This is Stefano Bertoncello's Blog (ステファノ・ベルトンチェッロ - トゥーグッドイアーズ − ブロガー、オーディオ＆ミュージック・コンサルタント) devoted to pacific topics like Music - live and reproduced - i.e. discs, audio, guitars and whatever musical: concerts, workshops, exhibitions, etc. Furthermore: travelling - as a mind-game and real globetrotting - and books, movies, photography... sharing all the above and everything which makes Life better and Earth a better place to stay, enjoying Life, in Peace. Proudly ads-free since 2007! Enjoy.💫
Thanks to my friend Arnaldo for sharing…
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(From the liner notes) Songe is a deeply introspective work, composed and performed by Vincent Bélanger, where harp, double bass, violin, soprano, and cello intertwine to create a sonic world both fragile and powerful. The cello, as the master of the dream, leads the listener through emotional landscapes, memories, and inner light.
With 10 years of audiophile experience as Audio Note UK's musical ambassador, Vincent has refined his exploration of sound texture and color to deliver a sensory, almost tactile, listening experience that speaks directly to the soul.
Inspired by French music, Bach, lyrical minimalism, and the romantic tradition, this work moves between the sacred and the intimate, between contemplation and the heart's impulse.
(From PMA Magazine) Recorded at Église Saint-Benoît de Mirabel, Québec, Canada — whose exceptional acoustics became the sixth instrument of the ensemble — Songecaptures the organic dialogue between instruments and space. Every nuance — from the softest resonance of the harp to the deep warmth of the double bass — was shaped to reveal the full dimension of the sound. The recording and mix were led by Léon Fu and Louis Morneau, whose meticulous approach brought life and sonic transparency to each performance.
Final mastering was realized by Pranas Gudaitis in Vilnius, Lithuania.
The project was developed in collaboration with Jay Lee, audiophile producer and content creator from the renowned YouTube channel Jay’s Iyagi, who contributed his expertise and passion for sound realism throughout the process. Within just a few weeks of its release, audiophiles around the world have praised the recording for its purity, realism, and emotional depth.
A vinyl edition is planned for mid-2026, to complement the high-resolution digital and CD versions.
Compositions, orchestrations, and artistic concepts: Vincent Bélanger, except tracks 2 & 11: André Gagnon
Arrangements, artistic direction and texts: Vincent Bélanger
Vincent Bélanger: Cello
Annabelle Renzo: Harp
Étienne Lafrance: Double bass
Véronique Turcotte: Violin
Amélie Moise: Soprano (Tracks 2, 3, 7, 10, 11)
Priceless!
While listening to my mighty Garrardzilla with The Peak 13” arm and Analogtechnik’s DST IceAge cartridge, I’m reading about Daniel Kim’s recent researching about the fundamental principles of analog sound and the recording aesthetics of the tube era.
Using premium sought-after vintage tube microphones to study tonal balance, harmonic texture, and spatial realism — and applying those findings to the development of DST cartridges.
Neumann CMV563
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For the second time in seven years, David Gilmour's iconic black Fender Stratocaster has been sold for a record-breaking sum.
The 'Black Strat' was Gilmour's favorite instrument on stage and in the studio through the majority of his Pink Floyd career. The guitar can be heard on classic albums like 'Dark Side of the Moon' (1973), 'Wish You Were Here' (1975), 'Animals' (1977) and 'The Wall' (1979).
On Thursday, the guitar sold in New York for a staggering $14.55 million at Christie's auction as the headlining item from 'The Jim Irsay Collection.'
Irsay, the late-owner of the Indianapolis Colts, was an avid music fan and collector, who exhibited his collection of music artifacts at museums around the world. A portion of the proceeds of sales from the Irsay Collection will be donated to philanthropic causes, according to the Christie's listing.
Irsay purchased the guitar from a Christie's auction in 2019. That year Gilmour sold a total of 120 instruments at auction to raise funds to help fight climate change.
The entire collection brought in $21.5 million, with the Black Strat selling for $3,975,000 on its own.
The Black Strat's sales record was eclipsed the following year when Kurt Cobain's rare Martin D-18E sold for $6 million.
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This is Chris Spedding’s Deluxe Reverb, which he's owned from new since 1970.
It's been well used and well travelled obviously. It sounds fantastic.
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One of the most iconic instruments in rock history changed hands Thursday night as Jerry Garcia’s legendary “Tiger” guitar achieved a price realized of $11.56 million at a Christie’s auction in New York—shattering its pre-auction estimate of $1–2 million and placing the instrument among the most valuable guitars ever sold.
While Tiger is most closely associated with Garcia’s performances throughout the 1980s with the Grateful Dead, the guitar has occasionally returned to the stage in tribute performances since Garcia’s passing. During the touring Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration, guitarist Warren Haynes performed on the legendary instrument — including a memorable appearance at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, where Garcia’s tone echoed once again across the Colorado sandstone.
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This thrift-shop find is - maybe - one of the very, VERY best sounding disks I own!
The Ferzan Özpetek’s movie is a nice, early production of the director (his best one?) and the soundtrack well serves the screenplay… sound- and music-wise, this CD is awesome, very much in Dead Can Dance’s vein, but not a copycat… it sounds so right and beautiful and the recording is simply A W E S O M E.
I strongly suggest you go and dig Discogs for your copy: you won’t regret!
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Preston Tuners on a Portuguese guitar
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Preston tuners or machines (also known as peacock, fan, or watchkey tuners) is a type of machine head tuning system for string instruments, named for English cittern (English guitar) maker John Preston and developed in the 18th century. Preston claimed to be the inventor of this design, though scholars note the originator could be the luthier John Frederick Hintz, who advertised such a mechanism as early as 1766. The tuning mechanism was also used on the German cittern known as the waldzither, and is associated with the early 20th century instruments built by C. H. Böhm.
This type of tuner is almost obsolete, but is still used for the Portuguese guitar, itself historically closely related to the English guitar. The 18th century incarnation of the design in England arranged the tuning bolts and hooks parallel with each other. 19th century Portuguese luthiers developed the current fan arrangement to accommodate the extra 2 strings with the octave doubling of the lower courses and narrower fingerboard width; the English instrument had two single strings instead and a slightly wider fingerboard.
The Portuguese guitar or Portuguese guitarra (Portuguese: guitarra portuguesa, pronounced: [ɡiˈtaʁɐ puɾtuˈɣezɐ]) is a plucked string instrument with twelve steel strings, strung in six courses comprising two strings each. It is one of the few musical instruments that still uses Preston tuners. It is most notably associated with fado.
An amazing grouping of British folk / blues women!
Jo Ann Kelly, English blues musician who played the Memphis Blues Festival (and sister of Dave Kelly);
Jacque Mcshee, superlative vocalist for folk/jazz ensemble Pentangle with Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Danny Thompson, and Terry Cox;
and Carol Grimes who was in the band Delivery prior to a solo career where she recorded an album with Area Code 615 (Kings of Nashville sessions musicians); and a younger lady who, while unknown to me, must have turned out just as amazing...
Thanks to Jacque Mcshee for posting this one!
This is the fancy fiddle that graced the hands of one Vassar Clements!
It is believed it was crafted in the 1500s by a renowned German luthier, but is most likely a quality copy.
The fiddle features an ornately head carved scroll and a painting on the back.
It is believed to have been owned previously by a distinguished Russian violinist, and by renowned bluegrass fiddler John Hartford, who gifted this fiddle to Vassar in the 1970s.
Pretty cool!
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A 238 disks (😳) box set brings together recordings across
multiple labels: Deutsche Grammophon, Decca/ Philips, Hyperion, ECM New Series and Telarc under Universal Music Group, plus licensed titles from Sony Music, Warner Music, and Victor Entertainment. The set also features concert recordings released for the first time.
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Thanks to John Piro for sharing this relic from a long-gone (better?) world
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… you’d better fill the gap 🤭
Last disc for today, and cannot think a better way to end a late, foggy afternoon.
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Chad strikes again: this stellar quality disc, originally and masterfully engineered by Rudy Van Gelder, produced by Creed Taylor and Val Valentin as recording director, a dream-team of so many Verves’, has been reissued by Acoustic Sounds and it sounds better than ever: Larry Bunker and Chuck Israel accompanied Bill Evans with deep respect and amazing interplay, with just a shy, little tear remembering Paul Motian and Scott LaFaro…
Recording is simply amazing… like the playing and music: a timeless classic.
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