2L Recordings' Lux

My latest review for Part-Time Audiophile is this masterful recording from Norway's 2L Recordings, Lux, is in many ways one of the finest releases I've heard from this amazing record label. You can read it here.

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.

Marianne Thorsen & TrondheimSolistene's Mozart Violin Concertos on LP

What a wonderful LP I received just before I had to pack up the turntable and head to Colorado. Morten Lindberg of 2L Recordings sent me the new Mozart Violin Concertos LP just a few days ago, and I couldn't have asked for a better farewell session for my Texas listening room. First of all, the orchestra is the stunning TrondheimSolistene--which is responsible for the landmark Souvenir albums from last year, the very recordings that introduced me to 2L. Seeing their name on the cover felt like a visit from old, dear friends. Second of all, it's Mozart. While I'm not one of those Mozart fiends who started obsessing about this music the minute they watched Amadeus for the first time--my heart will always belong to Russians such as Prokofiev and Shostakovich and Frenchmen such as Ravel and Debussy--but Mozart is Mozart. It's sheer beauty in a nutshell. I can't think of a single day in my life where I wouldn't want to indulge in this music for at least a few minutes.

The liner notes say it better: "To us, Mozart is as solid as rock, as soft as snow, and as clear as ice." That's a uniquely Scandinavian way to express one's love for Mozart, but it's so appropriate to the sensibility over at 2L. Like nearly every single recording I've reviewed from this Norwegian label, this recording is alarmingly pure and translucent. All of the light within the music glows in such a direct, unabashed way that other classical recordings sound like they've aged a little too long in the cellar. There's something so immediate about the 2L recordings, and just a little crystalline--like ice and snow. As with all 2L LPs, this pressing is magnificent in its quiet, its revelatory nature. After listening to this recording, you may ask yourself: "is it possible to get closer to this music without experiencing it live?"

I'm discussing two Mozart violin concertos--No. 4 in D major (kv218) and No. 3 in G major (kv 216)--and I've barely metioned the soloist, Marianne Thorson. Perhaps that's because she is integrated so well with her fellow musicians. Morten's vision was to present a "fresh version of the most elegant violin concertos in the history of music," and one of his recording trademarks is to find novel ways to present them--hence the word fresh. As you can see in the photograph below, Thorsen is surrounded by the orchestra and not placed on a giant pedestal. That allows her to be more connected to her fellow musicians, and to produce results that are more organic and whole. This is such a lovely counterpoint to concertos recordings that sound like the soloist was recorded in a different space, on a different day--perhaps even in a different country.

This recording, conducted by Oyvind Gimse, has already received its share of accolades. That's because it was originally released in CD/SACD back in 2006. Since then, it won a Norwegian GRAMMY as Best Classical Album, and Kalman Rubison of Stereophile chose it as one of his "Records to Die For" back in 2008. So you may already know this recording well. But as usual 2L's DXD 352.8kHz/24bit Direct Metal Mater 180g audiophile grade vinyl pressing is the real news here, and if there's a reason to still listen to vinyl...this is undoubtedly it.