americanradiohistory.com · per500 -TX is the)atile receiver. RIS% having to switch he stereo mode.-channel speaker mote speaker any - If you connect a you'll be able to, or both

FORMERLY HI Fl/STEREO REVIEW

SEPTEMBER 1969 60 CENTS

AFL 2829E E.;;S 'RN TEST RANGE

Al

THE SENSE OF HEARING: ODD FACTS FOR AUDIOPHILESM. PIERRE BOULEZ OF THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONICA SHORT HISTORY OF BELLS * MUSIC AT THE MOVIES

)1)181Vd6t9Z leff

H 8811 3SV860

9 .04d31 960;V186 Z9Z ZLE ISE

per 500 -TX is the)atile receiver.RIS%

having to switchhe stereo mode.-channel speakermote speaker any -

If you connect ayou'll be able to

, or both tracks,eo speakers with amitor switch.isher 500 -TX has

connection of ani an extraordinaryyour stereo sound.er for details.)he 500 -TX.

about the Fisherow.remendoJs power100 -TX offers tre-

mendous sensitivity. (Usable sensitivity1.7 microvolts.) And it has a highly se-lective crystal filter that lets you pull inweak, distant stations located right nextto stronger, local stations. In our teststhe 500 -TX was able to receive moreclear stations than any other receiver ortuner, regardless of price.

And speaking of price, that's the bestfeature of all.

It costs less than other, less power-ful, less versatile, less sensitive receivers.

It's $449.95. (Wa'nut cabinet,$22.95. Prices slightly higher in the FarWest.)

*190 watts ±1dB at 8 ohms. Other receiversthat claim big power are nearly alwaysrated at 4 ohms. Their power into normal8 -ohm speaker systems is actually less.

Tune it manually.Traditionalists can

tune AM and FM stations inthe normal way, with Fisher's

ultrasmooth flywheel drive.

Or by push button.Preset your four favorite

FM stations on the miniaturedials. After that, tune to any one

instantly, at the touch of a button.The station will be locked in

electrically, so there'll be no drift.

Or by AutoScan:Touch one of these two buttons

and the next FM station up or downthe dial is automatically tuned in,

dead center. Hold down either -

button and all FM stations up ordown the dial come in, one by one.

Or by remote control.With this optional accessory

(the Fisher RK-30, $9.95)you can operate the AutoScan

from your easy chair or bed.

CIRCLE NO. 26 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Do this.

Or do this.

Or do this.

Or do this.

The 190 -watt Fistworld's most vers

I-

INISSIN111111111

BP 90 9 94 hilt hi Ili!

inn

Mail this couponfor your free copy ofThe Fisher Handbook, 1969edition.This reference guideto hi-fi and stereo also

includes detailed information on allFisher components.Fisher Radio Corporation11-35 45th RoadLong Island City, N.Y.11101

Name_ _

Address

City

IV

State Zip0209691

The fisherOVERSEAS AND CANAIDIAN icESMENLS PLEAS, WFOTE[1511.ER FAL!, INTL 1,IALIONAIL, INC , LONG ISLAND CO, N V

PRICES SLIGHTLY HIGHER IN THE FAR WEST.

You'll be able to do more things withthe new Fisher 500 -TX than with anyother receiver in history.

In addition to being able to chooseyour favorite FM station manually, orthree ways automatically, the 500 -TXlets you control speakers throughoutyour home.

You can set up, and control, a center -channel speaker in your main stereo set-up. Plus, you can set up remote stereospeakers in another room and listen tojust the remote speakers. Or just themain stereo system. Or all at the sametime.

Plus, since the 500 -TX delivers anenormous 190 watts into an 8 -ohm load,you'll have enough power to feed still an-other pair of stereo remote speakers.

Plus, you can feed a single, remote

mono speaker withoutthe receiver out of tSimply use the cent&connection to feed a rewhere in your home!

And there's more.stereo tape recorder,monitor either trackthrough both your sterspecial mode/tape rrit

And more. The Ffacilities for the simpl(accessory that will adsreverberation effect to(Ask your Fisher deal,

Other features of tThere's even mon

500 -TX you should knIn addition to its

and versatility, the

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RECEIVER

Memo

From: Sales Department

To: Engineering Department

Subject: Development of a speaker system thatpermits control of the sound distributionin a room.

Give us a speaker system that:

1 -Permits a ?air of speakers to be usedany distance apart, any spacing from awall, and can be use -a -6n the floor oron a wall.

2 -Can also b.3 used side -by -side, yetproduce st3reo the acoustical equiv-alent of opimum spacing.

3 -Does not require an inordinately highpower amplifier or extraneous elec-tronic equalizer.

4- Will preserve stereo separation anddefinition eveRywhere in the listeningarea.

Memo

From: Sales DEpa-truent

To: The Pub :cSubject: VARIFLEX

MenloAVI)

From: ZigineertigDepartmentTce

-eSub Departniez:t

ject: 3peakersystem

that perin;tsa.1---5z-rn.

controlof the so distritut2on

Oka/ We'veaone ;t!

We cal/ it "vARIFTEx,.

This excgtiDnal,unfqu3 speakersystem, r-o)ablythe mast significzntbreakthroJgt in home stereo

reproc-uct on,will be fors:LIP?announced in October.

FORMERLY HI FI/STEREO REVIEW

Stereo ReviewSEPTEMBER 1969 VOLUME 23 NUMBER 3

THE MUSICMUSIC IN THE UNITED STATESA review of a new book by H. Wiley Hitchcock WILFRID 1\ TELLERS 54THE BASIC REPERTOIREMozart's Symphony No. 38, "Prague" MARTIN BOOKSPAN 61IS THERE ANY MUSIC AT THE MOVIES?A light history of film soundtracks PAUL KRESII 75STEREO REVIEW TALKS TO GEZA ANDAContinuing a series of interviews with recording artists ROBERT OFFERCEI D 81PIERRE BOULEZ OF THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC/111 interview with the newly appointed music director JAMES GOODFRIEND 82BELLS, BELLS, BELLSThe oldest musical instrument .srldom gets its due FRITZ KUTTNER 84AMERICA'S BELL RINGERS GIVE YALE 4 -DAY CONCERTA report on this year's convention of carillonneurs DoNAL H ENAIIAN 89

THE EQUIPMENTNEW PRODUCTSA roundup of the latest high-fidelity equipment 18AUDIO QUESTIONS AND ANSWERSAdvice on readers' technical problems LARRY KI FIN 28AUDIO BASICS'Fes/ Records HANS H. FANTEL 33TECHNICAL TALKSpecifications Tuners; Hirsch -Houck laboratory reportson the JUG 5003 "IM [Stereo I'M receiver, the Xtmlinende 8001/Ttape recorder, and the Scott 8-15 speaker system JULIAN 1). HIRSCH .37FOUR -CHANNEL STEREO"Wrap -around sound" is ready for demonstration ROBERT BERKOVITZ 56THE SENSE OF HEARINGLittle-known facts about how We hear CRAIG STARK 66INSTALLATION OF THE MONTHSectional Stereo RALPH HODGES 90TAPE HORIZONSMixing a it CRAIG STARK 141

THE REVIEWSBEST RECORDINGS OF THE MONTH 91CLASSICAL 97

ENTERTAINMENT 125STEREO TAIT. 139

THE REG1JLARSEDITORIALLY SPEAKING WILLIAM ANDERSON 4

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 6

GOING ON RECORD JAMES GOODFRIEND 50I NTRODUCING THE STAFF: PAUL KRESII WILLIAM LIVINGSTONE 122ADVERTISERS' INDEX; PRODUCT INDEX 144

COVER: JAN STEEN'S "TILE MUSIC LESSON": PHOTO BY PETER ADELIIERG, EUROPEAN ALT COLOR SLIDE CO

copyright X loot) by ZitYliavis Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Stereo Review. September. 1909. Volume 23. Number 3. Publishedaonthly at 307 North Michigan Ave.. Chicago. Illinois 000111. by ZifYllacis Publishing Company-also the publishers of Airline Managementnd Marketing. floating. Business & commercial Aviation. Car and Driver. Cycle. Electronics World. Flying. Modern Bride. Popular Electronics.

Popular Photography, Skiing, Skiing Area News, Skiing Trade News, and Travel Weekly. One year subscription rate for U.S.. U.S. PO,sesslas,and Canada. 80.011: all other Countries. 87.00. Second Class postage paid at Chicago. Illinois and at additional mailing offices. Authorized assecond class mail by the Post Office Department. Ottawa, Canada, and for paynient of postage in cash. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE: Forms 3570and all subscription correspondence should be addressed to Stereo Review, Circulation Department. Portland Place. Boulder. Colorado 911302. Pleaseallow to least six weeks for change of address. Include your old address, as well as new-enclosing If possible an address label from a recent Issue.

ECIRCLE NO. 101 ON READER SERVICE CARD 3

Stereo ReviewFORMERLY HI FI /STEREO REVIEW

PUBLISHERPHILLIP T. HEFFER\

EDITORWILLIAM ANDERSON

MANAGING EDITORWILLIAM LIVINGSTONE

MUSIC EDITORJAMES GOODFRIEND

TECHNICAL EDITORLARRY KLI I \

ASSOCIATE EDITORROBERT S. CLARK

ART DIRECTORBORYS PATCHOWSKY

ASSISTANT TECHNICAL EDITORRALPH HODGES

PRODUCTION ASSISTANTMICHAEL MARK

CONTRIBUTING EDITORSCLIVE BARNES

MARTIN BOOKSPANHANS H. FANTEL

WILLIAM FLANAGANDAVID HALL

DON HECKMANJULIAN D. HIRSCHGEORGE JELLINEK

IGOR KIPNISPAUL KRESH

REX REEDPETER REILLYERIC SALZMANCRAIG STARK

EUROPEAN EDITORFREDERIC GRUNFELD

LONDON EDITORHENRY PLEASANTS

ADVERTISING MANAGERJAMES J. SULLIVAN

ADVERTISINGSERVICE MANAGER

ARDYS C. MORAN

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERLARRY SPORN

Editorial and Executive OfficesZiff -Davis Publishing CompanyOne lark Avenue, New York, New York 10016212 679-7200Nlichael Royce RichardAiiiiwestern Office3117 North Mielagan Avenue, Chicago. Illinois 6011013 I 2 726.1n402Nlidwestern Advertising Manager: Royce RichardWestern Office9025 Wil,hire BoulevardBeverly Hills. California 9021121:1 Cltestview .1.112135: Iiitalinhaw 2-1161W10,01.11 Al [V0111,111:4 Manager: Bud Dean.lapin: James YagiJ. Salcuragaoka. ShIbuyaikuIshikawa MansionTokyo. JapanTelephone: 462.2911-3

11111(0Portland Place, /*milder. Colorado 80802EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS Must be accompaniedI, return iaistage 111111 Will 10. 111111111011 0. MI 1,1011.c.ire: however. publisher ilS10111111, 110 rosponsii!dilly for return or safety of art work. almiography111. 111:1110,e1.10114.

Member Audit Bureau of circulations

ZIFF.DAVIs PUBLISHING COMPANYWilliam Ziff. PresidentW. Bradford Briggs. Executive Vice PresidentHershel B. Senior Vico Presidentphilip Sine. Finanvial Vice PresidentWalter S. Mills. Jr.. Vice President. Circulationstanicy R. fireenlield. Vice President. MarketingI'Iti flip T. Heffernan. Vice President.

Eleetranics DivisionFrank Pomerantz. Vice President. Creative ServicesArthur (V. Ilingow, Vice President. ProductionEdward D. Mahlfeld. Vice President. Aviation DiVliilltmIrwin Robinson. Vive President. Travel DivisionFurman Hebb. Administrative Vice PresidentGeorge Morrissey. Vlee PresidentSydney H. Roger.. Vice President

EDITORIALLY SPEAKINGQUADRASONIC STEREO

IT MAY sound like heresy, sacrilege, or worse, but I must confess, in all can-dor, that although I was intellectually impressed by the supreme technical

accomplishment that has just put two residents of this planet on the moon, Icould not share the emotional responses of wonder, awe, and excitement thatgripped many of my friends. I blame this loss of innocence (current pop -psychjargon would call it Affekt) on Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Robert Hein-lein, and others whose science fiction tales have explored all this ground and more.

To descend abruptly from the celestial to the worldly plane, I blame some ofthese same prescient gentlemen for spoiling a good part of my pleasure in an-other area where reality is at last catching up with fiction. In your run-of-the-mill space opera, the pleasures of music usually emanate from a "sound cube"which, when dropped into some little black box or other, immediately producesa sonic envelope that completely surrounds the listener. And "Surround Stereo"is the name Vanguard Records has chosen to give to the first releases of record-ings intended for (simultaneous) four -track playback, a system "capable ofreproducing music and the acoustical properties of the auditorium in which itwas recorded." Risking an ill-omened paraphrase, I can say that I have heard thefuture, and it works. The four -channel recording technique is, on the face of it,simplicity itself: two microphones pick up ordinary stereo sound from the frontwhile two others pick up hall reverberations from the sides and rear. Playbackrequires four separate channels of amplification (two stereo amplifiers) andfour speakers. There is, of course, more to it than that. Microphone placementeven for "simple" stereo still remains, after over a decade of experience, morean art than a science, and the addition of two channels may increase difficultiesexponentially rather than arithmetically. In playback too, speaker placement andplayback levels (particularly for the two rear channels) are likely to requirevery nice adjustment in the home.

As for format, Vanguard will release its first recordings (Berlioz's Requiemand the Mahler Ninth among them) in reel-to-reel tape. A four -channel disc istechnologically feasible (by multiplexing the rear -channel signals on a 25 -kHzcarrier that many modern cartridges are capable of reproducing), but is not be-ing considered presently. The cassette is also a possibility, but patent -holderPhilips (at least for now) is determined to preserve the compatibility of thismedium-its licensees are not permitted to depart from the two channels for-ward, two channels back arrangement nor, indeed, the 17/8-ips speed. There areseveral reel-to-reel tape machines currently available that will play back fourchannels simultaneously, and others can be adapted for the chore rather simplythrough head rearrangement or addition.

The sonic impression is, I might add, spectacular in its realism: the "hallsound" is palpably there when the whole system is "go," and for an old concert-goer like this one, the experience is gratifyingly musical. Audiophiles blessed withthe proper equipment will have an opportunity to check this themselves with theVanguard releases, and those along the Boston -New York axis can hear it onthe air or in audio salons-see page 56 for details.

4 STEREO REVIEW

Why did over 3/4 million record and

tape colectors pay $5 to join

Record Club of America

Compare

Clubsand see

when other record or tape clubswould have accepted them free?

ColumbiaRecord Club

'as advertisedn Stereo RevieN

April 1969.

CapitolRecord Club

(as advertisedin Look

Feb 4, 1969

RCA VictorRecord Clubas advertisedin N.Y. TimesFeb. 16. 19691

ColumbiaStereo Tape

CartridgeService

as advertisedin PlayboyMay 1969

RECORD CLUB OF AMERICA

CAN YHCHOOSE II-.ALL LABELS'LP's OR TAPIINCLUDINGCARTRIDGE.CASSETTE A',:REEL TO REITAPES'

Si Y,..,E

SPE ND 10FULFILL SO:I EGALOBLIGATIONCAN YOU Fill,ANY RECORDOR TAPE YLIIIWANT AT ADISCOUNT'

DO YOU EVERECEIVEUNORDEREIIRECORDS CI,TAPES'

NO NO NO NO YES!

Choose any LP or tapeon any label! No excep-tions! Over 300 differ-ent manufacturersincluding Columbia,RCA Victor, Capitol,Angel, London, etc.

11 10 4

No obligations! No

NONE!y4aanryly aqsuofeta,:. Toarknemaes

at all if you so decide'

$43.78TO

$54.78

$39.80TO

$49.80

$19.92TO

$23.92$27.80

You don't have to spendZEROa penny because you're

not "legally obligated"DOLLARS record cr tape'

to buy even a single

NO

YES

NO

YES

NO

YES

NO

You get discounts up

n

to

7 9eye Or

Fl F G itiaarna n -

ALWAYS! teedthird! No exceptions!

YES

There are no cardswhich you must return

NEVER!Only, thes aerecordse andsent

- and only when you askus to send them.

HOW LONGmuST YOU

AlT FOR

SELECTIONSTO ARRIVE'

5 to 6weeks

5 to 6weeks

5 to 6 5 to 5weeks weeks

NOLONG Your order processedsame day received. No

WAITS! shipping on cycle.

AT LAST A RECORD CLUB WITH NO "OBLIGATIONS"-ONLY BENEFITS!This is the way you want it-theonly record and tape club with nostrings attached! Ordinary rec-ord or tape clubs make youchoose from just a few labels-usually their own! They makeyou buy up to 12 records or tapesa year usually at full price-tofulfill your obligation. And if youforget to return their monthlycard-they send you a record ortape you don't want and a billfor $4.98, $5.9R or $6.95! In ef-fect. you may be charged almost double foryour records and tapes.

But Record Club of AmericaEnds All That!

We're the largest and only all label recordand tape club or the world. Choose any LPor tape, including cartridges and cassettes.. on any label ... including new releases.

No exceptions! Take as many, or few, or noselections at all if you so decide. Discountsarc GUARANTEED AS HIGH AS 795;OFT! You never pay full -price! You get bestsellers for as low as 990, plus a small han-dling and mailing charge.

How Can We Break All Recordand Tape Club Rules!

We are the only major record and tape clubNOT OWNED ...NOT CONTROLLED ...NOT SUBSIDIZED by any record or tapemanufacturer anywhere. Therefore, we arenever obliged by company policy to pushany one label, or honor the list price of anymanufacturer. Nor arc we prevented by dis-tribution comfestinents. as are other majorrecord or tape clubs, front offering the verynewest records and tapes.Join Record Club of America now and takeadvantage of this special INTRODUCTORYHALF PRICE membership offer. Mail cou-

BEWARE...

Record, They Yoe t send a rnaster LP yalalog ,PYPsend one*, over 15 00a 1,1,ngs°nail abels, Their ant,' ,TeenTen,stress CoNnINo prnducts and theycharge extra for many other labels,V.e ha,e no cpyren1 cornnanY

any label And they dont of Ter

record and tape cinb NOT OWNEDOR CONTROLLED BY a, Tec-cl

pun with check or money order-NOT for regular $5.00 fee-but.only HALF THAT PRICE ...just $2.50. You SAVE 52.50.This entitles you to LIFETIMEMEMBERSHIP-and you neverpay another club fee.

Look What You GetLifetime Membership Card-guarantees you brand new LP'sand tapes at discounts up to... Never less than l/3 oft.

Free Giant Master Catalog - lists availableLP's of all labels! Over 15,000 listings! Also.FREE Master Catalog of Tapes sent onrequest.Di3c and Tape Guide-The Club's FREENlaga/ine, and special Club sales announce-

WiliCil bring you tress's of just -issuednew releases and extra iliNCOUnt specials.

Guaranteed Same -Day ServiceRecord Club of America's own computersystem ships order same day received! Everyrecord brand new, fully guaranteed.

Money Back GuaranteeIf you aren't absolutely delighted with ourdiscounts (up to 79%)-return items within10 days and membership fee will he re-funded AT ONCE! Join over one millionbudget wise record and tape collectors now.Mail coupon to: Record Club of AmericaClub Headquarters, York, Pa. 17405

Your $2.50 membership fee entitles you tobuy or offer gift memberships to friends,relatives, neighbors for only $1.00 eachwith full privileges. You can split thetotal between you-the more gift membersyou get-the more you save!

38 R-1 @ 1969 RECORD CLUB OF AMERICA, INC.

ANNOUNCING...SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY

HALF-PRICE MEMBERSHIP

ONLY $2.50MAIL COUPON BELOW TODAY!

COMPLETE TAPE SERVICE AT NOEXTRA MEMBERSHIP FEE

LP DISCOUNTS TO 79%- PRICES AS

LOW AS 99 PER RECORD!Typical all -label " xtra Discount" sale

BUDGET SERIES AT 1/2 PRICE $ .99Frank Sinatra Petula Clark Glen Campbell

Nat Cole Dean Martin Dave BrubeckJack Jones John Gary and others...

BUDGET SERIES AT 1/2 PRICE .. $1.25Vioodie Guthrie Oistrakh Richter CallasRod McKuen Tebaldi Steinberg Krips

Peer Seeger Munch Casals and others...

BEST SELLERS AT 1/2 PRICE $2.49Herb Alpert Simon & Garfunkel Ramsey Lewis

Belafonte Supremes Mamas & PapasTheCream Eddie Arnold Monkees and others...

Iron) 50% to as high as 79% discount ,fornn.us labels RCA Victor, Capitol, Columbia, Decca,Liberty, Moto.vn, Elektra, Vanguard, and others.

TARE DISCOUNTS- 331/3% -ALL LABELS

Cartridges, Cassettes and Reel -to -Reel

* Choose any LP or tapeon any label! No excep-tions! Cartridges andcast es included!* No "quotas" to buy.Take 0 records or tapesor 100!* Save! Discounts up to79%! Prices as low as99C per LP!

FREE!

* Every record and tapebrand new, first quality,factory fresh-and guar-anteed fully returnable!* All orders shippedsame day received -nolong waits!* No "hold back" onexciting new records andtapes!

World's largest Master Catalog ofavailable LP's to choose from whenyou join Record Club of America

Lists over 15,000 available LP's on all labels! Clas-sical-Popular-Jazz-Folk-Broadway & Hollywoodsound tracks-Spoken Word-Rock and Roll-Comedy-Rhythm & Blues-Country and Western-Dancing-

stening-Mood! No Exceptions!Master Tape Catalog of available car-tridge, cassette and reel-to-reel tapessent on request at no extra member-ship fee.

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O RECORD CLUB OF AMERICA X917KClub Headquarters, York, Pa. 17405

Yes-Rush me lifetime Membership Card, Free Giant MasterLP Catalog (check box below if you also wish Master TapeCatalog) and Disc and Tape Guide at this limited SpecialIntroductory Half Price membership offer. I enclose-NOTthe regular $5.00 membership fee-but $2.50. (Never anotherclub fee for the rest of my life.) This entitles me to buy anyLP's and Tapes at discounts up to 79% plus a small mailingand handling charge. I am not obliged to buy any records ortapes-no yeary quota. If not completely delighted I mayreturn items above within 10 days for immediate refund ofmembership fee. f] Send Master Tape CatalogAlso send Gift Membership(s)at $1.00 each to thenames on attacied sheet. Indicate master catalogs required.I enclose Total of $ covering one $2.50 LifetimeMembership plus any Gift Memberships at $1.00 each.

Print Name

Address

City State _Zip

SEPTEMBER 1969CIRCLE NO 49 ON READER SERVICE CARD

5

THOUSANDS OF

MUSIC LOVERS PAID

THE DIFFERENCE

TO OWN A CROWN

Maybe they knowsomething you don't

There's a reason why Crown recorders costover $900. Why nearly every critical homemusic recordist hopes some day to own one.The reason is Crown's TOTAL PER-FORMANCE.

Semi-professional decks may shoutabout a single outstanding spec, but whowants low noise at the expense of highdistortion or wow and flutter? Only Crowndelivers unexcelled engineering achievementin all areas of performance. Not just flatresponse @ ± 2db maximum, but bandwidthwider than the entire audible spectrum. Notjust low noise, but wide dynamic range forflawless piano reproduction. Plus minimalwow and flutter and the industry's lowestdistortion levels.

Now couple this with Crown's famousno -compromise workmanship: Only thevery finest components available. Precisionhandcrafting with relentless inspection.Only nine or ten moving parts for reliability.Construction "rugged enough to withstand aparachute drop." (Audio 4/68) Individualproof -of -performance guarantee. Design en-gineered for ten years minimum continuousservice. It's a lot of work -but the result is aprofessional deck unparalleled in the re-cording industry.

Yes, Crown does cost more than anysemi -pro recorder. That's the price of no -compromise TOTAL PERFORMANCE.Send for our detailed spec sheets andcompare Crown with any other deck --semipro or professional. After all, you deserve toknow what a Crown owner knows. WriteCrown, Dept. SR -9, Box 1000, Elkhart,Indiana, 46514.

01.11-&40-72MADE ONLY IN AMERICACIRCLE NO. 18 ON READER SERVICE CARD

LETTERS TOMusic and Astrology To me, a Sun -in -Gemini, your July "zo-diac -slanted- issue was unique. Robert Of-fergeld's article and his collaboration withEleanor Bach in astromusicology were fine.But what authority did you tap for yourcover zodiac? The sign order is correct(Aries as number one, Taurus number two,etc.), except that the zodiac runs the wrongway-clockwise instead of the opposite. Thecorrect flat or "solar" map orients from thefirst point of spring (March 2I): Aries at9 o'clock with the map imagined as a clockface, Taurus at 8 o'clock, and so forth.

Some ancient zodiacs did align differently,for some reason. If we believe ImmanuelVelikovsky (cf. his lrorlds in Collision)and others, notably -occult" historians, theearth's axis has shifted once or more. Some-times there's confusion over the relation be-tween signs and constellations. The two zo-diacs were synchronous, or the same from amundane standpoint, at the time of Christ,but since then, because of the -precession ofthe equinoxes," they have gradually sep-arated, and are now almost a sign -30 de-grees-apart.

BEN ALLEN FIELDSRichmond, Va.

Reader Fields has read the signs aright;our retrograde zodiac is indeed an old one,a woodcut from Nicolas Le Rouge's bookLe Grant Kalandrier et Conpost de Bergiiresprinted in Trotes in 1496.

May I add a P.S. to Robert Offergeld's in-teresting article about music and astrology?In addition to those composers cited, thefollowing have had their imaginationssparked by the signs of the stars: Chabrier,in his opera L'Etoile, which was recently per-formed in New York in English with thetitle Horoscope; Franz Reizenstein (b. 1911 ),in The Zodiac, twelve pieces for piano solo;and Georges /gigot's Le Zodiaque, twelveetudes de concert for piano.

DONALD M. GARVELMANNBronx. N. Y.

Wattage IncredibleI eery much enjoyed Peter Sutheim's ar-

ti, Ic "Wattage Confidential- ( July). It ap-pears, however, that he missed a few tricksin just blowing up a twelve -watt (averagesine -wave power per channel) to a -150-

THE EDITORwatt" amplifier. I read in Con.,nozer Re-ports for June 1969 that radio-phono con-sole manufacturers do considerably better:one in particular claims 300 watts for anamplifier that Consumers Union would rateat nine watts! The exact conditions weren'tspecified, but CU figures should certainly bereliable.

JAMES N. FRANCISRiverside, Cal.

The factor that was not cocered in Mr.Sutheim's article was that of prevaricationpure and rimple.

Broadcasting Deficiencies Count me as one who is in agreement

ith Mr. Paul Tartell's letter in your Julyissue. As an enjoyer of fine music, and as atechnician in charge of a small -market FMstation, I find most broadcast music reallydisgusting.

On -the -air sloppiness results from severaldeficiencies. First, maintenance of the broad-cast equipment is inadequate in many sta-tions, because the technician does not havethe knowledge, time, or motivation to dothe job. Second, instruction of operating per-sonnel does not fill the bill. Third, obso-lescence of broadcast equipment itself is un-forgivable, but a fact of everyday life. Manystations, including good -music FM outlets,use tape recorders designed in Germanytwenty-five years ago, and turntables con-structed for monophonic AM service overtwenty years ago.

Convincing the station manager to changehis maintenance or instruction policies is aneasy task: all he has to do is to tell a memberof the staff to shape up. Persuading him tobuy new equipment is next to impossible.But all three areas must be upgraded, orbroadcast music will not climb out of its rutfor many years to come.

ROBERT DAVISStation KOFO-AM/FMOttawa, Kan.

Camp, Corn, Nostalgia William Anderson's editorial titled"Camp, Corn, and Nostalgia- in the Juneissue really upset me, and made me wonderabout his musical credentials and listeningbackground. His comments on the Philipsalbum "If Glenn Miller Played the Hits of

(Continued on page 8)

6 STEREO REVIEW

In 500 RADIO SHACK StoresSTA-120 RECEIVER BY -/ALts-r7c_

The (while is includedat our price. It is madeof woad. It is not madeof metal or plastic. Itdoes not cost you$29.95 extra!

Flip -Levers* -(8 ofthem). Slim and long,not stubby and short.Positive cation, notpushbutton dubious orslide -switch flimsy.Aside from their granddesign, our Flip -Levershave a "touch appeal"that's almost erotic!

When Realistic* builds a receiverto sei l for 269.95 you expect.

90 watts: you get 140.You expect a feature

n000dy else has: you get 6.

You bet your sweet ad agency

the Audio Establishment

has a right to be worried!

Two meters for FM

tuning. One for AM.Two is one more thancompetition has. Howcome?

tThree tone controls:treble, bass, and mid.Anybody can hear thedifference. But onlyRealistic" gives it toyou! Maybe that's whyThe Shack* is the big-gest audio dealer inthe country?

Push -push AC

button. We iustplain hate to putthe power switchon a one or vol-ume control.

Glide -Path* vakime controls giveyou visible level and a big "plus"we cull Perfect Loudness Control.You get the correct compensationat every volume setting. P -L -C isour invention, an audible bonus, areal advance- not a gimmick.Only the STA-123 has it.

FIRST THE PRICE -$269.95. Then the power -140 watts tit 8 ohms. So now you know you're looking at the biggestvalue in stereo ever offered to serious music lovers. Radio Shack's million -customer Realistic line is the distillationof 46 years in electronics, of thinking about music reproduction, of designing equipment to sound a certain way.The STA-120 receiver is the best piece of gear we've ever built. Wideband AM. FET stereo FM. All the "me too"features and a whole host of "me only" innovations. Another good thing: we service what we sell, in 46 states, withoriginal parts. Probably nobody (but nobody!) else in the USA can make and substantiate the above claims. RadioShack Q.A. - Quality Assurance - makes Realistic a better buy.

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Today --to wit, its "corny Glenn Millerorchestrations"-are 'way off base.

The Philips album is a literal re-creationof the Glenn Miller style as applied to to-day's pop tunes-and there is nothing campyor corny about that style, as any well -trainedmusician will tell you. The unique Millertonal timbres stand the test of time verywell: there are dozens of Miller albums inthe Schwann catalog, and RCA keeps re-issuing thirty -year -old Miller sides and air-

checks. Thirty years from now, I doubt thatthey'll be reissuing the adolescent yowlingsof the Incredible String Band, to whichSTEREO REVIEW devoted over a full page inthe same issue Mr. Anderson saw fit to knockGlenn Miller.

JOHN LISSN ERNew York, N. Y.

The Editor replies: "Air. Lissner (sigh)has gone off half cocked. If he will rereadmy editorial he will find that I have a realaffection for the Glenn Miller sound, thoughit is admittedly nostalgic. Far be it from meto lay down levels of camp and grades ofcorn for other listeners, but in truth, GlennMiller was as much noise to no grandfatheras the Incredible String Band is to Mr. Liss-ner. Fact is, as far as popular music goes.we are all somewhat prisoners of our sep-arate generations, the sounds we like beesbeing those we grew up to. If Mr. Lissm.-;has an) youngsters running around thehouse, let him try his unique Miller timbre.,on them; while they are rolling on the floorhe may acquire some understanding of thegeneration gap. And thirty years from now(or less), his children will be trying to ex-

theadolescent yowlings he finds so grotesque."

William Anderson's editorial "Camp,Corn, and Nostalgia" and Don Heckman'sreview of Decca's "Encyclopedia of Jazz- inyour June issue revived memories of the"big -band era"-especially from 193" to1940, while I was an employee of a smallCanadian radio station.

During that period, radio stations couldrent from an organization known as "WorldBroadcasting System'' a large selection ofrecords covering most segments of the musi-cal field. Known as "transcriptions,- theywere 331/3 -rpm, vertical -cut, 18 -inch -diame-ter acetate records (groove size may havebeen 0.001). The early versions were opaque:later they were translucent. These surpassedby a wide margin the range and all-aroundquality of the then shellac -8's. Played witha special Western Electric head equippedwith a diamond, the records were entirelyfree of needle scratch.

We were very fond of our "transcrip-tions,- and we used them as often as possi-ble, especially if jazz, swing, or other popu-lar music was involved. It was also duringthat time that Decca started to enforce their"broadcasting prohibited- policy. We had afair -size "discotheque- of 78's: Victor, BlueBird, Parlophone, English Columbia, Bruns-wick, and Polydor. But these could not beplayed on the air from 7 : 30 p.m. until mid-night, because of some quirk in the Canadi-an broadcasting laws.

However, we soon discovered that WBShad under its wing a fair chunk of bands,and the selections already recorded by Dec -

ca. They appeared to he -augmented" bands(Continued on page 12)

8 STEREO REVIEW

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operating under aliases, while retaining theinitials of the originals: i.e., Chuck Warnerwas Chick Webb, Bert Castle was Bob Cros-by, and Wally Hayes was Woody Herman.

I wonder if the masters of these transcrip-tions still exist, and, if so, who has the keyto the vault? If there is money in "musicalnostalgia," and if Decca possesses the WBSfile, then why not give us this high -qualitynostalgia?

ARMAND BEAU LAC

Quebec, Canada

Lieder I enjoyed Robert S. Clark's article "A Ba-sic Library of German Lieder" ( June) somuch that I had to write to you. I'm surethere are many people who are very much inthe dark where the art song is concerned. Iam just coming to full appreciation of theselittle gems. I found the article so comprehen-sive that I would like Mr. Clark to do thesame for French art songs.

ROBERT E. LYONSPittsburgh, Pa.

Whose Blues?It seems very easy for Don Heckman to

riricize British blues groups for imitationbecause they are "white," not "black," andto say they can't have soul because they havenot suffered like the blacks have. Mr. Heck-man forgets that it was these same Britishgroups who were largely responsible forbringing blues into the pop world, as noone else has done before, and opening doorsso that today's generation could rediscoverthe pioneers in the field.

I am disgusted when I hear of blackscriticizing and snubbing talented people likethe 5th Dimension because they sound too"white." I am equally surprised when tal-ents like Janis Joplin or Tracy Nelson areverbally attacked for singing "black." I forone am sick and tired of having color im-posed as some kind of absolute conditionupon the music and musicians of today. To-day the only precept for popular music istruth and honesty. Whatever an artist does,it must be done without pretense, deception,or hypocrisy. I have seen and heard Fleet-wood Mac, which Mr. Heckman blasted inthe June issue; they are true and honest, andhave a much more serious objective than toimitate.

MARK SCHUMAKF.ROak Lawn, Ill.

Mr. Heckman replies: "I keep gettingletters about my views on black blue.' andwhite performers. Let me try to explain. First,the word blues describes a specific musicalform as well as a less well defined stylisticmanner. Some musicians use the blues formwithout attempting to simulate the bluesstyle as it has developed in American blackculture. Examples in jazz might include PaulDesmond/Dave Brubeck, Bix Beiderbecke,and Lee Konitz; in pop music, Andy Williamsor Frank Sinatra. In rock, the situation ismore blurred because the music is a hybridform which combines elements of rhythm-and-blues with elements of country-and-west-ern music. It is more influenced, therefore,by the stylistic elements of black blues; evenso, such groups as the Association, JeffersonAirplane (most of the time), the IncredibleString Band, and the Mothers of Invention(variably) are not principally affected byblack music.

"Second: one should remember to keepthings in perspective. The history of whiteexploitation of black entertainment elementsis lengthy, going back at least as far as theminstrel shows of the mid -nineteenth century,and including such things as "coon" songs.ragtime, jazz (I assume Mr. Schumaker real-izes that the first jazz recording, made in1917 by a white group called the OriginalDixieland Jazz Band, was neither 'original'nor 'Dixieland' and was only mildly similarto the jazz then being played by black musi-cians like Freddie Keppard and King Oli-ver), swing music, be -bop, and rhythm-and-blues.I happen to prefer, in most cases, musicin its original form. Fortunately, increasingnumbers of listeners do, too. The really odi-ous practice of making 'covers'-that is, re-cordin:;c by white tiztform,rs which mimic

every aspect of the performance and arrangingstyle of black recordings-has diminishedconsiderably since the Crewcuts had a majorhit with their version of the Platters' Sh-Boom and Bill Haley started the rock-and-roll decade with his version of Joe Turner'sShake, Rattle and Roll. (Do I also need tomention Elvis Presley's version of WillieMae Thornton's Hound Dog?) But I detectsuspicious new stirrings of it in the Englishblues 'renaissance.'

"Third: in point of fact, I don't give adamn if groups like Fleetwood Mac want tomimic every inflection and every sliding notethat Muddy Waters or Memphis Slim or who-ever has used. What does bug me is the factthat Fleetwood Mac, and groups like it, makeconsiderably more money with their imita-tions than Muddy Waters or Memphis Slimdo with the originals. And please spare methe garbage about the 'rediscovery of the pio-neers in the field.' Rediscovery by whom?They've been around all the time, Mr. Schu-maker; you just haven't been listening. Sug-gesting that black performers should besatisfied with the spin-off popularity thatmight conic from the success of white per-formers (performing black music) wouldprobably even cause laughs at the weeklymeeting of the N.A.A.C.P. No matter howmuch lip service is paid to the contrary-onthe part of both performers and listeners likeMr. Schumaker-we are dealing with exploi-tation, pure and simple. That's right, ex-ploitation. Not inspiration, not respect.Exploitation.

"Finally, I have written about a few whiteperformers-a very few-like Paul Butter-field and (sometimes) Janis Joplin, and, ofcourse, many jazz players, who have usedthe black blues style as a starting point-repeat, starting point-for their work. Iexpect we will hear more of this now thatblack music in its genuine form is achievinggreater popularity with young people. Aslong as black people in America continueto maintain a separate cultural milieu (andI'm sure they will) the blues will be, first ofall, uniquely their music. But white perform-ers like Butterfield, steeped in the environ-ment of Chicago's black culture and possess-ing enough intrinsic talent of his own to usethe influence of that environment as a stimu-lus for his own music, will make creative-not imitative-transformations of the blackblues."


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Knoxville The June review by William Flanagan ofBarber's Knoxville and Antony and Cleo-patra excerpts is typical of Mr. Flanagan'swriting. In the last paragraph he states-referring to the latter work ---I am neitherwilling nor able to evaluate extended operat-ic excerpts with no knowledge of their larg-er musico-theatrical context. . . . I have noComment.''

A responsible editor should not allow Mr.Flanagan to review a work on which he isnot capable of doing a good job. I feel almostcheated by reviews of this type.

I have been reading and enjoying yourmagazine for several years, but reviews likethis one make me wonder whether I shouldrenew my subscription.

REND ). SMITHRichmond, Va.

Mr. Flanagan replies: "I am sorry thatcandor from a critic could leave any readerwith a sense of having been cheated. It isperhaps a perversity of temperament, but Ifeel cheated only when a critic conceals hislimitati(»Is and prejudices. Heaven knows,it's east enough to do, and there are plentyof working critics of all the arts who do somasterfully. Since even great critics have bothlimitations and prejudices. I am most mis-trustful of the opinions of a critic who, overa reasonable period of time, appears to haveneither.

"This consideration apart, turning to lay'nun -review,' if an like, of the Antony andCleopatra excerpts, I believe that the pre-sentation of operatic excerpts out of theirmusico-dramatic context is a practice thatcompromises the integrity of the work of artfrom which the excerpts are derived. As forreviewing excerpts per se, I believe it to be asmeaningless as it would be to review onlyarbitrary scenes from a play, chapters from anovel, or stanzas from a poem. Having madeit clear that the vague impre.wan ( for me,the only possible kind) made by these ex-cerpts was unencouraging, I felt I woulddiminish the effect of my recommendationof the extraordinary, and brilliant recordingof Knoxville by dwelling on a reactionwhich, by aesthetic conviction, I mistrustedin myself."

Copyrighting Bach I recently purchased a Dave Brubeck rec-ord called -Blues Roots.- Among the selec-tions on this record is one called Broke Blues-with a T. Macero listed on the record asthe composer or arranger. I note that thisgentleman is also the producer of the record.The jacket tells us that the selection is theproperty of BMI. No other information isgiven. However, unless my ears deceive me,the piece is a version of a Bach Prelude andFugue-No. 2 in C Minor, I believe. I amaware that classical sources are freely pirat-ed these days, but isn't a little better attribu-tion usually given? (I note the pun on -Ba-roque- in the title of the selection, but donot consider that sufficient attribution.) Andam I to understand that anyone wishing toperform or broadcast Bach's Prelude andFugue No. 2 must now apply to BMI forpermission? I confess to an impulse to rushout and copyright the rest of Bach's oeuvrein my own name before someone beats meto it.

DONALD HOTSONAgana, Guam

16

*N.Y. State residents please include local Sales 7.1xesCIRCLE NO. 42 ON READER SERVICE CARD

STEREO REVIEW

IF YOU REALLY VALUE YOUR RECORDS

DON'T UNDERRATETHE GRAM!

(... a commentary on the critical role of tracking forces in

evaluating trackability and trackability claims)

TRACKABILITY:The "secret" of High Trackability is to enable the stylus tip to followthe hyper -complex record groove up to and beyond the theoreticalcutting limits of modern recordings-not only at select and discretefrequencies, but across the entire audible spectrum-and at lighttracking forces that are below both the threshold of audible recordwear and excessive stylus tip wear.The key parameter is "AT LIGHT TRACKING FORCES!"A general rule covering trackability is: the higher the tracking force,the greater the ability of the stylus to stay in the groove. Unfortunately,at higher forces you are trading trackability for trouble. At a glance,the difference between Y4 gram and 1, 11/2, or 2 grams may not appearsignificant. You could not possibly detect the difference by touch. Butyour record can! And so can the stylus!

TRACKING FORCES:Perhaps it will help your visualization of the forces involved to trans-late "grams" to actual pounds per square inch of pressure on therecord groove. For example, using 3/4 gram of force as a reference(with a .2 mil x .7 mil radius elliptical stylus) means that 60,000 lbs.(30 tons) per square inch is the resultant pressure on the groovewalls. At one gram, this increases to 66,000 lbs. per square inch, anincrease of three tons per square inch-and at 11/2 grams, the forcerises to 75,000 lbs. per square inch, an increase of 71/2 tons per squareinch. At two grams, or 83,000 lbs. per square inch, 111/2 tons persquare inch have been added over the 3/4 gram force. At 2112 grams, or88,000 lbs. per square inch, a whopping 14 tons per square inch havebeen added!The table below indicates the tracking force in grams and pounds,ranging from 3/4 gram to 21/2 grams-plus their respective resultantpressures in pounds per square inch.

TRACKING FORCE GROOVE WALL PRESSURE

GRAMS POUNDS POUNDS PER SQUARE INCH

(See Note No. 1)

3/4 .0017 60,0001 .0022 66,000 +10% (over 3/4 gram)11/2 .0033 75,000 +25% (over 3/4 gram)2 .0044 83,000 +38% (over 34 gram)21/2 .0055 88,000 +47% (over 3/4 gram)

SPECIAL NOTE:The Shure V-15 Type II "Super -Track" Cartridge is capable of trackingthe majority of records at 3/4 gram; however state-of-the-art advancesin the recording industry have brought about a growing number ofrecords which require 1 gram tracking force in order to fully capturethe expanded dynamic range of the recorded material. (3/4 gram track-ing requires not only a cartridge capable of effectively tracking at 3/4gram, but also a high quality manual arm [such as the Shure-SME)

or a high quality automatic turntable arm capable of tracking at3/4 gram.)

TESTS:Our tests, and the tests of many independent authorities (see NoteNo. 2), have indicated two main points:A. At tracking forces over 2 or 21/2 grams, vinylite record wear is

dramatically increased. Much of the "high fidelity" is shaved offof the record groove walls at both high and low ends after a rela-tively few playings.

B. At tracking forces over 11/2 grams, stylus wear is increased to amarked degree. When the stylus is worn, the chisel -like edges notonly damage the record grooves-but tracing distortion over 3000Hz by a worn stylus on a brand new record is so gross that manyinstrumental sounds become a burlesque of themselves. Also, stylireplacements are required much more frequently. The chart belowindicates how stylus tip life increased exponentially between 11/2and 3/4 grams-and this substantial increase in stylus life signifi-cantly extends the life of your records.

RELATIVE AVERAGE TIP LIFE VS. TRACKING FORCE

T00%10'6

20%

70%

, 120°

3 2 1

STYLUS WAGE- GA 'MS, St LDS TIP DIAMOND

No cartridge that we have tested (and we have repeatedly testedrandom off -the -dealer -shelf samples of all makes and many models ofcartridges) can equal the Shure V-15 Type II in fulfilling all of the re-quirements of a High Trackability cartridge-both initially and afterprolonged testing, especially at record -and -stylus saving low trackingforces. In fact, our next -to -best cartridges-the lower cost M91 Series-are comparable to, or superior to, any other cartridge tested inmeeting all these trackability requirements, regardless of price.

NOTES:1. From calculations for an elliptical stylus with .2 mil x .7 mil radius

contact points, using the Hertzian equation for indentors.2. See HiFi/Stereo Review, October 1968; High Fidelity, November

1968; Shure has conducted over 10,000 hours of wear tests.

V-15 TYPE IISUPER -TRACK HIGH FIDELITY PHONOGRAPH CARTRIDGE

Write: Shure Brothers, Inc., 222 Hartrey Avenue, Evanston, Illinois 60204CIRCLE NO. 57 ON READER SERVICE CARD

SEPTEMBER 1969 17

NEW PRODUCTSA ROUNDUP OF THE LATEST HIGH-FIDELITY EQUIPMLN I

Scott's new Model Q-100 "Quad-rant" speaker system is a two-way, six -driver design with an omnidirectionalpolar response. A 3 -inch soft -cone mid-range/tweeter is mounted on each of theenclosure's four sides in individualchambers. An 8 -inch air -suspensionwoofer is mounted on two sides of theenclosure. The crossover frequency is

2,000 Hz (using a 12 -dB -per -octave network), and theoverall frequency response is 38 to 20,000 Hz. A tweeter -level control is provided. System impedance is 6 to 8 ohms,and maximum power -handling capacity is 80 watts pro-gram material. Minimum recommended amplifier power is10 watts. The walnut enclosure measures 22 x 1.11A x111A inches. Price: $149.95.

Circle 147 on reader service card

Lear Jet has introduced the Model A-50 "Jet 8" stereoeight -track tape cartridge player. Specifications of the unitinclude wow and flutter of less than 0.35 per cent andan output power (continuous) of 4 watts per channel.Program switching is automatic, with a pushbutton pro-vided for manual track switching when desired. There is

an illuminated indicator to show which pair of stereotracks is being played. The controls include volume, bal-ance, and tone. The player is meant for installation incars having a 12 -volt, negative -ground electrical system.Dimensions of the unit are 7 x 61/, x 3 inches. Suggestedlist price: $59.95.


Qatron is marketing an auto-matic changer for eight -track stereotape cartridges that is available inmodels for both home and car. Thechanger's removable magazine accom-modates as many as twelve cartridges,which are cycled through the play-back process by a mechanism similarto that used in an automatic film -

slide projector. Three automatic -play sequences can be ac-tivated: all tapes played in sequence; all first channelsplayed, followed by all second channels; and a single, se-lected tape endlessly repeated. The changer can also beoperated manually.

The Qatron home unit, Model 48H (shown), is finishedin oiled walnut. Matching speakers are available for theunit, or its preamplifier outputs can be connected to thehigh-level inputs of a stereo system. The mobile version(Model 48A) is designed to be placed in an automobiletrunk and is controlled from a dashboard panel. Qatronrates the audio output power as 24 watts peak and thefrequency response as 50 to 15,000 Hz ±3 dB for both

models. Total harmonic distortion at 5 watts is less than1 per cent; signal-to-noise ratio is 50 dB; flutter is less than0.25 per cent. The change cycle between adjacent cartridgestakes two seconds.

The controls on the Model 48 are tape selector, program-ing mode, volume, tone, balance, and magazine release.Dimensions for both versions are approximately 16 x 9 x17V, inches. The Model 48 costs $269.95. Speakers forhome use are $64 the pair; for automobile use, $21 thepair. Extra tape magazines: $9.95 each.


ti

:

Ampex has expanded its line of portablecassette recorders with its smallest unit yet,the Micro 7. The unit measures 63/, x 4 x 2inches, weighs less than two pounds, and ispowered by three "AA" penlite cells. It hasa built-in 2 -inch speaker. The controls in-clude fast -forward, rewind, play, record, vol-ume, and cassette -eject. There is a record-

ing -level meter that also serves as a battery -condition in-dicator. The unit has an automatic recording -level circuit.Price, including a leatherette carrying case, microphone withon/off switch, an earphone, and a blank cassette: $89.90.An optional a.c. adaptor is available for $9.95.


Kenwood has brought out the Model KC -6060, acomponent -styled oscilloscope intended for use with astereo system. The unit is designed for audio -amplifiertesting as well as FM tuning and antenna orientation forminimum multipath distortion. The unit also has a built-in1,000 -Hz audio oscillator that provides the signal for thevarious tests and oscilloscope calibration.

The oscilloscope, which has solid-state amplifiers, has afrequency response of 3 Hz to 200 kHz. The cathode-raytube has a 3 -inch screen. All trace position controls are of

-0111irm

the straight-line sliding type. Besides the usual oscilloscopecontrols, there is a selector switch with positions for test,left- and right -channel wave forms, stereo display, and FMmultipath. Audio inputs on the front or rear panels areselected by a two -position switch. A "spot -killer" circuitprotects the tube phosphor when there is no modulatingsignal. The KC -6060 comes with walnut side panels and iscompatible in size and styling with other Kenwood com-ponents. Overall dimensions are 167)i6 x x 11132 inches.Price: 8199.95.


Panasonic is importing a new line of AM/stereo FMreceivers that includes the low-cost Model SA -40. TheSA -40 has an IHF music -power output of 40 watts at 8ohms (55 watts at 4 ohms) and a continuous power outputof 12 watts per channel into 8 ohms. Harmonic distortionis 0.8 per cent and intermodulation distortion is 1.2 per


18 STEREO REVIEW

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Stereo Review

APRIL 1969 60 CENTS

EXPERTS' CHOICE:STEREO DEMONSTRATION

RECORDSAMERICAN AVANT-GARDE COMPOSER MILTON BABBITTELECTRONIC "ASSISTANCE"FOR CONCERT-HALLACOUSTICS

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Stereo Review's Free InformationService can help you select everythingfor your music system without leavingyour home.

By simply following the directions onthe reverse side of this page you will re-ceive the answers to all your questionsabout planning and purchasing records,tapes and stereo systems: how much tospend, what components to buy first-and from whom; which records are out-standing and worthy of a spot in yourmusic library; how to get more out ofyour present audio system; which turn-table...cartridge...tuner ... headphone...loudspeaker...etc., will go with yoursystem. All this and much more.

P.O. BOX 8051PHILADELPHIA, PA. 19101

JVC Introducesthe first automatic changers

that give you a little morespeaker system.

Connect any one of these threeautomatic changers to your stereosystem and you're ready for someof the finest music listening you'veever heard.

Finest, because the amount ofmoney you save on a JVC changercan go toward buying one of thebetter speaker systems. And nomatter how much you spend on yourcomponents, you're always betterover -spending on a good speakersystem. (Like the JVC 5303 omni-directional system.)

Nice thing about JVC changers isthat they'll compare favorably upand down the specifications chartwith changers costing much more.Go on and compare.

Model 5204 is a unique mini -changer that goes a long way towardgetting a better speaker system. Ithandles up to six records, offers fouraccurate speeds and houses along- wearing diamondstylus in a sensitiveceramic cartridge.

Model 5201 has a 4 -pole outerrotor motor and die cast 11 -inchturntable platter, a moving magnetictype cartridge and diamond stylus,plus four accurate speeds.

But for an even bigger bonus,choose Model 6102. You get yourautomatic changer. your diamondstylus, four speeds. and, an 8 -trackstereo cartridge tape player, too. Thisunit switches over automaticallyfrom phono to tape when a cartridgeis inserted.

For a full range of home entertain-ment products that really are differ-ent, the man to see is the dealerhandling the JVC line. He can showyou portable television receivers,tape recorders, radios, a very com-plete line. He can even show you theperfect speaker system to match theperfect changer.Ours.

Catching On Fast

JVCSEPTEMBER 1969

TVC America, Inc., 50-35, 56th Road, Maspeth, New York, N.Y. 11378 A Subsidiary of Victor Cc mpany of Japan, Limited, Tokyo, JapanCIRCLE NO. 36 ON READER SERVICE CARD

21

NEW PRODUCTSA ROUNDUP OF THE LATEST HIGH-FIDELITY EQUIPMENT

cent at rated output. The IHF power bandwidth is 20 to50,000 Hz. Hum and noise are -60 dB at the low-levelphono inputs and -70 dB at the auxiliary inputs. Fre-quency response is 30 to 20,000 Hz ±3 dB. Rocker switch-es activate the loudness compensator and high -frequencyfilter, select mono or stereo mode, and permit tape moni-toring. Two multi -position rotary switches select the inputs

and speakers and turn the unit on and off. Bass, treble,volume, and balance are adjusted by slide controls.

The FM -tuner section of the SA- it) has a sensitivity of2.8 microvolts (IHF) and a capture ratio of 3 dB. Har-monic distortion is 0.7 per cent; signal-to-noise ratio is60 dB. The SA -40 has overall dimensions of 16 x 5 x 14inches. Price: $229.95.


Sansui's new Model SP -1001three-way speaker system has sep-arate input terminals for use withelectronic -crossover amplifier set-ups as well as terminals for con-ventional amplifiers. These latterterminals connect to a 12 -dB -per -octave inductance/capacitance net-work with crossover points at 600and 5,000 Hz. Separate mid -range -and tweeter -level controls covera 12 -dB range in four 3 -dB steps.

The walnut enclosure of theModel SP -1001 houses a 10 -inch

woofer, 61/2 -inch mid -range, and a 1 -inch domed tweeter.Frequency response is 35 to 20,000 Hz, input impedance is8 ohms, and power -handling capacity is 40 watts. Dimen-sions of the enclosure are 14 x 241/4 x 12 inches; the grilleis hand -carved. Price: $139.95.


Shure has introduced the Model M68RM microphonemixer, a unit similar to the previously introduced ModelM68 but incorporating adjustable reverberation. TheM68RM is fully transistorized and has four microphoneinput channels, each with an individual level control anda slide switch that selects high or low (250 ohms) inputimpedance. One of the channels can serve as an auxiliaryhigh-level input that will accept signals from a ceramic

phono cartridge, tape recorder, or tuner. A master volumecontrol simultaneously adjusts the gain of all inputs.

Frequency response of the M68RM is ±3 dB from -10to 20,000 Hz. Total harmonic distortion is less than 1 percent for a 1 -volt output at 1,000 Hz. There is a jack for a

remote power switch and provision for stacking two ormore mixers. Optional accessories include a battery powersupply, locking panel, rack panel kit, and stacking kit.List price of the M68RM is $180.


Wollensak's new Model 6250 Sound Center StereoRecorder is a three -speed (71/4, 33/i, and 17/8 ips), four -track stereo tape recorder that can serve as the controlcenter for a stereo system. The machine has three headsand separate recording and playback amplifiers to permitoff -the -tape monitoring. Two speakers are built into thecase, and low -impedance microphones are supplied.

The frequency response of the Model 6250 is 40 to20,000 Hz at 71/4 ips and 40 to 12,000 Hz at 33/j ips-both at ±2 dB. At 17/8 ips, the response is -10 to 12,000Hz ±3 dB. The drive system uses two motors. Wow and

flutter are 0.12 per cent at 71/4 ips, 0.2 per cent at 33,1

ips, and 0.3 per cent at 1 7/8 ips. Signal-to-noise ratio is 54dB and the audio amplifiers have a combined power out-put of 50 watts (rms). There are provisions for mixingand adding reverberation. Controls include a tape -monitorswitch and an input selector switch with positions for low -impedance microphones, magnetic phono cartridge, tuner,and auxiliary. There are separate controls for record levelfor each channel), volume, balance, treble, and bass. A

two -position recording -bias selector switch provides opti-mum results for recording with low -noise tape at differentspeeds. Overall dimensions with cover are 201/4 x 131/4

x 71/4 inches; weight is 25 pounds. Price: about $300. Atape deck version (Model 6150) costs about $230.


rib Koss has added two new models toits line of electrostatic -diaphragm stereoheadphones. The Model ESP -7 (shown )and the Model ESP -9 both use an externalself -energizer box to supply the necessaryoperating voltages and to serve as a loud-speaker/headphone switch. An indicatoron the box lights when the signal fromthe headphones reaches average listeninglevel.

The Model ESP -7 and the Model ESP -9have fluid -filled ear cushions for isolation

from outside noise. The ESP -7 is intended for home useand has a frequency response from 35 to 13,000 Hz ±6dB. Price: $79. Additional ESP -7 headphone sets withoutthe energizer box are available for $59. The ESP -9, calleda "studio monitor phone," has a response of 15 to 15,000Hz ±2 dB, and its energizer box can be plugged into ana.c. power line if desired. The ESP -9 sells for $150.


24 CIRCLE NO. 65 ON READER SERVICE CARD -31.

If you already own an earlier Dualautoma-ic turntable, you're equipped toreally appreciate the new Dual 1209.

Because the 1209, just like your presentDual, offers flawless tracking and smooth,quiet performance that will be yours foryears to come.

All Duals are made that way. And allrecent ones have such exclusive features aspitch control that lets you"tune" your recordsby a semitone. No wonder so many hi-fiprofessionals use Duals in their personalstereo component systems.

But the 1209 does have some newref nements of more than passing interest:

Its motor combines high starting torquewith dead -accurate synchronous speed. Itsanti-ska'ing system is separately calibrated

for elliptical and conical stylus types.The tonearm counterbalance has a

click -stop for every hundredth -gramadjustment. The cue control is farher front,for greater convenience. And the styling is

very clean.These refinements aren't likely to

seduce you away from your present Dual.They're not intended to. But if you don'talready own a Dual, perhaps it's time youtalked with somebody who does

And whether or not you own a Dualnow, you might enjoy a look a' cur literatureabout the 1209, at $119.50, and about otherDuals from $79.50.

U-iited Audio Products, Inc.,120 So. ColJmlcus. Ave., Mourr Vernon,NewYork 10553.

Dual

The people most likely to appreciatethe new Dual1209

are the least likely to need one.

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W en you pick frpm the KENWOOD Tree you are sure to p ck the finest.A KENWOOD's new stereo receivers certainly prove the point! Which -

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AUDIO QUESTIONS & ANSWERSHissy Hi-FinI find that on almost all my rec-OZ. ords there is a loud hissing noise

when I play them at high volume. Whyis this?

LARRY SCORZAPhiladelphia, Pa.

A There are several possible sourcesA for your trouble, the least likelyof them being a chipped diamond or ahad stylus assembly in your cartridge.To check this, try substituting anothercartridge and playing a new record. It ismore likely, however, that you are simplyhearing noise from the master tape thathas been cut into the disc along with themusic. At normal listening levels, thishiss should not be obtrusive, but it

your speaker's high -frequency level con-trol is turned up too high. Other possi-bilities are that the acoustics of your lis-tening room are excessively live and tendto emphasize the higher frequencies. Oryou may have a high -frequency peak inyour speakers or phono cartridge. Inother words, some hiss is more or lessinherent in the disc -recording process,but there may be some specific faultin your system that is emphasizing it.

Guitar Amplifier Taping

nam in charge of a recordingO.Z. studio and have encountered sev-

eral problems in the feeding of a high-level signal from the 8 -ohm speaker jackof a 40 -watt guitar amplifier into the600 -ohm input of my studio recordingconsole. Can you suggest a procedurethat will enable me to get a good matchat the input without deteriorating thesignal?

FERNANDO AMENABARSantiago, Chile

AThe simplest way to get a record -. able electrical signal out of the

guitar amplifier would he to connect a10 -ohm, 50 -watt wire -wound resistor(R1) to a phone plug and plug it intothe amplifier's speaker jack. A 100 -ohm.5 -watt wire -wound potentiometer shouldbe wired across the resistor as shown.The signal to be recorded is taken offbetween the slider arm of the potent).

°meter (R2) and the side of R1 that goesto the ground of the amplifier. The am-plifier gain control should be set some-where below its normal position so thatR2 delivers slightly more than the de-sired signal voltage at its maximum set-ting. The same hookup will also servefor connecting movie sound projectorsto public-address systems.

However. before you get too involvedin recording the electrical output of theguitar's amplifier system, you should heaware that a large part of the soundquality that rock groups strive for is a

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function of the acoustic output of thespeaker. As far as I know. almost all re-cording studios record electric rock handsby placing microphones in front of theirspeakers rather than by picking up theelectrical signal directly from their am-plifiers' output terminals. The locationof the mikes in relation to the volume ofthe speakers will have to be establishedindividually, but in order to achieve a"live -performance" sound quality. therecording will almost certainly hare tobe done on an acoustical rather than anelectrical basis.

Tape -Head ChangingQWould it he possible to upgrade

. the performance of my fairly oldtape recorder by changing its heads?

LEWIS ANGELLFairfield, Calif.

A It's possible, but not particularlypractical. Since the cost of the

heads in a high -quality machine accountfor a good chunk of its selling price. youmay find that a set of superior replace-ments (assuming they are available)would cost perhaps just about what yourolder machine is worth on the second-hand market. In addition, the only speci-fication that the heads could reallyenhance would be that of f requency re-sponse. Even with the new heads in

place, you may find that your machine'swow, flutter and electrical noise preventit front achieving the performance qual-ity you seek.

Timed RecordingQIn some of your Installations of

the Month I have noticed thatthere is a timer that will automaticallyturn on a tape recorder so that a pro-gram can he recorded during the own-er's absence. I would like to trade inmy old recorder for a newer deck, butnone of the ones I have looked at sofar will enable me to have them turnon in the record mode. Do you haveany suggestions, short of using sole-noids, as to how to activate the recordbutton?

ROBERT MILLERDurham, N.C.

AThere are a few machines whose. interlocks are so set up that

there's no easy way to have them switchon while in the record mode. There areother machines that switch out of recordwhen turned off by their front -panelcontrols, but if you set them to the rec-ord function and then remove the a.c.line -cord plug from the socket. they willstart up in record when plugged inagain. You can check this simply enough,and if a machine will start in record.then it can be activated by a timeclock. There are one or two solenoid -

operated machines that can be adaptedfor use with a timer but only by meansof internal rewiring. You might checkwith the manufacturer as to whetherexternal remote -control units are a rad-ble that could he easily adapted to auto-matic timing.

Record WarpingQAs recommended, I store my rec-

. ords vertically and away fromany source of heat, yet they still warp.How can I prevent this?

MICHAEL. GOI.DSTEINBethpage, N.Y.

A, would suggest that you not only. store your records vertically but

in some sort of a casing or holder thatputs a firm pressure on both sides ofthe disc. Record cases, such as those soldby STEREO REVIEW, will serve well, pro-viding that the records are firmly. butnot tightly, packed in the case. Pieces ofcorrugated cardboard can be added tofill where needed. With the thinner discs(a penny saved on vinyl is a pennyearned) the problem can be severe.

Because the number of questions wereceive each month is greater thanwe can reply to individually. onlythose questions selected for thiscolumn can he ansu'ered. Sorry!

28STEREO REVIEW

For peoplewho are not ashamedof having brains.

0 Eldill W`

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GREAT BOOKSCIRCLE NO. 35 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Sunny Meyer,audio engineer,

plays Ampex tape whenshe works, plays

Ampex tape whenshe plays.

Sunny Meyer listens for a living. She knows tape fidelity. She findsit with Ampex tape. "I was impressed with the quality ... highfrequency response and low distortion even at slow speeds. Ihaven't found that in other tapes."You may not have the trained ear of a SunnyMeyer. But you can hear the differencewhen you play Ampex home recordingtapes. One reason for the quality is thatAmpex audio tape is made in the samemodern facility as all Ampex profes-sional tape. This adherence to profession-al standards shows up in clean, purerecorded sound.All Ampex tape receives an exclusive finishingprocess that makes Ferrosheen® tapes of unprec-

On off -hours, Motion Picture Sound's Sunny Meyer swings with Ampex cassettes.

edented smoothness. This smooth surface gives you lowerhead wear and tape life for many years of undistorted

sound.Ampex home recording tapes offer full four -trackstereo capability and are available in all config-urations including the new 30, 60. 90 and 120minute cassettes.It's nice to know that the people who pioneeredtape recording are available to help you with yourtape needs as well. For a complete tape catalog,

call or write: Ampex Corp., Magnetic Tape Div., 401Broadway, RedwoodCity, Calif. 94063 AMPEX

TAPES FOR EVERYINSTRUMENTATION COMPUTER

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IAYBE your stereo system is all it's cracked up to be. Or maybe it's just

.cracked up. A simple way to assess the quality and condition of your

system is by means of a test record. Such a disc can reveal-for better or worse-basic merits and shortcomings of your system and help you make corrective

'adjustments to bring out its best. No test record, to be sure, encompasses all the

complex, subtle factors that enter into the reproduction of musical sound. Yet,

unlike musical recordings, these discs provide a fixed standard against which

your system's record -playing performance can be evaluated.Test records used to fall within two mutually exclusive categories. One kind

was intended mainly as a laboratory tool, requiring test instruments for inter-preting the results. The other kind was designed for home use, and the only testinstrument needed was a pair of attentive ears. Lately, by the efforts of this

magazine, the two types have been happily wedded in the SR -12 test recordREVIEW (priced at $4.98). Combining both aural and in-

strument checks, this disc can be used by rank and not -so-rank amateurs forears -only evaluations, or by advanced hobbyists and technicians for more elab-orate instrument tests. By far the most comprehensive of currently available lest

records, the SR -12 offers a total of twenty tests, including separate overallfrequency -response checks for each channel and tests for stereo separation,cartridge tracking, channel balance, stereo spread, speaker phasing, hum, turn-table rumble and flutter, and tone -arm anti -skating adjustment. Instrument testsinclude IM distortion, transient response, and cartridge frequency response. Thoselacking instruments can skip the tests that require them and still get a revealingand accurate performance profile of their systems by ear only.

Despite the laudable clarity of the explanatory notes accompanying the record,the SR -12 is not, however, a simple disc to use. It requires concentrated attentionand careful reading of the notes. Listeners wanting a more casual checkout oftheir systems may feel more at home with the less technical approach nicelyrealized on C.B.S. Labs' "Seven Steps to Better Listening" (STR-101, which canbe ordered from record stores for $4.79). This test record puts the accent onspeed and simplicity, and although it's not as comprehensive and versatile as theSR -12, it shares some of that disc's more ingenious features. Among these is amethod of judging response at various frequencies by comparing a test tone withan immediately preceding reference tone. If both tones seem equally loud to the

ear, it indicates flat frequency response. In effect, the reference tone "calibrates"the ear, compensating for the ear's poor memory by giving it a constant refer-ence point, and making the ear -check of frequency response almost as accurate

- as the instrument check. Another clever device on both discs is the use of awarble tone rather than a steady note for frequency tests. The rapid alternationof frequencies in the warbling sound helps minimize the activation of roomresonances or standing waves that might throw off the listener's judgment.

The SR -12 and the STR-101 mark a noteworthy departure from other entriesin this field and represent valuable aids to listeners critically concerned aboutthe performance of their sound systems.

Seven-teenThe KLH* Model Seventeenis, we think, the bestmoderately -priced speakeryou can buy. We say it thatbluntly because:

a) The Seventeen sounds,except for a slightly lessweighty bass quality, like theKLH Model Six, which isour own standard for judgingthe value of any speaker.

b) It not only sounds betterthan other speakers in itsprice class, but is moreefficient (you don't have tobuy an out -of -its -price -classamplifier to drive it) and hasmore power -handling ability(two Seventeens will fill aroom with as much sound asfour of the usual speakersin its price category).

.DIFMAUK C, KLH RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMEnr CORP.

KIE Research and DevelopmentCorp., 30 Cross St., Cambridge,Mass. 02139

Suggested Retail Prices: EastCoast, $69.95; West Coast, $72.95.

SEPTEMBER 1969CIRCLE NO. 39 ON READER SERVICE CARD

33

QUICICCHJ

We call our new Marantz Model 2!AM -FM stereo receiver /compact the

"quick -change artist" because it does jusithat-converts quickly and easily from,

a quality Marantz receiver to a space -savingrecord player/ receiver combination.

The Marantz Model 25 starts out as afull-fledged AM -FM stereo receiver with

30 watts RMS per channel continuouspower. (That's comparable to 90 watts

IHF music power the way othermanufacturers rate equipment ! ) Then,

any time you're ready, you can add onyour favorite -model Dual, Garrard, or

Miracord record changer.

And to make the conversion a cinch,the Model 25 comes complete with free

Marantz Co., Inc., P.O. Box 99B, Sun Va

CIRCLE 37 ON I

'G -E ARTIST

do-it-yourself templates so you cancut out the cabinet top. Or, if you prefer,

your Marantz dealer can supply you witha precut top. Either way, simply drop in

your favorite record changer and ... Voila!

As in our most expensive stereocomponents, the Model 25 gives you a

multitude of Marantz-qualitysophisticated features. For

example, super -smooth Gyro -Touch*tuning-a marvel of design that lets you

rotate the actual tuning flywheel.Circuits built to rigid military specifications

-utilizing such state-of-the-artrefinements as field-effect transistors and

integrated circuits. And Variable -OverlapDrive**-a Marantz exclusive that reacts

instantly to prevent overloads under

iitmnaltW0fornia 91352. Send for free catalog.

1. -SERVICE CARD

any conditions, completely protecting bothpower amplifier and speakers at all times.

No wonder the sound and specs of theMarantz Model 25 are so impressive. Afterall, it is a Marantz, crafted by the pioneers

of the world's finest and most -expensiveaudio components. Components sold

almost exclusively to engineers,professional musicians, and serious

hobbyists. Now this masterful Marantzperformance is available at a popular

price : only $329-extraordinarily littlefor an extraordinary instrument.

So see your franchised Marantz dealersoon and ask him about the new Marantz

Model 25 receiver/compact. Listen forawhile. Then let your ears make

up your mind.

*Patented.**Patent Pending.

NIARANF2 CO INC .69 MARANTZ IS A SUBSIDIARY OF SUPERSCOPF INC

Although Acoustic Research components weredesigned for home use, they are often chosen forcritical professional applications.

Despite decades of experimentation, the manner in which ear and brain' process auditory data to sensethe direction of a source of sound is still unknown. A new and comprehensive series of experiments nowbeing carried out by researchers at Columbia University may bring us closer to the answer. Under thesupervision of Professor Eugene Galanter of the university's Department of Psychology, John Molinoand other workers are using elaborate instrumentation to generate precisely controlled signals tosynthesize spatial sensatiors for listeners.

Tests are carried out both indoors and outdoors, necessitating the attachment o= wheels to much of theequipment. Part of the apparatus used consists of a "mobilized" AR -3a at lower left in the photographabove, two AR amplifiers (at the bottom of the racks on the table at right), and fifteen mid-range speakersof the type used in the AR -3a. The AR -3a is especially suited to applications of this kind since theuniformity of radiation provides very smooth frequency response on -axis, off -axis, outdoors or in areverberant room.

Write for a free catalog listing AR speaker systems, turntables, amplifiers and accessories.

IMAcoustic Research Inc.24 Thorndike Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02141Overseas Inquiries: Write to AR International at above address

CIRCLE NO. 2 ON READER SERVICE CARD36 STEREO REVIEW

- _ _

..... .

.

...

,

, .. ..... ..

---

SPECIFICATIONS 4-FM TUNERS: llaving dealtsomewhat briefly last month with the problems of audioamplifier distortion, and with its significance, I nowcome to another critical component of a stereo system-the FM tuner or the tuner section of an FM receiver. Asa matter of fact, the audible distortions that occur in FMreception are far more disturbing to the ear than thoseoriginating in the amplifier, even though they seem toreceive less attention in print.

In FM reception, the listener has no control over theprograming, except to tune to another station. And theaudio signal broadcast by the FM station is frequentlyinferior to that provided by an audiophile's record player.

Practically all FM broadcast stations play the samerecords that you and I buy from our local record store.Presumably they are well cared for, but probably no moreso than the private collections of many readers of thismagazine. The record -playing equipment of a broad-casting station is designed more for ruggedness and relia-bility than for refinement of performance, and will rarelymatch the caliber of reproduction attained in a goodhome music system. The electronic audio portions of thebroadcasting station, while of excellent quality, are cer-tainly no better than we find in any good home amplifier.

Let us assume that we can receive, essentially un-changed, the signal radiated fromour favorite FM station (this is

often an unwarranted assumption,which I will discuss next month).How is this signal processed-and,inevitably, distorted-on its waythrough the FM tuner to our "dis-tortionless" amplifier?

An FM broadcast signal con -

audio modulation of the radio -frequency carrier signalwould cause it to swing between 101,025 kHz and 101,-175 kHz. Channel assignments are made at 200 -kHz inter-vals, thus leaving a "guard band" between stations. Tofurther insure against interference, assignments in a givengeographical area are usually spaced at least 400 kHz apart(alternate channels).

The FM -tuner circuits perform a number of functions,all of which may affect the final sound. The radio -fre-quency (r.f.) amplifier builds up the weak signal levelreceived from the antenna, which may be only a fewmillionths of a volt (microvolts), and it also includesselective or tuning circuits that help reject interferingsignals. The most common source of such interference isfrom image reiponses that are an inherent weakness ofsuperheterodyne receivers (all currently produced FMreceivers are superheterodynes).

An image may be received from a station whose fre-quency is 21.4 MHz above the frequency to which thereceiver is tuned (21.4 MHz is twice the universal 10.7MHz operating frequency of the i.f. amplifiers of FMreceivers). Near an airport., where most air -to -groundcommunication takes place just above the FM band, trans-missions from an airplane flying overhead will sometimesoverride an FM broadcast. A highly selective "front end"

in an FM receiver will reduce theimage signal to a negligible level inmost cases.

How much image rejection is

necessary? This is a difficult ques-tion to answer meaningfully, sincein many areas it is of no impor-tance, and in others no receiver isgood enough to suppress image in-

terference completely. A survey of current FM -receiverspecifications shows a range of claimed image responsefigures from -45 dB to -90 dB, with the average about-70 dB. This means that an image signal has to be 70 dBstronger than the desired signal (an enormous difference)in order to produce an equivalent response in the receiver.

We do not ordinarily measure image rejections, buthave occasionally experienced interference from low fly-ing aircraft (the landing approach for a major airportpasses directly over our laboratory). It is my view thatpractically any modern tuner has adequate image rejectionfor almost all situations-but that few, if any, can com-

REVIEWED T HIS MONTH

JVC 5003 AM/Stereo FM Receiver

Nordmende 8001/T Tape Recorder

Scott S-15 Speaker System

sists of a steady transmission at constant power, at anFCC -assigned frequency between 88 MHz and 108 MHz.The audio program modulation shifts the frequency ofthis carrier above and below its nominal center value.The rate at which the frequency is shifted is equal to theaudio signal frequency. The amount of the instantaneousfrequency deviation is proportional to the amplitude(loudness) of the program.

The maximum authorized bandwidth of an FM signalis 150 kHz, allowing a deviation of 75 kHz above andbelow the assigned frequency. For example, if a station hasan assigned frequency of 101.1 MHz (101,100 kHz), full

SEPTEMBER 1969 37

pletely reject an image response from a transmitter only1.000 feet overhead. At any rate, it is not a significantproblem in FM reception.

A somewhat similar specification is i.f. rejection. Thisdescribes the ability of a receiver to discriminate againstsignals at its i.f. (intermediate) frequency of 10.7 MHz.The r.f. tuned circuits, operating as they do between 88MHz and 108 MHz, usually exclude 10.7 MHz signalsvery effectively, and FM antennas fortunately are highlyinefficient at that frequency. Coupled with the fact thatstrong signals at 10.7 MHz are unlikely to be encountered,this means that i.f. interference is unlikely to be a prob-lem (I have never experienced it). Published figuresshow a range of i.f. rejection of 70 to 100 dB, with anaverage of slightly better than 70 dB.

Another type of spurious response may occur becauseof the presence of harmonics of the tuner's local oscil-lator, which conceivably could translate one of the upperVHF TV channels into the FM band. This might be ofconcern to someone living very close to a TV transmitter.Although all tuners have rated spurious -response levelsfrom -90 to -100 dB, it is remotely possible that a nearby

TV station could appear at their antenna inputs as a sig-nal 100 dB stronger than a desired weak FM signal andinterfere with it. Since this would require an interferingFM signal with a level of almost 1 volt, I do not considerit a likely source of trouble.

It might seem that I am making light of these aspectsof FM receiver design, but this is not my intention. Thedesigner of a good FM receiver devotes considerableeffort to achieving satisfactory rejection of all undesiredsignals, and this is one area where the results have beeneminently satisfactory. Most receivers have very similarspecifications for image, i.f., and spurious -response rejec-tion, and I have not found any units that are not adequatein these areas in a location where between forty and fiftyFM stations and at least seven TV stations can be receivedwith a simple indoor antenna.

Since these specifications have little or nothing to dowith the audible end product in practically all listeningsituations, I would base my choice of an FM receiver onother, more significant considerations. Next month I willcontinue with a discussion of some FM -tuner character-istics that do affect the sound quality.

NQUIPMENT TKST REPORTSBy Hirsch -Houck Laboratories

JVC 5003 AM/STEREO FM RECEIVER

IT Is obvious from a study of published specificationsthat most stereo receivers at a given price level are very'ouch alike. Our test reports confirm this; the similaritiesbetween competing makes are usually more striking thantheir differences. Therefore, it is sometimes quite difficultto comment critically on the receivers we test, other thanby listing their measured performance figures.

We have been using a JVC 5003 receiver, manufacturedby the Victor Company of Japan, for several months. Al-though it is a good receiver in all respects, it is not themost sensitive or the most powerful; it does not have thelowest distortion, greatest stereo FM separation, or lowestcost. We would he hard put to justify choosing it over anyof a half dozen other fine receivers simply on the basis ofthe usual performance parameters.

However, one feature of the 5003 receiver is uniquewith JVC, and it might well be enough to tip the scalesin its favor. This is the SEA, or Sound Effect Amplifier-JVC's somewhat ill -chosen name for the most effectivetone -control circuit we have ever used, and in fact the onlyone which in our view is really worth the space it occu-pies in the receiver.

Somehow, to our ears, ordinary tone controls neverseem to be able to remove tubbiness, add a solid bottomend, remove a harsh presence peak, soften the harsh edgi-ness of some slightly distorted records, or add clean sparkleto a slightly dull program without introducing other un-

desirable sonic side effects. All these faults should be cor-rectible by proper frequency -response modification, butthe usual tone -control circuits simply do not have thenecessary characteristics in respect to operating points andcurve shape.

If tone controls are to be useful at all, they must makeat least some of the above corrections reasonably well.We have rarely come across any that can correct even oneof the common faults mentioned above, but JVC's SEAcontrols do a fine job on all of them, and many more.Individual boost or cut circuits that operate at a numberof frequencies have been incorporated. In the JVC 5003,the control points are at 60 Hz, 250 Hz, 1 kHz, 5 kHz,and 15 kHz. The response at each frequency is controlledby a vertical slider -type potentiometer, with a range of±10 dB, and with negligible effect on adjacent frequen-cies only two octaves away. (Continued on page 42)

0

O-

-4 0

SO

AUDIO OUTPUT0 09.0.79 VOLTS

(TAPE -OUTPUT JACKS)

JVC 5003FM SECTION (MONO)

,F )4SFIWiTY -

Jn.el, DISTORTION RE 100,. MOD7)

:I en4T 400Hz

2 5 0 20 50 100 SI) 10k 20k 50kTEST -SIGNAL INPUT IN MICROVOLTS WV)

00k

38 CIRCLE NO. 55 ON READER SERVICE CARD-).

discriminating peoplealways choosereceivers, tunersand amplif ersby Sherwood.

LOUDNESSan

Only Sherwood, with alrrost two decades of precise engineer-ing experience and dedication to quality can produce thistop of the industry, SEL 200 FM receiver. It's designed forthose who love the definilve instrumentation of natural concerthall sound. The cleanest encompassing wall-to-wall sound withpower -o spare regardless of the distance from FM transmissionor stru:Aural cbstruction. The SEL 200 embodies every worth-while technical advancement ever developed with no com-promise in quality, manufacturing or design. Regardless ofhigher prices tor comparable receivers nothing made cansurpass the superi Drity of Sherwood's SEL 200.

Sone Specifications and Features of the SEL 200

AMPLIFIERPOWER(in watts)

*eaterImpedance

+1 dBPower

IHFPower

R.M.S.Power

Distortion

4 OHMS 275 225 85 + 85 0.2%

8 OHMS 175 140 60 + 60 0.2%

1.5 Av (IHF) FM sensitivity :for 30dB quieting at 0.3% distortion: 0.9uy FM sensitivity for 20 dB quiet-ing) 3 uv (for 5( ci3 q deting) EX-CLUSIVE new "Lenore" ToroidalFM IF filter-permanently aligned.The indistry's mom-pe-fect filer forminimum distortion Ind superio- selec-tivity EXCLUSIVE FET Sic e -bandHush-no "Thumps ' when tunkg sta-tions-no chance fce- extra res-lonses.

4 -Gan. , 3-FET M RF front-endtuner. 3 -stage microcircuit limiting. FM Stereo -only Switch-selectsstereo stations, rejects all ottersMain/Remote/Monc Speaker Switches-contro s 3 indcpcndeit systems in

any combination 2 Tuning Meters:(1) Zero -Center for pin -point accuracy,(2) Field -Strength for antenna orient-ing. Extra Tape Dubbing Jack onfront panel. Extra Tape MonitoringJack on front panel. Panel -Light Dimming control on front panel. Stereo/Mono Indicator Lights; phono/auxiliary,source pilot lights. Three-year FactoryGuarantee, Parts end Labor. Hand-some Oiled -Walnut Cabinet included(no extra cost). Overall Size in Cabinet(H, W, D): 6% x 191/4 x 14 in.

So ConservativelyPriced at only $59900

Other File Receivers from $299.95 (Write for Catalog) 9S

NV 0 0 rpmoC 1=1-timerl

INNOVVORS IN FIPEST OLIALI-Y TUNERS / AMPLIFIERS / RECEIVERS / SPEAKERS

4300 North California Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60618

This is the best receiverScott has ever built

The 386 AM/FMhighpower stereo receiver

SCOTT 386...THE WORLD'S MOSTADVANCEDHIGH POWER RECEIVER.

0

Euo

010090 oa

MIUMMUIIIMMOMMII MEM===::111==ENELOO riSTAZIIMB WAMWMINIIIIMMUMMIIIIMMENSIMMEIMININSIM Fll

MIIMOIM.IBININIMMIIIIIMIIIMMIIIINIMMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKil=INMEMINEMONTENTIMONNEMBIHIPI MI....r.... ..... .......... .iiiillipliihilliiiii

ramand ramassid Mainii:1001 2001 100 1K loll ,n

Total Hammitt Di 'onion Both Channel D mien into 8 ohms 1200 AC line 35 watt MAD

0100

Scott guarantees at least this level of amplifier performance!Massive power transformer and Full Complementary Out-put circuitry give maximum undistorted power at all audi-ble frequencies.

Ultra -reliable space-age cir-cuitry Permanently alignedquartz crystal filter IF, FMamplifier, and four Inte-grated Circuits (includingPer -rectum: logic module)are included in this smallarea.

AM reception virtually in-distinguishable from FMNew Integrated Circuit AMfront end features pre -luredmulti -pole Idler fur opti-mum AM fidelity.

Featuring such sophisticated technological advances aselectronic circuit protection and electronically regu-lated power supply, the new Scott 386 AM/FM stereoreceiver is a new landmark in the field of audio engi-neering. High usable power and carefully considereddesign make the 386 the only choice for the experi-enced audiophile.

Instant -acting electronic overload protection, unlikeconventional thermal cutouts, Scott's new protectivecircuit releases the drive when too much current flowsthrough the output transistors. A circuit -breaker willalso trip under prolonged short circuit conditions athigh power. There are no fuses to burn out.

IM STfF!1

FM

Ficluwl

Instant -information panelindicator lights let you knowat a glance whether you'rereceiving AM or FM, stereoor monaural broadcast.Scott Perfectune indicatortells when yOU're perfectlytuned lo:' best reception.

New connection techniqueseliminate solder joint fail-ures Wire -wrap terminalconnections plus plug-inmodule construction resultin the kind of reliability as-sociated with aerospaceapplications.

New illuminated dial results in increased visibility New muting circuit eliminates noise between FM stations Plug-in speaker connectors eliminate phasing problems Silver-plated Field Ellect Transistor front end receives

more stations more clearly with less distortion Integrated Circuit IF strip virtually eliminates all outside interfer-

ence Integrated Circuit preamplifier reduces distortion to inaudible levels Full Complementary direct coupledall -silicon output circuitry provides effortless instantaneous power, with maximum reliability Automatic stereoswitching instantly switches itself to stereo operation .. lets you relax and enjoy the music.

386 Control FeaturesInput selector Tape monitor Speakers #1 On/off Speakers #2 on/wr Dual Bass and Treble controls Stereobalance control Power On/off Volume compensation Muting Noise filter Perfectune automatic tuning indi-

cator Stereo indicator light AM indicator light FM indicator light Precision signal strength meter Front panelstereo headphone output Volume control s Stereo/mono mode switch.

386 SPECIFICATIONSPower 1 dB) 170 Watts. IIIF power specifications (@ 0.8% distortion, both channels driven): Dynamic power@ 4 Ohms, 67.5 Watts/channel; Continuous power @ 4 Ohms, 42 Watts/channel, @ 8 Ohms, 35 Watts/channel.Selectivity, 40 dB; Frequency response :_4: 1 dB, 20-20,000 Hz; Hum and noise, phono, -65 dB; Cross modulation re-jection, 80 dB; Usable sensitivity, 1.9 pN; Tuner stereo separation, 40 dB; FM IF limiting stages, 9; Capture ratio,

2.5 dB; Signal to noise ratio, 65 dB; Phono sensitivity, 3, 6 mV; Price $349.95.

Specifications subject to change without notice.

C3SCOTTH. H. Scott, Inc., 111 Powdermill Road, Maynard, Mass. 01754Export: Scott International, Maynard, Mass. 01754

II. Scott. Inc complies will, Institute of Higl. Fidelity standards of Measurement as well as theirteconutieniTitim, regarding piihlualion of same. Specifications are based on repo!, production. not

on spec1.11 Lhor,dory

0 1969, H. H. Scott, Inc.

SEPTEMBER 1969

CIRCLE NO. 100 ON READER SERVICE CARD41

2

0

0.5

0.2

T.

0120 50 00 200 500 kHz 2kHz

FREQUENCY IN Hz (CYCLES PER SECOND)

BOTH CHANNELS DRIVEN WITH 8 -OHM LOADS, ONE CHANNEL MEASUREDI 1 1 I I (III I I T

JVC 5003

iPOWER (40w)REFERENCEHALF POWER -3d131

-- - LOW POWER ( 10dR)

.....

......"....

5kHz OkIlz 20km

With all the knobs in a horizontal line, the response isflat, and the overall response curve follows the contour ofthe knobs as they are raised or lowered. Each is calibrated,quite accurately, in decibels of boost or cut. A rocker -typebypass switch disables the tone -control circuits for an in-stant A -B comparison-a comparison that should convinceany skeptic of the circuits' value.

If we seem to have devoted a disproportionate amountof space to the tone -control circuits of the JVC 5003, it isbecause we feel that they, more than anything, set this re-ceiver apart from its competition. After you have used theSEA, you may never again be satisfied with conventionaltone controls.

What about the rest of the receiver? The FM tuner hastwo FET r.f. stages (AGC controlled) and switchable AFCfor the oscillator. The i.f. section is a trifle "old fash-ioned" in this day of IC's and crystal filters; it uses fivetransistor stages and conventional i.f. transformers, pluscircuits for operating the muting and tuning meter.

The AM tuner is quite basic, with a self -oscillatingmixer, two i.f. stages, and diode detector. Its sound is ade-quate, but not exceptional. The multiplex circuit, runningagainst the tide of expanding circuit complexity, uses onlyfour transistors and a few diodes, but manages to do itsjob very well. The SEA control circuits are surprisinglysimple (only one transistor per channel), but they use asizable number of fairly expensive parts. The audio sectionof the JVC 5003 is quite conventional. When it comes topower, this unit is in the light -heavyweight class amongreceivers. The whole receiver is larger and heavier thanmost, measuring 43/8 inches high by 20 inches wide by131A inches deep and weighing about 30 pounds.

In addition to the five SEA controls, tuning, volume,and balance controls, the JVC 5003 has a selector for TAPEHEAD, PHONO, FM MONO, FM AUTO, AM, and AUX inputs.The speaker -selector switch connects either, both, or neitherof the two sets of stereo speaker outputs. A headphonejack is on the front panel, as is an illuminated push -on,push -off power switch. Along the bottom of the panel is arow of eight rocker switches. These control FM -AFC, FM

2

'

BOTH CHANNELS DRIVEN WITH 8 -OHM LOADS,ONE CHANNEL MEASURED

:;1- 0.5

1' 0.2

0101 0 2 0 5 2 5 0 20 50 100

CONTINUOUS AND EQUIVALENT SINE -WAVE POWER OUTPUT PER CHANNEL IN WATTS

)kHz TOTAL HARMONIC DISTORTION60/7000Hz (4:11 IM DISTORTION

JVC 5003

MEI I

50 100 200 SOO 110),, 2C, S., 10012FREQUENCY IN HE(CYCL ES PER SECOND)

20kHz

muting (with the threshold level adjustable from the rearof the receiver), tape monitoring, mono/stereo, loudnesscompensation, low-cut filter, high -cut filter, and tone -con-trol bypass.

No matter how novel its features, a receiver would beworth little if it did not perform up to expectations. TheJVC 5003 came through its tests well. Its FM sensitivity(IHF) was 2.3 microvolts, a very adequate figure. FMdistortion (mono) was 0.75 per cent at 100 per cent modu-lation. The FM frequency response had a "shelf" of sev-eral dB at about 1,500 Hz, suggesting an incorrect de -emphasis time constant, but was within ±3 dB from 30to 15,000 Hz. Effectively it was much better than that, sinceit was flat within ±1 dB from 30 to 1,000 Hz, and from2,000 to 15,000 Hz. The stereo separation was better than30 dB from 70 to 1,300 Hz, falling to about 8 dB above10 kHz.

The basic audio -frequency response was flat within± 0.3 dB from 40 to 20,000 Hz, falling to -4.5 dB at20 Hz. The high- and low -frequency filters have 6 -dB-

per -octave slopes and are not too effective. We ran a seriesof response curves on the SEA controls which agreed ex-actly with the published curves. Loudness compensation,which sounded quite good, boosted both lows and highs.In every case, we preferred to use the SEA controls insteadof the filters and loudness compensation.

The RIAA record equalization was very good, within± 1 dB. The NAB tape -head playback equalization wasnot as good, having an overall variation of ±4.5 dB.


Send for your FREE copy ofSTEREO REVIEW'S CALENDAR OF CLASSICAL COMPOSERS

' N April of 1966, STEREO REVIEW offered to its read-ers a Calendar of Classical Composers, a listing of

the most important composers from the year 1400 tothe present, grouped according to the major stylisticperiods-Renaissance, Baroque, Classic, Romantic,etc. Thousands were distributed in the original print-ing, but the pressures of popular demand now force usto repeat the offer. The calendar is printed in color onheavy stock and is suitable for framing. It will be sentrolled in a mailing tube to prevent creases . . . we paythe postage . . . all you do is circle number 145 on thereader service card, page 9.

42STEREO REVIEW

WHAT MAKES A GOOD SPEAKER?1 Smooth, wide frequency response.

2 Precise transient response.

3 Uncolored, neutral sound.

4 Wide high -frequency dispersion.

5 Value.We designed the A-25 loudspeaker withthese attributes in mind. How well didwe succeed?

HERE'S WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY:1 ". . . the overall response curve (of the

Dynaco A-25) was as flat and smooth as canbe when measured in a 'live' environment."

Julian Hirsch in Stereo Review, June, 1969.

2 ". . . notf7ing we have tested had a betteroverall transient response."

Stereo Review, June, 1969.3 ". . . we were impressed with the newspeakers' honest, uncolored sound."

High Fidelity, July, 1969."In our listening tests, the Dynaco (A-25) hada remarkably neutral quality."

Stereo Review, June, 1969.

Stereo Review, June, 1969.

"An 11 kHz tone could be heard clearly at least90 degrees off axis .. ."

High Fidelity, July, 1969.

5 "No1 the least of the A -25's attractions isits low price of $79.95. We have comparedthe A-25 with a number of speaker systemscosting two and three times as much, and wemust say it stands up exceptionally well in thecomparisons."

4 "The highs were crisp, extended, and welldispersed."

Stereo Review, June, 1969.Send for literature or pick some up at your dealer where you can also hea the A-25.

dynraco INC_ 3060 JEFFERSON ST., PHILA., PA. 19121IN EUROPE WRITE DYNACO A S HUM1_UM STRUER, DENMARK

si i mit 1969CIRCLE NO. 25 ON READER SERVICE CARD

43

The power amplifiers delivered about 43 watts per channelinto 8 ohms, with both channels driven. The output into

ohms and 16 ohms fell to 35 watts and 31 watts perchannel, respectively. Harmonic distortion was under 0.2per cent from 2 watts to 42 watts at 1,000 Hz, rising to0.45 per cent at 0.1 watt. The IM distortion was a con-stant 0.8 per cent up to 45 watts, where it increasedsharply.

At 40 watts per channel, the harmonic distortion wasunder 0.2 per cent from 40 to 3,000 Hz, and rose to 1per cent at 32 and 14,000 Hz. At half power or less, thedistortion was less than 0.2 per cent from 20 to 3,000 Hzand rose to between 0.6 and 1.2 per cent at 20,000 Hz.Hum and noise were exceptionally low, about 80 dB below10 watts on both phono and auxiliary inputs, and 73 dBbelow 10 watts on the tape -head input. Although thephono sensitivity is high, requiring only 1 millivolt for 10

watts output, the phono preamplifiers did not overloaduntil a 63 -millivolt signal was applied.

These results speak for themselves-the JVC 5003 is ahighly versatile, reasonably sensitive, powerful receiverwith a tone -control system that can improve many speakersystems and make a lot of program material sound better.A record, included with each receiver, demonstrates effec-tively how the SEA can improve or modify the characterof sound without impairing musical quality or producinga gross imbalance. We enjoyed experimenting with theSEA controls, and we are convinced that they are extreme-ly useful, unlike ordinary tone controls which we preferto leave in their centered position. The JVC 5003 receiverin a metal enclosure (shown) has a list price of $349.95.A wood enclosure in oiled walnut is approximately $20additional.

For more information, circle 157 on reader service card

NORDMENDE 8001/T TAPE RECORDER

se

POP 011111.10111.

THE West German -made Nordmende 8001/T tape re-corder is a handsome and versatile machine. It is shallow informat, measuring 191/2 inches wide by 14 inches high, andis only 6 inches deep including its removable smoky grayplastic cover. It is easy to carry in spite of its weight ofabout 36 pounds.

The 8001/T is a three -motor, three -head, four -trackstereo machine with separate recording and playback headsand amplifiers, two 3 -watt playback amplifiers, and a pairof small elliptical monitor speakers. All transport func-tions are solenoid operated, via light -touch rocker -type but-tons. A remote -control connector permits starting andstopping the transport at a distance. All connectors are ofthe DIN type, requiring special cables or adapters for con-nection to American components.

The Nordmende 8001/T has a number of unusual fea-tures, including a push -on, push -off power switch with aremovable plastic key without which the machine cannot beoperated. There are inputs for tuner, crystal or ceramicphono cartridge, and 200 -ohm -impedance microphones.Four slide -type level controls are provided, with mixingaction. The tuner and phono inputs are each controlled bya single knob affecting both channels. Each microphone hasits own level control so that channels can be balanced whenmaking a live recording.

The two level meters indicate only while recording. Redand green lights flanking the meters show whether a giventrack is in the recording or playback mode. The functionswitch has positions for four -track mono operation, stereo,or DUOPLAY, which is a system for synchronizing slideshows with spoken commentary. A small slide switchselects the monitoring signal from the recording amplifieror from the playback amplifier. Which brings us to a puz-zling aspect of the Nordmende 8001/T: it has full facil-ities for monitoring the tape while recording, but only

through its own speakers or headphone jacks. 'When themachine is connected to an external stereo system, it mightas well be a two -head model, since the recording cannot bemonitored off the tape. A minor design change would cor-rect this and make the 8001/T more competitive with otherthree -head machines.

We found the instructions to be confusing and un-informative. They are written in German, with referencesto numerical callouts of the controls on a photo of theunit. A page -by -page English and French translation on aseparate form is supposed to serve as a key to the interpre-tation of the German instructions, but it left us mystified.Eventually, by trial -and -error methods, we discovered

+5r

,e

W 1 5,E. 20

0

r-3, NAB PL AY B ACK RESPOI

FREQUENCY 'l Hr(CYCLES PER SE CONE)/

which plugs to use for inputs and outputs on the DINadapter cables, and what happened when the various con-trols (identified only by symbols) were operated. We wereunable to face up to the task of figuring out the MULTI -

PLAY and DUOPLAY functions, but we suspect that thesewould be of little interest to most tape recordists.

On the positive side, we found the tape loading to heexceptionally straightforward and simple, and the trans-port controls operate with a satisfyingly positive action. Itis very quiet in operation and is pleasing to look at. Ourlaboratory tests told us the rest of the story.

The playback response, using Ampex test tapes, was +1,-5 dB from 60 to 14,000 Hz at 71/2 ips, and ±2.5 dBfrom 50 to 5,500 Hz at 33/i ips. The overall record -play-back response, using Scotch 203 tape, was ±3 dB from 70to 17,500 Hz at 71/2 ips, ±2 dB from 55 to 14,000 Hz at33/4 ips, and ±5 dB from 25 to 7,500 Hz at 17/8 ips. All ofthese figures, needless to say, represent very fine frequencyresponse at the respective speeds. They were measured onone channel, and the other was generally similar except fora high -frequency rise.

The wow was low (0.04 per cent), but flutter was 0.17per cent at both 33/4 and 71/2 ips. This is not far from themanufacturer's specification of 0.15 per cent at 33/4 ips,


RECORD -PLAYBACK RESPONSENORDMENOE 8001/1"

i111114140-011:4 II .150 100 200 500 HiHr 2.111 SkHr 40It4t 20Ithr

44STEREO REVIEW

2001

a Sony Sound OdysseyIf you are prepared to regard sound reproduc-tion as an experience, and if this experiencecould possibly be worth $2000 plus to you,read on.

This is the story about an epic sound system.An all -stops -out, damn -the -expense sound sys-tem. Extravagantly priced and extravagant inperformance.

Three Sony TA -3120 solid-state stereo ampli-fiers deliver more than 300 watts of audiopower with distortion low enough to be virtu-ally immeasurable.

The control center: the professional SonyTA -2000 preamplifier. Typical of its creden-tials: IM distortion well under 0.1% at any

input; dynamic range of 80dB, -nore thanenough to reproduce the full loucest-to-sc.ft-est sound range of a symphony orchestra.Controls and conveniences? A brace of VUmeters; tone controls with 11 discreet switchpositions; tone -control cancel switch; levelset controls at each input; stereo outputs thatcan be adjusted to suit the needs of differentpower amplifiers, etc.

The Sony TA -4300 solid-state electroniccrossover is the heart of the ideal multi -chan-nel system. Operating between the pre -ampand the 6 power amplifier sections, it feedseach speaker only the range it has been de-signed to reproduce.

The program sources: The ST -5000 FETstereo tuner with the Sony solid-state i.f. filterthat rever needs realigning brings in stationsthat never seemed to exist before. The TTS-3000 servo -controlled turntable, rated by HighFidelity Magazine as having "the lowest rumblefigure yet measured (-77dB)" and the PUA-286transcription arm track records flawlessly.

Enjoy an epic experience. Audition the$2001 system. Sony Corporation of America,47-47 Van Dam St., Long Island City, N.Y. 11101(3) TA -3120 amplifiers, 3249 50 each; TA -2000 pre-amplifier, $329.50; TA -4300 3 -way electronic cross-over, 3199.50; 5000FW FM stereo tuner, $449 50;TTS-3000 turntable, $149.50; PUA-2tif, 5'I 50;cabinet for 5000FW, $2450. SONY®


The new NocturneEight Twenty solid statereceiver has 140 Watts of powerand perhaps the most sophisticated FMstereo tuner ever built.

But it doesn't have an AM radio.At 5299.95, we had to make a choice. So we

made the one we thought you would make. Wetraded the AM radio for an inordinate amountof performance. For instance, the Eight Twentyhas enough guts to drive four speaker systemsflawlessly, without the slightest sign of strain.The amplifier is unlike any power output stagefound in conventional stereo receivers. It em-ploys wideband silicon transistors and aheavy duty power supply which extends theamplifier's response to below 5Hz and above60,000Hz. This results in flawless reproduction

of all har-monics withoutphase and transientdistortion. The output stage uses aquasi -complimentary symmetry designwhich insures accurate balance and sym-metry at the clipping points. A high degree offeedback is used to keep distortion down andstability high. Harmonic distortion productsare kept below 0.5% at full output across theaudio spectrum of 20-20,000Hz. This insuresunusually smooth and transparent sound.

At $299.95 we had to choosebetween an AM radioand better performance.We left out the AM radio.

STEREO REVIEW

Newly de-signed integratedci:cuits and crystal filtersin the I.F. strip tr ake 7M tuning asprecise as swi-ching the channel selecto: ofa -elevision set The tuner accepts only thestation to whica it is tuned, regardless of howclose an alternate or adjacent station may be.An FET front end coupled with a four gangedtuning capacitor assures unprecedented sen-sitivity and selectivity. Crossmodulation hasbeen reduced to the vanishing point.

The new Harman-Kardon Nocturne EightTwenty doesn't have an AM radio. But it haseverything else you could possibly want in areceiver. And at an amazingly low price. Hearit soon at your Harman-Kardon dealer.

For more information, write: Harman-Kardon,Inc., Dept. SR -9, 55 Ames Court, Plainview,N.Y. 11803.

harman kardonA subsidiary o Jervis Corporotto,

140 Watts, ± 1 db; 110 Watts, IHF


SEPTEMBER 1969 47

but is somewhat higher than we have found on othercomparably priced machines. The signal-to-noise ratio was47.5 dB, with the noise being primarily hum (not audiblein normal use). The distortion at 0 dB recording level wasa rather high 6.6 per cent, reducing to 3.8 per cent at -3dB and to 1.2 per cent at -10 dB. We would thereforerecommend keeping the recording level well below the 0 -dBmeter calibrations. The gain at the tuner input was exces-sive, requiring only 50 millivolts (0.05 volt) for 0 -dBrecording level. This meant that the tuner -level control hadto be operated near its minimum setting. Tracking betweenthe two sections of the control was poor, and therefore wewould recommend setting the control once and leaving italone.

SCOTT S-15SPEAKER SYSTEM

RECENT H. H. Scott speaker systems have been de-signed with attention to the special requirements of tran-sistor power amplifiers. Most such amplifiers cannot drivea load of much less than 4 ohms without either damagingthe output transistors or tripping their protective circuits.Some speaker systems with a nominal 8 -ohm rating actu-ally present a much lower impedance at certain frequen-cies. Scott's "controlled -impedance" design limits the mini-mum impedance of the complete speaker system, over itsfull frequency range, to a safe value. The Scott S-15 istypical of that company's new models. It is a medium -price bookshelf system, measuring 233/4 inches wide, 113/1inches high, and 9 inches deep. Its compact size and its241A -pound weight make it truly usable on bookshelveswithout special reinforcement of the shelf supports.

The S-15 is a three-way system. The 10 -inch acoustic -suspension woofer, with a 26 -Hz free -air resonance, han-dles frequencies up to 750 Hz. The middle frequencies areradiated by a 41/1 -inch cone speaker. Above 3,800 Hz, a3 -inch cone speaker takes over. A three -position toggleswitch in the rear of the cabinet provides a moderate in-crease or decrease of the output level above 750 Hz.

In our tests, we averaged the speaker's output as mea-sured at ten locations in the room to produce a single re-sponse curve. There were moderate peaks at 600 and12,000 Hz; these could have been at least partially cor-rected with the high -frequency level switch in its middle

Oscilloscope photos display theS -15's fine tone -burst

response at three frequencies:front left to right,

100, 3,000, and 9,000 Hz.

Although the Nordmende 8001/T's drive mechanismshuts off automatically if the tape is equipped with sensingfoil, it will not shut off automatically when the tape runsout or breaks. When the tape runs out in the record orplay mode, the reels spin at an unusually high speed, leav-ing the end of the tape in tatters. The high-speed motors,incidentally, provide a real advantage in fast forward andrewind modes, handling 1,800 feet of tape in only 62 sec-onds. This is one of the fastest -winding recorders we haveencountered in some time. Aside from the points men-tioned above, the machine works well and, particularly inthe record -playback mode, sounds fine. The Nordmende8001/T sells for $429.95.


position. The low -frequency response fell off at 6 dB peroctave below 70 Hz. The averaged measured frequencyresponse of the S-15 was ±6.5 dB from 65 to 15,000 Hz.This is typical of many moderate -price speaker systems(and some costing considerably more) we have measuredin the same room.

Although the low -frequency output was not particularlystrong, the harmonic distortion at a 1 -watt drive levelwas very low-less than 2 per cent down to 50 Hz, 6 percent down to 30 Hz, and 10 per cent at 20 Hz. Probablythe output at the lowest frequencies would have been en-hanced with corner mounting of the speaker, but wetested it in a mid -wall location such as would normallybe used with a system of this type. Because of its lowdistortion in the bass, the S-15 is potentially an excellentlow -frequency reproducer, and it could be satisfactorilyequalized by an amplifier whose tone controls providemoderate bass boost without affecting the higher frequen-cies. Although the 5-15 does not have the palpable lowsof some comparably priced speakers, we believe its soundwould satisfy almost anyone except a pipe -organ huff.The absence of an over -emphasis in the lower and middlebass enables it to reproduce the human voice with greaternaturalness than many speakers that favor the lower end ofthe spectrum.

The tone -burst response of the S-15 was outstandinglygood, except for a single frequency in the vicinity of 1,200Hz, where we found some ringing. Occurring as it did atone frequency only, it could not be heard when listeningto program material.

The Scott S-15, being relatively small, light, and un-adorned, may not look like a $120 system to admirersof cabinet work. However, be assured that it definitelyperforms like onel Its sound is clean and balanced, and itcan be listened to for hours without strain or fatigue. Thisis a necessary quality of any good speaker system-andthe Scott S-15 passes the test wth ease.

The S-15 is used in Scott's "top of the line" 2505 com-pact music system ($530), and is compatible from a qual-ity standpoint with the performance of good componentsmaking up a $500-$800 system. It sells for $119.95.


48 SII RI 0 RI \ II \\

Contrary to popular opinion, this is all you need to recognize a great stereo.

Most people think buying a stereo requiresat the very least a degree in electronics. It

doesn't.If a stereo souncs clear if you can hear all

the instruments and if the singer sounds likeshe's singing to you, you're listening to agreat stereo. That's all there is to it.

Now that you know now to look for a greatstereo, we'd like to tell you about one. TheSony' HP -480 Compact S:ereo System.

The HP -480 has an a!l-silicon transistor

1968 So,, Corp.f Ar71. r,

amplifier. An FM stereo/FM/AM tuner. (TineHP -480 also comes without a tuner, but wecall that the HP -460.) A Dual Au:oma:icChanger. A Pickering Dustamatic magneticcartridge with a diamond stylus. Sealedspeakers with 6 woofers and 3" tweeters.And an OTL circuit for better sourd qual-ity and less distortion.

However, if you don't understand whatany of that means, don't worry.

Your ears will.

The Sony HP -480 Compact Stereo SystemShoAtonr, 585 N Y,


theEnticer THE

Only about the JENSENsize of a breadbox, TF-25but the new Jensen TF-25 givesdepth and excitement tc themost intimate soind in a meaiLm-prized 2 -speaker. 2 -wayloudspeaker system. Dura-synwalnut finish. S89.50.

Hirsch -Houck independent testlaboratories puts it this way: ' TieJeasen TF-25 has a balanced,urcolored sou which can belistened to for hours withoutfatigue. We cam cnly agree withJensen's statements and claims."

It's the kind of speaker you'dexpect from the company whichha; pioneered allmost every majoradvance in speaker techr ologysince Peter Jensen's invention orthe loudspeaker.

*Fo- the complete report andJer5en's new cata'og, write:Jersen Manufacturing DivisionThe Muter Company5655 West 73rd Street,Ch cago, Illinois 60638

JensenSee the man withthe button-yourJensen dealer-today,.

GOING ON RECORDMUSIC AND MONEY

OMORRO W, someone with money tospare is going to give some of it to

music. This happens every so often andit has been going on for a long, longtime: a foundation commissions a newpiece; a local government subsidizes a

concert hall; an individual makes a

yearly contribution to a symphony so-ciety. The conditions under which themoney is granted are as varied as therainbow, but they are usually alike inone respect: the donor keeps his handsoff the music. I'm here to suggest that,on the contrary, the donors should gettheir hands a little "dirty" by puttingthem right in the middle of it.

One thing that can be said aboutserious musical life in America today isthat it is self-contained and free-floating.It is responsive to virtually no needsoutside itself, and winds of change buf-fet it about like a cork on the waterwithout effecting the least change in itsinternal structure. Money put into ittends to support it without improving itin the slightest. It has little, if any. con-nection with real life. If music andmusicians are ofen treated like charitycases, a good part of the blame for thatcan be laid to the belief ( held by manymusicians and nonmusicians alike, andforced upon those who don't) that musicis something of unassailable purity andmust he maintained that way, that ar-tistic decisions are the exclusive preroga-tive of artists and artist -connected indi-viduals and organizations. Decidingwhat music you are going to get foryour money is an "artistic decision."

Suppose we look at a few of the waysthat money is distributed to music. Auniversity hires a composer to teachcomposing and a pianist to teach pianoplaying. It is assumed that the composerwill also compose-something. And thatthe pianist will also perform-some-time. But the university would neverdream of specifying any demands out-side the duties of the academic curricu-lum. And yet, though it is hoped thatboth the pianist and the composer willbe good teachers, the major reason forhaving hired them is their reputation

and ability as pianist and composer.The musicians of an orchestra go on

strike for higher wages, and after a pro-tracted settlement the orchestra man-agement solicits donations to cover theadditional costs (as well as last year'sdeficit). A subscriber to the concerts do-nates a hundred dollars. But both heand the orchestra management (not tomention the conductor or the players)would consider it at the very least a

breach of taste were he to enclose withhis check a request that the orchestraplay a little more Berlioz next season.More important, no such requests orsuggestions could receive any considera-tion whatever because there is no mech-anism set up to consider them.

A foundation commissions a workfrom a composer. Which composer is

something decided upon by asking, usu-ally, other composers, conductors, etc.,and often the very same small group ofmen. Sometimes an arrangement is madewith a symphony orchestra or chambergroup to give the first performance ofthe commissioned work; sometimes itisn't. The composer is told the size ofthe group he should write for, the ap-proximate length of the piece, and, per-haps, to whom the piece is to be dedi-cated. What he is almost invariably nottold is what function the piece is toserve, what style would he preferred,whether anyone would really be in-terested in programing, publishing, orrecording the piece, and why the founda-tion wants the piece in the first place.And yet the foundation is, in fact, buy-ing a piece of music. Has any founda-tion ever asked itself why it wants apiece of music? Or is it, metaphorically,simply giving charity to a blind man andtaking in return whatever sort of pencilshe happens to be peddling?

A manufacturer of electronic equip-ment, who has done well in a businessstrongly dependent upon music, decidesto make a disinterested contribution tothe art by sponsoring the recording of anumber of essentially noncommercial,contemporary compositions. He does this

(Continued on page 52)CIR E N.. 38 ON READER SERVICE CARD50

STEREO REVIEW

Benjaminproudly announces

the world's second bestautomatic turntable.

Small wonder that the Miracord 50H is the world'smost coveted automatic turntable. The top, topauthorities have awarded it top rating. And whodoesn't want the very best?

The Miracord 750 is virtually identical tothe 50H except that it employs a dynamically -balanced, 4 -pole induction motor instead of aPapst hysteresis synchronous motor. It also costs$20 less- $139.50.

The new 750 still offers all of these wonderfulMiracord features: the exclusive Miracord push-buttons; the slotted lead screw for precise stylusoverhang adjustment; piston -damped cueing; ef- another quality product front BENJAN11N.

fective anti -skate; the 6 bound cast aluminum turn-table; and a dynamically -balanced arm that tracksto 1/2 gram.

Enjoy the world's second best automaticturntable and save $20 over the cost of the world'sbest. The Miracord 750 is only $139.50 at yourhigh-fidelity dealer.Benjamin Electronic Sound Corp.,Farmingdale, N.Y. 11735. A division of InstrumentSystems Corp. Available in Canada.

ELAC/MIRACORD 750SEI'LEM HER 1969


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in such a way that no financial gain( assuming there would he any) wouldaccrue to himself. That is highly praise-worthy. He also does it in such a waythat his tastes and interests are not atall involved; that is to say, he asks apanel of eminent musicians to choosethe works to be recorded with no in-terference from him. Many peoplewould consider that at least equallypraiseworthy. I don't.

THREE points lie behind my objectionsto each of the foregoing examples. Thefirst is that the music business is too in-troverted, incestuous, and self-centeredfor its own good. It badly needsaudiences, and it has so little contactwith the outside world that it has littleidea how to draw those audiences. Yes,in New York City you can fill up theMetropolitan Opera House. But eventhat won't go on forever, for outside themajor cities the taste, or the potentialityof a taste, for classical music has sorarely been catered to that it is indanger of being lost altogether.

The second point is that the condi-tion of having money to donate carrieswith it some responsibility for its even-tual use. What the world needs now isnot another in-group decision on whichyoung composers are the most deserving(or the most needy, or the best politi-cians) or what is owed to certain oldercomposers who have been, for one rea-son or another, neglected. What is need-ed much more is a little passionate in-volvement on the part of a layman wholoves music and has some money i formost musicians do not have money) topropagate some music that he himselfloves.

The third point is that music islooked upon today, by its practitioners,its supporters, and its detractors, as asort of paraplegic art, virtually incapa-ble of doing anything for itself and cer-tainly unable to be of functional use toanyone else. This has never been true be-fore. In the past, when someone hired apianist to be in residence he did so be-cause he wanted his house filled withpiano music at certain specified times;when he commissioned a work to hecomposed for him it was quite oftenbecause he wanted to play it himself,because he had a particular occasioncoming up for which he needed such apiece, or because he simply wanted acertain kind of piece for future enter-tainment, and he could specify justwhat he wanted; when he supported orhelped to support an orchestra, he ex-pected his tastes to he consulted whenthe repertoire plans were hashed out.

It seems to me that when a composeris hired by a university, he should nothe hired to teach a form and analysisclass (unless he has a desire to do so anda reputation for being an outstandingteacher of form and analysis), but to

compose music. A university has doz-ens of functions each year for whichmusic is required. Any composer worthhis keep can meet those requirementswith ease by writing music that is notgoing to go straight into the desk draw-er, and feel that he is earning his live-lihood by doing both what he wants todo and what he is trained and has thetalent to do.

It seems to me that if a foundationcannot come up with a sensible reasonfor buying a piece of music, it shouldnot buy any, but rather turn over therequisite amount of money to someonewho does need a piece of music andknows what he needs and let him buy it.A commission should come from a per-former, a performing group, a producer,a record company, or someone else whohas a stake in how the piece turns out.

It also seems to me that any perform-ing organization that solicits contribu-tions should be made to spell out in de-tail just what they intend to do with themoney rather than present last year's un-paid hills as proof positive of manage-ment's past miscalculations. Some or-ganizations might just find that theirsupport can he considerably more broadlybased than it is at present if prospectivedonors know what it is they are puttingtheir money toward and have an op-portunity to influence the choice of goals.A request for funds to mount a per-formance of Mahler's Eighth Symphony,Delius' A Mass of Life, or Schoenberg'sMoses and Aron might bear the fruitthat vague appeals for cash to spreadthe cause of culture do not. For, sad tosay, management doesn't know what thecustomers want; as is becoming moreapparent every day, management doesn'teven know who the customers and thepotential customers are.

THE ultimate solution, I think, lies inthe localization of musical resources. Ilook forward to the time when everydecent -size town has an orchestra, a

chamber ensemble, a vocal group, or apianist in residence. Not simply to livethere, but to earn their livelihood there-by performing. They can be on thetown payroll if need be ( the payroll al-ready covers a multitude of less usefuljobs), and the town can apply to a

foundation for funds to keep them there.Let the town have a unique musicalvoice, some small antidote to the dis-maying uniformity of culture today andthe Pablum pall of the mass media.

I look forward to the time when acity can support a couple of composers.Not tolerate them, but make use of themas creators of music to be played bylocal ensembles. What I am advocatingis not culture by committees, but cul-ture for people. Let them get a sufficienttaste of it to develop their own taste,and then give them the power to exer-cise it.


A -1200U Exclusive triple -motored drive system 3 precision heads for nstart off -the -tape monitoring Mike -line mixing 4 independent amplifiers Automatic tape lifter All -pushbutton controls, automatic shutof, Stereo echo for special sound effects

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it's already started its own sonic boom.And no wonder: the A -1200U is our standard

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T EAC.TEAC Corporrlioi of America 2000 Colorado Avenue Santa Monica, California 90404

BOOK REVIEW

"MUSIC IN THE UNITED STATES"Reviewed by Wilfrid Mellers

APOTTED history of music (as of any-thing else) is always a dubious

enterprise because human beings, whoare the makers of music, are variouslyunpredictable and irreducible-despitemodern computation techniques-to sta-tistics. A history of, say, Renaissance orBaroque music must inevitably concen-trate on the work of a few great menfrom whom, indeed, our notions aboutthe Renaissance or Baroque period areultimately derived. The host of minorfigures will be lumped together as ex-amples of this or the other trend ortendency: though we must know, if wehave any first-hand experience of andsensitivity to their art, that they toohave multifarious human identitieswhich can only be falsified by an at-tempt to reduce them to a lowest com-mon denominator.

Futile de mieux, we accept this, sincewe live under the burden of so muchaccumulated Past; yet we'd probablyadmit that the only history books wefind consistently stimulating are thosewhich don't attempt to cover the groundcomprehensively, but rather reveal thepresent reality of fragments of the past:for if the past is not meaningful to usnow, it's difficult to see what justifica-tion there can be for resuscitating it.When we approach recent history (andall American history is comparativelyrecent) it would seem that the problemmight be less acute, if only because thesheer mass of material is less daunting.In fact this is not so, since smaller bulkis counterbalanced by readier accessi-bility. In the relatively brief period ofAmerican history there may be fewercomposers, as compared with a port -

Music in the United Slates: A Historical In-troduction, by H. Wiley Hitchcock, Prentice -

Hall History of Music Series, EnglewoodCliffs, N. J., 1969, $5.95 cloth, $2.95 paper.

manteau period such as "the Baroque,"but we know more about them; andthere's the added disadvantage that timehasn't yet sorted out sheep from goats.

It follows that, in writing a historyof American music, we're most likely tobe usefully readable if we're discussingin some critical (not merely historical)detail composers who are worth thelabor; or when we're writing social his-tory with a slant towards music butwithout much attempt at the dissectionof music too insubstantial to warrant it.H. Wiley Hitchcock's book Music in theUnited States-a contribution to Pren-tice -Hall's series which aims, with en-lightened enterprise, to cover the wholerange of "art" and folk music, westernand eastern-would seem to bear thisout. The chapters on the early history ofAmerican music are succinct, informa-tive, and well -written. Early Americanhymnody, if not of supreme musical ex-cellence, is fascinating and vital enoughto complement a decisive period in man'shistory; and the subject isn't too vast tobe illuminatingly treated both in musicaland in social terms. Much the same istrue of the musically less rewarding artof America's earliest "cultivated tradi-tion"; for though detailed analysis ofthe music wouldn't he justified here, itssocial significance can he (and in thisbook is) discussed with equal entertain-ment and profit. Mr. Hitchcock is espe-cially good on early interrelationshipsbetween this "cultivated," Europeanizedmusic and the vernacular tradition; oneis grateful for any book that treats cul-ture as a totality, without separating artthat is discussable (because created by"lettered" people) from art that is be-yond the pale (because created by merehuman beings).

When we come to the art -composerswho really matter because they them-selves make history rather than being

made by it, Mr. Hitchcock properly de-votes a whole chapter to Charles Ives,who is the first, and probably still theonly, major composer in American his-tory. The space given him, and used toadmirable advantage, is not dispropor-tionate, for the basic themes inherent inAmerican music are revealed throughanalysis of Ives' musical achievementand (complementarily) of the "docu-mentary" significance of his career. Mr.Hitchcock also writes perceptively of afew other composers (notably ElliottCarter) for whom he allows himselfadequate space for comment.

For the most part, however, the laterchapters of the book become a roll -callin which names are paraded and dis-missed with an inadequately descriptive(fortunately not evaluative) sentence ortwo. This applies to the positive aspectsof the vernacular culture also; thoughthe author is useful on the social his-tory of jazz and pop, the writing on thegreat figures in jazz conveys little senseof involvement or first-hand experience,and the treatment of Duke Ellington,for instance, is so perfunctory as to bederisory. Such effects are hardly lessdrearily ironic than the polishing off ofan entire culture in a single paragraph,such as one finds in the ethnologicalvolumes in this series; or the dismissalof a school of composers in a sentence,such as occurs in the Renaissance andBaroque volumes.

THIS glumly inconsequential effectisn't the fault of the able writers whohave, given the circumstances, for themost part done "as well as could be ex-pected." It's rather endemic in the na-ture of the undertaking, and, as a teach-er myself, faced with similar problems,I've sometimes felt that to teach historythus comprehensively cannot he otherthan de -educational. From these blanket-ing words one cannot discover whathappens in this or the other musicalcomposition, created by living andbreathing, joying and suffering humancreatures at this or the other momentin time; and perhaps silence would bebetter than the inevitable mis-informa-tion. There is no short-cut to first-handexperience. Since time is brief, maybewriters of history texts for the youngcan't and shouldn't do more than directstudents' attention to what is most worthexploring. At least all the volumes inthis series contain bibliographies ofscores and records as well as books. Thestudent is given the tools to investigatethe sounds of music; and one must hopethat the unavoidably ex cathedra toneof the roll -calls won't stifle the instinctfor discovery.

Wilfrid Mellers, Professor of Music atthe University of York in England, is theauthor of Music in a New Found Land.

54 STEREO REVIEW

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Thomas Mowrey, of the Eastman School staff, listening to a control -room play-back of an experimental four -channel stereo recording of !Warren Benson's Sym-phony for Drums and Wind Orchestra as performed by the Eastman Wind Ensemble.

FOUR -CHANNEL STEREOA PROGRESS REPORT BY ROBERT BERKOVITZ

FOUR -CHANNEL (360 -degree) stereohas for months been widely dis-

cussed-and seldom heard. However, be-ginning this month, Acoustic Research,Inc. is going to give millions of musiclisteners in the New York and Bostonareas an extended opportunity to hearfour -channel stereo. This new-and stillexperimental-audio technique, whichuses four speaker systems in a room forfull 360 -degree reproduction, will bedemonstrated by AR in Boston -area FMbroadcasts which properly equipped lis-teners can hear at home. Four -channel360 -degree tape recordings will also bedemonstrated at the AR listening roomslocated in New York's Grand CentralTerminal and near Harvard Square inAR's home town of Cambridge.

The FM broadcasts represent a sig-nificant technical experiment, in additionto their musical importance. The entiretwenty -four -concert Saturday -night sea-son of the Boston Symphony will bepresented on two stereo FM broadcast.ing stations: WCRB-FM and WGBH-FM. Listeners to either station (in monoor two -channel stereo) will hear thesame excellent sound quality as thatbroadcast in past years. However, thoseable to obtain an extra stereo receiverand an additional pair of speaker sys-tems can be participants in an extraordi-nat.y acoustical experiment, in which theworld-famous orchestra will seem to bespread around their listening rooms inthe unique acoustical setting of Sym-phony Hall. There will be no attemptto duplicate the sound field at somehypothetical best seat; the aim will berather to exploit the sonic potentiali-ties of the new medium creatively. Thetechnique for microphone pickup, broad-cast, and listening arrangement wasworked out cooperatively by Roy Alli-son and the writer, representing AcousticResearch; Richard L. Kaye of WCRB-FM; Jordan Whitelaw, Radio and Tele-

vision Producer for the Boston Sym-phony; and William Busiek of WGBH-FM. The technique used was arrived atthrough evaluation of numerous record-ings made during actual concerts earlierthis year.

In the AR music rooms in New Yorkand Cambridge, the medium will befour -channel, 1/4 -inch tape. All record-ing companies now own multi -channelrecorders, and units capable of simul-taneous recording of twenty-four chan-nels are used regularly in some studios.However, the tapes made on such ma-chines are not intended for reproductionby an equal number of amplifiers andloudspeakers; the multiple channels areused to record separately, but simul-taneously, different sections of the per-forming group. The purpose of the mul-tiple -track recording is to provide theproducer and engineers full control overinstrumental balance when the materialis mixed down into the normal two -

channel stereo recording released to thepublic.

The idea of using such recorders ex-perimentally to make true three-, four-,or more -channel recordings for playbackthrough as many speaker systems is notnew. A recent article in the Journal ofthe Acoustical Society of America byMarvin Camras of the ITT ResearchInstitute reports on experiments withtwelve -channel recording and playback:five speakers in front, two at each side,two at the rear, and one overhead.

AR's experiments, some of which I

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acoustics, in a living -room duplicate ofthe reverberant field of the concert hall.The recordings were made using multiplemicrophones, playback being done withthe front speakers left in their normalstereo locations and two extra speak-ers ( driven by separate amplifier chan-nels) set up in the upper rear corners ofthe listening room. The microphones inthe concert hall were arranged to pro-vide the most realistic results with sucha speaker arrangement.

The idea is not different in principlefrom that of Camras, or of other ex-perimenters who preceded him in vari-ous countries in earlier years. The dif-ferent element is the new possibility thathome listeners might soon be given theopportunity to enjoy such music repro-duction. It was for this reason that ARbegan its experiments with four channels,in the belief that this number representsa practical limit of cost and complexityfor most listeners.

Some of AR's first experiments wereat the New England Conservatory ofMusic in the conservatory's Jordan Hall.At the writer's suggestion, ThomasMowrey of the Eastman School of Musicbegan experimenting with the technique,his efforts culminating in a spectacularrecording of "spatial music" by com-poser Henry Brant, in which the musi-cians were arranged in various parts ofthe auditorium. The Eastman tape wasplayed for several interested executivesof major recording companies ---and pro-voked considerable excitement.

IN the meantime, Acoustic Researchhad found an ally In a major recordingcompany which had been investigatingfour -channel techniques for some time,even to the extent of having commis-sioned works of music for the medium.That company-Columbia Records-will supply most of the four -channeltapes AR will he demonstrating in itsmusic rooms. Columbia has issued nostatement about their experiments andis understood to have no plans to re-lease the tapes commercially. VanguardRecords will soon be releasing the specialstereo tapes that were demonstrated toselected members of the New Yorkaudio press in semi -private sessions onJune 25 of this year. The Vanguardtapes will also he on hand at the ARmusic rooms.

The system to he used at the musicrooms is one in which standard one -quarter -inch tape has four paralleltracks in the same way as the normalfour -track stereo tapes. For four -trackstereo, all four tracks are recorded si-multaneously in the same direction and,of course, they are also played hack thesame way. Whether the resultant soundwill be that of the immediately fore-seeable future or not will depend, tosome extent, on listeners' reactions tothe AR demonstrations.

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Some people say Ampexstereo recorders are expensive.

They're right.We put more into them. So you get moreout of them. More sound, because our re-corders actually produce their statedspecifications. And every Ampex keepsgiving you the stated spec performanceover a much longer period of time.* Hereare the facts.

Every Ampex recorder frame is die-cast.We don't cut it out of sheet metal. Con-nection points on it are milled, notstamped, for greater accuracy. Then wedie-cast and mill a special block that con-nects with the frame and holds the tapeheads absolutely rigid. This total die-castframework costs more, but heads mountedon a less rigid framework can move. Andif they move, even a fraction, maximumfrequency response is gone.

Every Ampex uses famous deep -gapheads. These heads cost us a lot more tomake, but they deliver far better soundfar longer than any others in the indus-try. ** We install them more precisely.And on bi-directional units we make surethe heads are equally sensitive. So bothdirections sound identical.

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The Ampex reel drive and brake systemcosts more to build. But it makes tapebreaking, tearing or stretching almost im-possible no matter how fast you changedirection. Our dual capstan drive is ex-pensive but insures less wow, flutter andless wear on tapes. Our stainless steeltape guides are ground more accuratelyand set more precisely into each unit.This insures that tape crosses the heads atan optimum frequency response angleeven after years of use.

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THE BASIC REPERTOIRE: Item One Hundred Sixteen By Martin Bookspan

.I sel'enteenth-centory etching of Prague. In tlie renter is the city crest.

CMOZart's

ragueOaf

May iMozart's opera There

Marriage ofigaro was given its world premie at the Burg -

theater in Vienna. Soon afterward it was per-formed in Prague, where it was an immediate sensation.An invitation was extended to the composer to visit theBohemian capital, and in the early weeks of 1787 Mozartwas the toast of that city. On the 15th of January, Mozartwrote from Prague to a friend that he had visited theBreitfeld Ball, where the flower of the Prague beautiesused to assemble:

You ought to have been there, my dear friend; I thinkI see you running, or rather limping, after all those prettycreatures, married and single. I neither danced nor flirtedwith any of them-the former because I was too tired.the latter from my natural bashfulness. I saw, however.with the greatest pleasure, all those people flying aboutwith such delight to the music of my Figaro, transformedinto quadrilles and waltzes; for here nothing is talkedof but Figaro, nothing played but Figaro, nothing whistledor sung but Figaro, no opera so crowded as Figaro, noth-ing but Figaro-very flattering to me, certainly.

Mozart had brought with him to Prague the recentlycompleted Symphony in D Major (K. 504), which is nowknown as the -Prague- Symphony. The score was given its

ymphonyfirst performance there on the 19th of January, 1787, anda second one followed almost immediately. In a biography

of Mozart published in 1795, Franz Niemetschek. aBohemian musician who was present at the January 19concert, wrote:

The symphonies which he chose for this occasion aretrue masterpieces of instrumental composition. full ofsurprising transitions. They have a swift and fiery bearing.so that they at once tune the soul to the expectation of

something superior. This is especially true of the greatSymphony in D Major, which is still a favorite of thePrague public, although it has been heard here nearly ahundred times since.

The -Prague- Symphony is arguably Mozart's comingof age as a symphonist: it shows a new subtlety and sup-pleness in scoring and in the handling of form. The threegreat symphonies that Mozart produced during the sum-mer of the year following-NOs. 39, 40, and -11 were

the natural consequence of the creative inspiration thatgave birth to the ''Prague'' Symphony.

The Symphony begins with a rather hmg Introductionmarked .-1,/,/;1o. Its character is somber, even menacing:some commentators have remarked on the relationshipof this Introduction to the -statue- music from Doll

SEPTEMBER 1969 61

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Among the dozen or so stereo recordings of Mozart's "Prague" Nymphony, there is a good one for every taste. Lorin Maa-zel (Philips) uses a large orchestra and tends to romanticize the music: Daniel Barenboim (Angel) leads a chamberorchestra in an idiosyncratic account: and Otto Klemperer (also Angel) plays the work "straight." but with vitality.

Giovanni, which Mozart was to compose soon afterwardon commission from Prague. The main body of the move-ment, marked Allegro, begins stealthily and in a whisperin the strings. Again, the principal theme bears a re-semblance to music from Don Giovanni, this time to theOverture. This theme is the prime material of the move-ment; the second subject is a gracious one that soonmodulates into the minor. There is a vigorous contra-puntal development section. The slow movement, An-dante, dispenses with trumpets and timpani, relying onthe strings and winds alone to carry the lyrical outpour-ing. The opening has a sensuous chromatic quality, andthroughout the movement there are many shifts of mood,with frequent plunges into the minor key. Overall thereis a sense of deep sadness, but a sadness tempered by thestrength and the sweetness that are the essence of theMozart style. The last movement there is no Minuet-ismarked presto, and with it comes a complete change ofmood: here all is bubbling and rollicking fun. There aremoments of dramatic tension, but in the main the move-ment runs its course with vigorous and fiery enthusiasm.A delectable touch is the jaunty bassoon accompanimentto the second principal theme each time it appears.

NEARLY a dozen different recordings of the "Prague"Symphony are currently to be found in record shops, andthere is not an out-and-out failure among them. Theoutstanding performances, to my mind, are those byDaniel Barenboim (Angel S 36512), Karl Bohm (Deut-sche Grammophon 138112), Colin Davis (Oiseau-LyreS 266, 266), Otto Klemperer (Angel S 36129), LorinMaazel (Philips 900158, recently deleted), and BrunoWalter (Columbia MS 6494; also in D3S 691 /D3L 291,a three -disc set of Walter's performances of the last sixMozart symphonies). Bohm and Walter deliver readingsout of the Middle -European tradition: they use ratherlarge orchestral forces, and have a tendency to romanti-cize the music, with no apparent hesitation in caressingor lingering over a phrase here and there. If this is thekind of Mozart performance you prefer, then I wouldalso recommend to you Maazel's recording-a large-

orchestra version, full of subtle shadings and nuances, all

meticulously planned and brought off in virtuoso fashion.Happily, the Philips engineers have surrounded the per-formance with a rich and mellow acoustical environmentthat neatly complements Maazel's rather lush approach.A final plus is Maazel's observance of the exposition re-peat in the first movement. If you are interested, get thisone before present dealer stocks are exhausted.

The Davis recording is on a more intimate scale. Byvirtue of the smaller forces used (the English ChamberOrchestra, playing most responsively), the textures areleaner and more open. And Davis takes a more restrainedview of the music. Unfortunately, the recorded sound isnot of the best, tending to harshness in loud passages.

This leaves the Barenboim and Klemperer recordings,my own nominees as the best. Barenboim's disc (it in-cludes equally memorable accounts of Mozart's Sympho-nies Nos. 32 and 35) is an extraordinary accomplishment.Again it is the English Chamber Orchestra that does thesuperb playing, and even more palpably than in its col-laboration with Davis, one senses the total commitmentof its performance. And the strength of Barenboim'sartistic personality wins me over-even when (as in theexaggeratedly held chord at the end of the Introduction)he might justly be accused of mannerism. Angel's re-corded sound is a model of clarity and balance. Klemper-er, though his is a more passive kind of involvement, alsodelivers a reading of intense vitality. In Klemperer'sdiscography, which embraces nearly the entire standardsymphonic repertoire, the "Prague" Symphony is one ofthe most memorable entries. Again, Angel's engineershave provided sound of great clarity and depth.

The latter performance is also included on an extra-ordinary single -tape reel (Y3S 3663, 33/4 ips) that con-tains Klemperer's readings of the rest of Mozart's six lastsymphonies. The "Prague" fares best of all, but Klemper-er's views of the other five are also worth having. Asidefrom some occasional echo, the tape processing is satis-factory. Also available to tape collectors is the Walterperformance (Columbia MQ 611), coupled with his lastrecording of Mozart's G Minor Symphony. The reel I

heard had a rather high hiss level, but was otherwise asuccessful issue.

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62 STEREO REVIEW

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By CRAIG STARK

" EF A TRE falls in the forest where no one hears it,does it make any sound ?" is an antique conun-drum beloved by instructors in freshman philoso-

phy. The answer, of course, depends on how we define"sound." If by "sound" we mean the alternating wavesof compression and rarefaction of air particles which awoodsman, if present, would hear, the answer is clearlyyes. If, however, we mean an aural sensation produced bythe stimuli picked up by the ear, then the answer is no.Since both definitions are equally useful, though for dif-ferent purposes, there is no real philosophical problem.

Let us complicate our question, however, by suppos-ing that a forester leaves a battery -operated tape recorderrunning in the woods and later returns to find that hecan now reproduce in his living room, at some latertime, the "sound" of the falling tree. Most of us wouldnow argue that whether or not he could hear the "realsound" of the tree would depend on the fidelity of hisrecorder and component system. But that is only half an

answer, for one could still ask how clearly his auralsensations correlated with the sound waves coming fromthe loudspeakers. Questions such as this are the concernof psychoacoustics, a science which in the last centuryhas made some rather startling discoveries about therelation between the sea of sound that surrounds us andour perception of it. And not until we can bridge thegap between the subjectivity of the trained, knowledge-able ear and the quantitative objectivity of the engineer'smeasurements can we really know what we mean when wetalk about high-fidelity music reproduction.

The human ear is an extraordinary instrument. On theone hand, its sensitivity is so great that, to use the anal-ogy of the noted physicist Alexander Wood, it willrespond to a level of energy comparable to a 50 -wattlight bulb viewed at a distance of 3,000 miles. On theother hand, if one were to set a tape recorder's VUmeter to read "0" at this threshold of audibility, the earwould not overload (yielding a sensation of pain rather

66STEREO REVIEW

RELATIVE LOUDNESS LEVELS OF COMMON SOUNDSSOUND PRESSURE (dynes/ cm')

50 -hp siren (100')

Threshold of pain

Pneumatic chipper (5')

Hammering on steel plate (2')

Boiler factory

Can -manufacturing plantHeavy truck (90')

Heavy street traffic (5')Inside bus

Stenographic roomAverage factory

Average automobile

Conversation (3')

Average officeQuiet residential street

Average residence

Very soft music

Quiet whisper (5')

Anechoic room

POWER AT EAR (watts / c m2)

DECIBELS

140

130 10'

200 120 10

110 10 '

20 100 10'

90 10

2 80 10'

70 10'

0.2 60 10 '

50 10"

0.02 40 105'

30 10"

0.002 20 10 "

10 1015

0.0002 0 10-"

Loud music (rock)

Thunder

Subway passingRiveting machine (35')

Very loud music (ciassical)

10 hp outboard motor (50')

Loud music (classical)

Heavy traffic (25-50')

Department storeNoisy officeBackground music

Minimum street noise

Very quiet radio at home

Country house

Quiet auditorium

Quiet sound studio

Leaves rustling

Threshold of hearing

The Sense of Hearing, from a series of paintings on the subject of the five senses by Jan Bruegel(1568-1625), son of the more famous Pieter Bruegel 1. Called the "Velvet" Bruegel, Jan was acollaborator of Rubens-as might be inferred from the steatopygic model in the middle foreground.(European Art Color Slide Co., courtesy Museo del Prado, Madrid)

tt'i .44." 414' ti'Vd 01. 44414.1d'i ; I'

THE FREQUENCY RANGE OF MUSIC(Fundamental ranges for the p incipal instruments and voices)

SOPRANO

CONTRALTOI

TENOR SINGING VOICE,

I

BARITONEI I

JBASS

SMALLI

MEDIUM KETTLE -DRUMSI

LARGE !TUBA

t

1BASS TROMBONE

I TENOR TROMBONE BRASSi I i

I

FRENCH HORN

J, III

Bb TRUMPET

CONTRABASSOONi i

I ALTO SAXOPHONE

BASS CLARINET

1ENGLISH HORN

i I II I I

BASSOON I WOODWINDS

Bb CLARINETi t i t

rl

OBOE111 1 ii1 11FLUTE

PICCOLO

HARPI IP:m=mi...emm VIOLA

t ..mGUITAR

BASS I STRINGS

NM. CELLO

111MMIL VIOLIN

CDEFGAB CDEFGAB CDEFGAB CDEFGAB CDEFGAB CDEFGAB C

\Lower

Lower liltlimit of organ

of ordinaryI

scaleI

I

pianoi

I

I/

scale Middle C Upper limit of ordina y piano scale

Upper limit of organI

1 /scale

20 40 60 100 500 1K 2K 5K 10K 20Kl'"BASS (WOOFER) TREBLE (TWEETER) im.....m.i........m.."...... MID -RANGE "(possible ranges)

140

1201:1

2100

SO

60)-I-(7)

20

40

0

-20

THRESHOLD 1 I r 1 '

INAIN --A

MUSICunim

SPEECH.

ITH

ES LO OF

I

20 50 100 200 500 1kHz 2kHz 5kHz 10kHzFREQUENCY IN Hz (CYCLES PER SECOND)

than one of sound) until an approximate reading of+130 VU (one "Volume Unit" = one decibel). Thisrepresents a voltage ratio of more than 3,000,000 to 1.Fortunately for the realistic reproduction of music andspeech, these extreme limits of the ear's sensitivity arenot involved (see Figure 1).

But if the sensitivity range of the ear exceeds thecapabilities of home audio equipment, its frequency

response certainly does not, as the well-known Fletche:-Munson curves (Figure 2) attest. Every ardent audio-phile knows that if he turns the volume down to alevel his wife and the neighbors can tolerate, the musicbegins to sound "thin" and lacking in the deep bassregister, where the ear is much less sensitive. This is thejustification, of course, for the fact that almost all ampli-fiers and receivers have "loudness" controls designedto boost the low frequencies automatically at low listen-

ing levels. I, for one, have always found this type ofcompensation worse than useless-particularly if it can-not be switched off-for the amount of bass boost neededdepends on the perceived loudness of the music (andthe individual's possible deviation from the "normal"Fletcher -Munson response curve), yet the amount ofbass boost supplied is determined only by the positionof the volume -control knob. The specific setting of thevolume control for a given loudness is determined by anumber of factors, including the output of the phonocartridge, the sensitivity of the power amplifiers, theefficiency of the speakers, and so forth. With this manyvariables at work simultaneously, exact loudness corn-pensation is almost impossible with one simple control.

But although the ear has a frequency -response curvemuch inferior to that of most high-fidelity components,if given enough sound pressure, it is capable of respond-ing to frequencies ranging from approximately 20 to20,000 Hz. The upper frequency limit tends to vary con-siderably with the individual, generally being highest inyoung children and tending to decline (particularlyamong men) with age.

More important implications about the relation be -

2000

200

20 ((1

2 )-0

.2

02 Cr

002 W

cc0002 U.

.000C220kHz

810

SiCO

0zJ

4

Z 2w

Figure I. Averaged and approximateintensity and frequency ranges of speechand music are shown in relation to theupper and lower extremes that can behandled by the human hearing apparatus.The upper limit is the threshold ofpain: the lower limit is thethreshold of hearing.

..,.. ,LOUDNESS LEVEL(PEEL -11.4G) 420 1 r.4 PI -IONS1 i

400 .....4/1Pr

.4111iiiit.y.

80

I

- 111441ftlini--"IIIIIIM I eo

5° ....

Inao s'

IS.. 2°... 111 10

4".......

"4111 0 s II

kHzFREQUENCY (N -1z (CYCLES PER SECOND)

Figure 1111 show what the 01.10(11 lerelsof test tones must be fur them to be heard us haring the sameloudness. The runes at 10, 50. and 110 dB, derived from the la-

ter studies of Robinson and Dodson, are included for comparison.

tween what we hear and how we hear arise when weconsider the low frequencies, for when sound with afrequency much under 20 Hz is produced, the ear doesnot perceive a tone, but rather a series of separate pulses.

Waveforms with a repetition rate greater than 20 Hz(or 1 20 of a second, or 50 milliseconds, whichever

you prefer) will be heard as a continuous tone. Whileexperimental results vary somewhat according to the testconditions and the individual ear, it is well documentedthat sonic events lasting less than 50 milliseconds (50

ms) do not completely overcome the "inertia" of thehearing process. This affects both the perceived intensity

of the sound and the ability to recognize a specific tone.Thus, a pure 2,000 Hz tone, if turned on for a period ofonly 4 milliseconds (ms), will not be heard as a specific

pitch, but rather as a click. Down in this area where shorttones are heard as clicks, a loud signal only 10 ms longwill seem just as long as a weaker signal that lasts, say,35 ms. This seems to occur because the ear responds totheir equal total energy content.

As we investigate the subject we find that there are

SEPTEMBER 196971

a)

3020

O 10

0

30 20o 10

0

3020

O 100100 200 400 1k 2k 4k

FREQUENCY IN Hz

f =294Hz

f =233Hz

I 1 Ill

O

.1.1.111

f = 330 Hz

1 1111

3020

10

0

f =392Hz

f=349 Hz30I 0 30

20 1- 20

111111A diA.i.

10I I I i_

10

0 0 l IIIIh, 111111100 200400 ik 2k 4k 40k 400 200 400 4k 2k 4k 10kFREQUENCY IN Hz FREQUENCY IN Hz

6040200

f =262 Hz

111111

f =294Hz

10k

Figure 3. Distribution and relative strengths of (overtimes (harmonics) forvarious instruments and soprano voice. Fundamentals 11lare given above eachgraph. Y me that though all fundamental frequencies fall in the sante octave,the frequencies and intensities of the overtones vary widely, giving each in-strument a characteristic timbre: (.1) open violin string; (B) flute; (C) reedOrgan pipe: (D) clarinet; (E) trumpet ; (F) soprano voice; (C) guitar string.

many areas where the "obvious" relationship between theobjective sound waves and the subjective perception ofmusic does not exist. For example, Carl Seashore andi;1]er acousticians have reduced the objective measurablephysical variables of sound to four: duration, amplitude(or intensity), frequency, and waveform. On the face ofit these should correspond to the subjective sensations oftime, loudness, pitch, and timbre. But here also our per-ceptions have no linear or direct correspondence to theobjective sonic circumstance. This has important impli-cations for high-fidelity reproduction. For example, eventhe subjective perception of the pitch of a pure tone de-pends not only on its frequency, but to some degree onits loudness. Research has shown that for low -frequencytones the pitch goes down as the intensity increases; andfor high -frequency tones the pitch increases with in-tensity. At moderate listening levels, two pure tones of168 and 318 Hz sound very discordant, hut HarveyFletcher (best known for his research with Wilden A.Munson) showed that if they are played loud enough,the ear hears them as a pure octave: 150 and 300 Hz.

Fortunately, the kind of distuning that takes placewith pure tones does not so greatly affect our perceptionof the complex waveforms produced by musical instru-ments. As every audiophile knows, musical notes containnot only the "fundamental" frequency, but many har-monics or overtones as well, and the overtone structureestablishes the timbre of the sound. A harmonic, some-times called a "partial," is any whole -number multiple ofthe fundamental frequency, though it is sometimes mis-takenly identified with the overtones that occur at suc-cessively higher octaves. Since an octave represents a 2:1frequency ratio, the second harmonic is exactly one octavehigher than the fundamental, but beyond this point theharmonic and octave sequence diverge. If an organist,

for example, played a very low C (approximately 32 Hz),an overtone could, in theory, at least, appear nine octaveshigher (16,384 Hz), but this would be the 512th har-monic! Practically speaking, of course, instruments arenot likely to generate many overtones as high as that,but the importance of the number and relative strengthof differing instrumental harmonics can hardly be over-stated. (See Figure 3). The highest fundamental tonesproduced by a piano or a piccolo, for example, are lessthan 5,000 Hz, but switching in a scratch filter or turn-ing down the treble control so that high -frequency re-sponse is lowered by even 3 dB at 10,000 Hz distinctlyalters the perceived character of the instrument.

The sounds we hear even in a live musical perform-ance are not all produced by the instruments, for the earitself is a source of both harmonic and intermodulationdistortion. The latter occurs when two (or more) tonesof different frequencies are sounded simultaneously andtotally new tones representing the sum and differencefrequencies are created. As early as the eighteenth cen-tury the Italian violinist Giuseppe Tartini (known todayprimarily as the composer of the "Devil's Trill" Sonata)noticed that when he played two notes together he coulddistinctly hear a third tone, much lower than either. Thus,if he simultaneously played a B of 480 Hz and a G of384 Hz, he could detect another G (96 Hz), two octavesbelow. The phantom sounds produced by such differencefrequencies have been known ever since as "Tartinitones," though he was by no means the only one to dis-cover them. About the same time the German organistW.A. Sorge found that if he played a musical fifth con-sisting of a C (32 Hz) and a G (48 Hz), he could in-duce the ear to perceive a C at 16 Hz, and this principlehas been used by organ builders ever since, because itwould take a rather costly 32 -foot pipe to produce the

72STEREO REVIEW

lowest C (16 Hz) in the bass register of the pipe organ.Curiously, the difference frequency between two tones

is much more audible than the sum frequency. But itssubjective existence can be proved by any audiophile who

can borrow a pair of audio oscillators and whose speak-

ers have wide -range tweeters. Using a 1,000 -Hz tone as

a reference, plug one generator into each channel andadjust both for equal output from the speakers at normal

listening level. Then shift the frequency of one generatorto about 23 kHz and the other to about 24 kHz withoutchanging the level settings. When either generator is

operating by itself, nothing will be heard, for bothfrequencies are beyond the range of human hearing.

(Your dog may get up and leave the room in disgust.however.) But when both generators are working throughtheir respective speakers, assuming that your tweeters aregood enough and you are standing at the right spot, youshould hear a distinct 1,000 -Hz tone. Larry Klein, thetechnical editor of this magazine, has suggested that oneof the minor factors responsible for the differences be -

60

50

O 403

0.30

2

10

0

SO

400

3032 204

10

O

SO

40U03 303

204

(0

00 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 60 90 100

TIME IN MILLISECONDS

3..-- -...

TRUMPET ( 01)

///

/.."'",..

........... 4,

--....-...I

2

VIOLIN ( al ) ,.........2

/ ....'...

/ 5,".......-

s

....

/ \....

I

4---- -....-

.../.......'"*........

, ........-

...... ...... ....5 ..... ..BO CLARINET (g1 -BLOWN LEGATO),

1

.."...-

...- ......-

.... -- ..._3-

e-

e

.-................

....../

e//.... / .-, ......._

- 2

ed/ '"

..,...-7 .....

.,..

Figure 1. In the first tenth of a second, transients occurthat provide a substantial part of the characteristic timbreof an instrument. Relatire strengths of the fundamental (1)and harmonics (2, 3, 4, 5) are plotted against elapsed time.

tween what we hear at a live performance and from ahome music system may be just this loss of the heatingtogether of the supra -audible harmonics which are pres-ent during the live experience but are lost throughdeficiencies of the recording process.

ALONG this same line, it has been suggested by re-searcher Charles J. Hirsch that the pleasurable richness

we associate with consonant sounds and the unpleasantroughness we call dissonance is as much a subjectivecreation of the ear as it is an objective configuration ofsound waves. Consider, for example, the following ex-periment. Feed into one stereo channel a tone of aboutmiddle C (261 Hz) from an audio generator set toprovide a comfortable volume. Then adjust anothergenerator to provide a 330 -Hz signal at about the samevolume through the other channel. With slight adjust-

ment of one of the generators this will produce a pleasing,

if somewhat musically dull, consonant major third (C -E).If the speakers are now replaced by a pair of stereo ear-phones, however, the harmonious blending of the soundwill be entirely lost, and one will hear the two tones

completely independently. Similarly, if one of the gen-erators is adjusted to give a terrible dissonance (C -CID

when heard through the speakers, the two tones will not

sound at all dissonant when they are heard isolated from

each other by the separate earphones.Hirsch carried his experiment even further by having

a cellist record the same musical selection in two dif-ferent keys (kept in synchronism by a metronome) on

the two tracks of a stereo recorder. When mixed together

and played back through a stereo system the result was

a predictable cacophony. Reproduced through stereoheadphones, however, the two renditions were heard inisolation. `Listeners describe the effect as if there were awall in the middle of their heads that separates the twosounds," Hirsch reported. He then concluded that "theears have largely independent effects on the brain, andthat the brain does not combine tones, transmitted simul-taneously but separately by the two ears, to produceharmony. Harmony, which includes consonance and dis-

sonance . . . requires that the simultaneous componenttones be combined in one ear...."

In the performance of music, however, even highly

trained listeners exhibit a degree of tolerance for slightdifferences in pitch or intonation that would be easily

detected under test conditions in a laboratory. If twosteady tones were sounded through our loudspeakers,

one at 297 Hz and the other at 293.665 Hz, we wouldall hear the 3 to 4 Hz beat between them. Yet in listen-

ing to a violin and piano sonata we do not. The perfectmusical fifth to which the A and the D strings of theviolin are tuned represents a frequency ratio of 3:2, afact which has been known since the time of the Greekphilosopher Pythagoras in the sixth century B.C. But to

SEPTEMBER 196973

construct a piano that could modulate from one key toanother while maintaining a Pythagorean or "just intona-tion" scale would require at least thirty separate intervalswithin the octave, an obvious impossibility. Thus, theoctave on the piano is divided into twelve "equally tem-pered" semitones. Thus, while the violin and piano arein perfect unison at A (440 Hz), the dynamic life ofthe music itself disguises from our consciousness theirslight discord at the D in the same octave.

TE question of the slight indeterminacy of pitchperception during a musical performance brings us backto our discussion of how we hear the sound waves withinthat first 1/20 of a second (50 ms) that it takes for theear to respond fully. In audio terminology we are ac-customed to speaking of very short bursts of sound as"transients," but we generally associate them only withstaccato passages or percussion instruments. This is anerror, however, for every note in music (or every soundin speech) has a dynamic life of its own from the time ofits onset to the time of its decay into inaudibility.

The importance of the onset transients of even themost smoothly -spoken orators or of legato passages inmusic can he dramatized very simply by playing a taperecording backwards, thus causing the initial transient toappear at the end of the sound. Owners of full or half-track stereo recorders can perform such an experimentvery easily by turning a played tape over and threadingit up again. Even with the much more prevalent quarter -

track recorders one can achieve the same result, however,by playing through a tape and twisting it between thecapstan and the take-up reel so that it is wound with theoxide side facing outwards. Then turn it over and playit through again, this time with the backing rather thanthe oxide in contact with the recorder heads. There willbe some loss of volume and of the high frequencies, butthe startling effect of the transients will still be audible.

Even though the ear is not fully receptive to veryshort transient sounds, we make significant interpreta-tions o the basis of them. Consonants in speech, forexample, are very brief, 5 to 15 milliseconds being typicalfor such sounds as p, I, or k. Yet speakers of Englishhave no difficulty in distinguishing between the wordspeal, tart, and earl although the actual phonetic differ-ence between them is very small. As children we learnto perceive such very fine differences in our native lan-guage because they distinguish the meaning of words.The Japanese language does not use the phonetic differ-ence between / and r to distinguish meaning in the waythat English does (rung, lung), and consequently a

Japanese person has great difficulty in hearing the dif-ference between these two speech sounds.

In this context, consider the onset times versus theovertone structure of the instruments shown in Figure 4.The German acoustician Fritz Winckel has observed

that the onset time of the trumpet is only about 20 milli-seconds, but it takes 200 to 300 milliseconds for thetone of a flute to achieve a stationary character, and hestates further that "the trumpet sound is especially richin overtones, whereas the sound of the flute is not."Transient behavior, then, has much to do with the musi-cal character of timbre by which we discriminate betweenone instrument and another. And for anyone who wishesto experiment along these lines, judicious tape editingto remove the initial transient in a musical tone shouldconfirm Winckel's results: "A tuning fork, for example,was mistaken for a flute, a trumpet for a cornet, an oboefor a clarinet, a cello for a bassoon; but even more con-trasting tone colors could not be differentiated, such ascornet and violin, or French horn and flute."

More anomalies than these could be cited to showthat what we hear is often radically affected by how wehear. The subjectively perceived pitch, timbre, loudness,and duration just do not have a simple relationship tothe objective frequency, waveform, sound pressure, andtime. How then does this bear on our opening questionabout the falling tree? Does the woodsman hear the same

Suggested Further ReadingSome of the hooks that were of help in the prepa-

ration of this article-and that may he of interest toreaders-are listed below in order of increasingdifficulty:

Soma and Hearing, by S. S. Stevens, Fred Warshofsky,and the Editors of LIFE; Life Science Library, Time Inc.,New York (1965) $3.95.

Exploring Sound, by Alexander Efron; John F. RiderPublisher, Inc., New York (1969) $2.45.

A Guide to Mtvical Acoustics, by H. Lowery; DoverPublications, Inc., New York (1956) 51.00.

The Physics of Musical Sounds, by C. A. Taylor; Ameri-can Elsevier Publishing Company, Inc., New York (1965)$9.50. (Includes a 7 -inch demonstration disc.)

Music. Sound, and Sensation, by Fritz Winckel; DoverPublications, Inc., New York (1967) 52.25.

Music. Physics, and Engine, ring, by Harry F. Olson;Dover Publications, Inc., New York (1967) 52.50.

sound from his tape recorder that he would have heardhad he been present? That depends, in part, on the ac-curacy of his tape recorder. It is the task of stereo highfidelity to provide sonic information precise enough toenable our ears to make their normal distortions and(mis)interpretations of the musical waveforms. Butgiven the strange ways in which our ears actually oper-ate, it is little wonder that we promptly run into contra-dictions whenever objective theory encounters subjectivepractice and our ears deny what our measurements tell us.

Craig Stark, a contributing editor of STErwo REVIEW, is theauthor of our monthly "Tape Horizons" column. llis article ondynamic range itt amplifiers (wowed in the ,lone, 1968 issue.

74STEREO REVIEW

I, CO' urY1,With songs by the Beatles. contained its ou'n ,subtle conumini on movie ma.:de.

Is There AnyMUSIC AT THE MOVIES?

WE PROBABLY DO TAKE OUR FILM SOUNDTRACKS RATHER TOOMUCH FOR GRANTED, BUT SHOULD THEY BE MEMORABLE

IN THEMSELVES, OR ONLY FOR THEIR EFFECTS?

By PAUL KRESH

CC H, my !'' Emily exclaimed one evening recently,as we were taking our ease after dinner. I wassorting out ball-point pens, trying to separate

the ones with ink from the dry ones-a job I had beenputting off for weeks. Emily was going through the NewYork Times; and I could see she was about to indulgethat most incorrigible of her habits: reading aloud to mefrom the newspaper. I waited, attentively but apprehen-sively. She had cleared her throat-it would probably besomething important.

" 'Waves of magnificent sound,' " she read, " 'rolledthrough the Academy of Music on Fourteenth Street lastnight as Urhech Associates and the New York TheatreOrgan Society presented "Sounds of the Silents," a pro-

gram reviving the musical traditions of the heyday of themovie palace, a period that extended roughly from 1920to-' "

"Tell me in your own words," I interrupted her toplead. The Times' prose is so thorough.

"They fixed the organ," Emily said. "The Wurlitzer.""That's nice," I muttered. I noticed that there was

ink on my hands from a marking pen, the kind you useon laundry. I wondered how I would ever get it off.

"So they fixed the organ," I prompted, trying to showEmily I was on her side.

"Yes. It was built and installed in 1926. It's supposedto he one of the best theater organs in the city. Your

fingers are full of ink." (Continued overleaf)

SEPTEMBER 1969 75

I asked Emily what they had done with the organafter it was fixed, and she was only too glad to tell me."There's this Lee Erwin," she explained. "He was theorganist on the Arthur Godfrey show for twenty-twoyears. Before that he played the organ on Station WLWin Cincinnati for eleven years in the radio series MoonRiver, and Allen Hughes says he was excellent." Sheresumed her reading aloud. It seems that Mr. Erwin,at that memorable concert presented by the New YorkTheatre Organ Society, played the original score he hadcomposed for The Eagle, a seventy -minute classic of thesilent screen, in addition to which there was a screeningof the Charlie Chase comedy Crazy Like a Fox and twoMax Fleischer bouncing -hall sing -along cartoons. Theaffair had been so successful that the New York TheatreOrgan Society was planning to restore other organs, in-cluding one at the Beacon Theatre on Broadway andSeventy-fourth Street, and another in Rahway, NewJersey.

I was duly impressed by all this, as I always am whenEmily, having combed the Times for its most compellingrevelations, presents me with the results of her researches.It set me to thinking about movie music and its evolu-tion from the "sound of the silents" down to The YellowSubmarine. As I rummaged clumsily in the kitchen cabinetfor some stuff Emily had suggested for taking off indelibleink, I mused on the range of movie music I had beenexposed to over the years. It was hard to regard it allas an unmixed blessing.

Now, Emily and I love the movies. We would ratherbe at the movies than almost anywhere-even, on Sundayevenings, at home watching the Smothers Brothers (be-fore they were scratched, that is). But I remember Emily

A g _50JOE JAll SINGER

(HVITAPHONE

2.34 TWICE DAILYSunday Matinees 3.P.M.

11114NPMTVIL Jill NIMCIft-

76

reading to me once from an article by Dwight Nlacdonald,in which he expounded the theory that with each newtechnological development the motion picture had to giveup another aspect of its original flexibility. The advent ofthe talkies certainly did not please everyone. After seeinghis first sound film in 1927, Sir Thomas Beecham is sup-posed to have exploded: "Now there is no place one cango and hear nothing!" And I vividly remember a songmy father used to play on our wind-up Victrola when Iwas a child. The words went like this:

Guns go off and whistles blow,Music through the whole darned show.I can't sleep in the movies any more.

The truth is, movies have never been really silent.Music, Emily tells me, was first brought into the moviehouse for practical reasons. There was no sound -proofwall between projector and audience in those out-of-the-way halls of London and New York where the cinemafirst found its public around the turn of the century.Something had to mask the racket made by the projector.And so-before those celebrated pianists in gartered shirt-sleeves were hired handorgans, music boxes, and phono-graphs were used. Music also helped to solve a peculiarproblem of mass psychology: crowds seemed more willingto listen and watch silently than just to watch in silence.Music kept the cars of audiences busy and so kept theirmouths from flapping.

In the early years of this century, however, experimentswith mechanical reproduction were abandoned in favorof the movie -house pianist and, still later, increasinglyelaborate theater orchestras. The problem of what to playwas solved through the compilation of extensive cinema -

music libraries. There an enterprising arranger could find

every sort of score to meet a movie's requirements. Under"tension-misterioso- he could look up suitable passagesfor "night: sinister mood" or -night: threatening mood,"

or "magic: apparition," or "impending doom." In thefamous Kinothek in Berlin, for example, under the head-

ing ''tension-agitaio," the file offered music for ''pursuit,""heroic battle," "disturbance," "unrest," "terror," "dis-

turbed masses," -tumult," and three varieties of "naturalcataclysm." Climaxes ("appassionato") were available insix smashing varieties from "despair" to "bacchantic."It was all a long way from Dimitri Tiomkin, but it wascertainly heading in that direction.

Soon there arose maverick pit conductors who turned uptheir noses at stock music and preferred to accompanymovies with fragments from Debussy and Tchaikovsky,and from there it was a short step to calling upon com-posers to invent original scores. Edmund Meisel, whowrote the music for Sergei Eisenstein's Potemkin, was out-standing among silent -film composers. Richard Strausscame to the Dresden State Opera House to conduct theorchestra for a performance of his opera Der Rolenkava-lier on film, but he gave up in rehearsal after trying tokeep things synchronized and turned his baton (A er to aprofessional movie conductor. A few distinguished com-posers, notably Arthur Honegger, tried their hand at com-posing for the silents, but no masterpieces came of it-although it might be fun to hear Darius Milhaud's Actu-allies, take -off on old newsreel stereotypes.

Wall know what happened next. Al Jolson made TheJazz Singer in 1927, and the sound of Vitaphone washeard in the land. Actually, The Jazz Singer and The Sing-ing Fool got their sound from ingenious couplings of the

projector with sixteen -inch phonograph records that, inspeed, were precursors of the modern LP- -they played at331 ; revolutions per minute. Records wore out fast inthose days, though, and synchronization was a tricky busi-ness. A few years later this method was replaced by put-ting the sound on a strip running along the side of thefilm itself. The impulses on the soundtrack were thentranslated into music, sound effects, and the cliches ofHollywood dialogue in a way that I could not possiblymake clear to you, since I do not understand it too wellmyself, and neither does Emily.

Concurrent with this development was the growth ofthe theme song as a device to soften up the audience forthe action to come while the credits were gotten out of theway. The use of this device soon reached epidemic propor-tions, and threatened to hold up the action of movies in-definitely. So the industry, in its wisdom, began to fallback on what has been its Golden Rule ever since: moviemusic should be there, but not heard. Movie music, anyold Hollywood pro will tell you, ''must not call attentionto itself." The "Thou Shalt Not Be Heard" command-ment may be one reason why only a handful of majorAmerican composers have written for the medium, thoughEngland's greatest symphonists-William Walton, Ben-jamin Britten, Arthur Bliss, Arthur Benjamin, and RalphVaughan Williams among them-have produced distin-guished motion -picture scores. Honegger, Milhaud, andGeorges Auric have all written music you could hear inFrench films, and Prokofiev and Shostakovich have con-structed mighty works, of varying degrees of vulgarity, toenliven the movies of the Soviet Union. Of course, weAmericans can point out to foreign detractors that Gersh-win wrote his Second Rhapsody-"Rhapsody in Rivets"

A few nostalgic high -pointsof Music at the Mach's:The Jazz Singer (1927),with songs by lrring Berlin,Al Jolson, and others:Singing in the Rain (1952),with songs (largely) byArthur Freed and .A'acio HerbBrown: Seven Brides forSeven Brothers (1951),songs by Johnny Mercer andGene de Paul.

SEPTEMBER 1969 77

-for a Hollywood movie, that Aaron Copland contrib-uted lovely scores to Our Town and The Red Porn, andthat Virgil Thomson's music for the documentaries ThePlow that Broke the Plains, Louisiana Story, and TheRiver are classic achievements.

But what of the rest? It is there, but are we really notsupposed to hear it? Kurt London puts it in a nutshell inhis book Film Music. "Absolute music," he says, "is ap-prehended consciously, film music unconsciously." Nowonder, then, that it is all so difficult to remember whenyou leave the theater. Yet certain exceptions to this dogmaare permitted in movieland. A few classical pieces havefound their way into the inner sanctum, and may be usedas mood -setters. There was a time, not many years ago,when portions of Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concertowere used as the accompaniment for almost everything.Emily and I wiped our eyes to its strains throughout NoelCoward's Brief Encounter and perhaps a dozen other pic-tures of the period. In the newsreel days, I don't think youwere allowed to show a horserace unless it was accom-panied by the breakneck passage from Ponchielli's Danceof the Hours. Beethoven's Ffir Elise was always heardwhenever Spring Byington approached the spinet in thedrawing room of her Southern mansion, and you knewthat all would not be tranquil for long: Bette Davis or theCivil War was ty)und to break out any minute. There wasa time, too, when you could not start a movie about Lon-don without a little scene -setting the KnightsbridgeAfarch from Eric Coates' London Suite, for example.

Other movies have been made in Hollywood for whichit has been found necessary not only to draw on the clas-sics, but to make certain alterations in the process. In ourlong years of moviegoing, Emily and I have come to ap-preciate the limitless ingenuity with which a Hollywoodarranger can improve a masterpiece. Everything Men-delssohn wrote for A Midsummer Night's Dream wasused in Max Reinhardt's tremendous movie, whichtouched the heights and sank to the depths as it forgedits way through Shakespeare's fantastic comedy, and theproducers were even magnanimous enough to call in ErichWolfgang Korngold to touch up the orchestration a littleand provide a couple of transitions which Mendelssohnhad thoughtlessly neglected to compose. We'll never for-get too that marvelous movie laid in Mexico-with EstherWilliams as a lady bullfighter-which used Aaron Cop -

land's El Salcjir Mexico (composed in the movie by anaspiring young Mexican genius, Ricardo Montalban).Almost all of it was played before the movie was over,but in an updated version for piano and orchestra byJohnny Green, the composer of Body and Soul. Perhapsthe most ingenious use of a piece from the standard reper-toire was Walt Disney's commandeering of The Rile ofSpring, Stravinsky's ballet about savages in pagan Russia,to illustrate evolution in his movie Fantasia. (In a stateclose to shock, the composer is reported to have mur-

mured, ''This must have been what I meant in the firstplace.") To make the piece fit the action, Leopold Sto-kowski, the conductor for the film, cut and rearranged thescore and tactfully eliminated the earthshaking Dance ofDeath at the end.

In the long evolutionary climb from the Tara theme in

Gone with the Wind (1939) to Lara's theme in Dr.Zhirago (1965), one of the most striking developmentshas been "original" music by composers schooled in thetechnique of putting together a patchwork for giant or-chestra and chorus, composers who unabashedly thankTchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov when they walk offwith an Academy Award. Perhaps the most wonderfulthing about this group of Hollywood composers has beentheir names: Daniele Amfitheatrof, Dimitri Tiomkin,Bronislau Kaper, Miklos ROzsa, Erich Wolfgang Korn-

gold. And their music is almost as resounding as thosegrand monikers themselves. What would a screen epic benow without its all -engulfing heaves and swells of sonicoverkill? And then there is Max Steiner, who is practicallya whole industry in himself. He was at one time virtuallythe court composer for Bette Davis. Emily and I will neverforget the welling up of those great oceanic passages insuch movies as Old Acquaintance, in which suddenlyMiss Davis wasn't listening to Miriam Hopkins any more(or was it the other way around ?) and the dialogue wasdrowned in the subjective turbulence of a Steiner score.He has always favored a kind of leitmotif, haunting in itsway, as for example the themes for The Letter and SinceYou Went Away. He wrote a poignant score of finesse andrestraint for The Informer, a harrowing one for KingKong to climb the Empire State Building by, and twohundred and eighty-two episodes, with separate themes forevery character from Scarlett to Melanie, and every twistand turn of the plot, for the three-hour production ofGone with the Wind. Despite its longueurs and preten-sions, Steiner's score for that recurrent movie classic ismuch admired, and is still broadcast often, along withsuch hardy perennials as the score for Spellbound, thesuspenseful monotonies of Francis Lai's music for A Manand a Woman, Richard Addinsell's Warsaw Concerto(composed for a forgotten film named Dangerous Moon-light), and such other favorites as Ernest Gold's pseudo -

Hebraic theme from Otto Preminger's movie Exodus,John Barry's theme for Born Free, and More from MondoCane.

MUCH movie music is hard to hear even if you try-thelouder it is, perhaps, the harder! In movie musicals, onthe other hand, you're supposed to hear the music and-one hopes-be able to recall it afterwards. Only a fewdays ago, Emily bought one of those 900 -page illustratedvolumes of the talking picture, and it would be pleasantto pause here and reminisce at length about all thosewonderful Saturday afternoons spent watching movie

78STEREO REVIEW

DI Malt! TB h N: HoZSA : M.1\1 \IH STEINER: Eruct! \\ ()1.1:(:,,t; Koit \Gnu):

Lost Horizon Spellbound Cimarron Anthonl .1drerse

The Moon and Sixpence The Lost If-eckend King Kong Juarez

High Noon Quo ladis Gone with the Wind King's lime

The Great With: Song to Remember Treasure of the Sierra Madre The Sea Ilatrk

musicals from The Broadway Melody of 1929 to lastyear's cartoon masterpiece, the Beatles' Yellow Submarine.How could we forget those magic moments when Alice

Faye, after a single glance at the score of a brand newsong, set the music aside and overwhelmed us with aperfect run-through? How could we ever forget the happyhours we spent listening to those little songbirds MGMused to raise on their back lot in special cages DeannaDurbin, Jane Powell, Kathryn Grayson-whose littleheartbreaks could be washed away with an ice-cream sodaand a few kind words from -Cuddles" Sakall? It wouldbe fun to linger over all the forgotten moments Emilyreminded me of-that Ruth Chatterton sang and NancyCarrot danced in Paramount's On Amide: that Bebe Dan-iels and John Boles were warblers together in Rio Rita,and even Pola Negri sang in A Vomati Commands (thesong was Paradise). But the world of Nancy Carrol, Bud-dy Rogers, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, of Eddie Can-tor and Fanny Brice, of Jeanette MacDonald and NelsonEddy, of Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell, Bing Crosby andDorothy Lamour, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Judy Gar-land, Gene Kelly, and Busby Berkeley, however real it

seemed at the time, is gone. It was a comforting lotus land.and so were its songs, from Rudolf Friml's to RichardRogers' ; a new generation is discovering it today ontelevision.

The current crop of Hollywood musicals-especiallymovie "adaptations" of Broadway shows such as Ha/f ,/Sixpence and Sweet Charity-is getting bigger, louder,and shinier all the time, and losing most of the charm ofthe originals in the process. The screen musicals Emilyand I remember most fondly were written especially forthe movies and weren't adaptations at all: Singin' in theRain, for example. with its marvelous score by HerbBrown and Arthur Freed; Sere)/ Brides for Seven Broth -

ers, MGM's Western -style version of The Rape of theSabine WOmen, with music by Gene de Paul-you didn'texactly go out of the theater whistling it, but it was enorm-ous fun while it lasted. It would be pleasant, too, tolinger awhile on the music of those animated cartoons inwhich the invincible victim arose unscathed from themost vicious sadistic attacks to the sound of a fox-trot.But these are lost worlds too.

IN his book What to Listen for in Music, Aaron Cop-land asserts that most of us movie-goers take the musicalaccompaniment to dramatic films too much for granted.He reveals that the Hollywood producer, far from con-sidering music unimportant, often secretly hopes that agood score will save a second-rate picture. Copland liststhe ways in which music serves the film: the creation of"a more convincing atmosphere" and the evocation of"time and place"; underlining the unspoken thoughts ofa character, or the unseen implications of a situation;filling in empty spots, such as pauses in conversation ;building continuity; and rounding off the experience-i.e., the music "that blares out at the end of the film."

Emily and I believe that movie music also serves certainother, even more fundiunental, purposes. It has to an-nounce to the people waiting in the lobby when the movieis over, so they may begin their rush for seats. It must tellthem when the picture starts so they can begin to rattletheir candy papers, and also, especially in these times,when the credits are liable to pop up anywhere and goon for any length of time, tell them when the action isreally under way. It must also tell them when the end iscoming so that they can slip their shoes back on, pushtheir way out to the aisle, and beat everyone else to thedoor before the rush. And todav's movie-goer may wanderin at any point: how is he going to catch on fast to earlier

SEPTEMBER 1969 79

developments he has missed? The music will fill him in.Emily boasts that she can close her eyes, listen to the musicfrom any American movie, and recognize at once thenature of the action. As a matter of fact, the movie addict,whether he gets the stuff at movie houses or at home byway of television, could probably provide from memorya suitable score for every occasion in his own life, fromtrying to start his car on a freezing morning to the bigscene when his wife threatens to go home to mother. It isbuilt into us through long years of repetition and "uncon-scious apprehension."

Recently, movie critics have been demanding that moviemusic change with the times-that such groups as theJefferson Airplane and Moby Grape be given their dayon the screen as they already have been on television. Nodoubt the inevitable result of this will be the wateringdown of originally fresh and rebel styles in order not tooffend nervous middle-class ears. Already we have hadSimon and Garfunkel singing their songs throughout TheGraduate, but this was in some ways more distracting thanhelpful. And the Quicksilver Messenger Service, the SteveMiller Band, and Mother Earth combined forces to whipup a storm of a rock-and-roll score for a movie calledRevolution, but that film went-or sank-underground.Meanwhile, what we get are Burt Bacharach (What'sNew, Puis)cat?, The Desert Fox) ; John Barry ( TheIperess File, The Knack, Born Free) ; Elmer Bernstein(The Man with the Golden Arm, T he Magnificent Seven,A Walk on the Wild Side, and The Tenn Commandments);Neal Hefti (Barefoot in the Park); Quincy Jones (In theHeat of the Night and In Cold Blood) ; Henry Mancini(Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Pink Panther, and Hatari);Johnny Mandel (I Want to Live and The Sandpiper);and Leith Stevens (The Wild One and many an eerie scorefor science -fiction movies). These fellows all show a no-table chic in combining a jazz beat with symphonic ex-pansiveness and lush instrumentation. In the contexts forwhich their pastiches are assembled, they are serviceable,very much in the old tradition, with a little fresh make-upapplied to make them sound more "with it." But sepa-rated from the film and served up on original soundtrackdiscs, they are exposed in all their wearying sterility.These "new" composers, like their predecessors, are ex-cellent craftsmen who know exactly what they are about.And that is the trouble. Chaplin could whistle a score intoexistence (Modern Times, The Great Dictator), one thatwas fresher and apter in its directness and simplicity thanall the exertions of these latter-day champions who arealways skilled but so very rarely inspired.

What Emily and I remember from movies is music notat its catchiest or most tuneful, but the effect of music inthe right place: Bernard Herrmann's score for CitizenKane; Virgil Thomson's idiomatic contributions to thosealready -named classic documentaries ; Aaron Copland'sbucolic excellences for The Red Pony (Westerns now-

adays lean heavily on warmed-over imitations of Cop-land) ; Georges Auric's music for the films of JeanCocteau-as well as such brilliant strokes of Cocteau'sown as the way he brought in Vivaldi to heighten thedream sequence in Les Enfants Terribles; the waltz (Ican't recall who wrote it) that expressed all the yearning,frustration, and nostalgia in the ballroom scene of Carnetdu bal; Honegger's dazzling virtuoso music for the origi-nal nonmusical version of Pygmalion; the song that wasa plot element in Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes;Arthur Bliss' scary score for the movie of H. G. Wells'prophetic Things to Come; the way a piece was used-it was a rhumba by Xavier Cugat, I believe-in BenHecht's Crime Without Passion at the perturbing ironicalclimax ; Leonard Bernstein's galvanically charged musicalcontinuity for On the Waterfront; Nino Rota's orgies ofinstrumentation for La Dolce Vita and Juliet of theSpirits; Stanley Meyers' inventive, searching score for theIrish movie of Joyce's Ulysses.

MOVIE music is at its best when it is written for thepurpose for which it is played, knows its place, and doesnot just drone on monotonously in order not to be heard.It is only when it tries to give itself airs-when Bacharachis exalted over Bach, and MiklOs Rozsa over Handel, whenthe tramp of movie music decks herself out in the ill-fitting raiments of her older sister art-that it truly re-pels movie-goers like Emily and me. Good movie musicneed not be self-effacing; it can be as big as WilliamWalton's for the battle scenes in Henry V, as long as itis real music, celebrating real emotion-whether throughfull orchestra, through Harpo Marx's harp, or throughthe harpsichord of John Addison's tingling score for TomJones. We have no objection to raiding the classics, either,when they're deftly matched up to the action, as in StanleyKubrick's 2001-A Space Odyssey, in which excerptsfrom recordings of pieces by Richard and Johann Straussand others serenaded us during the space trip (are weheaded back to the Kinothek?). But it can be overdone.We adored Elvira Madigan and rushed right out to buyMozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 so that we could hearagain the second -movement theme that had moved us totears in the movie. To our consternation, we found outthat there are twenty-six other concertos by the same com-poser. We are appalled at the possibility that, somewherein Hollywood at this very moment, some producer whohas made the same discovery may he thinking to himself,"Now, the opening of Number 20 will be just groovy forthat rape scene, and for the theme song for Loves ofCatherine the Great there oughta be something in the'Coronation'. . .."

Paul Kresh, contributing editor of STEREO REVIEW and staff ex-pert on Gilbert and Sullivan and Broadway shows as well as moviemusic, is described in greater detail on page 122 of this issue.

80STEREO REVIEW

You may or may not have already identified GezaAnda to your satisfaction as something other than a

distinguished Hungarian -horn Swiss concert pianist. Untilrecently the odds were against your knowing much morethan that about him, but Mr. Anda's identity has sud-denly been swept into much sharper focus. In defianceof our mass aesthetic preferences (not to mention ourmass merchandising habits), Mr. Anda has recently spenta number of months "at the top of the charts."

A less likely chart -topper than Mr. Anda would perhapsbe hard to find. He doesn't even know a guru. He isclean-shaven, his ears are visible, he wears nary a beador bauble, his linen is immaculate. Most damning of all,he is frequently seen out-of-doors in broad daylight-heskis, for God's sake. Moreover, the tune that Mr. Andahas kept near the top of the charts for nigh onto a yearcomes from his Deutsche Grammophon recording of Mo-zart's Piano Concerto K. 467, and the "Elvira Aladiganlove music" that has had the nation weeping into its beerwas composed by that far from corny Viennese melodistin the year 1785.

The odds against this ever happening were of courseincalculable. The Pop Establishment has often before raidedthe longhairs for its tunes --who'll ever forget Chopin'sTi// the End of Time or Rachmaninoff's Full Moon andEmpty Arms? But, with one exception, our jukebox fan-tasy life has been kept safe until now from the probinghumanism of Mozart. The exception was In an Eighteenth -Century Drawing Room, a tune swiped in 1939 from thewell-known Piano Sonata in C, and a very profitable littlenovelty number it was, making us think of quaintsy candle-light and tinkling harpsichords. But that was a far lessserious offense than bewitching the U. S. art movie publicwith something as unturned -on as the Andante of K. 467.

Recently I took occasion to investigate the extent of Mr.Anda's complicity in this perverse enterprise. I asked himhow he managed to bring it off.

"But I didn't," he protested. "I had absolutely nothingto do with it. In fact, I was more surprised than anybody.My manager phoned me from New York in great indig-nation. 'Fine,' she said, 'now we are playing music forthe movies. It would he nice if maybe a girl didn't haveto find out these things for herself.'

"'Movies?' I said. 'What movies?' I simply didn't know.You see, it was the idea of the director, Bo Widerberg.He needed some love -music for Elvira, and the really in-spired thing was his discovery that love -music is exactlywhat the Andante of K. 467 is. It happens that I couldnot agree more with Widerherg's opinion, but he wasthe one who had to demonstrate it.

Stereo Reviewtalks to

GEZA ANDA"In any case, my recording of K. 467 is not new, being

in fact six years old. It was actually the third recordingin my Mozart series, and I was pleased that Widerbergselected it because it is one of my favorites-I mean asa recording, since it was the result of one of those happyoccasions when everything fell together and combinedexactly right: the piano, the orchestra, the engineering, thewhole mood, the ambiance."

In his Mozart concertos, I noted, Mr. Anda performsboth as soloist and as conductor. Did this circumstancecontribute to the happy unity of effort (and effect) thathe spoke of?

"Yes, and particularly in view of my somewhat unor-thodox ideas about Mozart. To begin with, / am alwayssurprised when people are surprised that I want to conductthe concertos. Why shouldn't a pianist do this? I distrustthe late nineteenth-century tradition that specializes theseactivities. In Mozart's time a competent musician was ex-pected to do both. Even much later-in Liszt's time, forexample-this was still true. Liszt obviously felt obligedto do everything."

IEXPRESSED curiosity as to the "unorthodox ideas aboutMozart" that Mr. Anda had mentioned.

"I think the important thing is to realize that the con-ventional view of Mozart is a case of outright misrepre-sentation. 'Classical' is no longer a serviceable word forthis music-it no longer signifies a realistic approach toit. I disagree even with some eminent musicologists, whoseideas of proper Mozart playing do nothing but confine anddiminish it. You might say Mozart has been kept in a kindof interpretive prison, and this has made it terribly diffi-cult for es to grasp him in his modern aspect. Each gen-eration must do exactly that, of course, or no interpretivebreakthroagh is possible. What you really have to do is gohack to the music itself wirhout preconceptions and readwhat is there. And when you do this you find that thereis nothing small-minded about it, or small -hearted either.The concertos turn out to he big expressive works, andtoday especially I think it is important to make both thebigness and the expressiveness very clear."

TO judge from Mr. Anda's concert schedule and his re-views, his notions of big -scale Mozart are meeting withwidespread approval. There are small signs, however, ofa revolt against the you -know -who concerto. The ChicagoSymphony, for one, isn't buying any. "We will have Anda,"says the Chicago manager, "in spite of Elvira Aladigan,"and at present writing it appears that Mayor Daley'sbailiwick will hear the pianist in something a little less

inflammatory. Robert Offergeld

SEPTEMBER 1969 81

PIERREBOULEZof the New York Philharmonic

By JAMES GOODFRIEND

PIERRE BOULEZ is to be the new conductor of theNew York Philharmonic. To many, his appoint-ment, beginning officially in 1971, seems a stroke

of unexpected luck, an unexpectedly brave and imagina-tive decision by the directors of the orchestra. To others,it has become strictly a wait -and -see affair; Boulezalready has his detractors. But to all, including perhapsBoulez himself, the appointment has come as a sur-prise. Not that anyone officially connected with the NewYork Philharmonic ever publicly indicated a preferencefor anyone else (Boulez, when I asked him this pastMarch who would get the post, replied that the di-rectors of the orchestra had not taken him into theirconfidence on the matter). But Boulez himself had indi-cated countless times, in public and private, that hewould not-could not-take on the post were it offeredto him, because of an overstock of previous commit-ments. Those commitments include the Directorship ofthe BBC Symphony, the post of principal guest con-ductor with the Cleveland Orchestra, numerous alreadyscheduled guest appearances as conductor, teacher,and lecturer with a multitude of musical organizations,and . . . well, of course, M. Boulez is, after all, one ofthe world's most influential living composers, and corn -posing takes a lot of time.

In spite of the serious obstacles to such a course ofevents, the New York Philharmonic found itself able tooffer the position of Musical Director to Boulez, andBoulez (probably with considerable pressure from Col-umbia Records, which records both him and the Phil-harmonic) found himself able to accept. The "takeover"will be a gradual one. Boulez will conduct only eightweeks in 1971, expanding to seventeen weeks the follow-ing year. But New Yorkers should have something un-usual to look forward to, a musical reign quite distinctfrom any that have preceded it. M. Boulez, a charmingbut businesslike man-like a locomotive under tight con-trol has strong and, perhaps, surprising opinions onmusic. He expresses himself very directly, and he is notat all afraid of being quoted.

M. Boulez speaks quickly in not quite perfect English

(his exact words have been changed slightly here to bemore comprehensible as written English) but he com-municates and convinces through the sheer power andlogic of his argument. His manner is informal and yetintense.

"You know, for me conducting is not really very im-portant since I don't want to have a career as a conductor.That I do conduct came about more through circum-stances than out of my own desire. But, I think, muchmore important to me is the job of musical director-tobe a composer and a musical director at the same time,and to be able to have enough authority to really makemusical life more coherent than it is now-because Ifind that presently there is such a distance between per-formers and conductors generally-and composers-andthis discrepancy is not healthy."

"And then there are two different parts to music.You have the museum part of music which always has tobe cared for, as you have to take care of the Rembrandtsin a museum, or something like that. And you have thecreative part. These are two completely different as-pects. Most people in musical life are entirely preoc-cupied with the first, so conductors really have no im-pulse to meet composers and to participate in the creativelife. I think this is a very unrealistic situation. Andwhat I want to do, now that I have the knowledge of a

conductor, is to go forward to the conception of a musi-cal director. Because while it is always very interesting tobring out pieces which are still not part of the reper-toire, and to promote them as part of the repertoire,that's only just coping with a kind of delay-a delay thatis real enough today, you know, between the audienceand the orchestras and the music that was written fiftyyears ago. But that's not yet being really alive and crea-tive, because you just sort of bring people up to date-you don't really push them into the life of today, theart of today. What I want to see is that these pieces-let's say, these classics of the twentieth century-arereally accepted, not just by composers, but by orchestrasand by audiences. Then you can go forward under muchbetter conditions."

82STEREO REVIEW

This conception of a "musical director" is a newone. M. Boulez was asked how it will fit into concert lifeas we know it today.

"Well, it does not fit. That's the problem, you know.Because I think that the organization of concerts, notjust in this country, but in any country, is too stiff, too

unreliable. You rely only on the regularity of sub-

scriptions, and that is not enough because you have nocontact between the audience and the music. You know,subscribers go weekly or twice a month to a concert, and

you notice-and wonder-that the audience is gettingolder and older, and you see that there are no youngpeople really attracted by the programing, by the

musical life offered. I can understand this very easily, be-

cause the form of musical life now is essentially one thatrelates to the beginning of the century, not to today.

And even under the best technical conditions-I mean if

the performers are very good-that's not really a musical

life that will attract and involve young people. There isa very formal aspect to the concert in the concert hallwhich young people despise, and, in my opinion, right-

ly. It is a social event, and more than that, a part of the

mores of a tribe to which they do not belong and do notdesire to belong. And therefore, I think that musicallife, generally, has to be organized on two levels and ina very different way: first, in the programing, and sec-ond, in where the concert takes place. I do not know howto do that yet, but I will study it for-and in-London.But I do think it's necessary to have contact with theaudience; just to meet for two hours and hear musicand it's finished-that's not enough. So, for instance,after a concert I may discuss with the audience, practi-cally and theoretically, the works I have just performed.And I think that's very important: not to isolate theproduct, offer it as finished and ready-made, but to in-volve the audience in the making of the product so thatthe famous 'gap' between audience and orchestra, be-tween audience and music, can be closed."

AT a recent concert in London, with the London Sym-phony, M. Boulez, after intermission, gave a talk of

about fifteen or twenty minutes on the music performed.The concert was made up entirely of music by Berg,Webern, and Schoenberg. The Royal Festival Hall was,perhaps, three quarters full, and the audience response,to both the talk and the performances, was very strongly

enthusiastic."In many performances of contemporary music that

you hear you have absolutely no idea of the content be-cause the work is so poorly performed. I am not ready tomake that kind of compromise; I prefer to make progressslowly, to devise programs carefully. I think that if themusic itself is called controversial, there must be abso-lutely no controversy possible about the playing of it.The controversy must be only about the content.

"But to get back to programing. I find that orches-tral subscription series try to feed everybody with thesame kind of food. In my opinion it's completely ridicu-lous to devise programs of very conventional pieces andto have just a very spicy hors d'oeuvre or middle sectionwhich is completely irrelevant. This is a problem of taste,of education, and of time. If you don't have sufficienttime, say . . . well, let's speak in terms of real figures: ifyou have a new work you want to do-a really difficult

work of twenty or twenty-five minutes-you devote twoand one half rehearsals out of four to this piece. Butthis gives you only twenty minutes of your eighty -minuteconcert. So you have to fill another sixty minutes andyou have to rehearse the music for it fully in one andone-half rehearsals. What you do is choose the mostconventional pieces, pieces that the orchestra knows andwhich therefore don't require any work. So the result is aprogram that is three-quarters very conventional andone -quarter very original. Then what does the audiencethink? The young audience comes for the twenty -minutework. What do they think of the other sixty minutes?A bore, a disaster. What about the other part of the au-dience? They think the twenty minutes are silly and notworth the listening. Well, then you have shockedand upset everybody while making not a single relevantpoint in your concert. Therefore, I myself refuse to d,)this kind of program.

Y position in the musical world today is really very

uncomfortable because I have a very intellectual side,let's say, and I have a very practical side also. I do notwant either of these sides to be frustrated; I want a con-junction of these two sides-and not just in myself, but

in the world of music. Therefore, it is a very difficultsituation. Perhaps I would prefer to be a pure intellec-

tual because that is much easier; you just sit in yourhome writing or thinking or whatever you want to do.

But there is a necessity for communication, and I thinkanybody who says the contrary is not being honest with

himself. Maybe I have a greater gift for communicationthan other people. just from a purely practical and tech-

nical point of view. And I think I must share this gift

by communicating not only with my own compositions

but with the compositions of others. Therefore, for along time, since 1953 (when I was twenty-seven ortwenty-eight), I have tried to promote contemporarymusic, to have it performed. I think that for an audience

to discover composers thirty or forty years after the factis absolutely nothing. It's better than never discoveringthem, but it's not exciting at all. If you discover things

while they are in the making process-that's interesting,because you have the impression that you are participat-ing, that you are active in the cultural life. The problem

for the composer is to communicate. But the tray of com-

munication must be open all the time."

SEPTEMBER 196983

CURFEW NIUST NOT RING TONIGHT... Out she swung-far out: the city

seemed a speck of light below,There 'twixt heaven and earth suspended

as the hell S\ (mg to and fro.Poetic declamation is no longerfashionable in English-speaking

countries, but many mill nonethelessremember Rose iIartu Thorpe's

heart -tugging tale of the lorelyBessie, who saved her lover from.

execution during the English Civil/Tiff by silencing I in a most unusual

way) the bell that would haresounded his doom. (The ending

is a happy one.) The model inthis mixed -media representationwas Mrs. Charles Watson of the

Royal Dramatic College.

BELLS,BELLS,HELLS

DESPITE-OR PERHAPS BECAUSE OF-ITSUBIQUITY AND LONG HISTORY, THE

INSTRUMENT THAT MAY Jr/ELL BE OURMOST COMMON MUSIC- AND

NOISE- MAKER SELDOM GETSOUR UNDIVIDED ATTENTION

By FRITZ KUTTNER

FRILDRICH VON SCHILLER, the great eighteenth-cen-tury German poet, playwright, and philosopher, oncewrote a famous but rather dreadful ballad called

Die Glocke (The Bell). It is educational, edifying, 425lines long, and very dull. I know, because I was one ofmillions of German high school youngsters born be-tween 1820 and 1945 who had to learn the whole darnthing-all 425 lines-and recite it from memory in classor even in assembly hall. What is worse, we were allbrainwashed into believing that Die Glocke is one of theall-time masterworks of German lyric poetry. Like hellit is; but it took most of us several decades to shake offthis silly notion, and millions of Germans today still be-lieve what their teachers told them in 1922 or thereabouts.

Looking back today, I feel a sense of gratification thatSchiller knew as little about bells and bell -making asmost other writers who left to posterity their lengthy

poems, essays, or books on the subject. If he had knowna fair number of basic facts about bells, his poem mighteasily have become an unspeakable apocalyptic horror of-i25 stanzas, and the suicide chart for German teen-agers would have reached the height of the Van Allenbelt. For bells, my dear Friedrich-may you rest in peace-can claim the longest history of musical and non-musical noise -making known to mankind. For 3,300years they have been made of any material that lendsitself to the task, except, perhaps, hardened cello. Theyhave served many believable (and some unbelievable)purposes and have been cast, pounded, and carved intoevery solemn, grotesque, or fanciful shape of which thehuman imagination is capable. No other musical instru-ment encompasses so great a range of sizes and sounds,from 1/2 inch to 60 feet high, from almost inaudibletinkle to quite terrifying boom. And, it is just this

84STEREO REVIEW

enormous variety of forms and sonic outputs that re-duces musicologists and musical campanists to a tizzy,

for it often seems impossible to say whether a given

selection of "bells" might not better be classified as

gongs, drums, tubs, or vessels-and that funny flat onehanging from its strap perhaps as a cymbal.

Most people tend to think of a bell as something castin bronze, shaped "like a bell," with a clapper hanging

down inside it. Schiller thought so too, and that shuthim up at line 425. But, to tell the truth, a bell is athingamajig made of bronze, copper, iron, silver, nickel,gold, brass, glass, fired clay, porcelain, bamboo, wood,

bone, stone, gourds, or even lobster shells. It may look

like a saucer, like part of a sphere, like a vase with

wings on its sides, or like a laundry tub standing, bot-

tom up, on the floor. Or like a fish, a sea monster, a lotus

flower, a disc or plate, a cylinder, or a cup with a short

pipe -like handle that permits it to be mounted on a stick.

It can even look like a bell, and then the bell experts

can take the rest of the day off. But if it looks like any-thing else, classifying trouble is bound to arise, for allthe learned and accepted classification systems tend tobreak down at some point or other. You can classify by

acoustical principles, sound characteristics, shapes, func-

tions, by the way the instrument is sounded, or by vari-

ous other methods, and still run into trouble. A givenunusual specimen could fit into one category under the

rules of System No. 1, but into an entirely different cate-gory under the rules of System No. 2. The variety is soenormous that no method is really conclusive, and in theend you wind up with the inescapable conclusion that

classification, not an exact science anyway and often nomore than a semantic convenience, serves no useful pur-

pose here.Classify we will, however, and the most recent trend

among musicologists is to group musical instruments byfunction rather than by shape or acoustical properties.It doesn't work with bells, for a survey of hell functionsyields as bewildering a diversity as their sizes and shapesdo:

Religious rites and ceremonies: Calling people to church;hell ringing during the liturgy or to announce the begin-ning or end of services. Sounding for baptisms, weddings,and funerals. As used in some wedding ceremonies, to in-

dicate whether the bride is known (or believed) to be avirgin. (In the negative case, a minor bell has occasionally

Acoustical experiments in China resulted in bells with purerpitches-the deeper the cut, the fewer harmonic and inharmonicorertones. The end result is the modern tuning fork at right.

been used rather than the big main bell reserved for the100 per cent immaculate.) There are also hells that callTibetan or Buddhist monks to their prayer vigils.

Time -keeping: Striking the hours (and parts thereof);ringing the watches on shipboard; alarm clocks; bells orhell -sound devices in wall and floor clocks (a cuckoo, atleast, is not a bell).

Communications and uarnings Announcing a storm, afire, a pestilence. Attracting attention to the town crier'sannouncements or a salesman's offerings (the Ice-creamMan cometh?). Also fire -truck hells, train bells, court hells,school bells, door hells, telephone hells, and hell buoys.

Health protection: Bells rung by lepers and other diseasecarriers, or jingles hanging on their clothes, to warn othersagainst infection.

Protection of property: Bells to ascertain the where-abouts of domestic animals, from cattle and sheep to catsand dogs, depending on the agricultural conditions of agiven region. Bird scares; protection against evil spirits;camel and elephant hells.

Just playing around: Small bells or jingles, tuned or un-tuned, hung in the wind to make pleasant musical or non-musical sounds by themselves (Question for smart alecs:Do such wind hells make "'music" or not? Can it be music

if the wind, and not a musician, produces the sounds?Aestheticians of aleatory music will perhaps answer "yes.")

Noise- and merry -making: Christmas bells, sleigh bells,

dancing hells, jester's hells,.Literature, biography, and advertising: For almost three

millennia people have been unable to refrain from coveringhell surfaces with incised or cast inscriptions, in addition tothe traditional ornamentations. The names and other per-sonal data of the bell maker, sponsor, donor, and owner arefavorite information offered for all to see and admire.Other memorable intelligence may include whatever mes-sages and events tlre responsible personages considered tobe deserving of a classified ad. Some hells contain poetry,prayers, congratulations, expressions of condolence, recordsof political or military victories. In some Asian civilizations,archaic bell inscriptions serve as important historical docu-mentation or as sources for linguistic and semantic studies.

TE bell business got started around 1400 B.C. inChina, where the protohistorical Shang (or Yin) Dynas-

ty developed its civilization near a bend in the YellowRiver in northern Honan Province. Continuing excava-tions over the last forty years have furnished ample evi-

dence of a highly advanced bronze technology combined

with impressive artistic sophistication. Among the vastnumber of recovered artifacts are many bronze bells in a

variety of shapes and ornamental designs. Some of thespecimens are of simple form and small enough (2 inch-

es high) to be called "jingles" by archeologists, who be-

lieve they may have been hung on horse fittings. Musi-cologists, however, are not so ready to draw a dividingline between bells and jingles; to them, simplicity of form

or small size alone are not convincing criteria for suchclassification, nor are the assumed uses and unknown

sound qualities of "noise -makers" important factors inthese considerations. Bronze objects recovered after hav-ing been buried for more than 3,000 years are usually

SEPTEMBER 196985

damaged by corrosion and breakage, and their originalsounds can be reconstructed only by casting replicas ofequal alloy composition and dimensions, a task that hasnot been attempted so far. Also, some of the "jingles"seem to have come in small sets of increasing sizes,which may suggest the intention of creating somethinglike a partial or primitive scale pattern. There is, further-more, some evidence of manipulation after the castingprocess, which could be interpreted as a tuning effort.For these reasons I am inclined to discard the jingletheory and to accept even the smallest and simplest speci-mens of Chinese antiquity as bells with some musicalfunction; in primitive music the border between "noise"and "organized music" is often indistinguishable andquite probably irrelevant.

As to bell occurrences earlier than the fourteenthcentury B.C. in China, we can only speculate: conceiv-ably "natural" bells made of shells, gourds, animal hones,or tusks could have been fashioned by primitive manprior to the neolithic stage. But the chances are slim thatsuch specimens will be found, since most organic mat-ter decays too fast to survive so many millennia.

The next documentary "evidence" of bells comes fromthe Old Testament, wherein golden jingles are prescribedfor the priestly vestments of Aaron (Exodus 28: 33-35).Those willing to accept this passage as reliable historicalinformation may conclude that small bells or jinglesmade of precious metal were known in Egypt or Canaanat the time of Moses. The date of the Exodus of theIsraelites is unknown, though it is sometimes hypothe-sized as having been around 1220 B.C. A difficultyarises here for hell chronology, because the first evidenceof the existence of bells or jingles in Egypt cannot beplaced earlier than the twenty-third dynasty (817-730B.C.), while the earliest Assyrian bell find-a single

Bells command respect, bothas instruments and works of

art. in all cultures. andare therefore carefully

preserved. Y ear right isa Chinese bell dating from

the seventh century B. C.And bells preserve their

magical powers even whenthey are broken-for

example. :iloscow's 175 -tonTrotzkoi (center right).

and our own Liberty Bellin. Philadelphia's

Independence Hall(jar right).

specimen only-comes even later, around 600 B.C. Thus,although the Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizationsare a good deal older than that of China, and althoughboth had a bronze technology almost a thousand yearsearlier, the creation of the first cast bronze bells must becredited to the Shang period in Honan. By the eighthor seventh century B. C., and possibly much earlier, theChinese had learned to cast and tune complete scale setsof bells for ritual -musical purposes in a great variety ofshapes and ornamental patterns. Several specimens havebeen recovered that hear even the pitch name of the helltone, as well as other inscriptions, engraved on theirsurfaces.

Despite the wide distribution of bell -type instrumentsaround the globe, there seems to be a common denomi-nator in their function: anthropologists are agreed thatbells in all early and primitive civilizations served toward off evil and as protection against demons. This ap-plies even to such cases as camel and elephant bells,since these are domestic animals unlikely to wander offby themselves. Traces of such beliefs can also be foundin the earliest bell uses of the Christian church: thecustom of protecting sacred grounds and buildingsagainst evil spirits with such noise -makers came fromthe Near and Middle East along with the bells them-selves. And for those among us who continue to prac-tice witchcraft, exorcism is still accomplished with "bell,book, and candle."

The clappers that hang down from a bell's inside areby no means the only way of making them sound.Many types of hand bells, standing bells (opening point-ed upward), and hanging bells are struck on the outsideby a variety of hand mallets. There are even doublebells, one mounted inside another, the smaller onesounding the larger when shaken. Other types have nar-

86 STEREO REVIEW

row slits instead of an open mouth, and this permitsenclosing a loose rattling body' for sounding (sleigh bells,for example). Most specialists, however, would classifysuch instruments as rattles or jingles, not as bells-aborderline case in classification.

It was a long time before a fully developed bell tech-nology was reached in Europe. Though primitive hellswere known in ancient Greece and Rome, it was notuntil the sixth century A.D. that the first small handbells were introduced into the services of the Christianchurches of Ireland, Italy, and France. For several cen-turies thereafter the art of bell -making seems to have beenconcentrated in medieval monasteries, and by the tenthcentury, Benedictine monks, for instance, had createdpieces of up to 42 inches in diameter. Around 1250,specialized guilds of bronze casters had fully secularizedthe craft, developing improved skills and initiating themanufacture of larger and larger sizes. The fifteenthcentury marks the beginning of carillons-scaled sets ofbells for playing hymns and other melodies. Althoughbell towers with more than one bell existed much earlier,carillons required more than the production of differentsizes and pitches; they demanded precise casting tech-niques which could create fairly accurate tunings foreach bell, an art that was not really fully developed untilabout 1550. Such carillons usually contain two to fourcomplete chromatic octaves, or twenty-five to forty-

nine bells by a carilloneur from amanual and pedal keyboard, with wires connecting eachkey to the clapper of the corresponding bell. A fewcarillons are operated by automated player mechanisms.

The two largest bells ever made were both installedin Moscow and weighed 500,000 and 350,000 pounds,respectively. The larger of the two, called the Tsar Kolo-kol, measured over 20 feet in diameter. It lasted only

three years after its installation in the Kremlin; it wasdestroyed by fire in 1737. The second, the Trotzkoi, isnow the largest existing bell. While it was being in-stalled in the Kremlin in 1734, it broke loose andplunged to the basement of the hell tower, burying itselfdeep in the ground. It was excavated in severelydamaged condition in 1837 and has since been displayedon a pedestal-as our own Liberty Bell was before it

was suspended in a new framework in 1962.Church hells, quite generally, have a rather haz-

ardous life. Many have been destroyed by fire and acci-dents of war, many more melted down because themetal they contained \vas needed for armaments. In

World War II, for instance, 77 per cent of all Germanbells (over 42,000 of them) were seized by the Nazigovernment to feed the war machine.

BELL acoustics present very tough problems be-

cause the sound phenomena involved are enormouslycomplex. They consist of the "impact tone," which de-cays very fast, a fundamental about one octave higherthan the impact pitch, plus a series of six to eightharmonic overtones, all of which have fairly long decaytimes and are responsible for the protracted hummingafter the first sharp clapper impact. Apart from theseharmonic elements, a fair number of inharmonic ad-mixtures and noise components are usually present inbell sound, and they are likely to muddy up the funda-mental pitch. One can say that hell pitches, and especial-ly the ''pure'' ones, are increasingly difficult to controlwith increasing bell size. In a scholarly article on bellacoustics published as late as 1956, the author admittedthat a clear physical definition of the impact tone hadnot yet been formulated, mainly because of the verybrief decay time-he was inclined to shift the whole

. - .

Bell-ringers, Swiss and otherwise, were appealing regulars on America'svaudeville stages. Pictured in the Currie; and lies lithograph above arethe Lancaster Bell Ringers, "the most talented and wonderful band of thekind in the world," playing, of course. at Barnum's Gallery of Wonders.

87

problem into the field of physiological phenomena.Really pure pitches (or pitch sensations) can apparentlybe produced only in rather small bells up to, say, 10inches in height. Thus, such stereotyped phrases as

"clear as a bell" or "she has a voice as clean as a bell"are mistaken unless one is referring to those small bellsthat can be tuned with precision and do not containtoo many inharmonic sound components. In fact, theaesthetic pleasure people derive from listening to bellsseems to be linked to the complex, composite, and largelyinharmonic sound produced by all but the smallestspecimens.

What, then, is the strictly musical significance ofbells, as distinguished from noise -making for ritual butnonmusical functions? For the past 100 years or so,symphonic composers have been able to include bellsounds in their scores because "orchestral bells" hadbeen developed. These are bell substitutes consisting ofmetal plates, rods, or, most frequently, tubes 3 to 5feet long. Such tubular bells imitate the sound of churchbells quite well. One such bell surrogate is actually astringed instrument constructed along the lines of agrand piano by conductor Felix Mottl for the GoodFriday bells in Wagner's Parsifal.

Russian composers seem to be more fond of scoringfor bells in their symphonic works than those of othernationalities, perhaps because the Russian church has thestrongest and broadest tradition of bell uses in its ser-vices. A well-known example is Tchaikovsky's 1812Overture, in which the bells come in at the end to thestrains of the Imperial Russian anthem. Rachmaninoff'sOpus 35, called "The Bells," is a choral symphony withvocal solos after the poem by Edgar Allan Poe, and itmakes ample use of tubular bells (there is a splendidperformance on Columbia CML 5043 with Ormandyand the Philadelphia Orchestra). Another impressiveexample is in Moussorgsky's Boris Godounov, when theTsar enters the cathedral upon assuming his crown. In allthese instances, the Russian style of bell ringing, so dif-ferent from the rest of the Christian world, is well il-lustrated. In England, multiple bells in the same towerare usually rung one after the other, so as to form shortmelodic phrases (for example, Big Ben in London'sParliament clock tower). In continental Europe, multi-ple bells are sounded together and overlapping, pro-ducing a permanently changing combination of sounds.But in Russia, multiple bells are rhythmically coordi-nated, so that the second bell is struck twice as fast asthe first and largest one, and a third four times as often,thus creating the rich and metrically lively bell soundthat we have come to know from the aforementionedcompositions.

A contemporary composer, Toshiro Mayuzurni, triedto approximate the sound phenomena of Japanese templebells in his 1958 Nirvana Symphony (Time Records

S/8004) because he was fascinated by their complexovertone structure. In fact, for the Western version ofhis score he used as titles for the three movements(rather than a translation from Sanskrit) the designa-tions "Campanology I, II, and II." Employing tubularorchestral chimes, celesta, and percussion as a basis, thescore adds a large variety of other instrumental devicesto create the bell -like sound combinations of the com-poser's imagination.

But the most interesting instance of bell sounds in myexperience was a work by an Italian musician -acousticianthat I heard in Berlin in the late Twenties-unfortunate-ly, I cannot recall the composer's name. Scored for con-ventional symphony orchestra, the work combined care-fully selected tones and effects of individual instrumentsor instrumental groups in such a way as to closely im-itate the component parts of bell acoustics which he hadanalyzed for their subjective impressions on the listener.The result was a brief work sounding as if performedby a large body of bells, a sort of super -carillon. Sincethere was not a single bell in the orchestra, the scoremust be called a magnificent stunt by a highly skilledorchestrator and acoustics expert. Campanology, the artand science of bell -making and of bell ringing, had comefull circle-from nothing but bells to bell substitutes tono bells at all.

THE future of bell and chime manufacture is uncertainat present; one gets the impression that the art of castingfine specimens is in decline around the Western world.A set of three or four church bells, weighing somewherenear 10,000 pounds, is quite expensive, and a full carilloneven more so. In addition, the development of electro-acoustic substitutes has considerably reduced the demandfor real bells; smaller congregations are increasinglysatisfied with electrically operated tubular chimes oreven with recorded sound, and today many a loudspeakerassembly is to be found in bell towers in place of truebells. Some people with sensitive ears may find theselatest developments rather desirable. Americans vacation-ing in small or medium -size towns in Catholic regionsof Europe have often found themselves sleepless atnight because of the incessant striking of time, andthe frequent extended tolling for all kinds of daytimeservices seems to lose its charm after twenty-four hours.Religious response gives place easily to resentment ofnoise in towns where there are enough churches to placeevery resident with 500 yards of several bell towers.Progress, automation, noise pollution, changing timesand changing tastes-the twentieth century may bringto a close the long history of bell lore.

Fritz 'Conner, author and musicologist, came to bells throughhis special study of ancient Chinese music. The May, 1969 issuefeatured his tale of another oriental instrument: the harmonica.

88 STEREO REVIEW

Itr100100\\\

Ronald Barnes of the It (D.C.) Cathedral, center, giving a recitalon the 5.1 -hell carillon in 1 1 arkness Memorial Tower. As he strikes thecarillon's oak lepers. the Hires behind the "keyboard" work the hells above.

America's Bell RingersGive Yale 4 -Day Concert

By DONAL HENAHAN'Special to The New York Timem

ENV HAVEN, June 23-Hearingthe Yaks fight song and "Ekanor Rig-by" played on a 54 -bell, 43 -ton carillonis like hearing the Yale fight song and"Eleanor Rigby- played on a 54 -bell,43 -ton carillon. Any other comparisonmust be feeble. But to one who hasclimbed to the keyboard room, near thetop of a bell tower, the experience issomething like being locked inside aGargantuan chime clock gone mad.

For 60 -odd bell lovers gathered herefor the annual Congress of the Guild ofCarillonneurs of North America, thereis no sweeter music this side of thecampanologists' heaven, and it is boom-ing out across the vale University cam-pus this week from the 200 -foot Hark-ness Nlemorial Tower.

During the congress, which endsWednesday. many of the members aretaking turns at the 41:': -octave clavier,in full-fledged recitals and in -free-time" sessions. To do so, they have toclimb 139 iron steps of a spiral stair-case leading to the tower's playingroom, immediately beneath the larg-est of the bells, a 7 -ton bourdon 8 feetin diameter ( the smallest :s 6 inches

across). There they enjoy a bell ring-er's holiday, banging away with fistsat the oaken levers that set off the bells.

Band-Aids and Gloves

Since, dragging their feet against thetechnological revolution, true carillon-neurs scorn any electrical assistance,the mark of their trade is plentifully inevidence: the bruised, gloved andBand -Aided hand.

Ronald Barnes, carillonneur of theWashington Cathedral, paused to wipeoff his clamp arms in the midst of hissolo recital yesterday afternoon to com-plain, "This is hard work for an oldman. We should all be in a gymna-sium."

Mr. Barnes, who is only 42 and amost athletic clavierist, flailed awayexcitedly at the levers and kicked atthe foot levers that work the largerbells. Sweat bathed his robust frame (towel was kept beside him for use be-tween numbers ), his face turned abright shade of mauve, and his eyesglowed with alarming fanaticism. Nowand then he gulped soda pop from apaper cup, and at one point he called

out: "This should have gin in it."Outside, on the lawns of Branford

College and across High Street on theOld Campus, connoisseurs and themerely curious listened, mostly un-awares, to the results, an elegantly gen-teel suite of 18th -century dances byRameau.

Boon for the Shy VirtuosoThe student performers, led by their

adviser, Bruce Eberle, went at theirwork somewhat more coolly, thoughcarillon playing is at best a strenuousbranch of music. But everyone agreedthat working in the isolated tower hasmusical as well as calisthenic advan-tages.

"It's great for the guy who wantsto play but is afraid of facing an au-dience,- said Peter Levine ( Yale '70).who is president of the universityguild.

Now and then, however, the audi-ence must be faced, since not every-one who lives near a carillon towerfinds the daily or twice -daily pealingappealing. Audience antagonism, in

fact, is a hazard of the trade.-The master of Jonathan Edwards

College next door really hates me,"Eberle said ruefully. "He called methe most despicable man he everknew. -

The dimmer of hatred by one's fel-low men was one topic at the four -day congress. idthough it was not onthe official agenda. The members alsopondered the pigeon problem.

-We don't worry about hats in Ourbelfry," said Mr. Eberle, "but pigeonsare something else." Ile noted that pig-eons could over the years not onlymake a bell tower uninhabitable butactually change the pitch of the bells.-A good snowfall has the same effect,"he added. -The bells go 'thonk.' "

A Cry for ElevatorsMore officially. the congress agenda

took up such problems as maintenance( every player must learn to heft largewrenches ); professional standards( -more and more the professional caril-lonneur is being asked to double as or-ganist, floorsweeper and dog -walker,"said one player); the dismaying lack ofelevators in bell towers ( Mr. Barnesis one of the few to have one ), and therelative quality of the some 150 caril-lons in North America.

Among the carillonneurs-who camefrom as far away as California andEngland-there was some soul-search-ing about what drives a person to wantto play so strange, although ancient, aninstrument. A delicate blonde namedPatti Ewing, a student at the Univer-sity of California in Riverside, laughed,"1 just like to play bells, that's all."But Daniel Robins, from Chicago'sRockefeller Memorial Chapel, perhapsgave every carillon player's secret:

"I like to play it," he said, -becauseit makes so damn much noise."

J 1000 by The New York Thne+ enlop,o1Y itePri Med I.N'

SEPTEMBVIt 1°69 89

INSTALLATION OF THE

SECTIONALMONTH

RETHE size and structural permanence of cabinets builtto house stereo systems often interfere with theflexibility offered by the audio components. When

Dr. L. L. Dunscombe of Humboldt, Iowa, decided to de-sign his installation he kept in view the prospect of a pos-sible move to a new house. The product of this foresight isan installation that is unusually functional and portablewithout sacrificing good looks or good sound.

The seven -by -nine -foot structure is composed of eightindividual compartments stacked like blocks atop a low,recessed base. When the end panels along the left andright sides are removed, the installation disassembles intomodular sections that can be transported with ease or re-arranged to accommodate expansion of the existing sys-tem. In his new home Dr. Dunscombe expects to addseveral more compartments and extend the top of theassembly to the ceiling.

The principal program sources are housed in the twomodules of the middle tier along with a Dynaco PAS -3x

preamplifier, and include a Dynaco FM -3 tuner, a Sony355 tape deck, and an AR turntable with a Shure V-15Type II cartridge. The audio signal from the RCA colortelevision set is fed into one of the preamplifier high-levelinputs. The cabinets flanking the television set provideshelf space for a Dynaco Stereo 120 power amplifier, ajunction box for a pair of Lafayette Model F-767 head-phones, and an Eico HF20 monophonic integratedamplifier that drives remote speakers. Two AR -3a loud-speakers round out the system. A timer is located betweenthe tuner and the tape deck; the small space below it isintended for the rotator control of an FM antenna.

Dr. Dunscombe, a dentist, began assembling componentkits while an undergraduate at Iowa State University.With his music system essentially complete, he has de-veloped a lively interest in taping off the air, an activityhe describes as "challenging" in his fringe area. His tastesin music are wide-ranging, but he feels himself most athome with jazz, folk music, and show tunes. -R. H.

90STEREO REVIEW

STEREO REVIEW'S SELECTION OF RECORDINGS OF SPECIAL MERIT

BEST OF THE MONTH

CLASSICAL

WILLIAM BILLINGS: "AN OVERFLOW .. . OF RELEASED DELIGHT"

The Gregg Smith Sigers honor Anerica's first conposer in an important choral album

THE famed "New England tradition" has contrib-uted to the larger aspects of our American culturethrough its having provided the inhabitants of our

fruited plains with a knowledge of the virtues of codfishcakes, baked beans, Maine lobster, and that somewhatless palatable dish sometimes known as the "Hahvudmanner." In addition, this same time-honored source hasyielded a series of personalities in many fields: LizzieBorden, Sacco and Vanzetti, Chief Massasoit, a sprin-kling of talented literary men, and at least two first-rate composers-Charles Ives and William Billings.

Ives, during the last few years, has been accorded aproper recognition. Billings, on the other hand, is only

now shedding the wax -like pallor of the musicologicalmuseum and emerging into the sunlight of live perfor-mance. Now, recently released,and adding a positive glow to the =Billings resurrection, is a superbnew Columbia recording of selec-tions from that composer's Con-tinental Harmony. An elegantdisc, it is as savory and satisfyingan item as any lobster stew freshfrom the pot of a Cape Cod culi-nary genius.

The superiority of the NewEngland mind is widely recog-nized by New Englanders, and, ifthe rest of the world occasionallyfails to acknowledge the obvious,it merely serves to confirm (atleast for the residents of Massa-chusetts) the presence of an in-herent weakness in those unfortu-nate enough to have been borntoo far south of Boston. Thus,the true New Englander comesnaturally, by the grace of God

and the fortune of birth, to that station in life thatpermits of a modest unorthodoxy. In the case of WilliamBillings, nature would seem to have worked overtime totake advantage of the possibilities: the composer was"somewhat deformed, blind of one eye [with] one legshorter than the other [and] one arm withered ... givento the habit of continually taking snuff . . . his voicepowerful and ponderous, drown [ing] that of everysinger near him . [and] lough as a saw by the quantityof snuff that was continually rasping his throat." Writ-ing in the 1880's, F. L. Ritter described him as beinga mixture of absurdly comic, eccentric, commonplace,smart, active, patriotic, and religious elements-the pro-totype of the Yankee psalm -tune music -teacher as heexisted at the end of the eighteenth century.

A son of the American Revolu-tion (Billings was thirty yearsold in 1776), he reflected theindependent spirit of the timesin his artistic attitudes:

GREGG SMITHRock -solid professionalism

For my part . . . I don't thinkmyself confined to any Rules forComposition laid down by anythat went before me . . . attireis the best Dictator, for all thehard dry studied rules that wereever prescribed will not enableany person to form an Air anymore than the bare knowledge offour and twenty letters, and strictGrammatical rules will qualify ascholar for composing a piece ofPoetry, or properly adjusting a

Tragedy without a Genius.

At the same time, he was modest:

. . . neither should I think(were I to pretend to lay downrules) that any one who comesafter me were in any ways obli-gated to adhere to them any fur -

SEPTEMBER 1969 91

ther than they should think proper; so in fact I think itbest for every composer to be his own learner . . . for meto dictate, or pretend to prescribe Rules of this Nature forothers, would not only be unnecessary but also a very greatpiece of vanity.

and realistically self-critical:

Kind reader, no doubt you remember that about tenyears ago I published a book entitled "The New -EnglandPsalm Singer"; and truly a most masterly performance Ithen thought it to be. How lavish was I of encomium onthis my infant production. . . . But to my great mortifica-tion . . . I have discovered that many pieces were neverworth my printing or your inspection.

He had a sense of humor:

By the rivers of Waterton, we sat down and wept, yeawe wept as we remembered Boston.

He was a patriot:

Let tyrants shake their iron rod,And Slavery clank her galling chains:We'll fear them not, we'll trust in God;New -England's God forever reigns.

The foe comes on with haughty stride,Our troops advance with martial noise;Their veterans flee before our arms,And generals yield to beardless boys.

and he loved music passionately:

That I am a Musical Enthusiast I readily grant, and Ithink it impossible for the Votaries to he otherwise forwhen we consider the many wonderful Effects which Musichas on the Animal Spirit, and upon the nervous systemwe are ready to cry out in a fit of Enthusiasm-Great artthou, 0 Music!

An individualist-''his own Carver"-the composer ofThe Continental Harmony was the first American blessedwith original musical ideas to develop a level of crafts-manship that would allow for their adequate expression.To first experience Billings is to realize suddenly that,as the English critic Wilfrid Mellers wrote in Music in aNeu' Found Land,"... his 'art' is an overflow of wonder,of energy, of released delight. It is as though he-and we-were experiencing music for the first time; and thesensation is strange and enlivening, especially for thosewho belong to a world grown old."

This first important Billings record deserves highpraise. It brings us the Gregg Smith Singers performingon a heavenly plane (that part of heaven closest to Mass-achusetts, of course), their professionalism being so ab-solutely solid that one is scarcely aware of the fact thattechnical difficulties do exist for some singers. They knowno pitch problems; they require no exercises in diction,and, appropriately, they infuse their singing with a senseof joyful involvement that brings the music to life.

The material of The Continental Harmony is fascinat-ing; wait until you hear I Am the Rose of Sharon, BeGlad Then America, Hopkinton, those superb "fuging"

tunes, and the amusing Jargon with its manifesto to the"Goddess of Discord." To make a good thing complete,Columbia has provided excellent recorded sound.

Long overdue, this disc should help bring back anawareness of a singing tradition that has vanished fromthe American scene. It's an important record and, unlessI miss my guess, you'll probably react to it as I know Idid: I smiled all the way through. Leonard Altman

BILLINGS: The Continental Harmony. I Am the Roseof Sharon; David's Lamentation; The Bird; Kittery; Hop-kinton; When Jesus Wept (Fuging Tune); The Lord IsRisen (Easter Anthem); A Virgin Unspotted (Judea);Boston (Christmas Anthem); The Shepherd's Carol; Crea-tion; Connection; Consonance; Jargon; Modern Music;Cobham; Morpheus; Swift as an Indian Arrow Flies;Chester; Be Glad Then America (An Anthem for FastDay). The Gregg Smith Singers, Gregg Smith dir. COLUM-BIA MS 7277 $5.98.

BENJAMIN BRITTEN:THE COMPOSER CONDUCTS

His special viewpoint lends a warmand relaxed glow to Mozart's Fortieth

IT SEEMS to me to be a curious fact that if a composer hasno authentic vocation for conducting, it shows up just

as unmistakably in performances of his own works (theyare supposed to "tell it like it is") as it ultimately does inrepertoire standards. Judging from recordings of his ownworks, I would say that Benjamin Britten has been almostfrom the beginning an "authentic" conductor. But now,with London's release of his uncommonly warm and per-sonal performance of Mozart's Symphony No. 40-a workthat many consider to be the archetypical, bona fide mas-terpiece of the standard symphonic repertoire-he mayvery well be giving even such an outstanding composer -

conductor as Pierre Boulez the gentle elbow.Quite apart from its unostentatious but impeccable tech-

nical proficiency, Britten's performance of the symphonyis perhaps the most glowingly warm, relaxed, and affec-tionate one I've heard on records. I don't know exactlywhy. But an extremely curious letter I received (from a

reader who, in deploring my apparently controversial pub-lished opinion that Mozart composed a lot of masterlybut negligible music, concluded that I was "jealous" ofMozart) raised a point that may not be irrelevant to Brit-

ten's success here. For my reader couldn't have been morein error. Outside of a case of total paranoia, no living com-poser (even one as famous as Benjamin Britten) couldconceivably be envious of a composer who lived in theeighteenth century and who remains, by something veryclose to common consent,

92STEREO REVIEW

BENJAMIN BRITTEN : a very special. personal Mozart

perhapsart.

Instead, a genuinely talented composer -conductor (who,as a composer, has realized his own creative potential)would, I should imagine, be so totally devoid of envy thathe could happen in a very special and differ-ent way from the self-conscious "interpretations" of eventhe most gifted non -composing conductor. And havingbeen, as it were, a parent himself, he might tend to empha-size the real affection for the offspring of another "parent"that he would hope for in a performance of his own work.It may, in fact, be no coincidence that more than a few ofthe most venerable conductors of the last century werealso composers of real distinction.

I'm not heating the drum for the composer -performer,nor am I even suggesting that Britten's Mozart--includinghis sassy performance of Serenala Natural- -is superiorto the legendary performances of Beecham or Walter. Iam suggesting instead that it has a very special, personalcharm of its own and that this may emanate not only fromhis unquestionable mastery of the technique of conductingbut also from his special viewpoint as a composer.

Buy any of the preceding speculations or not, I suggestthat you have a go at this release (London has given it amagnificent sonic production) if you're in the market fora view of a standard that is sufficiently fresh to warrantyour attending once more to a work with which you mostprobably are already well -enough acquainted.

Flanagan

the supreme musical genius in the history of the

MOZART: Symphony No. 40, in G Alinor (K. 550);Serenade No. 6. in D Major (K. 239, "Serenata Not-turna"). English Chamber Orchestra, Benjamin Brittencond. LONDON CS 6598 $5.98.

(RE) INTRODUCINGMISS KETTY LESTER

A program of songs old and new profitsfrom a judicious application of "soul"

KETTY LESTER'S latest recording on the Pete label is

a gratifying turn -about turn -on. She has broken outof the satin -brocade sounds she developed during herrecent -past affairs with Rodgers and Hart, Rodgers andHammerstein, Johnny Mercer, Irving Berlin, and allthose others, and has found her true love, the bumpy,funky music of today. I have always admired Miss Ketty,but this trip she has really won me over permanently.She went home and shook out the soul she always had-only now she flaunts it.

In Bob Dylan's Doilt Think Twice, the first numberon this new disc, she complacently and nasally attacks

from all directions, creating a traditional ear -filling

"opener." Then she smooths it out and delivers a softrelaxing Living or ll"e Lire. Even softer and easier is herversion of the Bacharach-David / Jmt Don't Knott' Whatto Do with ;11)self. Back into the hard -rock beat withShort. die, and gently down again with You're GellingOlder. Close and fade out with a natural spiritual, Peace,Brother, Peace, and Miss Ketty (with the help of herproducer -arranger Lincoln Mayorga and three other vocal-ists) has wrapped up I perfectly paced side one.

Side two has Miss Ketty showing off quite a few old-ies that have rarely sounded so good before. I alwaysfall apart whe I hear Since I Pell for You; I fell apartthis time, too. An amusing Prisoner of Lore helped putme back together temporarily-for I was immediatelyknocked down again by her well-known version of Vic-tor Young's Love Letters, a great old love song from acirca World War II Jennifer Jones movie of the sametitle. Miss Ketty takes it to a gospel church and marriesit off once and for all.. Now ,llore than Ever winds it all

up, but I have a feeling I'll be playing this one regularlywith my record changer set to "repeat... Welcome back,Ketty Lester, to the right side of "soul" town.

Rex Reed

KETTY LESTER. Ketty Lester (vocals); vocal group(Gloria Jones, Shirley Matthews, Carolyn Willis); orches-tra, Lincoln Mayorga arr. Don't Think Twice; Living asIre Live; I Just Don't Know What to Do with. Myself;Show Me; You're Gating Older; Peace, Brother, Peace;Son of a Preacher Man; Since I Fell for ton; Prisoner ofLove; How Sweet It Is; Love Letters; Now !More thanEver. PETE S 1109 $1.79,

(Continued overleaf)

SEPTEMBER 1969 93

NINA SIMONE:one of the best

of today'ssinger -musicians

JAZZ

NINA SIMONE: THE TIGRESSLEARNS TO PURR

Her latest disc is a very special blend ofvocal artistry and intelligent musicianship

Irmo Low SOMEBODY" is an excellent sample of one ofthe best of today's singer -musicians performing at

her very best. Nina Simone, who until recently seemed tobe frozen into a posture of rather petulant militancy,comes back on this new RCA release almost as a new -girl -in -town pop singer. I suspect that this is not so muchbecause she has changed in any fundamental way as thatshe recognizes that the public has grown up musicallyto the point where they can appreciate her very specialqualities.

Until now, Simone has been pretty much a "caviare tothe general" taste, the focus of a small but intense cult.but this recording makes it possible to see her as a muchmore universal talent. The repertoire itself (some of thebest contemporary songs) is certainly in part responsible,but, more important, there is a new and positive life inSimone's voice and delivery. Her older recordings weregenerally howls of despair or rage-things were bad andgetting worse. Here, however, singing such songs of hopeas The Times They Are A-Changin* and Turn! Turn!,her voice takes on a more compassionate note-she seems

to be singing for everyone's understanding, not just thatof one specific group. In Leonard Cohen's Suzanne shesings of love-not a crushed or hopeless or unrequitedlove, but one that knows fulfillment and completion. HerTo Love Somebody is a lucid and moving explanationrather than a harangue or a wail, and the message ofthe two -band Revolution comes through as one of evolu-tion. Different material, in sum, equals different manner-Miss Simone seems softer, yet, oddly enough, also ratherstronger.

None of this is intended to suggest that Simone haslost any of the things that have always distinguished herwork: the absolute musicianship, the technical control ofthe voice, the respect and intelligent comprehension shebrings to a lyric, or her great gift for apt orchestration.And she can still be very much the tigress-except thatshe has learned how to purr.

This album should prove a turning point in Simone'scareer-at least I hope so, since she is, and has longbeen, one of the best American singers around. Morealbums like this one should win her the larger publicshe deserves. Miss Simone has indicated that she, likeBarkis, is willing. Now I guess it's up to all the rest ofus. Peter Reilly

NINA SIMONE: To Love Somebody. Nina Simone(vocals); orchestra, Nina Simone and Jimmy Wisner arr.and cond. Suzanne; Turn! Turn!; Revolution; To LoreSomebody; I Shall Be Released; I Can't See Nobody; JustLike Tom Thumb's Blues; The Times They Are A-Changin'.RCA LSP 4152 $4.98, C) P8S 1453 $6.95.

94CIRCLE NO 3 ON READER SERVICE CARD-).

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NEW ALLIED 1970 CATALOGJust off the press: the world's foremost elec-tronics catalog. It has 552 pages. Ove- 30,000items. Virtually everything known in Stereo hi-fi,tape recorders, C3 radios, phonographs, kits,tools, shortwave, test equipment End books.

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CLASSICALReviewed by WILLIAM FLANAGAN DAVID HALL GEORGE JELLINEK IGOR KIPNIS ERIC SALZMAN

ANONYMOUS: Missa Tonrnai (Four-teenth ( culnry): Afotets: ill solitunt---Tc);,,,. 1Z, , II .,;1,nbiittel/11"2);r,lituni- -Tenor:Th:0/dt(IVollenbiittch Deffothum- (oil-1nm- -Tenor : (Codex B.tniberg);Are Regina Redemfflorif---Tenor:Alma (Codex MonIffelliet ); Condicio naime-0 nacio- -7 enor: Mane ffrima .rabbali

(Roman de Faurel). PHILIPPE DE VI -TRY: Motets. Colla logo condifTenor: Libera me; Tribum -0/,ni.m/7'enor: Alerito het patimmr: FirmaelimeAlamo- -Tenor: Alleluia; Tuba .,.laic fide;- arborae -Tenor: [ago rum: I galad/if/ram/0glorroca- -Counle-we nor. Capella Antigua ofMunich and ensemble of original instru-ments, Konrad Ruhland cond. -I ri.rrt:NKI:NSAWT 9517-A Ex 55.95.

Performance: ConscientiousRecording: ExcellentStereo Quality: First-rate

The main work in this collection is con-sidered to he the oldest extant polyphonicmass, in the composition of which thereundoubtedly were several composers in-voked. Side two is devoted to anonymous iso-rhythmic motets and a group ot motets byPhilippe de Vitry ( 1291-1361 ). All theseworks belong to the first thirty or so yearsof the fourteenth Century, a time of changefrom the are anfiqua to the di( nota; inother words, this was the period when stylesshitted from relatively homophonic and

rhythmically simple settings to a complex1,01\ phone in which different voice rangescontend with each other in a highly man-nered rhythmical system. Konrad Ruhland,the conductor, presents this music in a veryscholarly [WHIM but with rather too nituhlyricism in the later ary non/ works. so thatthe manneristic rhythmic and polyphonic ele-ments are smoothed mar ( compare Deller'srecording of Machaut's No.dre Dane \lass.which is yuite jagged -sounding). Then, too.there seems to he a disregard here for thetext of the mass. to the detriment of thepacing: what happens is that the music tendsto run on without taking a breath. It's allvery well sung and played, with proper in-strumental doublings, but also somewhat

Explanation of- n el -lo -zee! laps

)= four-iraci cartricl;;e(i3)= rich/ -Maack- cartrid.f.,

C c.LI ,t iit

iVh.,1/01,/,///, Cord///g( inched/et/ b)the mbul (*: all °Merl- are stereo

soporific, to my ears. To he sure, the musicof this era, a terribly difficult problem furscholars, is something for which no one hasall the interpretive solutions. Yet one mighthope for a more interesting Iam.incisive re-sult than what one hears here. No com-plaint can he leveled at the excellent sound.Texts and translations-for the Mass butnot for the motets-are included. I. K.

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITBACH: Ricercari gi 3 and a 6 from TheMusical Offering (BIFT 1079); The Art

CH ARLES HI ISE \

1-loking musical sense of Ihorny Ruch

of Fugue (B4.17 1080); Goldberg Varia-tions (WI' 988). Charles Rosen ( piano).ODYSSuy 32 ;6 0020 three discs S8.91.

Performance, In many ways impressiveRecording: GoodStereo Quality: All right

Regardless of whether one feels the piano isthe proper instrument for this music (thealbum is entitled -Johann Sebastian Bach:The Last Keyboard Works,- which in itselfasserts a musicological position given in fullill Mr. Rosen's notes). one must have greatrespect and admiration for the brilliantlyconceived performances. He has chosen someof the thorniest Bach (mainly the ricercarifrom the Mu.kiccl Offering and Th.< ofl'n,Que), and by and large he makes con-siderable musical sense of them. This is notto say that I like everything he does inter-pretively ss ith these scores, for he seers be-

tween an older school of Romantic BachEdwin Fischer and the pointillistic style- -roughly, the manner of Glenn Gould-of themodern approach. Fast movements are veryfast (the crossed -hands variations in theGoldbergs), and slow movements are some-times unduly languorous. I liked his Gold -bergs least (which, by the way, take up -with all repeats!- -three sides, as against thefour of Tureck. Malcolm, di.), perhaps be-cause Rosen's pianistic personality is notparticularly expansive: he is apt to empha-size structure at the expense of allta. Th,All of Fugue, however, is impressive, andhis ability to clarify important things m thismusic is quite amazing. Overall, you willhear a great deal of brilliant playing on thesesix sides, together with a rather curtailed ex-pressiveness. At their best --in the six -voiceRicerca,' or the final unfinished fugue fromBach's last work Rosen's performances areremarkably convincing. The reproduction isdry hut very clear. with a slight hardening ofthe tone at the side ends. I. K.

BARTOK: Music for Strings. Percussionand Celesta; Sonata for Two Pianos andPercussion. Gaza Frid and Luctor Ponse(pianos): members of the London SymphonyOrchestra, Antal Doran cond. NIrRC.FRY SR90515 55.98.

Performance: Variable MSPC, good SonataRecording: GoodStereo Quality: Good

Remembering the lean and powerful Bartokperformances I had the privilege of pukluc-ing with Dorati in Minneapolis during the1950's while seeing as musical director forthe Mercury classics line. I looked forwardwith genuine pleasure to Antal Dorati's newreading with the London Symphony-onlyto he both startled and disappointed. For in-stead of a lean, clean, straightforward treat-ment after the fashion of Reiner or Boulez.v:: get a surprisingly tree -wheeling ersion,in which the end movements especially arevery comiderably at odds (on the slow side)with the composer's expressly stated timingsin the published score. Reiner and Boulezhew most closely to the line in this respect.It is the last movement that is the most dis-concerting in Dorati's reading. Not onlydues he adopt a rather sluggish basic pulsefor this brilliant dance movement. but thevarious relaxations of tempo called for hereand there. usually designated poco menomono or ffin nano mo.f.e0, are decidedlymore than Inert) or pin a good deal of thetime, with the result that the musical conti-nuity becomes fragmented.

More successful is the splendidly bracingLon0nued on page 100)

SEPTEMBER 1969 97

Rectilinear isannounce thehigh fidelity

The time was ripe, to say the least.High-fidelity amplifiers (i.e., amplifiers

whose output closely resembles their in-put) have been around for more thantwenty years. High-fidelity FM tunersjust about as long. Even high-fidelitypickup cartridges, capable of produc-ing a reasonably accurate electrical re-plica of the groove, could be had asfar back as the

But, until Rectilinear did somethingabout it, you still couldn't buy a high-fidelity loudspeaker after all theseyears. Not if you accept any definitionof high fidelity as applied to otheraudio components. (How would youlike, for example, a "high-fidelity" am-plifier with the response and distortioncharacteristics of your favorite speakersystem?)

This isn't just academic hairsplittingor a question of semantics. Audiophilesare in universal agreement that thereare only the subtlest audible differencesamong the finest amplifiers or phonocartridges, whereas no two loudspeak-ers of different design have eversounded even remotely alike. Both maysound pleasing, or realistic, or musical,or better than last year's model; but inan A -B comparison their outputs in-variably disagree about the input. Be-cause, invariably, both outputs are atleast partially wrong.

We believe that our new bookshelfspeaker, the Rectilinear X (that's a ten,not an ex), is the first speaker systemwhose output is right about its input.We further believe that future speakersystems designed with the same basic

principles in mind will sound very muchalike, just like the best amplifiers orpickups, no matter how different theymay turn out to be in actual engineeringexecution.

The initial concept behind theRectilinear X was to try to isolate whateverybody else was doing wrong.Since speakers are undeniably gettingbetter all the time, speaker designersmust be doing something (or even a lotof things) right; but is there anythingfundamental that everyone has over-looked?

We came to the conclusion that thereis. Envelope delay distortion. This is atype of time delay distortion having todo with loudspeaker phase character-istics, which has been a rather ne-glected subject among members of thehi-fi Establishment.

Actually, the phase response of aloudspeaker is at least as important asits amplitude response, although thelatter is nearly always accepted as the"frequency response" specification. Thematter is a bit too technical to bepursued in detail in this ad, but we'll bepleased to give you additional informa-tion if you write to us. For the moment,let it suffice that envelope delay distor-tion causes an audible coloration ofspeaker sound.

In terms of practical speaker design,this line of thinking produced, first of all,a highly unorthodox approach towoofers. We realized that in just aboutall speaker systems the woofer wasresponsible for envelope delay distor-tion as well as IM distortion far up intothe midrange.

The woofer of the Rectilinear X is anentirely new 10 -inch unit with a com-pletely linear excursion capability of1/2 inch in either direction, meaning one

full inch of travel from peak to peak.There has never been anything like it.It can move more air than most 12 -inchwoofers, and of course far less slug-gishly. Furthermore, it is crossed overto the midrange driver at the unprece-dentedly low frequency of 100 Hz, withan attenuation slope of 12 dB per oc-tave. As a result, it remains virtuallymotionless without a deep bass inputand can't possibly mess up the mid-range. But when there's a bass drum ora tuba or double basses in the pro-gram material, it produces music insteadof mud.

Of course, a 100 Hz crossover witha 12 dB slope would be quite imprac-tical with conventional crossover net-works. The Rectilinear X network is de-signed around unconventional iron -core chokes, which will probably upsetEstablishment engineers, but then so didrear -engine automobiles .

The 5 -inch midrange driver is equallyremarkable. It covers more than sixoctaves, from 100 to 8000 Hz, in aseparate subenclosure and is thereforevirtually a full -range speaker systemin its own right. This accounts for thecompletely seamless, homogeneoussound quality of the Rectilinear X. Thecone structure is of a special paper notavailable in any other unit, permittingrigid piston behavior at the lower mid -

frequencies and, at the same time, ex-traordinary transient detail higher up inthe driver's working range.

At 8000 Hz, the midrange is crossed

98STEREO REVIEW

pleased toworld's firstloudspeaker.

over to the 21/2 -inch tweeter. With onlya little more than an octave assignedto this driver, its exceptionally lightcone and voice coil operate only intheir most comfortable range, withoutthe slightest possibility of strain.(Speaker systems that demand too muchwork of a tiny tweeter are asking fortrouble.)

The spacing of the three drivers inthe Rectilinear X is an important partof the design and is by no means dic-tated by convenience or visual sym-metry, as in many other bookshelf sys-tems. The distance of the midrangespeaker from the woofer is particularlycritical for the best possible phasecharacteristics in the crossover region.

The final touch of sophistication is

provided by the grill cloth. In otherspeaker systems the grill cloth is madeacoustically transparent, allowing soundwaves to pass through unaffected. Inthe Rectilinear X a specially preparedfabric presents a graduated acousticimpedance to the midrange speakerand the tweeter, for greatly improvedsound dispersion at the higher fre-quencies. Stretched on a slightly raisedframe open at the sides, the grill clothactually functions as a superior formof acoustic lens, making the speakernondirectional over an extremely wideangle. This, combined with a cabinetsize of only 25" by 14" by 103/4" deep,opens up new possibilities in speakerplacement.

We must emphasize that none ofthese unusual engineering details arein themselves revolutionary. Perhapsthe most gratifying thing about theRectilinear X is that it's still an eminently

sensible bookshelf speaker designedaround three rugged, reliable driversof the classic moving -coil principle,rather than a far-out experiment utiliz-ing some exotic new driving systemalong the lines of, say, ionized airspeakers. Our new standard of per-formance is the result of new insightsinto the existing technology, not of anunproven new invention.

What does the world's first high-fidelity loudspeaker sound like? It can'treally be described in words and youmust hear it for yourself. But the fewpeople who have already heard itseem to agree on the following points:

The bass is startlingly clearer andmore natural than one is prepared to

hear through any electronic medium.The midrange is so completely neu-

tral and devoid of coloration that allother speakers seem nasal by compari-son. There isn't the slightest hint of boxi-ness or enclosure sound. In fact, thesound gives no indication of the sizeor even existence of the enclosure.

On complex program material likeWagnerian climaxes or hard rock, thesame uns'rained clarity is retained as,for example, on solo flute.

Above all, the Rectilinear X is su-premely Ustenable. Even after severalhours of listening at high volume levels,there isn't the slightest aural fatigue orirritation. None of that "I've hadenough, let's turn it off" feeling.

We left the price of the Rectilinear Xfor the last. Since it sounds superior tospeaker systems selling for up to $2400,the price could have been whateverthe traffic would bear. But based onour manufacturing costs plus the normalprofit margin, we decided to set itat $199.

You'll have to agree that for a high-fidelity speaker, that's not high.

(For additional information, see youraudio dealer or write directly to Rec-tilinear Research Corporation, 30 MainStreet, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11201.)

Rectilinear X


9'

Stereo ReviewRecordand Tape

v==.ace-oft ServiceJO=0.

11C=.smiMr

=t Obye 6

ti

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100

and astringent Sonata for Two Pianos an,Percussion, composed in 1937, a year aftethe Music for Strings, Percussion and Celetta. The reading here has proper sweep anrhythmic impetus, and the polyphonic anrhythmic play of the two pianos is wonderfully projected in Mercury's fine recording.would rate this and the Farberman Cambridge disc ( listed for some reason in thSchwann Supplementary Catalog) as the betcurrently available versions of the Sonata]This Mercury disc, by the way, is the onlcoupling of the MSPC and the Sonata, thouglBernstein's Columbia disc of MSPC has thSonata's music in the composer's two -pianoconcerto transcription of 19.10. D.11

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITBARTOK: Sonata for Two Pianos and Percuss ion. POULENC: Sonata for TunPianos. Bracha Eden and Alexander Tami.(pianos), James Holland and Tristan Fr'(percussion). LONDON CS 6583 55.98, 180211 (71/2) 57.95.

Performance: EloquentRecording: ExcellentStereo Quality: Fine

While these performances are not uniformlyd la mode, I find the musical results almostconsistently fascinating andfrom the view-point involved, unarguably valid. The Bar-tok Sonata is probably the more orthodox ofthe two readings; but this judgment is notmeant to depreciate the almost fanaticallypropulsive rhythmic drive the pianists bringto it. There is no concession to Bartok'spopular acceptance in this performance; theplaying is rugged, idiomatically harsh andpercussive, and often downright hard-boiled.It's as exciting a performance of the piece asI've heard in ages.

The Poulenc Sonata is played strangelyand provocatively. Eden and Tamir havemade the most of its "serious" attitudes and,in turn, played down its ''light" ones. Thework has an unexpected grandness and, onoccasion, an elevated tone that I've never as-sociated with it. The rather plodding, relent.less tempos by which this effect is largelyachieved may he a bit wearing a la longue,but the overall view of the piece is an in-teresting one.

The playing is technically expert; the re-corded sound is excellent in the Bartok, buta little bass -heavy in the Poulenc. V. F.

RECORDINGS OF SPECIAL MERIT

BEETHOVEN: String Trios, Op. 9: Nos.I and 3. Grumiaux Trio. PHILIPS PHS900226 55.98.

BEETHOVEN: Serenade, in D Major, forStrings, Op. 8; Serenade, in D Major, forFlute, Violin, and Viola. Maxence Larrieu(flute) ; Grumiaux Trio. PHILIPS PHS900227 $5.98.

Performance: First-classRecording: Above reproachStereo Quality: Excellent

It having been a lovely summer day and all,I confess I wasn't looking forward withbreathless anticipation to hearing and review-ing these two discs. But almost throughout,each surprised me by giving pleasure in themost winningly unpretentious way. None of

(Confirmed on page 102)

STEREO REVIEW

And that, gentlemen, is the understatement of the year.

Other great musical experiencesf'om V adimir Horowitz:

HOROWITZ ON TELEVISIONThe album from his resent television concert.

A historic evert in TV. And in recording.Featuring woks by Chopin, Schumann,

Horowitz and Scarlatti.

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HOROWITZSCHUMANN

Kreislerianaand Variation! on

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HOROWITZ IN CONCERTA brilliant program of definitive

performances from his wildly acclaimed1966 recitals. Works by Haydn, Mozart,

Chopin, Liszt, Scriabin, Schumann and Debussy.ON COLUMBIA RECORDSt


101

ompoimr,sinew erain soundMaazel's spectacular Berlin production recordedwith vivid performance -like realism and abrilliant cast.

Verdi:LA TRAVIATAPilar Lorengar, Giacomo Ara gall, DietrichFischer-Dieskau, The Deutsche Oper, Berlin-Lorin MaazelOSA-1229

If you don't believe orchestral sound can beimproved, you must hear this record. A milestonein reccrding history. Scintiilating performances.

VIENNA SPECTACULAROvertures to Die Fledermaus (Strauss);The Merry Wives of Windsor (Nicolai);Donna Diana (RezniCek); Prinz Methusalem(Strauss); Der Opernball (Neuberger)The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra-Willi BoskovskyCS -6605

London proudly salutes the superb orchestra of avaliant country. Recorded for the first time with itsinternationally acclaimed conductor.

A SALUTE TO THEISRAEL PHILHARMONICORCHESTRA ANDZUBIN MEHTATchaikovsky: SYMPHONY NO.5 IN E MINOR(Op. 64)DvoV.ik: SYMPHONY NO. 7 IN D MINOR(Op. 70)CSA-2224

A recording of unbelievable realism and stupendousmusical excitement. The Hungarian opera forHungarians of all nationalities. Kertesz surpasseshimself Ustinov is genius.

Kodaly:HARY JANOSPeter Ustinov (Narrator)-Soloists of theHungarian State Opera-The LondonSymphony Orchestra-Istvan KerteszOSA-1276

Exciting and unusual repertoire featuring twomelodic concertos by a much neglected composer.Sutherland is stupendous!

RUSSIAN JEWELSGliere: Concerto for Coloratura andOrchestra; Concerto for Harp and Orchestra.Stravinsky: Pastorale, Cui: Ici bas.Gretchaninov: Lullaby. Joan Sutherland-Ossian Ellis (Harp)-The London SymphonyOrchestra-Richard BonyngeOS -26110

Released by popular demand, a brilliant analysisof Wagner's Ring with examples from London'shistoric recording plus specially recordedselections.

AN INTRODUCTIONTO THE RINGDeryck Cooke (Narrator)-The ViennaPhilharmonic Orchestra-Georg SoltiRDN S-1

cOVOTRECORDS

this is music I know at all well, so f expectthat I was working under the misapprehen-sion that anything by the mighty Beethoventhat wasn't very well known must be lesser,if not inconsequential, Beethoven.

Well, perhaps most of the music here re-corded is lesser. The early string triosscarcely set the history of music on Ere withtheir ambition, significance, or scope. But,composed when Beethoven was still a boy,they are both uncommonly sweet, singingworks-remarkable for their fluency and thealready -present mark of their composer'ssharply individual personality.

The Serenades, for the most part, createan overall effect that compels somewhat lessaffection. Like so many of the short 11111111 -

movement works of the period that wereintended primarily to entertain, even thebetter musical ideas, in the nature of theform, are not dignified by that significantmetamorphosis which the cry drama of ex-tended sonata form, for example, makes thefinal test of the quality of the musical ma-terial. A pretty tune in a serenade just getsplayed over again; but even that, I suppose.should leave us counting limited blessings.Taken altogether, the serenades cut far lessdeep than es en the early trios, yet they havebut rarely a banal, facile moment. ,"ristead,they brim with musicality and charm.

The Grumiaux Trio plays all of thismusic with precisely the right weight andwith all the expertise and tender loving careone could ask. And the recorded sound andstereo are each of them sensitively realizedby Philips' engineers. 11". F.

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITBEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 6, in FMajor. Op. 68 ("Pastoral"). Boston Sym-phony Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf cond. RCALSC 3074 55.98.

Performance: ExcellentRecording: GoodStereo Quality: Good

It does not seem to he in style these days tolike Leinsdorf. but frankly I think this is afirst-class reading of the -Pastoral- and I haveno hesitation at all ill recommending it toanyone on the lookout for a strong, lyrical,crystalline performance that sounds andmoves. The playing is excellent-Boston atits best. All kinds of details shine forth inunaccustomed splendor, but the piece is nev-er allowed to become a mass of finicky de-tails; it roves right along in a stream ofbeautifully shaped sound. The recording is abit resonant for my taste and, as is the caseso often with recent RCA pressings. the sig-nal-to-noise ratio was not always ideal. Butthese problems are 1111110r next to the value ofthe performance. E. S.

BILLINGS: The Continental Harmony(see Best of the Month, page 91)

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITBRAHMS: Symphony No. 4, in E Minor,Op. 98. WAGNER: Die Meistersinger:Prelude to Act 1. Berlin Philharmonic Or-chestra, Otto Gerdes cond. DE irrsci E GRAm-MOPHON 139423 $5.98.

Performance: Good Mittel -Europa Brahms;spirited Wagner

Recording: Rich and spaciousStereo Qiiolity. Good

Though he was trained under such Brahmsand \X'agner specialists of the old school asHermann Abendroth and Hans Knapperts-busch. and made his conductorial debutshortly after World War II, Otto Gerdes'name will perhaps be familiar only to thoseAmerican disc collectors who have studiedthe producer credits for DGG's series ofrecordings by Herbert von Karajan. Gerdeshas overseen the Karajan Beethoven, Brahms,and Sibelius cycles, among others. Evident-ly DGG is now intent on building HerrGerdes into a star in his own right. He isthe conductor for the Heliodor Eugca One-

excerpts (S 25081) and the two -discpackage of seldom -heard works by HugoWolf (DGG i26/7) reviewed here inAugust; his reading of the "'New World-S)mphony has been issued in England, andthe liner notes of the present disc promise a

Gerdes -directed recording of Tomhansc.;complete.

Gerdes' treatment of the Brahms is solidlyalong the monumental and romantic Mid -

die -Europe lines that record collectors withlong memories may remember from the -8-rpm discs of Max Fiedler (who knewBrahms) and Gerdes' own teacher, HermannAbendroth. Gerdes handles it well. This ap-proach has had a singularly imposing Amer-ican revisal with the recent Boston Sym-phony recording with Erich Leinsdorf. Savetor a touch of in erbratillneSS in the brass atthe very end, Gerdes' reading of the Aleic-lertingtr Prelude has both sing and zing-agenuinely festive and spirited projection.

The recorded sound is beautiful, on the.whole, with just a shade more room tone-and consequently a hit less violin presence- -

than we have been getting in the Karajanrecordings. D. H.

CIIERUBINI: Symphony in D Major (seeHAYDN)

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITDELIUS: Songs of Sunset (1906-- );nara (1907); An Arabesque (1911). JanetBaker (mezzo-soprano); John Shirley -Quirk(baritone); Liverpool Philharmonic Choir:Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.Charles Gros es cond. ANGELS 36603 55.98.

Performance: Very fineRecording: Mostly very goodStereo Quality: Splendid

A Lisle for England's post-V'agnerian im-pressionist composer Frederick Delius (whowas also influenced by what he heard duringprolonged sojourns in the American South,in France, and in Scandimo is ), may he anacquired one, but once a fondness has beendes eliiped for the best of his heady harmonicbrew --as represented by .S,,,/r.f the Hi!;k

Sea and Appalachid-ii ispretty hard not to remain under the spell astau encounter new Delius works.

Of comparable Caliber to those majorcorks is the cycle Seillgi of .511111-e/. for so-loists, chorus, and orchestra, to eight poig-nantly bitter poems by Ernest Dowson onthe passing of lace and life. The setting ofDowson's famous (;luar,r for baritone andorchestra was intended originally for theSou. d c)cle, but pros ed to be, in the com-poser's opinion, incompatible with the pre-dominantly elegiac spirit of the other pieces.

How to describe Delius' music? For coin-(Co./tie/hi ell pa,:.;(. 106)CIRCLE NO. 44 ON READER SERVICE CARD

111'STEREO REVIEW

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ever to decide on a receiver. Who ca -z you believethen? Well. we took our receivers to the experts tofind out what they had to say. Their unbiased find-ings are summed up in the comments above.

Now who Flo you think offers the finest value instereo receivers?procedures for rating power outputs.

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1970 Catalog 700

496 Pages

LAFAYETTE RADIO ELECTP.ONI:S CORP.Featuring Everything in Electronics for Dept. 1109 9 Box 10, Syosset, N. Y. 11791

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from the "World's Hi-Fi& Electronics Center"

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CIRCLE NO. 43 ON READER SERVICE CARDSI: \tBER 1969 103

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parison I would point to the most yearningand evocative moments of the T)iltan Pre-lude to Act III or the final pages of Mahler'sDas Lied von der Erde, and then ask thatyou imagine them distilled to the absoluteminimum by harmonic concentration, withexquisitely laid out choral textures as well.Delius matches the intense poignancy of theDowson poems word for word and line forline in his musical tapestry. John Shirley -Quirk, after a somewhat quavery start, risesto heights of splendid eloquence in his "Bythe sad waters of separation" solo. JanetBaker is her wonderfully dependable, whollyartistic self from beginning to end, and theLiverpool Philharmonic Chorus does itselfproud in the tricky part-writing (bouquets tochorusmaster Edmund Walters).

Shirley -Quirk is in good form throughoutthe Cynara setting, which is fine musically,but as poetry a bit hard for me to take. InAn Arabesque, to a somewhat pantheistictext by Danish poet Jens Peter Jacobsen(Delius made numerous other settings of hiswork), we get a taste of Delius the fantast.On its own terms, it is highly effective stuff,though less immediately accessible and mov-ing than the Songs of Sunset. Shirley -Quirkagain displays his artistic mettle to fine ad-vantage here.

For this last, Shirley -Quirk chooses theEnglish text of Jacobsen's poem. Sir ThomasBeecham recorded the work in 1958 usingJacobsen's original Danish text, but therather unsteady vocalism of Copenhagen Roy-al Opera baritone Einar Norby made for anuneven result. Beecham's 1957 recording ofthe Songs of Sunset (Odeon ALP 1983) wasreleased after his death; though there arebeautiful things in it, he was not sufficientlysatisfied with the tape to approve its releaseduring his lifetime. The spirit of Sir Thomasmay well have nodded in approval over thelovely sound elicited from both orchestraand chorus here by Charles Groves. Hemight have taken issue with a few details oftempo and phrasing, but speaking for my-self, I am vastly heartened to find a Britishconductor in mid -career (Groves is fifty-four) who seems to have a real feeling forthe Delius style of phrase and texture. As Ihave intimated, the recorded sound is wonder-fully clear and spacious in depth illusionand panoramic breadth. My only criticismhas to do with the microphoning of thesoloists, who unfortunately seem to intrudeinto the texture rather than emerge gradual-ly from it. D. H.

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITDVORAK: Symphony No. 7, in D Minor,Op. 70; Carnival Overture, Op. 92. LondonSymphony Orchestra, Antal Dorati cond.MERCURY SR 90516 $5.98.

Performance: Surgingly dramaticRecording: GoodStereo Quality: Good

There have been a number of fine recordedperformances of this most knotty and dra-matically tragic of the Dvofak symphonies,those by Szell and Monteux being the mostnotable of the currently available crop. Dora-

ti's intensely dramatic and wonderfullyworked out reading can now join this augustcompany.

The curiously Brahmsian sound of thehighly elaborate end movements of the DMinor seems to have intimidated most con-

ductors and recording engineers alike intomaking the whole piece rather too heavy go-ing, with over -dense sonorities and over-emphatic rhythmic accentuation. But the ac-cent, flow, and relative weighting of orches-tral balances must be perfectly proportionedif the music is to achieve its intended effect.In this recorded performance, Dorati has con-centrated on achieving continuous forwardthrust with clarity of texture, and on apply-ing the dynamic elements in just the rightproportion. Note the very spacious and dra-matically effective articulation of the open-ing pages; there is plenty of elbow roomfor each phrase to make its point. The move-ment as a whole continues on similarlybroad and monumental lines. To my earand mind, this really works and evokes theatmosphere of tragic grandeur that Dvoiakevidently aspired to in this work. Likewise,

°._10*Q.9

Next Month in

Stereo ReviewBerlioz as Critic

Berlioz as Composer

A Berlioz Discography

A Buyer's Guide toRecord Players

(."`ViterZ

the highly contrapuntal development in thefinale comes off here with genuinely thrill-ing effect and sets the stage for a truly cumu-lative climax. The middle movements arebeautifully done, too. The lilting accentua-tion of the dancelike scherzo bears just theright kind of relation to the serious fare thathas gone before.

All told, I find this an exceptionally il-luminating and convincing realization ofwhat many regard as the finest of the Dvoraksymphonies. Other merits are the splendidorchestral playing, and the clean and beauti-fully sonorous recorded sound throughout.I recommend this disc highly. D. H.

FRANCAIX: Divertissement for Oboe,Clarinet, and Bassoon; Divertissement forBassoon and String Quartet (see RAVEL)

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITHANDEL: Sonatas, Op. 1: No. 2, in GMinor; No. 4, in A Minor; No. 7, in CMajor; No. 11, in F Major. Hans -MartinLinde (recorder) ; August Wenzinger (vi-

ola da gamba) ; Gustav Leonhardt (harpsi-chord). RCA VICTROLA VICS 1429 $2.50.

Performance: ExceptionalRecording: ExcellentStereo Quality: Good

Of the fifteen sonatas in Handel's Op. 1,written around 1711 or 1712 and publishedin 1722, four are specified for recorder andcontinuo. They have been recorded eitherindividually or as a unit quite a few timesin the past, but seldom so stylishly as inthis present release. All three artists are wellknown for their dependability in this kindof music. Linde, the soloist, manages to com-bine most effectively the Italianate lyricismand the virtuosity of these scores; his em-bellishments are a model of how this sortof thing should be done. His only seriouscompetition comes from a recording on Tele-funken of these four sonatas (and two otherworks) by Frans Briiggen, in which the con-tinuo harpsichordist is also Leonhardt. That,too, is a superb recording, and you couldn'tgo wrong by acquiring either. Victrola's re-production is most satisfactory. I. K.

HAYI)N: Sinfonia Concertante in B -flat(see MOZART)

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITHAYI)N: Symphony No. 60, in C Major("II Distratto"). CHERUBINI: Symphonyin D Major. Chamber Symphony of Phila-delphia, Anshel Brusilow cond. RCA LSC3088 $5.98.

Performance: Very clean and richRecording: FineStereo Quality: Good

A lot of Haydn has been coming my wayrecently, and, to my mild surprise, I'velearned that I entertain more surprisingthoughts about his work than I do aboutmany of my own contemporaries whoseachievements I perhaps take too easily forgranted. Robert Gutman, RCA's extremely lu-cid and intelligent annotator for the presentrelease, has supplied me with informationthat I have either forgotten since my daysin Music History I-or perhaps never reallyknew. For example, I would have seen noparticular point to the coupling of Haydnand Cherubini symphonies had I not beeninformed (or reminded ?) that Haydn wasthe Italian composer's friend and idol. Andto be perhaps inordinately candid, Cherubi-ni's reputation as a vocal composer has beenso emphasized that I'm far from certain Ireally ever knew he'd composed a symphony-much less a symphony influenced byHaydn. But I suppose my ignorance of thework is not too deplorable, since the com-poser withdrew it because of unfriendly crit-ical comparison with similar achievements byHaydn and Beethoven. Ultimately, he re-cast its materials for string quartet.

Actually, I find the piece far more per-sonal than Mr. Gutman does and not sub-stantially more reminiscent of either Haydnor Beethoven than I would expect the sym-phonies of any other of their contemporariesto be. If its lyrical content is no match for theHaydn symphony with which it is coupled,it is only fair to note that the Haydn piece-certainly inexplicably among the less fre-quently performed of his more mature sym-phonies-quite outdoes itself on that level.

(Continued on page 108)106

STEREO REVIEW

Jacqueline du Pr6metDanielBarenboimAnd theymarried andplayed happilyever after.

On Angel.

She was a brilliant young cellist, a formerstudent of Rostropovich, and internation-ally acclaimed. He was a turbulent talentwho had survived being a child prodigy to goon to fame as a pianist conductor.On July 15, 1967, these two young geniuses- she from England, he from Israel -married, becoming the world's most cele-brated music lovers since Clara and RobertSchumann. Their honeymoon? "We spent itin camps playing for Israeli soldiers:'Today the Barenboims are at home on Angel.Where else would they live?

HAIL NN

Bfl 1(NSONA1ASnuuMINO 211N I.MAWS I 1 INNO 31

A

Jaciluvline 1)uViarenboim

DELlus:CELLO CONCERTO

Song, ofklaglf di Ile 11,,PMSorm+nt

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London Symphony

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DANIEL

J.L.L (1.111.191

SEPTEMBER 1969 107

Furthermore, the result of a lack of "thematiccohesiveness" which Gutman attributes tothe Haydn and accounts for by the fact thatits materials were derived from entr'actemusic composed for a play falls on my inno-cent ears as a vastly more futuristic, subtle,and sophisticated musical continuity and abraver and freer formal plan than I associatewith the period. There's no getting aroundit: it's a beautiful, eloquent work.

But hack to the Cherubini symphony. Itis inevitably less sure of itself than a charac-teristic symphony by Haydn or Beethoven-most notably in its more random stylisticposing. But it has a certain elegance of fig-orational detail and ingenuity of contrapun-tal writing that not only distinguishes itfrom Haydn but provides a dash of Italianspice, as it were, to a meal of essentiallyGermanic staples. In any case, it should nev-er have been withdrawn, and it should beperformed today a good deal more than itis. Perhaps in spite of its somehow endearingeccentricities, I am grateful to RCA andconductor Brusilow for giving it to us in amodern recording.

In writing of Nonesuch's recent anthologyof Haydn's London symphonies, I believe Idescribed a style of Haydn performance thatlessens the music by trying to make it thestylistic match of Mozart's. I'd forgottenabout another performing phenomenon:that by which Haydn's relatively uncompli-cated symphonic gesture is fleshed out to re-semble the more complex, expansive mannerof Beethoven's. This is Brusilow's approachto "11 Dirtrauo." And while I deplore it inmost Haydn symphonies, it at least seems be-

lievable in this one. I am not enough versedin the correct stylistic attitude toward Cheru-bini to say more than that it appears to cracklenicely here. The sonics are superior. 117. F.

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITLL Symphony No. 88. in G Major;Symphony No. 102, in B -fiat Major. NewYork Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein cond.COLUMBIA MS 7259 S5.98.

Performance: ExcellentRecording: Very goodStereo Quality: Very good

What is there to say except that Bernstein isa great Haydn conductor and it is hard toimagine anything better than a fifty -minutehour curled up with this disc? Every musicaldecision is audacious, brilliant, yet carriedoff with perfect ease and dash. Plenty ofdepth and balance to the style, the playing,and the sound. The B -flat Symphony in par-ticular is for once played like the toweringmasterpiece that it is. Only some pressingproblems marred my enjoyment. E. S.

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITHOLST: Twelve Songs, Op. 48 (Wordsby Humbert Wolfe): Persephone, ThingsLovelier, Now in these fairylands, A littlemusic, The Thought, The Floral Bandit,Envoi, The Dream City, Journey's End, Inthe street of lost time. Rhyme, Betelgeuse.Ave Maria, op.9h.The Song of the Black-smith. Three Welsh Folk Songs: The Dore,My Sweetheart's like Venus, The Lover's

PHILIPS

PHILIPS PHONOGRAPHIC INDUSTRIESBAARN - THE NETHERLANDS

Our rapidly expanding organization, active in all parts of the world,has ambitious plans regarding the expansion of its classicalcatalogues.

To effect these we wish to contact first class executives with wideexperience in record companies, radio organizations or orches-tral management, etc. who are interested in a position as a

TOP LEVEL A and R EXECUTIVE(CLASSICAL)

This post involves international A ana R activities to be carriedout on one's own responsibility.

Those who are interested are kindly requested to write to Mr. P.Huiskes, Philips Phonographic Industries, Box 23, Baarn, Hol-land, stating particulars of education, experience, age, knowledgeof languages, etc. Of course letters will be treated in strictestconfidence.

811118

Complaint. Two Part -Songs: Pastoral, TheSwallow hates her nest. Too Carols: Ofone that it SO fair and height, Bring Ili insgood ale. Peter Pears (tenor), BenjaminBritten (piano); Purcell Singers, ImogenHoist cond. ARGO ZRG 512 55.95.

Performance: SuperbRecording: A bit over -reverberantStereo Quality: Good

With ,his release of the second of three Argodiscs devoted primarily to the vocal music ofRalph Vaughan Williams' neglected con-temporary and friend Gustav Hoist, we nowbegin to sense something of the slope andvariety, as well as the profundity, of theyounger man's creative work.

The colorful cinematic aspects of ThePlanets and the bluff English folklorism ofthe Si. Paul's Suite and the splendid bandsuites mark only the outer boundaries of theHolstian universe- -a universe which extendsbroadly from the exquisite sensuality of theIndian chamber opera Savitri (Argo ZNF 6)to the solitary mysticism of Egdon Heath(London CS 6324) and certain of the Hum-bert Wolfe songs recorded here. In be-tween, we have impressive and grandiosepieces such as the Hymn of Jesus (LondonCS 6324), the Choral Fantasia (Everest3136), and folksong settings in which thehandling of choral voicing is the equal ofRichard Strauss's orchestration in its unerr-ing skill-hut fortunately minus the Germanmaster's lapses into vulgarity.

The works on the Argo record under re-view here range in point of time from theAre Maria for women's chorus of 1899 tothe Welsh folksong settings of 1931. Un-questionably, the meat of this album residesin the remarkable series of twelve songson texts by the distinguished British poetHumbert Wolfe. And it is of no small sig-nificance that the recorded performanceshere are by Peter Pears with Benjamin Brit-ten at the piano-Britten himself represent-ing the fulfillment of t: twentieth-centuryBritish song tradition embodied most es-pecially in the work of George Butterworth,Ralph Vaughan Williams, Peter Warlock,and Gustav Hoist.

The Wolfe poems are strange and fragileworks that speak of fruitless fantasy and loss,ending in the chilling Journey's End and theawesome terror of Betelgeuse. The Hoistsettings are of equally awesome mastery;every single note, whether in voice or piano,is made to count for maximum harmonic,polyphonic, and dramatic effect. Betelgeuse,the masterpiece of the series, holds its ownwith Schubert's Doppe/giinger as one of thegreat tours de force of the song literature.

The choral songs, which occupy the re-verse side of the disc, constitute a variedhag, both in substance and merit. The AteMaria indicates that Hoist was as skilled atchoral composition from the very beginningas Tchaikovsky was at orchestration; TheDove and My Sweetheart's like Venus, fromthe Welsh folksong settings of 1930-1931,display this skill at its very peak. Song ofthe Blacksmith is the same music that Hoistused as the third movement of his earlier1911 Second Band Suite, but it --and Bringus in good ale-needs a bigger and morerobust group than the smallish but superblytrained vocal ensemble that the composer'sdaughter, Imogen, has at her commandhere. Otherwise, the choral performances are

(Continued on page 110)CIRCLE NO. 68 ON READER SERVICE CARD108

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109SEPTEMBER 1969

altogether elegant and beautifully recorded.Let us hope that some American label will

lease the tapes and issue over here the BritishLyrita recordings of late Hoist orchestralworks (Fugal Overture, Fugal Concerto,Lyric Movement, Brook Green Suite) con-ducted by Sir Adrian Boult and ImogenHoist. Meanwhile, one should not overlookthe fine British Odeon disc (still availablein most major record shops) that otters Imo-gen Hoist conducting her father's two bandsuites, 11.1mmerrmith and the beautifulMoorside Suite for brass band. D. H.

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT

1.(1F\X.F: Ballads and Songs. Prim:: Lug< n,Staudt -hot; Heinrich der I.ogle-r;

Die duet Lieder; Die C7 hr; Hochzeitslied;Elvershiih; Der heilige Franziskus; OdinsMeeresrill; Der 'click; Die Gruft der Lichen -den. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone);Jiirg Demos (piano). DEUTSCHE GRAMMO-PITON SLPM 139116 $5.98.

Performance: Fischer-Dieskau in top formRecording: ExceptionalStereo Quality: Minimal

Even outside German-speaking countries, thecomposer Carl Loewe (1796-1869) hasachieved a kind of immortality, for practical-ly everyone who has so much as a cursoryacquaintance with the history of Germansong knows him as a composer of balladswho wrote the -other- Erltanig. (He was aprolific composer in other forms as well,but little of this music is heard today, evenin Germany.) Some, too, will be familiarwith his most popular ballads through re-cordings: the Schwalm catalog currently listsHermann Prey's Vox disc entirely devotedto the ballads (although Vox is no longerpressing it), and Hans Hotter's "Great Ger-man Songs, Volume Two- includes fine per-formances of Erlkiinig and four more of thecomposer's most familiar solo vocal pieces.But I would wager a great many listenerswill have their first exposure to Loewethrough this new disc. It is difficult to ima-gine a better way.

What do these ballads and songs soundlike? I suppose it is no more dangerous togeneralize about Loewe than about any othercomposer, but the task is complicated by thefact that my limited knowledge of his musichas not given me any strong impression of aunifying personality. In the homely senti-ments of such songs as Die I hr and Derbeilige Bram:1.11-ns, he is close to Silcher; athis most elaborate, as in the longer ballads,he often reminds me of Liszt-especiallywhen he indulges his fondness for stretchingsinuous vocal lines across arpeggiated ac-companiments. In short, he was a giftedeclectic of no great individuality. But heneed not be condescended to: I think anyonewould concede this after hearing the spell-binding phrases of 1.),) Ni)ek, for example,or the sharply etched and dramatic Odic;Al eery i tit/.

The contents of this recording are wellchosen to provide a cross-section of the com-poser's solo vocal works. There are the rela-tively familiar ballads peopled with Germanfolk heroes (Prinz Lugen, Heinrich der Iler), gods (Odin; Meeresrill), and goblins(Der Nock); there are the charming 7-1'0M-Mel-SandChen and Hochzeiblied, in whichthe composer handles humor deftly; thereare a couple of unpretentious lieder on pious

texts-- -Die Lahr and aa. b, ili,e Franziskus;and there is Die Gruft der Liebenden, per-haps the most remarkable thing on the rec-ord. a macabre ballad lasting more than fif-teen minutes and a piece that I would besurprised to learn had ever been performedon this side of the Atlantic. There is enoughvariety here that, even after several hearings,I could play the disc straight through with-out flagging attention.

Fischer-Dieskau is in rare form: there islittle evidence of the upper -register troublethat has plagued him recently, and he sel-dom feels it necessary to lunge tonelessly ata kind of big sound that is simply no longerwithin his vocal capacity. In the amusingHoch:Milled he is marvelously funny with-out being vulgar, and he imparts genuinewarmth to Der heilige Frngickus-he nei-ther patronizes the song nor tries to elevateit to something it is not. At my first hear-ing I did not have scores or texts, and whiletrying to "assemble" words from the flow of

Cum Lntasr.An excellent sampling of his solo songs

vocal sounds I found myself transfixed (notfor the first time by this artist) by the im-maculate purity of Fischer-Dieskau's vowelproduction-there is no "mixing," no distor-tion, no affectation, hut rather an elegantopenness and clarity, and consequently greatvariety as well. Together he and Dennisdemonstrate fine ensemble co-ordination: theabsence of inhibition and tentativeness sug-gests that each knows perfectly what theother is going to do throughout. Demos isnot an assertive accompanist here, in partbecause the music does not offer opportuni-ties to shine, but particularly in llochz<ii,-lied he gives t performance of exquisite sug-gestiveness and lovely fluency.

Only Die Gruff der Liebenden is a bit dis-appointing. This rather misshappen poem isbuilt upon a series of stock situations havingto do with a princess recalled from the deadby die kiss of knight who, never having toldhis love while she lived, has conic to hertomb to bid her farewell, and their discoveryby her father the king. Loewe's musical in-vention proved more than equal to the taskof lifting these lines out of banality: thoughhardly a towering achievement, the settingis quite striking. Fischer-Dieskau sings ef-fectively enough. but about halfway through

I sense that he loses interest in makingdrama out of the narrative's substance-scantsubstance, to be sure, but this artist has sooften transformed the ordinary into the mem-orable that I could not help feeling let down.

The recorded sound is exceptionally cleanand full, with a warm and solid bass, and thesurfaces are blessedly silent. Robert S. Clark


MAHLER: Symphony No. 3, in D Minor.Helen Watts (contralto), Ambrosian Chorus,Brays from Wandsworth School, London Sym-phony Orchestra, Georg Solti cond. LONDONCSA 2223 two discs SI 1.96.

Performance: First-class, affectingRecording: Very goodStereo Quality: Impressive

From being one of the stepchildren of theMahler family, this symphony seems to havemoved up in the world-at least to judge bythe number of recordings that have turnedup. It is a curious, moving, powerful workwith a rather embarrassing program ("Whatthe flowers tell me," etc.) later suppressedby the composer, a thirty-five minute firstmovement, and six movements in all. Evenat that it is, in a sense, incomplete; its finalebecame part of the Fourth Symphony (thusexplaining the anticipations of that work inthis less familiar context). No. 3 now endswith an instrumental Adagio and the ex-pected return of the voices never occurs. Stilleven the effect this produces-of a hugetorso-does not mar the work but ratheritself becomes part of its strength.

All of this is grasped and communicatedwith great power by Solti, and he (andMahler) are aided no end by Miss Watts, bythe remarkable English musicians, and bythe excellent sound. In short, whatever pos-sible argument there could be about details(and there could be few of those), this is anoverwhelming performance. If you are intoMahler, by all means dig this. F. S.


MENDEESSOHN: A Midsummer Night'sDream. Incidental Music: Overture:Scherzo; you Spotted Snakes; Intermezzo;Nocturne; Wedding March; Dance of theClowns; Finale. Jennifer Vyvyan and Mar-ion Lowe (sopranos) ; Female Chorus of theRoyal Opera House Covent Garden; LondonSymphony Orchestra, Peter Maag cond. 1.0N -DON STS 1508-i S2.19.

Performance: Best of its breedRecording: SuperbStereo Quality: Adds magic

Most -incidental- music tor Shakespeare'splays is indeed incidental and highly dis-posable, but there are a few scores-DavidDiamond's and Sibelius' for The Tempestcome to mind-which not only match to per-fection the spirit of their subjects but alsocontinue to make delightful listening in con-cert form. The most enduring of all isMendeksohn's for Shakespeare's fantasticwoodland comedy about the foolishness ofmortals and the pranks invisible immortalsplay on us. Here is mirrored all the magicand mirth of the play itself. The best way tohear it is when it is interwoven with thedialogue, as in the old RCA Victor three -

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CIRCLE NO. 22 ON READER SERVICE CARDSEPTEMBER 1969

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cellent if old-fashioned performance by theOld Vic, together with the music playedelegantly by the BBC Symphony under SirMalcom Sargent. Some time ago this itemwas ruthlessly dropped from the catalog andthere remain only single discs of the scoreitself, in varying degrees of completeness.About fifteen versions of this are available,of which a few-the scintillating Toscaniniperformance in mono, for example, and thesumptuous Leinsdorf reading-are quite im-pressive. My own favorite remains PeterMaag's immaculate reading of the score, inwhich every colorful detail is summonedfrom the orchestra, along with a sweep andglitter and a sense of musical mischief thatare altogether compelling. It is the one Ihave chosen for my own collection, and Iwholeheartedly recommend it for inclusionin yours, especially in this low-priced reis-sue. My one reservation is the voice of Ti-tania in You Spotted Snakes"-JenniferVyvyan sounds rather more ladylike thanfey-but this is a minor flaw in a marvelousevocation. P. K.

MOUSSORGSKY: A Night on BaldMountain (see TCHAIKOVSKY)

MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 20, in DMinor, K. 466; No. 6 in B -fiat Major, K.238. Vladimir Ashkenazy (piano); LondonSymphony Orchestra, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedtcond. LONDON CS 6579 $5.98, ® 80212$7.95.

Performance: ExcellentRecording: DistantStereo Quality: In depth

An excellent performance of a famous Mo-zart concerto and a respectable reading ofan obscure one arc the considerable meritsof this record. The B -flat Concerto, whichwas completely unknown to me, is an ele-gant little gahni work in the vein of thecontemporary violin concertos and a pleasantcontrast to the Sutra/ and Drang of the DMinor. Ashkenazy is elegant (if not entirelystylish) for the one, dramatic and noble forthe other, and he has excellent orchestralsupport. But the record has defects as wellas merits. The recorded sound lacks pres-ence-with Mozart one ought to be able totouch the sound; here the performers are offin some other acoustical p,in. And the re-view copy was excessively noisy. E. S.

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITMOZART Sinfonia Ccincertanie, itt L -fiatMajor (K. 297h). HAYDN: Sinfonia Con-certante, in B -fiat Major, Op. 84. EnglishChamber Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim cond.ANGEL S 36582 55.98.

Performance: Comme ii foulRecording: High -qualityStereo Quality: Exceptionally fine

The notion that Haydn and Mozart resembleeach other in any significant way, as I haverecently pointed out in these pages, is hardlya novelty invented by my own feverish brain.There are indeed resemblances: in harmonicvocabulary, sometimes in structural proced-ure, even in melodic style. But as I thinkabout it, I once heard playwright EdwardAlbee deliver a reply very much to the pointhere when he was asked: ''Who has in-fluenced you? Beckett? Genet?"-and tomake matters a hit hairy --'Pinter?' The

last is, of course, the English playwrightwho is roughly Albee's age and is also hischief rival for supremacy among playwrightswho write in English. Albee conceded noinfluence upon him by Genet, and expressedprofound admiration for Beckett, who, asany student of the theater knows, has had avery tangible influence on (whom else but?)Harold Pinter. But he wisely observed thatsimilarities such as one might note shouldbe paid little heed-that it is dissimilaritiesthat should be watched for. ''After all, eachof the writers you mention lives on the sameplanet, during the same era, in a world sub-ject to the same political and philosophicalfashions and trends. The wonder would bethe appearance of a playwright who bore noresemblance to anything in this world."

Albee's reply may leave you still incapa-ble of distinguishing Mozart from Haydn orDebussy from Ravel. But it is only on thesurface that the similarities of contemporaryartists are likely to be most readily spottedand glibly made issues of.

Consider the Haydn and Mozart sinfoni,uhere. Let's start with an area of commonground at which no one will balk: each, inits highly personal way, is a beautiful andoriginal piece. Furthermore, I find each su-perior in interest and quality to many amore famous work by either. Each work, aswell, is compellingly serious and elevated intone. Each is also very ambitious as to struc-ture and, for a piece so unified, of an almostalarmingly extended time span (Mozart:32:23, Haydn: 21:40). Right along here, theresemblance ends.

Well aware of the had news that styleis too often in the ear of the beholder, I'lltake a plunge and submit that the pieces areeons apart in stylistic conception. Haydn'swork creates a puzzling impression of re-gression to concerto-grosso tactics-until youlisten carefully enough to discover that hehas invoked rather than revived the form.The solo -instrumental detail, given its peri-od, is quite as olltrc as, say, Stravinsky's,and, I would guess, the underlying intentionwas not dissimilar. Altogether, Haydn'ssinjonia strikes me as more inventive, ad-venturous, and willing to take chances thanMozart's piece. The latter, I hasten to add,is a lovely, rather somber work; when I de-scribe it as an estimable work (even for theMozart catalog) I choose the adjective withcare.

I like conductor Barenboim's work here;for that matter, I like it even better if thecoupling was his idea. But, more significant-ly-even though he gets more help thanusual from the contrasting nature of thepieces-he succeeds stylishly with that othermatter I've been carping about. This, ofcourse, is an approach to the music of thesetwo composers that stresses their vastly im-portant differences rather than their super-ficial similarities. IV. F.

MOZART: Symphony No. 40, in G Minor:Serenade No. 6 (see Best of the Month,page 92)

POULENC: Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, andPiano; Sonata for Clarinet and Bassoon(see RAVEL); Sonata for Two Pianos(see BARTOK)

(Coniinnea' on page 114)CIRCLE NO. 34 ON READER SERVICE CARDIllSTEREO REVIEW

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PROKOFIEV: Symphony No. 5, in B -fiatMajor, Op. I00. Berlin Philharmonic, Her-bert von Karajan cond. DEUTSCHE GRAM-MONION 139040 S5.98, ® 9040 (71/,)57.95, ® 89040 $6.95, © 923084 86.95.

Performance: LyricalRecording: GoodStereo Quality: Resonant

The Prokofiev Fifth is not exactly an obscurework, nor has it been neglected by the rec-ord business: there are a good dozen versionson the market. But Prokofiev has never beenmuch appreciated in Millel-Europa, and it isof considerable interest to hear a Germanicversion of a work that we usually hearthrough Franco -Russo -American° ears. In-stead of the wiry, crackling tension, clarity,and sentimentality, we have a much heavier,more forceful, yet also more lyrical readinghere. There are a couple of cymbal crashesin the first movement that strike me as amongthe loudest noises I can recall emerging froma commercial pressing. Karaian leans intothe dissonances so that they emerge withfar greater stress and weight than usual. Theslow movement is highly intense, the Finalealternately lyric and demonic. I do miss acertain forward pulse; the energies here aresomehow static. On the other hand, manyaspects of the score emerge with solidityand presence. The final pages are, it must beconfessed, simply hair-raising. The playingis top-notch, and the recording well en-gineered. Definitely a competitor in a crowd-ed field. E. S.

RACHMANINOFF: Lilacs; Daisies (seeSCRIABIN)

RAVEL: Introduction and Allegro forFlute, Clarinet. Harp, and String Quartet.POULENC: Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, andPiano; Sonata for Clarinet and Bassoon.FRANCAIX: Divertissement for Oboe,Clarinet, and Bassoon; Divertissement forBassoon and String Quintet. Members ofthe Melos Ensemble of London. ANGEL S36586 $5.98.

Performance: GoodRecording: A little bottom -heavyStereo Quality, Excellent

I suppose any comment I might make aboutthis release should he prefaced by the warn-ing that its musical content will be a guar-anteed pleasure only to those listeners whoseFrancophilia can be characterized as glandu-lar. Certainly, those who believe that musicmust be very complex and/or brood withCentral European single-mindedness aboutits own profundity and importance will re-gard this particular program of twentieth-century French fare as little more thanclassy salon music.

And it could very well be that this is asaccurate a description of it as any defense Imight be willing to attempt. The Ravel In-troduction and Allegro for flute, clarinet,harp, and string quartet is about as light-weight and fluffy as anything the composerever wrote and, come to think of it, thepiece wouldn't sound in the least inappro-priate in the dining room of a hotel. (Dohotel dining rooms still employ chambergroups for dinner music, or am I unwittinglydating myself?) So, all right. I was enchant-ed by the piece the first time I heard it and

I still am. And I should very much fear theloss of some valued part of myse!I if the daywere ever to come when an on -the -nose per-formance of that :noment (toward the endof this brief piece) when it launches intoa bubbly waltz failed to delight me. Forreasons best known to my subconscious, italways reminds me of the Paris that pro-duced Garbo's first unforgettable laugh in afilm called Ninotchka.

Both of the Poulenc pieces date from aperiod when this composer's frivolity was a;much a gesture of defiance (of the pom-posity of German post -Romanticism and Ex-pressionism, of course) as it was a desire togive uncomplicated pleasure. The formalplans are aggressively and, at certain mo-ments, almost insultingly simplistic-if youlet the composer get you where he wants you.If you don't have any hang-ups in thesemusical areas, you will, as I do, probablyjust listen and enjoy.

Adding the pieces by Jean Francaix to the

FRANCIS POULENCAggressively simplistic music?

program will be adding insult to injury tothe man who believes that, say, Max Regerwrote music of great Significance and Depthand Everything. And even for those who goalong with the unified aesthetic premise un-derlying the work of each composer repre-sented on this program, the addition of theFrancaix pieces may seem like an incontesta-ble case of having sainted the lily. It strikesme that the only musician I have ever heardgo overboard about Francaix was his teacher(and, in a sense, his inventor) Nadia Bou-langer. I am myself mildly annoyed by hisrather special ability to compose in words ofone syllable and with exasperatingly wastedperfection. But there is no denying it: thepieces are pretty.

It isn't really eery important when, where,or by whom, but I guess I have heard eachof these works performed more stylishly bothin live performance and in recording thanhere. Every so often, British musicians, forall their excellence, leave me with the tasteof Yorkshire pudding rather than crepes su-zette. And Angel's engineers have mildlyfailed the characteristic sound of much ofthis music by emphasizing lows at the ex-pense of bright, shimmering highs. w. F.

SAHL: A Mitzvah for the Dead, for Violinand Tape. RANDALL: Lyric Variations,for Violin and Computer. Paul ZukofskyI violin). VANGUARD CARDINAL VCS 10057

$3.50.Performance: Presumably as it should beRecording: GoodStereo Quality: Disappointing

As nearly as I can determine, there are rough-ly three schools of thought about electronicmusic-tape, computer, or any other medi-um that may have been dreamed up, news ofwhich hasn't reached me yet. The extremely"conservative" position: electronic music is,in any form, hogwash and anti -music, and,as such, will soon be only a Imftnote to beread with bemused curiosity by music stu-dents of the future. The "liberal- or -mid-dle-of-the-road- position: it is as valid apremise from which to compose music asany tither when it is used by men of talentand imagination; like most movements thatrepresent themselves as radical, it will neverbecome the All of music but, in the processof radical experiment, procedures and usageshave been and will continue to be developedthat will enrich the techniques and vocabularyof the musical mainstream. The radical posi-tion: this is the one and only hope for thecomposer of the future; it will free him fromthe whims, inadequacies, and egotistical va-garies of the live performer, even as it opensup a (presumably) limitless gamut of newsonic possibilities.

As in most matters, I am a mushy liberal,and it is with dismay that I concede thatsome of the most compelling evidence I'veencountered that electronic music can beused with originality, can be convincinglyintegrated with traditional live instrumenta-tion and singing, has been provided by so-phisticated rock-and-roll groups. In the areaof -serious- music, where the techniqueswere originated, I have noticed little im-provement in artistic quality in the by -now -

many years that composers have been work-ing in the field. Curiously enough-and herethere is an interesting parallel in the successcertain rock groups have had with electronictechniques-the most effective ''serious"pieces I've heard use electronic effects mostconvincingly when the dramatic impetus ofa sung text (operatic or otherwise) is presentand these elements are further combined withtraditional instruments.

In any case, neither of the pieces recordedhere is likely to accomplish anything otherthan setting the electronic Cause back to itsrelatively recent dark ages. Michael Sahl (b.1934) has given us a work that has its ori-gins in "an incidental score'' he composedfor the Lincoln Center Repertory productionof East Wind, Vest Wind. He tells us inthe jacket notes that "the production changeddirection and [his] score was no longer us-able,'' leaving him with "'material whichsoon coalesced into a piece." Neither I norevidently much of anyone else can commenton the effectiveness of this music had itserved its original theatrical intentions, butif Mr. Sahl would have us believe that ithas "coalesced" into anything but an em-barrassingly naïve, low -comedy degradationof the challenging concept of integrating tra-ditional instrumental performance with elec-tronic effects, then he had better prevent usfrom listening to it. A rather sappy -soundingsolo violin is the "live" instrument involved,

(Continued nn loge 116)114

STEREO REVIEW

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A statement by composer Henry Brant:

"On March 24, 1969 the Eastman Wind Ensemble, Donald Hunsberger conductor, presented a program consisting of four

of my spatial compositions.The problems posed fcr the recording were unusual in that my music requires specific setups for the performers inparticu'ar positions in the hall, as well as on stage. In the four works heard, groups of woodwinds, brass and percussion -in some cases, each one led by a separate conductor - were disposed in the balconies, and behind and at the sidesof the audience at the ground level, as well as on stage. A pipe organ, sounding from stage rear was also used. The spatialarrangement of the players was different for each composition, and in all these pieces the music giyen to the separategroups is highly contrasted, no two groups ever playing the same music or even anyth ng similar.

The photograph was taken during a rehearsal and shows one of the participating groups under my direction. (A separateorchestra in the top balcony, not shown in the photograph, is being simultaneously led by Dr. Hunsberger.)

The recording was male by using four channels simultaneously on 1/2 -inch wide recording tape. Neumann U-47 microphoneswere spaced in a rectangular array in the audience seating area. to produce a recording which is played back throughfour speaker systems, one in each corner of the listening room. Four AR -3a speaker systems were used as control roommonitors during the recording and playback.The results, both in the amount of resonance achieved and in the quality of sounds produced, are impressive, and suggestthe initiation of further experiments aimed at capturing the specific details of directionality which derne the sound ofclassical and contemporary antiphonal music."

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CIRCLE NO. 2 ON READER SERVICE CARDSEPTEMBER 1969 115

and Mr. Sahl's writing for it includes a lotof hammy "traditional" musical material cul-minating horrendously in a set of variationson The Last Rose of Summer. Mr. Sahldescribes these aspects of the piece for us:

. . and almost immediately the elementof satire or camp, which is the first thinganybody notices about the piece, gave way toa strange ambivalent attitude, a kind of long-ing for the old music and the world thatproduced it."

Susan Sontag, by virtue of her famous.honorable, but finally unconvincing essay"Notes on Camp." brought an essentiallyesoteric word into common usage --a wordthe very existence of which could he ac-counted for by the fact that -camp" is simplynot subject to precise definition. But whenwe find Mr. Sahl thinking of A Mitzvah forthe Dead as "camp," then we must face thefact that the word has lost all semantic andconnotative value and ought to be consignedto some linguistic morgue. The indefinable-thing" the word once alluded to still exists:what we need now, along with deflation andan end to the war in Vietnam, is a newword to describe it, and safeguards to keepthe word secure from indiscriminate misuse.

J. K. Randall's Lyric Variations, what-ever its shortcomings, at least doesn't layclaim to being "camp." Quotations attrib-uted to him on the sleeve are couched in theconvoluted syntax of The New Criticism,and I believe everyword of them even thoughI perceive little of what is described aurally.I rather guess the work to be rooted in theschool of electronic composition that at-tempts to impose the rigid academicism ofserial -type organization (here even on -vi-brato, tremolo, reverberation, waveformtransformation, etc.") on an experimentalphase of contemporary music whose greatestpotential ought logically to he in the mostunbridled sort of freedom. Be that as itmay, Mr. Randall's piece is neither enter-taining, startling, nor even mildly adventur-ous in its context; it sounds, in truth, ex-tremely tame and, at its worst, pretty boring.

The recorded sound on both of these piecesis okay, but I could conceive of a considera-bly more fanciful use of stereo effects inmusic of this sort. F.

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITSAINT-SAENS: Violin Concerto No. 3, inB Minor, Op. 61. VIEUXTEMPS: ViolinConcerto No. 5 in A Minor, Op. 37. ArthurGrumiaux (violin); Lamoureux.Orchestra,Manuel Rosenthal cond. WORLD SERIES PHC9109 $2.50.

Performance: OutstandingRecording: GoodStereo Quality: Good

The colorful and inexhaustibly melodiousSaint-Saens Concerto is royally treated by theBelgian virtuoso Arthur Grumiaux: his play-ing is technically flawless, exquisitely pol-ished in tone and phrasing, and beautifullyproportioned. No bravura requirement isslighted, and yet there is nothing "showy"inthe execution: the secure ease and natural-ness of Grumiaux's art are wonderful. Lack-ing the irresistible melodic riches of theSaint-Saens work, Vieuxtemps' Op. 37 reliesmore on violinistic dazzle. Here, too, Grumi-aux's treatment is remarkable, though theshowier style and juicier tone of Heifetzimpart a heightened measure of drama to

his performance on RCA 2603. one whichalso benefits from a more vivid orchestralstatement. This disc is a reissue of Philips900061, dating from 1965; its sonics are un-spectacular but entirely acceptable. G. J.

SCHUBERT: Symphony No. 9. in C Major("The Great"). Philadelphia Orchestra, Eu-gene Ormandy cond. COLUMBIA MS 7272$5.98.

Performance: BlandRecording: GoodStereo Quality: Good

This most dynamic of large-scale lyricalsymphonies gets a surprising polite and un-dynamic treatment at Mr. Ormandy's hands-a peculiarity that has cropped up in a num-ber of previous instances of standard Austro-German repertoire in which Ormandy hashad to make a choice between vigor and re-finement. The sounds are all very beautiful

Anent It ( II

Royal treatment for wino-ae'ris

here, but the reading is oh so dull whenheard next to those of Krips, Szell, or Tos-canini. Enough said! D. H.

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITSCHUMANN: Faschingsschu'ank ailsWien, Op. 26; Arabesque in C Major. Op.18; Humoreske in B -flat Major, Op. 20.Claudio Arrau (piano). PHI tivs PHS 900181$5.98.

Performance: Fresh and briskRecording: GoodStereo Quality: Good

Since no critic can have an indisputably ac-curate knowledge of what the ubiquitouslylamented nineteenth-century Grand Mannerof piano playing was really like, I have longsince simply discontinued reading reviewsreferring to it ever so knowledgeably inwhatever the newspaper or periodical mayhe, no matter how prestigious the name onthe by-line. Truth to tell. those of us who,in 1969, are sure it must have been the mostwould probably flee a hall in disbelief andpanic if confronted with an accurate re-crea-tion of the Grand Manner today.

Claudio Arrau plays what we used to de-scribe in school as "a lot of piano." That'sno secret. And, dealing with the repertoire

of this new recorded recital, he can get prettygrand. But he does no mooning over Schu-mann. And, as pianists of his generation go,his approach is contemporary and brisk, andthe notes are cleanly articulated-none ofthis, mind you, in any way at the expense ofexpressi ity.

For example, he begins the allcs.oz, open-ing of Facchicz,;(scho ant with a detached,almost percussiN e propulsion that is :is sure-ly of this century as Apollo It. The ensuingRomanz./ is all but thrown away at no ex-pense to its lyric grace. Somewhat later, heplays the Intermezzo moement with suchunderstatement that, for the first time, Iheard it almost as a mere transition to thesplashy Finale.

Describing his work in the rest of the pro-gram would merely be repeating the sameobservations about different pieces. In thelast analysis, it should probably he suggestedthat Schumann ranks high among Romanticswhose piano music is structured into salient,meaningful shapes with great difficulty: youmay not like Arran's virtually businesslikeapproach to some of this music, but I don'tsee how you can deny him the accomplish-ment I have described. IF. F.

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITSCRIABIN: 12 Etudes, Op. 8. RACH-MANINOFF: Lilacs, Op. 21, No. 5; Dai-sies, Op. 38, No. 3. Morton Estrin (piano).CONNOISSEUR SOCIETY CS 2009 S5.79.

Performance: ExcellentRecording: First-rateStereo Quality: Good

Various of the etudes dating from Scriahin'searly twenties have been recorded by Horo-witz and Richter; hut, as the sleeve notestates here, this Connoisseur Society disc bythe New York teacher -Virtuoso Morton Es-trin offers the first recording of the entireOp. 8. The music shows Scriabin a sovereignmaster of piano language, hut still under theinfluence of Chopin, and, to a lesser extent,of Liszt and the Wagner of Tristan (as. forexample, in the I No. 2). The plangentChopin rhetoric is most evident and effec-tive in the last of the etudes, which recallsthe D Minor Prelude of the Polish master.My own special favorite in Op. 8 is thepassionately lyrical No. 11, in B -flat.

Though Estrin makes no attempt to per-fume Scriahin through fussy dynamics or ex-aggerated ruba/o, neither is he coldly ob-jective. One senses rather that, with lovingcare, he is attempting to set forth the mu-sic as communicatively as possible on its ownterms. The same affectionately sensitive ap-proach characterizes Estrin's playing of thetwo exquisite Rachinaninoti song transcrip-tions (the composer's own) that concludethe album.

As with Connoisseur Society's previouspiano recordings with Ivan Moravec, thisdisc is notable for its beautifully cleats andwarm sound reproduction, offering justenough room ambiance to keep the forteattacks from sounding hard. D. H.

STOCKHAUSEN: National Anthems inElectronic and Concrete Sounds. DEUTSCHEGRAMMOPHON 139121/2 two discs $11.96.

Performance: Electronic musicRecording: Electronic musicStereo Quality: Built-in


116 STEREO REVIEW

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SF PTEM BER 1969CIRCLE NO. 32 ON READER SERVICE CARD

117

This work is a huge, monstrous tape frescoin an electronic junk -music idiom that oneassociates with certain new American ratherthan European music. The central materialsof Hymnen (the German title) are nationalanthems and patriotic airs which, alongwith electronic and recorded sounds, variousvoices, and other more -or -less recognizablescraps (animal noises in one place), aremixed, modulated and inter -modulated,speed -changed, and otherwise mumbled,jumbled, rumbled, mangled, mashed,squashed, battered, bashed, torn, tattered,scratched, scribbled, and strangled, the wholealternating with black silences and fragmentsof spoken phrases in various languages.Stockhausen connoisseurs will recognize themaster's voice as well as a big chunk ofDeutschland fiber Alles (or, if you will, theEmperor's Hymn, although Stockhausenclearly intends the other reference) that alsoappeared in the Solo for Melody Instrumentrecorded by the trombonist Globokar forDeutsche Grammophon (and which I guessedat the time was a spin-off from Hymnen).

It is worthwhile to compare this monu-mental work with the Variations IV of JohnCage (to whom part of Hymnen is dedicat-ed, the other dedicatees being Pierre Boulez,Henri Pousseur, and Luciano Berio). TheCage, portions of which have been issued onEverest, is less a work than a pattern for anevent; it is a prototype of a kind of experi-ence for which Hymnen is an (admittedlyvery different) interpretation. Cage also useshits of familiar music-all the old favoritesof the repertoire-and he cheerily transformthem, junks them, and/or mixes them withelectronic sounds, other recorded sounds, aswell as environmental noises. The whole iscasual (in both senses), totallynon-linear; it is, in part or in whole, a re-laxed, totally engaging, total, and even joy-ous experience. The Stockhausen, althoughits length is presumably variable, is far more -organized. It has a cutting edge like a steelblade and a tense, nervous quality that neverlets up. For all that goes on, it has a curi-ously flat, one-dimensional surface acrosswhich patterns-simple, complex, familiar,unfamiliar, static, dramatic, dense. thin, elec-tronic, recorded-are traced. The Cage is anexperience and, even taken in big doses, anengrossing one. The Stockhausen is an ordeal-fascinating, disturbing, monumental, melo-dramatic, powerful, and exhausting.

The difference is, I suppose, the differencebetween a Rudi Dutschke and an Abbie Hoff-man, between German SDS and the Yippies.Anyway, it'll give your equipment a work-out; but don't expect to be able to detectany system distortion-you'll never he ableto tell. E. S.

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITTAKEMITSU: Coral Island, for Sopranoand Orchestra; Water Music, for MagneticTape; Vocalism Ai (Love) for MagneticTape. Mutesumi Masuda (soprano), Yomi-uri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, HiroshiWakasugi cond. RCA VICTROLA VICS 1334$2.50.

Performance: Mostly impeccable bydefinition

Recording: BrilliantStereo Quality: Flashy

Toru Takemitsu (b. 1930) is an elaboratelygifted Japanese composer strongly preoccu-

pied by and successful with what are re-garded by more or less common consent as-advanced" Western musical techniques.RCA, in this recording devoted exclusivelyto his work, has given him first-class pre-sentation, and if you're at all curious aboutwhat goes on in more sophisticated Jap-anese musical circles, I suggest you look intothis release.

Of the three works involved, all but Cora!Island (1962) are composed for magnetictape. I have never been one to disguise thedim view I take regarding electronic musicas an end in itself; its ultimate usage with"mainstream" instrumentation, however, Iview as virtually inevitable. But Takemitsuuses the technique with surrealistically dra-matic effect in a little number called Vocal-ism Ai. The jacket notes describe it as a"72 -hour tape montage of ai (a Japaneseword meaning love)" which ''has been con-densed into a four -minute nine -second ai.

I\ \mill \zSTocisii

The sound elements are the voices of onewoman and one man. They repeat ai manytimes in different pronunciations, with vari-ous intonations and speeds." None of thisin any way accounts for the uncannily bi-zarre effect of the piece, of course, and, asyou might guess, it is a natural for unearthlystereo treatment.

117,8er Music (1960) is not only longerbut, simply as auditory experience, less com-pelling than the rather extraordinary idea be-hind it. For in the piece, again according toRCA's jacket annotation, -all sound ele-ments are sounds of water drops. Each ... ischanged and given rhythm by manipulatingthe recorder." All of this is interestingenough for about the first half of the piece,but after that, one water drop begins tosound pretty much like another to me.

Coral Island is a big piece for voice andorchestra that produced an odd reaction inme. Its stylistic ambiance, on first impres-sion, is the "advanced" twelve-tone mannerwe've heard so much of in the West duringthe last twenty years. But, in spite of this,one soon realizes that Takemitsu has givenan extremely personal (dare I say Japanese?)inflection to this generally impersonal -in-ternational- style. The piece is thunderously

dramatic and unswervingly lyrical in im-pulse. And the composer orchestrates withsuch overpowering skill and originality that,clever as he is with magnetic tape, one hopesthat he will give as much attention as pos-sible to the orchestra.

In sum, Takemitsu is not only the bestcontemporary Japanese composer I've yet tohear, but a young man who can stand withhis peers in any land. The recorded sound issuperb. IV. F.

TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 5, in EMinor, Op. 64. MOUSSORGSKY: ANight on Bald Mountain. Chicago Sym-phony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa cond. RCALSC 3071 55.98, C) RSS 1119 36.95.

Performance: Rich -texturedRecording: GoodStereo Quality: Excellent

The designation ''rich -textured,'' as applied

Fr (Tithing under control?

to Mr. Ozawa's reading of the TchaikovskyFifth Symphony, does not mean lush, butrefers rather to the care he takes to bringout all the significant linear strands in themusic-as opposed to concentrating solelyon the big tunes and the fiercely dramaticclimaxes. This makes for a rather differentsort of Tchaikovsky than one hears from,say, Markevitch or Bernstein, but it is byno means lacking in interest or vitality. TheOzawa tempos are straightforward and un-exaggerated. The same characteristics markhis treatment of the all -too -easily vulgarizedNight on Bald Mountain. Good, rich soundthroughout. D. H.

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Sinfonia Ant-artica (Symphony No. 7). Heather Harper(soprano); Sir Ralph Richardson (speaker);Ambrosian Singers, and London SymphonyOrchestra, Andre Previn cond. RCA LSC3066 $5.98.

Performance: Musical, but short on profileRecording: SuperiorStereo Quality: Excellent

It came as something of a shock to me to beinformed by RCA's jacket annotation for this

(Continued on pace 120 )

1 I 8STEREO REVIEW

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SEPTEMBER 1969CIRCLE NO. 69 ON READER SERVICE ,:AF'D

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release that, as an habitual movie -music -watcher (if you will block my metaphor), itwas over twenty years ago-1948-that I

approached New York's Little Carnegie The-atre to observe a British film called Scott ofthe Antarctic-largely because its back-ground music was composed by RalphVaughan Williams. Truth to tell, I remem-ber little about either the movie or its scoreand, so far as I know, I have never heardthe Sinfonia Aniaraica which the composer,Some three or four years later, developedalmost entirely from the materials of his filmscore.

For reasons that have always eluded me,even the finest composers-bona fide mastercraftsmen-stumble and often fail in the at,tempt to forge significant works from eventhe best film scores. More often than not, themost -successt ones are cast in the form ofunpretentious suites whose composers arecontent merely to entertain and, in the proc-ess, add another work ( probably bearing thetitle of a celebrated film) to their catalogs.There are exceptions, of course, but notmany.

Certainly, Sinfonia Antarctica is not ore ofthem, particularly if one views it chnmo-lo,gically with the major achievements of thiscomposer's three preceding symphonies inmind. In this light, the piece can only he re-garded as downright regressive. 1 wont pre-tend I've listened to the recording tweytytimes, but I've heard it often enough to beconvinced that no matter what its structurallogic may be in theory, to my ears it rambles,vamps, and sounds padded with -descrip-tive.' effects (some of them distinctly gla-cial) --even to the extreme of introducing awind machine into the orchestration. Pre-sumably to clarify this amorphous, alarming-ly long work (two very full sides), VaughanWilliams has interjected spoken -superscrip-tions- which are of no help whatever to me,at least, and only add to the thoroughly un-characteristic pomposity of the overall ges-ture. 1 hose who have read my comments OnVaughan Williams' work in the columns oftins magazine over the years will perhaps re-tail that f am a more than ordinarily enthusi-astic admirer of the composer who single-handedly elevated British music to a levelfrom which it could command internationalrespect. So I think I can convincingly claimthat it gives me no pleasure to declare thisparticular piece an unqualified bomb.

I don't envy Andre Prev in the problems hefaced-consciously or otherwise-in pre-venting this score from coming completelyunglued. Since Previn is himself a seasonedcomposer of film music, he was perhaps un-troubled by the rambling continuity of thepiece. I won't swear to it, but sensitive andmusical as his conducting may be, I sensestrongly that a more disciplined hand andless indulgence might have helped, althoughscarcely have saved, a piece that to my mindjust doesn't work.

The orchestra plays beautifully, and RCAhas lavished its finest recorded sound andsubtlest stereo treatment on the release. II-. F.

VIEUXTEMPS: Violin Concerto No. 5,in A Minor (see SAINT-SAMS)

PHILIPPE DE VITRY: Motets (seeANONYMOUS)

\X'AGNER: Die Meistersinger, Prelude toAct I (see BRAHMS)

COLLECTIONS

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITAMERICAN BRASS MUSIC: Ives: Fromthe St,:plcs and the Mountains (1901):Songfor Hart ert Season (189-1): Chromatimelod-/nue (1909 & 1919). Brehm: Quintet forBrass (1967). Brant: The Fourth Millennium.Phillips: Music for Bras,. Quintet (1967).American Brass Quintet; Jan DeGactani(mezzo-soprano, in Song for Ilarrest Sea-son); Phil Kaplan, Steve Marcus, ClaudeFontanella (percussion) ; Riverside ChurchCarillon. Nom]sucii II 71222 $2.98.

Performance: A-1Recording: SplendidStereo Quality: Highly effective

The angular and Rieggerish Quintet of Al-vin Brehm (b. 1925) and the intensely color-ful and expressionist Music for Byars Quin -

61 of Peter Phillips (b. 1930) were both

MAA VAN EGNIoNDA baritone of first-rate musicality

written for the American Brass Quintet andare, in their respective idioms, highly effec-tive works, with the Phillips being the morearresting of the two.

But the real raison d'etre for this disc,as far as I am concerned, is the extraordi-nary three -minute Charles Ives piece, Fromthe Steeples and the Mountains, which wasconceived for brass and two sets of fourchurch hells and results in a kind of cosmictower music. This is exactly what one hearson this recording. thanks to the tracking inof the Riverside Church carillon, and it is astunning realization of the cosmic grandeurimplied in Ives's epigraph: "From theSteeples --the Bells!-then the Rocks on theMountains begin to shout!"

Interesting in its way, but of minor im-portance by comparison, is the 189-I poly-tonal Song for Harteit Scaon for solo voiceand brass, and the canon-stretto study, Chit,-matimelodtune. A percussion obb/i.:;,/to hasbeen realized here from sketchy indicationsin the score, but I wonder if Ives really in-tended such a rhythmically regular proces-sional effect as that which emerges here.

The Henry Brant (b. 1913) work is a

stereo -antiphonal speech -rhythm piece (com-plete with H. G. Wellsian apocalyptic pro-gram) rather typical of his output over thepast decade; it is highly suggestive, but not

STEREO REVIEW

necessarily rewarding to repeated listening.It's a fine workout for one's stereo equip-ment, however.

The Ives Steeples and the Phillips workmake this disc for me. The playing is alto-gether superb, and the recording excellent.

D. H.

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITERNESTINE SCHUMANN-HEINK: op-era Arias. Mozart: La Clemenza di Tito:Patio, parts. Handel: Rinaldo: Lascia ch'iopianga. Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice: Ach, ichhate ale verloren. Donizetti: Lucretia Borgia:Brindisi. Meyerbeer: Le Phophete: Arch,mein Sohn; 0 pretres de Baal. Thomas:Mignon: Kennst du das Land? Gounod:Sapho: 0 ma lyre immodelle. Saint-Saens:Samson et Dalib: Der Frithling erwachte;Mein Herz. Wagner: Das Rbeingold:lreiche, Wotan, weiche (with HerbertWitherspoon, bass). Rienzi: Gerechter Gott!Ernestine Schumann-Heink (contralto); or-chestral accompaniment. RCA VICTROLAVIC 1409 $2.50.

Performance: ExtraordinaryRecording: Ancient, but well restored

Although two Schumann-Heink recitals havebeen previously released by the CanadianRococo label (duplicating some of the ma-terial available here), this is the first re-lease from the authentic RCA source-pre-sumably derived from original matrices-devoted to that legendary lady. And she waslegendary indeed, with a sense of humormatching her ample girth, and with that re-markable longevity: Schumann-Heink's ac-tive singing career exceeded fifty years. Shewas already forty-five in 1906 when theearliest of these recordings was made. Thisrecital should be savored for the unique Schu-mann-Heink qualities: the weighty contral-to sound coupled with an unbelievable agil-ity no one would associate with that kind ofweight; a technique that enabled her to floatpianissimo tones in the high soprano regis-ter, or to execute the delicate turns sprink-led throughout the Rienzi aria; the exqui-site legato line buttressed by extraordinarybreath support; and her phenomenal rangeso stunningly revealed in the elaborate Lu-crezia Borgia drinking song. Neither her Mig-non, her Dalila, or her Orfeo would satisfytoday's more exacting requirements in termsof musical accuracy, but there is no doubtwhatever that if Schumann-Heink werearound today she would drive every mezzoto despair. The reproduction is excellent forthe age of these recordings-I906-1913.

G.).

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITSONGS OF THE BAROQUE ERA:Krieger : Der linbestand iet ihr verwandt;Der Liebe Mach/ herrscht Tag tend Nacht;Der Rheinsche lrein tanzt gar zit leis. Al-bert: lraldgesang; Lob der Freundschaft;I.orjahrsliedchen. Biber: Serenada ("Nightlratchman") for Strings, Bass Voice, andContinuo. N. Hasse: Meine Seele, waistdu ruhn; Von der Etrigkeit; Ich wall aufErden bin tend her. Schutz: &harm Bichmein, o Herne Gott. Purcell: Hy swift, yehours (Z. 369) ; The Father Bran e (Z.342/4); Return. revolting Rebels (Z.632/16). Huygens: .5.renade; Quoy Clor-lade, to pars? Lully: L'Amour peintre:

Pauvres amants; five other selections. Maxvan Egmond (baritone) ; Frans Briiggen,(recorder and flute); Jeanette van Win-gerden (recorder); Leonhardt Consort; DijkKoster (cello) ; Gustav Leonhardt (harpsi-chord, organ, and Samba). TELEFUNKENSAWT 9525-B $5.95.

Performance: Impressive presentationRecording: ExcellentStereo Quality: Fine

Those familiar with Max van Egmond'swork on a variety of Telefunken albums, in-cluding some important Bach discs, willknow what to expect from this highly in-teresting collection. Egmond's technique andprojection are fine, and his first-rate musical-ity and intelligence are apparent in these var-ied selections. The repertoire on the first

side is all German; that on the second side isdivided between England (Purcell), Hol-land (the seventeenth -century composer Con-stantijn Huygens), France (two operaticsongs of Lully), and Italy (Alessandro Scar-latti, Steffani, and a seventeenth -centurysong by the singer Francesca Caccini). To allthis material van Egmond brings virility andsensitivity, as well as a superior sense ofstylistic requirements, and the extremely wellvaried accompaniments are equally impres-sive. The recital as a whole, with the singleexception of the Biber serenade, is a fineachievement. The reproduction cannot befaulted, and texts and translations have beenincluded. Baroque enthusiasts should nothesitate to obtain this disc, but I would ad-vise others to hear it first because of the oftenrarefied repertoire. I. K.

1-1

rat If

First Row Center,Orchestra

CARL MARIA VON WEBER: HIGHLIGHTS FROM THEOPERA "OBERON"Jess Thomas, tenor; Ingrid Bjoner and Erika Koth, sopranos;Bamberg Symphony; Wilhelm Schiichter. conductor VCS- I 0063BEETHOVEN: QUARTET NO. 14 IN C SHARP MINOR,Op. I31The Yale Quartet VCS -10062THE ART OF HAROLD GOMBERG, OBOEBRITTEN FANTASY QUARTET FOR OBOE AND STRINGSBRITTEN: SIX METAMORPHOSES AFTER OVID, FOR OBOEMOZART: OBOE QUARTET IN F. K. 370 VCS -10064MOZART: DIVERTIMENTO IN D MAJOR, K. 334, andMARCH, K. 445The Esterhazy Orchestra; David Blum, conductor VCS -10066GRIEG: HOLBERG SUITE and LAST SPRINGDAG WIREN: SERENADE FOR STRINGSEnglish Chamber Orchestra; Johannes Somary, conductor VCS -10067BEETHOVEN played by BRUCE HUNGERFORDPIANO SONATAS OP. 78; OP. 27, NO. I OP. 110 VCS -10055PIANO SONATAS OP. 26, -FUNERAL MARCH";OP. 27, NO. 2, "MOONLIGHT" ; OP. 79 VCS- 1 0056CHOPIN played by GUIOMAR NOVAESBALLADES NOS. 3 AND 4-POLONAISES IN F SHARPMINOR, OP. 44, AND A FLAT, OP. 53-BERCEUSE-2 ETUDES-ECOSSAISEN VCS- I 0059

AVanguard CARDINAL series

Available at your Record Dealer-$3.98CIRCLE NO. 66 ON READER SERVICE CARD

SEPTEMBER 1969 121

Fifteenth in a series ofshort biographical sketches

of our regular staff andcontributing editors, the

"men behind the magazine"-who they are and how they

got that way. In this issue,Contributing Editor

PAULKRESH

By WILLIAM LIVINGSTONE

WHEN Paul Kresh's new book ThePower of the Unknown Citizen

was published earlier this year, NewYork Tinies book reviewer Thomas Laskasked him, "When did you ever findtime to write a book?"

The question is a logical one, forPaul has a full-time job as vice-presi-dent in charge of production and pro-motion at Spoken Arts, Inc. In addi-tion, he is an active radio and TV pro-ducer and director, he reviews booksregularly for Saturday Review, hewrites articles for such magazines asPageant, Playboy, and PerformingArts, and is on the Board of Governorsof the National Academy of Record-ing Arts and Sciences. Since 1963 hehas written monthly record reviewsand frequent feature articles for STEREOREVIEW. He is the author of manyshort stories and poems, a novel, andeven an opera libretto based on Na-thaniel Hawthorne's The Marble Faun(the libretto is still in search of itscomposer).

Paul says it was not so much aquestion of "finding time" for the newhook, but of deciding how best to spendthe time available. "I lead an extrav-agant life, spending a lot of time andmoney on travel and going to the the-ater, movies, and concerts. This meansthat in my work I have had to elimi-nate everything that I can get someoneelse to do for me. For example, I am achampion typist, but I can no longerafford to type my own copy."

The Power of the Unknown Citizendeals with civic problems and givessome encouraging answers to the ques-tion "What can one person do?" Com-missioned by J.P. Lippincott Company,the book has been favorably reviewedin Saturday Review, the Los AngelesTimes, the Chicago Tribune, and else-where. A condensation of the bookrecently appeared in Coronet.

A native New Yorker, born in 1919,

Paul attended George WashingtonHigh School, City College, and NewCollege at Columbia University. Forthe next few years he held a variety ofwriting jobs ranging from newspaperreporter for the Newark Star -Ledgerto script -writer at radio station WNYCin New York. His scripts for a musicalseries on that station won two OhioState Awards. For ten years he wasmotion picture director for the UnitedJewish Appeal, where he produced ascore of award -winning documentaryfilms featuring Broadway and Holly-wood stars. In 1959, Paul became di-rector of public relations for the Unionof American Hebrew Congregations,the central body of Reform Judaismin the Western Hemisphere, and edi-tor of that organization's nationalmagazine American Judaism. He alsoinitiated the award -winning radio se-ries Adventures in Judaism, which hestill writes, directs, and produces.

In 1967, Dr. Arthur Luce Klein,president of Spoken Arts, invited Paulto join his firm, which produces spo-ken -word recordings, tapes, filmstrips,and multi -media educational packages.Since he has been with the company,Paul has directed dozens of filmstripsand recordings. Among this year's re-leases he is particularly proud of thesix -disc album "The Greek Myths"read by Julie Harris and Richard Kiley.At present he is editing an eighteen-

record survey of American poetry fromEdgar Lee Masters to the present, inwhich one hundred poets read theirown work.

To avoid a conflict of interest, whenhe joined Spoken Arts, Paul askedSTEREO REVIEW not to assign himspoken records for review. The editorsengaged Clive Barnes, Dance andDrama Critic of the New YorkTimes, to handle the spoken assign-ments, and since then Paul has playedthe field, reviewing everything from

pop and rock to the classical repertoire."I enjoy being the roving quarter-

back among the reviewers," he says,"just as I have enjoyed and learnedfrom writing in so many differentforms. My musical education was notexactly typical. Although I had violinlessons as a child, I learned more aboutmusic from my father's phonograph.When I grew up, I came to the classicsvia contemporary music. One of thefirst pieces of music that really excitedme was Honegger's Pacific 231, and Ithen discovered the music of the eight-eenth and nineteenth centuries via themusic of the twentieth."

Paul lives in the kind of bachelorapartment non -New Yorkers think allmen about Manhattan inhabit: aGreenwich Village penthouse with alarge picture window that looks outon a terrace complete with a live wil-low tree and a stunning view of mid-town Manhattan. His large collectionof paintings competes for wall spacewith shelf after shelf of hooks, rec-ords, and tapes and the plaques andscrolls from all those awards he haswon.

THE apartment is generously fur-nished with electronic equipment-anorgan, stereo installation, color TV,and several tape recorders-but Pauldenies that heis one of the McLuhanpeople. "The pseudo -sophistication ofthat line that the medium is themessage gives me a pain. TV screens,tape decks, and so forth are marvelousextensions of our senses, but intrinsi-cally the medium alone is meaning-less. I hope the fad passes soon.

"I abhor fashions in music. Theymake people commit the only real cul-tural crime, which is pretending to feelwhat you think you ought to. Manypeople are ashamed of liking a com-poser who was 'in' last season but is'out' now. And I am repelled by theweariness with which people turnaway from the familiar, such as theworks of Rimsky-Korsakov. I nevermind being asked to say somethingnew about the old chestnuts.

"When the chips are down and Iactually buy records for my own pleas-ure, I return again and again to Bee-thoven, Debussy, Sibelius, and Tchai-kovsky and the great show albums-my favorite is On the Town. I alsoplay a lot of American music-Barber,Copland, and Paul Creston. I wouldhate to think I might outgrow any ofthese. I am loyal to my likes anddon't reject old favorites-I just addnew ones. For me the wonderful thingabout music is simply that it exists atall. As in great paintings, books, andsculpture, you keep meeting yourselfand others in music."

122STEREO REVIEW

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SEPTEMBER 1969123

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CIRCLE NO. 8 ON READER SERVICE CARD124STEREO REVIEW

ENTERTAINMENTPOPS JAZZ FILMS THEATER FOLK SPOKEN WORDIlimm.mi.mmusimaiiitRe% iewed by CLIVE BARNES DON HECKMAN PAUL KRESH REX REED PETER REILLY

AORTA. Aorta (Bobby Jones, Jim Don -linger, Jim Nyeholt, and Billy Herman, vo-cals and instrumentals). Main Vein I; HeartAttack; What's in My Mind's Eye; MagicBed; Main Vein II; Sleep Tight; and sixothers. COLUMBIA CS 9785 $4.98, ® HC1202 (71/2) $7.98, C) 18 10 0732 $6.98.

Performance: Mad and maddeningRecording: ExcellentStereo Quality: Overingenious

You never know what's going to pop upon a pop record these days. This one arrivescomplete with a photograph of a rib cageand a human heart-and complete texts forall the songs. On the record itself theselatter are not only wailed, chanted, shouted :4

and moaned to a deafening orchestral accom-paniment, but further ornamented with thesounds of rising elevators, wind machines,squalling babies, ringing telephones and-need I add-heartbeats. The result is thekind of trip that, for all I know, may re-sult in lasting damage to the psyche, as wellas the eardrums. The lyrics-I'm assumingthat is what they are-deal with the thrillsof tuning oneself in, apparently with the aidof drugs, "feeling rather high" (repeat sixtimes), and "a thousand thoughts of lovefrom you to me"-not a single one of themcoherent. Quick relief may be obtained bylifting the disc from the turntable and, asone's mind "goes drifting and fading away,"sailing it, gently and dreamily, out thewindow. P. K.

BELA BABAI AND HIS FIERY GYP-SIES: An Evening at the Chardas. BelaBabai and His Fiery Gypsies: Bela Babai(solo violin) ; Jozsef Axin (second violin) ;Gyorgy Havas (accordion); Karol). Szoradi

(cymbalom) Geza Lakatos (bass); ZoltanZorandy (piano). Boka Kesergo (Boka'sLament); Hungarian Mcrae) No. 1; SlovakMedley; Hungarian Medley No. 2; Hatzi-gana (The Gypsy) ; Israeli Medley; RussianMedley; Serbian Medley; (`iocarlia (TheSinging Bird). MONITOR MFS 700 54.98.

Performance: Zigeuner's delightRecording: GoodStereo Quality: Good

Bela Babai, in his red vest with the goldfleur-de-lis, bending his flirtatious violin over

Explanation of symbols:®= reel-to-reel tape0 = lour -track cartridge0 = eight -track cartridge

= cassetteMonophonic recordings are indicated bythe symbol C): all others are stereo

a flaming shish kebab, has plied his tradefrom the Blue Danube Café in Chicago toZimmerman's in New York City "aided andabetted," as the liner notes say, "by his coun-trymen." What would Hungarian cuisine beafter all without gypsy music' Now you canhear it at home in every dialect betweenvisits to your favorite plush Hungarian eat-ery. The violins sigh, the accordion murmurs,the cymbalom cymbles, dark eyes smolder,robins are safe in their yellow nests, the for-est is green, the chardas is heavenly, and yourgoulash will be ready in a few more min-utes. Play, gypsy! P. K.

Jt;S\ Its1 Z

.1 voice of enchanting poritt


JOAN BAEZ: David's Album. Joan Baez(vocals); orchestra, Grady Martin cond. If IKnew; Rock, Salt and Nails: Hickory. Wind;Hirt a Closer Valk with Thee; The Trampon the Street; and five others. VANGUARDVSD 79308 $5-98, ® 9308 (33%) $5.95,® -19308 55.95, C) 89308 56.95, © 59308$5.95.

Performance: SuperbRecording: ExcellentStereo Quality: Excellent

In a self-seeking, cynical, and self-destruc-tive world, the essential goodness of thoughtand decency of action that Joan Baez pro-jects would seem to belong to another ageof American life: that of the Utopians whoset up colonies throughout America in the.

mid -nineteenth century. This latest album isdedicated to her husband David, who hasbeen sen!enced to three years in prison for

returning his draft card to the authoritiesand declaring he did not want to sere inthe armed forces. In her moving liner notes,Miss Baez describes the arrival of the springof 1969 and then goes on to explain herhusband's position-and her own-on theprison sentence. Whether you agree with herpolitically or not, her final summing upseems beyond dispute. "You and I must,with our lives, build a world where we areas sure of the perpetuation and flowering oflife as we are of the triumph of spring."

The music and performances here are allBaez at her peak. Her voice is still an en-chantment of purity and silvery radiance.And here she is back in the sort of reper-toire in which she first achieved fame andwhich she probably does better than anyoneelse in the world-i.e., traditional songssuch as the Circle Be Unbroken? andPoor 11-40faring Stranger, in stunninglysimple arrangements. These are mixed withnewer songs, such as the lovely HickoryWind and Green, Green Grass of Home.The fifteen -man orchestra led by Grady Mar-tin supports her superbly.

This is Miss Baez' best album in sometime, and it re-establishes the fact that, whenthe material is simple enough to convey di-rect emotions and does not try to sermon-ize politically or otherwise, she is a superbartist. Whether she will, in the future, beable to persevere in what I believe are reallyher convictions is a question impossible toanswer, but there is no doubt that as a sing-er she has already become something oflegend in her own time. P. R.

BEAR: Greetings, Children of Paradise.Bear (vocals and instrumentals). Greeting;!;So Loose and So Slow; Like Cats; HappyDays; What Difference?: Don't Say a Word;and four others. VERVE/FORECAST FTS3050 $4.98.

Performance: OkayRecording: GoodStereo Quality: Good

Bear (Artie Traum, Eric Kaz, and SteveSoles) is a middle -of -the -rock -road group.Their material is fashionable enough, as evi-denced by their opening number, Greetings!,which is about what you think it is about.Happy Days has a c -&-w violin in its orches-tration, another "in" thing these days. WhatDin erence? has long interludes of jazz-rockguitar playing and nice vocal performances.The best thing here is Eric Kaz's song IWon't Be Hangin' Round, which he sings infine style. As with so many other groups, onehas the feeling that its members have beenassembled by highly professional hands, setto work to write material fur themselves,and then recorded in a glossy style squarely

SEPTEMBER 1969125

aimed at the mass market. Nothing wrongwith that, of course, except that in these daysof groups like Jefferson Airplane, Big Pink,and the New York Rock -an -Roll Ensemble,it scarcely seems worth the trouble. P. R


BOBBY BURCH AND KEN FISHLER:Bobby and 1. Bobby Burch and Ken Fishier(vocals and instrumentals). Lore Is for theSharing; 5:09; Michael from Mountains;Everyone's Gone to the Moon; Hurt So Bad;Ben Lomand Lament; and six others. IM-PERIAL LP 12-120 S.1.914.

Performance: Freshly naiveRecording: ExcellentStereo Quality: Fine

Bobby Burch and Ken Fishier remind me ofJackie and Roy Kral when those two wereyoung and naïve. I doubt, though, thatJackie and Roy were ever musically naive.They were always extraordinarily adept inthe intricate world of jazz, and they movedwith the times into the even more intricateworld of pop -rock, which benefitted fromtheir vast musical sophistication. Burch andFishier obviously have none of that musicalsophistication, but they have all the charm.Like Roy, Ken plays the piano and sings,and he has also written much of the materialhere. Bobby sings and laughs. These two arehighly original and talented: it's a pleasureto listen to them, and 1 know the pleasurewill increase as they gain stature and ma-turity. Bobby has a lovely smile in her voiceand Ken has a masculine protectiveness inhis. Bless their youthful, talented littleheads! R. R.


MAURICE CHEVALIER: Maurice Che-valier, Vol. One. Maurice Chevalier (vo-cals) ; orchestra, Leonard Joy, Nat Finstoncond. Hello! Beautiful!; Valentine; Mimi;Oh! That Mitzi!; Paris. je laime clamour;Maman Inez; Bonsoir; Louise; Les Ananas;and seven others. RCA C) LPV 564 $4.98.

Performance: ImmortalRecording: Good

This collection of songs is drawn primarilyfrom the great Maurice Chevalier's firstAmerican films. Although the liner notes(and very fine ones they are, by R. A. Is-rael) claim the songs date from 1928 to 1935,I see nothing here dated later than 1932.It doesn't really matter, because this is oneof those albums that could come from Edi-son cylinders and still be an essential item inevery record collection. These are the per-formances on which his reputation in theEnglish-speaking world was based. Ironical-ly, perhaps, many of them here are in French(but Mimi, Louise, Mitzi, and Hello! Beau-tiful! are in English). English versions ofall the songs here have been available fromtime to time, and may still be. Except forthe language, the two versions are identicalin every case: same orchestras, same orches-trations, and recorded at the same time. (Itwas common practice in the early days oftalkies to make two or even three versionsof films, in different languages, simultane-ously-often with different players in lead-ing roles. International stars such as Cheva-lier would perform in both versions, butperhaps with different supporting actors.

5

Garbo's films, for instance, were always madein English and German.) Whether in Frenchor in English, however, these recordings arenot just fascinating documents but are stillwonderful entertainment; one can only guessat the impact they must have had at the time.

Chevalier was already well into his thirtieswhen he made his American film debut. Be-hind him were years of playing the musichalls and musical -comedy theaters of Paris,where he was an established star; therefore,what burst upon the American public inhis first film, Innocents of Paris, was no tenta-tive young song -and -dance man but a com-pletely developed performer able to carrya film with ease. Two of his most famousnumbers from that first sensation, Valen-tine and Louise, along with the not -so -well -

remembered Les Ananas, are included here.It is incredible to think that they were re-corded forty years ago, and even more in-

PETULA CLARKAppealing and expert

credible to hear what great fun they still aretoday. Everything here is to some degree analready established classic-at least to thosefamiliar with this great entertainer and hisperformances. Everyone will have his ownfavorite; mine is-and has been for manyyears-Paris. je .time clamour, which Che-valier first sang in Lubitsch's The Love Pa-rade,. It is an avowal of love to the city ofParis, a city that has, along with much ofthe rest of the world, returned that feelingto him for almost eighty years now. P. R.

THE CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHOR-ITY: The Chicago Transit Authority (vocalsand instrumentals). Questions 67 and 68;Listen; Poem 58; Free Form Guitar; I'm aMan; Liberation; and seven others. CoLum-illA GP 8 two discs $5.98, 0 18 I() 0726$6.98.

Performance: BloatedRecording: GoodStereo Quality: Good

The Chicago Transit Authority, a seven -mem-ber group, has been performing across thecountry for the last year, and this albumshows it in many ways. All of the materialsounds well rehearsed and there are veryfew rough edges. Also, unfortunately, muchof it sounds just like set -piece stuff that hasbeen performed again and again. Perhaps

this is understandable when the tracks areas long, ambitious, and frenzied as theseare, but it does take away some of the nat-ural vitality of the music. There is a certainpatness here which seems to me uneasilyantithetical to real, basic rock. But thenagain, I often had the feeling that this wasnot in essence a rock group but more an ag-gregation of good musicians playing rock,rather like one of the big bands of the pastplaying a gig with a lot of fill-in musicians.The two discs here contain a lot of material,but one very soon gets the feeling of havingdropped into a rock recital that calls not forparticipation in the music but merely re-spectful attention. In a way, too bad, be-cause all along I also had the feeling thatif the group would simplify things and startto enjoy what they were doing, there wouldbe a lot more in it for me. P. R.


PETULA CLARK: Portrait of Petula.Petula Clark (vocals) ; orchestra, ErnieFreeman arr. and cond. Happy Heart; TheIrindmills of Your Mind; Lorin' Things;The Ad; lrhen I Iras a Child; Let It BeMe; and six others. WARNER BitoTHERS 1789

Performance: AccomplishedRecording: ExcellentStereo Quality: Excellent

This is another beautifully produced, beauti-fully performed album by Petula Clark. Sheis really an extraordinarily fine pop singer,whose only drawback, it seems to me, is apaucity of feeling and involvement in herinterpretation. In /f Ever You're Lonely, shedepends on the quality of her voice per se toput the song across. I find this doublystrange, since I have seen a sample of heracting on film, and a very sensitive and in-telligent performance it was. The root of thetrouble may be that Miss Clark was a popstar while still in her teens, and during thattime may have had to make her voice do thejob that her emotions actually should have,since she was often singing material beyondher years. This aside, I find her an appealingand expert pop singer at every level. Highlyrecommended. P. R.

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITCOOK E. JARR: Pledging My Love. CookE. Jarr (vocals) ; orchestra, Bob Finiz cond.Pledging My Lore; Do Ybu Believe in Mag-ic?; If I !Fere a Carpenter; Reason to Be-lieve; The Lady Came from Baltimore; RedBalloon; and three others. RCA LSP 4159$4.98.

Performance: A rose by any other nameRecording: FineStereo Quality: Excellent

It's hard to take seriously a guy with a namelike Cook E. Jarr. And when the cover pic-ture shows him sitting inside a cookie jar,dressed in a flowery jump suit with flowingsleeves, it's hard to seriously believe Cook E.is real. But the first warm husky notes hebelts prove he's a serious singer who evi-dently disdains the established laws of suc-cess and is confident that a name will neitherhelp nor hinder his career. Of course I maybe in error in assuming that Mr. Jarr's nameis invented. There may be a lot of Jarrs in


STEREO REVIEW

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127

the world, including Door A. Jarr and slayO. Jarr, and even little Jell E. Jam

If Cook wants to camp with his name,okay, but it's unfortunate in a way, becausehe is a first-rate singer with a big charmingbaritone voice which he uses easily and na-turally. He also has excellent musical taste.Of the nine songs on this record, four are byTim Hardin. In my book, anyone who digsHardin can't be a crumbling Cook E. Mr.Jarr is backed up by some very line profes-sional arrangements. "Pledging My Love" isa pleasant and groovy experience. R. R.

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITDELANEY & BONNIE: Accept No Sub-stitute. Delaney & Bonnie (vocals and in-strumentals). Gi/ Onrrclre, Ti/.;;C/bei;Someday; Ghetto; n the Battle lx Over;Dirty Old Man; and live others. ELLICERAEKS 74039 S.1.98, ij 4039 (33/4) 55.95, ®-14039 55.95, (f) 81039 56.95, (0) 5:103955.95.

Performance: Holy rolling modern timesRecording: Clap, clap, rock, rockStereo Quality: Fine

Delaney and Bonnie are very good-humored-down home" type folks who sing seal good.They have a lot of friends who seem to dropby and give them a hand. That just makeseverything even more charmin'. D,,00 home,or wherever, Delaney, Bonnie, and friendsare fun to hear. They are very much today,demonstrating the modern pacifist's desire toexpress himself musically through gospel -

type music. So much about this current cropof creative folk smacks of meeting -houseways, even their costumes. We should allbe such gentle people in our hearts-Chris-tian, I believe it was once called. There area lot of good old-fashioned Christian gospelsongs being spewed around lately; Delaneyand Bonnie and friends are right in therewith Soldiers of the Cross and facsimilesthereof. Nobody gets hurt, and if you letyourself go with their old-fashioned revivalsound, you just might learn something R. R.

THE DEVIANTS: Disposable. The Devi-ants (vocals and instrumentals). Someuleieto Go; Sparrowr and Wire,. Jamie's Song;You've Got to Hold On; Fire in the City;Let's Loot the Supernimtet; and seven others.SIRE SES 970005 51.98.

Performance: LoudRecording: FineStereo Quality: Okay

When someoneshunts at me over and overthat he's got to find NOW place to go, allthe while awail and awash in self-pity. I'mtempted to tell him where I think he shouldgo. Just as I was about to shout back at theDeviants, they started to get into their mer-curial acid rock, and I actually listened. Al-though the begging and pleading in theiropening song, Soniewhese to Go, continued,I found the music gri) y. The Deviants doshout a great deal. but fortunately they playlouder than they shout. They have created asound remarkably like the Doors' lrildThing, especially on l'ou'r, Gii/ to Hold On,and like the l\linas and the Papas on Fire inthe City. The lyrics of the latter are bitter-sweet and fr!iii?lit st 011 irony, and they workvery well in the musical framework of thearrangemynt. This song is by far the best inthe album.

All told, however, I find the title of thislittle opus more than an apt description ofthis group's work. R. R.

FERRE GRIGNARD: Captain Disaster.Ferre Grignard (vocals), orchestra. I Ir.?,/Toe a Dance ; Tc11 Me Nolc; Yin/a 110';illy Friend; Ilan.cie Pans); and live others.VANGUARD VSD 79298 S5.98.

Performance: European mimicryRecording: Very goodStereo Quality: Good

The international catholicity of today's pop-ular music styles is well demonstrated inthis collection by Belgian singer Ferre Gri-gnard. Called the Bard of the Barricades"during the student -worker disturbances inFrance last year, Grignard (like many Euro-rein 4izz miu,icians) is a more convincing

DLL \111" x Bo\NILHomespun. meeting -house gospel

imitator than a creative performer. He man-ages to assume the coloration of an assort-ment of styles-Bob Dylan imitations, coun-try -&-western crooning, blues, soul -jazz, andvirtually every other musical stop in today'spop electicism. Stylistic mimicry may beenough for some listeners-many, in fact,may prefer it-hut for my tastes Grignard'sslick and superficial professionalism wearsout too quickly. D. II.

CAROLYN HESTER: The Carolyn HesterCoalition. The Carolyn Hester Coalition(vocals and instrumentals). 111.1,;;IC Man;Last Virginia; Tomorrow II -hen L Irat,e Up;Be ).our Baby; Big City Streets; Half theiNrld; and five others. METROMEDIA MD1001 54.98, C) 8901001 56,95.

Performance: Aims at folk rock and missesRecording: GoodStereo Quality: Very good

Spurred on, perhaps, by the recent successof Judy Collins, folk singer Carolyn Hesterhas nerved into the rock orbit with a newgroup called the Carolyn Hester Coalition.Unfortunately, she has little feeling for thehard vocal articulation necessary to sing withthe driving electric rhythms of rock. MissHester picks her way through her accom-paniments in a fashion that still sounds un-comfortably like a folk singer who doesn'thave to worry about co-ordinating herrhythms with anyone but herself. In addi-

tion-and I trust it's because of the en-gineering-her voice has a peculiarly un-attractive edge to it that I have not noticedbefore, giving it a quality that unfairly mis-represents her usually warm sound. Predic-tably, her better moments are with folk ma-terial-her arrangement of Lail I'irginia andthe unusual I y-harmon iced anti -war song,Lat Night I Had the Sirangeit Dream. Butthere is little more to recommend. Miss Hes-ter's version of Dino Valente's Let's Get To-gether, a song that is almost guaranteed tostart things moving, has a -down," flaccidquality. Too bad-Carolyn Hester's singinghas provided me with some extremely pleas-ant moments, but that was well before theCoalition. D. H.

THE ILLINOIS SPEED PRESS. The Illi-nois Speed Press (vocals and instrumentals).Get in the 11' ind; Here Today; Pa) the Price;Be a Iroman; Sky Song ; Free Ride; and fiveothers. COLUMBIA CS 9792 54.98, ® HC1201 (33/4) 57.98, C) 18 10 0734 $6.98.

Performance, Stop the Press, I want toget off

Recording: FairStereo Quality: Good

I'm gonna tell it like it is, man. I mean likethis record really puts me down. Like theystart off with this Overture, and there are allthese guys that call themselves the IllinoisSpeed Press fooling around in this recordingstudio singing hits of songs, trying out theirinstruments and like generally making anoise like three tapes running simultaneous-ly all from different sessions. It's supposedto blow your mind-like. For me it was Ex-cedrin headache number 35. Then they wailthrough something called Get in the 117indand it's supposed to be psychedelic but it'sreally more three years ago and man that islike a lifetime ago in rock. I listened to afew more bands, but like it was all more ofthe same thing, and since I was already latefor the protest march I decided I'd send thisone to my parents in Palm Beach. My oldlady likes to think she's keeping up withthings and besides it might like hurry up themonthly check, which hasn't arrived yet.After all, man, one can only live by breadalone. P. R.

IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY. It's a BeautifulDay (vocals and instrumentals). White Bird;Hot Summer Day; Bulgaria; Bombay Call-ing; Time ls; and two others. COLUMBIACS 9768 S -i.98.

Performance: If you like mild weatherRecording: GoodStereo Quality: Good

This is a new group that doesn't generatemuch excitement, but has a very pleasantsound and a modest sort of appeal. Theywrite all their own material, and it variesfrom tepid (Bombay Calling) to ingratiat-ing (Bulgaria) to quite good (117hiie Bird).Bruce Steinberg provides sonic really, inter-esting harmonica work on Hot SummerDay, but unfortunately the song is not much.The trouble with this group is that, thoughits members have listened a lot and learneda lot and are better than adequate perform-ers and composers, they seem to be afraid ofletting themselves catch fire and go with it.Perhaps their second album will find themin a more expansive and self-confident mood.

P. R.128

STEREO REVIEW

THE LAST RITUAL. The Last Ritual (vo-cals and instrumentals) ; Allan Springfield,composer, arr., and cond. Tail- /11.20m Time

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Performance: Good charts, only fair tunesRecording Very goodStereo Qualify: Very good

Many young nick musicians, faced with thebroad expanse of a long.playing recordim.:.are unable to resist the temptation to drag uoon a tedious trip through their psyches. (Thefirst -novel syndrome is not limited to the

literary world.) Allan Springfield has coolposed, conducted, -arranged,- and sung allthe pieces included here, but the really skill-ful hand is that of Kenneth Lehman, whoprovides the -wind ensemble arrangements."(The -arrangments- distinction is one thatappears more and more frequently on rockrecordings latch-. Apparently it's not enoughof a boost to a young rock composer's ego towrite and play all the basic songs for a record-ing. They also want to receive ered i t for theirminimal, and largely unskilled, assigning ofparts in the basic rhythm group. The ar-rangers who make the whole thing work withtheir generally sympathetic scoring for theensemble accompaniment settings arc rel-

egated to a small -print credit. 'l'sk. tsk.)Springfield dredges up a few moderatelyattractive melodies, but his lyrics are self-concious and puerile. I'm afraid the competi-tion will be too tough to leave much of anopening for the Last Ritual. D. II.

KETTY LESTER (see Best of the Month,page 93)

LOTUS LANTERN. Chinese classical or-chestra, Lui Pui-Yuen pipa and cond. 0./i/c,Mii.vic ref Hoa 7" lace 1 Loinc Lantern:Bow Dance; Prelude to Dance and Souk:llor.i.eback Riding in a Spring Field; TheDance of Ilappinel.c; Ilan Palace 6) AutumnMoonlight; Playing in the Garden; frith -out a Song., The Cowherder and the Coun-try Girl. LYRICHORD 1.1. 7202 S5.98.

Performance: Delicate and delectableRecording:GoodStereo Quality, Good

If anybody had told this baby that htd hesticking around straight-faced for both sidesof a record called "Lotus Lantern," the spiritof Anna May Wong would have been sum-moned promptly to show the liar to the door.And after five minutes of the Dance Muirof II Ira Tiro Tzn, which is supposed to por-tray ''the lightheartedness and swift move-ment of . . . a coolie as he goes about hischores,- I was indeed trot sure that it was

safe to let this thing go any further. But I

did, and I am duty-bound to report that Mr.Lui Pui-Yuen, his pipa (a four -stringed gui-tar), and his Chinese Classical Orchestraacquitted themselves nobly over the longhaul. The pieces sport such titles as 'IADance of Happiness and Han PA/cc 61Moonlight, but the music constantly growsinure intriguing and charming-particularlywhen it is based on ancient folk tunes, suchas Irithow a Song and HorrebacI Riding ina Spring Field, the latter a bit of Cantoneseimpressionism scored in a manner strangelyreminiscent of the Western idiom of AaronCopland, of all people. If you like the sam-ple, Lyrichord has nine other albums of

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RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITJONI MITCHELL: Clouds. Joni Mitchell(voice and guitar). Tin Angel; ChelseaMorning; I Don't Know 11 -here I Stand;That Song about the Midway; Rosen Blue;and five others. REPRISE RS 6341 54.98, C)M 6341 $6.95, © X 6341 $5.95.

Performance: Superb songs by a major artistRecording: Very goodStereo Quality: Good

In little more than a year, Joni Mitchell hascome from virtual obscurity to a positionof considerable prominence as a young song-writer -performer. Her first recording soldslowly at first, then took off in the wake ofJudy Collins' version of Both Sides, Now.The establishment of Miss Mitchell's repu-tation as a bona fide talent followed quickly.

I prefer Miss Mitchell's own versions ofher tunes to any other. It is always more in-teresting, of course, to hear composers dotheir own material, but in addition, MissMitchell's voice seems to me superior in qual-ity, flexibility, range, and style to those of themany performers who have recorded hersongs. Quite simply, she is a superb per-former herself.

Both Sides, Now becomes virtually a newsong when Miss Mitchell does it, despite itsfamiliarity in other versions. Chelsea Morn-ing, already recorded by Miss Collins, is oneof the finest songs of recent memory, andwill, I am firmly convinced, soon be a stan-dard. The Fiddle and the Drum, an unac,companied and somewhat uncharacteristicMitchell song, is a sad questioning of Amer-ican political aggressiveness (and a poten-tially fascinating new direction for MissMitchell). The Gallery and 1 Don't Know117here I Stand offer contrasting facets of awoman's love.

Like her first release, this is a major col-lection from a major artist, and should notbe overlooked. I have yet to hear Miss Mitch-ell write (or perform) a song that does notmove me. D. H.

NANA MOUSKOURI : Nana MouskouriSings Over & Over. Nana Mouskouri (vo-cals); the Athenians (instrumentals). Scar-borough Fair/Canticle; The Last Thing onMy Mind; The Lily of the West; Try to Re-member; Song for a Winter Night; Ereena;and six others. FONTANA SRF 67594 54.98.

Performance: On a clear, cold day ...Recording: FineStereo Quality: Fine

Beware of Greeks with vocal clarity and per-fect diction; you may get to like hearing thewords sung in full, pear-shaped tones. Thenwhat would you do when Dusty Springfieldcomes sexily slurring around at your door?I would invite her in to listen to Nana, thenI'd invite Nana to listen to Dusty's heart andsoul. I don't know why I thought of Dustyin this instance. Maybe because I miss theintimacy that she communicates so freely, forit is intimacy that Miss Mouskouri lacks. Shehas everything else coolly perfected, like thatother coldly perfect Greek, the Nike of Sam-othrace. It doesn't help Miss Mouskouri thatshe is backed by a string ensemble reminis-cent of romantic tourist excursions through

the Greek islands. Nana Mouskouri's heartmay be on her sleeve, but it is not in hervoice, I'm sorry to say-or at least not inthis program. R. R.

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITNRBQ: NRBQ. NRBQ (vocals and instru-mentals). C'mon Everybody; Rocket Num-ber 9; Kentucky Slop Song; Ida; C'mon ifYbu're Conlin'; You Can't Hide; and sevenothers. COLUMBIA CS 9858 $4.98.

Performance: Provocative new rock groupRecording: Very goodStereo Quality: Very good

There's been a lot of talk in rock circleslately about going back to basic sources.It's reminiscent, in a way, of the poignantpleas that recur every now and then for areturn of the big bands. Already, a numberof rock groups have arrived this year whosestock in trade is a re-creation of the musicof the Coasters, the Drifters, et al. (shadesof the Yerba Buena Dixieland Band!).

NRBQ arrives on a wave of publicity thatwould have us believe they are a throwbackto the Fifties. Maybe so. As if to prove it,they play several pieces that really do re-capture the sound of those passive Eisen-hower years. But they do more, too. Considertheir version of a Sun Ra piece called RocketNumber 9, the lovely, jazz -oriented melody(with lyrics by one of the NRBQ) by Car-la Bley called Ida (and once known as IdaLupino), and several pieces by keyboardplayer Terry Adams that are deeply tingedwith the spirit of Thelonious Monk. A re-markably diverse collection of influences fora rock group-yet NRBQ handles it well.In the plethora of rock releases every month,this is one group that should not !NM byunnoticed. D. H.

BUCK OWENS' BUCKAROOS: Any-where, U.S.A. Buck Owens' Buckaroos (vo-cals and instrumentals). Anywhere, U.S.A.;Tim -Buck -Too; Gathering Dust; Green -sleeves; Aug Heck; Highland Fling; and sixothers. CAPITOL ST 194 $4.98, C) 4CL 194$5.98.

Performance: JauntyRecording:GoodStereo Quality: Good

Buck Owens' Buckaroos are touted as Ameri-ca's number one country band, which theymay or may not he, and they make foramiable enough listening. They speedthrough this collection with the aplomb ofa high -ground Lawrence Welk, and onenumber is performed so much like the otherthat it often seems that only the titles arechanging. The only really bad thing here isan instrumental arrangement of Green -sleeves, and it is miserable. Otherwise,things such as the title song and GeorgiaPeach, sung by Don Rich, and GatheringDust and The Price I'll Have to Pay per-formed by Doyle Holly, are spun out agree-ably. This isn't really country-and-westernmusic; it is too slick for that. For feeling itsubstitutes gloss, for momentum it substi-tutes speed; instead of interest it evokes onlymild amusement. Still, as with Welk orLester Lanin, I suppose there are fans of theBuckaroos who would have it no other way.

P. R.

(Continued on page 132)CIRCLE NO. 20 ON READER SERVICE CARDI 311

STEREO REVIEW

The MostSpectacularSoundExhibition ofSTEREOFIDELITYEverAvailable onone Disc.

Memo ReVIPW STEREO)EMONSTRATION

This record is the result of two years of intensive research in thesound libraries of Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft, ConnoisseurSociety, Westminster Recording Company and Cambridge RecordsIncorporated. The Editors of Stereo Review have selected and editedthose excerpts that best demonstrate each of the many aspects ofthe stereo reproduction of music. The record offers you a greatervariety of sound than has ever before been included on a single disc.It is a series of independent demonstrations, each designed to showoff one or more aspects of musical sound and its reproduction.Entirely music, the Record has been edited to provide self-sufficientcapsule presentations of an enormous variety of music arranged ina contrasting and pleasing order. It includes all the basic musicaland acoustical sounds that you hear when you listen to records,isolated and pointed up to give you a basis for future critical listening.

WIDE RANGE OF DEMONSTRATIONS Techniques of Separation & Multiple Sound Sources AcousticDepth Ambiance of Concert Hall Sharp Contrasts of Dynamics Crescendo & Diminuendo Very High & Very Low Pitched MusicalSounds Polyphony (2 or more melodies at once) With Both Similar& Contrasting Instruments Tonal Qualities of Wind, String & Per-cussion Instruments Sounds of Ancient Instruments Sounds ofOriental Instruments Sound of Singing Voice, Both ClassicallyTrained and Untrained Plus a Large Sampling of Finger Snap-ping, Hand Clapping, Foot Stamping & Other Musical & Percus-sive Sounds.

13 SUPERB SELECTIONSSTRAUSS: Festive Prelude, Op. 61 (excerpt) DGG.DEBUSSY: Feux d'artifice (excerpt). Connoisseur Society.BEETHOVEN: Wellington's Victory (Battle Symphony) (excerpt fromthe first movement) Westminster Records.MASSAINO: Canzona XXXV a 16 (complete) DGG Archive.CORRETTE: Concerto Comique Op. 8, No. 6, "Le Plaisir des Dan -es"(third movement) Connoisseur Society.KHAN: Raga Chandranandan (excerpt) Connoisseur Society.RODRIGO: Concert-Serenade for Harp and Orchestra (excerpt fromthe first movement) DGG.MANITAS DE PLATA: Gypsy Rhumba (complete) Conn. Soc.MARCELLO: (arr. King): Psalm XVII "The Heavens are Telling"(complete) Connoisseur Society.PRAETORIUS: Terpsichore: La Bourree XXXII (complete) DGGArchive.BERG:,Wozzeck (excerpt from Act III) DGG.BARTOK: Sonata for two pianos and Percussion (excerpt from thefirst movement) Cambridge Records.BEETHOVEN: Wellington's Victory (Battle Victory) (excerpt from thelast movement) Westminster.

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RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITPETFR, PAUL AN!) MARL: Peter, Pauland Mommy. Peter, Paul and Mary (vocalsand instrumentals). The Marvelous Toy;Day Is Done; Leatherwing Bat; Going tothe Zoo; Boa Constrictor; Mockingbird; andsix others. WARNER BROTHERS 1785 $4.98,Qe M 1785 $6.95.

Performance: Much charmRecording: ExcellentStereo Quality: Excellent

This is a collection of songs for children thatis performed with skill, taste, and charm.The songs themselves have been chosen withan appreciation of the fact that to be a childis not necessarily to be simple-minded. (I re-member some of the gems foisted upon mein childhood, such as a series named "Songsof Safety," which presumed that a child'slife was always in imminent peril if he didanything but sit quietly at home. Sample ofThe Ice Skating Song. "Ice skating is niceskating/ But never skate where the ice isthin/ It might break and you'll fall rightin.") The songs offered here, such as Goiu,r,,to the Zoo, The Marvelous Toy, and Leath-erwing Bat, are all lightly touched withhumor and, often, a wry sort of fantasy towhich children immediately respond. Peter,Paul and Mary do their customarily excel-lent job with a total lack of the condescen-sion or phony pedagogic chumminess thatso often disfigures the performances of adultssinging to children. An excellent album, andbasic repertoire for anyone between the agesof six and twelve. P. R.

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITSCIIICKELE: Good -Time ticket.

Peter Schickele and his orchestra. TheMighty Quinn; Good -Time Ticket; I'll BeBack; Rain; Just 11"tching Sky; Take Mewith You; and six others. VANGUARD VSD6517 $4.98, ® 6517 (33/4) $5.95, ® 86517$6.95.

Performance: ExcellentRecording: ExcellentStereo Quality: Excellent

Just when I thought I had about trouncedmood music to death in these columns, alongcomes Peter Schickele with this fine albumand a statement on the back of it that seemsto me not only a perfect definition of what heis trying to do here but a very wise observa-tion on mood music in general. "Some peo-ple think music should complement, not in-trude. They listen to what is generally de-scribed as 'mood music.' Other people dislikethe very idea of 'easy listening', they pre-fer music that demands-music that grabsyou and won't leave you alone. My ownfeeling is some sort of combination of thosetwo. The trouble with most mood music isthat it sounds as if it is written by peoplewho never have any moods."

Amen, Mr. Schickele-in particular Ishare the view in that last sentence. Fur-ther good news is that Schickele has donewhat he set out to do: this album is both in-volving and, wonder of wonders, "easy lis-tening." The secret is, of course, in the ar-rangements. They are superb. How he isable to get an absolutely contemporary yetstill lush sound out of such material asDylan's The Mighty Quinn or the Lennon -

McCartney I'll Be Back is a mystery to me.

The main elements seem to be an abilityto arrange for instruments so that they main-tain their identities but never dominate themusical whole-and enormously sophisticat-ed recording techniques. Schickele has re-corded a lot of his own music here, includingI Can't Share Love and Slow Train-LongHaul, and it is all very good. I would beeager to know if Mr. Schickele has everconsidered doing a Broadway show. Thetheater could use someone like him. In themeantime I will do something I neverthought I would do: I recommend that youbuy this "mood music" album for some "easylistening." P. R.

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITSLY & THE FAMILY STONE: Stand! Sly& the Family Stone (vocals and instrumen-tals). Stand!; Don't Call Me Nigger,Whitey; I Irani to Take You Higher; Some-body's Watching Ybu; Sing a Simple Song;and three others. EPIC BN 26456 $4.98, gHN-666 (33/4) $6.95, ® N14 10186 $5.95,® N18 10186 $6.95.

Performance: The swinging Family at workRecording: Very goodStereo Quality: Very good

Sly Stone and his remarkable Family keeppouring out good music. Writing under theso sly pseudonym of Sylvester Stewart(whew!), he has produced words and musicfor the entire album. Remarkably, it's allgood. Most of it gleams (even if fitfully) withoriginality, a rare commodity in today'sglutted market, and it is performed with thejoyous elan that has characterized virtuallyevery note I've heard from Sly and the Family.This album is a good one, and-hearken allyou old twisters-you can dance to it. D. H.

SRC: Milestones. Al Wilmot (bass andvocal) ; Gary Quackenbush (lead guitar) ;

Glenn Quackenbush (keyboards) ; SteveLyman (guitar and vocal); E.G. Clawson(percussion) ; Scott Richardson (vocal);Show Me; Eye of the Storm; Checkmate; UpAll Night:Our Little Secret; and five others.CAPITOL ST 134 54.98, ® 4CL-134 55.98,® 8XT 134 $6.98, © 4XT 134 $5.98.

Performance: Mostly routineRecording: GoodStereo Quality: Good

SCR is a group from Detroit (where this al-bum was recorded) with a sound that stayspretty much the same throughout this record-ing. That sound is moderately psychedelic andreminiscent of three or four years ago whenthe whole psychedelic thing started (yes, itwas that short a time ago). With the ex-ception of Bolero, the SRC has written allthe material on this disc; some of it is quitegood-No Secret Destination and Turn intoLove. In general, their composing efforts aresuperior to their performances, which tendto be rather self -resembling. Whether thisis owing to an attempt to create a specificimage for the group or simply that this isthe only way they can perform is a questionthat I can't answer. I can tell you, though,that it makes for some monotonous listening.

P. R.

ULTIMATE SPINACH: Ultimate Spin-ach. Ultimate Spinach ( vocals and instru-mentals). Romeo and Juliet; Someday YouJust Can't Win; Daisy; Sincere; Eddie's

1 3 2

STEREO REVIEW

Rush; and five others. MGM SE 4600 $4.98,C) 84600 $6.95, 54518 $5.95.

Performance: FacelessRecording: Very goodStereo Quality: Very good

Ultimate Spinach was one of the subjectsof last year's high-powered promotion forthe "Bosstown Sound," an attempt to de-velop some Boston rock groups that mightachieve the musical and commercial popu-larity of the San Francisco groups. Obvious-ly, it didn't work. Although Ultimate Spin-ach was one of the best of a not particularlyattractive lot, they revealed more potentialthan achievement. Alas, little more comesthrough on their second disc. Competent,well -produced, and occasionally interesting,yes, but the group has little to distinguishit from the stream of faceless rock ensemblesthat are passing through the revolvingdoors of today's record industry. D. H.

DOTTIE WEST AND DON GIBSON:Dottie and Don. Dottie West and DonGibson (vocals) ; instrumental accompani-ment. Ti! I Can't Take It Anymore; Ringsof Gold; How's the World Treating You;Final Examination; I Lore You Because;Sweet Dreams; and six others. RCA LSP4131 $4.98, ® P8S 1435 $6.95.

Performance: Fond and foolishRecording: GoodStereo Quality: Good

Shamelssly corny, un-self-conscious, and un-pretentious, Dottie West and Don Gibsonbring us the Nashville sound at its most in-nocent and affable. The ballads they sing,dealing with time-honored aspects of love,are stupefying in their mindlessness ("I loveyou for a hundred thousand reasons, but mostof all I love you because you're you . . ."),yet the presence of this pair is so sweet andrelaxing that only an ogre would have theheart to turn them off. P. K.

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITTHE WHO: Tommy. The Who (vocalsand instrumentals). Tommy (in 21 parts).DECCA DXSW 7205 two discs $10.98.

Performance: The first "rock opera"Recording: Very goodStereo Quality: Very good

I don't know why it is that the creativeartists who work in the area of popular mu-sic have always been so obsessed with theidea of composing operas-jazz operas, rag-time operas, swing operas, blues operas, andthe like. I suppose the very word "opera" sug-gests an aura of respectability and major crea-tive accomplishment that is terribly tempt-ing to those who work in an idiom general-ly viewed as popular and transitory.

Of course, opera has had so many defini-tions in its 350 or so years of existence thatit can be just about anything that anyonewants it to be. So, if Peter Townshend ofthe Who decides to call this collection ofwell -conceived, well -performed, and well -written rock songs, improvisations, and bitsand fragments of melody an opera, then whynot? It may not be as formally acceptableas Kfenek's Jonny spielt auf or as tunefulas Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, but it iscloser to its sources than either.

The Who have been best known in thepast for breaking up instruments and ampli-

SEPTEMBER 1969

fiers (Destruction Rock ?), even thoughTownshend has a fine reputation as a rockguitarist, and drummer Keith Moon is one ofthe more respected English percussionsts.But this is the first time the group has puteverything together, eliminated the moretransparent flummery from their act, andgotten down to making music.

A few of the tracks-especially Pin BallWizard-are superb; others, if not up to thatlevel, are far better than run-of-the-mill rockpieces. My principal reservation is that thematerial lacks cohesiveness, and often is

stretched to lengths that its musical sub-stance cannot support. In any case, "Tom-my" is a major attempt to expand the limitsof the rock -music experience. It may or maynot be an opera, but much of it is good mu-sic. For me, that's enough. D. H.

JOHN BISHOP: Bishop's Whirl. JohnBishop (guitar); Newell Burton, Jr. (or-gan) ; Bobby Hamilton (drums); LarryBryant (conga) ; Jerry Scheff (bass). Fred-die the Freeloader; Satins Doll; Wide in the

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Recently, manufactur-ers have tried to repro-duce sound which theybelieve is comfortable tothe human ear - thus, theadvent of unreal boomingbass and strident highs.And, a great many peoplelike it that way becausethey think it's high fidelity(in a way it is), but it usu-ally isn't NATURAL soundthe way it was originallyproduced.

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Eller; All Day Long; and three others.TANGERINE TRCS 1508 S-1.98.

Performance, CalmRecording, OkayStereo Quality: Good

John Bishop and his Trio make a lot ofquiet, essentially careful sound here. A six -minute Girl from Ipmema. with some reallynice work by Bishop on guitar, eventuallybecomes a hit sedating, and Newell Burton,Ir.'s lilw-key organ doesn't perk it up much.Things are a little liselier on the MilesDavis tune .1"),Idie the Freeloader, in whichthe group's basic jazz feeling can he givenfree rein. Even Irade in the if://et, whichfor a while promises something less soporif-ic, eventually succumbs to what I can onlydescribe as a sort of Fifties night-club style.I know that people used to be able to sit insuch clubs for hours, just listening, drum-ming their fingers, and nodding their headsin time with the music. I always thoughtthat what made them so immobile was thequality of the unlabeled Scotch usuallyserved. Atter hearing this album, I'm not sosure it was the Scotch after all. P. R.

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITDON ELLIS: ihitunin, Don Ellis ( trum-pet), orchestra. I i,cur for Trumpet;Scroll and Flu s; Pussi Wiggle Stomp;K. C. Blues; and two others. COLUMBIA CS9721 8-1.98.

Performance: Ellis' best big -band recordingRecording: Very goodStereo Quality: Very good

For one track of this new release, the DonEllis Orchestra finally reveals on recordingsthe remarkable quality of its -live" perfor-mances. Titled bidian Lady, it was includedon an earlier Columbia disc, but producerAl Kopper and Ellis wisely decided to addit here because it so accurately representsthe orchestra's extraordinary abilities. Theremaining pieces include a hilarious coun-try-and-western parody called Scroll andFluggs, a 7/I soul -styled tune called PussyWiggle Stomp, an arranged version of Char-lie Parker's classic solo on K. C. Blu,s, ashowcase for trumpeter Glenn Stuart, and atop-heavy extended work by Ellis titled Us-riation.r for Trumpet. All are at Ellis' usualhigh level of invention. but they pale be-side Indian Lady, a piece that touches allbases in its performance: down-home tra-ditional jazz, free (and almost chaotic) im-provisation, astonishing percussion solos,tape -loop and tone -distortion improvisationfrom Ellis, and virtually everything else, allperformed with a sense of theater that is toooften lacking in modern jazz. For that onetrack in particular, but also because Don El-lis continues to he one of the decade's mostimportant musicians, this is a necessary itemfor a jazz collection. D. H.

FREDDIE HUBBARD: A Soul Experi-ment. Freddie Hubbard (trumpet) ; variousmusicians. Clap Thu,. Hands; Wichita Line-man; South Street; Lonely Soul; No Timeto Lose; and five others. ATLANTIC SD 1526$4.98.

Performance. Jazz/pop/soulRecording: Very goodStereo Quality: Very good

tally adept jazz trumpeters of the last twodecades, hops on the pop rock wagon for thisouting. A player whose roots are deeply im-bedded in the blues (and in the soul jazz ofthe late Fifties and early Sixties), Hubbardbrings off the commingling of styles withmore success than many jazz men have had.He is aided in no small measure by arrangerGil Fuller's crisp ensemble sketches andsolid support from a driving rhythm section.Ultimately, a sameness of style afflicts thepieces; toward the middle of the second sideit becomes hard to avoid the feeling thatwe've heard it all before, But carping aside.Hubbard is a fine player who deserves to heheard by a wider audience: sessions of thissort may help to find it. D. II,

THELONIOLTS MONK : Monk's Blues.Thelonious Monk (piano); band, OliverNelson arr. and cond. La's Cool One; Re-flections; Rootie Tootic; lust it Glance at

DON ELLISA high level of invention

Love; Brilliant Corners; and four others.COLUMBIA CS 9806 $4.98.

Performance: Monk gets crowded outRecording: Very goodStereo Quality: Very good

The combining of Thelonious Monk's tunes(and piano playing) with Oliver Nelson'sarrangements should have produced superbresults. Why it did not is, I'm afraid, easy tosee. Nelson's massive overwriting is the cul-prit. Monk's tunes are like precisely balancedmusical mobiles; one note out of place, onethick chord here or an excessive counter -

rhythm there, throws things hopelessly out ofkilter. Perhaps that's why Monk himselfseems so disoriented and out of touch withthe proceedings. (Since Hall Overton hasalready demonstrated his clear understandingof Monk's music by his arrangements for pastrecordings, it's hard to see why he wasn'tused again. I suppose Nelson's growingprominence as a film and television composerplayed a role in his selection.) Whatever thecause, we are left with yet another disappoint-ing outing from one of the unquestionedjazz masters. It's a shame. D. H.


CIRCLE NO. 23 ON READER SERVICE CARDI

Freddie Hubbard, one of the most tecEni- GEORGE RUSSELL: 12345 oextet. George

STEREO REVIEW

Russell (piano); three ensembles. Nardis;Au Private; 'Round Midnight; Blues in Or-bit; The Stratus Seekers; Thoughts. RIVER-

SIDE RS 3043 $4.79.

Performance: Reissue of best Russell groupsRecording: Very goodStereo Quality: Very good

In the rush of creative change taking placein jazz in the late Fifties and early Sixties,no avant-garde musician's credentials wereany better than those of the fine composer -pianist -theoretician George Russell. He hadalready evolved a theoretical approach to jazzimprovisation and composition (called the"Lydian Concept") which codified the jazzman's traditional practice of superimposingnew scale- and mode -based melodies abovethe traditional chord changes of existingtunes. One of his finest ensembles trum-peter Don Ellis, woodwind player EricDolphy, and trombonist (now cellist) DaveBaker. Riverside has prepared a reissue col-lection from several Russell discs which in-cludes three selections by that group (withSteve Swallow on bass and Joe Hunt ondrums), two from a group that replacedDolphy with alto saxophonist John Pierceand tenor saxophonist Paul Plummer, and asingle track from a group that included El-lis, Plummer, and trombonist Garnett Brown(with Pete La Roca replacing Hunt).

The units are all excellent, but the Ellis-Dolphy ensemble is, of course, of particularinterest. Both players are at the top of theirform-so strong that they reach even beyondthe limits of Russell's music. Occasionallythis produces a musical situation more reflec-tive of their viewpoints than Russell's, butthat's not necessarily bad. The playing is soexcellent, the compositions so provocative,the ensembles so refreshing (even some fiveor six years later) that this is an indispen-sable item. D. H.

PHAROAH SANDERS: Karma. PharoahSanders (tenor sax) ; with various musicians.The Creator Has a Master Plan; Light ofLove; Colors. ImmrLsE! A 9181 $5.98.

Performance: Trance musicRecording: Very goodStereo Quality: Very good

Pharoah Sanders, John Coltrane's musicalcompatriot for the last few years before Col-trane's death, has continued to develop thequasi -mystical musical expression that domi-nated Coltrane's thoughts. Three composi-tions are included here, all constructed ofthe trance -provoking elements-continuous,freely rhythmic percussion, long declama-tory melodic lines, contrasting vocaliza-tions (from voice and horns), dense en-semble textures-that were characteristic ofColtrane's music.

It is probably reasonable to suggest thatSanders' association with Coltrane repre-sented an interchange of ideas, Coltrane'smusic as much influenced by Sanders' as viceversa. Like all highly spiritual, hypnoticallyevocative experiences, "Karma" must be giv-en a proper opportunity to make its effect-an opportunity to happen. And that willmean allowing the waves of sound to washover you. Try it. D. H.

NINA SIMONE: To Love Somebody (seeBest of the Month, page 94)


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RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITMART CROWLEY: The Boys in the Band.Original off-Broadway cast album. RobertMoore, director. A & M SP 6001 two discs$9.96.

Performance: ImpeccableRecording: NotableStereo Quality: Notable

Once in a while something quite extraor-dinary happens in the theater. It may be theemergence of a new playwright, or it may bethe emergence of a new idea. With the firstnight of Mart Crowley's The Boys in theBand on April 14, 1968, it was a mixture ofthe two. The unknown Mr. Crowley sprangto life as a fully fledged, marvelously ac-complished American dramatist. But muchmore, this was also the first work of real dis-tinction that freely utilized what has becomeknown as the new permissiveness in theAmerican theater.

It was Oscar Wilde who termed homo-sexuality ''the love that cannot say its name,"but in The Boys in the Bend it is not onlynamed, it is screamed from the rooftops.Yet the great quality of the play is not tobe found in its homosexual milieu, whichwhile honest and dramatically effective is nomore significant than any other of the play'selements. No, rather the play acquires itsdistinction from the stiletto brilliance andwit of Mr. Crowley's writing, and the subtleinterplay of his characters.

The play is set at a homosexual party. Theatmosphere is bitchy-the kind of partygames that are played make Edward Albee's

I - Woolf seem like a nursery school.At times Mr. Crowley's tone is a little toohysterical: "Show me a happy homosexualand I will show you a gay corpse." But if thesituation is as bad as that, some of my friendsmust be putting on a pretty good act.

The acting of the ensemble-and I reallydo mean ensemble-was perfect, as was thebrilliantly intermeshing direction of RobertMoore. All the actors gave the air of havingacted together, as a group, for years. Thisis the most potent tribute that can be offeredtheir performance, and it is this quality thatGil Garfield, the producer, captured in thisexcellent album. C. B.

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITJAMES JONES: James Jones Reads JamesJones. Selections from The Thin Red Lineand From Here to Eternity. James Jones(reader). CMS C) 552 $4.98.

Performance: Quite authenticRecording: Adequate

Most authors should be read and not heard.Far too many of them sound uncomfortableand unfamiliar with their own works whenthey read them aloud, and their voices are

usually disconcertingly inappropriate towhat they have to say. Nabokov seems tooacademic for Lolita, Capote too prissy forIn Cold Blood, and Hemingway too high-pitched and whiney for his swaggering,hairy -chested subject matter. A dazzling ex-ception is James Jones, whose unerring earfor barracks conversation is matched by a

voice and accent that render his words withan absolute rightness.

On this disc he reads two well-chosenscenes: the description of Prewitt's blowingTaps on Andy's bugle from his first novelFrom Here to Eternity and "Lt. Whyte'snineteenth-century charge'' from The ThinRed Line. There is brutal realism in his de-scriptions of dreary army life and of common

MART CROWLEY

An accomplished American dramatist

soldiers, who smell like common soldiers,facing death, but it is tempered by the au-thor's compassion and, at times, by manlytenderness.

The real distinction of this record lies notin the writing but in the reading, in the per-fect match of performer and material. Jones'voice is deep and rough, with a very individ-ual timbre, and his rural accent and intona-tion patterns are straight from the heart ofAmerica, in this case Southern Illinois. Hesounds properly ill -at -ease with an "ng" atthe end of a word, and he idiomatically givesan incorrect extra stress to unaccented prep-ositions and pronouns. He is excellent in thedialogue and quite convincing throughout.

When I meet old friends from my armydays, we talk only of the funny things thathappened to us back then. This record re-vives strong memories of other aspects ofmilitary service and revives them so stronglythat I don't think any man who has beenthrough so much as Basic Training would beunaffected by listening to it. It is one of thebest spoken -word records I have ever heard.

IFilliam Lit.in,;:stone

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITEWAN MAcCOLL AND CHARLESPARKER: The Big Hewer-A radio bal-lad. Ewan MacColl, A.L. Lloyd, Isla Cam-eron, Ian Campbell, Joe Higgins, LouisKillen (performers). Jim Bray (bass);Bryan Daly (guitar); Alf Edwards (con -

STEREO REVIEW

ertina, ocarina, trombone); Alfie Kahnharmonica, clarinet, tin whistle); Peggy.eeger (guitar and banjo) ; Dave Swarhrickfiddle). Peggy Seeger, musical director.UGID A3 538 $5.95.

Performance: Superb documentarywith music

Record in g Excellent

.hildren, contrary to all that you may have,card, there are still sonic places on thisarth where the creative intellect is respect -d, and one of these is England. Take radio,or instance. Once we had the ColumbiaXrorkshop (circa 1935), and we still have'acifica when they aren't being Pugnacity,ut most of our AM airwaves are awash inelephone feedback, opinionated gabble, newsd /Lei/fedi/7, and the top forty, while most7M stations confine themselves to recordedIntik and "discussions." In England, how-ver, there's the BBC. There, too, are plenty,f wasteland stretches, hut there also are,rograms in which fine acting, arresting doc-imentary techniques, and production valuesombine to make the air hum with challengend excitement. Take the London Critics;coup. A few years ago they reset Rome()nd Juliet in terms of contemporary London.'hey have also prepared group radio pro-luctions in the form of "radio ballads" (onesquired into the changes that have occurredn British stores and shopping habits). Andhere is the present disc, a major effort aboutoal-mining thoughtfully preserved for us by\rgo. On the surface it sounds both dull andlepressing, but it didn't turn out that way.

MacColl, Peggy Seeger, and Charles'arker started their preparations for "Theiig Hewer" in 1961 by going to the minesif Durham, Northumberland, Glamorgan,nd Nottinghamshire and recording the talesif some ninety miners. Back in London, withhe aid of a group of excellent actors, singersind musicians, they then put together a showhat is powerful, swift -moving, and unfor-;ettable. We're taken down to -the worldhat never saw sun or moon or stars,'' to "theilence in the pit" where "you can feel thelarkness pressing on you" . . . down withhe miners, in the company of songs and;ound-effects and legends, to smell the dankvoter and breathe the dust and the danger.The history of coal -mining is woven in so:xpertly that the listener never realizes, as;tories of cave-ins and hardships and unem--doyment unfold, that he is being taught. We:rater a pub on a Saturday night to be intro-luced to the black, grimy humor of the menwho have spent the week risking their lives;we hear the song of a widow whose husbandwas killed in a mine; we learn of the death -toll from pneumoconiosis and other indus-'rial ills. But there is always laughter, al-.vays music, always humanity-the elements:hat make life bearable even in unbearablesituations. By the end of the hour, it has be-come clear what the miner means when hesays that every time an Englishman puts coalin his grate, he is "burning blood." Thechanges that have improved conditions inhose mines are mentioned, too, but the lis-

tener is never allowed to feel that the dangeris over and the problem solved. It remainsto haunt the mind when the last notes andsounds have died away. "The Big Hewer'' isan object lesson in what radio might be ifmore imaginative organizations like the Lon-don Critics Group were given their wingsand allowed to soar. P. K.

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STEREO REVIEW

STEREO TAPERECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT

BACH: Toccatas and Fugues: in I) Minor(BWV 565), D Minor ("Doric," BWV538), and F Major (BWV 540); Toccata,Adagio, and Fugue in C Major (BWV564). Helmut Walcha (organ of St. Lau-renskerk in Alkmaar, Holland). DEUTSCHEGRAMMOPHON ARCHIVE ® ARC 830457.95.

Performance: PowerfulRecording: SuperiorStereo Quality: ExcellentSpeed and Playing Time: 7'/2 ips; 52'47"

These are grandiose readings, powerful inimpact and rhythmically solid as a rock,and they are among Helmut Walcha's finestachievements. The excellent Dutch organsounds even better in tape form than it doeson the circa early Sixties disc issue, and,except for slight flutter at the end of thesequence in my copy, the tape processing is

faultless. I. K.

BARTOK: Music for Strings, Percussion,and Celesta (see STRAVINSKY)

DVORAK: Symphony No. 5 (No. 9), inE Minor, Op. 95 ("From the New World").New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernsteincond. COLUMBIA ®MQ 1131 57.98.

Performance: Perhaps too excitingRecording: ExcellentStereo Quality: ExcellentSpeed and Playing Time: 7'/2 ips; 42'55"

Bernstein's account of this imperishable sym-phony leaves me with mixed feelings. HisLargo is beautifully laid out, and his finalAllegro con fuoco wraps up everything witha bold and triumphant sweep. However, boththe Allegro molto portion of the first move-ment and the entire Scherzo are much tootense for my taste. The relaxed gaiety of theScherzo, in particular, seems to elude Bern-stein; the gracefulness of the folk -inspiredmelodies is sacrificed to his restless treat-ment. It is perhaps pertinent to note that thespirit of the Scherzo was properly capturednot only by the native Czechs (Kubelik andSzell) but by Walter and Toscanini ( !) aswell. Technically, the recording is really

outstanding. G. J

Explanation of symbols:C) = reel-to-reel tapeC) = four -track cartridgeC) = eight -track cartridge© = cassette

Monophonic recordings are indicated bythe symbol C): all others are stereo

a

Reviewed by WILLIAM FLANAGAN DON HECKMAN GEORGE JELLINEKIGOR KIPNIS PAUL KRESH PETER REILLY ERIC SALZMAN


MOZART: Le Nozze Figaro. DietrichFischer-Dieskau (baritone), Count; GundulaJanowitz (soprano), Countess; Edith Mathis(soprano), Susanna; Hermann Prey (bari-tone), Figaro; Tatiana Troyanos (mezzo-soprano), Cherubino; other soloists; Choirand Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper, Berlin,

HELMUT WALCHAGrandiose, rhythmically solid Bach

Karl Bohm cond. DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON® DGR 9279 two reels $21.95.

Performance: WorthyRecording: ExcellentStereo Quality: EffectiveSpeed and Playing Time: 7'/2 ips; 171'48"

Perhaps the most impressive feature of thisgenerally well -sung performance is the trulyexcellent sound reproduction. Orchestral de-tails and the cleanness of the ensemble emergewith often thrilling effect. Bohm directs hisforces with warmth, though with perhapsmore controlled feeling than, say, Kleiber;his interpretation, however, has moments ofboth excitement and tenderness. All of thecast is competent, but some may find Fisch-er-Dieskau vocally and histrionically forcedin the role of the Count. A libretto is en-closed, though the division of Italian andEnglish translation into separate sections isnot a happy arrangement. I. K.


STRAVINSKY: Firebird Suite. BARTOK:Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta.

BBC Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Boulezcond. COI.UMBIA ® MQ 1063 $7.95.

Performance: UniqueRecording: High-classStereo Qualify: Just about perfectSpeed and Playing Time: 33/4 ips; 52'03"

I suppose there are in fact only two justifi-cations for the present program selections,in view of the frequency and splendor withwhich each has been frequently recorded:one is that Boulez has chosen to record the1910 version of the Firebird Suite rather thanthe more recent one we all know; and theother is the simple fact that Boulez, even incontemporary warhorses like these, promisesand provides fresh insights into them.

I expect there is a certain documentaryinterest in making the earlier Firebird Suiteavailable, but, in spite of its amplified rep-resentation of the music from the originalballet score, it's not hard to see why Stra-vinsky tried more structured recent versions.This early one is, taken by itself, less thancohesive in shape, more than a little flabby;and, what is worse, it doesn't end with theprecisely right Berceuse and Finale that iseither an inevitable ending to Stravinsky'sabridgement of the score or, possibly, merelyseems so because we are ear -washed to thenotion that it can end no other way.

But Boulez does exactly what one mightexpect: he cleanses, penetrates, and lets ushear the structural basis for the formation ofeven the most densely homophonic passages;he paces the piece briskly, and plays it withhis own unsentimental expressivity. Right orwrong, for better or for worse, we hear themusic in all but blindingly illuminated (andilluminating) detail. If everyone shouldn'town this performance by some sort of de-cree, they should be at least obliged to giveit an attentive hearing.

I like Boulez's way with the Bartok staple,too. By articulating the more barren, disso-nant intervals, he gives back to the work itsstatus as a vibrantly original modern near -masterpiece. He furthermore enhances theimage of the composer -as -intellectual by ex-ploring and clarifying the intervallic rela-tionships and essentially contrapuntal fabricof the musical texture. I've never been ableto believe that this essentially impressivework is not lessened by the coloristic, amor-phous background -music -like carryings -onof the third movement, and I don't feel thatits horror -movie evocation is either toBoulez's taste or, more probably, in line withhis interpretive aesthetic. And the structurallysomewhat fragmented and disconnected con-tinuity of Bartok's folk-rhythmed finale isperhaps a little too popularistic and, for itsday, groovy for Boulez's comprehension or

SEPTEMBER 1969 139

taste. In sum, this reading may not have theunhurried, it's -here -to -stay quality of, say,Karajan's for Angel, but it, like that of theFirebird, casts the revealing light of freshmusical revelation on a score that, as twenti-eth-century works go, is familiar enough formost of us to have believed there wasn't muchnew to hear in the music. IF'. F.

WAGNER: Das Rheingold. Dietrich Fisch-er-Dieskau (baritone), Wotan; Robert Kerns(baritone), Donner; Donald Grobe (tenor),Froh; Gerhard Stolze (tenor), Loge; ZoltanKelemen (baritone), Alberich; Erwin Wohl-fahrt (tenor), Mime; Martti Talvela (bass),Fasolt; Karl Ridderbusch (bass), Fafner;Josephine Veasey (mezzo-soprano), Fricka;Simone Mangelsdorff (soprano), Freia; Ora-lia Dominguez (contralto), Erda; HelenDonath (soprano), Woglinde; Edda Moser(soprano), Wellgunde; Anna Reynolds(mezzo-soprano), Flosshilde. Berlin Phil-harmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Karajancond. DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON ® 9228 tworeels $19.95.

Performance: Lyrical?Recording: GoodStereo Quality: HighSpeed and Playing Time: 7'/2 ips; 144'57"

A lyrical Rheingold? That's what we're as-sured this is, although frankly I find it hardto feel the lyricism in an opening whichsounds like a jog -trot through the Praterrather than a Wagnerian run over Valhalla'shill and dale. Donner's thunderstorm is alight spring sprinkle. Fasolt emerges as thehero because he is sung by the magnificent(and quite lyrical) Martti Talvela. Other-wise, the singing doesn't strike me as particu-larly lyrical. Nevertheless, its level is quitegenerally high (much higher than one usu-ally gets for Wagner these days), and theorchestra is magnificent. In his attention toorchestral sound and detail, however, Kara-jan, in my view, misses the longer sweep ofthe piece altogether, and, without that longersweep, dramatic tension, big form, and lyri-cism are bound to suffer. If you don't minda certain level of tape hiss and are not putout by badly planned reel changes, you mightconsider the tape version over the discs. Li-bretto provided. E. S.

RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERITWEILL: The Seven Deadly Sins. GiselaMay, Peter Schreier, Hans Joachim Rotzsch,Gunther Leib, and Hermann Christian Pol-ster (vocalists) ; Leipzig Radio SymphonyOrchestra, Herbert Kegel cond. DEUTSCHEGRAMMOPHON ® DGA 9308 $8.95.

Performance: Lusty and laudableRecording: SuperbStereo Quality: ExcellentSpeed and Playing Time:71/2 ips; 32'48"

The story of Anna from Louisiana and heralter -ego (and super -ego) sister who res-cues her from temptation was the result ofa collaboration in 1933 among Weill, Ber-tolt Brecht, and George Balanchine, whostaged the work as a ballet in Paris to mixedcries of enthusiasm and horror from criticsand audiences. It is a curious work, high -comedy in tone but with corrosive implica-tions of irony and bitterness; its mood ofsardonic mockery is reflected in both text andmusic. As the two Annas set forth in animaginary America to raise money to build

"a little home down by the Mississippi inLouisiana," the conventional view of the-seven sins'' is turned topsy-turvy throughwry thrusts at the hypocrisy of the world.Sloth must be conquered so that Anna cango out and earn money. Pride must be over-come in Memphis by agreeing to expose herflesh so that she can attract cabaret custom-ers; in Los Angeles, Anna must sidestepAnger at a movie mogul in order to keep herjob as an extra; in Philadelphia, Gluttony isthe threat of overeating and losing her job asa dancer. And so it goes through the tempta-tions of Lust in Boston, Avarice in Baltimore,and Envy in San Francisco. Those of us whosaw this ballet some years ago when it wasfrequently on the calendar at the New YorkCity Center will never forget Lotte Lenya'sperformance as the Anna who sings (whileher sister dances), and the heartbreaking wayshe has with her husband's tunes can beheard to perfection in the Columbia record-ing of this -ballet with song." The new ver-sion brings us the talents of Gisela May,

MARTTI TALVELAMagnificent as Fasolt in Rheingold

whose voice lacks the Lenya catch but makesup for it in force and fullness, and the chorusand orchestra, if less abrasively sarcastic instyle than those of the older recording, singand play so magnificently and are so bril-liantly recorded that the latter sounds just abit pallid by comparison. In both the text issung in the original German, but with thistape a text, including a rather shaky but help-ful English version, is thoughtfully supplied.

P. K.

ENTERTAINMENT

JESSE FULLER: San Francisco Bay Blues.Jesse Fuller (one man band: fotdella; kazoo;harmonica; cymbal set). John Henry; SanFrancisco Bay Blues; Midnight Cold; WhoaMule; Little Black Train; I Got a Mind toRamble; and six others. Goon TIME JAzz.®0 X 1051 $6.98, ® GTM 81051 $5.98.

Performance: Centipedes delightRecording:Presumably accurateSpeed and Playing Time: 33/4 ips; 36'55"

I never saw a one-man band,I don't expect to see one.But I can tell you anyhow,I'd rather see than hear one. P. R.

BUDDY GUY: This Is Buddy Guy! BuddyGuy (vocals and guitar); eight -piece ac-companying band. I Got My Eyes on You;The Things I Used to Do; Fever; Knock onWood; and four others. VANGUARD ® VGX9290 $5.95, ® 79290 $8.95, ® 89290 $6.95,

59290 $5.95.

Performance: Surprisingly blandRecording:GoodStereo Quality: GoodSpeed and Playing Time: 33/4 ips; 30'22"

By anyone's standard of excellence, BuddyGuy is the finest blues singer -guitarist tocome down the pike since B. B. King. Yet hehas rarely recorded in particularly effectivefashion under his own name. Althoughearlier dates with Junior Wells producedmarvelous interchanges between Guy's gui-tar and Wells' wailing blues harmonica,little of that excellence has spilled over intothis recent release. Recorded "live" inBerkeley, California, this music goes throughall the proper motions but lacks the gutsy,electric power that Guy can generate

Dunbest moments.

TED HEATH: Suing Is King, VolumeTwo. Ted Heath and His Orchestra. Jumpin'at the Woodside; Oh Lady Be Good; Don'tGet Around Much Anymore; Jersey Bounce;Harlem Nocturne; Apple Honer; and sixothers. LONDON ® LPL 74113 $7.95, 059113 $5.95, ® 14113 S6.95, 84113$5.95.

Performance: Authentic studio re -creationsRecording: ExcellentStereo Quality: ExcellentSpeed and Playing Time: 71/2 ips; 36'46"

I suppose there still are some listeners outthere for whom Swing Is King. For them,Ted Heath's studio band re -creations oftwelve standards-not all of them from theSwing Era- -may be just their cup of tea.For myself-well, I don't really rememberAnn Miller well enough to have any fan-tasies about dancing her around my livingroom to the strains of Jersey Bounce andString of Pearls. But, as they say, anythingthat turns you on.... Don H.

THE MARVELETTES: SophisticatedSoul. The Marvelettes (vocals); orchestra.Your Love Can Sate Me; You're the One;The Stranger; Here I Am Baby; Someway.,Somehow; Destination Anywhere; and sixothers. TAM LA ® TMX 286 $5.95, © 5286$5.95.

Performance: LivelyRecording: GoodStereo Quality: GoodSpeed and Playing Time: 33/4 ips; 33'

To try to sing "sophisticated soul" wouldseem to be a contradiction in terms. As Iunderstand "soul," it is just that-raw andunvarnished-and any attempt to make itmore sophisticated would just make it less"soul." Oh, well. The Marvelettes have sonamed their album, and they attempt to per-form a rather standard group of -soul"songs in a manner that might, better thansophisticated, be called middle-of-the-roadcommercial style. The only place they caughtme up at all was in the insinuating /sly BabyMust Be a Magician, which they pull offsplendidly. Otherwise the Marvelettes, whoare a sort of road -company Supremes, don'toffer much of interest here. P. R.

140 STEREO REVIEW

TAPF HORIZONSMIXING A MASTER

Ir doesn't take much experience with "on -location" stereo recording beforeone realizes that there are times when it is necessary to use- more than a

single pair of microphones. Soloists who sound properly balanced against achorus in the auditorium are rarely highlighted adequately on the tape unlessthey are supplied with individual mikes, and often four or more microphonesare necessary to get adequate coverage of a stage when trying to tape a school

play, for example. Even recording a panel discussion is easier when you can usea separate microphone for each participant and control its volume independently

of the others.Unfortunately, unlike table lamps, which can all be plugged into the same

wall outlet, microphones cannot simply be connected together through anadaptor. To do so would invite problems with frequency response, distortion,and microphone signal output-and, of course, such a procedure would notprovide the needed separate volume control for each mike. Instead, the properapproach with any multiple microphone set-up is to use a device called a "mixer."Such units are available with monophonic and/or stereo outputs, and can provideproper input connections and individual level controls for two to ten micro-

phones or more. In addition, at least one "high level" input is usually provided.This permits (for example) the signal from an FM tuner or another tape recorderto be mixed with a voice commentary or whatever other material is being pickedup by the microphone.

Until a few years ago there was a very large gap between strictly professionalmixers (selling at prices far beyond the average audiophile's means) and unitswhose performance was severely limited. The development of low -noise tran-sistor circuitry has reached the point, however, where several manufacturers nowoffer mixers priced well below the $100 range that are suited to the needs ofthe serious amateur. Indeed, mixer circuitry may well produce less hiss and havebetter frequency response than the microphone stages of one's own recorder,and be preferable even when only one microphone per channel is used. Mostmixers produce a signal level high enough to be plugged directly into the re-corder's "aux" (or "line," "radio," or "high -in") jacks.

If your budget is limited, you might want to try one of the battery -operatedmixers sold by most mail-order suppliers for about $10. These units vary in

quality, but some are surprisingly good. If you intend to do much live recording,it is a good idea to purchase a unit with at least one more pair of inputs thanthe number of microphones you now have. Bear in mind also that almost allmultiple microphone recordings will require the mikes to be set for "low im-pedance" operation; a unit which will accept this type of input directly, thoughmore costly to start, will save the cost of as many "matching transformers"(about $10 each) as the number of microphones used. Finally, the ability toswitch a given microphone into both channels simultaneously ("A + B") isoften highly desirable for centering a soloist acoustically, or for filling a "holein the middle" created by the need to space the primary pair of microphoneswidely to obtain adequate coverage.

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WRITE for quotation on any Hi-Fi components:Sound Reproduction Inc., 460 Central Avenue,East Orange, N.J. 07018. 201-673-0600.HI -Fl Components, Tape Recorders, at guaran-teed "We Will Not Be Undersold" prices. 15 -daymoney -back guarantee. Two year warranty. NoCatalog. Quotations Free. Hi -Fidelity Center, 239(HC) East 149th St., New York 10451.FREE! Send for money saving stereo catalog#H9R and lowest quotations on your individualcomponent, tape recorder, or system require-ments. Electronic Values, Inc., 200 West 20thSt., N.Y., N.Y. 10011.KIT Experts-Dynaco Specialists -Kits at reason-able prices are our specialty. Also custom wiredkits guaranteed to exceed factory standards atsubstantial savings. Beautiful handcrafted Wal-nut cases for complete Dynaco line, plus every-thing audio. Kitcraft, Dept. HS -99, 248 UticaAvenue, 11216. Brooklyn, N.Y. MA 2-5230.TAPE recorders. Hi-Fi components. Sleep Learn-ing Equipment tapes. Unusual values. Freecatalog. Dressner, 1523R Jericho Turnpike, NewHyde Park, N.Y. 11040.LOW, Low quotes: all components and record-ers. Hi Fi, Roslyn, Penna. 19001.GOVERNMENT Surplus Receivers, Transmitters,Snooperscopes, Radios, Parts, Picture Catalog250. Meshna, Nahant, Mass. 01908.DON'T THROW YOUR OLD CARTRIDGES AWAY.Send us $50.00 and any old used cartridge andwe will ship you via air prepaid anywhere anyone of the following Top Stereo Cartridges;Shure V-15 Type II, Empire 999VE, 10EMK II,Stanton 681EE. Write for lowest quotations allstereo components. Send $1.00 for our discountcatalog. DEFA ELECTRONICS, 2207 Broadway,New York, N.Y. 10024.THE Price is Right! Hi-Fi Components. J. WrightCo., 65-B Jensen St., East Brunswick, N.J. 08816.NEW low prices on all stereo components andtape recorders. Write for our quote. Stereo Corp.of America, 2122 Utica Avenue, Brooklyn, NewYork 11234.DON'T THROW YOUR OLD CARTRIDGE AWAY.Send $19.95 and any old cartridge. We will shipPREPAID any one of the following top ratedelliptical diamond stereo cartridges NEW: ShureM75E, M91E, M92E, M93E, Empire 888E, Picker-ing V15AME3, XV15 ATE, ADC 660E, 550E. Writefor lowest quotations all stereo components.Send $1.00 for our discount catalog. DEFAELECTRONICS, 2207 Broadway, New York, N.Y.10024.

QUOTES: STEREO COMPONENTS Foreign & Do-mestic, Box 18026, Seattle, Washington 98118.ACOUSTIC RESEARCH, Dyna, Koss, Shure dis-count specialists. Write for Free catalog. StereoComponent Systems Corp., 95 Vassar Street,Cambridge, Mass. 02139.BUY DIRECT FROM ENGLAND'S MAIL ORDERSPECIALISTS! Save Money! Goldring Super 800ECartridge $43.20, S.M.E. 3009/11 Tonearm$60.39, Quad 33/303 Amplifier $235.20, QuadElectrostatic Speaker $158.40, Tannoy Gold 15Speaker unit $96.00, Decca SC4E Cartridge$62.17, Tandberg 64X $300.16, Bowers WilkinsP2/H Speaker $226.80, Revox A 77/1104 Re-corder $340.80, also Leak, Rogers, K.E.F.,Wharfedale, Thorens, Transcriptors, Lowther,etc., etc. Insured shipping quotes free, or send$1.00 bill ($2.00 airpost) to include illustratedcatalog. Goodwin Ltd., 7 Broadway, Wood Green,London N.22. Visitors welcome to showrooms.CABINETRY -All new for 1970! Stock designfolio $2.00. Custom prospectus $4.00. Ordernow. Furniture and Sound, 5204 North LamonAvenue, Chicago, Illinois 60630.GET OUR LOW QUOTATION ON HI -Fl COMPO-NENTS. 125 page 1969 catalogue 250. AirexRadio Corp., 132 Nassau St., New York, N.Y.10038.

LOWEST PRICE ON ALL COMPONENTS, FREEINSTALLATION, PROFESSIONAL SERVICE. RMGSTEREO, 548 W. 114TH, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10025.UN 4-8357.

FOR SALEWHOLESALE components: Manufacturers anddistributors only. Request free catalog on busi-ness letterhead. WESCOM, Box 2536, El Cajon,California 92021.ELECTRONIC Bargains - Diodes, Transistors,Tubes, Courses. Free Catalog -Immediate Ship-ment. Cornell, 4215-H University, San Diego,Calif. 92105.NEW heavy duty CD ignition system. Detailsfree. Kit, $28.95; assembled, $39.95. Delta Inter-national, Ltd., Box 1946Z, Grand Junction, Colo.81501. Dealers Invited.FREE ELECTRONICS PARTS FLYER. Large cata-log $1.00 deposit. BIGELOW ELECTRONICS,BLUFFTON, OHIO 45817.JAPAN & HONG KONG DIRECTORY. Electronics,all merchandise. World trade information. $1.00today. Ippano Kaisha Ltd., Box 6266, Spokane,Washington 99207.FREE Catalog low priced, high performance sub-miniature listening devices direct from manu-facturer. Dealers welcome. Emery R-9, 156 FifthAvenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.SENCORE TEST EQUIPMENT UNBELIEVABLEPRICES. FREE CATALOG AND PRICE SHEET.FORDHAM RADIO, 265 EAST 149TH STREET,BRONX, N.Y. 10451.CROWN Model 822-P-4 tape recorder consoleracked. $950.00 Maker offer. Chuck Wanzer,6404 North Rural, Indianapolis, Ind. 46220.FM Background Music! Miniaturized adapterconnects to any FM Radio Tuner. Brings in hid-den commercial -free programs. Performanceguaranteed. $29 postpaid. K -Lab, Dept. Z, Box572, S. Norwalk, Conn. 06856.TANDBERG tape decks, like new, low prices. Fordetails write: Tape Decks, 228 Brookley Ct.,Limestone, Me. 04750.

TAPE AND RECORDERS

BEFORE RENTING Stereo Tapes try us. Postpaidboth ways - no deposit - immediate delivery.Quality - Dependability - Service - Satisfac-tion -prevail here. If you've been dissatisfiedin the past, your initial order will prove this isno idle boast. Free catalog. Gold Coast TapeLibrary, Box 2262, Palm Village Station, Hia-leah, Fla. 33012.TAPEMATES makes available to you ALL 4 -TRACK STEREO TAPES -ALL LABELS -postpaidto your door -at tremendous savings. For freebrochure write: TAPEMATES, 5727 W. JeffersonBlvd.. Los Angeles, California 90016.CASSETTE blanks, also educational and lan-guage, accessories and recorders. Literature -Write CASSETTES UNLIMITED, P.O. Box 13119-S,Pittsburgh, Pa. 15243.RENT 4 -track open reel tapes -all major labels-3,000 different -free brochure. Stereo-Parti, 55St. James Drive, Santa Rosa, California 95401.SCOTCH RECORDING TAPE, lowest prices.TAPE CENTER, Box 4305, Washington, D.C.20012.STEREO TAPES, Save 30% and up; no member-ship or fees required; postpaid anywhere U.S.A.Free 70 -page catalog. We discount batteries,recorders, tape/cassettes. Beware of slogans,"not undersold," as the discount informationyou supply our competitor is invariably reportedto the factory. SAXITONE, 1776 Columbia Road,N.W., Washington, D.C. 20009.STEREO TAPES: CARTRIDGES, CASSETTES,REELS, 33% DISCOUNT. LARGEST SELEC-TIONS, UNAVAILABLE ELSEWHERE. MAIL 20¢-CATALOGS. STAR RECORDINGS -SR, BOX1055, EL PASO, TEXAS 79946.

TAPE RECORDER SALE. Brand new nationallyadvertised brands, $10.00 above cost. Amazingdiscounts on stereo components. Arkay Elec-tronics, 1028-A Commonwealth Ave., Boston,Mass. 02215.

CASSETTES AT HONG KONG PRICES! Lifetimemoneyback guarantee! Three C -60s-$4.75, threeC -90s-$7.25, three C -120s-$8.75. CustomRecord Development, Box -3, Mamaroneck, N.Y.10543.

TAPES . . . blank recording . . . pre-recordedmusic. Catalog 100. Tower, Lafayette Hill, Pa.19444.

RENT 4 -TRACK STEREO TAPES - Dependableservice our keynote -ALL MAJOR LABELS -FREECATALOG (48 States)-TRIMOR Company, P.O.Box 748, Flushing, N.Y. 11352.RENT stereo tapes $1.00 week postpaid -freecatalog. Tape Library, Box 8126, Washington,D.C. 20024.

OPERA TAPES. Live performances of past 30years. Free catalogue. Ed Rosen, P.O. Box 521,Lynbrook, N.Y. 11563.

AMPEX tape recorders -best dealer price plus5%. MSD Stereo Center, 101 Hay Street, Fay-etteville, N.C. 28301.RADIO BROADCASTS for sale or trade. Freelists. Meyerhoffer, 2525 Hermitage Way, Louis-ville, Kentucky 40222.

RECORDS

HARD to find collectors LPs, like new. Lists 500.Records, Hillburn, New York 10931."HARD To Get" records --all speeds. RecordExchange, 842 Seventh Avenue, New York, N.Y.10019.UNBELIEVABLE Classical rarities. CatalogueFREE! M.I.T.M. 271 Autumn Avenue, Brooklyn,N.Y. 11208.SPECIAL INTEREST RECORDS AVAILABLE, PRO-DUCED BY THE EDITORS OF THE WORLD'SLEADING SPECIAL INTEREST MAGAZINES.SEND FOR FREE CATALOG. RECORD CATALOG-HF, ZIFF-DAVIS PUBLISHING COMPANY, ONEPARK AVENUE, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10016.PROTECT YOUR LPs: Heavy poly sleeves forjackets 50; poly lined paper sleeves 100; roundbottom inner sleeves 3'/24; white record jackets200. Min order $5.00. Record Supplies, Hillburn,New York 10931.CASH for your unwanted LP's, prerecorded tapesand cassettes. Reder, 81 Forshay Road, Monsey,New York 10952.FREE 40 PAGE CATALOG offers hundreds of re-cordings of rare Renaissance, Baroque andClassical music. Some records priced as low as$1.00 each! All late recordings in Stereo only.MHS RECORDS, Box 932 -HS, New York, NewYork 10023.

FREE CATALOGS Broadcasts. Sound Tracks ofThirties. ARG, 341 Cooper Station, New YorkCity 10003.

COLLECTORS JOURNAL -valuable data, recordmart. Six issues -$1.50. RECORD RESEARCH,65 Grand Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y. 11205.DELETED LPs. Extensive stock classical, shows,jazz, etc. Send want list to DAYTON'S, 824Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10003 or call 212 -AL4-5084. No catalogues.OLDIES -45 RPM original hits. Over 4000 avail-able. Catalog 250. C & S Record Sales, Box 197,Wampsville, N.Y. 13163.

TUBES

RECEIVING & INDUSTRIAL TUBES, TRANSIS-TORS, All Brands -Biggest Discounts. Techni-cians, Hobbyists, Experimenters -Request FREEGiant Catalog and SAVE! ZALYTRON, 469 Jeri-cho Turnpike, Mineola, N.Y. 11501.

142 STEREO REVIEW

WANTED

QUICKSILVER, Platinum, Silver, Gold. Ores Ana-lyzed. Free Circular. Mercury Terminal, Nor-wood, Mass. 02062.AEOLIAN Duo -Art Pipe Organ rolls sought. Ross,1069 Beach, Victoria, B.C., Canada.MARANTZ 10B Tuner. Will pay good price.Robert Ekeren, Thief River Falls, Minn. 56701.

AUTHORS' SERVICES

AUTHORS! Learn how to have your book pub-lished, promoted, distributed. Free booklet "ZD,"Vantage, 120 West 31 St., New York 10001.

MAGAZINES

BACK DATE MAGAZINES! Send needs. Midtown,

LEARN Electronics Organ Servicing at home. Allmakes, including transistors. Experimental kit -trouble -shooting. Accredited NHSC, Free Book-let. Niles Bryant School, 3631 Stockton, Dept. A,Sacramento, Calif. 95820.R.E.I.'s famous (5) week course for the FirstClass Radio Telephone License is the shortest,most effective course in the nation. Over 98%of R.E.I. graduates pass F.C.C. exams for 1stclass license. Total tuition $360.00 Job Place-ment free. Write for brochure Radio EngineeringIncorporated Schools, 1336 Main Street, Sara-sota, Florida 33577 -or 3123 Gillham Road,Kansas City, Missouri 64109 -or 809 CarolineStreet, Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401 -or 625 E.Colorado Street, Glendale, California 91205.DEGREE in Electronics Engineering earnedmostly by correspondence. Free Brochure. Dept.G-9, Grantham School of Engineering, 1505 N.Western Ave , Hollywood, California 90027.

Box 917 -HS, Maywood, N.J. 07607. PRINTING

REPAIRS AND SERVICES

CUSTOM RECORDING SERVICE. Tape and disc.Stereo and mono. Live and copies. Editing.Masters and pressings. High quality at reason-able rates. Joseph Giovanelli, Audio -Tech Lab-oratories, 2819 Newkirk Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y.11226. IN 9.7134.

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

FREE BOOK "990 Successful, Little -Known Busi-

FREE LITERATURE: Address labels, businesscards, printing, Rubber Stamps. JORDAN'S, 552West O'Connor, Lima, Ohio 45801.

EMPLOYMENT INFORMATION

FOREIGN and USA job opportunities availablenow. Construction, all trades. Earnings to$3,000.00 monthly. Paid overtime, travel, bo-nuses. Write: Universal Employment, Wood-bridge, Conn. 06525.

nesses." Work home! Plymouth 345-J, Brooklyn, PERSONALSNew York 11218.I MADE $40,000.00 Year by mailorder! Helpedothers make money! Start with $10.00 - FreeProof. Torrey, Box 318-N, Ypsilanti, Michigan48197.MAILORDER . . . Positively No Investment inproducts! Details: Methods, 1418 -FD, LafayetteHill, Pennsylvania 19444.MAILORDER! How to prepare your own catalogfor pennies...without merchandise investment!Free Catalog! Obie, 5711 -ES 14th, Brooklyn,New York 11219.MAKE MONEY GROWING FISHWORMS. Out-standing new breed produces greater profits.Free literature. Fain's Hatchery -53, Edison,Georgia 31746.

INSTRUCTION

SUPERIOR Auction School - nation's top auc-tioneers own and instruct. 120 East Cerrogordo,Decatur, Illinois 62523.

MAKE FRIENDS WORLDWIDE through interna-tional correspondence. Illustrated brochure free.Hermes, Berlin 11, Germany.

STAMPS

RUSSIA HIGH -VALUE COLLECTION. 32 differentRussia -some over 50 years old! Commemo-ratives, Czarist Issues, Airmails. Catalog price$2.50. Special Get -Acquainted Offer -all for only100! H. E. Harris, Dept. GG-54, Boston, Mass.

02117.

PHOTOGRAPHY -FILM,EQUIPMENT, SERVICES

SCIENCE Bargains -Request Free Giant Catalog"CJ" -148 pages -Astronomical Telescopes, Mi-croscopes, Lenses, Binoculars, Kits, Parts, Warsurplus bargains. Edmund Scientific Co., 300Edscorp Bldg., Barrington, New Jersey 08007.

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING ORDER FORMPlease refer to heading on first page of this section for complete data concerning terms,frequency discounts, closing dates, etc.

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30

31 32 33 34 35

Words

Insert time(s)

NAMEADDRESS

$.55 Reader RateI@ .90 Commercial Rate ( $

Total Enclosed $

1

CITY STATE ZIPSIGNATURE

WORD COUNT: Include name and address. Name of city (Des Moines) or of state (New York) counts as one wordeach. Zip Code numbers not counted. (Publisher reserves right to omit Zip Code if space does not permit.) Counteach abbreviation, initial, single figure or group of figures or letters as a word. Symbols such as 35mm, COD,P0, AC, etc., count as one word. Hyphenated words count as two words. SR -969J

HYPNOTISM

FREE Hypnotism, Self -Hypnosis, Sleep LearningCatalog! Drawer H400, Ruidoso, New Mexico88345.HYPNOTIC Sleep Learning recordings producefabulous results. Details free. ASR Foundation,Box 7021eg Henry Clay Station, Lexington, Ky.40502.HYPNOTIZE MALES, FEMALES -Unnoticed!Quickly! Nerves! Exciting! $2.25. Research En-terprises, 29-SN21 Samoset, Woburn, Mass.01801.

MOVIE FILMS16mm SOUND Features, Shorts, New, Used forSale. Free Catalog. National Cinema, 333 W. 57St., N.Y., N.Y. 10019.

SPORTS ACTION FILMS

JOIN THE EXCITEMENT -START YOUR OWNLIBRARY! Catalog, 8/SUPER 8. SPORTLITEFILMS, Dept. SR, Box 500, Speedway, Indiana46224.

EDUCATIONALOPPORTUNITIES

LEARN ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION. Train athome to earn $750 to $1,000 monthly. Car fur-nished. Expenses paid, No selling. No collegeneeded. Full or spare time. Men urgently needed.Free placement service. Write for FREE infor-mation. No obligation, Universal Schools CZ -9,6801 Hillcrest, Dallas, Texas 75205.LEARN WHILE ASLEEP, Hypnotize! Strangecatalog free. Autosuggestion, Box 24-20,Olympia, Washington 98501.

GOVERNMENT SURPLUS

JEEPS Typically From $53.90 . Trucks From$78.40 . .. Boats, Typewriters, Airplanes, Multi -meters, Oscilloscopes, Transceivers, ElectronicsEquipment. Wide Variety, Condition, 100,000 BidBargains Direct From Government Nationwide_Complete Sales Directory and Surplus Catalog$1.00 (Deductible First $10.00 Order). SurplusService, Box 820-L, Holland, Michigan 49423.

RUBBER STAMPSRUBBER ADDRESS STAMP $2.00. SIGNATURE$3.50. FREE CATALOG. JACKSON, BOX 443-G,FRANKLIN PARK, ILL 60131.

MISCELLANEOUSWINEMAKERS. Free illustrated catalog of yeasts,equipment. Semplex, Box 12276, Minneapolis,Minn. 55412.PSYCHEDELIC strobes 200 flashes per -min.$14.95 guaranteed. Zipcom, 5620 W. 12, L.R.,Arkansas 72204.

MAIL ORDER OPPORTUNITIES

WAITING FOR YOU!Classified Advertisers find more outlets fortheir product and service advertising in Ziff -Davis Electronics Publications than in anyother media.Monthly publications: POPULAR ELEC-TRONICS, ELECTRONICS WORLD, STEREOREVIEW are each acknowledged leaders intheir respective special interest areas.These, plus the twice -a -year ELECTRONICEXPERIMENTER'S HANDBOOKS offer mailorder businessmen the opportunity to reachadditional markets with Classified Advertis-ing that is responded to regularly by anaffluent audience of active electronics enthusiasts.Prove to yourself the effectiveness of Classi-fied Advertising in Ziff -Davis ElectronicsPublications. Write today for information,assistance or sample copies to:

Hal Cymes, Classified Advertising Manager

Ziff -Davis Publishing Company

One Park Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10016

SEPTEMBER 1969 143

STEREO REVIEW ADVERTISERS' INDEXREADER SERVICE NO. ADVERTISER PAGE READER SERVICE NO. ADVERTISER PAGE

2 Acoustic Research, Inc. 36, 115 36 JVC America, Inc. 2130 Acoustron Corp. 55 38 Jensen Manufacturing Company 50

3 Allied Radio 95, 964 Altec Lansing, Division of LTV Ling Altec, Inc. 1135 Ampex Corporation, Magnetic Tape Div. 32 39 KLH Research & Development Corp. 33

Ampex Corporation (Tape Recorders) 60 40 Kenwood Electronics, Inc. 26, 27Angel Records 107 42 King Karol Records 16

7 Audio Dynamics Corporation 131Audio Unlimited, Inc.

8 Aztec Sound Corp.132124 43 Lafayette Radio Electronics

44 London Records103102

Longines-Wittnauer Watch Co. 12

9 BSR (USA) Ltd., McDonald Division 13510 Benjamin Electronic Sound Corp. 51 37 Marantz, Inc. 34, 3511 Bosch Corporation, Robert 8 Minnesota Min ng & Mfg., Co. (3M Co.) 5812 Bose Corporation 137 45 McIntosh Laboiatory, Inc. 12013 Bourns Euphonics 130

101 British Industries-Wharfdale 2

68 Philips Phonographic Industries 10841 Pickering & Company, Inc. 3rd Cover

Carston Studios 136 46 Pioneer Electronics Corp. 5714 Citadel Record Club 9, 10, 1115 Clark Co., David 13516 Columbia Records 101 47 Rabsons-57th Street, Inc. 13217 Concord Electronics Corp. 104, 105 48 Radio Shack Corp. 718 Crown International 6 49 Record Club of America 5

50 Rectilinear Research Corp. 98, 9951 Rheem Roberts 138

20 Defa Electronics Corp. 13022 Deutsche Grammophon (DOG)23 Downtown Audio24 Dressner65 Dual

Dynaco, Inc.25 Dynaco, Inc.

111134141256343

52 Sansui Electric Co., Ltd.100 Scott Inc., H. H.

55 Sherwood Electronic Laboratories, Inc.56 Shields International57 Shure Brothers58 Sony Corporation of America

22. 2340, 41

39131745

59 Sony Corp. of America (Radio. TV Div.) 4927 Eastman Kodak Company28 Eastman Kodak Company19 Electro-Voice, Inc.29 Elpa Marketing Industries, Inc., Perpetuum-Ebner Div.21 Empire Scientific Corporation30 Erath, L. W.

59129

4th Cover16

14, 15109

53 Sony/Superscope, Inc. .....60 Sony/Superscope, Inc.61 Sound Reproductions, Inc.69 Stanton Magnetics, Inc.62 Stereo Corp. of America63 Switchcraft, Inc.

64. 6556

134119137

52

64 Teac Corporation 5326 Fisher Radio Company 2nd Cover, 1

65 United Audio Products, Inc. 2535 Great Books of the Western World 29, 30, 3131 Harman-Kardon, Inc.32 Heath Company

46, 47117 66 Vanguard Records 121

33 Hi -Fidelity Center 13634 Honeywell Photographic Products 112 67 Yamaha International Corp. 133

Classified Advertising 142. 143

STEREO REVIEW PRODUCT INDEXAs an additional reader service, we list below, by classifications, the products advertised inthis issue. If there is a specific product you are shopping for, look for its listing andturn to the pages indicated for the advertisements of manufacturers supplying that equipment.

CLASSIFICATION PAGE NUMBERS CLASSIFICATION PAGE NUMBERS

Accessories 52 Receivers, Stereo 2nd Cover, 1, 7, 26-27, 39, 40-41, 46-47, 103

Amplifiers and Preamplifiers 36, 45, 63 Records 16, 101, 102, 107, 111, 121

Books 31 Record and Tape Clubs 5, 9-11, 13

Cameras 59, 112, 129 Speakers and Speaker Systems 2, 14-15, 33, 36, 43, 50, 98-99, 109, 113, 115

Cartridges 21, 119, 130, 131, 3rd Cover Tapes, Prerecorded 32

Cassettes, Tape 58 Tape, Recording 56

Catalogs 7, 36, 95, 103, 117, 120 Tape Recorders and Decks 6, 53, 55, 60, 64-65, 104.105, 138

Headphones 135 Tuners, FM 45

Modular Music Systems (Compacts) 49 Turntables and Change -s 16, 17, 25, 45, 51, 135

Radios 8 Watches 12

144 Printed in the U.S.A. STEREO REVIEW

WOODWINDPOWERrs

Words are inherently limited in stimulatingthe emotions aroused by music. This is especially soin describing how high fidelity components perform.

With cartridges, for example, we speak offlat frequency response, high compliance,low mass, stereo separation. Words like theseenlighten the technically minded. But they dolittle or nothing for those who seekonly the sheer pleasure of listening.

We kept both aspects in mind whendeveloping the XV-15 series of cartridges.We made the technical measurements. And we listened.

We listened especially for the ability ofthese cartridges to reproduce the entire range

PMOTOGRA.1.1 BY 1,11.2 D501.

of every instrument With no loss of power.In the case of woodwinds, this meant a cartridgethat could recreate the exact nuances that distinguishan oboe from an English horn. A clarinet from abass clarinet. A bassoon in its lower register froma contrabassoon in its higher register.

We call this achievement "100% woodwind power."When you play your records with an XV-15, you won't be

concerned with even that simple phrase.Instead, you'll just feel and enjoy the renewed experience

of what high fidelity is really all about.

PICKERING

THE NEW PICKERING XV15' 750E.

PREMIER MODEL OF THE XV15 SERIES.TRACKS ATTO 1 GRAM. DYNAMIC COUPLING FACTOR OF 750FOR

USE IN FINEST TONEARMS.$60 00 OTHER XV-15CARTRIDGES FROM $29.95. PICKERING & CO.,PLAINVIEW, L.I., N.Y.


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7441c 76) E -V FOURA12" 3 -way $199.95

E -V FIVEC10" 2 -way $99.95

Any similarity betweenthese four ElectroVoicebookshelf speaker systemsis strictly scientific!

aThese four speaker systems sharea surface beauty. But don't be mis-

led. Underneath - where it counts -there are scores of important differences.There have to be.

Because what's right for a small systemmay be all wrong for a big one. And whatworks well in a 2 -way system may bepoison for a 3 -way. (Even a little change,like just 1" more cabinet, can upset thedesign of every component inside.)

Of course not everybody can afford

E -V SEVENB8" 2 -way $66.50

to design every speaker in their line fromscratch, the way Electro-Voice does. Butthen, not everybody has a scientific com-puter that pre-tests hundreds of ideas onpaper to find the few good enough tobuild.

And not everybody has a huge ane-choic chamber (like the one above) toprove the superiority of each design. Northe staggering array of test equipmentthat goes with the chamber. Or - mostimportant- the engineering talent and

E -V EIGHTA6" 2 -way $47.00

C111141111

musical sensitivity to take full advantageof these unique laboratory facilities.

When you select an E -V speaker sys-tem - regardless of size or price - youcan be certain it truly represents the stateof the art ... and good value to boot.

Anything less would be a cop-out.But don't take our word for it. Listen.

Compare. The difference you see andhear is what high fidelity is all about.ELECTRO-VOICE, INC., Dept. 994F,616 Cecil Street, Buchanan, Michigan 49107

For name of nearest dealer, call TOLL -FREE: (800) 243-0355 ANY HOUR, ANY DAY.In Connecticut call collect: 853-3600

high fidelity systems tuners, amplifiers, receivers public address loudspeakersmicrophones phono needles and cartridges space and defense electronics

A SUBSIDIARY OF GULTON INDUSTRItS, INC.CIRCLE NO. 19 ON READER SERVICE CARD

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