SoundStage! Network Ultra Audio -- Archived Article

December 1, 2003

Radical Sounds: ’Tis the Advanced-Resolution Season

The release of music on both DVD-Audio and SACD discs has increased dramatically this year, making possible this first column devoted to seasonal music released on the formats. Listeners with a single-format player will have to pick and choose; those who have one of the newer, affordable universal players can have the best of both worlds.

EMI has released an excellent DVD-A of choral music by J.S. Bach performed by the King’s College Chapel Choir and the Academy of Ancient Music, conducted by Stephen Cleobury. The performances are neat and to the point, and the warm, reverberant character of a large cathedral is suggested by the 5.0-channel recording. A DVD-A has a longer maximum playing time than a SACD, and this disc contains more than two and a half hours of music: the Magnificat, Cantatas 12, 140, 226, and 230, the Missa Brevis in A, and many shorter pieces -- a real bargain.

Another DVD-A, this one on the DTS label, contains Handel’s complete Messiah on one disc, in the orchestration by Ebenezer Prout. Sir David Willcocks conducts the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and NightPro Symphony Orchestra, with soloists Lorna Anderson, Paul Esswood, Neil Mackie, and Stephen Roberts. The spacious sound is appealing and clean, the performance robust and elegant.

There is no complete Nutcracker yet in an advanced-resolution format, but Sony does have The Nutcracker Suite as a filler for Tchaikovsky’s Symphony 4 on a multichannel SACD disc. Leonard Bernstein leads an exuberant performance; the sound has been satisfactorily remixed in 5.1.

Here are some SACD compilations of shorter pieces to consider. The first, Dallas Christmas Gala (Delos), has many things to recommend it, including John Wasson’s high-energy Festival Fanfare for Christmas, and Fred Silver’s hysterical The 12 Days After Christmas. Andrew Litton and David R. Davidson lead the Dallas Symphony Chorus and Orchestra in polished performances. The 5.1 sound, however, is a bit wacky: Somewhat muffled, it sounds as though the reverberation has been electronically added, although this is probably not the case.

No such criticism can be leveled at Telarc’s A Mormon Tabernacle Christmas, which has presence to burn. Bright and cheerful arrangements, superbly executed by the choir and the accomplished Orchestra at Temple Square, make this release a real winner. Nor is there anything "canned" about this CD’s rear channels -- they contribute to making it a live-sounding experience. There’s lots of lease-breaking subwoofer action, too.

Sony multichannel SACDs from two music legends lead off the list of holiday pop music. Johnny Mathis has made many Christmas recordings, and his latest, The Christmas Album, is given the full treatment: lush orchestral arrangements, backup chorus, and busy 5.1 sound -- and Mathis, his voice spread through all three front channels, sounds as good as ever. What would the holidays be without at least one of his songs?

Barry Manilow’s SACD A Christmas Gift of Love has just been released. Its sound is brighter than the Mathis, though with a similar surround perspective. Whereas Mathis mixes religious and secular tunes, Manilow’s choices are all secular. Though you can’t go wrong with either disc if you’re looking for popular Christmas standards recorded in the highest resolution, they share two irritating faults: Each is playable only on SACD players (neither is a hybrid disc), and each is only about 31 minutes long. Are we witnessing the birth of a Sony holiday tradition of short, exclusive discs?

Concord Jazz has remixed Rosemary Clooney’s White Christmas to 5.1 but has wisely included the original stereo tracks on a hybrid disc playable on any CD player. This 1996 session found the great singer a bit past her prime, and certain passages are labored. But there’s a lot of magic as well, in such songs as "Count Your Blessings," "It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," and "Let It Snow."

AIX Records has released their Surrounded by Christmas DVD-A, with the AIX All Stars: Laurence Juber, Jim Cox, Leland Sklar, John Ferraro, and Steven Forman. And surrounded you will be -- if you enjoy hearing a piano solo from over your left shoulder after enjoying a guitar solo up front, the MLP 5.1 Stage mix is for you. If not, there are stereo tracks as well. Both configurations feature 24-bit/96kHz resolution, and the disc’s video side features the extras we’ve come to expect from AIX. The arrangements range from the sublime ("What Child is This?," "I Saw Three Ships") to the ridiculous ("Jingle Bells") to the what-the-heck were-they-thinking? ("Hark, the Herald Angels Sing -- Surf Version").

Here are four superb discs no one would mind finding under the tree:

J.S. Bach: Christmas Oratorio
Johanette Zomer, soprano; Annette Markett, alto; Gerd Turk, tenor; Peter Harvey, bass; Choir and Orchestra of the Netherlands Bach Society; Jos van Veldhoven, conductor.
Channel Classics CCS SA 20103, Hybrid Multichannel SACD, two discs.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Christmas Oratorio actually comprises half a dozen cantatas written to be performed in Leipzig from Christmas Day, 1794 to Epiphany, 1795. The works were written for large forces, including oboes, horns, trumpets, and drums. There are parts for four soloists, including a tenor who acts as narrator-evangelist. Overall, it is a magnificent work of varied hue, ranging from the hushed reverence of the Sinfonia that begins the second cantata to the blazing glory of the final chorus of Cantata 6, one of the most radiant moments in all of music history.

This performance, on period instruments, is lively, vital, and one of the best in the catalog. Without indulging in grandstanding, the vocal soloists turn in sure performances that project the text with loving care. The small chorus and orchestra phrase with exceptional clarity, singing and playing with virtuoso exuberance. Though conductor Jos van Veldhoven paces the various arias and chorales briskly, they never sound rushed.

This is one of the best performances in the Christmas Oratorio sweepstakes, but what puts it on top is its sound, which is so natural that I felt I could walk up to the speakers and touch the players and singers. The stage width is normal, but the depth is enormous. When the echo voice answers the soprano in the fourth section of Cantata 4, she sounds all the way at the rear of the church, behind the chorus -- her position is precisely indicated without having to resort to the gimmick of putting her in the rear channels. Those are reserved for the discreet (and discrete) reverberation that produces the three-dimensional aural picture of the front soundstage.

The lush packaging bears special mention. A dark red, felt-like outer case contains two inner packages: one is a foldout containing the two discs, the other a 196-page hardcover book containing all the text, program notes, and artist biographies, as well as dozens of full-color reproductions of Renaissance art masterpieces pertaining to the Christmas Story. This set would make a handsome gift, for yourself or for someone special on your list.

Victorian Christmas
Stephanie Osborne, harp.
Silverline 288212-9, DVD-Audio, contains MLP 24/96 5.1 tracks, 24/192 stereo tracks, and Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks.

This is a deceptively simple program of secular and religious favorites played on solo harp. Stephanie Osborne, clearly a virtuoso, has here opted for simplicity in most of her arrangements in order to convey a musical picture of the Victorian Era. The results are enchanting. The 5.1 MLP recording is so realistic that it seems to put the harp comfortably in one's listening room. The 24/192 stereo transfer adds just a wee bit more resolution to some sounds, notably the harmonics used in "O Christmas Tree," but the 5.1 has more presence. However you listen to it, this is an ideal holiday disc for quiet, late-night hours, and one you’ll play year after year.

The Ray Brown Trio: Live at the Loa
Concord Jazz SACD-1027-6, Hybrid Multichannel SACD.

Regular readers will know that I am not predisposed to remixes of material originally recorded in stereo. However, I’m the first to join the cause when the results come out right. Producers John Burk and Nick Phillips have done a splendid job of turning this excellent 1990 recording into a 2003 multichannel experience. Concord Jazz seems to work the extra channels best on its live stereo material. On this disc, the trio is spread across the front, mixed with just enough ambience to create a three-dimensional effect, and the audience is in the surrounds.

Gene Harris’s piano solos have remarkable presence, Jeff Hamilton’s drums are crisp yet never brittle, and Brown’s bass sounds singularly realistic. Hearing those three names, one would suppose the music would be close to perfection, and it is. From the opening "Summer Wind" to Milt Jackson’s "Bluesology," which closes the set, this is high-energy music making from the best players in the business.

Steve Earle: Guitar Town
MCA 086 113 055, Stereo SACD.

I mentioned this release last month in talking about the number of channels to be used for advanced-resolution recordings. This one is in two-channel stereo, and it sounds as if that is exactly what was intended. Extra channels would have served only to complicate its intrinsic simplicity and energy, which finds Earle’s voice and the drums in the center, the other instruments spread left and right in a narrow yet effective soundstage. The guitars, pedal steel, and mandolin have incredible presence in this SACD recording, and Earle’s voice has impressive layers of nuance totally missing from radio broadcasts of the same music. The only minus: this SACD is not a hybrid, so it won’t play on CD-only machines. To my mind, all record labels should try to eliminate double inventory by releasing only hybrid discs. (At press time, a talk with a Sony rep indicated that Sony is coming around to this viewpoint, and from now on will release hybrid discs almost exclusively.)

...Rad Bennett
radb@ultraaudio.com

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