AudioSalon - scotlands first and foremost hi-fi dealer since 1979

WHAT WE’RE LISTENING TO ….

Just occasionally we get a chance to brew a nice cup of coffee and actually sit back and remember why we got into this business in the first place!
Scroll down the page for the Classical Section.

	Artist: Burt Bacharach   Title: At This Time Label: BMG ASIN: B000BITZKM Cat. No: 82876734112	Warmer than a Malibu sunrise & with production values that are slicker than a well oiled penguin; let this shamelessly upbeat album put a little sunshine in your life. Includes collaborations with Elvis Costello, Rufus Wainwright & Dr Dre
	Artist: Craig Armstrong Title: Film Works 1995-2005 Label: Family Recordings ASIN: B000B8J0ES Cat. No: 9833490	Craig (a fellow Glaswegian) recently bought his home system from Audio Salon (Mark Levinson & ATC since you ask). This compilation spans his work for film and includes romantic and poignant pieces from Moulin Rouge & Love Actually among others.
	Artist: Branford Marsalis Title: Eternal Label: Marsalis Music ASIN: B0002NRREW Cat. No: 6133092	A beautiful album of jazz ballads bursting with emotion but completely bereft of one ounce of schmaltz. The recording is state of the art but you’ll love it for the sheer amount of soul on offer. Everyone who hears this in the Salon runs off to buy it…
	Artist: Grace Jones Title: Private Life: Compass Point Sessions Label: Island ASIN: B000007QQK Cat. No: 5245012	A classic! Recorded mainly in the famous Compass Point studios in Nassau; the voice, the songs, the backing band (Sly & Robbie), the production, the sheer attitude – all positively jump off the C.D. at you. Listen to it (preferably loud) through our Gryphon Poseidon Reference system and you’ll agree that music playback simply doesn’t get any better.

CLASSICAL

	2006 is the 250th anniversary of the birth of Mozart. Audiophiles can celebrate modern sound with this distinguished SACD surround hybrid of the esteemed requiem performed by Nikolas Harnoncourt and his Viennese colleagues. Composer: Mozart Title: Requiem in D Minor Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt   Label: Deutsche Harmonia Mundi ASIN: B00022UO9I Cat. No: 82876587052
	2006 is the centenary of the birth of Shostakovich and the Hi-Fi time machine has a 1958 recording of the composer playing his two piano concertos; CD is from French EMI Composer: Shostakovich Title: Concerto for piano, trumpet and strings in C minor; Piano Concerto No 2 in F Piano: Dmitri Shostakovich Label: EMI Classics Cat. No: 754606
	2010 will be the centenary of Stravinsky’s Firebird, arguably the first piece of modern music. Our preferred recording is the complete ballet by Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony for many reasons. First, the short orchestral suite, although prepared by the composer and often performed, simply does not work; the full score is meaningful. MTT inspires his players to play like angels and demons; unbelievably leaving his mentor Leonard Bernstein behind, and even the composer conducting this music, now on the Sony label. Finally, RCA’s engineering redefines CD and sounds like a front seat at a live concert; it communicates impressionistic music, which depends on sensuous nuance and timbres. Even the sleeve notes and the artwork are inspired. The 3-CD set released in 1999 includes Perséphone and The Rite of Spring. If you admire the greatest composer of 20th Century—or if you love Hi-Fi—this set is provocative. Composer: Stravinsky Orchestra: San Francisco Symphony Title: The Firebird; The Rite of Spring Conductor: Michael Tilson Thomas Label: RCA Victor Red Seal Cat. No: 09026688982
	An esteemed label has released an SACD coupling Stravinsky’s Rite and Nielsen’s 5th as the two greatest orchestral works of 20th Century. The promising issue didn’t work for me and both works have massive competition. Bernstein’s recording has proved unassailable since 1962, but Mr Elder and the Hallé launched their own CD label with a performance and recording they clearly knew was world class. The website dedicated to the disc accessible from the enhanced CD apparently never happened, but if you wish to discover why the symphony is so remarkable, this issue could be your best access. Composer: Carl Nielsen Title: Flute Concerto; March from Aladdin Orchestra: Halle Orchestra / Cond. Mark Elder / Flute: Andrew Nicholson Label: Halle ASIN: B00008OP2Y Cat. No: CDHHL7502

Special Feature: The Celibidache Collection on EMI—4 volumes (48CDs)

Celibidache (pronounced Kelly Bidatchi) has been described as “the last of the mad genius conductors.” He steadfastly refused to make recordings which he regarded as unable to reproduce the living event. So when he died in 1996 posterity was supposed to be deprived of his legacy … but the recording angel won by a remarkable outcome of events. Read on.

Born in Romania, Celi became a Zen Buddhist who saw beyond the surface of rationality. For him, music became an access to spiritual and mystical planes which he could communicate, and he had the genius to inspire an orchestra to his heights. For him a performance was a living experience. Like Stokowski and Karajan, Celi studied acoustics and sound engineering but after two attempts, Celi declined to record music.

Prohibition invites transgression, and the Italians made an industry of bootlegged and off-air CDs. These are mostly poor facsimiles proving Celi’s point by his own design!

In his 84th year Celi died and admirers of the great artist thought that that was the end: no one yet has spoken from the grave. But within three years, “authorised” editions of his recordings on EMI and DG labels were proliferating (I thought that I had died and gone to heaven.) Celi had rejected recording as a mechanical copy of a present moment, but his son had done the “authorisation” facing vast criticism of treachery and hypocrisy. Publication could only have happened on the death of the man himself—but publication of what material? The recordings are taped concerts and they are top performances properly taped; and they are legal because they are issued by the new copyright owner.

The people at EMI appreciated the enormity of their task and rose to the occasion. Everything is inspired, from the selection of music and the Zen packaging to the quality of the transfers to CD. No attempt is made to hide the live concert source, a policy which enhances the living experience which Celi denied. For their Celibidache Edition, EMI deserved (but did not attract) the highest awards. In comparison, rivals (DG) displayed mere competence and commercialism. How did this happen?

Celi’s estate found itself in possession of a vast archive of recordings. The sheer quantity and the demand allowed Jean Celibidache to “play off” EMI and Deutsche Grammophon after his father’s death, so that EMI licensed concerts with the Munich Philharmonic, reaching 33 volumes by 1999; and DG released 15 CDs with the Stuttgart and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestras. In every way, EMI is superior, and the hairs stand on your back to prove that in one respect at least, the Romanian genius was wrong! Long live the recording angel.