ballade "Nes que on porroil"can be rendered instrumentally probablyindicates (as Reaney suggests) an alterna-tive, not an addition to vocal perfor-mance.

For the same reasons, it is difficult torecommend the version of the Mass record-ed here, in spite of the fact that the liturgicalchanting is sensitively done and the place-ment of the voices in the acoustic has beencarefully planned. Machaut's own musicdoes not come across well, and the instru-ments are too prominent. It is just not truethat "there is no other way to perform thenumerous interludes in the Gloria and Cre-do"; the interludes are tiny and have beenvery effectively vocalized in performancesI have heard.

The Mozart Boys' Choir joins LesMenestrels in the Mass, and the singingbecomes altogether too fruity. Neverthe-less, this is an important and revealingrelease. Full documentation and transla-tions are provided in the sixty -eight -pagebooklet, though it becomes a little coy inrevealing how much of the Voir dit has beencut or substituted for by other Machautpieces. N.K.

MAHLER: Songs (15).Hanna Schaer, mezzo-soprano; Christian

Ivaldi, piano. [Ariane Segal, prod.] Muskat.HERITAGE SOCIETY MHS 4367, $7.75 ($4.95 tomembers) (add $1.60 for shipping; Musical Her-itage Society, 14 Park Rd., Tinton Falls, N.J.07724).

Lieder und Gesange aus der Jugendzeit:No. I, Fruhlingsmorgen; No. 2, Erinnerung; No.3. Hans und Grete; No. 5, Phantasie aus "DonJuan"; No. 6, Urn schlimme Kinder artig zumachen; No. 7, Ich ging mit Lust durch einengiiinen Wald; No. 8, Aus! Aus!; No. 9, StarkeEinbildungskraft; No. 10, Zu Strassburg auf der

Corrections: Laurel's recording of theoriginal version of Beethoven's StringQuartet No. I (LR 116), performed bythe Pro Arte Quartet, lists for $9.98, not$7.98, as stated in our January issue.

The BBC Schubert/Wolf recordingreviewed in March is properly num-bered 22170 and distributed by Gem-com, Inc., P.O. Box 290007, Fort Lau-derdale, Fla. 33329.

Schanz; No. I I, Ablosung im Sommer; No. 13,Nicht wiedersehen!; No. 14, Selbstgefiihl.Lieder aus "Des Knaben Wunderhorn": No. 4,Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht?; No. 5, Dasirdische Leben; No. 1 I , Es sungen drei Engel.MAHLER: Des Knaben Wunderhorn*;Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellent ; Kin-dertotenliedert.

Eva Andor, soprano*; Klara Macs, mez-zo-sopranot; Istvan WO and Sandor SolyomNagyt, baritones; Budapest Symphony Orches-tra, Gyorgy Lehel, cond. [Andras Szekely,prod.] HUNGAROTON SLPX 12043*. I 2044$9.98 each.

MAHLER: Kindertotenlieder*; Ruck-ert-Lieder (5)t.

Christa Ludwig, mezzo-soprano; BerlinPhilharmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan.cond. [Hans Weber and Hans Hirsch, prod.]DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 2531 147, $10.98.Tape: 3301 147, $10.98 (cassette). [From DG2707 081* and 2707 082t, 1975.]

Mahler's first published songs, the threevolumes comprising fourteen piano -accom-panied Lieder und Gesiinge aus der Jugend-zeit, contain the same emotional mix-notonly from song to song, but usually withinsongs-that we know from his more famil-iar later work. That they tend to be simplerin texture and detailing makes them moredifficult to perform, though, and makesthem especially problematic for perfor-mance en bloc.

Roland Hermann demonstrated thiswhen he set his beefy baritone a -chuggingthrough the whole collection for EMI, fol-lowing the published order doggedly andheaving in leaden accounts of those greatlater Wunderhorn songs "Revelge" and"Der Tambourg'sell." (We have to becareful with nomenclature here. The lastnine of the Lieder und Gesiinge-i.e.,Vols. 2 and 3-are in fact drawn from thepoetic anthology Des Knaben Wunderhorn,as if it weren't hard enough to keep the laterorchestral and symphonic Wunderhorn set-tings straight.) The result might have a cer-tain archival value if it didn't make thematerial sound so tedious.

Now, from Arlon by way of MHS, wehave twelve of the songs piped conscien-tiously in what sounds like a pleasant light -mezzo midrange pushed down to form anartificial quasi -bottom, leaving the rest ofthe middle thinned out, dangerously so inthe upper midrange. It's obvious why afemale performer would omit the Don Juanserenade, but what about "Scheiden undMeiden"? Both Anna Reynolds (on a

British Delyse disc, coupled with Schu-mann's Op. 39 Liederkreis) and Judith Ras-kin (on an Epic disc of Mahler and Men-delssohn) included it in their more limitedselections. The Schaer disc is filled out withtwo staples from the orchestral Wunderhornset, "Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht?" and"Das irdische Leben," plus a novelty, thevoice -and -piano reduction of "Es sungendrei Engel," the children's chorus with altosolo from the Third Symphony.

52 HIGH FIDELITY

Schaer is at least less ponderous thanHermann, and to her credit she seems not tohave learned Rule No. I of the Lieder Sing-er's Guide to Subtlety: Always underlinethe obvious-where superficial profundityis concerned, there is no such thing as "toomuch." Many of these songs begin encour-agingly, with an unaffected directness thatcontrasts pleasingly with Fischer-Dieskau'sself-importance in five of these same songs,along with the two omitted ones and four ofthe five Ruckert songs (with Leonard Bern-stein at the piano, CBS M 30942). But aftera couple of bars, or a phrase or two at themost, when you realize that Schaer isn'tgoing to do anything except try to keepfrom being overwhelmed by the notes,Fischer-Dieskau begins to sound like amore reasonable option.

MHS supplies usable texts, but thenotes should be approached with either cau-tion or a sense of humor. I suspect that theannotator hadn't heard some of the songs,like the radiant nature poem "Ich ging mitLust" (which he links with "Selbstgefiihl"as "amusing songs with a folk flavor") andthe grief -laden "Nicht wiedersehen!"("another charming tune" -egad), andsomehow he has deduced that the soldier in"Zu Strassburg auf der Schanz" is Swiss."Es sungen drei Engel" is placed in thefirst rather than fifth movement of the ThirdSymphony.

The best representation of the Jugend-zeit songs that I know is the group of four inChrista Ludwig's Seraphim Mahler pro-gram with Gerald Moore (S 60070, alsoincluding five Wunderhorn and three Riick-ert songs). Her mezzo was then in its spar-kling prime, her musical instincts at theirmost spontaneous -sounding, and the selec-tion includes three of my favorite Jugend-zeit songs: "Ich ging mit Lust" and thedeceptively fablelike "Um schlimme Kin-der artig zu machen" (both Wunderhornsettings), and the bubbly fake folksong"Hans and Grete." So far as I know, Lud-wig never recorded anything from Vol. 3,which leaves Fischer-Dieskau as a neces-sary source for the first of Mahler's unhap-py military vignettes, "Zu Strassburg aufder Schanz," and for "Nicht wiederseh-en!"

Fortunately Ludwig has recorded lotsof other Mahler. Her old Seraphim couplingof the Wayfarer Songs and Kindertotenlied-er (conducted by Adrian Boult and AndreVandernoot, respectively, S 60026) re-mains my choice for both cycles, andnobody on records has sung the low -voicesolos of Das Lied better than she did withKlemperer, mellifluously partnered byFritz Wunderlich in a two -disc Angel set(SB 3704) that also includes her first-rateperformances of two Wunderhorn and threeRiickert songs. In addition, Ludwig andWalter Beny joined with Bernstein-bothat the piano and with the New York Phil-harmonic-to produce my second -favoriteWunderhorn set (CBS KS 7395), about

which more below.Once we get into the orchestral songs,

we find a lot of performers making danger-ous assumptions from the material's splitbetween folksily frolicsome descendants ofthe early Gesiinge (i.e., the orchestral Wun-derhorn songs and the Wayfarer cycle) andLieder in the more traditionally serious art -song vein (i.e., the Ruckert settings-Kin-dertotenlieder and the five independentsongs). Of course there is some basis to thisdivision. The danger lies in assuming that ittells you how to perform the songs.

At one extreme, this leads to drowningthe Wunderhorn songs in the cuteness ofSchwarzkopf and Fischer-Dieskau (AngelS 36547). What's surprising is that thisdoesn't happen more often. On the whole,conductors especially have been able torelax with the Wayfarer and Wunderhornsongs, reveling in the pungent scoring. Butwhen these same performers turn to theRuckert settings, the tendency is to adopt anair of unrelenting somberness that marmo-realizes them.

True enough, the subject of Kindertot-enlieder is the death of children, certainlynot cheery business. But the cycle is con-cerned with the way the parent deals withthis loss, and the response is no less variedin emotional tone than Mahler's othersongs. If anything, moods shift and overlapmore frequently here, as the parent's imag-ination skips around the past and present.

The Ludwig/ Karajan Ruckert disc,coupling the fourth -side fillers of Karajan'sMahler Fifth and Das Lied, is beautifullysung and played, but so monochromatic asto be, finally, unbelievable. Except underthe discipline of certain meditation tech-niques, the mind just doesn't focus thisunrelentingly on anything. If you don'tbelieve it, try being grief-stricken for twen-ty-five uninterrupted minutes. Or even forfive, the typical length of one of thesesongs.

In Ludwig's case, the how -sad -I -amchoice suited the diminished capacity of thevoice, which even then was no longer theflexible, colorful instrument heard in herearlier recordings. But why was Karajan sointent on enforcing a uniform mood?

Consider the moment in the openingsong, "Now the sun wants to rise so bright-ly," when, as the singer begins her secondphrase ("as if no misfortune had happenedin the night"), the accompaniment switchesfrom oboes in unison plus horn to mutedcellos (effectively doubling the voice, butan octave higher), harp, and violas. I sup-pose it's a legitimate choice to try to mod-ulate the tones of the new grouping intothose of the old, and to try similarly tohomogenize the singer's (presumably inap-propriate) slippage from the minor into theparallel major. But what a dull, superficial,even pretentious choice.

Karajan may well be a genius, but

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CLASSICAL ReviewsHungaroton's Gyorgy Lehel demonstratesthat genius is less important than the will-ingness to listen and explore. Already in theoboes -and -horn introduction he is gettingmore varied and expressive results, mostlyby allowing the players to show him whattheir instruments can do with these fourbars. Of course thousands of possibilitiesremain unexplored, but even this much is awelcome change from the standard proce-dure whereby a conductor desperate todemonstrate his competence and authorityimposes a cliché choice without even find-ing out what else the notes might yield.

Fortunately Klara Takacs not onlyshares Lehel's willingness to listen to themusic but brings to it a strong. colorfulmezzo. The result is a Kindertotenliederthat makes a solid first impression and hasso far held up nicely on repeated hearings.On the flip side. Sandor SOlyom Nagy givesa pleasant account of the less troublesomeWayfarer Songs.

Although Lehel's contribution to theWayfarer Songs and Des Knaben Wunder -horn is no less sensible. it may be less dis-tinctive than his Kindertotenlieder in thatmost of the conductors who have recordedthis music have had fun with it. For thatmatter, much as I enjoy the detailed imme-diacy of Hungaroton's engineering, otherengineers have had fun with this musictoo-both Haitink's Wunderhorn (Philips9500 316) and Bernstein's are quite wellrecorded, in the styles you would expectfrom the respective sources.

Lehel has another good baritone for hisWunderhorn. Istvan Gati is a higher, morelyric baritone than we usually hear in thismusic, with some real ring on top-notethe G on "Er fiihrt den Krieg" in "DerSchildwache Nachtlied." Both "Revelge"and "Der Tambourg'sell" are excellent.and he makes the most of his shot at "DesAntonius von Paduas Fischpredigt," a bot-tom -leaning song that has been grabbed byall the mezzos and altos who have recordedthis collection but ducked by the sopranos(in addition to Eva Andor and Schwarz-kopf. Haitink's Jessye Norman). Gati alsogets "Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht?" , andthough he can't manage the passageworkeither, he sings it better than Fischer-Dies-kau, the only other baritone I've heard tack-le it.

In fact, the distribution of materialhere exactly duplicates the Schwarzkopf/Fischer-Dieskau version. to the point ofmaking a duet of "Wo die schrinen Tram-peten blasen." That's in addition to thefour other songs duettized in all the record-ings except Vanguard's pair. There is somelogic to making a duet of "Trost imUngliick," which not only has two equal,independent voices, but has a concludingsection to be sung by both. Otherwise thecase is shaky. While "Lied des Verfolgtenim Turm" does have two independentvoices, it is after all the prisoner's song,and "Der Schildwache Nachtlied" (the

Vara Trikacs: a willingness to listen

sentry's night song) and "Verlor'ne Miih"seem to me clearly narrative re -creations.not you -are -there dramatizations.

By happy coincidence, my favoriteWunderhorn soloists can be found on thesame record, but not in the same songs: theVanguard Everyman recording (SRV 285)with Maureen Forrester and Heinz Rehfussand perfectly adequate support from theVienna Festival Orchestra under Felix Pro-haska. "Urlicht," from the ResurrectionSymphony. is thrown in as a bonus (raised atone here). and the disc is budget -priced toboot. Such a deal!

Ludwig also gets to sing "Urlicht" inthe CBS version. which offers an even big-ger bonus in the separate piano -accompa-nied disc, recorded in concert. And Ludwigis a close match for Forrester: I like beingable to choose between such a good mezzoand contralto. (Ludwig. incidentally, singsa dandy solo "Der Schildwache Nacht-lied," along with four otherWunderhornsongs. on the Mahler disc with Moore.)Berry is less warmly personal than Rehfuss,but he's vocally solid and a vital performerin his own right.

Against such stiff competition. onerelatively weak soloist becomes a majorfactor in both the Hungaroton and Philipsrecordings. Hungaroton's Andor has a basi-cally attractive timbre, but her vibrato bor-ders on wobble. It is nice to hear some ofthese songs in the higher soprano keys, forwhich you can turn to Philips' Jessye Nor-man, who's in fine shape here. Her partner,John Shirley -Quirk. isn't awful, but neitheris he in the class of Rehfuss, Berry, orGati.

So what do we have? I'm recommend-ing four basic recordings: ( I ) the WayfarerSongs and Kindertotenlieder of Ludwig,Boult, and Vandernoot; (2) the Wunder -horn of Forrester. Rehfuss, and Prohaska;(3) Das Lied plus five Wunderhorn andRuckert songs by Ludwig. Wunderlich, andKlemperer; and (4) the Ludwig/Moore

recital of Jugend:Tit, Wunderhorn, andRuckert songs.

In addition to or instead of (1), youmay choose the new Hungaroton coupling.If you want a male Kindertotenlieder (andthe third song. "Wenn dein Miitterlein," ispretty inescapably the father singing). hopefor a Turnabout reissue of the beautifulrecording by Norman Foster and JaschaHorenstein; meanwhile I suppose theFischer-Dieskau/Kempe recording (Sera-phim 60272) will do. In addition to orinstead of (2). you may want Ludwig. Ber-ry. and Bernstein.

For (3) there are any number of sup-plements I could suggest, but no currentlisting that seems to me a reasonable sub-stitute. As a supplement to (4), mostly forrepertory. there's.Fischer-Dieskau's selec-tion of Jugend:eit and Ruckert songs.Finally, sort of straddling (I) and (2), let meput in a good word for Yvonne Minton'sWayfarer Songs and four Wunderhornsongs with Solti and the Chicago Sympho-ny-formerly available coupled on a singledisc, now available only in their originalformat, as fillers for Solti's Mahler Sixth(London CSA 2227) and Fifth (CSA2228). K.F.

MOSZKOWSKI: Concerto for Pia-no and Orchestra. Op. 59-See page41.

MOZART: Thamos, Konig in Agypt-en, K. 345.

Janet Perry, soprano; Anne -Marie Miihle.mezzo-soprano; Marius van Altena, tenor:Thomas Thomaschke and Harry van der Kamp.basses; Netherlands Chamber Chorus, Collegi-urn Vocale, Concertgebouw Orchestra. NikolausHarnoncourt. cond. TELEFUNKEN 6.42702,$12.98 (digital recording).

COMPARISON:

Faerber/Wiirttemberg Ch. Orch.Turn. QTV 34679

Had, say. Beecham or Walter taken a shineto Thamos, Mozart's only set of incidentalmusic might have been taken care of onceand for all. Instead, we're still waiting for arecording that makes something special ofthis very nice music. And it is nice music,even apart from its Egyptian setting obvi-ously prefiguring The Magic Flute.

If you just can't get enough Mozart.the Turnabout edition may be adequate.The performance is coarse and pedestrian.but the music is there: the elaborate choralintroductions to Acts I and V; the four tune-ful and well -crafted entr'actes; and the orig-inal orchestral postlude as well as itsreplacement, a recitative for the High Priest(who sounds to me more like the Commen-datore than Sarastro) and choral finale.

The new Telefunken version is betterthan the Turnabout, but is it worth morethan twice the price? The music has moreshape. but Harnoncourt is in his slam -the -

main -beats, slur -the -rest mood, and he's

54 HIGH FIDELITY

got the Concertgebouw sounding like ahastily assembled pickup group. Thechoruses also have a shrill quality notimproved by the harsh recording. The HighPriest (Thomaschke) and the quartet of cho-rus soloists are okay-not noticeably betteror worse than the competition.

There is choicer competition. If theEast Berlin recording conducted by Bern-hard Klee, formerly on Philips, were stillavailable. I'd recommend it. It's solid.straightforward Mozart. (It also includesthe Symphony No. 26, K. 184, as an over-ture.) Let's not kid ourselves, though."Solid" and straightforward" aren't theadjectives we really want to apply toMozart performances. In the absence of aBeecham or Walter version. however, I

guess they'll have to do. K.F.

PROKOFIEV: Symphony No. I

(Classical)-See Shostakovich:Concerto.

PURCELL: Dido and Aeneas.CAST:

DidoBelindaFirst WitchSecond Witch/SailorSecond LadySpiritSorceressAeneas

Emma Kirkby (s)Judith Nelson (s)

Emily van Evera (s)Rachel Bevan (s)

Judith Rees (s)Tessa Bonner (s)

Jantina Noorman (ms)David Thomas (bs-b)

Taverner Choir and Players, Andrew Par-rott. cond. [Brian Couzens, prod.] CI1ANDOSABRD 1034. $15.98 (digital recording) (distrib-uted by Sine Qua Non Productions. Ltd.. 1

Charles St., Providence. R.I. 02904).COMPARISONS:

Cohen/Boston CamerataHar. Mun. Fr. HM 10.067

Leppard/English Ch. Orch. RCA ARL 1-3021

These days, you can have Purcell's woefullittle masterpiece any way you like it: inlarge- to moderate -scaled orchestrationsand with singers more attuned to the con-ventions of Romantic opera than those ofbaroque performance: in performances bysmaller ensembles more conscientiousabout matters of period style; or in a varietyof workable and not so workable compro-mises. Andrew Parrott's version-on orig-inal instruments, with a string body andchorus of twelve apiece and a cast drawnfrom the London early -music world's finestsingers-falls into the uncrowded secondcategory and goes straight to the top of thelists.

Parrott's goals are fidelity and com-pleteness, and he succeeds better than anyof his competitors in re-creating the Didofirst performed at Josias Priest's boardingschool for young gentlewomen in 1689.

That is, he succeeds as well as one can with-out the aid of an extant manuscript score.For lack of Purcell's direct word, the mostimportant documentary tool in the quest fora reasonably authentic Dido is a copy of theoriginal libretto owned by the Royal Col-

lege of Music. It contains stage directionsfor several dances (some evidently intendedas guitar improvisations over a ground bass)and texts for a prologue and for a chorus atthe end of Act II-none of which is includ-ed in the 18th -century copies of the score onwhich modern editions are based.

Like those who have recorded Did()before him, Parrott declines to reconstructthe lost prologue: nor does he fit out themissing second -act chorus with music fromone of Purcell's other works, a suggestionproffered in both the Benjamin Britten/Imogen Hoist and Margaret Laurie/Thur-ston Dart editions and taken up by a fewconductors. He does, however, adopt acompanion suggestion, using a hornpipefrom The Married Beau as the second act'sclosing dance.

Two more brief dances are indicated inthe libretto. One precedes "Oft she visitsthis lone mountain." and Parrott wisely hasguitarist Anthony Bailes use that aria'sintroductory bass figure as the dance'sground. The other, coming between Belin-da's "Pursue thy conquest" and the chorus"To the hills and the vales," raises an inter-esting question of authenticity and integrityversus theatrical logic. That the librettoindicates a dance here is hardly a new dis-covery: and Priest, a dancing master, mightwell have demanded every opportunity forhis charges to show their skills. Yet of allthe Dido recordings in the catalog, onlyParrott's includes a dance here. And forgood reason: Belinda's song flows so natu-rally into the chorus that the minute or so ofguitar extemporization, charming as it is,seems an unwarranted intrusion.

Parrott's attention to detail makes thisrecording unique in other ways. too. He isone of the few to heed the stage direction atthe end of Act ll's first scene and actuallyprovide the storm Purcell's Witches haveconjured for-"thunder and lightning, hor-rid music," as the score says; and of thosewho do provide a storm here, only Parrottdoes it properly, combining an offstagethunder effect with ad lib orchestral cacoph-ony. And though the Sailor's song was giv-en to male singers as early as 1700, it is

assumed that, at the original girls' -schoolperformance, only Aeneas was sung by aman. Parrott restores the song to sopranowithout doing it much harm.

Curiously, in another recent recordingon original instruments, by the BostonCamerata on French Harmonia Mundi, con-ductor Joel Cohen takes on the Sailor's airhimself-a bad decision, since he can bare-ly sing-and assigns the Sorceress to a ten-or and the Spirit to a male alto. A like per-versity is carried into the instrumental scor-ing, which Cohen fleshes out with winds.The performance is quirky and substandardin other ways, too-a shame, since theCamerata has made many fine baroque andRenaissance recordings. Thus, for the timebeing, the original -instruments field is leftto Parrott alone.

The Taverner players produce a beau-tifully trim sound. with the cutting edge thatonly baroque strings can provide, and Par-rott takes the score at a comparatively livelyclip. But perhaps the greatest charm lies inthe soloists' characterizations. There is notanother Dido on disc like Emma Kirkby,whose crystalline, I i ght-t mbred sopranoreveals more the fragile, emotional womanthan the overblown tragic heroine morecommonly played. Whether touchingly for-lorn, as in the opening scene, or imperious,as in her final confrontation with Aeneas,her Dido is entirely human and deeply mov-ing. Kirkby's use of vibrato is ratherrefreshing: She resorts to it only sparingly,using it as an expressive tool, not as a basisof vocal production.

The one, momentary flaw in her por-trayal comes toward the end of her finalscene with Aeneas, when he decides to defythe gods and stay. In refusing him ("Away.away, no, no, away, away") she soundsalmost coquettish rather than wounded tothe quick. But this probably has more to dowith her vocal texture than with any moti-vational lapse: in any case, she redeems herperformance immediately with as heart-rending and gorgeously sung a lament ascan be found on disc.

The other soloists are equal partners:Judith Nelson makes a nicely conspiratorialBelinda. and David Thomas does his best tostorm at the heavens at the end of Act II -

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CLASSICAL Reviews

though not quite as powerfully as RichardStilwell, on RCA. The witches' scenes alsomerit special praise. Most conductors unac-countably have their witches play theirscenes straight, and some even allow themto sound stentorian. Here, Jantina Noormanis a throaty Sorceress, flanked by Emily vanEvera and Rachel Bevan as nasal -soundinghags who bring out both the malevolenceand black humor in their scenes. And thewitches' choruses, also nasally sung. arequite sprightly.

For listeners who prefer moderninstruments, and characters set in bolderdramatic relief. Raymond Leppard's moreconventional account, on RCA, provides agood alternative. His aim is a slick, eco-nomical. and idealized Dido rather than aparticularly authentic one; to this end, henot only opts for the sheen and fullness of amodem string orchestra and a medium -weight choir, but drops several dances andcompresses Belinda's "Thanks to theselonesome vales" and its choral repetitioninto a single number. Barbirolli, in whoseDido (Angel S 36359) Leppard played a tin-kly. music box continuo, did the same; sodid DeIler, in his smaller -scaled but oftenfoursquare recording (Vanguard HM 46).For the most part, the playing and singingunder Leppard are stylish. Stilwell. as not-ed. is a somewhat stronger Aeneas thanThomas. and Tatiana Troyanos' darkervoice creates a less frail, more tragicDido.

The RCA recording boasts a bit morestudio sleight-of-hand, including spectacu-larly resonant choral sections and, particu-larly during those choruses, exceptionalstereo separation. The Chandos digitalrecording is also vivid and warm and morerealistically (and evenly) resonant. Thepressing is generally good, although mycopy has a few ticks and a visible scratchthrough the thunderstorm. A.K.

SCHUBERT: Lazarus, D. 689*; Massin G, D. 167t.

Sheila Armstrong (Maria*). Ruth Welting(Jemina*). and Jocelyne Chamonint (Martha*),sopranos: Anthony Rolfe Johnsont (Lazarus*)and Martin Hill (Nathanael*). tenors; MartinEgelt (Simon*). bass; Radio France Chorus andNew Philharmonic Orchestra. Theodor Guschl-bauer, cond. ERATO STU 71442, $17.96 (twodiscs, manual sequence)(distributed by RCA).

We know little about the unfinished orato-rio Lazarus (1820), or how this "religiousdrama" of a northern Protestant theologian(A. H. Niemeyer) got into the hands ofSchubert in Catholic Vienna. Of the threeacts, representing the death, entombment.and raising of Lazarus. Schubert set onlythe first two, and the end of the second isalso missing. perhaps only lost. Why he didnot finish a work on which he obviouslytoiled with total involvement at the peak ofhis creative power will probably never beknown. Suffice it to say that Brahms,always rummaging among old scores, was

Soprano Sheila Armstrong: best in cast

so taken by Lazarus that he copied portionsand sent them to Joachim and Clara Schu-mann, promising them "the greatest plea-sure" in getting acquainted with this greatwork.

Lazarus is indeed a masterpiece. It dis-closes a facet in Schubert's art, the dramat-ic/operatic. that we tend to dismiss. We doknow his operas and Singspiele, butnowhere do they show the dramatic power.the true operatic tone, to such an extent;nowhere is the (large) orchestra so intimate-ly at the service of the unfolding of the dra-ma; and nowhere else in his theater musicdoes he endow the protagonists with suchwide-ranging emotions. Is it possible that,like Handel in his oratorios. Schubert feltfree to abandon in a dramatic oratorio theconventions of contemporaneous opera andpermit his imagination to express itselfunfettered?

His musical language here is veryadvanced, going beyond Wagner's Lohen-grin, to which it bears a curious resem-blance. In fact, the ethereal orchestral col-ors prophetically anticipate the opening ofthe Lohengrin Prelude and other similarspots in Wagner's opera. Lazarus has arias,but they arc through -composed and almosthidden in the ever -evolving dramatic fab-ric, often interrupted by agitated accompa-nied recitatives. Everything is dovetailed.(Fortunately, the intelligent conductor heredoes not resort to respectful "oratoriopauses." but keeps the dramatic continuityalive.) The orchestral writing is elaborateand inventive; the wind instruments, espe-cially, are used with exceptional expressiveskill. Some of the modulations would haveshocked Schubert's contemporaries, but ofcourse they never heard Lazarus-as theynever heard most or all of his greatestworks. The scene of Lazarus' death at theend of the first act, with its dark colors, isdeeply moving, and the genre picturebefore the first appearance of Simon theSaducee ranks with the introduction to the

third act of Die Meistersinger, yet there aremany more such enthralling scenes. Laza-rus should be taken up by our performingorganizations. but the conductor must be anexperienced opera hand; it seems made toorder for the likes of Karajan and the Vien-na Philharmonic.

The present performance and engi-neering are both good, though the singersare a trifle closely miked. There is only aslight obeisance to the "appropriatelysacred" attitude we've become accustomedto since the nineteenth century, which takesthe form of "moaning" microdynamics inthe shaping of melodies. Anthony RolfeJohnson (Lazarus) sings well and with agood deal of expressive finesse, but he isjust a little precious. Martin Hill, the othertenor (Nathanael), and baritone Martin Egel(Simon) keep him good company. Of thethree fine sopranos, Sheila Armstrong (Ma-ria) must be singled out as the best in thecast. She handles her very high tessiturawith ease: the high tones carry beautifullyand are never forced. Jocelyn Chamonin(Martha) also holds her own despite anoccasional slight wobble, and Ruth Welting(Jemina) is commendably on pitch. al-though in pianos her voice has little color.Chorus and orchestra do well for the mostpart. Conductor Theodor Guschlbauer,with his inimitably Austrian name, shouldtake to this music naturally. and does,though the attacks of the French orchestraare occasionally a bit lazy, and the antiph-onal exchanges between orchestra andvoices should go beyond mere repetition.

The G major Mass (1815) is the best ofSchubert's four youthful Masses-remark-ably mature for a composer of such tenderage, and very compact. Without prelimi-naries, the Kyrie sets out with a lovely mel-ody, and melody never ceases to pour out.The composer is deeply committed, and thetone is singularly personal. Such churchmusic is often accused of lacking "liturgicpropriety," a heavyweight term designed toscare away anyone disposed to argue.Indeed, this music is comfortable; it iswarm, simple, unpretentious. and whollypleasing. No wonder the Austrians andBavarians, who to this day hear and lovethese Masses, refused to obey Pius X'sencyclical (Motu proprio, 1903) that for-bade the use of orchestral Masses in churchservices. When the Austrian bishopswarned the Holy See that it would face arebellion if their flocks were deprived of theMasses of Haydn. Mozart. and Schubert.the pope had to backtrack discreetly andallow these honestly felt and beguilingworks to be sung "where longstanding tra-ditions have been established."

The performance is straightforwardbut mellow: even the French chorus picksup the Viennese tone. P.H.L.

SCHUBERT: Sonatas for Piano: in Cminor, D. 958*; in B flat, D. 960t.Allegretto in C minor, D. 915.*

56 HIGH FIDELITY

Claudio Arrau. piano. PHILIPS 9500 755*/928t, $10.98 each. Tape: 7300 836*/928t,$10.98 each (cassettes).SCHUBERT: Sonata for Piano in A,D. 959; Impromptu in C minor, D.899, No. 1.

Ludwig Olshansky. piano. [Marc J. Aubortand Joanna Nickrenz. prod.] MONITOR MCS2164, $7.98.SCHUBERT: Sonatas for Piano: in C,D. 840; in D, D. 850.

Michel Dalberto. piano. MUSICAL HERI-TAGE SOCIETY MHS 4366, $7.75 ($4.95 to mem-bers) (add $1.60 for shipping; Musical HeritageSociety; 14 Park Rd.. Tinton Falls, N.J.07724).

Perhaps apocryphal, the story goes thatsomeone suggested to Rachmaninoff thathe play some Schubert sonatas to mark thecentenary of that composer's death in 1928,and the great pianist responded, "Schubertwrote sonatas?" Thanks to the pioneeringof Artur Schnabel and a few other dedicatedmusicians, these works are today playedoften and well (well, perhaps not so often).But there are still philistines about, someensconced in high positions: An upcomingyoung pianist relates the shocking tale of arecently deceased, highly respected peda-gogue at one of the most prestigious Amer-ican conservatories who refused to let hispupils study Schubert because the music"lacks pianistic interest." (The more "in-teresting" Schubert Lieder arrangements ofLiszt, Tausig, et al.. were mainstays in thisprofessor's arsenal.)

What is it about Schubert's writingthat makes it sound so magical under theministrations of an inspired believer, and soutterly prim and lumpy in the hands of lessinspired journeymen? For one thing, itsdoublings and chordal passages. which cryout for imaginative color and voicing.Without accuracy and rhythmic acumen,the music can become turgid and labored,but if compressed with typical Beethoven-ian stress, it can become tight and prosaic.A few interpretations have proved outstand-ing even with these characteristics, yet mostof the best Schubertians have traveled amiddle path. organizing the music to anextent, but not focusing it so sharply that itloses its warmth and charm. Obviously,too, the ratio must vary in specific works:The big D major and A major Sonatas, forexample. can profit from greater rigor,whereas the somber, more sparely scored Aminor, D. 845. needs room to expand.

Claudio Arrau, returning to Schubertafter years of abstinence (his last recordingswere the Wanderer Fantasy. the Momentsmusicaux, and the three Klavierstneke, allc. 1957 for EMI), gives one of his mostimpressive performances in the C minorSonata. D. 958. Though not everyone willrespond to so measured and weightily intro-spective an approach. I find the sonorousweight, the ghostly obsessiveness, and theoccasional passage of yielding solace

enthralling. In this work strongly influ-

enced by Beethoven. Arrau provides theappropriate solidity, tempered by a contem-plative gentleness. (The long final move-ment, so often treated as a "poor man's Op.31, No. 3," comes out here sounding morelike the Allegretto of the Tempest Sonata.)Coming after all the C minor of the sonata,the Allegretto, D. 915, is almost too muchof a good (i.e., tragic) thing. Arrau's read-ing of this cameo is a bit too stout -toned andemphatic, and instead of simply repeatingthe second strain, he (or his tape editor?)adds a double repeat of the first strainbefore passing on to the central maggioretrio. Schnabel's account, the filler for hisrecording of D. 960, remains unsurpassedfor its luminosity and probing flexibility.

Arrau's version of the B flat Sonatadoes not measure up to his C minor. Hisannotations tell us that the work was "writ-ten in the proximity of death," but the lighthe casts on the music causes the shadow tofall in the wrong direction. On a purelyphilosophical level, I disagree with suchinterpretation by hindsight; the B flat Sona-ta is certainly not without sublimity or evenwithout certain searing, grotesque aspects,but it is fundamentally an effusion of life -affirming lyricism rather than a testimonialto morbidity. Even more to the point, whenSchubert constructed a first theme of cho-ralelike voicing, mostly in quarter notes, hecertainly didn't want these even note values"significantly" distorted and the flowinterrupted with all sorts of emphases andcaesuras. Unfortunately, Arrau follows asimilar path throughout. It's not so muchthat his tempos are slow (actually most ofthem are -in timing, if not in effect -fair-ly moderate), but that his playing is un-rhythmic, unflowing, and much too loud.(Those hauntingly beautiful ppps in theAndante sostenuto, moments of potentialotherworldliness, are rendered prosaical-ly -particularly the final cadence in Csharp major. where the ascending eighthnotes are doggedly staccato and the sonorityrefuses to melt and vaporize.) Arrau hasbeen pursuing an analytical and serious pathof late, which is to his credit; but since he isfundamentally an instinctive sort of player,his zealous attention gives us prolix detailwithout the needed perspective to sift it outand determine its importance. Here we aredeluged by dots and commas without anysense of paragraphs. And the close Philipsrecording. which works for D. 958, itali-cizes the italicization. Arrau observes therepeats in both sonatas.

Ludwig Olshansky is a serious andsensitive pianist. His performances of theD. 959 Sonata and D. 899. No. 1.

Impromptu are somewhat in the Brendelmold: lean, almost astringent textures, bit-ing accents, and a tendency to supplementSchubert's ritards and fermatas with hisown. At their best, his interpretations haveelegant precision and color, classical fleet-ness, and a modicum of expressive intensi-ty. But for the most part. the excessive and

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MAY 198257

CLASSICAL Reviewsrather chilly decorum dilutes the storminessand inherent emotional appeal of thismusic. (The approaching "storm" in theAndantino second movement fails to gatherthe requisite momentum when parceled outin such metronomically stringent rations.)Nor does Olshansky's arch preciosity per-mit the simpler melodic parts to flow freely.And why must so many pianists rush thethird beats in the scherzo in dubious emu-lation of Schnabel (whose justly cherishedEMI recording remains the exemplar de-spite a few idiosyncrasies)? The impromptuis similarly conscientious and unflowing,and both pieces are further diminished bythe bright, bass -shy reproduction, whichtends to blast on loud attacks and "ping"unpleasantly on sforzando high notes. Withthe Schnabel edition available only as animport and the mercurial Lupu presently inlimbo (perhaps London will reissue it), themost interesting edition readily available isWilhelm Kempffs in a DG set of all thesonatas (2740 132). But with new accountsof D. 959 imminent from Arrau. MurrayPerahia, and Maurizio Pollini, my advicewould be to wait-or look to the cassettemedium for Richard Goode's account onDesmar SRB 6001 [reviewed elsewhere inthis issue-Ed.]. in the Schnabel traditionand brilliantly engineered.

Michel Dalberto's recording origi-nates from the Salle de Spectacle, Crissier,Switzerland, perhaps as part of the youngpianist's prize for winning the 1975 ClaraHaskil Prize. (He also took first place atLeeds in 1978.) Not surprisingly, he is avery clean technician, a musician trained inthe lucid tradition of his native France.Voicing is crystalline, and the classicalaspects of Schubert are stressed by way ofsober tempo relationships and symmetry.While one can certainly glean enough fromhis playing here to know that he is an artistworth watching, his efforts are somewhatcompromised by the brittle, unresonantrecorded sound. It gives an inkling of colorvalues, but softs are rendered bloodless andlouds have a percussive edge that will dis-courage musical gourmets from swashingthese admirably played performancesaround on the palate. (One hears, but doesnot savor.) The C major Sonata is presentedin torso form: Only the two completedmovements are played.

SCHUBERT: Piano Works-Seepage 40.

SCHUMANN: Fantasy in C, Op. 17;Humoreske, Op. 20-See page 40.

SCHUMANN: Faschingsschwankaus Wien-See page 41.

SHOSTAKOVICH: Concerto for Pia-no and Orchestra, No. 1, Op. 35.*PROKOFIEV: Symphony No. 1, in D,Op. 25 (Classical).

Carol Rosenberger, piano*: StephenBums, trumpet*; Los Angeles Chamber Orches-tra, Gerard Schwarz, cond. (Marc J. Aubort andJoanna Nickrenz, prod.] DELOS DMS 3008,$17.98 (digital recording).

Heard without reference to other standards,these performances would likely make ahighly favorable impression, particularlyfor the sheer technical quality of the play-ing. (Trumpeter Stephen Bums deservesspecial praise.) But there is more to thismusic than comes across here. For all theirvirtues, the Delos versions are simply notup to the competition.

Carol Rosenberger and GerardSchwarz take a Romanticized view of theShostakovich concerto, expressive and ex-pansive. Yet the piece is neither Romanticnor overtly expressive. Repeatedly the per-formers smooth over Shostakovich's bitingsarcasm, brittle sonorities, and abrupt con-trasts of mood, missing much of the snap.sparkle, power. tension, and forward impe-tus. There is no shortage of more pointedand mercurial performances: Shostako-vich's own, with Cluytens (Seraphim60161) shifts easily between brashness andeloquence, and pianist Eugene List (whogave the work its American premiere) andthe composer's son Maxim (CBS/MelodiyaM 35116), despite orchestral playing oflimited refinement, capture the playfulness,poignance, and Russian "soul" of themusic better than anyone. Pianists AndrePrevin (CBS MS 6392, with Bernstein) andChristina Ortiz (Angel S 37109, with Berg-lund) supply performances that, though less"Russian," remain faithful to the spirit andletter of the score; the former is pungent andextroverted, the latter more reserved andpoised. On the other hand, the collaborationby Annie d'Arco and Paillard (Musical Her-itage MHS 1151) offers a peculiarly Frenchelegance that, if it misrepresents Shostako-vich's intentions, nonetheless proves thor-oughly engrossing.

The Delos recording betrays the aber-rations of timbre that I have come to asso-ciate with digital releases to date. In theirimpassioned forte entrance at cue 29 in theLento. for example. the first violins soundstrident and buzzy. Accept Delos' extrava-gant claims for digital perfection if youwish, but at least take the trouble to com-pare this release to the Ortiz (Angel's mas-tering will do fine), an exceptionally vividjob by EMI's engineers. For the Delosprice, you can purchase the Seraphim,Odyssey, and MHS recordings, withchange to spare.

Schwarz's Prokofiev tells a similarsonic story: The reproduction, thoughappropriately transparent, never blossoms;the strings remain depressingly dull, andthe winds arc far too prominent. One canonly wonder where Delos' two micro-phones were placed.

Admirable, even exceptional, playinggraces an interpretation whose unusualtouches seem to stem more from a con -

Carol Rosenberger: a Romanticized view

scious effort to achieve individuality thanfrom an imaginative rethinking of the score.Most interesting are the "classical" left/right division of violins and the deliberatelypaced, metrically free Gavotte. But again,any number of more engaging and distinc-tive readings have appeared, among them,those by Abbado (London CS 6679), vigor-ous yet never overblown, and Giulini (DG2730 783), wonderfully detailed and attimes nearly bucolic; out of print are finereadings by Koussevitzky, the only record-ing I know that even comes close to therollicking timings suggested in the Baronscore (though not necessarily by Prokof-iev). Markevitch, Ansermet, Marriner/Argo, Aneerl, and Toscanini.

As for the pairing, what is right for theconcert hall is not necessarily appropriatefor a record. Surely this is a logical cou-pling of youthful works by the SovietUnion's most important twentieth-centurycomposers (Stravinsky having departed forFrance and America), both bursting withwit of a very personal sort. Yet the buyerlooking for a Prokofiev Classical Sympho-ny is not likely to want a piano concerto inthe bargain-particularly one by anothercomposer-and anyone in the market forShostakovich's First Piano Concerto willprobably want another piano concerto onthe reverse, preferably Shostakovich's oth-er one. And so here is a product only toofamiliar to the collector: While hardly pooror perfunctory, its content supplies nothingsubstantive that is not already better accom-plished elsewhere.

Why do artists continue to record thesame pieces, when there is so much musicof great merit awaiting a first recording-or first decent one? R.D.H.

SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphonies: No.1, in F, Op. 10; No. 9, in E flat, Op.70.

58 HIGH FIDELITY

London Philharmonic Orchestra. BernardHaitink, cond. [Richard Beswick. prod.] LON-DON LDR 71017. $12.98 (digital recording).Tape: LDR5 71017. $12.98 (cassette).

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. WalterSusskind, cond. [Marc J. Aubort and JoannaNickrenz. prod.] Vox CUM LAUDE VCL 9003.$8.98. Tape: VCS 9003. $8.98 (cassette).SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 5,in D minor. Op. 47.

Cleveland Orchestra. Lorin Maazel. cond.[Robes Woods, prod.] TELARC DG 10067.$17.98 (digital recording).SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 6,in B minor. Op. 54; Festive Overture,Op. 96.

Plovdiv Bulgarian State Philharmonic Or-chestra. Dobrin Petkov, cond. MONITOR MCS2163. $7.98.

Like Rachmaninoff. Shostakovich has al-ways been treated seriously by English crit-ics but has met with scorn from some oftheir American colleagues. Yet recent yearshave seen a reevaluation of his music, andhis stock has risen considerably.

Bernard Haitink is one of several con-ductors in the process of recording the sym-phonies complete, and the latest installmentof his cycle maintains the high standardspreviously exhibited. He gives the strikingFirst Symphony a splendid reading. Thegreat nervous energy and compelling pro-pulsiveness he imparts to the two openingmovements contrast well with the tender-ness of the first's waltz episode and with thesecond's chantlike section; he sustains thetroubled lyricism of the slow movementbeautifully and defines the finale's alternat-ing moods well. The important solo pianoshould be a bit more forward, as in Petrush-ka surely the model for its inclusion here,rather than heard as just another instrumentof the orchestra; contrariwise, the finale'stimpani solos are too forward, soundingunnaturally close. But these are minor quib-bles. Fine work by all the instrumental solo-ists, combined with Haitink's interpretivedepth, makes this my first choice of allavailable versions. (Not that there are thatmany.)

Walter Susskind (these are among hislast recordings) gives an eminently respect-able and worthy reading of the First, thoughhis slightly slower tempos in the quickmovements impart a more comfortable feel-ing than do Haitink's. A lower recordinglevel lessens the impact. too, except for thevery last note, which packs quite a wallop.The perspective of the timpani solo is morenatural here, and again, all the solo playingis distinguished. Neither version, it must besaid, has the acerbity of the old recordingsby Artur Rodzinski and Igor Markevitch,the former available until recently in theColumbia Special Products series of reis-sues.

"Musicians will love to play it. andcritics will delight in blasting it": Shosta-kovich's words about the Ninth Symphony.For a long time he was right. But lately

critics have come around to this thoroughlydelightful and unpretentious work, Mozart-ean and Haydnesque in spirit-Shostako-vich's Classical Symphony. as it were. Aswith much of his lighter music, there isdepth beneath the surface, just as there is inMozart and Haydn. Though Haitink cap-tures the first movement's raciness and hisscherzo goes like the wind, he succeeds inplumbing this depth and combining it withthe piece's outward jollity more successful-ly than any other conductor I've heard.There is depth to Susskind's performance aswell, but his earnestness, otherwise admira-ble, minimizes the jollity; ultimately hisreading lacks the requisite lightness oftouch. Both bassoonists are excellent in thebrief and mournful recitativelike fourthmovement.

Lorin Maazel and the Cleveland Or-chestra give a strong, expansive account ofthe ever popular Fifth Symphony. The firstmovement is deliberate to the point ofbecoming static at times, but the perfor-mance has a thoughtful feeling that, whilenot negating the gravity, brings out themusic's human qualities as well; the same istrue of the Largo. The fast movements havethe necessary energy and momentum. If theultimate in excitement is not achieved, itmay be that-at least for one listener-thepiece itself is wearing less well than someof the other symphonies. The excellentlyplayed solo violin passage in the second

movement is not as staccato as one usuallyhears it, and Maazel unlike most conduc-tors. does not slow the finale's final drum-beats, but drives straight through to the end.Not a multimiked spectacular, the record-ing is a good, honest representation of anaturally balanced orchestra, playing su-perbly.

The most obvious comparison is withLeonard Bernstein's recent CBS accountwith the New York Philharmonic (IM35854). Bernstein is even more expansivethan Maazel in the slow movements, moreelegaic in the Largo. and he and the orches-tra really throw themselves into the finale.The CBS recording is more "immediate";one hears the bows digging into the stringsand the buzz of the bassoon reeds in thescherzo, all of which I enjoy. It's the dif-ference between hearing the performancefrom within the orchestra (Bernstein) orfrom a good seat in the hall (Maazel), bothperfectly valid approaches. You pays yourmoney (quite a bit, too), and you takes yourchoice.

My own favorite symphony, the Sixth,receives a curious performance and record-ing by Dobrin Petkov and the Plovdiv Bul-garian State Philharmonic, names unfamil-iar to Americans, to be sure. The long andat times virtually static opening Largo,surely one of Shostakovich's finest cre-ations, is appropriately broad and spacioushere, more so than under more celebrated

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1

MAY 1982 59Circle 56 on Reader -Se -vice Card

CLASSICAL Reviewsconductors. The recording is extremely bot-tom -heavy. especially when the double -bass pizzicatos boom forth. The flute solos,marked ppp, are much too loud and for-ward. as are the harp and celesta: the keysof the latter can be heard clicking quiteclearly. This overly "monitored" record-ing demonstrates that multimiking is nostranger to Bulgaria.

The second movement, though it goesat a good pace. occasionally also feels stat-ic, a feeling not wanted here. Still, up tothis point, we have a more than acceptablerendition of an undeservedly neglectedwork. But the normally rollicking finale isridiculous, played so much faster than indi-cated that it makes virtually no sense at all.The musicians arc obviously struggling tomaintain the speed set by the conductor andare clearly not up to it: what orchestrawould be? Every so often the pace relaxesto a sensible tempo. only to be propelledforward again, as if in apology for themomentary lapse. I hope RCA will reissuedomestically. as it has in England. LeopoldStokowski's excellent Chicago Symphonyrecording. the best of this work's modernversions. The rousing Festive Overture isneither rousing nor festive at the low vol-ume and in the murky acoustic offeredhere.

Concerning Shostakovich's tempos:All his symphonies contain metronomemarkings that conductors treat as cavalierly

as those of Beethoven. Of available FirstSymphony recordings, only Efrem Kurtz's(Seraphim S 60330) is faithful to thesemarkings. with tempos faster than in otherversions. including the two here. Converse-ly. Kurtz. in his old New York Philharmon-ic recording of No. 9 (also a Columbia Spe-cial Product). took a tempo for the secondmovement miles slower than marked:everyone else is merely kilometers slower.Yet I find his slow tempo quite appropriatefor that movement: the contrast with the jol-ly surroundings becomes all the starker. Hisrecording. appearing simultaneously withSerge Koussevitzky's, was one of thework's first: is it possible that the originalmetronome marking was slower than thatappearing in current scores (quarter note =-208)? In the coda of the Ninth's finale, onlyKiril Kondrashin, in his otherwise superfi-cial account (recently deleted), comes any-where near the prescribed speed. more thantwice the original tempo. Now that thecomposer's son Maxim is in the West, per-haps he can record the symphonies and inthe process clear up these and other myster-ies. Surely Soviet metronomes arc not sus-pect as well (?). J.C.

VERDI: II Trovatore.CAST:

Leonora Katia Ricciarelli (s)Azucena Stefania Toczyska (ms)Ines Phyllis Cannan (ins)Manrico Jose Carreras (t)

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(CICOPS

50120PP 12013m

Ruiz Robin Leggate (t)A Messenger John Treleaven (t)Count di Luna Yuri Mazurok (b)Ferrando Robert Lloyd (bs)An Old Gypsy Roderick Earle (bs)

Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal OperaHouse, Covent Garden. Colin Davis. cond. PiiiiiPs 6769 063. $32.94 (digital recording: threediscs, manual sequence). Tape: 7654 063.$32.94 (three cassettes).

CAST:

Leonora Leontyne Price (s)Ines Laura Londi (s)Azucena Rosalind Elias (ms)Manrico Richard Tucker (I)Ruiz Mario Carlin (t)A Messenger Tommaso Frascati (t)Count di Luna Leonard Warren (b)Fcrrando Giorgio Toni (bs)An Old Gypsy Leonardo Monrcale (bs)

Rome Opera Chorus and Orchestra. ArturoBasile. cond. [Richard Mohr. prod.] RCA GOLDSEAl. AGL 3-4146. $1 7.94 (three discs, automat-ic sequence). Tape: AGK 3-4146. $17.94 (threecassettes). [From RCA LSC 6150, 1959.]

COMPARISONS:

Milanov, Bjoerling. CelliniRCA Victr. AVM 2-0699

Price, Domingo, Mehta RCA LSC 6194Stella. Bergonzi, Scrafin DG Priv. 2728 008Tucci, Corelli. Schippers Ang. SCL 3653Callas. Di Stefano. Karajan Ang. CL 3554

Philips' new Trovatore has the advantage offollowing two notoriously easy acts, the1975 Bonynge/London (OSA 13124) and1977 Karajan/Angel (SCLX 3855) ver-sions. All five principals get their music outin recognizable form, and Davis seems atleast temporarily to have ditched theimpulse to interpretive "originality" whichproduced such silly results in his only pre-vious Verdi recording. the Philips Ballo.

Which is not to say that the Trovatorediscography is appreciably enriched. Evenas an uncut edition, this set doesn't serious-ly challenge the 1969 RCA, which is on thebland side (significantly, it marked the relo-cation of RCA's Italian -opera recordingprogram from Rome to London) but doesoffer in Price. Cossotto, Domingo. Milnes,and Giaiotti five healthy voices reasonablysuited to the material.

The most interesting of Philips' solo-ists is Mazurok, and even he can at best becompared with the workaday second-rank-ers-Molinari. the aging Tagliabuc. Paner-ai in frantic shape. Savarese-rather thanthe likes of Warren (RCA Victrola andGold Seal). Merrill (Schippers/Angel).Milnes in one of his best recordings, Bas-tianini (DG Privilege), or Granforte (in theSabajno/HMV 78 set, transferred to LP invarious forms). Mazurok, singing in Italianwith reasonable comfort, finds Di Luna'stessitura congenial. its center of gravitylying higher than that of most Verdi bari-tone roles.

This means that he has an easier timethan most Di Lunas with all that writing onthe underside of the break, along with somepresence above. What he doesn't have.apart from any audible convictions about(Continued on page 82)

Circle 60 on Reader -Service Card60 HIGH FIDELITY

CLASSICAL

The Tape DeckCritiques of new cassette and open -reel releases by R. D. Darrell

Select ImportsIn the early days of recorded tape. domes-tic production predominated, and Americanperformers often were represented as prom-inently as or even more prominently thanforeigners-in sharp contrast to the earlyclassical -disc era. These days, though,probably a majority of classical musicas-settes are manufactured abroad, includingthose imported wholesale for domesticrelease, mainly by the various Polygramlabels and Eurodisc. And even in the case oftapes and discs manufactured here fromoverseas masters-by Angel/Seraphim, inparticular, but also by CBS/Odyssey andRCA Red Seal-fastidious and affluentconnoisseurs often prefer the quality Britishand European productions, presumably(and often actually) superior.

Currently there are growing numbersof mail-order importers featuring not onlyEMI originals (including chromium tapingsof items as yet represented, if at all, only byAngel ferries), but also many other foreignlabels. I'm indebted to one of theseBrilly Imports (155 N. San Vicente Blvd.,Beverly Hills, Calif. 90211), for my firstbatch of British chromium exemplars, mostof them digitally recorded. Of the latter, themajor entry is the handsomely packagedMozart ZaubetflOte (HMV TCC SLS 5223,three cassettes, $41.94), which Angel hasreleased on ferric tape, presumably in anoversize box. I haven't heard that editionfor direct comparison, but some connois-seurs may well find it worth the extra cost tohave a truly deluxe presentation of BernardHaitink's superbly shaped and coloredreading with the Bavarian Radio Chorusand Orchestra and a rather uneven cast.

There are also two HMV singles($13.98 each): young Simon Rattle'salready celebrated ultra -wide -range digitalrecording of Hoist's Planets (TCC ASD4047) with the Philharmonia Orchestra, andcharming period -instrument performancesof the Mozart flute concertos and K. 315Andante by John Solum and the HanoverianOrchestra in a chromium taping (TCC ASD4056) of a delectably pure analog record-ing. More novel is a chromium cassette,duplicated by Teldec in real time, of a dig-itally recorded program of Russian show-pieces (Mussorgsky -Ravel Pictures, Boro-din Steppes, Glinka Russian and LudmillaOverture) by Carlos Paita and the Philhar-monic Symphony (Lodia LOC 780,$18.98): striking recording and processing;

orchestral playing not quite big or virtuosicenough: and unlike the HMVs, no notes.All the HMV (BASF) chromiums specify120 -microsecond equalization-seeminglythe European standard instead of 70 ;is.

Dwarfing the current domestic re-leases of musicassette importations is thefirst digitally recorded Wagner Rheingoldin Marek Janowski's relatively conserva-tive Dresden version (Eurodisc 501 137.three -cassette Prestige Box. $35.94; discreview, December 1981 HF). Its box -coverrubric. "FE Cr hifi." presumably indicatesferrichrome tape-the first commercial ex-ample?

Exceptional domestic vintages. Just as thebest California and New York State winesnow compete. even among discriminatingoenophiles, with the long -matchless Frenchvintages, more recently distinctive domes-tic tapings have come to compete, evenamong demanding audiophiles. with thebest imports in every technological, andoften artistic, aspect. Particularly notable isthe current crop of hi -tech piano releases by

adopted) artists. In many, general excel-lence is further enhanced by the expertise.sometimes extending to the engineering, ofmaster producer Max Wilcox.

Most newsworthy is the solo recordingdebut, in a program of Brahms and Liszt, ofVan Cliburn Competition winner Andre -Michel Schub (Vox Cum Laude VCS 9009.digital/chromium, $10.98). But near flaw-less as his virtuosity is throughout. I sensesome lack of spontaneity, while the Ham-burg Steinway piano sound, for all its bril-liance. wants just a bit more weight andpresence. Or at least so it seems in compar-ison with the first Richard Goode record-ings for Desmar (SRB 6001/2, Schubert)and Nonesuch (DI 79104. Schumann)-also produced by Wilcox-reviewed else-where in this issue.

Wilcox coproduces and coengineersVol. 2 in Peter Serkin's distinctively cool,unflinchingly non -Romanticized Chopinseries, which features the great Op. 61Polonaise-Fantaisie with seven shorterpieces. digitally recorded, on superchrometape, and with program notes by HarrisGoldsmith (RCA Red Seal Prestige BoxATK 1-4035, $15.98). And shifting to thenew AAG InterDigital/chromium series inreal-time duplications, Wilcox alsoproduces the Ives Concord Sonata by IrmaVallecillo (AAG Prestige Box D 001. $18;AAG Music, 200 Varick St.. New York,

N.Y. 10014). But since I received the alter-native Dolby C encoding, for which I lackas yet decoding means. I can't properlyjudge the recorded Steinway piano sound.which seems a bit brittly bright in Dolby -Bplayback, /awe de mieux. In any case, thewarmly fluent reading lacks the authorita-tive strength of the long -acclaimed Kirkpat-rick/CBS and Kalish/Nonesuch versions,though neither is available on tape.

This month's last hi -tech piano pro-gram is Neal O'Doan's rather overcarefullyplayed and impersonally interpreted Bee-thovenDiabeili Variations, a vividly realis-tic analog recording in real-time chromiumduplication (PAN 113) in Pandora's "Bud-get Audiophile" series, incredibly priced atonly $5.95 per cassette! And to return to"ordinary" ferric tapings of analog record-ings (this vividly ringing one miked in aHaarlem, Netherlands, studio). there are fargreater artistic rewards in the batch of seven"great middle -period" Beethoven sonatasby Charles Rosen (Nonesuch N3 78010,$29.94). Rosen's reputation as an "intel-lectual" writer -pianist is no index to the

muscle, andguts-of the present performances. Butunconscionably, Rosen's program notes forthe disc edition are denied us here.

Barclay-Crocker's reel catalog (1 1

Broadway. New York. N.Y. 10004) ofPhilips recordings continues to grow so fastthat it inevitably begins to include not onlythe indispensable universal favorites, likethe St. Martin's Academy Chamber Ensem-ble's great 1978 version of the Schubertoctet iG 9500 400, $10.95), but also pro-grams of narrower appeal, like the Arrau/Inbal/London Philharmonic survey of Cho -pin's works for piano and orchestra (Z 6747003, two reels, $29.95), which, for all itsvirtuosity, is intolerably heavy-handed tomy ears. Far preferable are the singles($10.95 each) that provide arresting newilluminations of favorite masterpieces: theexceptionally powerful Brahms violin con-certo by Salvatore Accardo with the LeipzigGewandhaus under Kurt Masur (G 9500624); the now haunting, now exultantlyrousing Haitink/Concertgebouw perfor-mance of the Tchaikovsky Third (Polish)Symphony (G 9500 776); the warmlyexpansive Colin Davis/BBC Symphonyreading of the Beethoven Pastoral (G 9500463): and the invigorating Marriner/St. Martin's Academy reanimations of theoften routine Bizet Carmen and L'Arle-sienne Suites (G 9500 566). HF

MAY 1982 61

Maybe

What started as a one -night -stand in

Central ParK

has all the earmarks of

becoming a serious relationship. A

gain.by Stephen H

oldenO

N T

HE

CH

ILL

Y SA

TT

RD

AY

afternoon ofS

eptember 19, 1931, P

aul Sim

on and Art

Garfunkel reunited ii C

entral Park for

their firstfull concert together since

1970. More than half a m

illion peopleflocked to the free ev-'nt to hear the leg-endary duo perform

.wenty songs span-

ning two decades-from

The Sounds of

Silenceand

Scarborm.gh Fair

to Sim

on'sJohn Lennop tribute,

The L

ate Great

Johnny Ace.

The m

edia barrage that fol-low

ed suggested a Ner Y

ork City version

of Woodstock.T

he event also tu d important ram

i-fications for S

imon and G

arfunkel's rela-tionship. W

hat began asa one-shot

reunion has blossomed into a possible

renewed, long-term

association, with the

two talking seriously about touring E

u-rope in the spring and possibly recordingtogether. T

hough they hadn't planned torelease an album

from the concert, the

demand w

as suc that they changed theirm

inds. "The C

oncert in Central P

ark"cam

e out in late February, coinciding

with the show

's premiere on H

ome B

oxO

ffice. Plans are also under w

ay to make

the performance available on video cas-

sette.Tw

o weeks before the album

'srelease, I visited separately w

ith Sim

onand G

arfunkel and talked with them

about their reunion, their solo careers,and their feelings about the state of pop-ular m

usic in general. Both seem

ed gen-uinely excited at the prospect of a long-term

reconciliation. Yet both m

aintainedthat it w

ould have to be a step-by-stepprocess.

"I'm interested in seeing w

hetherthat feeling that w

as expressed in Central

Park by N

ew Y

orkers will be reflected

across the country," says Sim

on. "That

will have an effect on w

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together. If it's a flop, it doesn't mean wewon't try something together, either.

"But I must say, Artie and I get alongvery well now. The joys of partnership arereally fulfilling when it works. When itdoesn't, it's like a classic bad marriage."

"Being a duo requires a sensitivityabout how the other works." says Garfun-kel. "In reuniting. Paul and I found that theability to fall in step with each other hadn'tvanished, even after eleven years. There's adefinite charge between the two of us."

The famed twosome broke up in 1970because they hadn't been able to communi-cate even their smallest grievances. This,combined with the inherent competitive-ness of the duo context, motivated each toset out to prove his own, independentworth. Garfunkel embarked on a successfulmovie career that included Catch -22 andCarnal Knowledge. He also recorded fivesolo albums for Columbia: "Angel Clare,""Breakaway," "Watermark," "Fate forBreakfast." and "Scissors Cut." Simonundertook an extremely successful career asa singer/songwriter that included three stu-dio albums-"Paul Simon," "There GoesRhymin' Simon," "Still Crazy After AllThese Years"-one live album, and, mostrecently, the soundtrack of One Trick Pony,the semi -autobiographical film he wroteand starred in. Though the album wentgold. the film was the first project of hiscareer to fail commercially.

The idea of reuniting comes at a criti-cal point in their solo careers. Both men arenow forty. and both have experiencedrecent setbacks. For Simon, the failure ofOne Trick Pony, a five-year project, was adevastating blow. For Garfunkel, it was thedisappointing sales of "Scissors Cut."Simon lives in a palatial duplex overlookingCentral Park. During our interview in hisstudy one Saturday afternoon, he seemed ingood spirits-a far cry from the morose popartiste that has long been his press image.

Backbeat: You're forty years old. Do youthink that's incompatible with making rock& roll?Simon: No. I don't. Though I have a resid-ual wish to be younger. I actually feel stron-ger and surer of myself now than everbefore. I think that mass popular rock, orwhatever you want to call it. is the music ofthe baby boom. And people of that genera-tion-my generation-are in a uniqueposition to talk to all ages. It's hard to envi-sion a world without Paul McCartney orMick Jagger or any number of others. Theymay go out of style. but then they'll comeback. It's the same with us. I wouldn't havedreamed when Simon & Garfunkel endedthat, eleven years later, we could comeback if we wanted to.Backbeat: Perhaps because Simon & Gar-funkel are a softer rock act than, say, theStones or Led Zeppelin, you won't feel thesame pressures to appeal to adolescents.Simon: I don't think hard or soft has any -

"Artie and Iget along very wellnow." -Simon

"There's a definitecharge between us."

Garfunkel

thing to do with it. What does bother me isthe rigid delineation of the generations. I

think it's doing us all a lot of harm. I'mmore aware of it lately, because the youn-ger generation of rock & roll is considera-bly younger than 1. One of the biggesterrors of my generation was in saying,"Don't trust anyone over thirty." But aslong as the generations distrust each other,they can't learn from each other, and ulti-mately they can't love each other.Backbeat: You've been working on a soloalbum in Los Angeles with producers Len-ny Waronker and Russ Titelman. Why theswitch from New York and Phil Ramone?Simon: Phil has been my producer for thelast several years, but he also producesBilly Joel, and there was a scheduling con-flict. I thought too that it would be good forme to play with some musicians other thanthe ones I'd been using on my One TrickPony tour. The new band includes GregPhillinganes on piano, Dean Parks on gui-tar, and Steve Gadd on drums. Steve wasthe only musician I'd used before. I havehalf the songs finished.Backbeat: When is it scheduled to comeout?Simon: I was originally shooting for aspring release, but now the reunion is

taking on a life of its own, and I want towatch the life it takes.Backbeat: What are the possibilities of youand Art going into the studio together?Simon: There could be insurmountableproblems, because when I left CBS to signwith Warner Bros. there was a lot of badblood.Backbeat: Are there stylistic conflicts aswell?Simon: Well, everyone knows that Artie'sa great ballad singer. But he thinks he can'tsing rhythm. I know he can, since westarted with rock & roll when we were thir-teen and didn't sing anything else. Welearned how to sing by imitating the EverlyBrothers. On his albums Artie has narrowedhimself down to doing one thing exquisite-ly, and in doing so, he has convinced him-self that he can't do anything else. It's real-ly not so.Backbeat: In the mid -'70s, you switchedfrom guitar and began composing on thepiano. Now you've gone to electric guitar.

Why did you make the change?Simon: Originally I had a hand injury thatkept me from the guitar. But I also reallyliked the way Ikeyboardist] Richard Teeand 'guitarist] Eric Gale expressed mymusical thoughts on their instruments.That's why I gave up acoustic and shifted toelectric piano and electric guitar. The songson the new album are more like Simon &Garfunkel in that they have a more acousticfeel.Backbeat: As a writer, are you still treatinga song as a puzzle and experimenting withunusual time signatures?Simon: Not anymore. I think technicalskills like that are useful, but now I reallythink a song should be about telling thetruth. I'll use whatever is appropriate-whether it's fingerpicking, or shifting into aBrazilian style, or using rockabilly voices,or Latin street music. I'll tap whatever Ihave in my vocabulary to express myself asunaffectedly as I can.Backbeat: Several years ago you said youidentified with George Gershwin. Whathave you gotten from studying the greatAmerican songwriters of the '30s and'40s?Simon. I like to read about them as history.I'm interested in the choices they made inboth their personal and musical lives, inwhat artists impressed them, what paintingsthey bought. what politicians were theirfriends. What got me the most about Gersh-win was that, although he had an enormous-ly successful career, he went back to schoolbecause he felt he wasn't equipped to saywhat he wanted to say.Backbeat: Didn't you do the same?Simon: I studied harmony and theory, butnot to the degree I wanted. I've neverattempted any composition larger than asingle song.Backbeat: What about the possibility ofwriting for the musical theater?Simon: I've often thought about that, but Idon't know how you do it-though I think Icould learn. I wouldn't shift my style to goto the stage. So I'd have to find a way ofembracing the theatrical necessities withwhat I wanted to say musically, i.e., withrock & roll. I still haven't heard great popmusic on the Broadway stage. The closestis probably 'Andrew Lloyd] Webber &[Tim] Rice !Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita,Joseph and the Amazing TechnicolorDreamcoad , who come stylistically out ofrock & roll and even folk. When I saw PaulMcCartney last summer, I asked him howcome he never wrote a Broadway musical.He said he thought Broadway musicalswere too boring. I never liked themeither.Backbeat: How do you feel about contem-porary punk acts like the Clash?Simon: I saw the Clash, and I related tothem, though I didn't like the musicbecause it was too loud. Like a lot of musi-cians. I'm keenly aware of my eardrums.They're my tools. I had to leave the concert

MAY 1982 63

because 1 didn't want to endanger the tools.As for what they did, I couldn't hear thelyrics. But I could see the motion and getthe gist of it. It wasn't that far away from aband playing at a sock hop in the '50s. Itwas still Strats and Telecasters and drumsand costumes and rebellion and sexuality.

In fact, one of the remarkable thingsabout rock & roll is that it hasn't changed.Whereas rock & roll was incomprehensibleto my parents' generation, the music thattwenty -year -olds like is not incomprehensi-ble to me. I understand the Go-Go's.They're talking in the same language, evenif they're not as articulate or sophisticatedas more experienced rock acts.

Then again, rock & roll doesn't seemas happy as it was when I was a kid. LittleRichard seemed happier. The anger worriesme, because when you get a lot of angrypeople there's going to be an explosion.The times may produce the music, but themusic also produces the times.

While Simon is something of a homebody,and has always stuck close to New York,Garfunkel has been traveling abroad and onthe West Coast. Today, he occupies a spec-tacular triplex on New York's Upper EastSide. An ex -math major, he is a perfection-ist in and out of the recording studio.Backbeat: Do you keep up with the musicscene these days?Garfunkel: Two years ago, I would havebeen able to say I knew what's going on andcould defend my point of view.Backbeat: What is your point of view?How do you feel about new wave, forinstance?Garfunkel: I don't like the music. I'll gowherever the music is happening, but forme new wave is not what's happening, sonow I don't even check it out.Backbeat: Do you prefer classical music?Garfunkel: That's mostly what I listen tonow. I started getting Bach -crazy about fif-teen years ago. And I think Ravel isgreat.Backbeat: Why have you recorded somany Jimmy Webb songs?Garfunkel: It's in the music. I love Jim-my's writing, especially when he sits downand plays it himself. He comes up withwonderful harmonic changes.Backbeat: How do you account for thecommercial failure of "Scissors Cut"?Garfunkel: I don't know. I like that album.I even thought A Heart in New York was ahit single. The funny thing is, the albumcame out just when we were doing the con-cert and it got lost in the shuffle. When itdidn't sell well I began to bury the pain inthe distraction of the show.Backbeat: Have you ever thought aboutsinging standards?Garfunkel: I keep a notebook with a list ofsongs from the '30s and '40s that I'd like torecord. Those melodies with super -simplelyrics about him and her are what turn meon the most these days. I'd like to take those

At their peak (1968)

oldies and make people really listen to whatthe lyrics are saying. That could well be mynext album.Backbeat: How much of Paul's solo cata-log would you feel comfortable singing?Garfunkel: Looking back at his albums,I'd estimate that about thirty percent of hissongs would suffer if they had more thanone voice. They were just meant to be theway they are. But the other seventy percentI'd love to find harmonies to. I had alwayswanted to get my hands on American Tune,and I finally did, in the park. Another favor-ite is Take Me to the Mardi Gras, whichcould be done cuter, even more likeCecilia.Backbeat: How do you choose material?Garfunkel: I don't go about it with anyparticular system or method. I just keep myears out for anything and everything. I'malways looking for a great song. But whathappens in the studio is really what leads tothe wonderful record. Singing beautifullyand having a band cook can circumvent amediocre lyric-you can use the song as aspine on which to build something else.Backbeat: How have you kept your voice

As Tom and Jerry ( 1958)

in such excellent shape? Do you studyvoice?Garfunkel: No, I've never studied voice.But 1 do exercises. Me and singing have arelationship that fits no pattern I've everheard of.Backbeat: Can you describe it?Garfunkel: To me, singing is a lot aboutnot being conceptual. You do it when youfeel lighthearted. I try to make it not be aprofessional thing, otherwise it wouldrigidify as something I do rather than some-thing I fall into when I feel like doing it.Backbeat: What discoveries have youmade about yourself as an interpreter?Garfunkel: I've moved toward getting theinside stuff out, toward just being true tomy feelings and my own sense of who I am.It has a lot to do with peeling away layers ofblockage. It's a subtraction process. I keeptrying to subtract more and go back to thisabsolute, unthought-out, noncerebral, pureorganic expression of what my voicesounds like and what words are coming outof my heart.Backbeat: Was there any way that thebreakup of Simon & Garfunkel could havebeen avoided eleven years ago?Garfunkel: The two of us could've reallyused a compassionate, intelligent, percep-tive third party-someone who negotiates.We're a perfect case of two people whocommunicate poorly about sensitive issues.It's a situation where the things that bug youare so idiosyncratic that you're almostembarrassed to reveal them. Paul and I havethis unique friendship, in that a lot of stuff isnever said.Backbeat: How did the idea for the reunioncome about?Garfunkel: I was in Europe early last sum-mer when Paul called and said he had beeninvited to do a concert in the park. His ideawas for us to do the second half together,and I said yes. Then when we went intorehearsal, friends of ours said, "Why not afull Simon & Garfunkel concert? That'swhat will give the crowds the biggestkick." Paul thought it would make sensebecause he didn't want to be the opening actfor S & G. I was thinking that S & G didn'tneed an opening act-let's give them thefull show! And then Paul began to embracethe idea.Backbeat: Has its success solidified areunion?Garfunkel: Please don't trap me into beingtoo specific about plans, because we'reright in that stage of movement.Backbeat: But you arc touring Europe thisspring, correct?Garfunkel: Well, Europe is a way to buildup our chops before we bring the show onhome. The trick is not to give people morenostaglia, but rather to take it further. Ifwe're going to function again we'll functionin the present tense and draw on the olddays as much as it pleases the crowd. Butwhat would be alive for us would be what-ever is new. HF

64 HIGH FIDELITY

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Input OutputNew electronic instruments and accessories by Fred Miller

Two- or Three -WayCrossoverIf you're interested in replacing your speak-ers' crossover networks and biamping ortriamping your system, Electro-Voice/Tap-co has a new two-way electronic crossoverthat can also be used as a mono three-wayunit without any external patching. TheModel EX -18 has a single control to adjustcrossover frequencies from 100 to 1,600Hz, a multiplier switch for those between Iand 16 kHz, and 18 -dB -per -octave Butter-worth filters for added protection of high -frequency drivers. Its recessed control pan-el and security cover are designed to pre-vent accidental resetting. The EX- 18 can berack -mounted and costs $250.

Unlimited LimiterLimiters are generally used to restrict thenatural dynamic range of an input signaland to prevent overload in recording or inelectronically amplified live performance.MXR's Model 136 Dual Limiter can beused either as two separate units or in tan-dem for complementary limiting of twochannels-as in. for instance, stereo mix -down. Each channel has switches for IN/

OUT and SLOPE, and controls for INPUT.

OUTPUT. ATTACK. and RELEASE. The 136has both phone -jack and XLR-type inputand output connections: there are also jacksthat bypass the input stage to gain directaccess to the level detectors. This last fea-ture is particularly useful for de-essingvocals or for high -frequency -only limiting.The Model 136 Dual Limiter sells for $450.Circle 97 on Reader -Service Card

Foot FilterThe Ibanez AF -20I Auto Filter is a neweffects pedal that offers a broad variety offiltration sounds. Sliders at the top of theunit vary the threshold of sensitivity and the

peak of the effect, and three switches gov-ern high pass or low pass, the direction ofthe sweep (UP/DOWN), and its range (HIGH

LOW). Powered by a 9 -volt battery (or by anexternal 9 -volt power supply). it alsoincludes a foot -operated bypass switch andan LED to indicate whether the effect is inor out. Retail price is $115.Circle 72 on Reader -Service Card

FlexibleLoudspeakerShule's nev, 711 loudspeaker incorporatesa 15 -inch woofer with a high -frequencyhorn/driver combination in a bass -reflexcabinet. Designed for use by small- tomedium-sized performing groups, it fea-tures Varad variable sound -dispersion con-trol and can be adjusted to one of four dis-persion patterns to maximize its effective-ness in different rooms. The 711 uses alightweight plywood cabinet, has an"acoustically transparent' metal grille.weighs 66 pounds. and has built-in carryinghandles. Power -handling capacity is ratedat 105 watts: retail price is $590 per speaker.Circle 71 on Reader -Service Card

I ,

Eight -Input MixerThe Model 2050 line mixer from Fostex hastwo discrete outputs so that separate feedscan be sent to, for instance, the stage moni-tors and the house sound system. It also hasa built-in. independently controlled head-phone amplifier for previewing the mix.With the ability to cascade (or connect inseries) any number of units. it has inputs foreight different line signals. from keyboardsto effects pedals, tape recorders, or anycombination thereof. Sounds like a greatidea for multikeyboardists. The Model2050 is 1'4 inches high and retails for $200.Circle 70 on Reader -Service Card

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MAY 1982 67


BACK BEAT

Reviews

Tenor SaxGreats fromthe PrestigeVaultsReviewed by Crispin Cioe

J(,/nun 6/1/1/1

Giants of the Blues Tenor SaxGiants of the Funk Tenor SaxBob Porter, reissue producerPrestige P 24101 (two discs)Prestige P 24102 (two discs)

ANY HISTORICAL RECORD anthology thatpurports to showcase an entire musicalgenre is always a little suspect, since thecompany that releases it is generally limitedto the artists on its roster or the master tapesin its vaults. In the case of these fine two -disc reissue sets, however, the label had thegoods. From the '50s through the early'70s, Prestige owner Bob Weinstockrecorded a serious cross-section of greattenor saxophone players who had first comeinto prominence in the Swing and beboperas. He recorded them in small -comboblues and funk contexts, playing riff -basedsongs with a variety of then -contemporarysolid rhythm sections. The result was a kindof "jukebox jazz"-a series of records that

( ;en,' A mnir.n

Arnett Cobb

reflected the pop/r&b trends of the day butfrom a very swinging perspective.

"Giants of the Blues Tenor Sax"focuses on players who got their start in theSouthwest during the Swing era of the '30sand early '40s. playing in jazz/dance bandslike Count Basie's. By the time of theserecordings they had spent half a lifetimeplaying and living the blues, absorbing therhythmic and harmonic changes that came

with each passing era. Their styles-espe-cially the big -throated southwestern tenorsax tone they all shared-were distilla-tions. Coleman Hawkins, who in the early'30s put the tenor on the map as a soloinstrument, plays a ruminative Soul Blues,full of irony and wit as he jabs and sparswith a responsive young rhythm section thatincludes Kenny Burrell on guitar. On Lightand Lovely, Arnett Cobb, Eddie "Lock-jaw" Davis, and Buddy Tate (all ex Basie-ites) join Hawkins on a steamy tenor show-down, backed by organist Shirley Scott.

Sonny Stitt

Longtime Basie lead tenor Jimmy Forrest,whose brash tone and swaggering rhythmicattack masked a formidable technical com-mand, turns in the ultimate late -night, slowbump -and -grind on Bolo Blues. It's easy tounderstand that this is the same man whowrote and first performed Night Train,probably the most widely recognized andatomospheric tenor blues tune of all time.With Hal "Cornbread" Singer's BluesStompin' and "Big Al" Sears's RecordHop, we move into pure, unadulteratedhonking blues territory. Both of these fineplayers were steady session men in the'50s, supplying screaming solos on count-less rock & roll hits of the day.

The players on "Giants of the FunkTenor Sax" came from all over the country,and they weren't as tied to the Swing tradi-tion as those on the other volume. The bluesform and emotional content is still their

68 Circle 8 on Reader -Service Card 110.

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BAC K BEAT Reviewsmétier, but their rhythmic approach differsslightly. Bebop licks sometimes slip into asolo, and the tenor tone is a little edgier andbrighter due to Coltrane's influence and tothe more frenetic atmosphere of the Sixties.The "paterfamilias" of this more recentgeneration's tenor -sax household was GeneAmmons. Appropriately, his Hittin' theJug leads off the set and shows his amazingcontrol of tonal inflections on the instru-ment. Sonny Stitt, one of the bebop greats,proves on 'Nother Fu' ther that he could beas nitty-gritty on a blues shuffle as anyone.Red -Eye Special features Rusty Bryant, anOhio -based tenor player with a marvelouslysnide tone and cutting attack; it also con-tains a startling trumpet solo by a twenty-one -year -old Jon Faddis. Willis "Gator"Jackson's fiery sound and absorption of Illi-nois Jacquet's high -harmonics techniquefans the flames of Tu' gether, while Hous-ton Person's more gospel -based, declama-tory style brightens Goodness. Wade in theWater shows mainstream jazz giant JohnnyGriffin playing the blues with a direct -driveforce that's pure funk. Stanley Turrentine,still a major pop/jazz tenor player today, isthe most modern soul -based stylist here.His version of Walkin' is utterly contempo-rary yet still neatly in the tradition and con-text of the collection.

Reissue producer and annotator BobPorter was a staff producer at Prestige andworked on some of the later sessions here.His notes are effortlessly insightful, hisinformed enthusiasm for these players andtheir various nuances lending variety andcoherence to both packages. The tenor saxis the most vocal -sounding of all moderninstruments, and the blues is ultimately avocal -based form. So both of these compi-lations have far more than just historicalsignificance. The music is, after all, fromthe fairly recent past and the players were,and are, masters of the blues in all its hues.As such they bring a timeless fluency andeloquence to the music. HF

The B -52's: MesopotamiaDavid Byrne, producerWarner Bros. Mini 3641

"Mesopotamia" goes beyond the B -52's'percolating cultural -junkyard pop to whipup a dense form of dance music. Their firsttwo albums, "The B -52's" and "WildPlanet," were silly -putty exercises in pri-mary colors and plastic pastels. This bar-gain -priced six -track disc-almost an al-bum's worth of music at a $5.99 suggestedlist price-maintains the beat while deep-ening the shades. Working with producerDavid Byrne of Talking Heads, the bandhas encorporated his leanings toward voo-doo rock -funk synthesis while sacrificingvery little of their oddball personality. Cin-dy Wilson and Kate Pierson have a right -channel -to -left -channel discussion aboutwhether to bake a pineapple upside-down

cake or a chocolate devil's food; FredSchneider worries about sweat ruining hisexpensive clothes, and he ruminates aboutthe runes in Mesopotamia.

So there's no lack of nonsequitor idio-syncracy, but there is an undercurrent thatthe B -52's' music hasn't had before, andhadn't needed before. Their Tinker -Toymusicianship and wittily detailed lyrics car-ried them for two LPs, but by "Wild Plan-et" they may have been wondering how tokeep the party from running out of steamwithout bringing out a reheated platter ofthe same hors d'oeuvres. With Byrne'smultilayered bag of tricks-more presenceto the percussion and bass, some opportunehorns and atmospheric effects-the festivi-ties are revived. The band's scope has alsobeen broadened by its members. Theirsongs are more impressionistic and lessgimmicky, and their performances are moredynamic. Wilson has taken over most leadvocals, and she moves from whispers andpleadings to shrieks and chortles with admi-rable aplomb.

Some of their past delightful specific-ity of image-the names of the dances onDance This Mess Around, the scene -settingof Rock Lobster-is missing from "Meso-potamia." But neither of their full albumshas a piece of rapidfire rock as tight as NipIt in the Bud or anything as sexy as Love-land. Even the songs that most resemble theoriginal B-52 sound are filtered throughByrne's perception and come out soundingdifferent: Throw That Beat in the GarbageCan has a break that owes a lot to free -formavant-garde jazz, and the high -caloric Cakefeatures soul revue horns. "Mesopotamia"is an off-the-wall enterprise, the union ofnew rock's resident southern flakes and themaster of cerebral body music. Its approachcould have come from a line in Cake:"Let's get this thing in the oven!" Thisthing COOkS. -MITCHELL COHEN

Lou Ann Barton: Old EnoughGlenn Frey & Jerry Wexler,producers. Asylum E 1-60032

What's this? Has Delbert McClinton had asex change operation? Has Rickie LeeJones dropped her hip -cat shtick and startedsinging real honky-tonk blues? Has BonnieRaitt been slumming? No, Lou Ann Bar-ton-yet another find from the trusty earsof veteran record producer Jerry Wexler-has arrived. "Old Enough," twenty -eight -year -old Barton's debut disc, is one of thoseshamelessly inspired affairs, a rocking,bluesy collection of tunes delivered with thekind of seemingly offhanded, lets -wreck -this -place abandon that all rock recordsaspire to and few achieve.

Like great white r&b shouter McClin-ton, Barton hails from the Lone Star state,where she has been cutting her teeth on asuccession of blues/rock roadhouse bands,singing everything from heartbreakingcountry ballads to Memphis soul. And, also

Barton: let's -wreck -this -place abandon

like McClinton, she has been hanging outwith the famed Muscle Shoals sessioners-Barry Beckett, David Hood, Roger Haw-kins, et al.-who, on "Old Enough," pro-vide their trademark swirling, funkifiedmusicianship. Additional top -pedigree sup-port comes from Eagle Glenn Frey and gui-tarists Jimmie Vaughan (from the FabulousThunderbirds), Duncan Cameron (ex -Amazing Rhythm Aces), and Wayne Per-kins.

Barton and coproducers Wexler andFrey have chosen some wonderful material.Scottish blues-belter Frankie Miller's I'mOld Enough and his deliriously upbeat TheDoodle Song are rowdy party tunes thathighlight the singer's raspy growl of avoice. On the former, Perkins offers a sear-ing lead guitar line, while Beckett andClayton Ivey play off each other on organand piano respectively. On Marshall Cren-shaw's crisp, hand -clapping Brand NewLove and the country -gospel crooner TheSudden Stop (once popularized by PercySledge), Barton sings like some winsomebird, bending notes backwards with a keen,quirky sense of phrasing. Then she goessultry as she breaks into Naomi Neville'sIt's Raining, managing to sound coy,moody, and lonesome all at once. (AlGarth's sax solo adds even more fuel to thefire.) She also covers a pair of Sixties hits:Maybe, a bit of doo-wop from the Chantels,and Hank Ballard's soul strut Finger Pop -pin' Time, which sports Greg Piccolo'sappropriately frantic tenor sax break.

70 HIGH FIDELITY

There hasn't been a debut album that'sthis easy to like in a long while. "OldEnough" is totally free of the kind of self-conscious mannerisms and misdirectedsteps that usually mar first -time-out efforts.Clearly, Lou Ann Barton sounds oldenough to know precisely what she is

doing. -STEVEN X. REA

Best of the Beau BrummelsSylvester Stewart & Lenny Waronker,producers. Rhino RNLP 101Best of the Bobby Fuller FourBob Keane, producerRhino RNDF 201

Fate found the Beau Brummels in San Fran-cisco before the city's years of musical fer-ment; it found them working with SylvesterStewart before he became Sly Stone, con-sorting with the Everly Brothers and RandyNewman, recording in Nashville-inshort, they were always in the right place.just at the wrong time. Fate found BobbyFuller dead behind the wheel of his parkedcar, some say by his own hands, some sayby means more sinister.

The way things were in 1965, you canlisten to the songs of California's BeauBrummels and Texas' Bobby Fuller Four,hear what must have been their native influ-ences (folk, Tex-Mex, Buddy Holly, rock-abilly), and still hear what they had in com-mon-the Beatles: the two guitars -bass -drums combination; the close -to -the mikeharmonies; the concise, punchy tunes; theexpansive musical gestures. Their two big-gest hits. Laugh Laugh and I Fought theLaw, don't, on the surface, have many sim-ilarities, but they're part of the same story:rock in the mid -'60s; American styles beingflung in our faces by the British and stolenback; careers that started on the charts andgot derailed by fate.

The Brummels had the more erraticcourse, an outline of which is sketched on"Best of the Beau Brummels." The firstside contains seven of their Sly Stewart -produced sides for Autumn Records.including their only two national hits.Laugh Laugh and Just a Little. In 1964,rock hadn't yet been Dylan-ized. but RonElliott's songs had a melancholy twangthat, combined with Sal Valentino's vocalsand an occasional mournful harmonica,were a harbinger of folk rock. It's the ear-lier songs-the two hits, Don't Talk toStrangers, and Sad Little Girl-that holdup best today, more so than the Brummels'later work with Warner Bros.. representedon Side 2. "Triangle" and "Bradley'sBarn" were both fascinating albums thataren't well served by excerpts. and the threepreviously unreleased sides don't add muchto the band's legacy. Still, they were anintriguing link between the early Britishinvasion and the developments of folk,country. Los Angeles and San Franciscorock, and this reissue is a good overview.

Like the Brummels, Bobby Fuller

tried a lot of idioms on for size, rangingfrom car -worship rock in the Brian Wilsonmode (King of the Wheels) to the styles ofEddie Cochran (Saturday Night) and BuddyHolly (Only When I Dream). His band had ascratchy, unpolished sound, and on muchof "Best of the Bobby Fuller Four"Fuller's voice sounds like it was recordedthrough a telephone receiver. The singles /Fought the Law, Let Her Dance, and Hol-ly's Love's Made a Fool of You, are thehottest rock on the LP, but even through thetinny mixes on some other tracks there'senergy worth listening to, and Rhino's four-teen -cut (plus a Fuller radio jingle for KHJin L.A.) retrospective is a treat.

-MITCHELL COHEN

The CallHugh Padgham, producerMercury SRM 1-4037

At first glance. this debut album looks likethe latest entry in Britain's "gloom boom"of bands like U-2. the late Joy Division, andNew Order. Within its forbidding blackborder, the cover shows us the desolation ofa nearly empty tube station, while the songtitles promise glimpses of a War WearyWorld from a quartet that apparently has theFulham Blues, possibly because it is Wait-ing for the End. No wonder it finds lifeUnbearable.

But despite those earmarks and therecord's London studio origins, this is anAmerican band, a fact first betrayed by thesurprising liner credit for Garth Hudson,former Band organist. Hudson is a majes-tic. classically -influenced stylist whose re-corded output since that quintet's retire-ment has been sparse. He is hardly a likelypartner for the more austere proponents ofEngland's recent rock brinkmanship. Hisinvolvement here is the first clue to the tightinterplay of this Santa Cruz band alreadyknown to California new wave aficionadosunder its original name. Motion Pictures.

As the Call, the band refers to its

British peers in much the same way the Carsdid to earlier power pop and new wavemodels: Here, the alternately skittering andmartial rhythms, jangling guitar disso-nances, and icy synthesizer motifs familiarin Blighty circles are deftly coupled withflashes of pure Yankee rock. Not surpris-ingly, the insertion of Chuck Berry guitarfills, for example, succeeds in offsetting themore enervating electronic elements.

The focal point is singer. guitarist, andkeyboard player Michael Been, a flamboy-ant vocal stylist whose timbre and range arcoddly similar to the Tubes' Fee Waybill.but whose apocalyptic imagery and conver-sational asides refer more pointedly to thelate Jim Morrison. Been's often franticstance is at once the most distinguishingand for now, the most limiting characteris-tic for the band. Jolting in its contrast to thebored backing chant ("We've seen it allbefore") on War Weary World, fired by

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BAC K B EAT Reviewsdesperation on the stinging There' s a HeartHere, Been's delivery risks wearing out itswelcome by hewing too closely to suchmelodramatic abandon.

Still, this is a band with an emergingsense of personal style. It takes risks, andits evident grasp of canny guitar hookscould carry it further into American rockheartlands than most of the English groupsthe Call initially resembles. Been and sec-ond guitarist Tom Ferrier have an oftengripping interaction in their arrangements.while guest keyboard player Hudson adds asculptural depth with his familiar oceanicsynthesizer textures.

Hugh Padgham's production is excel-lent throughout. achieving the balance ofclean detail and spatial depth that character-izes his work for various U. K. bands, nota-bly the Police. -SAM SUTHERLAND

Full Moon, Featuring NeilLarsen & Buzz FeitenTommy LiPuma, producerWarner BSK 3585

Though progressive rock/blues band FullMoon disbanded in the early '70s,keyboardist Neil Larsen and guitarist BuzzFeiten-its two principals-have contin-ued to be active on the recording scene. Assession players they have worked withRicky Lee Jones, George Harrison, andBob Dylan. among others. They've alsoreleased several discs of their own, and thisone is in every way a continuation of thesound and style of 1980's "Larsen/FeitenBand."

The music here reflects a blend ofinfluences, with obvious references toSteely Dan and the Doobie Bros. on thevocal numbers. Yet underneath the sophis-ticated pop/rock chord changes beats astreet -smart sensibility that is both originaland just plain tough.The sound is instru-mental at its core, although half the songsfeature the duo's very serviceable close -voiced high harmonies.

Starting with 1978's "Jungle Fe-ver"-one of the finest and most under-rated pop instrumental albums of thatdecade-the pair began honing a sound thatfuses hot Latin percussion, solid backbeatdrums, and unusually compelling melodiesthat seem inevitably tied to their bass linesand keyboard harmonies. This is best epit-omized on "Full Moon . . ." in BrownEyes, a moody song about a man who istrying to forget a lost love by hangingaround a border town because "you getmare for your money there when the sungoes down." Percussionist Lenny Castroand drummer Art Rodriguez set up a pun-chy Latin/rock groove that nicely propelsLarsen and Feiten's keening vocals; theinterplay between Larsen's icy synthesizerruns and Felten's chording on the instru-mental bridge is superbly understated andemotional.Both men are inventive soloists,though they use familiar modal and penta-

tonic elements in their playing. On theinstrumental Sierra, Larsen's unique organsound combines traditional funky tone set-tings with a more contemporary synthesizeroverlay to stunning effect.

Occasionally the writing falters, aswhen the ballad Twilight Moon straysuncomfortably close to Doobie territory.And producer Tommy LiPuma sometimeshas a tendency to dampen the fire-partic-ularly the percussion/drum attack-in themix. But on balance this is an album thatworks in the commonly accepted pop/rockmilieu yet easily avoids cliché. The bestnews is that the polished sound that Feitenand Larsen have worked so diligently toachieve is all their own. -CRISPIN CIOE

John Hiatt: All of a SuddenTony Visconti, producerGeffen GHS 2009

"All of a Sudden" is an apt description ofthe quantum leap John Hiatt has taken in hisfirst collaboration with producer Tony Vis-conti. Both of Hiatt's previous MCAalbums displayed his tough-minded writingand urgent singing, but miserly recordingbudgets and a then -young band offset hisassets with rough sonic edges and a some-times -tentative feel to the playing.

By contrast, these new songs are bur-nished, sharply focused modern rock,attesting not only to more available studiodollars and Visconti's estimable instincts,but also to the seasoning Hiatt and his bandhave gained on their own and through theirrecent partnership with Ry Cooder. Framedby Visconti's more spacious. crisper pro-duction sound. the quartet achieves a

deceptively rich yet muscular ensemblestyle. Drummer Darrell Verdusco and bass-ist James Rolleston hammer together rivet-ing rhythmic skeletons studded with dra-matic climaxes and shifts in emphasis,against which Jesse Harms's keyboards andHiatt's guitar trade off evenly as harmonicand melodic foils.

The fact that his band's playing invitescomparison with that of Elvis Costello'sAttractions is a mixed blessing for Hiatt'scritical stock, since his glottal vocal attackand nimble integration of melodic ideaswith verbal cleverness already place him inclose proximity to Costello. And Hiatt'sstabbing indictments of doomed women(Walking Dead, I Could Use an Angel),moody vignettes of edgy loners (GettingExcited, I Look for Love), and other testa-ments of angst (Having Some Fun, Some-thing Happens) all land him in the samepsychosexual no-man's-land that Costellohas been mapping out since his recordingdebut.(The irony is that Hiatt is actually thesenior of the two.) But Costello has beentempering his earlier rage of late, so it'sHiatt who now wears the mantle of roman-tic avenger.

That finds him veering dangerouslyclose to misogyny at times, as on the funny

but scabrous Doll Hospital. Flashes oflaconic humor and the consistent snap ofthe playing compensate. however. Thevocal arrangements offer the best proof ofthe extra hours in the studio, attaining anexpansive harmonic lushness and contra-puntal interplay new to Hiatt's music. Hissolo singing continues to gain in focus,even recalling another Visconti client,David Bowie, on Forever Yours. The netpower of "All of a Sudden" can't befaulted: This is potent, infectious rock withpop immediacy and probing intelligence.

-SAM SUTHERLAND

John Martyn: Glorious FoolPhil Collins, producerDuke/Atlantic SD 19345

John Martyn's best album in nearly adecade, "Grace and Danger" (reviewed inthese pages in July of 1981), witnessed aheartening return to form for the moodyScottish singer. writer, and guitarist. Hismost affecting songs in years were matchedwith the most fully realized arrangementsand productions since early '70s classicslike "Solid Air" and "Sunday's Child."Yet Island. Martyn's label since his firstsolo recordings in the late '60s, apparentlyhad given up hope. Despite reports that aU.S. version of "Grace and Danger"would be released, the few copies that madeit to the bins were European imports thatIsland had shipped in in lieu of a formalrelease. A sequel was recorded with Gene-sis' Phil Collins, the drummer on "Graceand Danger." handling production. Thanksto Collins' clout as a successful solo artist,this time the balance tipped in Martyn'sfavor: Collins' label. Atlantic, picked upU.S. rights to the disc from WEA Interna-tional.

With a little luck, these lissome, jazz -tinged performances will find Martyn somenew listeners. For "Glorious Fool" is evenbetter than its heartbroken, emotive prede-cessor. Apart from a more consistent arrayof songs, Collins figures prominently as aunifying force here; his deep. full drumsound and complementary backing vocalsprovide seductive musical constants. TheGenesis founder also has persuaded Martynto edit himself deftly, compressing themore primal, exploratory songs into tighterand more coherent pieces than some of theirearlier prototypes.

Yet Collins hasn't attempted to elimi-nate the eccentricities so clearly essential toMartyn's work: His breathy, impassionedsinging and the spare, stinging electric andacoustic guitar stylings remain very muchintact and in full display.

If "Grace and Danger" drew much ofits drama from the failed marriage of itsauthor. "Glorious Fool" suggests a hearton the mend, still aware of recent pain yetturning toward a more optimistic perspec-tive. Couldn't Love You More, a sultry lovesong, signals that transition as the opening

72 HIGH FIDELITY

Aforrison: working nion's inv.stre with rivers to cross

selection, punctuated by Eric Clapton's tidyelectric guitar figures. Martyn's earliestsongs of romantic devotion were among hismost affecting, and here he adds severalstrong new candidates, including Hold onMy Heart and the haunting Please Fall inLove with Me. On the latter, the combina-tion of Collins' slow, martial rhythms andthe rich, dark, harmonized male voices cre-ates a moving sense of determination.

There's also whimsy, along with thekind of brisk, off -center ensemble rhythmwork that marked Martyn's early '70s movefrom acoustic to electric instruments. Per-fect Hustler is an erotic valentine with per-colating Latin and calypso undercurrents,while Didn't Do That offers the fluid driveand sudden rhythmic turns common inhard -blown jazz but seldom heard fromerstwhile folksingers. Add the scorchingelectric guitar lines and hissed vocal ofAmsterdam, and "Glorious Fool" provesglorious indeed. Collins' production soundis superb throughout, aiding considerablyin the album's careful balancing of intro-spection and ebullience.

-SAM SUTHERLAND

Van Morrison: Beautiful VisionVan Morrison, producer & directorWarner Bros. BSK 3652

Van Morrison is the William Blake of con-temporary pop, and revelation is his turf.His heartfelt synthesis of gospel, r&b, jazz,and folk music stands in sharp contrast tothe recent fundamentalist testimonies ofbrother Bob Dylan. Dylan seeks an absolutelaw, a Father to serve, while Morrison pur-sues a more personalized, pantheisticcourse. "The search for the light, some-times known simply as grace. is at the heartof all Morrison's work," critic Brian Cull-man has written, and Morrison has contin-ued that search with single-minded integrityin all his recordings since "Wavelength."On his last LP, the triumphant "CommonOne," he finally put his demons behind

him and celebrated the spirit and flesh (al-most at once) and the arrival of peace-andof a good band. "I'm satisfied," hechanted and growled, over and over.

He isn't as concerned with attaininggrace on "Beautiful Vision," but he isintent on sharing it. If the album doesn'thave the epic gravity of its predecessor,Morrison's singing has reached a level ofcontrol and relaxation that makes eventhrowaway songs (Northern Muse (SolidGround) and Across the Bridge WhereAngels Dwell) a joy to hear.

studio eclecticism, without any insincerechopsmanship. Led by Pee Wee Ellis (saxesand flutes) and Mark lsham (trumpet andsynthesizer). it plays it low and slowthroughout, like a surreal country -gospelensemble (Beautiful Vision). On tunes likeDweller on the Threshold, an r&b groovewill suddenly support Celtic, Oriental, orNorthern European folk references. DireStraits' guitarist Mark Knopfler guests onthe best songs, Cleaning Windows and Arc -

an Mist. The latter is a shuffling cry forcleansing of vision and escape from illusion(like the glamor trap). while the former is acaptivating radio anthem, full of playfulblues imagery. Come to think of it, clean-ing windows would be a good steady gig forthis working man's mystic. On the otherhand, if the aurora borealis colors of theinstrumental Scandanavia are any indica-tion, Van Morrison still has more rivers toCross. -CHIP STERN

Smokey Robinson:Yes It's You LadyGeorge Tobin, producerTamla 6001IL

Two years ago. Smokey Robinson recorded"Warm Thoughts," his most consistentlyinspired album since leaving the Miracles.With that LP, and the singles that precededand followed it (Crush(' and Being withYou), he reasserted his creative preemi-

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BAC K B EAT Reviewsnence, which had suffered a decline in the'70s. The followup album, "Being withYou," was dispirited by comparison, but itwas a success, and "Yes It's You Lady"repeats its formula: a few new Robinsoncompositions, some jerry-built songs byGary Goetzman and Mike Piccirillo, a tur-gid concluding cut by Forest Hairston, allwrapped up in the marzipan production ofGeorge Tobin.

You can't be with the Motown organi-zation as long as Robinson has withoutabsorbing some lessons about follow-upsand filler, and this disc has an ampleamount of both. Though Robinson's voiceremains the perfect vehicle for declarationsof romantic devotion, even his floatingvocals can't camouflage the flaws. Theaimless instrumental oozing of Tell MeTomorrow, the tame, repetitious funk ofThe Only Game in Town (in 1966, Robin-son could have written a small classic withthat song's "love is a gamble" conceit). thesmooch music of Merry -Go -Ride are allsigns of laziness, of doing what has workedbefore and stretching to fill time.

Robinson's own songs are part of theproblem: They have his unmistakabletouch, but they're surprisingly klutzy forsuch a consummate craftsman. Phrases arecrammed into lines, rhymes are forced, allthe melodic seams show. The title cutbegins promisingly, then drifts off into aperfunctory chorus ("Yes it's you who cando/The same old things and make me feelgood every time") that's a long way fromthe charming precision of The Way You Dothe Things You Do and other vintage Smok-ey songs. The album suffers from an awk-wardness-created by expressions like"desire alarms," by the cutesy couplets inInternational Baby, by the hookless tune ofAre You Still Here-that falls hard on theear.

The best track by far is a remake of aMiracles hit, as Smokey stays faithful to thespirit of I'll Try Something New, a perfectachievement when first released, and alto-gether fine in 1982. The song is twenty-oneyears old, and its rendering of transcendentpersistence makes everything else on "YesIt's You Lady" sound creaky and con-trived. -MITCHELL COHEN

Micheal SmothermanBill House &Micheal Smotherman,producers. Epic ARE 37150

Oklahoman Micheal Smotherman has arich, wavery voice that he addresses mainlyin the direction of women: women he lovesand has loved, women he has longed for,women that have teased him and rejectedhim, women who are walking goddesses ormuses in the flesh. On the singer/songwrit-er/keyboardist's debut, he often succeedsin striking a whimsical yet tender pose-the romantic, well-meaning fool who cansuddenly surprise you with his perceptionand pragmatism. It's a likable enough char-

acter, and when the material measures up tothe persona-which happens about half thetime-the results are fairly rewarding.

Crazy in Love starts things off, withMarty Walsh's chattering guitar, Smother -man's piano, and bassist Trey Thomson anddrummer Dony Wynn thrashing out somerolling rhumba rhythms. It's a buoyant cel-ebration of being head -over -heels in love.Green Eyes, which follows, is perhaps theLP's most accomplished tune: a soulful,sexy valentine to a beautiful heart-throb of agirl. Here Smotherman brings to mind JesseWinchester's honest countrified croon,singing deep from the spirit with warmthand humor.

The rest is on -again, off -again. Tuneslike Magic Wishes and Do I Ever CrossYour Mind (written with Billy Burnette)walk a fine line between hackneyed pophokum and earnest sentiment, usually fall-ing into the former category. And, despitetheir Jacksons-style funk, If You ThinkYou're Hurting Me (Girl You're Crazy) and(Would You Love Me) All the Way Downfail to transcend their rhythmic grooves.

Then again, on Matter of Time-a sar-donic look at obsessive love-Joel Peskin'ssaxophone and Smotherman's trash -'em -upkeyboards collide in a wild swirl of sound,and everything works. Ditto for Cold Burn,with its coolly insistent, insidious beat. Andon the closer, Freedom's Legacy, Smother -man infuses a quiet, creepy melancholy to abare -bones ballad about a young man goingoff to war.

Smotherman appears to be a songwrit-er and performer worthy of attention. He'sa disciplined, pleasingly eccentric lyricist;his music, with its r&b and rockabilly shad-ings, is engagingly pop -oriented; and hissubject matter-games of the heart andmind between men and women --is as rel-evant today as it has ever been.

-STEVEN X. REA

Keith Sykes: It Don't Hurt to FlirtJerene Sykes, producerBackstreet BSR 5277

Keith Sykes sounds normal: The bankwon't lend him money to buy a house; he'sa monogamous flirt; people don't rate hiswork highly enough; he fantasizes about bigbucks, rare guitars. and vintage cars. Hisprior album, in fact, was titled "I'm NotStrange, I'm Just like You." Since one ofthe musical trends of the early '80s is Reg-ular -Guy Rock & Roll (two of the bestexamples were hits last year-Rick Spring-field's Jesse's Girl and Greg Kihn's TheBreakup Song), Sykes shouldn't have trou-ble attracting some attention. In Regular -Guy Rock & Roll. peppy guitars and hum-mable choruses frame everyday traumas,tension derives from the hero's frustratedinaction, voices are direct and conversa-tional. Sykes has all the qualifications.

Though he can knock off a fast num-ber, "let's rock" is not the most natural

Sykes: regular -guy rock & roll

suggestion to fall from his lips. He's best onhis midtempo numbers, with space for hiswry realism to come through. There aretraces of other singer/writer/guitarists inhis style: label -mate Nils Lofgren, for one,and Kihn. And on some songs his drolldelivery and guitar solos are close to theEric Clapton-J. J. Cale -George Harrisonschool of advanced lethargy. Lyric lapsesare not uncharacteristic; when he's in a lov-ey-dovey mood, he's apt to use suchphrases as. "You are the starshine in thesky."

When he isn't struck senseless by star -shine, Sykes demonstrates wit and small-scale invention on "It Don't Hurt to Flirt."The bitterness of the lead-off cut. Hangin'Around, is tempered by understatement:"Now I'd give anything if I could hearthem say/1 heard that guy singing and hesounded okay." Sykes does sound okay onIn Between Lies, his tale of a one-nightfling, Buying a House, a finance -motivatedblues, the self-explanatory title song, andthe uncharacteristically cryptic Love ShinesBright. He doesn't go to extremes, butSykes is not lacking in smarts, and his newalbum contains some spiffy real -life rock.

-MITCHELL COHEN

The Teardrop Explodes: WilderClive Langer, producerMercury SRM 1-4035

On the chunky, repetitive The Culture Bun-ker, the Teardrop Explodes frontman JulianCope sings about the "Crucial Three" -the Liverpool band he formed with Echoand the Bunnymen's Ian McColloch back in1977. Since '78, when Cope started Tear-drop, critics have been lumping his group inwith Echo and the Bunnymen and a handful

74 HIGH FIDELITY

of other "neo-psychedelic" British outfits.But aside from its daffy, dippy moniker andfrazzled, mysterious image, the TeardropExplodes isn't really very psychedelic.Vague, maybe. Puzzling, perhaps. Preten-tious, definitely. But psychedelic, no.

The basic elements of any TeardropExplodes song are an obsessively solidbackbeat, a spooky synthesizer motif, vari-ably crisp and resonant or frantic and dis-cordant guitar signatures, and Cope's ener-vating, flat vocals. On "Wilder," Cope,keyboardist David Balf, drummer GaryDwyer, and new guitarist Troy Trate stickto the formula, embellishing it on a half -dozen tracks with some r&b-tinged hornarrangements. Too bad the horn players gouneredited, because there's a lovely cornetsolo on . . . and the Fighting Takes Overand some blasting brass fury on Bent Outof Shape.

But despite its good production valuesand fine accompaniment, the bottom line on"Wilder" is Cope's dismally inane materi-al. There is no semblance of wit or style toovercome his querulous catch phrases anddubious, childlike imagery, and he makesconstant references to "dreams" and "col-ors" and other flowery leftovers from theDonovan Leitch lexicon.

It's about time the Teardrop Explodesstopped being likened to Echo and the Bun-nymen. Though the latter's lyrics oftenmake no sense whatsoever, their headydelivery and keen sense of humor more thancompensate for any oblique turn of words.The Teardrop Explodes just flounders inCope's mystifying babble. The ponderousartiness of Genesis would be a more accu-rate comparison. -STEVEN X. REA

Jazz

Kip Hanrahan: Coup de TeteKip Hanrahan, producerAmerican Clave 1007(213 East 11th St.,New York, N.Y. 10003)

Kip Hanrahan would love to be called dec-adent. Certainly he works hard enough tocreate seamy -sounding music that slips andslides around the fringes of jazz, rock, andLatin. Occasionally, he touches on some ofthe energies of street music. And the pres-ence of such fine Latin percussionists as (toname only a few) Jerry Gonzales, DanielPonce, Angel Perez. and Dom Um Romaolends the proceedings a tone of authenticity.Solo spots from Carlos Ward. Chico Free-man, and Dave Liebman are also ofmomentary interest but are too short to havemuch impact.

The many brief tracks on "Coup deTete" seem to focus-self-consciously-on East Village nihilism; adolescent irrita-

tions and pubescent sexual fantasiesabound. Lisa Herman tries hard (notably onA Lover Divides Time) to contemporizeNico but only manages to sound like anaging Melanie. The obvious reference pointfor Hanrahan, in fact, is such Sixties' actsas the Fugs, the Velvet Underground, andLou Reed. Even given the faults of thosesometimes genuinely decadent models,they at least were on the trail of some realcreative notions. Hanrahan seems more likea fascinated outsider-a Long Island kidstrolling along St. Marks Place in the Vil-lage, utterly enthralled by the exoticness ofit all. -DON HECKMAN

Boyd Raeburn and His Orchestra:1944-1945George H. Buck, Jr., producerCircle CLP 22 [mono] (3008 Wads-worth Mill Pl., Atlanta, Ga. 30032)

Boyd Raeburn had one of the more unusualhistories in the Big Band era. He started asthe leader of a simpering mickey-mouseensemble in the '30s, developed a brilliantSwing group in the '40s, and then revertedback to a simpering band in the '50s. He isknown now primarily for his avant-garderecordings with the middle group, releasedat the time on the Guild and Jewel labels.

These 1944-45 sessions, recordedwhen the band was still in its Swing period,are part of the treasure trove of Lang -Worthradio transcriptions acquired by GeorgeBuck, Jr. (He also has the rights to the rivalWorld Transcriptions.) This marks the firsttime they have been commercially avail-able. Had they been so at the time-asopposed to the experimental sessions-theRaeburn band might have become one ofthe great lights of the last days of Swing,along with the Stan Kenton and WoodyHerman bands.

With arrangements by Ed Finckel,George Handy, and George (the Fox) Wil-liams, the group plays jazz instrumentalsand current pop tunes with a swinginginflection. Like the Kenton band of 1944-45, Raeburn's ensemble was strongly influ-enced by Jimmie Lunceford's, thoughunlike Kenton's, Raeburn's group was notlocked into Lunceford's heavy sounds.Several of the musicians here-EarlSwope, Al Cohn, Serge Chaloff, DonLamond-later became part of Herman'srenowned Herds. And one, brilliant altosaxophonist Johnny Bothwell, went onfrom the Raeburn fold to lead his owngroup. Also on hand, to sing the pop bal-lads, are Don Darcy and Marjorie Wood,two very good but uncelebrated voices.

Dizzy Gillespie was a member of theband in 1945 and, though he has no notablesolos, he plays on three selections here.This was the same year that Dizzy and theRaeburn group recorded Night in Tunisia,but the version in this set is from 1944 withthe classic trumpet break and solo played byBenny Harris. A close associate of Dizzy in

the incipient days of bebop, Harris gives thesolo a dark earthiness but lacks Dizzy'sfiery excitement. -JOHN S. WILSON

Jabbo Smith:The Ace of Rhythm (1929)MCA 1347

In 1929, Louis Armstrong's recordingswith his Hot Five and Hot Seven were sell-ing like mad on the Okeh label. So Bruns-wick put out a competitive series, its Arm-strong being Jabbo Smith, a brilliant cornet-ist who recently returned to the spotlight inOne Mo' Time, after more than forty yearsof silence.

If one can judge from "The Ace ofRhythm," the reason Smith never made thelasting impression that Armstrong did wasthat he buried his individual talents tobecome an Armstrong imitator. This setfeatures some wonderfully vital perfor-mances. Jabbo's Rhythm Aces includedsuch virtuosos as Omer Simeon and GeorgeJames on clarinet and alto saxophone andAlex Hill and Cassino Simpson on piano.Smith's cornet playing is full of fire, daz-zling runs, and beautifully placed breaks;his scat singing has the darkly voiced soul-ful qualities of Armstrong's.

Still, the effects of attempted imitationare clear. The tracks simply don't have thesingularity of purpose that their models did.Armstrong was in charge; he knew what hewanted and how to get it. Jabbo was essen-tially following orders. Armstrong also hada much better sense of tempo. While Smithcan sometimes swing-particularly on theslow blues-his fast pieces have the agitat-ed scurry that was typical of a lot of '20sjazz.

All of this does not diminish the valueof "The Ace of Rhythm," for Jabbo playsand sings brilliantly and Simeon-whoplays clarinet on most of the pieces-is avery consistent addition, as he was to anysetting. -JOHN S. WILSON

Valaida Snow: Hot SnowRosetta Reitz, producerRosetta RR 1305 (115 W. 16th St.,New York, N.Y. 10011)

If the name Valaida Snow registers at all tocontemporary jazz followers, it is no doubta dim. hazy recollection. That's because thecabaret singer, dancer, and trumpet playerspent much of her career in Europe and theFar East. Though she recorded fifty sides,they were either for European or small, fly-by-night American labels.

To judge from these fifteen sessions.Snow was a very capable singer and an ex-pressive and virtuosic trumpet player. Theinfluence of Louis Armstrong is very strongin her phrasing and in her way of develop-ing a solo. This is particularly apparent,even of her singing. on You're Driving MeCrazy. But her trumpet work has other fac-(Continued on page 81)

MAY 1982 75

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AUTOSOUND '82(Continued from page 33)in motion. Designers and engineers havemade a scientific study (called ergonomics)of the relationship between men andmachines; unfortunately, only a handful ofavailable car stereo systems seem to havebeen designed for ease of use at highwayspeeds. Most receivers have tiny buttons,indecipherable markings, and unlightedfaceplates.

In a sense, the desire of most auto elec-tronics makers to offer a miniaturized homereceiver has moved car audio design back-wards. The early -Sixties radios of Becker,Motorola, and Blaupunkt were easy tooperate-they had simple faceplates and aminimum of controls that were illuminatedat night. But today's noise reduction, tun-ing, and selection -finding features haveadded as many as a dozen switches and con-trols to most faceplates. So I think the next

The next majorrefinement willhave to be inergonomic design.

major refinement in automotive high fidel-ity will have to be an emphasis on ergonom-ic design.

For starters, I'd like to see night illu-mination (perhaps dimmable with the restof the dash -panel lights) on all serious AM/FM/cassette models. Then they could fol-low up with controls that integrate differentfunctions into a single knob or switch, as isdone on complex lab instruments. (A Tek-tronix oscilloscope, for instance, may use aconcentric knob to control five or six func-tions: pull it for one, twist the outer ring fora second, turn the inner disc for a third, andso on.) This is an area where microproces-sor control could yield substantial yet inex-pensive benefits: A single button could bepushed once to tune preset Station I , twicefor Station 2, etc.; flicked sideways, itcould become a selection -skip switch.

There are signs that this kind of controllayout is coming. ADS has been toyingwith such ideas for several years. Audio-bahn offers models with illuminated col-ored pushbuttons. Alpine's receivers arerather well marked and laid out, and themost -used controls of Blaupunkt's Berlinreceiver are mounted on a flexible stalkpositioned near the driver. Yet quite a bit ofrefinement remains to be done.

Meanwhile, we can get a real stereoimage, universal noise reduction, and somenew convenience features in our autos-allworthwhile contributions. Maybe next yearwill bring us the next step-sound systemswe can use with confidence even when ourattention is riveted on the road. NF

ORCHESTRAS * PERFORMINGARTS * DANCE COMPANIES *OPERA COMPANIES * CHORALGROUPS * FESTIVALS * MUSICSCHOOLS * CONTESTS,FOUNDATIONS & AWARDS*PUBLISHERS * MUSICORGANIZATIONS * ARTISTMANAGERS * MUSIC MAGAZINES*NEWSPAPERS * WHO ISPERFORMING WHERE AND WHEN.

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YOUNG GUITARISTS(Continued from page 44)even tremolo; Pujol's Guajira throws anequally unflattering light on her pizzicato;and so on down the line.

On a smaller label, Boyd's effortswould be harmless enough. But with CBS's"First Lady of the Guitar" hype supple-menting the visibility she has achieved onthe talk -show circuit, there's always thedanger that some unsuspecting listenermight come to the guitar through one of herglitzy albums; and if what that listener hearsis taken to represent the current standard ofperformance, Boyd's more deserving col-leagues will have been done a disservice.

Two of her betters who have also cho-sen to stick to familiar repertory thus far areManuel Barrueco, a Cuban who teaches inNew York, and Carlos Bonell, an English-man. Barrueco, whose last, exemplary LPfeatured his own Albeniz and Granadostranscriptions (Turnabout TV 34738), nowoffers five Scarlatti sonatas in his own tran-scription and three Cimarosa sonatas tran-scribed by Bream, all treated with eleganceand delicacy. But where Barrueco reallyexcels is in the more impassioned music ofPaganini (two duet sonatas for violin andguitar in Barrueco's own arrangements) andGiuliani (variations on the same Foliastheme set by Ponce, steeped in the virtuosicconventions of the early nineteenth century,plus the single -movement Gran sonataeroica, concise and full of extroverted ges-

and warmth.Since the mid -'60s, the Segovia -style

grab-bag of unrelated encore pieces hasbeen outmoded as an album concept, hav-ing given way to couplings of full-lengthworks or of works by composers of thesame era, nationality, stylistic school, etc.So it takes a certain audacity to release amotley collection of "Showpieces," asBonell's first LP for London is so aptlytitled. Yet this disc should not be over-looked on programmatic grounds. For onething, Bonell has the fingers and personal-ity to breathe fire into such overexercisedchestnuts as Asturias and the first two Villa -Lobos preludes; moreover, there are someintriguing oddities here. Tarrega's Fantasiaon Themes from "La Traviata" is a gemunavailable elsewhere, as is Bonell'sreworking of Llobet's arrangement of theChopin Prelude, Op. 28, No. 7.

On a companion disc, Bonell's firstconcerto recording pairs Joaquin Rodrigo'stwo popular warhorses, the Concierto deAranjuez and Fantasia para un genii -!hombre. The competition here is tremen-dous, but this recording fares well on allcounts and can be heartily recommendedeither as a first choice or for a fresh view.The salient feature of Bonell's style, as onthe solo disc, is highly expressive romanti-cism taken to a degree that is uncommonamong today's young players. In additionto his well -considered phrasing and color-ation, this disc boasts a perfectly suited

accompaniment by Charles Dutoit and theMontreal Symphony and impressive digitalsonics.

Rodrigo's guitar music constitutes byfar the most successful segment of his out-put, but much of it remains unknown, andthose solo works that are played are usuallygiven in small doses. Pepe Romero devotesa full disc to some of these pieces (presum-ably, he will record the lot, having alreadydone all the solo- and multiple -guitar con-certos), each of which contains Rodrigo'srecognizable thumbprint. With its frequentreferences to techniques and themes used inAranjuez, this music, heard all at once, canseem repetitious. Yet it is full of poetry andquintessentially Iberian in spirit-some-times quite lively and at other times intro-verted and soulful. Though some may findRomero's clean, hard -edged style cold, itlacks neither passion nor conviction.

On his latest concerto disc, Romerotackles a pair of previously unrecordedworks by Federico Moreno Torroba-Dici-logos, for solo guitar, and the Conciertoiberico, for four guitars, played, naturally,by the full Romero clan. In both perfor-mances, the guitar work is deft and secureand Neville Marriner's accompaniment be-yond reproach. Unfortunately, the music.bland and packed with Spanish clichés (cas-tanets, flamenco chord progressions), fallsinto the thin crack between Muzak and Bos-ton Pops repertoire. HF

PIANO ON TAPE(Continued from page 40)Recording Studios in New York). Withconsistently natural and warmly vivid"presence" for Goode's Hamburg Stein-way piano, the sound has a similaritythroughout that must be credited to thecommon producer for all three programs,the veteran Max Wilcox, who doubles ashis own engineer in the Nonesuch releasebut turns to John Kilgore and Ray Hall forthe Desmar engineering.

The lesson to be drawn-surely asobering one for fanatical audiophiles whorecklessly stake their whole faith on tech-nology-is that whatever techniques,materials, and methods may be employed,the artistic results are ultimately deter-mined by the executant skills, aesthetictastes, and musical sensibilities of perform-ers, producers, engineers, and manufactur-ers.

The Nonesuch cassette does notinclude Daniel Schillaci's extensive disc -jacket notes; the Desmar cassettes includemail -request forms to obtain Kurt Oppens'scarcely less extensive Schubert notes. I

haven't yet heard a properly decoded play-back of the alternative Dolby C Desmarcassettes, and no corresponding disc edi-tions are planned. I have, however, heardthe Nonesuch Schumann release in its discedition, just as admirably processed andsilent -surfaced as the ferric taping. In directA/B comparisons, on my playback equip-

ment and to my ears, the two formats areaural dead ringers.

But I shouldn't let my admiration ofthe consistently evident advanced technolo-gy distract prospective listeners from theassured expectation of incalculable, sheerlymusical rewards. The great Schumann fan-tasia may not be quite as passionate or hero-ic here as in versions by more extrovertedshowmen, but it is quintessentially Schu-mannesque; even more so are the superblyintegrated variegated moods of the kaleido-scopic Humoreske. And perhaps "echtSchubertian" is the supreme praise one cangive to Goode's nobly eloquent yet alwayssensitively restrained versions of the tworadiantly glowing sonatas (of truly "heav-enly length"), especially that most endear-ing "Good Companion" in the entire pianoliterature: the heart -twistingly poignant,inexhaustibly revelatory B flat swansong. HFSCHUBERT: Piano Works.

Richard Goode, piano. [Max Wilcox, prod.]DESMAR SRB 6001*/2t, $17.98 each (super -chrome cassettes) (available only by mail; add$1.50 for shipping; Euroclass Record Distribu-tors, Ltd., 155 Avenue of the Americas, NewYork, N.Y. 10013).

Sonatas: in A, D. 959*; in B flat, D. 960t.Klavierstiick in E flat minor, D. 946, No. 1.*Allegretto in C minor, D. 915.t Impromptu in Aflat, D. 935, No. 2.tSCHUMANN: Fantasy in C, Op. 17;Humoreske, Op. 20.

Richard Goode. piano. [Max Wilcox, prod.]NONESUCH DI 79014, $11.98 (digital recording,ferric cassette). Disc: D 79014, $11.98.

PIANO ON DISC(Continued from page 41)fled; not rapturously lyrical like some ver-sions, it is still genuinely expressive andeasily one of the finest accounts now in thecatalog. One is always glad to hear suchhonest music -making. NF

SCHUMANN: Faschingsschwank ausWien Op. 26. LISZT: Reminiscencesof "Norma."

Ivan Davis, piano. [Julian H. Kreeger,prod.] AUDIOFON 2004, $11.98. (PM&J Produc-tions, Inc., 2710 Ponce de Leon Blvd.. CoralGables, Fla. 33134).WEBER: Sonata for Piano, No. 2, in Aflat, Op. 39. LISZT: Piano Works.

David Bar-Illan, piano. [Julian H. Kreeger.prod.] AUDIOFON 2002, $11.98.

LISZT: Ballade No. 2. in B minor: En rove;Mephisto Waltz No. I.MOSZKOWSKI: Concerto for Pianoand Orchestra, in E, Op. 59.

David Bar-Illan, piano; Bavarian RadioOrchestra, Alfredo Antonini. cond. [FriedrichWelz, prod.] AUDIOFON 2003, $11.98.

BEETHOVEN: Variations on a Waltzby Diabelli, Op. 120; Sonata for Piano,No. 31, in A flat, Op. 110.

Leonard Shure, piano. [Julian H. Kreeger,prod.] AUDIOFON 2001. $23.96 (two discs, man-ual sequence).

80 HIGH FIDELITY

BACKBEAT REVIEWS(Continued from page 75)ets as well. Her solo on My Heart Belongsto Daddy is sensuous and swinging, coloredwith growling nuances and relaxed accents.On Caravan, she lifts up a Swedish bigband and makes it swing. She was an obvi-ous leader whose tone and level inducedmusicians to follow her path.

Snow's singing was equally versatile;she could be strong and open (The More IKnow About Love, Porgy, and Solitude) orcrisp and softly soulful. Even when she wasslick and superficial, her phrasing wasalways positive and swinging. One of hertwo originals here, High Hat, Trumpet andRhythm, is no epic, but it provides a won-derful showcase. She sings its catchy mel-ody with a light lilt reminiscent of CleoBrown and then follows Freddy Gardner'ssaxophone solo with some easy scatting.Playing here with Swedish, English, andAmerican groups, Snow emerges as a majorshow -business talent and as a trumpet play-er who could stand in the front rank of jazzmusicians. -JOHN S. WILSON

State Street Aces: StuffBob Erdos, producerStomp Off S .0.S 1011(549 Fairview Terrace,York, Pa. 17403)

State Street Aces clarinetist and tenor sax-ophonist Frank Powers prefers not to havethe music his group plays labeled "tradi-tional jazz." He thinks of it instead as "id-iomatic classic jazz." Judging from theAces' performance on "Stuff '-recordedonly six months after they had coalesced-they start from old records, old styles, andold tunes, but they create their own arrange-ments, and color them with their own per-sonalities. With the help of Powers' andpianist Jim Dapogny's arrangements. thegroup can in no way be accused of playingDixieland warhorses by rote or simplycopying old jazz records. All of which jus-tifies the distinction Powers makes.

A case in point is Baby, Oh Where CanYou Be, a 1929 pop song that the Aces playin the style of Jimmie Noone's Apex Clubquintet. What with John Otto's lyrical altosaxophone, Powers' ensemble phrasing,and his ripely Noone-like clarinet, Baby is acharming piece and an example of how the"idiom" of classic jazz can be rewardinglyexpanded.

The adventurous repertoire also in-cludes Junk Man, developed from a JackTeagarden recording; Stingaree Blues,popularized by King Oliver's 1930 record-ing; and Harvey Brooks's catchy Stuff. Thearrangements make fascinating use of thegroup's three saxophones (alto, tenor, andbass), trumpet, and trombone. Filling outthe octet are two delightfully brash soloists:Trumpeter Roy Tate barks, bites, growls,and cries soulfully, with and without mutes;Jim Snyder's trombone is gloriously sloshy

Snow: sensuous and swinging jazz artist

and swampy. The moods of raucous revelryhe creates with his mute invoke all the moreabandoned aspects of Tricky Sam Nantonand Turk Murphy. -JOHN S. WILSON

Okay Temiz:Drummer of Two WorldsKeith Knox, producerFinnidar SR 9032

On "Drummer of Two Worlds," Turkishpercussionist Okay Temiz reconciles theritualistic aspects of Third World folkmusics with the formalistic bump and strutof American funk and pop. Overdubbinghimself on dozens of percussion instru-ments, Temiz creates a richly layered,swinging sound, easily mating traditionalacoustic instruments with contemporaryrecording studio electronics.

The East-West synthesis was firsthinted at in the work of Yehudi Menuhinand Ravi Shankar (soulful but stiff) and theBeatles (melodically sensitive but rhythmi-cally uninquisitive). It has found many pro-ponents of late, in acts as diverse as Shakti,Weather Report, M'Boom Re. OrnetteColeman, Talking Heads, King Crimson,

IN

State Street Aces: "idiomatic classic jazz"

and the Police. Temiz' slant sounds like ahomegrown, dangerous version of WeatherReport. On cuts like Galaxy Nine and thetitle tune, he uses Attila Ozdemiroglu'ssynthesizer as if it were a nontemperedreed, while on Fantasia Drive he getsacoustic instruments to sound like voltage -controlled -oscillator modulations, effec-tively eliminating any distinctions betweenthe two worlds. (Check out the beautifulvowel and envelope sounds he elicits fromthe berimbau).

The Turkish elements in Temiz' steware the simple, incantatory melodies, whichaccrue expressiveness through the use ofrepetition and conversational cross -rhythms(the hymn -like Saysat Bari), generally overa churning Afro-Cuban groove. But then onRepercussions and Ocean Roller he gets amicro -chip on his shoulder and uses echoand delay, panning percussion sounds backand forth to make them breathe. "Drummerof Two Worlds" is about the joy ofrhythms-an exultation of their speech,song, and dance characteristics. As anexploration of common tongues, it is thetype of stylistic coalition that will charac-terize music in the 1980s. -CHIP STERN

0

MAY 1982 81

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CLASSICAL REVIEWS(Continued from page 60)the role, is the expected vocal weight-notwithstanding his attempts to thicken thetone in the upper midrange. (There's noth-ing he can do farther down, where the voicethins out sharply.) In scenes with Manrico,he sounds more like a Manrico than a DiLuna, in fact more like a Manrico than theManrico.

Mazurok does his best work in the ActIV scene with Leonora, where Ricciarellialso has her moments, after delivering oneof the more fluent recorded accounts ofLeonora's restored cabaletta, "Tu vedrai."Don't get the idea, though, that she is ingeneral more fluent than her vocally heavi-er -weight competitors-Milanov (Victro-la), Tebaldi (in the deleted Erede/ Londonset), Callas (the mono Karajan/ Angel),Price (her first two times out, for RCA),Stella (Privilege), and Mancini (Cetra).

RCA's reissue isinstructive andstill fun to hear.

Nor is her problem simply that she'svocally underweight. Compare Tucci's"D'amor sull'ali" in the Schippers/ Angelset, and you'll hear a voice that's no heavierbut is strikingly more completely devel-oped, including such niceties as a workingchest register. That Leonora can be solved,at least in part, by a lighter -weight voicewas also shown by Kabaivanska in the 1975recording available briefly on Eurodisc.

It would probably be similarly mis-leading to attribute all of Carreras' prob-lems to incorrect vocal weight. Manrico,after all, can be encompassed by a lyricvoice, as Bjoerling (Victrola) demonstratedso awesomely. My problem with Carrerasis that, even with friendly microphonesnearby to guarantee audibility, he neverseems in control of the sound he produces.which is consistently uncentered and oftenedges into desperation. As a result, insteadof hearing What Manrico Does to Get WhatHe Wants, we hear What Jose Does to Getthe Notes Out. Granting that Bjoerling is ina class by himself, there's an interestingassortment of brawnier recorded Manri-cos-CoreIli (Schippers/ Angel), Tucker(Gold Seal), Del Monaco (Erede/London),Merli (Molajoli/Columbia 78s, reissued asEMI 3C 153-03024/5), Pertile (Sabajno/HMV)-plus the attractive medium -weight work of Bergonzi (Privilege) andDomingo (RCA).

Toczyska is probably the cast memberwho comes closest to matching her rolevocally, though her voice is by no meansevenly developed or balanced. In addition,her work is so neutral that you have to won-der whether she'd be much more interesting

if the voice were more completely devel-oped. By comparison, even the very light-voiced Elias (Gold Seal) and young Cossot-to (Privilege), neither of them exactly a dra-matic dynamo, are in closer contact withAzucena, without reference to the moreauthentic specimens-Minghini-Cattaneo(Sabajno/ HMV), Barbieri (Victrola andmono Karajan/ Angel), Simionato (Erede/London and Schippers/ Angel), and the lat-er Cossotto account (RCA).

Somewhat to my surprise, Lloyd is abarely passable Ferrando. That he getsthrough the writing puts him one up onBonynge's Ghiaurov and Karajan's Rai-mondi, but it's a scramble, and he doesn'thave much to say about the music. Thisisn't such a tough role, after all; the record-ings of the Fifties and Sixties handled itwith fairly consistent success.

Davis' efforts seem limited to choos-ing tempos and securing clear articulationfrom chorus and orchestra. This much hedoes well enough, though I wish he showedmore concern for the rhythmic progress of aphrase after the tempo has been established.I suspect that it's just not knowing what todo, how to get meaningfully from note tonote, that leads him to what seem to meoccasionally overquick tempos in some ofthe more excited numbers, such as theAnvil Chorus or Soldiers' Chorus. If youcan't think how else to make somethinghappen, it's tempting to go for the physicaljolt.

pare the new Gold Seal reissue. To put itkindly, Basile's isn't the most distinguishedTrovatore conducting on records. Serafin,Karajan (the first time, of course), andErede, to name three, all have clearer ideasof where they're headed and why, and evenCellini's work has more distinctive shape.Still, Basile respects the emotional logic ofthe music, and his cast is still fun to hearafter more than twenty years. This shouldbe no surprise in the cases of Price and War-ren, but if you haven't listened to Tucker'sManrico lately, you ought to check it out.

So where does this all leave us? Wewill assume that you have the Victrola set;what you would want then, apart from indi-vidual performances, is (a) a more completeversion, and (b) a more modern -soundingone. With respect to (a), there's no satisfac-tory alternative to the Mehta/RCA, whichof course will also take care of (b). I wouldpoint out, though, that both the Privilegeand Erede/London sets (should the latterreturn at reduced price) include "Tuvedrai," and so are confined to second -stanza omissions and those irritating littlesnippy cuts. All the recordings I've listed ascomparisons, and several others as well,have distinctive points to add to your pic-ture of the opera. K.F.

WEBER: Sonata for Piano, No. 2,Op. 39-See page 41.

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