ANALOG vs DIGITAL - Ultra High Fidelity Magazine

The Firebird ballet sounded disturbingly
modern when it was inaugurated by
Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in 1910.
Critics of the time called the music noisy,
brutal and vulgar, and the celebrated ballerina
Pavlova actually refused to dance
it. That seems curious since, in our own
day, it seems no less accessible than Swan
Lake
Stravinsky was just 28 at the time,
and he had been one of the composers
who had adapted a number of Chopin
piano pieces to become the Diaghilev
ballet Les Sylphides. Diaghilev had actually
assigned the Firebird ballet to the
celebrated Russian composer Anatoly
Liadov. However Liadov dragged his
feet, and Diaghilev became increasingly
impatient. When Liadov told Diaghilev
that the ballet was coming along fine,
and that in fact he had just bought the
music paper so he could actually write
it, he was fired. Diaghilev, now critically
short of time, turned to the young Igor
Stravinsky.
Stravinsky rewarded him with one of
the most enduring masterpieces of the
new century.
The Minnesota Orchestra is not
exactly an unknown ensemble. Under its
old name of the Minneapolis Symphony, The ballet is based on a Russian tale,
it was long conducted by Antal Dorati which pits a prince against an evil ogre
and turned out countless memorable to win the freedom of a princess he loves.
recordings on the Mercury label. Eiji The prince of course wins out, as fairy
Oue’s reading of the Firebird score tale princes must, with the friendly help
sometimes seems a little idiosyncratic, of the firebird. Stravinsky’s retelling
but it always works musically. The soft of the traditional Russian story was an
passages, especially the Berceuse, How Maggie are instant Works success.
lyrical and poetic, and the Infernal UHF Dance is, and has been The digital version of this recording
leading to the ending is full of power for many and years, was especially famous for its climax,
magic.
a print magazine. But which we includes know possibly the most realistic
The sound is fully up more to the and orches- more audiophiles bass drum on record. That bass drum
tra’s magical touch. The want suite to opens read it might on their easily have overloaded either the
with the cellos and double computer basses playing or iPad. record And they’re cutter or our London Reference
softly at the lower limits of willing the audible to save money cartridge, too. but in fact neither happened.
range, and you are drawn Click right here, in. The and let It doesn’t Maggie quite sound the way it does on
LP’s noise floor is audible explain but only how just, to get CD, the however. full The actual impact of the
and — but for two isolated ticks — version there for mallet $4. on the drum is sharper on the
is little to remind you that you And are we hear- mean HDCD a PDF original, softer here. Perhaps
ing an LP. Paul and Keith version have left without a lot digitl it’s because rights the master tape was then
of headroom, for when the management full orchestra you can newer, transfer but then to again perhaps this is how
enters, its power pushes the you device back of in your it should choice.
be, and perhaps the original
your chair. Yet it never sounds too loud. “sharpness” was a digital artifact. In any
On our reference turntable, there was case, this version works perfectly, and it
not the slightest trace of harshness or just sounds right.
overload. The orchestra sounds like… Though Reference Recordings says it
well, like a live orchestra.
may release future recordings as double
albums, possibly cut at 45 rpm, to fit all
the music from the original CDs, this is
a single disc, and that meant something
had to go. The something is The Rite of
Spring, Stravinsky’s most controversial
ballet for Diaghilev. It too is a masterpiece.
though it actually led to fist fights
at its premiere in Paris. The second side
of the LP does include The Song of the
Nightingale, a suite from Stravinsky’s
first opera, Le Rossignol. Stravinsky
had been working on that opera when
Diaghilev dropped the Firebird commission
in his lap. It is gorgeous, though for
my part I would have preferred to have
the Rite of Spring on side two. Your view
may well be different.
This first new album from Reference
Recordings in years sets a high water
mark for what can be done with this
medium that will not die. With highresolution
music files becoming more
common, including the remarkable HRx
files from Reference itself, some are
questioning the continued pertinence
of vinyl.
Question it no more.
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 33
Nuts&Bolts
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