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THE MAGAZINE FOR MUSIC LISTENERS
A
APRIL
Two Hundred Vears Alive by E. Power 'Biggs
Presentment of Englishry by A. Hyatt King
Four Thousand Choristers Can't Be Right by Winton
Handel on and off Records by Nathan Broder
The Imperishable Wag
Dean
by Charles Cudworth
salute to
The ÇreatLMr. Handel
1685-1759
......,i..
y;paltreiSUi
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.44011v.
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IJI
p
1,111,
7
8
the 9
seconds
THE 9 SECONDS THAT ADD HOURS TO YOUR LISTENING PLEASURE
-
that's all it takes to put the Glaser- Steers GS -77
through one complete change -cycle. 9 seconds and see what
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A record completes its play ... the turntable pauses ... the
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handling it yourself ... the tone arm lowers into the lead -in
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Thus, the original brilliance of your records is preserved
through hundreds of additional playings by eliminating the
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9 seconds
-
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Every GS-77 feature contributes towards your listening
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four leads to cartridge for hum -free performance.
The GS -77 combines traditional turntable quality with modern record changer convenience. See it at your dealer, today.
In just 9 seconds, you'll gain a fresh, new point -of-view on
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GLASER- STEERS CORPORATION, 155 Oraton St., Newark 4, N. J.
In Canada: Alex L. Clark Ltd.. Toronto. Ont. Export: M. Simon & Son. Inc.. N. Y. C.
GLASER- STEERS GS -77 SUPERB FOR STEREO...BETTER THAN EVER FOR MONOPHONIC RECORDS
these Jenen hi-fi speakers
contain a /VW idea...
/5of
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all
SS-200
DS -100
DUAL STEREO
TP-250
;
SS-100
FS
KT-34
0.7rnDKT-24
1
8
...the FLEXAIR* woofer!
P12-NF
...
All of the new Jensen speakers illustrated above sound better
can
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give you much more
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Relative freedom of cone movement is not new but this is only part
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distortion; (5) high efficiency (will drive with a 10 -watt amplifier).
...
...
If you'd like to know more about this exclusive Jensen
development, write for free Brochure KF.
A White dot shows forward, central and inward positions
of Flexair woofer cone during 1" movement. (Persoective
shortens apparent distance between dots for inward travel).
B Diagram shows extreme accordion action of annulus
permitting linear extra -long cone travel.
C shows the scientifically proportioned tube vent used In the
Bass -Superflex enclosure for extended bass and very low
distortion with the Flexair woofer. Except for vent,
enclosure Is air -tight. Vent action during large motions
of woofer cone is dramatically illustrated in the two
unretouched photos at the right. Jensen TR-10 TRI -ette
(with grille cloth removed) was used in the experiments.
In D, air filled balloon is kept in suspension by air flow
from vent. Successive high speed exposures show
rise of balloon when signal is turned on. In E a
candle flame is deflected by air motion from
tube vent with same low frequency signal.
r
Jensen
T.
M.
J.
M. Co.
Division of The Muter Co.
MANUFACTURING COMPANY
S. Laramie Avenue, Chicago 38, Illinois
/6601
In Canada: J. R. Longstaffe Co., Ltd., Toronto
Aptut. 1959
la Mexico:
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N. V.
HICII FIDELITY MAGAZINE
www.americanradiohistory.com
High ilelitg
APRIL 1959
&ca ud ioc raft
ltnuc
7
men:l er
John M. Conly
Editor
ARTICLES
Roland Gelatt
Executive Editor
Miriam
Two Hundred Years Alive
Manning
D.
41
E.
A Presentment of Englishry
42
A. Hyatt King
Four Thousand Choristers Can't Be Right
"Improving.' Hancel started with .1 /n;ar/
roil
46
Winton Dean
Handel on and off Records
49
Nathan Broder
53
Charles Cudworth
Books in Review
32
R.
Music Makers
Records in Review
57
Roland Gelatt
Managing Editor
.1 (Net rl
Joan Griffiths
Associate Editor
Gordon Holt
J.
Power Biggs
!ltlrt.e,he!.
Technical Editor
Roy Lindstrom
Art Director
Philip
C.
Gored
Photographic Editor
A. Newbury
Manager, Book Division
Fr
The Great .Ilan, alas, has not he
Nathan Broder
R. D. Darrell
Alfred Frankenstein
Robert Charles Marsh
Not all composer:,
rr,rlr'1
,
c
d.
The Imperishable Wag
,y humor.
but Handel nits.
u crc' u<Ic di lùr if sense
Contributing Editors
Charles Fowler
Publisher
REPORTS
Warren
B. Byer
Associate Publisher
Claire N. Eddings
Advertising Sales Manager
Andrew J. Csida
Marketing and
Merchandising Manager
D.
Darrell
59
Tape Deck 101
Joseph W. Pace
Circulation Fulfillment
Manager
A U D
A D V
E
R
T
I
S
I
I
O C
R
A
F T
Adding the Third Channel 109
in:rh n.rlhrrrl: / cr /11/ ,, err Il:c a -::c r.
N G
Main Office
The HF Shopper 110
.11rmn Cdrlrtdc s.
Claire N. Eddings, The Publishing House
Great Barrington, Mass. Telephone 300
/.u; i ;aie:
1
New York
R,: Stereo Cartridges 112
1564 Broadway, New York 36
Telephone: Plaza 7 -2800
Bert Covit, Sy Resnick
HF
Chicago
188 W. Randolph Sr., Chicago
Equipment Reports 114
Heath PT -1 AM -FM Stereo Tuner- Isotone
Toccata Speaker System -Pilot SA -232 Stereo
Power Amplifier -General Electric MS -4000
Stereo Control Amplifier
I
Telephone: Central 6 -9818
Andy Spanberger
Los Angeles
1520 North Gower, Hollywood 28
Telephone: Hollywood 9.6239
George Kelley
Audio Forum 119
Tips from Audio Salesmen 120
Your dcvleraur hcl,' tit ;r
r/
i
Herman Burstein
t:, ,ci t:rn:.
Audionews 122
AUTHORitotively Speaking
4
Noted with Interest
Professional Directory 137
9
letters
Trader's Marketplace 138
16
As the Editors See It 41
Advertising Index
140
Published monthly by Audiocom, Inc., Groot Borrington,
Mass. Copyright © 1959 by Audiocom, Inc. The design and
contents of High Fidelity Magazine are fully protected by copyrights
and must not be reproduced in any manner. Second
Class postage paid at Great Barrington and of additional
mailing offices. Subscription rote in the U. S. $6.00 per yeor.
www.americanradiohistory.com
4
weed
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Address
City
cians.
Nathan Broder, whose selective Handel
discography starts on page 49, is of course
no stranger to regular readers of Man
FIDELITY, having been a reviewer for us,
mostly in the pre -classical field, for some
years. Born in New York, he attended
C.C.N.Y., and went thence almost at once
to G. Schirmer, the music publisher,
where he stayed fifteen years. He is now
associate editor of the Musical Quarterly.
Charles Cudworth is a scholar with a
sense of humor-you may remember his
"The Frite of Spring, or Le Scare du
Printemps" -and thus the ideal man to
write on Handel as wag ( see page 53 ).
He was born in Cambridge and is still
there, being now Curator of the Pendlebury Library in the University School of
Music.
LESS THAN
CUT OUT
Name
Winton Dean is patently well qualified
to discuss methotls of performing Handel
( see page 46 ), since he has just finished
what he calls "a very substantial book,"
and
Oratorios
Dramatic
Htnulel's
Masques, clue just about now from Oxford
University Press. He also has written
biographies of Bizet, Franck, and Puccini,
and the entry on Criticism in the 1954
Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musi-
II
-build kt form to save
A s perbl- performing basic stereo amplifier, in easy-to
o now at minimum xpensel Dual
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or,
amplifier
monaural
-watt
a
fin.
36
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switch,
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DUAL OUTPUT
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and
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Handel as Englishman is presented to us
-on page 42 -by A. Hyatt King, who is
obviously also an Englishman, being
Superintendent of the \lusic Room at the
British Museum. A native of Dulwich, he
took first-class honors in Classical Tripas
at King's College, Cambridge, and went
to work for the Museum at twenty- three.
He is Chairman of the British institute of
Recorded Sound, among other things, and
is fond of sea fishing, watching cricket,
opera, and mountain hiking.
RESPONSE RETTER THAN 35.30,000
WATTS
CPS y- 'f, DI AT
-
ONLY 4.75 DOWN
5.00 MONTHLY
E. Power Biggs, our guest editorialist this
month, is not only one of the world's most
famous organists, but also considerable of
a Handel authority. He is in process of
putting out, for Columbia, a complete set
of the organ concertos, made last year at
Great Packington, near the Forest of
Arden, using an organ that Handel probably played himself.
Fidelity, April 1959; Vol. 9,
monthly by Audiocom,
Inc., Great Barrington, Mass., u subsidiary
of The Billboard Publishing Co., publishers of The Billboard, Vend, Funslot and
The Billboard International. Telephone:
Great Barrington 13(11). \Icnnber Audit
Bureau of Circulation.
High
No. 4. Published
Editorial Correspondence should be addressed to The Editor. Great Barrington,
Mass. Editorial contributions will be wel-
comed. Payment for articles accepted swill
. Unsolicitbe arranged prior to publicat'
ed manuscripts should be accompanied by
return postage.
Subscriptions, change of address notices,
undeliverable copies, orders for subscripshould be addressed to high Fidelity
t'
Magazine, 316(1 Patterson Street, Cinc' cati 33, Ohio.
rates: United States and
Canada, 1 year, $6; 2 years, 511; 3 years,
$15. Single copies 60 ernts.
Subscription
Tone.... State
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
4
www.americanradiohistory.com
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911C RCAVICTOR Socict%j Of
UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE
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JACQUES BARZUN, author and music critic;
JOHN M. CONEY, editor of Mob Yidalily A Audio craIt; AARON COPLAND, composer; ALFRED
FRANKENSTEIN, music editor of the San Yrancisco
CI, rnllicle; DOUGLAS MOORE, composer and Pro-
fessor of Music, Columbia University: WILLIAM
SCHUMAN, composer and president of Milliard
School of Music; CARLETON SPRAGUE SMITH,
chief of Music Division, N. Y. Public Library;
G. WALLACE WOODWORTH, Professor of Music,
HOW THE SOCIETY OPERATES
Escii month, three or more 12-inch 331 é R.P.M.
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ONE -THIRD SAVING over
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For every two records
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RCA VICTOR Society of
D
THE NINE
BEETHOVEN SYMPHONIES
I
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Al,nll4:»
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NOTE:
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sent
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APßIL 1959
S
NAME
ADDRESS
PLEASE NOTE: itrronln ..,n le andauet only
..I Ihr l' S. and II, n, rr unrir,. and Canada. Il
1
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Canadian
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C,N .1NNNNNNNN11N11NN
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turntable (or for that matter on any of the
Thorens "TD" units) and compare with that
of any other make of turntable. You'll see
the reason for the TDK's extremely low
rumble, wow and flutter. See the TDK -101,
newest member of the TD family of fine
turntables, at your Thorens hi -fi dealer's.
smoothest, most exact.
111 lb. table; clutch
for fast.noise-f ree starts
with needle in groove.
4 speeds, all adjustable
( ±3 %) for perfect pitch; built -in illuminated
strobe; built -in level. All assembled TD turntables are 100% tested electronically and aurally for wow, rumble and flutter before ship.
ment. $99.75 net. Base $9.00.
ords
.
.
quietest.
7D -184. This 4 -speed
high -quality turntable
with integral arm has
same precision-machined adjustable speed
drive as ThorensTD -124.
Semi -automatic operation -one dialing motion
selects 7 ", 10 ", 12" record size. Arm literally floats down to record on air. Absolutely no
connection between arm and table. $75.00 net.
Features:
,
Same compliant belt- plus -idler drive as on
more expensive TD units; provides complete
motor isolation. Single, retained, ball -thrust
bearing, plus mirror- finished main bearing,
for absolute minimum of rumble, both vertical and horizontal -so necessary for stereo.
Single -speed 33%. Adjustable speed ( ±3 %,
a total of about one musical semitone)
Built -in strobe allows setting to exact speed.
Automatic disengagement of idler when unit
is switched off. Drive mechanism completely
enclosed -no "string" belts or external belt
shields. Accessory wooden base is available
in walnut, blond, or mahogany; $9.00 net.
9.5
Base $6.00.
T0.134. 4 -speed turntable with integral arm
for manual operation.
Same high -performance
tone arm as used on
TD -184 equals tracking
performance of arms
costing as much as half
the price of this entire unit. Same adjustable
speed drive mechanism as on more expensive
units. $60.00 net. Base $6.00.
SWISS MADE PRODUCTS
MUSIC BOXES
HI -FI COMPONENTS
LIGHTERS
SPRINGPOWERED SHAVERS
Write Dept. H -4 for catalog
on complete Thorens hi-fi line.
NEW HYDE PARK, NEW YORK
6
11
www.americanradiohistory.com
lcu FIDE-Irv M AcAztNl:
TODAY'S
BEST
HIGH FIDELITY
STEREO
TUNER
maiwasibiais.
ALSO
HAS ITS FUTURE
11040iyrïwi M'{
B U ILTIN
-
aiai1
9 o
PI
.
0
,
____
,41.3MIMmer
,4
Top view of ST350. (Note new swivel
antenna in flush position for cabinet
and wall installations.)
t-
O
..e. of ST350 with MA350
installed. (Note swivel antenna extended
for use with CX50 enclosure.)
New MA350 Muttiple. Adapter
Top
The new Harman -Kardon Madrigal, Model ST350, actually has the very best of everything.
BEST FM: Distortion and drift are virtually unmeasurable. Sensitivity limited only by galactic noise.
Superior signal to noise
ratio results in clean, transparent sound unmarred by background noise.
BEST AM: IF stages designed with "broad nose" for excellent high frequency response and with
"sharp skirts" for improved
spurious response rejection. AM noise filter provides noise -free long distance reception.
STEREO- NOW: Completely separate AM and FM front ends for simulcast (stereo) reception. Each with electronic bar
tuning
indicator. Ingenious Stereo Indexer for identification of six pairs of stations.
STEREO FUTURE: New MA350 Multiplex Adapter plugs into chassis of ST350 (see illustration) to provide the only
completely integrated tuner for receiving Crosby compatible multiplex (FM stereo) broadcasts.
PUSH -BUTTON CONVENIENCE: All functions- including AM Noise Filter, AM, AM /FM Stereo, Multiplex, FM, FM -AFC and
Power Off -are operated by push -button control center.
The price of the ST350 is S199.95; optional enclosure, Model CX50- $12.50. Multiplex Adapter, MA350- $49.95.
We also invite your attention to the superb new single channel versions of the ST350; The Ode, Model T250, is an AM /FM
tuner; The Lyric, Model F250, is an FM only tuner. Both accommodate a plug -in multiplex adapter en their chassis. Model
T250- $149.95. Model F250- 5129.95. Prices slightly higher
in the West. For free colorful catalog on complete H -K line,
write Harman -Kardon, Inc., Dept. HF -4 Westbury, N. Y.
-
harman kardon
APRIL 1959
www.americanradiohistory.com
1h'¿'clupccl
and
(iuild- rru /'Icd
by
from the audio r('s('(lr(h two l('r of the world
l'h il i/7s
of the
X elherl(U((l,S
THE NEW
LINE OF
NEW...
professional
rigid frame
construction
0P0/00
NEW...
5
-way binding posts
LOUDSPEAKERS
featuring /wit.
'u'ü
o©
iu(I1110s
lll
/aì[L
(30% more /a(rer /Y(l than alnico)
NEW...
Ticonal -7
alloy
magnet
designed to match the
lover , . at a surprismusic
the
discriminating
of
requirements
quality
ingly moderate price. The world's greatest buys on the basis of listening quality, the T -7 series incorporates voice coil magnets of Ticonal -7
steel, the most powerful of modern magnet alloys, for maximum effidual cones for wide frequency response
ciency and damping
in an extremely straight response curve
resulting
constant impedance
and extra high flux density to provide
-gaps
air
.. longer effective
and to eliminate ringing and overshoot.
response
exceptional transient
5" to 12" loudspeakers
This new line of
is
.
NEW...
Standard E.I.A.
mounting holes
...
...
AD-5277M
,
Frequency
Power
)walls)
Model
Size Continuous Punk
Impedance Efficiency
Total Flur
flue Density
al 400 fps
)Maxwells)
(gouts)
)ohms)
Response
Audiophile
(cps)
Nel
-
AD.5277M
12"
20
30
8
14%
134,000
11,000
35. 18,000
372.50
AD -4277M
12"
20
30
8
7%
98,000
8.000
3518.000
39.00
AD-1877M
8"
6
10
4.6
10%
58,300
13,000
50 20,000
26.00
AD 3800M
8"
6
10
4.6
26,200
11.000
75.19,000
9.90
AD -3500M
5"
3
5
4-6
6%
4%
26,200
11,000
130-19,000
8.34
6
9
46
5.5%
26,200
11,000
70-18,000
7.95
6
9
4 6
2.5%
15,200
8,500
70.16,000
6.75
AD-3690M
AD.2690M
6.9"
6.9"
AD-4877M
AD-3800M
Amore/co
'EXHIBITION' SPEAKER ENCLOSURES
Acoustically designed to achieve moderate size without loss of bass response or wideness of dispersion.
Perfectly matched for the bass response of the
ideal for most quality 8"
NORELCO T -7 speakers
to 12" speakers. Available in three sizes in hand.
rubbed Mahogany, Walnut, Blond or Cherry finishes.
Specifications: The "Rembrandt," (26" x 211/2" x
...
AD-3500M
171.4" deep) Walnut or Cherry $99.50; Blond $94.95;
Mahogany $91.00. The "Van Gogh," (233.á" x 133-4"
deep') Walnut or Cherry $59.95; Blond
x 1134"
$55.50; Mahogany $51.00. The "Vermeer," (181/2" x
12" x 8- 15:16" deep') Walnut or Cherry $35.00;
May be placed
Blond $33.25; Mahogany $31.00.
-
horizontally or vertically.
...,lls°
net,. from
The "HAGUE "; Completely integrated quality speaker
system. Two high -efficiency T -7 loudspeakers in an
acoustically matched enclosure. Designed for optiexmaximum efficiency
mum dispersion
tremely wide- range, flat response. 26" o 211" x
.
.
171/4" deep. Walnut or Cherry $159.95; Blond $154.95;
Mahogany $149.95.
AID
NORTH AMERICAN PHILIPS CO., INC.
/1 /I'l.1'Iflll
High Fidelyl(l Prod
230 DUFFY AVENUE, HICKSVILLE, L. I.,N. Y.
www.americanradiohistory.com
2690M
-- -yt
-
4iti
ST ER
E
0
H
I- F
Knight
created by ALLIED RADIO
-
advanced design, features, performance and styling
outstanding for superb musical quality
each unit guaranteed for one full year
Industry Growth
The Institute of High Fidelity Manufacturers reports that high- fidelity
component sales in 1950 amounted to
$12,000,000. In 1958 they jumped to
$260,000,0(0 and are expected to
reach 8300,000,000 this 'ear.
FM radio, after several rough years,
is growing in size and strength. The
National Association of Broadcasters'
FM Radio Committee reported that
as of December 1958 there were 565
commercial FM stations on the air,
compared with 533 in 1957. FM set
sales for last year exceeded 500,000,
bringing the total in use to something
KNIGHT
THE
STEREO
ENSEMBLE
over 14,000,000.
William Speed, president of Audio
Devices, predicts a 357 growth for the
magnetic tape industry in 1959. Industry sales, he said, may reach
$100,000,00( in three years.
Stereo Standards
The Board of Directors of the Electronic Industries Association has established a National Stereophonic
Radio Committee. The committee has
been charged with responsibility to
"develop a set of standards for stereophonic radio which, in the opinion of
the industry as represented by the
Electronic Industries Association, represents the most economical method of
serving the American public. This set
of standards must permit full compatibility to the extent economically feasible; that is, all reasonable systems of
multiplexing plus regular FM transmissions."
knight
only
KN734 deluxe 34 -watt stereo amplifier
compare these "royalty of value" features:
Full stereophonic and monophonic controls 17 watts per
$12950
easy terms:
$12.95 down
knight
KN120 deluxe stereo FM -AM tuner
compare these "royalty of value" features:
only
Equipment Specifications
The need for standard methods of
testing audio equipment is so apparent, and has been stated in print so
many times already, that it makes us
feel a bit like cranks to bring it up
J
$12950
easy terms:
$12.95 down
again.
Yet we are duty -bound to talk
about it from time to time, in order to
warn readers against giving the published specifications too much weight
in comparing units of different manufacturers. There are honest differences
Continued on next page
stereo channel...34 watts monophonic Separate bass and treble
controls for each channel 5 pairs of stereo inputs...input jack
for accessory remote control DC on all preamp heaters
Wide range balance control 3 -step loudness contour Variable
input loading control for any magnetic cartridge May be used
as 34 watt add -on with special preamp output Mar -proof
vinyl-clad metal case...solid aluminum anodized front panel.
Separate FM and AM sections for simultaneous or separate
operation Dynamic Sideband Regulation for minimum distortion
of FM Dual limiters on FM Tuned RF stage on FM and AM
3- position AM bandwidth switch Cathode follower multiplex
output jack Four cathode follower main outputs Dual
"Microbeam" tuning indicators Illuminated 9W tuning scale;
inertia tuning with advanced flywheel design High -sensitivity AM
ferrite antenna Handsome solid aluminum front panel,
gold anodized, with beige leathertone case.
FREE 1959 ALLIED CATALOG
order from
n'
.
Fftti
lyüAlll
Send for your complete. money-saving guide to the world's I
selection of hi -ti systems and components. See everything in thrilling
stereo; all the new KNIGHT systems and components; every famous
make line. For everything In hi -1i, for everything In Electronics, get
the 452.page 1959 ALLIED Catalog. FREE -write for it today.
ALLIED RADIO
100 N. Western Ave., Dept.
Chicago 80, Illinois
APRIL 1959
49 -D9
9
www.americanradiohistory.com
FAIRCHILD
tirzique
exchange olan
KEEPS CUSTOMER'S
EQUIPMENT UP -TO -DATE
Seemingly endless refinements in high fidelity concepts
and equipment have brought the average customer face -to -face with the problem of
how to keep his equipment from growing obsolete.
We say average customer because Fairchild customers
are less concerned with this problem. Their equipment is generally several years ahead
of that offered by other manufacturers. In addition, Fairchild's exclusive Exchange Plan
provides them with the latest components at practically no penalty for obsolescence.
Owners of Fairchild cartridges have been taking advantage of this plan for years.
you can
convert to
stereo
and save
up to 36!
Owners of a Fairchild cartridge can turn it in to
their dealer and obtain a new Fairchild 232 Stereo
cartridge
at a saving of
... $8.00
Owners of a Fairchild 280 or 281 arm can ask their
dealer to send it to the factory and have it converted to Stereo for a cost of only $14.50
$28.00*
a saving of
...
Total cost for converting to Fairchild Stereo
...
Total Saving to Fairchild owners ...
$56.00
$36.00
*If
you cannot wait your dealer will give you ct
brand new 282 in exchange for your 280 or 281
$13.00
a saving of
pins $ 2 9 . 5 0
...
Rotating -Coil design and linear damping provides the
cleanest listening you have ever heard in Stereo records.
Cost 1149.50
The 282 Stereo arm is newly redesigned, handsomely
finished and comes complete with integral high quality
shielded cables, ready to plug into your preamplifier!
no hum. It is the world's finest arm,
No soldering
Cost $42.50
and the easiest to mount.
-
"The Sound of Quality"
Hear these Fairchild components at your dealer, or write to Dept. HF49
1040 45th Ave., Long Island City
FAIRCHILD RECORDING EQUIPMENT CORP.
Continued from preceding page
of opinion among manufacturers as to
how tests should be made and which
test methods give the most significant
results; as long as there are no official
standard methods of measurement,
these differences will produce differing
specification figures.
Confusion is caused sometimes even
in the interpretation of test results from
independent sources. In our March
issue, for example, we published an
"Audiolab Test Report" on the Bell
3030 stereo amplifier. Power output
was tested on the 8 -ohm output taps,
which seemed reasonable to HirschHouck Laboratories (our ATR test
organization ). The amplifier didn't
quite meet the manufacturer's specs
when tested that way. According to
Bell, the specs are met easily if the
16 -ohm taps are used. Such misunderstandings would be avoided if we
had standards of measurement to be
followed by everybody.
Fortunately, the Institute of High
Fidelity Manufacturers is working diligently at this problem. It has worked
out complete (and excellent) standards for testing timers, and these have
been accepted by the membership. At
the time this is written the IHFM is
said to have test standards for amplifiers nearly completed. Hirsch -Houck
Labs now follow the IHFM's tuner
standards in preparing reports; as
other standards are accepted they will
use them also. We may at last be getting out of the specifications mess.
Telediffusion
The heading is misleading; it's not
what you think it is. Generally speaking, in the United States the word
might mean some method of carrying
television programs throughout a corn munity on cable. Service is rented; you
simply connect your television set to
the cable outlet and you can then receive a number of television stations
usually many more than if you put up
your own antenna.
Thanks to reader Noel Arnold in
Lausanne, Switzerland, it has been
brought to our attention that telediffusion in Switzerland applies to radio
programs. Transmission is direct from
studio to listener by telephone cables
and, in the service being offered in
Lausanne, offers a selection from some
twenty different studios throughout
Switzerland and as far away as London. Although telephone lines are
used, Mr. Arnold says the fidelity is
excellent. Cost is about 50 cents per
month, charged on the telephone bill.
-
To the audiophile who is not now a Fairchild owner
we say these superb Fairchild products are more than
worth their cost. The 232 cartridge with its Dual -
FAIRCHILD
NOTED WITH INTEREST
1, N. Y..
CHARLES FOWLER
HIGH FIDELrIY MAGAZINE
)
NEW STEREOPHONIC EQUIPMENT
a complete stereo con-
HF85: Stereo Dual Preamplifier is
trol system in "low silhouette" design adaptable to any
type of installation. Selects, preamplifies, controls any
stereo source-tape, discs, broadcasts. Superb variable
crossover, feedback tone controls driven by feedback
amplifier pairs in each channel. Distortion borders on
unmeasurable even at high output levels. Separate lo
level input in each channel for mag. phono, tape head.
mike. Separate hi -level inputs for AM & FM tuners & FM
Multiplex. One each auxiliary A & B input in each channel.
Independent level, bass & treble controls in each channel
may be operated together with built -in clutch. Switchedin loudness compensator. Function Selector permits heating each stereo channel individually, and reversing them;
also use of unit for stereo or monophonic play. Full -wave
rectifier tube power supply. 512AX7 /ECC83, 1.6X4. Works
with any high -quality stereo power amplifier such as
EICO HF86, or any 2 high -quality mono power amplifiers
such as EICO HF14, HF22, HF30, HF35, HF50, HF60.
the
AND
MONAURAL experts
M
STEREO
say...
-
..
"Extreme flexibility
. a bargain"
HI-FI REVIEW.
Kit $39.95. Wired $64.95. Includes cover.
HFa6: Stereo Dual Power Amplifier for use w,th HF85
above or any good self -powered stereo preamp. Identical
Williamson -type push -pull EL84 power amplifiers, conservatively rated at 14W, may be operated in parallel to
deliver 28W for non -stereo use. Either input can be made
common for both amplifiers by Service Selector switch.
Voltage amplifier & split -load phase inverter circuitry
feature EICO- developed 12DW7 audio tube for significantly
better performance. Kit $43.95. Wired $74.95.
HFaI: Stereo Dual Amplifier-Preamplifier selects, ampli.
fies & controls any stereo source
tape, discs, broad
casts -& feeds it thru self-contained dual 14W amplifiers
to a pair of speakers. Monophonically: 28 watts for your
speakers; complete stereo preamp. Ganged level controls,
separate focus (balance) control, independent full -range
bass & treble controls for each channel. Identical William.
son-type, push-pull EL84 power amplifiers. excellent output transformers. "Service Selector" switch permits one
preamp- control section to drive the internal power amplifiers while other preamp- control section is left free to
drive your existing external amplifier. "Excellent"
SATURDAY REVIEW; HI -Fl MUSIC AT HOME. "Outstanding quality
extremely versatile"
RADIO & TV NEWS
LAB -TESTED. Kit $69.95. Wired $109.95. Includes cover.
MONO PREAMPLIFIERS (stack 2 for Stereo) HF -65: superb
new design, Inputs for tape head, microphone, mattphono cartridge & hi -level sources. IM distortion 0.04%
2V out. Attractive "low silhouette" design. NFBSA
Kit $29.95. Wired $44.95. HF65 (with power supply) Kit
$33.95. Wired $49.95.
MONO POWER AMPLIFIERS
(use 2 for STEREO)
in HI -FI
the best buys are
-
EICC/7
World -famous
EICO advantages
guarantee your complete satisfaction:
Advanced engineering Finest quality components
"Beginner- Tested," easy step -by -step instructions
LIFETIME service & calibration guarantee
IN STOCK
Compare, then take home any EICO
equipment -right "off the shelf" -from 1900 neighborhood EICO dealers.
-
-
-
...
HF60 (60W). HFSO (50W), HF35 (35W). HF30 ß0W',, HF22
(22W), HF14 (14W): from Kit $23.50. Wired $41.50.
z
V
T
eTS
z
ó
MONO INTEGRATED AMPLIFIERS
(use 2 for STEREO)
HF52 (50W), HF32 (30W), HF20 (20W), HFI2 (12W): from
Stereo
Pr
Kit $34.95. Wired $57.95.
SPEAKER SYSTEMS (use 2 for STEREO)
NFS2: Natural bass 30.200 cps via slot -loaded 12 -ft. split
conical bass horn. Middies & lower highs: front radiation
from 81/2" edge -damped cone. Distortionless spike- shaped
super -tweeter radiates omni -directionallv. Flat 45- 20,000
cps, useful 30. 40,000 cps. 16 ohms. HWD 36 ". 151/4",
111/2". "Eminently musical" -Holt, HIGH FIDELITY. "Fine
for
MODERN HI -Fl. Completely factory-built:
"-
eampiitier HF85
Mahogany or Walnut, $139.95; Blonde, $144.95.
HFSI: Bookshelf Speaker System, complete with factorybuilt cabinet. Jensen 8" woofer, matching Jensen compression- driver exponential horn tweeter. Smooth clean
bass; crisp extended highs. 70. 12,000 cps range.
Capacity 25 w. 8 ohms. HWD: 11" x 23" x 9 ". Wiring
time 15 min. Price $39.95.
FM TUNER HFT90: Surpasses wired tuners up to 3X its
cost. For the first time, makes practical even for the
novice the building of an FM tuner kit equal to really good
factory -wired units. No alignment instruments needed.
Pre -wired, pre -aligned temperature -compensated "front
end" is drift -free
eliminates need for AFC. Precision
FM Tuner HFT9O
AM Tuner HFT94
m
Stereo
pltf ier-Preamp
-
NFe1
4
j
/
l . +t
"eye -tropic" DM -70 traveling tuning indicator. supplied
pre- wired, contracts at exact center of each FM Channel.
Pre -aligned IF coils. Sensitivity 6X that of other kit
tuners: 1.5 uy for 20 db quieting, 2.5 uy for 30 db quieting, full limiting from 25 uy. IF bandwidth 260 kc at 6
db points. Frequency response uniform 20.20,000 cps
-'- 1 db. Cathode- follower A Multiplex outputs. Flywheel
tuning, automatic gain control, stabilized low limiting
threshold for excellent performance from weaker signals,
broad-band ratio detector for improved capture ratio 6
easier tuning, full -wave rectifier & heavy filtering, very
low distortion. "One of the best buys you can get in
high fidelity kits
AUDIOCRAFT Kit Report. Kit $39.95'.
Wired $65.95. Cover $3.95. 'Less Cover, F.E.T. incl.
'
Bootshell
Monaural Integrated Amplifiers:
50, 30, 20 and 12-Watt
(use 2 for Stereo)
"-
Speaker System
NFSI
NEW AM TUNER NFT94: Matches HFT90. Selects "hi -fi"
wide (20c
9kc (ai
db) or weak -station narrow
(20c
Skc (q)
db) bandpass. Tuned RF stage for high
selectivity & sensitivity; precision "eye -tronic" tuning.
Built -in ferrite loop, prealigned RF & IF coils. Sensitivity
3 uy r
30% mod. for 1.0 V out, 20 db S /N. Very low
noise & distortion. High -Q 10 kc whistle
-
Monaural Preampliliertl
HF65, HF65A
(stack
2
for Stereo)
Speaker System NFS2
N t 15Yí W x 111/2' D
36"
-
-3
-3
Kit $39.95. Wired $69.95, incl. Cover & F.E.T.
EICO, 33 -00 Northern Blvd.,
Monaural Power Amplifiers:
Stereo Power Amplifier HF86
Over
Ant
I
MILLION EICO instruments in use throughout the world.
A
1,
N.Y. HF-4
VRESS
zonr
1.
LI.C.
filter.
SHOW ME HOW TO SAVE 50% on 65
models el top -quality:
Test Instruments
"I Hi -Fi
"Ham" Gear
Send FREE catalog & name of neighborhood EICO dealer.
"c
0O, 50, 35. 30. 22 and 14-Watt
(use 2 for Stereo)
or
o
v
1959
STATE
I'
1I
www.americanradiohistory.com
from
the
Sc'wtqi
SR -1000 DE
LUXE
Stereo AM -FM Tuner
S184.50
At 2181
LEADERS IN AUDIO AND RADIO ENGINEERING SINCE 1927
3
Brilliant Stereo Reproducers
featuring *STEREO SEPARATION CONTROL
:and other exclusive SR engineering features
Clean, precision design- loaded with advanced features for
the discriminating stereophile:
Gold -plated "frame grid" cascode tube, guarantees maximum
obtainable sensitivity -0.85 µv for 20 db quieting!
Exclusive SR 2 -tube AM detector, acclaimed by all leading test
laboratories as the only detector capable of reproducing AM
at less distortion than FM-0.1% harmonic at 50% modulation; 0.45% at 100% modulation.
2- position AM bandwidth selector -sharp and extremely broad
-4.5 kc flat audio response on Sharp; 8.2 kc flat audio response
on Broad.
-an exclusive new SR feature
full year ahead -gives you finger -tip control of the
degree of separation between the two stereo channels, lets
you blend them at will to suit your own ear. With the
Stereo Separation Control, you can fill the "hole in the
middle," eliminate objectionable separation or "pingpang" effect, and compensate for variations in stereo
programming recorded with extreme channel separation.
STEREO SEPARATION CONTROL
that's
SR2000 DE LUXE
Stereo Pre -Amp
5163.50
a
Other advanced features:
Phase alternating button
-
enables you to separate, or to
exaggerate stereo programming that is heavily mixed.
volt output,
Totally inaudible distortion -only 0.08% IM at
0.2% at 3 volts, 0.5% at 10 volts.
Professional control functions include separate bass and treble,
variable loudness, rumble and scratch filters.
Twelve variable input level controls to accommodate any stereo
or monaural signal inputs.
I
DUAL
SR -5100
50watt Amplifier
5175.50
s
-
oc
Combines two professional -quality 50 -watt amplifiers, electronically isolated, yet on one chassis; engineered for stereo.
rated power (50 watts) with less than
% IM distortion; less than 0.2% at 45 watts.
Switching provided for instantly paralleling channels to permit
use as 100-watt monaural amplifier (200 watts peak).
Dual GZ34 cathode type rectifiers for optimum regulation and
long life.
Each channel delivers full
I
SR
12
Write for your copy of the exciting new I2 -page SR brochure,
discover why SR components out- perform and out -last all others in their
price range, and "check the specs" on other SR stereo products such
as the SR -380 AM -FM Tuner /Stereo Pre -Amp tone control, the SR -534
Dual 17 -watt basic power amplifier, and the SR -1717 Stereo Pre -Amp/
Dual
17 -watt
amplifier.
SARGENT -RAY MENT
4926 East 12th Street
Oakland
CO.
California
I
Ili
ii
I
niiii)
\Isc:v.lNr:
NOW the Co[uwti6ia, ® Record C[ub offers BOTH
STEREOPHONIC
MONAURAL RECORDS
and
aI Tremendous Sauinys
SING
ALONG
JOHNNY MATHIS
WITH
MITCH
WARM
Perry FELTS
and Orche.na
ORIEO:
heno Concerto
RAY CONNIFF and orchestra
RACHMANINOFF
'S MARVELOUS
Rhapsody on
kr4
PHILIPPE
ENTREMONT,pare
The
PHILADELPHIA ORCN
sings What'll
Do, Warm, While
We're Young, 9 more
2. This vivid musical
3. 16 favorites -Sweet
Violets, Down by the
Old Mill Stream, etc.
-
TCHAIKOVSKO
-
tional selections you buy.
HOW THE CLUB OPERATES
You enroll in any one of the six Club Divisions:
If you have stereo equipment you enroll In either
the Stereo Classical or Stereo Popular Division.
If you have monaural equipment you enroll In
any one of four Divisions: Classical; Listening and
Dancing; Broadway, Movies, Television and Musical
Comedies; Jazz.
Each month the Club's staff of musical experts
selects outstanding recordings from every field of
music. These selections are described in the Club
Magazine, which you receive free each month.
You may accept or reject the selection for your
Division, take any of the other records offered
(stereo or monaural), or take NO record in any
particular month. You may discontinue membership
at any time after purchasing four records.
The records you want are mailed and billed to
you at the regular list price: Popular Monaural
Selections, $3.98; Classical Monaural, $4.98; all
Stereo Records, $5.98
plus a small mailing charge.
To receive your three stereo or monaural records
FREE, fill In and return the coupon today!
-
COLUMBIA Q RECORD CLUB
Torre Haute, Indiana
ROMEO ANO IULIET
ORIGINAL
BROADWAY
LEONARD BERNSTEIN
NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC
CASI
I.
ingratiating Miss
Holliday in her big.
gest Broadway hit
7. The
PLAYS MUSIC FROM
TIE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA
EUGENE ORMANDY
If"
4
BRUNO WALTER
10.
truly magnificent
performance of this
majestic symphony
11, The great tunes from
A
Rodgers and Hammer -
Tchaikovsky
PATHÉTIQUE`
IN HIGH
NEW
13. Organist Buddy Cole
14.
11 tunes -Mine,
Caravan,Carioca,etc.
plays
FIDELITY
Cugi'sgreatesthits -
Mitropoulos,
New York
Philharmonic
15. The most popular of
Besame Mucho,TicoTico, Brazil, 9 more
FREE
Tchaikovsky's lovely,
melodic symphonies
COLUMBIA
RECORD CLUB, Dept. 224 -3
Terre Haute, Indiana
Please send me as my FREE gift the 3 records whose numbers
I have circled at the right - and enroll me ln the following
Division of the Club:
(check one boa only)
Traadwoyn
nl
ng L Dancing
Sceod
STEREO DIVISIONS
¡
lion and
Musical Comedies
S
Classical
S
Popular
Ip
I agree to purchase four selections from the almost 200 stereophonic and monaural records to be offered during the coming
12 months. at regular list price plus small mailing charge.
For every two additional selections I accept. I am to receive a Columbia or Epic Bonus record (stereo or monaural)
of my choice FREE.
Name
prease print)
Address
City
Zone
State
CANADA' prices slightly higher. address ll -13 Soho St., Toronto 28
If you want this membership credited to an established
Columbia or Epic record dealer, authorized to accept subscriptions. fill in below:
Dealer's Name
'
Slareas Reg.
-
manian Rhapsodies
plus 2 more works
LISTENING IN
DEPTH
AN INTRODUCTION
TO COLUMBIA
STEREOPHONIC SOUND
16. Available in stereo
only. 16 popular and
- ANY 3 - MAIL COUPON NOW
pc,MONAURAL DIVISIONS
fiery Rou.
SYMPHONY
HIS GREATEST HITS
COLI, Organ
12. The two
stein's fabulous hit
I.
'Epic.
ROUMANIAN RHAPSODIES
7
Fintr.
'..lumt,ia."
Duke's masterpiece
SYMPHONY
J
Dealer's Address
9. The finest performance ever of the
SOUTH PACIFIC
EROICA
PIPES.
PEDALS AND
..
Bernstein's exciting
performances of two
colorful scores
PERCY FAITH
BEETHOVEN
I111.1111
BLOODY
-in
smooth Lanin style
FIREBIRD SUITE
to purchase 4 selections during the coming 12 months
-
BALL
6. 43 hits for listening
and dancing
the
STRAVINSNY
(AVAILABLE IN STEREOPHONIC SOUND
OR MONAURAL HIGH FIDELITY)
If you join the Columbia LP Record Club now -and agree
phonic AND high -fidelity
truly substantial savings!
stration of the Columbia
saving Bonus Plan
you
3 of the sixteen records shown here, FREE
available in your choice of stereophonic sound OR
monaural high fidelity!
HOW THE CLUB SAVES YOU MONEY
Your only membership obligation is to purchase
four selections from the almost 200 Columbia and
Epic records to be offered in the coming 12 months.
Thus you receive seven records for the price of
four
a saving of more than one-third on your
record purchases.
Furthermore, after buying four selections you re.
ceive your choice of a Columbia or Epic Bonus record (stereo or monaural) free for every two addi
LANNI
JUDY HOLLIDAY
COLUMBIA and EPIC RECORDS
world's finest stereomonaural recordings
at
And as a dramatic demonRecord Club's moneyCfe`
may have, at once, ANY
LESTER
TIFFANY
5. Where or When, The
Way You Look Tonight,
Be My Love. 9 more
abound in these two
romantic scores
OF THESE SUPERB
Yes, now you can acquire the
r
AT THE
ene Ormand
4. Pianistic fireworks
FREE
ANY 3
painting has become
an American classic
I
PNNdelphu
4
1
Orchestra
ORMANDY
Fu
1. Johnny
1
a
Theme of Paganini
MITCH MILLER ANO THE GANG
215
© Columbia Records Sal
APRIL 1959
classical selections
CIRCLE 3 NUMBERS BELOW:
/Indicate here whether you want
3
ds in Stereo w Mo
I)
your
STEREO
L -50
-
MONAURAL
L -49
1. Johnny Mathis
Warm
2. Grofe: Grand Canyon Suite
3. Sing Along With Mitch Miller
4. Grieg Piano Concerto;
Rachmaninoff Rhapsody
S. 'S Marvelous
- Ray Conniff
6. Lester Lanin at the Tiffany Ball
7. Bells Are Ringing
Original
Broadway Cast
8. Firebird; Romeo and Juliet
9. Black, Brown and Beige
10. Beethoven: Eroica Symphony
11. Percy Faith Plays "South Pacific"
12. Roumanian Rhapsodies 1, 2;
plus two more works
13. Pipes, Pedals and Fidelity
14. Cugat Cavalcade
15. Tchaikovsky: Pathetique Symphony
16. Listening in Depth (Available in
-
stereo only)
Corp.. 1959
13
www.americanradiohistory.com
::and
the
tubes
are
RCA!,
One design engineer tells
another exactly how he
puts the "high" in "fidelity"
New design! Just demonstrated the model!
FM's superb... such quieting... rock- stable
tuning! Can't hear any hum in the wide -open
audio preamplifier...or noise in the treble!
And the power amplifier... just feel that bass!
He has good reason to be proud. From front
end to output stage, the design's a honey.
And, as he says: "...the tubes are RCA!"
RCA tubes for monophonic and stereophonic high fidelity have been especially de-
-
signed to bring out the best in your equipment. Among these are four special types
RCA -6973 and 7027 beam power tubes, RCA7025, a high -mu twin triode controlled for
hum and noise and the 7199, a remarkable
triode- pentode combination.
Your RCA Field Representative will be glad
to help you select the right tube for your
circuit. Call him now. Or you can get technical data from RCA Commercial Engineering,
Section D- 74-DE, Harrison, N. J.
RCA tubes for High Fidelity also
your local Authorised RCA Tube
RCA Field Offices
EAST:
744 Broad Street
Nework 2, N. J.
HUmboldt 5 -3900
MIDWEST
Suite 1154
Merchandise Mart Plaza
Chicago 54, III.
WHitehall 4 -2900
WEST:
6355 E. Washington Blvd.
Los Angeles 22, Calif.
RAymond 3 -8361
available from
Distributor
RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA
Electron Tube Division
Harrison, N. J.
introduce you to the
To
RCA VICTOR POPULAR ALBUM CLUB
ANY FIVE OF THE
24 ALBUMS BELOW
FOR ONLY
[NATIONALLY ADVERTISED
sri
PRICES TOTAL UP TO
LL
t
`t 901
ALL ALBUMS ARE
12 -INCH
33'/4 A.P.M.
LONG PLAYING
$398
... if
you agree to buy five albums from
the Club during the next twelve months
from at least 100 to be made available
exciting new plan enables you to have on tap
a variety of popular music ... and, once and for all,
takes bewilderment out of building such a well- balanced
collection. YOU PAY FAR LESS FOR ALBUMS THIS WAY
than if you buy them haphazardly. For example, the
extraordinary introductory offer described above can
represent as much as a 40% saving in your first year of
membership. Thereafter, through the Club's Record Dividend Plan, YOU SAVE ALMOST 331/2% of the
manufacturer's nationally advertised price. After buying the five albums called for in this offer, you
will receive a tr. 12 -inch 33% R.P.M. album, with a
nationally advertised price of at least $3.98, for every
two albums purchased from the Club. A WIDE CHOICE OF
RCA VICTOR ALBUMS will be described each month. One
will be singled out as the album -of-the-month. If you want
it, you do nothing; it will come to you automatically. If
you prefer an alternate -or nothing at all -you can make
your wishes known on a form always provided. You pay
the nationally advertised price -usually $3.98, at times
$1.98 (plus a small charge for postage and handling).
rsVrcroa,il
a
i
PERRY COMO: WE GET LETTERS
Tuts
r..®
YES INDEEDI
TOMMY
DORSEY
ANO HIS
ORCHESTRA
THE NEW
RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN'S
GLENN MILLER ORCHESTRA
III
HI El
-J
soUTH PACIFIc
LEIM
'BING WITH A BEAT
sesWeoaliai.
NMANEEtMFW-7
WALDORF
li
BING CROSBYwm,
BOB SCOBEY'SS
..w Am Rea
Mario Lanza
GERSHWIN
RDY AND BESS
Student Prince
SINGING STARS
BROADWAY MUSICALS
JAZZ
DANCE MUSIC
MOOD MUSIC COLLECTOR'S ITEMS
Ulnae lama
ANENT
*ecaaaawe.
Nag NORM
CHECK THE FIVE ALBUMS YOU WANT. DO NOT OW ACH FROM THE COUPON
WE GET LETTERS Perry
I TOWN
HALL CONCERT
LET'S CHA CHA WITH
Como sings 12 standards.
PLUS Louis Armstrong all- PUENTE Latin dance fare:
n
,
BELAFONTE Folk songs,
allads. calypsos.
i1 FRANKIE CARLE'S
SWEETHEARTS Dancy piano,
twelve
"girl"
songs.
NEW GLENN MILLER
ORCHESTRA IN HI FI Ray
McKinley, 12 dance items.
[7 BRASS R PERCUSSION
Morton Gould Symphonic
Band. 17 hi -ti marches.
J
LENA HORNE AT
WALDORF ASTORIA.
THE
MARIO LANZA
STU-
[
DENT PRINCE.
1
Dinh Shore,
[
-
BLUES
T
torch songs.
BING WITH A BEAT A
Crosby jazz lark with Bob
Scobey, 12 evergreen hits.
star collector's item.
modern. big -band style.
I-1 LET'S DANCE WITH THE
THREE SUNS Forty show
tunes, standards.
n
Songs.
ri
n
time
favorites:
lousie, Malaoueña, etc.
Ja-
MUSIC FOR DINING
Melachrino strings in hi -a
mood music.
TOMMY DORSEY: YES
INDEEDI Marie, Star Dust.
P12 -A
Station, New York 14, N. Y.
''lease register me as a member of The tics Vlcros Popular Album
Club and send me the five albums I have checked at left, for which will
pay $3.98, plus a small charge for postage and handling. I agree
to buy
five other albums ofTered by the Club within the next year, for each
of which I will be billed at the manufacturer's nationally advertised
price: usually $3.98. at times $4.98 (plus a small charge for postage and
handling). Thereafter, I need buy only four such albums in any twelve.
month period to maintain membership. I may cancel my membership
any time after buying five albums from the Club (in addition to those
included in this introduetory offer). After my fifth purchase, if
continue, for every two albums I buy I may choose a third album free.
1
BLUE STARR Kay Starr
sings and swings torch
THE EYES OF LOVE
Hugo Winterhalter's lush
i7 SOUTH PACIFIC Original orchestra In 12 standards.
movie soundtrack.
THINKING OF YOU
BOSTON POPS PICNIC Eddie Fisher's top 12 a11time
All
THE RCA VICTOR
P. O. Sox BO, Village
hits.
[1 MOONGLOW
Artie
1
Shaw. Begin the Bepuine,
Frenesi, Star Dust, etc.
Name
n DUKE ELLINGTON:
MELLOTONE
gems
Address
IN A
18
from
the Duke's golden era.
VICTORY AT SEA Richard Rodgers' stirring score
for the NBC -TV program.
SWEET SEVENTEEN
Ames Brothers, Little
PORGY AND BESS
White Lies, I Don't Knots, Gershwin highlights. Rise
Why, etc.
Stevens, Robert Merrill.
City
lone
State
NOTE: II you wish to enroll through an authorized RCA VICTOR dealer,
Dealer
plan
1111
In here:
Address
Send no money. A bill will be slot. Albums 'can be shipped only b U.S., its territories
and
Canada. Albums for Canadian members are made in Canada and shipped duty tree Tram
Ontario.
APRIL 1959
15
www.americanradiohistory.com
LARRY ELGART at the CONTROL CONSOLE of his RECORDING STUDIO
(Note the AR -I monitor
loudspeakers, in stereo)
Bravo for Bernstein
SIR:
I have been reading your magazine
month after month since 1953 and
wish to congratulate you for publishing the article "\Vho Lives at Carnegie
Hall ?" by Joseph Roddy.
Mr. Bernstein's accomplishments
with the New York Philharmonic have
indeed been colossal.... As a fellow New Yorker and frequent visitor
to Carnegie Hall I can fully attest to
Mr. Roddy's statement that the New
York Philharmonic under the direction of Mr. Bernstein sounds like Toscaninï s orchestra. . .
Gunther H. Jansen
New York, N. Y.
Foreboding
reading the article
by Paul \Vrablica entitled "Audio
Styling: A Look Ahead" [January]. I
honestly hope that the designs that he
outlined are not a forecast of the fate
of high fidelity. True, his ideas are
original and stimulating; they stimulated me to write this letter. However, it would be sad to see electronic
equipment go the way of the metal
monsters issued from Detroit. Once
automobiles belonged to the realm of
the male. Now it seems that amplifiers
and associated equipment are about
to become finned and chromed things
of beauty (beauty ? ?) with wraparound cabinets.
It may be true that I "satisfy my
ego" with the knowledge that I alone
can operate my amplifier, but what of
it? I like my audio equipment to look
and sound professional.
Another point. Mr. \Vrablica hints
in his article that manufacturing
would be made easier, which implies
assembly line procedure. I do not believe that a precision device can be
built on an assembly line or that human care can be replaced by an
electronic brain.
A final question: Do you know a
real high -fidelity addict who would object strongly enough to adjusting his
I have just finished
LARRY ELGART, RCA VICTOR RECORDING ARTIST
of the most exacting jobs for a speaker system is that of studio monitor
in recording and broadcast work. Technical decisions must be made
One
on the basis of the sound coming
for goad or for ill, the quality of
a
from these speakers, which will affect,
record master or FM broadcast.
acoustic suspension speaker systems, although designed primarily
for the home, are widely employed in professional laboratories and studios.
Below is a partial list of companies using AR speakers (all models)
as studio monitors:
AR
Dawn Records
Concerto pes- Concertd i sc
Elektra Records
Mastercroft Record Plating
WGBH
WPFM
Canterbury Records
WXHR
Raleigh Records
Counterpoint Recordings
(formerly Esoteric Records)
Magnetic Recorder and Reproducer
Dubbings
Concert Network stations
WBCN, WNCN,
WHCN, WXCN
t
speaker systems, complete with enclosures -the AR-1, AR2,
and AR-3 -are priced from $89 to $225. Literature is available
for the asking.
AR
ACOUSTIC RESEARCH, INC.
24 Thorndike Street, Cambridge
41,Masf.
Continued on page 20
HIGH FIDELITY %'IACAZINE
www.americanradiohistory.com
i4
.
1Ar`.
-i/ 4 ry1.
r i.
q
-
_
Illy Intosh
MONT SI
y
OCIO
,a.
11f#f
1
C20
..ea
v
i
$225 less cabinet
COMPENSATOR
FOR
STEREO
Intensive and thorough engineering for over a year has resulted in a preamplifier
designed for stereo. McIntosh engineering has made McIntosh products the acknowledged leader in quality, flexibility, and features and now the McIntosh C 20 Stereo
Compensator is destined to continue McIntosh in this coveted leadership. See the features of the preamplifier designed for stereo at your high fidelity dealer. He has the
McIntosh C 20 Stereo Compensator in stock.
ffl48f06h ...
Industrial design by George
ff
H. Kress Associates.
www.americanradiohistory.com
Designed for STEREO
MODE SELECTOR
w0!22
FtTT
BALANCE CONTROL
fC`CR
MONT
MON
VIREO
III
PHASE CONTROL
MON MONT
ITttEO RfV
HI FREQUENCY CUTOFF
AURAL COMPENSATION
As records become worn or
dirty, high frequency noises become annoying. The high frequency cutoff switch permits the
attenuation of the objectionable
noise at a rate of attenuation of
20 DB per octave above 9 KC
or 5 KC.
orrect phase relationship of
the loudspeakers is absolutely
essential in the reproduction of
stereo. The front panel phase
switch on the C 20 controls loudspeaker phase without any change
in loudness or frequency response.
An essential addition in a control
unit designed for stereo.
A continuously variable loudness control has been incorporated
to permit playback at low levels.
As the control is advanced the signal is reduced in intensity maintaining the aural response of the
Fletcher-Munson curve.
INPUT SELECTOR
TOW
BASS
14NO10
SPR
TuNtR
S
.NONO
t
IRC
JW
P
TAN
.,
BASS
RtAA
T
.N,
IL,
OR
N
'
WS
TREBLE
6
AM
COMPENSATION
RWt
COMPENSATION
BASS TONE CONTROL
NP
TREBLE
Eight inputs are supplied including special input switching
to parallel the sides of a stereo
cartridge to cancel the vertical
signal for highest quality monophonic reproduction from a stereo
cartridge. Sufficient gain has been
provided to give full output from
even the lowest output cartridges.
Separate equalization controls
for bass and treble to give the
highest flexibility in record compensation. NAB equalization has
been incorporated for direct tape
head playback. Adequate equalization has been provided to protect
your investment in monophonic
records and tape.
ntor
V
Jacks have been provided on
the front panel to permit the use
of a portable tape recorder in
addition to a tape recorder built
in the system. The jacks, in stereo
of course, are for playback or
record as controlled by the push
button. By the use of these jacks
two tape recorders can be used
with the C 20.
O
L
U M
Ct0
TONE CONTROL
In addition to the ganged tone
controls on the front panel Mcintosh has added separate and inde-
pendent tone balancing controls
on the back panel. The back panel
controls are set once for balancing the response of the entire system. The front panel tone controls
then can be used for flavoring the
music without the need to rebalance the system after each use.
E
The push button Rumble Filter
control sharply attenuates the extreme low frequencies to eliminate
any objectionable noises generated
in the source equipment.
TAPE
COMPARE
Instantaneous tape comparison
controlled by the Tape Compare
push button without affecting the
signal being recorded. All functions are for either stereo or monophonic applications.
is
IN PTA* BACK
INTTAPE
OUT RECORD)
STEREO COMPENSATOR
IWinfosh
LABORATORY, INC.
The C ZO te uL,atoc%
aiyam-
McIntosh
bettauPuaed Deale
4 Chambers St., Binghamton, N. Y.
IN CANADA, MANUFACTURED
BY McCURDY
RADIO INDUSTRIES, LTD.; 22 FRONT STREET WEST, TORONTO, CANADA
www.americanradiohistory.com
first ...and finest
the daVinci
Model 900 with full electronic remote control.
Picture - Framed Custom Television
Other outstanding daVinci features:
Wide Bandpass reproducesall useful
information broadcast.
Definition Control tailors picture
texture to your taste.
Excellent Circuitry
no inexpensive printed circuits; costly Silicon
rectifiers for years of trouble -free
service.
Easy Installation with new short
...
chassis only 1186" deep. Bookshelves make perfect settings where
wall apertures are impractical.
Model 910 designed for manual tuning
with self- contained controls.
Startling, striking innovations of the new 21 "* da Vinci
make this set a vanguard of the industry!
Named for the great Renaissance master who combined
science and art, the da Vinci puts television in the fore of
decor! Front of the receiver accepts picture framing when
installed. Frame is chosen to harmonize with room motif,
possibly matching other picture frames. Television literally
becomes a favored piece of art as well as entertainment!
Technically superior, the da Vinci has a revolutionary
new tube. Safety glass is curved and laminated to face of
tube which is a 110° tri- potential focus type. Safety glass
is etched for glare reduction, and, with flat glass eliminated,
there is almost no reflection or washout even with every
light in the room ablaze.
*21" Diagonal m
The daVinci is built -in beauty that belongs. See it at your hifi dealers'
today...
and you'll want it in your home,
Write for dealer nearest you.
9Peztwoo
CUSTOM TELEVISION crafted by CONRAC, INC.
DEPT.
A, GLENDORA, CALIFORNIA
_tPRIL 1959
19
www.americanradiohistory.com
LETTERS
Continued from page 16
For Ultimate Fidelity
STEREO 'SHERWOOD*.
own "complicated" gear manually to
buy an effeminate, push -button condescension to "public opinion ?" I don't.
William A. Harting
Boston, Mass.
Record Reviews and the Arts
r
SIR:
Patti
nit
r
I feel compelled to thank you for your
Page
and splendid record reparticular interest was
David Johnson's Puccini discography
[December]. Mr. Johnson's careful
and illuminating analysis is reassuring
to us who have an extensive library of
Madame Callas' recordings, for it
gives authority to our belief in her
vocal ability and unequaled dramatic
interpretation. I might here add that
her artistry is not the product of electronic amplification, but that on stage
she is even more vibrant and her musicianship-if possible -even more apparent. Mr. Johnson's article fully
supports my belief that artists are to
be judged on performance, and that
reportorial bias, prejudice, and sensationalism have no place in the arts.
Doris L. Rothgesser
Hillside, N. J.
impartial
views.
opere'
'flRTRAIïS IN SOUND
LEINSIERF
MAHLER:
BRUNO WALTER
If your choice is stereo, Sherwood offers The Ultimate in performance
and two models to choose from:
Model S -5000, a 20 +20 watt dual amplifier -preamplifier for stereo
"in a single package
Rebuttal to Reader
-
"...
Model S-4400, a stereo preamplifier with controls coupled with a single
36 watt amplifier for converting monaural systems to stereo (can also
be used with Model S -360-a 36 watt basic amplifier ($59.50) to
make a dual 36 watt combination).
Basic coordinated controls for either stereo or monaural operation
include 10 two -channel controls, stereo normal /reverse switch, phase
inversion switch, tape -monitor switch and dual amplifier monaural
operation with either set of input sources. Bass 8 Treble controls adjust
each channel individually or together.
The five modes of operation (stereo, stereo -reversed, monaural 1,
monaural 2, monaural 1+2) are selected by the function switch which
also operates a corresponding group of indicator lites to identify the
selected operating mode ... and all Sherwood amplifiers feature
the exclusive presence rise control.
Model S -4400: Stereo pre -amp, controls 8 single 36 -watt amplifier, Fair Trade $159.50
Model S- 5000: 20 +20 watt dual stereo amplifier, Fair Trade $189.50
For complete specifications write Uept. H-4
SHERWOOD
-
ELECTRONIC LABORATORIES, INC.
4300 N. California Ave., Chicago 18.
Of
Illinois
The "complete high fidelity home music center " -monophonic or stereophonic.
'outstanding honors bestowed, unsolicited, by most recognized testing organizations.
Sin:
I am writing because of the letter of
Mr. Carlton C. Porter in your February issue attacking opera as, in great
. a poor
part, "tinsel and bombast
and mongrel simulation of an art
form."
Let me first admit that he could
find examples of the nursery rhyme
arias and lurid librettos he decries
with little trouble. But only a person
without taste could fail to find the
same uneven quality in any form of
music, or any other art for that
matter.
Just as in the theatre, it is not poor
works which justify the devotion of
opera's admirers, but the occasional
great masterwork which stamps opera
with the badge of true art. Should
the numerous bad plays of today convince us to shut our theatres because
we have outgrown them?
If one should answer that great
plays are still written, while great
operas are not, he would have made
a valid point, but not one which
would discredit opera as an art form.
The answer to this is to be found,
not in any flaw in opera, but in the
failure of modern composers to face
the problems of opera and work hard
Continued on page 22
HIGII FIDELITY MAGAZINE
2p
www.americanradiohistory.com
1
THE WORLD'S GREATEST MUSICAL ARTISTS
TAPE THEIR OWN RECORDINGS ON
irise
Nit
FERRO -SHEEN¡ RECORDING TAPE:
s+10111Ipt.
Renata Tebaidl
Claudio Arrau
THAT
IS
Roberta Peters
T THE
Isaac Stern
REASON WHY YOU SHOULD USE
BRAND
FERRO -SHEEN
Richard Tucker
Joseph Szlget,
RECORDING TAPE:
Regina
L.
conard Rose
George London
HERE'S WHY YOU SHOULD USE
ïnisù
BRAND
FERRO -SHEEN RECORDING TAPE:
...
It's the best -engineered tape in the world
gives
you better highs
better lows
better sound all
...
...
around Saves your tape recorder, too
!
Irish
- because the
process results in
tape that can't sand down your
FERRO- SIIEEN
smoother tape ...
magnetic heads or shed oxide powder into your
machine. Price? Same as ordinary' tape!
OR R a
d
i
o
Industries, Inc.
Opelika, Alabama
líorles Larves( Exclusive Magnetic
Export: Morhan Exporting Corp., New York, N. Y.
Canada: At /as Radio Corp., Ltd., Toronto, Ontario
Tape Manufacture,
www.americanradiohistory.com
LETTERS
Continued from page 20
SHOPPING FOR STEREO?
enough to solve them. Puccini has
had the last word in opera by default. The limits of that most beautiful
instrument. the human voice, make it
a poor tool for the use of modems
who scorn lyrical beauty in music.
Perhaps the real cause of opera's
decline is its inherent need for beautiful melody. It cannot thrive where
composers thrive on ugly discords, so
much in vogue in modern music.
John Fick
Chicago, Ill.
The
manufacture of stereo high fidelity components is an
extremely technical, highly
specialized phase of electronics. So before you buy
any stereo equipment, ask
yourself this question: "Is
the component I'm buying
made by a manufacturer who has a long history of
brilliant successes in sound."
Bogen is a name known, and respected for over a
quarter century as the authority on all types of
Arm -held Speakers
Sun:
Dr. John Stern of Utica, who complains about women holding speakers
in their arms [December], overlooks
the fact that women have always managed to get about any response they
desired from arm -held speakers and.
generally. fidelity far beyond the original intention of the speaker.
What more could any speaker desire than to be enclosed in the arms of
luscious listeners!
Alvin Dais
Sidney, Neb.
sound equipment. Your child may listen to a Bogen
central sound system in his classroom. Perhaps
you use a Bogen intercom. Wherever professional
sound equipment is used, you'll find Bogen -the
sound equipment made by professionals.
THE SAME FLAWLESS SOUND
that engineers and
musicians demand is yours
to enjoy at home in Bogen
stereo high -fidelity components. Take the Bogen DB
230, for example. Here in
one chassis is all the versa tility...all the sensitivity...
all the power you need for perfect stereo pleasure.
You can't hear Bogen's engineering excellence...
only its brilliant achievements! And this technical
artistry, confirmed by leading testing organizations, is complemented by outstanding styling. See
-and hear-the DB 230 today.
QUALITY
DB
230. STEREO CONTROL CENTER AND DUAL 30 -WATT
AMPLIFIER.
The DB 230 controls all stereo sources (tape,
and
FM -AM stereo broadcasts and stereo discs)
30 -watt
feeds them through self- contained dual
amplifier to your two speaker systems. For mono-
power is
phonic program material, 60 watts oflegs:
$8.00.
available. Price: $189.50. Enclosure and
ILLUSTRATED BOOKLET: 64 -page
explanation of hi -fi and stereo,
"Understanding High Fidelity- Stereo Edition." Enclose
25c please. BOGEN- PRESTO
COMPANY,
BOGEN
HIGH FIDELITY COMPONENTS
Monophonic Future Dire?
Snt:
Not long ago the read advertisements
of high -fidelity equipment promising
"Listen to live sound." "Turn your living room into a concert hall." "Realistic lifelike reproduction of sound," and
many other fine things.
Suddenly we are told that monophonic music reproduction is antiquated, inferior. and unreal, that stereophonic music alone is realistic music
reproduction. Soon there will be no
more monophonic amplifiers in catalogues. and we may have to buy monophonic records in shops for antiques.
Allow me to protest emphatically
against this development. Stereophonic sound may be superior in years
to come but until now I have not
heard stereo (except at a price of
$2,000 and more) which I prefer to
the monophonic music I enjoy with my
. .
own setup at home.
To say that only stereophonic music is lifelike and that monophonic music appears "to come out of a box" is
definitely untrue unless a poorly designed enclosure is used. Good speakers in technically good enclosures disperse the sound which is also multi directionally reflected by walls, ceiling, and floor... .
Eric Bock, M.D.
Waukegan, Ill.
.
Paramus, N. J.
A Division of the Siegler Corporation
22
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
hen the chips are down...
tape is still king
S
recorder
STEREOPHONIC RECORDING
and PLAYBACK SYSTEM* in one low cost unit.
...and the
SONY
STERECORDER
is your best bet!
the finest complete
* All
STERECORDER models are also available with an extra stereo play -back head with a
frequency response of 30- 12,000 CPS to reproduce the new pre- recorded 4 -track stereophonic tapes (Model 555 -A4).
Built -in stereo
pre -amplifiers and power
amplifiers (can be used
for other components)
Separate head for
4 -track tapes
Two V. U. meters
professional
level indication
for
Stereo outputs for
loud speakers and external
amplifiers
Two Sony professional
dynamic microphones
Individual
Model
CSS -555
stereo
tone and volume controls
-A
plus master volume
Inputs for live stereo
and "off the
recording
air" stereo
Automatic tape lifters
(eliminates head
wear in fast forward
and rewind)
-
Tape Speeds
Instantaneous selection
71/s IPS or 33% IPS
Frequency Response (per Channel)
30 -18000 CPS at 7y, IPS
_- 2 DB 50 -15000 CPS at 7T/, IPS
30 -12000 CPS at 3s/ß IPS
Signal to Noise Ratio (per Channel)
50 DB or more across line output
(measured by proposed NARTB
standards)
Flutter and Wow
Less than 0.2% at 71/2 IPS
Less than 0.3% at 33/4 IPS
DK 555 -A
Ideal for "built -in" installations
Harmonic Distortion
than 2% at
rated output
Tube Complement
Less
2
1
-EF86, 4- 12AZ7,
3 DB
below
3 -6A05
-5V4 -G
S
recorder
Finest components and construction
assures years of guaranteed operation
For Free Descriptive Literature and Name of Nearest Franchised Dealer
write
SUPERSCOPE, INC., Audio Electronics Division
.A1'011.
1959
/ Sun Valley, California
23
www.americanradiohistory.com
new from Altee
-Q leader in professional stereophonic sound
ALTEC LANSING, who pioneered and
developed stereophonic sound for
theatres and has more professional
superb
stereo
systems
for
your home!
stereo installations than all other makes
combined, now offers complete
component stereophonic sound systems
designed especially for your home.
These ALTEC home stereo systems are
made with the same precision built into
ALTEC professional stereo systems.
The result-You've got to hear it to
believe it!
And while you're listening- compare
ALTEC with any other sound system for
truth of performance ...for rich, brilliant, undistorted sound.
Can you afford it? ALTEC sells high
fidelity speakers for as low as $31.00.
Complete component stereo systems sell
for as low as $450.00.
Described here is an ALTEC stereo system costing slightly under $2000.00 -it
provides the ultimate in stereo listening for hundreds of dollars less than
some monaural systems!
445A Stereo Preamplifier
Features: Orientation Control -moves
the listening area to give you stereophonic sound anywhere in the room
Contour Control -for low level stereo
listening without loss of extreme high
and low frequencies Master Volume
Control -adjusts volume for both chan-
together, or reversing speakers Bass
and Treble Control for each channel 6
paired, push -button controlled inputs
for tape deck, phono, mike, tape machine, radio and spare.
345A Stero Amplifier
Features: 60 Watt stereo
Control for
paralleling both stereo amplifiers into
one speaker Individual Gain Controls
Automatic impedance matching for
speakers.
830A Laguna Speaker Systems
A pair of superlative ALTEC 830A Laguna speaker systems in beautiful
walnut, blond, or mahogany hardwood
cabinets with 30- 22,000 cps range -30
watt power rating -16 ohm impedance.
To complete this stereo system combine with two new ALTEC 307 FM tuners
or your own tape machine or record
changer.
For more about stereo, write:
ALTEC LANSING CORPORATION
Department 411-A
Manchester Avenue, Anaheim, Calif.
Sixth Avenue. New York 13, N. Y.
1515 S.
161
ALTE[
nels simultaneously Channel Switch
-for listening to each speaker singly or
LANSING CORPORATION
IIIGII
www.americanradiohistory.com
FIDELITY MAGAZINE
Fif
F-
_<
<
In the days of "78 ", the changer was the only convenient way to enjoy fast- playing
discs. We've come a long way since.
The first break-through was the LP, offering up to one hour of continuous music.
Many serious music listeners began playing
these LP's on turntables to achieve the ultimate in reproduction. However,
for most people the choice of "Turntable vs.
Changer" was still a matter of personal preference. Not so with STEREO! The
turntable is an absolute must, if you
want true `high fidelity" in your stereo reproduction. For, unlike the monaural cartridge,
the stereo cartridge picks up vertical
rumble and transmits it through the speakers. So for stereo, your only real choice now
is "which turntable ?"
And that choice is easy: Rek-O -Kut stereoTables °. StereoTables are available
in a
wide range of models, each the unchallenged leader in its class. And, you
can enjoy
Model N -3311
a stereoTable at the cost of a changer! Whether you're a "pro" or first venturing
with hysteresis
into
motor
high fidelity, the best way to enjoy stereo music is with a stereoTable -and only
`
single-speed
erg
Rek -O -Kut makes the stereoTable! For more about Rek -O -Kut stereoTables
(331/ pm)
and
belt -drive.
Tonearms write Rek -O-Kut Co., Inc., Dept. HF, 38 -19 108th St., Corona 68, N. Y.
$69.95
turntable only.
Kek -O -Kut
S -120
Tonearm
$27.95
REK -O -KUT sterei. Tables' AND STEREO TONEARMS
stereoTables from $39.95
In'erl:
Morhen E.po,, na Corp., 451 !roadway. M.
--
bases arm nrni'able.
Model B -12GH
with hysteresis
motor
3- speeds.
$99.95
Y. C. 13, M. Y.
Cendc
Ades Radio Carp., 50 Wingeld Ave.. Toronto 1f. Ont.
'Reg. T.M.
www.americanradiohistory.com
turntable only.
RK
39
1
A
3
Abroad
!GRAY
12" stereo - monophonic
TONE AR
KIT
Exclusive slide assembly for
quick cartridge change without
rewiring.
Dual viscous damping in
lateral and vertical pivots
eliminates resonance distortion.
Adjustable static balance
control provides maximum
tracking stability.
Accommodates all cartridges:
monophonic, 3 or 4 wire stereo.
Model SAK -12
12" tone
arm kit.
new literature on
GRAY RECORD PLAYING EQUIPMENT write to:
GRAYFor
High Fidelity Division
DEPT. H4
16 ARBOR STREET, HARTFORD 1,
CONN.
LONDON -This city is to commemorate Handel and Purcell jointly, in a
Purcell -Handel Festival lasting June
8 -27. The BBC, the Arts and British
Councils, the British Museum, and
the London County Council are collaborating in this venture, of which
the Queen is patron. The most interesting events are productions, by the
Handel Opera Society at Sadler's
Wells, of Rodelinda and Semele, one
of which should star Joan Sutherland.
Miss Sutherland is one of the very
few sopranos today capable of dealing with Handel's music convincingly:
witness her Alcina for the Handel Opera Society (some of it on a OiseauLyre record) and her "Let the bright
Seraphim," which brings the house
down each time Covent Garden
stages Samson. Other events: Dryden's version of The Tempest, with
Purcell's incidental music, at the Old
Vic; concert performances of King
Arthur, The Faery Queen, Solomon.
The most important scholarly contribution bids to be Winton Dean's
long-awaited study of the Handel dramatic oratorios (which he believes to
be much more dramatic than the operas). It is exhaustive, learned, with
long analyses of each of the works,
but always with an eye and an ear
directed outside the study to the concert hall and opera house. A recent
HM \' disc of "O ruddier than the
cherry," sung by Owen Brannigan,
shows how scholar and performer can
happily collaborate. Dean told Charles
Farncombe, conductor of the Handel
Opera Society, that although the
score shows a treble recorder for the
obbligato, Handel used to employ a
sopranino recorder (an octave higher). And on this disc, for the first time,
we are able to hear the deliciously
merry piping, high above the amorous
bass giant's protestation, which lends
to the piece an irresistibly comic and
attractive effect.
Klemperer Recovered. Otto Klemperer's illness (smoking a pipe in bed, he
Continued on page 28
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
www.americanradiohistory.com
basic contributions to our culture
I
We are indebted to William Henry Fox Talbot
for the invention of the photographic negative and
discovery of the latent image. His work greatly advanced the art- science of photography. More than
a hundred years later the laboratories of James B. Lansing Sound, Inc., developed the principle
of radial refraction, a break -through which may prove to be equally significant
in the field of stereophonic music reproduction. First applied to the magnificent
JBL Ranger -Paragon, an instrument originally designed for use as a monitor
in perfecting stereo recording techniques, radial refraction has now been used in
a more compact, home -sized stereophonic loudspeaker system called the
JBL Ranger -Metregon. The curved refracting panel on the front of the dual
IN
acoustical enclosure integrates two precision loudspeaker systems. A wide -angle
stereo field is radiated throughout the listening area. Radial refraction obviates the
hole in the middle, ping -pong effects, and split soloists which plague expedient
stereo arrangements. No less than seven different speaker systems, including one with
new high frequency drivers, exponential horns, and dividing networks may be installed
in the Metregon. You may very well be able to use some of your present 161 loudspeakers. Write for
a
complete description of the 161 Ranger -Metregon and the name and address of the Authorized
JBL Signature Audio Specialist in your community.
BL
JAMES B. LANSING SOUND, INC., 3249 Casitas Ave.,
www.americanradiohistory.com
us
Asples.SD, CAUL
NOTES FROM ABROAD
Continued front page 26
fell asleep; the bed caught fire and he
was severely burned) jarred both
London's concert season and Angel's
recording plans. But Dr. Klemperer is
now out of hospital; and on May
7 -19 he is scheduled to record Bach's
St. Matthew Passion in the Hampstead Parish Church, with the Phil harmonia Orchestra and the professional Philhannonia Choir of sixty
singers. The soloists are Elisabeth
Schwarzkopf, Christa Ludwig, Peter
Pears, Nicolai Cedda, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskáu, and Donald Bell, the
young Canadian baritone who was
Nightwatchman in Bayreuth's Meistersinger last year. Benjamin Britten has
been invited to supply the continuo.
This
is
the
Fidelitone
Diamond
Stereo
Needle
the ultimate
in stereophonic sound reproduction
Now hear all the living range of stereophonic sound with a Fidelitone diamond.
Why Fidelitone? Because Fidelitone
Diamond Needles are designed and
manufactured for high quality stereo
reproduction. Each one is precision
ground on Fidelitone-designed machinery to fit the stereo microgroove exactly.
Then its carefully polished to a perfectly
smooth ball point. A Fidelitone Diamond correctly follows the intricate
vertical and lateral sound impressions.
Result! Unsurpassed stereo reproduction
with all the balance and clarity of living
realism.
Fidelitone Diamonds last longer, too.
r
Fidelitone, Record Care Booklet. Chicago 26.
Illinois. Gentlemen: Please send me my free
copy of your Record Care Booklet.
Fidelitone
7
hey're engineered for extra hours of
You see a diamond has many
play.
planes. Some are ten times harder than
others. Fidelitone orients each point in
the stylus to place the hardest planes in
contact with the record groove. Fidelitone quality demands this exactness and
you get up to ten times longer wear.
And because Fidelitone Diamonds meet
the rigid standards of stereo, your monaural records are produced with more
exciting brilliance.
To achieve the highest fidelity reproyour
stereo or monaural
duction
equipment needs a Fidelitone Diamond.
See your record dealer today.
-
-
Name
Sopranos and Stereo. Claire Watson,
an American soprano who sings at
Frankfurt, made a lightweight Mar schallin in the Covent Carden revival
of Der Rosenkavalier-a performance
conducted by Rudolf Kempe with so
little emotion or affection as to jeopardize his Strauss reputation as seriously as the last Ring here did his Wagner one. But everyone who heard Miss
Watson's Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes
seemed to like it. She learned the role
specially for the Decca ( London Records in the States) recording of the
opera, which has now been made, out
at Walthamstow-the first opera -instereo recording to be done in England, and the first recording of the
Covent Garden Opera Company. The
company used the technique it pioneered in Vienna, throwing out a stage
into the hall, and on to this it put,
more or less, the Covent Garden production. The stage noises -oohs and
ahs in the Trial Scene, danéing about
outside the Boar -are said to have authenticity and naturalness. Britten conducted his own opera ( for the first
time ever) and everything went so
smoothly that long stretches -the
whole of the first scene, for example
were done as a single take.
Flagstad has been in London again,
following up the success of her Sibelius
recital with another collection of Scandinavian song, Grieg and others,
again with orchestral accompaniment.
The Vienna-recorded Rheingold (in
which Flagstad sings Fricka) represents a distinct stereo advance on the
Walküre; anvils, thunderclaps, ambulatory ( if not water -borne) Rhine maidens, make a picturesque and visually evocative effect.
-
ANDREW PORTER
Address
City
State
igi aL1.
"Best buy on records"
L
a
IL7
rM ia
a Z2
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
28
www.americanradiohistory.com
Judged-"BEST STEREO" sound
at HIFI shows everywhere!
Sounds best on ALL equipment
sounds better on expensive
-
equipment, of course.
SOUNDS A COMPLIMENT TO YOUR EQUIPMENT
STEREOPHONIC
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R813 THE LEGEND OF PELE
The legend of fire goddess PELE as interpreted by
Arthur Lyman. Recorded in Henry J .Kaiser's
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with intriguing new effects. It's
R805 RAZMAJAZZ
and six castanet dancers.
ea,
R609 WEST COAST JAZZ IN HI FI
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R608 BIG DIXIE
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FLAMENCO ESPANA
Sixteen
exciting flamenco tracks with Bernabe
DeMoron, guitarist; three other guitars
11811
a
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more red -hot
rhythms from the Roaring Twenties with
R901 A FAREWELL TO STEAM
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Available at record shops and HIFI equipment dealers everywhere
"The sound that named
company"
HIGH FIDELITY RECORDINGS,
7803 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood 46, California
In
APJLLJ.
a
Canada
- Spartan
Records
1959
INC.
P.O. Box 5035, London, Ontario
29
www.americanradiohistory.com
NEW
THE WORLD'S ONLY
STEREO RECEIVER FOR
THE DISCRIMINATING
AUDIO ENTHUSIAST
cabinet ovoilobl*
IT
wide,
141" deep, 41116" high.
354 lbs. net.
For those who want the convenience of an
all -in -one instrument... versatility at the heart
of their hi -fi installation...as well as the quality of performance and dependability that
have typified all FISHER high fidelity products
for over twenty -one years THE FISHER
TA -600 is the only possible choice.
-
www.americanradiohistory.com
Everything you need-on
compact chassis!
STEREO FM -AM TUNER
STEREO MASTER
STEREO
AUDIO CONTROL
40 -WATT AMPLIFIER
$349S0
Slightly Higher
in the Far West
13
THE FISHER
BEST STEREO RECEIVER
1 Forty watts of power from dual twenty -watt amplifiers (seventy watts peak power.) 2 Cascode RF stage
on FM for extreme sensitivity. 3 Bridge -type, low noise triode mixer on FM. 4 Input and output jacks
for MULTIPLEX reception. 5 Two MICRORAy tuning
indicators to help you tune in the weakest signal as
easily as the strongest. 6 Connections for four, eight,
and sixteen -ohm speakers (rear.) 7 Rotatable, ferrite
loop antenna, for maximum signal power and minimum interference (rear.) 8 Two-position bandwidth
on AM (a must for stereo.) 9 Ten kilocycle whistle
filter to eliminate interference from adjacent stations.
10 DC filament supply to reduce hum to complete
MADE!
inaudibility. 11 Dual bass and treble tone controls.
12 Five -position input selector. 13 Five -position
stereo-monophonic switch. 14 Dual balance control.
15 Master volume control. 16 Tape monitor switch.
17 High and low frequency filters. 18 Loudness contour switch. 19 Five input level adjustments (rear.)
20 Phase- reversing switch to compensate for any improperly phased tape recordings or speakers (rear.)
21 Tape recorder output jacks (rear.) 22 Special input
jack arrangement to permit Using an external FM
tuner with the TA -600 for the reception of FM -FM
stereo broadcasts (rear.) 23 Auxiliary AC outlets for
plugging in associated equipment (rear.) Frequency
response, 25 to 20,000 cps, ± I db
WRITE TODAY FOR COMPLETE SPECIFICATIONS
FISHER RADIO CORPORATION
21-25 44th DRIVE
LONG ISLAND CITY
1,
N. Y.
Export: Morhan Exporting Corp., 458 Broadway, New York 13, N. Y.
APRIL 1959
31
www.americanradiohistory.com
FRENCH HORN
...a brass
wind Instrument. Fundomontal frequency range: 62 to 698 cps. Overtones extend to 8,400 cps.
gooks
HOW often have you found the reproduction of a favorite french horn
passage dulled by recording technique, room acoustics or perhaps the
characteristics of your own equipment? In such instances, what a blessing
Ier-Tongue Audio Baton -for, just by a turn of a few selected knobs con tt. ,i,t g the fundamentals and overtones of the french horn, the crisp, truthful
rendering of the instrument suddenly emerges in all its original beauty.
The Audio Baton does this by dividing the audible spectrum into nine separately
controllable octaves. Each octave can be independently boosted or attenuated as
much as 14 db. By boosting the overtone frequencies of a specific instrument you
can enhance its character and timbre. By boosting its fundamentals, as well, you
can bring the instrument forward in relation to the rest of the orchestra or ensemble.
To make even the finest high fidelity system sound better, simply connect the
Audio Baton. In modern enclosure 119.95 at high fidelity dealers or write:
Blonder- Tongue Laboratories, Inc., 9 Alling Street, Newark 2. New Jersey.
fingertip control of the full orchestral range...
octave by octave.. new blonder- tongue audio baton
.
ín KFVlC1W
In Memoriam: Curt Sachs. Probably
only a few veteran devotees of baroque
and earlier music remember that the
iron bonds of "standard" repertory
were first broken almost single -handedly by the imaginative daring of Dr.
Curt Sachs. Even fewer may recall his
pioneering Two Thousand Years of
Music of 1934 or the far more ambitious Anthologie sonore series launched
in 1937; yet it was these bold challenges which first aroused the record
industry to the importance of historical authenticity in re-creations of old
music and which persuaded listeners
that the world of vital music making
was far wider and more inviting than
they had imagined. Dr. Sachs's long
and fruitful career came to an end on
February 5, 1959, with his death at
the age of seventy- seven, but his wisdom has left an ineffaceable imprint
on recorded music for all time.
More directly, every serious music
lover is incalculably indebted to him
for a legacy of writings which represent not only the finest musical scholarship of our era, but the still more
precious gift of stimulating enthusiasm
and curiosity. The best known of his
books in English probably is Our Musical Heritage (Prentice -Hall, 2nd ed.
1955, $7.35); yet admirable as this
concise history is, the most characteristically exhilarating and illuminating
words of Dr. Sachs are to be found in
his larger and more deeply probing
studies, all of which (in English, at
least) are fortunately still, and promise long to remain, in print -in the catalogue of his principal publisher, NV. W.
Norton & Co. N1v personal favorites
are the standard History of Musical
Instruments (1940, $7.95) and that
remarkable exploration of the relationships among the various arts, The
Commonwealth of Art (1946, $7.50).
Yet I scarcely dare give precedence to
these over such no less valuable works
as The Rise of .1/o.sic in the Ancient
World, East and West (1943, $5.95),
World History of the Dance (1937,
$5.95), and Rhythm and Tempo
(1953, $7.95). And, if rumor is to be
trusted, still another work, An Introduction to Ethnomusicology, was completed in manuscript just this last winter. To know these works is to enrich
immeasurably one's own capacities for
catholic, perceptive, and profoundly
rewarding musical experience.
Music in the Medieval and Renaissance Universities is only too obviously one of those pachyderms which
Continued on page 34
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
32
www.americanradiohistory.com
First Choice for BUILT-INS: the BOZAKS
because, unlike "pre- packaged" units,
the modestly -priced
Bass /Treble
Bozaks are available
B -207A
separately or panel mounted for FLEXIBLE combination into
any size of speaker system
because
-
-
the infinite -baffle
enclosure, easy to
Midrange
B-209
build, is ADAPTABLE to almost any available location
because the possibility
of SYSTEMATIC GROWTH allows you to
start modestly with
Crossover
a single B-207A and
N -10102
enlarge later without difficulty
and
-
-
finally, because Bozak's uncompromising
policy of one line, one quality, assures
you always THE VERY BEST IN SOUND.
The BOZAK B -305 speaker system (below)
in pairs for stereo provides a thrilling realism that must be heard to be believed. See a
Bozak franchised dealer, write for catalog.
BOZAK
DARIEN
CONNECTICUT
APRIL 1959
33
www.americanradiohistory.com
BOOKS IN REVIEW
Worth waiting for
.. .
Continued from page 32
...
this all -new series of Grommes amplifiers,
You've waited because
-fi
preamplifiers and tuners with the newest look and cleanest sound in hi
facilities
has been received with tremendous enthusiasm. Now, production
have been expanded to meet this demand.
You turn a dial . , , and something wonderful happens!
reliving the original performance,
You're there
hearing the songs you love with a new
brilliant clarity . , . hearing the depth of life
in each musical passage. Grommes
Stereo is stereophonic reproduction at
it's finest . . . superb fidelity
with a new realistic depth ...
bringing you truly, music
that lives.
...
Handsomely styled
in gleaming gold and white
set in a leatherette case
Grommes Stereo High Fidelity Amplifiers,
Preamplifiers and Tuners are craftsman designed and assembled with jewel -like prebuilt to last for years of musical
cision
enjoyment.
...
...
you owe it to yourself to see and
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lumber formidably through the musicological preserves of contemporary
literature: in short, a doctoral dissertation rigorously confined to the sober
compilation of obscure historical facts.
And even its subject (unlike author
Nan Cooke Carpenter's earlier study of
Rabelais and Music, University of
North Carolina Press, 1934) is scarcely
enlivening in itself. Like the writings
of one of the early scholars exhumed
here ( the thirteenth -century encyclopedist Bartholomaeus Anglicus), "Thise
wordes ben in themselfe deepe and
full mystyk, clerk to understondynge."
Properly, I can commend this work
only to devout scholars well versed in
medieval Latin and French as well as
music history. Nevertheless, it would
be unfair not to add that this esoteric
work has its own curious fascinations
and rewards. Miss Carpenter does
eventually succeed in convincing us
that her thesis has genuine validity
and significance, that the apparently
quaint "Dark-Age" and Renaissance
theories of music were letter articulated and disseminated than the self proclaimed enlightened ages have ever
realized, and that the composers of
those days were by no means the untutored natural songsters of popular
imagination, but respectful inheritors
and diligent refiners of already great
traditions, the influences of which remain ineradicable, however obscure,
in the pages of subsequent musical history (University of Oklahoma Press,
$6.00).
Gustave Mahler: The Early Years, by
Donald Mitchell, is, as its subtitle indicates, only the first installment of a
badly needed standard English biography of one of the most enigmatic
personalities in modern music. Since it
is limited to the first twenty Fears
(1860 -80) of \fahler's life, only Das.
klagende Lied and a few very early
songs of this composer's steadily growing discography our discussed here,
but discussed in a minute detail (some
fifty -seven pages of text with many
musical illustrations for the Song of
Lament alone). This is musical scholarship without compromise and, needless to say. neither the analyses nor
the painstakingly documented ( in no
less that 37 pages of source references)
biographical chapters are calculated
for easy reading. Yet, for anyone willing to struggle through these dense
thickets of facts, conjectures, and exegesis, Mahler's tortured figure does begin to emerge at last-and with it at
Continued on page 37
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
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BOOKS IN REVIEW
Continued from page 34
least some sympathetic comprehension
of the ambiguities which were to lift
him so close to, and yet so tragically
short of, the supreme genius to which
he so desperately aspired (Macmillan,
$8.50).
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Loudspeakers, 5th Ed. At this late
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books, Indeed a good index to the
birth date of their interest in sonic
technology might well be the particular edition (from the veteran's First of
1948 to the relative newcomer's
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libraries. Now, however, this copy
must be superseded by what is less a
new edition than a vastly more substantial clothbound expansion, enlarged to 3:36 pages, and with over
200 illustrations. all but a handful of
which are brand -new. The evangelical
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musical -ear tests over response curves
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than ever, but the technical analyses
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thanks to the collaboration of R. E.
Cooke and the inclusion of many of his
invaluable wave -form photographs.
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engaging combination of humor, poetic
epigraphs, and stubborn Yorkshire man's insistence on the need for even
technical complexities to make common sense in plain English -who gives
the work its unique and piquant flavor.
And, for good measure, he not only
brings his studies of speakers and enclosures up to date to include electrostatic types, stereo applications, etc.,
but adds as sheer lagniappe for nontechnicians several delightful chapters
of reminiscences of his own career as
a manufacturer and writer, his impressions of audio fairs in England and the
United States, and a report on the
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A Guest Editorial by E. Power Biggs
TwoHundred YearsAlive- George Frederick Handel
IN PRAISE of George Frederick
Handel,what is there
to add to the tributes that have echoed down the past
two centuries? In these years, some four hundred books
and extended articles, by about as many authors, have
discussed England's great musical immigrant. His music,
his personality, details of his daily life, even the minutiae
of his bank accounts have been documented and analyzed.
First among the composer's biographers was John
Mainwaring. His slim book, .Memoirs of the Life of the
Late George Frederic Handel, published in 1760, is said
to have been the first biography of a musician to be set in
print. Just over a century later, in 1883, W. S. Rockstro
produced his enormously engaging Life of Handel.
Among twentieth -century biographies, undoubtedly the
book that offers us the most is the monumental Documentary Biography, by Otto Erich Deutsch. Fiere are organized chronologically all available documents, newspaper accounts, advertisements, and letters bearing on
Handel's life. A clear picture emerges. One sees the man
as his contemporaries saw him, and one is able to evaluate
anew the vast range of Handel's musical thought. This
book is a unique tribute of modern scholarship to the anniversary of the Halle master.
In outline, Handel's career is familiar: his eminent
genius for music, so strong that it overrode his father's
wish to train the young George Frederick for the law;
his two or three years study in counterpoint, organ, oboe,
and violin with Zachau, organist at the Liebfrauenkirche
at Halle, which in fact constituted about the only formal
musical instruction that Handel ever received; his short
appointment as organist at the Cathedral Church of
Halle, and his brief visit as a prodigy to Berlin; his journey at the age of eighteen to Hamburg, "on his own bottom" as Mainwaring puts it; the several years that he
spent in the chief musical centers of Italy and his fortunate contact with the two Scarlattis, Alessandro and
Domenico, and with Arcangelo Corelli- musical experiences that were to add melody and frankness to his Germanic creative genius; his brief sojourn at Hanover; and
finally, his irresistible gravitation, in the summer of 1710,
towards England, the country that afforded him the spacious stage for his overwhelming talents and became, in
fact, his adopted fatherland.
Stirring events were taking place in England at the
beginning of the eighteenth century. Much of London
had been rebuilt, following the Great Fire of 1666. Many
Parliamentary steps towards achieving constitutional and
individual liberty had been taken. There was a broadening base of support for the arts, and music reached an
ever widening public. Yet no native composer of equal
gifts had appeared to fill the shoes of Henry Purcell, and
the times awaited the talents of a dominating musician.
It was Handel's particular genius to write music that
was, in the best sense of the word, popular. He addressed
himself directly to his public. Never did he need an
interpreter, or a champion. The effect of his music was
immediate and universal, and never has his music fallen
from fashion or-at any rate-never have certain works
lacked frequent performance.
Handel understood the art of living. He was quite the
cultivated gentleman, an excellent Latin scholar, and
master of the German, Italian, French, and English
languages -several pointless anecdotes about his accent
notwithstanding. He mixed with kings, yet kept the
common touch; and he had a poise, a good sense, and a
humor that served him under every circumstance. He
could be bearish and rough -tempered, and his wit was
pungent and barbed, yet it was often directed against
himself. He could swear as profusely and in more Ian guages than the best of his eighteenth -century compatriots. Yet a sincere spiritual conviction governed his whole
life, and his concern for people less fortunate than himself led him to a practical and openhanded generosity
unique among composers.
In Handel, then, one has this vast personality behind
the creative musician. But, vital as all this is, it is selfevident that with Handel, as with any great composer,
music is the essence. Emerson remarks in his Essay on
Art "Raphael paints wisdom, Shakespeare writes it
Handel sings
Handel's music possesses
enormous strength, natural beauty, a miraculous simplicity. It is in study and performance of this music,
familiar and unfamiliar, that I Iandel will be understood
at this anniversary. As Rockstro, writing of Handel and
his music a century ago, put it: "If we would understand what he was, what he thought, hoped, loved and
faithfully believed, it is here [in the music]
that we
must look for
...
it...."
it...."
...
Mr. Biggs, a considerable Handel authority as well
as a famous organist, srred as special consultant
to the editors in the preparation of this issue.
APRIL 1959
41
www.americanradiohistory.com
by A. Hyatt King
res'entmént'
U
Actually "Presentment of Englishry" comes from an early Norman murder law but, later,
Englishry began to mean a special inclination towards English ways, and seemed appropriate to
music's greatest Briton. Mr. King is Superintendent of the Music Room at the British Museum.
April 17, 1759 James Smyth wrote to Bernard
Granville: "On Saturday last at eight o'clock in
the morn died the great and good \Ir. Handel." "Iwo
hundred years later, this simple sentence, with its direct
and moving adjectives, poses something of a paradox.
11ow was it that the German -born composer-whose
style became, and remained, basically Italian, and who
was for long hardly regarded as really English- neverON
theless stamped his personality on England's musical
consciousness, at least from 174( onwards, as no other
musician has done before or since? What were the quali-
ties which made him into a national figure? If we consider some aspects of Handel's career in the light of what
we know of his personality and relate it to the events
and character of his age, perhaps we may shed scme light
on the paradoxical Englishness of his musical achievement.
We should never forget that Handel originally came to
England in 1710 to compose Italian opera. Rinaldo was
not merely the first of the long series which bulked so
large in his output for the next twenty -five years. It
typified the music through which Handel made an immediate and lasting impact on the English court and
nobility. In this world, where music was the focus of
passionate enthusiasm and controversy, Handel soon
gained a secure place as royal music master with a
4q
pension. Although he became the subject of active interest in the talk and letters of the town and country, he
remained at first aloof from society and cultivated
only a small circle of friends.
When he first returned to Germany, in July 1711,
perhaps dimly conscious of his destiny, he had begun to
learn English -his statement on its virtues thirty -four
years later is most illuminating --hut his progress was
slow. Although his name soon became Anglicized, through
the Italianate " Hendel" of 1711 to "Mr. George Friderick Hendell" and to "Mr. Handel" (in 1714), and
although he was naturalized in the coronation year of
1727, he seems never to have mastered thoroughly his
adopted tongue in speaking. (His understanding of it is a
different matter.) All his life, indeed, according to Burney and Hawkins, his spoken English retained a German
accent and idiom, suggesting a certain mental inflexibility
which is at variance with his adaptability in other directhe best
tions and with his amazing opportunism
sense of the word. This quality he linked with a tenacity
and rugged independence which must have endeared
him even to his enemies. For the English have always
-in
. nd admired a fighter.
From these beginnings, and with this character, what
were the stages by which Handel became the center of
respected
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
musical life in England? It might be thought that in this
process the Italian opera, with which he was so long
identified, played but little part, as its center of interest
and contention lay in London. Some of the music,
however, gradually became known in homes far from the
capital, partly through concert performance, but far
more from the inclusion of popular melodies in the delightful illustrated songbooks, such as Universal Harmony, Clio and Euterpe, The .Musical Entertainer, and in
anthologies of harpsichord music. These, with such
charming titles as The Lady's Banquet, contained arrangements of the airs which, often all too briefly, had
charmed the London stage. No country gentleman's
music library was complete without these publications.
The overtures of the operas, too, became very popular
in arrangements for the harpsichord. Walsh issued no
fewer than five sets, containing usually six overtures in
each. So few copies now survive that we are justified
in assuming that many became worn out by several
generations of harpsichordists.
Even more powerful in building up Iandel's status
in England was his musical and personal association with
great public events and famous institutions. In January
1713, he completed a Te Deum in celebration of the
Peace of Utrecht. But he was uncertain whether music
by a foreigner would be acceptable for such an occasion,
and also composed a birthday ode for Queen Anne.
(This was his first important setting of English words.)
She was so delighted with it that she commanded Handel
to have his Tc Deum and a Jubilate as well ready for the
celebration in St. Paul's. Thereafter these two pieces
were sung alternately at the Festival of the Sons of the
Clergy (which was held in St. Paul's) every year from
1713 to 1743, after which the Dettingen Te Deum replaced that of Utrecht. In 1724 there began the long
connection of Handel's music with the Three Choirs'
Festival. Three years later came the Coronation of
George II, with Fandel's immortal anthems, and in
1730 began the yearly performance of Handel by the
Academy of Ancient Music. The year 1733 saw one of
the strangest events of Handel's career, when the University of Oxford offered him an honorary degree, which
for various reasons he ultimately refused, although he
visited the city subsequently and gave many concerts
there, winning much renown in academic circles. When
Princess Anne married William of Orange in 1734, and
again when Frederick Prince of Wales married Princess
Augusta in 1736, Handel provided the music, as he did
in 1737 for the melancholy occasion of Queen Caroline's
funeral. Another notable commission came in 1739 when
he composed his Ode for St. Cecilia's Day, which continued to be performed every year until 1756. Likewise
in 1739 Handel took an active part, with the highest in
the land, in founding the great charity now known as
the Royal Society of Musicians; he left it £1,000 in his
will. The year 1743 brought the noble Te Deum and
Anthem in celebration of the victory of Dettingen.
Thus were strengthened the links which bound Handel
to the official England of his day. Other composers, of
course, had similar associations, but none so many, so
lengthy, or so distinguished as his. Equally significant,
in a rather different way, was his election in 1749 as a
governor of the Foundling Hospital. This leads us on to
the manifold Englishness of the oratorio.
On May 2, 1732, a few months after Esther was first
given in public, Viscount Percival wrote in his diary:
"I went to the Opera House to hear Hendel's 'oratory,'
composed in the church style." Before the end of the
month the Royal Family attended several performances,
and gradually a new form of music became firmly established, born of Handel's courageous opportunism after
the attractions of Italian opera faded and died. In 1750,
Madame Anne -Marie Fiquct du Bocage wrote from
London to her sister in Paris: "The oratorio, or pious
concert, pleases us highly. English words are sung by
Italian performers, and accompanied by a great variety
of instruments. Handel is the soul of it: when he makes
his appearance, two wax lights are carried before him,
which are laid upon his organ. Amidst a loud clapping of
hands, he seats himself, and the whole band of music
strikes up at exactly the same moment."
Some years earlier, Walpole had written to Horace
Mann: "The oratorios thrive abundantly -for my part,
they give me an idea of heaven where everybody is to
sing whether they have voices or not." As a cap to these
observations, we should note the remark which Handel is
said to have made to Lord Kinnoull after a performance
of .Messiah and which the latter repeated to James
Beattie: "My Lord, I should be sorry if I only entertained
Bettmonn Archive
Thomas Hudson's »mous p rtrait of Mandel in middle age.
APRIL 1959
43
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them, I wish to make them better." Whether Handel
actually said this or not, it may he taken as fairly representing the pleasurable state of exaltation felt by most of
those who heard the oratorios.
Mere fashionable popularity alone would not have
accounted for their hold on the public and for the quickening of Handers rise to nationwide esteem. There were
subtle overtones which were probably only half realized
at the time and which we can now see more clearly.
Although some of the most popular oratorios had scriptural plots, they were not ipso facto religious music; they
could, however, evoke religious feeling somewhat in the
way that Walpole ironically suggests. Their appeal was
to all levels of society. After Lady Luxborough's steward
had heard Judas :tfaccahaeus, in 1748, she wrote: "He
speaks with such ecstasy of the music, as I confess I cannot conceive anyone can feel who understands no more
of music than myself: which I take to be his case. But I
suppose he sets his judgment true to that of the multitude; for if his ear is not nice enough to distinguish the
harmony, it serves to hear what the multitude say of it."
In the first half of the eighteenth century, men were
much more concerned than perhaps they are now with
the moral problems of life and its relation to a divine
purpose. These problems Handel posed in abundance,
and in music of majestic grandeur and moving quality,
worthy of the conflicts of right and wrong and of the
ethical dilemmas that form the core of the scriptural
oratorios. Above all, in the mighty choruses which
crystallize or resolve the moral issue, Handel went
straight to the hearts of the English people. When adapting the scriptures, even the worst of his librettists could
hardly help producing words of a directness and simplicity that were worthily matched by Handel's own character and the nobility of his music.
Besides the appeal of Biblical associations of oratorio
to an age in which men read and cherished the Old
Testament, there was its unprecedented power for
charitable purposes. In Handel's day Englishmen of all
classes were moved to good works of many kinds; it was
hardly surprising that, quite early in the history of
oratorio, performances should have been given to raise
money for deserving causes. Handel's music thus became
identified in the public mind with a salient virtue of the
time -with what more noble climax than the performances of Messiah which he gave or organized on behalf of
the Foundling Hospital from 1750 to 1759? Thereby he
raised the sum, amazing for those days, of over £7,000:
his example was followed and his oratorio music performed all over the country, thus adding another cornerstone to the imperishable edifice of his Englishness.
To his contemporaries, Handel's use of textual sources
other than the Bible was mostly of less significance and interest than it is to us. But we must take it into account if
we would understand his "English" characteristics, and
here we must go rather beyond the range of the oratorios.
There is little doubt that on the few occasions when Handel was setting great English poetry, it inspired him in a
special way. In several sections of Alexander's Feast, his
music perfectly matches the sonorous grandeur of Dryden's verse, even as rearranged by Hamilton. Again, in
Samson, where Milton was heavily recast, Handers
inspiration was thus judged by contemporary opinion:
By Milton fir'd, brave Handel strikes our ear,
And every power of harmony we hear.
When two such mighty artists blend their fire,
Pour forth each charm that genius can inspire,
The man whose bosom does not raptures feel
Must have no soul, or all his heart he steel.
Lulver
The Foundling
4.1
Hospital, for which performances of Messiah, organized by
the composer raised £7,000 between 1750 and 1759.
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
1
But it is in L'.A Negro ed II Pensieroso, the wonderful
music to Milton's verses, that Handel comes closest to
the Englishness of the poetry, and expresses with lyrical
simplicity his obviously deep affection for the sights and
sounds of the countryside. He was equally sensitive to
some of the musical noises of the town. Lady Luxborough
wrote in 1748: "The great Handel has told me that
the hints of his very best songs have several of them
been owing to the sounds in his cars of cries in the street."
One such cry -that of "bout' any matches " -survives
written out in his autograph, and another has been
detected in Elviro's flower .selling song in Serse.
In the past, scholars have held conflicting opinions
about Handel's feeling for the English language in relation to his musical setting of it. Although it now seems
fairly certain that this understanding was much finer
than used to be admitted, it contrasts with his imperfect
command of the spoken tongue. But close examination
bears out Handers own claim, put forward in a letter to
the Daily Advertiser of January 17, 1745: "As I perceived.
that joining good sense and significant words to musick.
was the best method of recommending this to an English
audience, I have directed my studies that way, and
endeavor'd to show that the English language. which is
so expressive of the sublimest sentiments, is the best
adapted of any to the full and solemn kind of musick."
The autographs, which contain many changes of text in
I-landel's own hand, show that he developed a feeling for
verbal niceties. In his mature vocal works there occur
examples of ntisaccentuation, but many instances also of
his finding a musical rhythm perfectly matched to the
lilt of the words. The famous story, told by :\ ford, of
Handel's difficulty in setting words with an iambic
rhythm in Alexander Balus (provoking the immortal
exclamation "Damn your iambics! ") and of his speedy
solution, serves to illustrate the quick grasp of metrical
subtleties he could display.
We may well ask how far this genius, who had such a
lively appreciation of the musical possibilities of the
speech of his adopted country, also evolved affinities
with its musical idiom. The fact that these are small is
much less of a paradox than it might seem if we remember
that Handers musical style was strongly Italian before
he ever came to England. \\'hat affinity there is derives
from Purcell. Structurally, Flanders debt to the English
tradition is small. The Utrecht Te Ilium, which seems
clearly modeled on Purcell, is exceptional. More generally, the reflective type of chorus which plays so important a part in I lenders oratorios certainly owes more to
Purcell's usage, as does also his habit of using the same
bass through several movements. The occasional use of
two different rhythms simultaneously is another specifically English trait, though not akin to Purcell alone.
While these niceties were hardly observed by Handers
contemporaries, the study of them shows that he tempered his Italian style with a certain English astringency.
But it is clear that his music contained a fusion of
APRIL 1959
elements which appealed strongly to "all sorts and conditions of men." I le early found the secret of the common touch. This is evident not so much in the noble
music which he wrote for the great ceremonies of state
as in the pieces composed to match the mood of the man
in the street. Handel was deeply stirred by the rebellion
of 1745. I lis Occasional Oratorio, though not containing
his best music, served well the need of the day, and the
very popular song O Liberty was used again in Judas
Maccabaeus. The Battle of Culloden evoked another
fervent ditty, Prom scourging rebellion, a little after he
had written the song Stand round my brace boys for the
Gentlemen Volunteers. As an example of a popular work
in the grand manner, we have the Fireraorks Music,
written to mark the general rejoicing at the Peace of
Aix-la-Chapelle.
One reason for the continual growth of Handel's
popularity lay in the fact that his publisher Walsh was a
business man of genius, who issued an endless spate of
editions, selections and arrangements, from the 1720s
right up to 1759. Innumerable reprints, the bane of the
modern bibliographer, kept Handel before the public as
a national figure. In \Valsh's extensive catalogue of
about 1740, Handers music occupies three pages out of a
total of twenty-seven: no other composer exceeds half a
page. Besides the medium of printing from the engraved
plate, vast quantities of manuscript copies were written
and circulated widely. In the so- called circle of J. C.
Smith the elder, no fewer than Continued on page 133
Still gleaming white: the statue
by Roubiliac
in the Abbey.
45
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Handel Festival at the Crystal Palace, 1859.
Four Thousand
Choristers i&- DED Be Right
by
Winton Dean
More than any other composer, for some reason, Handel has
exercised on conductors and arrangers an irresistible temptation
to "modernize" his works. The result has been an almost totally
false public impression of this light, vital, and clean -lined music.
Winton Dean is author of the new book, Handel's Dramatic
Oratorios and Masques, published by Oxford University Press.
of Handel's music in performance is
THE
strange, sinister, and instructive. No composer has
been subjected to more wholesale misinterpretation and
disfigurement; none has lost so much credit as a result;
none stood in less need of "improvement "; and none
has been so consistently admired and attacked for what
he never was and never did.
All music written in the baroque period was bound to
present problems in performance as soon as the executive traditions that governed it were lost. This happened
very quickly. Early in the nineteenth century not only
HISTORY
46
the keyboard continuo (played from a figured bass) and
the baroque conventions of vocal and instrumental ornament, but many of the instruments themselves (including the most important of all, the harpsichord) had
been discarded as obsolete. Such old music as survived
the rosy dawn of romanticism was either played as it
stood, unornamented and incomplete, or refashioned
by editors who, if they did not fail (as many of them
did) to grasp its underlying principles, were concerned
to accommodate it to contemporary ears. Much of it is
still played in that way today.
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
Some composers can stand this treatment better than
J. S. Bach, who was valued during his life primarily as an organist, was never typical of his age; the
intricate contrapuntal texture of his music is much
others.
fuller than that of his contemporaries and leaves (or
appears to leave) less to be improvised by the performer.
The practices of the romantic arranger, though damaging enough, seldom distorted the music beyond recognition. The image was out of focus, but it was still Bach.
With Handel the position is very different. Not only
was he a much more flexible composer than Bach, requiring a correspondingly more supple response from
performers; the very nature of his genius had been progressively misunderstood ever since his own lifetime.
He was revered less as an artist than as a great moral
teacher, a sort of musical Jehovah, whose oracular utterances required enormous choirs and no building less
exalted than an abbey or cathedral.
This image of a somber, humorless Handel is a travesty. Handel was a theatre composer with a marvelous
understanding of human nature in its utmost variety
-grave and gay, frivolous and serene, spontaneous and
inhibited, in sickness and in health -and with a no less
remarkable command of vocal and instrumental sonorities ranging from the thunderbolt to the most fastidious
delicacy. In both capacities, characterization and orchestration, he has since had very few rivals, let alone
superiors. The practice of filling his scores with rubble
and performing his oratorios as if they were sacred music
obliterates the true Handel both musically and spiritually, much as discolored varnish and wholesale repainting can render an Old Master unrecognizable even
to an expert.
Many people think of Messiah as a massive score. It is
nothing of the sort. We know the forces with which
Handel performed it at the Foundling Hospital. In 1754
he had an orchestra of thirty -eight (and probably two
continuo players), five solo singers, and a choir of eighteen or nineteen; in 1758 an orchestra of thirty- three,
six solo singers, and a chorus of seventeen. (In Handel's
day the soloists regularly led the choruses.) His resources
in the theatre were probably little larger, except for
works with double chorus, when the orchestra would be
proportionately strengthened. The first performance of
Deborah in 1733 was "very magnificent, near a hundred performers, among whom about twenty -five
singers." For a work containing seven solo parts and
many eight -part choruses (and much more heavily
scored than Afessiah) this does not seem to us a large
ratio, though by contemporary standards it was certainly formidable enough.
Handel's orchestra was usually, if not always, larger
than his chorus. Its size varied at different periods. At
Cannons it was no more than a chamber group: Ads and
Galatea was probably composed for an orchestra of
seven, and can be performed by a total of twelve persons, voices included. .Ithalia, another oratorio with
double choruses, was performed in Oxford by "about
seventy Voices and Instruments of Musick "; and the
score of Saul has an almost Wagnerian splendor, involving three trombones, harp, theorbo, carillon or glockenspiel, and two organs, not to mention the vast kettledrums of the artillery train, sounding an octave lower
than ordinary timpani, which Handel borrowed from
the Tower of London. In his operas and elsewhere he
used clarinets, bass flute, sopranino and bass as well as
treble recorders, double bassoon, mandolin, side drum,
violetta marina, and many other instruments. He was the
first composer to write for pairs of horns in different
keys playing together (in Giulio Cesare), and he often
employed double orchestras, especially for scenes of
enchantment. His scoring is conditioned not by the
contrapuntal texture (as is often the case with Bach),
and still less by the line of least resistance, but by dramatir context. In 1748 he composed the oratorios
Solomon and Susanna within a few weeks for the same
London season. The former, as befits its theme, is splendidly rich, with eight -part choruses and the whole orchestra divided into ripieno and concertino groups: the
violas as well as the violins are in four parts. Susanna,
which is really a comic opera of village life, has the exquisite delicacy of chamber music. This same propriety
governs the scoring of individual numbers throughout
his work; the total effect depends on balance and contrast, light and shade, music and drama for ever going
hand in hand.
It should be obvious that Handel was the last corn poser to need "additional accompaniments "; when he
wanted them, he wrote them himself -and was. indeed,
often criticized for drowning his singers. The process of
distortion was social rather than musical in origin. The
English middle class, strongly Puritan in sentiment, had
never taken kindly to the dramatic basis of the oratorios
(it is a strange fact that with the exception of Samson
all the greatest of them met a frigid or at best lukewarm
reception at their first London performance), and had
no use whatever for the operas. Taught to regard the
theatre as a palace of sin, they could swallow its offerings only when disguised by a nutritious coating of
edification. And if the oratorios were really church
music, the louder and more solemn the noise that went
up to God, the more comfortable everybody's conscience could be. Naturally Messiah came out on top,
and for generations Englishmen flocked to it, in the
words of an American critic, R. M. Myers, "to experience the pious emotions of divine service without the
inconvenience of a sermon or a collection." :Messiah
was no longer a fine entertainment, as Charles Jennens,
the compiler of the text, called it, but had become
almost a sacrament; the congregation even stood up in
the "Hallelujah Chorus," which George Ill is said to
have mistaken for the national anthem.
It was no far cry from this state of affairs to the mass
performance, which had been foreshadowed during
APRIL 1959
47
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Handel's life by the larger provincial festivals at Oxford and the cities of the Three Choirs (Worcester,
Gloucester, and Hereford). Why confine the choirs to
three? Why not assemble all the best singers in the
country and dispel the last lingering taint of the theatre
by reverently escorting the oratorios into church? So
we have the famous Commemoration of 1784 (the first
of many), when Messiah made a resounding entry into
Westminster . \blxy with a choir of 275 and an orchestra
of 250. It was not Iandel's most elaborate scores that
were selected for inflation, but those like MessiahSamson, and Judas :t taccabaeus which had strong religious
or patriotic appeal. 'there were not enough such: so
while many uncomfortable masterpieces were shuffled
into obscurity, bogus oratorios were constructed out of
anthems and opera airs, the love songs of the castrati
being overlaid by an insipid sanctimony. But perhaps
the most significant comment on this movement of
taste is the repeated declaration of Charles Burney, who
had known and played under the composer, that "from
this period [I740] Handel may be said to have devoted
his labours solely to the service of the church," and
he never set any
again that "after this period
other works than English, and those wholly confined to
sacred subjects." In fact Handel wrote almost no church
music after 1740, and it is doubtful if even an ancient
Greek would have classified Scinde and Hercules as
sacred subjects.
The systematic rescoring of Ilanticl Ixgan in Germany. In 1786 J. A. Hiller conducted his notorious
Messiah in Berlin with an orchestra of 184 and a chorus
of 118. He justified his malversations on the ground
that "many improvements may be made in Ilantlel's
compositions by the employment of the wind instruments according to the fashion of the present day." It
is not clear whether he offered a similar excuse for having
the text sung in Italian. 'these junketings were a great
success, and were repeated two years later at Breslau.
with the orchestra reduced to 142 but the chorus expanded to 259. And in Vienna, in 1788 -90, Islozart rescored four works for Baron van Swieten. They reveal
a total misunderstanding of Handel; fens Peter Larsen
has well said of Mozart's version of "The people that
walked in darkness" that "the Valley of the Shadow of
Death has become a well -kept cemetery -garden." Incidentally, like many other arrangers, Mozart did not
shrink from rewriting the substance of the music when
it suited his own purposes.
Monster performances of other works followed, with
the cumulative rivalry now displayed in the testing of
atomic bombs. In 1812 Vienna twice heard Alexander's
Feast (under a false title) rendered by 287 singers and an
orchestra of 300 (including two double bassoons and
nine tromlx>nes), reinforced by the thunder machine
from the I- loftheatcr..'t similarly dropsical Samson with
a chorus of 400 interrupted the Congress of Vienna in
October 1814. The performance took place before the
...
48
Emperor and the Czar at the Imperial Riding School,
though apparently not on horseback. The composer
Tomaschek thought Samson an unsuitable choice "for
such a mixed audience," and very properly complained
that "in the case of such powerfully organic writing as
that of Handel, a musically inept age should not meddle
with the work at all, but should merely listen, the better
to correct the error of its ways."
Some of the earliest English critics took the same
line about the Nlozart .Messiah. At its first London performance in 1805 the Sun protested against Mozart's
violation of the "integrity in the productions of this great
Master, the result of the most powerful talents in his
art "; and The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review
wrote in 1822: "If [Handel's] music does not contain
within itself the seeds of immortality, let it sink into
obscurity and be forgotten. It swill acquire no additional
fame by being tricked out in modern dress." This pronouncement proved a peer prophecy. Although the
great bass James Bartleman refused to sing in performances in which the Mozart accompaniments were used,
the English public and musical world soon came to regard them as considerably more sacred than the rest of
the score: the latter could be tampered with, but not
the former. Further expansions were of course permissible, and were frequently undertaken both in England
and in Germany: Costa imported the ophicicide, \lacfarren a complete military band. while Robert Franz
in 1885 enlarged the Mozart version to iron out "imperfections and deficiencies." In the 1860s Peters published a full score with a footnote (in German and English) to the chorus "Glory to God": "1 hindcl's original
Trumpet parts. To be omitted in performance." The
trumpets and drums are then given a grotesquely inappropriate entry at "And peace on earth."
Other works suffered just as severely. Acis and Galatea was rescored by Mozart, Mendelssohn, Tom
Cooke, Cipriani Potter, George Perry, and \lichacl
Costa. Although often announced as an oratorio, it
could not be regarded strictly as church music and was
permitted frequent appearances on the London stage.
It had been staged in \larylebone Gardens as early as
1773, when the press announced that "before the Sere nata (by a particular Desire) the Three Italian Musicians, Blind from their Birth, will perform a Comic
Act." In 1829 a harpist put it on at the King's Theatre.
yoked with a danced version of Beethoven's Pastoral
Symphony. At the Tottenham Court Road Theatre in
1841 it was provided not only with additional accompaniments but with additional dialogue: Acis acquired
a father (Faunus), Galatea a mother (Doris) and a sister
(Eudora), and Ulysses looked in on the family on his
way back from Troy. Macready's Drury Lane production in 1842, which was a great success, began with a
substantial excerpt from Shelley's Prometheus Unbound,
and endowed Polyphemus with a bodyguard of Cyclopes
Continued on page 130
who constructed the hundred-
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
by NATHAN BRODER
HANDEL
on
of course, much more off than on. It is
customary, when dealing with this master, to speak
of his vast output as though most of it were hidden
treasure, which the opera, concert, and record world
neglects to its loss. But let us face facts in this bicentennial year: Handel is a very uneven composer. There is
glory enough for him. When he is at his peak, he is one of
the greatest of the giants. For much of the time, however, he jogs along a middle way -always a tremendous
craftsman and worthy of careful study by any composer,
and often of absorbing interest to the music historian,
but not invariably appealing to the plain music lover.
Nevertheless, there is much topnotch Handel not now
available on records. It is generally agreed that his operas
are not viable today. In the German Handel renaissance
of the 1920s a number of them were performed and even
published, but the scores had to be manipulated in various ways, new German recitative replaced Handel's
Italian monologues and dialogues, and so on. Even so.
the movement did not last. In a recent concert performance of Giulio Cesare in New York the resemblance of
what was sung and played to what Handel wrote was at
times rather distant. But to ignore the operas altogether
is to deprive ourselves of some wonderful music. Perhaps
the solution would be to adapt a procedure familiar to
Hamdel's audiences. In those days an opera was seldom
published complete. If it was successful on the stage, a
London publisher would bring out a volume of "The
Favourite Songs from .
," containing not only the
best airs but also ducts and trios and often the overture
and other instrumental numbers. How fine it would be if
we could have, well performed and recorded and intelligently annotated with descriptions of what went on between selections, "the favourite songs from" Radamisto,
Orlando, Giulio Cesare, Tamerlano, Deidamia!
The situation is worse with respect to the oratorios.
These are not, like many of the operas, strings of recitatives and arias. Some of those not on records -Samson,
Esther. Jephtha- contain much rich or powerful and
1
IIERE is,
..
and off Records
varied music. Ads and Galatea is one of the loveliest of
Handel's works in a lyric vein. So is Semele, which was
available in an excellent performance (Oiseau -Lyre OL
50098 /100) until only a few months ago. These are
gaping holes in the record catalogue.
As for what is available on records, some of it, unfortunately, would be better off. But there are a few
acceptable performances of some of Handel's great works.
Let us take a look at the most interesting of those that
I am familiar with.
The Oratorios and Dettingen Te Deum
In Israel in Egypt (first performed in 1739) the chorus,
usually divided into two four -part choirs, is the protagonist, describing graphically the plagues that struck
the Egyptians and glorifying the Lord in music of great
beauty ( "And Israel saw that great work ") or sublime
profundity .( "Thy people shall hear "). Fine arias are,
however, not lacking (for example, "Thou shalt bring
them in "). Both of the two available recordings (Angel
3550B, two LP; Westminster NWL 2224, two LP) are
cut, and neither follows Handel's orchestration exactly;
but the Angel, particularly (Sir Malcolm Sargent con-
ducting the Huddersfield Choral Society and Liverpool
Philharmonic), has a number of attractive qualities
including good solo singing by Elsie Morison, soprano,
and Monica Sinclair, contralto, a highly trained chorus,
and clear and lovely sound -along with a flatness of
projection that makes the words of the chorus often hard
to understand.
Concerning Saul (1739), which many consider one of
the great oratorios, I myself must turn in a minority
report.
of it seems to me routine Handel. There
are one or two fine arias, like the noble "As great Jehovah
lives "; one or two first -rate choruses, like the touching
"Mourn, Israel" and "O fatal consequence of rage,"
with its curious drunken gait at "he blindly goes from
crime to crime "; and the scene at Endor has some powerful moments. But these high spots are surrounded by a
APRIL 1959
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www.americanradiohistory.com
piece of conciseness or logic, made
some sense in its division into three
acts, the first dealing with Solomon's
completion of the Temple, his piety,
and his love for the queen (Pharaoh's
daughter); the second with his judgment between the two women who
claimed the one child; and the third
includconsiderable number of cuts,
with the visit of the Queen of Sheba.
ing, unaccountably, the Dead March,
Beecham cuts out almost all of the
once one of the most famous of Han second act, thereby sweeping away
dcl's compositions.
some fine music, but keeps the chorus
One of the most dramatic of the
from the end of the judgment scene,
great oratorios is Belshazzar (1745).
"From the East unto the West, \Vho
the
The scene of the handwriting on
is so wise as Solomon?" which now
wall is vividly painted in bold strokes
in mid -air. He deletes other
dangles
reby a masterly use of the chorus,
Sir Adrian Bai!!
and shifts this way and that
numbers,
superflecting now the terror of the
Handel calls for almost as
Although
are
left.
that
sumthose
of
sages
the
stitious courtiers, now the puzzlement
period knew, Beecham
baroque
the
as
orchestra
rich
an
Elsewhere
inscription.
moned to interpret the strange
reorchestrated by
has
been
score
entire
"The
remarks:
for
of
rare
even
a
power
there are monumental choruses,
horn,
clarinets, bass
of
English
addition
the
me"-with
slow
degrees,"
and
"By
I landel, like "Recall, oh king!"
and
percussion,
tuba,
trombones,
contrabassoon,
clarinet,
impressive
tremendously
the latter debouching into a
by such
done
be
can
harm
that
The
including
cymbals.
prince!."
"Oh
glorious
fugue. And the chorus of Persians,
get a
listeners
innocent
obvious:
is
mishmash
Ode
to
a
royal
Beethoven's
of
sublimity
has something of the
and
other
the
work,
of
notion
distorted
completely
LP)
an
534/5,
two
(BG
Joy. In the Vanguard recording
expense
the
undertake
to
hesitate
may
companies
and
record
orchestration,
Handel's
stick
to
attempt is made to
of recording an acceptable version while the Beecham
the overture is rich with the reedy sounds of oboes and
edition stays in the catalogue. It's a pity, because we
serious
weaknesses:
there
arc
bassoons. Unfortunately,
stand to remain deprived of a true masterwork, full of
the work is sung in German, the soloists are all second lovely arias, expressive recitatives, and choruses ranging
rate or (in the case of the soprano and tenor) worse, the
from tender little poems to massive splendor.
direction in general is heavy- handed, and the sound is
As for Messiah, if you sang or played in a performance
need
is
a
great
There
of
the
choruses.
many
in
distorted
of
that work with orchestra in school or church, the
recorded.
well
performance
for a good
chances are ninety -nine out of a hundred that the
The same is true of Solomon, which inevitably brings
orchestration used was Mozart's or Ebenezer Prom's or
us to Sir Thomas Beecham. They tell of Beecham that
some modification thereof. The chances arc about the
he was once to conduct in Canada a concert that would
same that certain numbers were omitted and that certain
he attended by the Lieutenant Governor. Sir Thomas
others were shortened. To most of us the sound of
was informed that although it was customary to play
Messiah is the sound of a large chorus, of an orchestra
the national anthem complete for the Governor General,
with flutes, clarinets, and horns; and few of us ever
for the Lieutenant Governor only a portion of it was
had an opportunity to hear the complete work.
played. The conductor indignantly refused to curtail the
There are several recordings that
anthem, and in tones that decidedly
present the work uncut and pursettled the matter announced, "For
portedly in its "original Dublin verthis occasion we shall promote the
sion," "according to the manuscript."
Lieutenant Governor."
The best of these, it seems to me, are
One treasures such Beecham stories,
the performances conducted by Scher and lays them away in one's memory
chen (Westminster XWN 3306, three
alongside recollections of some of his
LP) and Boult (London A 4403, four
great performances, like his old Magic
LP). Even these are not, strictly
!True on RCA Victor. They help to
speaking, musicologically accurate.
offset the other side of Beecham,
Handel's score calls for strings and
which does not hesitate to commit
throughout, with trumpets
continuo
mayhem on the works of masters he
in some of the big chodrums
and
professes to revere. Handel's Solomon
is known that in perit
But
ruses.
(1749) is a particularly painful exby the composer
conducted
formances
ample (Angel 3546B, two LP). The
constituted a
bassoons
and
oboes
Hermann Schercben
original libretto, though no master-
good deal of characterless music. The
Urania recording (URLP 240, two
LP), sung in German, is rather unfortunate in its soprano soloists, somewhat luckier in its contralto (who
sings David, tenor (Jonathan), and
baritone (Saul). There are, as usual, a
50
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
r
sizable proportion of the orchestra. In Scherchen's
recording oboes may be faintly heard in one or two
numbers, and in Boult's, bassoons are similarly audible
in a few spots. And Scherchen (though not Boult)
ignores all unwritten embellishments, even the most
-a
obvious appoggiaturas
case of a conductor being more
Handelian than Handel probably was. Each performance
has its excellences and weaknesses. Scherchen's bass
(Richard Standen) is first -rate, contralto and tenor
(Constance Shacklock and William Herbert) fair, and
soprano (Margaret Ritchie) uneven, expressive in "I
know that my Redeemer liveth," for instance, but
colorless and routine in "He shall feed His flock."
Scherchen's chorus (the London Philharmonic Choir) is
well balanced and transparent, but so, as it happens, are
all the others considered here. He is given to faster
tempos than are customary. Sometimes, as in "Every
valley" and "Why do the nations," his rapid tempos
are convincing, and enable the soloist to take long
phrases in one breath. At other times, as in "O thou that
tcllest good tidings," they seem too fast. Boult uses the
same chorus. His soprano and tenor (Jennifer Vyvyan
and George Maran) are Very fine, contralto and bass
(Norma Procter and Owen Brannigan) fair. In some
movements his performance lacks the intensity of
Scherchen's, but as a whole it seems to me that it might
stand up better in the long run.
Of the conventional performances,
Sargent's (Angel 3510C, three LP)
seems to me by far the best. He uses
Mozart's orchestration plus some
ideas of his own, and omits the movements and sections usually omitted.
None of his soloists -Elsie Morison,
soprano; \larjoric Thomas, contralto;
Richard Lewis, tenor ; Norma n Walker,
bass-is especially outstanding here.
But the chorus (the Huddersfield
Choral Society) is splendid, the
sound in general is beautiful, and
above all the spirit of the music is so
clearly and lovingly conveyed by
Sargent that I am not sure I do not
Sir Malcolm
prckr this to any other recording of
Messiah. Beecham's version (RC.\ Victor LCT 6401,
four LI') is for dyed -in- the -wool Beechamites. Although
it is an old recording. the sound is still passable. One
of its features is a recorded talk by Sir Thomas, in which
he discusses the proper proportions of instruments to
voices in this work, and gives sensible reasons for using
four choruses ranging in size from about fifty voices to
about 250. He then proceeds to perpetrate, or condone,
the perlormance of "Ile was despised" and "The trumpet
shall sound" with their middle sections but without the
da capo! Now it is common enough to perform the first
section only of these airs. But to do them as they are
done in this recording is as if a theatrical company were
to go home after the second -act curtain of a three-act
play, or a surgeon were to make a neat incision and a deft
excision, and then neglect to sew the patient up.
One of Handel's famous choral works is the Dettingen
Te Deum. Although some of it is run -of- the -mill baroque
pomposity, there are sections that belong among
Handel's best, such as the extraordinarily beautiful "We
therefore pray Thee" and the magnificent and majestic
final number, "O Lord, in Thee." The composition has
been recorded in English by soloists, the Choir of the
Netherlands Bach Society, and the Holland Festival
Orchestra conducted by Anthon van der Horst on Epic
LC 3540. The performance as a whole is an attractive
one, though slowish tempos sometimes rob it of brilliance
( "Thou art the King of Glory ") and animation ( "Day
by day "), and the choral sopranos sound a bit thin.
Almost everyone here pronounces English surprisingly
well, and the soloists sing agreeably, the contralto
(Rafe Heynis) having a particularly lovely voice.
The Orchestral Music, Including
the Organ Concertos
Handel left many orchestral works, of which by far the
best, as well as the most popular, are the twelve Concerti
Grossi, Op. 6, the Water Music, the Royal Fireworks
Music, and the twelve Organ Concertos, Opp. 4 and 7.
The concertos of Op. 6 are scored
for a concertino of two violins and a
cello and a four -part string orchestra
with continuo. Handel achieves a
good deal of variety by pitting the
solo instruments against the full band,
but in many movements, including
some of the finest, he ignores the
soloists and writes for the string
orchestra. No two of the concertos
are exactly alike in pattern, and the
style ranges from delicately wrought
chamber music to the broad, robust,
beef- eating type of writing that many
consider especially characteristic of
this composer. And here and there,
alongside a delightful fugue or one
Sargent
on a curiously shaped subject, or
alongside a capricious ,Allegro or an attractive dance,
there is a nobly songful movement in Handel's most
moving and elevated style (No. 1, Adagio; No. 2,
Andante Larghetto; No. 3, Larghetto and Andante;
No. 12, Larghetto).
Three recordings of the complete Op. 6 are available,
of varying degrees of excellence. Scherchen's (with the
English Baroque Orchestra, Westminster XWN 4403,
four LP) is in some respects the best and in others the
worst. This puzzlingly uneven conductor at times seems
to penetrate to the heart of a movement and to convey
it to us with all the vitality that Handel put into it.
He does this for example in the finale of No. 6, the
APntL 1959
51
www.americanradiohistory.com
one or more bassoons to excellent effect. Lehmann's
recording has the warmest, loveliest sound. Neel is
uneven, playing some sections rather stolidly and
others with a good deal of vitality. His horns are not
impeccable, but his disc has one important advantage
that all the others lack -the convenience of visible
bands between movements.
Most of the present generation of concertgoers have
come to learn and love this music through the suite made
by Sir Hamilton Harty, who chose six or seven of the
pieces and reorchestrated them. To anyone familiar with
the original, whose orchestration is quite varied and
colorful, Harty's version may sound overdone and not
without an occasional Brahmsian or Wagnerian touch.
For those who want this version, good recordings are
available. The most satisfactory performance I am
acquainted with is Van Beinum's on London LL 214
(with Mozart's Haffner Symphony), but the sound is not
the finest possible. Better reproduction and an acceptable
generally
tricks, the excellent solo playing, and the
performance, if not quite as successful a one as Van
wear
to
even better sound of his recording, he promises
Bcinum's, may be found in Karajan's recording on
Orchesbetter than Scherchen. The third set (Pro Arte
Angel 35004 (with the Nutcracker Suite).
10043,
tra, Munich. conducted by Kurt Redel, Vox PL
The Royal Fireworks Music must have made a splendid
bold
some
rather
three LP) has its attractions, including
when it was originally performed in Green Park by
sound
to
the
inferior
ornamentation, but is in most respects
a
large
wind hand. It is a noble set of pieces in Handel's
vioof
the
solo
other two, especially in the overstvicet tone
version
for strings and winds, excellently performed
later
of
recording.
sound
the
linists, and the overrevcrberant
by Lehmann and the Berlin Philharmonic
set
and
recorded
of
the
delightful
-The tangled tale of the origin
3059 together with two of the misARC
on
Archive
rehearsed
need
not
be
of pieces called the II'ater .Music
and the Concerto Grosso in
concertos
oboe
cellaneous
we
have
about
to
is
that
here. What it perils down
version of this suite is
Harty
The
3.
3,
No.
Op.
on
G,
were
of
performed
twenty pieces, at least some which
of the Water
his
arrangement
with
combined
available
I.
of
George
a barge in the Thames for the delectation
and the
by
Dorati
performance
effective
in
an
Music
order;
or
in
what
pieces
No one knows precisely which
on
recorded
well
fairly
Orchestra,
Symphony
London
includes
the
be
that
group
seems
to
a plausible surmise
Mercury MG 50158.
two sets of pieces, played on two different boat rides.
Four sets of organ concertos by Handel were published
the
complete
recordings
of
available
the
five
Every one of
in
the eighteenth century. Of these the first (Op. 4)
Orchestra
Promenade
I'Itilharmonic
the
work (Boult and
and third (Op. 7) contain some magnificent music. They
15; Lehmann and the Berlin
on Westminster X\\ N
were played, mostly by Handel himself, in the intervals
Philharmonic on .\rchke \RC 3010; Bamberger and
of oratorios, and proved so popular that the first set
the Net herlands Philharmonic on Crowell -Collier Record
was brought out in an unauthorized
Guild G 144; Boyd Ned and his
edition before Handel had a chance
orchestra on London LL 1128; and
to publish his own version.
Maurice Hewitt and his orchestra on
These are not massive compositions.
Haydn HSL 107) has its very good
They were written for English organs,
qualities; and if you own any one of
which in Handel's time were seldom
those discs, there would he no great
large and usually lacked a pedal (the
advantage, it seems to me, in replacpedal is called for only in Op. 7,
ing it with one of the others. The
No. 1). The style is that of the
Hollowing comments may. however,
chamber concerto; some of the movebe of interest. Boult's performance
ments in Op. 4 are in fact transcripis, I think, the most imaginative. In
tions of movements from sonatas.
a movement like the D minor Adagio
The organ is treated as the equal of
with the oboe solo he permits the
the small orchestra. Along with some
soloist to embellish his rather bare
routine writing there are many fine
part generously as I Iandd's oboist
passages in both sets. Such, in Op. 4,
most likely would have done) and in
are the tender dialogue between organ
the trio of the F major Minuet he
E. Power Biggs
Continued on page 134
and strings
reinforces the viola -cello line with
third movement of No. 3, the first movement of No. 2,
all of No. 4. But at other times he imposes a curiously
erratic interpretation upon the music, a reading that
seems to distort and for which there appears to be no
sound justification. Such, to name only some instances,
is the case with the brusque shift from forte to piano
in the theme of the finale of No. 2, the uncalled -for
sforzandi in the first movement of No. 8 and the Largo
of No. l I ; the Minuet of No. 9 drags and the Air of No.
10 sags towards the end; Scherchen permits his first
violinist occasionally to indulge in a vibrato that is
much too juicy for Handel; and he is the only conductor
of the three who does not play the complete finale of
No. 11. Fritz Lehmann (with the Bamberg Symphony
Orchestra, Archive ARC 3084/87, four LP) may not
achieve all the high spots that Scherchen reaches, but
neither does he hit the low ones. With his more sensible,
if at times less inspired, approach, his avoidance of
I
M !
.
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
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The
Imperishable
Wag
by CHARLES CUDWORTH
Anglo- Saxons always have been most sympathetic to genius u'hen it did not take itself too
seriously- which may explain why George
Frederick Handel was one of the most popular
men in all Georgian Britain. The author is
Curator of the Pendlebuty Music Library at
the University School of Music, Cambridge.
as to think of George Fredcrick Handel solely as a solemn embodiment of musical uplift, it's time to mend the error of your trays.
For the greater part of Handel's life, entertainment was
his lot; he was indeed a public entertainer, albeit of an
exalted kind. And although the great bulk of his musical
output may seem to be somber in character, yet there
is a vein of humor just beneath the surface of even his
gravest works
think of that last little flutter of angels'
wings in Messiah itself, for example, or of the chorus
"All we like sheep," in the same oratorio.
He was indeed a droll fellow, in life as well as art. The
friend of his youth, Johann Mattheson, tells us that even
as a young man Handel was "naturally inclined to dry
humour" and "behaved as if he could not count five.
Ile had a dry way of making the gravest people
laugh, without laughing himself!" He seems to have
made a very vivid impression on nearly everyone who
met him and, as a result, his lively image is preserved in
numerous portraits by his contemporaries. Charles Burney and Sir John Hawkins, the two famous English
music historians of the later eighteenth century, both
knew him personally and have left us accounts of him.
F YOU ARE SO BENIGHTED
].
-
...
Aptut. 1959
53
www.americanradiohistory.com
Handel's gait, says Hawkins, was sauntering and rather
ungainly; "It had in it somewhat of that rocking motion
which distinguishes those whose legs are bowed." Dr.
Burney adds that Handel's figure "was large, and he was
somewhat corpulent and unwieldy in his motions; but
his countenance
was full of fire and dignity; and
such as impressed ideas of superiority and genius. His
general look was somewhat heavy and sour; but when
he did smile, it was his sire the sun bursting out of a
black cloud. There was a sudden flash of intelligence, wit
and good humour, beaming in his countenance, which
I hardly ever saw in any other. He was impetuous, rough,
and peremptory in his manners
and conversation, but totally devoid of ill- nature or malevolence;
indeed there was an original humour and pleasantry in his most
lively sallies of anger or impatience, which with his broken English, were extremely risible. His
natural propensity to wit and humour, and happy manner of relating common occurrences, in an uncommon way, enabled him to throw
persons and things into very ridiculous attitudes. Had
he been as great a master of the English language as
Swift, his bons mots would have been as frequent, and
somewhat of the same kind." Another contemporary
wrote: "Mr. Handel
was possessed of a great stock
of wit and humour. No man ever told a story with more
effect. But it was requisite for the hearer to have a competent knowledge of at least four languages English,
for in his narratives he
French, Italian, and German
made use of them all."
Alas, we know all too little of the stories Handel himself may have told, but many a story has been told of
him. Some of these are well known, others almost unknown. Many come from the pages of Burney, or Coxe's
Anecdotes. We have a glimpse of him "sauntering"
through the park, "talking to himself, so loud, that it
was easy for persons not very near him to hear the subject of his soliloquies...." On one occasion he was
thus soliloquizing about a boy whom he had helped, but
who had "turned out ill" and run away: "Der teiffel!
De facer vas desheeved; de mutter vas desheeved; but
he is ein tamned shcauntrel
I vas not desheeved
and coot for nutting." This seems to have been a time
when the composer was not amused, but on other occasions he was quite capable of enjoying a joke at his own
expense. One day he took an old clergyman friend of his,
Rev. J. Fountayne, to Marylebone Gardens; as they
drew near the orchestra, a new piece was struck up.
"Come, Mr. Fountayne," said Handel, "let us sit down
and listen to this piece; I want to know your opinion of
it." Down they sat, and after some time, the old parson
turned to his companion and said: "It's not worth listenit's very poor stuff!" Mr. Handel's reply: "You
ing to
are right, Dlr. Fountayne. It is very poor stuff
...
...
-
-
-
54
-
-
-I
thought so, myself, when I had finished it!" But he was
not always quite so patient with musical pretensions
on the part of the gentlemen of the cloth. One morning
he was in the midst of being shaved when a fellow musician called to request Handel's permission to add his
great name to the subscription list of a set of organ
concertos composed by a clergyman friend. Handel
jumped up in a passion and a flurry of lather, thrust the
barber's hand aside, and cried out with great vehemence:
"Tamn your seluf and go to der teiffel!
barson
make concerto? vy he no make sarmon ? "*
I'lany of the best stories about him are naturally
enough concerned with his public
life. We are told that "he understood the art of asserting his own
dignity, whilst rendering all possible deference to the noble personages with whom he came in
contact." But, if Burney is to be
believed. "all possible deference"
is scarcely the phrase one would
use to describe some of Handel's almost Beethovenian
dealings with people in high places. "At the rehearsals
of his oratorios, at Carleton -House, if the prince and
princess of Wales were not exact in coming into the
Music -Room, he used to be very violent
if the
maids of honour, or any other female attendants, talked,
during the performance, I fear that our modern Timotheus not only swore, but called names; yet at such
times, the princess of Wales, with her accustomed mildness and benignity, used to say 'Hush! hush! Handel's
in a passion.' " At such rehearsals, wrote Burney, "He
was a blunt and peremptory disciplinarian
but he
had a wit and humour in delivering his instructions, and
even in chiding and finding fault, that were peculiar to
himself, and extremely diverting to all but those on
whom his lash was laid..
He wore an enormous
white wig, and when things went well
it had a
certain nod or vibration, which manifested his pleasure
and satisfaction. Without it, nice observers were certain
that he was out of humour."
But if things did go wrong, and Handel let his "great
bear" of a temper loose, only to discover that he himself
was in the wrong, then no one was quicker to apologize
I am a very
and make amends: "I pee your barton
odd tog!" he said to Burney, on one such occasion. The
same authority relates how Handel, on his way to Dublin
to produce Messiah, was detained at Chester, awaiting a
favorable wind and tide. Thinking he would like to try
out some of the numbers, he got together a number of
local performers, among whom was one Janson, by profession a printer. Handel, having first ascertained that
they could all sing at sight, handed out the music, but
was soon in a fury at poor Janson's mistakes: "You
shcauntrel! tit you not dell me dat you could sing at
-a
...
...
..
...
-
* Uiaerent chroniclers' attempts to reproduce Handel's accent yield wonderful
orthographical variety, hut altogether they do give some idea of what it must
have been like.
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
l
soite ?" "Yes, sir," protested Janson manfully, "and so
I can; but not at first sight!" Poor Janson! he is among
the immortals, not for being a good printer, but for being
a bad sight reader
or perhaps a smart hand at repartee.
Perhaps it was on the same occasion that Handel fell
foul of the old cellist who assured the great man that
he was a good player, because "he played in church."
Unfortunately he could play neither in time nor in tune,
and soon Handel's "great bear" was loose and he was
shouting "You blay in de church; very well, you may
blay in de church, for we read de Lord is long suffering,
and of great kindness. You shall blay in de church, but
you shall not Hay for me!" And with that he snatched
up his part books, and rushed out, swearing, no doubt,
with fearsome and polyglot fluency.
It was not merely the back desks and the chorus singers who came in for Mr. Handel's sharp reproofs, however. Matthew Dubourg, his orchestral leader in Dublin,
once lost his way in an unnecessarily long cadenza; when
he finally did reach his final trill, he was greeted with a
loud "You are welcome home, Mr. Dubourg!"
much
to the delight of the audience, adds Burney. Handel even
let his "great bear" loose among the prima donnas
we
have all heard of how he seized the great Signora Cuzzoni
by the waist and threatened to throw her out of the
window, shouting, "Dey say you are a very teiflèl; you
must know dat I am Beelzebub, de Brince of Tares!"
On another occasion, when a petulant tenor objected to
the way Handel was accompanying him at the harpsichord, and even threatened to jump on the instrument
and smash it to pieces: "Oh!" said
Handel, "Let me know ven you vili
do dat, and I gill advertise it; I am
sure more beoblc will come to see you
jump, dan to hear you sing!" To one
recalcitrant singer who objected to
singing the famous air "Verdi prati,"
in .Ucina: "You toc! don't I know
getter as your seluf, vaat is pest for
you to sing ?" But he was not always
in a passion, even with singers; sometimes the great bear merely gave a
good -humored growl, as when the
charming but rather featherheaded
soprano Frasi told him she was going
to learn thorough -bass, so that she
could accompany herself. "Oh
vaat may ve not expect ?" quizzed
Handel, speaking in his driest vein,
and knowing the lady's indolent nature only too well.
When his own favorite oratorio,
Theodora, failed. playing to almost
empty houses. he consoled himself and
the artists with a "Never moind; de
moosic will sound de petter." But
when a little later, two professionals
-
-
-
-
applied for what we should now call complimentary
tickets for .Messiah, he flashed out, bitterly: "Oh, your
sarvant, mein Herren! You are tamnaple tainty! You
would not go to Teodora
dere vas room enough to
tance dere, ven dat vas perform'." The old dry humor
continued with him to the very end. In his later years,
when blindness came upon him, he was in some doubt as
to how he could continue with his oratorios, and Sharp,
his surgeon, rather tactlessly recommended the celebrated blind organist John Stanley. Handel gave a great
shout of laughter and rejoined, "Mr. Sharp, have you
never read the Scriptures? Do you not remember, if
the blind lead the blind, they both fall into the ditch ?"
Handel's drolleries are legion, some real, some alxx:ryphal..1nd this same humor lurks beneath the apparently
formal baroque lines of his melodies. Even in his music,
he can "make the gravest people laugh, without laughing himself." or at least without obviously seeming to
laugh. Just think for a moment of some of his avowedly
comic creations: "the monster Polypheme" in .-leis and
Galatea; the boastful giant Harapha, in Samson; the two
naughty old men in Susanna. 'These are comic characters
worthy to be placed beside :Mozart's immortal Barber.
Polyphemus, in particular, is one of the greatest characterizations of all eighteenth- century music, and like all
the best or should it be worst ?) fairy talc ogres, he is
frightening as well as funny; after we have been laughing
over his grotesque love making, we suddenly realize that
he is a giant, after all, liable to become dangerous, and
le, he has hurled his piece of "massy ruin" and poor Acis
is no more. But on the whole it is the
comic Polypheme we remember, and
not the savage brute.
Yet Handel's characterizations did
not stop at the merely comical; he
could depict madness (in Saul and
Orlando); villainy (the false Ptolemy,
in Alexander ßalns); jealousy (Dejanira, in Hercules, and again, Saul);
bitter regret for past misdeeds, and
lost glory (in Samson); seductive
feminine charm (Galatea, Dalila, and
Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare), and so
on and so on. Indeed, his catalogue of
portraits is unending, for every character he encountered in his librettos
he put into memorable music. His
way with the words themselves was
rather peremptory, of course, like his
way with people: as he said to the
tamest of his collaborators, Doctor
Morell, ''What! You teach me Music?
The Music, sir, is good Music. It is
your words is bad. Hear the passage
again. There! go you, make words to
that Music." There is another tale,
perhaps spuContinued on page 135
APRIL 1959
-
55
www.americanradiohistory.com
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HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
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"I DECLINE to be a part of this wholesale cashing in on Handel, so characteristic of the industrialization of music in
our time. Be sure you write that down.
Music has become an industry; it is no
longer an art." Thus, Sir Thomas
Beecham when we encountered him, on
Washington's Birthday, en route to the
French Riviera following two months
of guest- conducting engagements with
the Philadelphia, Chicago, and Houston
orchestras. Beecham would not be
Beecham were he not evincing some sort
of extreme exasperation, so we nodded
our agreement on the subject of commercialized anniversaries and acknowledged our appreciation of Sir Thomas'
long, persistent, and persuasive efforts on
behalf of Handel. When he had fired off
a few more salvos (on America's "appalling rise of violent crime," on our
"ghastly paper matches," etc.), Sir
Thomas settled back in his chair and
delivered some voluble and illuminating
discourse on the great George Frederick.
We observed that though Handel is
universally acknowledged as a composer
of the highest rank, he is nonetheless
represented in performance by extremely
few works. "In fact," interjected Sir
Thomas, "you might say that Handel is
widely known by only one work, his
Messiah. It was first performed in
Dublin, of all unlikely places, in 1742
and immediately became wildly popular.
It still is popular, in a way. At Christmas
time everybody goes out shopping, the
women bake plum puddings and roast
turkeys, there's a general air of festivity,
and then comes Messiah on top of it all.
Of course, this has nothing whatsoever
to do with music.
"Incidentally. Handel wrote only one
really religious oratorio, and that is
because it happens to deal with Jesus
Christ. All the others arc about people
who had nothing to do with religion. As
a matter of fact, they are about a lot
APRIL 1959
of Old Testament gangsters. When
Handel hit upon the idea of writing oratorios, he read the Bible-undoubtedly
for the first time in his life-and chase
lively stories of heroic deeds to set to
music.
"He had the good sense to realize that
the English were a singing nation and
he made the chorus the chief protagonist
of his oratorios. .-1s long as choral music
maintained its popularity in England,
Handel's oratorios were often performed.
But a serious rival of the chorus arose in
the nineteenth century: the orchestra.
It was mainly a poor affair until the
middle of the century. Then the orchestra began to glow, and the public
gradually grew to prefer the sound of
instruments to the sound of voices. By
the end of the nineteenth century the
victory was complete. The large chorus
suffered a catastrophic decline; today the
public doesn't go to choral concerts at
all. There's beginning to be a revival
now, but it will never be as it ryas.
Handel is no longer popular because the
real protagonist of his oratorios, the
chorus, is no longer popular. In the
oratorios there's not enough orchestral
interest to offset this disability. From
this standpoint the operas stand a somewhat better chance of being revived,
because of the marvelous orchestral
dance music that Handel wrote for them.
I am thinking particularly of 11 Pastor
Pido, :lriodanie, and llcin,r."
This mention of Handcl's orchestra
led us to question the various modernizations of his instrumentation. "We
must ask ourselves first," Sir Thomas
began, "in what sort of building were
these works first played. I landel's compositions were usually performed in
buildings which seated about 500 people.
Today the average concert room holds
3,000 people. Yet it is still maintained
by a choice company of half-wits, called
musicologists, that Handel's music should
.
be treated on the same basis in this vast
space as it was in a building seating 500
listeners. Is it really conceivable that
Handel would have wanted his oratorios
performed by thirty singers and thirty
instrumentalists in Carnegie I lall?
"\Ve must ask another question. Suppose Handel came on the scene now and
discovered that flutes could play in tune,
that the cor anglais was a really musical
instrument, that the range of oboes and
trumpets had been considerably extended. that horns could play chromatics,
that a new instrument called the clarinet
had been invented. Would he use the
orchestra toxdav that he had used in
1730?"
\Ve raised the matter of recordings.
Does not the microphone allow one to
perform Handel under similar acoustic
circumstances and with the same performing forces that the composer had
originally intended? Beecham preferred
not to discuss this possibility. "I record
Handel in the same manner as I perform
him in public, and I thumb my nose at
musicologists. They are dreamers, not
practical musicians. It's a matter of sound,
you know, not theory."
In June, Sir Thomas Beecham will
make a recording of Messiah in England
for RCA Victor. It will be issued later
this year as one of the first gala albums in
RC.%'s new' ;Soria Series." The orchestra
will be the Royal Philharmonic and the
soloists will include tenor Jon Vickers
and basso Giorgio Tozzi (soprano and
contralto had not been picked at press
time). RCA's forthcoming Messiah will,
needless to say, be recorded stereophonically, a technique that Sir Thomas views
with no little asperity. "It allows engineers to ruin a performance. They look
in the score and think to themselves,
'What a pity that I can't hear the
trombone part.' So then they go bringing
something out that I have, at great pains,
left successfully in the background."
57
Dyer- Bennet: Beethoven with much style.
lazed, not overdemanding temper may
very likely find its contents intriguing,
perhaps modestly delightful. For these
little chamber songs, if of no great consequence as Beethoven and practically
none as folklore, have still a curious hybrid attractiveness; and they are played
and sung with much style and unforced
charm in a recording (monophonic; I
have not heard the stereo) that is notably natural in sound and free from technical bothers.
Mr. Dyer- Bennet recorded all these
songs, plus six more of the Scottish, some
time ago for a Concert Hall limited edition; but these fairish 78s have long been
out of print, and are in all regards inferior to the new disc. An LP of Helen
Traubel in rather majestic readings of a
mostly different lot of songs could once
be had from Columbia; but no longer. In
fact, this repertoire has always been neglected more than it deserves. If nothing else, it has a fascinating history.
George Thomson, born in 1757, was an
Edinburgh officeholder whose energetic
character had in it something of the visionary and something of the bookkeeper,
promoter and antiquary, patron of the
arts and thin -lipped thrifty dominie-a
mixture that might seem peculiar in anyone other than a lowland Scot. As a
young man, he set out to collect (literally) every traditional Scottish tune, and
determined to publish "all the fine airs
both of the plaintive and lively kind, unmixed with the trifling or inferior ones."
Soon he widened his program to include
Ireland and, later, \Vales.
But many of his select "fine airs" had
no words at all, or none in English; the
others had words that seemed to him
foolish or indecent or not sufficiently poetical. Many of the airs themselves
seemed not quite "correct" as jotted
down, and all lacked accompaniments.
So he set about enlisting the finest poets
in view (among them Robert Burns and
Walter Scott, who wrote some of their
best -known lyrics for him) to provide
new texts, and the best composers ( among
them Pleyel and Haydn) to arrange the
tunes for drawing -room performance. The
first volume was issued in 1793. By 1806,
three more had been added. But Haydn,
having arranged over two hundred airs,
was slowing down; Beethoven was asked
to carry on, and, bogged in unpro ductivity and money troubles, he agreed. Between 1809 and 1823, he completed
about (computations vary) a hundred
and fifty arrangements for Thomson.
According to specification, the tunes
were scored for voice and piano (the vo-
cal line doubled by the right hand), violin or flute, and cello, with little preludes
and ritornelli. Copies of the lyrics were
not usually sent with the tunes; and in
answer to Beethoven's repeated protests
that he absolutely had to have them ( "I
will have them translated here ") in order to "give the true expression," Thomson wrote with bland truthfulness that
this was impossible, "since most of these
words are still in the poet's brain." Nor
were the writers much better informed.
No one knew for sure what a song would
be like until Thomson had assembled it
in Edinburgh.
For all this scattered method of manufacture, the results are not all so monstrous as might be imagined. Though the
poems do sometimes sit uneasily on the
musical accents, and though the hannonizations do drain the meloxlies of their national individualities, the ensemble writing is often quite pretty and sometimes,
especially in purely instrumental passages, distinctively vigorous and unmistakably Beethoven. Taken in a congenial
spirit, the songs can be a good deal of
fun.
As noted, the performances are excellent. Mr. Dyer- Bennet is in fresh, rested sounding voice, and within his limited resources of color sings with really lovely
tone and true intonation, save in the occasional cadenzalike figurations, where
discretion might have been the better
part of technical valor; and the Berkshire
Quartet players are never less than very
good. Texts on a slipped -in leaflet. For
J.H., Ja.
myself, I'd buy it.
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 1, in C,
Op. 21; Leonore Overture No. 3, Op.
72a
Mannheim National Symphony, Joseph
Rosenstock, cond.
JANUS FST 2002. SD. $4.95.
The first stereo First in the catalogue
proves, like the Livingston tape that was
its source, to be an enjoyable, craftsman like performance, well recorded and lacking only the element of greatness. How ever, in the current shortage of good recordings of this score, 'twill suffice. The
Leonore, however, is not up to its compeR.C.M.
tition.
BERG: Sonata for Piano, Op. 1 -See
Schoenberg: Piano Pieces, Op. 11.
BERLIOZ: Symphonie fantastique, Op.
14
New York Philharmonic, Dimitri Mitropoulos, cond.
COLUMBIA MS 6030. SD. $5.98.
The first Fantastique on stereo to come
near being satisfactory, this is wonderfully transparent right down to the smallest detail, yet vibrantly dramatic and taut
where the music requires it and, in the
Scene in the Fields, exceptionally imaginative. ( For the first time on stereo, too,
this movement isn't split between two
disc sides.) The impressively handled introduction to the final movement produces a particularly eerie effect. In order
to get the last three movements on the
second side, however, the volume level
is noticeably lower, spoiling the climactic
moments in the March to the Scaffold
and the Dream of a IVitches' Sabbath.
P.A.
BIZET: Carmen: Orchestral Suite
}Ravel: Boléro
Virtuoso Symphony of London, Alfred
Wallenstein, cond.
AUDIO FIDELITY FCS 50005. SD.
$6.95.
This record deserves all praise for the
quality of its sound, which it seems to me
cannot be bettered, and for the quality
of the performances, which are as good
as any recorded versions I know. As to
the imagination of its programing, that
speaks only too eloquently for itself. Still,
the Boléro responds very cleverly to the
stereo process, with its gradual accretion
of instrumental color and volume. So does
the Pandora -like Carmen Suite ( the adjective refers to the fact that one never
knows what's to be had inside). I have
been afflicted with an epidemic of Carmen
Suites of late, all on stereo labels. This
one is a mélange of the Preludes to Acts
I, IV, III (in that order), the Smugglers'
March, the March of the Street Urchins,
D.J.
and the Gypsy Dance.
BRAHMS: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, in D, Op. 77
Henryk Szeryng, violin; London Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Monteux, cond.
RCA VlcroR LM 2281. LP. $4.98.
RCA VICTOR LSC 2281. SD. $5.98.
Here, if such be needed, is proof that
music is a truly international language. A
Polish -born violinist, trained in Germany
and France, and now a citizen of Mexico,
plays a concerto by a German -born composer who lived in Austria. The conductor, who is French, resides mostly in
America, and the orchestra is English. No
doubt, the violin is Italian.
Szeryng is a thorough musician, exceptionally sensitive in matters of phrasing.
To judge by the recording, his tone is
not massive, yet it is very clear and
sweet, and every note is articulated with
the utmost care and refinement. His is as
fine and probing an interpretation of the
concerto as anyone could want, and
Monteux, an expert Brahms interpreter in
his own right, seconds him with like care
and sympathy. The stereo edition has the
advantage over the monophonic in instrumental separation and in the increased purity of the soloist's tone. P.A.
BRUCH: Concerto
chestra, No. 1, in
See Mendelssohn:
and Orchestra, in
for Violin and OrG minor, Op. 28Concerto for Violin
E minor, Op. 64.
BRUCH: Scottish Fantasia, Op. 46 -See
Mendelssohn: Concerto for Violin and
Orchestra, in E minor, Op. 64.
CHOPIN: Piano Works
Fantaisie, in F minor, Op. 49; Trois nouHIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
60
www.americanradiohistory.com
celles études; Barcarolle, in F sharp, Op.
80; Berceuse, in D flat, Op. 57; Impromptus: No. 1, in A flat, Op. 29; No. 2, in F
sharp, Op. 36; No. 3, in G flat, Op. 51;
Fantaisie-Impromptu, in C sharp minor,
Op. 66.
Artur Rubinstein, piano.
RCA VICTOR LM 2277. LP. $4.98.
DEBUSSY: Images: No. 2, Ibéria
}Ravel: Miroirs: No. 4, Alborada del gracioso
} Ibert: Escales
Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion
Française, Leopold Stokowski, cond.
CAPITOL P 8463. LP. $4.98.
of Stokowski's familiar mannerisms
serve here to make Debussy the servant
of the conductor, not his master. This is
doubly unfortunate since the Stokowski
palette is liberally spread with all the
opal colors that any proper impressionist
might demand. But throughout Ibéria
the tempos are so veld -some extra -fast,
some ultra -slow-that the work's continuity dissolves in a Hurry of eccentricity.
Moreover, the mystery of the score, its
evocation of Spain as heard in a dream,
is dissipated by virtue of the phrasal exaggerations that cling to every measure.
Ravel's Alborada, however, is read with
a genuine virtuoso flair, and Escales is a
warm bath of pseudo-exotic sound. The
latter, of worse, is a piece that borders
often on the banal; Stokowski's way with
it does nothing to adulterate the banality.
ALI
On this disc Rubinstein plays some material he never before has recorded: the
F minor Fantaisie, the first two Impromptus, and the Trois nouvelles études. There
is little left for him to go before he has
recorded the cycle: the Ballades, Etudes,
and B minor Sonata are the only major
works that come to mind. Rubinstein is
in top form here. His performance of the
Fantaisie, which many believe to he the
greatest work Chopin ever composed, is
noble and in the grand line. For once, a
pianist has the imagination to conic
smashing down on the keys on the chord
that follows the pianissimo ending of the
chorale, and what an effect it is! This is
easily the greatest recorded performance
that has been given this work, and one
has to go back to the Cortot version of the
early 1930s to find one that begins to approach it.
Rubinstein is just as colorful in the other pieces on the disc. This is Chopin playing that combines poetry, masculinity, a
plastic rhythm, and an encompassing
technique. Nobody today can match it.
The recorded sound is admirably clear.
There is one mistake in the label and
note copy: the key of the Barcarolle is F
sharp major, not minor (a prevalent error
that even music researchers have fallen
into).
H.C.S.
COPLAND: A Lincoln Portrait
}Schuman: New England Triptych
}Barber: Vanessa: Intermezzo
Carl Sandburg, narrator (in the Copland); New York Philharmonic, Andre
Kostelanetz, coud.
COLUMBIA ML 5347. LP. $4.98.
COLUMBIA MS 6040. SD. $5.98.
Copland composed A Lincoln Portrait for
Kostelanetz, and Kostelanetz is its finest
interpreter. It is very brilliantly donc here,
and gorgeously recorded; Sandburg reads
the text with the intonation of a poet and
the philosophic understanding of Lincoln's foremost biographer.
William Sehuman's New England Triptych is a new piece which here makes its
debut on records. It is a short symphony
in three movements based on themes by
the eighteenth -century Boston composer,
William Billings. Billings' craggy individualism, his moral fervor and daring inventiveness, obviously have great appeal
for Schuman, and the work is a convincing salute from a highly creative Anerican of our period to another creative
American of times past. Now Schuman
must get his Juilliard boys and girls together to make a handsome record of
Billings' own anthems and fug g tunes.
The great New Englander is not represented under his own name in the LP
JAY S. HARRISON
DEBUSSY: Prélude à l'après-midi d'un
faune; Nocturnes: No. 1, Nuages; No.
2, Fetes; Jeux
Orchestre du Thétìtre National de l'Opéra
de Paris, Manuel Rosenthal, cond.
WESrmixsTEn XWN 18771. LP. $4.98.
For the most part, Rosenthal's views on
Debussy are worth any man's attention.
His Faun is soaked in color, perfumed,
too, and voluptuous but never vulgar.
And his instnunentalists- though the
French sound of the wood winds may
appear a mite grainy-are everywhere accomplished and expert. In fact, you are
not likely to hear on records a performance of Fites more distinguished in
its bravura, nor does any other conductor
manage the famous march- front -afar section with quite this stateliness and bursting majesty. Rosenthal's Jeux, on the
other hand, is so clear and explicit that
the work tends to lose those vaporous
qualities that make it unique in the Debussy catalogue. The piece is an essay
in orchestral pulverization and formal
disintegration; but by spelling this out
for us step by step, Rosenthal quite robs
the work of its secrets, acting rather as
a magician who, having amazed us by
his tricks, then proceeds to explain how
they were done.
JAY S. HARRISON
DELIBES: Sylvia
London Symphony Orchestra, Anatole
Fistoulari, cond.
MERCURY
OL 2106.
Two LP.
$7.96.
Sylvia's view of classical Greece is decidedly filtered through the lorgnette of
Third Republic France, but those who
have seen the brilliant Sadler's Wells revival can testify that it passes muster in
the never-never land of the ballet stage.
This first complete recording proves that
much more of it than the brief suite deserves to be known. The Pas des éthiopiens for piccolo and percussion is especially fetching, and Sylvia's Dance
of the Bacchante is a lesson in the use
of orchestral primary colors. The score
uncut here, save for two brief pieces in
the concluding celebrations-is unified by
a series of recurring motifs which justify
this kind of integral recording, if any
justification be needed.
Fistoulari is an experienced conductor
of music for the dance, but it seems to
me that neither he nor his orchestra displays the rhythmic dash and imaginative
teamwork of Dorati and the Minneapolis
Orchestra in Coppélia.
D.J.
-
DVORAK: Symphony No. 4, in G, Op. 88
Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell,
cond.
Eric LC 3532. LP. $4.98.
EPIC BC 1015.
SD.
$5.98.
The music of Dvorík is close to Szell's
heart and temperament. As usual, he demands and gets a performance from his
highly trained orchestra that is flawless.
Occasionally one might wish for a little
more abandon, as in parts of the first and
last movements here, but this is a most
commendable interpretation.
And what is of equal importance is
the sound. This is one of the first recordings made in the recently revamped
Severance Hall with its new acoustical
shell that permits more reverberation.
For one who has heard a number of concorts in this auditorium and, in years
past, has supervised some recording sessions there, the new sound comes as a
pleasant shock. It certainly is a vast improvement over some of the old Cleveland discs (in recent years, the orchestra
has been recording elsewhere ). There is
considerable directionalism in the stereo
version, but that directionalism also involves an illusion of depth, the horns in
particular emerging from deep center.
The only flaw is a strange hiss that appeared toward the end of the second
movement in the left channel of my
stereo review copy. It was not in the
monophonic edition.
P.A.
DVORAK: Symphony No. 5, in E minor,
Op. 95 ( "From the New World")
Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Heinrich
Hollreiser, conci.
Vox STPL 10810. SD. $5.95.
lists.
The Barber intermezzo is a pleasant
whilf from Vanessa's boudoir.
A.F.
DELALANDE: Sur le bonheur des justes
et le malheur des réprouvés -See
Marchand: Cantiques spirituels.
Rubinstein: still matchless in Chopin.
APRIL 1959
Hollreiser leads a transparent perform-
61
www.americanradiohistory.com
ance of the New World Symphony, one
that is marked also by clean attacks
and dramatic tension. But there isn't much
subtlety or imagination here, although the
music is satisfactorily conveyed. As for
the orchestral playing, there is considerable lack of polish in the winds. Vox's
sound matches the conductor's transparency; it is also admirably directional, pinpointing each section of the orchestra.
However, it definitely favors the highs at
the expense of the lows, which results in
P.A.
a thin bass line.
FALLA: El Amor bruno -See Surinach:
Sinfonietta flamenca.
GLAZUNOV: Birthday Greeting: Ballet
Suite ( arr. Irving) -See Lecocq: La
Fille de Mine. Angot: Ballet Suite.
GRIEG: Peer Gynt: Incidental Music
Ilse Hollweg, soprano; Beecham Choral
Society; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra,
Sir Thomas Beecham, cond.
ANGEL S
35445.
SD.
$5.98.
All the clarity and depth of feeling in the
monophonic pressing of this performance
is enhanced by the aural spread of stereo,
especially in the choral movements and
in the passages where there is interplay
between two string sections or between
winds and strings. The conducting, playing, and singing are of such a high order
that they impart much greater stature to
Griegs score than it usually achieves in
the average performance. Like David
Johnson, who reviewed the monophonic
disc, I too regret that Beecham didn't
elect to record the incidental music complete, but ant grateful for what has been
included, such as the original choral versions of in the iIall of the Mountain
King and the First Arabian Dance, as
well as Ilse Hollweg's tender delineaP.A.
tion of Solccig's Lullaby.
HAYDN: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, in D ( "Op. 121 ")
}Wagenseil: Concerto for Cello, Strings,
and Continuo, in A
Enrico \lainardi, cello; Miinchener Kam merorchester, Enrico \lainardi, cond.
ARCHIVE ARC 3110. LP. $5.98.
The Haydn performance is, unfortunately, nothing to cheer about. Both of the
fast movements seen to be too slow.
\lainardi, whose intonation is generally
accurate ( there is one sour note in the
first movement ), just barely resists the
temptation to sentimentalize that occasionally besets performers in this lyric
work. The Concerto by Georg Christoph
Wagenseil ( 1715-1777), a compatriot
and older contemporary of Haydn, was
written in 1752 and rediscovered in
1953. It is an attractive piece in the rococo style of the time and it is well performed. The recording throughout, as
usual with Deutsche Grammophon GeN.B.
sellschaft products, is superb.
HAYDN: Symphonies: No. 100, in G
( "Military"); No. 101, in D ( "Clock ")
Vienna State Opera Orchestra, \logens
Woldike, cond.
81.98.
VANGUARD SRV 109. LP.
VANGUARD SRV 109SD. SD. $2.98.
big- league disc from every point of
view. R. D. Darrell has reported in these
pages on the magnificent quality of the
stereo tape version. I have not heard that
version and can only say that the stereo
disc presents as real orchestral sound as I
have ever heard in reproduction. The
two channels are not obviously separated.
Instead, the instrments seem to be
spaced out evenly from the far edge of
one speaker across to the far edge of the
other. But in this dispersal of the sound
nothing is lost in the definition and timA
GRIEG: Sonata for Violin and Piano, No.
1, in F, Op. 8
}Szymanowski: Sonata for Violin and
Piano, No. 1, in D minor, Op. 9
David Oistrakh, violin; Lev Oborin (in
the Grieg) and Vladimir Yampolsky (in
the Szymanowski ), piano.
M -G -M GC 30004.
LP.
62
The Hindemith is somewhat mannered in
performance, but so beautifully recorded
that one tends to forgive the peculiarities of the interpretation because of the
beauty of the sound. The Bartók, a piece
for small chamber orchestra, is here recorded with the full string complement
of a symphonic ensemble, and, inevitably,
it sounds heavy, ovcrrich, and overromanA.F.
ticized.
IBERT: Escales -See Debussy: Images:
No. 2, Ihéria.
Symphonie sur un chant
montagnard français, Op. 25 -See
Ravel: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, in G.
D'INDY:
KiIACIIATURIAN: Spartacus (excerpts)
State Radio Orchestra of the U.S.S.R.,
Alexander Cauk, cond.
MONITOR MC 2025.
LP.
KRENEK: Sonata for Piano, No. 3, Op.
93 -See Schoenberg: Piano Pieces, Op.
11.
LALO: Namouna: Orchestral Suite No.
Schmitt: La Tragédie de
1 -See
Salomé.
LECOCQ: La Fille de Mme. Angot: Ballet Suite (arr. Jacob)
}Glazunov: Birthday Greeting: Ballet
Suite (arr. Irving)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Robert IrANGEL S
Woldike: a big -league Haydn Military.
bre of the individual instruments. Add
good balance, first -class playing, and a
conducting job that cxmveys all of the joy
and beauty of this music, and you have
N.B.
a practically unbeatable record.
HINDEMITH: Symphony, Mathis der
}
Maler
Bartók: Divertimento for Strings
$4.98.
This ballet about the slave uprising in ancient Route has everything -gladiatorial
contests, dances of nymphs, a seduction
scene, and, of course, an orgy. Its score is
hereby nominated as the century's stalest.
The performance seems to be better than
the music deserves. The recording is meA.F.
diocre.
ving, cond.
$3.98.
The three Crieg violin sonatas are very
seldom encountered on recital programs
these days, which is a shame. Although
they may seem old-fashioned to some
listeners, they contain a great deal of
charming music. The Sonata No. 1 does
not even appear very often on discs, so it
is particularly good to have this facile
performance by Oistrakh and Oborin.
This is early Grieg, to be sure, but the
germs of what was to follow are Very
evident here. The Szymanowski, which
Oistrakh and Yampolsky have recorded
before for Angel, is also an early effort.
Here, however, little of the composer's
individuality shows through a pleasing, if
somewhat derivative work. Processing of
the Soviet tapes has been skillfully acP.A.
complished.
Philharmonia Orchestra, Constantin Silvestri, cond.
ANGEL 35643. LP. $4.98 (or $3.98).
35588.
SD.
$5.98.
The quintessence of balletic preciosity,
this is a release likely to be as ecstatically
prized by certain balletomanes as it is to
discomfit listeners of more robust tastes.
Such exquisitely delicate playing and recording are aptly tailored to Irving's pot pourri of blandly elegant Glazunov
Glances originally assembled as a glossy
display case for the six leading ballerinas
of the Sadler's Wells ( now Royal Ballet )
Company on the occasion of its Silver
Jubilee in 1956; but they ill become the
far less sophisticated and epicene music
of Lecocq, which is here singularly miniaturized and denatured. For those who
remember the lustiness of the now -withdrawn Kurtz reading of a Mam'zelle Angot suite in \lohaupt's arrangement, all
the luminosity and grace of the present
Irving -Jacob version can never compensate for its deficiencies in humor, vigor,
and even frank vulgarity. A great pity,
for the stereo technology here is flawless
except for its apparently deliberate esHIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
chewal of sonic depths and impacts, and
a properly full -blooded recorded performance
of
Lecocq's invigorating
rhythms and lilting tunes easily might he
as widely popular as those of the now
overly familiar Offenbach -Rosenthal Gaîté Parisienne.
R.D.D.
ly written and incoanplete summary of
the action. Most of said action is carried
on in fairly leisurely Lerman dialogue,
which is not difficult to follow if (Inc has
a smattering of German. Those who have
no German at all will, and ought to, resent the omission of text and translation.
D.J.
LEHAR: Die Lustige Witwe
Hilde Gueden (s), Hanna Clawari; Emmy Loose (s), Valencienne; Per Gnmclen (t), Danilo Danilowitsch; Waldemar Kmentt (t), Camille dc Rosillon;
Peter Klein (t), Cascada; Karl Much
(b), Baron Mirko Zeta; Kurtz Equiluz
(b), St. Brioche. Soloists, Chorus, and Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera, Robert
Stolz, cond.
Lox1aN OSA 1203.
Two SD.
$11.96.
London's new Merry Widow is a considerable but not victorious rival of the
classic Angel recording issued five years
ago. Stereophonic sound, when it is done
as well as it is here, is a decided point
in favor of any opera recording. Lomduu's
engineering in the Merry Widow is mellower, less raucous (also perhaps a bit less
exciting) than in some of its other recent
releases. Voices are a little too forward
and the orchestra is at times tun retiring,
Nit there can be no question that the
sound as a whole is superior to Angel's
although the latter is still quite acceptable. Angel's Philhannonia under Acker:nano plays brilliantly aryl is lacking
neither in warmth nor idiomatic style.
But the Vienna State Opera Orchestra
plays with still more warmth and is even
more idiomatic -as %veil it should be since
it is led by an elderly gentleman who
helped Lehaír prepare the operetta's
premiere in 1903 and has since conducted
it hundreds of times. Robert Stolz provides especially for this recording an
overture concocted of tunes from the
work; some may consider this an asset,
others a bore.
Hilde ( :nedcn sings charmingly as
Hanna Clawari, but she doesn't do the
role to the teeth as Angel's Schwarzkopf
does. Cueden is more pcasantlike in her
approach. This ought to be right for the
character, but somehow it sloes not quite
come oil; one misses Schwarzkopf's ton.
Gucden's speaking voice, too, sloes not
have the nuances of Schwarzkopfs, and
tends to a rather guttural monotony. Angel's Danilo is Erich Kunz, a baritone.
The score calls for a tenor in this role
and London provides one in Per Grunden. This might he considered an advantage if it were not that Kunz is the more
polished singer and the wittier actor.
Walclemar Kmentt and Nieolai Gedda
are more evenly matched: Kmentt is developing into a first -rate lyric tenor; his
voice is handsomer and better controlled
in this release than it was several years
ago. Still, he does not quite measure up
to Cedda's gracefully sentimental RosilIon. The lesser roles are more or less
tit for tat; in fact, London and Angel
share the same Valencienne.
What may be a deciding factor for
prospective buyers is that London, instead of a libretto, provides an awkward-
-
APRIL 1959
MARCHAND: Cantiques spirituels: Sur
le bonheur des justes et le malheur des
réprouvés; A la louange de la charité
(Delalande: Sur le bonheur des justes et
le malheur des réprouvés
Nadine S.utereau, soprano; Jeaunnime Collard, mezzo; Michel Hanel, tenor; Camille \lautr nc. baritone; Jean-Marie Leclair Instrumental Eusendle, Louis Frc-tn;tu\. cond.
\\ EST srxusrEat N\VN 18792. LI'. $4.98.
These three works are settings of two religious canticles by Racine. In Louis
Marchand's In Praise of Charity each of
the soloists has a verse or two, and they
sing together only in one verse at the
middle and another at the end. Similarly, in his On the Happiness of the
Just and the Misery of the Damned, the
three soloists (the mezzo does not sing
here) join only at the end. Some of this
music reaches a considerable degree of
eloquence, and at no point is it unworthy
of the elevated spirit of the text.
The Delalande is less elaborate. It is
sung mostly by the mezzo, the soprano
joining her only occasionally. 'l'hc instrumental accompaniment to this work, a
reconstruction by an unnamed editor, is
less interesting than the orchestral portions of the Marchand settings. All of the
singers turn in good, solid performances,
and the sound is .spacious and resonant.
N.B.
MENDELSSOHN: Concerto for Violin
and Orchestra, in E minor, Op. 64
f Bruch; Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, No. 1, in G minor, Op. 26
ïchudi Menuhin, violin; Philharmonia
Orchestra, Efrem Kurtz (in the Mendelssohn ) and Walter Siisskind (in the
Bruck), tonds.
EMI-Cam-rm. C 7148. LI'. $4.98.
MENDELSSOHN: Concerto for Violin
and Orchestra, in E minor, Op. 64
fBruch: Scottish Fantasia, Op. 46
Alfredo Campali, violin; London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Bowlt,
cond.
LoNaoN CS 6047.
SD.
$4.98.
The difference between these two performances is more than a difference between monophonic and stereo recording,
though that has an important place in
time
reckoning. \ lenuhin works very
hard in the Nendelssohn- almost too
hard. Ile is rather too strict in his treatment of the cadenza in the first movement, while elsewhere his playing is
more intense than lighthearted. One
must admire, nevertheless, the firmness
of his tone and the absence of his customary slides. He sounds much happier
in the Bneh Concerto, which he treats
Winograd's Mendelssohn makes news.
most tenderly, especially in the exquisitephrased slow movement. The recording has a slightly cramped sound, with
the soloist practically on top of the microphone and with a fairly limited tonal
range.
Campali is a bit freer with the Mcndelssohn, and his basically sweeter -if
occasionally less even -tune is better
suited to this essentially sweet- tempered
ly
composition. He puts ample forcefulness
into his performance of the Brush Fantasia, however. Though the latter work is
not the greatest piece of music, it is an
entertaining setting of four Scottish folk
tunes. From the standpoint of sound, it is
the most successful of the four recordings.
Whereas London's stereo makes the violin stand out in bold relief in the \Iendelssohn, the orchestral accompaniment
lacks sufficient presence. In the Fantasia.
however, there is a more equitable balance, and the orchestra has a full, resounding ring to it.
P.A.
MENDELSSOHN: Octet in E fiat, Op.
20 ( arr. \Vinograd ); Sinfonia for String
Orchestra, No. 9, in C minor
Arthur Winograd String Orchestra, Arthur Winograd, cond.
M -C -M E 3668.
LP.
$3.98.
The big news here is the Sinfonia No. 9
which, as far as I can ascertain, has never
been recorded before. Composed in
1823, when \lemlelssohn was only fourteen, it is a remarkably fresh work, perhaps more Schulertian than \Iendelssohnian, but admirably put together.
Any composer of forty would have been
glad to call it his own. Particularly unusual is the beginning Of the second
movement, which is scored for violins
only, in four parts. The Sinfonia, along
with a number of other \Iendelssohn juvenilia, was found a few years ago in the
Berlin Sate Library. It would be wonderful to have more of these treasures.
Meanwhile, we can be grateful to Winograd for bringing it to discs in a sprightly
fashion. His expansion of the Octet for
strings into a work for full string orchestra enhances its sonority, yet the performance retains its original lightness.
\1 -G -\1 has provided good sound for
this welcome release.
MENOTTI: Maria Golovin
Franca Duval (s), Maria Colovin; Cenia
Las (ms), Agata; Patricia Neway (c),
the \hither; Herbert Handt (t), Dr.
63
Zuckertanz; William Chapman (b), Prisoner of War; Richard Cross (hs -b),
Donato. Chorus and Orchestra, Peter Herman Adler, cond.
RCA Metes LM 8142. Three LP.
$14.94.
\lenotti's latest opera had its premiere at
the Brussels World's Fair, followed by a
brief and unsuccessful nm on Broadway.
to
I am grateful that RCA Victor chose
issue this recording despite Maria Coloyin's initial failure in this country, lthough I cannot pretend to a wild enthusiasm for it based on the first two-and-afraction hearings ( the fraction consisting
of the trio for the women and the whole
of the second scene of Act III. which I
listened to a third time for the sheer
pleasure of it ). As a dramatic and musical
whole, the opera disappoints me-but 1
recall being even more keenly disappointed at first by The Saint of [Ilcecker
Street, which l now consider this
composer -librettists most considerable
achievement to elate.
The libretto, like so many by \lenotti,
is deliberately vague as to locale, but the
characters mostly have Italian names
and the time of action is soon after
World War 11. The story, like Vanessa,
handles the subject of love with its ( for
\lenotti) cuncut nitaut coi nt>l, of isolation, captivity, and deceit. Donato, a
young architect, blinded in the war and
now living in hitter lamina,. with his
mother and the spinster faiuil' servant
(both of them hiller and lonely toes),
falls in love with the beautiful lady who
has rented the second floor of his mother's house. Maria Colovin returns his love
but their happiness is prevented by a
variety of factors: she is married and has
a son to whom she is devoted, the spinster servant is enaious and troublesome.
:md Donato k fiercely jealous. A series
of painful seeues ensue; finally, when a
telegram arrives announcing her husband's release from a prisoner-uf -war
camp, Maria takes the easy s%ay out by
telling Donato that she must have I ' .
He brandishes a pistol and calls his
mother to direct his aim at Maria. The
mother pretends to do SO, but beckons
Maria out of the way; he shoots into
empty space. -She is yours furo\or now,"
sings the mother. :uul leads Lim from
the roust. Maria brokenheartedly goes
upstairs to the party she is giving in celebration of her husband's home -coating.
The substance is somewhat tlún for
three acts, but Menotti pads it out with
a tutor named Dr. Zuckcrtanz ("Sugardance") and an escaped prisoner, both
of whom have substantial solos. In Zuckertanz the composer strikes out, inure in
amused contempt than in anger. at the
snobbism of Our age, which turns up its
exquisite nose at neoromantics like himself, and will hear of nothing but "Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Stravinsky, Bartók. iu
painting, Piero- Piero, of course. della
Francesca. And the great, great Mon drian-so divinely geometrical." Zucker tanis aria (accompanied by rhythmic
horn figures straight out of Stravinsky's
neoclassical period) is wonderfully funny, if perhaps not quite so integral a part
of the opera as Samuel Chotzinoff's pref-
64
atory essay (a very good one) would
have it.
The opera is performed by the original
cast, an all -American one despite the fact
that Franca Duval and Herbert Handt
( the memorable Orpheus of the long -vanished Haydn Orfeo ed Euridice) have
been more honored abroad than at hme.
Perhaps only Handt merits unqualified
praise. Miss Duval has a voice appealingly tender in its middle reaches but not
all of a piece; and she does not have the
volume needed for climactic moments.
Patricia Neway is a dramatic soprano of
real merit, but since \lenotti wrote the
part of the mother for a contralto it is
puzzling indeed that he assigned it to
Miss Neway. She often cannot negotiate
it. The youthful Richard Cross, who virtually makes his first appearance in opera
as Donato, has good basic vocal equipment which needs dim-ling-it is as yet
inflexible and rather constricted. And so
deep a voice somehow does not accord
well with the role. The long monologue
of the escaped prisoner of uuar is sung by
a baritone whose voice assaults the eardrum most unpleasantly.
I had hoped that the orchestra would
be a bigger one. \lenotti has not been
well served by orchestras in the recordings of his operas. The strings, as they
are here, generally are far too few to
carry the long wann cantilenas he sometimes assigns them (e.g., the lovely tune
played first by the cellos and then by the
upper strings in the prelude to Act Ill).
And too frequently the strings are ill balanced with the brass and percussion.
Adler conducts carefully lint with no
great imagination. The packaging is
handsome, but the libretto contains many
discrepancies with what gets s g, and
part of the last -act duet is not printed at
all. The engineers do their job well; the
far -off singing in the prisoners-of -war
D.J.
y well realized.
camp is especially
MILHAUD: Le Camara' d'Aix
ISaint- Snëns: Concerto for Piano and
Orchestra, No. 4, in C minor, Op. 44
Grant Joh;utnesen. piano; Philharmonia
Orchestra, CO( rges Tzipine, cond.
EMI- CArrrot. C 7151. LP. $4.98.
Milhaud's Cameral d'Air is one of the
most delightful things he has ever written. It is a series of twelve short character
and comedy sketches for piano and orchestra based on the score of Salade, his
commedia dell'arte ballet of 1924. The
parallel with Schumann's Carnaval is
readily apparent, and the work is quite
as successful, as full of humor, color, and
original fantasy as its romantic predecessor. The performance is good, the recording fair. The performance of the Saint Saëns on the other side is very superficial.
Perhaps this is as it should be, for Saint Sains is supposedly a superficial composer; butt the recording of the same work by
Robert Casadesus gives one a totally difA.F.
ferent feeling about it.
MOZART: Così fan tutte (excerpts)
Lisa della Casa (s), Fiordiligi; Emmy
Loose
(s), Despina; Christa Ludwig
(ms), Dorabella; Anton Dermota (t),
Ferrando; Erich Kunz (b), Guglielmo;
Paul Schoeffler (bs ), Don Alfonso. Vienna State Opera Chorus and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Karl Bühm, cond.
LON1oX OS 25047.
SD.
$5.98.
Happily, stereo does not alter the small scaled, intimate atmosphere that Karl
Böhm was at such pains to create in this
performance. If anything, it helps -by
accenting that balance between solo
voices and solo instruments which gives
Così fan tutte its unique aural appeal
among Mozart's operas. For instance, Fiurdiligis aria "Per pieta, ben mid" has
here the sense first of a duet between
soprano and solo horn which later -with
the addition of clarinet and bassoon
blossoms into a quartet. It's all very lovely
and all very delicately achieved.
No fewer than thirteen numbers are
included in this stereophonic sampling of
the complete set. Side 1, band two alone
contains the recitative before the "Addio
(Quintet," the Quintet itself, the ensuing
military chorus, and the concluding trio,
"Snore .io it vento." This certainly suggosts that stereo discs need not give one
le..s playing time for one's money than
LPs do. Incidentally, the list of credits
supra may prove helpful to prospective
purchasers since the record itself fails to
D.J.
indicate who sings what.
-
MOZART: Serenade for Strings, No. 13,
in G, K. 525 ( "Eine kleine Nachtmusik")
Tehaikovsky: Serenade for String Orchestra, in C, Op. 48
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Georg Sol ti, cond.
LoNooN CS 6066. SD. $4.98.
The playing is impressively pithy in the
outer movements of the Tchaikovsky and
agreeably warn in the inner ones. The
Mozart is performed with skill and sensitivity. Splendid stereo is combined with
a very wide range of dynamics. But the
N.B.
string tone is harsh and unreal.
MOZART: Die Zauberflöte (excerpts)
Hilde Gueden ( s), Pamina; Wilma Lipp
(s), Queen of the Night; Emmy Loose
(s), Papagena: Leopold Simoneau (t),
Tantino; August Jaresch (t), Monostatos;
Walter Berry (b), Papageno; Kurt
Boehme (bs), Sarastro. Soloists, Vienna
State Opera Chants and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Karl Bühm, cord.
LosmoN OS 25046. SD. $5.98.
The sound here seems to me as disapltaneously
pointing as that on the
released excerpts from Così fan tutte is
admirable. The Magic Flute ought to
lend itself brilliantly to double -channel
reproduction -it has big choruses, it is
ambitiously scored, it indulges in all
kinds of antiphonal effects. But in this
early effort ( 1956) London's stereo engineers let most of their opportunities slip
past them. The twelve selections are well
Continued on page 66
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
mark
Behold!
!
New...Recorded especially for STEREO!
MERCURY LIVING PRESENCE
Stereo records of these
best- selling landmarks of the record industry.
TCHAIKOVSKY Festival Overture 1812 (with brass band, cannon and bells); Capriccio Italien.
Minneapolis Symphony, Dorati. Stereo SR 90054, Monaural MG 50054. Mercury's monaural version of this work has remained
at the top of the best -seller charts since its release in 1956. "There isn't, and won't be another record like this one... it has
to be beard to be believed... is it possible to exceed this in the art of reproduced sound 7"-THE NEW RECORDS
RIMSKY - KORSAKOV Scheherazade. Minneapolis Symphony, Dorati. Stereo SR 90195, Monaural MG 50009. Dorati's
widely hailed monaural recording of Scheherazade for Mercury has been a fixture on the best selling charts for six years.
This is the most gorgeous stereo you've ever heard.
RAVEL Boléro; Ma Mère l'Oye. CHABRIER Bourrée Fantasque. Detroit Symphony, Paray. Stereo SR 90005, Monaural
-
MC 50020.
Paray's has become THE definitive recording of this work; another chart best -seller for six years. "Fantastic dynamic range
the impact of the Boléro is positively awesome."-THE AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE
SAINT -SAËNS Symphony No. 3 in C Minor. Detroit Symphony, Paray; Marcel Dupré, organist. Stereo SR 90012,
Monaural MG 50167. This joined the best -seller lists two weeks after its release and has remained there since. John Conly says in
THE ATLANTIC.: "...one of those performances we call (for lack of a more exact term) inspired... Saint- Sauts would
bave thought bis point well made in this 71tcrcury version."
CHERUBINI Medea (complete recording, deluxe factory- sealed album). Maria Meneghini Callas, Chorus and
Orchestra of La Scala, Serafin conducting. Stereo SR 3 -9000, Monaural OL 3 -104. "The most beautiful vocal recording today
is that of the opera 71'tedea on 7ttercury ... "-THE GRAMOPHONE
PROKOFIEV Suite from "The Love of Three Oranges "; Scythian Suite. London Symphony, Dorati.
Stereo SR 90006, Monaural 50157. A breathtaking demonstration of the depth and spread of sound of TRUE stereo, or as
John Conly said in THE ATLANTIC "...a real spectacular rich, close -up, thunderous, brilliant..."
STEREO
MANE
,.. .
SCHEHERAZADE
u..c.....w.
DORTI....w.
STEREO
M1RI7 MENEGHINI
CALLAS
MEDEA
eat
APRIL 1959
65
ullnunuc half a fine l'rukujicc leans.
11
chosen, but I would recommend the single disc of monophonic excerpts that
Decca has provided from their complete
set. The sonies as well as the performance
D.J.
are significantly better.
PROKOFIEV: Sonata for Cello and
Piano, No. 2, in C, Op. 119
IShostakovieh: Sonata for Cello and
Piano, in D minor, Op. 40
Antonio Janigro, cello; Eva Wollmann,
piano.
WESTMINSTER X \VN 18791. LP. $4.98.
It would be difficult to imagine a finer
performance of cello sonatas -anybody's
cello sonatas -than that provided here, or
a finer recording of the instruments involved. The works are not especially profound -they stand just on the good side
of the line that divides salon music from
chamber music-but the interpretation,
by Janigro and Wollmann alike, lends
them depth, dignity, and interest of the
highest musical importance. A superb reA.F.
lease.
PROKOFIEV: Symphony No. 4, in C,
Op. 47/112
State Radio Orchestra of the U.S.S.R.,
Cennadi Rozhdestvenski, cond.
M -G -M GC 30001.
LP.
$4.98.
Prokofiev composed his fourth symphony
in 1929 for the Boston Symphony Orchestra's fiftieth anniversary celebration, but
late in his life he completely rewrote it
and nearly doubled its length; hence its
double opus number. Written in the bard ic -heroic tradition of the Russian symphony, it stands in a direct line of descent
from the symphonies of Borodin, but
there is a good deal of Clazunovian dullness about it, too ( for which I suspect the
revision was responsible). The performance seems good enough, though the recording is not especially remarkable. A.F.
RACHMANINOFF: Concerto for Piano
and Orchestra, No. 2, in C minor, Op.
18
Kjell Backkelund, piano; Oslo Philhar-
66
monic Orchestra, Oivin Fjeldstad, cond.
RCA CAMDEN CAS 475. SD.
$2.98.
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Paul Paray.
cond.
MERCURY MG 50177. LP. $3.98.
This is a rather mild -mannered presentation of a glowing concerto. The Scandinavian collaborators do not treat the work
with Northern coldness, but the soloist
could have been a little less analytical
and could have sustained a longer singing line. At the same time, he and the
conductor could have been more forceful
in many of their statements in the first
and last movements. Even though this
disc isn't spectacular, however, it's a
sincere performance, recorded in satisfactory stereo, and not a bad buy at the
bargain price.
P.A.
The late Florent Schmitt completed La
Tragédie de Salome in 1907, just two
years after Richard Strauss's fiery operatic score on the same theme. Orginally
conceived as a ballet, the work was ultimately recast as a symphonic suite. In
some respects, it is far less savage in concept than the Strauss opera. For the most
part, it is a combination of late romantic
RACHMANINOFF: Symphony No. 2, in
E minor, Op. 27
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Paul Paray,
cond.
MERCURY SR 90019. SD. $5.95.
Those who are looking for a stereo edition of Paray 's thoughtful reading of this
symphony would do better by selecting
the tape version. The sound is well distributed on this disc, but there is an unaccountable distortion of the upper frequencies that is not in keeping with the
general high quality of Mercury's stereo
product.
P.A.
RAVEL: Boléro -See Bizet: Carmen:
Orchestral Suite.
RAVEL: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, in G
} D'Indy: Symphonic sur un chant montagnard français, Op. 25
Nicole Henriot -Schweitzer, piano; Boston
Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch,
cond.
RCA VICTOR L \I 2271. LP. $4.98.
RCA VICTOR LSC 2271. SD. $5.98.
Nicole Henriot, who has married a relative of Albert Schweitzer since her last
visit to this country, is a pupil of Marguerite Long, for whom Ravel's two- handed
concerto was written. This means that she
has the true tradition of the piece, and
her recording of it is the first to equal
\Ire. Long 's in musical understanding.
It is incomparably finer than hers, however, so far as sound is concerned, especially in the stereo version.
Mme. Schweitzer does a very skillful
and competent piece of work with the
D'Indy, but the Casadesus version still
remains the best on records. The coupling
of these two beautiful works on a single
A.F.
disc is extremely attractive.
RAVEL: Miroirs: No. 4, Alborada del
gracioso -See Debussy: Images: No.
2, Ibéria.
SAINT -SAENS: Concerto for Piano and
Orchestra, No. 4, in C minor, Op. 44See Milhaud: Le Carnaval d'Aix.
SCHMITT: La Tragédie de Salomé
}Strauss, Richard: Salome: Salomes Tanz
Mato: Namouna: Orchestral Suite No. 1
and early impressionistic writing, fully
and colorfully orchestrated. As Harold
Lawrence points out in his excellent
jacket notes, the final Dance of Fright
definitely foreshadows Le Sacre du Printemps. There may be more than coincidence here, for the score is dedicated to
Stravinsky, who expressed his great admiration of it to the composer. Unlike
Strauss, who based his opera on Oscar
\Vilde's play, Schmitt used as the foundation for his Salomé a poem by Robert
d'Humières which varies considerably
from the familiar story. The score, which
employs a large orchestra, is brilliantly
and opulently set forth by Paray, who
plays up the sharp contrasts between its
lyrical and orgiastically rhythmic movements.
Strauss's Dance of the Seven Veils
makes a fitting disc companion to the
French Salomé. Paray is equally enthusiastic in his treatment here, though he
emphasizes the orchestral coloring rather
than the sensual aspects of the music.
Next to these two incandescent works,
Edouard Lahis Namouna sounds just a
trifle pale. Like La Tragédie de Salomé,
it was originally a ballet, from which the
composer later extracted three concert
suites. With his affinity for French music
of all periods, Paray enhances the Suite
No. 1 with an exhilarating reading.
All three compositions are orchestral
slunspieces, and Alercury has set then
off in beautifully balanced, wide -range
sound, completely free from distortion.
This disc ought to be tremendous in
stereo.
P.A.
SCHOENBERG: Piano Pieces, Op. 11
}Berg: Sonata for Piano, Op. 1
}K`renek: Sonata for Piano, No. 3, Op. 93
Glenn Gould, piano.
COLUMBIA ML 5336. LP. $4.98.
Schoenberg's three piano pieces, Opus 11,
are beginning to sound like Brahms today,
but their solidity and meaningfulness increase with each rehearing. The tendency
to treat them merely as forerunners of
Schoenberg's later style is an aberration
which, let us hope, Gould's magnificent
performance has finally put to rest.
In his notes, Gould says "Berg's Opus
1 is as fine as anything he ever did. (I
am aware that this remark is open to contradiction. )" For me, it is contradicted by
all the later music of Berg, but the diffuse, schwärmerisch sonata is of value in
juxtaposition to the Schoenberg as a revelation of the master -pupil relationship.
Continued on page 68
RICH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
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ARTHUR FIEDLER
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NEW! AVAILABLE IN "LIVING STEREO" OR ON REGULAR LONG PLAY
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Ravel Concerto in C
d'Indy Symphony on
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THE FRENCH TOUCH
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Nicole Henries lt`twejtzer
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Strikingly beautiful passages
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Light, lively music by French
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1959
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The brilliantly written sonata by Kienek
finally takes Schoenbergian atonality, so
far as this collection is concerned, out of
the romantic emotional orbit of the Viennese school and develops it in the direc-
tion of a cooler, in some ways more adventuresome, lyricism.
I become more and more fully convinced that Glenn Gould is the foremost
pianist whom this continent has produced
in recent decades. The beauty of his tone
and the depth of his musicianship are revealed here through a recording of marA.F.
velous fidelity.
Not just Hi -Fi
SCHUBERT: Quartets and Quintets
Vol. Ill: Quartet for Strings, No. 5, in
B fiat, D. 68; Quartet for Strings, No. 14,
in D minor, D. 810 ( Tod and dos
Mädchen); Quintet for Piano and Strings,
in A, D. 667 ( Trout ); Quintet for Strings,
in C, D. 956.
Rolf Reinhardt, piano; Fritz Kiskalt, cello; Georg Hocrtnagcl, double -bass; En-
Not just Stereo
dres Quartet.
Vox VBX 6.
But STEREO in HI -FI!
with
Stereovox
records
Stereovox records give you Stereo reproduction with both the range and the
clarity engineered to bring out the fullest
capacities of the most advanced sound
systems.
They are a fast growing library of important works. To hear them is to want theml
SYMPHONY r5, E MINOR, OP. 64.
Bamberg Symphony -Heinrich Hollreiser, conductor.
YCMAIKOVSKYt
STPL 510.390
TCMAIKOVSKY:
MINOR, OP. 36.
Bamberg Symphony- Heinrich Holtrelser, conductor.
SYMPHONY 44,
F
STPL 511.190
'DVORAK:
SYMPHONY 44, G MAJOR,
Bamberg Symphony-Jonel Perfect, conductor.
OP. 88.
STPL 511.050
*MANDEL:
8 OVERTURES. Bamberg Symphony
Rolf Reinhardt, conductor.
-
STPL 511.300
Also ovoilable
on VOX monophonic records. Write to
Dept. H for complete Stereo or Monophonic catalogs.
VOX PRODUCTIONS, INC.
236
W.
55th Street, New York 19, N. Y.
Three LP.
$8.95.
The final volume of this complete set of
Schubert's quartet. and quintets has the
same merit of good taste and the same
failing of excessive understatement I noted in the earlier two volumes. More disturbing is a certain insensitivity to shading and a tendency to confound mezzo
and piano and to ignore pianissimo marking altogether.
But these readings are rarely unenjoyable; and when one considers that the
whole set can, like the others, be purchased for S8.95, one may be willing to
accept something less than perfect performances for the sake of owning the
whole series of marvelous works. Certainly the C major Quintet and the D
minor Quartet have been given more inspired interpretations on LP ( the latter
notably in the new version by the
Smetana Quartet ), but I am not aware
that the Trout is available in a clearly
superior edition. Vox has already issued
this Trout as a single, stereophonic release -and curiously enough the sound in
the monophonic version proves to be better than its stereo counterpart. The fragmentary Fifth Quartet has been recorded
only once before, by the Vienna Konzerthaus Quartet, and the Endres group has
D.J.
the edge in this instance.
SCHUBERT: Sonata for Piano, No. 18,
in A minor, Op. 42, D. 845; Impromptus: Op. 142, D. 935: No. 2, in A flat;
Op. 90, D. 899: No. 2, in E flat
Sviatoslav Richter, piano.
MONITOR MC 2027. LP. $4.98.
This is piano playing of great strength
and authority. The 1825 piano sonata receives here easily its best interpretation
to date. The grim, death -and- the-maiden
atmosphere of the first movement is conveyed with a unity of design and a cumulative impact only too rare among interpreters of Schubert's keyboard music. The
variations of the slow movement may be
somewhat lacking in tenderness and Richter's tempos arc certainly brisk, but it is
a thrilling thing to hear thirty-seconds
and sixty-fourths played with such ahsolute clarity and control. The trio of the
ensuing scherzo proves that this artist
is capable of a subdued, manly tenderness as well as delicacy and variety of
touch. The A flat impromptu has been
recorded by pianists more atune to it
( Schnabel and Gieseking ), but I doubt
if the whirlwind E flat impromptu has
ever fared better on or off records. A
very exciting release.
Richter scrupulously observes every
repeat in the sonata ( including the whole
of the first movement's exposition) which
accounts for the fact that the work takes
up all of Side 1 and half of Side 2. The
Soviet engineers have reproduced the
piano tone convincingly, although a trace
or two of preëcho (of no great conseD.J.
quence) can be detected.
SCHUMAN: New England Triptych
See Copland: A Lincoln Portrait.
-
SCHUMANN: Concerto for Piano and
Orchestra, in A minor, Op. 54
Artur Rubinstein, piano; RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra, Josef Krips, cond.
RCA VICTOR LM 2256. LP. $4.98.
RCA Vic-an LSC 2256. SD. $5.98.
Rubinstein's last recorded performance of
the Schumann Concerto was released in
1948. Obviously, a remake has long been
overdue. Victor now supplies one both in
monophonic and in stereophonic versions,
in each case using an entire disc for this
work. This is something to make the economy- minded purchaser pause. Alxmt a
half hour's ( 32'08 ", to be exact) worth of
music on an LP dise is fairly short change
these clays, especially as there is available
a fine performance of the work, played by
Serkin, and backed with a stupendous
performance of the Strauss Burleske. Rubimstcin's performance, however, is, as always. beautiful. Although lie drags the A
Ilat section in the first tnocement a little
too much for my taste. the authority and
color of his playing establish themselves
on their own terms. Through the years,
by the way, his conception of the concerto
has changed. The 1948 version is a little
less personal, much more direct and red blooded. I think it is superior to the new
version, though there is room for argument on both sides. In any case, the playing in the new discs is unmistakably Rubinstein, which should be enough for anybody.
The stereophonic version has a more
mellow sound than the monophonic,
which comes out somewhat harshly in the
climaxes. In the stereo disc, the piano is
firmly centered between the speakers,
and there is no wandering. The piano,
however, tends to dominate the orchestra
and sounds too big in this most ensemble
of concertos. And can't Victor do something about the poor surfaces that mar so
H.C.S.
many of its discs?
SHOSTAKOVICH: Sonata for Cello and
Piano, in D minor, Op. 40 -See Pro kofiev: Sonata for Cello and Piano,
No. 2, in C, Op. 119.
Continued on page 72
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APRIL 1959
(i4)
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I
Could Have Danced All Night
I
Love
Paris
C'est Magnifique
How Are
Things In Glocca Morra
Just In Time
You'll Never Walk Alone A Wonderful
Guy
Dancing In The Dark You're Just
In Love
Hey There
A Bushel and A
Peck
If I Were A Bell
Give My Regards To Broadway and others KS -3001
LATIN RHYTHMS
IN STEREO
on to
9dBJOS INN bIINS'II<EtS iH S1'ElISO
SAPIY
JANE MORGAN, Broadway In Stereo
iqt
WALTZES IN STEREO, David Rose
cination Die Fledermaus Waltz
tiful
I
Sleepy Lagoon Far Away Places
I
Dreamt
Dwelt In Marble Halls
Marcheta Home On The Range Always
KS -3000
Love
COLLEGE
SONGS IN,
STEREO
Ari.sV
GAY
The Merry Widow Waltz
13
WALTZES
IN STEREO
*kV
WILLIAMS, Waltzes in Stereo
The Whiffenpoof Song Three O'Clock In The Morning
Oh, What A Beautiful Morning
The Girl That Marry
Speak To Me Of
ROGER
Continued from page 68
FOITRLETTER
SHOSTAKOVICII: Symphony No. 5, in
D, Op. 47
Stadium Symphony Orchestra of New
York, Leopold Stokowski, conci.
EVEREST
SDBR 3010.
SD.
$5.98.
Stokowski's old 78 -rpm records of ShosIt's a much abused and a much beloved takovich's First, Fifth, and Sixth Symword too. And like the wife who's been a phonies were primarily responsible for
of that compeach after ten years of marriage, jazz is establishing the reputation
poser in this country. They had a tension,
too often taken for granted.
a breadth, drama, richness, and drive that
It wasn't always so. Sure there's a hard no other interpretation has ever quite
core of aficionados who can't hardly look equaled, and to hear Stokowski's perat anything unless the liner notes tell you formance of the Fifth again is like a
that "Pinetop spat blood." And there are home -coming. His way with the music
collectors who forage through murky an- hasn't changed in the slightest. The only
tique record shops looking for a genuine thing that has changed is the art of reBuddy Bolden recording. But jazz wasn't cording, and that has been immeasurably
gentlemen, the old
meant to lie down in a dark corner and improved. Ladies and
is hack, and better than ever. A.F.
master
play dead, and it hasn't. Even though you
may take your wife for granted, she still
SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 11
exercises her wiles via the well known
pointed
dress,
devices;
the
trapeze
feminine
Orchestre National dc la Radiodiffusion
shoes, pale -pink lipstick, padded hips, Française, André Cluytens, cond.
AvcEI. 3586 3S /L. Two LP, one
cleavage (more or less), ad infinitum. Just
single-sided. $8.98 ( or $6.96 ).
as styles change, so has jazz. More appropriately, jazz has grown.
When Warner Bros. Records ® set In his Eleventh Symphony, Shostakovich
colossal proportions of his
out to produce a series of albums devoted returns to theEighth.
The work was comand
Seventh
to jazz, artists and repertoire director posed in 1957 and commemorates, at least
George Avakian set one simple ground ostensibly, the abortive Russian revolurule: "let's not make it a potpourri- an tion of 1905. Revolutionary folk hunes of
alphabet soup series of jazz albums." You that period are woven through its texture,
may think we've violated the boss' instrucand the titles of the four movements, referring to incidents of the 1905 revolutions by offering different types of jazz,
tion, provide it with a "program" that will
but honestly we haven't. We've put toimpress the naïve and infuriate the sophisgether ten albums in different styles of jazz
ticated. As I suggested in reviewing Stosimply because we realize that some people
kowski's recent Houston Symphony remay think Dixieland is out, while others
cording of this work, I suspect that its real
will swear it's in. And the release is capped program is not the revolution of 1905 but
by an album we've
the spiritual autobiography of Dmitri
352 W4r41/14 (t called "Jazz Fes- Shostakovich, and if so, he is a bitter man
tival-Near In and
indeed. At all events, there is little of the
"parade ground" Shostakovich here and
Far Out."
Listed below are none of the "official" Shostakovich at all.
The enonnous scale of the work is altothe varied ways we
gether convincing, and the symphony as
have spelled that
whole is one of the most eloquent, movfour -letter word aing,
and genuinely tragic to be produced
called jazz.
in modern times.
Cluytens' performance is very powerAvailable in Vitaphonic Stereo and monnot as sensitive as Stokowski's in some
aural long play. Write for free complete ful,
but still altogether authoritative.
respects,
catalog to Dept. N , Warner Bros. Records.
is superb, and the Orchestre
The
recording
W/WS 1271
Chico Hamilton
GONGS EAST
National de la Radiodiffusion Française is
The Trombones,
TROMBONES, INC.
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Inc.
a much finer organization than the HousGIRL CRAZY
FIRST JAZZ PIANO
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Dick Cathcart
Robert Prince
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Morris Manton Trio W/WS 1279
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BURBANK, CALIF.
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7J
ton Symphony.
A.F.
SOLER: Quintet for Organ and String
Quartet, No. 6, in G minor ( "Op. 1 ")
-See C.P.E. Bach: Concerto for Organ
and Orchestra, in E flat.
STRAUSS, JOHANN II: Waltzes
Emperor, Op. 437; Vienna Life, Op. 354;
By the Beautiful Bitte Danube, Op. 314;
Tales from the Vienna Woods., Op. 325.
Virtuoso Symphony of London, Emanuel
Vardi, cond.
Avino FIDELITY FCS 50013. SD.
$6.95.
This is the brightest- sounding, best balanced of the three Audio Fidelity "First
Component Series" discs I have heard.
Vardi has restudied these oft -played
waltzes, and offers an approach completely stripped of hidebound interpretative
traditions. There can be no denying the
freshness of effect that results. He gives
a most musicianly, abundantly exuberant
account of the music, and fortunately
takes the trouble to observe all repeats
and, in Tales from the Vienna Woods, to
include the original zither solos. Still,
there will be those who prefer to hear
these waltzes with more characteristic
Viennese inflections, including a few more
rhythmic liberties, such as the anticipated
second beat and an occasional retard or
hesitation. For those who want their
Strauss straight, however, these are top quality presentations in every respect.
P.A.
RICiIARD: Also sprach
Zarathustra, Op. 30
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Karl
STRAUSS,
Böhm, cond.
$4.98.
DECCA DL 9999. LP.
DECCA DL 79999. SD. $5.98.
Deutsche Grammophon, who made this
tape, record their stereo from the perspective of the balcony. They do it well
in those terms, but produce a far less intense experience than the companies that
work at closer range. The monophonic
version consequently has a somewhat
more concentrated quality than the stereo,
and the best stereo version of the work
continues to he Reiner's historic tape of
some years ago.
Böhm's performance of the score is as
uneven as Strauss's inspiration. He seems
to want to eliminate the bombast and subdue the trite material, but in doing so he
robs the piece of many of its most commonly appealing features. Both Reiner
and Krauss struck a happier balance in
interpreting this outpouring of NietzR.C. \I.
schean visions.
RICHARD: Rosenkaralier:
Suite; Die Frau ohne Schatten: Suite
Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Orniandy,
cond.
COLUSIBIA ML 5333. LP. $4.98.
STRAUSS,
Strauss himself, in the last years of his
life, macle a symphonic fantasia on themes
from Die Frau ohne Schatten. The socalled "suite" of this recording may well
be that fantasia: the annotator, in his
hasty and incorrect notes ( the Emperor
is not turned to stone at the close of the
opera ), fails to inform us. Certainly the
symphonic score Ormandy conducts here,
the fact that there is no break in the
musical architecture, the seemingly non chronological use of material from various
parts of the opera would suggest that
this is a fantasy or meditation rather
than a conventional collection of favorite
tunes. At any rate, if Strauss did not
fashion this piece, whoever did has succeeded admirably in translating the music
Continued on page 74
T4rcu FImAT.TTY MAGAZINE
azc676irVeain, -644t6
new clirrmóAmTz.
RUDOLF KEMPE
THE VIENNA PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
LIFE IN VIENNA
CAr2rl21r2a B UPC/ r1a
stokowski
The Houston Symphony Orchestra
Houston Chorale
11,
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Inspired Renaissance church music by
Palestrina, Victoria and others. This
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(S)P846o
Three Strausses and four other Viennese
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This "piece of musical electricity" (N.Y.
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SWAN LANE
THE
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The three Brahms sonatas plus Schubcri s
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all here in this one memorable album.
Two records.
GBR7142
THE BALLET
THEATRE
Novas CRats}off /
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Christoff as the tragic hero; American horn soprano Teresa Stich -Randall as his
daughter. Lamoureux Orchestra, Igor
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Superb sound recording; the leading
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favorite selections from the world's best loved ballet scores: a delight!
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VICTORIA DE LOS ANGELES
PIERRE IONTEUI.
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French-English libretto.
GDR7171
Foremost harpist of our day plays 16th
and 18th Century Spanish music and contrasting contemporary works by de Falla,
Albéniz, Turina and others.
P8473
Italian operas of Puccini, Rossini, Boïto,
Mascagni, Catalani and Verdi provide
soprano highlights in this stunning recital. Rome Opera House Orchestra. G7172
till in incomparable high fidelity; several also available in Capitol Stereo. Prefix (S)
APRIL 1959
indicates stereo version.
73
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27
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STRAUSS, RICHARD: Salome: Salomes
Tanz -See Schmitt: La Tragédie de
Salomé.
STRAVINSKY: Ebony Concerto; Symphony in Three Movements
Woody Herman and His Orchestra (in the
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Sir Eugene Goossens, cond. (in the Symphony).
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drama into purely orchestral terms: most
of the important musical ideas of Die
Frau are woven into this score, and, by
a stroke of genius, Barak's ravishing third act solo beginning "Mir anvertraut, das
ich sie liege" is made to serve as the keystone to the whole structure. Those who
already know and admire this opera will
find the symphonic synthesis of it quite
as much a treat as some of us who know
and admire Rosenkavalier find the suite
.r is'd from it an annoyance.
lice Philadelphia Orchestra is at its
lushest here. And the sound is at Columbia's.
D.J.
TA -1
Et'EHEST
SDBR 3009.
SD.
$5.98.
If someone were to issue Beethoven's Wellingtons Sieg on the same disc with his
Seventh Symphony, we should have a
fair parallel to what is offered here. In
other words, the Ebony Concerto is a potboiler that happens to be exactly contemporary with a masterpiece from the
same hand. The potboilers of a great
composer are always interesting, however,
even if, as here, the interest is essentially
pathetic; it arises from the conflict between what Stravinsky could have done
with a jazz band and the limitations imposed upon hint by his ( or, more likely,
Woody Herman's) idea of what the Herman audience could take. The recording
takes full advantage of stereo to do all
manner of dimensional tricks with the mu-sic, but this jugglery does not help it
much.
The Symphony in Three Movements is,
of course, one of the major works of modem times, but Goossens' performance of
it altogether lacks the tension and grace
of Stravinsky's own recorded version, and
the sound is on the thick and heavy side.
A.F.
STRAVINSKY: The Rite of Spring
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest
Ansermet, cond.
LoNmoN CS 6031. SD. $4.98.
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FLUSHING 54.
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Stereo was made to order for the Sacre,
and it is not surprising that there are four
stereophonic versions of it in the catalogues. Even in the best monophonic recording, the enormous orchestral sonorities of this work are muffled and strain
the speaker, and many of its subtleties
are too elusive to be caught. It really flowers out in stereo, and one feels that one is
really hearing it for the first time so far
as recorded performances are concerned.
But so far as interpretation is at issue, I
can only repeat what I have often said
before -that Ansermet, despite his devotion to Stravinsky, takes cautious tempos
which tend to reduce the excitements of
A.F.
a score like the Sacre.
SUPPE: Overtures: Leichte Kavallerie;
Pique Dame; Ein Morgen, ein Mittag,
ein Abend in Wien; Dichter und Bauer;
Tantalusqualen; Die Irrfahrt ins Glück
Philharmonic Promenade Orchestra, Henry Krips, cond.
ANGEL S 35427. SD. $5.98.
If ever a single disc could radically transform the stereotyped image of a composer, this Krips program would dramatically redeem Franz von Suppé from the
hack status with which he is now generally credited. Even the four familiar
overtures here reveal powers of invention
of which there is scarcely a hint in the
usual bandstand and pops -concert renderings; the seldom -heard Tantallsqualen
displays a still fresher treatment of similar
materials, and the almost- never -heard Irrfahrt ins Glück goes even further in disclosing an authentic mastery of near Gluckian musical drama.
The stereo recording is so effective by
current disc standards that only those who
have heard the recent Angel taping of
the first three overtures here ( the others,
including the two best ones, are as yet
available on tape only in England ) will
realize that, satisfactory as it may be
when heard by itself, it still encompasses
less than its "plaster's" exceptionally full
dynamic range and sonic spaciousness.
R.D.D.
SURINACH: Sinfonietta flamenca
} Albéniz: Iberia: Bk. III, No. 8, El Polo
} Falla: El Amor brujo
Orchestre Radio-Symphonique de Paris,
Carlos Surinach, cond.
LP. $4.98.
1%lONTILLA FM 142.
Although composers often lack the skill
in handling orchestras of those who give
most of their time to conducting, when
they play their own music they often reveal things which the hardened professionals fail to uncover. The case at hand
is a good example of this, and in spite of
the fine qualities of the Argenta edition,
Surin:tch's own treatment of his Sinfonietta flamenca is of greater interest.
The Falla is played in what is described
as. a "symphonic version" -that is, without
vocal parts. Surinach gives it a well -conceived and evocative statement, but versions such as Ansennet's which include a
singer will retain a wider appeal. R.C.V.
SZY%IANOWSKI: Sonata for Violin and
Piano, No. 1, in D minor, Op. 9 -See
Grieg: Sonata for Violin and Piano,
No. 1, in F, Op. 8.
TCHAIKOVSKY: Francesca da Rimini,
Op. 32; Hamlet, Overture- Fantasia,
Op. 87
Stadium Symphony Orchestra of New
York, Leopold Stokowski, conci.
EVEREST SDBR 3011. SD. $5.98.
Stokowski's Francesca da Rimini is expressive and dynamic; furthermore, it is
incisive, a rare quality in too m:my performances of this work. Particularly effective is his beautiful phrasing of the
Continued on page 76
HIGH FIDELPI-V MAGAZINE
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evocative as the talent of the composer -conductor
might be, sensitive as his strings undoubtedly are,
there remains a third dimension to be considered for
The
complete listening pleasure. Proud to present David
Rose and his Orchestra in new albums for hi -fi aficionados, M -G -M Records respectfully suggests that the
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wood -wind solos and ensembles in the
lyrical middle section. Hamlet is a less
even composition, but Stokowski makes
the most of the drama and orchestral
coloring in a brilliant performance, with
the New York Philharmonic under its
summer pseudonym playing in top form.
The wonderful interplay between the
various string sections at the opening is
given sweeping treatment by the conductor and realistic stereo handling by
the engineers. The recording has excellent
perceptive depth, enabling the listener to
pinpoint each of the brass and percussion
instruments as they enter from the rear
of the orchestra. In short, both performP.A.
ance and sound are impressive.
TCHAIKOVSKY: Nutcracker, Op. 71
(excerpts)
Philharmonia Orchestra, Efrem Kurtz,
runt.
1
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LP.
$4.98.
For those who want :t one -disc survey of
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Nutcracker, this well -recorded album
answers the need very nicely. It includes
the Overture, four excerpts from Act I
and, as far as I can ascertain, all of the
dances in the Act II divertissement. Kurtz,
it veteran conductor of ballet, makes a fine
compromise between dance and concert
styles in presenting this music with good
effect.
P.A.
TCHAIKOVSKY: Serenade for String Orchestra, in C, Op. 48 -See Mozart:
Serenade for Strings, No. 13, in G
("Eine kleine Nachtmusik").
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TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 6, in B
minor, Op. 74 ( "Pathétique")
Virtuoso Symphony of London, Alfred
WVallenstein, cond.
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which until now has concentrated on fine 1y engineered recordings of popular and
novelty music, has released its first classical disc. There is more than an expansion of repertoire here. Aiming for the
highest quality stereo reproduction, the
company has tried to retain tape fidelity
in its new discs. This means greater dynamic range and quieter surfaces. The
latter were not hard to come by, hut the
former were -and, for many, still are. For
unlimited dynamic range can mean serious tracking problems for many arms and
cartridges. Therefore, these new records
bear the label "First Component Series,"
and the jackets include the warning that
they can be played only with certain test d components, which are listed. Since
these include many of the better stereo
arms and cartridges currently in use, owners of top -grade equipment have little to
worry about.
At the press demonstration for the new
series, part of the third movement of the
Pathétique was played with recommended components, then the same passage
was repeated on an inexpensive stereo
portable phonograph. Everything went
smoothly on the first playing, but on the
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
76
www.americanradiohistory.com
tissi
second, the stylus hopped around like a
Mexican jumping bean.
Since I am one of those doubting
Thomases who doesn't believe everything
he sees and hears at prepared demonstrations, I took the records home and tried
them with arms and cartridges that were
both recommended and not recommended. Except for two minor spots in the
aforementioned Pathétique movement,
everything tracked perfectly. There is
no question about this being a superior
product, carefully engineered, though the
present disc is not the best one I have
heard. The bass here seems a trifle over weighted, while the strings could be
brighter, with a bit more presence.
Last, but not least, we come to one
of the most felicitous features of this dise
-the performance. Wallenstein gives a
most commendable reading of the symphony, firm and forward -moving, yet
amply intense and virile in its over -all
conception.
Y.A.
VIVALDI:
Six Concertos for
Strings, and Continuo, Op. 10
Gastone Tassinari, flute;
Eric LC 3541. LP.
I
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These are pleasing performances, on the
whole, of the finest of Vivaldi's flute concertos. Difficult passages no longer seem
tumbling to Tassinari, as they occasionally
did in his recording of these works for
Vox's de luxe album of the complete
eighteen flute concertos of Vivaldi. And
the sound on this disc is somewhat better
than in the Vox. On the other hand the
harpsichord here can be heard only by
straining one's ears, and sometimes not
even then; the first movement of No. 6
seems too slow (it is livelier in the Vox );
and there arc moments in the fast movements of No. 1 when flute and orchestra
are not precisely together.
N.B.
WAGENSEIL:
Concerto for Cello,
Strings, and Continuo, in A -See
Haydn: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, in D ( "Op. 121 ").
RECITALS AND
MISCELLANY
BOYS CHOIR OF VIENNA: "Voices
from the Vienna Woods"
Boys Choir of Vienna, Carl Etti, cond.
ONIECA OSL 28.
SD. $5.95.
The Boys Choir of Vienna may or may
not be from the same organization that
produces the internationally touring
groups known as the Vienna Choir Boys,
but they sing with the same piping charm,
childish gusto, and sentimental style.
Relatively .impie arrangements of works
by Mozart. Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert,
and Johann Strauss II and of some folk
tunes form the appropriately GermanAustrian repertoire here. Only a tricky arrangement of Schubert's Die Forelle is
clumsily performed. Orchestra, organ, or
f
OPERA
Neurest Srinrar :k.q album:
Mesart: Mantago of Figaro (Highlights)
(with London, Jurioar, Srefrie,), Kunz, Vienna
Philhunnonir, Karajan, Cond.)
35326
R. Strauss:
Capriccio (First complete recording)
"A superb Countess" (N.Y. Times)
(With Gedda, Ludwig, Fischer-Dicskau, Hotter,
Philharmonia, Sawallisch, Cond.)
35110
CIL
COLLECTIONS
"Far Lotte Lehmann fans, Schwarzkopf
successor."
is the
(Harper s)
Song Recital
Bach, Cluck, Mozart, Schubert, Wolf, Brahms,
etc. (with Gerald Moore, Piano)
35023
Songs You Lows
DvoiáL, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Mendel,.
sohn, etc. (with Gerald Moore, Piano)
353113
R. Strauss: Dor Rosenkavalier
"Never encountered
a performance closer to absolute perfection" (Neun Yorker)
(With Ludwig, Stich. Randall, Edelmann, Phil.
harmonia, Karajan, Cond.)
3563 D/L
OPERETTA
"What
can one do when Mme. Schwarzkopf sings
(Viennese operetta) except get up and dance ?"
(High Fidelity)
Lohn: This Marry Widow
J. Strauss: DI* Flodermaas
3501 B/L
3539 B/L
APRIL 1959
ANGEL RECORDS NEW YORK CITY
77
www.americanradiohistory.com
piano variously accompanies the boys
when they do not sing alone. Except for
a few places where the orchestra overpowers the voices, the sound is clear and
well balanced if not noteworthily stereoR.E.
phonic.
Bach h la Busoni ). indeed, the performances are so polished it is sometimes hard
to see the substance beneath the shining
surface. For example, the Schubert impromptu, full of air and grace, almost
seems glib ( though glibness is better here
instnunental presence is very good;
stereo distribution is excellent; and surfaces are silent. As a matter of fact, in the
heavier passages the disc is more clearly
defined than its tape counterpart.
Unfortunately, the same high praise
JOHN BROWNING: "Debut"
Chopin: Etude in C Flat, Op. 10, No. 5;
Nocturne in D Flat, Op. 27, No. 2;
Grande Valse Brillante in E Flat, Op. 18.
Liszt: Mephisto Waltz. Bach -Busoni: Nun
komm', der Heiden Heiland; In dir ist
Freude. Schubert: Impromptu in B Flat,
Op. 142, No. 3. Debussy: Reflets dans
l'eau.
Rimsky -Korsakov -Rachmaninoff:
Flight of the Bumblebee.
John Browning, piano.
than sententiousness). The Mephisto
Waltz is swift, mercurial, dazzling, without quite the demonic quality it can have.
in their negative aspects these two performances point up Mr. Browning's bent
towards the poetic and lyrical. The Chopin nocturne is ravishing in its dreamlike
flow of tone and subtly shifting nuance;
the Debussy could not be more iridescently lovely. At his best, Mr. Browning
is a remarkably sensitive artist. Even now
he deserves to be heard further; with increasing maturity, depth, and power he
R.E.
should become indispensable.
cannot he given to the performances.
Cernys approach to this lighthearted
music is heavy -handed and is marked by
few Viennese stylistic subtleties. The orchestral playing, too, is not all it might be,
with a number of unpolished wood -wind
solos. Whoever wrote the jacket notes
doesn't know his Strauss: though he states
that there are six waltzes on this record,
there are only two, together with a polka,
a march, and a couple of overtures. P.A.
CAPITOL P 8464.
LP.
$4.98.
This is an exceptional record from an exceptionally gifted young American pianist. John Browning's merits already have
been clearly recognized, for he has won
two major awards in this country-the
Steinway Centennial in 1955 and the
Leventritt in 1958 -and he was runner-up
to Ashkenazy in the Queen Elisabeth international Contest in Brussels in 1956.
Service in the armed forces interrupted
the momentum these honors gave to his
career, but his New York recital debut
this season was a major event.
The twenty- five -year-old pianist's playing on this recording is practically flawless in its glistening tone, technical perfection, musical discipline, and stylistic
intuition ( including the romanticized
GUSTAV CERNY: "Strauss in Stereo"
Johann Strauss iI: Ellen a Magyar:
Schnellpolka, Op. 332; Die Fledermaus:
Overture; Frisch ins Feld: March, Op.
398; Ein Nacht in Venedig: Overture;
Artist's Life, Op. 316. Richard Strauss:
Der Rosenkavalier: Waltzes.
Graz Philharmonic Orchestra, Gustav
Cerny, cond.
JANUS FST 2003.
SD. $4.98.
Janus, a new label, is offering disc editions of Livingston stereo tapes. To judge
by the present release, the disc rivals the
tapes in quality, which is saying a great
deal. The sound is full, deep, and rich;
INTEGRITY IN
CHARLES K. L. DAVIS: Operatic Arias
Flotow: Martha: M'appari. Puccini: La
Bohème: Che gelida manina; Turandot:
Nessun donna; La fanciulla del West:
Mello mi creda; Menem Lescaut: Donna
non vidi trai; Tosca: Recondita armonia.
Verdi: Rigoletto: La Donna è mobile; La
Traviata: De' miei bollenti spiriti. Doni zetti: L'Elistir d'amore: Una furtiva lagrima. \leycrbeer: L'Africana: O paradiso. Massenet: ,/anon: Le rève. Mozart:
Don Giovanni: Il mio tesoro.
Charles K. L. Davis, tenor; Stadium Symphony Orchestra of New York, Wilfred
Pelletier, cond.
EVEREST SDRB 3012. SD. $5.98.
Mr. Davis won the 1958 Metropolitan
Opera Auditions of the Air. Everest has
MUSIC...
AS R-444 dual -channel
stereo amplifier
-
POWER OUTPUT: SC Rating.
60 watts (Two 30 -watt channels).
FREQUENCY RESPONSE: 20- 20,000
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HARMONIC DISTORTION: Less than
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IM DISTORTION: Less than 1%
program level (60 and 7,000 cps
at 4:1 ratio).
NOISE LEVEL: 70 db down (Aux.).
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
78
www.americanradiohistory.com
hint under contract and, it may be felt,
has rather precipitously hurried him into
an ambitious recorded recital. The quality
of Mr. Davis' voice is a familiar one. He
has evidently listened long and devoutly
to phonograph records of tenors like Cigli
and Schipa and McCormack, tenors of
marked individuality who are not, except
in the most general sense, ideal models to
try to reproduce. The voice is light spinto
in quality, pleasant to listen to save when
it is being forced to make sounds bigger
than it ought and despite a decidedly
nasal production (grotesquely so at the
opening of the French piece). It has good
flexibility: the "/l mio tesoro" indicates
that Mr. Davis may develop into a valuable
Mozart tenor if he takes Puccini in smaller
closes. He nms the notorious hurdles of
this aria well, though he approaches the
long -held "cercar" apprehensively the
first time, reducing his voice to a virtual
falsetto in order to conserve breath. "De'
miei bollenti spiriti" is done at a breakneck clip: both \Ir. Davis and Maestro
Pelletier would do well to remember that
Alfredo is in love as well as in a ferment.
The Manon has some lovely half-voice
moments, but again I was uncomfortably
conscious of the singer's eclecticism.
In short, \tr. Davis would do well to
grow more familiar with himself as artist
before venturing again into this most
cruelly irrevocable of media.
D.J.
RICHARD DYER -BENNET: "Requests"
Greensleeees; The Golden Vanity; The
White Lily; Lord Rendal; Westrttn
Wynde; Barbara Allen; Venezuela; The
Quaker Lover; John Henry; Spanish Is
the Losing Tongue; I Ride an Old Paint;
Edward.
Richard Dyer -Bennet, tenor and guitarist.
DYER- BENNET DYB 5000.
LP.
$4.98.
RICHARD
DYER -BENNET:
"With
Young People in Mind"
Corne All Ye; Old Bangurn; Aunt Rhod,1;
Frog Went a- Courting; John Peel; The
Leprechaun; The Piper of Dundee; Bow
Down; The Tailor and the Mouse; I
Went Out One Morning in May; Green
Corn; Buckeye Jim; Little Pigs; Three
Crows; The Hole in the Bottom of the
Sea.
Richard Dyer- Bennet, tenor and guitarist.
DYER -BENNET DYB 6000. LP. $4.98.
It will be no new thing to remark that by
no means all fanciers of the sorts of music
Richard Dyer- Bennet sings hold with his
custom of taking what he refers to as "the
minstrel's liberty- in facturing his own
versions of traditional and semitraditional
material. It is quite possible to doubt the
felicity of particular emendations he
makes ( and, for one, I often do ). But it is
rather silly to damn them, and him, on
puristic grounds-and, which is the main
point, it is almost impossible to keep from
being beguiled whilst hearing his extremely individual, truly re- creative singing. No ballad- chanting child of nature,
surely, he is just as surely a very con-
scions and self -exacting artist in his métier, and, furthermore, one whose abilities
are even yet still maturing in emotional
persuasiveness.
These two discs hold some of the most
satisfying, completely accomplished performances I have heard Mr. Dyer-Bennet
give. Their characteristics are typical and
familiar: the high, clear voice, so pure and
lacking in vibrato that it might almost be
tensed neuter were it not for the strongly
masculine projective thrust; the far forward open vowels and precise enunciation that might seem merely affected
were this not so integral a part of his
whole honest, personal manner; and so
on. There are, to be sure, folksier singers,
for those who prefer them, but none so
sure of what they want to accomplish and
how to go about accomplishing it.
Both of these releases are most attractive in detail -the by- request disc, to me,
less so in sum, since it contains songs I
myself care for less than others (e.g.,
Venezuela); others that are, exceptionally, not so well sung as they ideally
might be (e.g., that haunting Westnjn
Wynde); and some that seem basically
less than ideal for a voice of this timbre
(e.g., John Henry). Still, listener requests
doubtless have to be gratified. The socalled young -people disc, though, is a
sheer ( though not, by all standards, unarguably "pure ") delight from beginning
to end -the last a grand accunmlative
song, new to me, that is worth the whole
price as a specific to put one in a senselessly good humor.
NEW "STEREO 60" AMPLIFIER
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The engineering is excellent. There are
no printed texts, regrettably for those who
might want to learn to sing the songs
themselves, but good notes by the singer
-brief, informative notes, save for a wonderously punctuated, rambling discourse
that tells not much about The Leprechaun but rather a lot about the strange
effects of dew on the mountains. Highly
J.H., JR.
desirable.
HANDEL IN
WARWICKSHIRE
DANIEL ERICOURT: Waltzes
Ravel: Valses nobles et sentimentales.
Debussy: Danse de la poupée; La Plus
mie lente. Schubert- Liszt: Suire%es de
Vienne, Nu. 6. Chopin: Waltz in A Flat,
Op. 42. Liszt: .Mephistu Woltz.
Daniel Ericourt, piano.
KAPP KCL 9021. LP. 53.98.
KAPP KC 9021S. SD. $4.98.
In the village church of Great Packington,
Warwickshire, England, E. Power Biggs recently found an organ designed and often
played by Handel -the ideal one for recording the composer's 16 splendid Organ Concertos. Volume I of this 3 -part bicentenary
edition is already making high- fidelity history.
Here now is the second in the series.
HANDEL: Organ Concertos Nos. 7-12-E. Power
Biggs, organist, with Sir Adrian Boult conducting the London Philharmonic 2Orchestra.
S604stereo)
GUARANTEED HIGH -FIDELITY AN D
STEREO -FIDELITY RECORDS BY
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except high price!
"Get more in Stereo Pay less for Stereo"
DRUM
DIXIELAND
SONI
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JAll
Now an American citizen currently teaching at Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, the French-born and -trained Daniel Encourt is best known in this country
for his devotion to the music of Debussy
and Ravel. On this disc his playing resembles that of many other Latin pianists
slightly penetrating ( but not unpleasant )
in tone, having much sharp accentuation
and considerable individuality in treatment of rhythm and phrasing. Within this
style the pianism is admirable; in particular, the Ravel and Debussy pieces are
given a combination of Chopincsque rubato and etchinglike tonal clarity that
makes them uncommonly absorbing if a
little mannered. There is virtually no difference in sound between the monophonic and stereophonic versions played
on stereophonic equipment, and the
monophonic version on a monophonic maR.E.
chine is perfectly satisfactory.
-
Maureen Forrester, contralto; John Newmark, piano; Otto Joachim, viola.
RCA VICTOR LM 2275. LP. 84.98.
RCA Vlc:roR LSC 2275. SD. 85.98.
ld
MORO
MORALES
H'
EllIN6TON
Its
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S(HEHERn1A0E
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STEREO SPECTRUM
II nel savable at your dealers
\
.rte
PICKWICK SALES CORP., DEPT.
an BROOKLYN 32,
N.Y.
liness.
The stereo and monophonic versions
both well engineered. They seen
fairly indistinguishable to me, except for
a bit of preëcho in the more expensive
edition. Texts for all the songs, but transD.J.
lations only for Schumanns.
are
MAUREEN FORRESTER: Recital
Schumann: Frauenliebe und Leben, Op.
40. Brahms: Gestillte Sehnsucht and
Geistliches Wiegenlied, Op. 90; Zigeunerlieder, Op. 103.
FLOWER
is, nonetheless. I have never heard the
Gypsy Songs clone by so big a voice with
quite such fine abandon -not even barring the famous 78s of Elena Gerhardt
-and the two lovely songs of Brahms's
Opus 91 find just the right timbre in her
voice to complement their obbligato viola.
The Schumann cycle leaves me less enthusiastic, however. It is really intended
for a soprano; Miss Forrester at times
overwhelms its delicate structure. Her
most serious shortcoming, noisy and often
poorly planned breathing, is especially
evident in this song cycle. But even here
are ample evidences of a superior musical intelligence and a voice of real love-
it
Maureen Forrester, the Canadian contralto who sang so beautifully in the Urlirht section of the Bruno Walter recording of \lahler's Second Symphony, makes
an auspicious bow with this first solo recital. Her voice is true contralto throughout its tessitura: there is no mistaking it
for a mezzo in the middle register or a
dramatic soprano on top. indeed, it is
misleading to talk of "registers" with a
voice like this. so perfectly homogeneous
it sounds from top to bottom. As an interpreter Of the art song she is not yet of
the stature of a Marian Anderson or
Kathleen Ferrier, but she proves to be
the most likely candidate to succeed those
distinguished artists. She is a far more
flamboyant singer than Ferrier and shows
little of the British contralto's habitual
understatement and reserve; the fire that
burned within for Ferrier is external with
Forrester (so far) but a good, hot glow
VLADIMIR GOLSCHMANN: Ballet
Music
Delibes: Sylvia: Suite; Coppéliu: Suite.
Easdale: The Red Shoes Ballet. Weber:
Incitation to the Dance, Op. 65.
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra,
, tond.
Golschnr.
CoLUxuuA MS 6028.
SD.
Vladimir
85.98.
very pleasurable listening here.
The Brian Easdale Red Shoes Ballet not
only stands up well when divorced from
the film sequence it was designed to accompany but makes its own claim to consideration as a solidly built and continuously interesting score. The Weber piano
piece is done, as usual, in the Berlioz edition, and brilliantly done too, but I rather
wish that Colsehnann had chosen
the pyrotechnic Stokowski orchestration,
which needs a good new recorded version
and would respond to stereo as the proverbial duck to water. The two Delibes
offerings do not contain quite all the
music generally associated with the suites
from Coppélia and Sylvia, but in view of
the fact that both are got onto one side
of the disc, Columbia can hardly be
charged with parsimony.
The sound indicates a vast improvement over the first Columbia stereo releases. Here orchestral timbres are isolated occasionally for special effects (e.g.,
the solo cello in the coda of the Weber),
but the general impression is of an arc of
D.J.
richly radiating sound.
Some
ALEXANDER
Recital
IVANOV- KRA\ISKOY:
guitar;
Ivanov- Kramskoy.
Alexander
string quartet; Orchestra of Folk Instruments, Nikolai Anosov, cond.
\Ioxmm MC 2024. LP. 84.98.
Not all the strummers in Russia play the
balalaika. Alexander \likhailovich Ivanov- Kramskoy, who started to do so
when he was seven, apparently tired of
that instrument when he was nineteen
and turned to the classical guitar. Now
forty -six, he has had, according to the
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
80
www.americanradiohistory.com
liner notes, a long and renowned career
in Russia as teacher, performer, and composer of guitar music.
On this record he demonstrates an admirable technical command of his instrument and a rather earthbound style that
is far from the aristocracy and sensuousness of Segovia's artistry. (One has only
to compare their recordings of the \falats
Spanish Serenade to see this.)
Yet, this dise has a couple of ingratiating features. The first is Mr. ha nov- Kramskoy's Variations on Russian
Themes, an innocently delightful piece
based on pretty folk tunes and played by
the soloist against a background of balalaikas, accordions, tamlxurines, and other
simple popular instnnnents. The other is
the Concerto for Guitar and String Quartet by Mauro Giuliani, a guitar virtuoso
horn in Bologna in 17811, who spent several years in Russia. This is more interesting as a curiosity than as a piece of
music. The guitar and quartet of stringed
instruments blend well; the long work is
well knit formally, but its charm is about
that of Hummel's music and no more
worthy of perpetuation. Adequate sound.
H.E.
NOW... choose from Capitol's
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SYLVIA MARLOWE: Music for Harp-
sichord
Sylvia Marlowe, harpsichord.
DECCA DL 10001. LP.
53.98.
DECCA DL 710001. SD. $5.98.
The twelve pieces presented here include
such very familiar ones as Rameau's Tambourin, Daquin's Le Coucou, Ilandel.
Harmonious Blacksmith Variations, and
the little Mozart Sonata in C, K. 545, as
well as some that are less well known, by
Haydn (the Sonata No. 37, in D), Con perin, Rameau, Purcell, and Byrd. Adding a gout deal of spice to the collection
are two xvorks in living American composers, Lam, Dr/cm by Colin McPhee
and Three Bagatelles by Alexei Haietl.
The McPhee is a charmingly insouciant
transcription of a Balinese tune. The first
and third of Ilaiclf's clever little pieces
exude a faint scent of high -class hunkytonk, while the second is it piquant twopart invention. \pia Marlowe plays all
the pieces with her customary skill and
insight. The stereo version is a little more
resonant than the other, but 1 am not sure
this is an important advantage in harpsichord music.
JOHN McCOR \JACK: Recital
Songs by Marshall, Liddle, Capel, Squire,
Stephen Adapts, Clay, Ronald, Roeckel,
Claribel, Crouch, flatten, Robinson,
Moore, and Metcalf. Balfe: The Bohemian Girl: When Other Lips.
John McCormack, tenor.
SCALA 843.
LP. $5.95.
On this (lise Scala issues sixteen selections. all made fur the O(1(,on company
during 1907 and 1908, when McCormack received S750 for twelve double sided records a year; he was not yet
twenty -five at the tine. Some of these
songs-Absent, O Lovely Night!, Roses,
Loves Golden Treasury, and the aria
Rug
lalsf
1
ecordin
fromgs
FREE:
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that list the entire Capitol Stereo library
You'll find the superb performances of some of the world's
greatest popular and classical artists listed in these
booklets. Capitol's sound engineers, pioneers in the
development of stereophonic sound, have reproduced these
performances with flawless precision.
Hear Capitol Stereo -the Full Spectrum of Sound -the
next time you visit your music dealer. Then ask for either, or
both, of these catalogues for a better idea of the universal
scope of Capitol Stereo. Or write for them now to:
Dept. F, Capitol Tower, Hollywood, California
APRIL 1959
81
www.americanradiohistory.com
from The
Bohemian
Girl -were never
duplicated in later recordings. The repertoire stems from the Irish -type song
and the Victorian drawing-room ballad,
as exemplified by Moore, Marshall, Lid clle, Squire, and others. Among these we
find the first of the four recordings McCormack made of I Hear You Calling
Me; the composer is at the piano.
The records emphasize the foundations
for an important career-a haunting quality of voice and the caressing legato acquired from study with Sabatini in
Italy. At this time there was perhaps even
more velvet on the tone than there was
later, but consequently less projection.
Here, McCormack's very personal style
had not yet jelled. Later, his diction became more stenciled and his intentions
more vivid. But the warm, lovely tone
and the sincerity with which it was employed, even at so early a date, should
hold more than passing appeal for all
lovers of beautiful singing.
and attractive dances on the stereo, too,
instead of the umpteenth version of one
of the other works.
Stereo adds immeasurably to the spaciousness and quality of sound, but there
is not enough presence in the percussion
instrments, the cymbals and tambourine
sounding as if they came from the next
room.
P.A.
MAX DE SCIIAUENSEE
DIMITRI
MITROPOULOS:
"Marche
Slav"
New York Philharmonic, Dimitri Mitropoulos, cond.
COLUMBIA ML 5335. LP. $4.98.
Co1.UnmmA MS 6044. SD. $5.98.
ANN SCIIEIN: Etudes
Ann Schein, piano.
KAPP KCL 9023. LP.
Mitropoulos offers here virile readings of
Tchaikovsky's Marche slab and \lussorgskÿ s A Night on Bald Mountain; his
Capriccio italien is decidedly uneven.
The monophonic dise also includes the
Four Greek Dances by the late Nikos
Skalkottas, which \Iitropoulos introduced
to his concert audiences with signal success a few seasons ago. It would have
been better to have had these colorful
stirring selection of the world's most rousing
marches in superlative stereo that has to be
heard to be believed! Capt. Gerhard Scholz
A
conducts the official West German Army Band
in marches by Sousa, Elgar, Arnold, Fucik and
Strauss.
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favorite operas
in
the
Boehme,
Kurt
Erna
in
Berger
Urania
catalog;
Stereo Sampler" of selections from Urania stereo discs.
o
O
WRITE FOR FREE URANIA STEREO AND
MONOPHONIC CATALOG HF -4
509 Fifth Avenue, New York 17, N. Y.
t.)
This vibrant and exciting recording of
delssohn's popular
"Italian"
Men
Symphony
is
coupled with a new Urania FIRST, the Trumpet
Overture. In thrilling stereo or high fidelity
monophonic, a truly exciting addition to any
collection.
Other distinctive Urania stereo and monophonic
sics
to keep in mind:
stein",
Offenbach's
"La Grande
delightful
Duchesse De
operetta
Eugenia lareska and the Pasdeloup
featuring
Orchestra
Rene Leibowitz; Highlights from Wagner's
clas-
Weiunder
"Die Meister-
singer"; Beethoven's "Misso Solemnis"; Tschaikovskys
Symphony No.
1
(
"Winter Dreams ").
$4.98.
The concentration here is on Chopin,
with ten études drawn from both books.
Schein also plays études by Debussy,
Scriabin,
Szymanowski,
Moszkowski,
Rachmaninoff, and Liszt. She seems to
be a powerful technician, and she easily
whizzes through all the music; but in the
process she Omits some of the expressive
qualities. Splendid, realistic recorded
H.C.S.
sound.
FRIEDERICH SCIIORR: Recital
Scenes from Die Walküre and Die Meistersinger. Arias from Tannhäuser, Der
Frei.schütz, Les Huguenots, Zar and
Zimmermann, Euryanthe. Schubert: Aus
Heliopolis; Im Abendroth.
Fricderich Schorr, baritone.
SCALA
842.
LP.
$5.95.
When one considers the high esteem in
which American audiences held Frieder ich Schorr ( for many there could be but
one Hans Sachs, one Wotan ), it is indeed
hard to explain his almost total neglect
on LP records. Scala has somewhat rectified this situation with a disc that presents the beloved Wagnerian not only in
sizable slices from his two most famous
roles, but also in his less -known repertoire- \Ieycrbeer, Weber, Lortzing, and
two examples of Schubert Lieder. While
grateful for the present offering, we will
have to await a fitting memorial until
EMI delves into its stock of former HMV
records to present Schorr's noble art in
its "Great Recordings of the Century" series. The excerpts here were made during the acoustical era, which was unable
to cope with the Wagnerian orchestra.
Added drawbacks are the impossibility
of playing this record at high volume
without blasting, and extensive cuts in
the music.
Nevertheless, we can hear Schorr's
voice and style in a curtailed Wotan's
Farewell, and in four passages from his
still remembered Hans Sachs. Under
acoustical reproduction the voice sounds
dry, a fact emphasized by the two early
electric examples- Tannhäuser and Frei schützwhich mirror the vibrant quality
of Schorr's tone. We are also given the opportunity of admiring the baritone's fine
legato in Czar Peter's third -act cavatina
from Zar and Zimmermann, and in an
extended scene from Eurjanthe. Two
Schubert songs display another facet of
Schorr's art, weakly supported by a muffled, sketchy orchestra. It is good to have
this singer finally represented in LP catalogues, but this example can hardly
prove a satisfactory record for the true
Schorr enthusiast. MAX DE SCHADENSEE
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
www.americanradiohistory.com
DAVIS SHUMAN: Recital
Hindemith: illorgenmusik; Trauermusik
(arr. for trombone and strings ). Starer:
Fire Miniatures. Rimsky- Korsakov: Concerto for Trombone and Military Band;
Three Russian Folksongs (arr. for wmxlwind quartet ). Beethoven: Three Equali,
for Four Trombones.
Davis Shahan, trombone; various instrumentalists.
CLASSIC EDITIONS CE 1041. LP. $4.98.
Hindemith's Diorgenntusik, for two trumpets, horn, tromlx>ne, and tuba, is in the
tradition of Johann Pezel and the other
Seventeenth -century composers of "tower
music" for the brass bands of Cennan
towns. It is music of almost unparalleled
solemnity, majesty, and power; clearly
the musicians in the tower are celebrating
on that auspicious morning the arrival of
a pope or emperor. The Trauenausik was
written in a few hours' time for performance on the BBC two days after tho
death of King Ceorge V. It was composed originally for viola and strings and
as such has had much success; it is one
of Hindemith's most frequently performed and recorded works. Shuman has
arranged the viola part for tronilxmc, and
the big, noble -Roman voice of the brass
instnnnent adds color and its own kind of
dignity to the beautiful score. The modern side of the record ends with the Five
.11iniatures of Robert Starer, a zestful
and extremely swell -written suite for brass
quintet in modern neoclassical style, with
a lively, jazz -colored finale.
Rimsky- Korsakov's trombone concerto
is an engaging curiosity. It was written
for the band concerts at Kronstadt, the
intpx'rial Russian navy base, in 1876,
when luinisky- Korsakov was inspector of
the navy bands and was only just beginning his career as a composer. Except for
the obviously Russian character of its finale, it sounds like unc of those Paris
Conservatory test pieces, by obscure composers, that are to be found in the back
of every instruction book for wind instruments; but Shuman has sparked it tip with
some virtuoso tricks of his own, has added a fancy cadenza, and obviously takes
great delight in playing it. The three Russian folk songs from Rimsky -Korsakov's
collection, arranged for wood -wind quartet and played by an unnamed ensemble,
merely fill a few grooves between the
concerto and the magnificent Equali of
Beethoven, which stand in a direct line
of descent from the brass canzunas of Giovanni Gabrieli and are Beethoven's finest
work for wind ensemble.
Davis SI
an, the David Oistrakh of
the trombone, is a very remarkable musician, and he has attracted equally good
musicians to assist him. The recording is
something sensational.
A.F.
DECCA DL 9991. LP. $4.98.
DECCA DL 79991. SD. $5.98.
The first of these two collections might
be described as a musical autobiography.
One or two of the numbers were included
by Miss Slenczynska in her Town Hall
recital in New York in 1933 when, as an
eight- year -old prodigy, she astounded the
musical world. The other works here
have, in one way or another, been bound
up closely with the events of her life
since that time. For example, she plays
the Rachmaninoff C sharp minor Prelude
to conmiemorate her studies with the late
composer- conductor- pianist; but why
she chose the one work he grew to hate
is a mystery. Her interpretation of the
Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue is thoughtful and clearly articulated, as is her
MUST ALL RECORDS
BE BEST SELLERS?
Not necessarily. Naturally we welcome the
best- sellers (and we have our fair share of them.)
But more gratifying to us is the success of
our connoisseur items, distinctively
VANGUARD, which make up a major
part of our catalogue. Intended for
highly selective listeners, rather than
the best -seller lists, they none -the -less
sell comfortably year in and year
out. This smaller, more
discriminating segment of the
public knows that our records
are planned in choice of
repertory, excellence of
performance and perfection
of sound to be permanent
treasures of any record
library. They are always
fresh and exciting. This
is why no record has ever been
withdrawn from the
VANGUARD catalogue.
GIOVANNI GABRIELIPROCESSIONAL AND
CEREMONIAL MUSIC
Choir and Orchestra
of the Gabrieli Festival,
Edmond Annie, conductor
Monaural-BC-581
Stereolab BGS -5008
A BACH GUILD RELEASE
"Vanguard's Gabrieli -a
stereo triumph
the
phonographic repertory
is immeasurably the
richer for this disc."
...
-
AMER ICAN RE CORD GUIDE
..
magnificent representation of the splendor of Gabrieli's art. "
a
-
HIGH FIDELITY
NOTABLE NEW RELEASES
MOZART -PIANO CONCERTO IN C MINOR
K
4391 -PIANO SONATA
IN B FLAT, K333
Matthews, piano;
Vienna State Opera Orch.,
Hans Swarowsky, cond.
Monaural VRS-1037
Stereolab VSD-2025
Denis
-
BEETHOVEN
IN A MINOR,
MAJOR
SONATAS
MAJOR,
F
G
Monaural VRS -1038
-
BEETHOVEN
SONATAS
IN A MAJOR, C MINOR
Paul Makanowitzky,violin;
Noel Lee, piano
Monaural VRS -1039
BACH
-
CONCERTOS FOR
HARPSICHORD& STRINGS
NO. 1 IN D MINOR,
NO. 4 IN A MAJOR,
NO. 5 IN F MINOR.
Anton Heil! er, harpsi-
chord; Chamber Orches.
tra of the Vienna State
Opera, Miltiades Caridis,
conductor.
Monaural 11G -589
Stereolab BGS -5014
MONTEVERDI - MADRIGALI
AMOROSI
The
Deller Consort;
Baroque String Ensemble
Monaural BG 579
Stereolab BGS 5007
RUTH SLENCZYNSKA: "A Twenty Fifth Anniversary Program"
Ruth Slenczynska, piano.
DECCA DL 10000.
LP. $4.98
DECCA DL 710000. SD.
$5.98.
RUTH SLENCZYNSKA: "Encore! Sienezynska"
Ruth Slenczynska, piano.
handling of the Scarlatti sonata. Her
Mendelssohn is fluent, but her Bartók is
a little too refined. The difficult Liszt
Rhapsody No. 15 is performed in glittering fashion and is technically pure
throughout, though the whole work could
have been played on a grander scale.
The encore all
-including such
works as \lendelssohn's Spinning Song,
Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12, a
Chopin Polonaise, and a Schubert Moment .1/usical -comes oll with equal success. Except for a draggy Clair de lune,
the pianist interprets each of these pieces
here with care and stylistic individuality.
The monophonic edition of the anniversary record is marked by a rather
wooden tone quality and limited range.
Aside from an added richness to the
sound in the stereo version ( which even
List Price:
MONAURAL 12" $4.98
STEREOLAB 12" $5.95
Send for Catalogue
to
VANGUARD RECORDING SOCIETY INC.
154 West 14th Street, New York City, 11
APRIL 1959
www.americanradiohistory.com
VANGUARD
VANGUARD QUALITY CONTROL
NIGH
FIDELITY
art of the
The
then could have been brighter), it is impossible to tell the difference between
the two versions when played on stereo
equipment. This sanie relationship exists
in the second disc, but in this case both
versions are somewhat brighter in texture.
VIENNA PHILHARMONIC
P.A.
LEOPOLD STOKO\VSKI: Music for
ORCII E STRI
Strings
Bach: Mein (est., was für Seelenweh befüllt Dick in Gethsemane; Partita for Unaccompanied Violin, in E: Prelude (both
trans. Stokowski). Cluck: Iphigenia in
Aulis: Lento; Aristide: Musette and Sicilienne. Bonxtin: Quartet for Strings, No.
2, in D: Nocturne. Paganini: Moto Perpetuo. Rachmauinolf: Vocalise Op. 34,
No. 14.
ffss
in
String
cond.
orchestra,
Leopold
CAPITOL PAO 8415.
CAPITOL SP 8415.
Beethoven
Piane Concerto No.
5
in
E
-
CS -6053
The Magic Flute
Tutte
Christa Ludwig;
-
CS-6054
4.98
4.98
Fan
Cosi
Smetana
Ma Vlast
Brahms
Symphony No. 2 in D Major (Opus 73) conductor:
Rafael Kubelik
CS -6004
4.98
Symphony No. 1 in C Minor (Opus 68) conductor:
Rafael Kubelik
CS -6016
4.98
Symphony No. 3 in F Major (Opus 90) conductor:
Rafael Kubelik
CS -6022
4.98
Variations On A Theme of Haydn (Opus 56a)
Academic Festival Overture (Opus 80)
Tragic Overture (Opus 81) conductor: Hans Knappertsbusch
4.98
CS -6030
Dvoak
Symphony No. 5 in E Minor "New World" (Opus 95)
conductor: Rafael Kubelik
CS -6020
4.98
G
E
Major "Surprise"
Flat Major conductor: Josef
CS -6027
4.98
Mahler
Kindertotenlieder-Song Cycle
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen -Song Cycle Kirsten
Flagstad (soprano) - conductor: Sir Adrian Boult
OS-25039
Mozart
-
Cycle
-
OS -25046
5.98
Lisa della Casa;
Anton Dermota;
conductor: Karl
OS-25047
5.98
conductor: Rafael Kubelik
CSA -2202 9.96
Blue Danube; Acceleration; Emperor; Roses
of the South
conductor: Josef Krips
CS -6007
4.98
Wiener Blut; Liebeslieder; Wiener Bonbons; Champagne Polka etc.
Willi
conductor:
Boskovsky
CS -6008
4.98
Tales of the Vienna Woods; Acceleration; Tritseh
Tratsch Polka etc.
conductor: Hans Knappertsbusch
CS -6014
4.98
The
-
Richard Strauss
Arabella (Complete Opera) lisa della Casa; George
London; Hilde Gueden; Otto Edelmann Anton Dermota; Waldemar Kmentt; Eberhard Wachter
conductor, Georg Solti
OSA -1404
23.92
-
Tchaikevsky
Symphony No. 6 in B Minor "Pathitiaue" (Opus
70)
conductor: Jean Martinon
4.98
CS -6052
-
W.
5.98
Opera) Cesare Siepi; Fernando Corena; Anton Dermota; Walter Berry; Kurt
Boehme; Lisa della Casa; Hilde Gueden; Suzanne
Danco
conductor Josef Krips OSA -1401 23.92
The Marriage of Figaro (Complete Opera) Cesare
Siepi; Fernando Corena; Alfred Poell; Murray
Dickie; Lisa della Casa; Hilde Gueden; Suzanne
Danco; Anny Felbermayer
conductor: Erich
Kleiber
OSA -1402
23.92
-
-
Dis Walküre
- -ActKirsten
3; Die Walküre - Act
Flagstad;
verkundigung
Otto Edelmann
Die Walküre
-
2 Todes
Set Svanholm;
conductor: Georg Solti
OSA -1203
11.96
- Act (Complete); Götterdimmerung
Rhine Journey and
-
1
Siegfried's
Funeral March
Kirsten Flagstad; Set Svanholm; Arnold van Mill
conductor: Hans Knappertsbusch
-
OSA -1204
11.96
Great Scenes for Bass. Baritone (Die Walküre; Meistersinger and Fliegende Nollinder)
George
undon (bass- baritone)
conductor: Hans Knapi..rtsbusch
OS -25044
5.98
-
I
-
full frequency
ffss
Over 200 London ffss Stereo Records are now
stereophonic sound
a
LP. $4.98.
SD. $5.98.
Stokowski has always been a master at
drawing a sensuous tone from a string
section. In addition, he has always insisted upon achieving the highest possible
standards of sound reproduction. The
combination on this record makes for a
most rewarding string concert, interestingly varied in musical content, svannly
and cleanly played. If there is anything
to criticize, it is the conductor's rather
too romantic, freely rhythined handling
of the Bach Prelude. Elsewhere his
readings of this Music are extremely taste ful.
Since neither the notes nor the labels
make it absolutely clear whose transcriptions have been used, only the versions
of the two Bach works can be positively
identified as Stokowski's. The recorded
sound is highly polished. Stereo provides
a pleasing separation of voices, though
the monophonic version is almost as good.
Y.A.
-
-
Don Giovanni (Complete
aECOrDS
-
Johann Strauss
Haydn
Symphony No. 94 in
Symphony No. 99 in
Krips
-Emmy
Highlights.
Loose;
Paul Schoeffler
Erich Kunz;
Bohm
OS
Lipp;
pold Simoneau;
ductor: Karl Bohm
Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major (Opus 58) Wilhelm
Backhaus (piano)
conductor: Hans Schmidt -
Isserstedt
- Highlights. Same soloists
-25045 5.98
-WilmaHighlights.Walter
Hilde Gueden; Leo.
Berry - con-
The Marriage of Figaro
and conductor as above
Flat Major "Emperor"
(Opus 73) Clifford Curzon (piano)
conductor:
Hans Knappertsbusch
4.98
CS -6019
Famous Overtures (Egmont; Fidelio; Coriolan;
Leonore No. 3) conductor: Hans Knappertsbusch
Stokowski,
actable. WRITE FOR CATALOG.
Dept. KM 539 W. 25th St., New York
I, N.Y.
VIRTUOSI DI ROMA: Recital
Vivaldi: Concerto in D (Accademico formeta). Respighi: Antiche arie e danze,
Suite No. 3. Albinoni: Concerto for Two
Oboes and Strings, in C, Op. 9, No. 9.
Bassani: Gannoni amorose.
Virtuosi di Ronda, Renato Fasano, dir.
ANCEL 45028. LP. $3.98.
Four pleasant pieces, of which the Albinoni and the Bassani are especially attractive. The former has the lighthearted
elegance characteristic of this composer.
and its slow movement is weightier than
is usual with him. The piece for strings by
( ;iovanni Battista Bassani (e. 1657-1718)
is quite channing and somewhat advanced in harmony atnd instrumentation
for its time; it sewed be interesting to
know how hutch was contributed to it
by its distinguished editor, \lalipiero. I
could not find the Vivaldi, which features an oboe, a violin, and a cello, in the
l'incherle catalogue. The performances
are up to the high standard of this group
and the recording, except for a hit of distortion near the end of the Bassani, is
N.B.
excellent.
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
R4l
www.americanradiohistory.com
ARTHUR WINOGRAD: "Marches from
Operad'
Berlioz: Damnation de Faust. Bizet:
Carmen. Borodin: Prince Igor. Glinka:
Ruslan and Ludmilla. Meyerbeer: Le
Prophète. Mozart: Le Nonze di Figaro.
Rimsky-Korsakov: The Golden Cockerel.
Verdi: Aida. Wagner: Die Meistersinger;
Tannhäuser.
Virtuoso Symphony of London, Arthur Winograd, cond.
AUDIO FIDELITY FCS 50008. SD.
$6.95.
Some brilliant stereophony here. Listening to these refurbished hits of old finery
is pleasurable first time through, but
whether one is likely to play them often
afterwards will probably depend upon
the nature and number of one's visitors.
I would call attention particularly to the
effect the sets of antiphonal trumpets,
playing at opposite ends of the orchestra,
make in the Aida march.
D.J.
ARTHUR WINOGRAD: "Russian Composer Masterpieces"
Rimskv- Korsakov: Easter Overture, Op.
36; The Snow Maiden: Dance of the
Buffoons. Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov:
Polonaise. Borodin: Prince Igor: Polovtsian Dances. Glière: The Red Poppy:
Russian Sailors' Dance.
Virtuoso Symphony of London, Arthur
Winograd, cond.
AUDIO
$6.95.
FIDELITY
FCS 50009. SD.
Unusually clean -cut and transparent, yet
high -spirited, rhythmically incisive performances lend freshness to these Russian
orchestral showpieces. The reproduction
is a trifle brighter than that on Wallenstein's Tchaikovsky Pathétique, in this
same series. The dynamic range doesn't
seem to be quite as wide either, but
there is no suppression of volume. Instrumental balance is better, too, though
all of the percussion except the timpani could have been more prominent
throughout. Once again, surfaces are absolutely noiseless.
P.A.
Reviews continued on page 87
Via Discs: Culture in Capsules, and Tennis Balls, Too
THE PREFATORY SENTENCE to
each little book nested into each of these
language -learning packets phrases it,
"The world is growing smaller every
day." Sonmewhat nearer the pith of the
argument ( and no worse rhetoric) would
be "Time is growing shorter all the time."
Such, in effect, is the appeal to learn a
language "In Record Time."
And why not? The defining contradiction of here and now is that while more
people have more cultivatable leisure
than ever before, few seem to find hours
they are willing to invest in stretching
their minds to learn anything really
whole. The preferred investment seems
rather to be in waiting for the Reader's
Digest condensation, or writing off for
1,001 Things You Can Get Free. So why
not learn French, say, on a no-effort
AS
basis?
Actually, the culture- capsule courses
offered here (if decidedly not for free)
are well enough planned to have a certain helpfulness, so long as the prospective user does not let himself be dazzled
into the notion that any real idiomatic
command of a new tongue is to be got
through mere passive washing in the
sounds of pleasant voices saying simple
:hings. For someone who is willing to
.vork and who simply has no other means
of trying to gain a very basic idea of
:mow a second language strikes the ear,
one of these sets is surely better than
nothing at all. For anyone else -well,
;9.98 is almost ten dollars. Better to spend
more for fuller instruction with live people, or save money by praying for the
gift of tongues to descend.
"The busy person's shortcut to everyday (name your language of preference) " is their common surtitle. "A
Complete Language Course that enables
you to learn.
. So Easy / just listen
and learn / 40 Lessons complete on two
I2 -inch high -fidelity LP records Phis Authoritative Textbook / concise grammar
( "concise"
is scarcely an adequate
x.'ord) / 5000-word dictionary"; so nuns
t me album-selling copy. And the textbook
amplifies the pitch:
will unlock
for you the treasure house of learning a
language the easy way -without monotonous exercise." Which covers the
:
"....
facts, and a deal more besides. It all
seems most disingenuous in view of the
plain truth that exercise, repeated again
and again, is precisely what is required
and, in a measure, provided for.
Each thick album contains two LPs,
striped into forty -odd separated bands,
each containing a brief lesson, along
with some smarmy words of exhortation
from Teacher -and a book. The book is
indispensable, for the recorded sentence
material is drawn from its cutely decorated pages. The sentences to be rehearsed are printed there, with English
above and alphabetical -phonetic equivalents below.
The sentence ideas chosen for inclusion are pretty nearly identical for each
of the four languages; they are simple,
and suited to the expectations of touriststo-be. The Englishings and attempted
phonetic equivalents are neither more
nor less problematic than those in most
other similar do -it- yourself texts. Which
is to say that the English-other juxtapositions suffer the inevitable tension between giving sense in terms of block
ideas, to be learned by rote ( e.g., Vcuillez répéter = "Please repeat "), as in the
tourist -oriented sections devoted to Useful Phrases; and giving translations in
more carefully ordered units of syntax
(e.g., Wer sind sie? = "Who are they ? ").
The latter appear in the much briefer
but very sensible sections on basic sentence structures, which are the most
long-term useful parts of the lessons.
As for the attempted phonemes, they
seem to me very variable in usefulness
at best, and at worst positive impediments, especially in French, where the
sounds can be but vaguely approximated
by English letter combinations. At least
this proved true (notwithstanding the
authority of wartime Government research, or the Institute for Language
Study which prepared these courses) for
one American guinea pig, who had great
trouble with such concatenations as "eel
foh kuh zuh pahrt" for "Il faut que je
part" and "Zang" for "Jean " -mainly because of sturdy republican indetxndence
in taking a "z" for a "z" and refusing
to drop his "g's." Things went much better when he simply looked at the French,
APRIL 1959
listened to the record, and avoided the
phonetics entirely. The same held true in
less measure with other languages. Why
the phonemes anyhow -especially since
none are provided in the crowded dictionary sections, where of all places they
might serve some purpose?
In using these sets, it is the business
of the learner to hold the book, look at
the proper sentence, listen to it spoken
from the record, and then, during a silent
interval, make a try at saying it back in
imitation. How good the try is, of course,
depends on individual sharpness of ear
and oral facility-and, above all, on the
exercise that the advertisement claims is
not needed.
The results, though, can only be validated by reference to some other fleshand- blood person; the record can, or will,
do nothing to correct faulty articulation.
You can misparrot "Signorina, ho male
d'aria" until the groove is worn out.
There will be no protest. But if, when
the wretched day comes, the airline
stewardess fails to understand and provide an upchuck bag, the mess will he
none the less. After all, any speech is a
matter of communication between people, and no phonograph yet made can
provide quite that, even though by investing some forty dollars you may at
least learn to ask for a can of tennis balls
in four different nations-and, obviously,
no one can afford to be without tennis
balls abroad. Probably the wisest and
most significant of all the sentences included translates, from any of the languages, as "I need a doctor who speaks
English." That -in German, French,
Spanish, or Italian-might make the
whole price worthwhile.
The speaking voices are unexceptionable, to an American ear; the recording
is excellently clear; the books, well printed in a fussy sort of way.
JAMES HINTON, Jn.
LANGUAGE RECORDS: Learn French
in Record Time; Learn Italian in
Record Time; Learn Spanish in Record
Time; Learn German in Record Time
COLUMBIA D2L 246/249. Two LP
each album. $9.98 each album.
85
www.americanradiohistory.com
UNITED ARTISTS IS STACKING UP a
great permanent catalogue of outstanding jazz albums. The discriminating listener
can rely on the finest in jazz and high fidelity, recorded with the most sensitive monaural and stereophonic equipment
available. All United Artists jazz recordings have met with wide acclaim, and our forthcoming releases certainly
speak for themselves. Here are just a few of them: The Milt Jackson Touch featuring the great
Milt Jackson, Motor City Scene starring Thad Jones, Stretching Out starring Zoot Sims with Bob
Brookmeyer, Benny Golson & The Philadelphians with Lee Morgan, Blues In The Mississippi Night, The
Defiant Ones with Booker Little and Max Roach. All monaural and stereo albums are $4.98 each.
FOR
86
COMPLETE
UNITED ARTISTS RECORDS
CATALOGUE UNITED ARTISTS RECORDS, BOX 6, 729 SEVENTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 19, NEW YORK
HIGH Flnl:I,rrY M4GAZINE
1
rorld of
Here at Home
"Easy To Love." (Songs of Cole Porter.)
Cesare Siepi, Roland Shaw Orchestra.
London OS 25054, $5.98 (SD).
An interesting record, mainly because
few opera singers go in for this sort of
program at the peak of their careers, as
the Met basso is right now. Siepïs expert
phrasing and clean enunciation help to
offset the fact that his big, luscious tones
are a bit heavy for these songs and that
his interpretations are rather ponderous
and lacking in variety; but I am afraid
the singer has not been greatly helped
by a rather erratic stereo recording. Side
1 is particularly variable in quality, with
the orchestral sound almost overpowering the singer, who periodically seems to
be moving away from the mike. The arrangements are intriguing and the Shaw
orchestra plays them well.
"Flower Drum Song." Andre Kostelanetz
and His Orchestra. Columbia CL 1280,
$3.98 (LP); Columbia CS 8095, $5.98
(SD).
profusion of recordings of music from
Flower Drum Sung have suddenly appeared on the scene. None that I have
listened to even equal this sumptuous
performance by the Kostelanetz forces.
This exotically colored music is of a kind
that in the past frequently led the conductor into bizarre orchestral effects.
Here his arrangements are striking and
ingenious, yet still in good taste. The introduction of the sound of foghorns and
a cable car (does this really establish the
locale as San Francisco ?) are the only
obvious novelty effects; and since neither
is objectionably intrusive, they are not
annoying. There is splendidly rich orchestral sound in both issues, but I find
I have a slight preference for the deeper, creamier quality of the monophonic
version.
A
"From the Hungry i." Kingston Trio.
Capitol T 1107, $3.98 (LP).
Recorded live in San Francisco's famous
"Hungry i," this disc suffers from a number of things. The sound, a:s might be expected, is not particularly good. The exhortations of a seemingly frantic audience are disturbing enough, but to me the
most detrimental aspect is the consistent
play to the gallery. This is an extremely
ntertai n men
talented trio of singers, whose earlier
LP showed that they need not descend
to such tricks to hold an audience. The
sooner they get back to studio recording,
the better for everyone concerned. Even
such delicate songs as Gué, Gué or South
Coast do not escape the free- for-all. They
Call the Wind Maria from Paint Your
Wagon is probably the only completely
satisfactory band on the entire record.
"The Garbage Collector in Beverly Hills."
Orchestra, Billy Licbert and Carl
Brandt, conch. Warner Bros. B 1254,
$4.98 (LP); BS 1254, 85.98 (SD).
Some decidedly odd occupations, all
apparently conceived by Irving Taylor,
are the basis for the wacky songs in this
album. Such improbable titles as Cop in
a Nudist Colony, Cab Driver in Venice,
Marriage Counselor in a Turkish Harem
and, of course, the garbage man of the
title song will give you some idea of
what to expect. This is the zany sort of
material that Spike Jones favored, but I
can't say that the author -composer ever
reaches the dizzy heights that Spike did.
The humor is too often labored and
soggy, though there are one or two numbers that will raise a chuckle. Warner
Brothers maintain the excellent sound
that was noticeable on their original issues, and their stereo sound is exceptionally good on this record.
handful of Stars." Bill Snyder, piano;
instrumental accompaniment. Decca
DL 8734, $3.98 (LP ).
This is one of those all too rare piano
recordings where it is not necessary to
consult the record sleeve to discover
what the pianist is playing. Bill Snyder,
no believer in overembellishing a melody
or noodling around it, plays this fine collection of "Star" songs with deceptive
simplicity, but tremendous style. Particularly happy is his treatment of Kreisler's
Stars in My Eyes and that real old -time
favorite, Underneath the Stars. The instrmental accompaniments add greatly
to the over -all pleasure of these sparkling
performances, and unusually realistic
piano sound and good balance make the
record excellent for dancing or just easy
"A
ing that could easily sound the knell for
those five -piece bands you've been struggling to dance to at the local country
club. Put this record on your turntable,
and the finest society dance band in the
business today is brought to you in larger than -life, room- enveloping sound. And if
the toe-titillating arrangements don't impel you to try a cha- cha -cha, why worry;
you can sit it out until one of the evenly
paced Lanin fox trots comes along. This
is the sort of program, designed to please
everyone, that actually will.
"Improvisations to Music." Mike Nichols
and Elaine May; Marty Rubenstein,
piano. Mercury SR 60040, 85.98 (SD).
This remarkable exhibition of extemporaneous dialogue is a tour de force of
pure improvisation. From the merest
germs of ideas, time talented Nichols May
team have conjured up a series of eight
short vignettes that wittily satirize a number of diverse matters. Among the more
successful are those poking fun at a Noel
Coward play, psychiatric treatment, a
Hitchcock spy draina, and the humbling
efforts of a boss to entice his secretary up
to see his hi -fi. But in every one it is fascinating to observe how each partner develops the idea, to marvel at the expert
timing, and to be amazed at the credibility of the off -the -cuff chatter. Ideal
background music is provided by Marty
Rubenstein at the piano, the third member of an act that seems to operate by
mental telepathy. Stereo sound is not al-
listening.
"Have Band, Will Travel." Lester Lanin
and His Orchestra. Epic BN 517, $5.98
(SD).
Here is the kind of superb stereo record-
APRIL 1959
Lester Lanin: tops in toe titillation.
87
www.americanradiohistory.com
ways ideal for the intimacy of some of
these scenes.
"Inn of the Sixth Happiness." Recording
from the sound track of the film. Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra, Malcolm Ar-
nold, cond. Fox 3011, $3.98 (LP).
Although record companies continue to
issue original sound track recordings of
music from their major screen epics, I
can't help wondering how many people
recall anything of the music they heard
while watching these masterpieces. Take
Inn of the Sixth Happiness, for which
Malcolm Arnold composed a score that
strikes me as being a little above the
usual mn of such things. Some people
may remember The Old Man song ( now
on the Hit Parade ), but this is not an
original Arnold work; it's a children's
game song almost as ancient as the hills.
The remainder of the music has vanished,
I'm sure -and understandably so, since
without the dramatic action of the film
it has little point. Fox has provided excellent sound for the music on this disc,
but the spoken dialogue, used as a bridge,
is often very blurred.
"The Mills Brothers' Great Hits." Mills
Brothers; Orchestra, Milton DeLugg,
cond. Dot DLP 3157, $3.98 (LP ).
In an age when singing groups come and
go with almost the speed of a Sputnik,
the durability and success of the Mills
Brothers is something of a phenomenon.
The group cut their first record in 1931,
for Brunswick; moved over to Decca in
1934; and here they are in 1959, affiliated with Dot, for whom they have recorded a dozen of their most successful
hits of the past twenty-five years. Although now a trio, instead of the quartet
they started as, they still retain the flowing style that was their original trade mark-a strong accent on the melodic
line, excellent harmony, no vocal tricks
imitations
( they gave up instrumental
some time ago ), and a warm well-blended sound. Thanks to Dot's fine sound and
the singers' good taste, Paper Doll, You
Always Hurt the One You Love, Till
Then, and nine others sound even better
than they did in their original editions.
"Garry 1lfoore Presents That Wonderful
Year -1940." Orchestra, Irwin Kostal,
cond.; Chorus, Keith Textor, dir.
Warner Bros. W 1282, $3.98 (LP); \VS
1282, $4.98 (SD).
There are hints that this is merely the
first in a series of recordings intended to
recall the great songs of the last two decades. If so, I'm all for it, especially if they
are as well managed as those on this first
issue. Garry Moore calls anyone over
twenty "an old fouf," obviously a term
of endearment for those who can look
hack with pleasure to these old favorites.
The fact is that these songs are still as
popular as when they first caught the
public fancy. Anyone over fifteen will
love them, except possibly those who
find the chorus, with its inevitable cooing
of Remember as an introduction to every
song, an intrusion. Excellent stereo sound,
though I don't think it adds much to this
particular type of presentation.
"Music from the Blue Room." Jan Garber
and His Orchestra. Decca DL 8793,
$3.98 (LP ); DL 78793, $5.98 (SD).
It must be all of thirty years since Jan
Garter abandoned his original dance
band style in favor of one patterned
closely on that of Guy Lombardo. I don't
recall that Garber has ever claimed that
his music is "the sweetest music this side
of heaven," but there are times when I
feel he justifiably could. This admirable
dance program is a case in point. It is as
smooth as silk, particularly in the waltz
medley, brisk and perky in the cha -chachas, and nicely paced in the fox trots
in a word, a well- rounded program of
fine dance music. I definitely prefer the
stereo version, but Decca's monophonic
sound is extremely satisfying.
-
"Play Mr. Banjo." The Happy Harts'
"Singing Banjo" Band. Kapp KL 1115,
$3.98 (LP).
There is such a jolly and informal air
about this record that even the most captious critic would be silenced. Old, old
songs -some from the days of the Civil
War and others belonging to what is rather disrespectfully termed the Gaslight
Era -are sung with a great deal of gusto
by a mixed chorus ably abetted by the
excellent and jovial sound of The Happy
Harts' "Singing Banjos." If their support
is more notable for exuberance than
polish, it matters not one whit. Everybody appears to he having a wonderful
time; and should you feel in the mood
for a little community singing, chances
are you'll find it hard to resist joining in.
"Redhead." Original cast recording with
Gwen Verdon, Richard Kiley, and
others. RCA Victor LOC 1048, $4.98
(LP).
This is Albert Hague's second complete
score for a Broadway musical, and
though I find it an improvement over his
initial effort (Plain and Fancy, of 1954),
it is by no means top drawer. Gwen
Verdon, a comedienne and dancer of extraordinary talent, is not a strong vocalist, and I imagine the composer has attempted to tailor her numbers very carefully to her limited vocal range. I think
he's managed this with some success, but
The Mills Brothers as trio.
in doing so hasn't managed to come up
with anything very interesting musically.
An old -fashioned tongue -twisting number on the style of Sister Susie's Sewing
Shirts for Soldiers seems to suit the Verdon personality to a tee, and she appears
to be reveling in it- particularly in the
last chorus, which is dashed off in the
Danny Kaye manner. Her other numbers
are decidedly routine. Her male partner,
Richard Kiley, is really no more fortunate, being condemned to present a reasonable imitation of Rex Harrison, but
with tonsils. With Leonard Stone in the
offing to provide the sort of support Robert Coote gave Harrison, the My Fair
Lady situation is quite nicely, if unconsciously, realized. To Stone falls the most
inventive and exhilarating number in the
entire score, The Uncle Sam Rag, a hilarious spoof on how the English handled
ragtime music. Mr. Stone does it to a
turn.
The rest of the cast have little to do,
except raise their voices in a typical freefor-all, the -pubs- are -closed, limey song,
We Loves Ya, Jitney, a feat they accomplish with considerable enthusiasm. Incidentally there is an odd assortment of
English accents throughout, with Miss
Verdon adopting a reasonably good stage cockney accent at the start, but forgetting it by the end of the record. Jay
Blackton and his orchestra are well in
the picture with excellent orchestral support, and the Victor sound is good indeed. I wonder if this all might not
sound more beguiling in stereo.
"Salute to the Smooth Bands." Freddy
Martin and His Orchestra. Capitol T
1116, $3.98 (LP ).
Freddy Martin's attempt to re- create the
individual styles of a dozen sweet bands
of the past twenty years is only intermittently successful. On the credit side place
his imitations of the Wayne King, Glenn
Miller, Dick Jurgens, Clyde McCoy, and
Lawrence Welk bands. Only partially successful is his Ray Noble, for which, oddly enough, he has chosen Blue Danube
Waltz, which he considers Noble's most
exciting arrangement. ( Ever listen to
Noble's old Who Walks in When I Walk
Out, Freddy ?) I don't think he has cap tured the Ambrose style very well; and
unless my memory is at fault, Hal Kemp
played Got a Date with an Angel at a
much slower tempo. This does add up to
a really good dance record, however, especially for those who recall the original
bands in their palmiest days.
"Sea Chanties." Roger Wagner Chorale.
Capitol P 8462, $4.98 (LP).
A really good recording of sea chanties,
those nautical work songs from the day
of sailing ships, has long been needed.
The few records that do exist are disqualified as to authenticity by being sung
by a lone male singer. Now comes Capitol to fill this vacancy with these stirring
performances by the Roger Wagner
Chorale. Their program is a splendid assortment of capstan, forecastle, and halyard chanties, with some of the ever -popular sea ballads of the past injected to
create a good variety. Recorded in lusty
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
88
www.americanradiohistory.com
sound, the group catches the strong
rhythmic impetus of the working chanties
with fine spirit and is equally happy in
the more subdued flow of the ballads.
Spirited solo work by Earl Wrightson
adds a great deal to the general heartiness of this most excellent record.
ALL -TIME BARGAIN!
CRCA
"Serenades for Sex Kittens." Dante and
and His Orchestra. Carlton 12101,
SPECTACULAR
(LP).
$3.98
For this provocatively titled record, Jay
Arcy has written some embarrassingly
coy notes, explaining exactly what Sex
Kittens arc. It appears, according to him,
that they are "Nat- tunmicd, twin- turreted gamins, amoral pixies with moist pout ed underlips." Oh well, even if you don't
qualify (and who does ?), this won't disqualify you from thoroughly enjoying a
fine program of off- the -beaten -track numbers. The arrangements are lush, but not
cloying; the Dante orchestra plays with
considerable suavity; and some super
Carlton sound enhances all.
MARTIN
A
6
FISHER
,
LOMBARDO
`I
447)
BASIE
LANZA
--
--/
ry.
PRADO
"Billy Vaughn Plays." Billy Vaughn and
His Orchestra. Dot DLP 3156, $3.98
Mac DONALD
FIEDLER
TOSCANINI
SHAW
THREE SUNS
(LP).
To judge from the heavy, insistent, slow
rock-and -roll beat that pervades every
item in this instrumental program,
Vaughn has devised it to appeal primarily to the teen -age set. They'll probably love it; but older listeners, who recall such numbers from the mid- Thirties
as Red Sails in the Sunset, Indian Love
Call, or Isle of Capri as rinnantic, dreamy
ballads, are not likely to he greatly entranced by these stodgy -sounding performances, despite the meritorious sound
that Dot has lavished on them.
AMEN)
ALL STAR
RCA CAMDEN'S ALL STAR SPECTACULAR
listener's sampler of 12 great artists. Enjoy complete selections by Tony
Martin, Count Basie, Eddie Fisher, Mario Lanza, 8 others! ONLY 98,t
A
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MO
"When Your Lover Ilas Gone." Teresa
Brewer: Orchestra, Dick Jacobs, cond.
Coral 757257, $5.98 (SD).
This program of torchy ballads is a decided about -face fur a singer usually associated with bouncy razz- ma -tazz numbers. Miss Brewer's performance is honest and pleasing, but it strikes Inc that
her voice is altogether too light in color
and too suggestively impish to make these
songs as effective as they can be. I half
expected her to burst into Music, Music,
.tfusic at some point in the program and,
as a matter of fact, I'm sorry she didn't.
Good arrangements :o id support from
the Jacobs orchestra. %sith pleasantly arranged stereo sound, hut
suspect the
monophonic version is almost as effective.
Joint. F. INocox
-UM
WTHE
PIANO
STYLE OF
FRANKIE
CARLE
Played with the verve that
keeps the melody humming in
your heart long after the record is over!
CAL-478
I
AL
0001NAII
Rue
Inc
STRAUS
CHOCOLATE
SOLDIER
Foreign Flavor
"Around the Samovar." Leonid Bolotine
and Orchestra. \Varner Bros. W 1.255,
$3.98
(LP); WS 1255, 64.98 (SD).
Genuine musical interest plus handsomely recorded stereo sound (including surfaces far silkier than the two -channel
mean) spell a winner for WB. In Leonid
Bolotine they have found a conductor
who strikes Slavic fire from his musi-
One of the most beloved of all
musicals, with a score that
has been sung for almost half
a
century!
CAL -483
The easy warmth of a famous
cross-section of the famous
songs of "lame" and heather,
chuckling monologues and
genial humor.
CAL -479
A
voice, glowing as brightly as
ever. Tunes include I'm Your
Girl, Eternally.
CAL -477
BIG -NAME
RECORDINGS
AT
HALF
THE
BIG -NAME
PRICE
Manufacturer's nationally advertised prices shown -optional with dealer.
APRIL 1959
www.americanradiohistory.com
l
LIVING I STEREO
Myome Kam
Oscar Hammerstein
II
(Cr4
ol
SH
at
SHOW
n
HILL BOWEN
Ch.,.
Use..
01' Man River, Why Do
I Love
You, Bill and other Jerome
Kern melodies. Available in
Stereo only. $2.98. CAS -488
R
\I
AMCA EN
cians, and someone has devoted time and
insight to choosing an unhackneyed
group of traditional Russian songs. Particularly appealing are Troika Waltz,
Styenka Resin, and Curly-Haired Catherine. Certainly no one will regret purchasing the splendid monophonic edition, but
the crisply separated stereo disc is a runaway choice for those equipped to play
it.
requests
group of
A
most frequently
the
requested
songs in the Dyer.Bennet repertoire, songs not
previously recorded or available only on
in
ferior pressings.
Richard Dyer -Bennet 5 (Requests)
$4.98. _, oensleeves,Venezuelo,
DYB 5000
tongue, Westryn wynde,
Spanish is the lo
Barbara Allen, Lord Rendol, The white lily,
The Golden Vanity, The Quaker lover, John
Henry. I ride on old point, The brothers.
n'
This
one
is
of the seven new records by
Richard Dyer-Bennet, released under his
own label, acclaimed by critics throughout
the countr,.
Writ. fer
Dyer- Bennet records
free
melee.
Postal Box 235. Woodside 77, N.Y.
BERNSTEIN
DOUBLE BILL
"Around the World." Steve Allen and His
Orchestra. Dot DLP 3150, $3.98 (LP ).
To the many guises Steve Allen's talent
takes-comedian, writer, poet -add another: musician. As an instrumentalist,
pianist Allen plays simply, avoiding all
complexities; but the results are satisfying. Allen has also composed -not brilliantly, but not without skill -five of the
national portraits on this disc. Elsewhere,
he has chosen the likes of Danny Boy
to represent Ireland, The Peanut Vendor
for Cuba. On the whole, a slow- paced,
tasteful tour du monde that will appeal
not only to Allen's many admirers but to
those who enjoy background music on the
undemanding side. Excellent engineering.
"Beat Tropicale." Harry Coon and Richard Campbell, drums; Jose Bethancourt and His Orchestra. Concert-Disc
CS 33, $6.95 (SD).
Dazzling sound with striking stereo separation is the hallmark of this release; you
can, in fact, do no better at this stage
of the art. While Señor Bethancourt presents a diverting rhythmic pastiche built
"C"
OVER HIGH
%hie
"C"
mice
around his own formidable marimba virtuosity, the flip side -Savage Drum Fantasy-is the pièce de résistance. Drummers Campbell and Coon shape an arresting sequence of African drum patterns: the Masai Rumble is hair raising.
There is no plethora of musical value
here, but there's a lot of fun.
"Champagne Cocktail." François Charpin
Trio. Kapp KL 1111, $3.98 (LP ).
Backstopped by guitar, piano, and drums,
François Charpin warbles his way
through sixteen French favorites, including four of his own composition. Charpin
has a soft, pleasing vocal style; Isis cohorts shape the ambiance of a boite intime; and Kapp's engineers have captured the whole in bright, full -range
sound.
"Danzemes Bailables." Orquesta Folklorica de Cuba, Odilio Urfe, cond.
Toreador T 533, $3.98. (LP ).
A sumptuously recorded program of Cuban danzónes. Derived from the Spanish
word for dance, the danzón lists African roots and, in its pure form, erotic
overtones. In modern format, however,
the highly rhythmic -yet stately -music
makes for more pleasant, and far less
hectic, listening than most Latin imports.
At the same time it remains dance music
par excellence. Here is a "different" Latin
heat worth exploring.
"The Fantastic Guitars of Sabicas and
Escudero." Decca DL 8795, $3.98
(LP); DL 78795, $5.98 (SD).
Here are two superb flamenco guitarists
at the top of their form. It is awe- inspiring to contemplate the rapport that underlies these duets in an idiom that relies
for its principal impact upon improvisation. To nie, the peak of the record is the
somber, moving interplay of the guitars
in the variations and elaborations on the
Andalusian folk song El Vito. Rather to
may
ERNA SACK
a uocai piienomenon
ort2 ache
Auf der Kirmes; Ouvre Ton
GUARANTEED HIGH- FIDELITY AN O
STEREO -FIDELITY RECORDS BY
[COLUMBIAA
O
Columbia.'
Mwton,ork.
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A MI Wen of Columbia arosdcestlne System. Inc.
90
Coeur; You Will Return to Vienna; Estrellita; Serenata; Throw
Open Wide Your Window; Berceuse de Jocelyn; Coppélia
Waltz; The Last Rose of SumB19049
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WRITE FOR CATALOG.
RICHMOND
$
98
HIGH FIDELITY
LONG
PLAY
Dept. KL
.
found the stereo ver-
even when the latter is played through
two speakers. The two channels give an
unaccustomed depth and solidity to the
sound, as well as differentiate neatly between the two guitars.
$5.98
ERNA SACK RECITAL
MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 4 in A Major
No. 104 in D
("Italian"); HAYDN: Symphony
Major ( "London ") -the New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, Conductor.
ML 5349 MS 6050 (stereo)
I
"Isle of Enchantment." Charles Dant and
His Orchestra. Coral CRL 757249,
Now available in
Traveling composers in a holiday mood
have given us a happy collection of "place name" symphonies. Two of the finest in
this category (and surely among the finest
efforts of their respective authors) are the
joyous "Italian" of Mendelssohn and the
warm, glowing "London" of Haydn. Here
are fresh, new "New York" versions of both,
led by Leonard Bernstein.
own surprise,
sion to be distinctly superior to the LP,
539 W. 25th St., New York 1, N.Y.
(SD).
With the rhythm section at the helm,
Charles Dant and his orchestra cruise the
South Seas in skillfully recorded stereo.
Maestro Dant keeps an eye on the beat
throughout, but tends to anoint it with
too many brushes on the drums for my
taste. His repertory is on the tired side,
featuring as it does Harbor Lights, Blue
Hawaii, etc. Actually, unless you are a
blood descendant of Queen Liliuokalani,
there is nothing much to get excited
about here, pro or con.
"Love Dances of Brazil." Bernardo Segall, piano; Emanuel Vardi and His
Orchestra. Decca DL 8764, $3.98
(LP); DL 78764, $5.98 (SD).
As rippling and distinctive as the mosaic
sidewalks of Rio, these arrangements of
Brazilian staples unfold in multihued
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
orchestral color beneath the gifted baton
of Emanuel \ardi. Brazilian pianist Segall, front and center for all the works,
blends his instrument neatly with Vardi's
lush strings. The stereo recording imparts glints of light and darkness as well
as an over -all spaciousness that just are
not present in the monophonic version.
"Music of the African Arab." Music of
the Middle East, Vol. 3. Mohammed
El- Bakkar and His Oriental Ensemble.
Audio Fidelity AFSD 5858, $6.95
(SD).
El- Bakkar is back, bracketed by mikes, in
a gaudy, exotic, percussive, and brilliantly recorded tour de force. As in his previous efforts in this genre, El- Bakkar has
assembled compositions of his own that
reflect and illustrate characteristics of, in
this case, African Islamic music. The per
fornlanc'e is enthusiastic; and the sound.
to belabor a point, is gorgeous.
-
"A Night at the Tropicoro." Lito Peña
and His Orchestra Panamericana. Cook
2187 SD, $598 (SD).
Technically, this recording adds no luster to the Cook reputation: separation,
depth, and range are adequate-little
more. But, lending an ear to the melodic
mediocrities of Lito P('tia and his henchmen- luminaries of the Tropicoro Boom
at Puerto Rico's Iiotel El San Juan intercontinental -one wonders why anyone
would tote a single mike, let alone two,
into their presence. If, as the annotation
states, "the music in the Tropicoro is the
lest in Puerto Rico," then may Cod help
that unhappy island.
"A Night in Vienna." 101 Strings. Stereo Fidelity SF 6810, $2.98 (SD).
This low -priced label scores again with
its regiment of strings in a concert of old
Viennese stand-bys such as Blue Danube.
JIMMIE RODGERS SINGS
FOLK SONGS.
R-25042
PEARL BAILEY SINGS
& BESS & other
PORGY
Gershwin Melodies.
R -25063
MAYNARD FERGUSON &
HIS ORCH: Swingiu' my
way
through College.
SING
V.\Ita SISTER,:
Itallanar
R-x506;
/
JOE WILLIAMS
an
'l'IlI-: I, I
Cho Cha
1 ? -25n.;
ALONG
DAVE LAMBENT
WITH
i
SWINGIN'
WXICae
WHISTLIN'
HISTIIN'
SING ALONG WITH BASIE:
vocalese versions of great Basie arrangements.
R -52018
1
SWINGIN' MARCHIN'
&
WHISTLIN': BUDDY
WILLIAMS & his ORCH.
&
R -51165
JOE WILLIAMS: A Mon
Ain't Supposed to Cry.
BASLE: Count Basi,
Oreh.
t
6:
I:..._,.
.
R -52005
"Songs of Old Napoli." Roberto \furolo,
guitar. Epic LC :3544, 53.98 (LP).
Star of Italy's popular Durkin] label,
Murolo strays from the trodden -to -death
track in his recital of Neapolitan songs.
JULIUS LA ROSA: Loes
Songs a La Rosa.
11.25054
tr
Vienna Life, and .%Irrny Widow lt'alt :.
Stereo-Fidelity's unnamed conductor prefers languorous tempos, but otherwise no
interpretative idiosyncracies mar his readings. Nicely delineated, full -range sound
that would be acceptable at any price;
at $2.98 it's a rare stereo bargain.
"St. Patrick's Night in Dublin." Brendan
Hogan and the Ballinakill Ceili Band.
Capitol T 1021)1, $3.98 (LP).
it is almost inconceivable that a live recording from Dublin's Irish Club on St.
Patrick's Day could nmis. the boat. Yet
this one, sadly, does just nut. Neither the
musicians nor the singers .»-e particularly
gifted and a wearisonie sameness informs
the band's 'inchan_in instrumental assault. Although it is impossible to demolish these grand old Irish songs entirely,
Hogan and his group make a heroic attempt.
Thick -textured sound replete with
coughs, laughter, and assorted background decibels adds to the carnage. In
no case are the vocalists adequately
miked.
COUNT BASIE & JOE WILLIAMS: Memori,.
for more of the
best in
& Standard LP's
SEND FOR FREE CATALOG
Stereo
APRIL 1959
AT HOME WITH THE
BARRY SISTERS: a variety
of wonderful Yiddish melodies.
R -25ngo
TYREE GLENN AT THE
ROUNDTABLE:
R -25050
ROULETTE
Dep
.
D. 659 10th Ave., New York. N.
1'
S)1
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SALT LAKE IN
JHILADELPHIA
THE
BELOVED CHORUSES
Tabernacle Choir,
The Mormon
t.n..m
The Philadelphia Orchestra,
P.
known works of that king of march time,
John Philip Sousa, vigorously performed
by Leif Nagel and the Norwegian Military Band. Spirit is a trade -mark of Nagel's martial corps, and -via this crisp and
well- defined recording -it's quickly infec-
The clear-voiced baritone has chosen a
number of lovely little -known ballads
which he sings in a pure, uncluttered
style. Particularly enjoyable are the droll
La Cammesella (The Camisole) and the
hauntingly medieval Ritornello delle Lavandaie ciel Vomero(Refrain of the Vo-
tious.
mero Laundresses).
"Flight to Tokyo." Ccorge Wright, organ.
HiFillecord R 717, $4.95 (LP); $5.95
(SD).
"Soviet Army Chorus and Band in a New
Program of Favorites." Boris Alexundrov, cond. Monitor MP 540, $4.98
(
LP).
This is the most lucidly recorded Soviet
offering I have yet heard. It is also
among the most stirring. The massed
1958 the mountain came to
Mohammed, musically speaking, in the.concert appearances of the Salt Lake City
Mormon Tabernacle Choir with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Here are the first fruits of
their resounding meeting: 4 splendid choruses of Bach plus works of Haydn, Schubert,
Rimsky- Korsakov, Sibelius, and Handel.
In the fall of
THE BELOVED CHORUSES -The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Dr. Richard P. Condie, Director;
The Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy,
ML 5364 MS 6058 (stereo)
Conductor
GUARANTEED HIGH -FIDELITY AND
STEREO -FIDELITY RECORDS BY
COLUMBIAO
® ..Columbia" "Materrorxi' 4, Marcos Rep
A division of Columbia Broadcasting System. Inc.
chorus has always been a Russian speciality, and the Red Army group is in the
great tradition. The bulk of the songs are
by Soviet popular composers, with a
sprinkling of folk ballads and a brace of
operatic choruses thrown in. Recommended.
"T Town!" Los Tres Caballeros. HiFi
Record R 810, $4.95 (LP ).
Saddest of settlements, Tijuana crouches
just below the Mexican border, a long
stone's throw from San Diego and the
moored Pacific Fleet. \Veck end after
week end squadrons of sailors descend on
the pari -mutuel booths and drifting women of this dusty town. And week end after
week end cheap wants are cheaply satisfied.
Somewhere in the frenzied miasma,
HiFi Records found an instrumental quartet- unaccountably called Los Tres (sic)
Caballeros -that specializes in rhythm.
melody, and Latin atmosphere aplenty.
Ilat Dance, El
Relicario, Espana Cari- provide the underpinning of their repertory. Nothing
here to awaken nostalgia in old sinners,
but this Mexican night club combo is an
uncommonly goixl one. Excellent record-
Old favorites-Mexican
acyr
S%iff./
ed sound.
O. B. BRUAINIELL
FI MAN'S FANCY
"A Farewell to Steam." HiFiRecord
Sparkling champagne music, uncorked by Lloyd
Mumm and His Starlight Roof Orchestra on
Omega disk! Three new stereo albums each a
varied dance program of bubbling waltzes,
polkas, for trots and novelties.
OSI.1
CHAMPAGNE MUSIC
Mumm pours as you sip BUBBLES IN THE
WINE, IN A LITTLE SPANISH TOWN, POOR PEOPLE
- Lloyd
OF PARIS,
LA RONDE.
Intoxicating!
PINK CHAMPAGNE
-PINK
OSI-37
COCKTAILS FOR A BLUE LADY, CHAM-
PAGNE WALTZ, BEER
BARREL POLKA, THE HAPPY
WHISTLER, MISSOURI WALTZ and others. For the
connoisseur!
BLUE CHAMPAGNE
- Lloyd unbottles the
OSL-46
SHADOW WALTZ, PUT YOUR
LITTLE FOOT, HOT LIPS, BLUE CHAMPAGNE,
LITTLE SIR ECHO.
Limit: one per customer!
omega DISK
STEREOPHONIC
INTERNATIONAL PACIFIC
PRODUCED BY OMEGATAPE
6906 SANTA MONICA BOULEVARD
RECORDING CORP.
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA
901, $4.95
(LP);
$5.95
R
(SD).
Anyone who's doubted that anything new
and different could ever be done with
recordings of steam locomotives, is in for
a surprise. High Fidelity Recordings has
done it -by the simple expedient of attaching a pair of microphones to a steam
engine, turning on a recorder, and letting
'er go. Four hours of tape, edited into a
forty -minute record, provide the novel
approach-a recording from the train itself. The disc is wisely engineered: microphones capable of high intensity sounds
were employed, as well as electrical gimmicks which 'emitted the use of high fidelity tape recorders instead of low quality portable units. The result: fascinating -impressively realistic monophonically, overwhelming in stereo.
"Favorite Marches." Norwegian Military
Band, Leif Nagel, cond. RCA Camden
CAS 474, $2.98 (SD).
Here's a low-priced edition of the best-
Any resemblance between this disc and
authentic Japanese music (or, for that
matter, any Oriental music) is purely
imaginary. \Vhat see have here are such
purely Occidental specimens as China
Nights, Rickety Rickshaw Man, and Poor
Butterfly. Wright's style is well beloved
of theatre -organ fanciers, and Flight to
Tokyo represents no deviation. The monophonic disc is transparent and cleanly recorded, but it takes the stereo disc to
swell the \\'urlitzcr into the monstersized demon that many fi -fans demand.
"Grand Canyon Suite." Symphonic Orchester Craunke, Frederick Stark, cond.
Disneyland Records WDL 4019, $4.98
(LP); STER 4019, $4.98 (SD).
First reaction to this latest version of
Ferde Crofé's aural spectacular is distinctly visual. The records come hound in
handsome double folders decorated with
fourteen ( I counted) gorgeous, full -color
reprcxluctions of the Grand Canyon's
mystic moods and faces. Aurally, the
monophonic disc is a thrilling evocation of
fire and splendor and tenderness-but
something went wrong in the recording of
the stereo exlition. You can search far and
wide to find a more spirited performance
than this, but beware the stereo.
"International Marches." Marine Band of
the Royal Netherlands Navy, 1st Lt. H.
C. vaut Lijnschnoten, cond. Epic BN
510, $5.98 (SD ).
Only one of the starches here, Strike Up
the Ranci, is of American lineage, and its
composer ( George Gershwin) was not
,widely known for band music. The rest
are relatively unfamiliar European pieces.
The Netherlands marines zip through everything with enormous enthusiasm, energy enough for all entire regiment. The
recording is outstandingly natural with
respect to tonal aini instrumental balance,
its sound y \5t lutionalty pure. On this
score :done, titis is out' of the finest discs
Of military music you can get.
"Leibert Takes
a
Holiday." Dick Leibert,
organ. Westminster
\
'ST 15034, $5.98
(SD.)
Most listeners will be glad to know that
Leibert's holiday is not from his favorite
musical vehicle, the mighty \Vurlitzer.
Here he travels to Richmond, Virginia,
svlìere he manipulates the giant Byrd
Theatre instrument. Leibert is not an avid
sensationalist at the keyboard, but he
does risk a few entertaining shenanigans
now and then. Westminster employs a
distant approach in recording, but careful
microphone selection and placement keep
excess hall reverberation to a minimum.
This is not billed as a show -off disc, but
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
92
www.americanradiohistory.com
it is a fine example of what taste and
restraint can accomplish in stereo.
"Mello-Dee." Lenny Dee, organ. Decca
DL 8796, $3.98 (LP); DL 78798,
$5.98 (SD).
Lenny Dee is a young virtuoso with a
peculiarly adaptable name (his other albums have been called "Dee-Most,"
"Dee- Lightfuul," "Dee -Licious," etc.). His
playing is "Dee" almost anything you'd
care to append, except "Dee- Void" of
satisfaction, which it certainly is not.
Dees organ is not identified, but it
sounds very much like a Hammond. His
style is mostly serene, sometimes brisk,
and the occasional frills fall gracefully in
place. The same is true of the drums
which patter quietly somewhere off mike.
Since both discs are technically first -rate,
stereo does not enhance the sound significantly. It simply widens the aural curtain
to fit your own speakers.
"Music in Orbit." Ron Goodwin and His
Orchestra. Capitol T 10188, $3.98
(LP).
APRIL ON ...
The many faces
Gieseking
"Nautilus." Sounds and voices recorded
during the voyage of the Nautilus
under the North Pole. Herb Shriner,
narrator. Colpix CP 701, 87.50 (LP).
Fi- fanciers will not find this record as
aurally satisfying as the space rocket documentary reviewed last month. Its sound
effects are more subdued; they were collected, as a matter of fact, on recorders
which make no pretense to high fidelity.
Historically speaking, however, this is an
extraordinary documentation of one of
the most monumental scientific achievements of our time. Produced and narrated by Herb Shriner, it comes complete
with illustrated folder, jam -packed with
facts about the Nautilus and the North
Pole in particular, and submarines and
submariners in general.
"Organ on the March." John Gart, organ;
The Minute Men. Kapp 1119, $3.98
(LP).
Organist John Gart has bolstered his
Conn instrument with a collection of
twenty-five percussion devices and a
group called The Minute Men to operate
them. He plays segments of seventeen
marches, improvising at will with percussion effects or oddly shaped organ tones.
In fact, often slim trace of the original
remains after Gart completes his tonal
therapy. Despite this drastic treatment,
however, Cart's pieces do remain tuneful,
the percussion being so skillfully handled
that it is never too loud or too prominent,
but blends smoothly with the tinkling
tones of the organ. This is an unusual instrumental pairing, which demands ex-
at
the
piano
K LENZ PF,RERittdl
theDAVI D
the Philharmonic
OISTRAKH TRIO
OTTO
K LEM PER ER
Ileelhwen
Sonata.
Ron Goodwin is a thirty-three -year -old
British composer and arranger who has
worked for a number of name bands in
Britain. Five years ago he set out on his
own orbit. Music in Orbit bears scant
relevance to space travel, but Goodwin's
twelve compositions arc lighthearted and
fanciful. Recorded in London's E \lI studios, Goodwin's music has been given a
sparkling transparency characteristic of
only the very tops in engineering.
of BEETHOVEN as interpreted by
Beethoven
BEETHOVEN
Symphony
n -6
Pastoral.
,21írttóuBt,
Tri.r*V7
D\l'ID
OINTRAKS
TRIO
(.ieseLin!I
Before his death in London
(1956) Walter Gieseking had
recorded twothirds of the
Beethoven Piano Sonatas for
Angel. These two albums make
18 sonatas now available.
Nos. 13 and 14 ( "Moonlight "), Op.
27, Nos. 1 & 2; Nos. 9 and 10.
Op. 14, Nos. 1 & 2 Angel 35652
No. 7, Op. 10, No. 3 ; No.
Op. 22
Angel 35653
Klemperer "has emerged the
supreme interpreter of the
classics" (London Observer). This
is the newest in the complete
series of Beethoven symphonies
which Otto Klemperer is recording with the Philharmonia for
Angel. Have you heard the
Angel 35711
others?
First Angel recording by the
David Oistrakh Trio! Russia's
greatest living violinist is joined
l'y Sviatoslav Knushevitsky,
'Cello, and Lev Oborin, Piano,
in a performance of Beethoven's
supreme achievement in the
chamber music medium.
Angel 35704
II,
AND MORE..,RECORDED
IN
EUROPE FOR ANGEL
For Orchestra
For Voice
SILVESTRI CONDUCTS LISZT PROGRAM
I.e. Préludes
Tasso
I'hilharmonia Orchestra
Rumanian Constantin Silvestri conducts two
symphonic poems by Liszt -one heard frequently, the other, Tasso, almost never
(on record) until this Angel recording.
Angel 35636
KARAJAN AND BERLIN PHILHARMONIC
Dvoitík: Symphony No. 5 ( "From the
New World")
Smetana: The Moldau
Favorites of almost everyone, especially as
conducted by Herbert von Karajan, "most
powerful man in the world of music"
(Holiday), and certainly one of the busiest.
Angel 35615
Especially for Children
(Hint: a wonderful Easter
MUSIC FOR CHILDREN
gift idea!)
Carl Orlf, Gunild Keetman. English
version by Margaret Murray.
Not the standard "music appreciation"
album! Instead, this is
a
-
participation in the
delightful adventure of making music
especially for very young children. Carl Orff
wrote these simple songs, rhythms. nursery
rhymes with bis assistant, Gunild Keetman,
in Munich's Gunterschule. Here they are
recorded in English, with three children's
choruses and an instrument ensemble. Very
contagious, on purpose! (See what happens
when you play it at home.) With explanatory
notes.
Angel Album 3582 B (2 records)
APRI. 1959
MARRIAGE OF FIGARO: HIGHLIGHTS
A lovely money's worth of Mozart! Almost
a solid hour of overture, arias, duets, and
ensembles from Figaro. And the remarkable
Cast stars ELISABETH SCHWARZKOPF
(Countess), GEORGE LONDON (Count), SENA
JURINAC
(Cherubino),
IRMGARD SEEFRIED
(Susanna), ERICH KUNZ (Figaro). With the
Vienna Philharmonic, Vienna State Opera
Chorus, HERBERT VON KARAJAN, Conductor.
(Libretto notes)
Angel 35326
FISCHER -DIESKAU SINGS BACH
Arias Iron sic Bach cantatas, including the
complete Cantata No. 158 (Der Friede sei mit
dir), sung by the Lerman baritone whose
"consistently high level of recordings is
nothing short of miraculous" (Hi- Fi Review).
With the Choir of St. Hedwig's, and the
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted
by Karl Forster.
Angel 35698
New in Angel Stereo
HANDEL: SOLOMON Beecham conducts Royal
Philharmonic Orch., Beecham Choral Society, Soloists. Angel S 3546 B (2 records)
REGIMENTAL MARCHES OF THE BRITISH ARMY.
Kneller Hall Band.
Angel S 35609
93
www.americanradiohistory.com
GRADO
the
world's
finest..."
STEREO CARTRIDGE $49.50
COMPATIBLE WITH
Vertical
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STEREO TONE ARM $29.95
Finest Walnut
4
"Overture." Hollywood Bowl Symphony
Orchestra, Felix Slatkin, cond. Capitol
SP 8380, $5.98 (SD).
Many reviewers often regard new record-
ings of such often -performed works as
these overtures with pretty jaded ears.
They'll perk up at this, though. Slatkin
unleashes one of the most powerful, driving, and generally impressive William
Tells ever to rattle a stereo system, not
to speak of Tchaikovsky's 1812, and Von
Suppe's Light Cavalry and Poet and
Peasant Overtures. Here is a fi festival
par excellence, overflowing with stereo
warmth, full to the brim with sensuous
stereo spaciousness, and chock full of fortissimo punch that will shake your floors
and astound your guests. This is a full blown stereo extravaganza that no dyed in- the -wool fi fanatic should be without.
"Truly
Lateral
Monaural
Westrex
Stereo
treme delicacy in handling. Kapp's engineers qualify as experts.
Woo,
Wires and Shield
"Top Concert, U. S. A." Cleveland Pops
Orchestra, Louis Land, cond. Epic LC
3539, $3.98 (LP).
This recording was made in Cleveland's Severance Hall in August 1958,
immediately after the completion there
of acoustical renovations aimed at lengthening the reverberation period -in a
word, making the hall more alive. Pop
Concert U.S.A. ( including short compositions by Anderson, Copland, Piston, and
Bernstein, and leading off with Gould's
American Salute) is a tribute to the success of the undertaking. The clarity of the
recording is outstanding; virtually perfect positioning of carefully selected microphones reveals every facet of the music. Distortion and surface noise are
practically nonexistent. In short, this is a
splendid record for fi -fans who want to
demonstrate the merits of their systems,
as well as one which fully displays the
sonic beauties of a fine recording hall.
"The Red Army In Hi -Fi." Alexandrov
Song and Dance Ensemble.:lrtia 101,
$4.98 (LP ).
The Alexandrov Song and Dance Ensemble is another name for a musical aggregation better known as the Red Army
Chorus, Orchestra, and Dancers. More
than 300 members are heard here in a collection of thirteen folk songs from Russia, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. The
massive chorus, backed by an apparently
gargantuan orchestra, is an auditory
spectacular -one whose joys are further
enhanced by superlative recording.
GRADO
4614 7th Avenue Brooklyn 20, New York
Export- Simontrice, 25 Warren St., N.Y.C.
"Reverie." Norman Luboff Choir. Columbia CL 1256, $3.98 (LP); CS
8074, $5.98 (SD ).
I have often thought that it is sometimes
more important to have extremely low
distortion in low- level, quiet recordings
than in those with crushing crescendos,
simply because the total effect of tranquil
music depends so much on sustaining the
mood. Reverie is such a disc. Twelve
peaceful melodies (Strange Music, If
You Are But a Dream, My Reverie, etc.)
by the Luboff choir establish a nice drowsiness that even a tiny measure of distortion would destroy. Happily for listeners,
there is no distortion, just sweet, sleepy
melodies superbly designed for anyone's
reverie.
"Strings by Starlight." Hollywood Bowl
Symphony Orchestra, Felix Slatkin,
cond. Capitol P 8444, $4.98 (LP); SP
8444, $5.98 (SD ).
Felix Slatkin conducts the string section
of the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra in six pieces written expressly for
strings: Borodin's Nocturne; Bach's Air
for the G String; Tchaikovsky's Andante
cantabile and Waltz from the Serenade
for Strings; Barber's Adagio for Strings;
and Percy Crainger's arrangement of
Londonderry Air. Capitol's recording
technique, on both monophonic and
stereo versions is distant, spacious, and
syrupy smooth. The stereo disc is somewhat more open than the monophonic,
and both are soothing fare for lazy summer evenings.
"Terror Tales." Liberty LST 7025, $4.98
(SD).
Forty minutes of whistling winds,
screams, shots, splashing waves, thunder,
insane laughter, foghorns, roaring trains,
and otherworldly sound effects are the
unnerving background for the crackling
voice of The Old Sea Hag, a role portrayed by veteran actress Martha Wentworth. Aliss Wentworth's characters are
convincingly created. But terror? Well,
hardly, at least for those beyond the age
of implicit belief in ghosts and goblins.
But the stereo sound effects are another
story. Under the guiding hand of some
master, they form a fine horrific foundation for the narrator's scary tales.
"Virtuoso." Roger Wagner Chorale. Capitol SP 8431, $5.98 (SD ).
The monophonic version of this release
was particularly impressive for its treatment of Carl Orff's Praelusio from Catulli
Carmina, in which Capitol engineers triumphantly captured the massed voices
and percussion ensemble with breath -taking results. Such a topnotch monophonic
recording usually presages more spectacular aural thrills in stereo, and that expectation is fully realized here. To attempt to
describe accurately the dynamic impact
of this stereo extravaganza with its widespread chorus, thunderous percussion,
and mammoth acoustics would be futile.
It must be heard to be fully appreciated,
an experience which I heartily recommend to all lovers of the finest of fi.
"Western Sunset." Robert Prince and His
Orchestra. Warner Bros. W 1259, $3.98
(LP); WS 1259, $4.98 (SD).
The titles on the jacket (Wagon Wheels,
Cool Water, Red River Valley) suggest
strummed guitars, wailing male voices,
and twangy accents. Not so. These are
orchestral versions, and each of the
twelve western war horses has been newly caparisoned and presented ensemble
fashion. Although the approach is sentimental, the sound of both monophonic
and stereo editions is so outstandingly
transparent that these records positively
shine with aural brilliance.
PHILIP C. GERACI
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
94
www.americanradiohistory.com
GUITAR
JAZZ
Basie
Reunion.
Prestige 7147,
new releases
$4.98
(LP).
A warm evocation of the Basic band of
the late Thirties with Buck Clayton, Jack
Washington, Freddie Green, and Jo
Jones present from that classic group
along with Paul Quinichette and Shad
Collins from later versions and the inevitable Basie piano sit -in, Nat Pierce.
The tunes are established Basie standards
( John's Idea, Roseland Shuffle, Blues I
Like to Hear, etc. ), the ensembles swing
with proper Basie airiness and, except for
Quinichette, the soloists play with requisite verve. Quinichette, however, goes
through a flirtation with gawkish, distorted sounds completely out of keeping
with the spirit of the performances.
"African Jazz." Capitol '1
1117, $3.98 (LP) .
Baxter's approach to what he calls African
jazz will undoubtedly affront purists
(jazz purists and African purists), but he
has produced an unusual and frequently
fascinating amalgam of musical devices.
It is, in essence, a mixture of (\r'ti(
rhythms, jazz, and mood music w
manages to be explosive, suave, and foot tapping almost all of the time. Baxter has
made good and valid use of three jazz
musicians-Milt Reinhart, trombone, Larry Bunker, vibraphone, and Plas Johnson,
tenor saxophone -to underline and intensify his ideas. And he has been particularly ingenious in his use of a jazz
device that was cers close to the heart of
Jelly Roll Morton -the break. On a craftily constructed train piece, there is a
train whistle break and on another occasion he pulls in a thunderclap as a break.
This African jazz is a bit different and
it's a lot of fun.
new moods...
Q11E IIU11UßEU
band he had missed the boat. Since the
middle Forties he has been very active
in the Hollywood studios but represented
on records only sporadically.
This disc places him in good company
(Ben Webster, Jimmie Rowles, Shelly
Manne, among others), provides him
with opportunities to be heard on both
alto saxophone and trumpet, and gives
him a sound program of standards especially suited to him ( Blue Lou, I'm Coating Virginia, Old Fashioned Love) as
well as two worthwhile originals. His
pure, sweeping alto is a joy to hear as it
swings lightly and purposefully through
all but two selections. On these two he
shifts to trumpet, playing with much the
same lean purity. Webster, Rowles, An-
"
'CRP 421
STUBBY KAYE
Sings Music for
A
Chubby Lovers
collection of well
known
with
standards done
Chubby's humor-
ous
touch,
bring
a
sure to
smile to your
face.
BEGUILING!
CUP430
SHOSHANA DAMARI
Sings Songs of
Israel
The
so'unds of
Biblical
times are brought up
to date. Israel's top
folk singer brings you
this unusual album
filled with romance
and mysticism.
i
Benny Carter: "Jazz Giant." Contemporary 3555, $4.98 (LP).
Benny Carter, one of the most winning
performers that jazz has known, has
been unaccountably neglected on discs
throughout almost his entire career. Even
during the Swing Era, when a musician
of Carter's generally mainstream tendencies might have had a great deal of success, he managed to avoid it by spending
much of the Thirties in Europe. By the
time he carne back and organized a big
GUITßS
UNIQUE!
Les Baxter:
I
ADVENTURE
!ADVENTURES IN SOUND
Suggested retail price 5398 each
' Avoilable
COMPLETE CATALOG OF
f
INE
COLUMBIA
SEECO
RECORDINGS.
RECORD AUTHORITIES
AGREE
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de Madrid de La O.N.C.E. directed by Rafael
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This dazzling addition to Columbia's "Adventures in Sound" series presents Spanish
music played by no less than one hundred
guitars of varying types and sizes. Even more
remarkable is the fact that the orchestra consists entirely of blind musicians each was
provided with earphones and the conducna
with a microphone to make this recordine'
ONE HUNDRED GUITARS -Orquesta Popular
STYLUS AND
RECORD LIFE DOUBLED
BY USE
OF THE
"Columba"
The Discharger controls static electricity
generated by your records, a static -free
record stays clean, quiet, and lasts for
longer. Discharger element never needs
replacing.
indefinitely
Weight
SEE
1/2
gram
YOUR LOCAL DISTRIBUTOR OR
SHIPPED
POSTPAID IN U.S
MERCURY
SCIENTIFIC
A
PRODS.
it,
Two magical new albums
by Paul Weston glowingly
affirm his contention that
"the melody
is the
$4.50
CORP.
1725 West 7th Street. loe Angeles 17, Calilern,o
APRIL 1959
www.americanradiohistory.com
thing."
Floatin' Like a Feather:
The orchestra "floats"
atop
a very happy
rhythm section. TI153
Music for Dreaming:
Weston's great
original (`mood"
album, newly
recorded! T1154
Clips on any arm
of Columba
thing
No More Brushing,
Spraying or Wiping
IMITATED, BUT NOT
DUPLICATED
Cason
is the
CHARGER
Records
LEAVES NO RESIDUE
A
The
Melody,
as
Mr. Weston
sees
DIS-
Lasts
it Muas Re,.
on stereo
too!
Broedustmt Stsfem.les.
o/4AE-
AME RIMING
n
\i
`+
F
i_
.
INSIDE THIS ALBUM:
One of the finest
motion picture scores
ever recorded
Celebrated film composer Elmer
Bernstein conducts a brilliant, lyric
score that ranges from the driving
jazz of a rowdy cafe to the deeply
tender theme of an awakening love.
W1109
Superb high fidelity.
-
A CATALOG
OF EXCLUSIVES
1
The Original Film Score Of 1 he
SOL C. SIEGEL Production
dré Previn, and Frank Rosolino make
themselves felt from time to time, but
this is essentially Benny Carter's record
a welcome portrait of one of the great
jazzmen who is still in his prime.
The intent of Washington
Records is to catalog the
uncataloged, to fill the interesting gaps left by major
labels between their safe warhorses. Rather than bring
you the twentieth version of
a Tchaikovsky symphony, we
have started complete Haydn
Sonata and Quartet cycles,
insured the continuation of
the unique Aeolian- Skinner
volumes, recorded such
varied talents as Vivaldi,
Telemann, Rampal, Beaux Arts Quartet, classical and
jazz guitarist Charlie Byrd,
Ronnie Graham in the Take
Five revue, and Demi -Dozen.
Write for a new catalog.
Eddie Davis Trio. Roulette 52019, $3.98
(LP). Roost 2227, $3.98 (LP).
Both discs are very similar. Davis' strident, sharply assertive tenor saxophone
dominates almost all of the pieces, although it is organist Shirley Scott, kept in
the background much of the time, who
provides the group with its swinging
strength. On each disc she is given a pair
of solo pieces which are far more attractive than Davis' braying. Both programs
are made up largely of ballads.
Wild Bill Davis: "Swings My Fair Lady."
Everest SDBR 1014, 5598 (SD).
Davis' customary raucous, jabbing organ
attack gigs way on this disc to more
subtle playing. The result is a mildly interesting jazz set which does no damage
to the Lerner -Loewe score and provides
a few close -ups of Jo Jones's deft and
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witty use of wire brush and cymbal.
Stereo places Davis' organ to the right of
center, Jones on the right, and Maurice
Simon's unobtrusive tenor saxophone on
the left, but the expansive sound of the
organ holds the group together.
Delta Kings: "Down the River." Down
South 201, 54.98 (LP).
I)oæn the Ricer is an act of enthusiasm
and love committer 1 by a pipeline engineer and banjoist, Russ Wait, and a lawyer-trombonist, Bill Crais, assisted by five
practicing musicians. They form a rough,
happy septet which occasionally manages
to strike some bright sparks in its attacks
on popular and Dixieland standards.
Even in its more plodding moments the
group conveys what is usually identified
as a "good time" feeling. Crais is an uncommonly good trombonist, but there
re times when Wait stunts so enthusiastically that his time becomes vague.
Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra: "Sentimental and Swinging." Columbia CL
1240, 83.98 (LP)
These are further recordings made by
the Tommy Dorsey band in 1955 when
brother Jimmy was with it, drawn from
the sane sessions that produced the earlier The Fabulous Dorscys in Hi -Fi on
Columbia. It is a varied program -from
rather agitated Dixieland to pretty ballads and brawny, swinging instnnncntals,
nanny in the heavy, lumpy vein of the
present Basic band. The playing is clean,
professional, and impersonal. It is hard to
believe that anyone was particularly
wrapped up in these pieces.
.
cTA1IU s
that
The new stereo discs
Very recently our "Adventures in Sound"
series introduced the guitar strumming "Los
Panchos " -Mexico's famed vocal trio. Their
album, A Moment of Love, sold so fast we
put in a call to Mexico City and gave them
the go -ahead on another. Here it is. More
Los Panchos. More love songs. Viva them!
VIVA LOS PANCHOS -Trio Los
Panchos
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Coleman Ilawkins: "The High and
mighty Hawk: ' Felsted 7005, 84.98
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The high and mighty Hawk has his wings
clipped repeatedly on this disc by trumpeter Buck Clayton who plays with
some semblance of spirit and imagination while Hawkins concentrates on did tile-daddle exercises. By sheer rhythmic
force, Hawkins jabs some life into the
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
96
www.americanradiohistory.com
confined set of mechanical figures with
which he elects to work, but too much of
his playing is earth -bound.
Billie Holiday: "Songs for Distingué
Lovers." Verve 8257, $4.98 (LP).
The apparent shriveling of the once vibrant voice of Billie Holiday can be
traced through most of her recordings during the Fifties. One almost came to dread
the next bit of recorded evidence of the
difficulty Miss Holiday was having in projecting her songs. Consequently, this new
disc is especially welcome; it is the most
refreshing and hopeful work that Miss
Holiday has done in years. Not that the
old flexibility has returned; but she seems
to have learned how to make the most effective use of her voice as it is now, and
she has reacquired the confidence to
phrase with assurance. Furthermore she
skirts one of her most obvious pitfalls on
recent discs -very slow tempos. This time
her songs are all moderately pactid, she
has a buoyant rhythm section in back of
her to give her an encouraging lift, and a
small crisp jazz group (no strings, another
millstone she has had around her neck )
which apparently includes Ben Webster
and Harry Edison. Her old artistry comes
through once more on this disc, sometimes in harsher tones than it once had
but quite often all the more compelling
because of this.
Jonah Jones Quartet: "Jonah Jumps
Again." Capitol T 1115, $3.98 (LP).
Now that he has lured a wide audience
with the relatively simple, rhythmic, and
stylized trumpet work on his last two or
three discs, Jonah Jones has astutely
broadened his scope a bit on this set.
There is less dependence on formula here
( but enough of it so that newly arrived
Jones enthusiasts won't be scared away )
and more display of the rugged, Annstrong-derived trumpet that Jones plays
so well. With greater variety of material,
better pacing in programing, and a
wider view of Jones's real jazz talents,
this is one of his best discs.
Barney Kessel: "The Poll Winners Ride
Again." Contemporary 3556, $4.98
(
LP).
The three men who make up the Poll
Winners ( Kessel, guitar; Ray Brown,
bass; Shelly Manne, dnuns) are an unusually sensitive and inventive trio. In
view of the seeming limitations of their
instnunents, they find a constantly surprising variety of ways of developing
their selections as a group. A great deal
of this conies from Manne's use of the
drums as a melodic instrument and from
Kessel's ability to make interesting use of
The Search for Jazz Origins -and New Inspiration
the very early
stages of jazz are presently commanding an unusual amount of attention. In part this attention is expressed
in a searching back through the folk
roots of jazz for new inspiration, in part
in a flurry of interest in on -the -spot recordings of the still active exponents of
early jazz forms.
The most thoroughgoing and adventurous of the on- the -spot recorders is
Samuel B. Charters, who has preserved
some of the more inimitable musical
sounds of New Orleans in a series of
Folkways discs, The Music of New Orleans. The three discs issued so far suggest that, when completed, this will be
an invaluable documentation of a fast fading musical way of life.
In the first volume of the series, The
Music of the Streets; The Music of Mardi
Gras, jazz and folk music meet on a common ground. The itinerant street singers
-peddlers, beggars, evangelists -whom
Charters has caught enliven ideas and attitudes common to folk song in many different regions with a swinging, jazz tinged heat that may be unique to New
Orleans. Certainly it makes for unusually
catchy street music. The Mardi Cras
music is even more jazz-oriented, since it
is largely the music of the marching
bands which contributed greatly to early
jazz. The Mardi Cras recordings are rather haphazard (understandably, considering the happy turmoil on the streets),
but they convey some suggestion of the
musical flavor of the occasion.
Charters explores the marching bands
more thoroughly in Music of the Eureka
Brass Band. The Eureka is one of the
last of the colorful bands that have been
a part of New Orleans life for almost a
hundred years. Its members are getting
along in years, but they still attack their
marches with jaunty vigor and draw from
their dirges a somber sweetness both
strange and moving. Trumpeter Percy
Humphrey, the Eureka's leader, is a firebrand on the brighter pieces as he flares
out of the ensemble to soar into some
tremendously exciting solos. Charters'
FOR WHATEVER REASONS,
astute inclusion of Humphrey 's brilliant
work both as a soloist and as ensemble
leader makes a muffled recording of a
rather ragged rehearsal performance of
Panama one of the high points of the set.
The Eureka band was recorded in a
hall, but a rival group, the Young Tuxedo
Brass Band, has been caught in its natural habitat-outdoors -on Jazz Begins.
This gives the hand a more open, a more
airy ( what else ?) sound than a recording in which the sound is being turned
inward by four walls. The Tuxedo's program is divided between the two traditional segments of New Orleans funeral
music: the solemn, restrained march to
the cemetery, and the abandonment and
release of the journey back. The Tuxedo
is particularly effective on dirges, for its
leader, John Casimir, plays a plaintive
clarinet which builds these pieces to a
throbbing intensity.
Charters' third volume, Music of the
Dance Halls, is a report of the music in
the dime -a -dance joints of the Negro districts. It is played for the most part by
musicians who have been carrying on
New Orleans jazz traditions in almost
complete obscurity since the jazz migration from New Orleans to Chicago forty
years ago -Billie and Dee Dee Pierce,
Emile Barnes, Charlie Love, Albert Burbank, and others. Although their music is
far from polished, it always swings; and
it is frequently extremely moving, especially in the deeply traditional blues singing of Billie Pierce and Burbank's sometimes electrifying clarinet work.
The other approach to early jazz-the
reexamination of its folk roots -has appeared in the work of Jimmy Giuffre during the past two years and is also the
basis of John Benson Brooks's Alabama
Concerto. Brooks's Concerto is an outgrowth of an assignment he had several
years ago to transcribe for a book some
folk recordings made in Alabama by Harold Courlander. He was struck then, he
says, by the light this material cast on
jazz origins -"a different taste from New
Orleans' urban finery." Working from
several rural folk themes, he develops his
APRIL 1959
concerto through ensembles, written
solos, and improvised solos played by a
quartet made up of Julian Adderley, alto
saxophone, Art Fanner, trumpet, Barry
Galbraith, guitar, and Milt Hinton, bass.
As an exploration of jazz origins, this
composition is a rather peculiar work for
there is very little in it that can be identified as jazz. The only really effective
jazz moments are in some wann, firmly
expressed solos by Adderley. Farmer's
playing in general is sure and clean, but
his solos are inclined to a static coolness
that is much more drily urbane than the
"urban finery" of New Orleans. Aside
from the question of whether the concerto has any relationship to jazz, it lacks
movement and explicit development. One
gets the feeling that a single little jigging
riff is being bandied about over and over
again and the work becomes lost in monotony long before the two full LP sides
have been completed. JouN S. WltsoN
The Music of New Orleans: "The Music of
the Streets; The Music of Mardi Gras."
Folkways FA 2461 ( LP); "Music of the
Eureka Brass Band." Folkways FA
2482 (LP); "Music of the Dance
Halls." Folkways FA 2463 ( LP). $5.95
each.
The Young Tuxedo Brass Band: "Jazz.
Begins." Atlantic 1297, $4.98 (LP).
John Benson Brooks: "Alabama Concerto." Riverside 12276, $4.98 (LP).
A musical troll of life fast- Jading.
97
www.americanradiohistory.com
both chorded and single string guitar
styles. In a quiet and very persuasive way,
they make stimulating jazz sense.
The
0&IG1NAI
Shelly Manne and His Men: "Peter
Gunn." Contemporary 3560, $4.98
EXOTIC
SOUNDS
(LP).
The themes written by Henry Mancini
for the television series, Peter Gunn, show
up in an even better light on this set
than they dici on Mancinï s RCA Victor
disc of the same material. The difference
lies in the fact that Mancinis own recordings were as written and played for the
television series, a situation usually so
far removed from jazz that it raised interest and surprise simply because some
good jazz resulted. Manne's group, on the
other hand, is not hemmed in by such
considerations. They play the pieces
strictly as jazz. There is more freedom to
build in jazz terms and Manne's group
takes advantage of the circumstances.
Aside from Conte Candoli, whose range
of trumpet ideas is rather limited, this is
a good group, particularly in the bristling alto saxophone work of Herb Geller
and, needless to say, the crisp, lifting
drumming of the leader.
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Joe Marsala: "Chicago Jazz." Stere-o Craft 102, $5.98 (SD ).
Marsala, one of the more original and
definitely hot clarinetists of the Swing
Era, has not been on records for years,
but his playing on this disc shows him
to be as warmly swinging as he over was.
He is especially winning on a pair of
richly developed ballads -good ones, too:
I Cried for You and Singin' the Blues.
His stimulating companions include Rex
Stewart, playing some biting, muted cornet, and Marsala s old helpmate, Adele
Girard, whose harp still has an effortless
lilt. The stereo balance is generally satisfactory but Johnny Blowers' drumming is
too dominant, at times covering Marsala 's
clarinet.
The Frank Moore Four. Capitol T 1127,
$3.98 (LI').
In these days when everybody in jazz is
a soloist, the Frank Moore Four reverses
the trend. This is a gently swinging group
(accordion, reeds, bass, drums) centered
on close ensemble voicing. The solos are
poor, particularly those by the saxophonist, but the quartet's attractive ensemble
playing makes good background jazz.
MARTIN DENNY
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Turk Murphy: "At Easy Street." Verve
1015, $4.98
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Murphy's hand is as spirited and thumping as ever on this disc. The program is
well balanced between the overdone
(Fidgety Feet, Dippermouth ), the less
frequently heard ( Take Me to the Land
of Jazz, Melancholy), and a neglected
masterpiece (Gene Gifford's Square
Face). Bob Helm has returned as the
group's clarinetist, and his Dodds -like
phrasing and urgent vinegary attack are
an enlivening influence. Murphy foregoes
any singing (he does a recitation on
Square Face), but if cornetist Larry Conger is to be the vocal alternative, it might
b, just as well if Murphy returned to
the singing chores.
George Shearing: "Blue Chiffon." Capitol
T 1124, $3.98 (LP).
The steady watering down and waste of
George Shearing's talent is getting to
have a macabre fascination. How far can
they go? This is the most banal Shearing
release yet. Music from behind the potted
palms.
Stuff Smith: "Have Violin, Will Swing."
Verve 8282, $4.98 (LP).
The astringent, biting, jabbing attack of
Stuff Smith is as close as anyone has yet
come to a real jazz use of the violin. This
disc gives ample display to his jazz qualities- possibly too ample. His tone is almost consistently harsh; and since his
only accompaniment is piano, bass, and
drums, Smith is the soloist throughout
practically the entire record, creating a
monotonous similarity of texture. The late
Carl Perkins, who has a few brief and
engaging piano solo spots, might well
have been given more space.
Sonny Side Up. Verve 8262, $4.98 (LP).
The main participants in this blowing session are Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins,
and Sonny Stitt, all of whom are known
to have more than considerable ability.
It is somewhat of a shock to find that they
can find very little to say in the course
of the four selections they play. An arrogant, joyous stop -time chorus by Rollins
on i Know That You Know is the only
point of real interest throughout a long
and boring disc.
"Rendezvous with Rex."
Felsted 7001, 84.98 (LP ).
Strong echoes of the Ellington small
groups that Stewart once led sound
through the pieces played by Stewart and
some very able sidemen. Three originals
by Stewart and Dick Cary are particularly
suggestive of Ellington in their minor
themes, the tang of Stewart's muted
cornet, Hilton Jefferson's singing alto saxophone, and the unusual coloration
brought to the group by Garvin Bushell's
discreet use of the bassoon. For change
of pace, there is an outgoing, rocking
blues with a delightfully blowsy baritone
saxophone introduction by Heywood
Ilenry, a pleasantly casual recitative by
Stewart in an adaptation of the Bert Williams manner, and some rowdy muted
trombone by George Stevenson. Stewart has not been recorded in such agreeable circumstances since he left the
Duke.
Rex Stewart:
Stewart- Williams & Co.: "Porgy and Bess
Revisited." Warner Bros. W 1260, $3.98
( LP); Warner Bros. WS 1260, $4.98
(SD).
Instead of a "blowing" jazz version of
tunes from Porgy and Bess, this disc is
built around the idea of assigning to
jazz instrumentalists the various singing
roles in the Gershwin work with the intent of projecting the melodies with a
jazz inflection rather than working out
jazz variations on them. It is a provocative and largely successful experiment
largely because the musicians involvedCootie Williams, Rex Stewart, Lawrence
Brown, and Hilton Jefferson in the principal roles -are all jazz musicians who
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
are naturally inclined toward a singing,
mekxlic style. The jazz subtleties that are
possible in such an approach are beautifully expressed in the duet between
Porgy ( Williams' trumpet) and Bess
( Jefferson's
unusually pure -toned alto
saxophone) on Bess, You Is My Woman.
Some of the other ballads, particularly
those featuring Brown's trombone, are
done almost straight, but Stewart's half valve technique on cornet brings an appropriately wicked jauntiness to Sportin'
Life's songs. This is an imaginative and
rewarding joining of jazz and a show
score. The stereo disc puts the brass definitely on the left and the saxophones
well on the right, detracting from the
unity of the performances. The monophonic version has as much presence as
the stereo disc and it brings all the elements into closer and more natural relationship ( the Bess duet, for example, is
greatly improved).
Buddy Tate and His Orchestra: "Swinging Like
Tate!" Fclsted 7004, $4.98
(LP).
...
There are two different groups on this
disc tender the leadership of Tate, who
,took Herschel Evans' place in Count
Basic's hand in 1939. Tate has rarely
been heard on records since he left Basic
in 1948, although for several years he
has been leading his own group in New
York. This band plays on one side of the
disc. On the other side Tate is joined by
several other Basic alumni -Buck Clayton, Dicky Wells, Earl Warren, Jo Jones
-but aside from the contributions of
Tate and Warren, their performances are
far less interesting than those by Tate's
regular combo. The almost forgotten
benefits that can accrue to a jazz group
simply by working together steadily
make a long, languorous blues that rarity
in jazz recording -an extended bit of
"blowing" that sustains interest. In his
group Tate is harboring a wann, singing
clarinetist, Ben Richardson, and a well grounded pianist, Skip Hall. This enticing
introduction to Tate's band deserves an
encore, next time with confidence on
both sides of the disc.
Dicky Wells: 'Bones for the King."
Fclsted 7006, $4.98 (LP).
\Vells's coy talking trombone is an extremely limited device which might be
amusing if it were used sparingly. But
Wells is inclined to look on it as a key
element in his musical personality, and it
takes the edge off the pleasantly Basic -ish
performances (on which he is joined by
Buck Clayton, Buddy Tate, and Rudy
Rutherford) which make up half the disc.
The other half, built around a trombone
quartet (Wells plus Vic Dickenson, Benny Morton, George Matthews) places
Wells in a different and more refreshing
context where he is either involved in
helping to explore the majestic sounds of
which four trombones are capable or giving more rational vent to his comic leanings in a loose- jointed rhythmic riff number that might have been created by
Slim Gaillard. There are a few welcome
glimpses of Benny Morton's neatly
turned, full -voiced trombone.
Joubt S. WILSON
SONOS,
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Reviewed by R.
The following brief reviews are of stereo
tapes of the conventional 2 -track 71/2-ips
type.
Larry Fotine's Beale Street Buskers:
"Take Five" Bel Canto STB 45, 23
min., $9.95.
suspect that Fotine's Dixieland style
is too lighthearted and by no means
rough enough for the Real McCoy, but
I've heard few present-day Dixie performances which take themselves less
seriously, bubble over with so much exuberance, or that are as consistently good
fun to listen to-even at their (obviously
intentional) corniest. The raggy Rink
Tink Piano Man, jaunty Goodbye
Blues, saucy revival of Yes We Have No
Bananas, and the catchy title piece are
perhaps the best of the nine here, but
all have a persuasive lilt; and the strongly marked stereoism adds a sonic sheen
no less bright than the performances
themselves.
I
Evelyn Freeman Conducts the Exciting
Voices: "Didn't It Rain." Bel Canto
STB 46, 23 min., $9.95.
The "voices" here are too few for a true
chorus and their style is generally closer
to jazz than to conventional spiritual singing; but with the assistance of a similarly
small and jazzy instrumental ensemble
they bring immense fervor to slapdash
but robust "gospel- singing" performances
of the title song, All God's Chillun, and
seven other mostly familiar spirituals.
But I wish the arranger had made more
use of cross -channel -response stereo potentialities: the occasional examples here
are tantalizingly few.
Arthur Lyman Group: "Leis of Jazz."
HiFiTape R 607, 43 min., 512.95.
Although Lyman's big -band exotic bestsellers, Taboo and Btcana A, failed to
impress me (except for their glittering
sonics), his present quartet performances
(the leader on vibes, Alan Soares on
piano and celesta, John Kramer on bass
and percussion, and Harold Chang on
percussion) not only enjoy the same
thrilling recording expertise and the superb acoustics of the Kaiser Aluminum
Dome auditorium, but are consistently
zestful and imaginative. i particularly like
the cool yet lilting title piece, odd Trigger
Fantasy, bright Way You Look Tonight,
and ingenious Lullaby of Birdland, but
the other eight pieces in this long program are almost equally outstanding.
Lyman and his arranger deserve special kudos for their tasteful use of sotto-
D. DARRELL
voce and channel- antiphonal effects, as
do the HiFiTape engineers for capturing
the kaleidoscopic range of tonal colors
here (from the most ethereal tinkle to the
solidest timpani thud) in incomparably
translucent and aurally bewitching stereo
sound. Few pops programs in any medium can match this one in either musical or technical distinction.
Ralph Marterie: "Jumpin' Trumpet."
Mercury MVS 2 -30, 17 min., 87.95.
If you want to wean your teen -agers from
rock 'n' roll, you can make a good start
with Marterie's Somebody Loves Me,
Rain, and three other lusty pieces here.
While these have all the heavy drive and
squally brass that the kids demand, there
is also enough variety and jaunty songfulness to whet their appetites for more
elastically rhythmcd and ingeniously
colored jazz styles-including those in
Latin-American idiom. The last is represented here by a seventh piece, a new
arrangement of Marterie's earlier hit,
Guaglioue -a rather incongruous addition
to the present program, but one so cleverly scored and festive that it is to be welcotned for its own sake as well as for its
exceptionally brilliant and stercoistic recording.
Dick Schory's New Percussion Ensemble:
"Music for Bang, BaaROO11, and
Harp." RCA Victor CPS 203, 26 min.,
$8.95.
The titular stress on "bang" and the annotator's pride in the fact that no less
than two large vansfull of assorted
"kitchenware" were crowded on the stage
of Chicago's Orchestra Hall for this recording session misleadingly suggest that
the present tape is merely another excruciatingly noisy virtuoso percussion display. It is indeed a fi-man's dream of the
glitter, solidity, and enormous dynamic
range with which the most steep-fronted
transients now can be recorded; but in
the present combination of broad -spread
stereoism and exceptionally wann and
rich auditorium acoustics, the sonic% here
are as delightful for their crystalline delicacies as they are exciting in their incandescent -yet always musical -climaxes.
The arrangements, too, of well -varied
pops, exotic, and novelty materials are
uncommonly subtle. A "must" tape for
every percussion fancier, this should not
be missed either by any connoisseur of
impressionistic tonal coloring.
Hugo Winterhalter: "Goes Latin." RCA
Victor CPS 156, 26 min., 88.95.
Despite its somewhat Hollywoodian arrangements and occasional interpretative
APRIL 1959
mannerisms, this is one of the best programs I've heard of semisymphonic Latin American dance music ( topped by the
leader's own highly atmospheric lsahel's
Tango based on the fifth Spanish Dance
of Granados, his catchy original La
Muñeca Española, and a dramatic evocation of Mexican bull ring music in La
Marcarcna ). And it is technically notable, too, for the marked stereoism and
reverherance with which the big band
has been ultrabrilliantly recorded.
Si Zentner: "High Noon Cha Cha
Cha."
Bel Canto STB 47, 23 min., 89.95.
The notion of treating the famous film
theme song and other pops favorites in
cha -cha style might have had lamentable
results (as indeed it does in the present
version, complete with vocals, of Sonny
Boy); but the title tune itself and, even
more surprisingly, Softly as in a Morning
Sunrise and Mr. Sandman, turn out to
be attractively piquant, as are several of
the more suitable Latin pieces also included. And the brightly clean recording does full justice to the zestful playing
of Zentner's fine flute, marimba, and percussion soloists.
The following brief reviews are of 4track 33 -ips stereo "tapettes ": supplied
on normal reels in the case of the HiFiTape releases; supplied in "cartridge"
form ( but removed to normal reels for
present review purposes) in the case of
the RCA Victor "K" releases.
"Jamaica" Highlights. Original Broadway Cast. RCA Victor KPS 4002, 47
min., $8.95.
Since I have heard neither the 7'. -ips
taping ( CPS 100, issued at 818.95, currently priced at 815.95) nor the stereo
disc version of Jamaica, I had assumed
that it was largely a one -woman -Lena
Horne -show. Miss Horne is indeed
starred, and does some of her best singing here, but I was scarcely less impressed by Josephine Premice, Ricardo
Montalban, and Adelaide Hall. And although the Broadway critics may have a
point in claiming that the calypso-vein
music doesn't approach Arlen's best earlier scores, I must confess that I found it
invigorating throughout, perhaps thanks
as much to the recording engineers, who
have so successfully captured its theatrical festivity in wonderfully open stereoism, as to the verve of the performances.
The Surfers: "On the Rocks." HiFiTape
R 408, 32 min., $7.95.
Since my private black list of tempera-
101
www.americanradiohistory.com
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lawyer or Indian chief. Because behind every reel of Audiotape are
two decades of research and development in sound recording.
When you buy a reel of Audiotape you're getting the tape that's
the professionals' choice. Why? For example, the machines that coat
the oxides onto the base material are unique in this field designed
and built by Audio engineers who couldn't find commercial machines
that met their rigid specifications. Then there's the C -slot reel the
fastest -threading reel ever developed. For that matter, there's the
oxide itself blended and combined with a special binder that eliminates oxide rub -off.
There are many more reasons why the professionals insist on
Audiotape. They know that there is only one quality of Audiotape.
And this single top quality standard is maintained throughout each
reel, and from reel to reel for all eight types
of Audiotape. That's what makes
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444 Madison Ave., New York 22, New York
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¡otapf,.
mental aversions is headed by male quartets and "Hawaiian" music, no one could
have been more astonished than I was to
find this tape not merely tolerable, but
actually enjoyable. These native Hawaiians not only sing well, with practically
no suggestion of conventional male -quartet clichés, but their instrumental accompaniments completely avoid the expected queasy ukulele side- slipping glissandos. Moreover, the musical materials
themselves ( some fourteen pieces in all,
topped by the jaunty Papi) and an amusing Pidgin English Hula with spoken
translations) are largely confined to authentic island songs. Add excellent recording and unexaggerated yet wellspread stereoism and you have what is
by far the best introduction to genuine
Hawaiian music that I've ever come
across.
George Wright: "Goes South Pacific"
and "Flight to Tokyo." HiFiTapes R
718/17, 42 and 40 min., $7.95 each.
Here George Wright cavorts with characteristic verve and schmaltz through a
twelve -item anthology of familiar South
Pacific tunes and another twelve -item
program of pseudo- exotic divertissements
(China Nights, Japanese Sandman, etc.,
not excluding a heart- throbbing slice of
Puccinian Japonaiserie) which, as the
liner notes concede, are about as Japanese
as chop suey is Chinese, yet which are
admirably suited to display the gong,
xylophone, and hell auxiliaries as well as
the more normal registration resources of
his five -manual ex- Paradise-Theater instrument. Even listeners anesthetic to the
charms of theatre organs must agree that
Wright is one of their least offensive exponents. He can dish out sentiment with
the best, or worst, of them, but he also
can be as engagingly amusing as he is
here, especially in a Japanese Can Can
translated very freely from Offenbach
and the livelier South Pacific pieces.
These are surely two of the best of his
many releases-and likely to he a revelation to admirers who have known him
hitherto only in monophony.
Harty Zimmerman: "Big Dixie." HiFiTape R 608, 38 min., $7.95.
At first I thought the recording here somewhat weaker at the high end than the
best of either HiFiTape's or RCA Victor's
slow-speed 4-track releases, but I soon
realized that this impression was the result of the more -military-than -jazz band
scoring, which mainly exploits the middle and lower registers, and which in
these regions is captured with impressive
strength and depth in exceptionally reverberant acoustics. Zimmerman makes
no particular claim to stylistic authenticity in his powerful big -hand readings
of Wabash Blues, When the Roll Is
Called Up Yonder, Tiger Rag, Darktown
Strutters' Ball, and eight other Dixieland
favorites, but his arrangements are both
original and effective, and his rollicking
performances inferior to none in devilmay -care exuberance.
ae OS OS OS
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
102
www.americanradiohistory.com
.
stile
performance
quality
STEREO EQUIPMENT CABINET KIT
MODEL SE -1 (center unit)
Shpg. Wt.
152
$14995
lbs. (specify wood desired)
MODEL SC -1 (speaker enclosure) 11139915 each
etA yam, Pia
PROFESSIONAL STEREO -MONAURAL
AM -FM TUNER KIT
MODEL PT -1
$8995
The 10 -tube FM circuit features AFC as well as AGC.
An accurate tuning meter operates on both AM and FM
while a 3- position switch selects meter functions without disturbing stereo or monaural listening. The 3 -tube
front end is prewired and prealigned, and the entire AM
circuit is on one printed circuit board for ease of construction. Shpg. Wt. 20 lbs.
MODEL SP-2 (stereo)
Shpg. Wt.
15 lbs.
$5695
MODEL SP -1 (monaural)
ShPg Wt.
13 lbs.
$3795
MODEL C -SP -1
converts SP -1 to SP -2)
Shpg. Wt.
5 lbs.
$21913
Shpg. Wt. 42 lbs.(specify R. or
wood desired)
L.
also
Superbly designed cabinetry to house your complete stereo
system. Delivered with pre -cut panels to fit Heathkit AM -FM
tuner (PT -I), stereo preamplifier (SP -I & 2) and record
changer (RP -3). Blank panels also supplied to cut out for any
other equipment you may now own. Adequate space is also
provided for tape deck, speakers, record storage and amplifiers. Speaker wings will hold Heathkit SS -2 or other
speaker units of similar size. Available in y4' solid core
Philippine mahogany or select birch plywood suitable for
finish of your choice. Entire top features a shaped edge. Hardware and trim are of brushed brass and gold finish. Rich tone
grille cloth is flecked in gold and black. Maximum overall
dimensions (all three pieces); 82%' W. x 361' H. x 20' D.
World's largest manufacturer of
electronic instruments in kit form
HEATH COMPANY
Benton Harbor, B,
Michigan
MONAURAL -STEREO PREAMPLIFIER KIT
(TWO CHANNEL MIXER)
Complete control of your entire stereo system in one compact package. Special "building block" design allows you to
purchase instrument in monaural version and add stereo or
second channel later if desired. The SP -I monaural preamplifier features six separate inputs with four input level
controls. A function selector switch on the SP-2 provides
two channel mixing as well as single or dual channel monaural
and dual channel stereo. A 20' remote balance control is
provided.
APRIL 1959
103
www.americanradiohistory.com
HIGH FIDELITY RECORD CHANGER KIT
MODEL RP -3
$6495
Every outstanding feature you could ask for in a record
changer is provided in the Heathkit RP -3, the most advanced
changer on the market today. A unique turntable pause during the change cycle saves wear and tear on your records by
eliminating grinding action caused by records dropping on a
moving turntable or disc. Record groove and stylus wear are
also practically eliminated through proper weight distribution
and low pivot point friction of the tone arm, which minimizes
arm resonance and tracking error. Clean mechanical simplicity and precision parts give you turntable performance
with the automatic convenience of a record changer. Flutter
and wow, a major problem with automatic changers, is held
to less than 0.18% RMS. An automatic speed selector position allows intermixing 331 and 45 RPM records regardless
of their sequence. Four speeds provided: 16, 331/4. 45 and 78
RPM. Other features include RC filter across the power
switch preventing pop when turned off and muting switch to
prevent noise on automatic or manual change cycle. Changer
is supplied complete with GE -VR -II cartridge with diamond
LP and sapphire 78 stylus, changer base, stylus pressure
gauge and 45 RPM spindle. Extremely easy to assemble. You
simply mount a few mechanical components and connect
the motor, switches and pickup leads. Shpg. Wt. 19 lbs.
Model RP -3 -LP with MF -1 Pickup Cartridge $74.95
HEATHKIT
HIGH FIDELITY TAPE RECORDER KIT
MODEL 7R-1A
$9996
al
preampdecklifier
blytape
mncludes
(TE -1) and roll of tape.
The model TR -I A Tape Deck and Preamplifier, combination
provides all the facilities you need for top quality monaural
record /playback with fast forward and rewind functions.
71/2 and 33/4 IPS tape speeds are selected by changing belt
drive. Flutter and wow are held to less than 0.35'',x. Frequency response at 71/2 IPS ±2.0 db 50-10,000 CPS, at 334
IPS ±2.0 db 50-6,500 CPS. Features include NARTB playback equalization -separate record and playback gain controls-cathode follower output and provision for mike or
line input. Signal -to -noise ratio is better than 45 db below
normal recording level with less than I'; total harmonic distortion. Complete instructions provided for easy assembly.
(Tape mechanism not sold separately). Shpg. Wt. 24 lb.
Model TE -1 Tape Preamplifier sold separately if desired.
Shpg. Wt. 10 lbs. $39.95.
HIGH FIDELITY AM TUNER KIT
MODEL BC -IA
$2695
Designed especially for high fidelity applications this
AM tuner will give you reception close to FM. A
special detector is incorporated and the IF circuits are
"broadbanded" for low signal distortion. Sensitivity
and selectivity arc excellent and quiet performance is
assured by high signal-to -noise ratio. All tunable
components are prealigned. Your "best buy" in an
AM tuner. Shpg. Wt. 9 lbs.
HIGH FIDELITY FM TUNER KIT
ITS
..
IT'S FUN
EASY
And You Save Up To 1/2
With Do -It- Yourself Heathkits
.
Putting together your own Heathkit can be one of the most exciting
hobbies you ever enjoyed. Simple step -by -step instructions and large
pictorial diagrams show you where every part goes. You can't possibly go wrong. No previous electronic or kit building experience is required. You'll learn a lot about your equipment as you build it, and,
of course, you will experience the pride and satisfaction of having
done it yourself.
MODEL FM -3A
$2695
For noise and static -free sound reception, this FM
tuner is your least expensive source of high fidelity
material. Efficient circuit design features stablized
oscillator circuit to eliminate drift after warm -up and
broadband IF circuits for full fidelity with high sensitivity. All tunable components are prealigned and
front end is preassembled. Edge -illuminated slide rule
dial is clearly marked and covers complete FM band
from 88 to 108 mc. Shpg. Wt. 8 lbs.
1
HICK FIDELITY MACAZINE
104
www.americanradiohistory.com
No Woodworking Experience Required
For Construction
CHAIRSIDE ENCLOSURE KIT
Your
For Ease of Assembly
$4395' each
(Specify model and wood
desired when ordering.)
complete hi -fi system is right at your fingertips with
MODEL CE -1
All Parts Precut and Predrilled
this handsomely styled chairside enclosure. In addition to
its convenience and utility it will complement your living
room furnishings with its striking design in either traditional or contemporary models. Designed for maximum
flexibility and compactness consistent with attractive
appearance, this enclosure is intended to house the Heathkit
AM and FM tuners (BC-IA and FM -3A) and the WA -P2
preamplifier. along with the RP -3 or majority of record
changers which will fit in the space provided. Well ventilated space is provided in the rear of the enclosure for
any of the Heathkit amplifiers designed to operate with
the WA -P2. The tilt -out shelf can be installed on either
right or left side as desired during construction, and a
lift -top lid in front can also be reversed. Both tuners may
be installed in tilt -out shelf, with preamp mounted in
front of changer
or tuner and preamp combined with
other tuner in changer area. Overall dimensions are 18'
W. x 24' H. x 351/2' D. Changer compartment measures
I73/ß' L. x 16' W. x 9W D. All parts are precut and predrilled for easy assembly. The Contemporary cabinet is
available in either mahogany or birch, and the Traditional
cabinet is available in mahogany suitable for the finish
of your choice. All hardware supplied. Shpg. Wt. 46 lbs.
....
TRADITIONAL
CONTEMPORARY
Model CE -1T Mahogany
Model CE -1B Birch
Model CE -1M Mahogany
World's largest manufacturer of
electronic instruments in kit form
HEATH COMPANY
Benton Harbor, 8, Michigan
a
subsidiary of Daystrom. lnc.
Ci
"UNIVERSAL" HI -FI
AMPLIFIER KIT
MODEL UA -1
12
MODEL EA -2
12
WATT
$2896
An amplifier and preamplifier in one compact unit, the
EA -2 has more than enough power for the average home
hi -fi system and provides full range frequency response
from 20 to 20,000 CPS within
db, with less than 2'",,
harmonic distorition at full power over the entire range.
RIAA equalization, separate bass and treble controls and
hum balance control are featured. An outstanding performer for the size and price. Shpg. Wt. 15 lbs.
t
1
WATT
$2195
Ideal for stereo or monaural applications. 'reamed
with the Heathkit WA -P2 preamplifier, the UA -I provides an economical starting point for a hi -fi system.
In stereo applications two UA -l's may be used along
with the Heathkit SP-2, or your present system may
be converted to stereo by adding the UA -I. Harmonic
distortion is less than 2 from 20 to 20,000 CPS at
full 12 watt output. "On-off" switch located on chassis
and an octal plug is also provided to connect preamplifier for remote control operation. Shpg. Wt.
13 lbs.
"BOOKSHELF" HI -FI
AMPLIFIER KIT
"EXTRA PERFORMANCE"
AMPLIFIER KIT
MODEL W7-M
55
WATT HI -FI
$5495
This hi -fi amplifier represents a remarkable value at less
than a dollar a watt. Full audio output and maximum
damping is a true 55 watts from 20 to 20,000 CPS with
less than 2'Q total harmonic distortion throughout the
entire audio range. Features include level control and
"on -off" switch right on the chassis, plus provision for
remote control. Pilot light on chassis. Modern, functional
design. Shpg. Wt. 28 lbs.
"MASTER CONTROL" PREAMPLIFIER KIT
MODEL WA -P2
$1975
All
the controls you need to master a complete high
fidelity home music system are incorporated in this versatile
instrument. Featuring five switch- selected inputs, each
with level control. Provides tape recorder and cathode follower outputs. Full frequency response is obtained
within
11/2 db from 15 to 35.000 CPS and will do full
justice to the finest available program sources. Equalization is provided for LP, RIAA, AES and early 78 records.
Dimensions are 12'tí L. x aye' H. x 534' D. Shpg. Wt.
7 lbs.
t
APItII. 1959
103
www.americanradiohistory.com
HEATHKIT
"HEAVY DUTY"
MODEL W6 -M
70
WATT HI -FI AMPLIFIER KIT
$10998
"ADVANCE DESIGN"
AMPLIFIER KIT
25
WATT HI -FI
$5975
MODEL W5 -M
Enjoy the distortion -free high fidelity sound reproduction from this outstanding hi -fi amplifier. The W5 -M
incorporates advanced design features for the super
critical listener. Features include specially designed
Peerless output transformer and KT66 tubes. The circuit is rated at 25 watts and will follow instantaneous
power peaks of a full orchestra up to 42 watts. A
"tweeter saver" suppresses high frequency oscillation
and a unique balancing circuit facilitates adjustment
of output tubes. Frequency response is ± I db from 5
to 160.000 CPS at I watt and within ±2 db 20 to
20,000 CPS at full 25 watts output. Harmonic distortion is less than l'; at 25 watts and IM distortion is
1% at 20 watts (60 and 3,000 CPS, 4:1). Hum and
noise are 99 db below 25 watts for truly quiet performance. Shpg. Wt. 31 lbs.
For real rugged duty called for by advance hi -fi systems or
P.A. networks, this high powered amplifier more than fills
the bill. Silicon -diode rectifiers are used to assure long life
and a heavy duty transformer gives you extremely good
power supply regulation. Variable damping control provides
optimum performance with any speaker system. Quick
change plug selects 4, 8 and 16 ohm or 70 volt output and the
correct feedback resistance. Frequency response at
watt
is ±1 db from 5 CPS to 80 kc with controlled HF rolloff
above 100 kc. At 70 watts output harmonic distortion is below 2 %, 20 to 20.000 CPS and IM distortion below 1'; 60
and 6,000 CPS. Hum and noise 88 db below full output.
Shpg. Wt. 52 lbs.
I
YOU'RE NEVER OUT OF DATE WITH HEATHKITS
20
WATT HI -FI AMPLIFIER KIT
MODEL W4 -AM
Heathkit hi -fl systems are designed for maximum flexibility. Simple
conversion from basic to complex systems or from monaural to
stereo is easily accomplished by adding to already existing units.
Heathkit engineering skill is your guarantee against obsolescence.
Expand your hi-fi as your budget permits ... and, if you like, spread
the payments over easy monthly installments with the Heath Time
Payment Plan.
GENERAL -PURPOSE
MODEL A9 -C
20
$3550
$3975
This top quality amplifier offers you full fidelity at
minimum cost. Features extended frequency response,
low distortion and low hum level. Harmonic distortion is less than 1.5 q, and 1M distortion is below
2.7% at full 20 watt output. Frequency response
extends from IO CPS to 100,000 CPS within ±I db
at watt. Output transformer tapped at 4, 8 and 16
ohms. Easy to build and a pleasure to use. Shpg.
Wt. 28 lbs.
1
WATT AMPLIFIER KIT
The model A9 -C combines a preamplifier, main amplifier and
power supply all on one chassis, providing a compact unit to
fill the need for a good amplifier with a moderate cash investment. Features four separate switch -selected inputs.
Separate bass and treble tone controls offer 15 db boost and
cut. Covers 20 to 20,000 CPS within ±I db. A fine unit with
which to start your own hi -ti system. Shpg. Wt. 23 lbs.
ELECTRONIC CROSSOVER KIT
MODEL XO -1
$1895
This unique instrument separates high and low frequencies
and feeds them through two amplifiers to separate speakers.
It is located ahead of the main amplifiers, thus, virtually
eliminating IM distortion and matching problems. Crossover
frequencies for each channel arc at 100, 200, 400, 700, 1200,
2,000 and 3,500 CPS. This unit eliminates the need for conventional crossover circuits and provides amazing versatility
at low cost. A unique answer to frequency division problems.
Shpg, Wt. 6 lbs.
HIGHI FIDELITY NIACAZI\E
10G
www.americanradiohistory.com
"BASIC RANGE" HI -FI SPEAKER
SYSTEM KIT
MODEL SS -2
"LEGATO" HI -FI SPEAKER SYSTEM KIT
Legs optional extra. $4.95
Outstanding performance at modest cost make
this speaker system a spectacular buy for any hi -fi
enthusiast. The specially designed enclosure and
high qulaity 8' mid -range woofer and compression type tweeter cover the frequency range of 50 to
12,000 CPS. Crossover circuit is built in with balance control. Impedance is 16 ohms, power rating
25 watts. Cabinet is constructed of veneer -surfaced
furniture -grade 1/2' plywood suitable for light or
dark finish. Shpg. Wt. 26 lbs.
''RANGE EXTENDING" HI -FI
SPEAKER SYSTEM KIT
MODEL SS -1B
Not
a
complete speaker system in itself, the
(or
SS
-I)
SS -I B
SS -2
of the basic
speaker system. Employs a 15' woofer
and a super tweeter to
extend overall response
from
35
easy
assembly.
to 16,000 CPS
± 5 db. Crossover circuit
is built -in with balance
control. Impedance is 16
ohms, power rating 35
watts. Constructed of
3/4' veneer -surfaced plywood suitable for light
or dark finish. All parts
precut and predrilled for
Wt. 80 lbs.
NEW! "DOWN -TO- EARTH"
High- Fidelity Book
The "HOW AND WHY OF HIGH FIDELITY", by Milton Sleeper explains
what high fidelity is, and hrw you can
select and plan your own system.
This liberally -Illustrated 48 -page book
tells you the hi -fi story without fancy
technical jargon or high -sounding
terminology. 25c.
SEND FOR FREE CATALOG
Write today for free catalog describing
over 100 easy -to -build kits In hi-fi
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Complete specifications, schematics,
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-
reproduced sound yet developed. Perfect balance, precise phasing,
and adequate driver design all combine to produce startling realism long sought after by the hi -fi perfectionist. Two 15' Altec
Lansing low frequency drivers and a specially designed exponential
horn with high frequency driver cover 25 to 20,000 CPS. A unique
crossover network is built in. Impedance is 16 ohms, power rating
50 watts. Cabinet is constructed of 3/4' veneer -surfaced plywood
in either African mahogany or imported white birch suitable for
the finish of your choice. All parts are precut and predrilled for
easy assembly. Shpg. Wt. 195 lbs.
SPEEDWINDER KIT
DIAMOND
STYLUS HI -FI
PICKUP
CARTRIDGE
99995
is designed to extend the range
$29995
Words cannot describe the truc magnificence of the "Legato"
speaker system ... it's simply the nearest thing to perfection in
MODEL HH -1
93995
Shpg.
MODEL SW -1
MODEL MF -1
1
92695
Replace your present
pickup with the MF -I
and enjoy the fullest
fidelity your library
of LP's has to offer.
Designed to Heath
specifications to offer
you one of the finest
cartridges available
today. Nominally flat
response from 20 to
20,000 CPS. Shpg.
Wt. t lb.
HEATH
COMPANY
subsidiary of
[C
pioneer In
"do- It-yourself"
electronics
Enclosed find S
Please enclose posted
Ior parcel post- expres
orders are shipped de.
livery charges collect
All prices F.O.B. Bento
Harbor, Mich. A 20'.-, deposit is required on all
C.O.D. orders. Price
subject to change with
out notice.
52495
Rewind tape and film at the rate of
200' in 40 seconds. Saves wear on
tape and recorder. Handles up to
101/2' tape reels and 800' reels of
8 or 16 millimeter film. Incorporates
automatic shutoff and braking device. Shpg. Wt. 12 lbs.
a
BENTON HARBOR 8, MICH.
Daystrom, Inc.
Please send the Free Heathkit catalog.
Enclosed is 25c for the Hi -Fi book.
name
address
city
&
state
PRICE
i
1959
107
www.americanradiohistory.com
This Man is Using an Electronic Crystal Ball
must
The H. H. Scott advance development team must foresee the future. They
design new products so that they stay current for many years. Hermon Hosmer
Scott insists on this as a protection to your investment.
ahead.
The new 130 Stereo preamp is an example of the way Scott engineers work
more
Engineering of this brand new product was started when stereo was nothing
its many
than a hobbyist's delight. This allowed time for thorough testing of
advanced features.
The 330
Careful, long -range planning has always made H. H. Scott a top buy.
in 1955, it
Stereo AM -FM tuner is an example. When the 330 was first marketed
it was equipped for
it used wide -band circuitry
was designed for stereo
multiplex .. it included many new engineering advances to keep it current for
...
...
years to come.
planning,
Every H. H. Scott component is designed to defy obsolescence. Careful
fine engineering, exceptional quality mean your investment in the new H. H. Scott
is an investment in a comstereo-preamp.... or any H. H. Scott product
ponent that will still be up -to -date many years from now.
...
3 13
11
12 16
4 8 5
1
8 7
15
17 reasons why you should buy the
New
H. H. Scott
Stereo -
Preamp
M.
H. SCOTT. INC.. 111 POWDERMILL RD.. MAYNARD. MASS.
9 6 10 14 2 6
2 Completely separate bass and treble
t Visual signal light display panel shows mode of operation at a glance.
3 Play stereo from any source
controls on each channel so that different speakers may be matched.
monaural from any source through
Records, FM -AM Tuner, Tape. 1 Reverse channels instantly, or play
center channel output lets you use your present
both channels doubling your power. 5 Play Trereo
quickly and accurately. 7 Respeaker as a middle channel. 6 Special circuitry lets you balance channels
instantly. Lets you correct for improperly recorded
verse the phase of one of your channels 180 degrees
record equalizer facilities. 10 Use
tapes. 6 Separate 12 db ¡octave rumble and scratch filters. 5 Complete
inputs. You can connect both a stereo phono
as an electronic crossover at any time. II Two stereo low -level
13 Provision for operating
pickup and stereo tape head. 12 Stereo tape recorder inputs and outputs.
allow any member of your family
stereo tape heads without external preamps. 11 Quick -set dot controls
tape monitor switch. I1 The exceptional
to use equipment. 15 Loudness -volume switch. 16 Stereo
long associated with
quality.of all H. H. Scott components... PLUS all the features and specifications
H. H. Scott monaural preamplifiers.
for full output.
Sensitivity 1! é millivolts on tape head input, 3 millivolts on phono
in accessory case
Hum level 60 db below full output on high level outputs. Size
West of Rockies).
w x 5 h x 12!.¡ d. Model 130 price $109.95 ($172.95,
-
-a
15!
3
EXPORT: TELEXO INTERNATIONAL CORP.. 36 W. 40TH ST.. N. T. C.
Write for complete technical specifications and new catalog HF-4
www.americanradiohistory.com
a ud ¡oc raft
Some tips on
Adding theThird Channel
Some stereo systems suffer from lack of center
fill. Here's how to plug that hole in the middle.
two -channel
stereo reproduction based the
T
assumption that
sound picked up
HE PRACTICABILITY
of
is
on
any
with equal intensity by two microphones and reproduced svith equal intensity by two loudspeakers will appear to emanate from a point midway
between the loudspeakers. This is true
in theory, but it doesn't always work
in practice, as witness the number of
stereo listeners who point a critical
finger at a vaguely-defined area between stage left and stage right
-the area commonly known as the
"hole in the middle."
An ideal stereophonic reproduction
of a large performing group will, when
heard from a point equidistant from
the loudspeakers (and at least as far
away from them as the distance between them), provide an even spread
of sound across the entire area between the speakers. Front row performers at the middle of the group
will sound as close to the listener as
those at the sides of the stage, and
the location of all performers should
be equally distinguishable. When the
listener moves to one side, he should
hear the instruments on that side of
the stage more loudly, but he should
still be able to hear the ones on the
other side of the stage corning from
the other speaker.
Unfortunately, the ideal is not always achieved, partly because recording engineers aren't yet thoroughly familiar with this new medium,
partly because the reproducing loud LEFT
R
DIFFERENCE
CENTER
Figure
outputs
1. A speaker
reproduces
tied to both "hot'
difference signals
speakers may not be suited for or
placed for optimum stereo reproduction, and partly because of the psychological effect of being able to see
two distinct sources. Thus, instead of
the continuous "curtain of sound," we
may get something resembling a low
tie: broad and full at the ends, and
pinched in the middle.
The "hole in the middle" is rarely a
totally vacant area; more often, it
causes a "ping -pong" effect whereby
performers who should be located between the speakers seem to jump from
one sicle to the other instead of staying put. In its milder forms, it simply
shows up as a vagueness in the location of middle instruments -a perfecth natural phenomenon in the concert
hall, but one that is hard to accept
when, in the living room, the performers at the sides of the group are often
so pinpointed you almost fed you
could aim a rifle at them.
Given optimum placement of microphones at the recording session, the
most usual causes of the hole in the
middle are excessive spacing between
or disadvantageous orientation of loudspeaker systems which tend to be directional at high frequencies. Wide
speaker spacing increases the breadth
and massiveness of stereo reproduction; close spacing solidifies the middle, but reduces the spaciousness of
the sound. Optimal spacing and orientation of speakers depend upon their
directional characteristics, the acoustics of the listening room, and the distance the listener sits from the speakers. But there are instances when it is
impossible to place stereo speakers optimally, so several schemes have been
worked out to plug up the resulting
hole between them.
These remedial systems fall into hvo
broad categories which we will call,
for want of better designations, A +B
and A -B arrangements.
An A +B system utilizes a mixture
(or addition) of the left- and right hand channel signals, whereas an AB system utilizes the signal that is left
over when the main channel signals
are subtracted from one another. This
remnant is the so-called difference signal, which causes the stereo effect.
APRIL 1959
The simplest form of A±B'ing
works on the principle that monophonic sound, reproduced through a
stereo system, appears to emanate
from a narrow area between the
speakers. ° The trick here is to use a
"blend control," whose range varies
from total channel isolation (normal
stereo) to total channel blending
(mono sound through both speakers).
Rotation of this control has precisely
the same subjective effect as varying
the distance between the speakers;
increased blending tends to move the
sound sources towards the middle,
improving center fill -in and decreasing
spaciousness.
In order to strengthen the center
without unduly sacrificing breadth, it
is necessary to add a third speaker behveen the main- ones, and feed this
with a separate signal that is related
to the main stereo signals.
One inexpensive approach to this is
Paul Klipsch's A -B arrangement,
utilizing his Model H speaker (H for
heresy, meaning noncorner). The center speaker is connected between the
"hot" output terminals of berth amplifiers (Figure 1), where equal voltages
are produced when both amplifiers
pass identical signals. Thus, voltage is
Continued on page
12.5
e It is assumed throughout this discussion that
both retain speakers are in phase with and identical to one another. Identical speakers ',noddy
the least sr teiousness f
phonic material
Ind give the least shifting of stntrcas when reproducing Styria.
Figure 2. Resistors (R) mix he stereo
signals to gire a third -channel output.
109
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caudiocraft
HF Shopper
"h`
THIS ISSUE: Stereo Cartridges
A tabulation of specifications, special features,
prepared by the HIGH
FIDELITY
CAN BUY most stereo carand arms separately. In a
few cases, however, they are available
only as complete pickup combinations. Because there are so many stereo
cartridges, arms, and combinations on
the market, we were forced to publish
this "Shopper" article in two installments: Tables 3A and 3B (in the preceding issue) covered all arms including those of fixed combinations, and
the cartridge sections of combination
pickups, respectively. Table 3C, in this
issue, contains information on all other
stereo cartridges.
It should be kept in mind, however, that the "HF Shopper" is intended only to help you narrow your field
of investigation to a few items which
appear to meet your needs better than
others. Beyond that, personal shopping is recommended; or, if that is impossible, you should rely on more detailed evaluations such as appear in
our "High Fidelity Reports" section.
You 'll find that advertisements often
are quite helpful, too.
Virtually all cartridges can be classified as one of two TYPES: magnetic or
piezoelectric. Only one well -known
cartridge, the Weathers FM-capacitance pickup, doesn't fall into either
category.
Magnetic cartridges include variable- reluctance, moving -coil, and moving- magnet systems; they are all characterized by low voltage output, and
accordingly require preamplifier stages.
Their output voltage is proportional
to the velocity of groove modulation,
YOU
tridges
so that they must be deëqualized to
compensate for the preëqualization
with which records are made.
Piezoelectric cartridges include
those known as ceramic and crystal
pickups. These usually have enough
output voltage to drive amplifiers directly. Because their output is proportional to the amplitude of groove
swing, and record preëqualization is
and prices of high -fidelity components,
staff from information supplied by manufacturers.
such that groove swing is nearly constant for all frequencies, piezo cartridges can be made very nearly selfequalizing by controlled high- frequency resonance and proper loading. Thus,
piezo cartridges require simpler amplifier circuits and, moreover, are generally less expensive than magnetics.
Not too many years ago it could be
said flatly that piezo cartridges were
also lower in quality than magnetics.
But the gap in quality has been closing recently and, with stereo, the manufacturers of piezo cartridges have
made giant strides. It is fair to say
now that some piezo cartridges are
better than some magnetics, although
of the two types the best magnetics
are still conceded first place.
In making your choice there are
three other facts to consider. First,
nearly all current control units and
control amplifiers have provisions for
both types of cartridges, so that the
piezo unit's amplifier cost advantage is
more theoretical than practical in most
cases. (In fact, some piezo cartridges
are designed for operation with mag-
netic cartridge input circuits.) Second, the lower amplification required
for piezo units often simplifies hum
problems. Third, aside from quality
considerations, the average magnetic
cartridge will play a record properly
with a lower tracking force than the
average piezo unit, and this implies a
lower rate of record and stylus wear.
There are a few exceptions.
Most cartridges are designed to allOW TIP REPLACEMENT by the user,
which is a real convenience factor.
Obviously, though, some manufacturers are convinced that an easilyreplaceable stylus assembly would limit the quality of their cartridge designs. A few piezo cartridges are low
enough in price so that the entire unit
is replaceable at virtually the price of
a diamond stylus alone, and at least
one manufacturer of magnetic car-
tridges offers a trade-in arrangement
at stylus replacement cost.
In a stereo cartridge, COMPLIANCE is
important for both lateral and vertical
stylus motion. Compliance is a measure of how easily the stylus can be
moved from its at -rest position, and
is, therefore, a factor in determining
tracking ability. Together with the
arm's dynamic mass it determines the
low- frequency resonance point. Compliance should be as high as is consistent with mechanical sturdiness in
any given design; if it is very high,
the pickup may tend to be fragile and
the manufacturer must take special
precautions to keep the stylus centered and protected.
The effective TIP MASS, or the dynamic mass of the stylus assembly, is
especially important at higher frequencies. It resonates with the compliance
of the record material to produce the
familiar high -frequency response peak.
Above the peak, response invariably
falls off sharply. For a given stylus
radius the peak can be pushed to a
higher frequency by reducing the effective tip mass; the lower this mass is,
the better. Obtaining sufficiently low
tip mass has been and remains one of
the most difficult design problems in
stereo cartridges.
Tip mass also has a direct bearing
on the MINIMUM STYLUS FORCE required for proper tracking, and on the
wear rate of the record and stylus.
Record groove acceleration rates of
1,000 g are not extremely uncommon;
it would require a downward force
of 3 grams simply to keep a 3- milligram stylus assembly in contact with
the groove walls under such an acceleration. Cartridges with much higher stylus mass simply will not track
such high accelerations at moderate
tracking force.
RECOMMENDED LOAD values are
shown for purposes of information
Continued on page 128
Next month: The 11F Shopper, No. 4: Preanep Control Units
APRI, 1959
111
www.americanradiohistory.com
Mow to
install and tare l'or
Stereo Cartridges
The pickup is where disc stereo in the
home begins. Here's how to start it off
right, and make sure it stays that way.
pickup requires a
fair amount of care in installation, but stereo disc equipment intensifies every requirement of the monophonic medium, as well as adding a
couple that are unique to stereo. Practically any pickup malfunction that increases monophonic distortion and
groove wear will be even more serious
AMONOPHONIC
in stereo.
The smaller stylus tip used in stereo,
and the increased complexity of the
stereo groove, combine to place unprecedented importance on the accuracy of stylus force adjustment and
cartridge orientation. And as if that
weren't enough, the addition of the
second channel quite often breeds
hum problems knottier than any ever
encountered in the average monophonic system.
Mechanically, the installation of a
stereo cartridge involves exactly the
same procedures as are called for in
mono pickup installation; stereo just
makes these operations more critical.
For instance, a monophonic cartridge
installed with a slight list to one side
might give increased distortion and
chew up record grooves more rapidly
than normal. But a stereo cartridge
with the same amount of list will produce considerably more distortion and
will lose some of its ability to separate the individual stereo signals.
In making electrical connections for
a stereo cartridge you should keep
these points in mind: (1) The leftchannel output from the cartridge must
end up at the left-hand loudspeaker,
and the right-channel sound must come
from the right-hand speaker; (2) If
each output channel (from the cartridge) has its own ground connection,
each should be grounded at that side
of the system which is fed by that
channel; (3) If the stereo cartridge is
to be used for playing mono discs also,
there should be some means of combining the stereo channels (to give A-I-B
mixing); (4) If the cartridge has four
112
output terminals, the channel outputs
must be wired so as to be in -phase with
and (5) The pickup
one another;
arm and turntable should be grounded at some point in the system to
reduce audible hum to a minimum.
If the arm has yet to be mounted,
consult its instructions to determine
where it is to go, and drill any holes
that are needed for it. Before mounting the arm, make sure the cartridge
can be installed in it once it's mounted. If it can, go ahead and fasten the
arm in place. If it can't, postpone the
arm installation until after the next
step, which may require some cogitation.
A stereo cartridge must have a minimum of three output connections:
two "hot" terminals for the right- and
left -hand -signal outputs, and one for
their common ground. Four-terminal
cartridges have a separate ground connection for each channel output, while
five -terminal ones have these plus a
separate terminal for a hum- shield
around the cartridge. Similarly, a stereo arm must have at least three leads,
two of which must be ungrounded for
carrying the "hot" signal circuits.
In general, the more of a cartridge's
output connections that can be utilized, the less chance there is of encountering hum problems. Thus, if a
four- terminal cartridge is going into a
four-wire arm, it's wise to use all of
the separate connections that are on
hand. An arrangement in which the
grounds of both stereo channels are
brought together at the cartridge can
cause hum because of the formation of
what is known as a ground loop. More
about this later.
The limiting factor in any pickup/
arm combination will obviously be the
item with the fewer output leads. If
the cartridge sports four terminals and
°One system which requires out -of -phase conof the pickup is CBS's special two-way
nect'
stereo amplifier. which liasses hen separate program channels through a single push -pull
amplifier.
the arm has three, then you've no
choice but to adopt a three-terminal
system, tying together both ground
terminals right at the cartridge, and
running these through the arm's single
ground lead. Some four -terminal pickups come equipped with an interconnecting strap between the ground
terminals, enabling the cartridge to
be used as a three -terminal or (by removing the strap) four -terminal type.
It is an easy matter to convert most
monophonic pickup arms for stereo
use: all you do is rewire the arm with
the necessary one or two additional
pickup leads. This can be done in any
arm that does not have two -contact
plug-in heads or one of those ingenious plug or plunger arrangements;
the important thing is that the new
leads be at least as flexible as the ones
that are already in the arm. If they
aren't, they'll impede the arm's lateral
movement. And remember that a pair
of uninsulated shielded cables whose
braids touch the arm metal, or contact
each other, is the same as a three -wire
arm system.
There is no established standard
color code for stereo pickup leads. The
only thing to do in a particular instance is to follow carefully the wiring instructions supplied with the
stereo arm and the cartridge, and then
to double-check the final job by tracing each lead from its cartridge pin
to its ultimate connection at the am-
plifier(s).
In case there are no instructions at
hand, though, here are some safe niles
of thumb. If the arm uses two shielded
cables, the shields are ground connections and the inner conductors are
"hot" (as usual); if you end up with
the channels reversed, simply switch
the input plugs at the amplifiers. If
one of the shielded cables is color coded red, this should carry the righthand signal circuits. If the leads aren't
shielded, light-colored wires carry the
"hot" signal circuits and dark- colored
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
Lid ¡øc r
ones the grounds. If any leads are
paired (i.e., twisted together), a pair
should be used for one output channel. The most important thing at this
stage of the game is to be sure that
"hot" leads carry "hot" circuits, and
that if there's a choice of grounds, the
right -hand ground goes to the right hand side of the amplifier system, and
so forth.
Once you've puzzled out the pickup
connections, attach the cartridge connecting clips to the leads inside the
head of the pickup arm. When soldering these, turn each clip upside down
(so that solder won't rim down inside
it) and hold it with a small pair of
pliers. Never solder directly to the
cartridge pins, and don't attach the
clip to the cartridge before soldering
it. Either of these expedients can ruin
pickup cartridge.
The next step depends upon the type
of counterbalancing system used in the
arm. If weighted inserts must be used
in the cartridge shell, the proper insert should be determined by trial and
error before fastening the arm in
place. To do this, screw the cartridge
into its shell temporarily (leaving its
leads disconnected) and put different
weights on top of the end of the arm
until the measured stylus force complies with the manufacturer's recommendation. When this has been done,
or if the arm's tracking force can he
adjusted after installation, fasten the
arm onto the motor board. If the
height of the arm base is adjustable,
set this so that the axis of the arm
is parallel to the top of a record when
playing it.
Stylus force should be measured at
normal record -playing height, and
should be set initially for the minimum
value recommended by the cartridge
manufacturer for the type of arm
you're using. Additional force may be
needed if appreciable distortion is
later observed during recorded fortis simi, but it should never be necessary
to use a value above the manufacturer's recommended force range.
Should this extra force seem to be rea
quired, the pickup or some other component in the system (possibly the
arm) is more than likely to be defective or substandard.
Now drape the pickup leads at the
rear of the arm so that they produce as
little resistance as possible to lateral
motion of the pickup, and use a small
cable clamp screwed to the motor
board to hold the cables in place.
The cartridge's orientation with respect to the record can be checked by
placing a single, unwarped record on
the turntable and laying a small, thin
mirror on top of this. With the pickup
stylus resting on the mirror, it is easy
to see from directly in front of the
cartridge whether or not its stylus is
vertical to the surface of the mirror.
If it isn't, note whether the whole arm
is canted or whether the trouble is
limited to the cartridge, and straighten
the offending component by shimming it up or manipulating any leveling screws that it may have. The angle
of the stylus when viewed from the
side will vary from one pickup design
to another, and may be assumed correct so long as the axis of the arm is
parallel to the disc surface.
Now, the amplifier connections.
Herein lie the answer to stereo's number one bugaboo
hum. A well -designed monophonic amplifier is so constructed as to provide no more than
one grounding point for all critical
low-level stages. If two widely -separated grounding points are utilized for
different parts of a low -level amplifier
stage, the electrical resistance between
these points can inject a hum voltage
into the signal. In a stereo system, it
is easy to overlook the possibility of
these so- called ground loops. For example, two amplifiers may have a common ground connection at one point
through an integrated stereo adapter
or control section, and at a second
point through the common -ground
connection of a three -terminal pickup cartridge. Possible result: hum.
Here's an easy way to avoid this
trouble, from the outset. If you use a
three -terminal pickup system, and a
-
L
completely integrated stereo amplifier
or two separate systems with a central
stereo control adapter, connect the
pickup's ground to either (not both)
the left- or right-hand amplifier input
receptacle, choosing that which gives
the least hum. If the amplifier channels are totally separate, connect their
grounds together at the common ground wire coming out of the pickup
arm. With a four -terminal cartridge,
connect both of the pickup's ground
leads to their respective input receptacles, no matter what the amplifier system; if separate amplifiers are
used, rely on the stereo adapter to
make the common ground connection.
The object in each case is to provide
but a single ground connection between the two stereo amplifier systems. As long as this precaution is observed, there should be no more trouble from hum in a stereo system than
in a monophonic one.
If hum is still encountered, it can
be remedied sometimes by moving the
common ground point between the
systems to another part of the circuit
-say from between the phono inputs
to between the control unit outputs.
Persistent hum in a stereo system is
probably being caused by something
that causes hum in mono systems.
Finally, a note about monophonic
discs and stereo pickups. A well -designed monophonic cartridge will produce an electrical output only for lateral motion of its stylus. A stereo
cartridge, however, must be responsive
also to vertical stylus motion if it is to
reproduce the intrachannel difference
which accounts for the stereo effect.
Unfortunately, the only vertical modulation to be found in a monophonic
groove is that caused by the so- called
pinch effect, which is audible as a particularly offensive form of distortion.
Thus, if a stereo pickup is to be used
for monophonic discs, its vertical output should be suppressed; this can be
done by combining its two output
channels. A versatile stereo control
unit will provide for "blended" or
Continued on page 126
HOT
L GND.
R
GND.
R
HOT
PICKUP
Figure 1. This simple switching system enables a stereo
cartridge to be used for playing monophonic discs. The switch
parallels the pickup's outputs, eliminating its sensitivity to the
vertical vibrations of "pinch effect" on monophonic recordings.
PICKUP
Figure 2. A four -pole two-position switch is required for
series connection of a four-terminal stereo pickup cartridge.
APRIL 1959
113
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ft
combining:
Freports
Audiolab Test Reports
Tested in the Home
prepared by Hirsch -Houck Laboratories
and the technical staff of
High
Fideiy
HF REPORT POLICY
Equipment reports appearing in this section are of two types: Audiolab Test Reports and Tested in the
Home Reports. AUDIOLAB TEST REPORTS are prepared for us by Hirsch -Houck Laboratories,
a completely independent organization whose staff was responsible for the original Audio League
Reports. Audiolab Reports are published exactly as they are received. Neither we nor manufacturers
of the equipment tested are permitted to delete information from or add to the reports, to amend them
in any way, or to withhold them from publication; manufacturers may add a short comment, however, if they wish to do so. Audiolab Reports are made on all -electronic equipment ( tuners, preamplifiers, amplifiers, etc.). TESTED IN THE HOME REPORTS are prepared by members of our own staff
on equipment that demands more subjective appraisals ( speakers, pickups, etc. ). The policy concerning report publication and amendment by the manufacturer is the same as that for Audiolab Reports.
(Note: some reports in this issue were prepared before the new policy went into effect.)
AIR
Price:
in the tuning portion of the receiver.
The IF coils are prealigned also; it is
intended that the receiver be in final
Heath PT -1 AM -FM
Stereo Tuner
$89.95.
MANUFACTURER:
Heath
Company, Benton Harbor 8, Michigan.
The Model PT -1 Stereo ANI -FM
tuner represents one of the Heath
Company's most ambitious efforts. A
high -performance AM -FM tuner is a
difficult item for a manufacturer to
produce under any conditions, even
with experienced personnel and complete test facilities. The design of such
a tuner for home construction by relatively
inexperienced
individuals,
which must operate without being
aligned with costly laboratory equipment, is a formidable task.
This is a true stereo tuner; AM and
FM sections are completely separate
except for the power supply and tuning meter. The FM tuner has a cas code RF amplifier, mixer, oscillator
and reactance tubes, no less than five
IF amplifier and /or limiter stages, a
discriminator, and a cathode follower
audio output. Automatic gain control
(AGC) is applied to three IF stages,
and also operates the tuning meter.
The "front end" is supplied wired
and prealigned, with factory- sealed
adjustments. This obviates the need
for the kit builder to do any alignment
operating condition after completion,
without any IF alignment other than
a touch -up adjustment of the discriminator transformer. A complete alignment procedure is detailed in the
manual accompanying the kit, for the
benefit of anyone having the requisite
knowledge and equipment to perform
such an alignment.
Designed as a high -quality adjunct
to the FM tuner, the AM tuner is
much more sophisticated in its design
than most we have seen offered to the
audio hobbyist. It has an RF amplifier
Heath stereo AM -FM tuner.
and two IF stages with controllable
bandwidth. A push -pull germanium
diode detector is used for low distortion, and there is a separate cathode
follower stage for the audio output.
separate AGC amplifier and detector maintain constant audio level over
a wide range of input signal strengths.
The power supply uses silicon
diode rectifiers, which generate much
less heat than tubes and occupy less
space.
Very complete performance specifications are supplied in the operating
manual. For the FM tuner, the quieting sensitivity is stated to be 3 t v for
30 db of quieting. The minimum signal strength required to pass through
the tuner without exceeding 1% distortion at 100% modulation is 5µv.
Hum and noise are rated at 40 db below 30% modulation, or 50 db below
100% modulation, for a 20 -µv input signal. Capture ratio (the minimum difference between the strengths of two
signals on the same channel for which
only the stronger one is heard) is specified as 12 db, and the AFC correction factor (the amount by which a
tuning error or drift is reduced by the
AFC), 12 db. Suppression of amplitude modulation is claimed to be 25
db.
The AM tuner is rated at approximately 5 Av sensitivity with the IF selectivity on the narrow setting, and 5
db less, or about 9 µv, on the broad
setting. Audio response on AM is
shown as being down 3 db at 20 and
1,500 cps on the narrow IF setting,
A
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
114
www.americanradiohistory.com
ci Lid icic
and at 20 and MOO cps on the broad
setting. In the latter condition, which
would be used for any sort of high fidelity application, there is a sharp
null at 10 kc caused by the whistle
filter, and this also reduces response
by 10 db at 9 kc. Hum and noise are
rated at 35 db below 305 modulation
with a 100 -µv input signal.
The tuner we tested was received
from Heath already wired. \Ve have
had considerable experience assembling Heathkits, and are familiar with
the unusual thoroughness of their
'manuals. Even so, we found the PT-1
manual most impressive. This is a
highly complex instrument, both mechanically and electrically. The electrical assembly has been made nearly
foolproof by the use of three printed
boards for the IF circuits. The mechanical assembly of the tuning dial
in particular seems quite involved; although it is fully described both verbally and pictorially, it should be a
time -consuming operation. The entire
manual contains seventy-one pages.
and the construction of this tuner is
obviously not a job for a rank beginner.
Test Results
Sensitivity of the timer was measured
in accordance with IHFM standards
proposed at the time of testing. The
total hum, noise, and distortion in the
output \vas measured relative to the
level of a 1005 -modulated carrier
(400 -cps modulation ). as a function
of signal strength. As received, the
tuner showed considerable second
harmonic distortion in its output at all
signal strengths above 10 µv. An attempt to correct this by a simple
touch -up alignment of the discriminator proved fruitless. Therefore, we
performed a complete realignment of
the FM tuner, including the front end.
This required a sweep generator and
oscilloscope (a Kay Electric "LignaSweep" was used). Alignment indicated that the discriminator transformer was defective. since its primary
winding could not be tuned to the
correct point. The tuning slug was set
as far out of the coil as it could be,
and all indications were that the correct setting had not yet been reached.
Nevertheless, performance after alignment was close to the published Heath
specifications and, in fact, met them in
most respects, so that we feel this report represents a valid appraisal of the
unit.
The usable sensitivity, as defined by
the IHFM standard, is the minimum
signal which results in total noise and
distortion being 30 db below 100%
modulation at 4(X) cps (this corresponds to 3% distortion). We found
the usable sensitivity of the PT-1 to be
8.2 µv. This was the major difference
we noticed between our measurements
and the Heath specifications; the distortion wasn't reduced to 1% until a
16-µv input signal was used. It is entirely possible that a good discriminator transformer would reduce the distortion substantially at low signal
levels.
For signal strengths in the 50- to
5,000 -µv range, which is typical of the
amplitude of practical FM signals, the
distortion seas less than 0.5% at 1005
modulation. That is quite negligible in
view of the distortion levels existing in
other links of the recording and reproducing chain, from microphone to
speaker. Distortion rises slightly for
very strong signals (over 5,000 µw),
but does not exceed 0.85.
The ACC action is very effective.
Maximum audio output is reached
with a 10 -µv signal, and no change
in level occurs as signal strength increases from that point.
The IF transformers are over coupled to produce a "doublehumped" response. This results in
wide IF bandwidth (over more than
200 ke) combined with steep skirts
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for good adjacent- channel selectivity.
The discriminator peaks are about 400
kc apart. This means that even the
weakest signals can be received without serious distortion from clipping of
the sidebands. Even at 5 µv, 93 kc deviation was required to produce visible clipping of the modulating waveform; at slightly higher signal
strengths the permissible deviation approached 200 kc or more. The practical advantage of this design is that an
FM station which ovennodulates (and
a number of them do) can be received
svithout the roughness and distortion
that overmodulation causes on tuners
without the IF and discriminator bandwidth characteristics of the Heath
PT -1.
Over -coupling of the IF transformer, however, makes it necessary to use
a sweep generator and oscilloscope to
align this tuner. Many tuners can be
aligned to a considerable extent using
their own tuning meter, or at most an
external voltmeter, but this is quite
impossible in the case of the PT -1.
We measured the drift of the oscillator in the PT -1 from a cold start
as about 145 kc (without AFC).
Most of this occurred in the first seven
minutes of operation. The AFC correction was 14.7 db, which reduced
the drift to an effective 30 kc. A sta-
Arno. 1959
raft
tion can be tuned in immediately after
turning the set on, without AFC, and
the AFC then turned on. No further
retuning is required. The drift with
line fluctuations from 105 to 125 volts
was 31 kc, which is reduced to negligible proportions when AFC is used.
The capture ratio turned out to be
17 db, not quite as good as the rated
12 db. but the AM rejection exceeded
the specified 25 (lb by a considerable
margin. The cathode follower output
stage makes the frequency response of
the tuner quite independent of cable
capacitance. A 1,000-µµE capacitance
across the tuner output reduced the
10 -kc response by only 0.5 db. Overall frequency response was within
.±1.8 db from 20 to 20,000 cps. Most
of this variation is, apparently, the result of component tolerances in the
dei, mphasis network. It is interesting
to see that the response at 20 cps was
totally unaffected by the AFC circuit.
A common fault of FM timers, especially inexpensive ones, is a lack of filtering in the AFC circuit which may
sharply reduce the low- frequency
response.
The hum level of the FM tuner was
-56.5 db relative to the 1005 modulation level, which is well below the -50
db specification in the manual. Power
line leakage was negligible.
\Ve didn't test the AM tuner in the
laboratory, but gave it careful listening tests and A-B comparisons against
the FM tuner when listening to local
stations broadcasting good-quality FM
and A NI programs simultaneously. On
much of the recorded material being
broadcast there was little difference
between the quality of the AM and
FM tuners. When good recordings or
live broadcasts were used as a basis
for comparison, the loss of highs in the
A \i tuner could be heard. At all
times. the difference in background
noise level was very evident.
Summary
The Heath PT -1 is. potentially at least.
a very fine AM -FM tuner at a most
reasonable price. When properly
aligned the FM tuner is the equal of
many more expensive manufactured
units. The AM tuner is distinctly better than any we have heard in combi-
.1.
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115
www.americanradiohistory.com
nation with an FM tuner at prices up
to 50% more than the PT-1. The complexity of this set is such that we suspect the builder will appreciate the
reasons behind the pricing of some of
the more expensive AM -FM tuners
after he has completed the PT -1. It
TITH
Isotone "Toccata"
Speaker System
SPECIFICATIONS (furnished by manufacturer):
an integrated two -way speaker system incorporating cone drivers and a tuned, damped
should be a very educational process.
As a matter of fact, the mere study of
the manual accompanying the PT-1
constitutes an excellent home study
course on FM tuner design.
Of course, we have no way of knowing how typical was our experience
with the misaligned or defective discriminator transformer, but we recommend strongly that anyone building
this tuner have it aligned by a competent serviceman. This should greatly
increase the chances of realizing the
full performance designed into it.
jectively flat to an estimated 40 cps,
and useful response was maintained to
around 30 cps. There was little evidence of doubling, and no significant
peaks were observed throughout the
system's entire range. Bass definition
was good enough to permit fairly easy
smoothly sweet: there was no tendency toward spitting, and nary a trace
of shrillness. String tone was reproduced musically, although without
some of the gutty quality that bespeaks
full response to well beyond 10,000
cps. Over -all definition was good but
not outstanding; the system seemed to
cause a very slight blending of sonic
details rather than a reproducing of
them with analytical precision.
This is by no means an inexpensive
system. It has certain positive qualities
of sound that are not to be found in
any other systems I've encountered.
however; ones which will appeal
strongly to musically- oriented listeners
who prefer a wide -range system without conspicuous idiosyncrasies but
having unusual warmth and massiveness. The cabinet work on our sample
unit was exemplary.- J.G.H.
air column for woofer loading. Frequency
range: 30 to 18,000 cps. Impedance: 8
Power rating: 30 watts. Dimensions:
ohms.
26 in.
wide by 32 high by 18 deep, over -all. Price:
$248.75. MANUFACTURER: Isotone Acoustic
Spiralways, Inc., 3402 Third Ave., New York
56, N. Y.
Isotone speaker systems utilize a long
column of air, like an organ pipe, to
load the woofer cone. This isn't a new
idea; other designs have used variations on the same theme, but the principle itself is fraught with potential
problems, not the least of which is the
inclination of such pipes to resonate at
several frequencies unless carefully
damped. Acoustic Spiralways have attacked this problem by venting the remote end of their tuned column and
loading it with a considerable amount
of acoustic resistance. The result is a
system which effectively combines
most of the advantages of both a tuned
system and a nonresonant system, but
has few of the disadvantages of either.
The sound of the "Toccata" system
was at once massive -sounding and
sweet, yet without the boominess that
is characteristic of uncontrolled resonant systems. Its bass range was sub-
TITH
Pilot SA -232 Stereo
Amplifier
SPECIFICATIONS (furnished by manufacturer):
Model SA -232- dual -channel power amplifier.
Rated power: music waveforms, 40 watts total,
20 watts per channel; 17 watts rms per channel.
Frequency range: 20 to 20,000 cps. Harmonic distortion: 1% at full output. IM
distortion: 1.5% at full output. Hum: 90 db
below full output. Inputs: channel A, channel
B. Outputs: 8 and 16 ohms to channel A and
channel B speakers. Two switched AC outlets,
power supply for preamplifier, switched AC
outlet for turntable. Dimensions: 13'2 in. long
by 5': high by 5 wide, over -all. Price: $89.50.
MANUFACTURER: Pilot Radio Corp., 37.06
36th St., Long Island City 1, N. Y.
This stereophonic amplifier is for
all intents and purposes two completely independent power amplifiers on a single chassis. Only the
Isotone "Toccata" speaker system.
identification of instruments and bass
lines, although best results were obtained from our sample "Toccata"
when it was fed by an amplifier having
a high damping factor (which happens
to be the nature of most of the available high -quality power amplifiers).
The middle range appeared to be
free from sharp peaks, although subtly
colored by an "oh" quality. Highs were
power supply is common to both channels; all other parts are duplicated
from end to end.
It is equipped with two standard
AC power outlets which turn on or off
with the amplifier, and it has a special
four-pin AC outlet for a record
changer or turntable. It is adequately
fused, and appears to be designed
sufficiently within the ratings of its
:
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MANUFACTURER'S COMMENT: Because of
the very high acoustic resistance of the Isotone,
we suggest that particular attention be paid
to equalization and compensation of the device. Record manufacturers' recommendations
should not necessarily be followed to the letter.
In high fidelity everything varies. With compen.
sation done to a nicety, given a clean amplifier
with musically adequate reserve power, we
believe that the Isotone is, subjectively, the
least disturbing of any conventional sound
system to be obtained.
Best definition with the Isotone is obtained,
usually, by lifting the rolloff and then by carefully adjusting the treble control. Also, on control -unit quality, or lack of it, depends the
nature of the end result in the speaker system.
components so as to assure long,
trouble -free life. In addition to its AC
outlets, it is equipped with a power
supply outlet socket which provides
heater and B+ power for Pilot's
SP -210 stereo preamplifier.
Our sample SA -232 met its power
specifications with ease, and its hum
level was so far below the limit of audibility that it could justifiably be
called nonexistent. Over -all sound was
clean and well balanced, with no
tendency to emphasize or deëmphasize any part of the audible spectrum,
and with tight, moderately well-defined bass. Middles and highs were
subtly soft and velvety rather than
startlingly lucid. All in all, this ranks
with the finest amplifiers in its price
and power class. An excellent buy for
the tightly- budgeted stereophile.
J.G.H.
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
118
www.americanradiohistory.com
audio= raft
General Electric
MS -4000 Stereo
ATR
Amplifier
Price:
$169.95. MANUFACTURER: General
Electric Co., West Genesee St., Auburn, N. Y.
The General Electric MS -4000 is an
integrated stereo amplifier, containing
two 20 -watt power amplifiers, two
preamplifiers, a common power supply, and complete switching for various modes of stereo and monophonic
Operation.
Three sets of stereo inputs are provided: magnetic phono with RIAA
equalization, tape head with NARTB
equalization, and timer inputs, unequalized. In addition, there are two
monophonic inputs: a nonequalized
AUX input and an RIAA -equalized
phono input. A single input selector
switch is used.
A MODE switch selects either normal stereo operation or reversed -channel operation. A third position parallels both stereo inputs and feeds the
common signal to both channels. If
separate mono signal inputs are used
instead of a stereo input, the MODE
selector provides reproduction on either speaker from its corresponding input signal, or mixes both signals and
feeds them to both speakers.
After the mode selection, all controls are common to both channels.
Fletcher -Munson compensation is by
means of a separate contour control
which works in conjunction with the
volume control. In the counterclockwise position of the contour control,
the volume control is uncompensated.
Clockwise rotation of the contour control introduces increasing amounts of
bass boost which occurs as the volume is reduced. This arrangement provides a high degree of flexibility in
adjusting loudness compensation to
suit personal taste.
Bass and treble tone controls for
both channels are ganged. A balance
control provides a very gradual change
in the relative outputs of the two
channels over most of its rotation, after which the rate of change increases
sharply. In its extreme positions, the
balance control cuts off one or the
other channel completely.
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independent of all other controls. A
rumble filter switch on the front panel
is effective on all inputs. This can be
very useful when a broadcast program
contains rumble. e'hich sometimes
happens. A small hole in the front
panel provides access to a screwdriver- adjusted tuner input level control, affecting both channels simultaneously. This is normally set to reduce the tuner volume level to the
typical level obtained when playing
records.
In the rear of the amplifier are the
input connectors, on a vertical terminal board which clearly identifies
GE MS -4000 stereo amplifier.
left and right channels. The two sets of
speaker outputs each have 4 -, 8 -, and
16-ohm taps. When 8 -ohm speakers
are used, a special set of terminals is
connected to the left-channel amplifier, and a phase reversal switch on
the rear of the amplifier permits the
speakers to be phased without disconnecting any speaker leads.
Two AC convenience outputs also
are located at the back of the MS -4000
amplifier. One is energized at all
times; the other is turned on by the
amplifier power switch. Two tape output jacks supply low -impedance (10k) outputs to a stereo tape recotrder.
They are located after the volume and
tone controls, but ahead of the balance control.
Each power output stage has a
push -pull pair of 6973 tetrodes. The
power supply is unusually extensive
for such a compact and moderate power amplifier. There are actually
three separate power supplies: a selenium bridge rectifier provides DC to
the heaters of the preamplifier and
tone control stages, as well as fixed
bias to the output tubes; a CZ34
slow- heating rectifier supplies the
plate power to all stages: and a separate supply with a 6X4 slow- heating
rectifier is used only for screen voltage
on the output tubes.
Test Results
In practically all respects the two
channels were identical. Except where
otherwise specified, our curves apply
equally well to either channel.
The power output of each channel
met the manufacturer's rating of 20
watts at middle frequencies. Full
APRIL 1959
power could he developed between
:30 cps and 10 kc, and 10 watts could
be obtained at 15 cps and 20 kc. The
tone controls were entirely conventional in their operation. The loudness
control worked well. although there
was little effect until it was rotated
beyond its 12- o'clock position.
Phono and tape equalization were
both quite accurate and well matched
on Ixrth channels. The over -all equalization error did not exceed 2 db from
20 to 20,000 cps. The rated distortion
specification of lei at 20 watts was exceeded handily. with typical 1,000 cps distortion figures of 0.4q at 20
watts, and about 0.21F at ordinary listening levels. Internodulation distortion also was low at low outputs, and
only reached 1.8`,6 at 20 watts.
The only place there was any significant difference between channels
was in the 20 -cps harmonic distortion
measurement. Both channels were
quite satisfactory for an amplifier in
the price range of the MS-4000
($170), but one was markedly better
than the other. This was probably because the output tubes of one channel
were slightly unbalanced. No balance
controls are provided.
Hum level ratings, -62 db on phono
and -73 db on tuner input (referred
to 20 watts), proved to be very conservative. We measured hum levels of
77 db and -82 (lb on the two channels for tuner inputs. and -65 db and
66 dh on the phono inputs. Hum on
the tape -head inputs was appreciably
higher. being in the vicinity of -50
-
db.
The gain of the preamplifier is high
enough for practically any of the lowoutput stereo cartridges. A full 20
watts output can be obtained with a
2.5 -tm input signal. The tuner inputs
are also quite sensitive.
Output tubes and filter capacitors
are operated conservatively, and the
use of slow- heating rectifiers eliminates
the warm -up surges which frequently
overload filter capacitors. The power
line leakage is 0.8 ma. That isn't dangerous but it can be felt if one touches
the amplifier chassis and a gcxxl
ground at the saine time.
Damping factors of the two power
amplifiers were measured as 6.0 and
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117
www.americanradiohistory.com
6.4. The power which could be developed with a 3.0 -4d capacitor
shunting an 8 -ohm resistive load (to
simulate an electrostatic speaker) was
about 5.5 watts at 10 kc. Under this
condition of loading, the amplifier was
stable and the 10 -kc square -wave response was good. (See photo. With
the shunting capacitor reduced to
0.25 Add, however, there was high frequency ringing which amounted to
a sustained oscillation.
Listening Test
Our measurements suggest that the
MS -4000 is a first -rate amplifier of
more than usual flexibility. Listening
to it under usual home conditions confirmed that impression completely. It
is very clean sounding and easy to operate. We especially appreciated the
speaker phase reversal switch, which
makes possible a true A -B comparison
of in -phase and out -of-phase operation.
Even at very high listening levels.
there was no sign of strain or breakup.
On the phono inputs, when the volume is advanced the tube hiss exceeds
the hum in audibility. but neither can
be heard at gain settings which would
be used in ordinary operation.
The use of ganged tone controls
may draw some criticism from purists,
though we did not find it to be a disadvantage even with two dissimilar
speaker systems. Conceivably. if the
speakers were quite different in their
characteristics, separate tone controls
10 -kc square wave with resistive load.
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would be important. We suspect that
CE intended this amplifier to be used
with a pair of identical speakers. in
which case we can see no objection to
the ganged tone controls.
The loudness compensation worked
well, without the tubbiness which
sometimes plagues less flexible designs. The nimble filter also was use ful, since it reduced the 70 -cps response by only 3 db and the 30 -cps
response by 9 db. No audible change
in the balance of the sound could be
discerned when the rumble filter Was
switched in.
Summary
The General Electric MS-4000 is of
excellent design and construction, and
should prove adequate for most home
stereo installations. The front panel
has a disarmingly simple appearance
in this day of multi -controlled stereo
amplifiers. yet the only feature of conceivable importance lacking in the
MS -4000 which is present in competitive units is that of separate tone controls for the two channels.
The instruction booklet accompanying the amplifier is unusually complete, in a way which we Nvould like to
see imitated by other high -fidelity
equipment manufacturers. Performance specifications are very completely
presented -and, what is more important. the amplifier lives up to them or
exceeds them in every respect. Typical
curves are included showing frequency response. distortion, and other
properties of the amplifier. Complete
and easily understood installation and
operation instructions, a replacement
parts list, a functional block diagram,
and a schematic diagram are a few
more reasons why we appreciate the
thoroughness of the MS -4000 manual.
The only possible limitation on the
performance of this amplifier which
was disclosed by our tests was the
tendency toward instability at certain
values of capacitive loading. Under
the circumstances, we would not recommend the use of the MS -4000 with
an electrostatic speaker. On the other
hand, we know of no electrostatic
speaker of good quality which would
be used with an amplifier of this power
rating. so that may be a trivial consideration.
In our report on the General Electric GC -5 stereo cartridge, we commented on the requirement of a preamplifier with low input capacitance
in order to maintain the full high -frequency response of the cartridge. At
the time, General Electric engineers
assured us that their amplifiers were
designed so as not to degrade the cartridge performance. We checked the
MS -4000 with a CC -5 cartridge,
measuring the change in response resulting from inserting the cartridge
coil in series with the test signal into
the preamplifiers. We found that the
change in response was less than ±2
db from 20 to 20,000 cps when the
GC -5 cartridge was used. The two
components obviously are quite compatible.
MANUFACTURER'S COMMENT: The particular unit tested was one of the first production
models of the MS -4000. Two important modifications have been made in later production
units: (1) in order to obtain maximum quality
from the recording source, the tape outputs
are now taken off just ahead of the tone
circuit, and (2) the output transformer has
been modified to handle a full 20 kc at 20
watts with negligible distortion, and is able to
handle any electrostatic tweeter and any
capacitance with complete stability. These
modifications hove in no way affected the
unit's excellent low -end performance.
10 -kc square wave with 3-mfd load.
ihst
Same as above, but
with 0.25 -n,fd load.
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
118
www.americanradiohistory.com
audiocraft
Asymmetrical Baffling
SIR:
have read that a loudspeaker should
be placed off-center when mounted on
a baffle. Could you please tell me why?
Is it necessary to have the speaker's
center a different distance from all
four edges, or may it be placed up
and over by the same distance? Is
there any rule (approximate or otherwise) as to how far off-center it should
be placed? If two speakers are to be
mounted on the same baffle, may they
be symmetrical with respect to each
other -that is, one up and right from
center and the other down and left
from center?
Charles R yberg
Palatine, Ill.
I
Off- center mounting of a loudspeaker
minimizes the effects of any resonant
conditions between the speaker and
the edges or interior surfaces of the
baffle.
If a flat baffle board is used, asym-
metrical speaker mounting reduces
the tendency toward peaking of bass
response and produces a less sharp attenuation of bass below the critical
cutoff frequency of the baffle. If the
speaker is in an enclosure, asymmetrical mounting on the front panel will
minimize the middle-frequency peaks
which arise from diffraction effects due
to the radiated sound attempting to
"fold" around the front edges of the
cabinet.
The speaker should, ideally, be offcenter vertically and laterally, but
there is no hard- and -fast rule about
this. On a rectangular baffle, the unit
should be off-center by about 10% of
the total dimension in each direction.
On a square baffle, asymmetry of
about 10% in one direction and 20% in
the other direction will give the desired result. When two speakers are
used, these should be asymmetrical
with respect to one another as well as
with respect to the edges of the baffle.
Stereo Disc Equalization
Sin:
I recall when you used to publish each
month a table listing the playback
equalization required by different
brands of monophonic LP discs, and
am wondering if you intend to do the
same thing for stereo discs? This
would be a great help to those of us
who are buying stereo discs and are
not certain how to equalize them.
D. R. Porter
Pottstown, Pa.
All available 45/45 stereo discs are recorded to conform to the RiAA play-
Matched Loudspeakers
Sus:
I have read several times in Him FrnELr1Y that "Best results are obtained
from stereo material when both loudspeaker systems are identical." I'm
willing to take your word for this, but
I would like to ask why this should
be the case.
William Mulloy
Brooklyn, N. Y.
back standard.
Stylus Force
SIR:
The instructions supplied with my new
monophonic cartridge state that it
should be tracked at a stylus force of
between 4 and 6 grams, yet I find that
it will stay in the groove when tracked
at forces as low as 2 grams. There is
some distortion audible during loudly recorded passages, but is it not better
to tolerate this distortion in favor of
the reduced record wear that I'll get
from tracking at this very low force?
Lawrence M. Mader
Pittsburgh, Pa.
A pickup tracked at inadequate force
can do almost as much damage to
grooves and styli as will one that is
somewhat too heavy.
Excessive tracking force causes rapid wear of both the groove and the
stylus, by increasing contact friction
and deforming the vinyl record material beyond its limit of elasticity. Insufficient force has much the same effect, because it permits the stylus to
skitter back and forth in the groove,
riding up first one and then the other
groove wall and battering from side to
side every time the groove swings
back and forth.
Optimum tracking force is a compromise between both extremes, and
usually works out to be the minimum
force value that can be obtained without introducing audible distortion.
The manufacturer's recommended
force range should be observed, using
the minimum recommended value
that provides distortionless, fuzz free
tracing of loudly -recorded passages.
APRIL 1959
Proper aural localization of sounds in
their original positions across the area
between stereo speakers depends to a
major extent upon the relative loudness
with which the sounds issue from the
speakers. A .sound which emanates
equally from both speakers will appear
to be located dead -center between
them; one which comes more strongly
from one or the other of the speakers
will appear to be located some distance
to left or right of center. This is why it
is important that the volume levels of
both stereo channels be as close to
identical as possible; an imbalance will
seem to shift all instruments to one
side, bunching them together near one
or the other of the speakers.
If the two stereo speakers have
widely different frequency response
characteristics, it will be impossible to
balance their outputs properly, because balance at one frequency will
create imbalance at another frequency.
The result of this is an apparent shifting back and forth of sounds which
are supposed to originate from a fixed
spot between the speakers.
If the speakers are only moderately
different in response, there will simply
be poor localization of centered
sounds, rather than a constant shifting
of them. This will cause lack of definiteness of the locations of instruments
which were originally located between
the microphones.
Amplifiers and room placement will
tend to make identical speakers sound
slightly different, but the chances of
achieving consistent balance and good
aural localization are greater when
both stereo speakers (particularly the
units reproducing the middle and
upper ranges) are of the same
make and model, and are identically
baffled.
119
www.americanradiohistory.com
s
from audio salesmen
by
HERMAN BURSTEIN
Two well -known audio salesmen from New York City proffer advice
to the high fidelity customer on many facets of equipment purchasing.
WITH EACH high -fidelity component available in
many brands and models, and at various prices, a
bewildering complex of choices confronts the newcomer to
high fidelity, or anyone replacing his original system or
adding a second channel for stereo. I know a man who
bought a fine power amplifier and control unit several
months ago. He bas never put them to use; during this
time he has been wandering from dealer to dealer, not
knowing what tuner, what speaker, what turntable, what
arm, and what pickup to buy.
Ultimately, the choice of components must be made by
the purchaser. He does well to seek expert guidance first.
however, and a source of good counsel is the salesman in
an audio salon of good reputation. Frequently he is a technician as well, often with formal training in electronics. He
has to offer not only his personal opinion based on experience, but also the cmcensus of other important people
technicians, engineers, alul customers.
Following is a view of high -fidelity buying problems as
seen by two well-known audio salesmen in New York City:
Jim Carroll of Harvey Radio and Harold 'Weinberg of Hudson Radio. This is a distillation of their answers to some
of the most frequent questions posed by the customers
they have served.
(1) Most audio equipment on the market meets generally accepted high -fidelity specifications concerning frequency response, distortion, signal -to -noise ratio, and so on.
-
The audio salesman is quite
often the high fidelity
equipment buyer's
most sympathetic
friend. It will pay
you well to respect his
advice on matters electronic.
What, then, distinguishes the truly superior unit from its
competitors? Considering components in general, Carroll
and Weinberg answer that the superior item is distinguished by clarity of reproduction. definition of details.
"natural sound"-that is, similarity to the original. "Listening to music through good equipment is like looking
through a clear window," says Weinberg. Carroll compares
the sound provided by good equipment with the sharply focused picture of a fine TV set.
Taking components one by one, here are some of Weinberg's pointers on each. A top -quality cartridge, while having extended high- frequency response, should produce
comparatively little surface noise and needle talk. A good
tone ann should handle well and not tend to fly out of the
operator's hand. A turntable should he quiet in operation,
and free of detectable vibration anywhere on its motor
board or base. An FM tuner should have high sensitivity,
sharp selectivity, and low distortion; in a low -price tuner
the customer should be ovary of sensitivity comparable with
that of expensive units, for this may imply a sacrifice in
other characteristics. A tape recorder should handle easily
and have no audible wow and flutter; good places to check
are at the beginning and end of a reel. An audio control
unit should have high gain and low noise, no audible hum
at customary levels, and should be free of any tendency
to oscillate or motorboat (a frequent problem in high -gain
affairs). A power amplifier ought to be of simple, straightforward design, with solid bass and transparent highs. A
speaker system should be free of harshness, although it may
sound brilliant (depending upon the listener's taste); it is
more important for it to have smoothness and balance than
the ability to reproduce extreme lows and extreme highs.
(2) Lately there has been a pronounced trend toward
amplifiers of 40, 50, 60, and yet higher wattage ratings.
although 20- and even 10- watters were considered until
recently quite adequate for rooms of average size and
speakers of average efficiency. Often the audio salesman is
asked if the high -power unit provides superior performance
at moderate levels, when probably a watt or two at the
most is used. Carroll and Weinberg differ somewhat in
their answers. Carroll's observation, based in part upon his
customers' reactions, is that the high -power unit generally
has greater clarity and more fullness at all levels. Most of
his customers who have traded in a low- wattage amplifier
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
120
www.americanradiohistory.com
audiocraft
for one of greater capacity have been pleased with the
change. Weinberg, however, points out that if the low power unit produces equally low IM distortion at ordinary
levels, there can be no audible difference at such levels.
Apparently, in designing an amplifier to perform well at 50
watts or so, the manufacturer ipso facto assures excellent
performance at moderate levels. On the other hand, it is
also possible to design directly for excellent performance at
moderate levels without having to aim at maximum power
output above 10 or 20 watts.
(3) Exceptional is the man who cannot look back upon
errors in the selection, installation, or operation of his audio
equipment. What are the major and most common mistakes?
In choosing equipment, a fundamental error is to mistake spectacular for natural sound. Carroll likens this to a
photograph with colors that are extremely vivid rather than
true to nature. Alismatch of components, in the sense of
acquiring units not consistent in quality, is a prominent
fault; this is particularly true of the speaker, which is very
often inferior to the rest of the system. The problem goes
even further, Carroll holds, for it is necessary to match the
speaker to its environment. He will ask a customer for a
complete description of his listening room and furnishings
in order to advise him on a speaker and enclosure in a
given price class. Weinberg points out that another common error in selecting equipment is overgreat reliance on
the recommendations of friends, who seldom have the required experience and breadth of view, or fail to consider
the purchaser's special circumstances and needs -which
may differ greatly from their own.
As for installing the equipment, Weinberg says that all
too often the customer seems to follow the precept "when
all else fails, read the instructions." The problem of hum
besets many an installation. Frequently, it is caused by not
inserting a phono plug tightly enough to make a secure
ground connection. Hum may result from locating a phono
arm too near a power transformer when mounting the
equipment in furniture. It often can be subdued by simple
measures, such as reversing the power plug in the house
outlet, tightening a phono plug, or connecting a ground
wire from a chassis to a radiator, water pipe, or similar
fixture (never to a gas line). Unfortunately, many a customer starts exploring the insides of his equipment for the
cause of the trouble. "Never!" says Weinberg. "Call the
salesman. His job isn't finished until you are satisfied."
Acoustic feedback is a common problem, points out
Carroll, because many customers place the speaker too near
the rest of the system, where the sound may vibrate the
phono stylus and the tubes. Weinberg says that many bass reflex cabinets have improperly adjusted ports, causing
audible low -end resonance. Many light speaker enclosures
can use additional bracing, he says, and suggests that the
installer experiment with speaker location (an advantage of
a small speaker system) because a speaker that sounds woefully bad in one part of the room may change character
elsewhere.
(4) To maintain a distinct advantage over ordinary
reproducing systems, high -fidelity equipment must be not
merely functioning, but in virtually perfect condition. What
should be clone in the way of preventative maintenance?
Carroll suggests that, if daily use is made of the system,
the stylus be checked every three months and the tubes
every six months. The owner of an FM tuner should be
careful to identify the exact socket where each tube was
located, because an interchange involving the same type of
tube can upset alignment. About once a year all the equipment should be taken into a qualified service shop for a
performance check and necessary alignment. A typical
charge for this service, according to Carroll, is about $30;
Continued on page 124
Why salesmen grow ulcers ...
"I want
a radial tweeter with acoustic feedback, a I6-ounce
damping factor and blue vellum upholstery -and no backtalk!"
'My
system sounded scratchy on 78s so I looked inside to find
the trouble, and now it won't play at all. Fix it, will you ?"
"Boy, am I glad to see you. I got this set together but
it looks different, somehow. How about fixing it for me ?"
"l'lI
hook these preamps in series, turn the hass and treble
knobs up all the way, and I'll have me some REAL COOL hi fi."
APRIL 1959
121
www.americanradiohistory.com
Heath Stereo Cartridge
The Heath Company is now delivering its Model SF -I stereo pickup
cartridge, which will fit any stereo tone
arm. Of the moving- magnet type, the
SF-1 has a 0.6 -mil diamond stylus.
Specified frequency response is 20 to
15,000 cps, ±4 db; output impedance, 6,000 ohms per channel; output
voltage, 3 mv; and tracking force, 2
to 4 grams. The price is $39.95.
Scott 40 -Watt Amplifier
The Model 250 is a 40 -watt power
amplifier from H. H. Scott, Inc. which
incorporates Scott Power -Balance Circuitry. Its distortion at a full 40 w
output (80 w peak) is claimed to be
less than 0.1% first -order difference
tone, and less than 0.5% harmonic.
Hum level is rated at 85 db below
full output. Other specifications: frequency response, flat from 12 to40,000
cps; sensitivity, 0.5 v input for 40 w
output; dimensions, 13 in. wide by
9% deep by 7 high. The amplifier is
said to work perfectly with reactive
loads such as electrostatic speakers.
Prices, east of the Rockies: amplifier,
$119.95; accessory case, $10.
Turntable Level
Robins Industries has just announced
a new spirit level for adjusting turntables and record changers. The Model TL-1 is a compact but accurate
spirit level in a gold -anodized aluminum case. Its price is $1.15.
EICO 35-Watt
output; dimensions, 7 in. high by 14
wide by 8 deep. Factory -wired price
of basic amplifier is $72.95; kit price,
$47.95; optional enclosure. $4.50.
C
& M Network Coils
C & M Coils Company offers a com-
plete line of air -core coils for dividing
network construction or other purposes. Eighty inductance values from
.05 to 12 mh are available in No. 17
Formvar copper wire, and 52 inductance values from 5.0 to 20 mh in No.
16 Formvar. Accuracy is guaranteed
better than ±10% of rated values.
According to the manufacturer, all
inductors are oven- baked, calibrated,
the leads tinned and spaghetti -covered, the coils cotton- wrapped and
varnish- dipped, rebaked, and rechecked before going into stock. Typical prices: 1 mh, No. 17 wire, $2.40;
10 mh, No. 16 wire, $6.00.
Sonotone Booklet
A new booklet. "Stereo Simplified,"
will be given free of charge to anyone
requesting it. Published by Sonotone
Corporation, the booklet explains
stereo recording and reproduction in
simple terms, and gives suggestions on
assembling stereo high -fidelity systems.
Challenger Components
Bogen- Presto Division of the Siegler
Corporation has announced two new
stereo components in the "Challenger"
Amplifier
Production of the Model 1IF35 power
amplifier in both kit and factory-wired
versions is announced by Electronic
Instrument Company, Inc. The HF35
is essentially a 35 -watt version of the
EICO HF50 and HF60 amplifiers.
Tube lineup is the same (EF86,
6SN7GTB, two EL34 output tubes,
and GZ34 rectifier) and the same circuit is used except that the output
stage is self-biased. An octal plug is
supplied to furnish preamplifier operating voltages. IM distortion is specified as 0.15% at 20 w, 1.5% at 35 w;
response, ±0.1 db from 20 to 30,000
cps at 35 w; hum level, 90 db below
35 w; sensitivity, 0.43 v input for full
For more information about any of
the products mentioned in Audio news, we suggest that you make use
of the Product Information Cards
bound in at the back of the magazine. Simply fill out the card, giving
the name of the product in which
you're interested, the manufacturer's name, and the page reference.
Be sure to put down your name and
address too. Send the cards to us
and we'll send them along to the
manufacturers. Make use of this
special service; save postage and the
trouble of making individual inquiries to several different addresses.
line: the Model AC210-A control amplifier, and the Model TC200-A tuner.
The AC210-A has a dual stereo
preamp -control section and a power
amplifier section which can be used
as a 20 -watt monophonic amplifier, a
20 -watt power amplifier fed by one
of the preamp channels, or two 10watt stereo amplifiers. Full control of
inputs and outputs is provided for
tape, stereo and mono records, radio,
and auxiliary sources. Its basic price
is $99.95; the metal case is $6.00 extra.
The TC200-A is a true stereo FMAM tuner; the FM and AM sections
can be used separately or simultaneously. AFC and AVC are both supplied. Basic price is $129.50, with the
metal case optional at $6.00 extra.
Norelco Enclosures
North American Philips Company,
Inc. has three new speaker enclosures
designed for Norelco T -7 series speakers but which will, according to the
company, work equally well with most
other speakers of comparable size.
Model 1 is a back- loading folded
horn enclosure for 12 -inch speakers.
Dimensions are 26 in. wide by 213;
high by 17% deep, not including the
8 -inch legs. It is priced at $91.00 to
$99.50, depending on finish. With two
8 -inch speakers installed, the price is
$149.95 to $159.95, depending on
finish.
Models 2 and 3 are distributed port bass reflex types (without legs)
which can be installed horizontally or
vertically, or in bookshelves. The
Model 2 is 2333 in. by 13% in. by 11%
deep; prices are $51.00 to $59.95, depending on finish. The Model 3 is
18% in. by 12 in. by 87,in deep, and
priced at $31.00 to $35.00, depending
on finish.
Finishes available for all enclosures
are mahogany, blond, walnut or cherry.
Multiplex Tuner
Harman -Kardon has introduced an
FM -AM tuner, the Model 250, which
contains a signal connection, power
supply, and space within the chassis
for the company's FM multiplex adapter. The adapter for current experimental FM multiplex broadcasts is the
Model MA250.
Incorporating the new Harman -Kardon "Gated Beam" limiter and FosterSeeley discriminator, the Model 250
also makes use of a shaded -beam tetrode in the FM front end. Tuning is
facilitated by an electronic tuning bar
indicator. Eastern prices are: Model
250 tuner, $149.50; Model TC50 enclosure, $12.50; Model MA250 multiplex adapter, $49.95.
HICH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
122
www.americanradiohistory.com
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with a superb 40 -watt stereophonic amplifier at $89.50
and an equally superb, more powerful 70-watt stereophonic
amplifier at only $139.50. How can PILOT do it? It is more
than PtLOT's 40 years of electronics experience...more than
PILOT'S dedication to engineering for uncompromising quality ... and more than PILOT'S painstaking quality control in
production. Combine all of these with the fact that PILOT
builds every component completely within its own plant,
and you can readily understand how PILOT can offer true
quality components at the lowest possible prices.
We invite you to examine the specifications of these two,
systems engineered, basic PILOT stereo amplifiers. And, read
in your favorite technical magazines how highly the experts
in the field rate them. Think, too, how much quality must be
built into PILOT'S integrated stereophonic preamplifier amplifiers, deluxe stereo preamplifier and deluxe stereophonic tuners and tuner -preamps! They, also, are systems
engineered-designed at the outset to be used together for
matched performance of the highest caliber. Only with
Pn.or can you get more quality at every price.
-
STEREOPHONIC
IIIr
AMPLIFIERS
WITH ALL
OTHERS!
%I % %I I
232
THE PILOT
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THE PILOT 232, a
superb 40 -watt stereophonic amplifier, offers the clean
response and freedom from hum you would expect from the leader
in
its price and power class! Its output transformers are of special, high
efficiency design with interleaved windings and grain -oriented steel for
maximum power response. The 232 is equipped with an 11-pin socket
to power the PILOT 210 stereo preamplifier. With the 210 connected,
and a record changer plugged into the 5 -pin RC power socket, the
entire system will, at the user's option, turn off automatically with the
changer. Power Output: 40 watts total; 20 watts per channel
music
wave forms (program material). 80 watts peak. 17 watts peronchannel
continuous, undistorted. Frequency response: Flat, 20 to 20,000 cycles.
Harmonic distortion: 1% at full output. Hum: 90 db below full power.
Output impedances: 8 or 16 ohms. Sensitivity: volt for full power output. Eight tubes including four EL84 power output tubes. Size: 131/2"
long x 51/2" high x 5" deep. Wt. 20 lbs. Supplied with enclosure. $89.50
THE PILOT 260 has every feature of the 232 plus greater power,
lower
distortion and, individual bias and balance controls to accurately match
output tube characteristics. Power Output: 70 watts total; 35 watts per
channel on music wave forms (program material): 140 watts peak. 30
watts per channel continuous undistorted. Frequency response: Flat,
20 to 20,000 cps. Harmonic distortion: 1/2% at full output. Hum: 90 db
below full power. Output impedances: 8 or 16 ohms. Sensitivity: .8 volt
for full power output. 9 tubes including four EL34 power output tubes.
Enclosure supplied. 153/4" long x 534 high x 71/4" deep. 35 lbs. $139.50
PILOT SYSTEMS -ENGINEERED COMBINATIONS
'
1
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_
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210 PREAMP, S89.50
232 AMPLIFIER, S89.50
1
WRITE TODAY FOR COMPLETE PILOT COMPONENT CATALOG
MW
RADIO CORPORATION
37 -02 36th
...
IIIIIIIlIIIIIIifllllll;l¡II111111111111111111
i',i!iti iá!i;i!i!Crlliá!i!i;hiti!i41;i!i!
2164 PREIIMP, 5189.50
I..
232
PIl9I'P191AM11P11LIF11'IERII,S89.50
i!
690-A STEREO TUNER. $289.50
44I41C194
eigi
260 AMPLIFIER,
i139.50
All Prices Slightly Higher in the West.
STREET
Artur. 1959
LONG ISLAND CITY
1,
N. Y.
1'3
www.americanradiohistory.com
TIPS
Continued from page 121
FREE
HOME
TRIAL
proves Columbia CD
stereo cartridge
sounds better
Now you can prove it to yourself. The
Columbia CD is the better stereo cartridge. We believe this so strongly that
we have arranged with your CBS-Hytron
distributor for you to test the Columbia
CD ... free in your own home.
We are sure you will agree this cartridge does sound better than any other
ceramic or magnetic stereo cartridge. It
is superior in linearity
separation
compliance ... low mass ... freedom from
hum ... output level ... ruggedness. Your
ears will tell you quickly what elaborate
curves, facts and figures prove. The
Columbia CD simply sounds better.
Make sure by your own tests that you
invest in the better stereo cartridge. This
offer is for a limited time only. Ask your
CBS- Hytron distributor to let you try the
Columbia CD, Model SC-1D, today I
...
...
COLUMBIA 91
Model SC ID
Cost $24.25
CBS -HYTRON, Danvers, Massachusetts
A Division of Columbia Broadcasting System. Inc.
I
2
often it is as little as 810 to 615. With
respect to tubes, Weinberg goes somewhat further and recommends that
output and rectifier tubes in the power
amplifier. as well as the first stage
tube in the control unit, be changed
every six months. The remainder
should be changed every year. While
this will dispose Of some tubes with
good performance left in them. it will
also get rid of others which have not
too long to go. "Bear in mind," Weinberg reminds, "that we are concerned
not with complete failure but with
significant degradation of performance; tubes usually go gradually
downhill rather than suddenly out
like a light."
Weinberg recommends also that
moving parts, such as idler wheels in
phonographs and tape recorders, 1w
cleaned every two weeks according to
the manufacturer's instructions. Lubrication at the required intervals is very
important. So are cleaning and demagnetizing the tape recorder heads.
(5) \Lu1y a potential buyer wonders whether (ape will give sufficiently
better results to warrant the added
expense of a tape machine and the
higher cost of recorded tapes compared with discs. Weinberg states that
the quality of reprxhiction on the
best discs and the best tapes is amazingly similar, and that discs have potentially better frequency response
than tape at the extremes of the audio
spectrum. Carroll also finds discs as
good as tapes but adds that. while
discs permit greater ease of handling
and require less storage space, tape
has greater permanence if nuulnfacturer's instructions are followed closely.
(6) A good monophonic system is
costly onotgh. A stereo system using
comparable equipment is 50 to 100IF
more expensive. Does stereo justify this
increase in expenditure, plus the problems of housing more equipment? In no
uncertain terms, Carroll and Weinberg
insist that stereo is the biggest single
development in audio, well worth the
extra cost. Both advise prospective
buyers not to overemphasize the association between stereo and spatial
movement or directionality: they
should listen for greater detail and
clarity of soud. As for the cost aspect.
Weinberg holds that moderate -price
stereo systems sound better than high price monophonic ones. although it is
true that a very good stereo installation sounds still better.
(7) Components can be bought
separately or in various combinations,
such as a control unit and power amplifier, or a control unit and timer, or
all three on one chassis. \Vhat are the
pros and cons of individual vs. integrated components? Carroll says, "Our
observations show that separate components tend to provide greater versatility and lower distortion." Weinberg
agrees, but points out that the integrated unit simplifies the problem of
interconnecting components and represents a sawing of money, often an important amount Of it. In many cases.
he finds, a better system over-all can
be obtained by putting a given sum
into a better speaker instead of separate components. He does not include
the F \I tuner in this observation, however, admitting that often more is lost
than gained by purchasing it as part
of a package.
(8) Progress and consequent obsolescence exist in every field of human
endeavor. 'therefore, the question can
lw asked with justification, "How
soon will any new high -fidelity component become obsolete ?" Carroll and
Weinberg contend that obsolescence is
relatively remote for equipment of
good design and construction. The
bargain -price item and the component
loaded with gimmicks and gadgets
are the first to be outmoded. Most
changes in audio are relatively minor:
true progress is relatively slow and
costly. In the long run, though, it is to
be expected that such developments
as better tubes, increased use of transistors, abandonment Of output transformers, new circuits, and new loud speaker principles and refinements
will add up to substantially better performance than we can have nova.
Hove can the audiophile successfully tap the fund of information possessed by the expert audio salesman?
"Maintain an open mind. and don't
come in N ith preconceptions that you
aren't certain are well founded," states
Carroll. 'The easiest person to serve is
the one who asks for help and admits
frankly that he knows little. This fellow
also winds up the happiest, because
he gives the salesman a chance to do
his hest." Weinberg suggests that the
customer not try to argue the salesman down on points open to question;
after all, the customer is not bound to
accept the salesman's advice and is
consuming the valuable time of loth
parties in a contest of opinions. Also,
he suggests, "Be patient. Show the
hard -working salesman consideration
and don't yell immediately for the
manager if things don't work out as expected right away. While 50`'Á of the
salesman's job is to represent the store,
the other 50% is to represent you. He
will do his best to remedy your troubles, for he expects you hack -with
your friends."
HICII FIDELITY MAGAZINE
1
www.americanradiohistory.com
THIRD CHANNEL
ea OfiGq
TO YOUR CITY
High Fidelity
Music Shows
See and hear
the latest in
HIGH FIDELITY
from leading
high- fidelity
1]1111111 f actllrers , . .
Don't miss these public
showings of Hi -Fi
Equipment...from the
most economical units
for the budget -minded
to spectacular home
music theatres ...compare and enjoy them
all. Components and
complete systems will
be displayed.
1959
HIGH FIDELITY
MUSIC SHOW SCHEDULE
PITTSBURGH, PA.-Pcnn-Shcraton liotcl. April 3, 4. 5, 1959.
BUFFALO, N. Y.-Staticr Hotcl.
April III, II, I?, 1959.
RIGO ENTERPRISES, Inc.
500 North Dearborn Street
Chicago 10, Illinois
Continued from page 109
developed across the speaker only
when there is a difference between the
stereo signals coming out of the amplifiers. When both amplifiers reproduce
identical signals, there is no difference
voltage and. hence, no output from the
center speaker.
There are several obvious theoretical flaws in this arrangement, not the
least of which is the impossibility of
phasing the center speaker with both
of the main ones. A second objection,
theoretical again, is that when signals
of equal intensity are reproduced by
both channels (a condition which
should place the sound midway between them), the center speaker remains mute. The theoretical considerations are stressed here because, in actuality, the A -B system sloes work,
and quite well at that. Although there
is still a small area of vagueness right
at the middle speaker, the localization
of sounds between it and the main
speakers is markedly improved.
Phasing of the center speaker is
unimportant because neither polarity
can phase it with loth of the main
speakers. Phasing does make a difference in the sound, however, so the
polarity that sounds better is the one
Sound
Talk
by John K. Hilliard
Director of Advanced Engineering
PLACEMENT OF LOUDSPEAKERS
FOR STEREO
This much -discussed subject has been confused through attempts at oversimplification. There are a few clear -cut principles
that should be followed for good stereo.
Two separate channels, from source
through amplification to the speakers, provide the time and intensity difference that
develops the spatial quality of stereo. If
the speakers are too closely spaced, as in a
single enclosure which houses two speakers
only a few feet apart, the time and inten-
sity difference is so small that spatial
quality is severely limited. Eight feet is
considered minimum spacing between
speakers for good stereo and they should
be placed in a common plane.
Good listening begins the same distance in
front of the speakers that they are spaced
apart, and continues for twice this distance.
For example, if the speakers are placed 8'
apart, the good listening area begins 8' in
front of the speakers and continues to 16'.
to use.
In Figure 1, the center speaker is
shown connected to lower- impedance
taps than are the main speakers, and
a T -pad is shown in the speaker line.
These are simply alternate ways of
controlling the level of the middle
channel, which should he set no higher than is necessary to achieve satisfactory center augmentation. If proper
level can be obtained without resort
to the T -pad, so much the better.
Because of the phasing problem, the
middle speaker should have fairly restricted bass response, so it won't
"fight" with the bass from one of the
other speakers. A note of caution,
though: this A -B hookup may cause
instability in some stereo systems.
Should this occur, a heavy .wire connected between the amplifier output
Grounds may correct the condition. If
that doesn't help, it may be necessary
to utilize an alternative and rather
more expensive third -channel arrange-
Greater spread between speakers is desirable but the listening area must be moved
back proportionately. Listening too close
to widely separated speakers creates a
"hole in the center" which gives the impression of two distinctly separate sound
sources rather than the desired broad front
of sound. When speakers have to be too
widely spaced or placed in corners, a
slightly converging angle will improve the
stereo.
The effective dispersion angle at high frequencies is usually limited to 90°. To
obtain the benefit of the entire audible
frequency range, the listener should remain
within this angle.
Both reflected and direct sound is required.
However, staccato or transient tones are
localized for the stereo effect only through
direct sound. Because of this, the speakers
should be directed at the listener and not
first bounced off side walls or other reflectors.
ment.
Several new stereo amplifiers and
control units are equipped with a signal output receptacle marked "3rd
Charmer (Figure 2). This supplies a
completely blended mixture of the
stereo signals (A -FB) for feeding a
separate amplifier and center fill -in
loudspeaker. The advantages of this
arrangement are immediately obvious:
Continued on next page
APRIL 1959
Precision engineering and stringent quality
control give ALTEC speakers a closely
matched loudness over the entire frequency
range -eliminating the disturbing phenomenon of sound jumping from speaker to
speaker on certain notes.
Write for free catalogue : ALTEC LANSING
CORPORATION, Dept. 4H -B, 1515 South
I
Manchester Avenue, Anaheim, Calif., 161
Sixth Avenue, New York 13, N. Y.
12.51
125
www.americanradiohistory.com
THIRD CHANNEL
* "for the
Continued from preceding page
closest approach
possible to phase the third
speaker with both of the main channels, and the resulting middle-channel output is a close replica of what
might be obtained from an actual
third microphone on stage center,
feeding a third stereo speaker. This
is subjectively the most satisfactory
of the three systems formulated
to date, in that it gives definite location of center instruments, places
them in their original relationship to
one another, and has negligible effect
upon the spaciousness and breadth
of the reproduction. A simple gain
control on the third -channel amplifier
makes it adjustable to provide any
necessary amount of center fill -in,
and this can be preset to give ideal
spread on a good stereo recording or
it can be adjusted to suit each individual recording.
it is
your
records deserve a good turn!
-GONE
a
ONLY
magnetic turnover
cartridge...
Rccotoii -6oldrí9
reasons for using the
new Recoton - Goldring Magnetic
Turnover Cartridge: because you
conserve your Stereo diamond
stylus for your delicate Stereo
records
and flip it to the LP
side for long playing records
and also because the price is right!
"Sound"
-
Rx
-
Continued from page 113
user should seriously consider either
adding a blend switch to his phono
assembly, or using a separate pickup
for monophonic discs.
Figure 1 shows a switching arrangement for paralleling the outputs from
a three-terminal cartridge. A single pole double -throw switch is used to
connect together the "hot" outputs
from the cartridge, and the point
marked "X" indicates where one
ground return might be left disconnected in the event that the amplifiers
are grounded together elsewhere in
the system. The circuit will be identical
for a four -terminal pickup except that
the two ground leads will go to separate lugs on the cartridge, and both
ground leads will connect to their respective amplifiers.
Figure 2 shows the rather more involved circuit needed for stereo-mono
switching of a cartridge whose manufacturer recommends series connection
for monophonic use. This calls for a
four-pole two -position switch, and supplies a monophonic signal to the left hand amplifier channel only. The
switches in both of these diagrams are
shown in the stereo position.
The typically lower tracking force
of stereo pickups is obtained through
the use of lighter and more compliant
stylus assemblies, and it is almost axiomatic that the result will be greater
physical fragility. A good stereo cartridge should never be cleaned by the
RG745.1SD
With diamond stylus for
stereo and monaural LP's and
sapphire° stylus for LP's.
also available
R5745 -3S0
With diamond stylus for
stereo and monaural LP's and
sapphire* stylus for 78RPM.
Audiophile Net S29.95
snan.uc
°..r
writ
to
RECOTON CORPORATION
52 -35 Barnett Ave., LongIsland City 4, N.
.
r
Continued on page 128
1
_26
ORIGINAL SOUND"
*QUAD
I
"A+ B" operation; but if it doesn't, the
Ask your nearest doofer or
to the
vii
l
uuci c'fcd
N1
in
sound
to pin
dlICllon in the home ern be broadly
divided into two groups:
1. The music lover who wishes to
enjoy music while removing the
problems of concert attendance.
2. The listener who derives emotional satisfaction from the sensation of sound, particularly
when reproduced under his own
control.
For the first group QUAD equipment
is designed. The QUAD Electrostatic
Loudspeaker, for instance, is completely
distortion -free, therefore non-fatiguing.
The loudspeaker forms no part of the
artistic chain.
The QUAD II Amplifier, either monophonic or stereophonic, is so designed
that the enjoyment and appreciation of
music is not impeded by "amplifier
sound." Similarly with the QUAD FM
Tuner.
You are cordially invited to audition
the QUAD Home Music System at one of
the selected QUAD dealers listed below:
HIGH FIDELITY UNLIMITII,.
935 El Camino. Menlo Park.
California:
Florida: Charles V. Cooper.
713 Las
Ola'
Boulevard. Fort Lauderdale.
/Ilfnois: William H. Huston. Hord!
Music SYSTEMS, 4224 N. Keeler Ave..
Chicago.
Maryland: HIGH FIDELITY HOUSE, 5127
Roland Ave.. Baltimore.
New York: HARVEY RADIO Co., 103 N'.
43rd St. HUDSON RADIO CORP., 48 \\
48th St. LEONARD RADIO, 69 Cortlandi
St.
For further information, address your
inquiries to Ike Ill.,Ional attention ,r
I. M. Fried.
LECTRONICS
OF CITY LINE CENTER, Inc.
Phila. 31, Pa.
7644 City Line Ave.
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
the Magnificent New
WOLLENSAK
'1515"
STEREOPHONIC HI- FIDELITY TAPE RECORDER
WITH BUILT-IN PRE-AMPLIFIER
The thrilling presence
of a live orchestra
in your home...full
third dimensional sound!
ULTRA LIGHTWEIGHT
Measures only 6!s" x 10'i" x 11W;
weighs scant 20 lbs. Distinguished
design harmonizes with every decor.
EASY OPERATION!
Simplified kry -hoard
controls. ]land y,
strikingly beautiful
operating panel
provides the utmost
in operating ease.
ULTRA -POWERFUL!
10 watts push-pull
audio output -four
times greater than
larger, less portable
recorders. Ideal for
auditorium use.
Now you may enjoy the realism of three -dimensional sound in a
truly portable stereophonic tape recorder! Two separate in -line sound channels
bring the living presence of a full orchestra into your home. The upper channel
permits you to record and play back monaurally. The lower channel, in line with
the upper, plugs in directly to the Phono input of your radio, high fidelity system
or your television. No auxiliary pre -amp is necessary as the pre -amp is built
right into this WOLLENSAK Tape Recorder. Dual speeds, two -level recording indicator, keyboard controls, index counter, high speed rewind lever, etc.
MODEL T.1515, complete with microphone, 2 reels (one with tape), cords,
e229.50
GUARANTEED SPECIFICATIONS Frequency Response -Upper Channel.
40-15,000 cps. $ 3db. at 754 ips.; 40.8,000 cps. ± 3db. at 314 ips.; Lower Channel. 40- 15,000 cps. ± 3db. at 745 ips. (NARTB Standard Equalization). Wow and
flutter less than 0.3%; Signal to noise ratio greater than 50 db.; Signal from
lower channel pre -amp output 0.5
1.5 volts; Crosstalk
50 db.
-
CONSOLE
PERFORMANCE!
Tape live music or
use in conjunction
with a hi-fi speaker
and tuner for a fine
hi- fidelity system
-
r
"1500" HI- FIDELITY DUAL -SPEED TAPE RECORDER
Only 6W x 10%' x 11W; weighs 20 lbs.
10 watts push -pull output is four times
Freater than ordinary recorders.
FREE
Balanced -Tone high -fidelity; key-board
control. Accepts 7' reels; tape speeds of
3.75 and 7.5 ips.; index counter, etc.
Complete with microphone, 2 reels,
tape and cords, $199.50
DEMONSTRATION -Your authorized Wollen.
sak Dealer
will
glad to show you the "1515"
and other fine WOLLENSAK Cameras and Pro.
lectors. See him now!
be
WOLLENSAK OPTICAL CO.
April 1959
CHICAGO 16, ILL,
127
www.americanradiohistory.com
for less work and more play
Rx
JansZen*
Continued from page 126
GET THE TURNTABLE
THAT CHANGES RECORDS!
MIRACORD XS-200
popular expedient of scraping one's
finger across the stylus. Use a camel's hair water -color paintbrush; if the stylus happens to be coated with a particularly tenacious blob of detritus,
dip the bnish in isopropyl alcohol. Don't get cleaning solutions or
antistatic fluids on the surrounding
parts of the stylus assembly, though;
many damping materials will be chemically affected by the solvents in these
solutions.
you more quality and more features
than the famous MIRACORD XS -200!
heavyweight, professional -type turntable -and a fully -automatic changer!
plays both stereo and monophonic!
push -button controlled throughout!
Magic Wand spindles eliminate
pusher platforms and stabilizing
arms!
intermixes 10" and 12'; playa all
4 speeds; has a 4 -pole motor!
even as a turntable it shuts off
automatically when record is
finished and tone arm returns to
rest position.
-yet it costs only sÓ %SOaudiophile net
STEREOTWIN 200
the stereo cartridge that
ELIMINATES HUM!
SveueovWIN is the perfect magnetic
hi -fi cartridge for stereo and mon-
aural! It fits all record changers and
standard tone arms. And thanks to
special construction and MuMetal
shielding, it eliminates hum! Instant
stylus replacement, too.
NOW
$4450 audiophile
net
W
AREAD)TI!E FINEST BY FAR
Available at selected dealers.
FAR
For Free catalogue. please write Dept. H
AUDIOGtRSH CORP.
514 Broadway, New
Yak 12, N.Y.
8 -0800
WORTH
only. Since the load resistor value has
a great effect on response in many
cartridges, check to see if your pre amp input circuits will load properly
the cartridge you want to use; if not,
you must have the proper resistors in-
stalled.
Piezo cartridges have enough OUTPUT voltage to drive most power amplifiers directly, although few will be
used that way. Most will be used with
control units or control amplifiers, and
the high -level input circuits on these
usually have sufficient gain to produce
full output from any piezo unit. Magnetic cartridges all require preampequalizer stages, of course, but some
have output so low that transformers
are needed in addition to preamplifiers.
It is well to check before you buy a
cartridge that the preamp you plan to
use with it has enough gain and low
enough noise, or that transformers for
the cartridge are available.
RESPONSE is it specification that
has little practical significance as applied to a cartridge, even when decibel limits are specified. Frequency
response varies with the test record
used, the load value, and in many
cases with the length of cable from
the cartridge and the type of preamplifier input circuit.
CHANNEL SEPARATION figures are
given to indicate the maximum attainable isolation between right- and lefthand channels with a given cartridge.
Usually they show the separation
at one specific frequency or a narrow
band of frequencies; consequently, an
unqualified separation figure alone
isn't really very helpful.
The significance of the number of
OUTPUT TERMINALS has been explained in previous "HF Shopper"
notes, and is further detailed in this
issue's article on installation of stereo
cartridges (page 112).
maklni lour
endows
R.
own soulel
2.2 cubic
sob
sound
without fury
in
SHOPPER
Continued from page 111
No turntable and no record player,
in the history of high fidelity, gives
SAVEt
by
3 easy steps
a compact, do- it- yourself speaker system that delivers realistic, transparent reproduction without the fury
of bass or treble exaggerations. Perfectly matched Electrostatic mid /high range speakers and a dynamic woofer give
measurably flat response over the entire audio spectrum.
Here's
What's more, you need not be an expert cabinet maker.
You Create high fidelity at a sensible, do- it- yourself cost.
o
ELECTROSTATIC MID /RICH RANCE SPEAKER
Model 65, illustrated, uses two JansZen electrostatic
elements with a built-in power supply and high -pass filter.
Each element contains 176 perfectly balanced, sheathed
conductors to give absolutely clean response from 700 to
beyond 30,000 cycles. Furnished complete in cabinet at
586-$91.50, depending on finish. Slightly higher in West.
range
...
Model 130 -considered as THE mid /high
speaker- contains four elements for a broad, 120'
Slightly
Better yet
Sound source. $161-$188, depending on finish.
higher in West.
DYNAMIC WOOFER DRIVER
Specifically designed to complement the delicate clarity
of lansien Electrostatic Mid /High Range Speakers, the
Model 350 Dynamic Woofer offers clean, honest bass,
devoid of coloration, false resonances, hangover or boom.
It is the only separately available woofer to give such
clean response in so small an enclosure -only 2.2 cu. ft.
Response is uncannily fiat from 40 to 2000 cycles with
excellent output to 30 cycles. Only $44.50. Slightly
higher in West.
o
DO- IT- YOURSELF WOOFER ENCLOSURE
Working with the plans we furnish with each woofer,
you'll be able to build your own enclosure with basic
tools. The enclosure is a sturdy, yet simple, totally
enclosed cabinet. There are no tricky baffle arrangements
or adjustments. Size without legs: 19" high x 25" wide x
13" deep. Cost of all materials should run about $12 to $18.
Discover JansZen clarity for yourself. Write for
literature on JansZen's complete speaker systems and
the name of your nearest dealer.
*Including designs by Artbar A. Janssen and mode only by
NESHAMINY ELECTRONIC CORP. Neshaminy, Pa.
Export Dlr.: 25 Warren St., New York 7. N. Y.
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CHORISTERS
Continued from page 48
ó
.o
C)
,
130
reed pipe on the stage and marched
off with it to serenade Galatea. The
critic H. F. Chorleu denounced the
braying of the trombones, which had
somehow insinuated themselves into
this miniature score, but refused to
say a word against Nlozart.
Perhaps the oddest Handel production of the period, however, resulted
from Rophino Lacy's praiseworthy attempt to bring the oratorios back to
Covent Garden. In 1833, by way of
preparation for a stage revival of
Jephtha, he perpetrated a work called
The Israelites in Egypt, a compound
of Israel in Egypt and Rossini's Aiosé.
This %went down very %veil with an audience that included the future Queen
Victoria and her mother. But Jephtha,
like i1andel's first oratorio Esther a
century before, was banned from the
stage by the Bishop of London, who
-we are toll -"had inoculated Queen
Adelaide with his pious scruples, and
the Lord Chamberlain obeyed their
orders." It was not till November 1958
that a Handel oratorio (Samson)
reached the Covent Garden stage.
The theatre was still the house of
ill fame; but excess knew few bounds
in church, and none at all at the
Crystal Palace. where mammoth Handel Festivals took place triennially
from 1859 to 1926. The Westminster
Abbey Messiah of 1834 employed a
mere (i44 persons; a preliminary canter at the Crystal Palace in 1857
gathered 2.00( singers and 500 instrumentalists for Messiah and Israel in
Egypt. In 1859 the establishment for
the saine two oratorios was 2,765 and
460; in 1882 it was 4.000 and 500.
Two things are remarkable about
these and other Victorian Handel festivals: the narrow range of works
chosen, and the appalling quality of
the performances. The forty operas
had been buried for a century; of the
oratorios Oulu lIe.s.siah, Israel in
Egypt, Judas .%I(WC(Ihceus, and Samson were familiar -two of them untypical and one a potboiler. The ")multitudinous dullness" of the performances with their dragged tempos,
clumsy dynamics, flaccid rhythms,
and "the insufferable lumbering which
is the curse of English Handelian
choral singing" -not to mention the
wholesale corruption of texts -has
been vividly described by Bernard
Shaw. Sluggish tempos were inevitable with such gargantuan choirs and
orchestras, even without the false association with church music. This
trouble goes back to the 1784 Commemoration, if not earlier. \Ve know
from an article by William Crotch,
published in 1800, in which he gave
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the results of his experiments with a
primitive metronome, that parts of
Messiah were dragged in the eighteenth century. Another hereditary defect, from which we still suffer, is the
excessive use of the organ; Handel
never used this instrument in the secco
recitatives of the oratorios, and very
seldom in the airs, except to double
the bass in angry or warlike pieces.
(He did, of course, use it regularly in
the choruses, and sometimes played
concertos on it between the acts.)
Shaw pointed out that "we know
rather less about [Handel] in England
than they do in the Andaman Islands,
since the Andamans are only unconscious of him whereas we are misconscious," and suggested that the
only hope of obtaining justice for
Messiah in a Christian country was to
"import a choir of heathens, restrained
by no considerations of propriety from
attacking the choruses with unembarrassed sincerity of dramatic expression." In another article he recommended "the dispersion of the Handel
choir by armed force " -an expedient
we still have in reserve -and paid a
prophetic tribute to the first clavichord ever made by Arnold Dolmetsch, "on a moderate computation,
about forty thousand times as important as the Handel Festival."
This debasement of the currency
brought its inevitable sequel. Round
about 1900 sensitive musicians in
England, familiar with the religious
masterpieces of J. S. Bach. began to
denounce Handel as a hollow and
pretentious fraud -[which of course is
precisely the image in which he had
been presented for generations. His
stock sank rapidly, despite a gilt edged market for Messiahs and ¡.sraels, and has only recently begun to
recover. Today we have two contrasted methods of performance. On
the one hand senior conductors employ big battalions (but no longer
army groups) to spank the life out of
two or three old favorites, an exercise
that still draws a faithful public. On
the other hand there have been attempts to reproduce some of the conditions of eighteenth-century performance, in particular the balance of
forces, the spontaneous quality evoked
by ornamentation (originally improvised), and the brilliance and variety
of Handel's scoring in its true colors.
Despite a few misfires, there is no
doubt about the success of this movement, which is rapidly gaining momentum in more than one country;
besides revealing the vast discrepancy
between the historical and the traditional Handel, it has begun to excaate the numerous great works buried
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Continued on next page
April 1959
131
www.americanradiohistory.com
CHORISTERS
K(Tiert°t1(
Continued from preceding page
WIDE SCREEN STEREO
by the misguided past, and already
has driven some of the more discreditable travesties into limbo. It must be
added that the gramophone companies (at any rate in England) have so
far shown little enterprise. We have
recently had an Israel in Egypt after
Costa and a Solomon under Beecham,
which, apart from polluting the score
with every kind of anachronism including secco recitatives delivered by
brass band. reduces the dramatic and
musical design of this noble masterpiece to manifest nonsense.
In the theatre Handel is at last beginning to come into his own. The initiative came from Germany Soon after
the 1914 -18 War, when both operas
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and oratorios reached the stage,
though at first in arrangements heavily doctored to tickle post-Wagnerian
ears. Oskar Hagen's versions of Giulio
Cesare and Rodelinda, which are still
performed, suggest nothing so ouch
as an illicit union between the St.
Matthew Passion and a \lahler symphony, with secco recitatives scored
for full orchestra and the airs chopped
about and transposed. It is fatal to the
balance and texture of the music. a
point to which Handel paid great attention, to distribute the castrato
parts among tenors and baritones:
countertenors or women are the only
satisfactory answer. Later (.ennan
revivals have shown better taste; indeed the Halle Festivals in the last
ten years have threatened to out -baroque the baroque by employing far
more continuo instruments than Handel himself used.
England has scarcely begun to discover the operas, of which some two
dozen have been produced in Germany, but has led the field with the
oratorios. svhich are musically better
balanced and much inure successful
as dramatic wholes. Most of these
entures have been the Nvork of amateur societies or the Universities (especially Cambridge), using professional soloists and sometimes a professional orchestra. They have Lyon
high praise, and prepared the way
for the recent restoration of Samson
(though in a sadly misconceived pro duction) to its rightful place at Covent
Garden. We must hope that this is
ooh' a beginning, and that we
will at last be given the chance to recognize Handel for what he was. the
creator of the longest sequence of
dramatic masterpieces in musical his-
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ENGLISHRY
Continued from page 45
thirteen different copyists have been
identified: outside it, were many
others. It is small wonder that the man
whose music was cherished in so many
households became a figure of national
interest. The provincial press took a
lively interest in his movement and
concerts and regularly reprinted
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notices about them from the London
papers. By the late 1740s Handels
works were frequently played in a
score or more of large cities, and in
many other places that are unrecorded.
His health cc sequently became a
matter of nation.-1 concern. The course
of his illnesses was followed with anxiety. and with his death, the light
seemed to have gone out of English
music. Apart from purely musical merit, contemporary accounts make it
clear that Handel was esteemed and
admired for his integrity, tenacity,
simple piety. and sleep charity. These
very English virtues far outweighed
his sometimes uncertain temper and
roughness of speech. Clearly, while
Handel retained much of his native
individuality, he came to regard himself as an Englishman, and an important one. Like many truly great men,
he had a humble vet realistic knowledge of his own merits; for the fourth
codicil to his will, dated April 11.
1759. reads: "I hope to have the permission of the Dean and Chapter of
Westminster to be buried in Westminster Abbey in a private manner at
the discretion of my executor Mr.
Amyand, and I desire that my said executor may have leave to erect a monument for me there." Thus did the
great son of a German barber -surgeon
stake his claim to a place in England's
national shrine. Today, Handel's monument. carved in marble by Roubiliac,
stands as gleaming white in the South
Transept of the Abbey as when it was
first erected.
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www.americanradiohistory.com
ON AND OFF RECORDS
Continued from page 52
1, the
thoughtful recitative that serves as
third movement of No. 2, the jolly
fugue that constitutes the finale of No.
4, the lovely opening of No. 5, and
the interesting tone color of the fast
movements of No. 6, where the violins
are muted and the lower strings
plucked throughout (the solo instrument was obviously intended to be a
harp, though the work %vas published
as for harp or organ). In Op. 7 the
high spots are the first two movements
of No. 1, which are remarkable chaconnes on different versions of the
same theme, the noble Ouverture and
attractive finale of No. 2, and especially No. 4 with its brooding and expressive first movement -the darkly colored
opening is one of the rare introspective
moments in recorded Handel anti, to
me, one of his great passages -and its
hearty, thoroughly English-sounding
finale ( which, however, is said to be
based on a piece by Telemann!).
There are excellent recordings of
both sets, and in the case of Op. 4
there is a choice between two good
complete sets. It is a choice over which
we need not hesitate long. Biggs with
the London Philharmonic conducted
by Boult (Columbia K2L 258, two
LP) is practically ideal. He uses at
small English organ built to Handel's
specifications; its balance with the
orchestra is perfect; and the sound of
both is as delicious as a properly
chilled, not too dry, white wine. 'l'he
Vox set (PL 7132, two LP), performed by Walter Kraft with the Pro
Musica Chamber Orchestra, Stuttgart, conducted by Rolf Reinhardt, is
ill many respects first -class too, though
in No. 1 the first movement is rather
ponderous and the last lacks the grace
of the Biggs, and throughout, the orchestra sounds closer to the microphone than the organ. Of interest, too,
is the Archive recording of the first
four concertos of Op. 4, by Eduard
Muller %with the Schola Cantorum
Basiliensis, conducted by August
\Venzinger (ARC 3100) Here, in
Nos. 1 and 3, the performers employ
the unspecified dotted rhythms that
seem to have been commonly used in
Handel's time. Miiller also goes in for
more boldness in ornamentation than
in the last movement of No.
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Biggs does.
Handel left many indications for
ad lib. improvisation in these works.
Indeed, in Op. 7, Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 6,
a whole slow movement is left for the
organist to supply. What we hear in
such places is, alas, not inspired but,
at least in the Vox recording of this
set (PL 7202, two LP), made by the
HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE
134
www.americanradiohistory.com
same performers as that compel',
Op. 4, it is not so bad as to distrait
one from the beauties of the mns,
Handel did supply. Here, though ht
organ still sounds a little distant as
compared with the orchestra, perform
ance and recording are first -rate. Presumably there is to he a Riggs -Bonk
21,`-L_CC3,0
i
Op. 7 soon.
A single disc that offers two collect.tos from each set, competently planed
and well recorded, is that issued by
Kapp (KUL 9018). on which Lawrence Moe and the Unicorn ('uncurl
Orchestra conducted by Klaus I.icpmann perform Op. d, Nos. 2 aid 5, and
Op. 7, Nos. 1 and 5.
Because of the unsettled state of the
record catalogues, I have listed only
monophonic records. No doriht In
t
press time many of these rte
.,,
will have been duplicated in stereo.
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IJIPLRISI1ABLL WAG
Continued from page
.55
riot's, of that same gentle parson being
awakened in the middle of the night
by the clatter of horses' houses and
the rattle of a coach. followed by
furious hangings on his door; it was
\Ir. Handel, come helter-skelter, on a
moment's impulse. to astirhtin the
meaning of some obsture couplet.
Usually Mandel scut straight to
the heart of a lyric, to its teieral inn port, rarely bothering sc ith the exact
shade of hair's- breadth word setting
which so fidgets modern composers. h,
true baroque fashion lie stns out to set
the general Affekt of a poem to 1111150;
"if some of its feet cane on the wrong
beat," well, that was ¡list too bad. but
it couldn't be helped. The famous
chorus in ,Messiah, -For-unto us a
child is horn," is an excellent example
of what might happen to the underlaying if words and music came into
sharp conflict; it so happened that
Handel wished to make use at this
point of an earlier work. an Italian
duet which gave just the effect lie
wanted. And how magnificent the resulting chorus is. if you tan forgive
him for starting off on the \\ rung foot.
Always in a hurry. he sometimes let
himself be carried au ay by one 'surd
in a lyric; one of the Most evt., lim,
examples of this is his setting of Alms
vain is man," in Judas Iaccaboeus. I
feel sure that Dr. \forcll intended this
lyric for sonic sententiuns tune, reflecting solemnly on the futility of
human aspirations; Maiden, however,
saw fit to read into the text a very
.
Continued on next page
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IMPERISIIABLE WAG
Continued from preceding page
different tune, more evocatite of a
dandy mincing down the Strand than
of \Llrell's nu,r.tlirii ts. It nlay have
been an honest mistake. of course, but
I'm not sure; I have a sneaking fear
that Handel may have been pulling
everybody's pegs, :uul not least his
librettist's. -Oh, \aat may ve not ex'"
pect
Those librettists must have had a
good deal to put up with. one way or
another, when ilaudel's "great bear"
got loose among them, but on the
whole they were a mediocre crew,
and their sorry verses have not been
improved by the passage of time. 1)r.
Morel! \was probably the best of a
poor lot, but even he sometintt's descended to such doggerel as: "Pious
orgies, pious airs, Decent orgies, deA "decent orgy"
cent prayers .
comes dangerously near to a contradiction in terms, I would have
thought, but no matter: let us pass on,
with averted glance, to "See, from his
post Euphrates flies
.
Which
makes one wonder, first, to what sort
of post one .mild possibly tether a
nit cr. anti, setoudh, if perhaps the
\er Cod was expecting a letter luau
the local tax collector. Charles Jennens, who is supposed to have asseinhied the text of .\leasiah, also fancied
himself as a port; one of his geins is in
Saul, %alien. he makes the heroine,
\liclal, announce that "A father's will
Ica authoriz'd my love
.'
Of wrest, IlandtI's librettists cannot be blamed for the many changes
iii the actual meanings of words that
have taken place in the last hul cenhnries. No one in hander's day could
foreseen the eventual sad deIaucnient of the wort) 'awful," \which
n the eighteenth century still sigui.
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Retl full of awe; if anyone had, even
Handel world not have made poor
Virtue. in The Choice of Hercules,
sing -Listen to my awful voice' no
fetter than eight times in the course
of one aria. Purist as I am, I think that
one Wright make some slight emendation here; oilier\ use Virtue will go on
RACINE ' WIS
Continued nn page 138
HIGII PIIntl.rr" MAGAZINE
136
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IMPERISHABLE WAG
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unintentionally evoking some of that
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joyously hymned in L'Allegro ed it
®
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Pensieroso. This brings us to some of
the greater poets with whom Handel
found himself collaborating -after
their apotheoses, naturally. I at not
quite sure if we can blame Hilton entirely for that curious couplet in Samson which announces glibly that "To
man God's universal law/Gave power
." Wistful
to keep his wife in awe .
thinking, perhaps? But I feel sure
that Handel must have had a quiet
little bachelor chuckle when he set
that earth -shaking reflection to suitably sententious music. We have seen
how he could domineer over prima
donnas, but he seems to have been
cautious to avoid all danger of matrimonial altercations; the wily old boy
didn't even have to try to keep a wife
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"? Let us draw a
ghastly band
kindly veil over this part of the proceedings and tiptoe on.
Hitherto we have mentioned only
the more obvious examples of humor
in Handel, in connection with vocal
works, where word setting and character drawing are concerned. But it
can be observed in his purely instrumental works, sometimes overtly.
sometimes slightly concealed. Chief
among such music comes his crowning instrumental achievement, the
twelve glorious Grand Concertos, Op.
6. To me these concertos are full of
never-failing interest and variety.
much more so, say, than J. S. Bach's
Brandenburg Concertos. In Hander's
Opus 6, no single concerto is devoted
entirely to one mood, but the indi-
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I
vidual movements, like his arias, are
usually dominated by one broad
Affekt. Thus we have playful movements (Concerto No. 2, second movement, Allegro); boisterous movements
(No. 3, third movement, Allegro) ;
jolly movements (No. 9, second movement, Allegro); mysterious movements (the opening of No. 11); some
wistful movements (the second movement, Allegro, of No. 12, when it is
played at the proper gentle speed);
and, of course, plenty of merely vigorous movements and several examples of Handel's own special kind of
stately serenity. One movement I never
cease to wonder at is the three eight
Presto of No. 5. I remember reading
somewhere in the pages of G.B.S. how
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he saw in Beethoven's llanunerkiat i
Sonata a prophetic vision of nucle,
theory; I have always felt that in tht
whirling semiquavers of this unparalleled movement old Handel showed
something of the saine prophetic insight.
Some of Handel's earlier concertos
( the
so- called Hautboy Concertos.
Op. 3) also have their humorous moments, particularly in the dances
Handel's dances are rarely stiff and
formal, but have a broad and earthy
life of their own; one has only to think
of the Water Music to feel the truth of
this. Some of his most delightful
Glances are in the "Frenchvfied" ballet
operas of the mid -1730s (Ariodante.
Terp.Yicore, Alcina): the hest example of all is the Dream Music in Alcina, a psychological pantomime depicting a conflict between good and
evil dreams -the good dreams represented by the strings "à .5," the evil by
tremendous unisons; the good dreams
are startled (oh delicious flutterings,
prei,choing those disappearing angels
in Messiah!) and there follows a battle, to a Lulliste Air des Co!ubattanls,
between good and evil. My description
may sound overfanciful, but Handel's
nnlsic here is remarkable, as those who
are fortunate enough to possess Lim al
\eel's recording (on Unicorn UNIA'
9:38) will readily agree.
Many years ago I wrote in a play
that to inc Handel was The Greatest
Common Denominator of all mankind.
I still hold to that belief, and I think
that it is above all his gift of humor
which confirms me in my opinion.
Certainly to an Englishman no man
can be truly great who has no sense
of humor. If you are one of those
who have been brought up on what
one might call the Messianic theory of
Handel and his music, you may feel
that I have been poking unnecessary
fun at him. Indeed I have not; there is
no stauncher Handelian in the world
than Charles Cudworth. One does not
laugh at the Great and Good Mr.
Handel; one laughs with him.
-
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137
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28
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31.... Fleetwood Televi
19
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45....Florman and Babb
137
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22... Genalex
135
40
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94
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26
48... Gray Manufacturing Co.
34
121... . Crommes
7
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137
50. . Hartley Products Co.
103 -107
51.... Heath Co.
137
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137
53...Iligh Fidelity (louse
54....Iligh Fidelity Recordings. ..29
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128
56.... Janus Records
57.... Jensen \Ifg. Co.
58.
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Corp.
96
1
Research Development
59....Kapp Records
60...Key Electronics
61... .Klipsch
65
95
75
76
130
137
132
1
Electric Corp. .. 128
American Philips Co.,
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80..-Omega
8
Stereophonic Disk
81....ORRadio Industries
...92
21
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32.... Pickwick Sales Corp.
83.... Pilot Radio Corp.
121 ....Precision Electronics
84.... Presleep Tapes
2
80
12:3
34
137
137
Professional Directory
14
RCA Components
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Victor Division
67, 89. Inside Back Cover
99
Record Market
137
86.... Recorded Publications
126
87 ....Recoton Corp.
100
88 ....ReevesSoundcraft
89.... Rek -O-Kut Co., Inc.
25
90.... Relton Corp.
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91 .... Rich
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93.... Roberts Electronics Inc
94.... Robins Industries
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96 .... Sargent-Rayment
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133
90
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132
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99
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98.... Scott, Herman I liosmer, Inc. .108
95
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100.... Sherwood Electronic
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20
101....Sonotone Corp.
37
Terminal Radio
130 137
6
138
78. 79
102.... Stromberg- Carlson
103.... Sun Radio and Electronics ..137
23
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105.
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106....Thorens
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Trader's Marketplace
86
107.... United Artists Records
108.... United Audio Products ...35, 36
109.... University Loudspeakers,
56
Inc.
82
110.... Urania Records
Society,
111.... Vanguard Recording
83
Inc.
136
68
40....Vitavox
112.... Vox Productions, Inc.
113.... Warner Bros. Records,
114.... Washington Records
115
116
70, 71
Internist'
Music Listeners Bookshop ..129
79... North
85
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131
Laboratory Inc. 17, 18
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1'34
19
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55
96, 99
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139
137
73...NIaratitz Co.
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80
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Radio Manufacturing
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99
98
84
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13
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35.... Dyer- Bennett Records
36.... Dynaco Inc.
27
126
Inc.
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67.... Leslie Creat
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69....London Records
70.... Louisville Philharmonic
Lowell Mfg. Co.
71.
Lyon Products
72
65.
66.
33
137
40
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137
20'.... Carston Studios, Inc.
27.... Columbia LP Records
28.... Columbia Records
80. 90, 92, 95,
29.... Concert Cabinetry
30.... Connoisseur
31.... Conrac. Inc.
4
Sound,
76.... Mercury Scientific Products
77....M -C -M Records
124
24.... C & D Products Co.
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134
32
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