JULIAN HIRSCH'S GUIDE TO TUNERS
HiFi-Stereo-Review-1975-12 DECEMBER 1975 ONE DOLLAR
SPECIAL FOR CHRISTMAS SHOPPERS:
JULIAN HIRSCH'S GUIDE TO TUNERS
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he reason Pioneer's tuners an amplifiers keep getting better.
To achieve improved linearity and transient response, plus absolute stability, each amplifier has a 3 -stage, cirectcoupled equalizer -amplifier section, as well as a first stage differential amplifier. By using low noise t-ansistors in the critical first stage of the equalizer (an FET, in the SA -9900), an exceptional level of phono performance, heretofore unattainable in integrated amplifiers, is attained. See Table 1 for Preamplifier section highlights.
Tape -to -tape duplicating and monitoring
Two tape monitor circuits are incorporated in each model and include tape copying switch positions for dubbing from one deck to another while listening to another program source.
Advanced chassis layouts for improved performance and increased reliability
Input and output terminals on the SA -9900 and SA -9500 are segregated from each other by being located at opposite sides of the chassis. More important, the full rear of the chassis serves as a heat radiating surface and reduces the length of internal shielded wires. The result: less attenuation of high frequency audio signals.
Pioneer's new amplifiers provide
power output for every audio requirement and a maximum number of inputs and outputs to go with it. See Tables 2 and 3.
The Tuners: TX-9500,TX-7500
Totally new in styling and appearance, these Pioneer tuners are loaded with circuit refinements that finally allow you to realize the full static -free, high fidelity potential of FM and stereo FM. They even improve AM reception.
The FM front end - key to sensitivity and noise -free reception
In the TX -9500, three dual -gate MOS FETs combined with a linear 5 -section variable capacitor reject all forms of interference by an incredible 110dB. Desired signals of as little strength as 1.5 microvolts are received with noise and distortion sufficiently suppressed to make them listenable.
Phase Lock Loop (PLL) circuitry for stable stereo FM separation
The Phase Lock Loop circuit used in both new tuners insures optimum separation of all audio frequencies. Completely drift -free, this PLL circuit requires no alignment - ever. A sharp low-pass filter lets you tape FM programs without interference from audible "beats".
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High selectivity and good capture ratio are vital with today's crowded FM radio band. Pioneer's TX -9500 IF section, with its seven ICs, four ceramic filters and 8 -stage limiter provides outstanding capture ratio and selectivity. You hear the station you want - and nothing else.
Unique muting controls
The two -position variable muting control on the TX -9500, as well as the muting switch on the TX -7500, employ electronic switching. Both utilize a silent, reed -relay which eliminates noises of turn -on popping and interstation tuning.
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we are for nformatIonal purposes only. The actual resale prices will be set by the Individual Pioneer dealer at his option. Optional cabinets are available r all models Shown and are constructed with wood grained walnut veneer top and side panels.
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Why would Pioneer change the world's best-selling tuners and amplifiers?
The entire world of high fidelity acknowledged that Pioneer's SA -9100 integrated amplifier and TX -9100 stereo tuner were
the best products of their type and value ever built. They established new standards for high fidelity performance. In fact, people recognized their greatness by buying more of them than any other tuners and amps in the world. Why then would Pioneer want to change these top -performing, top -selling components? There can only be one answer:
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And it's the kind of dedication that gives you the opportunity to own high fidelity components that offer more power, sensitivity and features at better values. Components that not only meet, but exceed the challenges posed by changes and improvements in current broadcasting and recording technology.
Pioneer recognizes that high fidelity enthusiasts are also a dedicated group. That's why we invite you to examine the new Pioneer tuners and amplifiers now.
The Amplifiers: SA -9900, SA -9500, SA -8500, SA -7500
The power amplifier section
Each model is direct -coupled in all stages for lower distortion and wider frequency response. The SA -9900 uses a 2 -stage differential amplifier and optimized negative feedback from output to input for improved stability and transient response. A newly developed bias system compensates for any temperature drift; while an automatic electronic protection circuit
prevents current overload and guards against speaker shorts. A thermal detection circuit protects power output transistors in each model.
The control amplifier section: twin stepped tone controls and selectable turnover for precise tonal tailoring
With Pioneer's exclusive twin tone control system (SA -9900, SA -8500), you can make the most critical and precise bass and treble adjustments with ease. 5,929 tonal variations are possible on the SA -9900.
Twin stepped tone controls. (SA -9900, SA -8500)
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(SA -9500, SA -7500)
You can select thousands of individual
tone settings on the SA -9500, SA -8500 and SA -7500, too. A tone defeat switch on all models instantly restores wideband flat frequency response.
Tone control settings are calibrated for precise repeatability in discrete 1.5dB steps on the SA -9900. All four models feature low and high frequency filters (with multiple settings for each on the SA -9900 and SA -9500). The master volume control
on the SA -9900 and SA -9500 is a 22 -step professional attenuator. It is complemented by a selectable muting switch for lowering sound levels without altering master volume settings. This feature also permits easy settings of the master volume control regardless of program source levels.
High phono overload capability for unprecedented dynamic range
Good phono sensitivity in a phono equalizer is not enough to insure distortion -free reproduction of high transient musical peaks. Until now, a 150 millivolt overload capability was considered to be quite good for a phono preamplifier -equalizer circuit. Pioneer's SA -9900 remarkable equalizer amplifier can handle peak signals as high as 500 mV. That's 46 dB greater than its nominal 2.5 mV input sensitivity.
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(1) Amplifiers: Preamplifier section
SA -9900
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SA -8500
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SA -7500
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(3) Amplifiers: Power output specifications
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SA -9900 110 watts 110 watts 0.1°/.
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20Hz-20kHz
(4) Tuners:
FM Sensitivity 50dE Quieting Selectivity
$750
Specification highlights
IHF), mono
Sensitivity, mono (stereo)
Capture Ratio S/N Ratio mono, (stereo)
SA -9500 80 watts
100 watts
0.1% 20Hz-20kHz $500. TX -9500 1.5 uV 2.5 uV (35 uV) 85d B 1.0dB
SA -8500 60 watts
SA -7500 40 watts
75 watts
45 watts
0.1%
20Hz-20kHz $400.
0.3%
20Hz-20kHz $300.
TX -7500
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when you want something better
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80dB (75dB) 110dB
40dB (35dB) 0.15% (0.15%) 0.2% (0.5%'
1.0dB 73 dB (68dB)
85dB, 90dB, 90dB 40dB (35dB) 0.2% (0.2%)
$400.
0.3% (0.6%)
$250.
TX -9500
00 102
114
C F CLE NO. 59 ON READER SE
"It's a good turntable by itself, and as an added bonus it also stacks records."
CreeM, MARCH 1975
In the old days, a serious audio enthusiast wouldn't touch anything but a manual turntable.
He felt he had no choice. That anything with automatic features simply didn't perform. But as Sound magazine says in its August 1975 issue:
"In recent years...the quality of the automatic turntable has risen dramatically. And the performance of the B.I.C. 960 certainly
B 00 substantiates our belief that a serious music lover can attain
extremely high quality in an automatic
unit just as in the best manuals."
In a Sept. 1975 test report, Radio & Electronics agrees, noting that B.I.C:
"might well be considered a top -performing manual turntable in its price category."
Modern Hi-Fi cn Music (Aug./Sept. 1975) reports:
"wow and flutter of 0.03% at 331/3 rpm and rumble less than -65db; specifications which are more typical of a good manual than most automatics."
And because they're not imported (B.I.C. turntables are built entirely in the U.S.) the price of this performance comes as a pleasant surprise.
If you're serious enough about your system to spend 8100 or
- more on a turntable, a B.I.C. 940, 960, or 980 has what you want
and more of it all three are multiple -play manual turntables sharing the same quality features and high performance.
See if your high-fidelity dealer doesn't agree. He has literature with all the details. Or write to B.I.C. ("bee-eye-cee") c/o British Industries Co., Westbury, N.Y. 11590.
B.I C IS A TRADEMARK OF BRITISH INDUSTRIES CO.. A DIVISION OF AVNET INC. 01975 CIRCLE NO 9 ON READER SERVICE CARD
Stereo eviewo DECEMBER 1975 VOLUME 35 NUMBER 6
?e `Equipment
NEW PRODUCTS
A roundup of the latest in high-fidelity equipment
16
AUDIO QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Advice on readers' technical problems
LARRY KLEIN
20
AUDIO BASICS
Glossary of Technical Terms -23
RALPH HODGES
24
TAPE HORIZONS
Facts About Flutter
EQUIPMENT TEST REPORTS
Hirsch -Houck Laboratory test results on the Creative Environments Model 100 speaker system, Pilot 540 AM/FM stereo receiver, B.I.C. 980 automatic record player, and Dual A utoreverse cassette deck
CRAIG STARK
26
Ju LI-AN D. HIRSCH
29
A CHRISTMAS TUNER
How to check the specs and relate them to your performance needs
ate CNUSiC
JULIAN D. HIRSCH
52
A PARTRIDGE IN AN ETYMOLOGICON
The truth about that pear tree-and those four calling birds as well
MARTHA BENNETT STILES
60
MUSIC ON THE AIR
Things seem to be looking up for classical -music broadcasting in the U.S
ROY HEMMING
62
TEN PERFORMERS I HATE
Just like everybody else, the popular reviewers have their little lists
68
EMMYLOU HARRIS
"What am I doing wrong that makes this music acceptable to so many people?"
CAROL OFFEN
76
LINDA RONSTADT: AN EXTRAORDINARY COLLABORATION
"There are one hundred and three old songs I'd rather hear"
STEVE SIMELS
90
DOC WATSON'S UP-TO-DATE MEMORIES
"Sweet picking is where it's at, sweet picking and believable singing"
NOEL COPPAGE
102
KAY SWIFT: CIVILIZED PLEASURE
Echoes of Old Broadway-and quite a hit more besides
PETER REILLY
108
MORE WORTHY GOTTSCHALK FROM ANGEL
A Bicentennial recording project that has already redeemed itself
THE INCOMPARABLE PIANISM OF JOSEF HOFMANN
A concert almost forty years old, but we can learn from it still
ROBERT OFFERGELD HENRY PLEASANTS
120 130
A PARADE OF AMERICAN MARCHES
Two splendid collections set an infectious Bicentennial rhythm
WcRsvieurs-
BEST RECORDINGS OF THE MONTH
POPULAR DISCS AND TAPES
CLASSICAL DISCS AND TAPES
die
egulars
EDITORIALLY SPEAKING LETTERS TO THE EDITOR TECHNICAL TALK THE SIMELS REPORT THE OPERA FILE GOING ON RECORD THE BASIC REPERTOIRE
CHOOSING SIDES EDITORIAL INDEX FOR 1975
ADVERTISERS' INDEX
GILBERT CHASE
WILLIAM ANDERSON
JULIAN D. HIRSCH
STEVE SIMELS WILLIAM LIVINGSTON E
JAMES GOODFRI END MARTIN BOOKSPAN
IRVING KoLODIN
134
81 86
116
6 12 28 42 44 46 48 114 138 140
COVER: Design by Borys Patchowsky; photo by Bruce Pendleton
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1 -he Heil
air-mdion transformer
yt is dearly
light years ahead
Does it have a Heil?'This is the most important question you can ask when contemplating the purchase of a
quality loudspeaker system Why? Because the ESS Heil air -motion transformer, developed and perfected
by physicist and musician Dr Oskar Heil, obs: etes conventional loudspeakers.
It does matter'how the sound in a loudspeaker is propagated. It does matter that sound is squeezed" instead of "pushed: It does matter that one speaker
-the Heil-accelerates air faster than others. It does matter whether it's a Heil air -motion
transformer.Why? Because the Heil air -motion transformer is superior T his is more than mere opinion, it is fact based on the laws of pl-ryscs By discarding bankrupt design concepts rooted in past technology the ESS Heil air-motior transformer approaches theoretical limits of perfschon. ONLY the ESS Heil air -motion transformer diaptragm can. alone accelerate air to a speed five times
greater than that of its own moving surfaces. Instantly. Accurately. Cleanly.
ONLY the ESS Heil air-mction transformer hes been acclaimed around the world as the first really new air moving principle in five decades. ONLY the ESS Heil air -motion transformer is the loudspeaker of the future, free from
bondage to cones, domes, voice coils. mass and inertia. Revolutionary today and the standard of comparison for tomorrow, the Hell air -motion transformer is available in a wide range of SJ Derbly engineered speaker systems from ESS. Each
model achieves a level of accuracy that sets it light year; ahead of the industry.
Hear the new ESS standard of excellence yourself. Visit a fra-chused ESS dealer, one of a handful perceotiva enough to bypass the
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roducts ore ailable in Canada through ESS Canada
Stereo Review
PUBLISHER
EDGAR W. HOPPER
EDITOR WILLIAM ANDERSON
MANAGING EDITOR WILLIAM LIVINGSTONE
EDITORIAL COORDINATOR LOUISE GOOCH BOUNDAS
MUSIC EDITOR JAMES GOODFRIEND
TECHNICAL EDITOR LARRY KLEIN
ART DIRECTOR
BORYS PATCHOWSKY
ASSOCIATE TECHNICAL EDITOR
RALPH HODGES
POPULAR MUSIC EDITOR
STEVE SIMELS
ASSISTANT MUSIC EDITOR VIVIENNE WINTERRY GOODMAN
PRODUCTION EDITOR
PAULETTE WEISS
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
CHRIS ALBERTSON MARTIN BOOKSPAN
NOEL COPPAGE RICHARD FREED
DAVID HALL ROY HEMMING JULIAN D. HIRSCH GEORGE JELLINEK
IGOR KIPNIS IRVING KOLODIN
PAUL KRESH STODDARD LINCOLN J MARKS-HIGHWATER
LINCOLN PERRY PETER REILLY ERIC SALZMAN CRAIG STARK
JOEL VANCE ROBERT WINDELER
LONDON EDITOR HENRY PLEASANTS
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR JAMES J. SULLIVAN
ADVERTISING SERVICE MANAGER LINDA BLUM
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER STANLEY NEUFELD
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
PEGI McENEANEY
Editorial and Executive Offices Ziff -Davie Publishing Company One Park Avenue, New York, New York 10016 212 725-3500 Eastern Advertising Manager. Richard J. Halpern Midwestern Office: The Pattis Group 4761 West Touhy Ave.. Lincolnwood, Ill. 60646 312-679-1100 Arnold S. Hoffman Western Office 9025 Wilshire Boulevard Beverly Hills, California 90211 213 273-8050; 272-1161 Western Advertising Manager Bud Dean Japan: James Yagi ' Oji Palace Aoyania, 6-25. Minarru Aoyama 6.Chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo. Japan Telephone: 407-1930/6821, 582-2851 Circulation Office P.O. Box 2771. Boulder. Colorado 80302 EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS must be accompanied by return post. age and will he handled with reasonable care; however, publisher as. sum. no responsibility for return or safety of art work. photography, or manuscripts.
Member Audit Bureau of Circulations mum
ILO
( ABC)
Aceinnory
ZIFF-DAVIS PUBLISHING COMPANY Hershel 8. Sarbin. Presiden Furman Hebb. Executive V ce President Vincent Perry. Financial Vice President and Treasurer Phillip T. Heffernan. Senior Vice President. Marketing Edward D. Muhlfeld. Senio Vice President. Sports Div. Philip Sine. Senior Vice Pre ideni Frank Pomerantz. Vice Pre Went. Creative Services
Arthur W. Butmw, Vice President, Production Lawrence Sporn, Vice Preadent, Circulation George Morrissey, Vice President Sydney H. Rogers, Vice President Sidney Holtz, Vice President Al Trains. Vice President Philip Korsant. Vice President Charles B. Seton, Secretary Edgar W. Hopper, Vice President. Electronics Div.
William i r7.(oZinTil. ChairmVaince Chairman
6
EDITO
SPEA
3y WILLIA
=Emus
HEARTS AND HEADS
SOMEHOW it seems to me only yesterday, but it was 'way back in 1967 when we were moved to print an anthology of critical confessions under the title "My Ten
Favorite Composers." The assignment so delighted our classical reviewers at the time, and the results so pleased the editors, that we quickly followed it with its obvious obverse, "Ten Composers I Hate." The reviewers, glorying in the heady challenge and suddenly strangers to caution, found it easy to leaven their usual sober probity with an unaccustomed dash of passion. I don't know where you were when the quips hit the stands, but I was right here at my desk, submerged in the backwash of outraged reader mail. Experience is our teacher as well as everybody else's, and the lesson we learned from her then was a simple one: do it again. And that is why, in this issue some eight short years later, we are mounting another assault on the bastions of received opinion, unleashing our champing popular reviewers and their slavering typewriters on the tempting targets of "Ten Performers I Hate."
Well aware that some of these targets rate in the popular esteem all the way from certified genius to sacred cow and holy icon, and mindful of the shortness of most fuses when it comes to matters of taste, I would nonetheless like to suggest that you pause a moment before returning your fire and ask yourself just why it is that professional critics are so rarely in agreement with popular taste, why their respect for artists so often seems to be in inverse proportion to their success. And don't settle for any of the easy answers. Critics are not, for example, envy -ridden misanthropes; the proportion of "failed performers" among them is no higher than it is among the rest of the audience (I do not, as a matter of fact, know a single critic who would qualify). Nor are critics innately perverse, deliberately taking a position contrary to prevailing opinion either for the twisted pleasure they take in it or to make a name for themselves. On the contrary, the world's rewards are easily and plentifully available to any critic whose enthusiasm is for sale, whatever the currency; the critic with principles and standards can count on remaining despised, rejected, and poor. And granted that the profession, being made up of human beings like any other, contains its quota of fools, their frailty is quickly unmasked-they must, after all, sooner or later go into print (can anyone tell me who it was who said "0, that mine enemy would write a book"?).
For myself, I have temporarily concluded that critics, while they may be a lot like some people, are not like most people. Most people, either because they won't think or because they can't, are ruled by their hearts; good critics are ruled by their heads. I would not go so far as to suggest that this is because they don't have hearts, but they have, at the very least, a built-in or hard-won mechanism that makes it possible to ignore them. (If they don't, they suffer: softhearted critics must be constantly on guard against meeting performers-if they do, they are instant groupies. Clever performers realize this and, when they can, make pets of critics-some of whom, alas, continue to publish puffs for their artist patrons.) Popular success is, by definition, a matter of numbers, and if those "numbers" decide with their hearts, then the appeal must be to the heart as well. Set aside the whole question of talent and consider instead the one essential attribute of the "superstar": whether you call it "star quality," "charisma" (ugh!), or simply "it," it is (a) a nonrational appeal based on a sympathetic personality, and (b) it has nothing to do with performing skill. This is not to say that a superstar may not be genuinely talented, only that it is unnecessary that he be. And so the public gives its heart wholly, sincerely, and irreversibly to its attractive heroes and heroines; the critic, unimpressed by glamour, reputation, or numbers, continues to say "show me." That leaves unresolved the question of how to discover who among the superstars has real talent, but for the time being you might try staying tuned to the critics in these pages.
STEREO REVIEW
With an Empire wide response cartridge.
A lot of people have started "trackin- with Empire cartridges for more or less the same
reasons. More separation: "Separation, measured between right and left channels at a frequency of 1 kHz. did indeed measure 35 dB (rather remarkable for any car-
tridge)" FM Guide, The Feldman Lab Report. Less distortion: '!.. the Empire 4000D III produced the flattest overall re-
sponse yet measured from a CD -4 cartridge-within ±2 dB from 1,000 to 50,000 Hz:' Stereo Review.
More versatile: "Not only does the 4000D/III provide excellent sound in both stereo and quadriphonic reproduction, but we had no difficulty whatever getting satisfactory quad playback through any demodulator or with any turntable of appropriate quality at our disposal:' High Fidelity. Less tracking force: "The Empire 4000D/III has a surprisingly low tracking force in the gram to 11/4 gram region. This is surprising because other cartridges, and I mean 4 channel types, seem
to hover around the 2 gram class: Modern Hi Fi & Stereo Guide.
For the complete test reviews from these major audio magazines and a free catalogue, write:
Empire Scientific Corp., Garden City, N.Y. 11530. Mfd. U.S.A.
Choose the Cartridge Designed to Play Best in Your System
r_ Plays 4 Channel Discrete (CD4)
I
and Super Stereo
F-Plays 2 Channel Stereo ---I
Plays All 4 Channel Matrix Systems (SQ, QS, RM)
1
400D 400D 400D 20Coi 2C3OD 200D 2000 200E
Mode!
D/III
D/II
D/I
E/III
E/II
E/I
E
Frequency Reb. in Hz.
Output Voltage per Channel at 3.54 cm/sec groove velocity
Channel Separation
5-50.000
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5-45,000
3.0 more than
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10-40.000 3.0 35dB
5-35.000 6-33.000 8-32,000 10-30,000 10-28,000
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5 0
5 0
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30dB
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Tracking Force in Grams.
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miniature nude miniature nude
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1 mil tracing .1 mil tracing
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miniature nude diamond with
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turntable or changer
nude elliptical diamond 2 x .7 mil
turntable or changer
nude elliptical diamond .2 x .7 mil
nude elliptical diamond .2 x .7 mil
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turntable or turntable or changer changer
elliptical diamond .3 x .7 mil
changer only
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(White)
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(Blue)
CIRCLE NO. 21 ON READER SERVICE CARD
(Green)
(Red) (Smoke'
Bell &Howell Schools imritesyou to
BREAK INTO 41C
Pick up new professional
skills in this exciting
field as you build Bell & Howell's new quadraphonic audio center.
It's the very first learn -at-home program
of its kind!
You've probably heard a lot about 4 -channel sound by now. It's the most talked about and impressive technical advancement in sound in years. Separately recorded channels literally wrap a room in sound for a totally new listening experience.
And the excitement doesn't stop there. Thanks to Bell & Howell Schools' brand new learning program, now you can explore quad sound for yourselffrom the inside out-and master the technology behind this important advancement right in your own home!
It's your opportunity to break away from the everyday routine and learn
new occupational skills that could lead you in exciting new directions. Mail the
attached card, postage free, to get the facts today!
Take hold of opportunity with both hands now!
The world around you is changing every day. Forging ahead. The man who keeps pace is the man who continues to learn and grow. He's in the mainstream of life. Interested in what's going on. And he's much more interesting, too.
Bell & Howell Schools' new 4 -channel audio program was designed to help you learn and grow. To put you in the mainstream of audio electronics technology. Where you can delve into
fascinating electronics principles. Solve challenging problems and get actual hands-on, build -it -yourself experience.
And where you can acquire a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment you may not currently be getting.
Completely different from the typical kind of school you grew up with. Learning all about quad sound with
Bell & Howell Schools is a lot more interesting and convenient than "school" used to be. First of all, we know you can't afford to quit your job. So we set up a program that lets you work at home in your spare time.
There are no classes to attend. No dry lectures to sit through. Everything comes to you in the mail. Lesson by lesson. Exciting package after package. And you work at a flexible pace in the relaxed atmosphere of your workshopor wherever your favorite spot may be.
Sure, books are important. But they're only the beginning.
With this fascinating learn -at-home program, you do a lot more than just read about electronics. You'll conduct dozens of experiments . .. build your own laboratory equipment for testing out electronics principles ... and also as part of this program you put together a 4 -channel amplifier and FM/FM stereo tuner as you delve into advanced audio technology.
.6 3 1341.1.4)"
MU .0.1al
AwAritaut.
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We try to make learning so interesting you look forward to receiving each new
lesson. And enthusiastically dive into each new project we send you.
We'll start you off on the right foot. You may be thinking, "I don't have
any training in electronics . . I might be getting in over my head."
Well, you can stop worrying about that. You don't need previous experience. You'll begin with the basics and
acquire a thorough understanding of the fundamentals before moving on.
And remember, it's not just reading. With your very first lesson you get our
LAB STARTER KIT, consisting of a simple voltmeter and electronics "breadboard" you can experiment with right away.
Of course, if you're already into electronics, you might be thinking, "I already know the basics ... I want to get into the advanced stuff right away!"
For you there's an advanced standing program that lets you skip the beginning lessons.
Next you build the exclusive Electro-Lab® electronics training system.
Once you've mastered the basics, we'll send you everything you need to put together these three important testing instruments:
The design console. You use it to set up and examine various kinds of cir-
cuits. It's completely modular ... no
soldering!
The digital multimeter. Use it to measure voltage, current and resistance. Displays data accurately in big, clear numbers-just like on a digital clock.
The solid-state "triggered -sweep" oscilloscope. Use it to analyze modern,
HANNELAUDIO!
state-of-the-art integrated circuits. Triggered -sweep feature locks in signals for easier observation.
These three superb testing instruments are the basis of your own home electronics laboratory. You'll use them throughout the program as you move into more advanced electronics principles and work into audio technology.
Bell & Howell's high performance 4 -channel audio center you actually build and experiment with yourself!
You need practical experience with high caliber equipment to develop professional skills and understand the ins and outs of today's audio technology.
So we came up with a system that Bell & Howell is proud to have its name on:
First, there's the sophisticated outstanding 4 -channel amplifier with SQ full -logic decoding and front to back separation.
35 watts per ghartnel-Min. RMS into 8 ohms at less than 0.25% total harmonic distortion from 20-20,000 Hz, all channels fully driven.
As you build and experiment with this remarkable piece of equipment, you'll learn about matrix 4 -channel and discrete-including CD -4 when processed through an external demodulator.
And with it you'll have the advanced circuitry you need to get into signal tracing low level circuits ... troubleshooting high power amplifier stages . . . and checking the operation of tone control circuits.
Next, the advanced FM -FM stereo tuner. As you build this superb stereo tuner, you'll come to fully understand how the advanced, "state-of-the-art" features lead to such high performance. You'll learn about all solid-state con-
sensitivity, crystal IF filters for wide bandwidth and the superior multiplex circuit that produces such excellent. stereo separation.
A wealth of knowledge in digestible chunks.
O.K.! So now you might be thinking, "It sounds really interesting ... but kind of complicated." And you're right. But that is why we use the "hands on" teaching approach.
We've taken all the material and broken it down into short, simple -to grasp lessons, so you can master one thing at a titre before moving on. And we take you through it step by step. From the basics to advanced theory to
applied audio technology. So you actually have an easier time with it.
Special learning opportunities give you extra help and attention.
In case you do run into a problem or two, we're ready to give you more help and personal attention than you'd expect from most learn -at-home programs.
For example, many home study schools ask you to mail in your questions. Bell & Howell Schools gives you a toll -free number to call for answers you need right away.
Few home study schools offer personal contact with instructors. Bell & Howell Schools organizes "help sessions" in 50 major cities at various times during the year-where you can discuss problems with fellow students and instructors in person.
And when you're done, a lot more than just 4 -channel sound!
You'll have covered the complete spectrum of electronics principles, leading to a full understanding of audio technology.
And while no school can promise you a job or income opportunity, you will have occupational skills necessary to become a full -service technician. With the ability to work on the entire range of audio equipment. Such as tape recorders, cassette players, FM antennas and commercial sound systems. You'll know audio technology from the inside out. And you'll be proud of it.
Plus you will have the basic skills that apply to the entire electronics field, including television technology and repair.
For more details, mail card today! Here's your chance to break out of
the mold. And break into 4 -channel audio with Bell & Howell Schools. Why not look into it today. Mail the attached postage -paid card now.
Taken for vocational purposes, this program is approved by the state approval agency for Veterans' Benefits.
Wood cabinets available at extra cost. "Electro-Lab®" is a registered trademark
of the Bell & Howell Company
If card has been removed, write:
Ar Electronics Home Study School
DEVRY IIISTITUTE OF TECHOOLOGV 01.1 Of 1HE
766 R2
BELLE HOWELL SCHOOLS
4141 Belmont, Chicago, Illinois 60641
October's Turntable
About that turntable on the October
cover: is it for real? I've never seen anything like it.
GARY NORBUTT Fall River, Mass.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Altman's Nashville I've been reading the various write-ups on Robert Altman's Nashville-especially of the soundtrack recording which ABC stupidly chose to issue-with increasing amusement. Noel Coppage seems to have more of an ap-
preciation of Altman's work than most
(October), but I stilt think he has missed the point of the music. Now, / am not quite sure what the point is myself; I waver between feeling that Altman was more interested in having convincing performances than in good music and feeling that he wanted bad music and intended that as a commentary in itself. But of one thing I am certain: Altman makes films, and that's it. He never intended that a viewer of Nashville already be familiar with the songs. If you go to see the movie cold, it doesn't grate all that much on the nervesalthough you can't help noticing how trite and silly most of the songs are. I'm sure Altman is sitting at home laughing himself sick over the notion that people are buying and listening to a record of the songs from the movie.
LESLIE GERBER Phoenicia, N.Y.
Noel Coppage's review of Nashville was fine as far as it went, but it didn't say anything about why Robert Altman made it. I think he made it because he knows what I know: the answer to the question of where American pop music is going is straight to Country, but most people would rather die than admit it. Will anyone down at STEREO REVIEW admit it?
ESTELLE KELLY
New York, N. Y.
Yes.
It distressed me greatly to see Noel Cop page insert this ridiculous myth into an otherwise excellent review of the movie Nashville (October): "Anyone can, and in fact, always does, act." Horsefeathers. Weaseling out of an invitation or trying to appear interested in a boring situation is not acting; it is a widely accepted form of lying. Acting is the art of creating a character doing, saying, and thinking things appropriate to a given situation and the character's relation to that situation and the other characters. Seeing a well-known personality, often a singer, on a television
show or in a movie or play, with no knowledge of how to present any other character besides his own, is just as nauseating to me as Telly Savalas' tempoed murmurings are to Mr.
Coppage, I did not see John Denver on McCloud, but I found it very difficult to make allowances for Glen Campbell's "performance" in True Grit.
Very few people attending a musical event consider themselves expert enough to comment on a violinist's bowing technique, a con-
ductor's interpretation of a score, or a singer's phrasing, and yet everyone seems to be an expert on acting. Acting is a difficult art, just as singing or writing a novel is. Mr. Coppage is probably more easily offended by musical ineptitude because of his deeper involvement with music. Appreciating his concern, I would, however, suggest that he confine his comments to subjects musical, or at least control his scorn for arts in which he has not become as deeply involved or educated.
ALAN L. HUTCHESON Mesa, Ariz.
Mr. Coppage replies: This is an interesting ramble, but I don't see anything in it that actually refutes the statement that we all do a little acting. The kind of actor Mr. Hutcheson means, one being directly paid for it, "creating a character doing, saying, and thinking," etc., has more help than the kind I referred to, if anything; the script -writer and the director have something to do with the character being created and what he or she does, says, and thinks. The liar has to write his own lines and direct himself. Obviously, some people are better actors than others, but then, on the local level, some of those lies are believed, so they must be told, as well as written, with some sort of skill. No one is suggesting that
everyone who's good at weaseling should be in the theater or movies. We should remember, somewhere in here, what we started talking about: Altman and his script, however skeletal, required very little of some of the players in Nashville besides singing. Like everything else, this is a matter of degree and of individual cases: while Alec Guinness obviously can do things histrionic that we liars cannot do, I have my doubts about whether Karen Black did anything in Nashville that Dolly Parton couldn't have done, except sing badly.
12
It is real, and imminently available-at a price
of just under $2,000. The Gale CT -2101 turntable, with a three -point -support "platter," has a rather unusual three-point suspension system as well and a d.c. servomotor. The control module in the foreground continuously
varies the turntable speed from about 10 to 99 rpm, with a digital -readout speed indicator. The Gale CT -2101 is a British import; further
details are available from the company's agency, Roth/Sindell, 540 Kelton Ave., Los Angeles, Calif. 90024. Incidentally, the tone arm, which is not supplied with the turntable,
is the Audio-Technica AT -I009 ($1.39.95 ).
Metropolitan Opera on the Air I do hope that STEREO REVIEW will pub-
lish the schedule of the Saturday afternoon broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera. Your periodical is very, very good; the schedule will make it better.
SOUTHWICK PHELPS Columbia, N.J.
Listed below are the Texaco -Metropolitan Opera Broadcasts (EST) for the 1975-1976 season, subject to change upon notice:
12/6, 2 p.m. 12/13, 1:30 p.m. 12/20, 2 p.m. 12/27, 2 p.m.
1/3, 2 p.m. 1/10, 2 p.m. 1/17, 2 p.m. 1/24. 1:30 p.m. 1/31, 2 p.m. 2/7, 2 p.m. 2/14, 2 p.m. 2/21, 1:30 p.m. 2/28, 2 p.m. 3/6, 2 p.m. 3/13, 2 p.m. 3/20, 2 p.m. 3/27, 1:30 p.m. 4/3, 2 p.m. 4/10, 1:30 p.m. 4/17, I p.m.
Un Ballo in Maschera (Verdi)
Carmen (Bizet) Cosi Fan Tutte (Mozart) Hansel and Gretel
(Humperdinck) II Trittico (Puccini)-new Elektra (R. Strauss)-pre-curtain L'Assedio di Corinto (Rossini) Boris Godunov (Moussorgsky)
Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini)
Fidelio (Beethoven) La Traviata (Verdi) Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart) Norma (Bellini) Aida (Verdi)
I Puritani (Bellini) - new Ariadne auf Naxos (R. Strauss) Der Rosenkavalier (R. Strauss) Madama Butterfly (Puccini) La Gioconda (Ponchielli) Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg
(Wagner)
Bolshoi William Livingstone's "Opera File" review of the Bolshoi Opera (October) was right on the button. I too was amazed at the way the "stars" of the company turned up in minor roles. This is necessary when performing a work with a vast panorama of characters such as Boris Godunov. Assigning the role of Shchelkalov to the reigning Soviet baritone Yuri Mazurok is an example of the total ensemble nature of the company. Of all the operas I saw (all but The Dawns . . .), I was moved by The Gambler the most. The music rips by at gut -punching speed and intensity. With the hallucinogenic strobe lighting and electronic amplification in the second act, it was totally riveting. It was a pity that it was a box-office failure. Perhaps the New York audience was represented by the woman who silt next to me. She grumbled about the lack of overture, arias, and melody. I can name many repertoire pieces that have no overtures (when was the last time she saw Butterfly?). I, how -
(Continued on page /4)
STEREO REVIEW
To Your Taste
Even the most perfect of high fidelity systems cannot escape those little inconsistencies that nag the ear. Room acoustics, speaker inadequacies, or even recording quality can produce listening environments that are less than optimum.
Then, too, each person has his own tastes in frequency response that can vary from time to time, or recording to recording.
Presenting the answer to your frequency response problems: The MXR two channel ten octave -band equalizer. Ten bands divide each channel's frequency response in one octave increments.
Boost or subtract from the tonality of an octave spread in either channel. A gliding touch of a slide control tailors the frequency response of your system to your room acoustics.
Add punch to a bass line. Or brighten up a flute solo. Precisely; repeatably.
Uniquely affordable and elegantly appointed, the MXR two -channel equalizer is crafted in hefty brushed aluminum, with simulated leather and solid oiled black walnut. Its design and circuitry will compliment any modern hi-fi system with gentle elegance and imperceptible distortion.
Its extreme dynamic range allows for application in many situations, and it is therefore made available in a professional version with phone jacks, and a home stereo version with pin jacks and tape monitoring capabilities.
MXR It is instantly adaptable to your system and available
at leading dealers at the incredibly reasonable price of
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Innovations
CIRCLE NO. 39 ON READER SERVICE CARD
ever, thank the Bolshoi and would welcome them back any time. Artists like Mazurok, Milashkina, Galina Borisova, Elena Obraztsova, Vladimir Atlantov, Alexei Maslennikov, and Alexander Ognivtsev, to name but a few, would be stars anywhere.
CRAIG ZEICHNER
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Great Eagles Debate Although I count myself as one of the truest of Eagles fans, I have to rise to the defense of Steve Simels in the "Great Eagles Debate." In his October letter, Kenneth M. Leonard argues that Mr. Simels has no right to pass judgment on the true "country spirit" of the Eagles' music because he doesn't live in a country atmosphere or undergo the conflicts facing a person residing in the country. Ridiculous! The true appreciation of music lies in being able to experience it with the musician, to understand the message he is conveying. If the Eagles' words are convincing in the "country -rock" vein, then it matters little whether they were raised in Abilene, Texas, or Providence, Rhode Island. As a matter of fact, I believe Bernie Leadon is currently the only member of the Eagles who was raised on "country sunshine." As for Mr. Simels, I have never read a review of his that didn't make itself perfectly clear that the material within was an opinion. He is as unbiased and open-minded a critic as I've found yet, and I'll defend his right to express his opinions to the end.
LORA JEAN GARDINER
North Kingstown, R.I.
Garland's Graduates With a desire to update Richard R. Lingeman who, in his October review of "Judy Garland Concert," yearns for the golden age when the "faghaggerie" of Garland will be
effaced by time, I would like to call something to his attention: although there may be some who still weep in their martinis while listening to Garland, by far the majority of us faggots are fuming on these days with Phoebe Snow and Cleo Laine. Granted, deserting Garland may be another indication of our emotional instability and fickleness, but I just wanted to set the record . . . er . . . straight. Anyone for Tchaikovsky?
BUD BARRICKLOW
Seattle, Wash.
Venus, Mars, and Others A note of complete irrelevance concerning
Lester Bangs' October review of the McCartneys' LP, "Venus and Mars": I couldn't care less if "the lovely Linda" plays, sings, or serves cupcakes at the MacCartney sessions. I merely want to be entertained by the "faceless" Tom Scott, Dave Mason, and others. I especially like Scott's solo on Man Said. McCartney is just one of rock's finest bass-
ists, vocalists, and producers. Aside from that he hasn't a lot going for him. That's all for now -must put on "For the Roses" and get relevant.
JOHN GILMORE
Los Angeles, Calif.
IElectric Dulcimer was somewhat surprised to read of Noel Coppage's apparent shock at the use of the electric dulcimer in the new Richard and Linda Thompson album (October). Far from being a potential "rampaging horror," the electric dulcimer is now part of the English con-
14
temporary folk medium. The works of classically oriented Roger Nicholson or folk -rock minded Tim Hart on his albums with Maddy Prior or with Steeleye Span are proof of the advanced application of the dulcimer put forth by the English. The ghost of Richard Farina seems to have come to rest in Britain.
CHARLES H. SMITH New Hartford, Conn.
The Original Piano Trio I'm certain Paul Kresh's October review
of the Original Piano Trio's "Nostalgia" rec7 ord would have been quite different if he had known that the selections were not newly recorded at a 1975 reunion of the trio, but were the actual piano -roll recordings made for the Ampico (American Piano Company) reproducing piano in 1922. This information was clear in my original notes, but it was edited out by the producers for some unknown reason.
Incidentally, John Green's suite Night Club was never performed by the Original Piano Trio, as Mr. Kresh claims. Rather, it
was introduced by Roy Bargy, Ramona, and the composer with Paul Whiteman's Concert Orchestra in 1933.
PETER MINTUN
San Francisco, Calif.
Ah, Ramona! Where are you today? And what, for that matter, ever became of the
Tune Twisters?
Davis/Rodrigo Adagio
John Hogle's October letter alludes to a supposed arrangement of Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, namely the "absolutely unique and superb transcription for trumpet and orchestra by Miles Davis and Gil Ev-
ans." Actually, this is both less and more than an arrangement of the familiar guitar concerto as such, for only the Adagio movement is involved. Of course, that is the haunting part everyone remembers from the original work; nevertheless, it is sloppy titling to equate it with the whole Concierto.
The Davis/Evans rendition of the Adagio is, on the other hand, more fully developed than the original, with a very free treatment of the solo part. Lasting over sixteen minutes in all, it is much more than a regular transcription. This heady brew is part of the still available "Sketches of Spain" record (Columbia PC -8271), and Aranjuez lovers certainly ought to know it. The point at which I most miss the guitar is where, in the original score. the increasingly rapid and intense chordal strumming in the written cadenza-which is completely out of the province of a wind or brass instrument-leads up to the glorious
climactic reprise that breaks out in the
orchestra.
JACK DIETHER
New York, N.Y.
IViva Diva enjoyed William Livingstone's "Viva Diva" (September) very much, having seen all three of Mme. Olivero's performances at the Met. Nevertheless, I disagree with his views on enthusiastic audiences. An overly enthusiastic audience can ruin a performance. For example, in Act III, Tosca (Mme. Olivero) relates the story of how she finally killed Scarpia, ending with: "lo quella lama gli piantai nel cor." On the word "lama" Mme. Olivero struck a very high note, prompting some idiot in the audience to scream "Bravo!" A lot
of people tried to shut him up, but the tenseness of the scene had already been broken. Opera, as performed by artists of Mme. Olivero's caliber, is drama at its best, and having it spoiled by the shouts of exhibitionists is unfortunate.
I believe that it was within reason to have applauded Mme. Olivero at her entrance and at her spectacular final exit in Act I and that the audience's concentration should be on the performance and not on itself.
PETER GEIDEL
Bronx, N.Y.
Mr. Livingstone replies: Perhaps. But does "reason" have much to do with all this? Who is to decide when an outburst is irrepressible enthusiasm and when it is simply shameful exhibitionism?
Brownsville Station
Bravo, Steve Simels! It's about time
Brownsville Station received some good press (October), even if Mr. Simels doesn't like "Motor City Connection" (he's forgiven only because he's good-looking). I'd like to add that there are two other members of Brownsville Station, both of whom are also very tal-
ented and personable: Michael Lutz and
Bruce Nazarian.
TERI FARRIS
New York, N.Y.
IRecording Wire would be very grateful if STEREO REVIEW or any of its readers could help me find spools of recording wire for a Webster Model 80 wire recorder.
WILLIAM D. CROWELL, JR.
48 Oxford Drive Lincolnshire, III. 60015
Correction
Before you hear from a justly indignant
admirer of the music of Henri Lazarof, I must correct the transcription error that caused his name to appear as "Henry Lazarus" in the interview with Maurice Abravanel (October). One of this composer's works, Structures
Sonores, was recorded for Vanguard by
Abravanel, and there are at least half a dozen other currently available recordings of his music on the Desto, Candide, CRI, and Everest labels.
ROY HEMMING
New York, N.Y.
Me Too
Unfortunately, I am probably not the first to discover the reference, in one of my October reviews, to William "Kross" as pianist Artur Balsam's partner in his recordings of the Mozart sonatas for piano and violin. The error was mine (typists will understand how this can happen: the third finger left hand rests on the "s" key, third finger right hand on the "I", and sometimes the signals get switched), and I offer sincere apologies to both musicians. William Kroll, the distinguished violinist and leader of the string quartet that bore his name, deserves better. While I am registering corrections, I must note that I was off the mark in speculating that the sessions for Mr. Balsam's new MHS set of the Mozart sonatas were spaced over a longer period than those for his earlier recording on L'Oiseau-Lyre; I am advised that he taped the entire cycle in four
days.
RICHARD FREED
Rockville, Md.
STEREO REVIEW
While everyone is still trying to make WETS at any price,we now
make them at a lower price.
When Sony introduced the first amplifiers with (PLL) MPX section. Whici means you get excellen
vertical field-effect transistors last year, the reacions stereo separation and low distortion.
were nothing short of incredible.
Of course, if you're going around looking for a
Consumers wrote in asking where they could
turntab e, by all means take a look at our PS -4750
hear the equipment. Audiophiles demanded to know (cartridge sold separately).
where they could buy it. And our competitors wanted
It has a direct drive servo motor with a wow and
to know how they could make it. In fact, the only problem was that more people
flutter rating of only .03%. Its base and platter are made from molded
couldn't afford the $1300 price.
compound instead of metal, so resonance has been
So, we at Sony decided to do something about it. greatly reduced. It also has air -damped cushions,
And what we've come up with is our new $400 V-FET which compensate for warpness in records (again
integrated amplifier, the TA -4650. The TA -4650 is quite reducing resonance). The end result is a much
an advanced little piece of equipment. Because the
cleaner sound.
V-FET isn't just another combination of gadgets, or a
souped -up version of the same old thing. It's a
completely new device that combines the good points
of both bi-polar transistors and triode vacuum tubes.
Without suffering the drawbacks of either. Because it's
made with V-FETS, the TA -4650 gives you a new level
of highly defined triode sound; along with the effi-
ciency and stability found only in solid state devices.
The TA -4650 delivers 30 watts per channel, minimum
RMS at 8 ohms, 20Hz-20kHZ with no more than 0.1%
total harmonic distortion.
It has a direct coupled power amplifier stage. As well as direct coupled FET amplifiers in the tone
t -1- - T_. T-1
control and buffer stages.
Its bass and treble controls have a turnover
frequency selector that starts at 250HZ/500HZ for
bass and 2.5kHZ/5kHZ for treble. Its volume control is equipped with a switch for
20dB muting. And it has a level control memory
It's no accident that Sony makes the world's first commercially available V-FET equipment. Or that we have matching components good enough to complete
device so volume can be set at any predetermined
your system.
point.
You see, we've got more solid state audio
But as good as our new V-FET amplifier is, we're experience than anyone else. We've been at it for
just as proud of the components we make to go along twenty years. For proof just stop by your Sony dealer.
with it.
And use your ears.
Our ST -4950 AM/FM stereo tuner, for example, has a MOS FET front end, un i-phase solid state filters and IC's in IF stages. This allows an FM capture ratio of only 1.0dB, selectivity of 80dB and an S/N ratio of 70dB. The ST -4950 also has a phase -locked loop
*TA -8650: 80 watts per channel, min. RMS w 8 ohms. 20Hz-20kHz, with no more than 0.1% total harmonic distortion.
SONY
c 1975 Sony Corp of America. Sony, 9w. 57 St.. N Y, N.Y 10019. SONY is a trademark of Sony Corp.
CIRCLE NO. 46 ON READER SERVICE CARD
NEW PRODUCTS THELATESTIN HIGH-FIDELITY EQUIPMENT
Janis Audio
Associates Woofer
The first product from Janis Audio Associates is an add-on "sub -woofer" designed to be used in existing audio systems with loudspeakers that have limited output capabilities at extremely low frequencies. The frequency response of the Janis Woofer is within 1 dB from 100 to 30 Hz, over which range it is said to be capable of sound -pressure levels up to 106 dB at a distance of 1 meter under anechoic conditions. Below 30 Hz a 12 -dB -peroctave rolloff minimizes the effects of low frequency noises such as turntable rumble. Harmonic distortion for an 85 -dB soundpressure level at 30 Hz is under 2 per cent. Amplifier power of 60 watts per woofer is said to be adequate under most conditions; amplifiers capable of more than 150 watts per channel are generally not recommended. The nom-
inal impedance of the Janis Woofer is 8 ohms. The 15 -inch driver of the Janis Woofer is
enclosed in a low commode cabinet, 22 x 22 inches and 18 inches high, finished in oiled
frequency response) with interior foam cushions. All three use 1 -inch dome -type drivers with nylon diaphragms. Frequency responses are generally 20 Hz to beyond 20,000 Hz (the
Stereo -50 is rated down to 16 Hz), and power -handling capabilities are just under
half a watt. Impedance is suitable for use
with conventional amplifier stereo -headphone jacks. Harmonic distortion is under 0.5 per cent at a 103 -dB sound -pressure level (SPL) for the Stereo -20, 0.2 per cent at 110 -dB SPL for the Stereo -30, and 0.2 per cent at 100 dB SPL for the Stereo -50.
All three models are similar in construction, with extendable headbands and, on the 30 and 50, pivoting yokes to support the earpieces. Eight -foot cables are standard, terminating in the usual three -conductor phone plugs (the Stereo -50's cable is coiled). Weights are 6 (Stereo -20), 8 (Stereo -30), and 12 (Stereo -50)
ounces, and prices (in the same order) are
$25, $30, and $50. Circle 116 on reader service card
sation, tape monitor, mono/stereo mode, and FM interstation-noise muting, plus rotary controls for volume, balance, bass, and treble. A signal -strength tuning meter and stereo headphone jack are also provided. In the rear are the outputs and inputs, including 300- and 75 -ohm antenna terminals, and an unswitched a.c. convenience outlet. Overall dimensions are approximately 18 x 51/2 x 12 inches, including the integral wood cabinet.
Circle 117 on reader service card
Dual 1249
Automatic Turntable
United Audio announces the introduction of the Dual 1249, the premiere model in a new line of belt -driven automatic turntables from this manufacturer. The two -speed (331/3 and 45 rpm) design employs a I2 -inch, 41/2 -pound aluminum platter with stroboscopic markings cast into its circumference, where they are illuminated by a strobe light beneath the motor board. A fine -speed adjustment is continuously variable over a 6 per cent range; 331/3 or 45 rpm is selected by means of a mechanism that
walnut with decorative walnut inlays. The driver radiates through a slot running around the top of the enclosure; otherwise the enclosure is sealed. A separate amplifier must be used with each Janis woofer, with the signal
for the amplifier obtained from a suitable electronic crossover. The manufacturer specifies a crossover frequency of 100 Hz with slopes of no less than 18 dB per octave. A variety of crossovers, some of which provide summed
outputs so that one or two woofers can be driven from as many as four channels, are available from Janis at prices ranging from $123 to $242. Price of the Janis Woofer:
$599.
Circle 115 on reader service card
Telephonics
Stereo Headphones
A new series of stereo headphones comprising the models Stereo -20, Stereo -30, and Stereo -50 are the latest products from Telephonics. Two of them, the 20 and the 30 (shown), employ enclosed drivers along with acoustically transparent foam cushions that rest on the ear. The Stereo -50 has ear -encircling seals (for acoustical isolation and extended low -
16
Scott Model R31S AM/Stereo FM Receiver
A new stereo receiver from H. H. Scott provides 15 watts per channel continuous output (into 8 ohms, from 20 to 20,000 Hz) for a particularly modest price ($199.95). Harmonic and intermodulation distortion are both 0.5 per cent at rated output, and noise levels are -60 dB for the phono inputs, -70 dB for highlevel inputs. For the FM section, IHF sensitivity is 2.5 microvolts (5 microvolts for 50 dB quieting), and alternate -channel selectivity is 55 dB. Capture ratio is 2.5 dB, and image and
spurious -response rejection are both 60 dB. Frequency response is 20 to 15,000 Hz ±3 dB, and stereo separation is 35 dB at 1,000 Hz. Harmonic -distortion levels, mono and stereo, are 0.5 and 0.8 per cent, respectively.
On its control panel, the Scott R3 I S has pushbuttons for program -source selection
(AM, FM, PHONO, Aux) and speaker switching (two pairs accommodated), loudness compen-
shifts the drive belt from one diameter to another on the motor pulley. The motor itself is an eight -pole synchronous device.
The tone arm is pivoted by the latest version of Dual's familiar gimbal configuration, with an integral calibrated stylus -force adjustment that applies force via a spring after the arm has been zero -balanced by means of a counterweight. A separate anti -skating adjustment is calibrated separately for conical, elliptical, and CD -4 styli. A damped tone -arm cueing mechanism, operated by an upright lever next to the arm rest, is adjustable in respect to the height to which the arm is raised. Another lever raises the pivot assembly up or down, providing correct vertical tracking angle for one record or the center of a stack of six (the maximum number accommodated by the change mechanism).
The operating controls of the 1249 follow the pattern of previous Dual models, with a single lever to initiate or interrupt automatic play and another to select speed. A small knob selects a single -play cycle only or continuous repeats. In manual operation the turntable motor is started when the tone arm is raised and brought toward the platter. A manual spindle (shown) that rotates with the record is included along with the automatic spindle.
Basic specifications for the 1249 include a rumble level of less than -63 dB (weighted) and wow and flutter less than 0.06 per cent.
(Continued on page 18)
STEREO REVIEW
Now ifyour car
is damaged,
Allstate guarantees the repairs. In writing.
Allstate wants to make sure your car is fixed right.
We know how important your car is to you. If it's been in an accident, we want you to be satisfied with the way we've handled your claim. Regardless of whether you're an Allstate policyholder or a claimant. Now we've added still another way to help make sure you're satisfied:
THE ALLSTATE REPAIR GUARANTEE.
Here's how it works. Say your car's been in an accident. If you wish, we'll be happy to recommend several repair shops.
Shops we've had experience with. And, if you choose one of those, we'll guarantee the workmanship of that shop. Not for just a week or a month. But for as long as you own the car.
Of course, the Allstate Repair Guarantee does not cover manufacturer's defects in any operating parts. And it's available only through Allstate Insurance Company -operated claim locations.
At Allstate we stand behind our claim service. Because we don't want you to have to worry about your car being fixed right.
How's that for good news!
Available in most states.
Allstate Insurance Co. Northbrook,
Allstate
You're in good hands.
YOUR ALLSTATE AGENT
. . . can help you with insurance for your life, health, car, home, boat and business, too . . . can provide help in financing your new car and in joining a motor club . . . ar_d, as a Registered Representative, can offer you a variety of retirement plans and information on a mutual fund.
CIRCLE NO. 4 ON READER SERVICE CARD
The market goes
up and down.
English feather Ak
L.)
COLOGNE
But English Leather hangs in there steady. Today's market
makes any man look forsolid value. Suddenly, spending a lot for
expensive colognes doesn't seem so smart.
Not when there's English Leather® It has a fragrance that says class and a price tag that
doesn't say rip-off. Then too, smart women like
smart men. So invest in English Leather liquid assets.
MEM COMPANY. INC_ Northvale, N.J. 0764701975
18
NEW PRODUCTS THE LATEST IN HIGH-FIDELITY EQUIPMENT
The width and depth of the 1249 are about
161/2 and 141/2 inches, respectively, with base. Two styles of base are offered, both at $15.95, and two dust covers, one that will accommodate the change spindle ($13.95) and one for use with the manual spindle only ($12.95). Price of the basic Model 1249: $279.95.
Circle 50 on reader service card
3M Model CTR-1
Stereo Cassette Deck
One of the largest and most elaborate stereo cassette decks now available is the new Model CTR-1 from the Mincom division of the 3M Company. The well-known 3M cassette transport that has long been a feature of the finer cassette decks offered under the Wollensak brand name is used in the CTR-1, modified to suit a front -loading layout. All transport controls, including a pause function, are activated by means of light -touch pushbuttons operating through solenoids. The deck has a memory -rewind feature working in conjunction with the three -digit index counter, and a continuous -play mode in which the cassette is automatically rewound and played again indefinitely. The index counter, besides being manually resettable, is also returned to zero whenever a cassette is ejected.
The CTR-1's Dolby noise -reduction circuits can be used to process tapes, decode Dolbyized FM broadcasts, or to record such broadcasts while they are being auditioned in decoded form. The separate bias and equalization switches both have three positions (for chromium -dioxide, ferri-chrome, and standard) that operate in conjunction with twelve rear -panel bias and equalization calibration controls. Microphone and line sources can be mixed for recording via separate input -level controls; playback -level controls are also separate. The unusually large recording -level meters can be switched to read average or peak levels, and they are calibrated separately for that purpose: from -20 to +5 dB for average, -40 to +5 dB for peak.
Frequency response is 35 to 15,000 Hz with iron -oxide tape, and 35 to 17,000 Hz
with chromium dioxide or Ferri -Chrome. Referenced to a 0 -VU recorded level, the
CTR-1's signal-to-noise ratio is 50 dB without Dolby noise reduction. Wow and flutter are 0.1 per cent (weighted rms). The microphone inputs are designed for low -impedance microphones and have a sensitivity of 0.15 millivolt for a 0 -VU level. The headphone jack has a nominal output of 1 milliwatt into 8 -ohm phones. The CTR-1 has wood end panels with a vinyl -coated metal top and dimensions of 24 x 71/4 x 8 inches. Price: $629. A remote control unit duplicating the functions of the transport pushbuttons will soon be available.
Circle 118 on reader service card
Sylvania's GTE Speaker Systems
GTE -Sylvania has launched a new brand name-GTE-for a new line of speaker systems representing the company's best products of this kind. The initial three models are four-way, three-way, and two-way systems designated, respectively, the 412, 312, and 210. The two larger systems employ 12 -inch woofers in sealed cabinets, 41/2 -inch cone mid -range drivers, and 3/4 -inch dome tweeters. The Model 412 adds a 11/2 -inch dome tweeter that is also used, along with a 10 -inch
woofer, in the two-way Model 210. The Models 412 and 312 have power -han-
dling capabilities permitting use with amplifiers rated at up to 150 watts per channel con-
tinuous. Crossover frequencies are 500, 2,000, and 8,000 Hz for the 412, and 500 and 3,500 Hz for the 312. In both systems, each driver except the woofer has a switch to alter its acoustical output over a range of ±3 dB in three steps. The Model 210 has a crossover frequency of 1,500 Hz and similar switches for high and mid -range frequencies. The GTE speakers are designed for wide, uniform dispersion, with frequency response flat within ±3.5 dB from 30 to 15,000 Hz up to 45 degrees off -axis for the Model 412 (30 to 15,000 Hz ±4 dB for the 312). All systems have nominal impedances of 8 ohms. The GTE 412 has dimensions of 281/2 x 181/2 x 121/2 inches; the 312 is 27 x 171/s x 111/2, and the 210 is 24 x 153/8 x 113/4 inches. All cabinets are identical in appearance and are walnut finished with handsome knit grille cloths. Prices: Model 210, $119.95; Model 312, $179.95; Model 412, $249.95.
Circle 119 on reader service card
Luxman M6000 Stereo Power Amplifier
The largest power amplifier in the new Lux man line of audio components is the M6000 stereo unit which provides 300 watts per channel of continuous power into 8 ohms, both channels driven, with less than 0.05 per cent harmonic or intermodulation distortion. Rated power is available at any frequency from 20 to 20,000 Hz and the noise level is at least 100 dB below rated output. Frequency
STEREO REVIEW
response is 5 to 50,000 Hz ±1 dB; damping factor is 100 for 8 -ohm loads.
The construction of the M6000 involves entirely separate power supplies for each channel, with driver and output stages within
.00
each channel electrically isolated from each other to prevent interference. Protective devices include temperature and current sensors, plus a relay that disconnects the speaker systems in the event of abnormal current surges or d.c. voltages appearing at the outputs. The relay circuitry also provides a delay in turn -on of about 5 seconds, during which time an LED warm-up indicator flashes.
Output levels of the M6000 are continuously monitored by large front -panel meters indicating average levels and a pair of LED displays indicate peak levels. The sensitivities of these indicators can be altered by 10 dB (with a front -panel switch) to permit them to register at low output levels. Separate level controls
for the two channels are detented in 1 -dB steps from 0 to -20 dB. A wooden case sur-
rounds the top and sides of the amplifier, leaving the unusual "honey -comb" heat sinks in the rear open for ventilation. Approximate dimensions are 22'/2 x 83/4 x 163/4 inches, and the weight is 115 pounds. Price: $2,995. The M4000, a somewhat smaller amplifier rated at 180 watts per channel continuous with identical distortion and bandwidth, offers virtually all the construction and control features of the M6000 at a price of $1,495.
Circle 120 on reader service card
SAC Consumer Membership Program
The Society of Audio Consultants, which for several years has offered audio training and certification to high-fidelity retailers, is now extending its membership to include interested consumers. Such members will be designated Consumer Associates. An annual membership fee of $10 ($7.50 if received before January 15, 1976) will entitle members to a monthly newsletter, information on audio career possibilities, and rental privileges for home -study courses that SAC currently makes available to dealer and industry members. The newsletter will provide free classified space for members wishing to buy or sell equipment. In addition, manufacturers and SAC -affiliated retailers will periodically offer discounts and rebates to Consumer Associates. For further information write: Society of Audio Consultants, Dept. SR, 393 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016.
PUBLISHER'S NOTICE: Recent fluctuations in the value of the dollar will have an effect on the price of merchandise imported into this country. So, please be aware that the prices quoted in this issue may be subject to change.
DECEMBER 1975
The spatial effects in sound reproduction create the listening illusion of presence and
participation at the live performance. Before the AKG K-240, using a headphone meant you had
to create the directional and distance characteristics of original performance in your mind.
Now the AKG K-240 does it for you...before the sound enters your ear.
The 240 Sextett incorporates six passive (slave) diaphragms around a main driving
transducer. Sound pressure from the main driver activates the slaves to extend and smooth out
frequency response. The genius is in how we accomplish this...
Above 200 Hz (the theoretical crossover point) the diaphragms offer an acoustical
resistance that gives the effect of "open listening".
Below 200 Hz the compliance of the diaphragms acts as a closed wall, resulting in
the perfect bass reproduction normally found only in closed headphones.
The interaction between the passive diaphragms and the air volume between your ear
and the headphone is what reproduces the spatial effects of the live performance.
It all adds up to very natural sound reproduction throughout the audible spectrum,
with no audible distortion or coloration.
The K-240 also features the AKG exclusive Cardaw universal swivel to help keep the
pressure off your head. And the price won't put pressure on your wallet either. At select audio
dealers or write to:
AKG MICROPHONES HEADPHONES
distributed by: PHILIPS AUDIO VIDEO SYSTEMS CORP.
AUDIO DIVISION 91 McKee Drive. Mahwah. New Jersey 07430
A North American Philips Company
You'll get some very spatial effects with our sextett.
Presenting the AKG K-240.
AKG. Vienna
CIRCLE NO. 1 ON READER SERVICE CARD
19
1
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Now you can stop price increases that leave you with less music for your record and tape budget. You can guarantee yourself more music for less money through membership in Discount Music Club.
Look at these benefits:
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on every record and tape in printno "agree -to -purchase" obligations of any kind.
DISCOUNTS OF 43% TO 73%
off mfg. suggested list . .. special catalog features hundreds of titles and artists.
AU. LABELS MAILABLE
ncluding most imports through special custom ordering service. If we don't
stock it we'll get it for you.
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lists thousands of titles; classical, pop, jazz, ballet, opera, musical shows, folk, rock, vocal, instrumental, country, etc.
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Certificates redeemable immediately for extra discounts.
NEWSLETTERS
happenings in the world of music; concerts, critiques, new releases ... special super -sale listings at discounts of up to 73%.
DISCOUNT ACCESSORY GUIDE
Diamond needles, cloths, tape cleaners, etc. Discount Music Club is your complete one stop music and accessory buying service.
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These are just a few of the money -saving reasons to write for free details. You can't lose so why not fill out and mail the coupon below for immediate information.
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eineDIS6C5O0 MUaNinTStreet, New Rochelle,N.Y.10801
NAME
ADDRE SS
CITY
I STATE *MA. NM
ZIP
''''
CIRCLE NO. 15 ON READER SERVICE CARD
AUDIO
QUESTIO\S
A\ScV/E\Sc
By LARRY KLEIN Technical Editor
Double -Dolby FM? EN In your Double -Dolby Q & A (OctoW. ber issue) you recommended that when copying Dolby tapes one should decode the original and then re -encode as one makes the copy. Should the same decode -encode approach also be used when one is taping Dolby FM broadcasts?
SUSAN EDWARDS
Palo Alto, Calif.
A As you may recall, the problem in copying Dolbyized tapes came about be-
cause of the lack of a 0 -reference Dolby tone on the "master" tape. (Professional A -encoded master tapes always have such a reference tone.) However, since the proper performance of the Dolby encode -decode process depends on the use of a consistent reference level, all you need do is set up the output -level controls on your tuner and/or the input controls on the Dolby adapter so that the reference tone broadcast by the station produces the correct Dolby -level meter reading on your equipment. (A few recent tuners have a builtin test tone that corresponds to the proper broadcast -reference level.) The answer to the question, therefore, is that you can record a Dolbyized FM program directly if you can set the levels correctly, but make sure that your equipment has the proper 25 -microsecond de emphasis characteristic.
Instant Evaluation QWhen evaluating the sound quality of . audio components do you believe it is
necessary to listen to the components over an extended period of time, or do you think that quick A -B switching comparisons are adequate to appreciate different characteristics?
JERRY L. WALKER Tacoma, Wash.
AAAlthough I can't imagine why there
. should be a difference of opinion in this matter, there is. I find that instant A -B switching is the only way I can detect subtle differences between components. By "subtle," I mean differences that are small enough that if I were to leave the room I would not be able to tell by sound quality alone which component was playing when I returned. The prob-
lem, as I see it, is that in making critical distinctions one naturally focuses on whatever audible differences exist. And difficulties arise when the differences among the systems are so small that one cannot pick out a specific
catality (such as "peaky," "shrill," "warm," etc.) and use that as an identifying characteristic. However, if I'm listening to three speakers, for example, each of which has a distinctive frequency balance, then it is easy to fix on the differences and pick out which is playing during a blind A -B -C comparison. Of course, the program material must cover the frequency ranges where the differences exist. A solo flute would be useless in discriminating between three speakers, one of which had a boomy bass response, another a low, tight bass, and the third no low bass at all.
In short, if the above conditions are met, I find that I can make instant comparisons that, even if they don't reveal "objective truth," are at least consistent over time. The only reason I would have to "live with a component" is to make sure that I've covered all the bases in respect to what it does to a wide variety of program material. I've checked with Julian Hirsch on the question, and he feels the same way. He pointed out to me that neither one of us has ever experienced the so-called longterm listening fatigue phenomenon. In those circumstances, when the sound reproduction was bad enough to cause listening fatigue in the long run, we always heard the problem in short-term A -B testing first.
On the other hand, my associate Ralph Hodges, who prefers long-term comparisons of equipment, feels that further, small audible differences almost always come to light after lengthy, concentrated listening with a wide variety of program material. Since any sort of listening test is by nature subjective, I guess everybody has to see what works best for himself after accumulating enough experience to generalize. However, if you were to ask me where to go to get the listening experience, the best I could suggest would be to find yourself some friendly local audiophiles.
In this connection, if there are hi-fi audio clubs out there that would like to be listed, please notify me as to your whereabouts and membership requirements.
Phono-cartridge Tracking Force
Q. instructions accompanying phono . cartridges specify a range of tracking forces such as I to 2 grams or 3 to 5 grams, the first number being the recommended minimum force and the second the maximum. But assuming that I gram does the job adequately, why should anyone consider a higher tracking force-one which would cause more
(Continued on page 22)
STEREO REVIEW
Introducing the BSR
Silent Performer
The only rumble from this belt -drive turntable comes from our competitors.
For years most expensive manual record -playing devices have used belt -drive as a smooth, trouble -free --and most important-silent method for transmission of power. Now,
our engineers have succeeded in integrating a highly refined belt -drive system into more affordably -priced
turntables. They offer a corn oination of features and performance not yet available in even more expensive competitive models. We call them the Silent Performers.
Our Model 20 BPX is a fully automated sincle-play turntable with a precision machined platter, high -torque multi -pole synchronous motor,
tubular "S" shaped adjustable counterweighted tone arm in gimbal mount, viscous cueing, quiet Delrin cam gear, automatic arm lock, dual -range anti -skate and much more. It is packaged with base, hinged tinted dust cover, and ADC K6E cartridge. See your audio dealer for more information, or write to us.
BR
Consumer Products Group BSR (USA) Ltd.
Blauvelt, N.Y. 10913
DECEMBER 1975
CIRCLE NQ 10 ON READER SERVICE CARD
2 I
ENOCH LIGHT SAYS:
"Telephonics Stereo Headphones are superior values at unbeatable prices..."
Enoch Light, internationally renowned musician and producer of the Project 3 Stereo Series, says Telephonics stereo headphones are "...a magnificent music -listening equipment value."
The all-neW Telephonics line of headphones features the revolutionary air-loomTM diaphragm which faithfully reproduces the rich lows, the smooth mid -range and the crisp clear highs of quality stereo.
STEREO 20 LIGHTWEIGHT...high impact construction... "open flow" acoustic design for good wide range natural sound ...soft, comfortable ear cushions.
STEREO 30 LIGHTWEIGHT PLUS...features acoustically designed concave cushions for rich wide range sound...special ear cup design for smooth bass
response... comfortable headband.
STEREO 50
HIGH PERFORMANCE... features inner open-air supra -aural cushion and an outer closed -air circum-aural cushion...a blend control for listener adjustment...dual adjustable headband.
TEL -101F 4 -CHANNEL Quad-Fix"...this"Fixler Effect" headphone features specially designed drivers positioned in front of and behind the ear to create the effect of a full circle of sound.
Compare Telephonics headphones with all others and you'll agree they're the ultimate in stereo and quad phones.
Dig Avolog
ENJOY THE ULTIMATE IN STEREO AND QUAD HEADPHONES Available at Music Stores and Audio Departments everywhere
MN MI MI MIll MI EM MINI NM MIN IIIIIIII IN= =M N114%
TELE PHONICS A Division of Instrument Systems Corporation
770 Park Avenue Huntington, New York 11743
Please send me more information on Telephonics Headphones
NAME
COMPANY
ADDRESS
CITY
STATE
ZIP
I
CIRCLE NO. 55 ON READER SERVICE CARD
record wear? Isn't it sufficient for the manufacturer to indicate one optimum tracking force and for the user to adjust his tone arm accordingly?
MORRIS LINTSKY
New York, N.Y.
AA range of forces is specified only be. cause the cartridge manufacturer has no way of knowing what sort of record player any particular cartridge will eventually find itself in. The lowest specified tracking force is suitable only for low -mass tone arms with low -friction bearings and a gentle end -of -play trip mechanism (if it is an automatic). A cartridge used at too low a tracking force for a given player is likely to inflict more groove damage (as the stylus bounces from wall to wall in the groove) than would result from the slightly greater groove -wall indentation caused by a higher -than -necessary tracking force.
On the Rack
Q. have often seen in hi-fi advertisements and test reports the line "suitable for rack mounting" in reference to amps, preamps, and similar electronic components. Exactly what kind of "rack" is used for the "mounting"?
RAYMOND ST. PIERRE
Chicopee, Mass.
A. If you asked the question of a medieval dungeon keeper you would probably get a more interesting answer than that which follows. However . . . at one time we used to call them relay racks, which suggests that they were first used in telephone installations. Today, the so-called relay rack consists of anything from a small desk -mounted enclosure to, say, a 7 -foot tall structure. What makes both of these "racks" is that they are designed to take standard 19 -inch -wide panels that have slotted ends which match (for screw bolt mounting) the threaded holes tapped into the upright frame of the rack structure. Most radio -station broadcast and recording -studio electronic equipment is designed for rack mounting. As a matter of fact, this is also true of most professional and industrial electronic equipment, except when the instruments are too small or are intended for portable use. (Incidentally, I suspect that at least 99 per cent of the hi-fi equipment designed to be suitable for rack mounting will never find itself so installed.)
Spring Power Can you tell me why my stereo signal drops to half power every fall and re-
turns to full power in the spring? The amplifier has 55 watts.
EDWARD J. CARLIN Philadelphia, Pa.
AAI can't provide a positive answer, but I . suspect it has something to do with the vernal equinox. Seriously though, I'm curious
as to how Mr. Carlin-who I suspect lacks the required test equipment-knows exactly how much power his amplifier is delivering at
each of the four seasons.
Because the number of questions
we receive each month is greater than we can reply to individually, only those letters selected for use in this column can be answered. Sorry!
STEREO REVIEW
Creation of the new Calibration Standard filled a need...the acceptance of
Stanton's 681 TRILE-E is unprecedented!
It was no accident!
The Recording Industry needed a new calibration standard because it had been cutting discs with higher accuracy to achieve greater definition and sound quality.
So, the engineers turned to Stanton for a cartridge of excellence to serve as a primary calibration standard in recording system check-outs.
The result: the new calibration standard, The Stanton 681
TRIPLE -E.
The rest is history!
Major recording studios adopted it ... as did many of the
smaller producers. Radio stations across the world put the 681 TRIPLE -E on all of their turntables, both for on -the -air broadcasting and for disc -to -tape transfer.
And, audiophiles by their purchases have voted it the outstanding stereo cartridge available.
The Stanton 681 TRIPLE -E offers improved tracking at all fre-
quencies. It achieves perfectly flat frequency response beyond 20 kHz. Its ultra miniaturized stylus assembly has substantially
less mass than previously, yet it possesses even greater durability
than had been previously thought possible to achieve. Each 681 TRIPLE -E is guaranteed to meet its specifications
within exacting limits and each one boasts the most meaningful warranty possible. An individually calibrated test result is packed with each unit.
As Julian D. Hirsch of Hirsch -Houck Labs wrote in Popular Electronics Magazine in April, 1975: "When we used the cartridge to play the best records we had through the best speaker systems at our disposal, the results were spectacular"
Whether your usage involves recording, broadcasting, or home entertainment, your choice should be the choice of the professionals
... the STANTON 681 TRIPLE -E.
DECEMBER 1975
CIRCLE NO. 44 ON READER SERVICE CARD
23
Crown
POWER
a new
Dimension
in listening
Discover the five elements of Crown power that makes hearing the DC300A such a unique listening experience.
AUDIO
3ASICS
By RALPH HODGES
Continous power:
155 watts per channel, minimum RMS into 8 ohms stereo, 310 watts minimum RMS into 16 ohms mono, over a band width of 1-20,000 Hz, at a rated harmonic distortion level of less than 0.05%.
E xtreme low distortion:
Maximum total harmonic and intermodulation distortion of 0.05% over a bandwidth of 1-20,000 Hz. Such minute levels made it necessary for Crown to design its own intermodulation distortion analyser, now in use industry wide!
Complete Protection:
The DC300A is fully protected against shorted loads, mismatched connections, overheating and input overload as well as RF burnout. And this amp will safely drive anytype load, resistive or reactive.
Uncommon reliability:
The DC300A's reliability is legendary. Leading big name rock groups demand DC300A's because of their rugged ability to withstand tour -long punishment and still produce flawless sound. And major recording studios insist on Crown to keep time losses at a minimum. The professionals know from experience Crown's unqualified dependability.
E xclusive warranty:
Crown's unique warranty covers not only parts and
labor but round-trip shipping for three years.
These shipping costs are an important factor in our warranty, and it is not surprising that no other amplifier manufacturer offers this service.
For color brochure, write Crown, Box 1000, Elkhart, IN 46514. For the most sensational sound demo of your life, take your best material to the nearest Crown dealer.
crown
WHEn LISTErBrIS BECOMES Rfl RRT
CIRCLE NO. 13 ON READER SERVICE CARD
GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS -23
Multiplex generally refers to the technique for broadcasting stereo FM. The multiplex system involves the transmission of two "channels" on a single FM "carrier" frequency, but these channels are not "left" and "right," as might be expected. Instead, one is a sum audio signal (left plus right) and the other a difference signal (left minus right). Through simple manipulation of these two signals, the receiving instrument (the tuner or receiver) is able to reconstitute the pure left and right channels accurately. (The main point of broadcasting stereo in this sum -and -difference form, however, is to provide compatibil-
ity with mono receivers. The sum signal, which is the only part of the composite that a mono receiver pays attention to, is of course a mono version of the full ster-
eo program. CD -4 four -channel recordings employ the same sum -and -difference scheme to accommodate their four separate signals, and for the same reason - stereo and mono compatibility.)
Muting usually designates a circuit in an FM tuner or receiver that eliminates
the loud rushing noise that would otherwise be heard between stations as the tuning control is rotated. This "interstation-noise" muting can usually be disabled by means of a switch that permits
reception of weak (or noisy) stations that would otherwise be muted.
Muting may also refer to a switch often found on amplifiers and receivers to
reduce sharply-usually by about 20
dB-the volume level at which the audio system is playing without disturbing the setting of the volume control. This is useful for sudden interruptions such as telephone calls.
In addition, most automatic record players have an internal muting switch
that prevents their inherent cycling noise from reaching the amplifier.
Noise has acquired a number of semantically tricky definitions over the
years, most of which boil down to "anything audible that you don't like." For less subjective purposes, we can call noise any signal that intrudes on reproduced program material and is totally unrelated to it in cause or manifestation.
(This, of course, distinguishes noise from distortion, which can be said to arise from the program material and
which is expressed as a percentage of it.) This definition embraces hum, record noise, the omnipresent hiss from tape and electronics, and interference coming
from any device that radiates radiofrequency energy. It does not, strictly
speaking, include modulation effects
from tape or other sources, or any
"noise" that just happened to be picked up as sound by the microphones when the recording was being made. Note that noise which can be measured but is either too low in volume or too high (or low) in frequency to be heard ("inaudible" noise) is still noise.
Notch filters sharply reduce the level of a very narrow band of frequencies, causing a "notch" to appear in a frequency -response graph of the resulting signal. Such filters are very useful in removing noise associated with a single frequency (such as hum) with minimum effect on the rest of the frequency spectrum. They can also make very precise correction of frequency -response irregularities; the more elaborate multi -band equalizers employ a series of notch filters closely spaced in frequencies at which they act.
Octave is a range of frequencies spanning a numerical two -to -one ratio, such as 20 to 40 Hz, 1,000 to 2,000 Hz, or 5,000 to 10,000 Hz. The audio range, from 20 to 20,000 Hz, is almost exactly ten octaves wide.
mV is the abbreviation for millivolt, or one thousandth of a volt; 10 mV equals 0.01 volt.
24
Ohm is the unit of measurement used to express resistance or opposition to the flow of electric current.
STEREO REVIEW
and you'll drop all the others.
There is a new cassette on the market. The FUJI FX,
a Pure Ferrix cassette that soon will be the standard of
FUJI FILM
excellence for top quality, truly high fidelity reproduction. It already is in many parts of the world.
FUJI FX gives you the music you want, the way you
Pure-Ferrix
Excellent Music Performance
want your music. Clear, crisp sound over the entire audio
frequency range without perceptible distortion. A signal-
to-noise ratio of better than 58 db. No hiss. Virtually
failure -proof. The finest music at your fingertips without
the need for any special bas. Drop in at your FUJI dealer
today; then drop in a FUJI and hear music as you have
never heard it before.
FUJI FX cassettes come in lengths of 46, 60 and 90. Also
available, a full line of FUJI FL Low Noise cassettes in lengths of 30, 60, 90 and 120 minutes. FUJI Photo Film U.S.A.,
<EEFJEED:o
Inc. The Empire State Building, New York, New York 10001.
THE TAPE THAT'S HEARD AROUND THE WORLD
CIRCLE NO. 23 ON READER SERVICE CARD
KLH RESEARCH TEN
PRODUCTS FOR THE DECADE
It's virtually impossible to build a product that is so optimized that it can never be improved. But we believe it is possible, indeed an obligation, to build loudspeakers that are so deep in concept and technology that they remain fresh and exciting performers for many, many years. Our classic electrostatic Model Nine is a perfect example of such a product. After nearly fifteen years, it is still rated "Best Attainable Sound" by the prestigious "Stereophile" magazine and equally praised by other leading publications and authorities in the field.
But times and technology do change. And we, albeit with a certain sadness, recognize that although our original acoustic suspension bookshelf loudspeakers are still perfectly adequate sound reproducers, they are no longer representative of the best we have to offer. KLH Research Ten is our new line of loudspeakers that takes full advantage of all of today's incredible advances in audio technology. The tweeters, the woofers, the crossover networks are the most sophisticated devices ever designed for loudspeakersregardless of what those loudspeakers cost. Whether it's our smallest KLH Research Ten loudspeaker or our largest, you'll find there's an amazing commonality of design, components, and most important, sound. Which is to say virtually no sound at all. Because if there is a single thing that typifies this new group of loudspeakers, it is an uncommon lack of coloration. You'll also find that the differences between each of the loudspeakers in the line is quantitative rather than qualitative. You'll be able to buy more performance for somewhat more money. But whether you spend the extra money or not,you'll still be getting a loudspeaker that is unequivocally the best you can buy in its price range. And if you'll just think about our Model Nine for a moment,you'll realize you'll also be getting a loudspeaker that you'll be able to live with for a long, long time. That's KLH Research Ten. We hope you have a very happy decade with us.
26
TAPE
HORI70\S
3y CRAIG STARK
FACTS ABOUT FLUTTER
ISTENING to a 3,000 -Hz sine -wave tone from an audio signal generator
is musically rather dull, but if you record that pure "note" and play it back against
the original, your boredom may give way to shock. It takes no golden ear to spot instantly that something is definitely wrong with the tape reproduction. More than just a little gentle background hiss
has been added: to a degree, the whole
character of the tone has acquired a cer-
tain granular or fuzzy quality. The same
process obviously affects our music recording as well, though its results are certainly more audible on a single tone.
Generically, this kind of disturbance is
called "modulation noise," one form of which is caused chiefly by brief variations in the speed at which the tape pass-
es across the heads. Such instantaneous
speed aberrations momentarily change the pitch of a note, thus "modulating" its
frequency. The tape itself is literally jiggling, and hence the name "flutter." So.
for example, if a 3,000 -Hz tone is caused to wobble back and forth by 3 Hz (one
part in 1,000), the percentage of flutter is 0.1.
The sources of flutter in a recorder are
many. If you've ever held an electric motor while it was running, you will have felt a certain amount of vibration.
Its shaft and bearings may not be perfectly true, and its internal rotor may not be perfectly balanced. Special motor mountings and a belt -drive system will
reduce the amount of this vibration
reaching the capstan and tape, but they
cannot totally eliminate it. The capstan
and rubber puck roller that drive the tape may also be slightly eccentric, introducing further flutter components at their
rotational speeds. If rubber idler
pulleys are used instead of a belt drive, these may develop their own flat spots
that get passed along as speed variations
every time they go around. A heavy, dynamically balanced flywheel will somewhat alleviate but not cure the problem. Even an inertial flutter filter (a rotating guide, often with its own fly-
wheel, located between the supply reel
and the heads) will have its own rotation-
al period. The holdback and take-up tension mechanisms make their contributions too, as do the "tics" of warped reel
edges. Pressure pads, especially if worn
or dirt -clogged, can be very effective jit-
ter generators. And, to top it off, the length of tape that stretches across the
head assembly has its own frequency of vibration.
With so many different factors (and those above are but part of the list) contributing to overall flutter, it's useful to break the term down into more limited
categories. The same percentage of flutter is perceived very differently by the ear, depending on its rate. Even a minis-
cule amount of very slow -speed flutter (e.g., a rate between 0.5 and about 12 times per second) is highly audible as a kind of artificial vibrato. Often it sounds like an LP with an off -center hole, and
this kind of flutter has acquired the nickname "wow." High flutter rates, up to about 250 or 300 Hz, may register much
higher percentages on conventional me-
ters, but are relatively less audible. When you do hear them, they tend to contribute a "graininess" to the sound.
But flutter rates can go up to many kilohertz, producing, in the 2,000- to 5,000 Hz range, a kind of hissing modulation
noise known as "scrape flutter."
A single overall flutter -percentage
figure won't tell you where to look for a
malfunctioning part unless, for example, a wow component is so dominant that you can audibly synchronize the wavering with the rotation of a specific wheel.
In comparing recorders for potential
subjective annoyance, however, a mean-
ingful single figure can be obtained with a "weighted" measurement, one which typically gives a "wow" rate about ten times the importance of, say, a flutter component with a rate of 150 times per second. As a rule, flutter (at all
rates) will increase with age and use, but careful maintenance will put off the day it becomes too severe to tolerate.
STEREO REVIEW
The SCX3.
A significantly better way
to listen
to
music.
qualities ape exceptional. The mem-
brane can be accelerated and stopped
with extreme accuracy. The result is
very extended frequency response with
truly low distortion. Overlapping com-
pletely disappears. Fuzziness is gone.
The inner voices of the orchestra come
alive. There's the kind of airiness and
transparency you find only in the con-
cert hall. And all of this is achieved
without the traditional drawbacks of
the electrostatic tweeter - no capaci-
tive load t--) drive your amplifier crazy
Tie KLH Research Ten
is an
essentially no external stray field. Since
awesome performer. Its uncon-ry ability
all of the energy is directed to an exact
to recreate the timbre and texture of
and predetermined area of the voice
ever.) instrument in an orchestra will
coil, very large woofer excursions are
absclutely astound you. All too then.
possible_ Also the magnetic field pro-
loudspeakers that can successfu ly
duced is so uniform that many non-
reprDduce the _lite of tress un'odu-
linear types of distortion found in con-
natdy bring the same brittlkness to the
ventional designs simply are no factor
sound of violins. Or if they car capture
in this configt_ration. But perhaps even
the sizzle of thz cymbal. thy
more important is the staggering power
when it cortesto the pluckng of a
and no need for a power supply.
handling capacity of this woofer-
string. Clearly -this is due to tie severe But a tweeter, even a great tweeter, over 200 watts RMS at 30 Hertz.
limlations of the single -ended tweeter- doesn't make a loudspeaker.
In short, the SCX3 has an exceptional
cone or dome_Too much n -ass has to
ActuaLy, though, there isn't much we woofer. And exceptional metalized
be started, accelerated ana stepped too can say about the SCX3's mid -range. Mylar" capacitors. And exceptional
quickly. The structure just ioesr't allow It's just the best mid -range made.
air core inductors (as opposed to iron
for ft. Consequently there's a ack of air Period.
core inductors which saturate at high
between instruments, a kird of a blur
As for :he 12" MegafluxTm Woofer, it is listening levels and cause major
anc overlappiig that squashes the
probably the most unique magnetic
distortion).
music together.
structure available today. It uses many What we're obviously trying to say is
Not so with our new DVq -tweeter. specialized strips of magnetic material that the SOX; is an exceptional loud-
The DVR combines the best attri-
which, housed in its large, box -like
speaker- a significantly better way to
bus of d&narnic and elec=roste-tic
structure, create and focus magnetic listen tc music.
tweeters. It has an ult'e thin -membrane energy (flux) into the voice coil gap with At $400 , it darn well better
wit--) an etched printed circut "voice
be better.
coil"-plus an array of m-eny rare-earth
For more technical information, write
samarium -cobalt magnets al either
,;1tPri
to KLH Research & Development,
sick of the membrane m create a push puff effect. Because the membrane mess is so low and the magnets have such extraordinary force. the irertial
KLH Research Ten Division KLH Research & Development Corp.
I ®
30 Cross St.. Cambridge, Mass. 02139. (Distrituted in Canada by A. Allen Pringle Ltd., Ontario. Canada.)
30 Cross St..Cambridge. Mass. 02139
CIRCLE NO. 32 ON READER SERVICE CARD
TECH\ICAL TAL<
3y J ,LIA\ D. HIRSCH
THE NEW IHF TUNER STANDARD:
When the first IHF (Institute of High Fidelity) "Standard Methods of Measurement for Tuners" (IHF-T-100) was issued in December of 1958, it replaced a 1947 Standard which had little relevance to the products of the high-fidelity industry. The 1958 Standard (and the addendum which followed a year later) formalized the test conditions without
which any numerical specifications
would have been meaningless. It also dealt with the then -current practice of
designing tuners with a narrow i.f. bandwidth in order to increase their measured sensitivity. (Designers at the time did not take into account the distortion pro-
duced by insufficient i.f. bandwidth.) The
1958 Standard created the concept of
Usable Sensitivity, which was the 100 per cent modulated r. f. signal input needed to produce a 3.2 per cent (-30 dB) level
of noise plus distortion (N + D) in the tuner's audio output. Any manufacturer
who skimped on bandwidth to gain "sen-
sitivity" soon found that he had lost
more than he gained, and this disturbing
trend was nipped in the bud.
The value of the 1958 standard can be appreciated from the fact that it is still
used today and-though far from perfect- does provide a valid basis for rating and comparing FM tuners (it covers
AM tuners as well). Its chief weakness is the lack of measurements in the stereo mode, since stereo FM had not been ful-
ly developed when the standard was drafted. By extension of the mono techniques, many of the pertinent aspects of stereo tuner performance could also be
checked, but this had no formal standing throughout the industry.
Over the past couple of years I have served on an IHF standards committee, chaired by IHF technical director Leonard Feldman, which has worked closely with parallel groups from the Electronic Industries Association (EIA) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). The result of this
28
joint effort was the new combined
I EEE/IHF "Standard Methods of Testing Frequency Modulation Broadcast Receivers" bearing the dual nomenclature of IEEE Std 185-1975 and IHF-T200 (1975).
The new standard is some thirty-five pages long, and obviously it cannot be treated in any detail in the space available here. It is exceptionally complete, covering every aspect of FM tuner performance contained in the old standard plus a number of new ones, and it includes all pertinent stereo measurements. Every test condition is explicitly defined, and it is sufficiently universal to cover measurements on component -type
TESTED THIS MONTH
Creative Environments Speaker Pilot 540 AM/FM Receiver R.I.C. 980 Record Player
Dual Autoreverse Cassette Deck
FM tuners, receivers, and even inexpensive battery -operated portable radios. At present it does not cover AM tuner measurements, but this section should be completed in the near future. Copies of
the standard are available from the IEEE Standards Office, 345 East 47th Street, New York, N.Y. 10017, for $6 prepaid or $8 if ordered in advance of
payment.
The new standard lists twenty-five specification items, all of which are re-
quired for a complete performance specification. The old standard had eleven items, five of which were deemed sufficient for a manufacturer's published ratings. A comparison of the two standards, item by item, shows that many of the
sections of the older one, which contained several different but related sections, have been divided into separate sections in the new standard. When these format changes have been allowed for, we see that the 1975 standard has new tests for stereo separation, stereo subcarrier (19 kHz) product suppression, and SCA rejection. None of these was included in the 1958 standard, since
stereo FM had not yet reached commercial fruition and the present SCA service - the "Muzak" broadcasts provided by many stations to commercial sub-
scribers -did not exist (and even if it had, it could not have interfered with
mono reception).
The major difference between the two
standards, as it affects the readers of
STEREO REVIEW, is in certain aspects of
sensitivity, distortion, and noise measurements. As will be seen, the HirschHouck Laboratories' test reports have incorporated most of these changes for over a year in anticipation of the formal acceptance of the new standard (which took place in May, 1975).
For most readers, the most obvious change will be the disappearance of the
term microvolt (µV) from the audio lexicon. Anyone who has made radio -frequency sensitivity measurements is aware of the pitfalls they present, even for the experienced technician. Depending on the design of the signal generator
and the type of network used to couple it to the tuner's antenna terminals (as well as the tuner's rated input impedance), there were a host of possible "sensitivi-
ties." Any one of them might be correct in and of itself, but it would be nearly impossible to compare with other measurements made under different conditions. A good example of the confusion is provided by the specifications of FM tuners manufactured or sold in Great Britian, where 75 ohms is the standard
antenna impedance, and those sold in the United States, where 300 ohms is commonly used. To the receiver's circuits, 1
STEREO REVIEW
microvolt across a 75 -ohm impedance is exactly the same as 2 microvolts across
300 ohms. Thus, a tuner rated by a Brit-
ish manufacturer or reviewer would seem to be twice as sensitive as a similar unit (or even the same one, since many have
inputs for both 75- and 300 -ohm antennas) rated by an American laboratory.
In IHF-T-200 (1975) we have actually
gone back to the system employed in the
old 1947 IRE standard, in which the input signal is defined in terms of available power rather than voltage. When this is
done, the sensitivity of a tuner will
measure the same regardless of its input impedance. In 1947, signal levels were specified with reference to a level of I watt. This is an impossibly high power for a tuner input, and it resulted in sensitivity figures of -130 dB or less. (The common reference input for some measurements, 1,100 µV, became -90 dB.) The 1975 standard uses a 0 -dB reference of 10-15 watts, or 1 femtowatt (the very term did not exist in 1947). All inputsignal levels are expressed in decibels referred to I femtowatt, or dBf. The numbers will all be positive, since 0 dBf
is below the theoretical sensitivity of an FM broadcast receiver.
What we used to call "1µV" (actually
0.97 µV) will be called 5 dBf from now
on. Since a power change of 10 times, or a voltage change of 3.2 times, is equivalent to a 10 -dB change, 3.1 µV becomes
15 dBf. We will have to adjust our thinking to the fact that most FM tuners will have usable sensitivity ratings between 10 and 15 dBf. The standard level for
tuner signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) and distortion measurements, formerly 1,000
CONVERSION TABLE (dBf to microvolts-and vice versa)
dBf Microvolts Microvolts dBf
0
0.55
5
0.97
10
1.7
15
3.1
20
5.5
25
9.7
30
17
35
31
40
55
45
97
50
170
55
310
60
550
65
970
70
1,700
75
3,100
80
5,500
85 9,700
90 17,000
95 31,000
100 55,000
1
2 3 4
5 10 20 30 100 300 1,000 3,000 10,000 30,000
5.2 11.2 14.7 17.2 19.2 25.2 31.2 34.7 45.2 54.7 65.2 74.7 85.2 94.7
µV, becomes 65 dBf (970 µV) under the new system.
Effective immediately our tuner and receiver test reports will use the dBf nomenclature, but we will list the microvolt equivalents in parentheses until the
new standard becomes thoroughly established in the industry (we have not yet seen any manufacturers issuing ratings
based on dBf). The accompanying table
should help to bridge the gap by showing
the relationship between µV and dBf over the range of levels used in tuner
testing.
The second "new" tuner specification
has been used in our tests for some time.
It is the input sensitivity for a 50 -dB sig-
nal-to-noise ratio (S/N)-the 50 -dB Quieting Sensitivity. Together with the distortion (D) at this signal level, this figure defines the weakest signal that
might be considered to be of entertainment quality. The old Usable Sensitivity input rating provided a N + D output only 30 dB below 100 per cent modula-
tion. Anyone who has listened to such a signal knows that it can hardly be con-
sidered "listenable" unless you are a "DX hunter" searching for distant stations and not concerned about noise-
free reception.
Although we have been performing
most of the applicable tests under the old IHF standard, only the major ones have been presented in the reports, for reasons of space economy and intelligibility
to the average reader. With the number of possible tests more than doubled, we
certainly will not attempt to subject every tuner to the full process. As before, we will concentrate on the most important tests as they apply to a con-
sumer product evaluation. The most visible change in our published reports will be the use of linear graph paper for the
quieting and distortion curves. Instead of a logarithmic scale for input -signal level, spanning a range from I to 30,000 µV, we will present the equivalent range of 0 to 95 dBf on a linear scale.
EQUIPMENT TEST REPORTS
3y Hirsch -Houck Laboratories
Creative Environments Model 100 Speaker System
THE Model 100 loudspeaker from Cre-
ative Environments, Inc. is a three-way "bookshelf" system containing a I2 -inch acoustic -suspension woofer, a 5 -inch cone
mid -range, and a 1 -inch Mylar dome tweeter.
The crossover frequencies are 700 and 3,000 Hz. The woofer and mid -range crossovers have 6 -dB -per -octave slopes, but a steeper
12 -dB -per -octave slope is used between the mid -range and tweeter to protect the latter against damage by high input levels.
In the rear of the enclosure are insulated
spring -clip connectors to accept the speaker
cables and separate level adjustments for the tweeter and mid -range drivers. The Model 100 system is protected by a thermal circuit breaker with a relatively slow response that
permits brief high-level transients to pass but will cut off the drive to the system at levels
corresponding to an acoustic sound -pressure level (SPL) of 105 dB. A pushbutton in the rear of the cabinet resets the breaker should it be tripped.
The Creative Environments Model 100 is nominally an 8 -ohm system designed for use with amplifiers delivering at least 15 watts per channel. The oiled walnut veneered cabinet, which has a removable black plastic perforated grille, is 233/4 inches high. 143/4 inches wide, and 121/4 inches deep. The system weighs about 35 pounds. Price: $179.95.
Laboratory Measurements. The smoothed, averaged frequency response of the Creative Environments Model 100 was within ±4 dB from 43 to 16,000 Hz. It was relatively free of peaks or holes throughout that range, sloping downward gently from the maximum bass out -
29
The Model 100's tone -burst performance was very
good, as shown by these oscilloscope photos taken
at (left to right) 100, 1,000, and 5.000 Hz.
put at 80 Hz to about 2,000 Hz and varying
only -±2 dB from that frequency to 16,000 Hz.
The flattest response was obtained with both level controls set at maximum. The midrange control was able to alter the output by up to 5 d13 between 1,000 and 3,000 Hz. It had a range of about 11 dB at lower frequencies down to about 200 Hz. The tweeter control effect began at about 7,000 Hz, with a maximum range of about 8 dB between
10,000 and 15,000 Hz.
The low -frequency harmonic distortion was under 1 per cent from 100 to 60 Hz at a con-
stant 1 -watt input or at a constant 90 -dB SPL output as measured at a distance of 1 meter in front of the speaker. At lower frequencies it rose gradually to 5 per cent at 40 Hz (1 watt)
or 4 per cent at 45 Hz (90 dB SPL). At a 10 watt input, as would be expected, the distortion was higher. It measured 4 to 5 per cent between 100 and 55 Hz and rose rapidly to 10 per cent at 44 Hz and 16.5 per cent at 40 Hz.
The system impedance averaged about 8 ohms over most of the audio range, varying
between 7 and 10 ohms from 20 to 20,000 Hz except for the rise to 20 ohms at the 57 -Hz
bass system resonance. The efficiency was relatively high for an acoustic -suspension sys-
tem, with 1 watt of mid -range input producing a 93 -dB SPL at a distance of 1 meter. The tone -burst response was very good at all frequencies, with no significant ringing or other distortion of the tone -burst pattern.
Comment. The simulated live -vs. -recorded listening test proved that the Creative Environments Model 100 was a very accurate reproducer of the high audio frequencies, including the difficult octave from 10,000 to 20,000 Hz. We could hear a warmth in the mid -range by comparison with the original program, and heard by itself, the Model 100 had a trace of upper mid -range brightness, especially on axis. The overall sound, however, was well balanced, even when the speakers were located above the floor and several feet from the back wall, where they received no bass or lower mid -range reinforcement from the room boundaries.
To check the effectiveness of the "Life Saver" protective system (which the manufacturer states permits the speaker to be used with any amplifier in normal audiophile
use without fear of excessive drive power), we drove the Model 100 speakers at continu-
ous music program levels of about 100 watts until one of the circuit breakers trippedwhich required about five minutes. The speaker was undamaged, and service was restored by pushing the reset button. It is noteworthy that during this test the average SPL in the reverberant field of the room some 12 feet or more from the speakers averaged 105 to 108 dB. Even at this deafening volume, we heard no obvious distortion.
The price of the Model 100 (whose warran-
ty covers parts and labor for the first year, and parts alone for the next four years) places it
squarely in competition with many other wor-
thy speakers. While we cannot say that it is distinctly better than any of these competitors (a risky judgment to make about any speaker), it is at least as good as most, and it outperformed several far more expensive speakers
with which it was compared. The Model 100
is a good value, honestly rated, and well worth
auditioning if you are in the market for a good,
efficient, and reasonably heavy-duty compact loudspeaker system.
Circle 105 on reader service card
Pilot 540 AM/FM Stereo Receiver
PILOT'S top stereo receiver, the Model 540, is a medium -power unit rated to deliver 40 watts per channel into 8 ohms from 20 to 20,000 Hz at less thqn 0.3 per cent total harmonic distortion (THD). Its FM tuner section features a linear dial scale with the "Pilotune" pointer that changes color from white to red when a station is tuned in. A zero -center tuning meter is also provided (it reads relative signal strength for AM).
The dial scales, hidden behind a "blackout" face plate when the receiver is off or when the tuner sections are not in use, are il-
30
luminated in green. Stereo reception is indicated by a red MTPLX label below the scales,
and other symbols light in yellow to show the selected input (PHONO 2, PHONO I, FM, AM,
AUX, MIC).
A single line of controls across the panel includes the input selector, bass and treble tone controls (concentric for the two channels, with slip -clutch knobs), and balance and volume controls. Pushbuttons control the loudness compensation, mono/stereo mode,
tape monitoring, a high -cut filter, FM interstation-noise muting, and the main or remote
speakers (either or both can be activated by pressing the appropriate buttons). At the left of the panel are two phone jacks for a microphone input and tape-recording outputs (paralleling the regular tape jacks in the rear of the receiver). At the right of the panel are the pushbutton power switch and the stereo headphone jack.
On the receiver's rear apron are jacks for the various inputs and outputs, plus separate preamplifier outputs and main amplifier inputs, joined by jumper links. There is a hinged AM ferrite -rod antenna, plus terminals for an external AM wire antenna and either 300- or 75 -ohm FM antennas. The two pairs of speaker outputs use insulated spring -clip connectors. One of the two a.c. outlets is switched. The Pilot 540 is furnished in a walnut veneered wooden cabinet measuring 18 inches wide, 12 inches deep, and 51/4 inches high. It weighs 27 pounds. Price: $419.90.
Laboratory Measurements. The one -hour "preconditioning" period at one-third of rated output caused the metal cover over the output transistors to become almost too hot to touch, but there was no damage to the receiver or apparent degradation of its performance. The
(Continued on page 32)
STEREO REVIEW
The military history magazine with a conflict simulation game in it!
Here are just a few of the
games that have been
published in S&T magazine:
USN Winter War
Battle of Moscow Flying Circus Borodino "CA" (Naval Tactics) Fall of Rome Kampfpanzer The East is Red PanzerArmee Afrika
Tank!
Operation Olympic American Civil War Combined Arms
(Note that all these games are now available in their separate $8 boxed versions.)
DOING HISTORY: Now, instead of merely reading about the great campaigns and battles that shaped the times we live in, you can do it! There's no more exciting way to understand a famous conflict than commanding the units that made the history. Directing the troops over a map of the actual battlefield, watching the shift and flow of the changing front lines as your forces advance, retreat, and counter-attack. Every other month, subscribers to Strategy & Tactics get a chance to do exactly that. They do it by using the conflict simulation game that comes in every issue of S&T.
CONFLICT SIMULATIONS are serious games that enable you to recreate famous military situations and
replay them, something like a game of chess. To
understand. To solve. To win where others lost.
YOU'LL GET a ready -to -play simulation game in each issue of S&T, including a large terrain map, die -cut playing pieces, and complete rules. You'll also get two feature length historical articles (one which deals with
the same subject as the game) plus game and book reviews, and commentary on simulations development.
SUBSTANTIAL DISCOUNTS are available to S&T subscribers on our separate line of over seventy historical games. (See the coupon for a partial list.)
A FREE INTRODUCTORY GAME will be sent to all new S&T subscribers: Napoleon at Waterloo, history's greatest battle presented in a game -design specially created to introduce you to conflict simulations.
Simulations Series Games are now in stores, nation-wide!
it
INN
Send check or money order to:
SIMULATIONS PUBLICATIONS, INC., Dept. 632
44 East 23rd Street, New York, N.Y. 10010
Please enter my subscription to Strategy & Tactics for
I year (6 issues): $14.00
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current issue (not pictured above): $5.00
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Send me the following Simulation Series Games:
0 World War II (ETO, 39-45): $8 CI Patrol (infantry tactics): $8
0 Frigate (sailing ship tactics): $8 El StarForce (space -war): $8
CI Desert War (armor tactics): $8 NATO (Soviets vs. West): $8
American Revolution: $8
El Sinai (Arab-Israeli): $8
0 Austerlitz (Napoleonic): $8 CI Lee Moves North: $8
name
street
apt #
city
state
zip
Prices apply to US & APO/FPO only. Subject to change without notice.
OFFICE USE Cus Code Total $ Credit Postage Tax ONLY:
DECEMBER 1975
CIRCLE NO 51 ON READER SERVICE CARD
31
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PILOT 640
REFERENCE POWER (40 W )
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TOTAL HARMONIC DISTORTION (1kHz)
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power rating of the Model 540 is obviously conservative, since the output waveform clipped at 65 watts per channel at 1,000 Hz into 8 -ohm loads. Into 16 ohms the maximum
power was 40.6 watts per channel, and with 4
ohms the receiver's protective relay cut off the outputs at 61.6 watts.
At the rated 40 -watt level, the THD
reached a maximum of 0.21 per cent at 20,000 Hz, but over most of the audio range it was between 0.1 and 0.15 per cent. Unlike the
case with many amplifiers, the distortion of the Pilot 540 decreased at lower power out-
frequencies considerably and the high frequencies slightly. The high -cut filter had an effective slope of about 9 dB per octave, with the -3-dB frequency a rather low 3,000 Hz. The RIAA phono equalization was accurate to within ±1.5 dB over the extended range of 20 to 20,000 Hz. It was affected in an unusual
manner by phono-cartridge inductance. As inductance increased, the response rose, beginning at about 5,000 Hz, to a maximum of4 to 5 dB at 10,000 Hz, and then fell off rapidly
above 13,000 to 15,000 Hz.
The FM tuner section had a sensitivity of I 1
dBf was 0.58 per cent in mono and was actually lower -0.41 percent -in stereo.
The FM capture ratio was 2.4 dB at a 65dBf input, and the AM rejection was 47 dB. These figures represent adequate performance. The other tuner characteristics were
excellent, and well above the average for receivers in this price class. Image rejection was 80 dB, alternate -channel selectivity 84 dB.
The FM frequency response was fiat from 30 to 4,000 Hz, rose 2 dB at 10,000 Hz, and then dropped to -2 dB at 15,000 Hz. This
implies the use of a low-pass filter in the multiplex section to remove 19 -kHz leakage, and
this was confirmed by the very low leakage level of -79 dB referred to a 100 per cent modulation level. The stereo channel separation was better than 28 dB from 40 to 15,000
Hz and reached a maximum of 47.5 dB between 400 and 1,000 Hz. The AM tuner fre-
quency response was within ±2.5 dB from 20
to 3,200 Hz, and was down 6 dB at 3,800 Hz
relative to the mid -range level.
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Comment. The FM muting operated with a slight thump or noise burst, as with many tun-
ers we have tested. Although the actual tun-
puts, measuring between 0.06 and 0.09 per cent at half power and between 0.035 and 0.05 per cent at one -tenth power -except at
20,000 Hz, where it was, respectively, 0.15 and 0.08 per cent.
At 1,000 Hz, the THD was less than the noise level for power outputs under 1 watt, measuring typically between 0.04 and 0.05 per cent from 1 to 15 watts and 0.2 per cent at
dBf (1.95 µV) in mono and 28.7 dBf (15µV) in stereo. The latter was also the stereoswitching threshold. The 50 -dB quieting sensitivity was 16.8 dBf (3.8 µV) in mono and 37 dBf (39 µV) in stereo, with respective distortion levels of 0.5 and 0.4 per cent. The S/N at
a 65-dBf (1,000 µV) input was 64 dB in mono and 63.5 dB in stereo. Tuner distortion at 65
ing -dial calibration error (about 200 kHz maximum) was no greater than we have seen on many receivers and tuners, because the FM dial scale is calibrated at widely spaced 1 MHz intervals there is still some uncertainty as to the frequency of the station being received. In an A -B test against another FM
tuner having very flat frequency response, we
could hear a slight brightness in the sound of
(Continued on page 34)
60 watts just before clipping occurred. The
intermodulation distortion (IM) reached its minimum of 0.023 per cent at 1 watt, increas-
ing smoothly to 0.4 per cent at 40 watts and 0.9 per cent at 60 watts. At very low power levels, the IM rose to 0.6 per cent at just over I milliwatt (mW), which indicates the pres-
ence of crossover distortion, but at such low power levels that it is not audibly significant.
Through the Aux inputs, the sensitivity for
a 10 -watt reference output was 100 millivolts
(mV), with a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of 75
dB. The phono sensitivity was very high: 0.68 mV, with an excellent 74 dB S/N. The phono
circuits overloaded at a rather low 40 mV.
Levels of random noise and total harmonic distortion (which includes noise) are compared with audio -output level as input -signal strength increases. Both mono and stereo are shown.
+10
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PILOT 540 RECEIVER FM SECTION
1 AUDIO
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NOISE -I- DISTORTION
The microphone -input sensitivity was 0.4 mV, and the microphone amplifier began to show asymmetrical rounding (second -harmonic distortion) at about 10 mV input.
The tone controls had the popular combination of a sliding bass turnover frequency and a hinged treble characteristic (at 2,000 Hz).
The loudness compensation boosted the low
-50
4JW -60 50 DB QUIETING
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20
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30 R. F. TEST
40
50
60
SIGNAL INPUT IN DBF
70
32
STEREO REVIEW
FIVE OUT OF SIX TAPE RECORDER
BUYERS WIND
UP PAYING MORE
THAN THEY NEED
FOR PROFESSIONAL TAPE RECORDING
QUALITY
Reason : They bought one or more makes before choosing Revox.
Our warranty records show that on average only one Revox buyer in six has never had a tape recorder before.
The remaining five have all owned one or more makes previously.
Since our warranty application invites comment, we are frequently told how happy our customers are with the:r Revox, especially when they compare it with their previous purchases.
But too often we hear the lament : "I wish I'd bought it sooner"
Save yourself the cost of experimentation in tape recording.
Select a recorder that will neither add nor detract from the original.
Choose the New Revox A700 or the A77 as your needs befit - and if your finances don't quite run to a new machine try to find one secondhand - in standard condition it will outperform other makes of new equipment at the same price.
11110
poistusq
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Revox Discontinued Model 36 Price: Less than $450
Revox Current Model A77 Price: $899 - $1623
Revox Current Model A700 Price: $1800
R EVOX 1NMS110 LAST.
Revox Corporation 155 Michael Drive Syosset, N.Y. 11791 U.S.A.
Revox International Regensdorf 8105 ZH Althardstrasse 146 Switzerland
Revox C.E. Hammond Co. Ltd, Lamb House
Church Street Chiswick
London W4 2PB England
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the Pilot 540, corresponding to the 2 -dB rise in output at 10,000 Hz. It was very slight, however, and would never be noticed without such a comparison. In respect to the Model 540's limited phono-input overload capability,
since it is combined with a higher -than -usual input sensitivity, we would recommend using
the 540 with one of the better low -output (not more than 3 to 4 mV) phono cartridges.
Cartridges with outputs of 7 to 10 mV- typical of lower -price models- should be avoided.
In summation, it is evident that the Pilot 540 offers excellent audio power and distor-
tion characteristics, and an FM tuner section
that is free of serious faults and more than
adequate for good -quality music systems. Operationally, the Pilot 540 acquitted itself well. Although it has no "gimmicks" (other than
the Pilotune dial -pointer light), it is a flexible receiver that leaves little to be desired.
Circle 106 on reader service card
B.I.C. 980 Automatic Record Player
IT has long been an accepted "fact" of record-player design that the torque required to operate the changing mechanism of an automatic turntable calls for a relatively tight drive coupling between the motor and platter. Until recently, the conventional idler -wheel drive system seemed the only way to go, but the B.I.C. (pronounced B -I -C) line of automatic single/multiple-play turntables from British Industries Co. is convincing evidence
that excellent alternatives are available. The B.I.C. "Programmed Multiple -Play
Manual Turntables," to give them their full
title, are belt -driven from a twenty -four -pole synchronous motor whose 300 -rpm speed places the primary rumble frequency components well below the audio range. A lever on the motor board shifts the belt to select either 331/3- or 45 -rpm operation. The nonferrous platter is 12 inches in diameter and is covered
with a ribbed rubber mat. Like other automatic multiple -play turn-
tables, the B.I.C. models have interchange-
able center spindles for single -play or multiple -play operation. The automatic spindle has record -dropping fingers and is aided in supporting the record stack by a post positioned to one side of the platter.
The "programmed" aspect of the B.I.C. design refers to the lever on the motorboard,
just forward of the speed -change lever, which can be set for any number of sequential plays from 1 to 6. It also has a MAN (manual) posi-. tion and an OFF setting. When a stack of records is loaded on the spindle, the PROGRAM lever is set to the number of records in the stack. Pressing lightly on the CYCLE button at the right front of the turntable starts the playing cycle, with records being dropped and played in sequence. An automatic shut-off
34
operates after the programmed number of
plays has been completed.
For manual play of a single record, the short spindle is substituted for the changer
spindle and the motor is started by moving the programming lever to MAN. The arm can be
cued manually (retaining the automatic end -of -
play shut-off feature) or the CYCLE button can be used to initiate a single -play automatic cy-
cle. Alternatively, a single record can be played any number of times up to six by
choosing the appropriate "program" setting.
The B.I.C. tone arm is a straight tube
mounted on gimbal ball -bearing pivots. It is balanced by an elastically isolated threaded counterweight. A calibrated scale within the
pivot structure, marked in 0.25 -gram intervals from 0 to 4 grams, is used for both tracking force and anti -skating adjustments. Separate control tabs for the two functions rotate next to the scale, a convenient arrangement for setting them to the same number (as is custom-
ary) or to different numbers if desired.. The detachable cartridge shell mounts on
the arm through a four -pin plug on its side. This is inherently a more reliable system than
the sliding contacts used on most arm slides or shells. Its only drawback is that the shell must be retained by a small knurled screw which is easily lost if frequent cartridge changes are made. B.I.C. wisely includes an additional replacement shell -locking screw with the machine.
A screwdriver adjustment on the side of the shell tilts the cartridge in the vertical plane for correct orientation to the record surface, and a button on the side of the shell then shifts the
vertical angle appropriately for single or multiple play. A plastic jig is supplied for mounting the cartridge with correct vertical angle
and horizontal overhang. Next to the pivots is a cueing lever that operates with a damped action in both directions, and there is also a small lever that adjusts the anti -skating com-
pensation for conical or elliptical styli.
So far, everything we have said applies equally to both the B.I.C. 960 and 980 models. The two are identical, except that the 980 (which we tested) has an electronic drive system for its motor while the 960 has a motor that draws its power directly from the a.c. line. The 980 has a vernier speed -adjustment
knob at the left of the motorboard and an opti-
cal system through which the stroboscope markings underneath the platter can be
viewed while the player is in operation. Optional walnut or molded plastic bases,
with or without dust covers, are available for the B.I.C. players. An unusual feature is their clear plastic bottoms, which permit the multicolored mechanism of the unit to be seen in operation. Prices: B.I.C. 980, $199.95; B.I.C. 960, $159.95. A wooden walnut base is $16.95, a molded base is $7.95, and a dust cover is $9.95.
Laboratory Measurements. With a Shure M91ED cartridge, the arm of the B.I.C. 980 resonated at 8 Hz with an amplitude of about 7 dB. The tracking -force dial calibrations
were exact within the 50 -milligram resolution
of the gauge we used, and from the first to the last record of a six -record stack the force (set at 1 gram) did not change detectably. The tracking error was less than 0.3 degree per inch of radius (about as low as we have ever measured on an arm of this length), and over much of the record it was near zero (errors of less than half a degree are almost impossible
to judge visually, and can be considered "zero"). The capacitance of the arm and sig-
nal cables was 120 picofarads (pF) per channel, which should be suitable for CD -4 cartridges even though it is slightly above the recommended 100 pF maximum value.
The anti -skating compensation had to be set about 1 gram higher than the tracking force for optimum symmetrical tracking of high -velocity recordings. The cueing system was not only very smooth, but was one of the very few we have seen that caused absolutely no outward drift of the arm during its descent (there is an adjustable descent time, which on our test unit could be set between about 2.5 and 4 seconds). The 980's resistance to external shock and acoustic feedback was about average.
The turntable speeds, which were correct when the stroboscope pattern was stationary, were stable with line -voltage shifts between 100 and 135 volts and dropped only 0.3 per
(Continued on page 36)
STEREO REVIEW
The Empire 598 III Turntable
Created by concentrating our total effort on a single superb model.
The Motor
A self -cooling, hysteresis synchro-
nous type with an inside out rotor, drives the platter with enough torque to reach full speed in one third of a revolution. It contributes to the almost immeasurable
0.04% average wow and flutter value in our specifications. The Drive Belt
Every turntable is packaged only when zero error is achieved in its speed accuracy. To prevent any variations of speed we grind each belt to ± .0001 inch. The Platter
Every two piece, 7 lb., 3 inch thick, die cast aluminum platter is dynamically balanced. Once in motion, it acts as a massive flywheel to assure specified wow and flutter value even with the voltage varied from 105 to 127 volts AC. The Main Bearing
The stainless steel shaft extending from the platter is aged, by alternate exposures to extreme changes in temperature, preventing it from ever warping. The tip is then precision ground and pol-
ished before lapping it into two oilite, self-
lubricating bearings, reducing friction and reducing rumble to one of the lowest figures ever measured in a professional turntable: -63 dB CBS ARLL." The Suspension
Piston damped, 16 gauge steel coil springs cradle the arm and platter. You can dance without your stylus joining in. The Tonearm
The aluminum tubular design
boasts one of the lowest fundamental frequencies of any arm, an inaudible 6 Hz. Acoustic feedback is unheard of, even with gain and bass turned all the way up.The vertical and horizontal bear-
ing friction is 1 milligram.This allows the
arm to move effortlessly imposing only the calibrated anti -skating and tracking force you select. The Cartridge
Empire's best, the 4000D/III, wide response cartridge is a standard feature. The capabilities of this cartridge allow you to play any 4 channel or stereo record at 1 gram or less. And the frequency response is an extraordinary 5-50,000
CIRCLE NO 99 ON READER SERVICE CARD
Hz, with more than 35 dB channel separation. The Controls
The coordinated anti -skating adjustment provides the necessary force for the horizontal plane. It is micrometer calibrated to eliminate channel imbalance or unnecessary record wear.
Stylus force is dialed with a calibrated clock mainspring more accurate than any commercially available stylus pressure gauge.
A true -vertical cueing control floats the tonearm up or down from a record surface bathed in light.
At Empire we make only one model turntable, the 598111, but with proper maintenance and care, the chances are very good it will be the only one you'll ever need.
'independently tested and recorded in High Fidelity's 1974 Test Reports.
Write for your free catalogue: EMPIRE SCIENTIFIC CORP. Garden City, N.Y. 11530
EIVPIFE Mfd. U.S.A.
cent at 95 volts. The vernier range was +4.3 to -2.9 per cent at 33 1/3 rpm and +3.8 to -3.4 per cent at 45 rpm. A slight speed drift was observed as our test unit warmed up from a cold start; it was barely detectable on the stroboscope and lasted less than 30 minutes. At both speeds, the unweighted rms wow and flutter were each 0.03 and 0.04 per cent. Unweighted rumble was -32 dB, and with RRLL audibility weighting it was a very low -61 dB. In automatic operation, the change cycle required about 12 seconds, an average figure.
Comment. During an extended use period, the B.I.C. 980 functioned beautifully. Al-
though operating features of the B.I.C. machines are slightly different from those of most automatic turntables (the "programming" procedure and the use of a CYCLE button to get playing under way), the 980 never failed to function properly.
The quietness of the 980 was impressive. It had as a low a rumble level as we have ever
A large plastic cam (center) coordinates the cycling operations of the B.I.C. 980 turntable. The motor, the speed of which is electronically regulated, is shown at the lower right.
measured on an automatic turntable. The rumble could accurately be called "inaudible," since we never heard any that was not in the record itself. The same comment applies
to wow and flutter. Features aside, we would say the perform-
ance of the B.I.C. 980 matches or exceeds
that of any "automatic multiple -play" turntable we have used. The fact that it is less expensive-by a considerable amount-than
almost any other unit with its rated level of performance will be welcome news to pro-
spective purchasers.
Circle 107 on reader service card
Dual Autoreverse Cassette Deck
THE first Dual cassette product to be sold in this country is a deluxe bidirectional deck that is able to record and play back in both directions without the necessity of turning over the cassette. In playback, it reverses the direction automatically at the end of the tape and can be set to repeat a cassette indefinitely. The single -motor transport is driven by the same continuous-pole/synchronous motor that powers Dual's Model 1229Q record player. A heavy flywheel smooths out vibration, and separate belts drive the capstan and the reel hubs. The single record/playback head is mechanically stationary, with the appropriate sections of the gap length selected for operation in two directions. The machine has Dolby noise -reduction circuits and an automatic level control (ALC) system that permits recording from sources of widely different levels without risk of overload or distortion.
Externally, the Dual cassette deck appears to be a conventional machine in the usual horizontal format. Its two illuminated VU meters (they are described as having the ballistic response of true VU meters) can be tilted upward about 30 degrees for easier viewing from the front. To the left of the top -loading cas-
36
sette well is a sliding lever that selects bias and equalization for ferric oxide (STD) or chromium dioxide (Cr02) tapes. This switch is also automatically operated by an internal
mechanism that senses whether the cassette has the special rear notch now commonly found on Cr02 cassettes. If the notch is not present, the recorder remains set for STD tape, but it can be reset manually for CrO, if
desired. The index counter and EJECT button are
also near the cassette compartment. When the
EJECT button is pressed, the cassette cover (carrying the cassette) opens slowly under damped control. The cassette is lightly, but firmly, retained by a spring so that it will not fall out if the recorder is operated vertically.
Accessory mounting feet are supplied for vertical installation. A large window in the cassette cover exposes most of the cassette area for verification of its contents.
To the right of the cassette are the two meters and two vertical slider controls for setting recording level. The playback output level is fixed. In front of the meters are four push-
buttons - for MONO recording (paralleling the two inputs), ALC, DOLBY, and injecting a TEST tone for calibrating the Dolby system to a
specific tape. There are four easily accessible screwdriver adjustments to the right of the buttons for this purpose (for both channels and for both STD and Cr02 tapes). Small signal lights along the front edge of the deck indicate recording level peaks that might cause distortion, the record status of the machine,
and the operation of the Dolby system. Either of two red arrows light up to show the direction of tape motion. There are two microphone input jacks and a stereo headphone jack for low -impedance (8 to 16 ohm) phones.
The transport controls appear to be conventional "piano -key" levers along the front edge of the recorder. However, they operate with a rather unusual, smooth, and very light touch. Except for a narrow red stripe on the
RECORD lever, all the controls are black and are identified by words on the top of the recorder next to the control area. There is no separate power switch; when any one of the control levers is pressed, it switches on the recorder which then goes into operation in about a second. Four levers, identified by single- and double -arrow symbols, control normal and fast tape movement in both directions. They are flanked by a PAUSE lever and a
RECORD interlock lever. To the left of the latter is the CONT PLAY lever which, when depressed, will cause the machine to repeat a cassette indefinitely with automatic reversal at both ends. Finally, at the left of the group is the STOP lever, which also shuts off the power when it is pressed. The LINE input and output jacks, plus a DIN connector, are in the rear of the deck.
The Dual machine has a wooden walnut base, and the control surface is finished in contrasting silver and black matching the appearance of the Dual record players. It is approximately 161/2 inches wide, 43/4 inches high, and 111/4 inches deep; it weighs about 15 pounds. Price: $450.
(Continued on page 40)
STEREO REVIEW
Heath introduces a timeless new concept in component music system versatility.
Modularity for flexibility. The system that expands, adapts. The system that is what you want it to be - always.
Module I - Tuner/Control Center
A superb AM/FM tuner with digital readout, an exceptional 2+2 preamplifier
with a headphone amplifier, tape dubbing
facilities, and unusually versatile controls. All in one. Unique. Unmatched. The heart of the MODULUS system.
The Tuner-quality you can hear. Four
1/2" LEDs display broadcast -only frequencies
measured by its digital counter. Careful AM design with 6µV sensitivity, over 60 dB
selectivity. Purely superb FM with 1.7/1V
sensitivity, digital discriminator for less than 0.3% distortion, LC filter for over 100 dB selectivity, adjustable muting, PLL Multiplex, multipath outputs.
2+2 Preamplifier - the quiet one. Distortion levels below 0.051 at full output; hum and noise as low as 80 dB below full output; new phono section design with
over 94 dB dynamic range. Amplification for 2 or 4 channel headphones. Tape dubbing for 2 or 4 channel recordings. Full 4 -channel capability in every section.
Versatile Control Center. Complete command. Functions are selected by twenty-one pushbuttons - each with lighted tip to show which are activated. They select output, 8 inputs, 5 modes, plus hi & lo filters, loudness, tone flat, squelch defeat, FM Dolby, and Power. Controls include: separate Baxandall bass and treble controls for front and rear channels, separate level controls for each channel, master volume, and tuning. Meters include: 4 output meters with 40 dB dynamic range and peak -reading capability; signal -strength and center -
tune meters. Speaker protection. Modular kit construction. 14 circuit
boards, 4 wiring harnesses, 28 ICs, 134 transistors, 55 diodes, built-in test meter. Space for plug-in SQ, FM Dolby, CD -4.
Module I - for what it is, what it can be, surprisingly low cost - 599.95
Modules II & III - Stereo Power
Expand your MODULUS system with your choice of stereo power amplifiers. Module II, 35 watts per channel. Module III, 60 watts per channel. 35 or 60 watts: min. RMS, per channel into 8 ohms at less than 0.1% total harmonic distortion from 20-20,000 Hz.
Front panel Main and Remote speaker switching; lighted Power Button; rear panel level controls, and Heath's unique polarized speaker connectors end phasing problems. Easy to build.
Both amplifiers are styled to match Module I. And unlike others, these look so good you'll want people to see them. Diecast front panel, massive side -mounted black heat sinks, and simulated walnut -grain metal side accents.
Add one of either power to make a MODULUS Stereo Receiver. Add two of
either power to make a MODULUS 4 -Channel Receiver. Module II, 159.95.
Module III, 179.95
Module IV - FM Dolby. To enjoy the reduced noise and increased dynamic range of specially encoded Dolby FM broadcasts, add this option. It fits inside the Module I Tuner/
Control. Module IV, 39.95.
Module V - CD -4 Demodulator. Add the spacious quadraphonic sound
of CD -4 discrete 4 -channel recordings
with this option. And no external black
boxes as it slips securely inside Module I.
Module V, 79.95.
Module VI - SQ Decoder.
Sophisticated circuitry with full logic
and variable blend enhancement for
excellent quadraphonic separation from
matrixed records, tapes and FM broadcasts.
Like the others, it fits inside Module I.
Module VI, 49.95.
.
MODULUS - today and tomorrow:
CIRCLE NO. 25 ON READER SERVICE CARD
MODULUS - as you like To change as you wish.
A Digital AM/FM Tuner l2-4 Ch. Preamp/Control Center
A Stereo Receiver - high or medium power
111111111111
A 4 -Channel Receiver - high or medium power
Sophisticated Optional Capabilities
FM
Dolby
CD -4
Demod.
SQ
Decoder
For information on MODULUS
send coupon below.
=111101MIIIINIONIMMMI.RMONI
HEATH
Schlumberger
Heath Company Dept. 40-12 Benton Harbor, MI 49022
Please send information on the new MODULUS music system.
NAME
ADLDRESS
CITY
STATE
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PRICES SPECIFICATIONS SUELIECT TO CM... WITHOUT NOTICE. HF-299
NA, ORDER PRICES. FOR FACTORY.
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SANSUI ELECTRONICS CORP.
Woodside, New York 11377 Gardena, California 90247 SANSUI ELECTRIC CO., LTD , Tokyo, Japan SANSUI AUDIO EUROPE S A Antwerp, Belgium In Canada: Electronic Distributors
CIRCLE NO. 48 ON READER SERVICE CARD
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Power, features and performance.
That's what the new Sansui 9090 stereo receiver is all about.
LOOK what it has to offer A whop-
ping 110 watts of continuous RMS power per channel driven into 8 ohms over the 20 to 20,000 Hz range with no more than 0.2% total harmonic distortion Twin power meters to monitor the
output for each channel Advanced
PLL IC Multiplex Demodulator for improved channel separation, eliminating distortion and reducing detuning noise Twin signal meters for easy, accurate tuning 7 -position tape play switch for tota' creative versatility in dubbing
and monitoring and many other exciting features cabinet finished in walnut
veneer. All in all the Sansui 9090 represents
what is probably the most advanced receiver available today. Watt for watt, feature for feature, dollar for dollar, an almost unbelievable value at under S750
Also available is the Sansui 8080 at under 3650' with 80 watts of continuous RMS power under the same conditions with almost all the same features. Cabinet in simulated walnut grain.
Try, and then buy, one of the new Sansui receivers at your favorite Sansui franchised dealer today. You will be glad you did. For years to come.
'The value shown is for informational purposes only. The actual resale price will be set by the individual Sansui dealer at his option.
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Sansui 9090
Sansui 8080
Laboratory Measurements. The playback frequency response was measured with two calibrated test tapes whose equalizations were 120 microseconds for STD and 70 microseconds for Cr02. With the STD tape, the overall response was within +1.5, -3 dB from 31.5 to 10,000 Hz, and an almost perfectly
flat -±0.5 dB from 100 to 10,000 Hz. The Cr02 response was within +3 and -2 d B from 40 to 10,000 Hz.
To test the overall record -playback response, we used BASF LH SUPER tape for STD and TDK KR for Cr02. At a -20 -dB recording level, there was little difference between the two, with an overall variation of ±2.5 dB from 20 to 14,000 Hz. Most of the
variation took place at low frequencies, where the head -gap fringing effect common to many cassette recorders caused a cyclic variation of response below about 200 Hz, with an amplitude reaching several decibels at lower frequencies. The frequency response was essentially identical to that of several other tape formulations, although the machine was factory -biased for the BASF tape. Although there were minor changes in the high -frequency response with TDK ED and SA, Maxell U D XL, and Scotch Classic tape, all fell within
the recorder's rated ±2.5 dB from 20 to
14,000 Hz. The frequency response was essentially the
same in both directions of tape movement. The tracking of the recording and playback Dolby characteristics was checked by comparing the overall record -playback frequency response at levels of -20 and -30 dB with the Dolby system turned on and off. At both levels, the two curves were very similar, with less than 1 dB of change at any frequency.
To reach an indicated recording level of 0 dB, an input of 70 millivolts (LINE) or 0.2 millivolt (mic) was needed. The playback output was 0.78 volt with STD tape and 0.85 volt with Cr02 tape, corresponding to meter readings of +0.5 and +1.5 dB. The meters are marked with the Dolby symbol at their +3 -dB points (a 200 nW/meter Dolby tape played back with a +4 -dB reading), but (as per the instruction book) the Dolby calibration is made at a 0 -dB meter reading.
40
5
(0 DB)
D
0.--
5
(/)
CO -1 D 0
DUAL CASSETTE DECK
RECORD-PLAYBACK RESPONSE
\
t
-- 0 -1 5
BASF LH
I
\
--.-- cro2 2
s -r--
-...
1
.....
25
I] (-20 DB) I
20 30 50
100
200
500
1kHz
2kHz
5kHz 10kHz
2C
,......../(--.0... +5
M 00
--...a..
""----
kH
C-r-02
....1............
',-
NO RM AL
PLAYBACK RESPONSE
-5
1
1
1
1
FREQUENCY IN Hz (CYCLES PER SECOND)
With both tapes, the distortion was about
1.3 per cent at 0 dB; it reached the 3 per cent
reference level at +7.5 dB with STD tape and
+5.5 db with Cr02 tape. The unweighted noise level, referred to the 3 per cent distortion playback output, was -54.5 dB. With IEC "A" weighting, it was -60 dB (it was the
same with both tapes). Switching on the Doi,
by system resulted in a very impressive
-67.5 -dB noise level with STD tape and -66
dB with chrome tape. The noise increased by
11 dB when the Nile inputs were used at maximum gain, but at normal gain settings the in-
crease was slight. The PEAK light flashed at a +2 -dB input level. The meters' ballistic re-
sponse, as claimed, exactly matched VU standards, with 0.3 -second bursts giving 100
per cent of a continuous -tone reading.
The flutter was a very low 0.1 per cent (unweighted rms) in both directions of tape
movement, and wow was at the residual level of our test tape and instruments (about 0.01 per cent). The "fast" speeds of the Dual deck were faster than most cassette decks, only 49 seconds being required to handle a C-60 cas-
sette. The operating speed was as close to the required 17/s ips as we could measure (within
0.1 per cent).
The Aix system gradually adjusted the recording gain to the input -signal level (the re-
cording -level controls are inoperative when
the ALC button is pushed. The circuit respond-
ed almost instantly to level increases but
showed a very long time constant in supplying the increased gain demanded by a decrease in input level. Depending on the highest level reached, full recovery took from 20 seconds
to several minutes. However, this is not a problem when recording speech (for which
this circuit was intended), and it was found impossible to overload the recorder or cause distortion when using ALc.
Comment. Although the operating controls of the Dual deck function in a somewhat unconventional manner, it is not difficult to become accustomed to them, and it is as straightforward a recorder to use as any we know of. The controls can be operated in any
sequence, without going through STOP, and by holding the STOP lever down while operating either of the fast -speed controls the tape can be speedily shuttled to any point, stopping
instantly when the fast lever is released.
Normally, the PAUSE control is engaged before starting the machine to avoid the brief start-up delay associated with the application of power to the electronic circuits. Since there is no distinction between the various levers (other than the red band on the RECORD lever) in size, color, or shape, we found it necessary to recheck the control functions constantly during use before we became accus-
tomed to their arrangement. The auto -reverse operated very smoothly
and rapidly, complete reversal taking only a second or two. When recording, the tape must be reversed manually to avoid accidentally recording over a previously recorded program. We would have liked to be able to disable the auto -reverse (not possible) for those occasions when one wants to play only one side of a cassette. (The reversal is so rapid and unobtrusive that it can easily be missed if you are not attentive to the program.)
It would seem that Dual has chosen to omit some of the "extra" features (such as FM Dolby decoding, 25 -microsecond de -emphasis conversion, mixing microphone inputs, etc.) currently found in some de luxe cassette decks in favor of a very well constructed, easy -to -use automatic reversing system. However, they have created a recorder that reaches the state of the current cassette art in respect to flutter and low noise, and it sounds as good as its measurements suggest. Dual's enviable reputation in the record-player market should be enhanced by this venture into the cassette area.
Circle 50 on reader service card
STEREO REVIEW
4.1
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reggae occurs, if our older stars make consist-
ently good records for a change . . . if, if, if.
Anyway, I think it's going to happen. Then
again, some folks still think the Big Bands (or the Small Combos) are coming back.
OLIVE DAVIS' new label, Arista, has at-
tracted a remarkably varied roster of per-
formers in the short time it's been in business,
THE SIMELS
and late in September he trotted out the heaviest ones for two benefit concerts. (The pro-
ceeds were donated to the beleaguered city of
New York, which, God knows, needs all the
REPORT
help it can get.) The afternoon show featured
Arista's jazz artists, including their most recent signing, Larry Coryell, but it was a little
3y STEVE SIMELS
too esoteric for my tastes, and I didn't attend. The evening concert, however, was truly remarkable.
Not since the days of Murray the K's East-
er extravaganzas at the Brooklyn Fox has
SOMETHING IN THE AIR
there been such a bizarrely programmed allstar rock-and-roll show. Scheduled to appear
(myself included) have been laCRITmIeCnSting the Death of Rock for years, at least since 1968, and yet it lingers on, which is
confusing at the very least. Example: the two most successful new acts of the past year were Bachman -Turner Overdrive and Bad
Company, and regardless of what you think of them qualitatively, there's no doubt that they are bedrock r -&-r. Too, Elton John literally
dominates the airwaves, and though he straddles categories somewhat, we all know he's a rocker.
Of course, "rock is dead" means something else, at least in critical parlance; it means that the Sixties theories about what was "progressive" and what constituted quality have gone down the tubes, and perhaps what we should
be saying is that "real" rock is dead-rock that stems from the same impulses that gave
us the records we acknowledge as legitimately
great-early Elvis, the seminal work of Chuck
Berry, Dylan in his prime, the Beatles and the Beach Boys and Phil Spector and the Who. These records were somehow more than simply words and music; they had, well - there's no other word for it- magic. So, "rock" is still around but, with few exceptions, the qual-
ity of magic has been sorely lacking the last few years, and I think that's what the critics
have been decrying. What is there around today that literally compels you to listen to it? There was a time when the answer to that question was easy, but I doubt somehow that
today's kids are going to feel as strongly about
Jethro Tull or Nektar in ten years as I feel now about "Blonde on Blonde" or "Out of Our Heads."
I wouldn't even bring up this subject except for the fact that, for the first time since the very dawn of the Seventies, I begin to sense the stirring of . . . I don't quite know what. All of a sudden there's a lot of remarkable music around, and I'm tending toward cau-
tious optimism. Maybe it's a feeling that standards have been raised. Thanks to the Dylan tour and "Blood on the Tracks." the Stones'
spectacular showing this summer, the unprecedented success of Bruce Springsteen, the remarkable return from the dead of the Starship and Neil Young, and some other things, one can't help but feel that quality is beginning to count again. As Paul Williams observed, no longer can somebody like David
Bowie hustle himself into superstardom just
by making a few smart moves and spending a lot of money. I suspect 1976 is going to be the crucial year-if Patti Smith makes it, if the long -overdue commercial breakthough for
were Linda Lewis, Eric Carmen (the short
guy from the Raspberries, the one with delusions of being Paul McCartney), Barry Mani low, Melissa Manchester, Loudon Wainwright (!), and Patti Smith (! !). Weird, espe-
cially considering that only Barry and Melissa have what might be termed mass followings,
but I was really looking forward to seeing how their audiences would react to such - shall we
say-unusual talents as Loudon and Patti,
neither of whom make the kind of polite music that is Clive and Arista's long suit. In the case of Patti, in particular, I was almost hoping for the rock equivalent of the reaction at the première of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps.
No such luck, of course. If there were any major freakouts I didn't observe them, but it was a really fun evening anyway. Such a wide spectrum of performers is unusual at a rock event nowadays (unless you count those ghastly three-day mud fests), and since the show was so tightly packed, everybody in-
volved did relatively short sets, parading only their finest wares. Downright refreshing.
Briefly: Linda Lewis was charming in a mild sort of way; Eric Carmen didn't show
(which would have been a blessing, except that he was replaced by Gil Scott -Heron, about whom the less said the better); Loudon
Wainwright was crazed, brilliant, hilariously
funny, and (surprisingly) totally at ease and in
control of his performance; and Barry and
Patti Smith: "My father said,
Melissa were . . . well, Barry and Melissa. I found them unbearable; the crowd adored them. De gustibus.
`It's him or me,' and I went out
But Patti -ah, I think I'm in love again. She was nervous (this was her concert debut, after all) and her band was a little ragged (I doubt
walking."
they've ever played through a professionalgrade P.A. system before), but it didn't matter.
The energy level was close to breathtaking,
and magic was most definitely in the air. Dur-
ing her closing number, a long half -spoken
and half -sung number about how she got into
rock as a kid ("Seventeen and I saw Mick Jagger on the Ed Sullivan Show/My father said 'It's him or me'/And I went out walking"),
I found myself shaking my head in absolute
disbelief; it couldn't be this good, I couldn't be this moved by a performance any more. If one tiny bit of this can be captured on record
(she's being produced by John Cale, and if he can't do it, no one can), then I really envy those of you outside New York who will be
exposed to this wonder for the first time.
What I mean is, is it too early to be calling
anyone The Next Bruce Springsteen?
42
STEREO REVIEW
60% of BOSE Owners
Changed Our Mind
While we enjoy talking about the technology that distinguishes the BOSE 901';and about the unprecedented series of rave reviews by leading critics, the purpose of an advertisement is to increase sales by introducing more people to the product.
A surprising result of a customer survey changed our mind as to the most effective use of advertsing funds. It revealed that 60% of the people who select the BOSE 901 do so at the recommendation of a 901 owner! This told us that the best advertisement is the product, and the best salesman is the enthusiastic owner.
We concluded that an excellent use of advertising funds would be to help set up an absolutely phenomenal music sys:em in as many owners' homes
as possible. Known as the SUPER BOSE SYSTEM, it consists of the 18017mpower amplifier and two pairs of 901 speakers. One pair of 901s is placed
to reflect sound of: a front wall, and the second pair reflects off side walls, producing sound with spatial realism and presence that is simply astounding.
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We believe that the SUPER BOSE SYSTEM is the best music system available today.
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The Mountain, Framingham, MA 01701
THE
OPERA FILE
3y WILLIAM LIVINGSTO\E
OPERA IN AMERICA
DANCE has became the fastest -growing of
the performing arts in the United States, and a few years ago Nancy Hanks, of the Na-
tional Endowment of the Arts, said she could
think of no better way to celebrate the Bicentennial than by taking pride in American dance. I'll drink to that. I'm very big on the Bicentennial. Tired of constantly hearing about what's wrong with this country, I look forward to a year when we can emphasize
some of the many things that are right with it. And while we're saluting dance in Ameri-
ca, I'd like to do a "me -too" for Opera in
America.
When I was younger, opera was available in the provinces almost exclusively on records and radio. The genuine, live article was pretty much a New York thing, though there were short seasons in such cities as Philadelphia and San Francisco. There were occasional touring companies and isolated local efforts,
but who knew when Boston and Chicago would ever manage to put together another opera company? Well -traveled fans assured
us hicks that Germany was operaphile heaven, with a resident company in every major city. Though longing for such a situation in the United States, I resigned myself to the fact that it would never happen here.
But you know what? It is happening. Boston and Chicago have long since gotten their seasons together, and so have Seattle, Hous-
ton, Dallas, Baltimore, Miami, New Orleans, San Diego, Minneapolis -St. Paul, Newark, Hartford, Santa Fe, and I don't know where all. A new company was started in Norfolk last season, and another begins in Tulsa in January. American opera companies (like those everywhere else) rely on the standard
repertoire, but most of them are planning Bicentennial events as well, some in the current
season, others in 1976-1977. According to a bulletin from the Central
Opera Service last fall, about a hundred American opera companies and workshops were planning special performances for the festival year, with more than thirty world premieres scheduled. These include Conrad Susa's Black River and Dominick Argento's The Voyage of Edgar Poe (both in Minneapolis), Carlisle Floyd's Bilby's Doll (Houston), Julia Smith's Daisy (Charlotte, N.C.), and Thomas Pasatieri's Ines de Castro (Baltimore), to name only a few. And there will, of
44
course, be performances of such other American works as Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, Douglas Moore's The Ballad of Baby Doe, Scott Joplin's Treemonisha, and John Philip Sousa's El Capitan.
I won't pretend that I'm a great fan of American opera. With the exception of Gershwin, no American opera composer whose work I've heard has come up with a
vocal line that really thrilled me. I didn't care for Floyd's Susannah, and Samuel Barber's
Beeson's "Captain Jinks" Walter Hook, Carol Wilcox, Carolyn James
Vanessa left me cold. Verdi demanded of his librettists la parola scenica, the "theatrical word," but, like most other American operas, Vanessa had such lines as: "Do you remember? . . . The mumps, the chicken pox, the scarlatina?" I submit that on the meter of theatricality "chicken pox" registers zero.
I don't claim to know a lot about American
opera either, but I'm a reasonably quick
study, and by this time next year I plan to be an expert. With that in mind I went happily off in late September to the world premiere of the first opera commissioned for the Bicentennial by the National Endowment of the Arts: Jack Beeson's Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines
staged by the Kansas City Lyric Theater. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it made me wonder whether I've been completely fair to our home-grown opera.
Set in the 1870's, Captain Jinks is a romantic comedy about a young American singer, Aurelia Trentoni, who has become an international diva in Europe and is returning to make her New York debut in La Traviata. She is wooed and won by a young man about town named Jonathan Jinks. The libretto (by Sheldon Harnick) is based on the 1901 play (by Clyde Fitch) that made Ethel Barrymore a star, and it proves that there is still life in the old boy-meets-girl formula. And, too, in addi-
tion to moments funny and touching, there are
amusing parallels with the plot of Traviata.
More striking than the plot is Beeson's use of musical quotes from several operas, and I admire his nerve in inviting comparison with
Verdi by quoting frequently from Traviata. I found him most successful in the lyrical passages he wrote for the lovers, and less so in the music provided for the impresario Col. Mapleson and Aurelia's guardian, Papa Belliarti. The concerted numbers in Acts I and II seemed rather diffuse, and the marriage of music and lyrics was not always happy -at times strong melodic accents fell on unmelodious words (and don't you think Harnick thought to spare us a reference to Aurelia's childhood case of chicken pox!). But the singers projected the words clearly and everybody laughed at all the jokes, so overall the opera was a very pleasant musical evening.
The Lyric Theater's general director Russell Patterson described Captain Jinks in the program as "a valentine to opera," and the production designed by Patton Campbell made it a very pretty one indeed, with a lacy forecurtain framing the proscenium for all three acts. The costumes, particularly Aurelia's, were attractive, and I found all three sets
0charming. F as much interest to me as the new work
was the Lyric Theater itself. The only singers
whose names I knew were Robert Owen Jones (Jinks) and Carolyn James (Mrs. Gee), who had impressed me in this same company's recording of Beeson's The Sweet Bye
and Bye (Desto). All were at least competent, and the very beautiful Carol Wilcox (Aurelia)
was considerably more than that.
As explained to me by composer John
Kander, who is on the board of directors, the Kansas City Lyric Theater is a real resident company of young American singers, one that
can be heard to good advantage in the small house (1,200 seats). They have a month's rehearsal and perform everything in English, including this season The Flying Dutchman,
La Boheme, La Perichole, and The Marriage
of Figaro. Leading singers in one opera often take small parts in another. For example, Karen Yarmat, who sings Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro, appeared in Captain finks as Jonathan's mother, and tenor George Livings, the company's Rodolfo in La Boheme, sang the small part of a New York Times reporter.
This is surely not the only way to run a regional opera company, but it is a very good way, and a measure of its success is the Lyric Theater's three complete opera recordings. In addition to Beeson's Sweet Bye and Bye on Desto, the company has recorded Vittorio Giannini's The Taming of the Shrew for CRI,
and RCA has already recorded Captain Jinks for release next June.
STEREO REVIEW
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a 9'116" pivot to stylus length. For outstandingly low tracking error.
Unlike conventional turntables, the SL -1500 has no belts or idlers to produce variations in speed. Because
The SL -1500 also has viscous damped cueing and variable pitch controls. One anti -skating adjustment
its platter is actually a part of the
for all types of styli. CD -4 phono cables.
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Tochnics
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CIRCLE NO. 54 ON READER SERVI
record reviewing and aspects of piano tech-
nique and style as demonstrated in record-
ings. The eight Fellows and I had classes
together morning and afternoon, attended
lecture recitals or master classes of the piano
festival in between, went to the concerts in
the evening, ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner
0\GOI \G DECO RD
3y JAMES GOODFRIE\D
Music Editor
together and talked about music, and stayed up late at night writing assigned reviews or, in
my case, writing criticisms of them. The whole was one giant submersion in piano music and the techniques of writing about it and criticizing it.
The reader may be interested to know some of the specific critical problems that came to
the surface during that time, if for nothing else than to make him aware of the very real quali-
fications demanded of a conscientious, professional music critic. Many of the Fellows com-
plained of simply not being able to hear
enough music or enough varieties of music in
their home towns. Even limiting the subject to
A CRITICAL EDUCATION
pianists, such performers as, say, Michelangeli do not go everywhere, nor do Rubinstein,
WOVEN into the fabric that constitutes
the history of music has been, for many
centuries, a single, cynical thread that questions the origins and the purposes of music critics. It is no secret that aspersions have long been cast on the legitimacy of birth of
such people, and, further, we have been told that music critics are merely frustrated com-
posers, frustrated singers, frustrated instrumentalists, (even) frustrated musicologists, and so on, ad infinitum and ad hominem. But very little has ever been said or written about the training of music critics, probably because
no one outside the circle seems to know anything about it. How do music critics rise (or fall) to their station? What are the critical qualifications? It can't be all peptic ulcers and bad dispositions.
I don't think I am doing the reader an injustice if I assume that he has never heard of an
organization called the Music Critics' Asso-
type, and I am just about to participate, as a student, in one of the second type. At this point, then, I can at least tell you what sort of thing went on at the first.
It was held at the University of Maryland in
College Park in conjunction with a piano festival and a piano competition, and the major critical subject was naturally piano repertoire,
interpretation, and performance. The institute ran approximately ten days. The first part was
Horowitz, Berman, Freire, Moravec, and a lot of other topflight artists. Nelson Freire was playing at the Maryland Piano Festival. Every critic went-it was the first time most of them had heard him at all. The answer to this problem? Listen to a lot more records.
Nobody gets very far as a soloist today without records, and it is often possible to hear a promising new artist on record before he makes a major concert appearance anywhere in the country.
Another problem: many of the critics had never thought hard enough about whom they were writing for. All too often they simply assumed their readers were completely familiar with the work under discussion, and they wrote about fine points in the score-or the opposite, how the performers were dressedas if they were writing on the one hand for their colleagues or on the other for their non-
musical neighbors. But most of these critics work for general -circulation newspapers, and,
ciation. It comprises a large number of music critics who work in radio and television or on newspapers and magazines of every description. Needless to say, there is also enormous variety among the critics themselves. I can think of no noun other than "dog" that embraces such an assortment of different types as does the term "music critic." Some are smarter than others; some are merely older than others. Some have PhD's; others have
highschool diplomas. Some know a great deal about music; others know very little. Some
are full-time critics; others are practicing
composers, performers, musicologists, teachers, doctors, dentists, or candlestick makers as well. Some are basically reporters; others are basically critics or theorists. Some write very well indeed; others write abysmally. The average level of ability and accomplishment
taken by Thomas Willis of the Chicago Tribune, the second by me, and in between were
sandwiched lecture demonstrations by Harold Schonberg of the New York Times (on
practically, one can assume an interest in classical music on the part of someone who is going to read a review, but not much more than that.
Third, the most common fault of younger or less -experienced critics is overkill. There are
dozens of ways, on dozens of levels, of expressing the same, honest, critical opinion. An
artist who has been around for decades de-
serves respect, even if his fingers can no longer cope with all the technical difficulties or his temperament control an impatience born of overfamiliarity with a piece. Vicious reviews are easy to write, but they are only rarely justified, mostly when an artist has achieved a reputation that is far beyond his actual accomplishments and strong countermeasures are needed to set the standards straight.
is, I'm sure, mediocre by what many of us like to think of as the proper standards. It is one of the major purposes of the Music Critics' Association to raise that average as much as possible.
To that end, the MCA organizes each year
Romantic performance practice) and by Mar-
tin Williams, critic and author of many books on jazz (on jazz improvisation-his session
was done in conjunction with pianist Bill Evans). There were eight participating Fel-
lows in the institute, three women and five
APART from such problems (and there were many others), the Fellows did-and all critics have to do-a large amount of direct comparative listening, for this is musically revealing
in a way no simple following of a performance with a printed score can be. The most striking
a number of cram -course institutes in which
"senior" critics are invited to pass on to "junior" critics the benefit of their experience in
both music and the mechanics and politics of
writing criticism. There are also other institutes in which those same senior critics are
invited to become students of musicological specialists. I have recently returned from teaching a portion of an institute of the first
men, all practicing critics (all except one professionally so) representing newspapers and other publications from Seattle, Kalamazoo, Houston, Yale University, and elsewhere. Both their qualifications and their interests were varied, and so were their problems.
Tom Willis, in his sessions, concentrated on
the specifics of newspaper work and the reviewing of live performances. I worked on
such comparison we engaged in (done for purposes of studying stylistic approaches and
not for choosing the "best" record) was one of
three performances of Debussy's Reflets dans l'Eau (from Images, Book 1): Philippe Entremont (Columbia MS 6567); Walter Gieseking (Angel 35065); and Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (Deutsche Grammophon 2530196). Try it - it's a critical education in itself.
46 STEREO REVIEW
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BEETHOVEN'S SEVENTH SYMPHONY
DURING the course of the New York Philharmonic's recent European tour, our
fourteen -year -old daughter Deborah had the privilege of hearing Beethoven's Seventh Symphony three different times in as many cities during the period of a couple of weeks. Overexposure? Hardly. She now loves that work perhaps above all others in the repertoire. Not that she came to it absolutely cold
-it had resounded through our household scores of times in her experience, but her familiarity with it had been largely osmotic. Now, however, she claims the Seventh as her very own, she has her own recording of it (the New York Philharmonic conducted
the first Beethoven symphony to acquire in building a record library."
sion, an effect of cumulative growth which is akin to extraordinary size."
But there are other reasons, too, for the visceral and emotional impact of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. There is a soaring lyricism, even in the Finale, where the energy
and forward motion are propelled on the wings of a melody of sheer exuberance. And
the architectural proportions of the work are quite simply perfect. Wagner labeled Beethoven's Seventh Symphony "the Dance in its highest condition; the happiest realization of the movements of the body in an ideal form." The metaphor holds; the fluid and easy motion of an athlete's body finds its counterpart in the organic unity, perfect integration, and flowing grace of this music.
Years ago, when the Seventh Symphony first figured in this "Basic Repertoire" series,
my prime recommendation for a recorded performance of the music was Bruno Walter's with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra. It
was then available either as a single disc or in
a seven -record album devoted to Walter -conducted performances of all the Beethoven
symphonies. The single -disc edition is now no longer available, but the Walter stereo record-
by Leonard Bernstein, Columbia MS 6112), and she and Beethoven have become fast friends.
At first flush Beethoven's Fifth Symphony
might have been the more logical candidate to introduce an eager enthusiast to the symphon-
ic world. After all, that opening four -note motto is probably the best-known extract from the entire literature. And the drama and excitement of the Fifth are quite irresistible. But the Seventh has a power and impact uniquely its own, and I think I would choose the Seventh ahead of the Fifth as my recommendation for the first Beethoven symphony
to acquire in building a record library. One reason is that the Seventh conveys a
feeling of massiveness -and it does so despite a rather modest framework: it is not particu-
larly long (most conductors do it in about thirty-seven or thirty-eight minutes), and it is scored for the normal classical orchestra
(woodwinds and trumpets in pairs, tympani, and strings). The late John N. Burk attributed the feeling of immensity to the composer's
"wilfully driving a single rhythmic figure
through each movement, until the music attains (particularly in the body of the first movement and in the Finale) a swift propul-
ings of the Beethoven symphonies have been
brought together and reissued on Columbia's
budget -price Odyssey label (Y7 30051). It is an album well worth having as a cherishable reminder of Walter's very humanistic approach. Throughout the Seventh Symphony his pacing of the music is masterly, and he builds to a final movement of overwhelming
buoyancy and elan. Though an early product
of stereo recording technology, the sound is still eminently satisfying.
Of course there are many other splendid recordings of the Seventh Symphony currently available. My own favorites among them are Bernstein's (Columbia MS 6112), Klemperer's (Angel S 35945), Davis' (Angel
S 37027), and Reiner's (RCA disc LSC 1991,
cassette RK 1150). All four of these conductors respond intuitively to the thrill and thrust of the music, all secure superb playing from
their orchestras, and all are richly recorded. Klemperer's is perhaps the most surprising of the lot, for he combines a fleet elegance with his accustomed monumentality.
Also eminently satisfying is the budgetprice recording by the late Guido Cantelli (Seraphim S 60038), a supple and lively performance that is now two decades old but still sounds amazingly alive.
48 STEREO REVIEW
JUSTERINI
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Ideally. a turntable system should enable the stylus in your cartridge to meticulously follow the "path inscribed during the cutting process. That is. it should play your record precisely as the master disc was originally cut.
A "straight line tracking- turntable system. properly designed, engineered and manufactured. could eliminate problems such as skating force, tracking error and the resulting excessive record wear, all of which are inherent in pivoted arm systems in all their forms and modifications.
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WHEN you go shopping for an FM tuner or receiver, it is helpful to keep in mine just what
you want it to do-or not do-for you so that you can keep the specifications in perspective. If you "buy blind," so to speak, it is all too easy to "overbuy," to select a tuner whose performance capabilities (and therefore cost)
are greater than you really need. The best way to approach this rather
complex subject is through a simplifying systemization, so I have divided the FM tuner's operational characteristics
into four separate sections. Within
each I will describe the applicable specifications and features and give typical numerical values for them where appropriate. (The new IEEE/IHF
"Standard Methods of Testing Frequency Modulation Broadcast Receivers," IHF-T-200, 1975, is the basis for all the FM specifications that involve
measurements; it differs in a number of significant respects from the older 1958 Standard which it replaces and is discussed in more detail in this month's "Technical Talk" column starting on page 28.)
-1-
SIGNAL RECEPTION
Julian Hirsch tells you
how to go shopping for a
CHRISTMAS TUNER
THE TUNERS ON THE COVER
(1) Pioneer TX -9500 AM/stereo FM, approximately $400. (2) Marantz 150 AM/stereo FM, $599.95. (3) Yamaha CT -7000 stereo FM, $1,200. (4) Kenwood 700-T AM/stereo FM, $749.95. (5) Revox
A720 stereo FM tuner/preamplifier,
$1,665. (6) Kensonic Accuphase T-100 AM/stereo FM, approximately $700. (7) Sansui TU-9900 AM/stereo FM, $499.95. (8) Scott T33S stereo FM, $999.50. (9) Luxman T-310 AM/stereo FM, $595. (10) Fltathkit Module I AM/stereo FM tuner/preamplifier kit, $599.95. (11) Sony ST -4950 AM/stereo FM, $350. (12) Sherwood SEL-300 AM/stereo FM, approximately $500. (13) Sequerra Model 1 stereo FM, $2,500. (14) Dynaco AF -6 AM/stereo FM kit, $240.
A tuner's ability to bring you the programs of certain chosen stations-they
may be near or far, strong or weak-
with an absolute minimum of noise and distortion is obviously a prime consid-
eration in buying. The tuner character-
istic most directly related to this task is its sensitivity, a quality which is currently defined in two ways. The familiar but not complete Usable Sensitivity is defined as the lowest signal voltage required at the tuner's antenna termi-
nals that will produce a noise -plus -distortion (N + D) level in the audio output of 3.2 per cent (-30 dB). For some
years this sensitivity has been ex-
pressed in microvolts (IN), but hence-
forth, according to the new Standard, it
will be expressed in decibels relative to a signal -power input level of 1 fem-
towatt (10'1s watt-which is a "1"
fifteen places to the right of the decimal
point) or dBf. As a rough guide to
equivalency, 1µV equals 5 dBf, 10 equals 25 dBf, etc. (see the table of comparable values on page 29). In the past, the Usable Sensitivity specifica-
tion was defined only for mono operation, but the new standard calls for a stereo rating as well.
The old Usable Sensitivity figure was never representative of really usable
listening conditions since an N + D lev-
el of -30 dB is unacceptably noisy,
even by minimum hi-fi standards. The
52
STEREO REVIEW
second (newly adopted) rating, 50 -dB Quieting Sensitivity, is the minimum signal level needed to reduce noise (hiss) to -50 dB relative to maximum program level. Such a signal is quite listenable, although the hiss may be audible during quiet passages. The 50 -dB Quieting Sensitivity rating is also given for both mono and stereo modes.
Although the 50 -dB Quieting Sensitivity is the more important of the two ratings (since it is more representative of really usable listening conditions), a comparison of the two gives a positive indication of the rate at which the tuner is able to "quiet" very weak signals, and this affects other aspects of its performance. Most component -grade tuners can be expected to have a Usable Sensitivity between 10 and 15 dBf (1.7 to 3.1 µV), which is more than adequate for almost any listening situation. The 50 -dB Quieting Sensitivity is usually 5 to 10 dB higher (numerically), falling in the 15- to 25-dBf (3.1 to 9.7 ILV)
range. On some of the finest tuners there may be very little differenceperhaps less than 1 dB-between the
two ratings. Because of the importance of the 50 -dB quieting specification in real listening situations, a tuner whose Usable and 50 -dB Quieting Sensitivities are, respectively, 13 and 15 dBf is actually more sensitive, in real terms, than one with 10 and 20 dBf ratings, although the latter is 3 dB better in Us-
It is obvious that background noise is higher in stereo FM reception than in mono. Putting it another way, more input -signal level is needed to achieve a 50 -dB signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) in stereo than in mono. The stereo 50 -dB Quieting Sensitivity will usually fall between 33 and 37 dBf (25 to 40 p.V). In stereo, the Usable Sensitivity may be unmeasurable, since the tuner's multiplex circuit will often switch to mono before a signal input weak enough to
produce a -30 -dB N + D figure is reached. In this case, the switching
threshold is the Stereo Usable Sensitivity. (Note, however, that the signal lev-
el at which switching takes place is chosen by the manufacturer. If it is higher than that figure on some other tuner, this does not necessarily mean
that sensitivity is poorer.)
-2SIGNAL REJECTION
One of the major advantages of the FM medium is its ability to reject most interference and produce quiet, noise free reception. This ability has its limits, and any FM receiver can suffer from interference problems under
some conditions (and when interference does occur it is likely to obliterate
the program rather than mar it slightly).
The most obvious and common
source of interference is a strong signal located very close in frequency to the
desired signal-say, in an "alternate"
channel only 400 kHz away, or even in
an "adjacent" channel just 200 kHz away. In any given geographic area, station assignments are made on an al-
ternate -channel basis, but it is conceiv-
able that you might be in range of (and wish to receive) a distant signal only 200 kHz away from some more powerful local station. A highly directional antenna is the prime requisite for this, but when both stations lie in the same direction, the tuner should have the best possible selectivity also, and it may
nevertheless be insufficient.
With a 400 -kHz channel spacing, the task becomes much more practicable.
The Alternate -Channel Selectivity of a
tuner is a measure of how much stronger a signal from an alternate channel (400 kHz away) must be to create interference with the desired signal at a lev-
el of -30 dB referred to its fully modu-
lated program level (see accompanying box). Low -price tuners typically have
40 dB or so of Alternate Channel Selectivity, while values of 60 to 80 dB are
available in the better ones. For the most demanding circumstances, a few
of the finest tuners have 90 to 100 dB of selectivity. The latter rating means that the interfering signal would have to be 100,000 times as strong as the desired
one to interfere at a -30 -dB level. This
is a most unlikely condition, and if such a tuner doesn't meet your needs, you would be advised to change your listen-
ing habits!
Adjacent -Channel Selectivity (measured in the same manner, but with an interfering signal only 200 -kHz away) is almost never specified by tuner man-
ufacturers. We do not attempt to mea-
sure it at Hirsch -Houck Laboratories because it is of comparatively minor importance to most users, and it is very
difficult to measure with either accura-
cy or consistency. Another category of interfering sig-
nal originates at frequencies far removed from the 88- to 108 -MHz FM broadcast band. The most common is image interference, which, though it is usually caused by aircraft and other mobile transmissions, is a result of a deficiency in the tuner rather than the interfering transmitter. The "image" appears as a signal on the FM dial just 21.4 MHz lower in frequency than the transmitting station. Good Image Rejection is associated with a tuner that has a number of tuned circuits in its "front end" (between the antenna and
the mixer stage). When a manufacturer
proudly announces that his tuner has a "five -section" tuning capacitor, he is telling you that it should be relatively immune to interference from signals outside the FM band. Inexpensive tuners may have only three tuning sections, while deluxe models often have five or even more (the current record holder has a seven -section capacitor).
The numbers specifying image rejection are fairly similar to those for alternate -channel selectivity. A 40 to 50 dB image -rejection rating is rather undistinguished, but it may be perfectly adequate if you do not live near an airport (one of the principal areas of image interference). Good tuners usually have 60 to 80 dB of image rejection, and the top ones exceed 100 dB.
FM tuners also have an inherent response to signals at their "intermediate" frequency (i.f.) of 10.7 MHz and to signals at almost any frequency if they are strong enough. The IF Rejection and Spurious -response Rejection ratings refer to the tuner's immunity to these types of interfering sources. In general, the design features that give good image rejection also discriminate against other out -of -band interference (which rarely troubles the consumer).
-3-
REPRODUCTION ACCURACY
Once we have succeeded in tuning in the desired station without obvious interference from other transmissions, we are still faced with the problem of extracting a true facsimile of the original program from the received signal. This implies, among other things, correct frequency response, negligible added noise and distortion (that is, not enough to be audible) and, in the case of stereo, no audible reduction in channel separation.
Frequency Response is largely determined by the accuracy of the components of the tuner's de -emphasis circuit. There is normally no difficulty in achieving a response "flat" within ±2 dB (more usually, ±1 dB) over the entire frequency range. Most tuners have 15,000 -Hz cut-off filters in their audio
circuits to remove any 19,000 -Hz stereo pilot carrier leakage that might cause "birdies" when tape-recording FM programs. These filters commonly
reduce the output slightly at the highest frequencies, and a loss of 2 to 3 dB at 15,000 Hz is not unusual (and generally not audible) so long as the response is not affected at frequencies of 13,000 Hz or below.
Occasionally an FM tuner will be
found to have a roll -off at very low frequencies (typically below 50 Hz). If not
DECEMBER 1975
53
DECEMBER 1975
55
98 IN 102 104 106
108 MHz
contribute nothing directly to listening quality, they can be very useful as diag-
,111111111,111111111t11111111111,1111H:.
nostic tools, and they are interesting to
120
1417 160 -KHz
watch as well. Perhaps the most worthwhile use of the scope is as a multipath
".. .AM broadcasting is not, and cannot be,
distortion indicator. With its help, it is
a high-fidelity medium in the sense we know FM to be."
easy to orient the antenna for minimum distortion. However, some de luxe tun-
where, unless this feature is of no importance to you.
A numerical (digital) read-out of tun-
ing frequency, found on a few highprice tuners, neatly solves this prob-
lem. Sometimes it is coupled with a so-
called "synthesized" tuning system that is referenced to a precise, stable frequency generated within the tuner itself. This permits the tuner to be set to any channel with virtually absolute
accuracy. Occasionally a synthesizing tuner employs a conventional (analog)
dial display. If so, be sure that you can still identify the frequency unambigu-
ously; there is little benefit in being ex-
much to do with one's overall satisfac-
tion with the product. For example, all but the least expensive tuners have interstation-noise muting systems. The loud rushing noise between stations was a disturbing aspect of FM reception in its early days, until manufactur-
ers began installing circuits that mute the audio until a station is properly tuned in. The manner in which the tuner mutes, or un-mutes, as you tune it off or on to a signal can have much to
do with the real usefulness of this feature. If, as often happens, each transi-
tion is accompanied by a loud burst of noise or distorted sound, the muting
ers already have a meter for this purpose, or one of the tuning meters can
be switched to indicate multipath dis-
tortion nearly as effectively as a scope.
With no FCC -approved discrete
four -channel system yet available, most tuner and receiver manufacturers are hedging their bets by providing a
jack, typically labelled "4 cH MPX," which makes the detected program available before multiplex processing and de -emphasis. The assumption is that suitable decoders will reach the
market if and when one of several com-
peting systems is approved, as oc-
curred with FM stereo broadcasting.
actly tuned to the wrong channel!
system is of questionable value. A
Needless to say, the tuner should not
drift to another frequency once you have set it to a station. Before the ad-
good muting system will give no audible indication that a signal is present until it is tuned in correctly, when it
-6THE AM QUESTION
vent of the transistor, this was a seri- will be heard emerging from a silent
ous problem, and most tuners had auto-
matic -frequency -control (AFC) systems to correct for their inherent drift. Very few modern tuners have significant drift, but some still have AFC. It can be considered a tuning aid, but it
adds little to the utility of the tuner.
Some kind of tuning indicator is
important, however. In fact, if the tuner is not of the synthesizing variety, it
is a must. The best kind of indicator is a zero -center meter which clearly indi-
cates center -of -channel tuning (some-
times a lamp or a light -emitting diode is
used for this purpose; either can be equally effective). Most lower -price tuners and receivers have a meter whose deflection is proportional to signal strength and which supposedly reads a maximum when the station is tuned in correctly. If such a meter gives a reasonably definite maximum indication, it is adequate, but some hold a maximum reading over a very broad tuning range, and are therefore
nearly useless as tuning aids. The bet-
ter tuners usually employ both types of meters.
background. When tuning off a station, the sound should simply disappear and
be replaced by silence. Like dial calibration, this is an easy thing to check for yourself in the dealer's showroom.
All muting systems are designed to
act at a certain threshold level of
broadcast -signal strength. If the signal exceeds this level, the system unmutes;
if not, it doesn't. Depending on the manufacturer's choice of threshold, some particularly weak or distant sta-
tions may not be brought in by the tuner when the muting is in use. A few de luxe tuners offer means of varying the
muting threshold with a switch or a rotating control. Otherwise, the muting must be switched off entirely to receive such stations.
Many tuners have a "high -blend"
noise -reduction switch that can be set to reduce hiss in stereo FM reception
by partially blending the two channels at the higher audio frequencies. This is
a useful feature, especially if some of your favorite FM stereo stations do not deliver a signal strong enough to quiet the tuner fully-and if it does not sig-
Finally, we must consider the AM tuner. From time to time I am taken to
task by people connected with the AM broadcast industry for either ignoring the AM sections of tuners and receivers or for refusing to downgrade the standing of an otherwise excellent tun-
er for having an inferior AM section. I plead guilty to these "offenses," which
are deliberate and reflect my view that
AM broadcastiag is not, and cannot be,
a high-fidelity medium in the sense that
we know FM to be. This goes far beyond the mere question of band-
width (frequency response), which can be good enough to qualify for "hi-fi" standing, although it almost never is. The background noise in AM reception, I feel, is intolerable unless one is located very close to the transmitting antenna. Another factor is the exces-
sive distortion of the AM detectors
used in today's tuners and receivers.
Some of these problems are inherent in the AM medium, others result from poor design, but if your listening habits
include AM programs, you can judge for yourself whether the quality of the
nificantly affect the stereo image.
AM section of a given tuner is satisfac-
-5CONVENIENCE FEATURES
Some tuners, especially at the higher tory. There are indeed differences
price levels, have outputs for connecting to an audio oscilloscope, which
among them. A few will have a fre-
quency response extending to 5,000 Hz
then serves as a rather advanced (and or even higher, but most fall off rapidly
Along with the circuitry needed for its basic operation, a tuner frequently
has some features that make it simply pleasanter to use. Even if these "extras" do not contribute directly to the quality of the sound, they can have
expensive) multipath-tuning indicator. Such scopes are made by several hi-fi
equipment manufacturers, and they can generally be used to monitor other
aspects of system performance as well. A few rather costly tuners have such
scopes built right in. Although they
above 3,000 Hz, and some cannot even achieve that frequency! Fortunately or
unfortunately, these are differences
that can readily be heard, so if tolerable AM is important to you, do not neglect listening comparisons when making your tuner choice.
56 STEREO REVIEW
Imb
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A Partridge in an
gtymologicon
The Truth about that Pear Tree
by Martha bennett Stiles
IN the English-speaking world, a partridge in a
pear tree, or even any iden-
tifiable abstraction of same, has become an immediate-
ly recognized symbol of
Christmas. Less widely recognized is the fact that this
pictogram utilized on so
many Yuletide cards would be equally appropriate on the jacket of an etymologi-
con, which is, as everyone knows, the place for looking up the derivations of words.
No one knows whether The Twelve Days of Christ-
mas is a medieval French or
Languedoc song translated
centuries ago into English, or whether it was the other
way around. Whoever is to
blame, though, by 1718 an
English broadsheet was rejoicing in the whimsical,
not to say cumbersome,
gift of the implausibly perched bird we celebrate today. The growing market for religiously neutral winter solstice cards insures that this bird will retain its unlikely perch, that true love will continue his un-
likely offering, in picture af-
ter beautiful picture. Only a Scrooge would mind, but, like pearls growing around accidentally ingested sand,
these beautiful pictures are all really the products of a
mistake.
Back when The Twelve Days was new, the French
words for "a partridge"
were une pertriz, the first word bisyllabic, the second one properly pronounced "pear -tree," even if you weren't an Englishman full of egg nog. And on neither side of the English Channel
at the time was there a winter traffic in fruit trees. What that true love on the first day sent was "a par-
tridge, une pertriz," but
what began as a small flourish of some Englishman's
fragmentary bilingualism has slurred into beloved gibberish. The same centuries which have, in French lexicons, altered pertriz to perdrix have in The Twelve
Days caused it to put forth branches and fruit-as miraculously as the pole of St. Christopher after he bore
Jesus across the river. This
transition from fauna to flora was pointed out by
England's Folk -Song Society Journal decades ago,
with all the effect on our
cherished pear -roosting partridge that recent Vatican scholarship has had on the wearing of St. Christopher medals. Scholarship is
no match for sentiment,
luckily for Christmas. The Twelve Days, as any-
one who turns on his radio between Thanksgiving and January 1 soon learns (and stands small chance during that period of being allowed to forget), is a carol enumerating, in the increasingly dazed voice of the recipient, the presents sent by a lover to his lady on each of the twelve days from Christ's Mass to the Epiphany. Today the biggest gift appears to be the song's own inspiration to the minor arts. Centerpieces, window displays, fabric designs, sculpted pins and pendants-the partridge and the pear seem to be an inexhaustible motif. Each time they are celebrated, of course, the spurious pair become more established. This is especially true when they are offered to small children, few of whose impressionable minds have been
fortified by delvings into
the Folk -Song Society
Journal and who are furthermore prone in after
years to cling to whatever version of a song they were exposed to first, not because it is necessarily more true, more beautiful, or
more good, but simply because it reminds them of their youth.
Alas for academic purity,
illustrators, whose book
royalties double if their tex-
tual subject lies in the emi-
nent domain, cannot resist The Twelve Days of Christmas. At least one new
artist has favored children's
libraries with his version every other year for the past thirteen. In addition, now in its fifth printing is the late Ben Shahn's treat-
ment of the carol for adults.
Published by the New York Museum of Modern
Art, Mr. Shahn's A Partridge
in a Pear Tree includes such
clarifying scholarly asser-
tions as that the carol's "four calling birds" were
really collied, or coal black,
and such obfuscating ones as that the "five gold rings" refer to the ringed pheasant. The latter is unlikely,
because whether pheasants
come singly or by fives,
their rings (one apiece) are not golden but white. Old Scottish dictionaries divulge that back when a partridge was une pertriz, "gulderer" was the onomatopoeic name of the turkey gobbler, so it is very likely
that what that medieval lass
bagged on the fifth day was
five turkeys. Perhaps, and this is only a guess, they were immature turkeys, and so "five guide -rings."
Like all the children's il-
lustrators, Mr. Shahn also tripped over the roots of that pear tree. "The pear tree," he suggested, "possibly refers to a one-time christmas [sic] custom wherein a young girl, upon backing into a pear tree, then circling it three times,
was to be rewarded by see-
ing the image of her true love."
What that partridge aloft was supposed to make of
such goings on Mr. Shahn
did not confide. This researcher does not wish to argue that many a young girl has not found a lover through her behind, but merely to suggest that the observation is irrelevant to
a discussion of this carol.
60
STEREO REVIEW
Difficult as it is to parody a song that already suggests young girls running around orchards looking for lovers (no doubt those same girls will find their babies in cabbage patches), A Wart
Snake in a Fig Tree, by
George Mendoza and Etienne Delessert, does succeed in laying Pelion on the top of Ossa. This heroine's deportment should be an inspiration to us all. She receives such presents as three cobwebs and two bags of soot and finds a use
for every one with unruffled aplomb. (Her essence of lizard, for exam-
ple, she bottles exquisitely for perfume.)
The Mendoza-Delessert girl's sang-froid (and what would vast quantities of wassail make of that borrowing?) is not matched by the heroine of the latest of the succession of children's books, whose creator, Jack Kent, is only too blandly literal. After all, even had her true love sent her each
day's gift but once, she
would have wound up with seventy-eight presents, most of them hyperactive at that. Mr. Kent, however,
demonstrates-and with a vengeance-that he knows his carol's history, and the result is that what his heroine finally winds up with is
bedlam. Back when bedlam was
St. Mary's of Bethlehem, a London lunatic asylum, The Twelve Days was a cumulative game, prized by English country folk as a test of memory and endurance,
not to mention sobriety. Each player sang in turnhis own verse, plus all the
verses sung by the players ahead of him. (If a player forgot a verse, or even fal-
tered, he paid a forfeit,
which forfeit was often the obligation to down another alcoholic drink without delay.) Thus the twelfth singer was adding to the first verse's one gift the second verse's three, the third
verse's six, and so on
through verse twelve and the final repetition of verse one, for a total of 365 presents, one for every day
of the year. This means that
by the fourth day, for in-
stance, Mr. Kent's dismayed heroine is receiving
not only four collie birds, but her fourth partridge, her sixth turtledove, and
her sixth hen.
Mr. Kent ruins the erudite effect of sending collie birds instead of calling birds by coloring them for some reason brown, but his lady forgives that and everything else next morning when the gold rings arrive. She is transported, as centuries of gloating fe-
male singers have been. No
use for learned folklorists to natter about gulderings: triumphant sopranos will continue to make the fifth day the big one. Mr. Mendoza sends his lady "five useless things," and serves the greedy breed right.
Our Kentish heroine's golden glow soon dims. By the sixth day of Christmas she is looking for shelter, and confronted by the eleventh day's stampede, she splits (to quote the book's jacket) the scene. Imagine what illustrators will be making of that phrase in
256 years!
Had there always been an unbroken succession of
books that illustrated The Twelve Days, probably no pear tree would ever have appeared in any of them, certainly not in so prominent a role. Even had unillustrated versions of the song been published continuously, fewer of its words would have altered. Neither the surviving Lan-
guedoc nor the French version contains any mention of pear trees or jewelry. In England, however, the medieval carol's career was disrupted.
Carol, noun and verb,
comes from the Old French word caroler, meaning "to dance." Speaking strictly,
Christmas favorites such as Adeste Fideles and Silent Night aren't Christmas carols but Christmas hymns, for a carol was by definition a dancing song. In pre-Cromwellian England, work customarily ceased for Christmas and
did not resume until after Epiphany, the twelve intervening holidays being mostly occupied by gorging, swilling, caroling, and playing other traditional
games considered anything
but holy by England's Puritans. When these worthies
came to control Parliament they quite accurately pointed out the pagan origin of most Christmas celebrations and, in 1647, outlawed the lot.
THE English Christmas
carol went underground and printed versions all but vanished. Puritan scholar-
ship was no more match for sentiment than anybody else's, and Christmas carols
came back with Charles (that's Carolus in Latin, by
the way) II, but Restoration publishers concentrated on new compositions, a publishing preference which
persisted for well over a
hundred years. Meanwhile,
the perpetuation of pre-
Cromwel lian carols was dependent on what The Ox-
ford Book of Carols calls "humble broadsheets of indifferent exactitude" and
on the shifting and chancy memories of grandparents.
In 1850 the early sixteenth -century manuscript of a London grocer's apprentice was discovered concealed behind a bookcase and was found to contain, along with pious ejaculations, remedies for poisoned dogs, instructions for the breaking in of horses, and so on, the transcriptions of many songs popular in England in 1504. Other theretofore unknown manuscripts began
turning up at about the
same time, and the scholarly vogue of collecting, publishing, and comparing the
orally surviving forms of
pre-Cromwellian carols began with these early manuscript versions. Naturally a fair amount of garbling was exposed. In The Twelve Days, for instance, the grandmothers of Cornwall had installed Cornish birds
for colley birds; those of
Somerset, a juniper tree for une pertriz. The pear tree flourished even more widely, and everybody was in covetous agreement on the "five go -old rings!"
But the exposure of these errors has not affected our artists, craftsmen, or choral unions much. Like most of
the rest of us, they prefer their songs the way their grandmothers sang them,
especially at Christmas.
Some men's birds are al-
ways going to be other
men's pear trees.
Martha Bennett Stiles is the author of Dougal Looks for Birds, which is a child's picture book on birdwatching.
DECEMBER 1975
61
MUSIC ON THE AIR
Getting a fix on the present state of classical -music broadcasting in these United States
By Roy Hemming
N/ News Item: The New York Philharmonic, which holds the record for the longest continuous symphonic broadcast series in U.S. radio history (1922-1967), returned to sponsored, nationwide, weekly broadcasts of its regular concerts this October-after an absence of eight years. Said Philharmonic
President Carlos Moseley: "To be back on radio has been a long -sought goal. Letters literally beggingus to restore the broadcasts have come from far and wide. Our gratitude to Exxon runs deep for making our return to the air possible."
`" "`""Ii0
'AN
?P 1111)42.
teen stations, followed by Wisconsin
s,\N
with twelve, New York and Pennsylva-
\\IN,
:41 11"
nia with eleven each, Michigan with ten, and Minnesota with nine. The vast
k.N
majority are FM stations.
Since the CMBA was formed only
five years ago, it has no exact figures
for earlier years. But everyone agrees
the number used to be higher.
"There's no question but that the
number of classical -music stations has
diminished greatly over the past twenty
years, and that bothers me greatly,"
says Walter Neiman, president of the
nation's oldest full-time commercial
classical station, New York City's
WQXR. "And most of the stations that
have survived are much more reliant
today on recordings, less on live music
by far."
would seem, judging from all the
ITg"uopo"dyneeawr fso, rthcaotn1ce9r7t5-mhuassibcebernoaadn-
casting. Add to the items cited above the live broadcasts this fall of the San Francisco Opera over KKHI in that city, those of the Chicago Lyric Opera over WFMT, and the annual return this December of the Metropolitan Opera to its weekly series of sponsored (by
Texaco) nationwide broadcasts and the picture looks even brighter.
There's a catch, however. Most of these examples involve only a handful of our nation's major cities. And at least one classical music station, WHAS in Louisville, went off the air
this fall. Another, WCRB in Massachusetts, dropped its AM classical -music programming although it is continuing it on FM and has expanded the number of live concerts it broadcasts on FM.
There are many more examples of both ups and downs-so many, in fact,
that it is difficult to get a fix on the exact
62
state of classical -music broadcasting in the U.S. as a whole right now. But, on the theory that a selective view is better than none at all, I talked to some of
the people involved in broadcasting to-
day in a few key areas, those who have been the most influential, whose stations have been the most imitated.
Of the more than 6,500 radio stations operating in the United States today, fewer than 3 per cent are involved in any significant way with classical music. According to the Concert Music
Broadcasters Association, there are now thirty-nine commercial and sixtynine noncommercial (mostly college -
affiliated) stations in thirty-three states that devote more than 50 per cent of their daily programming to classical music. There are an additional twenty-
one commercial and forty-six noncom-
mercial stations in thirty states that program classical music regularly, but
for less than 50 per cent of their total air time. California leads the list with four-
ALTHOUGH the total number of stations may be down, the number of lis-
teners to existing stations appears to be higher than ever. WQXR, for example,
estimates that its audience these days is 1,403,000 a week. When you consider that the total New York City radio audience is estimated at 12,788,000, WQXR's share becomes a fairly impressive percentage. And, of course, WQXR is not the only New York station broadcasting classical music (although it is the only one doing so almost full-time on both AM and FM).
One man who clearly feels optimistic about the growing size of the audience
for classical -music radio is Ray Nords-
trand, general manager of Chicago's WFMT and chairman of the CMBA's executive committee. "Our surveys indicate," he says, "that the concertmusic audience has grown considerably throughout the U.S. since 1971, at a time when the listenership for other types of programming has either declined or remained constant."
In Boston, the executive vice-presi-
dent of WCRB, Richard L. Kaye, says, "Our audience is numerically much greater than it was twenty years agoand it's kept 'way ahead of just normal
population increases. Twenty years
STEREO REVIEW
1/ News Item: In a city whose local government is beset with headline -making economic crises, New York's WNYC celebrated its fiftieth anniversary this year as the nation's oldest municipally run station dedicated exclusively to public affairs and classical music broadcasting, a bit bloodied, perhaps, by budget cutbacks, but still vigorously on the air. "And at a cost of only forty cents per person a year!" adds radio -TV commenta-
tor Lee Graham.
News Item: Chicago's fine arts radio station WFMT announced the largest and longest advertising agreement in FM history-covering some 11,000 hours of classical music programming for the next five years
(through December 1980)-to be sponsored by the Tatman Federal Savings and Loan Association, present sponsor of the station's
all-night classical programs.
News Item: New York's WNCN (now WQIV), until October 1974 the only station broadcasting primarily a classical -music format twenty-four hours a day in the nation's largest city, returned to that format in August following a year -long public campaign against the station's changeover to a progressive rock format. (RCA promptly
took a full -page ad in the New York Times to
celebrate the station's return to the classical
fold.) Once again a private corporation made the return possible-in this case the
GAF Corporation.
ago we had about 80,000 listeners. To-
day it ranges from 180,000 to 225,000. What's especially encouraging is the dramatic upswing in interest among
young people." "We're sometimes accused of hav-
ing just an old, effete audience," bemoans WQXR's Neiman, "but our sur-
veys show that 16 per cent of our audience today is between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four. That compares
with 23 per cent for one of the market's biggest rock stations, WABC-not as big a difference as many might expect. And we're ahead of all the so-called middle-of-the-road music stations like
WPAT (13 per cent) and WRFM (12 per cent). In the twenty-two to thirty-four age bracket, we have 22 per cent of the total audience, compared to WABC's 20 per cent and WNBC's 24 per cent. And at the upper end, age sixty-five
and over, where we're often accused of having the bulk of our audience, we
have 17 per cent-compared with WCBS' 16 per cent, WINS' 18 per
cent, WOR's 21 per cent, and so on. So
you see, classical music obviously ap-
peals across the board to a sizable number of people of all ages."
A study by CMBA of listeners to more than twenty-five individual stations with a classical -music format showed them generally more affluent
and better educated than the national average. More than 62 per cent of the
families surveyed earn $15,000 or
more; 15 per cent earn more than
$30,000. The total of professional people and executives exceeds 70 per cent.
The proportion with college degrees is
also just above 70 per cent. "I think there's a real feeling of de-
mand on the part of more and more people for good music, and they'll go
out of their way to hear it," says
WCRB's Kaye. "When you can go into Central Park in New York City, as I did this summer, and hear Andre Kostelanetz conduct the New York Philharmonic in a program that was not a pops program but one with standard concert
fare, and have 150,000 people turn out
to hear it, or when a weekend at Tanglewood will bring in 50,000 paid admissions-well, things are looking good for classical music."
WQXR's program director Robert
Sherman agrees, and feels also that the
audience for classical music has grown more sophisticated and demanding in recent years. "That's why we've had to change the focus of some of our programs and move toward a more clearly classical image," he says. "We've upgraded the music we play on our luncheon and cocktail -hour programs, and on our Bright and Early program in the morning. We still program short works at these hours, because those are the `drive' hours for automobile commuters, and these hours attract the most advertising dollars and pay our bills. But instead of playing Mantovani or pop -type mood music as we used to, we now play a Chopin etude or a Bev-
erly Sills opera aria."
ECONOMIC belt -tightening has eliminated scriptwriters from most classical music stations, too, so that announcers today rarely get a chance to say more than what work is being played and who's playing it. In an age when pop disc jockeys are often known for their
on -the -air outspokenness, this can be frustrating for some classical -station announcers. Occasionally, one will let loose-as did the announcer for Syracuse's WONO who said: "For those of you who believe that vulgarity is the garlic in the salad of life, here is Res-
pighi' s Roman Festivals." Says WQXR's Bob Sherman: "We
make a distinction at WQXR between an announcer and an on -the -air personality such as George Jellinek, Karl Haas, or myself. Naturally, a personality is going to let his opinions come out now and then. But announcers are not automatons, and if a particular piece of music moves them so that once in a while they want to say 'Wow!' when it's over, well, why shouldn't they!"
But dignity is the key word for a
classical -music station's "air style" to
WFMT's Nordstrand. For him, that
also means no pre-recorded advertising
jingles or so-called "production" commercials. Instead, WFMT insists that advertisers provide commercial copy
that the station's own announcers read.
"We tried to do that," says C. K. Patrick, president of Cleveland's WCLV. The result? "We lost $35,000
over a three-month period. We decided
that if we wanted to stay on the air,
we'd have to accept pre-recorded spots. And the public's reaction was
much less negative than expected."
"Years ago," says WQXR's Nei-
man, "you used to be able to say to an advertiser that you don't put the same
ad into Intellectual Digest that you put into Playboy. But economic pressures within the advertising agencies have
forced changes. There are few agencies
today that can afford to prepare separate commercials for individual stations. It's just too expensive for a major advertiser who may also be in TV and print as well as radio. Finally the agencies said to us, 'Either you take the jingle or you don't get our busi-
ness.' We took the jingle. "But we found out something that
surprised many of us," Neiman says. "While a commercial must not stick out of the environment in which it is presented, music commercials per se are not heinous to most listeners. Many, in fact, find some of them imagi-
native, charming, and pleasant. Obviously, if you have a raucous commercial coming right after the quiet ending of a Requiem, it's going to be disconcerting. So we try our best to buffer
against that sort of thing. The commercials that we're likely to get complaints about aren't so much musical ones as
any kind of commercial that talks down to our listeners and insults their intelligence. There are good commercials and bad commercials, offensive ones and inoffensive ones, and it doesn't matter what the production technique
is." WFMT's Nordstrand is not so sure.
"We tried a jingle once, for an instru-
DECEMBER 1975
63
ment manufacturer, and we had over 1,000 complaints," he says. "If we ever played another jingle on WFMT, we'd probably have picket lines around the studio."
ALMOST as open to dispute as the question of commercials is that of program content. "Many commercial stations today still tend to play bits and pieces rather than complete works," says Dick Bungay, classical promotion
Neiman: "Our surveys show that 16 per cent of our audience is between 18
and 24."
Nordstrand: "The concert music audience
has grown considerably since 1971."
Sherman: "We've had to move toward a
more clearly classical image."
manager for London Records. "That situation hasn't changed much over the past fifteen or twenty years. They'll play one movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, or just an aria from an opera. Much of that, of course, is dictated by the strictures of commercial considerations."
WQXR's Bob Sherman agrees that that's true during what stations call `drive' time. "We can't play the Bach St. Matthew Passion at 8 o'clock in the morning, much as we might like to. We're a fully commercial AM and FM station competing for advertising dollars to keep going, so our focus has to be different during certain hours. A noncommercial station, on the other hand, can afford to be a classical jukebox, playing one complete major work following another all day long. And, certainly, there are many listeners who like that. It's like having your own record collection without having to get up
to change the records or make a decision as to what to play."
But Sherman believes that many
more listeners prefer the "isolated pro-
gram" concept he has helped to further at WQXR. One program, for example, may be devoted to "Great Orchestras of the World," another to "Piano Personalities," still another to "First Hearing," all at specific time slots during the week.
"And in prime evening time," says Sherman, "we do one- or two-hour specials-such as George Shirley's series on black composers, or one we've just started for the Bicentennial with William Schuman on American com-
posers. On four nights a week, our spe-
cials include the live concerts-live' on tape, that is-of the Boston Sym-
phony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Israel Philharmonic. And on Sunday afternoons, at the old traditional 3 o'clock
time, we now have the New York Philharmonic. That's quite a line-up, and not just presenting complete works but complete concerts by major orchestras. But to be able to do that, we have to
have a heavy, constant commercial
load at other key times."
PIERRE BOURDAIN, the director of
classical marketing for Columbia Records, believes that "people today react
most favorably to those classical -music stations that give them a wide variety of really fine, special programming. I'd put WQXR in that category, WFMT in Chicago, and WCLV in Cleveland. There are some other classical -station people who look upon themselves as
some sort of above -it -all keepers of the flame. They program for themselves,
sometimes playing the same lengthy work, in several different versions, one after the other. They forget that if you're going to be a keeper of the flame, you have to buy the oil that keeps your flame alive-and that keeps you in business."
Whether a station adheres to the
"isolated special program concept" or to the "classical jukebox concept," the playing of recordings makes up the major part of virtually all classical -music broadcasts. In fact, most stations' music libraries exist on the largesse of record companies that provide them with releases. "It works both ways," says Columbia's Bourdain, "for we subsist on their exposure of our recordings."
Ernie Gilbert, RCA's classical mar-
keting director, says, "I suppose it
sounds simplistic to say that radio sta-
tions are invaluable to the classical record business, but it's true. There's no other way to expose an auditory product except for it to be heard. You can have beautiful album covers and you
can put all the ads you want in the pa-
pers, but until people can actually hear
the music that you have to offer, it is all an abstraction."
"In the old days of 78 -rpm records," says Bourdain, "you could go into a record store and listen to a recording before you bought it. With the coming of the LP record and its more delicate
grooves, it became de rigueur for a customer to want a factory -sealed record.
Few dealers can afford to take one copy of every release, bust open the
skinwrap, and make each record available as a 'play' copy. What's happened is that radio has become the record buyer's listening booth."
"N o one knows for sure just what
impact a radio play has on the sales of a record," says London's Bungay. "I've
seen a fairly obscure recording get
played by a station in a particular area, and all of a sudden sales of that record jump in that area. On the other hand, I've also seen new releases get played with quite a bit of fanfare, and nothing
happen as far as sales go.
"Some dealers will tell us that they're losing sales because people tape a recording off the air when it's played," Bungay adds. "Personally, I
think taping records off the air is mini-
mal. The people who do that are people who wouldn't buy records anyway. If
they couldn't tape from radio they'd tape from library copies or friends' copies or something. Also, people who want good stereo sound aren't going to be satisfied with what they get taping it second-hand, especially off the air and onto a cassette."
"We've written off the segment that tapes records off the air," says Bourdain. "That's one of the prices we have to pay for getting airplay. But I think there are far more listeners who prefer to relax when they listen to records, and who don't want to have to go to all the trouble of working to tape off the air. To tape a classical work, you have
to set and watch all the levels, and keep
watching to make sure the tape doesn't
get clogged in the pinch -roller halfway through, and worry about whether you can get it all on one side of the tape or have enough time to turn the tape over
without missing anything. I think most people would rather go out and buy the record."
"I think radio is invaluable in turning people on to new works," says RCA's
Gilbert. "People will hear an unfamiliar work on radio, or even part of a work, like 'The Battle on the Ice' from Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky, and then go to a store to buy it."
"The playing of classical records on radio definitely builds audiences for
classical music," stresses London's
64
STEREO REVIEW
Bungay. "I know so many cases of
young people, in particular, who start-
ed listening to a station and got hooked on a particular composer or period of
classical music, and then spread out to other composers and periods. I feel very strongly that classical -music stations serve a function of proselytizing for the next generation of classical music lovers."
Just as record companies benefit
from classical -music stations, so too do
sicians playing and getting paid for playing. Broadcasts do that."
AT present there are more symphony orchestras broadcasting regularly over more stations throughout the country than ever. The list includes the Boston Symphony, the Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Utah Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonia, and the Boston Pops. In addition, through the
were on the air weekly, getting station clearances for the live broadcasts was
often a problem. The Philharmonic, for example, originated from New York's Carnegie Hall at 3 o'clock on Sunday
afternoons-which was noon on the West Coast. Tape has eliminated that problem. Since most major orchestras perform the same program more than
once during any given week, tapes can be made of each performance, and the best one chosen for broadcast.
Freebies: The Sound of One Hand Washing the Other
Bungay: "No one knows
for sure just
what impact a radio play
has on the sales of a
record."
Bourdain: "We've
written off the segment
that tapes records off
the air."
Gilbert:
"Until people can actually
hear what you have to offer, it is an abstraction."
D ECAUSE most record companies
know the value of airplay, they willingly "service" a station committed
to a classical -music format with records.
London's Bungay, for example, indicates that there are now about seventyfive radio stations that receive most of
London's new releases each month at no cost to the station. The number should be at least doubled for RCA and Columbia. ("It's certainly more than 100,
but less than 500," is all Columbia's
Bourdain would admit publicly.) "Our list has to be limited," Bungay
says, "considering what it costs us to
manufacture and import our records to-
day." It's the same with Philips and Deutsche Grammophon, who also im-
port all their records. Stations that are unable to get on a rec-
ord company's free list can-if they pro-
vide more than Sunday morning or one hour -a -day tokenism to classical musicget most new releases from the major
companies for about $1.25 a record
(mostly to offset mailing and processing costs). This policy has been especially
beneficial to college radio stations, many of which are predominantly classical.
"College stations," says RCA's Gil -
bert, "are caught between low budgets
and a growing awareness of classical mu-
sic among the student body. I believe that's where the real potential for future record sales is. But with today's tight budgets on our end, too, there are very
few records we can give away. We have to consider what we're getting for our money. When we give a record to a station like WFMT or WQXR, we know it will reach a couple of million listeners.
But the personnel time and costs of ship-
ping a record to a small station where it
may be heard by just a few hundred is a problem."
.11
the nation's major symphony orchestras and opera companies. "Every time a station plays a live concert or a tape of one," says Dick Kaye, "it makes people aware that there is such great live music available to them. In terms
of what is going to bring people into the concert hall, playing records has less effect."
That is one of the reasons why the
American Federation of Musicians has
cooperated in the syndication of broadcasts by most of our major orchestras,
reducing or even waiving broadcast
fees in some cases.
"There are two views within the un-
ion," Kaye points out. "One is the
hard-and-fast idea that you should nev-
er do anything for nothing. The other is the point that if you don't get actual concerts on the air, then only records get on the air. The statesmen in the union understand that you must promote
live music if you want to get more mu-
nonprofit Broadcasting Foundation of America, a number of European or-
chestras and festivals can be heard reg-
ularly. And the Association of German Broadcasters makes available a wide variety of performances to American stations, as does the Dutch broadcast-
ing service. These concerts give listen-
ers a reason to turn on a particular sta-
tion knowing they're going to get more
than twenty-four hours of recorded performances. "What makes them so exciting," says WQXR's Neiman, "is the fact that they're a one-time event.
You may never hear a particular work
played like this or by these performers
again." What has made the proliferation of
such concerts possible, of course, is the ability to tape them for rebroad-
casting at times convenient to individu-
al stations. Back in the pre -tape 1930's and 1940's, when the New York Phil-
harmonic and the NBC Symphony
Tape, of course, has also made it
possible for serious fluffs to be amend-
ed before radio listeners hear the
broadcasts. If a soloist or player makes a noticeable mistake, the correct passage can be spliced in almost imper-
ceptibly from another day's performance. "That," deplores New York Times music critic Harold C. Schon-
berg, "means that taped performances
are not necessarily the real thing."
What happens if a conductor or a
major soloist won't approve a tape for
syndication? "It's happened," says
James W. Keller, commentator for the
Philadelphia Orchestra broadcasts. "There was a Rubinstein performance a few years ago that he wasn't happy about and wouldn't let us release-and that was that."
Most commercial stations are restricted in the number of commercials they can have during these taped concerts. With some of the European
DECEMBER 1975
65
tapes, moreover, there can be none at all. New York's WQXR, for example, does not carry "Dutch Concert Hall" or BBC tapes because the tapes are released by their respective organizations
with the understanding that there can
be no commercials whatsoever for the entire length of the program. "We just don't have an hour and a half or two hours we can give away like that," says Bob Sherman.
The syndication of live concert tapes
has created what David Levenson, public relations director of the Cleveland Orchestra, calls "our orchestra's
The broadcast tapes also provide several orchestras with a lucrative fund-raising source every year. Both
the Boston Symphony and Cleveland
Orchestra, for example, now hold an-
nual marathons over WCRB and
WCLV, respectively, during which listeners may request the rebroadcast of a work from the tape archives in return
for a specific donation to the orchestra.
Just how lucrative these marathons can be is shown by the Cleveland Orchestra's experience with three on WCLV. The first year's goal was $10,000-and $33,000 was raised. The
The rebroadcasting of past concerts at other times is prohibited by union rules. In fact, a station may broadcast a given concert from the current season's syndication only once. In a world accustomed to annual TV re -runs, and in the light of recent commercial interest in the Furtwangler and Toscanini archives, some listeners argue that tapes now languishing in the vaults of various transcription trusts should be made available for the benefit of a whole new generation of listeners.
Dick Kaye, who manages the Boston
Symphony Transcription Trust among his other broadcasting activities, has
mixed feelings about this. "The Boston
Symphony Transcription Trust has in-
The Art of Staying on the Air: Two Ways
deed preserved the masters of all our tape broadcasts, and they're locked
Graham: "Many of us were tired of
going from
crisis to crisis every year over the
fate of WNYC."
Sutherland: "As WNCN
proved,
serious -music listeners are
extremely loyal to a station they
enjoy."
away in a vault at the Boston University Library. There are some very great
treasures in there, and as the years go by they're increasing. Every so often there's talk about putting together a `Best of or 'Most Interesting of se-
ries. Personally, I want to see the
amount of non -disc music that is broadcast expanded, but it's more important
to expand the broadcasting of new
IN addition to her on -the -air duties, WNYC's Lee Graham has also
been active during the past year as chairwoman of the Committee for Municipal
Broadcasting in New York City. "We formed the committee," she says, "because so many of us were tired of going from crisis to crisis every year over the fate of [city -run] WNYC at budget time. I think we've been effective in proving
that committees are much more than just names on paper. Mayor Beame even
agreed to become honorary chairman of our committee, and has gone out of his way to protect the station."
Another woman who has actively
spearheaded campaigns to keep classical -music stations on the air is Marguerite Sutherland of Mercer Island, Wash-
ington. Four years ago STEREO REVIEW reported on her work with Classical Mu-
sic Supporters, an organization composed of nearly 14,000 households (with some members as far away as Canada),
which supports and encourages the sta-
tions broadcasting classical music in the Seattle -Tacoma area.
This year Ms. Sutherland says CMS members are keeping a rather watchful eye on KXA, the area's only AM station that broadcasts classical music full time. A few years ago the station was playing
only one hour of classical music a day because, as she says the station manager at that time told her, "classical music is
the kiss of death to a radio station." Ms.
Sutherland printed the manager's comment in her CMS Newsletter-and the war was on.
Since the newsletter also printed the address of the station's owner in California, he was soon swamped with hundreds of letters and cards. Result: he
came to Seattle to find out what was going on. The manager quickly resigned,
and the owner made friends with Ms.
Sutherland and converted the station to a full-time classical format.
However, that owner, now in his eighties, decided last year that he had to sell the station. According to Ms. Sutherland: "We spent months looking for a buyer friendly to classical music, and found an ideal candidate. But the attorney handling the sale sold it to someone else. The new owners have promised to
keep the classical format, and I've
pledged CMS support to KXA and its advertisers if classical programming is not weakened. As WNCN proved, seriousmusic listeners are extremely loyal to a station they enjoy. Advertisers like that,
and wise owners use this loyalty to make their stations prosper."
material than to repeat from the past." On the subject of repeats, there are
also some who wish that popular daytime interview shows on classical music stations would be repeated in the evenings for the benefit of professional men and women who work during the day and therefore miss them. In New York, for example, Bob Sherman's "Listening Room" on WQXR offers the opportunity to hear an extraordinary number of musical personalities over the course of the year-if you can catch them between 10 a.m. and noon. Similarly, WNYC's "Lee Graham Interviews," which are often devoted to serious music or musicians, are heard
at 2 p.m. Since they're on tape, it
would seem simple enough to rebroadcast them later in the evening-if only as a counterpoint to TV's Johnny Carson or Tom Snyder.
THERE'S much more that can be written about the state of classical -
music broadcasting today in many other parts of the nation. In some areas,
there's an absolute dearth of classical music-and little apparent public concern about it. And in others, classical -
music radio has never had it so good.
But isn't that sort of the way it is with
second audience." People who have moved out of the city and therefore no
longer subscribe or attend concerts reg-
ularly any more "still keep in touch with the orchestra through the broadcasts-and they still send in money every year to support us."
second year's goal was set higher, at $40,000-and brought in $45,000. Last year the goal was $75,000, and, as
broadcast producer -commentator Robert Conrad puts it, "with the recession
we thought we'd be lucky to hit it. We got $102,000!"
classical music generally in the United States today?
Roy Hemming was program director of WAVZ AM/FM in New Haven, Connecticut, before becoming a writer and editor.
66
STEREO REVIEW
F any one man stands out today as Mr. Classical Music Radio, it is
Richard L. Kaye. The rotund, softspoken, somewhat shy Kaye presently holds down five jobs: executive
vice-president of WCRB in Waltham, Mass. (just outside Boston); presi-
dent of WONO, Syracuse, N.Y.; manager of the Boston Symphony Transcription Trust; manager of the
Exxon -sponsored New York Philhar-
monic broadcasts; and a founding
member of the Concert Music Broad-
casters Association.
All of this activity makes Dick
Kaye a hard man to pin down for an interview, but I succeeded in doing
so this summer at Tanglewood-on a
day when the Boston Symphony was
unable to broadcast (or even tape for
later broadcast) because of copyright restrictions on that particular day's program (Ravel's L'Enfant et les
Sortileges).
"I was recruited to broadcasting on a calisthenics mat at Harvard
around 1942 or 1943," he reminisced.
"I was huffing and puffing away, when the man doing the same next to me paused to ask if I knew someone
who knew something about classical music who'd like to be a candidate
for the college radio station.
"I was a chemistry major, but I
loved classical music and had studied piano, so I applied. In due course I became the station's program direc-
tor, and finally its president.
"I must say we had a most remark-
able music department at that station:
Martin Bookspan (today a contribut-
ing editor to STEREO REVIEW and the intermission commentator on the New York Philharmonic broadcasts),
Alan Rich (now music critic with
New York magazine), a fellow named
Willie Sullivan who never went on in music but who became fairly wellknown in TV, and myself. We all did some announcing, program prepara-
tion, engineering, everything.
"During the war I also got recruited into some electronics research work, which led me further into the technical side of radio. After the war,
I got a job as engineer with a new station that had just been set up in Bos-
ton, WBMS, and which had just hired Marty Bookspan as music di-
rector. The day the station was to go on the air, some rather dramatic per-
sonnel changes were suddenly made. Before we knew exactly what was
happening, the program director dis-
appeared, and Marty and I found ourselves co -directors of the station."
In the early 1950's Kaye joined WCRB in Waltham. In 1954 he led the station into FM broadcasting and
in 1956 into stereo broadcasting. The early 1950's was also the time the Boston Symphony Orchestra lost its network broadcasts, as the networks
The Man Behind
The
Philharmonic
Broadcasts
increasingly cut back on radio in favor of TV. WCRB approached the BSO management about broadcasting rights. "They were sympathetic
to us," Kaye recalls, "but felt we
wouldn't be able to afford the amount of money ABC and NBC had."
Eventually, however, WCRB was able to join WGBH (a noncommercial Boston station) and New York's WQXR in live broadcasting of Boston Symphony concerts-but with all sorts of restrictions designed to keep the broadcasts "noncommercial." WCRB, thanks to Kaye, was the first
to broadcast a major orchestra in
stereo. "The telephone company had never had a request for stereo lines for such a remote until then."
In 1958 a major broadcasting breakthrough occurred when Thomas D. Perry and Harry Kraut, then the BSO's manager and assistant manager, respectively, helped devise a new system under which all the Boston Symphony's concerts could be taped with union permission but with broadcast fees going to the orchestra's pension fund through the Boston Symphony Transcription Trust. It was the first such system set up by a major orchestra, and has since become a model for others. Dick Kaye has been manager of the Transcription Trust since 1963.
Today some 115 U.S. radio stations regularly broadcast the Boston Symphony using Transcription Trust tapes, all of which Kaye personally supervises. Some stations, like Chicago's WFMT, do so using quad encoded tapes.
"The Trust was so well set up," Kaye says, "that production costs can be met by about five stations: WCRB, WFMT, WQXR, WGMS (Washington), and WFLN (Phila-
delphia). That means the cost of engineering and announcing, some BSO overhead, some of my salary, wear and tear on tape equipment, payment for the cost of tapes, copyright clear-
ances, and so on. Virtually all other
income beyond tape duplicating costs
goes into the Trust for the orchestra. The Trust has brought in an enormous amount of money to the orchestra's pension fund. I'd hazard a
guess of close to a million dollars."
Why is the sound of the BSO broadcast tapes generally so much better than that of other orchestras, including some whose broadcasts
Kaye has. helped launch (such as the
Cleveland Orchestra)? "I like to think some of it is my own imaginativeness as an engineer," Kaye replies, "but the basic reason is Symphony Hall in Boston. Acoustically it's one of the great halls. So is the
Shed at Tanglewood."
Not so Avery Fisher Hall in New York's Lincoln Center, from which
Kaye is managing the New York Phil-
harmonic's current new series of broadcasts. How has he approached
the problem of getting a good broadcast sound out of Fisher Hall? "We checked over the hall very carefully," he says, "and for a basic
sound-and in order to get a live concert ambiance-we decided to
use two nondirectional microphones for the main stereo pickup. We placed these fairly high up, about on
a level with the second tier, and rea-
sonably far out into the audience. We
found that this, in fact, gives us a
fairly good sound.
"There were some special problems. We found our microphone
placement did not delineate the solo
winds well-but that's not a hall
problem as much as one of individual
player preference-so we're using an
additional, single -directional mike aiming down and fairly close over the spot where the four woodwind sol-
oists converge. Then, while we found
the strings were there in volume, they
didn't have character, so we've placed two directional microphones closer in, lower, and pointing down just slightly to the audience side of
the violins and cellos.
"Those five microphones were the standard ones for the first six broadcasts we taped. We use a sixth mike
on occasion for a particular solo
need. And when we mix the microphones, we also add a very small amount of reverberation-and I know some people will disagree
with me on that.
"I'm trying to produce a sound the
listener can relate to in terms of being
in a concert hall-not what he is likely to hear on record. After all, the broadcasts are going to have all the distractions of the hall: the coughs, the small mistakes, even the times when someone drops an instrument-and people do drop them, or parts of them, like mutes. They're
live concerts!"
DECEMBER 1975
67
STEREO REVIEW'S popular -music critics (and editors, too), for reasons having to do with their busy schedules and notorious biases,
our chicken-hearted assignment desk, serendipity,
propinquity, and the phases of the moon, don't always get a chance to review those performers and
performances they'd really like to sink a tooth into. They can, of course, build up a considerable head of unused steam that way, so we are making available to
them a pressure -relief valve that will let them get it off their chests, clear their passages, and let it all hang out. -Steve Simels, Popular Music Editor
YEp PEIDFMIAIRS
I HATE
A Festival for Critics
0 0
ITEN is a small percentage of the artists I would like to have silenced or, at the very least, relegated to a night club somewhere outside Council Bluffs, Iowa, for the duration of their careers. Selecting them has not been an easy task, and I cannot truthfully say that I hate them, but I find their performances most distasteful, and if I am to heap such a strong emotion as hatred on anyone, it would have to be on the behind the -scenes people, the record promoters, talent coordinators, disc jockeys, booking agents, etc., whose encouragement is responsible for the success of inferior talent. At any rate, I submit that the music world could do very nicely without the following:
*Dionne Warwick: Truly the product of other people's talents and deceptive devices employed in modern electronic reproduction, Ms. Warwick has been unbearable since she left the Rhoda Scott Trio as a back-up singer.
The Hudson Brothers: A cruel TV hoax has gotten out of hand. Flimsy as the tissue whose name they bear, but far less meaningful or useful.
*Diana Ross: Berry Gordy's almost life-size Barbie doll. She served her purpose as a Supreme, but the Great Gardenia Hoax completely turned me off.
*Sammy Davis, Jr.: Some baby acts should never be allowed to grow up. A constant embarrassment, Mr. Davis is the eternal token.
Clifton Davis: We knew he couldn't act, now we know he can't sing. When will he find out?
*Billy Paul: No redeeming qualities here. He may already be in Council Bluffs, but wherever he is, I hope he stays silent.
-Chris Albertson
Lists such as these are, I suspect, a good deal more fun to read than to compile.
I've made my selections on the basis of performers who actually sell a lot of records, and so my judgments may be directed more to the vagaries of pop taste than to the awfulness of the artists themselves.
mikes hooked up to high-tension lines, and/ or strangulation by kielbasa (the last in honor of his newly found, and relentlessly ex-
ploited, guise of "Mr. Polish-American"-as if that group didn't already have
enough trouble with jokes in bad taste).
Tom Jones: Mr. Sweaty Sex, who blunders and bludgeons his material with all the savoir-faire of a bull moose cornering a Pekingese in heat. The voice itself isn't too bad, but his performances of calculated pan-
demonium are so hokey that you aren't likely to notice. A male Jayne Mansfield (may she rest), and about as pertinent.
'David Bowie: Packaged and promoted in America like some new brand of hair dye ("Is he, or isn't he?"), Bowie moves around in a welter of gimmicks and stunts that shriek more of desperation than of "the new decadence." There is (or was) a kernel of talent here, but he's mortgaged himself into the hands of the promoters and the exploiters whose antennae for insecure performers are remarkably acute. They're going to foreclose eventually, but not, of course, until the well runs dry.
Alice Coltrane: As Alice Jones she would have gone unnoticed.
*Dick Hyman: A capable pianist whose impersonal style should have kept him in studio work. Columbia Records deserves numerous demerits for allowing him to insult the music of Jelly Roll Morton.
Bobbi Humphrey: She has been posing as a musician for too long. Will the real Herbie Mann please stand up and end this joke?
The King Family: As in the case of the Osmonds, the pill came too late to prevent
disaster.
*Cher: Although she is a dazzling visual act in the tradition of great cabaret stars that stretches all the way back to Gaby Deslys, Cher has yet to develop any vocal style at all. Her charmless voice etherizes in recording after recording without a trace of wit or individuality.
*Bobby Vinton: The nadir of pop taste, beyond which, I hope, there is no place to
go. There is a truly unique adenoidal giggle seemingly built into his voice, and his rec-
ords always conjure up for me wishful thoughts of old-fashioned wardrobe trunks left indefinitely at railway stations, hand-
*John Denver: I feel much more sympathetic toward Denver after reading Noel Cop page's perceptive profile of him in the September issue. Unfortunately, he still strikes me as the Jack Homer of pop, insistent on showing his beplummed thumb and expecting us all to join in the oh -what -a -good -boy am -I chorus. So archly sunny, wholesome, and warm that his huge audiences seem to think of bread baking at the mere sound of him. To me, he's a musical Betty Crocker, a
carefully assembled commercial image of The Plain Amuriken (as we'd all like to think of ourselves) designed to give legitimacy to the kind of ingredients that go into "home-
68 STEREO REVIEW
made" cake mixes-in this case, his songs. They are such careful blends of artificial additives that they can't help but look tempting on the plate, but there is something definitely spurious in the tasting.
Aretha Franklin: A real tragedy. Six or
seven years ago Aretha was about the most creative force in pop singing. The slide since then has been swift and sorry. Her albums today are stupid exeicises in vanity and'the kind of dumb -ass "showmanship" of the Mighty-Wurlitzer-Rising-Through-the-Floorof-This-Very-Stage breed. She has apparently lost all interest in communicating, and is content to merely traipse through her material doing an impersonation of herself.
Melissa Manchester: Together with Laura Nyro and Melanie, the three step -sisters to the Cinderella of Janis Ian. Janis hasn't quite made it to the ball yet, but Melissa has been more than happy to go in her place, dispensing her wheezy "philosophy," her gooey "compassion," and her muddy "sensitivity" to anyone she can buttonhole. That she's managed to buttonhole as many as she has proves only that it takes more than talent to make it in show biz. But the slipper will never fit.
The Carpenters: Industrial -strength Preparation H, the Carpenters' music gives prompt, temporary relief to middle-class sensibilities still inflamed by the youth revolt of the Sixties. The Carpenters and their performances are to a large segment of the American public proof that young people are just as cozy and controllable and cute as they were in Andy Hardy's day. The glare of unreality about their work doesn't bother their fans, so grateful are they for a salve that soothes the pain and itching of burning social issues.
Bob Dylan: The Prophet of an Entire Generation whose every enigmatic mutter is still parsed and studied by his acolytes. His early work was historic, mostly because he was in the right place at the right time, cleverly repeating in song the ferment and anger that were sweeping the campuses. Today, he is a very rich businessman biding his time for a full-scale return, when conditions are right. He remains a sphinx and lets others speculate. That's clever, for he is a sphinx without a secret.
Tony Orlando and Dawn: More fun than a bon voyage party on the Titanic. Easily the worst group ever to perform publicly.
-Peter Reilly
you understand, of course, that we're not being strict constructionists in the
way we're using hate here. Obviously, I don't hate any of these people in the belly grinding way I hate those sons of bitches at the Internal Revenue Service. Those listed here are simply those whose work con-
sistently annoys me these days. Even though we're thinking of contempt
in this broad, almost casual way, some pop images are beneath it: poor old Jerry Vale, of course, and Liberace and Lawrence Welk and Sonny Bono and such. I surprised myself by finding I no longer care to expend the
energy to loathe, in this sense, Frankie Ava-
lon, Bobby Vinton, and all those other
Clearasil-encrusted pets of Dick Clark from the late Fifties and early Sixties. I tried counting them all as one entry, but even collectively they remained so bland and ineffectual, so empty of any quality-talent,
taste, body odor, you name it-that I
. . the most annoying, most obnoxious songs available anywhere. . ."
couldn't be bothered. 1 tell you this to illustrate the irony that makes it a compliment, of a sort, to be on a list like this-it means someone recognizes you have the power to commit what he construes to be mischief.
Frank Sinatra: He should have retired and stayed retired years ago; all that remains is his bitter arrogance. People have been tolerating that, but he seems to have taken their tolerance for admiration or fascination of some kind. Power corrupts singers as much as it does anyone else. Helen Reddy: Her approach is chauvinistic, abrasive, and politicking; her tone is nasal and tinny; and her phrasing is ill-humored. You can be a good liberal and admit you don't like her singing; show a little courage. Elton John: He proved he had talent with his first couple of albums, and then proved, by turning to visual and musical junk, that he'd much rather rake in some quick bucks than develop that talent. Emerson, Lake & Palmer: They give any music they touch a bad case of the uglies. Rococo uglies, at that. Sammy Davis Jr.: A credit to his wallet. The Fifth Dimension: Through the years they've probably filtered the color and feeling out of more pretty good songs than anyone. I hear more soul in the thumping of a manhole cover. Harry Chapin: Harry sounds like a local attempt at either D. H. Lawrence (the sensitive working-class boy Given a Chance) or John Steinbeck (always making up tales about the Little Man); he has an eye for the obvious and an awkward grip on the English language, and he frequently reminds me of
the difference between the desire to be a writer and the desire to write. John -Boy Walton is going to turn out a lot like Harry, I
predict.
New Riders of the Purple Sage: Within a mile of where you live, there are probably ten people who can sing better than any of these lads can. If you want to hear this kind of thing done right, buy some Poco or some early Eagles. The New Riders have so little style and pay so little heed to details that I really can't understand why they don't have
their own TV series.
Tony Orlando and Dawn: Working an ethnic shell game is part of their act, with the thoroughly homogenized black girl routine played against genial Tony's ability to resemble any Caucasian minority you could want-Polish, Jewish, Italian, Greek, Spanish, anything-and a precision -tuned knack for picking up the most annoying, most obnoxious songs available anywhere is the rest
of their act.
Mac Davis: He is utterly shameless in his
shuffle -footed, sniffle -nosed pandering to
some audience's presumed sentimentality.
He also writes doggerel and sings it badly.
"I ain't too talented, but I sure am whole-
some" is what his performances say to me. I
can stand wholesome people only if they
keep quiet about it.
-Noel Coppage
BACK in October 1967, when this magazine published lists of "Ten Composers
I Hate," I was among those who contributed. Looking back over that list today, I see how my tastes have changed. The Mahler and Berlioz I fled from then are among my favorites now. Sometimes the Point of Highest Irritation with any composer or performer is only a symptom of a forthcoming change of heart. I am sure the same is true in the world of popular entertainment. I
"hated" the Beatles at first (or was it their squealing fans?), only to become a
shameless admirer as I watched their career unfold, and to lament their passing when the group dissolved. I take my own prejudices, therefore, with the proverbial grain of salt.
Rod McKuen: Every time I hear that husky voice intoning that simplistic, sentimental poetry, or murmuring the lyrics of a love song into my twitching ears, I mark time morosely, assuring myself as best I can, "This, too, will pass."
Sammy Davis Jr: Mr. Davis is all energy and talent-totally misdirected in a tasteless hullabaloo of misfired jokes and gagging garrulity. Tripping over his golden chains and glittering like a rhinestone, he dances his way right out of my heart. His chief genius seems to be for selecting precisely those songs he ought never to allow himself to sing-and then singing them, at length and
ad nauseam.
Julie Andrews: My idea of the musical equivalent of a toothache-all that sweet-
ness and self-conscious innocence sets my whole nervous system aflame with immediate resentment. As Winnie-the-Pooh did to
DECEMBER 1975
69
Dorothy Parker, she just makes me want to
"fwow up."
Barbra Streisand: La Streisand has the reverse effect-her abrasive personality and crude, sly, snide remarks combine with the aggressive harshness of her style to benumb all my sensibilities. Once she made me laugh; now, all wrapped up and delivered, like so many star performers, in a schemingly designed prefabricated fancy package,
she simply wears me out.
Dolly Parton: Put me side by side with a sentimental ballad sung by Miss Parton, milking a plot about a poor country girl
brought to her downfall by heartless men or
a child who goes to heaven with her puppy, and my usual reaction, once again, is to
guffaw insanely. But then, most of the
"Nashville sound" has that effect on me.
Cher: Another package, this one as hard and cold as a tile wall. Cher's wooden expression, flashy getups, and monotonous voice send my hands to my ears and my eyes to my watch until it's all over.
Rodney Dangerfield: From me, he'll never get "no respeck." I choose him out of a gag-
gle of equally unfunny comedians_because he seems to be the most uninspired, repetitious, and depressing representative of the breed. But there's keen competition from
his peers.
Phyllis Diller: For sheer raucous vulgarity, nobody in the industry can come near her. Her patented shrill laugh sets my teeth on edge as I run shrieking for cover.
Johnny Cash: Mr. Cash has taken the folk song and turned it into an instrument of terror. Again, it is the packaging that distresses-the overblown arrangements, the jingoistic recitatives, the smarmy trappings
turn me off as much as the undistinguished
voice and the lack of genuine style.
The Carpenters: Here, too, I single out one
group as symptomatic of a drooling, deaden-
ing performance approach that clings and
cloys like a cologne that won't wash off. Or
have they gone away by now? I haven't
dared ask.
-Paul Kresh
I] ERFORMERS I hate" is perhaps a bit too strong-it suggests too much con-
cern, too much involvement, for what I real-
ly feel about certain indefensible acts being committed regularly before consenting audiences in what passes for the world of entertainment. Dislike is closer, and considering that I'd hardly even walk across the street to see or hear most of them, indifference is right smack up against. I'm so indifferent, in fact, that I find it a little hard to get down to specific cases; I'll settle instead for categories, trusting the wretched illustrations to leap to my mind (or yours) somewhere along
the way. Most likely to leave me fast asleep at the
tube or whatever are the Mr. Wonderfuls, the Show Biz Pal Joeys (they are, alas, to be found in other lines of work as well), the (at best) modestly talented, invincibly conceited, and abrasively good-natured tap dancers some ephemeral fluke of public taste has
thrust, shamelessly smirking, into the spotlight-shall we say, oh, Tony Orlando?
What put me to sleep in the first place was very likely one of those Sensitive Lyric Poets of the Rock Persuasion whose under blown, feebly bathetic rhetoric might once have kept him out of Freshman Comp. but these days will probably get him a doctorate. The fact that rock's center of gravity lies somewhere south of the belt buckle is an embarrassment to some of its more literate admirers (it shouldn't be-the same might be said of the waltz). Eagerly overreacting, they go tilt at the drop of a dithyramb, over-
praising, with unerring aim, the underdone-like the work of, uh, Leonard Cohen.
I started yawning when they tried to get me to go along with one of those cloying, gratuitous, quite immaterial husband -and wife jokes ("aren't they cute together, such
. . . she sends my hands
to my ears and my eyes to my watch. . ."
a lovely couple, and so in love"). I am devoted to both the idea and the fact of accomplished duo singing-Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper, Anne Murray and Glen Campbell, Nelson and Jeanette (!), Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons-but Steve & Eydie, Sonny & Cher, and the like will get my goat before they earn any gold stars just for being married.
No awards for all that all -in -the -family stuff, either. As far as I'm concerned, the Kings, the Osmonds, the Jacksons, and the Trapps can sing together, play together, and stay together-without me. So can all the sisters, all the brothers-Lennons, Pointers, Hudsons, Smothers, others.
And of course I'm never home to any child performers, most particularly those pathetic tykes-Lena Zabaglione and all the rest-pushed out there on the runway to innocently peddle lewd wares before they're
old enough for training bras. I'm also notorious for shrugging out from
under all heavy musical trips; song lyrics ecological, sociological, and political (sexual or otherwise) will always find me out of town. Sinner that I am, I would prefer not to be sandbagged unawares under the guise of entertainment by shrill accusers, public scolds, or any patriotic bores, whether wrapped in the flag or burning it. So much for you, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Helen
Reddy, Buffy Ste. Marie, Barry Sadler, etc. I must confess, too, that I am deaf to the
charms .of scat singers, perhaps because I consider the voice the first, best instrument, and using it to imitate some lesser, mechanical music maker perversely unnecessary and wasteful. Equally dispensable are the phonologically wayward, those who try to persuade us there is soulful significance in their ability to turn any ordinary vowel into a triphthong. Paul Williams and Cher Bono come easily to mind, and their company is not a small one.
And away, while we're at it, with all those song stylists, the ingenious warblers who solicit approval-nay, admiration-for having so disguised a familiar tune that we no longer recognize it. I also give my leave to leave to all betters, shouters, hollerers, and sweaters, all screamers without apparent cause, of whatever sex, who think a song is an excuse to throw a conniption fit.
The mischief that Rex Harrison wrought in the role of 'Enry 'Iggins is with us yet, actors and actresses still believing (or being told) that singing is easy. Richard Harris, Tony Randall, and others already having demonstrated otherwise, what are, say, Telly Savalas and Dennis Weaver trying to prove?
And before I forget, to hell with all those anti -culture Vandals hopping about painting moustaches on the Mona Lisa, watering the wine, turning Shakespeare into comic books, Debussy into Moogish jingles. I refer,of course,to those engaged in the jazzing of the classics, the whittling down of cannon balls so they might serve as sling shot and spit balls for small bores. Tomita, ELP, and other such purveyors of denatured goods qualify, but consider the champ, Waldo de los Rios, who has a whole new album of chicka-boom-chick classics on the Warner Brothers label. There he stands on the back cover, holding in his hands a tiny bass viol, trumpet, violin, and piano. On the disc itself he gives a perfect demonstration of how to make nothing out of Something. It's the very last thing in the world we need.
-William Anderson
I FIND it somewhat constraining, in compiling a list such as this, to be limited to
musicians, but fortunately they compensate by being easy targets. Actually, the hardest challenge is bucking the tides of your own jaded inclination (they increase as the years roll by and the music peters down to computerized professionalism) to assent to each new permutation of the banal with a certain
twisted pleasure. When two of the best songwriters of the Sixties, Van Morrison and Lou Reed, make albums like "Veedon Fleece" and "Sally Can't Dance," it is pointless elitism not to accept the products of more diminutive talents, particularly when the fact that they never represented
anything to respect in the first place adds so to their pagan charm.
On the other hand, there are those who purvey a product so stupid, so lifeless, and at the same time so insultingly pretentious that even I, who listen to almost anything and have a highly developed taste for absolute garbage, can find no excuse for them. It
70
STEREO REVIEW
is not only that their music is badly played poetry. Rather than a sci-fi messiah, he is are made up of that song in its forty -minute (quite often, in fact, it is at least technically the last, most absurd pop star to be molded version.
proficient), but that there is in it no discernible trace of the spontaneous, brash, life-
giving energy which vitalized and validated pop music in the first place. The Rolling Stones may have a right now to be cold, but the names on the list that follows have earned nothing of the kind, either because
they were born cold or because they smothered the spark so early in the game and bought their own myths so quickly that even
one-time fans are turned off.
out of the tacky flamboyance of the Sixties. When the end of the world comes, I promise it will not look or sound like this.
The J. Geils Band: They may well be the hottest, razor-strappinest, high-steppinest, funkiest, jivetalk bar -band in the world, the blackest dudes in white rock. But what they fail to realize is that in 1975 all those achievements are irrelevant. Their first album blistered the synapses indeed, but five years and six albums later they have yet to
George Harrison: George is actually too pathetic to hate, but one finds it difficult to forget his most recent tour, for which Krishna's blandest visible adherent charged ten bucks a ticket in spite of the facts that (a) he can no longer sing; (b) his new songs were
uniformly pabulumesque and (with a couple of tortured exceptions) he didn't do his old ones; (c) his guitar playing is weak-kneed; (d) Billy Preston, perhaps the most obnox-
ious single performer in rock, stole the
Emerson, Lake & Palmer: Positively the most overbearing, mechanically strenuous, frenetically irritating band alive today. The
surpass it, having hustled themselves instead into a blind alley where they refuse to deviate a silly millimeter from their formula.
show; (e) nobody likes Ravi Shankar any more; and (f) the Beatles are at their rest.
-Lester Bangs
all-time worst example of the excesses accruing to the myth of the "supergroup," they have not, in their five years together,
come up with a single memorable melody. What's worse in their case is that none of
Robin Trower: Can you name a thing more ludicrous and passe than Jimi Hendrix guitar riffs and spaced -out lyrics plowing on into
I DON'T know, maybe I'm getting old, but it's become increasingly harder for me
the three of them has ever played a decent
to work up sufficient passion to really hate
solo, a particularly stunning achievement since practically all they do throughout their three-hour marathon concerts is play end-
less solos.
Queen: A British entry of more recent vintage, Queen's records are tolerable, but any place they happen to be performing is a torture chamber. I once saw them at the Uris Theater in New York. I had a headache from mixing beer and wine at a press party that afternoon, and when their guitarist revved up-strident, shrill, pure steel wool-my lobes began to throb with a vengeance. When the lead singer, Freddy Mercury, began to yowl in a fervently hideous Robert Plant imitation, I made a dive for the lobby. When I got there, I found half the audience ahead of me.
John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra and Chick Corea's Return to Forever: Jazz is
"He sings like an electric eel expiring on a rotisserie."
anybody these days. Had somebody asked me to do this five years ago, I could have had a field day. I despised just about everybody who was big then-the Grateful Dead, Leon Russell, Carole King-but I've since come to realize that I was probably reacting more to the over -adulation of their fans than to anything intrinsic in the music. And today, with pop at its lowest ebb since the days of Patti Page, I find it almost impossible to work up much more than bemused indifference to the musical garbage we're surrounded with. Still, I'll give it a go (cheating a bit by occasionally substituting schools of performers rather than individuals), and if boycotting ever comes into vogue in rockand-roll, these would be my first candidates.
Roberta Flack: There was once a popular rock-and-roll band called the Vanilla Fudge with a specialty of taking well-known r -&-b
healthier than its Cassandras would have
numbers and performing them at about one -
you believe, but their doom -yaps gain more credence every time a record by one of these "cosmic" configurations of once promising musicians is spun at a "progressive" rock station. Why is it that when musicians get religion the fire gets flushed out
with the secular naughties? I don't know, but if you have the exact equation, I wish you'd impart it via divine pigeon -drop to
Chick Corea, who makes haunting solo albums and yet leads a band that is one of the most unlistenable sellouts in jazz.
Bad Company: If you took away the vocals from recent hits or even randomly selected tracks by groups like Bad Company, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Aerosmith, even their most fanatical adherents would have trouble telling one from another. For those listeners who feel that they must have some kind of inside line on this sort of thing, Bad Company is the one with more beefcake/chest-hair, more lyrics claiming that their singer is a "bad man," and so much more plod to the groove that they constitute a kind of brandy addled Long March.
David Bowie: He sings like an electric eel expiring on a rotisserie, and those glottal squiggles are not so much fey affectation as trilling rage at the insufficiency of his talent. He writes strings of words so mired in self deceit that they are a kind of gauche futurist
the mid -Seventies? Answer: A timid Englishman carving out pallid imitations of Hendrix's sounds and stories without an ember of their progenitor's fire.
Todd Rundgren's Utopia: Poor Todd. He
used to w r:te some of the sweetest treacle in
popdom, sad love songs in which the lack of requital was a foregone conclusion, and so wimpy that they validated themselves as hits and as pop art simply on the basis of their incredibly mawkish authenticity. But Todd, a gifted musician, fell prey to that rampant contemporary virus, the desire for "legitimate" recognition as a "serious artist." The result: mind -flattening thirty -six minute instrumentals with titles like A Trea-
tise on Cosmic Fire and a not unexpected
failure to achieve the commercial success he thirsted after. In fact, these sonic assaults may very well be his vengeance tantrums.
Jethro Tull: Ian Anderson is an unnecessarily crummy curmudgeon who plays flute as if he bought a Roland Kirk cheat book yesterday and sings as if his tonsils were sheathed in flypaper. His band no longer knows how to play anything but the simplest circular progressions-no wonder, since he's been writing the same song for five years. That part of his audience not already asleep is falling off, which is also understandable, since most of his recent albums
tenth their original speed. If those four Italian boys who composed the Fudge were magically metamorphosed into one large black woman, she'd be Roberta Flack, who has somehow convinced people that somnambulance is synonymous with soul. I find her the single most boring performer now before the public.
The Nouveau Nostalgia Movement: We have with us these days a large number of performers whose theatricality cannot disguise the fact that they have absolutely nothing to say and whose attitude toward our collective musical past is not, as they would have you believe, affectionate and loving but condescending and insulting. Among these affronts to musical sensibility I include Bette Midler, the Pointer Sisters, Manhattan Transfer, and Bryan Ferry. Listening to any one of them is, in a small way,
degrading.
David Bowie: The single worst thing to happen to rock music since the deaths of Brian Jones, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix.
Labelle: Even in their early Sixties heyday, when they made a few great records, they were strictly minor league in comparison with the other girl groups around, and today, in those ridiculous outer -space outfits that are reminiscent of what Raymond Massey wore in the film version of Things to
DECEMBER 1975
71
Come (nothing dates as badly or as fast as the futuristic), they're still minor league. Had it not been for a talented producer (Allen Toussaint, and why isn't he a star?), they'd never have appeared. But, if nothing else, they've forever ended speculation about whether Gays are smarter than Straights. Thanks, girls.
Barry Manilow and Melissa Manchester: I lump these two together because they're both cashing in on their connection with Bette Midler, they're both on Arista, and they both make me urp. All that forced show -biz enthusiasm could bleach muslin at ten paces. Rock's greatest unintentional coincidence of the year is that Mandy, Manilow's disgustingly maudlin hit single, is also a slang term for a well-known English brand of tranquilizers. "You kissed me and stopped me from shaking," indeed.
John Denver: Johnny Mathis disguised as a
hillbilly. He has never written a decent song, his voice is an Irish tenor only a whit
less offensive than Dennis Day's, and, as far as I can tell, his only function is to provide adolescent girls with records to cry over in the privacy of their bedrooms.
*Phoebe Snow: The most overrated artist of the day, a white girl who sings the blues and is found wanting, a songwriter who makes Harry Chapin look like Vladimir Nabokov. That she can be taken seriously when there
are such talented girl singers as Sandy Denny and Linda Thompson around is no less
than mind -boggling.
*David Bromberg: The most repulsive folk performer since the days of the New Christie Minstrels. If he hadn't played (poorly) on a Dylan album (his worst, of course) no one would ever have noticed him. If he's ever had an original musical idea, he's kept it a neat secret up 'til now. This is the kind of facile picking that gives hacks a bad name.
Jazz -Rock: I don't care what anybody
says, 99 per cent of this stuff (with the possible exception of Larry Coryell) is unadulterated trash, listenable only if you're totally zonked out. Prime offender is Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, whose guru act is itself an affront (it'll serve his fans right if he goes country-and-western), but as far as Chick Corea, Weather Report, and the rest go, I'd prefer a new edition of the Spanish Inquisition. Sterile and, what is worse, grievously pretentious.
*Disco Soul: Something happened when Otis Redding died, I guess. At any rate, black music is at an all-time low these days, as a trip to any disco should convince you (and don't tell me about Stevie Wonder eitherhe's got a jive streak in him a mile wide, and I tend to agree with the critic who said that he plays more instruments badly than anyone since Paul McCartney). With a few exceptions (there's still some real music com-
ing out of Memphis, courtesy of Willie Mitchell, and if reggae catches on, things could pick up), what passes for soul these
days is about as moving as a doctoral dissertation on the circumcision of tropical fish. The worst offenders? Gloria Gaynor, Barry White, the Gamble -Huff hit factory, and the resurrectionist responsible for turning Monti Rock III into Disco Tex. -Steve Simels
2 a
. . . as welcome in rock
as a Baptist sermon at a poker game."
I PREFER to say "do without" rather than "hate." It is too emotionally expensive
to hate someone unless you have the opportunity to do them some real dirt. I also have difficulty in identifying ten disposable pop performers-the names change so quickly, and besides, every once in a while one of the Great Avoidables surprises me and does something well. So, a compromise: I will name five individuals for the sake of scandal, and flesh out the list with types of performers who particularly irritate me.
Bob Dylan: It is extraordinary how, with so little talent, Dylan could have established himself as a demigod. Leaving aside his miserable, nasal whine, his clumsy rhythm guitar playing, and his hopelessly amateur passes at the harp, there is the matter of his songs: there are so few good ones, and the overwhelming majority of them are so sloppy, pompous, and even snidely condescending. In my opinion, Dylan constructed his image very carefully-the lonesome, brooding anti-hero-and was absolutely correct in gauging what motivated the thoughts and actions of his generation: a desperate, frantic, and ultimately cowardly refusal to grow up. He gave the young excuses they were quick to turn into reasons. *Barry White: The most successful exponent of that deadly musical vapidity known as "disco -soul." He has written, in toto, one song, plus any number of variations on it. The gist of them all is the same: "Mama, my love gonna come down on you like a squatting hippopotamus." Ugh. George Harrison: Potentially a very tasteful and occasionally even a forceful rock guitarist, he had more imagination fifteen years ago than he has now. For a brief time he seemed to show promise as a composer, though his lyrics were usually overblown. But since his solo career began he has steadily rid himself of whatever style he once had, perhaps as a result of embracing a religious system which, while it may rid one of
the burden of ego, substitutes for it a smug and bloated sense of the superiority of one's inferiority. Bland and preachy, Harrison's music is as welcome in rock as a Baptist sermon at a poker game.
Curtis Mayfield: After a distinguished career as writer, producer, and lead singer of the Impressions, one of the greatest of the black groups, Mayfield went solo in 1970, losing or discarding his common sense and most of his talent in the process. He replaced it with a blowsy, stuffy attitude and took to addressing himself to such topics as "Whither America?" and "What is the condition of the human spirit?" He compounded these errors by singing in a monotone falsetto all the time, where once he had used that trick sparingly and to passably good effect. Borrring.
*Barbra Streisand: The term "genius" has been applied to her frequently, if inaccurately, for most of these last fifteen years. To me it all smacks of that same canny exploitation that has marked the career turns of Dylan, though where Dylan has gone after Woody Guthrie's old audience, Streisand has gone after Judy Garland's.
'Little Mary Tulip: This female folksinger's pact with the devil remains in force-she will never lose the sweet purity of the voice that has filled coffee houses and record company coffers for nigh onto twenty years now. Her extensive real estate holdings have not been permitted to interfere with her principles, she can still cry at the premature extinguishment of a lightning bug, and her three kids are enrolled in a Life School somewhere in the Arizona desert where they manufacture granola cookies under license from the Highbush Cranberry and Wild Hickory Nut Foundation.
*The Armchair Streetfighter: His abrasive vocals are a thunderously cathartic mixture of urban guerrilla, alternate lifestyle, counterculture, revolution, and cleansing fireall strictly on the rhetorical level, you have to understand.
The Group That Is Finally Getting the Credit It Deserves: Well, really two groups-the one that made it big with the pimple set ten years ago and is in the throes of a revival engineered by now comparatively grown-up First Fans convinced of its Social Significance, and another that didn't make it ten years ago but has hung on long enough for a few members of its clique to muscle their way onto the platform to acclaim them. The world will reject both these fave raves, of course, thus proving once again that ultimate good taste is given to only the few.
The California Organic Food Farm Folkie Band: Pity the People, love Mother Earth, reverence all the Jack Rabbits, Starlings, and Coyotes. Certainly . . . but don't get any of it on my music.
'Otis Larynx: If you howl loud enough,
sweat long enough, and move fast, you can keep any number of people from finding out you can't sing while you give them a tantalizing, if scarcely accurate, glimpse of "the black experience" and grant them absolu-
tion from the sins of their grandfathers.
That's something, but it ain't music. -Joel Vance
72
STEREO REVIEW
Introducing the
stackable,pushbutton C-box.
Now with our
Scotch® Classic Cassette.
This unique C -box from 3M is more than just a better package. It's the handies:
cassette storage system yet. Touch the pushbutton and
the cassette drawer pops open. Push the drawer back and it
snaps shut. C -box tops and bottoms
interlock. Just slide them together to form a single, solid storage stack as tall as you like. An accessory carrying handle makes the stack completely portable; and a wall bracket mounts
anywhere you want it. Great as the C -box is,
what's inside is even better. Our Classic cassette with ferri-chrome is a truly superior cassette.
Advanced 3M technology gives this cassette tape two distinct layers of oxide. A special iron oxide for rich low and middle frequencies. And a chromium dioxide for brilliant
high frequencies. Together, they deliver full -range sound
fidelity truer than any single oxide cassette tape.
Best of all, Classic cassettes
are fully compatible. You'll get optimum performance on any good cassette machine.
You can still buy the Classic cassette in conventional album boxes. But we think you'll prefer it in the C -box. Whatever
your choice in packaging, Classic is still the best cassette we've ever made for you.
Soon other Scotch cassettes will be available in the new C -box. Watch for them in the months ahead.
"Scot:h" and "C -box" are registered trademarks.
Four questions you
multiple -play
1 Does it perform as well as any single -play turntable? There are some who believe that a single -play turntable is somehow inherently better than a multiple -play unit. All right-the Z2000B is a single -play turntable. Its capacity to function as a multiple -play unit offers convenience with no compromise of performance. The automatic mechanism which gently indexes the arm, lifts it at the end of play, returns it to the arm rest and shuts off the motor-is completely disengaged during record play. A 2 -position control sets the proper vertical tracking angle for single or multiple play. The Z2000B can truly be called the automated, single -play turntable with multiple -play capability.
2 Does it have belt -drive and variable speed? Garrard engineers have attained remarkable results by combining the world famous Synchro-Lab motor and an inventive belt/idler drive combination. A 5 lb., die-cast, dynamically balanced platter is rotated via a flexible belt. Not only are the tiniest fluctuations of speed smoothed out,
but an extraordinary -64dB rumble is only one example of the impressive specifications achieved. A variable speed control corrects out -of -pitch recordings and an illuminated stroboscope provides optical confirmation.
The Z2000B combines all of these elements to achieve the main goal of Garrard engineering: superior performance at reasonable cost.
3 Does it handle records gently? All responsible turntable manufacturers are concerned with protecting your records. With Garrard, it's an obsession. The Z2000B boasts an array of features designed solely to prolong the life of your records. In addition to the exclusive, articulated tonearm, it incorporates an exceptionally
accurate magnetic anti -skating device. Cueing is viscous damped in both directions. The ingenious built-in automatic record counter keeps track of how many LP sides the stylus has played. And unlike some of the highest priced changers that support records only at the center hole, the Z2000B supports them at the hole and edge, and the release mechanism operates at both points. Protection for your records indeed!
4
Does it eliminate tracking error?
The grooves of a record are cut by a stylus that travels in a straight line. Conventional playback tonearms move in an arc. The difference between these two paths is called "tracking error:' Simply stated, tracking error launches a cycle of distortion and record wear. In good design, the error is averaged over the record so that distortion is minimal. But such compromise was unacceptable in the Z2000B. What Garrard engineers did about it was summed up by High Fidelity Magazine which described the Zero Tracking Error Tonearm as .. the best arm yet offered as an integral part of an automatic player:' The Z2000B is the only automatic turntable in the world without tracking error.
For your free copy of the New Garrard Guide, write to Garrard, Division of Plessey Consumer Products, Dept A, Plainview, New York 11803.
must ask about any
turntable.
The Garrard Z2000B.Yes.Yes.Yes.Yes.
CIRCLE NO. 22 ON READER SERVICE CARD
aflAzIA,c1
The Automatic Choice
EMMYLOU
HARRIS
By Carol Offen
EMMYLOU HARRIS' recording of If
I Could Only Win Your Love reached the top of one of the
charts of best-selling country singles in
the middle of September, and her album "Pieces of Sky" was in the top ten on another. Although she doesn't knock success, she can't help wonder-
ing why she was an underground coun-
try artist one day and a commercial
success the next. As the singing partner
and protegee of the late Gram Parsons, Ms. Harris developed a small but intense cult following a few years ago.
Now she's drawing crowds and selling
records with the same country -rock fu-
sion Parsons pioneered but couldn't
broaden enough for a wide audience.
"Sometimes I stop and think, 'What
am I doing wrong that makes this music
acceptable to so many people?' " she says with a laugh. "What is it? I wonder because I'm really so mistrustful,
and I'm trying very hard to be true to myself."
The obvious integrity and depth of Ms. Harris' music explain at least the critical success of "Pieces of Sky"
(Reprise), her first major solo album, as
well as her live act. Her voice has been compared to Linda Ronstadt's, but it has a beauty and expressivity all its own. She shies away from the label "country -rock," explaining, "I never got off on 'country -rock' because there
was nothing pure about it at all. Gram was never trying to do country -rock; he
was doing country and rock, and that's what I'm trying to do."
The album, though it was recorded in
Los Angeles, is distinctly countrywith early tunes such as the Louvin Brothers' If I Could Only Win Your
Love and a few modern ballads that include Billy Sherrill's Too Far Gone. The only song by Ms. Harris on the al-
bum, Boulder to Birmingham, is a strong, very personal number with a decidedly folk element. Her live act,
well -paced and diverse, includes sever-
al early rock songs, such as Shop
Around.
Although the Alabama -born singer grew up in the South (in North Carolina and Virginia), her interest in straight country music didn't emerge until she began working with Parsons in 1972. "He had a natural feel for the music and I just picked up on it," says Ms. Harris, whose background was in folk music. "I'd never tried to do that kind of thing before, but I think Gram knew I had a natural talent for it. So, without telling me he was going to do it, he decided to teach me to be a country singer. After listening to the music Gram turned me on to-the Louvin Brothers, George Jones-it was as if it had been around me all my life and I could never hear it. It was really a big change in my life," she added, her soft-spoken voice almost at a whisper.
She pushed her long straight brown hair away from her face as she picked up the black afghan she'd been crocheting. Wearing patched jeans and tennis sneakers, the twenty -sevenyear -old singer seemed strangely at ease in the posh St. Moritz Hotel room
overlooking New York's Central Park. New York is almost like home for Emmylou Harris. It is where she learned
her trade as a folk singer in the late Sixties, working mainly at Gerde's Folk City. She'd dropped out of the University of North Carolina in 1967 and then gave up plans for drama school for a shot at a music career.
"I'd been reading Sing Out magazine for five years, and I was under the impression there was this huge audience
for folk music, but it had all disappeared." Though it was a frustrating period, she made some valuable acquaintances in the music community, including David Bromberg and Jerry Jeff Walker, and also began writing songs. '
AFTER a couple of years in New York, she signed a recording contract with Jubilee Records that resulted in her first album and a four-year commit-
ment that now seems like a bad dream.
76
STEREO REVIEW
"I had absolutely no control over that album. And they had me. They owned 50 per cent of my publishing, for one thing. I had a lawyer who told me to sign it," she said with a shrug, "and I
didn't know anything about that. Man,
if I had to give anybody a piece of advice in this business, it's not to sign anything," she said, pounding the air
with her fist, "until you really know every word of what you're signing, be-
cause you can just get trapped."
Shortly after the album was released in 1970, Ms. Harris gave birth to her daughter Holly (her short-lived mar-
riage ended in divorce). Putting her ca-
reer plans behind her, she went back to Washington, D.C., where her parents
lived.
"I had other things to think about be-
sides music then-like paying the rent." She earned a living waiting on tables and showing model homes. "And music had become genuinely painful for me." But gradually, at the
insistence of friends, she began singing
in local clubs. "It was a good transition for me, because in Washington there was no music scene. There was just a very open-minded public, and it was very laid-back. I didn't have to feel like I was under a microscope."
For about a year she worked six
nights a week, taking home as little as $5 on a slow night. "At the end of that year I had no voice, and I think my nerves were like the end of a piece of twine. But I was very lucky, because I
always had one thing to keep me going
and that was my daughter. I never needed anything besides music and her."
While playing at the Cellar Door in Washington she met Chris Hillman, a former Byrd, who introduced her to the Flying Burrito Brothers. They asked her to join their band. One week later,
before she'd even had a chance to
pack, the group had split up. However,
Hillman did arrange for his former col-
league, Gram Parsons, to hear her. Parsons immediately asked her to record
with him, and about a year later she did "GP" with him, then accompanied him on his spring 1973 concert tour. That summer she joined him on his last album, "Grievous Angel."
The tour with Parsons was a relative -
I thought I had
anything to do with
people getting turned on
to George Jones I would
really feel like I'm
accomplishing something."
ly carefree period for Emmylou. "All I had to do was go up there and sing. I didn't have to worry about a thing. I
needed to have that taken off my
shoulders because I'd never enjoyed performing before I started working with Gram. I don't think I really believed in what I was doing." The Parsons/Harris duets on "Grievous Angel," particularly, display what she calls the "natural duet" the two had.
After Parsons' death later in 1973. Ms. Harris toured with a band for about a year before she recorded the Reprise album. "I just had to start
working immediately, but I was doing it like a zombie. It was a good band and it was really painful for me to fire them
and go with the Hot Band. But I felt there was a chance to bring this music to a lot of people, and these were the musicians to do it with. But I'll always be indebted to those guys because they really held me up and helped me get through that year."
Among the musicians who make up the Hot Band are a few members of Elvis Presley's band: James Burton on
electric guitar, Glen D. Hardin on piano, and Ronnie Tutt on drums. "I think I have the best country band in the business," she said proudly, then
paused for a moment, as if the sacrilege had caught in her throat. "Well, maybe
I shouldn't say that. But really, I would
stack my band up alongside the Stran-
gers [Merle Haggard's band] any time. "
Emmylou Harris and the Hot Band apparently draw a large noncountry following, too. "I haven't figured out yet why people come to see me," she says seriously. "I'm doing more coun-
try music than most of the people playing on country bills in high schools in West Virginia."
That's no exaggeration. Ms. Harris' country repertoire is decidedly hardcore. "I think I'm getting people at my concerts who are getting into country through the back door, and I've really tried to turn people on to the roots of the music. I'd rather have somebody come see me and, instead of going out and buying my album, go buy a Louvin Brothers album and experience what I experienced the first time I heard it. I would really get off on that. And if I thought I had anything to do with people getting turned on to George Jones," she said, her voice rising excitedly, "I would really feel like I'm accomplishing something in my life." She laughed at the dramatic note, but the remark was sincere. She reveres Jones.
Ms. Harris plans to do more writing
and is hoping to put together a bluegrass show-as her own opening act. But she doesn't like to look much further ahead. She's enjoying her newfound security, but at the same time she's determined to keep her priorities in order. "It's really very hard. The pressures get really great, but I don't want to compromise. I'm not going to do music that I don't get off on. I mean, if somebody says, 'Do this song and it'll definitely be a hit,' well, a 'hit' just doesn't mean that much to me."
DECEMBER 1975
77
The Dual tonearm.
Some of the ways
tharprechion makes the difference'
The essential beauty of a tonearm is not in its appearance, but in the performance of its critical role in the interaction of stylus and record.The conversion of groove modulations into music-as well as the life of one's records-is significantly influenced by every aspect of tonearm design: geometry, balance, mass, resonance, bearing friction and the application of stylus pressure and anti -skating.
Serious music lovers know this. And some who are now Dual owners tell us they wish they had understood more about tonearms hundreds of dollars in ruined records earlier.
If you are uncertain about the quality of your present tonearm, here are some guidelines to consider. They are the design principles that allow every Dual tonearm -even on Dual's least expensive model -to produce optimum performance from today's finest cartridges and maximum longevity from all records.
Why a straight line is the preferred shape
The effective length of any tonearm is the distance between the pivot and the stylus tip. A straight line-the shortest distance between these two points-achieves maximum rigidity and lowest mass. Both highly desirable characteristics.
Tonearms whose shape deviates from the straight and narrow may appear interesting, but their unnecessary mass and hence increased resonance can only detract from the quality of music reproduction.
Why stylus force must be applied perpendicular to record.
Stylus force should be applied in such a way
that there is equal pressure on each groove wall.
This balanced pressure should then be maintained
throughout play, independent of groove velocity,
location, or turntable leveling. Further, tracking
force should be constant even under
(all -too -frequent) record -warp conditions.
All these requirements are met by
Dual's technique for applying stylus
force: a long coiled spring centered
around the vertical pivot. With
this system, the tonearm
tracks flawlessly even under such extreme conditions as the
Mechanical sensor indicates when Dual 510
chassis being
tilted 45° or
more.
semi -automated tonearm is positioned precisely
over 12" or 7" lead-in groove.
(A) Mode Selector of Dual 1249 parallels tonearm to record insingle-play for perfect vertical tracking. (B) Tonearm moves up to parallel center of stack in multi -play.
Unique counterbalance of Dual CS701 houses two separately tuned anti -resonance filters
which absorb resonant energy in the frequency ranges of
the tonearm/cartridge system and the chassis to minimize acoustical' feedback.
Tonearm of Dual 1249 pivots in four -point gyroscopic gimbal, suspended within a rigid frame. Each gimbal is hand -assembled, and special gauges assure that each will conform to Dual's stringent specifications. Other Dual models with gimbal -mounted tonearms: 1228, 510, 601 and 701.
Dual's anti -skating system also contributes significantly to maintaining equal stylus pressure on both groove walls. In addition to the three separate precise calibrations for conical, elliptical and CD -4 styli, there is automatic adjustment during play for the inherent change in skating force that occurs as the stylus moves toward the record center.
Why bearing friction should be both low and consistent.
Dual uses the best (and most costly) way to manufacture precision low -friction bearings. The metal is first hardened, then honed; a process which
produces microscopically smooth surfaces. All pivots are hand -assembled and individually checked with gauges specially designed by Dual. The extremely low bearing friction thus achieved is compatible with the finest cartridges, which are usually designed for ultra -light tracking. Further, the high standards of production consistency in unit after unit assure highly accurate stylus pressure and anti -skating calibrations.
Dual owners who know the difference
These are a few of the reasons why serious music lovers-record reviewers, hi-fi magazine editors and their readers-own more Duals than any other turntable. This may be all you need to know in order to select a Dual. But which Dual?
Until recently, all Dual turntables were fully automatic and could be used in both single -play and multi -play. There are now four such models. Three other Duals are single -play only (two fully automatic, one semi -automatic). Dual also employs all three types of drive systems: belt, rim, or direct.
There's no need to decide on a specific Dual model right now. The best time and place for that is when you're at your United Audio dealer, where you can have demonstrated all the differences that Dual precision does indeed make.
The Dual 1225.
Fully automatic, single-play/multi-play. Viscous damped cue -control, pitch -control, 10%" platter, less than $140.00, less base. Dual 1226, with cast platter, rotating single -play spindle, less than $170.00. Dual 1228 with gimballed tonearm, synchronous motor, illuminated strobe, variable tracking angle, less than $200.00.
The Dual 1249.
Fully automatic, single-play/multi-play. Belt -drive, 12" dynamically -balanced platter, less than $280.00, less base. Full-size belt -drive models include: Dual 510, semi -automatic, less than $200.00. Dual 601, fully automatic, less than $250.00. (Dual CS601, with base and cover, less than $270.00)
The Dual CS701.
Fully automatic start and stop, single -play. D.C. brushless, electronic direct drive motor, tuned anti -resonance filters. Electronic pitch -control (8%) for each speed (33Y3 and 45 rpm) with illuminated strobe, less than $400, including base and cover.
United Audio Products, 120 So. Columbus Ave., Mt. Vernon, N.Y. 10553
Exclusive U.S. Distribution Agency for Duol
Dual
CIRCLE NO. 50 ON READER SERVICE CARD
NO MATTER HOW FAR YOU GO,
YOU NEVER BE FAR
FROM A GREAT WHIS EY SOUR.
THE CLUB'Whiskey Sour. If you can get there, so can THE CLUB.
And when you do, you're in for the taste of a good, honest drink.
THE CLUB has eleven other drinks ready to travel.
So next time, take one along. You can be a million miles from nowhere and still enjoy one of the comforts of home.
THE CLUB. WHISKEY SOUR. 25 PROOF ©1975 THE CLUB DISTILLING CO., HARTFORD, CT. MENLO PI< .CA.
TH CLUB. A GREAT DRINK AN
i.:_
ASIRCh
-ass -ELL
STEREO REVIEW'S SELECTION OF RECORDINGS OF SPECIAL MERIT
BEST OF THE MONTH 1111111=1111i irk
Praise and Prophecy:
A New Recording of
Beethoven's Fifth
By Carlos Kleiber
WHAT many of us considered to be the finest recorded perform-
ance of the Beethoven Fifth Symphony to come our way during the earlier years of this LP era was that of Erich Kleiber and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra on the London label. There is therefore an odd poetic symmetry in having Carlos Kleiber,
brilliantly gifted son of a distinguished father, present us now with what may well be remembered as the finest recorded performance of the Fifth to be
issued in two -channel stereo.
From the very first phrase of Carlos
Kleiber's reading on the newly released Deutsche Grammophon disc, I felt myself present at a very special event -just as I did when I first heard the Furtwangler-Berlin Philharmonic
performance issued by RCA Victor in 1938. (I still consider it to be the finest recorded performance of the 78 -rpm era, although it has yet to be reissued on LP.) Young Kleiber has clearly re-
studied every note and every nuance of
this most performed and recorded of all
symphonies, not with the aim of offering a new and different revelation of Beethoven's eternally stirring message, but rather of showing us afresh what has been there all along. The effect on
our ears is comparable to the delight of our eyes in the restoration not so long
ago of Rembrandt's celebrated painting
The Night Watch-the same one recently vandalized by a madman in
Amsterdam. A little room, then, if you will, for
some High Critical Praise: call first to your mind's ear the fiery passion of Arturo Toscanini in the Thirties, then the grandly lyrical impulse of Furtwan-
gler in the above -mentioned 1938 recording, and finally the classic architec-
CONDUCTOR CARLOS KLEIBER: an extraordinary level of artistry
g
DECEMBER 1975
81
tural cohesion achieved by Felix Weingartner in his 1927 reading of this symphony for Columbia. Combine all these conductorial elements with the magnificently responsive playing of the Vienna Philharmonic and the flawless recorded sound produced by DG's recording staff, and you will have the
measure of what has been accom-
plished here. And a little more room for Prophecy:
if Kleiber can maintain this extraordinary level of artistry over the years, if he pursues his goals with the same diamond -hard integrity and self -demanding fastidiousness that marked the career of his father in and out of Germany, he will surely be remembered as one of the major conductors of this last quarter of the twentieth century. Until such a historical judgment can be rendered, I will simply point out that this Beethoven Fifth recording is for me among the half dozen best discs in the entire catalog.
David Hall
BEETHOVEN; Symphony No. 5, in C Minor,
Op. 67. Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra,
Carlos Kleiber cond. DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 2530516 $7.98, 3300472 $7.98.
The Piano Works of
Mrs. H. H. A. Beach:
Demonstrating the
Irrelevance of Gender
ATER Amy Marcy Cheney, at the age of eighteen, married Dr. H. H.
A. Beach, she never signed any of her compositions with any name but "Mrs. H. H. A. Beach." Lucy Stoners and later feminists must deplore the idea of such abandonment of personal identity on the part of a creative artist; what all of us might well deplore is the circumstances of our knowing nothing of the work of this significant composer except two or three songs. The situation has only now begun to be corrected in a way that can be expected to reach a sizable segment of the listening public.
Turnabout recently released a recording of Mrs. Beach's Piano Quintet
(TV -S 34556) and is said to be preparing one of her Second Piano Concerto, and now Genesis, showing its customary enterprise, has issued a solid hour of her solo piano works, played with great fluency and obvious commitment by Virginia Eskin and recorded with
E
ELLY AMELING AND DALTON BALDWIN: a charming recital
uncommon clarity and realism. Dates are not given for the respective works, but from the opus numbers-and from the transition in character from the lighthearted, Saint -Satins -colored Valse-Caprice (Op. 4) to the introspective, reflective Improvisations (Op. 148)-one gathers they represent a comprehensive span of the composer's productive years (nearly six full decades).
What these pieces demonstrate with certainty is that the question of gender
is as irrelevant in music as that of
color; there would seem to be no hyperbole in suggesting that Mrs. Beach is entitled to an honored position among such New England contemporaries as Horatio Parker, Henry Hadley, Henry F. Gilbert, Frederick Con -
MRS. H. H. A. BEACH: significant
verse, Edward Burlingame Hill, and Daniel Gregory Mason-and that she may, indeed, have more to say to today's listeners than any of them.
If there are inevitable echoes of
Chopin, Liszt, Saint -Satins, and Schu-
mann here and there, they are no more obtrusive than in the works of numer-
ous European composers; one may just as easily hear anticipations (or like-
nesses to) Rachmaninoff in the proclamative Prelude and Fugue, and more
than a few flashes of Scriabin. The point is that virtually every one of the
sixteen pieces has a pronounced char-
acter of its own: these are not mere period pieces or curios. The evocative
Barcarolle (first of the Morceaux Caracteristiques) is no more "dated" than those of Chopin and Faure, while the
two Hermit Thrush pieces and the
Four Sketches (In Autumn, Phantoms,
Dreaming, Fireflies) are more intrigu-
ing than the similar and far better-
known works of MacDowell. Fireflies,
in particular, is a gem, the sort of thing
that would immortalize any composer; no wonder (as Mrs. Eskin remarks in
the annotation) Josef Hofmann loved
to play it.
The annotation, incidentally, is in the form of a conversation between Mrs. Eskin and "musicologist Rawle Dryson." The latter's contributions are minor, and my suspicious nature leads
me to speculate about the possibility of an anagram (for Elynor S. Ward? An-
drew Sorly? Lory Andrews? Lord Ernsway? Earl Rydowns?). That, of
course, matters not at all; Eskin's comments are enlightening, her performances are splendid, and the production as a whole fills a real need with distinction. The only nit I can find to
pick is the listing of Mrs. Beach's maiden name as Amy March Cheney.
82
STEREO REVIEW
Freudian slip, I guess; the composer may have been Dr. Beach's little wot man, but all my sources say Marcy.
Richard Freed
BEACH: Valse-Caprice, Op. 4; Ballad, Op. 6; Four Sketches, Op. 15; Trois Morceaux
Caracteristiques, Op. 28; Prelude and Fugue, Op. 81; Hermit Thrush at Eve, Op.
92, No. 1; Hermit Thrush at Morn, Op. 92, No. 2; Nocturne, Op. 107; Five Improvisations, op. 148 (Nos. 1, 2, and 4). Virginia Eskin (piano). GENESIS GS 1054 $6.98.
Elly Ameling in a
Schumann/Schubert
Recital That Could
Hardly Be Bettered
ELLY AMELING has few rivals as an interpreter of intimately scaled
songs, which means that Frauenliebe und Leben, Robert Schumann's breathtakingly beautiful song cycle of love lost, and the group of ten well-chosen Schubert songs making up her latest recital disc for Philips find her on ideal terrain.
In the Schumann she captures the varying emotions of each song, from childish naïveté and innocence through rapturous love to final dejection, with complete and convincing naturalness. In addition to exercising her instinctive feeling for just the right dramatic mood and expression, including an appro-
priate and affecting darkening of timbre
for the last song, she employs some lovely vocal and coloristic effects as
well. The Schubert sequence is all aquiver
with springtime, rustling bushes, agile fishes, and birds in flight. Once past the somewhat overlong-but still irresistible-Das Lied im Griinen, the songs simply bubble with life, joy, and sunlit melody. Miss Ameling's singing could hardly be bettered: her touch is light and charming, her tone pure, effortless, and graced with neatly executed embellishments. And of course Dalton Baldwin's masterly accompaniments are an undeniable asset throughout.
George Jellinek
SCHUMANN: Frauenliebe und Leben, Op. 42. SCHUBERT: Das Lied im Grunen; Der Schmetterling; An die Nachtigall (Claudius); An die Nachtigall (Nally); Der Wachtelschlag; Im Freien; Die Vogel; Fischerweise; Die Gebiische; Im Haine. Elly Ameling (soprano): Dalton Baldwin (piano). PHILIPS 6500 706 $6.98.
Willie Nelson
Presents an Adult,
Love -and -Death
Western in Song
CNEAKY is a good way to be in music, and Willie Nelson, unofficial
father figure of the Texas underground, knows how to sneak; he has, in "Red Headed Stranger" for Columbia, com-
bined old, new, borrowed, and blue
elements to make himself a horse opera about love and death in the late -early
Western United States. It's an adult western, set in 1901, and although it purports to make no large statement
about the passing of the frontier for our still westering society, it does suggest how one wild -spirited, trigger-happy fellow accommodated himself to civilized ways. The story line, though, isn't
terribly strong or important, and it's really a story, not an "opera," the whole thing related by the narrator, Willie, who looks, according to the
drawings (a story board, no less) on the back of the jacket, just like the hero. Nelson has taken old, familiar songs such as Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain and Remember Me and used them as set pieces in his story, and they do an interesting job of helping authenticate the dating of the yarn.
The new music is well written and at times brilliantly sung, although you may be shocked at first to find the instrumentation so spare. Nelson has, as
Bob Wills did, that kind of Texascountry ear that has a lot of pop in it (early songs like Crazy had a clinky
sophistication that reminded some
people of Duke Ellington), and when
he combines that trait with the kind of
discipline he uses here in the interests
of simplicity and a narrative line . . .
well, the result is a sense of much ener-
gy under meticulous control. Add to
that a voice with textures almost as
engrossing as those of Bryce Canyon,
and you have an album to be taken
almost one note at a time. The more
times I listen, the more I find in it.
Sneaky album.
Noel Coppage
WILLIE NELSON: Red Headed Stranger. Willie Nelson (vocals, guitar): Paul English (drums): Jody Payne (guitar, mandolin); Bee Spears (bass): Bobbie Nelson (piano): Mickey Raphael (harmonica): other musicians. Time of the Preacher; I Couldn't Believe It Was True; Blue Rock. Montana/
Red Headed Stranger; Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain; Just as / Am; Denver; O'er the
Waves/Down Yonder; Can I Sleep in Your
Arms; Remember Me; Hands on the Wheel;
Bandera. COLUMBIA KC 33482 $6.98, ®
CA 33482 $7.98.
An Ideal Combination:
Songs by Jimmy Webb,
Performances by
The 5th Dimension
THE 5th Dimension's new ABC release, "Earthbound," is pure
entertainment, a commodity we could all use a lot more of these days. It has been produced and arranged (by Jimmy Webb) so superbly that it is practically a model of musical professionalism, demonstrating what can be done by a super -pro working with something worthy of his attention-in this case, the 5th Dimension, a group that has had its ups and downs but has always communicated an infectious joy in its performances.
That is certainly good news, but it is even better news that Webb has found able performers for some of his own
songs. It is no secret by now that Webb, as good a composer as he is,
can't quite put across his own material as a performer: he needs other performers to communicate through. And how beautifully the 5th Dimension serves him on When Did I Lose Your Love, Lean on Me Always, Speaking with My Heart, and Walk Your Feet in the Sunshine, swinging out and arcing through the words and music with the free grace and superb control of a glittering Frisbee. They do almost as well
DECEMBER 1975
83
on a Lennon -McCartney song (I've
Got a Feeling) and a few others, but it
i:
i
is the Webb material, in his own gem-
i
setting arrangements, that will bring
you to your feet. Perhaps protecting us
from the shock of so much near-
perfection are the Prologue and Epi-
logue here, two bits of "special materi-
al" that can be forgiven their false ring
as easily as we welcome the ring of
truth in the rest.
The whole disc is magnificently pro-
duced and recorded, of course (we
have Larry Coryell, for instance, han-
dling the acoustic solos and Harvey
Mason the drums), but most of all it's a
pleasure ride with a group that re-
sponds to Webb as an Amati responds
to a Heifetz.
Peter Reilly
THE 5TH DIMENSION: Earthbound. The 5th Dimension (vocals); orchestra. Prologue; Be Here Now; Don't Stop for Nothing; I've Got a Feeling; Magic in My Life; Walk Your Feet in the Sunshine; When Did I Lose Your Love; Lean on Me Always; Speaking with My Heart; Moonlight Mile; Epilogue. ABC ABCD-897 $6.98, ® 8022897H $7.98, © 5022-897H $7.98.
Jean -Luc Ponty:
Stylistically
Updating the
Jazz Violin
ONLY a handful of notable jazz violinists have been heard from
since the music itself took its first
known form: Eddie South, Joe Venuti, Stuff Smith, Stephane Grappelli, Ray
Nance, and Svend Asmussen. Had their instrument not been such a novelty - most jazz polls still list it under "miscellaneous" - some of these men might, in fact, have had less success, but that is not the case with Jean -Luc Ponty, a recent, important addition to
the ranks. Ponty, a thirty -two -year -old French-
man, possesses both musicianship and style that transcend the uncommonness of his instrument. A remarkable technician with liberated ideas, he has brought the jazz violin out of the past, making even Michael White -at one time considered the modern jazz violinist - seem a bit old-fashioned.
Ponty's direction was clearly demonstrated on a 1966 album ("The Violin Summit," Prestige 7631) which teamed him with Grappelli, Asmussen, and
Smith. Soaring stylistically past his
THE 5TH DIMENSION: about as earthbound as a Frisbee
veteran colleagues, he provided the album with its highlights. We have since heard him with John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, the
Mothers of Invention, and Elton John,
and he has had numerous albums of his
own, but nowhere has he blossomed as brilliantly as in "Upon the Wings of Music," his first Atlantic album. Em-
ploying multitrack techniques, Ponty-
clearly influenced by the MahavishnuWeather Report -Cobham sound that came in the wake of Miles' "Bitches Brew"-dispenses with his group for Echoes of the Future, but the rest of
the music uses two guitars, bass, keyboards, and drums in cohesive interplay. Except for Leon Chancler's percussion, everything is highly electrified, but it is also electrifying.
Chris Albertson
JEAN-LUC PONTY: Upon the Wings of Music. Jean -Luc Ponty (violins, strings synthesizer); instrumental quintet. Upon the
Wings of Music; Question with No Answer;
Now I Know; Polyfolk Dance; Waving
Memories; Echoes of the Future; Bowing Bowing; Fight for Life. ATLANTIC SD
18138 $6.98, ® TP 18138 $7.97, © CS
18138 $7.97.
JEAN-LUC PONTY: musicianship and style transcendent
84
STEREO REVIEW
THE END OF
THE DOUBLE STANDARD.
OUR LEAST EXPENSIVE RECEIVER HAS THE SAME
LOW DISTORTION AS OUR MOST EXPENSIVE RECEIVER.
At Yamaha, we make all our
stereo receivers to a single
standard of excellence. A consistently low inter -
modulation distortion of just
0.1%!
A figure you might expect only from separate components. Maybe even from our
$850 receiver, the CR-1000. But a figure you'll surely be
surprised to find in our $330 receiver, the CR400.
So what's the catch? There is no catch. Simply a different philosophy. Where
high quality is spelled low
distortion.
You'll find Yamaha's singlemindedness particularly gratifying when compared to the
amount of distortion other manufacturers will tolerate
throughout their product lines. (See chart.)
Particularly gratifying and easily explained.
Less of what irritates you most.
While other manufacturers are mostly concerned with
more and more power,
Yamaha's engineers have concentrated
IM Distortion Comparison
YAMAHA CR-1000 .1% CR-800 .1% CR-600 .1% CR400 .1%
Brand "A" Brand "B"
.1%
.15%
.3%
.3%
.5%
.5%
1.0%
.9%
Brand "C"
.3% .5%
.8% 1.0%
With most manufacturers, price determines quality. However, in he above chart, you can see how Yamaha alone offers the same quality Ilow distortion) throughout our entire line, regardless of price.
on less and less distortion. Particularly intermodula-
tion (1114) distortion, the most irritating to your ears. By virtually eliminating IM's brittle dissonance, we've given back to music what it's been missing.
A clear natural richness and brilliant tonality that numbers alone cannot describe. A new purity in sound reproduction.
A musical heritage. Our seeming preoccupation
with low distortion, in general, and the resulting low IM dis-
tortion, in particular, stems from Yamaha's own unique
musical heritage.
Since 1887, Yamaha has been makingsomeof the finest musi-
cal instruments in the world. Pianos, organs, guitars, woodwinds, and brass.
You might say we're music people first.
With our musical instruments, we've defined the
standard in the production of fine sound. And now, with our entire line of receivers and
other stereo components,
we've defined the standard of its reproduction.
Four different receivers, bunt to one standard.
Between our $330 CR400
and our $850 CR-1000, we have two other models.
The $460 CR-600 and the
$580 CR-800.
Since all are built with the same high quality and the same low distortion, you're probably asking what's the difference.
The difference is, with
Yamaha, you only pay for the power and features that you need.
Unless you have the largest, most inefficient speakers, plus a second pair of the same playing simultaneously in the next room, you probably won't need the abundant power of our
top -of -the -line receivers.
Unless you're a true audiophile, some of the features on our top -of -the -line receivers might seem a bit like gilding the lily. Selectable turnover tone controls, variable FM muting, two -position filters, even a special five -position tape monitor selector.
However, you don't have to pick one of Yamaha's most expensive receivers to get a full complement of functional features as well as our own exclusive Auto Touch tuning and ten -position variable loudness control.
The End of the Double Standard.
Just keep in mind that all
Yamaha stereo receivers, from the most expensive to the least expensive, have the same high quality, the same low distor-
tion, the same superlative
tonality. It's a demonstration of prod-
uct integrity that no other
manufacturer can make. And, an audio experience your local
Yamaha dealer will be de-
lierhted to introduce you to.
YAMAHA
International Corp., P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, Calif. 90620
DECEMBER 1975
CIRCLE NO 61 ON READER SERVICE CARD
85
POPULAR DISCS A\D TAPES
Reviewed by CHRIS ALBERTSON NOEL COPPAGE PAUL KRESH PETER REILLY JOEL VANCE
ARTHUR BROWN: Dance with Arthur Brown. Arthur Brown (vocals); instrumental accompaniment. We've Got to Get Out of This Place; Helen with the Sun; Take a Chance; Crazy: Hearts and Minds; Dance: and five others. Gui, GU6-405S1 $6.98.
Performance: Low vaudeville Recording. Noisy
Arthur Brown was briefly noted sometime in the late Sixties for appearing on stage with a bunsen burner thingie that sprouted flame atop his head. He had a minor hit single that opened with his announcement: "I am the god of hell fire!" This was delivered much in the manner of a resolute child in a grade -school play making his entrance and proclaiming:
"Um . . . hearken! I am Tamerlane, con-
queror of . . . gosh! . . . the whole world." Brown is one of those youngish, second-
rate English neo-vaudevillians, like Screaming Lord Sutch, who use rock as a complement to their act. The British have indicated they'll have none of Sutch's corn, and doubtless they hold a similar opinion of Brown. Sutch and Brown do, however, have a genealogical place in the periphery of British rock; their shenanigans begat the slightly more sophisticated antics of Jethro Tull. Which, come to think of it, is not much to be remembered for.
J.V.
BROWNSVILLE STATION: Motor City Connection. Brownsville Station (vocals and instrumentals). Automatic Heartbreak; One That Got Away; Self Abuse; Crazy Legs;
Explanation of symbols:
® = reel-to-reel stereo tape = eight -track stereo cartridge = stereo cassette
= quadraphonic disc = reel-to-reel quadraphonic tape = eight -track quadraphonic tape
Monophonic recordings are indicated by the symbol
The first listing is the one reviewed; other formats, if available, follow it.
86
Load of Love; and four others. BIG TREE BT
89510 $6.98, TP 89510 $7.98, © CS
89510 $7.98.
Performance. Fair Recording: Good
Brownsville Station is a run-of-the-mill rock
band given, as many are, to wearing funny
clothes and jumping up and down as if the
clichés they're playing were The Word itself.
There are the usual ragged -throat band -singer
vocals to contend with, and plenty of that
simplified, inarticulate "street" language that
has become such a bore. The group does,
however, have a touch of blues sensitivity and
an occasional burst of energy, and the instru-
mentals aren't all bad; the instrumental tune
Crazy Legs, a blues progression, is the most
impressive thing here. Enthusiasm keeps
these guys going, no matter how dumb the
song gets or how weatherbeaten their tools
are, but it isn't anywhere near enough to keep
them going in what you would call first-class
style.
N.C.
JOHN CALE: Slow Dazzle. John Cale (vocals, keyboards); Chris Spedding (guitar); Pat Donaldson (bass); Timi Donald (drums); other musicians. Mr. Wilson; Taking It All Away; Dirtyass Rock 'n' Roll; Darling I Need You; Rollaroll; Heartbreak Hotel; and four others. ISLAND ILPS 9317 $6.98, ® Y81-
9317 $7.98.
Performance: Slow, all right Recording: Good
The only fair thing to say here is that I've run
out of things to say about John Cale albums.
They're never as bad or as complicated as I
expect them to be, and neither is this one, but
once you've identified the kind of posture
Cale is striking in a particular song, there isn't
much else to listen for. "Slow Dazzle" is
somewhat melodic, and the vocals (more than
vaguely reminiscent of the late Jim Morri-
son's, although I'm not sure they seemed that
way in the past) are adequate but not interest-
ing enough to carry the big -deal histrionics he
lays on Heartbreak Hotel or interesting
enough- to make me want to sort out his own
sometimes tedious, sometimes convoluted
lyrics. Life's too short.
N.C.
GLEN CAMPBELL: Rhinestone Cowboy. Glen Campbell (vocals, guitar): Scott Edwards (bass); Michael Omartian (keyboards); other musicians. Rhinestone Cowboy; Country Boy (You've Got Your Feet in L.A.); Pencils for Sale; Count On Me; I'd Build a
Bridge; Marie: and four others. CAPITOL SW 11430 $6.98, ® 8XW-11430 $7.98, 4XW11430 $7.98.
Performance: Good Recording: Very good
Glen Campbell is an exceptionally talented singer and guitarist, but who, one still wonders, is he? I have a sense of who, for example, Tom Rush is (when I'm fishing for other exceptional singer -guitarists to set up a comparison), based on what Rush does and, more important, on the way he conveys that this is what he wants to do. I'm not so sure that what I hear in various recordings comes that close to representing what Glen Campbell wants to do. Jim Webb got him off to a good start with some melodies of subtlety and depth, something a truly capable voice has to have otherwise, it eventually dawns on everyone that something is being wasted. But Campbell, a hungry studio sideman from Arkansas, went Hollywood in some ways, getting involved with television, massive string sections, lots of financial success, and maybe a touch of the artistic conservatism that usually goes with all those things.
Ironically, here's an almost -theme album that keeps returning to the sentiment of the title hit, put even more directly in the first piece, Country Boy (You've Got Your Feet in LA.): "You get a house in the hills/You're payin' everyone's bills/And they tell you that you're going to go far./But in the back of my mind/I hear it time after time/- Is that who you really are?" The words of several songs here make you stop and think, all right, and so does the dogged use of the string section that continually threatens to suffocate Campbell and his tangy, tasty guitar. So do the lack of subtlety and imagination in the melodies; the title tune is nothing more than a series of very hackneyed melodic phrases strung together, though its foregone success as a single may be the reason for the album in the first place. It turns out be to a relief to find Marie in there,
STEREO REVIEW
even though it's no better than average, if that, among Randy Newman's songs. Campbell does a good job of singing it, considering it isn't really his kind of song. The brightest spot may be, oddly enough, a variant of the old hard -times ballad, Pencils for Sale, written by Johnny Cunningham. It is not wildly original, but there is a certain naturalness and integrity in its melody as well as its words, and for once the background pap doesn't get into the foreground.
Textural redundancy, I would say, is technically what's wrong with the production of this and most Campbell recordings. Someone should remember that the basic reason they have all gathered together is a silky smooth vocal delivery. The sensible thing isn't to fight with it, or commission a silkier -than -thou bank of fiddles to fight with it, but to set it up, spotlight it, give the listeners a little something of contrasting texture so they can better define it. As it is, this album is likely to provoke an aesthetic response that is meager compared to (contrasted to) the stimulation it gives to speculation on what Campbell would do if Campbell were running his own act.
N.C.
ERIC CLAPTON: E. C. Was Here. Eric Clap ton (guitar, vocals); Jamie Oldaker (drums): Carl Radle (bass): other musicians. Have You Ever Loved a Woman; Presence of the Lord; Drifting Blues; and three others. RSO SO 4809 $6.98, ® TP 4809 $7.98, © CS 4809
$7.98.
Performance: Disappointing Recording: Good, considering
Eric Clapton naturally plays a lot of notes
here, and his guitar technique is as impressive as ever, but this seems sandbagged by the
usual characteristics of live albums: long, drawn-out, overblown endings that sound ludicrous to one person alone at home: long, drawn-out songs, which, by physically taking up so much space on the record, put the screws to variety, along with posing once again the question of who wants to hear Rambling Man ramble on for seven minutes:
a boogie -oriented, simple -beat program, since a live audience, the thinking goes, likes things kept moving and easy: and the quirks of live -
recorded sound -Clapton's guitar (and his voice, too, in fact) seems harsher here than in studio recordings, and Carl Radle's bass seems muddy. The whole thing is Spartan and more blues -oriented than I think best suits Clapton; there just aren't enough ideas for him to invent with. It is one of the least satisfying Eric Clapton albums I've heard. N.C.
MERRY CLAYTON: Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow. Merry Clayton (vocals): orchestra. How'd I Know; Gold Fever; Sink or Swim: If I Lose; and seven others. ODE SP 77030
$5.98, 8T 77030 $7.98, © CS 77030 $7.98.
Performance: Good Recording: Good
Merry Clayton's big, barrelhouse voice and rat -a -tat delivery make for same very good moments here. There are generally only moments, however, because of arrangements that have a deadening sameness about them_ Dylan's Rainy Day Women, for instance, should be a showpiece for Clayton, but by the time she fights her way through her own vocal arrangement and Hugh McCracken's instrumental one, the song itself almost disappears. She does really lovely work on Loving Grows Up Slow, which is a charming song. Next time she records, Clayton might be wise to lighten
NATALIE COLE A big, musical voice and an engaging manner
up on the accouterments and concentrate on
the story line of her material.
P.R.
JOE COCKER: Jamaica Say You Will. Joe Cocker (vocals): instrumental accompaniment. (That's What I Like) In My Women; Where Am I Now; I Think It's Going to Rain
Today: Forgive Me Now; Olt Mama; and five others. A&M SP -4529 $6.98, 8T-4529
$7.98, © CS -4529 $7.98.
Performance: Good Recording: Good
I wonder what the market for Joe Cocker is
these days. Public ardor has cooled since the
time of his brassy stardom and the sensational
"Mad Dogs & Englishmen" concert tour mas-
terminded by Leon Russell. Despite the blus-
tery opening selection, the rest of this album
is mid -tempo, bluesy, and a bit tired. Cocker
was, and is, a sturdy talent, but he was never
so good as during his days with the Grease
Band. That commendable back-up group was
the first casualty of his brief stardom: he him-
self is the last, lingering one.
J.V.
NATALIE COLE: Inseparable. Natalie Cole (vocals): orchestra. Needing You; Joey; This Will Be; You; Inseparable: and five others. CAPITOL ST -11429 $6.98, ® 8XT-11429 $7.98, © 4XT-11429 $7.98.
Performance: Good Recording: Good
This is a thoroughly professional recording
debut by Natalie Cole, daughter of Nat
"King" Cole. In fact, she's so much better
than the average star offshoot, so much bet-
ter than Nancy Whatsername or Desi Whats-
isface ever got to be, that there is a tempta-
tion to overpraise her. Keeping it cool, I'd say
that what she has got is a big, musical voice, a
bit pinched at the top and the bottom, a very
engaging, earnest manner, and the seeds of a
nifty little dramatic talent in projecting lyric.
What she hasn't got are the right songs (they
are all written by the album's producers,
Chuck Jackson and Marvin Yancy, and the
clack of the assembly line is quite audible),
the right arrangements, or a consistent style
with which she seems comfortable. As all
newcomers are, she is an amalgam of styles
and influences, but it's to her credit that she
registers as an individual through her vitality
and her sincerity. Inseparable is probably the
best track to give you an idea of what she
might become someday-if she works hard
enough.
P.R.
THE 5TH DIMENSION: Earthbound (see Best of the Month, page 81)
DECEMBER 1975
GRAHAM CENTRAL STATION: Ain't No 'Bout A -doubt It. Graham Central Station (vocals and instrumentals). The Jam: Your Love; It's Alright; I Can't Stand the Rain; and five others. WARNER BROS. BS 2876 $6.98, M8 2876 $7.97, © M5 2876 $7.97.
Performance: Good Recording: Good
I imagine that Graham Central Station, led by Larry Graham, former bass player for Sly Stone in Sly's great days, is a dynamite band on stage, one that keeps the dancers moving and pleases the crowd no end. But on record its work sounds hackneyed. The band cannot be faulted for the performances, which are crisp, disciplined, energetic, and at all times professional. But these people are peddling
87
stale bread. Even heating it up as they do
makes it no more than stale toast.
J.V.
GRATEFUL DEAD: Blues for Allah. Grateful
Dead (vocals and instrumentals). Help on the WaylSlipknot; Franklin's Tower; King Solo man's Marbles; Stronger Than Dirt or Makin' the Turkey; The Music Never Stopped; Crazy Fingers; and four others. GRATEFUL. DEAD GD-LA494-G $6.98, GD-EA494H $7.98, GD-CA494-H $7.98.
Performance: Formal Recording: Very good
Innovative art seems ugly at first, eminent
critics tell us, so the new Grateful Dead al-
bum isn't innovative art-it doesn't seem ugly
so much as inconsequential, so abstract as to
be irrelevant, as if the players learned to read
music and it interfered with their playing. The
sound doesn't lean on the improvisational
spirit of jazz, nor does it carry the vitality of
rock. It is perhaps the normal thing that hap-
pens to hippies with Eastern thought freshly
into their heads and Western nuance planted
firmly, for a lifetime, in their bones. It is more
interesting than "Wake of the Flood," the
other low -energy album of the recent past,
sounding more "natural" (being richer melod-
ically, too, which may be the same thing)
where that one seemed esoteric the hard way.
But this one doesn't really sound organic, bal-
anced, centered-which is, I suspect, one of
the things the band, or at least Jerry Garcia,
wants now. The lyrics, mostly by Robert
Hunter, are unlinear, unspecific, nongraphic;
and the instrumental parts, as opposed to the
old idea of a solo with back-up charging ahead
on an idea parallel to the melody, are more a
matter of concerted meandering. The trouble
is, the sound on the record isn't as interesting
as the talk we could have about the way the
Dead are evolving. Or about the energy short-
age in general.
N.C.
HUDSON -FORD: Worlds Collide. Richard Hudson and John Ford (vocals); instrumental
accompaniment. Did Worlds Collide?; Mechanics; When Love Has Overgrown; As Hours Go By; Bootleg: and five others.
A&M SP 4535 $6.98.
Performance: Blah bl a h Recording: Good
Oh, somebody out there must like it. Appar-
ently there will always be a market for two
young men with large eyes and a suitable
amount of hair who sing harmony and write
songs addressed to universal themes. The ly-
rics pass as "pop poetry," the performances
are breathy, and the studio musicians never
miss a beat. And someone out there must be
saying "It's deep."
There have been other Hudson -Ford -type
teams. Eight years ago there was Boyce &
Hart, who wrote hitsie-ditsie pop tunes and
gussied them up with high-powered produc-
tion. Then there was Brewer & Shipley, folk-
ies who wrote songs about freeeeeeedom.
And boring? My dear! Compared to them,
your maiden aunt reading her grocery list is
pure porn.
J.V.
QUINCY JONES: Mellow Madness. Quincy Jones (piano, arranger); vocalists; orchestra. Paranoid; Mellow Madness; Beautiful Black Girl; Listen (What It Is); Just a Little Taste of Me; and five others. A&M SP -4526 $6.98, ® 8T-4526 $7.98, © CS -4526 $7.98.
Performance: Poor Recording: Good
Here's another ho -hum black cliché trip. The
single most offensive track is Beautiful Black
Girl, wherein a male vocalist goes through
such watermelon theatrics that any soul sister
I know would dismiss him with at least a
sneer or maybe even a quick and righteous
knee to the collards. False poses do not a
funky album make.
J.V.
KRAFTWERK. Ralf Hatter and Florian
Schneider (vocals, keyboards, string and wind instruments, drums, electronics). Electric
THE METERS No pink jumpsuits for a class band
Roulette; Mountain of Sound; Crystals; The Bells of Home; Dance Music; Pineapple
Symphony. VERTIGO VEL-2006 $6.98, ® VC8-2006 $7.95, © VCR4-2006 $7.95.
Performance Pointless Recording: Very good
Kraftwerk is a cargo of electronic gear, two or
three quaint old "musical instruments" left
over from the twentieth century, and two
German persons, Ralf Hiitter and Florian
Schneider. What happens is that the persons
manipulate knobs and buttons and other con-
trols on the electronic gear and it yields
sounds vaguely like music. The "notes" they
play are not set up in an atonal or any other
kind of far-out or "progressive" relationship;
what you get is tunes thought up in and
amongst and reactive to humanity (and not
very original or unusual tunes at that) and
played as coldly and impersonally as the
computer age can manage so far (it's early
yet). I suppose there's supposed to be some-
thing interesting about that paradox, but I
can't find it.
N.C.
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
THE METERS: Fire on the Bayou. Joseph Modeliste (drums); Arthur Neville (keyboards); Leo Nocentelli (guitar); George Porter, Jr. (bass): Cyril Neville (congas). Out
in the Country; Fire on the Bayou; Love Slip upon Ya; Talkin"Bout New Orleans; They All Ask'd About You; Can You Do Without?;
and five others. REPRISE MS 2228 $6.98, ® M8 2228 $7.97, © M5 2228 $7.97.
Performance: Excellent Recording: Clean
Unless the Meters start doing discotheque
material or descend to wearing pink jump
suits on stage, I will never say anything
against this delightful New Orleans group.
They are the successors to Booker T. and the
MG's, who were about the best r -&-b band
in the world back when, just as the Meters are
among the best the world has now. The Me-
ters have taste, experience, good judgment, a
sense of humor, and dignity. The only thing
they lack at this moment is a good album -
cover designer. Smeary photographs and
squiggly title type are not the way to package
or promote a class band.
J.V.
MIRABAI. Mirabai (vocals and guitar); orchestra. Determination; Exactly What You Are; To Be Young; Magical Time; Cosmic Overload; and six others. ATLANTIC SD
18144 $6.98.
Performance: Fair Recording: Very good
Mirabai believes in making an impression.
Her opener, Determination, is seven minutes
of racket, composed by her (as are all the
other songs), and best described as a
cat fit set to music. She follows that (change
of pace) with an Exactly What You Are in
such stately canticle fashion that comatose is
exactly what you are, baby, eventually. After
those two show -stoppers Mirabai settles
down a bit and does some nice, unremarkable
things. Her voice has a young -girl charm but
not much more, and the whole album only just
reaches professional level -and that's proba-
bly because of Bob Johnston's excellent pro-
duction work.
P.R.
(Continued on page 92)
88
STEREO REVIEW
BEOGRAM 3000 BEOGRAM 4002
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Now consider the
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DECEMBER 1975
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Beogram 4002. One of the most
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scribe an ever -decreasing arc.)
This completely eliminates skating, a source of wear on both the record and the stylus.
Tonearm and turntable functions are controlled by optical sensors that automatically perceive the presence and size of the record, and adjust for the appropriate speed. Scanning and cueing are operated by a slight touch of the simple control panel.
The logic of this advanced
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89
"Igo allwarm andrunny when she singsTove Has No Pride."
`Linda Ro_nstadt:
Extraordinary
Collaboration
FOR a long time now, I've been trying to pretend that Linda Ronstadt doesn't exist - for frankly extra -musical reasons, you understand. For one thing, I've never been able to comprehend the lustful frenzy she induces in so many of my male friends (and in so many members of her audiences). You've seen one chin, you've seen 'em both, has been my thinking, and I much prefer Nico as a pop sex object. For another, Linda insists on hanging out with, and, worse, singing the songs of J. D. Souther, who could well be the most mediocre songwriter in America today. Finally, she has always struck me as a crybaby. Sure, in my heart of hearts I go all warm and runny when she sings Love Has No Pride, but I'm much too cynical to admit that publicly, and she's limited herself pretty much to songs that express that same basic sentiment. Despite a lovely voice, her emotional range just isn't that broad, and her success, I suspect, is
more a result of her lucking out on the
uniform mediocrity of the competition than
anything else.
But. . . . On her last album, amidst the usual L.A. session men who generally provide the formula back-ups that have also always annoyed me about her work, she hooked up with a heretofore unknown fellow named Andrew Gold (his is the spectacular guitar playing that graced her hit version of When Will / Be Loved) who was obviously functioning as her musical director, and the collaboration was at times extraordinary. I would ven-
ture to say that Mr. Gold has assimilated the influence of the Beatles better than any other rock musician now before the public, British or American, and as a result "Heart Like a Wheel" was the first Ronstadt album that sounded like the work of people who knew
how to make records, as opposed to just mu-
sic. (There is a difference, you see, and unfortunately most of the country rockers Linda hangs out with don't understand that.)
Anyway, her new one, "Prisoner in Disguise," continues the collaboration, and
though it's got the usual problems (weak song
selection, hackneyed back-ups), they are wonderfully mitigated whenever Andrew is center stage. I refer you to the album's major success, an absolutely incredible version of Jimmy Cliff's great Many Rivers to Cross. Linda sings it nicely enough (though I still prefer Jimmy, who doesn't have the low -register problems she does), but Gold's guitar
solo is stunning - relentlessly logical the way
some of George Harrison's were before he picked up the slide exclusively-and it is fol-
lowed by some of the most imaginative and economically placed background vocals (Gold's arrangements) I've heard since, urn, "Abbey Road," perhaps. Almost as good is Heatwave, on which he does the one -man band routine with spectacular results. This song is so overly familiar (there was a time when it was the must -do break tune for most
bar bands) that it would seem impossible to breathe new life into it, let alone temporarily erase memories of the original, but with an-
other magnificent guitar break and some really fine singing, these folks almost do it.
And I shouldn't slight Linda, of course. On Dolly Parton's I Will Always Love You, the album's other high point, her vocal (it is, wise-
ly, the focus of the performance in this case) is absolutely gorgeous, full-bodied and intense in a way that made me think of Smokey Robinson's best moments (odd, because she also tackles his Tracks of My Tears, and it defeats
her).
The rest of the album is nothing much, the standard Hollywood c -&-w stuff that's been Linda's stock in trade from the beginning. There's a new Neil Young song that may or may not work when Neil gets around to doing
it, but it strikes these ears as being a throwaway. There's also a Lowell George/Little Feat rocker, similarly forgettable; James Tay-
lor's banal -beyond -belief Hey Mister That's Me Up on the Jukebox (what madness is it
that makes otherwise intelligent people continue to record this tune?); and finally and most fatally, there are two songs by (you guessed it) J. D. Souther, utterly rotten, and rendered unlistenable in any case by the pres-
ence of their composer on guitar and harmony
vocals.
ALL this has probably sounded a little
sour, so let me end on a positive note. First of
all, the good cuts here are so good that-for
me, anyway-they more than justify the al-
bum's purchase. (That's for all you Eagles
fans out there who, I've learned, usually go
for Ms. Ronstadt as well.) Second-and this
is for you, Linda- since you're obviously so
good at singing great standard rock, r -&-b,
and country songs, and since your friend
Andrew is such an outstanding arranger of
same, why don't the two of you do a "Pin -
Ups" next time out? There are one hundred
and three old songs I'd rather hear you singing
than the bulk of what's on "Prisoner in Dis-
guise." I bet you know them all, and a few
that haven't occurred to me yet as well. Think
about it.
-Steve Simels
LINDA RONSTADT: Prisoner in Disguise. Linda Ronstadt (vocals); Andrew Gold (guitar, keyboards, vocals); Kenny Edwards
(bass, vocals); Russ Kunkel (drums); other musicians. Love Is a Rose; Hey Mister That's
Me Up on the Jukebox; Roll Um Easy; Tracks of My Tears; Prisoner in Disguise;
Heatwave; Many Rivers to Cross; The Sweetest Gift; You Tell Me That I'm Falling Down;
I Will Always Love You; Silver Blue. ASYLUM
7E-1045 $6.98.
90
STEREO REVIEW
e'
-5-4,1r1L
17k -/R /
77--re'e _5 7-0
C7.,-7.-7 /0,1A-, y5 7-C)
a:2/ //16-
o'7,-7 '3 /A/7-
Pko e tic T,
- /17
4
so impressed by the performance of your Venturi
speakers, I decided to drop you a note with a compliment.
(Something I very rarely do, with postage as it is!)
I had listened to quite a few speakers and B.I.C.
Venturi's sounded better than some speakers costing
twice as much.
I bought a pair of B.I.C. Venturi formula 6's and I am
using them for the front channels of my
4 -channel receiver. I had quite a surprise when I hooked
them up. My volume control was about 1/4 of full rotation,
enough for a comfortable listening level with my old
speakers, but when I hooked up the B.I.C.'s I was almost
blasted away!
It's hard to get used to the efficiency of B.I.C. Venturi
speakers. I am used to seeing a volume control set to 1/2
volume just to get some sort of output with big speakers.
Who knows? Maybe I'll recover my investment someday
in the power I save by using these speakers.
I do feel that I'm getting my money's worth out of my
Formula 6's though. My bass is now BASS and not 'thud'.
My cymbals go tsssssssh, and not tussh, and Elton John
sounds like Elton John and not Wayne Newton with a
sinus condition.
All kinds of music sound great on
from Percy
Faith to Led Zepplin, even with a low power amplifier.
Again congratulations on a great product.
G.H., Michigan
000
For the reasons behind this letter, you'll want to read our new 20 -page
1!)
Consumer Guide. Your high fidelity dealer has one, or write to BIC VENTURI ,
Westbury, N.Y. 11590. HIS LETTER IS ON FILE IN OUR OFFICES)
BIC VENTURI
CIRCLE NO. 8 ON READER SERVICE CARD
BRITISH INDUSTRIES CO. A DIVISION OF AVNET INC
WILLIE NELSON: Red Headed Stranger (see Best of the Month, page 81)
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
RAY NOBLE: Ray Noble Encores. Al Bowlly (vocals); Ray Noble and His Orchestra. Evergreen Medley; Mad About the Boy; Japanese Sandman; Lady of Madrid; With Love in My Heart; Tiger Rag; and nine others. MONMOUTH EVERGREEN MES/7070 $6.98.
Performance: Suavely immortal Recording: Carefully restored
Not too long ago I was yammering about why weren't some of the classic Ray Noble recordings currently in print. Monmouth Evergreen, a record company whose patience with reviewers who don't bother to do their research is apparently as glorious as their catalog (almost everything in it is something that I
not only want to hear, but want to own),
promptly sent a friendly corrective note and a copy of their new "Ray Noble Encores" Volume Seven, yet, of their re-releases of Ray Noble recordings. It is one of those rare delights, along the lines of having a Dusenberg in perfect condition suddenly pull up alongside you at a stop light. Elegance, glamour, and master crafstmanship- that's a Dusenberg, and that's Ray Noble. The recordings date from 1930 to 1934, and they all reflect the singularly sauve but vital approach of Noble and his orchestra. Among the irresistible tracks are an Evergreen medley, from the Rodgers and Hart show of the same name, which conjures up for me improbably chic people drifting around the Savoy dance floor
RAY NOBLE The elegance of a Dusenberg
(the floor itself a mirror-like black, of course) telling each other that somehow, they aren't quite right for one another; Must It End Like This?, with Al Bowlly, whose voice has always defied description but whose style was the sad -sweet Thirties incarnate, singing in that very special way of his; Happy Ending, with Freddy Gardner contributing a superb alto sax solo; and even Lady of Madrid, a rip-
off of a previous Noble success, Lady of Spain, that is done with such superb style that all is forgiven.
Merely listening to ensemble work and pop perfectionism of this caliber in 1975 is enough to make one feel a bit tacky about the current pop scene. But then actually, you see . . . I don't really know how to say this, but I'm beginning to feel that . . . well, somehow, the current screaming, sweating pop scene and I aren't quite right for one another. . . . P.R.
TONY ORLANDO AND DAWN: Greatest Hits. Tony Orlando and Dawn (vocals); instrumental accompaniment. Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Ole Oak Tree; Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose?; You're a Lady; Who's in the Strawberry Patch with Sally; You Say the Sweetest Things; and six others. ARISTA AL 4045 $6.98, ® 8301-4045 H $7.98, © 5301-4045 H $7.98.
Performance: Magnificently mediocre Recording: Very good
Putting together a "greatest hits" album from previous recordings by Tony Orlando and Dawn is a little like trying to extract heavy cream from skimmed milk. Tony tackles all sorts of styles-Nashville, modified soul, de fanged rock -and everything comes out sounding pretty much the same: invariably pleasant, easy to take, and, when it's all over, just as if it had never happened. In one of the trio's most popular numbers, Candida, Tony sings of himself as "just an ordinary guy." This must be the key to his popularity. Fans won't have to think twice about acquiring this
rrSECRETS FROM THE AUDIO FILEi
Tape giving you static?
ADVICE FROM: Jay Ranellucci, recording engineer, Capitol Records, Inc.
PROBLEM: Do you record electric guitars and end up with static? Do your country western tapes crackle and pop like a campfire? The problem could be dropouts caused by tape creases, dust, debris or flaking iron oxide coating.
RECORDING TIP: Dropouts can be more of a problem with cassette tape because of its slow playback speed. One dust clump will obscure more signal at 1% ips than at 15 ips. To eliminate the problem, use special care selecting, handling and storing your cassette tapes.
V
TAPE TIP: Record on premium tape that has a heavy duty binder to prevent oxide flaking. Use tape treated with conductive coating to prevent static from
building up in low humidity. (Static attracts dust and debris.) Unlike most tapes
Wit; , ;
tC ,tr,
-nv
If
fe; JO" -Ilk
.
The Music Tape conductive coating is on the underside, so as not to diminish the amount of signal -storing oxide on the recording side. Thus dropouts are prevented without sacrificing recording quality.
When you record music, record on
CAPITOL MAGNETIC PRODUCTS
A DIVISION OF CAPTIOL RECORDS. INC
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the music tape.
Cassette cartridge open Feel
BY CAPITOL
CIRCLE NO. 11 ON READER SERVICE CARD
92
STEREO REVIEW
one. Others should be able to survive, some-
how, without it.
P.K.
THE OSMONDS: The Proud One. The Os-
monds (vocals): instrumental accompani-
ment. Pin Still Gonna Need You; Where Would / Be Without You; Someone to Go
Home To; Take Love If You Ever Find Love;
The Proud One; and five others.
MGM/Kowa M3G-4993 $6.98, 08 M8G-
4993 $7.98, M5G-4993 $7.98.
Performance: Okay Recording: Overloaded
Although there isn't any musical worth to
what they do, the Osmonds perform a neces-
sary and beneficial social service. Twelve-
year -old girls need and deserve heroes, just as
grown-ups need theirs.
To their credit, the Osmonds are always
highly disciplined and professional. As styl-
ists they are indistinguishable from many pol-
ished black croon squads, except they lack
sass and bite. But it is interesting to note that
the monotonous programming of this album,
the series of stifling, gooey arrangements, is
broken only once, on The Last Day Is Coin-
ing, which was produced by the clan. The
Osmonds are probably better than their
material usually allows them to be.
The world will little note nor long remem-
ber, when their fame passes, that for a time
the hearts of mid -pubic youth beat faster to
the steadfast, squeaky vocals of the perform-
ing children of a fecund Utah family. It was
ever thus. For who is so cruel and negligent to
former toys as the twelve -year -old girls
such groups as the Osmonds help make into
little women?
J.V.
THE OUTLAWS. Henry Paul (vocals, guitar): Frank O'Keefe (bass); Billy Jones (guitar, vocals); Monte Yoho (drums); Hughie Thomasson (guitar, vocals). There Goes Another Love Song; Song for You; Song in the Breeze; Cry No More; Waterhole; and five others. ARISTA AL 4042 $6.98, ® 8301-4042 H $7.98, CD 5301-4042 H $7.98.
Performance: Drugstore -cowboy rock Recording: Very good
In the early Sixties every label had to have an
answer to the Kingston Trio, each "answer"
being a little paler than the last one, like the
copies from a mimeograph Machine. You had
your Brothers Four, and before you could say
that's as bland as you can get, you had your
New Christy Minstrels, and so on. So it goes.
The Outlaws give Clive Davis' label some-
thing vaguely countering Poco and the Eagles.
This recording is, in a word, boring. It also
has that familiar sound of the middle class
playing cowboy again. Imaginary crow's feet
around the eyes are what we get now; what
we logically get next, if the formula continues
to hold, is crow's feet painted on with mas-
cara. Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings will
still be around, for those who can stand the
real thing.
N.C.
MIKE POST: Railhead Overture. Orchestra. Mike Post am and cond. The Rockford Files; The Viking; Blade; Lay Back Lafayette; Railhead Overture; and five others. MGM M3G5005 $6.98, ® M8H-5005 $7.98.
Performance: One hot track Recording: Good
On the basis of the success of his hit single The Rockford Files, Mike Post has put to -
DECEMBER 1975
Face the facts: superior sound, better price.
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CIRCLE NO. 14 ON READER SERVICE CARD
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CIRCLE NO. 41 ON READER SERVICE CARD
gether this album, surely the most uneasy fu-
sion since Tom Thumb and the Fat Lady.
Seems that Post is convinced that the old big -
band sound with its massed brass ensembles
is just what rock needs to give it a shot in its
moribund arm. Aside from the Rockford
track, which took that idea about as far as it is
worthy of going, the rest of the album is mere
repetition of the rock/brass-ensemble motif.
It's elaborately and meticulously engineered,
but in such a way as to convince me, finally,
that Post himself regards the whole thing as a
commercial, one -time -only novelty.
P.R.
BILLY PRESTON: It's My Pleasure. Billy Preston (vocals, keyboards); instrumental accompaniment. Fancy Lady; Found the
Love; That's Life: Do It While You Can; and four others. A&M SP -4532 $6.98, * 8T4532 $7.98, CS -4532 $7.98.
Performance: Good Recording: Excellent
It is a restrained and relatively low-key Billy
Preston who has sallied forth this time
around, which is a welcome relief. There are
some sappy, puerile lyrics (all the material is
Preston's) about how he plays with love be-
cause of his God-given (thanks, Pater) talent,
and there are the usual appearances by guest
stars-in this case Stevie Wonder, Syreeta
Wright, and George Harrison, who has re-
fined his guitar style to the point where it is
all but nonexistent.
But the album serves to remind us that
Preston is, after all, a pretty good singer and
keyboardist. He is apparently shedding his
star -skin. Now if he would just pick (or have
forced upon him) some solid songs, he might
be a lot better than pretty good.
J.V.
Box; I Keep Forgetting; Eight Days a Week;
Fools Gold; The Pipers Tune; and five
others. CHYSALIS CHR 1080 $6.98, @ M8C 1080 $7.98, © MSC 1080 $7.98.
Performance: Flat Recording: Excellent
I find it fitting that Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, writer -producer kings of Tin Pan Alley rock back in the Fifties and early Sixties (Yakety Yak, Hound Dog) should pilot this latest album by Procol Harum, a prestigious group never convicted -or even suspectedof mediocrity. Leiber and Stoller's businesslike way of doing an album with no frills, technical stunts, or hoked-up "atmosphere" allows the listener to note the schizophrenic difference between what the band and vocalist are doing (sturdy, blues -based rock) and what their indulgent and morose lyricist is writing.
CHARLEY PRIDE: Charley. Charley Pride (vocals); orchestra. Fools; One Mile More;
Now and Then; I Ain't All Bad; Lovin' Understandin' Man; and five others. RCA
APLI-1038 $6.98.
Performance: Excellent Recording: Good
Here is the phenomenal Charley Pride per-
forming the kind of material that he seems all
too content to sing, that his fans obviously
adore, but that still leaves me wondering
when he's ever going to risk the jump from
virtuoso to artist, the kind of jump that, say.
Johnny Cash made several years ago. Pride
has it all going for him: the voice, the commu-
nicative skill, and, most important, that spark
of natural, easy command that all true artists
display, whatever their material. However, he
continues to insulate himself from himself
with his huge popular success, singing, appar-
ently, just about anything that's presented to
him. No question at all about how well he
does it. I Ain't All Bad, for instance, about
one of those c -&-w Romeos, is done with
exactly the right touch of gentle, caddish iro-
ny, and his work in She's as Close as I Can
Get to Loving You raises what would other-
wise be just another lament, commercial
Nashville style, about substituting an avail-
able love for a true love, into a poignant little
vignette, delicate and wistful.
But why does he continue to play the alche-
mist when there is so much better material
around-especially for someone with as much
clout in the industry as he has?
P.R.
PROCOL HARUM: Procol's Ninth. Procol Harum (vocals and instrumentals). Pandora's
94
CHARLEY PRIDE
The natural, easy command of a true artist
True stereo separation is achieved between
the sense and the nonsense.
The two most interesting tracks here are
those which are untypical of the group: an
obscure old Leiber-Stoller song that makes
them sound like a bunch of teenage studio
musicians recruited from the local union bar-
racks, and a hesitant version of Eight Days a
Week, one of the few lackluster Beatles songs.
It is as if the band or the producers wanted to
show that Procol Harum has been so long
locked into its shrunken -prunes -of -your -mind
"poetic" stance that it cannot understand
or cope with anything simple.
I hope to hear next that Bob Dylan is being
produced by Bill Haley, which would be less
than Haley deserves.
J.V.
HELEN REDDY: No Way to Treat a Lady. Helen Reddy (vocals); orchestra. Bluebird; Ten to Eight; Long Time Looking; Birthday Song; and six others. CAPITOL ST 11418 $6.98, @ 8XT 11418 $7.98, © 4XT 11418 $7.98.
Performance Variable Recording: Good
This is another spotty album by Helen Reddy, the curtest girl in town. She does make a valiant effort to uncurl her lip when a song calls
(Continued on page 96)
STEREO REVIEW
(You Can Spend Two cr Three or Four Times Its Price And Not Do Better.)
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Close listening* to the Advent Loudspeaker (preferably on a good variety of material, so you can verify that Its sound on one kind of
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DECEMBER 1975
y
for a free flow of positive feelings, as it does in
Don McLean's lovely Birthday Song, but the
strain is all too apparent. However, when the
material matches her own brittle, let's -get -on -
with -it manner, as it does in David Castle's
Ten to Eight-a perceptive little ballad about
a girl too busy getting ready to go to work to
let herself think about someone she's still in
love with-or Harriet Schock's rueful Ain't
No Way to Treat a Lady, Reddy's acidic
touch adds a note of provocative stimulation.
It's a bit like seeing the unexpectedly beauti-
ful crossed legs of an otherwise plain girl in
an airport waiting area. There's no question
that in the right kind of musical material
Reddy has something, but it's definitely not
the easy ability to express that warm -all-over
feeling.
P.R.
SHA NA NA: Sha Na Now. Sha Na Na
(vocals); instrumental accompaniment. Shot Down in Denver; Runaway; Breakin' Up Is Hard to Do; (Just Like) Romeo and Juliet; Party Lights; Basement Party; and six others. KAMA SUTRA KSBS 2605 $6.98, O KMS 8321-2605 H $7.98, KMS 5321-2605 H $7.98.
Performance: Weak Recording: Okay
Sha Na Na's problem was (and is) how to translate their stage act to recordings. There was (and is) no reason to listen to their versions of rock-and-roll oldies since it is so easy and often more pleasant to listen to the originals, which have many times been reissued and are often played on the radio. Sha Na Na
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96
did get a gold album, a two -record set of a live performance; its success was doubtless aided by the nostalgia wave. But their albums before and since that one have done only middling
well.
Scott Simon, pianist for the group, wrote some promising songs at one time, but this current album is a complete failure. It has a veneer of discotheque rhythms and a production of the add -water -and -serve variety. Only a few oldies are included, and their period charm is obscured by the go-go orchestrations. The new material is bland, the performances amateurish. The band had been living beyond its musical means for some time. This disc is a declaration of bankruptcy. J.V.
JOE SIMON: Get Down. Joe Simon (vocals); instrumental accompaniment. Get Down, Get Down (Get on the Floor); Fire Burning; It Be's That Way Sometimes; Music in My Bones; and four others. SPRING SPR-6706 $4.98, * 8F-6706 $7.95, CF -6706 $7.95.
Performance: Loud Recording: Good
Every now and then one of Joe Simon's soul
hits crosses over into the pop market. Simon
has been around for a while, and his voice is
powerful and disciplined, but it is wasted on
the abysmal material here. He is responsible
for most of it, including the Get Down, Get
Down (Get Down on the Floor) disco hit.
Dear God, is there anything duller and more
vapid than disco music?
J.V.
SLADE: Slade in Flame. Slade (vocals); orchestra. This Girl; Bangin' Man; Lay It Down; How Does It Fee!?; Far Far Away;
and five others. WARNER BROS. BS 2865
$6.98, ® M8-2865 $7.98, M5-2865 $7.98.
Performance: Dull Recording: Good
This one's billed as "The original sound track
from the film 'Flame' starring Slade." That's a
good thing to know because it's a film that I'm
sure I'll enjoy missing. Slade is still feverishly
at work pounding out yesterday's blini dough
in the shape of thunderous rock effects and
vocals so leaden that I had to keep checking
the turntable to make sure that it wasn't re-
volving too slowly. Material and perform-
ances are dated and dull, about as lively
as Death and Transfiguration played at
162/3 rpm.
P.R.
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Born to Run. Bruce
Springsteen (vocals, guitar); Garry Tallent (bass): Max Weinberg (drums); Clarence Clemons (saxophone); other musicians. Thunder Road; Tenth Avenue Freeze -Out; Night; Backstreets; Born to Run; She's the
One; Meeting Across the River; Jungleland. COLUMBIA PC 33795 $6.98, OO PCA 33795 $7.98, PCT 33795 $7.98.
Performance: Believable Recording: Good
Bruce Springsteen is one of the few American
rock musicians to write with a real punk's consciousness (as opposed to middle-class sympathies poured over some punky words) of his country's caste system. He has many counterparts in England, where the caste system is formally recognized-rock deals best with the almost -obvious - but these do not
(Continued on page 98)
STEREO REVIEW
ART
111)1FA
DECEMBER 1975
Maxell introduces UD-XL.
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The UD-XL is the only cassette ever to win an Audio Grand Prix. Here's why: Epitaxial formulation We combined the unsurpassed low/middle range abilities of gammaferric Hematite with the high frequency performance of cobalt in a single crystal. Distortion, for all practical purposes, simply doesn't exist. No special Dias or equalization necessary. The shell, perfected We made the UD-XL shell a full 40 per cent closer to absolute tolerance. You get the truest head -to -tape contact and running reliability ever attained. Convenience engineered UD-XL has a fiveseccnd non-abrasive, head cleaning, leader/ timer on each end. Plus replaceable peel -and stick labels for easy indexing.
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CIRCLE NO. 35 ON READER SERVICE. CARD
97
GARY STEWART: the most exciting new
honky-tonk singer in a long time
include the first one you might think of, Ray Davies of the Kinks. Springsteen tells you what life with one leg in the sewer is like, gives you a close-up, subjective view of its rakishness and its precariousness; he does not step back, as Davies does, and try for an objective look at the big picture. He does not, therefore, as Davies does (and logically so.
steen has undertaken. Perversion and depravi-
t ty tint an atmosphere for sleek machines
("moving," Billy Joe Shaver said in another
song, another album, "is the closest thing to
being free") to glide ominously through, bear-
ing desperate adolescents. Springsteen's lan-
guage continues to be urban and believable,
and his music is raw and, in a stylized way,
very emotional. His singing isn't improving
much, though, and, while I agree that the
character type needs a certain amount of slur-
ring, his way of muddying the diction (or
covering it with guitars) to the point of inco-
herence is at odds with his obvious belief in
his words. And the album, speaking of words,
is redundant, even for rock; the same thing is
said too many ways, and the monochromatic,
chant -like tunes in the verses (Springsteen
seems to save his melodic strength for chorus-
es, refrains, and other climaxes) seem too
much alike. Instrumental backing can, and
here often does, mitigate both those circum-
stances, and Springsteen's writing voice does
come through clearer than his singing voice.
He's a good reporter.
N.C.
the big picture being what it is), wind up rail-
ing at the rich and powerful. "Born to Run" seems closer to reveling in
the dirt and flash, the greasy prettiness, the scrambling sadness of those who, as Dylan
put it, have to live all out on the street. This probably is the most ambitious mosaic of grubby tidbits from down there that Spring-
STEPPENWOLF: Hour of the Wolf. Steppenwolf (vocals and instrumentals). Caroline (Are You Ready for the Outlaw World); Annie, Annie Over; Two for the Love of One; Just for Tonight; and four others. EPIC PE 33583 $6.98, ® PEA 33583 $7.98, © PET 33583 $7.98.
Performance: Fair Recording: Good
Long ago, in the late Sixties, Steppenwolf was a pretty good blues band. They split up so that
Gordon Miller Music
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RI CR by popular demand and updated from its original (1966) _k) printing, Music Editor James Goodfriend's Calendar of
Classical Composers is a listing of the most important composers from the year 1400 to the present, grouped according to the stylistic periods - Renaissance, Baroque, Classic, Romantic,
etc.-in which they worked. This 12 x 24 -inch aid, guide, and
complement to your music listening is printed in color on heavy, nonreflecting stock suitable, as they say, for framing. A key to the calendar, consisting of capsule accounts of the principal stylistic characteristics of each musical period, is included. The whole will be sent rolled in a mailing tube to prevent creases:
we pay postage. All you do is send 25R to:
Gordon Miller Music.
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Calendar of Classical Composers Stereo Review, I Park Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016
CIRCLE NO. 26 ON READER SERVICE CARD
98
STEREO REVIEW
lead singer John Kay could make forgotten,
forgettable solo albums and unsuccessfully
run for political office. This is the band's sec-
ond comeback album since their reunion. I
don't see that there's very much for them to
come back to: the era in which they thrived is
over, and almost everyone who participated in
its loonier moments is a little embarrassed
about having done so. The group sounds dat-
ed and silly when they sing about "the outlaw
world." Instead of coming on like revolution-
ary hero -punks, they now come on like the
Beach Boys in a snit.
J.V.
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
GARY STEWART: Out of Hand. Gary Stewart (vocals, guitar, piano); Buddy Harman
(drums); Reggie Young (guitar): Henry Strzelecki (bass); other musicians. Drinkin' Thing; Honky -Tonkin'; I See the Want -to in Your Eyes; This Old Heart Won't Let Go; Draggin' Shackles; and five others. RCA A PLI-0900 $6.98, ® APSI-0900 $7.98.
Performance: Vibrant Recording: Very good
Donald Barthelme caps a vignette about a
child conning her way into bed with her par-
ents, and then wetting the bed, with the father
(one of the consistent victims of our constant
revisionism) saying, "Is there no end to this
family life?" The honky-tonk song arises from
the same restlessness that formed such a
question, and some think the restlessness-
like the honky-tonk song itself -got started in
the uprootings of World War II. I doubt it's
that simple, but Gary Stewart, for what it's
worth, was part of the post-war baby boom,
and Gary Stewart is the most exciting new
honky-tonk singer to come along in a long
time.
What I would like is for him to develop into
more than that-the honky-tonk, after all, is
just one of many theaters for this restless-
ness -and he may do so in time. Here he has
an album that sounds like a collection of sin-
gles, which is pretty much what it is, and it is
good but a little too intense and choppy. Lis-
ten to a side of it and you realize all your jaw
muscles have been tightened up for some time
and you're tired; Stewart has been varying the
tempo but not the mood. His main problem as
a singer right now is how to handle the quiet
parts; he doesn't take them on with anywhere
near the kind of assurance he brings to the
crux of the matter-the agonizing high note or
whatever it happens to be. But this is a good
start: it shows you various ways the honky-
tonk song can be done and the kind of rhyth-
mic, driving vocal style that is rife with the
main ingredients of restlessness, energy. and
sadness.
N.C.
ROD STEWART: Atlantic Crossing. Rod Stewart (vocals); instrumental accompaniment. Three Time Loser; Alright for an Hour; All in the Name of Rock 'n' Roll; Drift Away; Stone Cold Sober; and five others. WARNER BROS. BS 2875 $6.98, ® M8 2875 $7.98, ©
M5 2875 $7.98.
Performance: When he's right . . . Recording: Good
Rod Stewart is an always interesting but often uneven artist. His hoarse, whiskey singing could easily become mannered, but he really does have style-his phrasing is excellent and he displays genuine sentiment. He is one of the few vocalists who can sing about "love"
DECEMBER 1975
Realistic? Pioneer? Marantz?
4
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Three famous national component brands, each with fine equipment at all the traditional price points, each with fine magazine ratings and lots of customers. Naturally we at Radio Shack like to think Realistic* is top dog. Our reasoning goes like this:
Realistic has over 4000 stores - the entire worldwide Radio Shack system-and 21 years of manufacturing experience. Realistic has exclusive Glide -Path* and Auto -Magic' controls. An audio consultant named Arthur Fiedler. Service like no tomorrow. And prices like yesterday. Maybe a better question is who's #2?
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'Registered Trademark CIRCLE NO. 42 ON READER SERVICE CARD
Not by bass alone
3t/2" mid -range unit
1" tweeter
The acoustic power output of an ALLISON loudspeaker system in a real room is more uniform throughout the bass and lower middle range than that of any other system. That is because its Stabilized Radiation Loading* design takes into account and optimizes the influence of room boundaries on power output.
But a flat power spectrum in the bass range, while necessary, is not sufficient to make a loudspeaker system of unique excellence. Mid -range and tweeter elements with low distortion, smooth and extended response, true omnidirectionality up to 20 kHz in the forward hemisphere, and high acoustic output capability are also required.
Every ALLISON loudspeaker system contains two each of the mid -range and tweeter Convex Diaphragm radiators shown above. They, too, set new standards of performance, and are worthy complements of the bass section.
Descriptive literature on ALLISON loudspeaker systems which includes technical specifications is available on request.
ALLISON ACOUSTICS INC.
7 Tech Circle, Natick, Massachusetts 01760
'Patents pending CIRCLE NO. 3 ON READER SERVICE CARD
99
without having it sound like he just looked the word up in the dictionary.
Although Stewart's singing is consistently good, his writing and choice of material are uneven; he is either absolutely right or only half -right. I am not wholly convinced by his version of This Old Heart of Mine, partly because I am stuck on the Isley Brothers' original and partly because, like most Holland -Dozier -Holland Motown -period songs, it depends on an upbeat tempo to disguise its defects. Stewart's version of Drift Away, however, must be definitive; no one else can sing about rock as he can. Stone Cold Sober was written by Stewart and Steve Cropper, former guitarist for Booker T. and the MG's
and a gifted producer. The rest of the material is spotty-and Stewart gives it more than it
deserves-except for Sailing, which closes
the album and which is superb. This is Stewart's first album recorded in the
U.S. using only American musicians. He is reportedly happy with the results; he has reason to be pleased with 50 per cent of them. J.V.
TRIUMVIRAT: Spartacus. Triumvirat (vocals and instrumentals). The Capital of Power; The School of Instant Pain; The Walls of Doom; The Deadly Dream of Freedom; The Hazy Shades of Dawn; and four others. CAPITOL ST -11392 $6.98, ® 8XT-11392 $7.98, 4XT-11392 $7.98.
Performance Juvenile Recording: Good
Triumvirat is a German trio with phonetic-
Some things hold up
better than others.
The accepted concept of durability is based on several very important factors. Material. Design. Engineering. Function. And inherent value. Coincidentally, these are also the hallmarks of the Thorens TD -125 AB Mark II.
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incorporate the ultimate in turntable technology. Functioning flawlessly, it originates state-of-the-art that others have yet to achieve. To match the impeccable performance, this Thorens is constructed to hold up ... not wear down. It has inbred longevity instead
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The precision performance of the TD -125 AB Mark II serves
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English voices. They rely heavily on synthe-
sizer yawps and bleeps and a Kindergarten
sense of classical music. Their sound is huffy
and puffy, deadly earnest, and overwhelming-
ly silly. In the great tradition of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Triumvirat's motto is:
"Sound busy." (I wish Focus would make an-
other record; at least they can yodel.)
I quote from the liner notes: "This album is
based on the story of SPARTACUS, a Ro-
man gladiator, who was the leader of a rebel-
lion against Rome around 73 BC." Some of
you may remember the splashy movie where-
in Kirk Douglas, in the title role, pits the dim-
ple in his chin against the might of the Empire,
as represented by Laurence Olivier, and los-
es, getting crucified in the process. Assuming
that the real Spartacus could be brought here
through time -transportation to listen to this
album, I have no doubt that he would, at
first, be boyishly embarrassed at being made such a fuss of, but after listening to most
of the first side would grow more and more
uncomfortable, fidgeting and chewing his lip,
looking again and again at the door, and mut-
tering: "Where is that fellow with the cross?
What can be keeping him?"
J.V.
URIAH HEEP: Return to Fantasy. Uriah Heep (vocals and instrumentals). Return to Fantasy; Shady Lady; Devil's Daughter; Beautiful Dream; and five others. WARNER BROS. BS 2869 $6.98, ® M8 2869 $7.98,
M5 2869 $7.98.
Performance: Average Recording: Average
Uriah Heep is another example of how rock
has become routine and show -business -asusual. The band does some basic rock and
occasionally grafts on the sound of a synthe-
sizer or a mellotron or both. You might swear
you've heard this whole album before, and
you have heard all its elements bunched to-
gether in various complements for years. The
band isn't incompetent, just routine. Incom-
petence might be a relief.
N.C.
BOBBY VINTON: Heart of Hearts. Bobby Vinton (vocals); orchestra. Lovely Lady;
Feelings; Adios Amigos; My Song; Charlie;
Polka Pose; and five others. ABC A BCD -89 I
$6.98, ® 8022-891 H $7.98, © 5022-891 H $7.98.
Performance. Om ig a wd!! Recording. Good
You'll probably never be the same again once
you've heard Bobby Vinton's new outburst
containing his inimitable performances of
such bijoux as Polka Rose, Beer Barrel Polka,
and You've Got Your Mama's Eyes. Like
Thurber's seal barking in the bedroom, it is an
album that challenges and confounds any as
yet known reality.
P.R.
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
MARION WILLIAMS: Prayer Changes Things. Marion Williams (vocals); instrumen-
tal accompaniment. Prayer Changes Things; Dark Was the Night; A Pity and a Shame; I'd Rather Have Jesus; In These Dark Hours of Distress; Just Over the Hill; and six others. ATLANTIC SD 18142 $6.98, TP 18142 $7.98, CS 18142 $7.98.
Performance: Gorgeous Recording: Very good
Marion Williams is a gospel singer so fer-
100
STEREO REVIEW
more than
one
revolution
started in
MARION WILLIAMS:
a gospel voice to touch the heart of the staunchest atheist
MASS-
vent that the mere sound of her voice might
make the soul of an atheist tingle with revela-
tion -at least for as long as the song lasts. On
this disc she tackles a program of heavy gos-
pel classics and vintage hymns which pro-
vides a worthy challenge for her skills. At
times here she awakens memories of the near -
terrifying conviction and energy of the late
Sister Rosetta Tharpe - although her approach
to Ninety -Nine and One -Half Won't Do, long
a Tharpe staple, is far less fierce and primitive
and relies more on artful musical phrasing
than on the sheer insistent missionary zeal
that was Sister Rosetta's forte. For Miss Wil-
liams can be as stately and majestic as Marian
Anderson when she pleases -as in the plaintive Stand By Me and the dignified nine-
teenth-century hymn Dark Was the Night.
But whether the tempo is fast or slow, the
mood somber and contemplative or accelerat-
ed and zealous, Marion Williams is plainly a
superb gospel singer. And here only her voice
is heard -no choir, no close -harmony quartet.
The instrumentalists-Lloyd Gary on piano,
Jessy Dixon on organ, Earl Williams on
drums, and the singer's seventeen -year -old
son Robin on bongos-provide a tactful, apt
background.
P.K.
NANCY WILSON: Come Get to This. Nancy Wilson (vocals); instrumental accompaniment. Come Get to This; All My Love Comes Down; Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight; If I Ever Lose This Heaven; Happy Tears; and five others. CAPITOL ST -11386 $6.98, 0 8XT 11386 $7.98, © 4XT-11386 $7.98.
Performance: Noisy Recording: Good
Nancy Wilson hasn't lost her touch. She is still able, through her expert phrasing and her plausibly hard -breathing approaches to some songs and swooning way with others, to make you believe you are hearing the sentiments of a sexy, three-dimensional woman. She can also turn on the dreamy nostalgia when she pleases -as in This Time Last Summer-or make you feel she knows precisely what love is about, as in Like a Circle Never Stops.
DECEMBER 1975
The only thing she can't do is transcend the
monotony of a program that seems designed
to debilitate the listener through sheer excess
of drive and the bludgeoning of overblown
arrangements. The result - what with the
incredible banality of the tunes. the pounding
of the drums, the wail of the saxophones, the
blare of the trumpets, and the gurgle of the
background vocals-is that one begins to
yearn for a little peace and quiet.
P.K.
FRANK ZAPPA & THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION: One Size Fits All. Frank Zappa (guitar, vocals); George Duke (keyboards, vocals); Napoleon M. Brock (woodwinds, vocals); Chester Thompson $drums); Tom Fowler (bass); other musicians. Inca Roads; Can't Afford No Shoes; Po-Jama People; Evelyn, a Modified Dog; and four others. DISCREET DS 2216 $6.98, M8D 2216 $7.98, © MSD 2216 $7.98.
Performance: Too cute Recording: Very good
Frank Zappa really should go into television or film or something visual and stop waiting for many of us to grasp the significance of the ugly sounds he makes in the name of music. Here, for example, his lyrics are funny if you read them and have a tolerance for half-assed surrealism, and the jacket design isn't bad as sophomore -level satire of astrology, astronomy, and several social attitudes-but adding the Mothers' kind of "progressive rock" or "jazz-rock" overlay of bops and squeaks and cowbells makes it less funny. Zappa has not really improved on Spike Jones or Somethin' Smith and the Redheads at setting jokes to contemporary pop conventions; he has merely made it seem more complicated. PoJama People sounds almost as interesting as it looks, but even there the instrumental waffling seems at war with the words. Zappa seems to be trying to combine whimsey and outrage here, but those two qualities don't really blend. What it sounds like is cute decadence, and I've had enough of that. N.C.
(Continued on page 104) 101
AICHU-
and one of them is still going on here
where we started
the hi-fi revolution
in 1947.
Scott revolution contrilititc(1 enough firsts to fill this page, including the first successful stereo FM tuner, the first all -solid-state components, the first digital tuner. the first four -channel components, and many more.
Start a little revolution of your own by upgrading your music system with a new Scott tuner, amplifier. receiver or speakers from the revolutionaries at Maynard. where innovation has been a tradition for over a quarter of a century. To fire the first shot. circle reader service number or contact us for complete product information and list of dealers where you may see and hear Scott stereo components demonstrated.
E] SCOrr where innovation is a tradition
H I i Scott, Inc., III Powderrndl Road. Maynard. Mass. 01754 CIRCLE NO. 100 ON READER SERVICE CARD
" . a warmth that must be something like what love is in his voice"
soul, didn't do that one any favors), Doc has the voice and the hot guitar and the backing to
put some new pleasure into that, even that. The group also shows understanding and
verve in a Bill Monroe bluegrass tune; recalls pieces from the years when Watson played electric guitar in the local swing band, Jack Williams and the Country Gentlemen; makes
connections with Clarence Ashley, the Delmore Brothers, John Hurt, Leon McAuliffe, A. P. Carter, British traditional ballads; and
picks sweetly all the way. And yes, you could call it American. It's American from Doc's viewpoint (a word I don't use lightly, for it
calls up more irony: Watson is blind, which is bound to influence all he does in ways sighted persons cannot really comprehend), which started out geographically in North Caro-
lina - the Southern Mountains, and don't
underestimate the mountains' part in shaping
it. "American" always has to be defined from a viewpoint that started somewhere.
GDoccWatson's
Up-to-date
'Memories"
T CONFESS I don't quite know where pop 1 music is, as they say or said, "at" right now (I'm not alone in this), but I know where it should be-right where Doc Watson and his son Merle and their picking buddies are in the United Artists album "Memories." Small irony noted: yes, they are memories; yes, it is a retrospective album; and yes, it turns out to be a crackerjack album for right now. From all this you may feel free to infer that we have escaped the surly bonds of nostalgia and are talking about higher things. Sweet picking is where it's at, I hope, sweet picking and believable singing that can be believed in, and if you want to speculate on the reasons why this is so, please don't overlook the judicious pressure constantly being applied by the imperturbable musicianship of the Nashville studio sidemen. Doc Watson is the kind of musician who's particularly aware of the astounding quickness of those cats, and he is the only fine singer-front man, star -1 know of who can meet those boys on their own turf and outpick them.
Yet he has this other quality that may be just as important and maybe even a little more fascinating. It has to do with the kind of memory he has. You would call Tennessee Stud a
natural classic from the instant it was written?
You would do well to recall that it sure seemed headed for oblivion until Watson
picked it up and beamed it out to the people. It's a classic now, all right, and in spades. So here you go, with this album, into that kind of awareness of things past . . . and what you get is songs with a wry or droll little odd twist
to them, time and again, and they just aren't the things other people remember-not without help, at least. They may be old ones such
as Curly Headed Baby or Miss the Mississippi and You, or ones of indeterminate age that you vaguely remember, such as Blues Stay Away from Me, or not -so -old ones such as Moody River, which means Watson doesn't appear to be biased toward any particular pe-
riod; the consistent thing is how he keeps noticing the kinks in the flood of blandness that goes by year after year. There's a great and subtle element of taste involved in this-the
songs aren't grotesque and repulsive, they are kinky and charming. The more I hear of Doc
Watson the more I am persuaded he is a great
and subtle man.
Chet Flippo, in the liner notes for this double album, discusses the futility of labeling Watson's music while himself giving up and labeling it "Southern Music," which didn't strike me as bad, and then Chet gives up some more, as they'd say in the South, and calls it "American." And so it is. And if we hadn't bandied the word about so much as to make it meaningless, you could also consider calling it
timeless. The song selection is not exactly what I thought I wanted before I heard it; but
when the band comes to a piece that everyone else has played through the years, one you'd
really like to get away from for a decade or so,
like Wabash Cannonball (01' Diz, rest his
LISTENING to "Memories," I can't help remembering another American balladeer whose viewpoint, though shifty, constantly on the move (he was, like Jack Williams, a rail-
road man), was always in the South. You
could (they did) put a slide guitar and a black blues way of playing into Jimmie Rodgers' music and it sounded right, or you could give it a dobro and a flatland -country consciousness, or mandolins and such and a hillbilly, mountain awareness, or a Dixieland complement of instruments and attitudes . . . and it still sounded right. Somehow or other, angle of view acknowledged, he managed to sum it all up, get a feeling for the whole of it, come close enough to actually touching the tribal
spirit that it'd almost give you the creeps thinking about it. Doc Watson, without writ-
ing songs, has shown the same kind of Southern -based gadabout nature Rodgers had. He's
done it with musicianship, making flat -picking a work of art of a soaring emotional quality, by
being able to sing with a warmth that must be
something like what love is in his voice, by lis-
tening to the other musicians and helping them shine (just listen, here, to how Merle is taking to the slide guitar), and he has done it with that remarkable memory of his.
- Noel Coppage
DOC WATSON: Memories. Doc Watson (vocals, guitar, banjo); Merle Watson (guitar,
banjo, dulcimer); Chuck Cochran (piano); Jim Isbel (drums); Joe Allen (bass); Sam Bush (fiddle); Michael Coleman (electric bass). Rambling Hobo; Shady Grove; Wake Up; Little Maggie; Pear Tree; Keep on the Sunny Side; Double File and Salt Creek; Curly Headed Baby; Miss the Mississippi and You; Wabash Cannonball; My Rose of Old Kentucky; Blues Stay Away from Me; Walking Boss; Make Me a Pallet; In the Jailhouse Now; Steel Guitar Rag; Hang Your Head in Shame; You Don't Know My Mind Blues;
Moody River; Don't Tell Me Your Troubles; Columbus Stockade; Mama Don't Allow No Music; Thoughts of Never. UNITED ARTISTS
UA-LA423-H2 two discs $7.98, UAEA423-H $8.98.
102
STEREO REVIEW
A cartridge in a pear tree.
A gift of the Shure V-15 Type III stereo phono cartridge will earn you the
Stitt MEC
eternal endearment of the discriminating audiophile who receives it. What makes the V-15 such a predictable Yuletime success, of course, is its ability
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Christmas dinner, the performance of the V-15 Type III has been described as ". . a virtually flat frequency response . . . Its sound is as neutral and uncolored as can be desired." All of which means that if you're the giver, you can make a hi-fi enthusiast deliriously happy. (If you'd like to receive it yourself, keep your fingers crossed!)
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CIRCLE NO. 49 ON READER SERVICE CARD
DECEMBER 1975
103
AFRICA-CEREMONIAL AND FOLK MU-
SIC. Recorded in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania by David Fanshawe. Acholi Bwala
Dance; Aluar Horns; Turkana Songs; Samburu Warriors' Initiation; Wagogo Soothing Song; Wagogo Marimba; and seven oth-
ers. NONESUCH EXPLORER SERIES H-72063
$3.98.
Performance: Intriguing Recording: Remarkable
David Fanshawe is an indefatigable explorer who not only has practically worn out the trails of Africa in his quest for authentic tribal music, but last year went so far as to mix the cultivated voices of the Ambrosian Singers with the sounds of his field recordings to present his own African Sanctus on the Philips label. This latest record contains strictly field recordings, and we follow Mr. Fanshawe a thousand exhausting miles across Africa. Only
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CIRCLE NO. 20 ON READER SERVICE CARD
I 04
the hardiest lover of folk music should be
prepared to accompany Fanshawe on this
odyssey, filing past Bwala dancers in a Ugan-
dan village; escaping sixty horn players,
drummers, and singers on the border of Zaire;
sliding down the slopes of Ugandan giraffe
songs and Turkana songs in praise of ele-
phants and rhinoceroses; drinking blood in
the bush with Kenya warners wearing tinkling
bells on their legs . . . and on and on. Any-
body who ever saw a travelogue about Africa
probably has been exposed to this sort of mu-
sic in one form or another over the years, but
what distinguishes Fanshawe's recording is
the sharp focus that enables us to recognize
the music of one tribe as contrasted with that
of another-the bells on the legs of those
Kenya warriors, for example, as compared
with the unexpected sound of stringed in-
struments in the Tanzanian Wagogo Soothing
Song (designed, by the way, to induce sleep in
insomniac children). There's enough on this
one disc to intrigue a dedicated Africa-phile
through countless replayings, and even the
most casual listener will be struck by the re-
markable clarity and presence of the stereo
recording that puts you in the midst of the
explosive, exhausting action.
P.K.
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
FESTIVALS OF THE HIMALAYAS. Recorded in Chamba and Kulu, Himachal Pradesh, by David Lewiston. Kulu Nati; Kore, kore, coat mereya Purana; Phota lo jatu ra khana; Tikmu Lariye; Sahoo Nati; and five others. NONESUCH EXPLORER SERIES H-
72065 $3.98.
Performance: Astonishing Recording: Amazing
David Lewiston, who recorded the material on location for this remarkable album, describes the Indian Himalayas as "a region of soaring snow-capped peaks and high pastures, subtropical valleys and verdant rolling hills" that once consisted of separate princely states but now belongs to India. Three million people live in the area, and on festival days fifty thousand of them troop down in traditional costumes to celebrate the Dussehra festival in Kulu. There, according to Lewiston, "they buy and trade, meet old friends, dance, sing and generally have a good time." The festival is climaxed by a procession in which the images of two hundred hill gods are carried
along on palanquins. Lewiston's field recording is quite star-
tling in its realism, and the music, accompanying the singing at the fair and the dancing by the village groups in a nearby amphitheater, is astonishing stuff. Woodwinds and percussion dominate the sound; the chanting has an Asian cast, but the music of each village, like the dialect spoken in each, is somewhat different from that of the others. Some songs have a Tibetan flavor, others reveal Kashmiri influences. There are wedding songs performed by farming families, love songs, and verses like ambulatory commercials, to be sung while walking through the cattle market. There are a song about a weeping
bird, a haunting chant performed by the young people of Chamba Valley as they dance, odes dedicated to local dieties. And over all, pierc-
ing and elemental, comes the sound of
horns-the straight -shaped kahal and karnal, the S-shaped haransinga. The stereo sound of this recording, considering the conditions under which it was made, is remarkable. P.K.
STEREO REVIEW
JAZZ
Our new cartridges will turn your
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RUBY BRAFF/GEORGE BARNES QUARTET: To Fred Astaire with Love. Ruby Braff (cornet); George Barnes and Wayne Wright (guitar); Michael Moore (bass). They Can't Take That Away from Me; A Shine on Your Shoes; Be Careful, It's My Heart; Isn't It a Lovely Day to Be Caught in the Rain?; I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket; Easter Parade; and four others. RCA APL1-1008
$6.98, ® APS1-1008 $7.98.
Performance: Mini -portion Recording: Very good
Mainstreamers Ruby Braff and George
Barnes swing lightly on this tribute to Fred
Astaire, but the album is also light in another
way: the total playing time is 24' 20", equiva-
lent to a single side on many discs. Records
are expensive enough these days, so I suggest
you teach RCA a lesson by purchasing the
quartet's Chiaroscuro album (C R-121) - it
costs the same, gives you nearly fourteen
minutes more of music, and, as it happens,
contains what I consider to be unquestionably
superior performances.
C.A.
DUKE ELLINGTON AND RAY BROWN: This One's for Blanton. Duke Ellington (piano); Ray Brown (bass). Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Me; Sophisticated Lady; Fragmented Suite for Piano and Bass (four movements);
and three others. PABLO l 2310-721 $7.98, O S 10721 $7.98.
Performance Worthy tribute Recording: Good
Bassist Jimmy Blanton's career was strikingly similar to that of guitarist Charlie Christian: both surged to fame, if not fortune, with a major band in 1939, Christian with Goodman, Blanton with Ellington; both revolutionized their instruments during the two years that followed; both were stricken with tuberculosis in 1941 and died the following year, Christian at twenty-three, Blanton at twenty-one. Younger generations are largely unaware of Charlie Christian, and fewer still have heard of Blanton, but the impact they had on jazz will continue to be felt as long as the music is played.
Ray Brown's generation was the first to pick up Blanton's innovation of transforming the bass into a solo instrument. In fact, Brown-who was fifteen when Blanton died-attributes his interest in the instrument to the Blanton/Ellington records he heard on a neighborhood juke box. Yielding such classic sides as Ko-Ko, Jack the Bear, and Conga Brava, the Blanton period was one of the most memorable in the long history of the Ellington Orchestra, and so important was Blanton's contribution that Ellington recorded some duets with him: four for Victor and three for Columbia (one of the latter remains unissued). These duets served Norman Granz
DECEMBER 1975
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CIRCLE NO. 43 ON READER SERVICE CARD
105
as inspiration for this album recorded in Las Vegas, presumably in December of 1972 (the
album gives conflicting dates). Ellington and Brown tackle only two of the
Blanton duets here, Pitter Panther Patter and Sophisticated Lady (unless See See Rider is the same as Blues, recorded for Columbia in
1939). The rest of side one is from the orchestra's repertoire, and side two is devoted in its
entirety to a four -movement Fragmented Suite for Piano and Bass, written by Ellington and Brown for the occasion.
Accustomed as we now are to the bass in the role of a solo instrument, these recordings
don't have the impact of the Ellington/ Blanton duets, but they capture the flavor. Ellington's approach to the old material is
new, but, of course, characteristic, and Brown
(who these days plays, largely unappreciated,
in the band on the Mery Griffin Show) is his
usual superb self. Granz could not have made
a better choice. The album is excellent, and
my only complaint is really a very minor one:
the jacket is labeled stereo, the recording is
mono.
C.A.
GIL EVANS: Pacific Standard Time. Gil
Evans (piano and arrangements) with various orchestras, including Curtis Fuller, Frank Rehak, and Jimmy Cleveland (trombones); Cannonball Adderley, Steve Lacy, and Budd
Johnson (reeds); Chuck Wayne (guitar); Paul Chambers and Tommy Potter (bass); Art Blakey, Philly Joe Jones, and Elvin Jones (drums). Django; Lester Leaps In; Struttin' with Some Barbecue; Manteca; Davenport
Ever wish you could add a little more rock to a pop tune? Or a bit more pizzaz to some jazz? It's easy with Jensen's all -new OPC speaker systems. Each comes with exclusive front -mounted Optimum Performance Controls that allow you to adjust speaker frequency response to any kind of music or mood. No matter what type of listening environment you're in.
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CIRCLE NO. 30 ON READER SERVICE CARD
106
Blues; St. Louis Blues; and nine others. BLUE NOTE BN-LA46 I -H2 two discs $7.98.
Performance: Still fresh Recording Very good
Gil Evans' arrangements first caught the at-
tention of critics in the Forties, when they
were played by the Claude Thornhill Orches-
tra, but it was his work with Miles Davis-
beginning with the celebrated 1949 Capitol
sessions-that sparked Evans' eventual rec-
ognition as one of the most important jazz
arrangers. In the late Fifties, as he firmly
established his importance by constructing
classic frames around the eminently suitable
playing of Miles Davis-resulting in such Co-
lumbia albums as "Miles Ahead," "Porgy and
Bess," and "Sketches of Spain" -Evans as-
sembled an impressive array of players for a
series of World Pacific sessions. The result,
fifteen great arrangements of standard jazz
material, appeared initially as two albums
("New Bottle, Old Wine"-WP 1246, and
"Great Jazz Standards"-WP 1270), but the
first reappeared in 1962 as a Cannonball
Adderley item (World Pacific PJ-40), repack-
aged to cash in on the Adderley Quintet's
successful Riverside recordings. Both the
original albums and the repackaged one have
long since disappeared from the catalogs, so
their return in this double -album format is
doubly welcome.
Evans' new recipes for such old jazz fare as
King Porter Stomp, Struttin' with Some Bar-
becue, and Davenport Blues are as delicious
today as they were almost twenty years ago;
he chose his ingredients well, and good per-
formances are timeless. Adderley solos on
every track of sides one and two, sounding a
lot more like Charlie Parker than he did in la-
ter years, but there is also excellent solo work
by Steve Lacy (playing the soprano saxo-
phone before it became popular in modern
jazz) and a wealth of beautiful, lyrical sounds
from the trumpet of Johnny Coles, a Miles -
influenced player who deserves wider public
recognition.
In a sense, these fifteen selections are like a
history of jazz painted with vivid tone colors
and bold strokes by a master impressionist.
Fifteen years ago I played one of these re-
cordings, Struttin' with Some Barbecue, for
Lil Armstrong, who wrote it in 1927. "I didn't
know I'd written something that beautiful,"
she said. "That guy sure dressed it up fine."
He sure did, and it has worn well.
C.A.
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
TOMMY FLANAGAN: The Tokyo Recital. Tommy Flanagan (piano); Keter Betts (bass); Bobby Durham (drums). Caravan; Chelsea Bridge; Something to Live For; All Day Long; Mainstem; and four others. PABLO 2310724 $7.98.
Performance: Nimble Recording: Very good
Pablo's house annotator, Benny Green, would have us believe that Tommy Flanagan's career has been that of the eternal accompanist, suggesting to the less informed reader that this set of trio performances not only marks some sort of coming-out for Flanagan, but also that it is a revelation of hidden talent. True, Tommy Flanagan has spent most of the last ten years or so as a vocal accompanist-mainly for Ella Fitzgerald-but he has also performed and recorded extensively with instrumental groups whose leaders
STEREO REVIEW
have ranged from Pee Wee Russell and Her-
bie Mann to Mingus and Coltrane, and he has
had several albums of his own.
Rather than being a new revelation of Mr.
Flanagan's considerable talent as a soloist,
this "Tokyo Recital" (which is not, as im-
plied, a live recording) is a reaffirmation of
something about which even the most causal
Flanagan follower never had any doubt. What
should be pointed out is that this is one of the
finest examples of Tommy Flanagan's artistry
to be released in quite some time, a superb
album of music from Duke Ellington's reper-
toire that ought to secure the forty -five-year old Detroit pianist a place in the foreground.
The assisting players are bassist Keter
Betts-who backed up Earl Bostic and Dinah
Washington but was not taken seriously until
he teamed up with a budding Charlie Byrd in
the late Fifties -and drummer Bobby Dur-
ham, best known for his playing with the Os-
car Peterson Trio. Whether the tempo is driv-
ing a Caravan or delicately transporting us
across Chelsea Bridge, both perform excel-
lently with Flanagan, showing the kind of
rapport usually present only in working
groups.
C.A.
and seven others. DIFFERANT (siC) DRUMMER DD 1003 M $6.98.
Performance: Candid Recording: Uneven
Billie Holiday has been dead sixteen years, but unissued recordings of this extraordinary artist keep surfacing. Unearthed material released so far has included a few worthy performances and-courtesy of unconscientious exploiters-some that Miss Holiday herself undoubtedly would rather have seen destroyed. As with any artist of Billie Holiday's stature, the barrel will be scraped until we have heard the scratch at the very bottom, but there are occasionally gems among the scraps. And, as scraps go, this album is not without merit. Recorded informally at a California re-
hearsal for a Norman Granz Verve session (probably in 1957), this material has quietly circulated among collectors, portions of it appearing on a Paramount album two years ago.
Since there is no scarcity of well -recorded Billie Holiday performances from this periodboth good and bad-this unbalanced and fragmented album is most interesting as a document of Lady Day at work. Not that her vocal performances here are that bad, but the candid talk that appears between these vocals is far more intriguing. Billie sounds inebriated, but that was simply her way of talking; it was almost as if she were singing. Jimmy Rowles' piano all but obscures some of the talk here, but we do hear Billie recalling her first audi-
tion-when she was about thirteen-with
(Continued on page 109)
THE PERFECT PRE -AMP
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
ANDREW HILL: Spiral. Andrew Hill (piano); Ted Curson (trumpet, piccolo trumpet, flugelhorn); Lee Konitz (soprano, alto, and tenor
saxophones); Robin Kenyatta (alto saxophone); Cecil McBee, Stafford James (bass); Art Lewis, Barry Altschul (drums). Tomorrow; Today; Quiet Dawn; and four others. ARISTA AL 1007 $6.98.
Performance: Excellent Recording: Very good
This album is not likely to catch your atten-
tion from the record bins, but behind its dis-
mal cover - surely the year's dreariest- there
hides some very worthwhile, sparkling music.
Andrew Hill played on the fringes of the
avant-garde about ten years ago, convincing
many that he was among those who eventu-
ally would take jazz in a new direction. He
didn't, but neither did he stagnate.
"Spiral" consists of quintet, quartet, trio,
and duo performances recorded last December and January. It is better than any of Hill's
Blue Note recordings-at least the ones released so far (about ten mysteriously remain
unissued)-and much of its appeal is due to the presence of Ted Curson, who has mostly been active in Europe in recent years, and Lee Konitz, whose duet with Hill on invitation is a highlight. There is also excellent
rhythmic support, most notably by bassist
Cecil McBee on the quintet tracks, but it is
Andrew Hill's playing that brings it all together. Just why the Haitian -born pianist, now almost forty, hasn't received more recognition
is hard to understand; his playing is vibrant,
inventive, and rhythmic, his style is Monkish,
yet personal. Alto saxophonist Robin Kenyat-
ta is the least interesting musician here, but he
is only heard on the two quartet tracks and everything else in this album transcends the
annoyance of his presence. Let's hope for
more from Andrew Hill.
CA.
BILLIE HOLIDAY: A Day in the Life of Billie
Holiday. Billie Holiday (vocals); Jimmy
Rowles (piano); Artie Shapiro (bass). Jeepers
Creepers; I'm Restless; Just Friends; Please
Don't Talk About Me When versions); I Don't Want To
I'm Cry
Gone (two Anymore;
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CIRCLE NO. 52 ON READER SERVICE CARD
I07
" ...the authentic joyousness ofa lady communicating her loving.99
Way
Swift:
Civilized
Pleasure
UNEXPECTED, civilized pleasure of a rather special kind was my first reaction on
hearing the new Mark 56 album of Kay Swift's work, the same sort of pleasure I've
experienced from such random, easily available discoveries as the comfortable, unpretentiously elegant lobby and dining room of the Hotel Sheraton Russell, unexpectedly plunked down in the lower reaches of Park Avenue; the incisive, witty novels of Elizabeth Taylor (no, not Ms. Taylor -Hilton -Wilding -Todd -Fisher -Burton -Burton, but an English writer whose masterpiece is probably The Soul of Kindness, a story shaped by a laser scalpel but told with a compassionate smile); the films of Max Ophuls; Sarah Lee's frozen walnut layer cake; and the new D. W. Griffith postage stamp.
Kay Swift's music, whether in her show tunes or in her more "serious" work, sports a curious, jaunty exhilaration in accomplishing so very well what it sets out to achieve within its own modest, small-scale, but beautifully crafted boundaries. Take, for example, her most famous song, Fine and Dandy, so over sung, so overplayed (and now reduced to a gag a cappella accompaniment for TV comics pretending to be magicians) that it might almost be a joke. The indignities it has suffered in the forty-five years since she wrote it with her husband "Paul James" (James Paul Warburg) can probably please only Miss Swift's accountant, but as sung here by Louise Carlyle, with Miss Swift at the piano, the song
comes back as the real pop classic it is. This disc's whole group of show songs, dat-
ing from Can't We Be Friends? of 1929 through Calliope of 1952, are graceful, ele-
gant examples of a Broadway musical theater
genre that has simply vanished. It is a style perhaps best recognized in the songs of Rodgers and Hart, the music unendingly melodious
and romantic, the lyrics crisp and smart and worldly. (Although she was brought to an appreciation of popular music by George Gershwin, Kay Swift's own music seems closer to that of Richard Rodgers and, at times, to that of Arthur Schwartz.) Swift has a
free -flowing gift of melody, and her husband provided the kind of lyrics that combined
sophistication and gentle wisdom, a combina-
tion that-can you believe? - people once expected, took for granted in popular music. There are two beautifully crafted gems in this group that certainly deserve revival today in the burgeoning new cabaret rooms: Up Among the Chimney Pots and Can This Be Love? (Are you listening, Barbara Cook or Marc Allen Trujillo or Ellen Greene?)
The three more "serious" works here-the dances from Alma Mater, newly revised in
1974 but composed for a Balanchine ballet in
1935, the 1960 Theme and Variations for Cel-
lo and Piano, and Century 2/, a suite for orchestra from 1962 - all display not only Miss Swift's solid classical training but her witty self-assurance. They are all brisk without being brittle, full of sentiment yet never senti-
mental, humorously and delightfully balanced between the rigors of classical form and of personal expressiveness. They are as playful and as immaculately realized as a Magritte painting, in which everyday perception is
rearranged and reinterpreted even as the artist strictly observes all the rules of good drafts-
manship. Kay Swift's music has that same
ability to engage and parry the classical forms, to change the expected dark to the
unexpected light, to toy with melody and to be seriously unserious. On very first hearing, particularly in the dances from Alma Mater, the music may seem to have that too -crisp chic reminiscent of the more arid work of Les Six, but a second hearing makes it apparent that Miss Swift may be flirtatious, but she is assuredly not vacuous.
Surely the greatest joy of this album is an enchanting song cycle, Reaching for the Brass Ring. It is a series of songs Miss Swift
has composed over the last twenty years or so for her grandchildren, and it is filled with sunlit charm and happiness. Although addressed to children, Miss Swift's lyrics never condescend to, or cheek -pinch, their young audi-
ence. They concern such vital matters as Ridin' His Bike or My Teeny Restaurant or I've Got a Horse, and they are radiant with the kind of grave excitement, curiosity, and sense of adventure that any child can identify with immediately. Louise Carlyle sings nine of them sensitively and beautifully with an or-
chestra conducted by Robert Russell Bennett.
It was only a short time after a performance of the cycle by the Philadelphia Orchestra (again with Miss Carlyle) that further additions to the family impelled Grandma Swift to add two more songs, The Singing One and Three Balloons. She sings both these P.S.'s here, to her own piano accompaniment, and, as fine as Miss Carlyle's performances of the others are, Kay Swift's renditions, replete with her devil-may-care but gallant sense of vocal
pitch, have the authentic joyousness of a lady communicating her loving.
I-r would be tiresome in discussing a creator
such as Kay Swift to drag in that (by now)
noisy old harridan, Women's Lib. Suffice it to
say that Kay Swift seems to have lived a very
full and complete life, both personally and
professionally. That she is a fine musician and
composer is obvious, and the fact needs no
gender qualifications. Several years ago there
was a popular potboiler of a novel called The
Best of Everything teeming with a cast of
unhappy female characters who were precur-
sors of the typical victim as seen nowadays by
the women's movement. Yet that title seems
to describe Kay Swift and her life very accu-
rately, and this album demonstrates wonder-
fully well how hard she has worked and how
completely she has succeeded in getting the
best of everything out of her own considerable
talents.
- Peter Reilly
KAY SWIFT: Fine and Dandy. Kay Swift
(piano, vocals); Louise Carlyle (vocals); various instrumentalists; orchestra. Fine and Dandy; Can This Be Love?; Calliope; Once
You Find Your Guy; Up Among the Chimney Pots; Can't We Be Friends?; Three Dances
from Alma Mater; Theme and Variations for
Cello and Piano; Reaching for the Brass Ring (song cycle); Can't Win 'Em All; Two on a
Bicycle; Century 21. MARK 56 RECORDS 700
two discs $11.98 (available from Mark 56 Records, P.O. Box One, Anaheim, Calif. 92805).
108
STEREO REVIEW
Charlie Johnson's band at Small's Paradise,
we get her account of a disastrous record date
with Charlie Shavers at which all the musi-
cians got so drunk that she begged Norman
Granz not to release the session, and we learn
that she hated What a Little Moonlight Can
Do, one of her most popular numbers. We
also hear her trying out a new song, I'm Rest-
less, but Rowles' piano dominates.
Two "medleys" listed on the album are not
really that, but fragments of songs edited to
run together, and the liner notes are obviously
written by someone not too well informed.
Example: "She remembers when she was
recording in Japan. . . ." Billie Holiday nev-
er visited Japan, but she does refer on the rec-
ord to Norman Granz's having been in Japan
at a certain time. The annotator didn't listen
very carefully to this album, but I suggest you
do - it's a fascinating glimpse of a remarkable
artist at work, and you are the lucky fly on the
wall.
C.A.
ELVIN JONES: New Agenda. Elvin Jones (drums); Steve Grossman (reeds); Roland Prince (guitar); Dave Williams (bass); with "guests" Joe Farrell and Frank Foster (reeds), Kenny Barron and Gene Perla (piano), Candido (percussion). Naima; My Lover; Someone's Rocking My Jazzboat; Haresah; and three others. VANGUARD VSD 79362 $6.98.
Performance: Excellent Recording:Gimmicky
If you owned all the albums on which Elvin Jones appears, you would-even if that were the extent of your collection- have an impressive number of albums ranging from Willie "The Lion" Smith and Insect Trust to Miles Davis and Roland Kirk. You would also have quite a stack of John Coltrane recordings, representing exciting, creative years in the career of the ground -breaking drummer whose radical concept of percussive support freed the drums from a strictly rhythmic role and molded the styles of such disciples as Tony Williams and Billy Cobham.
This is Jones' first album for Vanguard, and it is a worthy addition to any collection. Apart
STEVE KUHN:
one of the most innovative pianists on the scene today
from the leader's percussive work, which is
uniformly excellent, there are fine soprano -
saxophone solos by Miles alumnus Steve
Grossman and particularly interesting per-
formances by guitarist Roland Prince. Not
surprisingly, there is a Coltrane air about this
music, but there has never been anything
wrong with that.
The basic Elvin Jones Quartet and the
"guest artists" who here augment it are some
of the most talented people around today,
musicians who don't need a gimmick to get
their message across. It's too bad produc-
er Ed Bland doesn't seem to understand this,
for he and his engineers have marred an other-
wise excellent album with reverbs and other
distracting, unnecessary electronic tricks. It is
good in spite of such tampering.
C.A.
STEVE KUHN: Trance. Steve Kuhn (piano); Steve Swallow (bass); Jack DeJohnette (drums); Sue Evans (percussion). Squirt; The Sandhouse; The Young Blade; Silver; and four others. ECM ECM -1052 $6.98.
Performance: Excellent Recording: Excellent
Brooklyn -born Steve Kuhn is one of the most innovative pianists on the scene today. His few weeks with John Coltrane's band at New
York's Jazz Gallery in 1960 went largely unnoticed, but that musical encounter, though brief, had a striking effect on Kuhn's musical thinking. If you compare his playing in Kenny Dorham's "Jazz Contemporary" album (Time 52004), recorded shortly before the Coltrane experience, with his work with Stan Getz on Verve the following year, you'll hear what I mean. A further comparison of Kuhn's Cobblestone albums of 1972 and this new ECM release, recorded in November of last year, shows that he is continuing to develophis style is freer and more lyrical, his inven-
tions more personal.
The instrumentation is one that Kuhn seems partial to-piano, bass, drums, and
percussion -and the players for this occasion are outstanding: Steve Swallow and Jack DeJohnette, whose ideas are as advanced as Kuhn's, and percussionist Sue Evans, a long -
DIRECT DISC RECORDING
LIMITED EDITION
WE'RE NOT PLAYING HARD TO GET
If your stereo dealer doesn't have the good taste to stock our Direct to Disc Recordings, don't punch him out, just order the records from
us.
Lincoln Mayorga and Distinguished Colleagues, Vol. 1. Recorded in 1968. Supply exhausted in 1973
THE MISSING LINC Recorded in 1972 and in very limited supply
Order # S-10 $ 7.50
LINCOLN MAYORGA AND DISTINGUISHED COLLEAGUES, Vol. III Recorded in 1973
Order # LAB -1 $ 10.00
I'VE GOT THE MUSIC IN ME Thelma Houston and Pressure Cooker Recorded in 1975
Order # LAB -2 $10.00
Mail order with check or money order to
SHEFFIELD LAB Post Office Box 5332A Santa Barbara, Ca. 93108
We hope to release the
Brahms-Handel Variations and the Twenty -Six Chopin Preludes in a few months.
Please write and we will
notify you when these solo piano records performed by Lincoln Mayorga become available.
DECEMBER 1975
DIRECT
DISC RECORDING
LIMITED EDITION
109
time associate of the pianist. The entire album
consists of Kuhn compositions, some of
which are at least as interesting as his render-
ing of them. But more than anything else, this
album confirms that Steve Kuhn has now developed a style that is strictly his own: there are influences, of course, but they are
omnidirectional and Kuhn has melded them
almost beyond recognition. ECM will soon release a solo album by Kuhn. I have heard it,
and I feel safe in predicting that it won't be
long before Steve Kuhn can turn down the
wedding and bar mitzvah engagements cur-
rently necessary to his survival.
C.A.
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT MODERN JAZZ QUARTET: The Last Con-
cert. John Lewis (piano); Milt Jackson (vibraphone): Percy Heath (bass); Connie Kay (drums, percussion). The Cylinder; The Golden Striker; Skating in Central Park; What's New?; Django; Night in Tunisia: and eight others. ATLANTIC SD 2-909 two discs $11.98, QD 2-909 two discs $12.98, '0 TP 2-909 $13.97, QT 2-909 $14.97, © CS 2-909 $13.97.
Performance: Eminent exit Recording: Excellent
Last November, in New York's Avery Fisher Hall, the oldest and classiest jazz act ever, the Modern Jazz Quartet, took its final bow. For those of us who were there, it was an evening well spent. The veteran quartet's musical performance was as distinguished as its appear-
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for the general atmosphere enhances the performance. Then comes the rude awakening
when that same performance is heard in the
sober surroundings of one's living room. Not so in this case. In fact, the MJQ's last concert
is even better on records, as excellent engi-
neering picks up nuances lost in the acousti-
cally imperfect Lincoln Center hall.
I find no need to go into the music in detail,
except to say that even though the repertoire
is familiar, the renditions are new and often superior to the quartet's previous ones. The concert has also been released in quadra-
phonic format (CD -4), which is very effective
if you like to experience the sensation of being
in the middle of the MJQ with each member
coming at you from a different speaker. It's
not a bad feeling at all.
C.A.
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1 10
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
FLIP PHILLIPS: A Melody from the Sky. Flip Phillips (tenor saxophone); Neal Hefti (trumpet): Bill Harris (trombone); Aaron Sachs (clarinet); Ralph Burns (piano); Billy Bauer (guitar): Marjorie Hyams (vibraphone):
Chubby Jackson (bass); Dave Tough, Shelly Manne (drums); other musicians. Lover
Come Back to Me; More Than You Knott'; Without Woody; Papilloma; and eight others. BOB THIELE Music II BBMI-1032 $6.98.
Performance: Delectable Recording: Noisier than necessary
Joseph Edward Fillipelli was born in Brooklyn sixty years ago, but he had become Flip Phillips by 1944, when he joined Woody Herman's first and most outstanding Herd. Two years with Herman -a period that yielded the band's most memorable recordings-
brought Phillips wide recognition, but it was with "Jazz at the Philharmonic" that his fame really spread. From 1946 to the mid -Fifties. Phillips excited JATP audiences throughout the world, invariably bringing them to a frenzy with his rousing versions of Perdido, his most popular but by no means his best number.
The Onyx label recently issued some excellent 1963 recordings by Phillips, but these 1944/1945 sessions, originally released on 78's by Signature, are better by far. Four small -band combinations, comprising some of the finest players from the Herman Herd and labeled as the Flip Phillips Fliptet, not only form a suitable frame for the tenor saxophonist's artistry, but present us with mainstream music of the highest order. Phillips could and did battle with the best of them in the JATP years that followed, but, frenzied as his playing often became, he was never a honker. As
in the 1963 sessions on Onyx, his tone here is rich and smooth, his style delicately dexter-
ous, and, whether swinging vigorously or subtly, his playing at all times is impeccable. There are also exemplary solos by fellow Hermanites Neal Hefti, Bill Harris, Marjorie Hyams, Billy Bauer, and Ralph Burns, sup-
ported throughout by the lithe, rhythmic
bounce of Chubby Jackson's bass and further enhanced, in seven selections, by the remarkable drumming of Dave Tough.
Unfortunately, RCA (whose engineering department remastered this album) continues to use outmoded techniques when mastering from 78's, so there could have been less sur-
STEREO REVIEW
face noise, but the music in this case tran-
scends such shortcomings.
C.A.
JEAN-LUC PONTY: Upon the Wings of Music (see Best of the Month, page 82)
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
JOE VENUTI: The Joe Venuti Blue Four. Joe
Venuti (violin); Dill Jones, Dick Hyman (piano): Spencer Clark (bass saxophone); Zoot Sims (tenor saxophone); Bucky Pizza-
relli (guitar); Milt Hinton (bass); Cliff Leeman (drums). Stringing the Blues; Diga Diga Doo; The Blue Room; Remember: and eight others. CHIAROSCURO CR 134 $6.98.
Performance: Vivat Venuti Recording: Might as well be mono
Joe Venuti is seventy-one. I suppose that's
young compared to the equally active Eubie
Blake, who is in his early nineties, but jazz is
not a music that usually grants its players lon-
gevity. What is even more remarkable, in
Venuti's case, is that he has maintained the
technique, zest, and vigor of his youth in his
playing. Venuti is a veteran of the Paul White-
man, Jean Goldkette, and Dorsey Brothers bands, and his successful partnership with
guitarist Eddie Lang, who died in 1933, is well documented on a two -record Columbia set
("Stringing the Blues," C2L 24). That set
contains a number of sides by the original Joe
Venuti Blue Four, from which this album de-
rives its title. However, you don't have to dig into the past to hear good Venuti-this album
is a joy from beginning to end.
Zoot Sims, who teamed up with Venuti in a previous album ("Joe and Zoot," Chiaroscuro
CR 128), shows even better rapport with the
violinist on the four tracks that he participates
in here, especially I Got Rhythm, a real cooker. The nearly extinct bass saxophone is nice
to hear again, and Spencer Clark -who replaced Adrian Rollini with the California
Ramblers-plays it with as much flexibility as possible. The album information is sloppy-
wrong personnel listings, a misspelled title,
etc. - and the recording is stereo with virtually
no separation, but the music is too good to
pass up.
C.A.
THEATER FILMS
GEORGE GERSHWIN: An American in London. Primrose. Original London cast. 1924.
Andante from Rhapsody in Blue; Preludes Nos. 1, 2, and 3; Do -Do -Do; Maybe; Someone to Watch Over Me; Clap Yo' Hands. George Gershwin (piano). MONMOUTH Ev-
ERGREEN MES/7071 $6.98. Performance: Valuable Recording: Foggy
The most interesting and valuable tracks here are the six of George Gershwin at the piano
DECEMBER 1975
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playing his own work. Gershwin doesn't play much better than any other composer I've ever heard, nor is there much of the romantic
brio apparent here that was said to distinguish his playing and that has been commented on so often in memoirs of the period. But Gersh-
win's stature seems to increase with the passing of the years so that each new bit of material available far transcends nostalgia or memorabilia to become a valuable addendum
to a great man's career. Gershwin plays three of his best popular songs (Maybe, Do -Do -Do, and Someone to Watch Over Me) and one not -so -fine one (Clap Yo' Hands) from Oh, Kay! in good beat -'em -out style, as well as the Andante from Rhapsody in Blue and his three Preludes in flashy, period, concert -hall fashion. Most of the album is taken up with selections from something called Primrose, a musical he did in London with Desmond Carter
providing the lyrics. It's pretty awful, cut -to a -pattern West End "light entertainment," but
it does serve to retain for history the perfor-
mance of one Heather Thatcher, a soubrette so arch as to make Gertrude Lawrence at her ripest sound like a Quaker. When she is around, as she is in such things as / Make Hay
I remember. Spike Jones was the kind of
Dadaist nose-thumber we could use today.
He reduced popular songs of the day into antic shambles of hillbilly wit, complete with
outrageous sound effects, demented "vocal-
ists," and an appalling lack of "good taste."
This album, however, is pretty much a waste of time for his old fans or for anyone who wants to know what he was all about. It is simply two original broadcast transcriptions made in 1947 from his radio show and transferred to disc. Frankie Larne, then known as "Mr. Rhythm," shows up and caterwauls through That's My Desire (something he's still doing in the Seventies); Tex Williams is
broadly unamusing in Smoke, Smoke, Smoke;
and Dorothy Shay ("The Park Avenue Hill-
billy") saunters through a few numbers. But the mad glint of anarchy that was Spike Jones
and the City Slickers appears only in a few songs - Toot, Toot, Tootsie, Jungle Town,
both of which are fair, and the superb molestation of Laura. And the recorded sound is
incredible: a cross between a message from
Mars and/or two tin cans and a piece of butch-
er's string.
P.R.
When the Moon Shines or Boy Wanted, at least one has the satisfaction of a few mean giggles. Otherwise, it's the kind of show that
makes one appreciate just how great a leap Gershwin made in his too -short lifetime. P.R.
A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC (Stephen Sondhehn). Original London -cast recording. Jean
Simmons, Hermione Gingold, Joss Ackland, David Kernan, and others (vocals); orchestra, Ray Cook cond. RCA LRL I-5090 $6.98, 0
SPIKE JONES: Vintage Radio Broadcasts. Dorothy Shay, Frankie Larne, Spike Jones, Tex Williams, others (vocals); orchestra,
LRS1-5090 $7.98, © LRTI-5090 $7.98. Performance: World-weary but winsome Recording: Superb
Spike Jones am and cond. MAR-BREN M BR 743 $5.98 (plus 50¢ handling charge from Mar-Bren Sound Ltd., 420 Pelham Road, Rochester, N.Y. 14610).
In A Little Night Music, audiences beset by the harrowing realities of contemporary life were afforded an opportunity to escape to a birch grove in turn -of -the -century Sweden for
Performance: Classic Laura
a midsummer evening of romantic involve-
Recording: Mastodon mono
ment with the leisure class, whose preoccupa-
Spike Jones was always my favorite rube. I
still damn near bust a gut laffin' when I think of his classic performances of Chloe, Cocktails for Two, and Laura. This last is the only one of these included here, and it is as hilarious as
tions onstage add up to nothing weightier than a set of interlocking love affairs. To decorate Hugh Wheeler's stylish book, which was
"suggested by" Ingmar Bergman's movie Smiles of a Summer Night, Stephen Sondheim fashioned lyrics and a score far dif-
SPIKE JONES AND FRIENDS: The kind of Dadaist nose -thumbing we need
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CIRCLE NO. 47 ON READER SERVICE CARD
112
STEREO REVIEW
ferent from the brittle pastiches he had devised for Company and Follies. The whole thing unfolds from the start as a series of waltzes that bring A Little Night Music closer to Viennese operetta than to the musical comedy idiom of Broadway.
Columbia did more than adequate justice to the score in the attractive album that won a well -deserved Grammy last year. That album came with a text of the lyrics for the conscientious listener, and it was well sung by a cast whose crowning assets were Hermione Gin gold as Madame Armfeldt and Glynnis Johns as the actress Desiree. Now RCA has just issued an album from the London production of the show. It rivals the first in some res-
pects, surpasses it in others, and then falls flat at the absolutely crucial moment. Miss Gin gold is on hand again to sing Liaisons. The singers-Joss Ackland as Fredrik, Veronica Page as his young wife Anne, Diane Langton as the maid Petra -are generally endowed
with even better voices than the original Broadway cast. Alas, however, Jean Sim-
mons cannot match the self -mocking, throaty allure of Glynnis Johns in the role of Desiree. Her way with Send In the Clowns, which one waits for eagerly until the record is almost over, is on key but unmoving. It lasts only a few minutes, but the damage is done. Unless you're willing to have two records of A Little Night Music in your collection, that disappointment tilts the scales in Columbia's favor.
P . K .
MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS: The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Terry Jones, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin (performers). ARISTA AL 4050 $6.98, l 8301-4050 H $7.98, © 5301-4050 H $7.98.
Performance: "Neek!" Recording: Variable
Monty Python and the Holy Grail does its
best to reduce the tale of King Arthur and his
quest to what the probable origins of the leg-
end were in those miserable, superstitious
early years before it got prettied up in the tell-
ing. The movie is cruel, violent, pornographic,
and sacrilegious without being vicious, sadis-
tic, obscene, or blasphemous. It is at all times
uproariously funny.
Many of the best moments in the film are
visual, and I will not betray them. This
"soundtrack" album is made up of dialogue
excerpts within a framework of additional,
loosely related material having to do with the
supposed premiere of the film. The new mate-
rial is rather lame, with two exceptions: an
Armageddon traffic smash-up of stars' auto-
mobiles ("And who's that coming through the
windshield - yes, it's Barbra Steisand, wear-
ing a ravishing pink . . .") and the trials of a
projectionist named Wong who maims himself
while trying to repair a broken reel (". . . his
nearly severed arm bound together by an old
print of Top Hat . . .").
There are several choice moments from the
actual film, of which my favorites are the in-
sults hurled at Arthur by contemptuous
French soldiers; the efforts of Arthur's band
to placate the dread Knights Who Say
"Neek!"; the ceremony attendant on the hurl-
ing of the Holy Hand Grenade; and the re-
lentless singing of the Ballad ql Brave Sir
Robin before and after Robin meets his ene-
my. But you will undoubtedly find your own
favorites.
J. V.
DECEMBER 1975
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CIRCLE NO. 45 ON READER SERVICE CARD
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CIRCLE NO. 36 ON READER SERVICE CARD
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SAINT-SAENS: THE HAPPY HEART
HE French lady whose musically preco-
cious ten -year -old son gave rather formidable programs at his public performances
was once asked, reprovingly, "If he plays Beethoven at ten, what music will he play at twenty?" Her deliciously prompt reply was: "He will play his own." A prime example of a wise mother who knew her own child, for by
1845 the young Camille Saint -Sans had al-
ready composed waltzes and galops (a la Liszt's Ga/op Chromatique) and would go on-until 1921! - to write everything a great composer is expected to write.
But, in addition to operas (a baker's dozen,
including the renowned Samson et Dali/a, and all produced), symphonies, concertos, and chamber music, he also created a lot of music great composers are not ex-
pected to write. His was a heart that bub-
bled music, happily and constantly -his sonatas for woodwinds and piano (one each for oboe, clarinet, and bassoon) were written- at eighty-six, in the last year of his life. Some
of the most engaging and least often heard
works have been gathered together (again happily) in two new Vox Boxes (SVBX 5476 and 5477) dubbed "The Complete Works for Piano." This may be politely termed an exag-
". . . not yet carrying that later impressive avoirdupois that testified to decades of good living . . ."
geration, slight but misleading, for a Berceuse and six etudes are omitted. More to the point, however, is the fact that these two releases contain a trove of musical delights, some well characterized by their titles- Valse Noncha/ante, Caprice Arahe. Souvenir d'Italie, Souvenir d'Ismailia -and others modestly masquerading as minuets, waltzes, mazurkas, etc. And, to be sure, such better-known extended works as the Ten Variations on a Theme by Beethoven (the trio of the menuetto of the Op. 31, No. 3 piano sonata) and the Caprice sur les Airs de Ballet d'Alceste are also included.
I am much taken with the vision of the well dressed, well -turned -out Saint-Saens of 1880 (aged forty-five and not yet carrying that later impressive avoirdupois that testified to decades of good living) returning to his hotel room after a memorable evening on the town and setting about memorializing it properly in music as Une Nuit a Lisbonne. Would the process of composition (just long enough, at 3'46", to fit on a 12 -inch side of the not -yet invented 78 -rpm record), late at night, have disturbed other guests, however much they might have enjoyed the piano? No problem: in his Musical Memories. Saint-Saens re-
marks, of his prodigious but non -prodigy
childhood, "As has always been the case with me, I was already composing the music directly on paper without working it out on the piano."
Like several other pieces in this bounteous
Vox collection, Une Nuit a Lisbonne (cast as a barcarolle-there is the possibility that the
Lisbon harbor was glowing in the distance as he wrote it) has a tinge of the Russe about it,
especially the chromaticism of Balakirev. If 1880 seems a bit early for the influx of Russian music into the West (beginning with
Paris), it was not at all too early for the outflux
of Saint -Sans into the East. He went to Russia to concertize as early as 1875, returning to France in the following year bearing the famous score of Boris Godounov that later found its way into the hands of Debussy.
There is, in consequence, a whole line of deri-
vation, through Saint-Saens, of musical Rus-
sianisms that were not to be heard in France
in their pure form until a decade or two later.
11,ratwing 1)N I.
/
114
IF it seems extreme to derive so much in
historical reference from a piece less than four minutes in length (and one hardly overburdened with the weighty musical substance attractive to scholarship in any case), I must
add that it is by no means unique in this collection for richness of allusion. Another greatly diverting work, cloaked under the simple designation "Scherzo, Op. 87," follows closely in the stylistic train of Chabrier's Espana (written in 1883 or earlier) and goes on to anticipate the main generative idea of
Ravel's La Valse!
The Scherzo is a work in several sections, it is ten minutes long, and it would make a beautiful orchestral transcription. Saint-Saens never got around to orchestrating it, but he did the next best thing: he wrote the original for two pianos. As with the Caprice lieroique of similar dimensions, doubling the number of instruments does more than merely multiply sonority: it provides opportunity for contrapuntal interplay and for extensions of range that could hardly be accomplished otherwise,. even by two players on the same instrument.
Indeed, considering the number of delightful and diverting works for two players (on one or two instruments) in this collection, one cannot escape the conclusion that the corn -
STEREO REVIEW
poser was motivated by more than purely musical reasons. There is in music so much that is enjoyable, entertaining, and enlivening, why (one can almost hear the composer querying himself) waste it all on one selfcentered player? So he turned to framing his
thoughts as conversation pieces, musical duo-
logues in which a player (beginning with Saint-Saens himself, of course) might share
the music's pleasures with a kindred soul who
is both partner and audience. In these Vox performances of all this "glit-
ter -and -be -gay," the two pianists might be better described as one and a half. Marylene
Dosse, a graduate of the Paris Conservatoire who is now artist -in -residence at Wisconsin State University, Whitewater, has all the solo opportunities (the Album for Piano, Op. 72. the Suite for Piano, Op. 90, and the Etudes for Left Hand Alone, Op. 135), with Paris -born Annie Petit restricted to playing in the ensemble works. Ms. Dosse is businesslike, finger -
sure, and a little too foursquare to serve SaintSaens ideally (she is no Guiomar Novaes in the Caprice on Airs from Aicestc). but she
consistently provides neat, clean, and musical playing. The two pianists together have a playing personality much like Ms. Dosse's alone, which is to say that the same mood tends to prevail throughout.
THERE is yet another Vox Box, however (QSVBX 5134), in which the situation is quite the contrary. In it a superbly enthusiastic, even inflamed Ruggiero Ricci performs all the Saint-Saens violin literature with orchestra. and the highly qualified Laszlo Vargas is entrusted with the much smaller, less diverse cello literature. Unfortunately, the admirable performers are all too often dealing in these works with music by the "other" Saint-Saens, the facile maker of fashionable musical garments expected of a master tailor among composers, a "great" composer satisfying his public obligations rather than a prodigious artist fulfilling his private inclinations.
As adroit and inventive as Saint-Saens was in manipulating the piano to his purposes, he
tends in his violin works to borrow mechanics from others: the First Violin Concerto, in A Minor, Op. 20, and the Morceau de Concert, Op. 62, from Mendelssohn: the Introduction
and Rondo Capriccioso and the B Minor
Concerto (No. 3) from Sarasate (both are dedicated to him): and so on. No matter what images of the past are evoked by these works, Ricci-he will have been a flaming fount of
violinistic fervor for a full fifty years come 1978 - is hand -in -bow with them. Pierre Cao is the excellent conductor of the Radio Luxembourg Orchestra in most of the violin works, with Reinhard Peters and the Philharmonica Hungarica in the Romance. Op. 48, the Morceii. Op. 62. and the Caprice A rulal-
ous. Op. 122.
Unquestionably the rough diamond in this assemblage of gems from the Saint-Saens lode is the Second ( D Minor) Cello Concerto. Smaller in scope than its more frequently performed predecessor in A Minor, it also burns rather more intensely, with a flame and a fantasy all its own. Vargas is right with it all the way, ably assisted by the Westphalian Symphony Orchestra of Recklinghausen conducted by Siegfried Landau. The recording quality in all three albums is gratifyingly high, the portions of the piano literature originating in the Elite Recordings studio in New York under the supervision of Marc Aubort and Joanna Nickrenz especially so.
DECEMBER 1975
IN 1907, JACK DANIEL'S NEPHEW said,
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Placed in the National Reci'eter of Historic Places by the United States Government.
115
CLASSICAL DISCS A\D TAPES
Reviewed by RICHARD FREED DAVID HALL GEORGE JELLINEK PAUL KRESH STODDARD LINCOLN ERIC SALZMAN
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
C. P. E. BACH: Oboe Concerto in E fiat Major; Oboe Concerto in B -flat Major. J. S. BACH: Sinfonia to Cantata, Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, BWV 12; Sinfonia to Cantata, Ich hatte viel Bekiimmernis, BWV 21. Heinz Holliger (oboe); English Chamber Orchestra, Raymond Leppard cond. PHILIPS 6500 830 $7.98.
Performance: Gorgeous Recording: Very good
Just about anything Heinz Holliger does is worth having, and this package is really a joy. Not only is his remake of the E -flat Concerto even more enticing than his earlier version (Monitor MCS-2088), but the B -flat, not otherwise available at all, is a real find, rich in ingratiating themes and imaginative color. As if the two concertos were not bounty enough, each is prefaced by a gorgeous performance of a sinfonia with a prominent oboe part from one of Father Bach's cantatas. The air of genuine delight on the part of the performers is most effectively transmitted. The only reservation I might have is that the ma non troppo marking for the final Allegro of the E -flat Concerto seems not to have been taken too seriously: the pacing is a brisk vivace which threatens in one or two spots to become a bit of a scramble. Everything is carried off with such panache, though, that I can't imagine its being unappealing to any ear, and the B -flat Concerto is simply too attractive to pass up.
R.F.
Explanation of symbols:
® = reel-to-reel stereo tape ® = eight -track stereo cartridge
= stereo cassette
= quadraphonic disc
N = reel-to-reel quadraphonic tape
= eight -track quadraphonic tape
Monophonic recordings are indicated by the symbol 11,1
The first listing is the one reviewed: other formats, if available, follow it.
116
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
J. S. BACH: Complete Lute Music. Suite No. I, in E Minor (BWV 996); Suite No. 2, ih C Minor (BWV 997); Suite No. 3, in G Minor (BWV 995); Suite No. 4, in E Major (BWV 1006A); Prelude, Fugue, and Allegro in E
Major (BWV 998); Prelude in C Minor (BWV 999); Fugue in G Minor (BWV 1000). John
Williams (guitar). COLUMBIA M2 33510 two discs $13.96.
Performance: First-rate Sound: Excellent
One of the problems concerning Bach's lute
music is the question of whether it was actual-
ly written for the lute or for a keyboard instru-
ment designed to sound like a lute, the Lau-
tenclavicymbel. It is certainly true that in
Bach's time the lute was virtually obsolete,
but the composer knew several exponents
of the instrument, owned one himself, and, on
occasion, taught it. Also, as is attested by the
instrumentation of his cantatas, Bach was
fond of composing for obsolete instruments.
The suites and preludes and fugues John
Williams plays in this album are first-rate
Bach and command our attention as excellent
music. Suites Nos. I and 2 seem to be original
works, while Nos. 3 and 4 are Bach's own
arrangements of the Fifth Suite for Unaccom-
panied Cello and the Third Partita for Solo
Violin, respectively. The arrangements are
convincing, and it is interesting to hear how in
these versions Bach filled out harmonies and
contrapuntal lines that he could only imply in
the originals. The Prelude, Fugue, and Alle-
gro, commonly played on the harpsichord,
takes on a completely new meaning when per-
formed on a hand -plucked instrument.
The question of performing lute music on
the guitar becomes almost academic when the
guitarist is John Williams. He possesses a
fluent technique and a sure sense of rhythm
and style, and the music flows so flawlessly
from his instrument that one can only revel in
Bach's unflagging inspiration. (The fact that
the suites in C Minor and G Minor are played
transposed to the key of A Minor is, in my
opinion, not the sort of thing that should
bother anyone.)
S.L.
BEACH, MRS. H. H. A.: Piano Music (see
Best of the Month, page 80)
BEETHOVEN: Missa Solemnis in D Major, Op. 123. Gundula Janowitz (soprano); Agnes Baltsa (contralto); Peter Schreier (tenor); Jose Van Dam (bass); Vienna Singverein; Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan cond. ANGEL SB-3821 two discs $13.98.
Performance: Orchestral in concept Recording: Low-level
BEETHOVEN: Missa Solemnis in D Major, Op. 123. Margaret Price (soprano); Christa Ludwig (alto); Wieslaw Ochman (tenor); Martti Talvela (bass); Concert Chorus of the Vienna State Opera; Vienna Philharmonic, Karl Bohm cond. DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 2707 080 two discs $ 15.96.
Performance: Detailed Recording: Good
It is no secret that Beethoven's Missa Solemnis is the greatest unperformable masterpiece in the literature. This is, in great part, because of the high tessitura of the vocal parts. My solution (so far ignored) is to tune the whole thing down; the pitch was probably lower in those days anyway. Herbert von Karajan's solution is nowhere near as clever. He submerges the voices-chorus and even soloists - in some kind of vague, heavenly -background miasma. Every once in a while a dulcet solo tone or a choral cry for help floats on through. Mostly, though, we get a good listen to the mysteries and wonders of Beethoven's orchestration. The Missa Solemnis does not make a bad orchestral piece, but it makes a much better vocal work, and it is too bad that Karajan and the Angel engineers did not see fit to exercise their undoubted talents toward that realization.
Released hard on the heels of Angel's Berlin Missa Solemnis is DG's Vienna version. Aside from the Austro-Germanic musical chairs implied by all this, there is no way to escape the inevitable confrontation here between the two leading orchestras and conductors of the German-speaking world. Both recordings have outstanding solo quartets,
DECEMBER 1975
and, ironically, both use Viennese choruses.
Both are big productions complete with anno-
tations and philosophical interpretations.
Deutsche Grammophon goes a step further
with an article by a member of the Vienna
Philharmonic eulogizing that orchestra and
Karl Bohm. The writer takes a gratuitous
swipe at American orchestras, who will be
astonished to learn that they "have bought the
best musicians for hard cash." "Here in Vien-
na," our writer goes on. "there is something
which money cannot buy." In fact, that cer-
tain Viennese something seems to imply a
very parochial point of view. This elaborate
history of the Vienna Philharmonic omits any
mention of Herbert von Karajan; indeed, the
whole article has an anti -Von Karajan flavor.
Bohm, we are assured, is the true heir to the
Vienna Philharmonic's great Beethoven tradi-
tion. But what exactly is this tradition? It
would seem that its most important feature is
that the musicians are allowed to play with
"almost complete freedom in matters of ex-
pression and phrasing" -a tradition that, one
can say with conviction, does not go back to
Beethoven. Perhaps this is "something which
money cannot buy," but it should be pointed
out that the Vienna is one of the few orches-
tras whose personnel hire and fire the con-
ductors. And it is Bohm and not Von Karajan
who is in favor in Vienna these days.
Well, musical politics aside, there is a dif-
ference. DG has made a better recording, and
Bohm has a superb set of soloists-Margaret
Price is simply out of this world; the chorus-
es are about equal (when you can hear what
they're doing). Everything under Bohm's
leadership is neater and clearer, and, in gen-
eral, you hear more. Still, there is really no
comparison. Bkihm's Missa Solemnis is a huge, awkward, flawed work, Karajan's an ecstatic
masterpiece. Karajan makes everything sweep
along; he phrases, he makes big, dramatic
forms. Ironically, it is Karajan, not Bohm,
who brings the orchestra to the fore. In fact,
too much so; as I mentioned, it is the orchestra
and not the singers who carry the ball, and
this is the main weakness of his production.
The strength of this DG performance is in the
solo singing; the chorus is not strong enough,
and the orchestra, although perfectly fine in
detail, lacks exactly that larger vision it is the conductor's job to supply. The Missa
Solemnis is not a piece that can work well
enough in bits and pieces no matter how well
they are managed. Whatever his faults and
those of his engineers, Karajan is certainly not
a bits -and -pieces man.
E.S.
the after -Benjamin Britten generation in a par-
ticularly English branch of international seri-
alism. The two vocal pieces on this recording
are settings of classical, otherworldly subjects
treated in a remote, coloristic manner. The
Fields of Sorrow-which uses an unnamed
chorus in addition to solo soprano and an in-
strumental ensemble-is a striking and sen-
sual work, unfortunately buried on the second
band of side two. Nenia, a setting of a poem
by Peter Zinovieff dealing with the Orpheus
subject, has a kind of high -tone, arty air of
remoteness and incomprehensibility. Verses,
for spatially arranged wind and percussion
ensembles, is dry, difficult, hard -edged music
with a few appealing moments -bits of sound
and color-that pass quickly and a form that
is all but impossible to grasp. All of this music
tries hard to surpass; it merely imposes. A
friend of mine described it as a sex act be-
tween two consenting nuclear power plants-
unkind but not too farfetched. Excellent per-
formances carefully recorded.
E.S.
vast force held in reserve-though it is of
course unleashed for such pieces as Op. 10,
No. 12, and Op. 25, No. 11. The sheer dexter-
ity involved in the performance of Op. 10,
No. 7, and Op. 25, No. 10, is not allowed to
be an end in itself, but carries with it a lumi-
nous aura of fantasy. Ashkenazy is comfort-
able enough to give sentiment its due in Op.
10, No. 3, without risking for a moment the
danger of overindulgence, and the middle sec-
tion of that much -abused piece here achieves
an almost totally unsuspected stature. The
lyrical sweetness of Op. 10, No. 6, and Op.
25, No. 1, is captured with similar magic, and
in the playful Op. 10, No. 5, and Op. 25, No.
9, we are reminded that fastidiousness and
effervescence need not be mutually exclusive.
A further cataloguing of the excellences of
this disc would be as pointless as comparisons
between it and its predecessors: it is thor-
oughly, sweepingly, and surpassingly wonder-
ful, and not on any account to be missed. The
piano sound is gratifyingly realistic.
R.F.
MARGARET PRICE:
simply out of this world
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 5, in C Minor,
op. 67 (see Best of the Month, page 79)
7.!
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 7, in A Major, Op. 92 (see The Basic Repertoire, page 48)
BENDA: Sonata No. 9, in A Minor (see DUSSEK)
BIRTWHISTLE: Verses for Ensembles. London Sinfonietta, David Atherton cond. Nen-
ia-The Death of Orpheus. Jane Manning (soprano); The Matrix, Alan Hacker cond.
The Fields of Sorrow. Jane Manning (soprano); London Sinfonietta, David Atherton cond. HEADLINE HEAD 7 $6.98.
Performance: Excellent Recording: Good
Harrison Birtwhistle, born in Lancashire, England, in 1934, is one of the best-known of
DECEMBER 1975
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
CHOPIN: Etudes, Opp. 10 and 25. Vladimir Ashkenazy (piano). LONDON CS -6844 $6.98.
Performance Magical Recording: Very good
Ashkenazy's new etudes for London not only serve to reassure me that my memory had not exaggerated the virtues of his earlier version, but (as one might reasonably expect
from a still -young artist after fifteen years' additional growth) go even beyond the earlier achievement in terms of subtlety and what, in his case, is most appropriately described as poetry.
The power so evident in Ashkenazy's recording of the scherzos is here perceived as a
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
CRUMB: Music for a Summer Evening (Makrokosmos III), for Two Amplified Pianos and Percussion. Gilbert Kalish, James Freeman (pianos); Raymond des Roches, Richard Fitz (percussion). NONESUCH H-71311 $3.98.
Performance: Compelling Recording: Excellent
As one might infer from George Crumb's allusion to a "cosmic drama" in his liner notes
for this disc, Music for a Summer Evening is a sequence of fantasy -pieces with a
vaguely programmatic or "philosophical" nucleus exploring virtually every potentiality of the instruments, both individually and in ensemble, for expressive impact. There are
117
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evocations here of a gamelan and echoes there of Ravel's Laideronnette,but much more that suggests no parallel of any kind.
Much of this - perhaps most of it -is fascinating, though a certain repetitiousness inevitably makes itself felt after twenty-five minutes or so, recalling Roger Dettmer's remark about
Crumb's "recomposing resonances." In the main, the work (which, Crumb notes, might
be described as "either more or less atonal, or more or less tonal") shows huge originality, imaginativeness, and intellectual vitality; the performance, by the musicians for whom
Crumb wrote it, is extraordinarily accom-
plished and compelling, and the sound quality
constitutes a minor (or perhaps not so minor) miracle of transparency and ideal balance. Everyone involved can be proud of this one.
R.F.
CZERNY: Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 7; Fantaisie et Variations Brillantes sur un Motif Tres Favori Chante par Mme. Malibran dans l'Opera Ines de Castro de Persiani, Op. 377.
Hilde Somer (piano). G ENESIS GS 1057 $6.98.
Performance: Uninspired Recording: All there
Carl Czerny, scourge of generations of piano
students, was actually a meek and mild-man-
nered composer who became Beethoven's
favorite pupil and one of his few intimates. He
was very prolific, having to his credit a total of
861 opus members, including many large-
scale works. The fame of his exercises has
overshadowed all the rest, but Czerny seems
to have started out as a composer of talent
and originality. At least that is the impres-
sion given by his first piano sonata, written in
1810 when he was nineteen. It sounds like a
combination of late Beethoven, Schumann,
Mendelssohn, and Schubert, but it precedes
by a number of years most of the music that
apparently influenced it. More important, it is
a fine work of great beauty, a good deal of
genuine drama, and attractive variety, inven-
tion, and architecture. It could serve as a
landmark of early Romantic sensibility a lot
better than some of the works of, say, Weber
or Hummel or Spohr. The Op. 377 fantasy is
something else again: one of ten thousand
works of its kind, pianistically brilliant, but
not better or worse than hundreds of others. It
sounds like a bid for a certain kind of popular-
ity; if so, it seems to have failed.
Hilde Somer's performance of the fantasy
is brilliant, but the sonata could use more in-
sight and more drama.
E.S.
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
DELIUS: Sonatas Nos. 1, 2, and 3 for Violin and Piano. Ralph Holmes (violin); Eric Fen -
by (piano). UNICORN RHS 310 $7.98.
Performance: Authoritative Recording: Good
I referred to this disc, recorded in March 1972 and available in England since early 1973, in last January's review of the Connoisseur Society release of these sonatas played by Wanda Wilkomirska and David Garvey (CSQ 2069). As I noted in that review also, the Second Violin Sonata was the last of his works Delius was able to write down himself, and the Third was dictated to his amanuensis Eric Fenby, whose participation as pianist here makes these performances uniquely authoritative. In addition to performing (on Delius' own piano) and providing written annota-
118
tion, Fenby gives us an intriguing reminis-
cence in the form of a spoken introduction
that precedes the Sonata No. 1. "Delius was
not a pianist," he says, "nor am I . . . ." He
need not have been so modest, for these are
assured and convincing performances, on
both his part and Holmes'; together with the
documentary enhancements, they make this
an altogether worthwhile offering.
In terms of musical pleasure alone, though,
Wilkomirska and Garvey are more persua-
sive: they bring a conspicuously broader
range of color to their playing. Now, if some-
one would give us Delius' unpublished so-
nata of 1892. . . .
R.F.
DUSSEK: Sonata in F Minor, Op. 77 ("Lin vocation"); La Chasse; La Consolation; Partant pour la Syrie. Edward Gold (piano). MUSICAL HERITAGE SOCIETY MHS 1966 $3.50
RUDOLF FIRKUSNY He knows how to make a melody sing
(plus 75¢ handling charge from the Musical Heritage Society, Inc., 1991 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10023).
Performance: N otey Recording: Brittle
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
DUSSEK: Sonata in F Minor, Op. 77 ("L'Invoccyiqn"). BENDA: Sonata No. 9, in A Minor. VORISEK; Impromptu No. 4, in A Major, Op. 7. TOMASEK: Eglogue No. 2, in F Major, Op. 35. Rudolph Firkusny (piano). CANDIDE CE 31086 $4.98.
Performance: Beautifully molded Recording: Fine
Although it is now openly acknowledged that eighteenth -century Bohemia boasted a musical culture the equal of any in Europe, we rarely hear the actual music. These two discs, then, come as a welcome sampler of a school of piano writing that had a direct influence on the music of Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, and Brahms. Certainly the most fascinating of this group is Jan Ladislav Dussek, whose music, ranging from rondos and variations on popular tunes to the most grandiose sonatas, is well represented here. The F Minor Sonata, L'lnvocation, is considered by many to be his finest work. Those who are not familiar with it
(Continued on page 122 )
STEREO REVIEW
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"nothing halfso sublime since Mae 114stas the Queen of Nations..."
WHEN the first volume of Leonard Pennario's Gottschalk piano pieces appeared last year, I noted that the project's newsworthiness was not a matter of repertoire but of the pianist's unembarrassed sym-
pathy for the composer. Angel has recently released the second volume of Pennario's Gottschalk-it is called "Battle Cry of Freedom"-and though the unembarrassed sym-
pathy is still very much in evidence, the news
of the release is a matter of repertoire.
In addition to seven pieces (including the title piece) that exist in one or more recorded versions elsewhere, this second volume con-
tains two long -published pieces (Marguerite
and Columbia) that nobody but Mr. Pennario has so far recorded, plus three unpublished
pieces so widely unfamiliar that it is doubtful
whether twenty people have read them
through since Gottschalk's death.
The little Polka in B -flat (entries 273 and 202
in the Gottschalk Centennial Catalogue) is a charmer. Its manuscript is undated, but it was
very likely composed around 1850-1851, possibly during Gottschalk's last and presumably lighthearted fling with various Spanish and
French royalties. As a farewell bonbon for his admiring, generous, and extremely well situated friends, nothing could be more characteristic of the young composer than the gay and jazzily syncopated little polka tune that opens the piece. Its cheeky insouciance as captured by Mr. Pennario couldn't be more amusing, and even if it weren't accompanied in the catalog by a phalanx of other Gottschalk polkas, it would clearly indicate its composer's proper place in the polka panthe-
on alongside Offenbach and the Strausses.
The manuscript of the Ballade (catalog entries 13, 271) is dated 1853, and if this date is
to be trusted (Gottschalk was anything but fanatical about chronological accuracy) the piece was composed during the year of the composer's New York concert debut. In any case it is almost certainly the ballade titled Autrefois (catalog entry 9) that during Gottschalk's lifetime was listed in print as unpublished and dated 1853, a rueful backward glance at a "really better time," to use Noval-
is' phrase-a time that never really was, of course, except in memory. And it is a gauge of Mr. Pennario's essential pure-heartedness about his own Gottschalk venture that he is willing to commit his recording reputation to
such unpretentious little works as this Ballade
and the E -flat Polka. How deceptive are these apparent simplicities-and, by comparison, how much handier for wow effects are the intellectually imposing complexities of an
Ives --only those know who have tackled both composers. I am no longer particularly impressed when young pianists offer to play me the Concord Sonata. Come see me when you know what to do with The Maiden's Blush (vide Eugene List), Tournament Galop (List and Pennario), and the two pieces premiered
here. The third unpublished piece premiered on
this disc is a mazurka, noted in the Centennial Catalogue under entry 276 as an untitled and
undated piece. However, a sketch for the
piece on pages 121-127 of Gottschalk's workbook (catalog entry 298) is titled Mazurk (sic) fa menor, and this identification has been applied to it unchanged in a forthcoming set of seven pieces edited by Richard Jackson and Neil Ratliff and published by the New York Public Library/Continuo Music Press, Inc.
MoreWorthy Gottschalk From Angel
LEONARD PENN ARIO: unembarrassed sympathy
As for its date, its moody harmony and richly fulminating piano textures tempt one to
find it late. Among its unpublished companion pieces the latest one dated is an A -flat Polka from 1859. The years 1859-1860 were of course the height of Gottchalk's West Indian fioruit, when he produced the largest share of his most ambitious, imaginative, and peculiarly personal work, and all those adjectives are to a degree applicable to the F -sharp Minor Mazurka. In some respects it belongs to the same aristocratic family as the wonderfully embroidered nocturne Gottschalk called La Chute des Feuilles (1860), and Mr. Pennario does justice to both its subtle musical character and its historic importance in this altogether lovely premiere performance.
Among the pieces recorded elsewhere, four require special notice. The Battle Cry of Freedom is Gottschalk's version of George F. Root's famed Civil War song, which greatly moved him as possessing a strange quality at once heroic and melancholy. Today we can see well enough what his wartime audiences heard in the piece, but we can scarcely share their feverish response to it. It is simply our good luck that Mr. Pennario faces up to its essential defects so manfully.
The Grand Scherzo is something else. It was composed in Montevideo-you might almost say at the same sitting with the Impromptu-in the last year of Gottschalk's life, and it reveals plainly the new direction his work was taking in anticipation of his long -delayed return to Europe. In both pieces the line is longer, the harmonic hand bolder, the conception bigger and more original. Both pieces exploit a strong confrontation-here given the most effective kind of coloristic contrast by Mr. Pennario-between two dissimilar kinds of material. Icily brilliant (and superbly pianistic) formal beginnings in the European tradition come face to face with warm and grandly sentimental "song" themes in the American style. Today the Grand Scherzo is one of Gottschalk's most modern sounding pieces, with at moments a brittle, nervous, almost jittery quality that was later to become part of Prokofiev's stock in trade, and that relates it to contemporary experience both in and out of the concert hall.
In conclusion, special mention is due three of Mr. Pennario's special successes. Marguerite, here given its premiere recording, is not only one of Gottschalk's best waltzes; it is also, after Chopin and Weber, one of the best midcentury examples extant of the authentic high -fashion concert waltz for piano. Mr. Pennario plays the piece with great elegance as well as conviction, and along with 0 Ma Charmante it demonstrates his great gift for Gottschalkian tempos that seem almost organically determined.
I have saved for the end a Pennario recording first that is alone worth the price of admis-
sion. If you happen to think Columbia is not The Great American Piano Piece of 1859, you needn't bother to let me know. What's more, if it doesn't make you want a little to laugh and cry at the same time, I take a dim view of your historic sensibilities. The piece starts off with a genially straight-faced and, I am certain, deliberate misquotation of My Old Kentucky Home. And although from time to time Gottschalk pointedly wipes away a chromatic tear about it, in no time at all we have forgotten all about Kentucky and are bowling merrily along down Henry Clay's National Turnpike. At this point there enters an absolutely invincible oom-pah bass to sweep us straight into a blazing apotheosis of Columbia herself. I know of nothing half so sublime since Mae West draped herself in Old Glory and brandished a stuffed eagle on a stick in an unforgettable production number called "Queen of Nations." Thank you, Mr. Pennario!
-Robert Offergeld
GOTTSCHALK: Battle Cry of Freedom, Op.
55 (RO 62); Berceuse, Op. 47 (RO 27); Mazurk (sic) in F -sharp Minor (RO 276, 298); Grand
Scherzo, Op. 57 (RO 114); Polka in B -fiat (RO 273, 202); Tournament Galop (RO 264); Columbia, Op. 34 (RO 61); Marguerite (RO 158);
La Gallina, Op. 53 (RO 101); Ballade (RO 13, 271); 0, Ma Charmante, Epargnez-moi, Op. 44 (RO 182); Suis-moi!, Op. 45 (RO 253). Leonard Pennario (piano). ANGEL S-36090
$6.98.
120
STEREO REVIEW
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are in for a treat as this long work unfolds a
complex network of boldness, mystery, and
brooding through its four fully developed
movements. La Chasse is a typical war horse
of its day, fun to play and effective once or
twice. La Consolation is a sentimental rondo
filled with sighs and tears with two contrasting
central episodes (unfortunately, Edward Gold
has not seen fit to restore it to its original form
and omits the lovely introduction). Partant pour la Syrie is a pop tune treated to every
pianistic trick known in Dussek's day.
Jiri Benda's sonatas are a fascinating lot,
even though they are uneven in workmanship.
The A Minor one veers from Beethovenian
outbursts to the sentimental Empfindsamkeit of C. P. E. Bach. The Tomagek is charming,
and the Voli§ek will blow the listener's mind
when he realizes that it preceded the Schubert Moments Musicaux and Impromptus by as much as five years.
Rudolph Firkusny is a seasoned artist who
plays the music of his compatriots lovingly.
He knows how to make a melody sing, how to
mold it and stretch it. Above all, he can spin
the long line that is often needed to hold such
a rambling work as L'Invocation together. He
brings all the care to these works that he
would lavish on Chopin or Schumann and
thus elevates them to their highest mode of
expression.
Listening to Mr. Gold's reading of Dussek
leads one to suspect that he is trying to make a
name by performing the unusual. His playing
is notey in that the accompaniment figures are
not sufficiently subdued to allow the melody
to sing above them. This is not helped by his
dry use of the pedal, a usage particular to the
present generation of pianists and one which
would have appalled any of the composers
they so frequently play. Mr. Gold conceives
his dynamics in large blocks, more structural-
ly than expressively. The result is a lack of the detail the music sorely needs. Nonetheless,
we must thank him for bringing us this music
and only hope that as he plays more of it he
will lose his inhibitions about going along with
its highly expressive idiom.
S.L.
BI
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CIRCLE NO. 29 ON READER SERVICE CARD
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RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
DUTILLEUX: Symphony No. 2 ("Le Double").
ROUSSEL: Suite in F, Op. 33. Lamoureux Orchestra, Charles Munch cond. MUSICAL HERITAGE Society MHS 3022 $3.50 (plus 75e handling charge from the Musical Heritage Society, Inc., 1991 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10023).
Performance: Magnificent Recording: Very good
Three splendid records Charles Munch made with the Lamoureux Orchestra for Erato were circulated here briefly on domestic labels in the late 1960's. The two that were on Epicthe Saint-Saens and Lab cello concertos with Andre Navarra, the Third and Fourth Symphonies of Roussel -were reissued on MHS a few months ago; this one, which was issued as Westminster WST- 17112 in 1966, is even more welcome, for both of the titles on it identify works of major importance that are not otherwise available on records. Henri Dutilleux is France's major living symphonist, but his music is virtually unknown in this country. His three -movement Symphony No. 2 whose subtitle refers to both a quasi -programmatic significance and the scoring for chamber orchestra (solo winds, string quartet,
(Continued on page 125)
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DECEMBER 1975
harpsichord, celesta, timpani) in addition to
the full orchestra -could not have a more
"definitive" performance: it was Munch who
commissioned the work, who conducted the
Boston premiere in 1959, and who conducted
nearly all its other performances between that
time and his death nine years later. The Rous-
sel suite has had other recorded perform-
ances, but none so effective as this one. The
sound quality especially good in the original
release, has been handsomely preserved in
the new mastering.
R.F.
FAURE: Thirteen Barcarolles. Jean -Philippe
Collard (piano). CONNOISSEUR SOCIETY CS 2078 $6.98.
Performance: To the manner born Recording: Excellent
Young Jean -Philippe Collard already has
graced the current catalog with a superb disc
of the Rachmaninoff Etudes -Tableaux as well
as the complete Faure nocturnes. Continuing
what seems likely to be a comprehensive sur-
vey of the piano music of the French master-
who is, for me, a kind of Gallic Schumann
with "cool"-he gives us in this latest Con-
noisseur Society release (from Pattie Marconi
tapes) the complete set of thirteen barcarolles.
These works span Faure's creative life from
1883, when he was in the prime of youth, to
1921, when, loved and honored by his col-
leagues, he had to resign the directorship of
the Conservatoire because of deafness.
Somehow the flowing "boat song" idiom
seems to suit Faure's musical language, for in
his piano writing especially the melodic lines
and harmonic textures flow along, interweav-
ing linear and coloristic elements in much the
same way as a stream blends moving currents
with varying patterns of reflected light and
shadow. There are idyllic pieces, such as the
very first of the series; restless ones, such as
No, 5, with its recurring tritones: brooding
ones, such as No. 10, whose open fifths in the
accompaniment echo Rachmaninoff's Isle of
the Dead. The harmonic textures are extraordinarily varied within the limits of the traditional tonal system, ranging freely in and
around the chromatic and the modal; but one
senses a diatonic skeleton, however fragile at
times, underlying the whole.
Only the 1964 pair of Vox Boxes of Faure's
complete piano music by Evelyne Crochet-
like Collard a Conservatoire laureate -offers
much competition to Collard's exquisitely
molded and richly lyrical readings. A compar-
ison of Collard and Crochet in the last of the
series is instructive; Collard's slightly faster
pacing makes for a more convincing inter-
weaving of the shifting harmonic patterns. On
the other hand, Crochet is able to extract
more dramatic emphasis from No. 7 and No.
10. All things considered, including the excel-
lence of the recorded sound, I would give the
edge to Collard. But until he completes the
entire Faure series. I'm not about to part
with my Vox Boxes.
D.H.
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
GERSHWIN: Cuban Overture; Rhapsody in Blue; An American in Paris. Ivan Davis (piano); Cleveland Orchestra, Lorin Maazel
cond. LONDON CS 6946 $6.98.
Performance: Brilliant Recording: Excellent
The most amusing thing about this record is the little British flag in the upper left-hand
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CIRCLE NO. 34 ON READER SERVICE CARD
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corner of the cover with the inscription "Rec-
ord Imported From England." Not that these
aren't amusing, ebullient performances of
great brilliance. I do wish there was a way to
make this music sound like something more
than symphonic pops, though. Is this the fault
of the music itself or of the innumerable mov-
ie scores and elevator -music imitations? My
mother had -probably still has-the old 78 -
rpm of the Rhapsody with Gershwin and the
Whiteman band, and I always thought that's
the way it should go. But I don't suppose
there's any way to make An American in
Paris sound like that; it was undoubtedly the
big symphonic sound that excited Gershwin's
imagination and gave his talent that seal of
legitimacy that eluded so many pop and show
musicians. Enough of these ruminations.
These recordings are fat and fancy, and they
sound terrific as well.
E.S.
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
GRIEG: Lyric Pieces. A rietta, Op. 12, No. 1; Berceuse, Op. 38, No. 1; Butterfly, Op. 43, No. I; Solitary Traveller, Op. 43, No. 2; Album Leaf, Op. 47, No. 2; Melody, Op. 47, No. 3; Hailing, Op. 47, No. 4; Notturno, Op. 54, No. 1; Scherzo, Op. 54, No. 5; Homesickness, Op. 57, No. 6; Brooklet, Op. 62, No. 4; Homewards, Op. 62, No. 6; Ballad, Op. 65, No. 5; Grandmother's Minuet, Op. 68, No. 2; At Your Feet, Op. 68, No. 3; At the Cradle, Op. 68, No. 5; Puck, Op. 71, No. 3; Gone, Op. 71, No. 6; Remembrances, Op. 71, No. 7. Emil Gilels (piano). DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 2530476 $7.98.
Performance: Marvelously poetic Recording: Excellent
Not since Walter Gieseking's Angel discs of the Grieg Lyric Pieces, issued in the middle Fifties, have I heard such truly poetic and
SHEILA ARMSTRONG: secure and pleasing in her three roles in Solomon
126
pianistically flawless recorded versions of these little masterpieces of the keyboard literature. Emil Gilels has chosen from all ten books of the Lyric Pieces, which cover more than thirty years of the composer's creative life, and stylistically the music ranges from the most straightforward Schumannesque lyricism, through the militantly Norwegian folkloristic, to purest impressionism. He has also adopted the very sensible course of arranging his recorded sequence of twenty pieces in chronological order. My own favorites among Gilels' renditions include the Hailing, in which his dissonant accents come off to far better effect than Gieseking's; the Notturno, where again he surpasses Gieseking in the immaculate quality of his trills; Puck, to which he brings an eerie atmosphere almost like that of Ravel's Scarbo; and the wonderfully poignant readings of Homesickness and Gone.
What with such poetic musicianship, and beautifully recorded too, this is a disc to treasure. I would go so far as to say that it is the finest thing I have heard from Gilels on record, the result -as he himself put it -of discovering beauties in music that in his native Russia had heretofore been relegated to the realm of children's teaching pieces. D.H.
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
GRIEG: Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16. SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54. Sviatoslav Richter (piano); Monte Carlo National Opera Orchestra, Lovro von
Mataeie cond. ANGEL S-36899 $6.98, 0
8X5-36899 $7.98. © 4XS-36899 $7.98.
Performance: Sheer poetry Recording: Very good
Sviatoslav Richter has recorded the Schumann Concerto at least twice before; both of his earlier versions (which are still circulating
on various labels) show his unique affinity for the music of this composer, but both are more than fifteen years old now and, in terms of either sound quality or orchestral playing, were no great shakes even when they were new. His third time round, Richter benefits from
the partnership of conductor Lovro von
Mata6iC (who, like himself, ought to be much more active in the recording studio), and the
sound is very good indeed (in Angel's SQ quadraphonic mode, which is truly compatible for two -channel playback). The coupling this time is the now standard one of the Grieg Concerto, a work apparently new to Richter's discography. Both sides show the great pianist at his most characteristic, exemplifying a grand manner which is not merely "Romantic" but specifically "Richter" - for what makes Richter's manner grand is not its thunder but its poetry. That is a term that gets bandied about rather loosely, but it is the one that serves best to describe Richter's way with whatever he happens to be playing. He gives one the reassuring feeling of limitless power held in judicious reserve, and when it is unleashed for a climax it is convincing beyond words.
If Richter has had a more fully integrated orchestral complement on any of his other concerto records, I have not heard it. Matgie shows the same full-blooded affection for the two works, finds the same sort of freshness in the orchestral writing that Richter does in the keyboard part, and he is governed by the same subtle restraint. This is heartwarming musical summitry at the service of music that deserves (and by now requires) nothing less.
R.F.
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
HANDEL: Solomon. Justino Diaz (bass), Solomon; Sheila Armstrong (soprano), Pharaoh's
Daughter, First Harlot, Queen of Sheba; Robert Tear (tenor), Zadok; Felicity Palmer (soprano), Second Harlot; Michael Rippon (bass), Levite. Amor Artis Chorale; English Chamber Orchestra, Johannes Somary cond. VANGUARD VSD 71204/5/6 three discs
$20.94, VSQ 30041/2/3 three discs
$23.94.
Performance Very good Recording: Excellent
Of the two versions of Solomon previously in the catalog, Seraphim SIB -6039 is generally dismissed by purists for its drastic cuts and rearranged sequences and for conductor Sir Thomas Beecham's bold departures from the original Handel orchestration. There is no denying the scholarly validity of such objections, yet Sir Thomas' romanticized view, supported by a fine cast of singers, is lovingly realized, and it is a model execution of what it wants to be. At the very least, it deserves exploration before condemnation.
The more recent and sonically superior
RCA set (LSC-6187) also offers good singing. It is, furthermore, nearly complete and re-
spectful enough of Baroque performance practices to please most specialists (never all, of course). On the other hand, the Viennese chorus is not entirely at ease with the text, and the conducting of Stephen Simon is competent rather than inspired.
Vanguard's new version is strong where RCA is weakest. Johannes Somary paces the music with clarity, forward drive, and extremely well -judged tempos. The embellish -
(Continued on page 128)
STEREO REVIEW
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CiD SYLVANIA
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4744 stereo receiver is one of the most versatile you'll ever see. We've got phono inputs for two different turntables. And two sets of tape monitor input and output jacks. And terminals for main speakers, re-
channel, min. IRMS at 8 ohms from 20Hz to 20kHz with no more than .25% Total Har-
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mote speakers, and PQ4 speakers. And three AC power outlets, one switched and two unswitched. The rest you can see for yourself in the picture above.
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But don't take our word for it. Or their
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RS 4744 is one fine stereo receiver.
As Popular Electronics* put it, the RS 4744
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SYLVAN IA
CIRCLE NO. 27 ON READER SERVICE CARD
DECEMBER 1975
127
melts (appoggiature, passing notes, cadential trills) seem always right, and the harpsichord
(Harold Lester) is employed in an audible yet unobtrusive perspective. The Amor Artis Chorale, which has contributed to many previous Vanguard efforts, is again outstanding in its clarity, rhythmic drive, and balances.
The singers are good, but here the new set does not improve on previous standards. Tenor Alexander Young, who sings Zadok in both the Seraphim and RCA sets, is distinctly superior to his current counterpart. Robert Tear is a good stylist, but his unappealing tone is hardly the instrument for Zadok's priestly platitudes, which somehow evoked such inspired melodies from Handel's not particularly pious pen.
The role of Solomon lies a trifle high for Justino Diaz's best range, but he invests his role with dignity, and his sonorous tones manage the ornamental writing quite well. Sheila Armstrong is undoubtedly the strong-
est element here, particularly admirable in the radiant aria "Blest be the day." There is not
much differentiation in her three roles, but she realizes them all securely and pleasingly. The Second Harlot of Felicity Palmer avoids the sharp dramatic accents that would lend her
role the nastiness that is implied in it, but this
accords with the conductor's view of not overstating the drama of Part II and thereby
maintaining a mood of solemn dignity throughout.
The recorded sound is excellent; the wide
deployment of the double chorus in the open-
ing scene and the orchestral outburst at the
opening of Part II, with its brilliant trumpet
writing, are but two of many triumphant ef-
fects. The SQ quadraphonic mode offers a tasteful, basically ambiant-type recording,
with some spread of choral -orchestral forces
toward the sides. Individual placement of the
soloists becomes more noticeable in four
channels, and the harpsichord, which is prop-
erly near the singers during recitatives, seems
in the opening orchestral music to be placed
differently-rather toward the right rear
speaker. The major advantage of the SQ,
however, is its greater openness of sound,
something which is natural -sounding rather
than dramatic and most apparent in direct
comparison with two -channel playback.
Vanguard's version is even more nearly
complete than RCA's. In any case, it offers
far more music than can be found in the pub-
lished Novello score. Handelians can rejoice
here in more than two and one-half hours of
Solomon, much of it magnificent and most of
it remarkably well performed.
G J
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128
- MACDOWELL: Second Modern Suite, Op.
14. Twelve Etudes, Op. 39: Book II, No. 8
Shadow Dance. Two Fantastic Pieces, Op. 17:
No. 2-Witches' Dance. Sea Pieces, Op. 55. Andrea Anderson Swem (piano). ORION ORS 75175 $6.98.
Performance: Good Recording: Good
The music of Edward MacDowell, once
hailed as the great hope of American classical
composition in the early years of this century,
has since suffered such serious reverses that
some of us listen to his florid, soaring piano
concertos only in secret, pretending, if ap-
prehended, that they are little-known works
by some forgotten German. And indeed, what
with his years of study in Stuttgart, Wiesba-
den, and Frankfurt, MacDowell wrote music
that bears more than a passing resemblance to
that of the German Romantic school. He him-
self, however, would point to his Scotch -Irish
ancestors and call himself a "Celtic voice."
Certainly he was a fine miniaturist, as his
Woodland Sketches attest, and it is in this
guise that he is presented on this recording.
The Second Modern Suite, written when
MacDowell was twenty-two, doesn't sound
the least bit modern now, a century after it
was written, but it does abound in attractive,
expertly fashioned short subjects in contrast-
ing tempos-a swift fugato, a reflectiverhap-
sodic, a graceful scherzino, and a sweet little
march, culminating in a phantasie tanz that
gets a little too tangled in its own ambitions.
From the twelve Etudes for the Development
of Technique and Style the pianist has chosen
the tricky Shadow Dance, and from Two Fan-
tastic Pieces a Witches' Dance that sounds
more like a romp for some woodland nymphs
than your standard witch on a broomstick
(and it turns out nymphs were just what the
composer had in mind). The Eight Sea Pieces,
however, are stiff and academic compared
with what this subject has evoked from the
French impressionists; MacDowell's waves
are fashioned of heavy cardboard, and, except
for a stretch below the surface in From the
Depths, his conventional harmonies grow
wearying long before the suite reaches port.
Pianist Andrea Anderson Swem tries hard to
keep the cargo afloat, but it sinks of its own
somber weight. She fares better with the light-
er works, tackling the tuneful material in a
clean, uncluttered style.
P.K.
STEREO REVIEW
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
MAHLER: Symphony No. 6, in A Minor
("Tragic"). Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Jascha Horenstein cond. Plus interview, "Jascha Horenstein Reminisces with Alan Blyth, March 9, 1971." NONESUCH HB73029 two discs $7.96.
Performance: Remarkable Recording: Superb location job
Unicorn Records, the British company that supplied this Horenstein taping of the Mahler Sixth Symphony to Nonesuch, is clearly intent on working up a complete Horenstein Mahler cycle for general release. 1 understand that a presentable taping of the Resurrection Symphony is the only stone missing for the eventual realization of this particular monument, and, to judge from what I have heard
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
MOZART: Flute Quartets: D Major (K. 285); G Major (K. 285a); C Major (K. 285b); A Major (K. 298). Michel Debost (flute); Trio a Cordes Francais. SERAPHIM S-60246 $3.98.
Performance: Elegant Recording: Very good
Mozart may have disliked the flute, but he
nevertheless created the most engaging (if
hardly the most profound) chamber music for
the instrument in the form of these four quar-
tets, of which there are no fewer than seven
current "integral" recordings (in addition to
numerous others of individual quartets). This
newest one takes a place very near the top of
the list: the playing is really elegant, and the
sound is and fine and naturally balanced. At
the very top, I would still place the perform-
ance by William Bennett and the Grumiaux
Trio on Philips 6500 034. With such high-lev-
el pleasure offered by Michel Debost and his
stylish players for only $3.98, however, one
may well question whether the difference is
worth twice that price; the Seraphim issue is a
distinguished one by any standards and a bar-
gain in the truest sense.
R.F.
JASCHA HORENSTEIN
A flair for the lyrical essence of Mahler
thus far, the project is well worth the effort of
all concerned. Horenstein -in common with
Bruno Walter in his prime-had a remarkable
flair for communicating the lyrical essence
of Mahler's musical language without in any
way diminishing the dramatic impact of its
rhetoric.
I confess a partiality to Leonard Bern -
stein's savagely urgent reading of the Tragic
Symphony, but Horenstein's 1966 Stockholm
public performance, despite a somewhat ten-
tative beginning, carries an even greater im-
pact with repeated hearing. Like Walter and
Furtwangler at their best, Horenstein is able
to sustain the essential lyrical impulse of the
music over a vast time span. The Andante
third movement is the most notable instance
of that here, but it is evident in the entire
performance.
The engineering staff of Sveriges Radio,
which did the taping on April 15 and 17 of
1966, deserves special plaudits, for the sound
is not only wide -range and of high excellence
in its stereo ambiance, but also preserves the
essential balances of the performance itself.
Certainly at the price of $7.96, this album rep-
resents a fine musical and sonic value, fur-
ther enhanced by a fascinating interview side,
in which Horenstein gives us fleeting personal
vignettes of such major musical figures as
Bartok, Webern, Carl Nielsen, Jangek, and
Richard Strauss.
D.H.
DECEMBER 1975
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
RAMEAU: Les Fetes d'Hamt, Ballet Music. Ursula Connors (soprano); Ambrosian Singers; English Chamber Orchestra, Raymond Leppard cond. ANGEL S-37105 $6.98.
Performance: Elegant Recording: Suave
Once released from Lully's classical operatic stranglehold, French audiences sought relief in divertissement and turned to the lighter genres of ballet-comedie and opera -ballet, in which nymphs and shepherds, gods and goddesses assembled to dance, sing, and play, troubled only by unrequited love and occasional cataclysms of nature. Thus, when a serious musical dramatist of Jean -Philippe Rameau's genius arrived, his native talents were thwarted by a capricious public who demanded light entertainment. Rameau composed four serious operas, but he had to earn a living and ultimately furnished Parisians with what they wanted. Fortunately he was capable of gallantry and wit. He was also one of the greatest dance composers of all times, being rivaled only by Tchaikovsky.
The plot of Les Fetes d'Hebe is typically slim, but the pastoral characters sing gracious airs and melting choruses, and, above all, they dance a plethora of dances ranging through moods of utmost tenderness to bumptious burlesque. Each dance is a miniature masterpiece upon which Rameau lavished his unique sense of rhythm and delicate orchestral detail.
Raymond Leppard, following Rameau's own example when he published Les Irides Gallantes, has taken the music out of its dramatic sequence and presented it in a purely musical one that is aimed at the listener who is unable to see the work staged. The results more than justify this arrangement. And Leppard understands dance music: the orchestra plays with a sprightly clarity, the tempos are convincing, and the mood of each dance is caught in its first bar. The choral sound is sumptuous, and the solo work with all of its ornaments is well done. Especially impressive is the use of notes inegales, which, instead of adding stiffness to performance as they often
(Continued on page 132)
129
New and Choice on
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RECORDINGS FOR THE CONNOISSEUR
MOZART: Mass in C Minor, K. 427 (The Great) Carole Bogard, Ann Murray, Robert Lewis, Michael Rippon; Amor Artis Chorale; Eng.
Chamber Orch./Johannes Somary, cond. VSD 71210
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(complete) Eng. Chamber Orch /Johannes Somary, cond.
VSD 71208/9 Quad VSQ 30049/50
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Works by Godard, Genin, Boehm, Gaubert
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BLOCH: America: An Epic Rhapsody
Symphony of the Air/Stokowski, cond.
SRV 346 SD
HARRIS: Folksong Symphony, 1940
American Festival Chorus and Orch./
Golschmann, cond.
SRV 347 SD
COPLAND: Lincoln Portrait (Charlton Heston, narr.) Quiet City, Our Town, Outdoor Overture Utah Symph. Orch./Abravanel, cond.
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suggested list price: Series: VSD $6.98: VSQ $7.98; SRV and SU $3.98 Vanguard Recording Society, Inc. 71 West 23rd Street, New York, N.Y. 10010
CIRCLE NO. 60 ON READER SERVICE CARD
"Ifyou cantplay the 1Thatein like that, you shouldnt play it."
OSEF HOFMANN gave his last faculty recit-
al at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia on April 7, 1938, and a recording of that recital is now available from the International Piano Archives. It revived a host of memories for me, memories refreshed by rereading my own review of the recital in the next day's Evening Bulletin that Gregor Benko and Terry McNeill have reprinted in the booklet accompanying the IPA two -disc set.
Listening to this music brings back even
more vivid memories. Listening, especially, to the willful, stormy, impetuous, impulsive,
reckless and yet sensitive, eloquent, endlessly inventive and imaginative, utterly convinced -and, for me, utterly convincing-account of Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata, I recall a
poser-an "ego trip," in modern parlance_ Subordination of the mere performer's self to
the wishes of the hallowed composer as docu-
mented in the written notes has been the watchword. There might be something to be said for such a dogma were notation an ade-
quate or reliable means of documenting what a composer heard in his mind's ear. It is not. Notation can tell precisely only what should
be played. It cannot tell precisely how. But the view of notation as holy writ has
prevailed, and so pianists-and other instrumentalists and singers, too - apprehensive of critical fire and brimstone, have tended to nar-
row rather than widen their view of what may
legitimately be inferred from those black dots on five -line staves that constitute a score. The
The Incomparable
Pianism of Josef Hofmann
press conference with Sergei Rachmaninoff backstage at Philadelphia's Academy of Mu-
sic at about the same time. "Who," one of us asked Rachmaninoff, "do
you reckon to be the great pianists of today?"
Rachmaninoff mulled this over for a minute
or two, then said with his characteristic solemnity: "Well, there's Josef Hofmann . . . and me."
He wasn't boasting. Nor was he joking. There were then, as there are now, many fine
pianists around, some of them probably Hofmann's and Rachmaninoff's equals even as dazzling technicians. But they lacked something that Hofmann and Rachmaninoff had. Rachmaninoff knew it. So, I suspect, did Hofmann. Call it glamour, personality, charis-
ma . . . machismo? After hearing this recital on these superbly restored and edited discs, I
like the last best. They were their own men, Hofmann and
Rachmaninoff, above concern for critical Beckmessers peering over their shoulders to monitor their violations of, or deviations from, this or that injunction in the printed score. They had studied the score. They had reached their own conclusions. And that was
that. Received opinion for the past thirty years
or more has been opposed to this sort of vivid, confident, distinctive, assertive individuality, now fashionably held to be something cultivated at the expense of the defenseless corn -
result has been a melancholy conformity. No two pianists will play the same piece in precisely the same way. We can at least thank the inadequacy of notation for that. But they sound a lot less different from one another than they did when Hofmann and Rachmaninoff stalked the concert and recital halls, unregenerately revealing to us what those notes revealed to them.
THERE are wonderfully instructive examples of all this here in Hofmann's playing of the Waldstein and of six movements of Schumann's Kreisleriana -he left out Nos. 3 and 4 because, as he told his manager, Richard Copley, "they are less interesting and the whole becomes too long and tiresome." There is a
lot of repetition in both works, and Hof-
mann's playing is a constant revelation of how much variation, some of it subtle, some not so subtle, the same sequence of printed notes can yield. The accompanying booklet, by the way, includes an excellent analysis by Ezra Rachlin, a Hofmann pupil, of just what he does, measure by measure, throughout the Waldstein.
Not everything he did in this recital will be
to everyone's taste, any more than it was then. For all the immaculate, delicate tracery
of the ornamentation in the Chopin pieces, the eloquence in the shaping of a melodic line in the Chopin and the Schumann, the shrewdly and boldly fashioned contrasts, and the ingen-
ious and daring calculation of rubato and agogics in everything he played that night,
some tempos seem self-indulgently headlong,
some climactic chords are simply thwacked,
and in the final group of show pieces there are
too many episodes in which Hofmann is just beating the hell out of the piano-or out of the pieces, which is pretty much what they
deserved.
Had he played the Waldstein on any instrument available to Beethoven when he com-
posed it (1804), he would have been left with nothing but a pitiful heap of kindling wood and piano wire. Still, I'm inclined to agree with harpsichordist Fernando Valenti who, when I played this recording for him, said: "If you can't play the Waldstein like that, you shouldn't play it at all."
Hofmann would not have cared whether it was to everyone's taste or not. I heard him often, first as a student at the Curtis Institute
under his directorship, later as a fledgling Philadelphia critic, and I sometimes sensed a bit
of Peck's Bad Boy about him, a tendency to epater le bourgeois. Certainly he relished the gasp of astonishment (inaudible here) that rose from an audience crawling with accomplished pianists when he played the Minute Waltz as an encore after the Chopin group-
and took the repeat in thirds. And it was typical of Hofmann that with a
doting audience clamoring for encores he should have put an end to matters by slamming into The Star-Spangled Banner. (It is not included here.) The audience, taken by surprise, and not knowing quite what was up, shuffled to its feet. Hofmann thereupon broke off, closed the piano with a sly grin, and was
gone.
ICOULD have wished that the accompany-
ing booklet had dealt more with Hofmann's
career as a pianist and less with his and Mary
Curtis Bok's administration of the Curtis In-
stitute. But that, too, is a fascinating story,
here very well told. It includes snapshots of
Mary Bok's fortieth birthday party at the Bok
summer home in Camden, Maine, in 1916.
The theme of the party was "Mary's Little
Lamb," with Edward Bok as the lamb and
other guests and members of the household as
Mary's Little Children. Among the latter
were Hofmann and Leopold Stokowski. The
shot of Hofmann as a smirking little brat, his
shoulder affectionately encircled by the arm
of a Stokowski in drag, is almost worth the
price of the set.
- Henry Peasants
JOSEF HOFMANN: Casimir Hall Recital. Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 21, in C Major,
Op. 53 ("Waldstein"). Schumann: Kreisleriana, Op. 16. Chopin: Polonaise in E -flat Minor, Op. 26, No. 2; Nocturne in B Major, Op. 9, No. 3; Waltz in E -flat Major, Op. 18; Ballade in F Minor, Op. 52; Waltz in D -flat Major, Op. 64, No. 1 ("Minute"). SchubertGodowski: Moment Musical, Op. 94, No. 3.
Stojowski: Caprice Oriental. Hofmann: Kalei-
daskop; Penguine. INTERNATIONAL PIANO
ARCHIVES ID IPA 5007/8 two discs $15.00 (from International Piano Archives, 215 West 91st Street, New York, N.Y. 10024).
130
STEREO REVIEW
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132
do, enhance the typically French lilt and grace SOWANDE: Music from African Suite for
of this music. Exquisite.
S.L.String Orchestra (see STILL)
ROUSSEL: Suite in F, Op. 33 (see DUTILLEUX)
SAINT-SAENS: Piano Music; Music for Violin and Orchestra (see Choosing Sides, page
114)
SCHUBERT: Lieder (see Best of the Month, page 81)
SCHUMANN: Frauenliebe and Leben, Op. 42 (see Best of the Month, page 81)
SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54 (see GRIEG)
SCHUMANN: String Quartet No. 3, in A Major, Op. 4I, No. 3 (see SIBELIUS)
SIBELIUS: String Quartet in D Minor, Op. 56 ("Voces Intimae"). SCHUMANN: String Quartet No. 3, in A Major, Op. 41, No. 3. Voces Intimae Quartet. Bis LP -10 $7.98.
Performance: Intensely lyrical Recording: Warm, over -reverberant
Bis Records, a recently established Swedish based label, is one of several one-man specialty recording operations in Scandinavia with a well -deserved reputation for high -quality
craftsmanship in production and fascinating out-of-the-way repertoire. The "one man" in this instance is Robert von Bahr, thirty -twoyear -old ex -lawyer turned flutist, recording engineer, producer, and budding conductor. As the Bis catalog presently stands, contemporary Swedish and Finnish music figures largely in its repertoire.
Helsinki's Voces Intimae Quartet is an outstanding chamber ensemble that has won major competition awards both in Finland and at Liege in 1972. On this disc it is the expansively lyrical reading of the most appealing of the three Schumann string quartets, Op. 41, No. 3, that is the major achievement. It contrasts strikingly with the no less effective but altogether more taut and nervously energetic reading of the same music by the Juilliard Quartet for Columbia.
One would have expected the lone masterpiece for string quartet by Jean Sibelius to be the real prize here, but there have been a number of competitive discs-they are not presently available-that are superior in terms of interpretation and execution. The recently deleted Turnabout recording (34091) by the Copenhagen Quartet is still tops in my book for combined finesse and cohesion, and Columbia's 1957 mono recording by the Budapest Quartet is right alongside it. Although the Voces Intimae's interpretation is excellent, the ensemble does not achieve, in this recording at least, the degree of suppleness and refinement displayed by the Copenhagen and the Budapest. My impression may be colored to some extent by the somewhat over -reverberant acoustic surround of Wik Castle in Sweden where the recording was made a year ago.
Regardless of my reservations concerning this particular disc, I suggest that those interested in out-of-the-way concert repertoire keep an eye on the Bis label in whatever stores it turns up. National distribution has been arranged through HNH Distributors Limited, P.O. Box 222, Evanston, Illinois
60204.
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
STILL: Sandji. SOWANDE: Music from African Suite for String Orchestra. WALKER:
Lyric for Strings. Morgan State College Choir (in Still); London Symphony Orches-
tra, Paul Freeman cond. COLUMBIA M 33433 $6.98.
Performance: Magical Recording: Excellent
What with the attention being granted him in
Turnabout's "Contemporary Composer in the
U.S.A." project and in Columbia's eight -disc
"Black Composer Series" (of which this re-
cording is Volume 7) as well as elsewhere,
the "serious" black symphonic writer in this
country is finally getting some of the attention
he deserves-even though one wishes this
music didn't always have to be presented in
such segregated form. William Grant Still in
particular is at last emerging as something
more than a name in music encyclopedias.
His Darker America and From the Black Belt
get good treatment from Paul Freeman on
Turnabout, and now Mr. Freeman does even
better justice to another work by the "Dean of
Afro-American Composers" on Columbia.
This is the music for a choral ballet called
Sandji, which dates back to 1931. After read-
ing the scenario for Sandji- feasting tribes-
men, chieftain double-crossed by a faithless
wife, and so on- I confess I expected kitsch.
But the music transcends the story in every
way. There may not be a single note of au-
thentic African music in it, yet this colorful
score chants and surges persuasively to its
muscular denouement, and it is ravishingly
sung and played here.
If Mr. Still's ballet has power even though it
lacks authenticity, the African Suite by Fela
Sowande has both qualities. Sowande, now
seventy, was a Nigerian tribal chief when as a
young man he left his post to involve himself
in the musical life of London. He wrote the
African Suite for String Orchestra in the Thir-
ties for a special broadcast from London to
West Africa, and a vivid, scintillating piece it
is. Three sections are played here-the wide-
awake Joyful Day, the evocative Nostalgia,
and A kinla, based on a popular Nigerian tune,
on which a series of sprightly changes are
rung. I wish the whole suite had been includ-
ed, but the performance of these excerpts is
exemplary.
George Walker, the youngest of the three
composers represented (he's fifty-three),
started out as a neo-Romantic but later ven-
tured into more dangerous paths such as seri-
alism and pointillism. His Lyric for Strings,
written early in his career in memory of his
grandmother, is a gentle, moving, elegiac
work that mounts to a poignant climax-much
in the manner of Barber's Adagio for Strings.
The playing, once again, is impeccable. In all,
this is an absorbing concert, a record meriting
the acclaim already lavished on its predeces-
sors in this fine series.
P . K .
TOMAgEK: Eglogue No. 2, in F Major, op. 35
(see DUSSEK)
VOILISEK: Impromptu No. 4, in A Major (see DUSSEK)
WAGNER: Die Walkiire: The Ride of the Valkyries; Wotan's Farewell; Magic Fire Mu -
STEREO REVIEW
sic. Parsifal: Prelude. Die Meistersinger: Overture. Das Rheingold: Entrance of the Gods into Valhalla. Anthony Newman (organ).
COLUMBIA M 33268 $6.98.
Performance: A lollapalooza! Recording: Roof -raising!
"Organ Orgy -A Wagner Sound Spectacular" is the title of this latest Anthony Newman venture, and whether one rejects the whole enterprise as damnfoolishness or accepts it as a jeu d'espirit, the record is a brilliant documentation of the genre of organ transcription. Four of the five Wagner transcriptions here were done at the turn of the century by Edwin Henry Lemare (1865,1934), who was renowned first in his native England and from 1900 on throughout the world, especially here in the United States where he finally settled for good. The abridged Parsifal Prelude, the only arrangement here that Lemare did not do, is the least successful thing on the record. The Meistersinger Overture is, on the whole, the best and most convincing piece, almost a
tour de force. With the eight -thousand -plus pipes of the
organ of St. John the Divine Cathedral in New York at his disposal, plus three agile and brave assistants, Anthony Newman really has himself a ball. I doubt that the "state trumpets" at the Cathedral's west end have ever before gotten quite the workout they get here. Given the disposition of the seven sections of the organ at St. John's, I'm not quite sure how the microphones were set up, but I would guess that only multi -tracking and mixing afterward could have produced the results achieved here. Every sound and coloration of
which the instrument is capable seems to have been brought into play, including the cymbelstern, and when Mr. Newman cuts loose with
the whole works, as in The Ride of the Valkyries, you'd better be sure that your
speakers are in good shape, your amplifiers properly fused, and your neighbors tolerant. Whatever else this record is, it's a lease breaker and a sure-fire bet for the hi-fi sound buff.
D.H.
WALKER: Lyric for Strings (see STILL)
COLLECTION
10 + 2: 12 AMERICAN TEXT SOUND PIECES. Amirkhanian: Just; Heavy Aspira-
tions. Coolidge: Preface. Cage: 62 Mesostics Re Merce Cunningham. Giorno: Give It to Me, Baby. Gnazzo: The Population Explosion. Dodge: Speech Songs. Ashley: In Sara Mencken, Christ and Beethoven There Were Men and Women. Anderson: Torero Piece. Gysin: Come to Free the Words. O'Gallagher: Border Dissolve in Audiospace. Saroyan: crickets. 1750 ARCH 1752 $6.98.
Performance: Signifying nothing Recording: Excellent
In theory, there is no reason why "music
composed from speaking, not singing," should not make for an exciting experimental hour, and I removed this record, along with its copious accompanying notes, from its austere black -and -white wrappings in a spirit of happy anticipation. Alas, came the letdown. The experimenters, as so often happens, have let the trappings of the experiment run away with
them. Charles Amirkhanian and his friends
have the time of their lives repeating "mini,
bullpup and banjo" over and over on superim-
posed tape loops, but the effect is merely
numbing. Clark Coolidge is simply having his
revenge electronically on a radio announcer
who disparaged the music of John Cage. Mr.
Cage, in turn, pays "abstract homage" to dan-
cer Merce Cunningham; consisting mostly of
cries and shouts that the composer defines,
with misapplied elegance, as "vocal events."
John Giorno-to his own mysterious pur-
pose - offers the curious novelty of a four-
teen -year -old girl spouting pornography.
Charles Dodge cuts up perfectly good lines by
the poet Mark Strand and rearranges them
into a boring stereophonic collage. Robert
Ashley, a first-rate poet, descends to third-
rateness as he speaks through a synthesizer a
text taken from a book by John Barton Wolga-
mot made up of heroic names recited in an
unheroic progression. Beth Anderson says
she is creating the sound equivalent of a
"commercial, paint -by -numbers picture of a
toreador"; it comes out grunts and stutters.
Bryon Gysin reads words aloud as he chalks
them on a blackboard to "free" them, but they
still sound imprisoned to me. Only Liam
O'Gallagher redeems this disc with a virtuoso
stretch of superimposed phone calls to infor-
mation operators all across the border be-
tween the U.S. and Canada asking for the
telephone numbers of zoos. I don't know
what it all means, but at least the sequence
is entertaining. The repetition of words like
"cricket" and "bang" in the locked -in final
grooves of both overwrought sides of this cu-
rious disc is not.
P.K.
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CIRCLE NO. 19 ON READER SERVICE CARD
DECEMBER 1975
133
..2Yankee Doodle' another tune we 'stolefivm the British ..."
"Heroes of '76,' Marching to the Fight"-a Currier & Ives Centennial print
%Parade of American Marches
AMONG the happier events of the current Bicentennial celebrations are the recent
releases, by Columbia and University of
Michigan Records, of two unique collections that between them present a fascinating historical parade of American marches from the 1770's to the 1930's. Not all of them were originally American, but became so by usage or adoption. The University of Michigan recording, for example, begins with a stirring performance of The White Cockade, played by nine fifes with three snare drums and a
bass drum. Now, this was an eighteenth -cen-
tury tune of British origin, but when the Minutemen of Acton, Massachusetts, set out to
take part in the battle of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, it was the tune to which they marched. The Americans, after all, hadn't had much time to make up their own music. Yet at least one American composer,
William Billings of Boston, was already on the job. When the Revolution came, his hymn -
tune Chester, set to a suitably defiant text and with its sturdy rhythms reinforced by a martial wind band, became a favorite marching tune of the Continental Army. That too is in-
cluded in the Michigan recording, along with a
1799 version of Yankee Doodle-another tune we Americans "stole" from the British
and made our own. Here also is that favorite
of the young Republic, Hail Columbia, actual-
ly a patriotic song set to an earlier tune called The President's March in the 1790's.
After Wood -Up, a quickstep military march
of 1834, we reach the Civil War with an authentic selection from the South: General Lee's Grand March, more operatic than military in style, testifying to the increasing influence of Italian opera in our popular music.
Another march that salutes the South, though written by a New Englander, is Gate City (Atlanta), with its medley of Old Folks at
Home, Dixie, and Maryland, My Maryland. By this time the Michigan and the Columbia recordings have merged chronologically, both concentrating on the period from the 1870's to the 1920's when the march (and band music in general) enjoyed its heyday in
the U.S.A. By this time, too, both the bands and the
marches had acquired their more -or -less standard characteristics. Typically, as Rich-
ard Crawford writes in his excellent notes for
the University of Michigan record, "the band presents three basic melodic colors-treble brass (cornets and trumpets), treble woodwinds (clarinets and flutes), and tenor brass (trombones and euphoniums)-supported by
a firm bass and rhythm section (tubas and percussion) and a harmonically solid middle register (horns, saxophones)." The marches were usually structured with four themes, or strains, each repeated, but often only three strains were used, perhaps with brief transitional sections, as in Sousa's The Thunderer
and Liberty Bell. Both of these are included in the Columbia
recording, along with four other marches by
the great "March King": The Gallant Seventh, Semper Fidelis, El Capitan, and The Stars and Stripes Forever. This last, incidentally, is
taken at a tempo considerably faster than usual, but one which conductor Gunther Schuller asserts is "authentic." Sousa, he says, "was given to very brisk military tempos"- a tradition, he speculates, "related to the lively French 'quick step' marches of the
19th century."
Schuller, who conducts "The Incredible Columbia All -Star Band" with his usual flair, has given us a generous portion of the best Sousa marches. But we should be grate-
ful to him for going further afield in presenting "A Century of American Marches." For my part, I particularly applaud his initiative in bringing Charles Ives and Scott Joplin onto the scene, as well as Ives' favorite band piece,
the Second Connecticut Regiment March, composed in 1874 by D. W. Reeves, who had been a band director in the Union Army. Ives said that this was "as good a march as Sousa or Schubert ever wrote, if not better!" Ives himself is represented by two marches written in his early years, Intercollegiate March (probably composed in 1892) and Omega Lambda Chi (1895). The latter, composed while Ives was at Yale, refers to a fictitious fraternity invented by some sophomores in the 1870's. Although neither work is particularly memorable, as an Ives fan I am glad to find him represented in the kind of musical company he liked.
As for Scott Joplin, it was a brilliant thought to include his Combination March (1896), one
of two that he wrote (the other is March Majestic, 1902). The march was closely related to the dance, particularly the two-
step, and many ragtime pieces are designated in their subtitles as "March and Two -Step" (for example, Joplin's Cleopha and Antoinette). All these pieces were written for piano, and the Combination March was arranged for band by Schuller with very happy results. Concerning it, Schuller writes: "It is a perfect march with four contrasting themes, the last two of which are fascinatingly close
134
STEREO REVIEW
to the German/Austrian march style, a fact hard to explain in that Joplin, a black musician, was working at the time in the Midwest. . . ." But I don't find this so surprising; Joplin is said to have had lessons from a German musician, and even though this may not be fully corroborated, the Midwest was the principal stronghold of German music and musicians in the late nineteenth century.
The Columbia album takes its title, "Foot lifters," from a march called The Footlifter, by Henry Fillmore (1881-1956), one of the most prolific and prominent march composers of his time. I think Schuller is right when he remarks that this march "will be a delightful surprise to most listeners"-but I would say the same for a number of the selections in both albums. Fillmore, by the way, is the only composer besides Sousa who is represented in both the Michigan and the Columbia records. But the extent to which each album complements the other is indicated by the fact that only one selection is duplicated Sousa's El Capitan.
OUSA, Joplin, and Ives (and perhaps Billings) are probably the only names to be readily recognized by those who are not specialists or band -music buffs. But there are marches that are much better known and remembered than their composers. A case in point is Edwin E. Bagley's National Emblem (1906), with its first strain bringing in The Star Spangled Banner as a counter -melody. Famous or obscure, known or unknown as the composers may be, the marches appear to have an anonymous existence of their own in the sense that they are a living part of America's musical heritage: music for the masses that appeals to all classes. These albums offer performances that are historically authentic, widely representative, and thoroughly enjoyable.
-Gilbert Chase
200 YEARS OF AMERICAN MARCHES. Trad.: The Roving Sailor; The White Cockade; The Rose Tree; Yankee Doodle; The World Turned Upside Down. Billings: Chester. Phile: Hail, Columbia. Holloway: Wood Up Quick -Step. Schreiner: General Lee's Grand March. Grafulla/Reeves: Washington Grays. Weldon: Gate City. Farrar: Bombast°. Klohr: The Billboard. Fillmore: Americans We. Sousa: El Capitan. Chambers: The Boys of the Old Brigade. King: Hosts of Freedom. Huffer: Black Jack. Panella: On the Square. Bagley: National Emblem. Belsterling: March of the Steel Men. University of Michigan School of Music Winds and Percussion, Clifford P. Lillya cond. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN RECORDS SM 0002 $6.98 (plus 500 handling charge from the University of Michigan School of Music, Ann Arbor, Mich. 48105).
FOOTLIFTERS: A CENTURY OF AMERICAN MARCHES. Fillmore: The Footlifter. Sousa: Gallant Seventh; Server Fidelis; The Liberty Bell; The Thunderer; El Capitan; The Stars and Stripes Forever. Reeves: Second Connecticut Regiment March. Ives: March Intercollegiate; Omega Lambda Chi. Huffine: Them Basses. Joplin: Combination March. Alford: Purple Carnival. Evans: Symphonia.
COLUMBIA M 33513 $6.98, EIMQ 33513 $7.98. © MT 33513 $7.98.
DECEMBER 1975
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DON'T PAY the high mail order prices. Thieves Warehouse of Sarasota. 6564 Gateway Avenue. Sarasota. Florida 33581
BUILD YOUR OWN SPEAKERS All
SAVE UP TO 50%
You Can assemble your own nign quaSly, mum -element stereo speakers in a few hews and Says up 10 half the EOM of comparable speakers send for ow tree
32 -page catalog of speaker krts, raw speakers and accessohes
SPEAKERLAS Dept. SR3, 5500 -35th N.E. Seattle, WA 98105
1-B00-428-7736
STEREO NEEDLES and CARTRIDGES -ADC. Audio Technica, 138 O. Empire. Grado. Micro Acoustics. Pickering. Ortofon, Shure. Sonus, Stanton. Supex. BSR. G.E., RCA. Sony. Panasonic and others. For FREE CATALOG. write: NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK. INC.. P.O Box 17436. Washington. D. C. 20041.
LOW NOISE STEREO PREAMPLIFIER. Model SP5200. New! In limited production. Ask your dealer or contact Burwen Laboratories. Dept. 12. 209 Middlesex Turnpike. Burlington. Massachusetts 01803. Tel. (617) 273-1488.
RMAD has rock -bottom warehouse discount prices on all brand name audio gear! Write for same -day quote. free catalog. Rocky Mountain Audio Discount. 2055 South Valentia. Denver. Colorado 80231.
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DON'T PAY the high mail order prices. Thieves Warehouse
of Pensacola. 3731 Navy Boulevard. Pensacola. Florida
32507.
CUEING DEVICE for AR and others. Precision machined. Silicone damped. American made. $16.00 postpaid. Lyre lift. 582 Franklin. Cambridge. Mass. 02139.
6-14 DO NOISE REDUCTION. Burwen DNF1201 works on any program source without pre -encoding. without changing tonal quality of program material. Re quest information and dealer directory. Burwen Laboratories, Dept. 12, 209 Middlesex Turnpike. Burlington, Massachusetts 01803. Tel. (6171 273-1488.
DON'T PAY the high mail order prices. Thieves Warehouse of Atlanta. 3164 Peachtree Road. N.E.. Atlanta. Georgia
30303.
SAVE 70% or more: eight detailed, tested speaker enclosure designs; includes transmission line. send $2.50. Cobrasound, Box 1011, Madison. Wisconsin 53701.
DON'T PAY the high mail order prices. Thieves Warehouse of Atlanta. 1030-3 Cherokee Road. Smyrna. Georgia 30080.
DON'T PAY the high mail order prices. Thieves Warehouse of Atlanta. 4166 Buford Highway, N.E.. Atlanta. Georgia 30345.
DON'T PAY the high mail order prices. Thieves Warehouse of Atlanta, North Lake Mall. 4800 Briar Cliff Road. Atlanta. Georgia 30345.
DON'T PAY the high mail order prices Thieves Warehouse of North Tampa, 1441 East Fletcher Avenue. Tampa, Florida 33612.
DON'T PAY the high mail order prices. Thieves Warehouse of Atlanta. 2769 Lakewood Avenue, S.W.. Atlanta, Georgia 30315.
DON'T PAY the high mail order prices. Thieves Warehouse of Montgomery. 3386 Norman Bridge Road, Montgomery. Alabama 36105.
DON'T PAY the high mail order prices. Thieves Warehouse of Ft. Walton Beach. 652-D Beal Park -way, N.W.. Ft. Walton Beach. Florida 32548.
CROSSOVERS -Custom designed: fully tested
guaranteed quality. Free Brochure. Write: Crossovers. Box 458. Placentia, CA 92670.
LOWEST PRICES on many brands of stereo components - 4 day delivery. write for same day quotes. University Stereo Cooperative. 57 E. Ridgewood Avenue. Ridgewood. N.J. 07450.
DON'T PAY the high mail order prices. Thieves Warehouse of Mobile. 1770 Beltline Highway, Mobile, Alabama 36609
FREQUENCY EXTENDER -EQUALIZER Model EQ3200 New! In limited production. Ask your dealer or contact Burwen Laboratories. Dept. 12, 209 Middlesex Turnpike. Burlington. Massachusetts 01803. Tel. (617) 273-1488.
DYNACO. IAD. Lowest Prices. Underground Hi-Fi Sales. 324 Broadwater Road, Arnold. MD 21012. (301) 647-0919
136
Professional Laboratory Silicone Damped Tone Arm
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Jewelled Unipiv01 Inchon below .005 gm. Effectrve mass 150 gm VIE 0 3 gm Bias Control Stylus/pivot 224 mm Optimum performance with ultra high or low compliance cartrldges weighing 3-10 gm. Viscous Dampong means better tracking, rich lull bass. dramatically improved Stereo ;Rage with a tapelike consistency. realistic open spacious sound. Reduced record wear essential for perfect CD 4 and matna quadraphony without listening fatigue $89 inclusive Ail Mail Leaflet SI refund on purchase.
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HIGH QUALITY Vacuum Tube replacements for all Hi-Fi equipment. Example: Original KT -88 English Tubes, singles and matched pairs; 6CA7/EL34's, 12AX7's other types in low noise. Special prices on request. Temtron, 138-69 Francis Lewis Blvd., Rosedale, N.Y. 11422. (212) 978-5896.
AUDIO COMPONENTS at guaranteed lowest prices. Specializing in PIONEER. SANSUI, DUAL, MARANTZ. and BIC. Write for catalog on over 60 brands, including colcr televisions. Discount Sound, P.O. Box 6346, Washington, D.C. 20015. 1301) 770-6550.
THIS IS A FANTASTIC AD because it removes one more scavenger hunt for HI -Fl STEREO COMPONENTS and MATCHED SYSTEMS. Write for FREE CATALOG and save. PIONEER. KENWOOD, MARANTZ. JBL. DUAL and more. Write or call for price quotes on separate components. STEREOTOWN-DAVENPORT. Dept. S. 616 W. 35th St.. Davenport, Iowa 52803. Telephone: (319) 386-3334.
FOR SALE
FOR A NEW AUDIO EXPERIENCE. learn to control your brainwaves. Aquarius Electronics. Box 96ZS. Albion. CA
95410.
RECORDS
SHOW ALBUMS. Rare. Out -of -Print LP's. 52 pg. list. 50 cents. Broadway/Hollywood Recordings. Georgetown. Conn. 06829.
-HARD to Get" records -all speeds. Record Exchange. 842 Seventh Avenue, New York, N.V. 10019. PROTECT your LP'S-Poly sleeves for jackets 8 cents. Round Bottom Poly Inner sleeves 6 cents: Poly lined paper 15 cents: white jackets 35 cents. Postage 51.25. Record House, Kilburn, N.Y. 10931. THOUSANDS like new LP's and prerecorded tapes. Catalogue $1.50. Records, Hillburn. New York 10931.
COLLECTORS Soundtracks. Mint. List 25 cents. Jemm's. P.O. Box 157, Glenview, III. 60025. SOUNDTRACK RECORD ALBUMS -Mail Auction -Free List. Whalon. 2321D Hill. Redondo Beach. Calif. 90278.
OLDIES. 45rpm. Free Catalog. Corny's Record Shop. Box 166HL. Mason. Ohio 45040. SOUNDTRACKS)OC. personalities --Free Newsletter. RTSR. 3700 Plaza Drive. Bldg. F/211. Santa Ana. California 92704.
SOUNDTRACK collection -Lowest Prices. List: 50 cents. Box 715. Florissant, Mo. 63033. QUADRAPHONIC RECORDS AND TAPES -World's
largest selection - all labels, over 1000 titles - at
discount prices! For your free illustrated quad catalog. write: SOUND CONCEPTS. 2713 West Radan, Dept. A-12. Peoria. Illinois 61604.
FREE RECORD COLLECTION -Reviewers wanted. Each month we ship you new record releases to rate. Anyone can qualify. All you pay is postage. You pay nothing for the records. Applicants accepted on first come basis. Write: Stereo Research. 6162 Washington Circle. Milwaukee. Wisconsin 53213. NEW SOURCE. Cutout, Elusive LP's, Classical, Some Jazz. Free Lists. Lightfoot Collection. Box 554. Greenport. N.Y. 11944.
FREE! AMERICA'S LARGEST CLASSICAL CATALOG. Over 2.000 New Stereo Recordings. Renaissance. Medieval. Baroque, Classical. Romantic. Modern Music. Highest quality! Budget Label prices! Available only by mail. MUSICAL HERITAGE SOCIETY. Box 932ST. New York, N.Y. 10023. CLASSICAL imports for discriminating collectors. Many exclusives. Free bulletin. Records International. 2054 N Ivar, Los Angeles, CA 90068. "HARD TO GET" Soundtrack, Show, Personality. Jazz. LP's. Free List. Davidson, 6114 Gist, Baltimore, MD 21215.
CREME de la Creme Records, Box 1042, Edison, New Jersey 08817 offers a distinguished collection for classical audiophiles: a basic repertoire of 170 critically acclaimed orchestral works on the best labels. Write for complete information.
STEREO REVIEW
FREE CATALOGS --20,000 COMPLETE Sound -Tracks 12' LP. ARG. 341 Cooper Station. NYC 10003.
ESTATE RECORD COLLECTION For Sale. 78's. 455. 331/3's. Contact Jett. 4916 Starmount Dr.. Greensboro. N.0 27410.
SOUNDTRACKS, Original Cast and Personality Albums. 2,000 oldies list, $2.00 refundable. Gurley, Box 472-A, Princeton, N.C. 27569.
TAPE AND RECORDERS
SCOTCH RECORDING TAPE. lowest prices. TAPE CENTER. Box 4305. Washington. D C 20012.
RENT 4 -track open reel tapes --all major labels --3.000 different --free brochure. Stereo-Parti. 55 St. James Drive. Santa Rosa. California 95401 THRIFTIEST "Live- -Operatic. Symphonic -Tapes 8 Cassettes. P 0 Box 1101. Woodhaven. New York 11421.
OPERA TAPES -Open Reel and Cassettes -Historical performances of past 40 years. Unbelievable treasures and rarities. Also LP records. Ed Rosen. 66-33 Saunders St.. Rego Park. N Y 11374. EVERYTHING ON OPEN REEL! Pre-recorded classicalipopular tapes. Latest releases. Dolby. Quad. 96 -page catalogue St. Barclay -Crocker. Room 857 S. 11 Broadway, NYC 10004. SCOTCH new low noise tape 10-1i2- metal 3600'. 5 fo---r $35.00. Reels. POB 88338. Dunwoody. GA 30338.
GOLDEN AGE RADIO --your best source for radio tapes. Box 25215-T. Portland. Oregon 97225.
OLD RADIO PROGRAMS on tape. Thousands available. Six hours. 58.00. Catalogue. 50 cents. Nostalgic Radio. Box 29-B. Peoria. IL 61601. 1930-1962 RADIO PROGRAMS Reels. $1.00 hour, Cassettes. S2 00 hour! Mammoth Catalog. $1.25. AM Treasures. Box 192J. Babylon. New York 11702.
YESTERDAY'S RADIO PROGRAMS on tape. Catalog $1.00 refundable first order. Adventures, 1301 N Park Ave.. Inglewood. Calif. 90302.
OPEN REELS Entire Ampex library and more. Major credit cards accepted. 1975 Catalog. $1 refundable first order. Ampex. Dept. C103, P.O.Box 178. Elk Grove. III. 60007
RARE OPERA. symphonic music on tape. American. European broadcasts. Live Tapes. Historic performances. Free catalogue. Underhill. Bellport. N.Y 11713.
CASSETTES
Plain white cassette labels. Norelco cassette cleaners,
famous brand cassettes. Send for open reel and cassette
discount catalog.
1-9 10-99 100 100010M
Cassette Labels
.02 .015 .01.006
Norelco Cassette Cleaner .65 .60 .55 .50 .45
Scotch Cassette SC9OHE 2.72 2.55 2.44
*Buusy
9011-1,E, pet,oIt freee
Postage
We
Zone
Minimum Order $5.00
OPEN REEL STEREO TAPE BUYERS! At Last! An open reel catalog. including titles, songs, etc. of 95 long play, 2-3 hour albums by American Airlines or Ampex 4 -track stereo tapes. Send $1.00 - and we will also mail you a 140 -page Harrison Stereo Tape Guide - so you'll get both for $1.00 - and this $1.00 is refundable on your first $10.00 purchase of open reel stereo tapes at our 30% discount.
We've Got the "Spirit" The Prices And The Address To Prove it
Saxitone's Bicentennial Tape Shoppe
1716 Columbia Road. N W Washington. D.C. 20009
YESTERYEAR'S RADIO PROGRAMS. Giant Catalog listing thousands. $1.00 (refundable). Ayers, Box 96V. Newton Junction. N.H 03859. TDK. BASF. Memorex, Maxell, cassettes. reels. 8 -tracks. Lowest prices. new guaranteed. S&S Audio, P 0 Box 56039. Harwood Heights. III 60656. SCOTCH -- TDK - MAXELL MEMOREX -- CAPITOL - AMPEX tape. Lowest Prices! SAP Enterprises. Box 101B. Elk Grove Village, III. 60007. RADIO SHOWS. Jazz. Big Bands, Personalities on tape. Catalog $1.00. Bonus Reels. Radio Reruns. Box 724 -SR. Redmond, Wash. 98052.
TUBES
TV and Radio Tubes 36 cents. Free 48 page color catalog, Cornell. 4215-H University. San Diego. California 92105.
PLANS AND KITS
EXCLUSIVE U.S. Made, CBS Licensed SO Decoder Kit. Full logic, wave matching and/or variable blend. SO -1 (fixed blend), $40.00. SQ-3 (variable blend), $55.00. Knobs, cases not supplied. Regulated power supply available only with the decoder, $5.00. Postpaid USA, Canada. Information available. Photolume Corporation, Dept. S-125, 118 East 28 Street. New York, N.Y. 10016.
DECEMBER 1975
INSTRUCTION
LEARN Electronics Organ Servicing at home. All makes, including transistors. Experimental kit -trouble -shooting. Accredited NHSC. Free Booklet. Niles Bryant School. 3631 Stockton. Dept. A. Sacramento, Calif. 95820. DEGREE IN ELECTRONICS through correspondence. Free catalog. Grantham. 2000 Stoner Avenue. Los Angeles. California 90025.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
UP TO 60% DISCOUNT. Name brand instruments Catalog. Freeport Music. 455Q. Route 110. Melville. N.Y.11746.
WANTED
QUICKSILVER. Platinum. Silver, Golc. Ores Analyzed Free Circular. Mercury Terminal. Norwood, Mass. 02062. WANTED ALC0101, AEOL1528, COL17139, ML2169, COLUML7071, C.HALLC7, LIFE7/8, MIA 116, NMQR1112, NMCDR1412, NMOR1 612, NR1 305, PH1 839322, RCAVLSC3154, SPAS, ST. Age C-3, VRS468, WCFM LP -1, YADDO 1.2. COLE, 182 Townhouse, Briarcrest Gardens, Hershey, PA 17033. NEED Rel Signal Meter Service Manual E. Sherry. 6538 Cermak. Berwyn, III. 60402.
HYPNOTISM
FREE Hypnotism. Self -Hypnosis, Sleep Learning Catalog' Drawer H40C.Ruidoso, New Mexico 88345. SLEEP LEARNING. Hypnotic Method. 92% effective Details free. ASR Foundation, Box 23429 EG. Fort Lauderdale. Florida 33307. AMAZING self-hypnosis record releases fantastic mental power. Instant results! Free trial. Write. Forum (AA12). 333 North Michigan. Chicago 60601.
RUBBER STAMPS
RUBBER address stamps. Free catalog. 45 type styles. Jackson s. Dept. K. Brownsville Rd.. Mt. Vernon. III. 62864.
BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
I MADE $40,300.00 Year by mailorder! Helped others make money! Free Proof. Torrey. Box 318 -NN. Ypsilanti, Michigan 48197. MAILORDER MILLIONAIRE helps beginners make $500 weekly. Free report reveals secret plan! Executive (1K12) 333 North Michigan. Chicago 60601. HI-FI ENTHUSIASTS WANTED!! Earn more than just spare money in your spare time. We need campus representatives to sell name brand stereo components at discount prices in your area. High commission, no investment required. Serious inquiries only, please. Contact: Alan Weisberg. K8 L Sound Services Co.. 75 No. Beacon St., Watertown. Mass. 02172. (617) 787-4073. FREE BOOK "2042 unique proven enterprises." Work Home! Haying -B. Carlsbad. CA 92008. GET RICH with Secret Law that smashes debts and brings you $500 to $5 Million cash. Free report! Credit 4K12. 333 North Michigan. Chicago 60601. DO SIMPLE ADDRESSING -Mailing. Receive $12.95 orders. Keep $8.00 profit. Details -Rush stamped envelope. Distributors Box 9-ZD. East Rockaway, N.Y. 11518. OIL LEASES Available on federal property. U.S. citizens age 21 or aver eligible. Public drawings held monthly by Department of Interior. Send $1.00 for details. American Oil Lease Co.. Box 874, Milwaukee. Wis. 53201. DISCOTHEQUES! Complete Report. Photos. Do's. Don'ts. Bookings. Equipment. etc.. $5.00. "Dynamic Uno." Box 8116. Corpus Christi, Texas 78412. $100 WEEKLY POSSIBLE! Clipping newspaper items. Stuff / address envelopes. Information - send stamped envelope. Income Opportunities. Box 721 - ZD. Lynbrook. N.Y. 11563. STEREO Representatives Needed!! Lowest Price List Buying!! Over 80 Brands!! Krasco Stereo. 623 Campbell Ave.. West Haven, Conn. 06516.
MOVIE FILMS
16mm SOUND Features, Shorts. New, Used for Sale. Free Catalog. National Cinema, 333 W 57th St., N.Y. N Y 10019.
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
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AUSTRALIA --NEW ZEALAND WANT YOU!!! 50.000 Jobs!
Paid Transportation! Latest Information and Forms. 51.00.
Austco, Box 3623 -SR. Long Beach. California 90803.
OVERSEAS JOBS -Now Hiring, 103 Countries. All Occupations. High Pay. Free Transportation. Tax Benefits. Latest Computerized Reports -52.00 TRANSWORLD. International Airport, Box 90802 -SR. Los Angeles. California
90009.
EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
LEARN WHILE ASLEEP. Hypnotize, Strange catalog free. Autosuggestion, Box 24-ZD. Olympia. Washington 98501
SERVICES
ACADEMIC WRITING/RESEARCH Professional. Confidential. From $8.00 page. Prewritten research also: catalog $1.00. Research Concept. Box No. 4391. Washington. D C 20012 (202) 77"
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COMMERCIAL CLASSICAL RECORDINGS
ON -LOCATION RECORDING ANYWHERE IN THE U.S.
European Quality Custom & Commercial Record Production
4150 Mayfield Road
ADVENT RECORDS Cleveland. Ohio 44121 16i 381 9173
PUBLICATIONS
NEW Canadian magazine "ELECTRONICS WORKSHOP $5.00 yearly. Sample 51.00. Etcoew. Box 741. Montreal -A Canada.
SOUND ADVICE - Everything you always wanted to know about stereo components. Four issues - $9.00 ($12.50
foreign). Sound Advice, 225 Kearny, No. 2R, San Francisco. Calif 94108.
PERSONALS
MAKE FRIENDS WORLDWIDE through international correspondence. Illustrated brochure free. Hermes, Berlin 11. Box 110660/ZD. Germany.
MISCELLANEOUS
WINEMAKERS. Free illustrated catalog of yeasts, equipment. Semplex. Box 122760. Minneapolis. Minn 55412
FREE!
SPECIAL INTEREST
RECORD CATALOG
Spectacular sound! Stereo testing, Background music and sound effects, Special Interest Records available exclusively from Ziff -Davis. Send for your free Record Catalog Ziff -Davis Publishing Co.. Dept. 23, One Park Ave.. New York, N.Y. 10016
LEARN MORE ABOUT
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8 quarter credit course in Introductory Psychology
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Write STUDY PROGRAM, Dept. SR -1275 Rm. 715, One Park Avenue, N.Y., N.Y. 10016
137
*AUDIO BASICS (Hodges) Glossary of Technical Terms -15, Jan. 26 Glossary of Technical Terms -I6, Feb. 24 Glossary of Technical Terms -17, Mar. 22 Weighting, Apr. 18 Glossary of Technical Terms -18, May 30 Glossary of Technical Terms -19, Jun. 20 Glossary of Technical Terms -20, Jul. 22 Shopping for Speakers, Aug. 18 Glossary of Technical Terms -21, Sep. 26 Glossary of Technical Terms -22, Oct. 22 Schools for Sound, Nov. 23 Glossary of Technical Terms -23, Dec. 24
TECHNICAL TALK (Hirsch) FET Power Amplifiers, Jan. 29 More on Dolby FM, Feb. 31 The Power of Music, Mar. 27 How We Test Cassette Recorders, Apr. 23 More Thoughts on Power Requirements, May 37 Phono Tracking -angle Error, Jun. 24 Speaker Impedance Ratings, Jul. 26 Loudspeaker Power Requirements, Aug. 26 Damping Factor, L -Pads, and Speaker Response,
Sep. 32 Recorded Velocity, Oct. 26 The ABC's of A -B Testing, Nov. 26 The New IHF Tuner Standard, Dec. 28
'TAPE HORIZONS (Stark) Stray Magnetism, Jan. 124 Getting Organized, Feb. 28 Too Much of a Good Thing, Mar. 24 Polysaturated Tapes, Apr. 20 The Noise Nuisance, May 32 Hiss Sources, Jun. 22 How Hiss Happens, Jul. 24 Microphone Types, Aug. 24 The Best Tape Cassette, Sep. 28 Tape Backings, Oct. 25 Regular Maintenance, Nov. 24 Facts About Flutter, Dec. 26
*EQUIPMENT REVIEWS (Hirsch -Houck Laboratories)
Amplifiers and Preamplifiers Dynaco PAT -5 preamplifier, Sep. 34 Heath AA -1640 amplifier, May 42 Integral Systems Model 200 amplifier, Jan. 38 Kenwood 700C preamplifier and 700M amplifier,
Jun. 25 Marantz Model 3600 preamplifier, May 38 Pioneer SA -9900 amplifier, Aug. 27 Radford HD250 amplifier and HD22 preamplifier,
Mar. 28 SAE Mark IB preamplifier, Oct. 36
Cartridges Empire 4000D/III, Mar. 36 Micro/Acoustics QDC-le, Apr. 32 Ortofon VMS 20E, Feb. 36 Shure M95ED, Oct. 30 Stanton 68IEEE, May 40
Cassette Decks Concord CD -1000, Jul. 36 Dual Autoreverse, Dec. 36 Hitachi D-3500, Oct. 27 Nakamichi 500, Apr. 28 Uher CR 134, Nov. 42 Wollensak 4766, Aug. 31
Quadraphonic Equipment Akai GX-400DSS four -channel tape deck, Apr. 42 JVC 4VR-5426X four -channel AM/FM receiver,
Jun. 34 Koss Phase/2+2 Quadrafone four -channel head-
phones, Jul. 30 Pickering XUV/4500Q stereo/CD-4 cartridge, Aug.
30 Sansui QRX-7001 four -channel receiver, Apr. 38
Receivers, AM/Stereo FM Pilot 540, Dec. 30 Sherwood S-7110, Feb. 32 Sherwood S-7010, Sep. 40 Yamaha CR-800, Nov. 36
Speaker Systems Allison:One, Nov. 34 Creative Environments Model 100, Dec. 29
138
Design Acoustics D-4, Jan. 36 Lafayette Criterion 777, Jun. 28 Philips RH 532, Mar. 40 Rectilinear 5, Oct. 32 RTR HPR-12 Magnum, Jul. 27
Tape Recorders and Decks (Open -reel) Ferrograph "Super Seven," May 46 Revox A700, Jan. 30 Sony TC-756, Feb. 40
Tuners Sony ST -4950, Sep. 33 Yamaha CT -7000, Jan. 40
Turntables, Automatic and Manual B&O Beogram 4002, Nov. 27 B.I.C. 980, Dec. 34 Garrard Zero 100SB, Jul. 28 Hitachi PS -12, Mar. 39 Philips 209S -Electronic, Sep. 42 Tannoy/Micro TM55DD, Aug. 34 Technics Model SL -1300, Feb. 46
Other Equipment Burwen IIDNF 1201 Dynamic Noise Filter, Jun. 30
*EDITORIALLY SPEAKING (Anderson) Concert -hall Surrealism, Jan. 6 Animal, Vegetable, or Classical?, Feb. 6 Composer Charles Ives Enters History, Mar. 4 A Tale of (At Least) Two Cultures, Apr. 4 Who Cares?, May 4 Future Tense, Jun. 4 Classical Jocks, Jul. 4 We Are But Critics, Aug. 4 Counting Ears, Sep. 4 Cassette Progress, Oct. 6 Sins of the Critics, Nov. 6 Hearts and Heads, Dec. 6
GOING ON RECORD (Goodfriend) Left Ear, Right Ear, Jan. 52 Long After the Ball, Feb. 56 Cinderella Rockefella, Mar. 50 It's All Handel's Fault, Apr. 50 BWVWoOHobRSVPZ, May 54 Scooped, Jun. 44 Two Artists, Jul. 40 Passing the Baton, Aug. 41 Sleeping Beauties, Sep. 54 Modern Music: Where We Are, Oct. 43 Reality Revealed, Nov. 50 A Critical Education, Dec. 46
'THE SIMELS REPORT (Simels) Back to the Kitchen?, Jan. 50 Bowie: Three Ways, No Way, Feb. 52 Feeling Kinky, Mar. 48 Confessions of a Guess Who Fan, Apr. 48 The Real Janis: Just a Glimpse, May 50 Ramblin' On (Part Two), Jun. 42 The All-American Airship, Jul. 38 My Front Pages, Aug. 38 The Critic Recants, Sep. 46 Ramblin' On (Part Three), Oct. 40 Springsteen: Born to Sing, Nov. 48 Something in the Air, Dec. 42
0THE OPERA FILE (Livingstone) Brush Up Rossini, Jul. 44 My Summer Vacation, Aug. 42 Viva Diva!, Sep. 48 The Bolshoi: On Stage and on Disc, Oct. 44 Turn Your Radio On, Nov. 44 Opera in America, Dec. 44
'BASIC REPERTOIRE (Bookspan) Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, Dec. 48 Bizet's L'Arlisienne, Jun. 46 Falla's Nights in the Gardens of Spain, Jan. 55 Haydn's Symphony No. 100, Apr. 52 Kodaly's Hary Janos Suite, Feb. 59 Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream, May
56
Milhaud's La Creation du Monde, Jul. 46 Mozart's Clarinet Quintet, Oct. 46 Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1, Mar. 52 Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin, Nov. 54 Sibelius' Fiulandia, Aug. 44 Sibelius' Symphonies, Sep. 56
*CHOOSING SIDES (Kolodin) The Case of the Mysterious Program Notes, Jan. 100 Mozart: The Early Symphonies, Feb. 104 Auch Kleine Mendelssohn, Mar. 94 Last of the Great Russian Violinists, Apr. 96 A la Maniere de Ravel, May 92 Beethoven: Rare, Rarer, Rarest, Jun. 92 After -Dinner Mozart, Jul. 92 Aksel Schiatz (1906-1975), Aug. 92 Art Tatum Plain and Fancy, Sep. 104 The Budapest Godfather, Oct. 102 Everybody's Pictures, Nov. 124 Saint -Satins: The Happy Heart, Dec. 114
BEST OF THE MONTH
Classical Beach, Mrs. H. H. A.: Piano Music, Dec. 80 Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 31 and 32, Apr. 72
Beethoven: Romance No. 2, in F Major, Op. 50,
Feb. 83 Beethoven: Symphony No. 5, Dec. 79 Bellini: I Puritan, May 73 Brahms: Violin Concerto in D Major, Feb. 83 Dvotak: String Quartet in G Major, Jun. 69 Faure: Nocturnes; Theme and Variations, Jul. 69 Haydn: Mass No. 12 ("Harinoniemesse), Sep. 84 Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 74, No. 3, and Op. 76,
No. 3, Aug. 72 Lekeu: Violin Sonata in G Major, Jul. 70 Massenet: La Navarraise, Aug. 71 Mozart: Die EntflIhrung aus dem Serail; Der Schau-
spieldirektor, Feb. 82 Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 14-19, Apr. 71 Orff: Carmina Burana, May 74 Off: Der Mond, Oct. 71 Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 16, Mar. 69 Purcell: The Fairy Queen, Nov. 88 Schubert: Lieder, Dec. 81 Schumann: Frauenliebe und Leben, Op. 42, Dec. 81 Shostakoxich: Symphony No. 8, Jan. 75 Richard Strauss: Four Last Songs; Tod und Vet -
klarung; Operatic Excerpts, Mar. 70 Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1, Mar. 69 Vaughan Williams: Sir John in Love, Sep. 83 Verdi: I Masnadieri, Nov. 87 Vieuxtemps: Ballade et Polonaise, Op. 38, Jul. 70 Ysaj,e: Reve d'Enfant, Op. 14, Jul. 70
Ax, Emanuel: Piano Recital, Oct. 72 Baker, Janet: Haydn and Mozart Recital, Jun. 70 Segovia, Andres: My Favorite Spanish Encores,
Jan. 76 Swingle II: Madrigals, Jan. 77
Popular Baez, Joan: Diamonds & Rust, Sep. 85 Browne, Jackson: Late for the Sky, Jan. 77 Don Burrows Quartet: At the Sydney Opera House,
Sep. 86 Circle: Paris Concert, Apr. 73 Fame, Georgie: Survival, Nov. 90 Fifth Dimension: Earthbound, Dec. 81
Goodman, Steve: Jessie's Jig & Other Favorites, Oct. 72
Harris, Emmylou: Pieces of the Sky, Jun. 70 Horn, Paul: A Special Edition, May 76 Home, Lena, and Michel Legrand: Lena & Michel,
Oct. 73 Jennings, Waylon: Dreaming My Dreams, Oct. 74 Joel, Billy: Streetlife Serenade, Feb. 84 Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra: Potpourri, Mar.
72
Lennon, John: Rock 'n' Roll, May 75 Monty Python's Flying Circus, Nov. 89 Nelson, Willie: Red Headed Stranger, Dec. 81 Newbury, Mickey: Lovers, Jul. 71 Ponty, Jean -Luc: Upon the Wings of Music, Dec. 82 Ronstadt, Linda: Heart Like a Wheel, Apr. 72 Earl Scruggs Revue: Anniversary Special Vol. 1,
Sep. 85 Shines, Johnny, Feb. 85 Simon, Carly: Playing Possum, Aug. 73 Streisand, Barbra: Funny Lady, Jul. 70
Terry, Clark: Clark Terry's Big B -a -d Band Live,
Aug. 73 Wainwright, Loudon III: Unrequited, Jun. 71 Walker, Jerry Jeff: Walker's Collectibles, Mar. 71 Wizzard: Introducing Eddy and the Falcons, Jan. 78
STEREO REVIEW
*FEATURE STORIES Abravanel, Maurice (Hemming), Oct 60; Mahler's
Symphonies (Hall), Oct. 105 Aida Resplendently Cast (Pleasants), Jan. 118 American: Ballroom Music (Chase), Oct. 108;
Marches (Chase), Dec. 134; Song Festival (Cop page), Jul. 84; see also The Sound of America Singing America's Musical Heritage (Kresh), Aug. 110 Amplifier Department, The (Hirsch), May 58 Barbieri, Gato (Vance), Jan. 68 Beatles: The Ex -Beatles Keep Trying (Bangs), Mar.
80
Beecham: Sir Thomas in Mono-and Stereo
(Freed), Jul. 110 Berlin, Irving-see Morath Bernstein Completes His Mahler (Jellinek), Nov.
127
Biggs' Four -organ Bach (Hall), Mar. 102 Britten, Benjamin: Death in Venice (Dettmer), Jan.
104
Brown, Clifford, Catching Up with (Albertson), Jan.
98
Browne, Jackson: The Performer (Mills), Nov. 76 Brubeck, The Generations of (KoraII), Jul. 66 Buffett, Jimmy (Anderson), May 77 Cabaret! (Connolly), Feb. 70 Callas, Maria-see Opera's Grand Tradition Carson, Johnny: Here's Johnny! (Simels), Apr. 76 Chamber Music: A Feast in a Box (Hall), Jul. 100 Classical Music Broadcasting-see Music on the Air Consumer Electronics Show-see New Audio Prod-
ucts Cook, Barbara (Goodfriend), Jun. 78
Country Music-see Nashville; Words, Words,
Words Cross, Milton (Robinson), May 52 Crumb, George-see Philadelphia School Dances, Early European (Lincoln), Nov. 142 Denver, John (Coppage), Jun. 75; Sep. 60 Deutekom, Soprano Cristina (Hemming), Sep. 78 Dorati Completes His Haydn (Freed), Jun. 96 Dylan, Bob: Trouble in Paradise? (Nelson), Apr. 78;
"The Basement Tapes" (Coppage), Nov. % The Eagles (Parachim), Aug 66; "One of These
Nights" (Simels), Aug. 79 Equipment: New (Hodges), Sep. 69; Repair-Trou-
bleshooting (Sutheim, Klein), Jul. 57; ShoppingYou and Your Hi-fi Salesman (Horstman), Apr. 62 Falla: Piano Music (Chase), Sep. 112 Fields, W. C., The Legacy of (Kresh), Apr. 90 Fogerty, John, The Retum of (Simels), Nov. 108 Four -channel Plunge, The (Hodges), Jun. 61 Four -channel Recording-see Quadraphonic Software Garland, Judy (Kimball), Jun. 56; On the Tube, on Disc (Lingeman), Oct. 90 Giulini, Conductor Carlo Maria (Hemming), Aug. 58 Goodtime Charley (Kresh), Sep. 94 Gottschalk, Louis Moreau (Offergeld), Dec. 120 Guiraud, Ernest: The Man Who Wrote Bizet's Carmen (Daniel), Sep. 80 Hall of Obscurity (Highwater), Apr. 58 Harris, Emmylou (Offen), Dec. 76 Haydn's Symphonies-see Dorati Hildegarde, The Inimitable (Goodfriend), Feb. 96 Hofmann, Josef, The Incomparable Pianism of (Pleasants), Dec. 130 Humes, Helen: Vindicating the Critics (Pleasants), Jul. 76 Ives, Charles: A Composer for All Directions (Sere brier), Jul. 48 Jazz: The First Hot Flush-Six from the Archives (Vance), Jul. 90; Avant -Garde Jazz Finds an Unexpected Outlet (Albertson), Aug.90 The Kinks' New "Soap Opera" (Simels), Jul. 80 Kipnis, Igor: The English Kipnis (Salzman), May 95 Kraus, Lill, Mozartean (Freed), Feb. 76 Kreutzer Sonatas, A Pair of (Freed), Aug. 95 Latin Music-see Salsa! Led Zeppelin (Scoppa), Jun. 84 Levine, James (Jenkins), May 70 Lightfoot, Gordon (Coppage), Apr. 54 London's Operatic Bounty (Jellinek), Apr. 104 Mahler, Gustav, in Utah (Hall), Oct. 105 McCartney, Paul and Linda: Alright Tonight (Bangs), Oct. 82 Mercer, Mabel (Livingstone), Feb. 60; The Essential (Reed), Feb. 90 Microphone, How to Select a (Woram), Mar. 54 Minnesota Orchestra's Ravel, The (Hall), Aug. 102 Modern Jazz Quartet (Albertson), May 66 Morath Sings Berlin (Reilly), Mar. 90 Mozart Solo Sonatas: Two Integral Sets (Freed), Oct. 112
A Multi -piano Gala (Livingstone), Mar. 46 Musical Comedy-see Two Harbingers of Health;
The Wiz; Goodtime Charley Musical Honors, Aug. 68 Music on the Air (Hemming), Dec. 62 Music's Northern Lights (Freed), Jun. 48 Nashville, Altman's (Coppage), Oct. 55
DECEMBER 1975
Nashville's Fan Fair (Coppage), Oct. 48 Neilsen, Carl: Symphonies (Hall), Jun. 100
New Audio Products (Hodges), Sep. 69 New Music: Uptown and Downtown (Salzman),
Jun. 110 Niles, John Jacob (Coppage), Jan. 56 Nilsson, Harry (Vance), Jun. 74 Opera: Grand Tradition-Two New Books (Schau-
ensee), Feb. 48; see also London's Operatic
Bounty Palmieri, Eddie (Roberts), May 90 Partridge in an Etymologicon (Stiles), Dec. 60
Phasing, The Importance of (Sutheim), Jan. 70 Philadelphia School, The (Salzman), Jan. 106 Popular Music-see Ten Performers I Hate Porter, Cole: Taking Cole Porter for a Ride (Kim-
ball), Sep. 90 Poulenc, Francis, The Songs of (Lawrence), Jan. 64 Prokofiev's War and Peace (Salzman), Feb. 108 Quadraphonic Equipment-see The Four -channel
Plunge
Quadraphonic Software (Repka), Nov. 58 Radio Broadcasting-see Music on the Air Ravel, Maurice (Salzman), Nov. 66; Daphnis et
Chloe (Hall, Goodfriend), Nov. 132; see also Rosenthal; Minnesota Orchestra Receivers-see Amplifier Department Recording: Does the Phonograph Disc Have a Future? (Stark), Feb. 66 Record of the Year Awards 1974, Feb. 79; May 62 Repair, Equipment-see Troubleshooting Rich, Charlie (Windeler), Jan. 62 Rochberg, George-see Philadelphia School Rock Music: Curing Rock's Summer Doldrums (Simels), Sep. 98 Rodrigo's Concierto-Five Times (Hall), Jul. 104 Rodrigues on Speakers, Aug. 64 The Rolling Stones (Coppage), Jan. 84; On Disc and on Tour (Simels), Aug. 86 Ronstadt, Linda: An Extraordinary Collaboration (Simels), Dec. 90
Rosenthal, Manuel (Lawrence), Nov. 73 Salsa! (Roberts), Mar. 64 Scandinavian Music-see Music's Northern Lights Schoenberg, Arnold: Gurre-Lieder and Others (Salz-
man), Sep. 120; Moses and Aron (Salzman), Feb.
114
Schwarzkopf, Elisabeth, The Art of (Goodfriend), Apr. 66
Scotto, Renata (Livingstone), Sep. 116 Singers, Popular Night-club-see Cabaret! The Sound of America Singing (Kresh), Mar. 86 Speakers: Myths (Klein), Aug. 46; Phasing (Sut-
heim), Jan. 70; Placement (Allison), Aug. 52; see also Rodrigues Springsteen, Bruce (Mills), Jun. 66 Staff Biographies: Ralph Hodges, Jan. 121; Henry Pleasants, Feb. 118; J Marks-Highwater, Apr. 110; Julian Hirsch, May 108; Steve Simels, Jun. 114; David Hall, Aug. 114; Larry Klein, Sep. 126; Paulette Weiss, Oct. 124; Chris Albertson, Nov. 146; Martin Bookspan, Dec. 140 Stereo Review Throws a Party, May 62 Stills, Stephen, and Neil Young (Coppage), Nov.
118
Stolz, Robert (Bakshian), Oct. 64 Streisand, Barbra: "Butterfly" (Reilly), Apr. 86 Suderburg. Robert-see Philadelphia School Swift, Kay: Civilized Pleasure (Reilly), Dec. 108 Taj Mahal (Bangs), Jan. 92 Tape: The Future of (Klein), Mar. 59; Piracy-The
Hidden Costs (Petras), Jan. 48 Tchaikovsky Straight but Not Square (Hall), Jan.
114
Te Kanawa, Kiri (Livingstone), Mar. 62 Ten Performers I Hate (Albertson, Reilly, Coppage,
Kresh, Anderson, Bangs, Simels, Vance), Dec. 68 Tolkien's The Hobbit on Disc (Kresh), Jul. 88 "Tommy," The Soundtrack (Simels), Jun. 80 Torme, Mel (Kresh), Aug. 82
Tourel, Jennie (Offergeld), Nov. 78
Toussaint, Allen (Vance), Jul. 73 Troubleshooting, Hi-fi, (Sutheim, Klein), Jul. 57 Tuners: A Christmas Tuner (Hirsch), Dec. 52
Turntable Basics (Hirsch), Oct. 66 Two Harbingers of Health: Chicago and A Chorus
Line (Livingstone), Oct. 100 Vanguard's Supraphon Recordings (Freed), May
102
Verrett, Shirley, Singer (Hemming), May 64 Watson, Doc, The Up -to -Date Memories of (Cop -
page), Dec. 102
Watts, Andre, At the Piano-Four Times (Hall),
Mar. 108 The Who-see "Tommy" Wilkomirska's Indispensable Violin Recital (Freed),
Apr. 99
The Wiz (Reilly), Sep. 95 Words, Words, Words (Coppage), Jul. 54 Wright, Stevie (Simels), May 84 Young, Lester, on Saxophone (Albertson), Jun. 90 Young, Neil-see Stills
The Basic
Orchestral
Repertoire
STEREO REVIEW again presents the annual revision of the Basic Repertoire. In pamphlet form, it includes 1975 disc and tape recommendations for 167 standard orchestral works. For your copy, send .25 in coin, plus a stamped, self-addressed #10 envelope, to Diane Nakamura, STEREO REVIEW, I Park Avenue, New York. N. Y. 10016.
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139
Introducing the Staff...
Since readers front time to time under-
standably display a natural human
curiosity about the backgrounds of the
writers and editors who bend their ears
each month in these pages, we will be
offering, in issues to come, a series of
capsule biographies and autobiog-
raphies designed to satisfy that ex-
pressed need and at the same time to
circumvent some of the hazards of
mere speculation.
-Ed.
able to combine my musical knowledge with radio, but there seemed to be more fantasy than reality in that hope. Then came college (Harvard) and the discovery that there was a superb radio station there,
devoted largely to concert music and run totally by undergraduates. I became a candidate for the station's staff at the start of my sophomore year, writing scripts, scheduling music, keeping the coffee hot, and otherwise serving an apprenticeship. The first time I ever faced a live microphone was a one -hour special with Aaron
Copland dealing with his life and music. I spent the rest of my college years happily consumed by work at the Crimson Network, as it was called in those days.
Luck was with me when graduation time came. A new concert -music station was then in the planning stages for Boston, and
I was engaged as its music director. Hectic years at various Boston radio stations fol-
lowed, and then WQXR in New York
called; would I be interested in discussing
the position of director of recorded music there? I was interested, we discussed, and for the next twelve years I was on the WQXR staff. The happiest part of that association was a period of eleven seasons when I served as host, commentator, and producer of the WQXR broadcasts of the
Saturday evening concerts of the Boston Symphony.
Contributing Editor
Martin Bookspan
IT all began with a knock at the front door one day when I was about six
and home from school with a cold. The man at the door was a salesman peddling music lessons-in those Depression years
any job was better than no job. We listened to his pitch, my mother and I, and then I went into mine: "Ma, I want to take violin
lessons." "You may not like it. You'll have to work hard. It will mean hours and hours of practicing. . . ." But all of this I dismissed with a play to the gallery: "Don't worry about that. I'll practice so much you'll have to tear the violin from my arms."
I suppose I was something of a prodigy for the next few years. No school assem-
bly or family gathering was complete with-
out a violin solo or two from me. And playing the standard repertoire in the violin section of the Boston Music School symphony orchestra opened up that glorious literature to me. Then, when I was about fourteen, I realized that the life of a performing musician held no particular thrills for me. Back went the violin into its
case.
Radio, live and vibrant, was then in its heyday. I hoped that I might one day be
SINCE leaving WQXR in the spring of
1968, I have been coordinator of symphonic and concert activities for the
American Society of Composers, Authors
and Publishers. I have also served for a
number of years as a vice president of the
American Music Center and as an officer
and board member of the National Music
Council.
Free-lance writing and broadcasting
continue to occupy much of my time. I
have been a Contributing Editor ("The
Basic Repertoire") to STEREO REVIEW
since Volume 1, Number 1, and I am
music consultant for Consumer Reports.
I have also served as tape critic and colum-
nist for the New York Times. My book,
/01 Masterpieces of Music and Their
Composers, was published by Doubleday
in 1968, and an updated paperback edition
was published in 1973 by Dolphin Books.
I am one of the three charter panelists
on the long -running radio series First
Hearing. In addition I serve as host on
two other syndicated radio series: Com-
poser's Forum and Matinee. And on tele-
vision I have served as arts critic and
commentator for NBC-TV as well as for
Channel 7 in Boston and Channels 7 and
1 1 in New York.
The newest thing in my life is my assign-
ment as host, commentator, and executive
producer of the New York Philharmonic's
new series of radio broadcasts. Made pos-
sible by a grant from Exxon Corporation,
these weekly programs are heard on near-
ly two hundred stations around the coun-
try, and they represent the return (hurrah!)
of the Philharmonic to radio after a nine -
season hiatus. My enthusiasm for the proj-
ect knows no bounds, and I hope to be
able to communicate some of it to the lis-
tening audience.
-Martin Bookspan
140
STEREO REVIEW ADVERTISERS' INDEX
DECEMBER 1975
READER SERVICE NO.
ADVERTISER
ADS
Advent Corporation
Akai America, Ltd.
1 AKG, Division of North American Philips
3
Allison Acoustics
4 Allstate Insurance Company
5
Angel Records
Audio Technica, US, Inc.
6 Avid Corporation
7 Bang & Olufsen of America, Inc. Bell & Howell Bose Corporation
8, 9 British Industries Company 10 BSR McDonald Division
11
Capitol Magnetic Devices
12 Component Discounters
13 Crown International
14 Design Acoustics
15 Discount Music Club
16 Discount Sound
Discwasher
17
District Sound, Inc
Dixie HiFidelity
50
Dual
18
Dynaco, Inc.
19 20
21, 99
Eastman Kodak Company Electra -Voice, Inc. Elpa Marketing, Thorens Division Empire Scientific Corporation
ESS
24
Fidel itone
23 Fuji Photo Film USA
22 Garrard
26 Gordon Miller Music
27
GTE Sylvania, Entertainment Division
Harman Kardon, Inc.
25
Heath Company
Heublein
31 Illinois Audio 29 International Hi Fi Distributors
& B Scotch Jack Daniel's Distillery 30 Jensen Sound Laboratory
28 Kenwood Electronics 32 KLH Research & Development
2 Koss Electronics
L & M Cigarettes
33 3M Company
34 Mantis Research
35
Maxell Corporation
36
McIntosh Laboratory
Mem Company
37
Memorex
Midwest Hi-Fi Wholesalers
38
Mx
39 MXR Innovations, Inc.
40
Onkyo
41
Phase Linear
42, 43 45
Radio Shack Revox Corporation RTR Industries
47
S.A.E.
48 Sansui Electronics Corporation
100 Scott, Inc., H. H.
Sheffield Lab Records
49 Shure Brothers
51 Simulation Publications
46 Sony Corporation of America
52 Soundcraftsmen
Speakerlab
44 Stanton Magnetics
53 Stereo Corporation of America
TDK Electronics TEAC Corporation 54 Technics by Panasonic 55 Telephonics 56 Tokyo Shapiro 57 Top Discount Audio
58 Uher of America
50 United Audio
59
US Pioneer
60 Vanguard Records
61
Yamaha International Corporation
PAGE NUMBER
96 95 119 19 99 17 118 105 135
89 8, 11
43 2, 91
21
92 122
24
93 20 93 128, Cover 3 125 125 78, 79 131
133 104 100 7, 35 4, 5
132 25
74, 75 98 127
50, 51 37 80
125 122
49 115 106
47 26, 27 Cover 4
41
73 125 97 113 18 57 122 121 13
48
94
99, 105 33
113
112 38, 39
101 109 103
31 15 107 111 23 135
110 58, 59
45 22 135 122
111 78, 79 Cover 2, 1
129
85
STEREO REVIEW
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