Souvenir Parts I & II on Blu-ray Audio

Just a couple of days ago I turned in my annual year-end wrap-up for my Vinyl Anachronist column for Perfect Sound Forever. If you follow that column, you'll know that I give out awards for Best New Release in the LP Format, Best New Reissue in the LP Format, Best Cartridge and Best Turntable. (Most years I throw in some sort of special one-time category just to make it interesting.)

For this year's Vinyl Anachronist Award for Analog Excellence--spoiler alert--I'm choosing the fantastic "hi-rez" LPs from 2L Recordings in Norway. Here's a preview of what I said in the column, which will appear on the Perfect Sound Forever website around December 1:

"I now own three of [Morton Lindberg's] “DXD 352.8kHz/24bit Direct Metal Master 180 gram audiophile grade vinyl” recordings—Souvenir Part 1, Souvenir Part 2 and Quiet Winter Night—and I can’t say enough about the overall sound quality, the clean and quiet pressings, the outstanding performances, the novel arrangements of the musicians and microphones and even the recording venues, which are primarily Norwegian churches. So I award all three with the award."

I go on to add:

"I’ll also give a brief plug to the Blu-ray audio disc versions of these titles and the incredible value they offer. For instance, the two Souvenir recordings are available on a single Blu-ray at a significantly lower price. One of the Blu-ray titles, Thomas T. A. Tellefsen’s Complete Piano Works, fits over three hours of music on a single disc. Yes, they’re trying to trick you into loving Blu-ray."

In talking about the Blu-ray Audio version of the two Souvenir recordings, I'm not sure what to add. (The review of the first one is here, and the second is here.) These are truly magnificent new classical recordings that stretch the sonic possibilities of the medium. With 2L's Blu-ray recordings, however, I'm noticing the following advantages:

1. These recordings are quiet, ghostly quiet. Even CDs and SACDs sound noisy in comparison. Some audiophiles may think they're hearing less air, presence and detail in these recordings, but the vast improvement in dynamic contrasts--upon careful and measured listening sessions--will reveal the opposite.

2. When I said "Yes, they're trying to trick you into loving Blu-ray," I meant it as a huge compliment. The sheer value you get with these recordings, especially in the context of the two-fer-one deal you get with Souvenir, is staggering. If Blu-ray Audio gains popularity in the coming years, these deals may disappear. You're not going to find this high level of sonic performance for these prices anywhere else. Go Blu-ray now.

There is one minor disadvantage. I still have to make qualifications (aka bitch) about my playback equipment, the now-famous $68 Samsung Blu-ray player. I made an important discovery last week concerning the Samsung: as a redbook CD player, it absolutely sucks. I'd rather use a vintage Sony CDP-101 than the Samsung to play CDs. Unlike the Sony, which was bright and harsh in the worst digital way, the Samsung sounds muddied and muffled and furry and fuzzy with CDs. Throwing one of these Blu-ray Audio discs into the Samsung is like noon on a SoCal day in early June; the overcast skies burn off and the beautiful California sun shines through. But I still have my doubts that the Samsung offers anywhere near the same sound quality as the Oppo universal players, for instance. So the disadvantage is the sudden and expensive urge I have to invest more in this format.

Morten Lindberg of 2L keeps sending Blu-ray discs my way, however, and I don't want him to stop. I just received Stale Kleiberg's David and Bathsheba and Eivind Buene's Possible Cities/Essential Landscapes (a very strange avant-garde piece, and I mean strange in a very wondeful way) on Blu-ray, and even the Samsung can't muddy up the sheer brilliance of these recordings. Morten even sent along a hybrid CD/SACD of Kenneth Karlsson's The View Was All in Lines, so I can enjoy that with my reference Unison Research CDE CD player.

An excellent universal digital player or at least a high-quality DAC is in my near future, and Blu-ray is to blame. If you have the capabilities, take the plunge and buy at least one of 2L's releases. I think the Souvenir is the one that will convince you of the excellence of the format.

The Hoff Ensemble's Quiet Winter Night on Blu-Ray...and LP!

Ladies and gentleman...tonight we have the most heavily anticipated match in audio history to decide the Hi-Rez Champion of the World! In one corner we have the defending international champ, an LP played with a precision-made $4000 turntable/arm combination that was designed in Italy and built in one of the finest factories in all of Europe, topped with an exciting new $4500 phono stage from New Zealand from one of that country's most gifted and beloved designers, all matched with a $4250 cartridge made in Japan by Zen masters...the Unison Giro/PureAudio Vinyl/Transfiguration Phoenix! In the other corner, the Killer from Korea, the challenger, a Blu-ray audio disc played $68 Samsung Blu-ray player which was purchased at my local supermarket!

I've been trying to get a fix on the ultimate sound quality advantages of the emerging Blu-ray Audio format, but as you can see I've been struggling with the hardware end of things. While I wait for a decent outboard DAC to arrive on my doorstep, I'm stuck with the Samsung. Then again, as I'm playing these Blu-ray discs on this modest player I'm struck by the musicality and often feel that I'm not too terribly far off the mark sound-wise. The sound quality of the Samsung isn't quite up to the detailed, warm and expansive sound from my Unison Research Unico CDE CD player, but it absolutely trounces the sound of a relatively modest Denon DVD/CD player I have on hand. These Blu-ray discs have a smooth, relaxed and pristine sound that might occasionally drift into a glassiness that might obscure detail, but the overall sound quality is the exact opposite of the harsh digital sound we experienced in the '80s.

Now that my Blu-ray Audio collection has expanded to five discs, I now have the opportunity to compare two of them directly with the vinyl version, thanks to Morten Lindberg of 2L Recordings. Not only has he sent me the Blu-ray version of his Souvenir recordings (reviewed here and here), he sent me both the vinyl and Blu-ray Audio versions of his new acoustic jazz project, Quiet Winter Night, as performed by the Hoff Ensemble. I received the LP about a week before the little silver disc, and as usual it's a--take a deep breath--DXD 352.8kHz/24bit Direct Metal Master 180g audiophile grade vinyl 33 1/3 rpm recording. So far I've been extremely impressed with these records. They're extremely revealing and detailed and will definitely not remind you of your warm, gooey RCA "shaded dogs." But if you have the system capable for that level of revelation, you'll hear plenty of new things you've never heard before.

Quiet Winter Night, on the other hand, is a slightly different animal. While both Souvenir recordings are a challenging workout for your ears, this album is meant to be enjoyed on, well, a quiet winter night with someone you love--or at least someone you like to snuggle with when you need to stay warm and toasty. The two classical recordings demand a more experienced and informed ear to determine all the unusual seating arrangements and resulting changes in the orchestration. This album is immediately warm, embracing and familiar, despite the fact that the six vocalists are singing in Norwegian. Then again, American listeners like me will marvel at the way the intonations, syntax and phonemics seem close to English, just barely beyond our comprehension. (This must be a Scandinavian thing--I noticed the same feeling when I watched The Millenium Trilogy, that I could almost tell what was going on without the subtitles.)

So, what does acoustic jazz from Norway sound like? Despite the presence of unfamiliar instruments such as a nyckelharpa, overleir and hardanger fiddle, it sounds just like acoustic jazz from the US. The Hoff Ensemble is basically a jazz sextet matched to another sextet of revolving vocalists. It's an even mix of songs and instrumental tracks, more pretty than edgy, and if you're too-cool-for-school you may not find these romantic, intimate songs enough of a challenge for your sharp-elbowed sensibilities. In other words, a casual first listen is not a good idea. Where Quiet Winter Night elevates itself is in the complex moods it creates slowly over time, how sweetness replaces the usual wintry melancholia, how the folk elements sneak in and take over. Remember the soundtrack of Fargo? Remember the main theme, and how the fiddle's melody seemed to say so much all at once? Throw in a few musical cues from Pat Metheny and Bill Melendez and that description will get you halfway to Quiet Winter Night.

Now for tonight's main event...the LP vs. the Blu-ray Audio disc. Well, Blu-ray is quieter, preternaturally so. These 2L vinyl recordings have been unusually quiet as a whole, with very little surface noise. But the music in the Blu-ray version has that superb sensation of emerging out of thin air, sort of like the feeling I had when I listened to my first compact disc back in 1983 (Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, for those who care). If you're a fan of analog, however, this perfect and unblemished sound might be perceived as slightly glossed over and lacking in resolution--and I wouldn't disagree with you. While I was surprised that the lower frequencies had the same depth and texture as in the LP version, I didn't detect the room interactions with those frequencies such as the way in which a double bass or the lower notes of the piano can really energize a room and show the listener where the walls and the ceiling are within the recording venue. (As per usual, Morton Lindberg has recorded this in yet another Norwegian church, this one in Sofienberg.)

I really don't want to make too much of these sonic differences. Until I can grab a digital rig from the likes of CH Precision, dcs or Esoteric, I have to blame the hardware. I have had people in the industry tell me that 2L's vinyl and Blu-ray recordings sound almost exactly the same. They should, considering they're sources from the same hi-rez files. If anything, the vinyl adds artifacts that are not in the original masters...pops, clicks, etc. But I still hear that added sense of spaciousness I love so much.

At any rate, I know I sound like a 2L cheerleader at this point. So far I've loved everything I've heard. I'm headed to the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in a few days, and I'm definitely bringing all my 2L vinyl recordings to show off the Giro/Vinyl/Phoenix combo. No, I'm not bringing the Samsung. But after hearing just how good this lowly player sounds, I want to explore some new hardware options, whether it be just a DAC or an all-in-one player like the new Oppos. Maybe next year I'll be playing lots of Blu-ray discs at trade shows. I'm still intrigued with this new format, and we'll see if it's still around for RMAF 2013.

TrondheimSolistene - Souvenir Part II on LP

No sooner than I had posted my blog review of 2L Recordings' Souvenir Part I from the Norwegian chamber orchestra TrondheimSolistene, Part II was announced on the 2L website. With their nearly identical front covers (the ears are mirror images, as if to suggest both ears from the same head), it's fairly obvious that these two albums were meant to be considered as a single piece; the sides on Part II are even labeled "C" and "D." Both LPs also feature a Tchaikovsky/Nielsen programme, although the second entry in the series offers the latter composer's Ved en Ung Kunsters Baare as more of a lyrical coda taking up just four minutes at the end of Side D.

So why do I prefer Part II over Part I? Both offer simply astounding sound quality--these are, as I've reported before, 180 gram LPs made from "audiophile grade vinyl" and cut from direct metal masters of hi-rez DXD 352.8kHz/24 bit files. As I stated in my first review:

"...there's the extremely high quality of the recording. When I first heard hi-rez recordings that cracked the 300kHz barrier (or even the 192kHz barrier), my first observation was how high and extended the treble sounded. Okay, that sounds obvious, but what was even more impressive was the pure and unadulterated sweetness of those high frequencies. As resolution capabilities extend into the stratosphere, I think many audiophiles--especially those who favor tubed amplification that softens the frequency extremes--expect and fear harshness, stridency and brightness. In my experience, this is usually not the case."

Yet with Part II, which is mostly comprised of Tchaikovsky's Souvenir de Florence (op.70), I'm even more transfixed by the quality of this recording. It sounds much softer, warmer and textured, despite the fact that the performances have been recorded in virtually identical way, using the same people. Even the venue is the same, the Selbu Church in Norway, althought the recordings were captured roughly five months apart.

It all comes down to the music, I've decided. Tchaikovski's Serenade for Strings in C (Op. 48), which graces most of Part I, is a more jarring and confrontational work. Full of dynamic contrasts, the Serenade will make you jump out of your seat repeatedly with its bracing crescendos, especially if you're not used to the extended, stratospheric treble of extreme hi-rez. Souvenir de Florence, while possessing an ample share of energy and vitality, is a piece of music that is more consistently pitched toward the listener. Its crescendos are approached with an almost Hitchcockian manner of suspense rather than outright and sudden punctuation. You'll feel like you're on a deliberate, tense journey as opposed to jumping off into an abyss. To illustrate this further, I was constantly sitting on the edge of my listening chair while listening to Part I. On Part II I was relaxed, utterly enchanted and embraced by this sweet yet passionate music.

My only question about Part II--and I may be revealing my ignorance about classical recording--is that I'm not absolutely positive that it's a mixed voice orchestration as in Part I. In the splendid liner notes that grace the gatefold (Part I does not have a gatefold cover, curiously enough), the brilliance of mixed voice orchestration is discussed thoroughly by Erik Fosnes Hansen...but only in relation to Part I. As he explains, "To the listening ear [mixed voice orchestration] makes for a startingly different experience. The melodic lines come at you from every side, detached from any fixed sense of direction."

Mixed voice orchestrations, as I've previously described, break up the "sections" of an orchestra and ensure that no musician is sitting next to someone who is playing the same instrument. In Part I, this arrangement was obvious. The sound really does sound more united, congealed and powerful. With Part II, this is less obvious. There are more traditional examples of counterpoint, for example, and a delicacy that suggests a more conventional setting. But despite the fact that I can't confirm or deny mixed voice orchestration on Part II, if I had to bet money I'd say it was mixed. Although I'm sure I'll receive confirmation from Morton Lindberg, the producer and genius behind 2L Recordings, I'd also like to hunker down and study this recording further and educate myself to notice these things with greater ease. Perhaps the only difference, once again, is the music and how it inhabits the space between your loudspeakers.

The very fact that I've spent so much time pondering both Souvenirs speaks volumes about their accomplishments. If you're an audiophile who is still obsessed with classical recordings, and I truly hope that you are, then these 2L Recordings should be considered mandatory for your music collection. They are so different from nearly everything else out there that you'll conclude that a)the recording of classical music in the 21st century is still and admirable and necessary endeavor and b)when it comes to classical recordings, you haven't heard everything yet. The mixture of hi-rez technology and old-school vinyl stamping yields such a fascinating artifact that you'll sit up nights thinking about it, as I have.

Just when I thought Morten Lindberg couldn't challenge me any further, he sent me two more 2L titles to review--on Blu-ray audio. My first impressions are very favorable--especially in the context of the Patricia Barber Blu-ray title I just reviewed--and I have to keep wondering what's around the next corner when it comes to musical formats and my personal preferences. That said, I'm more than content to continue listening to LPs, even if they are of the "DXD 352.8kHz/24bit Direct Metal Master 180g audiophile grade vinyl 33 1/3 rpm" kind.

New reference amp for my system--the Unison Research Sinfonia!

We have a new amp in the house--the Unison Research Sinfonia! This is going to be my personal amplifier for a while, and after just a few hours with it I'm very, very happy.

It's a single-ended parallel design that uses Tung-Sol 6550s (KT88s can also be used) to get 27 beautiful watts per channel. In comparison to the newer S6 amplifier, this is a more "classic" tube design that offers a smoother, warmer and more seductive sound. The S6, which has been my favorite Unison amp so far, sounds a little "faster" and more linear, but the Sinfonia has this romantic, addictive sound that's better suited to classical music. I'm currently listening to the TrondheimSoliste LP I reviewed just a few days ago, and the forward presentation I found "bracing" now sounds more balanced and musical.

And since it's Italian, it has to be gorgeous! I love the stainless steel plate on top, and the wooden chassis that's finished in cherry (with a matching cherry remote).

I have a big pile of CDs and LPs to review, and now I can catch up. In addition, the FedEx man is currently driving around Central Texas with my Giro turntable, which was just returned by Dave Clark of Positive Feedback Online--review will appear shortly. Once I get my Unison Research Simply Phono phono preamp back from reviewer Michael Mercer, my reference system will be once again intact--for the first time in 2012!

TrondheimSolistene - Souvenir Part I on LP

Mixed voice orchestrations in classical music, where the sections of performers are deconstructed so that no two common instruments are placed next to each other, offer a unique and entertaining new perspective on familiar pieces of music. With this wonderful new recording from the TrondheimSolistene string ensemble from Norway, both Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings in C and Nielsen's Suite for String Orchestra are presented in an entirely new light that makes them sound fresh and adventurous and very, very different. Using very hi-rez files for the direct metal 180g LP master--how does 352.8kHz and 24 bits grab you?--Norwegian record label 2L has presented one of the most fascinating and noteworthy releases of 2012, as well as the last decade. Classical recording techniques in the 21st century are very much alive, and Morten Lindberg--the producer, recording engineer, editor, mixer and mastering engineer of this recording--is very much at the forefront.

There's so much to talk about here in terms of the overall result. First, the mixed voice format delivers a sound that is so balanced and even throughout the soundstage that it sounds a lot like a stellar mono recording--you know, one of those records where you can't quite believe it's mono because everything sounds so fluid and realistic and all of the timbres are so perfectly realized. Soundstage width is the first tip-off that this is a stereo recording, and where the comparisons to mono come to an abrupt halt. While the TrondheimSolistene--which translates to "Trondheim Soloists"--is considered a small string orchestra, its overall sound is big and impressively dynamic.

Outside of these distinctions, however, it's amazing how utterly even the delivery of musical portions are and how they seem to come from the entire stage at once. You won't hear individual sections of instruments "dance" all over the stage, which I guess would mute counterpoint with specific types of music. The Tchaikovsky and Nielsen pieces are ideally suited to this format, however, with powerful massed sounds driving toward the listener with more force than ever before. For instance, I am very familiar with the Tchaikovsky piece, yet for some reason I was full minute or two into the performance before I completely recognized it. Even more intriguing is the gradual realization that you aren't listening to variations of a familiar piece of music but the same exact piece of music played from an entirely different vantage point.

Aside from the mixed voice aspect of Souvenir Part I, there's the extremely high quality of the recording. When I first heard hi-rez recordings that cracked the 300kHz barrier (or even the 192kHz barrier), my first observation was how high and extended the treble sounded. Okay, that sounds obvious, but what was even more impressive was the pure and unadulterated sweetness of those high frequencies. As resolution capabilities extend into the stratosphere, I think many audiophiles--especially those who favor tubed amplification that softens the frequency extremes--expect and fear harshness, stridency and brightness. In my experience, this is usually not the case.

That said, I had to carefully extend my review period for Souvenir Part I because I was concurrently breaking in a tube amplifier--the Unison Research Simply Italy. When I first listened to this LP on the not-fully-broken-in amp, my ears were pinned back during the full frontal assault of each crescendo. Forget the Loudness Wars; the dynamic swings in this recording are so extreme that you may have to calibrate your volume settings well in advance. If old RCA Shaded Dogs are your reference for outstanding classical recordings--and they are for me--then the 2L sound will definitely shake you out of your warm, fuzzy complacency. Once the Simply Italy broke in, the massed strings were textured and woody and natural, but the crescendos were still bracing--I suspect too much so for a handful of audiophiles.

If you love a detailed, informative musical delivery, however, you'll probably adore this LP. Not to lump all of Scandinavia into one frozen pile, but some of my favorite classical recordings come from the Opus3 and BIS labels, and there's a common sonic signature I detect in these northern recordings that vividly convey feelings of loss, isolation and even despair...all of the most winterlike of our emotions. That's not to generalize Scandinavians as dour, depressed souls trudging over snow banks, but it's very easy for me to imagine lonely winter landscapes while listening to Scandinavian composers, conductors and orchestras. While Souvenir Part I is the epitome of liveliness, there is an undercurrent of austerity and simplicity that adds rather than subtracts and makes this an important release, one that classical music lovers and audiophiles should discover and embrace.

For more information on this recording, including how to order it, check out the 2L website.