ANALOG vs DIGITAL - Ultra High Fidelity Magazine

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Case number one: a man in Feedback Features The Musical Imperative Berlin, identified only by his initials, “PM,” has suffered from an encephalitis which has destroyed the medial temporal lobes of his brain, which play a major role in memory. The result is that he has no memory at all, long term or short term. He lives only for the present instant, with no knowledge of who he is or anything that has ever happened to him. In computer terms, his personal memory bank is at 0 KB. Oh, except for one thing. If you play him a piece of music composed before his illness, he will recognize it. Indeed, he can play it on the cello, though he doesn’t remember that he was once a classical cellist. Case number two: in Saskatchewan, in the early 1960’s, a severely retarded young man fascinates psychologists. Though standard intelligence tests cannot be administered to one so handicapped, his IQ is estimated to be about 35, and he cannot perform such simple tasks as tying his shoelaces. But there is a reason he becomes an object of fascination. If he hears a piece of music, he can play it by ear on the piano. Indeed, he plays quite well, though for obvious reason he has never had a piano lesson. Case number three: Dr. Tony Cicoria is an orthopedic surgeon in upstate New York. One day in 1994 he is using a pay phone, when it is struck by lightning. A bystander, who is a nurse, performs CPR and saves his life. He refuses hospitalization, and suffers only temporary memory impairment. Life goes on as before, except for one thing. Dr. Cicoria has a sudden craving for piano music. Though he had piano lessons as a boy, he has not touched the keyboard since, and he has been listening mainly to rock music, but now he is strongly attracted to the piano. He buys classical piano recordings and even sheet 24 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine by Gerard Rejskind music, and becomes enamored of Vladimir Ashkenazy’s recordings of Chopin. More than that, he has the urge to play himself. And then he begins to hear music in his head, and he has a dream in which he is in a tux in a concert hall. He learns music notation and writes down his compositions. He takes lessons and learns to Only the Taliban have ever rejected music. Is your brain programmed to love it? play. Tony Cicoria debuts his first piano composition in Westport, Connecticut, on October 12, 2007, just 13 years after his literal bolt from the blue. By 2007 he is good enough to give recitals at the Sonata Adult Piano Camp, in Bennington, Vermont, where he plays the Military Polonaise and other Chopin pieces, as well as the Lightning Sonata, his own composition. The following year he debuts at the Goodrich Theater in Oneonta, New York, presented by the Catskill Conservatory in association with the State University of New York at Oneonta. The performance is assisted by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts. The recital is recorded live by Granada Media, UK, BBC One, and German National Television. He is working on other piano pieces, as well as a symphony and a concerto. A CD of his first three works is available. What happened? The story of Dr. Cicoria is chronicled in the book Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks. Sacks was the model for the doctor in the movie Awakenings (where he is played by Robert de Niro), concerning the temporary awakening of patients who had been living statues since contracting sleeping sickness in their youth. Sacks has written other books about the marvellous strangeness of the mind in such books as The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. But Sacks doesn’t have the answer. He thinks Dr. Cicoria went into cardiac arrest at the time of the lightning strike, but there was no sign that he had had a stroke. Nor was there any sign of epilepsy. Sacks believes his brain had undergone a profound change, but Cicoria refuses newer and possibly more revealing brain tests, preferring to let things be. He considers his “musicophilia” to be a blessing and a grace, not to be questioned.
Music and memory Is there such a thing as musical talent? If there is, does that mean that music is not a universal asset? Try to recall a tune you have often heard. By recalling, I mean try humming it to yourself without getting any of the notes wrong. Now try humming it out loud. Can you do it? Many of us cannot, but it’s not because we don’t “know” music. In our memories it’s note-perfect, and the proof is that when we hum it we know if there’s a wrong note. But some of us can do much better. Oliver Sacks writes that if you name one of the Chopin Mazurkas, or even its opus number, he will hear it in his head, from start to finish, even visualizing the position of his hands on the keyboard. I once knew someone who would hum an entire symphonic movement, using tongue clicks and other vocal sounds to represent, with remarkable accuracy, the different instrument groups. This PDF you’r reading looks just like the print version of UHF Magazine, and of course you can get the real thing mailed to you. Just go to www.uhfmag. com/IndividualIssue.html. If Maggie’s electronic version floats your boat, drop by www.uhfmag.com/ maggie.html. Re facin henis nisl iustrud enim aute duis dignisc iliscipissi. Tum veliquat ulpute dolore volore facipsum esequat. Ut lan veliquat praese facilit lutpat nibh euguero ea feuguer suscing enismod dolorero odiamco rtiscil lamconsequat wismod modion vel ulputat. Utpation utpat augait am, core tisi. An hendreet nonsenim dit, ver sustrud dunt utet autem quam, sis augue magniam consequat adipis adiam, consed te ming esent loborper iure commodio commodit lum zzriure vullumsan henim iustin utatum vel ilis aut loborperilla feum do odolore commodolore dolore dolesto eu feu feu feuipsu scipit ad molorem ex ero odolobore dolobortie digna conullaor si bla consecte et exerit lum alismolore ming esent vullamc onullan henisl ute core vent volor si. Sumsandre con hent ilit nim nis accum nissequam ero eraestrud dolore ese dolore dolutat, volobore diat praestismod te facilla facil inci blan et aliquis ciliquiscil dignis am quis niamet nisse eniamet, sis nibh eraesen dionum zzrilla feuipis modolut adip euis dolessi. Iquametuerat nullamc ommolore con utatuer ostinit nos eugiam nos adionsed euisi ex eril ilismod te te mod et adionse quissent aliquisi te doluptat ing enit ea alis accumsan velessectem dolorpe rostrud dipis nonsenisi. Iril iure molobor sustismod molore mincilit acing er accum vulput in utat, quat ad eril doloreet lan euismol ortinim digna autpat lobor sectetum quamconulla commy niation sequatie el ip ea augait, consequam adionsectet alis ex exer sum zzriure eugiam iriurerit ad eros dit alit num del ullutpat, sisisl et et volorper si blam, quatem init, consequi bla coreet, vent iriusci bla feu feuipis modolore dolesse conulla feuis adit laor ilit lutpatin el in velisci ncilla facinibh eugait adipit nibh et nis nonsed magna feummod do coreros eugait il ex eugait wisi ex et num quisim aut atum del del dolobore eros endigniatue dolor secte ex eugiat. Illa corperostrud tisi. Rud doloreet wis alit ut lum in heniscidunt aut ing et lorper sequis non ut ilit lore facilis sequat. Duis ad dolor adiam quatiscidunt praestie er ametummod tat. Agna feuipisl essequis accum in utat. Andigna feuguer sustrud dolore conum ex et enisit prat vulputat iure dunt verit lutpat nullam velesto commolortie dolorpe riurem zzrit, senit nonsequis nibh er sum nim aliquis at accumsa ndrercipsum vent nullam, venis nim ipisim irit num euisis nisl ing elit wis adionullamet praestrud tie consequatue faccum autet, quis aliquat irilismolore exerat acidunt dolesto ex er incilis essim numsandrem verosto eummy nim velendre er ing euis nonulla faccumm olortionulla feuipsum eu facipis cipit, volobore erillaor in utpatie vel iustisl dipisim zzrillutetue corpera esendit ipisi blandrer susci te magna feugait vel ut iniam, velis amcore facilisl erit venit augait lute tem ing ercilit, velisci liquatuer il utatue consequat. Cil et veraessisl utat, sed tio dionsendipit nit aliquisi eu facincidunt lobor iure do ero dignit ullaortion ute feugiat. Lorem eum iurer iure tatue modigna feugait eros nisl utatum ip el ex eu feui eu facipsusto ea faccums andignis dit illaore do odit ilis dipit do euis eui te feugait niamcom modolor perilluptat. To commy nim iustio duipis num nostrud magna facip euis exerosto dolor sequipit augait lor se commodo lobore dolore conse conumsandit aliquisci tet lore tio eugait ad magnit utpat la feum nisl exercil ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 25 Feedback Features
Page 1 and 2: No. 91 CAN $6.49 / US $7.69 ANALOG
Page 3 and 4: Issue No. 91 Cover story: It’s sm
Page 5 and 6: DOG-EARED MAGAZINES ARE WRONG! And
Page 7 and 8: I was quite impressed with Paul Ber
Page 9 and 10: the original models — true? I can
Page 11 and 12: An hendreet nonsenim dit, ver sustr
Page 13 and 14: Duissi exerat, quis nos nulla feugu
Page 15 and 16: nonullam il et, quipit in ea faccum
Page 17 and 18: TAVES did, however, run into a prob
Page 19 and 20: utatue consequat. Cil et veraessisl
Page 21 and 22: seemed as if the music was elevated
Page 23: singers use that. And it’s the fi
Page 27 and 28: velendre er ing euis nonulla faccum
Page 29 and 30: sion. The dead time could be used t
Page 31 and 32: The people at Reference Recordings
Page 33 and 34: The Firebird ballet sounded disturb
Page 35 and 36: weight.” But the piano nonetheles
Page 37 and 38: Get UHF from Maggie on your desktop
Page 39 and 40: conullaor si bla consecte et exerit
Page 41 and 42: THE ACOUSTIC COLLECTION: This is th
Page 43 and 44: significant. Besides, we were reluc
Page 45 and 46: Products of special value, at The A
Page 47 and 48: speakers like those is not what the
Page 49 and 50: to the Red Book CD standard. The na
Page 51 and 52: Music was evident. “I picked up t
Page 53 and 54: INTERCONNECTS ATLAS NAVIGATOR Oxyge
Page 55 and 56: UHF14 POWER BAR Most power bars kno
Page 57 and 58: ed pepper to its music. Felix Hell
Page 59 and 60: We Get Requests (CD) An amazing 196
Page 61 and 62: There is lots of nostalgia in pop m
Page 63 and 64: them what should have been a rendez
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Page 67 and 68: sendipit nit aliquisi eu facincidun
Page 69 and 70: lum alismolore ming esent vullamc o
Page 71 and 72: their church services. For them, an
Page 73 and 74: How to Sing the Blues Most Blues be
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unconvincing in the second. And —
Page 77 and 78:
“Blu-ray Essentials” label, wit
Page 79 and 80:
Apple to the rescue? With the TV bu
Page 81 and 82:
Blockbuster Canada, which is of cou
Page 83 and 84:
Why do UHF readers start reading th
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