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Prokofiev, Scythian Suite & Symphony No. 3. Orchestra: Sao Paulo Symphony. Conductor: Marin Alsop. Recording: Naxos NBD0047 There certainly are significant differences in the music composed by Prokofiev compared to those famous Russian composers that preceded him. It is our good fortune to have his compositions available now. Yes, he turned out those compositions needed by performers in the... Read More »

Mozart, Sonatas for Violin and Piano, Alina Ibragimova, violin. Cédric Tiberghien, piano. 2 CD's. Hyperion CDA 68091. Most of us know when we're hearing the real Mozart and not a near miss, we know in our heads and elsewhere what is required of a genuine Mozart performance. Today we have the composer's Sonatas for Keyboard... Read More »

Common Beliefs  "GLASS Speakers? Oh, they MUST sound bright and edgy!" "Anyone using GLASS to make a speaker has to be using it only as a gimmick." "I can see right through the speaker. So it must not be properly engineered since it needs stuff inside." Introduction One of the difficulties with high-end audio is... Read More »

I reviewed the first product from Delaware-based Backert Labs, the Rhythm 1.1 Linestage, over a year ago in Issue 76 (HERE). I thought designer and preamp specialist Bob Backert hit a home run with this well-built and innovative design, especially if musical enjoyment is your main priority. The Rhythm 1.1 achieves its sterling sound by... Read More »

I haven't introduced new tonearms to you for many years, which was due to the fact that—among the rest—really new solutions are extremely rare. Mostly, new models are about variations in the materials mix, in combination with different, known bearing kinds. With Acoustical Systems, however, this is different: The Aquilar tonearm is based on an... Read More »

Earlier this year I reviewed Fidelizer, an optimization software package designed to reduce the number of active background processes in Windows computers being used for high-resolution music playback. When first approached by Keetakawee Punpeng, Fidelizer's developer, I must admit I was more than a bit hesitant; based on my internet exposure to the product, Fidelizer... Read More »

I'm not going to tell you what I did on my summer vacation. (Maui) I'm not going to tell you what I got for Christmas. (Schiit Audio Vali 2). I am going to get right to the crux of the matter and tell you about the Wells Audio Majestic integrated amplifier. A few audio shows back,... Read More »

My recent reviews for the Devialet 400 and 800 Integrated Amplifiers generated plenty of emails and comments. Thanks to all the readers who took notice and had an opinion to voice on these components—both yeah and nay. Just another example of different strokes for different folks. It was all respectfully done in good fun but... Read More »

Schnittke, Penitential Psalms; Three Sacred Hymns. RIAS Kammerch0r, Hans Christian Rademann, conductor. Harmonia Mundi 902225. Russian Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998), as I've written many times before here, is one of those second generation modernists who makes you go to him and who generally makes you glad you did. His Penitential Psalms confront us with sternness until... Read More »

Anne Bisson: Blue Mind, Co-sponsored by Wuti Larnroongroj, Brilliance Music and Studios and Gary Koh, Genesis Advanced Technologies. 15-ips, 2-track, reel-to-reel tape. Originally produced and recorded by: Guy St. Orge. Recorded July 21-22, 2008, Reference Studio, St-Calixte, Quebec. Remastered by Bernie Grundman. http://www.annebisson.com/en/. Price: $600. It's rare that performers get to revisit and remaster their... Read More »

It so happened that together with some friends we delivered the Audio Tekne system I reviewed before directly to the  Audio Video Show 2015. As soon as we finished carrying all those damn heavy devices to the exhibition room Hari (from Natural Sound) told us the good news—next we would get the top Audio System... Read More »

Kinsky, Copula Mundi. SPV Poland/Requiem Records 104 | 2015. Premiere: 1993. Re-edition: 2015. Medium: Compact Disc The Kinsky band, which was created in 1992, existed only for six years and recorded only one album, but, perhaps thanks to this, it has become the legend of underground rock music in Poland. Its music is most frequently described as a combination of... Read More »

Dateline St. Paul, Minnesota: Today, audio engineers observed an invisible sonic wave emanating from Atma-Sphere in St. Paul. The engineer who first discovered this new UltraViolet wavelength—nicknamed Big Tone—has officially christened it UV-1… And that is a bald-faced lie. But Atma-Sphere has indeed, introduced a new preamp named the UV-1 that does, in fact, have... Read More »

HEADLINE: Rubinstein Bested by 24-Year-Old Russian Prodigy "Where are the great artists of contemporary classical music?" The question is not infrequently raised in the listening room, usually by the same dudes who don't go to many live performances. That's not a good basis for an opinion. I attend concerts often and, let me assure you,... Read More »

Bruckner: Symphony No. 3 in D minor, "Wagner" (Nowak ed., 1877) Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam/Nikolaus Harnoncourt Teldec 4509-98405-2. TT: 54.35 The "historical performance" movement that arose in the 1960s proved more popular, at first, among academics than among regular listeners; eventually, however, its notions of performing older scores without the stylistic accretions of later eras... Read More »

[Amended byline: Roland Dietl, by courtesy of Dirk Sommer] If you are into music streaming and especially into hires music there is one question you can't avoid:  Where to store all these files? Until now the way to go was either to keep the music on your PC or laptop computer, or to use a... Read More »

When you are looking for a way to comfortably manage your collection of digital music, enjoy it with the best sound quality possible and without the need to mess around with computers in your scarce spare time, the Melco N1A is just what you need Just nine years ago integrating a computer into my Hi-Fi... Read More »

George Frederick Handel, Water Music. Academie fur Alte Musik Berlin. Harmonia Mundi HMC 902216. Handel was German, but he was also a Londoner for 47 years and lived and studied for four years in Italy. We can hear all of this in his music, an extremely satisfying blend of three distinct baroque musical cultures. He... Read More »

Transformative Evolution I first heard about the Ref 6 line stage coming to market in late October 2015. Without any hesitation, I contacted ARC and placed my order. Why? Because ARC has rarely taken missteps in the evolution of their products since the inception of the company and I was confident that the Ref 6... Read More »