2L Recordings' Polarity from the Hoff Ensemble

It seems like I've divided my musical world into at least two distinct realms of late--contemporary jazz and those amazing recordings from Norway's 2L Recordings. I dust this blog with a scattering of indie rock just to keep in touch with my roots, but the truth is that my time is currently dominated by jazz, with occasional sojourns into the challenging and exciting world presented by 2L's main bottle-washer, Morten Lindberg. Since 2L spends its time interpreting classical pieces and the avant-garde, it's rare when the two worlds collide. And yet we have this new jazz release from 2L, Polarity, performed by the stalwarts of the highly-regarded Hoff Ensemble.

The idea of a jazz album from 2L is immediately intriguing, and for several reasons. First of all, you can feel confident that whatever jazz is recorded, it will sound utterly fantastic due to Lindberg's adept balance between technology (MQA, DXD, Dolby Atmos and Auro-3D surround) and innovative recording techniques (the location of the recording venue, usually old churches that produce an incredibly spacious and warm sound). The idea of a simple jazz trio--Jan Gunnar Hoff's piano, Anders Jormin's bass and Audun Kleive's drums--recorded in the unique 2L manner seems like a no-brainer. Jazz trios usually excel in the establishing of space, both the isolation of each instrument and the blending of the whole when it comes to the resonances created by the performers and their instruments. It's all about relationships in time and space, and how they move and develop. It's clear that 2L understands these relationships, even if they're looking for new ways to explore those environments at the same time.

It all comes down to Jan Gunner Hoff's affinity for jazz and his ability to honor the traditions while forging his own way. His piano work has always been lovely and flowing, tethered to an acute appreciation of beauty. He's also a master at improvisation--he's the kind of pianist, like Keith Jarrett, who can sit down at a piano and start playing off the top of his head and the result is something that should be recorded and immediately released. He enlisted two of his favorite Scandinavian jazz musicians, Jormin and Kleive, to provide both knowledge and flexibility to place these original compositions into a jazz setting. "My main goal is to create a specific identity for each album I make," Hoff explains. He goes on to state the importance of the acoustic setting as a fourth member of the ensemble, and how it is active in the rendering of these improvisations.

Of course he succeeds. Hoff is a lover of melody, and the ability of that melody to be vivid and accessible. In a way he's always reminded me of Lars Jakob Rudjord--both of these Norwegian keyboardist/composers have a fascinating way of delivering a beautiful song that is easily absorbed but still quite distinctive in mood. If you think you're just getting piano, bass and drums in a spacious church, however, you're in for a surprise. Hoff has a few tricks up his sleeve, such as programming a Prophet 6 synthesizer so that it "can merge naturally with the trio without disturbing the acoustic sound picture." The synthesizer slips in at the most unexpected moments, usually with the rising tide of emotion in each piece. It works because the synthesizer is releasing its output into the same church space, so it sounds like yet another acoustic participant.

If you're a fan of Hoff's work, you'll be surprised when familiar tunes from his catalog appear. Hoff explains that these themes take on a new life in the jazz trio format, so it might be worth the slog to dig into your collection and make comparisons. He's also not a novice when it comes to jazz, since he's composed for many jazz quartets over the years. He's wanted to perform this specific experiment for many years, and the result is something that moves stealthily between genres, always focusing on how gorgeous it all sounds. This is not surprising in the least, but it does beg the question of whether or not he will continue these meaningful forays into jazz. I'll be waiting eagerly.

Kjell Tore Innervik's Utopias

How do you feel about percussion recordings? I love them, personally. I've heard people say that percussion recordings are somehow incomplete since they are missing the biggest component of music--melody. I find plenty of melody in most percussion recordings because, of course, there are specific tones resulting from the striking of an object. While rhythm is the most salient character in these types of recordings, those complex structures of melody often present themselves when you allow yourself to float along with the so-called beats. I've mentioned this before, but many audiophiles will tell you that the female voice will provide you with everything you need to know about a sound system's fidelity. My friend Bob Clarke says it's the grand piano, and I don't disagree. But for me, I can find everything I need to know by listening to a simple drum kit, everything from the visceral impact of the bass drum to the highest shimmer of the cymbals and, most importantly, the way the sound of those impacts react to the recording space.

I'm so pleased that 2L Recordings has released Utopias, "Radical Interpretations of Iconic Works for Percussion." As I've repeated ad nauseum, 2L is at the vanguard of sound reproduction in today's world, combining both the latest technology and a keen instinct for providing the finest recording environments. The idea of a pure percussion recording from Morten Lindberg and his associates is almost a cause for celebration--from the moment I slipped this disc into my player I knew I was going to have a transcendent musical experience.

Utopias is Kjell Tore Innervik's interpretation of two percussion pieces--two separate variations of Iannis Xenakis' Psappha and one of Morton Feldman's The King of Denmark. Innervik performs these pieces solo, but he is literally all over the place--his assortment of drums, bells and other objects is varied and exciting. At the same time, photos of the recording sessions show the placement of these instruments and how Innervik is tightly surrounded by them. Since the recording was made in one of those big Norwegian churches for which 2L is famous, the resulting sound is huge, in stages. The proximity of the instruments to Innervik's body reduces the amount of movement for him, sounds that would be picked up. Normally that would be a desirable quality for me, the interaction between musician and instrument that I find so vital to realistic recordings, but in this case it would distract from the real thrill here, which is how those struck objects reverberate in the church. You want decay? Utopia is a virtual primer of the nature of decaying sound. So what you're getting here is a tight formation of the source of these sounds, and a seemingly infinite pattern of ripples from that source. It's mesmerizing.

If it feels like I'm focusing purely on sound and not the content, that's unfortunate. Innervik's approach to these pieces is unique and the extensive liner notes dig deep into his intentions. There's a fascinating explanation of why Innervik chose to record two different versions of Psappha--he wanted to create two separate perspectives, or "windows," into the piece by performing it twice at different points in time. So what we're getting isn't two distinctive variations of the piece as much as two very human performances and the natural variations that would normally occur. If you're listening to Utopias as background music, which you shouldn't, you may wonder why the two performances are offered back to back. Focus deeply on the piece, meditate, and you'll uncover the reasons. Hint: it has something to do with being human.

While the overall effect of these performances reminds me of gamelan music with its intricate and often delicate textures, the music is exhilarating in its simplicity. This is, after all, one man creating an ocean of sound from a fixed point in space. The simple purity of tones here, of the essence of sound, is completely transformative. I have one of those Vietnamese singing bowls next to my bed, and its expansive tone has a powerful effect on my mood and well-being. Utopias has that same sense of cathartic power, of reaching deep into your mind and pulling out the most wonderful ideas and feelings. Highly recommended, and one of my favorite of all the amazing recordings from 2L.

Bjorn Morten Christophersen's Woven Brass from 2L Recordings

Is there any musical instrument that can convey dread, fear and impending terror as well as a horn? Let me elaborate and tell you about the first time I listened to classical music. It was the first or second grade, and our teacher played Tchaikovsky's Peter and the Wolf for us. (Don't ask me which version--I was six years old.) When the wolf first appears, signified by an eerie and menacing melody from the horn section, I felt more than just chills down my spine. I freaked out a little bit. I think I had nightmares for weeks afterward, and the soundtrack for each frightening image in my troubled dreams was the massed sound of those evil horns. It took me years before I could listen to that otherwise beautiful piece of music without feeling like something was waiting in the bushes for me, certain to tear me apart.

Woven Brass, from Norway's 2L Recordings, has absolutely nothing to do with Tchaikovsky's classic introduction to the orchestra which was obviously aimed at children with more fortitude than me--at least back when I was six or seven years of age. But I can't help but think about that horrible wolf when I listen to these fourteen musical pieces from composer/conductor Bjorn Morten Christophersen. These horns from six members of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra create so many razor-sharp moods and images that I can't help being transported back to that classroom in 1968 and feeling those same physical reactions I had to such soul-shattering sounds. I'm not expecting nightmares, but this recording has generated its share of goosebumps.

Fortunately, Woven Horns does not sustain those dark, unfathomable fears and emotions for the hour or so it takes to listen. Christophersen's music is thankfully varied and at times it's actually playful--in a vaguely macabre way, that is. The idea behind these fourteen tracks is to allow the listener to digest this music in a number of ways. You can be a purist and listen from beginning to end, or you can take Woven Brass one piece at a time. "Digital streaming services have led to new ways of consuming music," Christophersen explains. While I do think that listening to one isolated piece at a time certainly underlines this point, you'll get more of the recurring themes and ideas if you consume this exciting work as a whole.

This is a 2L release where all the recording technology that producer Morten Lindberg employs comes in very handy. These six musicians (who don't necessarily occupy the stage at the same time) create such swirling patterns of sound in the Jar Church in Norway that 2L's bag of tricks--9.1 Dolby Atmos 48kHz and other surround options, the Blu-ray audio format and MQA, all recorded in DXD 24bit/352.8kHz--is extremely effective in putting each horn in its place on the stage while letting you see the spatial trajectory of every note. You'll be able to track each musician's output with ease, whether it's leader Jonas Haltia's trumpet or the brass from colleagues Axel Sjostedt, Brynjar Kolbergsrud, Jan-Olav Martinsen, Thorbjorn Lonmo and Frode Amundsen.

From a sonic standpoint, this is an ultimate reference recording for brass instruments. It will, like all 2L Recordings, test the fidelity of your sound system. But Woven Brass is also a reference for the idea that music can be spine-chilling, so listen with a trusted friend who will make you feel safe!

Ensemble 96's So Is My Love from 2L Recordings

Let me set this up. It's just a couple of days before Christmas, and it's snowing outside. It's really snowing. I know, because I just drove an hour and a half to get here, to the office, and it was an ordeal. Once I settled in I stuck this disc into the CD player, the latest from 2L Recordings in Norway, and to my surprise and delight it's a choral work. Choral recordings from 2L are even a bigger treat than normal since these are the albums where you really hear the big Norwegian churches that usually serve as a venue. The voices rise to the big wooden beams overhead and then blossom and expand in size. At the same time, you can hear each voice in the chorus. You can single one out and follow it all the way through--just like you would if you were actually present at the recording.

Sitting here in this warm room, listening to yet another beautiful recording from 2L, I'm suddenly realizing that I do this every year around this time. There's something about these 2L Recordings that really enhance the idea of winter, of staying inside and keeping warm. So Is My Love is indeed about love and faith, which is appropriate for December the 22nd, and the beauty of that is not lost on me even though I am a heathen. (I always feel compelled to throw that in somewhere.) It's becoming sort of a tradition for me, and I'm usually the last person to observe holiday traditions.

Ensemble 96, a chamber choir of 24 voices, is highly respected throughout Europe and has been nominated for a Grammy or two in the past. I mention this because So Is My Love has also been nominated for a Grammy this year (Best Surround Album). It's not hard to see why. Led by 34-year-old conductor Nina T. Karlsen and periodically augmented by Mari Skeie Ljones' gorgeous violin, the choir delivers their interpretation of choral works by Martin Odegaard, Torbjorn Dyrud, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur and Frank Havroy. It's hard not to be moved by all the sheer beauty in one single disc.

The album's title, according to the liner notes, has dual meanings: "For me, love is like this" and "This is what my beloved is like." These musical selections were chosen because they explore those themes in depth--the differences between love in and of itself, and the very nature of the things that we love. In particular this music describes how prayer can reflect opposites--longing and joy, passion and humor and so on. Many of the pieces here draw inspiration from the Bible, Song of Solomon in particular, but other sources are used such as William Blake's poetry and the music of Thomas Tallis.

It sounds like a deep and heady meditation for the holidays, but it is surprising how light and ethereal it all sounds coming out of the Uranienborg Church in Norway. This definitely music that expresses joy instead of loss--one of the Dyrud pieces is titled "Laughing song"--and as I listen to it and stare out the window at all of the falling snow, I can't help but smile.

Oh, and good luck to 2L's Morten Lindberg at the Grammy Awards!

2L Recordings' Minor Major on Blu-ray Audio and CD/SACD Hybrid

The theme of this particular 2L release is quite simple. Beethoven's Quartet no. 11 in F minor is indeed in a minor key, but as a fairly short piece it is often overlooked as one of his most important works. Schubert's Quartet no. 15 in G major is in a major key, and it is also considered to be a major work, one of imposing length and substantial impact. The idea here is to boldly place these two works on the same album and let the listener come up with an answer to the question "What is truly minor and what is truly major when it comes to music?"

Both pieces are played by the Oslo String Quartet, a 2L mainstay. Violinists Geir Inge Lotsberg and Liv Hilde Klokk, violist Are Sandbakken and cellist Oystein Sonstad take a purist approach to this music, playing it with precision and yet with all of the appropriate emotions intact. They understand, for instance, that one of the most intriguing characteristics of the Beethoven quartet is that despite the minor key it is not a sad or sorrowful work. Think about that for a second, because I certainly had to wrap my head around it. Back in college, my Music 101 professor told us that minor keys expressed sadness, regret, danger, anger...all the negative emotions. In about twenty-two blissful minutes, he is proven wrong.

The Schubert quartet does not prompt the same sort of musical revelation and re-evaluation; it is merely ambitious and grand. The Oslo String Quartet is up to what must have been a physically challenging performance for them--there is so much furious energy here, and you can definitely hear the musicians breathing hard and pushing their bodies to the limits in order to deliver a flawless performance. As usual this is where 2L excels, at reminding the listener of the intimate relationship between musician and instrument (something I obsess over every time I get one of these spectacular Norwegian recordings), and how mere humans have to push themselves to the brink to commit to perfection.

Finally, I want to throw out an idea--string quartets are a perfect match with 2-way speakers. 2L Recordings' Morten Lindberg might disagree with this since he's a pioneer when it comes to using such technologies as 9.1 Dolby Atmos and 9.1 Auro 3D 96 khz and MQA for even a "simple" quartet recording. (It's obvious that these surround-sound technologies come in handy when it comes to placing a small quartet in a large Norwegian church.) But I use several high-quality 2-way loudspeakers as a reference in my two channel set-ups, and for me this is the ultimate in realism. I've heard plenty of bigger speakers enlarge the size of small ensembles to the point where each musician is ten feet tall. Excellent two-way monitors really prove their worth when it comes to this kind of music, which is why I could spend my golden years listening to recordings like this--quite simply, it approaches sonic perfection.

2L Recordings' Northern Timbre on Blu-ray Audio and CD/SACD Hybrid

This one is entirely about the music.

That's a strange way to begin a music review, I know, but with a 2L release there's always so much more going on than the performances. There's the extraordinary care taken during the recording process to ensure that the sound quality is state-of-the-art, there's the cutting edge technologies used to achieve that goal and finally there's a theme to explore, usually a cerebral one that's aimed squarely at true lovers of classical music. These themes can be simple, or they can be so esoteric that only a handful of music lovers would discover the intent on their own without the help of the unusually detailed liner notes.

For Northern Timbre, that theme is graciously simple: Grieg, Sibelius and Nielsen are arguably the most beloved Scandinavian composers, and they influenced each other in many ways. The avenue for demonstrating this hypothesis is also simple--three duets for piano and violin, played with extraordinary passion and commitment by Ragnhild Hemsing and Tor Espen Aspaas. But there's a point, perhaps a few minutes into Grieg's Sonata No. 3 in C minor. where you're so swept up by this gorgeous music that you stop listening with your brain and the clipboard with all your notes falls to the floor without you even noticing.

That's the goal, of course. I've said the same thing about high-end audio for years, that you're not listening to the good stuff until you stop thinking about whether or not you're listening to the good stuff. When I review these wonderful 2L releases, I usually try to gather up as many brain cells as I can so that I can do justice to these exceptional and thought-provoking recordings and the intriguing ideas behind them. With those aforementioned themes, there are usually many layers to peel away from the onion which usually adds to the enjoyment--it's almost a multi-media approach. With Northern Timbre, I can't do that. I simply melt into the listening chair and take it all in and forget about everything else.

I will say this in regards to the stated theme: as you move from the Grieg piece to Sibelius' Danses Champetres to Nielsen's Sonata No. 1 in A major, there's a certain flow that seems to reinforce the idea that these three composers were all in tune with the idea of the "Nordic Sound." I've been attracted to Scandinavian music for many years, back to the Opus3 recordings I fervently collected in the '80s and '90s. That attraction has always focused on one aspect--the ability of Scandinavian music to create vivid images of northern life, especially when it comes to the idea of a warm fireplace in a warm home in the middle of a winter storm. That stimulates the happy places in my brain.

The idea that these complex emotions and memories can be triggered so readily by a mere piano and violin duet speaks volumes about the quality of the performances, as well as Morten Lindberg's affinity for recording in big warm Norwegian churches. Hemsing's violin is swift and playful and strong when it needs to be. Aspaas, on piano, is an equal partner--this music is played as a true duet instead of a showcase for the violin with the keyboards acting as a rather austere foundation. Hemsing and Aspaas weave in an out of each other as if they were engaged in dance.

Winter is coming, and this California boy now lives in a place where that means something. I'm looking forward to spending this winter with recordings like this that celebrate the Nordic sound, ones that are lit up from within by sheer beauty.

Jens Harald Bratlie's Vers la Lumiere from 2L Recordings

"I noticed you were playing some piano music before. It was...very different."

"Uh, er, yeah...that was something I have in for review..."

"No, no. I liked it. Could you play it again?"

Have you ever watched a horror film or a thriller where the shocks and surprises are few and far between, which increases their impact? Now imagine that concept applied to music, where you listen to a substantial chunk of music, ten minutes or twenty minutes or more, and then the entire piece gets knocked over on its side and takes your breath away. That's what happens in the latest release from 2L Recordings, Vers la Lumiere. This album takes solo piano works from Antonio Bilbalo, Franz Liszt and Olivier Messaien--all performed by Jens Harald Bratlie--and juxtaposes them with brief interludes of electroacoustic tones and sounds from his son David Bratlie.

Okay, maybe I should have said "spoiler alert." If you go into this album blind as I did, it's quite a rush to hit that first wave of electronic tones. It sounds, and feels, like the floor disappears beneath you. Once you regain your footing, you wait for the next wave. It comes later than you think, adding to the suspense.

Lest you think this is some parlor trick, it's not. The idea of the juxtaposition of the piano and the "electroacoustic transitions" supports the theme suggested by the title--"darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that." (That's a quote, of course, from Martin Luther King, Jr.) Bratlie & Son use that idea as a springboard into the nature of artistic expression, and how a musician needs to plunge into contemporary sound in order to re-evaluate history.

What makes this such an effective exercise (which inspired the conversation above, with a friend) is the focus and depth of the piano pieces and how those qualities demand such rigid and consuming dedication from the pianist. The program choices are varied to add yet another layer. Bilbalo's "La Notte" chronicles a night of loneliness and despair and therefore prompts you into darkness. Lizst's "Vallee d'Olbermann" comes straight from the heart of the Romantic Era and sweeps you back into the light, where you can experience the healing power of sheer beauty. The two Messiaen pieces, both from "Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jesus," are more manic and tinged with madness; in a way they encapsulate the flood of opposing emotions that come before while clawing at the walls of the frontier.

Punctuating each piece, of course, are those astonishing electronic sounds that act as the hand that shakes your shoulder and wakes you up. Allow yourself to absorb them, to be surprised by their appearance, and perhaps you'll experience those same epiphanies about dream states you might have felt the first time your watched the David Lynch film Mulholland Drive. There's a sublime, private cluster of feelings that gets disturbed when you ponder the nature of sleep, which of course is another realm where the differences between light and darkness get resolved.

Jan Gunnar Hoff's Stories from 2L Recordings

I'm at the tail end of my first Syracuse winter, and I seem to have survived. According to the locals, it's been a pretty average season--well over 100 inches of snowfall so far, but certainly not all clumped together at once. Other than slipping on the ice four times in one week right before the holidays, I appear to be strong enough to handle northern life.

Today, however, we are expecting a big snowstorm. It's the middle of March, and we're still not out of the woods yet. The first piece of music I'm playing today is Jan Gunnar Hoff's Stories, another exquisite recording from 2L Recordings in Norway. I've played this disc several times over the last few weeks--it's the perfect soundtrack for watching the snowfall through a big window. These fifteen pieces for solo piano are all songs in the strictest sense of the word--they range from two to five minutes long, and they have specific song structures. Most importantly, they all tell a story.

Jan Gunnar Hoff is a familiar face to anyone who has been purchasing Blu-ray discs, CD/SACD hybrids and even LPs from 2L. I've already reviewed several of his releases right here on this blog: Living was reviewed in 2013, and the Hoff Ensemble's Quiet Winter Night is one of my favorite LPs to demo at a trade show. As a solo pianist, Hoff is one of those inventive performers who can sit in front of a keyboard and improvise endlessly. His style is fluid and lyrical, but at the same time he can connect to a wide range of emotions--it certainly isn't just pretty piano music he's playing. There's bite and there's thunder.

In Stories, however, Hoff does an amazing thing. Those beautiful improvisations are blended with familiar songs, familiar passages, even fleeting moments. Aside from a glorious and thoughtful cover of "God Only Knows," a rearrangement of the traditional Norwegian folk song "Varmlandsvisan" and Gerhard Winkler's "Answer Me," these are all original compositions from Hoff, so those gentle moments of recognition are wonderfully ethereal. At various points through Stories I'm reminded of everything from Thomas Dolby to Alan Silvestri's original score from Cast Away. These are incidental, however--the moment I lock in with a flash of realization, Hoff has moved onto something else.

This wavering between pure improvisation and surreptitious homage make Stories one of the most rewarding solo piano works I've heard in some time. By now you know that 2L Recordings are perhaps the most lifelike and natural you can buy in 2017, so I don't need to tell you how warm and spacious the Sofienberg Church sounds, or how producer Morten Lindberg has a better handle on how to bring out the wood and the wire of a piano out into the open better than anyone else.

Just grab this recording and wait for a snowy day, like today, and stare out the window and think about everything that matters to you.

2L Recordings' Himmelrand on Blu-ray Audio and CD/SACD Hybrid

Chapter 1:

"A pipe organ and a choir is sometimes all I need," an audiophile friend told me recently. He's the type of person who has been caught more than once playing Christmas music in the middle of summer, so I take him at his word. He's kind of a nut this way, and I've rolled my eyes at him more than once for doing this.

Fortunately for him, I'd just received this 2L Recording from Norway, Himmelrand, which features new hymnals from the Church of Norway, performed by the Uranienborg Vokalensemble conducted by Elisabeth Holte, with Inger-Lise Ulsrud on the enormous pipe organ at the Uranienborg Church. He sat and listened to this recording straight through to the end with a silly smile on his face the whole time. It was also his first experience with a 2L Recording, and he just couldn't believe the warm, open and engaging sound. Honestly, I think he was in a deep hypnotic state by the end.

Chapter 2:

A few weeks later, I played Himmelrand at a high-end audio show. A man walked into the room and within ten seconds--SERIOUSLY, TEN SECONDS TOPS--he had pulled out a notepad and started asking me what was playing. I handed him the CD case and he started scribbling down all the information. This was his first experience with a 2L Recording as well, and after a twenty minute conversation I think I had convinced him to go home and order the entire catalog. "I've never made such an instant emotional connection to a recording before," he explained. I never quite shook the feeling that he was pulling my leg because seriously, ten seconds was all it took. That's it. But this show was in Canada, and Canadians are famously polite, so maybe he was just being nice. Or maybe he was just like the first guy, deeply conditioned to have this sort of response to sacred music.

So it's safe to say that if a pipe organ and a choir is all you need to feel fulfilled, start here.

As for me, I still ponder about the same exact things when I listen to sacred music. You can go through every other review I've done on this type of music and I'll make the same comments about why I'm so attracted to these recordings despite an adamant agnostic streak. I can still get a huge thrill sitting in a huge church and listening to either a thundering pipe organ or the soft ocean that is a large choir, as long as everyone understands that I'll be slipping out the back once someone gets up and starts talking. There's something so old and ancient and peaceful in hymnals like these, and I won't deny their effect on my disposition.

The idea behind Himmelrand is, as usual, intriguing. These 17 hymnals have been resurrected (pun not intended) by modern Norwegian composers such as Aage Samuelsen and 2L mainstay Ola Gjeilo. As the liner notes explain, "An old hymn in a fresh musical setting loses none of its power; it simply undergoes a change--sometimes small, sometimes more substantial--to its character." The result is a collection of hymnals that seem to occupy an intriguing place between the sheer beauty and joy of the classic versions with more adventurous interpretations from these modern masters. That said, truly atonal moments are few and far between, and Himmelrand sounds more like a volume of undiscovered gems than anything else. Coupled with the goosebump inducing sonics, Himmelrand becomes something incredibly rare for me, a church service I would gladly attend.

CIKADA & Oslo Sinfonietta, Maja S. K. Ratkje’s *And sing…* Now Live at Positive Feedback Online

My latest review for Positive Feedback Online is now online--it's the latest from Norway's 2L Recordings and it's quite, well, out there.

You can read it here. Enjoy!

Terje Winge's Organism on 2L Recordings

For many audiophiles, there's nothing like the sound of a big pipe organ in a big church. That's the traditional test for full range speakers--can they produce that famous 16 Hz tone from a 32' pipe? There's no other acoustic musical instrument that has that wide of a frequency response, or at least none I'm aware of, and there's no other instrument that can naturally produce such a huge sound field since the pipes take up so much physical space. It's quite an experience to sit in an old church and hear one of the world's great pipe organs create tones that seem to come at you from all directions. Recreating that immense space in a recording is one of those Holy Grails for high-end audio.

That said, I'm kind of indifferent about the pipe organ as a musical instrument. I have audiophile friends who absolutely adore it and I can totally understand why--it creates such a singularly impressive sound. It's a veritable goose-bump machine. And I get that--I have a few Virgil Fox LPs at home and I like to trot them out once in a while to wow my buddies. But for me, true pipe organ music tends to fit into two categories--the spooky and the sacred. In my opinion, that limits its appeal. For an instrument that such an enormous frequency response, it's a shame that I feel that way.

Leave it to 2L Recordings in Norway to change my mind. Their latest release on CD and Blu-ray audio, Organism, features three unique pipe organ pieces from composers Kjell Mork Karlsen, Trygve Madsen and Kjell Flem, all performed by Terje Winge--the Professor of Organ at the Norwegian Academy of Music. These composers have obviously been informed by the sacred side of the pipe organ canon, with specific references made to Gregorian chants and the Lutheran chorale traditions. And a significant portion of this album sounds like the type of pipe organ you would typically hear in a church, albeit a Scandinavian one (in this instance, the Alesund Church in Norway).

But there are moments, especially in the quieter passages, where the music launches on a secular tangent and starts evoking feelings and visuals far outside of the Christian liturgy. The air traveling through those pipes meander and crawl around the room and start to dig in with prying fingers--sadness, despair, unease and worry. These emotions aren't necessarily alien to the ideas behind the hymnal, but it's odd to let your mind wander in and out of these notes, out the door and into mysterious and troublesome landscapes where anything can happen.

That sounds a bit fanciful, but that's my reaction to this strange and haunting organ music. It took my mind to places where it hasn't been before and definitely engaged me in an unprecedented way. It's so easy to become lost in these gigantic sounds, to ride a roller coaster of dynamics and find yourself alternately soothed and excited by what you hear. I couldn't imagine being at a church service and hearing these pieces played. What the hell kind of church is this?

On top of all that, you have Morten Lindberg of 2L performing his magic. As I mentioned in my review of TrondheimSolistene's Reflections last week, 2L has upped the ante for recording techniques, using Dolby Atmos in conjunction with Auro-3D surround for the Blu-ray disc. In other words, the recording Organism will envelop you in exactly the same way as the actual recording in the church. If you're the type of audiophile who's looking for that big pipe organ recording to really wow your buddies, this is it. But if you're like me, looking for an emotional entry point into this fascinating musical instrument, you'll be really, really surprised by Organism.

TrondheimSolistene's Reflections on CD/Blu-ray Audio

It's been a while since I've received a new release from 2L Recordings in Norway. Then it hit me--when I moved to Syracuse last spring, I'd forgotten to send Morten Lindberg my new address. I sent him a quick message on Facebook about the latest move; I was worried that my old mailbox in Colorado was filled with all the latest and greatest titles. "For the first time in a while I have no 2L Recordings in my review pile. I hope I didn't miss anything!"

Morten replied swiftly: "No worries, Marc! We've been busy making new recordings. Four new titles are ready for release over the next weeks." And sure enough, those four titles reached me safely in New York. I've been listening to all four through the summer, and this one was from TrondheimSolistene the most immediately engaging and familiar--after all, the first 2L Recording I've heard was Souvenir, which I reviewed back in 2012. When I saw their latest, Reflections, I was thrilled that it included one of my absolute favorite pieces for string orchestra--Ralph Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. In fact, the first thing I did after unpacking the padded envelope from Norway was to listen to this piece. And it was absolutely beautiful.

That's saying a lot, considering my longtime reference is an old, somewhat beat up copy of Sir John Barbirolli's English String Music with the Sinfonia of London. This 1963 performance is stunning and of course legendary, but I've been vexed by the surface noise. (I bought it used on eBay, and I paid a significant amount of money for it.) I'd splurge on a better copy, but I'm sure examples are both expensive and rare. So the idea of having a brand new take on this piece, pristine and beautifully recorded, made my day. TrondheimSolistene is known for taking liberties through unique arrangements, but their version is restrained and yet animated, and incredibly fluid and emotional. Is it the equivalent of Barbirolli's? I'm not going to go there--I'm thankful I have both.

The other two pieces on Reflections have been chosen, along with the Williams piece, for "passion, perfection and raw intensity." These include Benjamin Britten's Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge and Igor Stravinsky's Apollon Musagete, and they do create a unified and stirring hour-plus of music. Even the Stravinsky piece is perfectly lovely and lyrical--I'm not familiar with it and would never have guessed that it was composed by the same person responsible for The Rite of Spring and Petrushka. At first I thought it might have come from Stravinsky's earlier periods before, as Taruskin wrote, "Stravinsky became Stravinsky." This version was actually revised in 1947, and has flourishes that reach back to the Romantic Era and even, for a few fleeting moments here and there, the Baroque Era.

I did mention that TrondheimSolistene uses atypical arrangements and seating positions--these three pieces are performed with the musicians in a circle and with the microphones on the inside of the circle pointing outward. The placement of the musicians are unique within that circle for each separate piece, so there is a slightly different sonic presentation in each section. Most of the positioning would probably be more obvious in the surround formats--which I do not have yet (I'm working on that as I write).

But I finally have access to a decent universal disc player--the Cambridge Audio CXU--so I can finally do more informed A/B comparisons between CD and Blu-ray digital formats. My initial impressions while switching between these formats aren't yet formed--I hear difference but very small ones, and I suspect those margins increase when you switch to multi-channel. (These four new CDs also utilized Dolby Atmos for the first time, so I'll see if I can find away to explore that new technology as well.) For the moment I continue to give the nod to Blu-ray Audio; it's simple quieter and smoother and more extended in the treble. But it's still amazing to me that two-channel redbook CD sound continues to be as realistic and as lifelike as it is. And no one's doing a better job of pushing the CD format into the 21st century than 2L.

2L Recordings' Tartini-Secondo Natura

Who is Giuseppe Tartini?

I ask this question because I've never heard of this composer before. I'd like to think I'm knowledgeable about most of the classical composers who bridge the gap between the Baroque era and the Classical era, but this prolific gentleman, who wrote 135 violin concertos and 200 sonatas during the early and mid 18th century, is a pleasant surprise in one of those where-have-you-been-all-my-life sort of ways. On the 2L Recordings' website, it's mentioned that Tartini's music is rarely performed today--it's considered somewhat "enigmatic--impalpable and mysterious." I agree wholeheartedly, which is why I responded so favorably to this new Blu-ray audio disc.

Playing it for the first time, shortly before I headed off to CES, I was mesmerized by this music and the way it seemed to expand on more common baroque themes. But instead of offering a more direct, streamlined version of these ornate musical motifs that were preferred by his contemporaries, Tartini ventured further away from the mainstream with strange and challenging tangents that will remind you of compositions created 100 to 150 years later.

Part of the reason the three Tartini pieces on this disc are so intriguing is the choice of instrumentation, with Sigurd Imsen using a baroque violin and Hardanger fiddle (which has an open, woody and resonant sound compared to conventional violins), Tormod Dalen playing a baroque cello and Hans Knut Sveen sitting at the cembalo (a German harpsichord). Normally a more conventional trio would approach this music in a more straightforward manner, but these rarer instruments have such a delightfully sonorous sound that they can venture further away from Tartini's beautiful melodies and extract an unusually exotic result. In addition, the violin features a scordatura tuning, which means that it's purposely altered to include "non-conventional" notes that combine the familiar with the experimental.

With all these novel and fascinating elements in place, Tartini becomes so much more than a well-recorded program of chamber music. I finally got around to reading up on Tartini, and it turns out he's not held in the same high regard as fellow composers such as Handel and Hayden and, of course, Mozart. Mr. Tartini was known for his writings on nature as much, if not more, than he was known for his music. That seems to suggest two things--either that means more scholarly writers than I will criticize me for enjoying this music so much, or that the 2L magic has elevated this album into something special. I'm leaning toward the later, since I get goosebumps whenever I play it.

This is the disc I really wanted to bring to CES, the kind of disc filled with memorable, extraordinary music recorded by 2L's Morten Lindberg with his innovative technologies. But alas, this disc is only offered in the Blu-ray format, and the digital source we used at the show doesn't do Blu-ray. That's too bad for me--I was gobsmacked by this beautiful, wondrous music and I know that show attendees would have loved hearing it.

So who is Tartini? If you have the means to play Blu-ray audio discs on a high-quality audio system, you need to find out. Of all the 2L discs I've been reviewing over the last few weeks, this one is my favorite for pure musical enjoyment. Highly recommended.

Anatomy of Sound's Song Circus on 2L Recordings

In last week's review of 2L Recordings' Mezzotints, I mentioned that I had a handful of albums in for review that might be a little too avant-garde to play at trade shows. That's too bad, because I've had so many musical epiphanies while listening to music that's "outside of the box." I think about musical pieces I've heard over the years such as Kevin Volan's White Man Sleeps or Scott Walker's The Drift or heck, even my favorite rock album of all time, Pixies' Doolittle, that have changed my tastes in profound ways because they were so challenging to me at the time.

When I first received Anatomy of Sound's Song Circus right before the holidays and stuck it in my CD player, I instantly thought to myself that this was NOT something I could bring to CES and play in my room--unless it was the end of the day, of course, and I wanted to clear the room and head back to the hotel. This collection of experimental pieces for five voices and "electronics" is definitely not in the wheel house of your average grumpy old audiophile, but if you can power through your preconceptions about songs and melodies you might find that Song Circus will evoke feelings and emotions that are as rewarding as they are unsettling.

"Through minutiae explorations into the very microlevels of sound anatomy, through vocal investigations as well as the activation of spatial premises and the discovery of timbral qualities of objects, Song Circus masters an unusual audial vocabulary that expands the idea of what music can be."

That's the brief description of this album on the liner notes, and it pretty much hits the nail on the head in a paradoxically vague way. What you'll notice first is the presence of five female voices making random sounds that dance around our definition of singing. Noises, pops, whoops and even sirens abound in this open, airy soundscape, defining spaces and daring you to hear ever closer. Then you'll notice the low rumblings in the distance, drone variations and sudden squawks that might make you jump at times--especially if you're tempted to lean forward to catch all of the tiny little details.

The overall impression is sort of a mix between ambient, Bjork and "Revolution No.9," despite the fact that these sounds are all captured organically and naturally by Morten Lindberg's microphones. You might be tempted to think that so much of Song Circus is a studio creation, but you'd be missing the point. While the first part of the album, a 12-part suite titled "Landscape and Figures," does unite the five improvised female voices with Ruben Sverra Gjertsen's sounds, which have been channeled through either eight or sixteen sound channels--Morten Lindberg's new Immersive Sound technologies, which takes surround sound to a new level of complexity, is the perfect partner for this composition--attention must be paid to how those sounds interact with the singers. This is, to a certain extent, reminiscent of the idea that an electric guitar is actually an acoustic instrument since the tonal qualities are dependent on how the guitar amp interacts with the room.

Once you get past that distinction, the second piece makes more sense. "Persepone," Ole-Henrik Moe's piece for five voices and wine glasses, is a purely acoustic exercise that focuses on "vocal sound, dynamics and microtonality." It's purer and more aesthetically soothing than "Landscapes and Figures," and yet it gives you more context to enjoy the album as a whole.

So no, you will not be humming these pieces to yourself after listening in your car on the way to work. This is brain music, to put it succinctly, something to help you define your own expectations when it comes to your musical sensibilities. Song Circus will either challenge you and expand your horizons, or it will make you head for the exits. But I can't think of a more informative recording in my entire music collection. If you patiently listen to Song Circus in its entirety, you'll emerge from the experience knowing more about your sound system and how it interacts with your listening room. You'll also know more about your brain, and how it interacts with new information.

As much as I enjoyed this album, and the way it revealed things I've never heard before, I'm even more excited about the other avant-garde recording I received from 2L. That one left me in complete awe, so check back in a couple of weeks!

2L Recordings' Early Romantic Horn Sonatas on Blu-ray Audio and CD/SACD Hybrid

Many years ago, J. Gordon Holt of Stereophile remarked--and I'm paraphrasing liberally--that many modern horn recordings made brass instruments sound smoothed out and polished, and that during a live performance, horns have a bite and edginess to them that can be startling. JGH had a strong belief that listening to live performances of unamplified musical instruments was essential to becoming an informed listener (i.e., an audiophile), and his comments about horns referred specifically to the fact that so many modern hi-fis, not to mention recordings, take that edge off of horns so that they are smooth and listenable and therefore not at all realistic.

Those observations were confirmed a few years ago when I found myself at a jazz club in Austin during SXSW with no more than eight or ten feet separating my head from the bell of a trumpet. While it wasn't quite as punishing as it sounds, it did prove to me that the proper staging of brass instruments during recording requires a modicum of restraint--especially when it comes to proximity. Most horns have a startling timbre, but at the same time such instruments are capable of an incredibly expressive and dynamic sound, one that shows off the interaction between musician and instrument. Finding a balance between a horn performance and the rather isolated tone that is common in modern recordings can be quite the challenge.

Morten Lindberg of Norway's 2L Recordings has figured it out. His new recording, Early Romantic Horn Sonatas, provides such a naked and detailed portrayal of the sound of the natural horn that at first it sounds like nothing else you've experienced. Granted, natural horn recordings aren't that common these days, especially when accompanied by another somewhat ancient instrument such as the fortepiano. But Morten has the insight to know that the secret to capturing the true and excitingly primitive sound of a natural horn without peeling back the ears of the audience is to place the instrument in a vast space--an old Norwegian church, for instance--so that those macrodynamics can bloom and develop into a completely pleasurable experience.

Featuring Steinar Granmo Nilsen on horn and Kristin Fossheim on fortepiano, Early Romantic Horn Sonatas features three separate sonatas from Ferdinand Ries, Franz Danzi and Nikolaus von Krufft that focus on the musical expressions that evolved in the early 19th century forging art with nature--the dawn of the Romantic Era in claasical music. Gone are the rigid structures that existed in the decades prior, resulting in a wonderfully loose interplay between these two performers. The result is music that is lively and poetic and full of virtuosity, but I found myself more impressed with the way this recording captures the somewhat mechanical characters of these two instruments. Not only will you hear Nilsen's controlled breaths amid the blasts of buzzing metal, but you'll also hear the delicate fingerwork of Fossheim, and how every press of the key makes a somewhat distinctive clicking sound along the ancient soundboard that at times sounds like a third instrument.

The genius of this recording, of course, is in the way these two performers are placed in such a vast space that allows all these details to emerge, along the walls and open beams, on a such a grand physical scale. Compared to most 2L Recordings, this one has a soundstage that is far more laid back and almost makes it seems as if the listener is sitting in a back pew. This distance enhances those unique timbres, however, without obscuring detail. It proves, to me at least, that Morten does not have a "one size fits all" approach to making recordings--he considers everything to make some of the finest classical recordings in history.

2L Recordings' Spes on Blu-ray Audio and CD/SACD Hybrid

"Excuse me, do you have any Sami folk music you can play?"

If the recent audio show at Newport beach is any indication, I'm starting to be well-known for despising musical requests from show attendees, despite the fact that I still pretty much say yes to everyone. Everyone kept coming in to give me ridiculous requests such as Black Flag, Diamanda Galas and more, just to see how I'd react.

On the other hand, reality never fails to meet my expectations when it comes to making me grouchy. I had one rather pushy gentleman, sporting the same Reyn Spooner shirt everyone else was wearing in south Orange County that weekend, come into my room and immediately ask me to put something on with "more bass." At the time I was honoring someone else's request, "Amado Mio" from Pink Martini, an absolutely lovely recording with realistic low frequencies and plenty of warmth and bloom. The problem was that I was using PureAudio amplification with Leif Swanson's fantastic Endeavor Audio E-5 loudspeakers, which do go down to 20 Hz, and this guy wanted to hear 20 Hz.

When I hesitated about honoring his request until the current song was over, he got all huffy. He sat for a few moments and then left with his two buddies, saying something about how he didn't like the sound. Of course he didn't, because I was playing real music instead or organizing a fireworks show. I want to play beautiful music that captures imaginations, not confirm the frequency response specs for my products. I almost followed the Pink Martini track with one from Spes, the new disc set from 2L Recordings in Norway, just to aggravate that guy just a little more. Spes employs the chorale group Cantus to expose the world to Sami folk music from Scandinavia, and while this is an exciting recording that's very dynamic and very spacious and full of occasional yet thundering percussion, something told me this guy wouldn't have appreciated it because it's delicate instead of bombastic.

I wish someone would walk into my room and request Sami folk music. It's amazing.

Upon first listen, Spes reminds me of Magnificat, which I reviewed here. It's a warm, enveloping choral experience that is both melodically soothing and off the beaten path. The difference, however, is that Magnificat focuses on sacred music while Spes is more of a living document of Sami folk music. Its deep rhythmic drumming, however, will constantly remind you of Native American folk music to the point where it seems deliberate, an ethnocentric conceit. In reality, Sami music is characterized mostly by jolks, which are a capella songs that are sung with deep emotional commitment usually imbued with sorrow or anger from man's constant conflict with nature. Only recently have musical instruments become part of jolks, and the Sami culture dictates fairly simply accompaniments from flutes and hand drums and the like. That description, of course, does not differ strongly from that of Native American folk music.

If you're going to listen to this album, and a stunningly beautiful recording it is, you should treat yourself to a quick history of the Sami people and their culture. Also known as Laplanders, the Sami live in the more rural areas of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. They have their own language and have fought to preserve it in recent years, and they are indigenous peoples who have also experienced discrimination at the hands of settlers from other European nations. Again, this story sounds familiar. I only bring this up, however, because listening to these songs in the Sami language is nothing short of illuminating in a way that only a previously unheard thing can be. Often these choral chants resemble birdsong, expressing the deep connection between indigenous people and the land they call home.

Once you wrap your head around that, Spes takes on a deeper, more fulfilling meaning that broadens and enhances this wonderful music.

2L Recordings' Magnificat on Blu-ray Audio and CD/SACD Hybrid

"Do you have any Christmas music?"

We had a lot of visitors to our home over the last couple of weeks. That can be a challenge for me since I don't really celebrate the holidays anymore. Nevertheless the old box of Christmas decorations did get pulled out of the garage rafters, and the next thing I know I had guests checking out my reference audio system and asking me if I had something, well, suitable to play for the occasion. It's not that I don't have Christmas music in my collection--I do, but it's all New Age-y holiday fare from a passing phase in the early '90s. (Hint: a particular woman was involved with those purchasing decisions, and I wish she had taken those CDs with her.) Suffice it to say that the only holiday music I'd even remotely consider is the Vince Guaraldi Trio doing A Charlie Brown Christmas. Chad Kassem at Acoustic Sounds just did a new remaster of that, but I think the deadline for buying that in a timely manner has passed.

Fortunately, one of the new disc sets I'd received from Morten Lindberg of 2L Recordings fit the seasonal bill. Magnificat, a new album of sacred pieces for small orchestra, pipe organ, piano and choir, satisfied the more cerebral and esoteric among us and was the perfect antidote to all of those traditional songs that plague us every December (and November and October). The title piece, composed by a young Norwegian named Kim Andre Arnesen (who was born in 1980, something seemingly odd and rare in the world of classical music composers), specifically addresses the story of "the angel Gabriel visiting Mary with the message that she will be the mother of God's son." The other pieces, Aaron Jay Kernis' "Musica Celestis" and Ola Gjeilo's "Tundra" and "Song of the Universal," are equally evocative of the holiday spirit.

This is one release from 2L that will immediately engage you whether or not you're a fan of contemporary classical music. From the opening notes of "Magnificat" you will be seduced and comforted by the sheer beauty of it all, such gorgeous melodies and ideas framed in that usual warm sound that can only come from Morten Lindberg, some recording equipment and the usual Norwegian church. This music becomes something much more substantial than those hoary old carols--it's music that finds a direct connection to your soul whether you lead a religious life or a largely secular one such as me.

Beyond Morten and the composers, there's so much talent worth addressing on this recording--Ola Gjeilo's stunning and full piano work, powerful yet lovely solos from sopranos Lise Granden Berg and Cecilie Ertzaas Overrein and even masterful pipe organ contributions from Magne H. Draagen. You also get none other than TrondheimSolistene performing the role of the smallish string orchestra--their landmark Souvenir, after all, pretty much put 2L on the map when it comes to the world's most beautiful and realistic recordings.

In a lot of ways, this is my favorite 2L release so far and not just because it's so immediate and accessible. I've always been a huge fan of so-called sacred music, but not because it inspires my "faith," whatever that is. Since I was in college I felt a special bond with those classical composers who felt the hand of God on their shoulders as they put pen to paper--in particular Arvo Part's sacred music makes me feel as if I've discovered hidden keys to the universe. Magnificat elicits those same quiet and peaceful epiphanies, which is far more rewarding than those tired old Christmas songs.

A Welcome Holiday Respite Courtesy of 2L Recordings

Last week was a rough, troubling week. Monday started off with a health scare that put me into a foul yet unstable frame of mind. The ongoing debate over the political correctness of the term "Wife Acceptance factor" became quite heated and I found myself being criticized on both sides of the argument. All of this happened in the middle of our seasonal rush, with international shipping avenues completely clogged up for the holidays, resulting in delayed shipments and angry customers. And people ask me why I don't celebrate Christmas. Maybe two decades of retail management has something to do with that.

I did receive another welcome package from Norway. Morten Lindberg sent me several 2L recordings to review, and those should appear shortly. In that care package, however, I found two discs that I've already reviewed--TrondheimSolistene's Souvenir and Flint Juventino Beppe's Remote Galaxy. I did notice that the packaging was slightly different--traditional jewel cases had replaced the older clamshell case. When I opened them I discovered that these were merely Blu-Ray audio discs--not the usual two disc set with both Blu-ray and a CD/SACD hybrid. I wasn't quite sure why Morten wanted to send these to me--I already have both of these titles in LP, CD and Blu-ray. Perhaps he wanted to emphasize a more affordable way to own these groundbreaking recordings. I put them aside for a couple of weeks and almost forgot about them.

When I noticed them once again, sitting in my stack or review materials, I suddenly remembered the strengths of each recording and how that would translate to listening on my new high-quality headphone rig. First up was Souvenir, the Grammy-nominated recording that really put 2L on the map in the US. If you remember my original reviews of this recording, you'll know that these are small orchestra performances of pieces from Nielson and Tchaikovsky that are arranged in a way so that no musician sits next to another musician with the same instrument. The result is a blended sound that will challenge what you think you know about classical recording.

With my headphone rig, which consists of a prototype of the upcoming Unison Research SH headphone amplifier, Furutech H128 headphones, a cheap Samsung Blu-ray player and Cardas Audio Clear Light cabling, it was far easier to discern these unique orchestral arrangements and pinpoint the differences in sound. With Remote Galaxy, a wildly dynamic and exciting recording, that different perspective, residing entirely within my noggin, was startling and made my heart race with anticipation more than once. (You can read my original review of Remote Galaxy here.)

Yesterday, I had an idea. I've just received the new high-efficiency (94 dB, 8 ohms) Unison Research Max loudspeakers, which were designed for low-powered tube amps such as Unison's own Simply Italy (12wpc) and Triode 25 (22 wpc triode/45wpc pentode). Needless to say, the Max goes very loud with very little power. These 2L recordings were downright ideal for such a set-up, with plenty of delicacy during the quieter moments and plenty of gusto during crescendos.

Before you know it, my troubles vanished and I starting thinking about how much I've come to love the music coming out of Norway these days. I just submitted my ten top albums for 2014 to Perfect Sound Forever, and three out of the ten are Norwegian recordings. Something tells me that if I visited Norway, even for a week, I'd come back refreshed and ready to write about controversial issues in audio once again.

2L Recordings' Symphonies of Wind Instruments on CD, SACD and Blu-ray Audio

On the surface, this new 2L Recording of the Royal Norwegian Navy Band is a primer for dynamics. You know, I'm talking about one of those recordings audiophiles use to demonstrate how exciting their systems are. Everything is dramatic, percussive and in your face, and if your heart is leaping then it must be a great recording. Reference Recordings and Sheffield both had similar releases by wind orchestras back in the '80s and they both became audiophile standards--I think I still hear recordings played at trade shows. Heck, this release is even called Symphonies of Wind Instruments--direct, plain and to the point.

As I'm settling in and judging this record by the first selection, Paul Hindemith's Konzertmusik, I'm thinking I have a handle on everything it's doing. This is a giant, spacious 3-D recording where large groups of instruments interact on an even larger stage, and everything is so crystal clear and lifelike. And again, on the surface, the Hindemith piece is played with the energy and exuberance of a skilled military band--but I couldn't imagine what parade what fit with this kind of music, which is the first hint that this isn't just another demo disc. What a whimsically desolate event that parade would be, I think.

Once the nearly twenty-minute Hindemith piece ended, it hit, one of those unfamiliar musical pieces from a favorite composer that just reminds you that there's so much beautiful music out there that I, or anyone else, will never hear. This is from a guy, of course, who's lucky enough to spend large chunks of the day listening to music, and I'm melancholy about this fact. That, of course, is the feeling this music drew out: Arnold Schoenberg's Theme and Variations. I love Schoenberg for the same reason I love Scott Walker--they were both on the cusp of something, and then they turned the corner and found something else. It's fascinating to gather up a wide selection of Schoenberg recordings and just randomly listen to snippets and guess where the composer's head was along that big progressive arc of discovery.

Theme and Variations stands out as an oasis of delicacy in this album, and for complicated reasons. It's no less bracing than the other selections on the album, which also include an additional piece by Hindemith, Symphony in B flat and two relatively brief pieces by Igor Stravinsky and Rolf Wallin. It's just that there are emotions and images in this music that seem to gain an additional level of meaning when played by a disciplined military band. It's not that the two pieces don't fit together--it's just that you're surprised when you see the final result. I would imagine that credit goes to conductor Ingar Bergby, and of course 2L's Morten Lindberg, for creating this musical challenge.

Needless to say, this is a 2L recording so it sounds completely wonderful. If you're looking for the "air around the instruments," you won't find a better example. Just be prepared that there's a point where this unusual recording stops being what you think it's being, and then becomes something else. And that's exciting.

Torbjorn Dyrud's Out of Darkness on 2L Recordings' Blu-ray Audio and CD/SACD Hybrid

I didn't know what to think about the latest 2L Recordings release, Torbjorn Dyrud's Out of Darkness, when I first listened to it. Dyrud's take on the passion and the resurrection of Jesus is odd and haunting with its English readings, spare and mostly percussive arrangements and its penchant for the more macabre aspects of this two-thousand year old story. Add a liberal dose of heavy breathing--Christ dragging the cross up the hill--along with the sound of whipping and flogging, and you have the antithesis of a soothing evening at home while listening to your hi-fi.

On the other hand, this recording is from 2L. That generally means that in addition to novel thematic elements, Morten Lindberg is going to challenge you along the way with the sheer beauty of the performance. The strength of this recording is in the judicious use of sound effects as punctuation for the story--the patient slap of the bass drum, ethereal whistling from the choir and that disconcerting crack of the whip. Morten has really been spending a lot of time with new surround-sound technologies in the last few 2L recordings, and his strategy of this recording was to place the performers in as big of a space as possible--in this case the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim--to isolate them from reflections and room boundaries. This is certainly a change of pace from past 2L recordings where the venue, usually a Norwegian church that offers unusually warm and open acoustics, acts as one of the performers. The Nidaros Cathedral is evidently so big, and Morten's microphone placement so precise, that the room reflections aren't reinforced in the usual ways.

As I've learned from the wealth of 2L recordings I've reviewed, this amazing sound quality is often paired with challenging, unusual and atonal music in a manner that forces the listener to re-evaluate the relationship between performer and musical instruments. Here the most stunning work is done with the human voice, as the Nidaros Cathedral Choir (as conducted by Vivianne Sydnes) steps far outside of where moat church choirs operate. Along with the aforementioned heavy breathing, there's also plenty of whispering (the crowd around Jesus) and an utterly strange drone whistle that bends in space as if it's a reluctant, plaintive siren. This re-imagines the church choir in the same way Kevin Volans' White Man Sleeps re-imagines the string quartet. Could you imagine what would happen if this had been performed back in the Baroque Era? Madness! Blasphemy!

This versatility in the choir also adds so many textures to the music that you might think there are more musicians on the stage than there are. For the record, there's only two trumpeters (Geir Morten Oien and Erlend Aagaard Nilsen) and one very busy percussionist (Lars Sitter) and that's it. The rest of the sound you hear is from the Nidaros Cathedral Choir, with Sarah Head performing the English readings. But even with all the physical space Out of Darkness defines, it's still unusually intimate. It pulls you in, and then it places you at the edge of the abyss.

Finally, I am happy that 2L has once again included both the CD/SACD hybrid disc with the Blu-ray Audio disc--even though Out of Darkness comes in a standard double CD jewel case instead of the larger blue clamshell cases as with other Blu-ray audio releases. In this case, however, the Blu-ray disc does a slightly better job of recreating the quite yet very spacious Nidaros Cathedral.