Holst: The Planets (SACD review)

Walter Susskind, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Mobile Fidelity UDSACD 4005.

Mobile Fidelity began life as a producer of half-speed remastered vinyl discs. When CD’s came along, they kept pace in the audiophile arena by transferring music to gold discs. These days, having largely moved away from gold discs and on to Super Audio CDs, they have found some good source material in the performances of Walter Susskind, such as this one where he conducts Gustav Holst’s The Planets with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.

The first and only time other time I heard this recording was almost thirty years ago when it first appeared on a Vox/Turnabout LP in the mid Seventies. It was during the quadraphonic era, and Vox had intended for listeners to play it back in four channels. But I heard it at that time in ordinary two-channel stereo where the sound appeared a mite blurry and noisy to me. Not being too impressed by the sonics at that time, I quickly forgot about the performance. Unlike before, however, I was able to hear it in cleaner, clearer stereo on this Mobile Fidelity SACD, and I regret not having given the performance more credit back then.

Mo-Fi is producing hybrid two-channel/multi-channel discs, so a person can listen to The Planets with or without an SACD player or rear channels. I listened in two-channel stereo through a Sony SACD player, where the sound now appeared better focused, and Susskind’s interpretation of this colorfully descriptive score thoroughly delighted me.

“Mars” begins things with a zesty, saucy bravado. I’ve read that Holst wanted this “Bringer of War” to ridicule the stupidity of war, and surely Susskind’s zippy rendition conveys this thought. Nevertheless, it’s the slower movements that most impressed me, “Venus” and “Saturn” and, of course, the ethereal “Neptune,” with their grace and refinement. Still, it’s “Uranus” that always seems to me the centerpiece of the work, the movement that combines the strongest tensions, the biggest outbursts of emotion, and the softest moments of repose. Susskind handles it superbly, the pacing immaculate. This is quite a nice reading, actually.

The sound, as I’ve said, is a marked improvement over the old vinyl. But one must play it somewhat loudly to enjoy it to the full, in all its spacious grandeur. At a soft or even moderate playback level, there seems to be a degree of cloudiness to the proceedings. Yet at volume, the sound is reasonably firm and well delineated. On the minus side, there is a minor feeling of compartmentalization about it, an absence of ultimate depth, some minor softness about the dynamics, and a lack of truly deep bass, all of which could intrude upon one’s complete surrender to a willing suspension of disbelief. Be that as it may, I’m sure it sounds realistic enough, overall, to please most folks, probably close to the original master tape. It’s an enjoyable disc, and I’m nitpicking.

The only flaw is that since my writing this review, Mo-Fi seems to have discontinued the disc. Alas, if you’re interested in it, you may have to do a search.

To hear a brief excerpt from this album, click here:

JJP

Cal Tjader & Stan Getz: Sextet (UltraHD CD review)

Cal Tjader, Stan Getz, Vince Guaraldi, Eddie Duran, Scott Lafaro, Billy Higgins. FIM LIM UHD 061 LE.

When you’ve got a good thing, there’s nothing for it but to make it better. That appears to be the philosophy of Winston Ma, president and owner of FIM (First Impression Music), who supervises the CD remastering of classic older recordings to today’s most-exacting audiophile standards. And what more classic a jazz album is there than Sextet, the celebrated 1958 recording with the all-star cast. To put it mildly, it’s never sounded better for home playback.

The players involved are Cal Tjader, vibes; Stan Getz, tenor sax; Vince Guaraldi, piano; Eddie Duran, guitar; Scott Lafaro, bass; and Billy Higgins, drums. Of course, not all of them were at the time as well known as they are today; but, still, it was a remarkable feat for Fantasy Records to gather them together for a one-time recording shot. No one figured just how memorable or how historic the occasion would be.

The session begins with “For All We Know,” which features Tjader on vibes and Getz eventually coming in on sax, the others providing accompaniment. It’s a good opening number to showcase the primary stars, and it’s wonderfully breezy and beautifully played. “My Buddy” follows, with even more from the bassist and pianist, again with Tjader taking the lead on vibes. The players had never performed before as a group, yet their contributions are so seamless, you’d think they had been working together for years.

And so it goes. This is jazz for people who say they don’t care much for jazz. I mean, how could one resist so affecting a number as their rendition of “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face” from the then-new stage musical My Fair Lady? It’s all quite easy to grow accustomed to when every member of the ensemble is so thoroughly professional and skilled his position.

While much of the music is laid-back and genial, there is a particular track that finds the group at its rollicking best: a fast dance called “Ginza Samba.” They swing in the best sense, backing each other with supportive figures in a remarkably able fashion. Likewise, after starting the album in relatively lyric form, the fellows do the final three numbers up tempo. Pick your mood.

For fun, see if you can make out the words whispered in the background. Interestingly, too, there were no rehearsals before the recording date, no alternates, and second takes. Although the album lasts only forty-two minutes and forty-seven seconds, you can’t help but have a great time with it.

Fantasy Records made the album at Marines Memorial Auditorium, San Francisco, California, in February of 1958. FIM (First Impression Music) and their subsidiary LIM (Lasting Impression Music) brought the music to the present audiophile UltraHD CD in 2013, using the latest advances in 32-bit technology for the transfer. Moreover, as it seems that every time producer Winston Ma releases a new series of discs, he’s added some new and innovative engineering, this time we get something called Pure Reflection, or as Ma calls it, putting the two words together, PureFlection. It’s an improved disc reproduction process that makes replication even more precise, and which Ma goes on to explain in several pages of detail in the disc’s accompanying notes. Let it suffice that the technology seems to work, and we get what Ma claims is a pure reflection of the original. The disc sounds darned good, so I don’t doubt him.

The modestly close miking used in the original recording produces a wide stereo spread, and certainly the high-definition UltraHD and PureFlection systems produce pure, clean sound, no matter that the master tape is over half a century old. It was obviously good to begin with, and it sounds good now.  The disc opens with Tjader on vibes, which ring out clearly and dynamically. When he’s joined by Getz on sax, we hear how really lifelike the instruments sound. Percussion, including piano, likewise display excellent transient response, and both ends of the frequency spectrum appear well extended. Just as important, there is a fair amount of depth to the group, with air and space around the instruments. A good thing just keeps getting better.

FIM/LIM have packaged the disc in a glossy, foldout, hardbound book-like case, with notes fastened to the inside and the disc itself inserted into static-proof liner, further enclosed by a thin cardboard sleeve. The liner and sleeve make sense for taking the best possible care of the disc, although it can be something of a pain trying to get the liner back into the sleeve properly if you’re as clumsy and nearsighted as I am. It’s a small price to pay for dust and scratch protection.

And speaking of price, don’t forget that these audiophile products aren’t cheap. Don’t say I didn’t warn you in advance against sticker shock.

To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click here:

JJP

Mozart: Divertimenti Nos. 11 and 17 (CD review)

Helmut Muller-Bruhl, Cologne Chamber Orchestra. Naxos 8.570990.

Mozart wrote a ton of divertimenti (well, several dozen at least), light music intended largely as background entertainment for social gatherings--dinners, parties, and the like--for families that could afford them. The two we find here, Nos. 11 and 17, are fairly prominent examples of the genre, conducted by the late Helmut Muller-Bruhl and his Cologne Chamber Orchestra. Maestro Muller-Bruhl died just a few months after making the recording, so it’s something of a swan song for him. He went out in style.

The Divertimento No. 11 in D major, K. 251, begins the program.  Mozart wrote it in 1776, probably for the name-day of his sister Nannerl. It’s a relatively small work in six movements, scored for an oboe, a pair of horns, two violins, viola, double bass, and strings; and it’s filled with the usual series of charming melodies we would expect from the young composer. Muller-Bruhl provides a warm, sunny, yet highly refined interpretation of the music. This is old-school Mozart, not your slingshot period-instruments presentation.

Nevertheless, this is not to suggest there is anything staid or stodgy about the performance. It is chipper, outgoing, and thoroughly delightful. After giving us a frothy opening Allegro, Muller-Bruhl offers up the first of two highly polished minuets. Between them we find a particularly graceful Andantino in a flowing dotted rhythm. The piece concludes with a spirited Rondeau and a march in the French manner.

Mozart composed the Divertimento No. 17 in D major, K. 334, in 1780 for the university graduation of a wealthy family friend. The piece is almost twice the length of No. 11 and displays a degree of maturity and invention somewhat lacking in the earlier work. Again, Muller-Bruhl gives us a gracious, friendly, cultivated reading, with an especially felicitous pair of Menuettos, things we would expect of dinner music. However, this is not merely background music; no Mozart could be. These well-developed musical arrangements verge on symphonies; in fact, you might even consider them overdeveloped symphonies, with their six-movement design. Whatever you call them, they’re quite entertaining in Muller-Bruhl’s capable hands. 

So, what Muller-Bruhl gives us are cultured, what some people might call sedate Mozart interpretations, old-school Mozart you could say, with accomplished playing from the Cologne Chamber Orchestra. To add another plus to the affair, the total disc time is over seventy-three minutes, something we don’t always find in this age of frugal recordings. Anyway, if  some of today’s more frenetic performances tire you, Muller-Bruhl’s more gentle approach may be right up your alley.

Naxos recorded the music at the Deutschlandfunk Kammermusiksaal, Cologne, Germany, in September of 2011. Typical of so many Naxos products, the sound is warm and full, with a slightly soft, veiled midrange and a slightly limited frequency and dynamic range. Still, these qualities are not severe and may be just what the music needs; they provide an easygoing atmosphere for Muller-Bruhl’s easygoing style. The moderately close-up miking allows for a big sound, too, very wide and acceptably deep.

To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click here:

JJP