Saturday, February 26, 2022

Matrix

 


How would my studio look in an altered perceived reality?












😱




Friday, February 25, 2022

EMT 140

 

No, it’s not a German submarine… it’s a studio… aehm: THE studio reverb made by EMT.




Old school technology 🥇



Tuesday, February 22, 2022

Starker/Sebok’s Beethoven Cello Sonatas

 

Such a golden nugget!

This limited-edition (my copy # 1221/3000) issued in 1959 is such a masterpiece!










🥇



Sealed!

 


It’s such a goosebumps feeling finding a 1974 vintage sealed-copy of a sought after disc by a beloved artist of mine!




Recorded at home on a Revox G36 and A77 ✅


💎



Sunday, February 20, 2022

Sunday, February 13, 2022

With a little help from my friend (Arnaldo)…

 

… who found a second sampler of this cassette for me 🥇🙏🥂💎🎶





Friday, February 4, 2022

La Monte Young’s Trio for Strings


La Monte Young - Trio for Strings

As monumental and historically important as albums come, we've managed to get our hands on a limited number of copies (up for pre-order) of Dia Art Foundation's incredible first-time release of La Monte Young's “Trio for Strings”. Composed in 1958 and realized under the composer's close supervision during 2015 by Charles Curtis, Reynard Rott, Erik Carlson, and Christopher Otto, this astounding box set sprawls to three hours in length over four LPs, and captures the most recent iteration of what is widely recognized to be the first work of minimalism ever composed.

 

There are few bodies of experimental music that have captured as broad or enduring an audience as musical minimalism. Since the movement’s inception during the late 1950s, it has sprung numerous arms and evolutions, illuminating a near endless number of proofs that less can be more. While artists like Philip GlassSteve Reich, and Terry Riley have long dominated the public consciousness of minimalism’s first wave, it is the elusive figure of La Monte Young that laid much of its initial groundwork. Yet, despite his monumental importance, Young’s work is infamously difficult to obtain in recorded form. Very little is in print, and since the issue of his debut LP, 1969’s 31 VII 69 10:26 - 10:49 PM / 23 VIII 64 2:50:45 - 3:11 AM The Volga Delta (The Black Record), there’s only been a small handful of sanctioned releases. Remarkably, we’ve been able to get our hands on a few copies of the first album issued by Young in more than two decades, the towering 4LP box set, Trio for Strings, recorded by The Theatre of Eternal Music String Ensemble, and released by Dia Art Foundation. Widely credited as ground-zero composition of minimalism, complete with a 32-page set of liner notes with essays by Young, Marian Zazeela, and Jung Hee Choi, we know it’s not cheap, but we’ve done everything possible to bring our beloved customers one of the most important releases of the decade, as inexpensively as we can.



Thursday, February 3, 2022

Some highlights from Jean-François Pontefract

 

M. J.F. Pontefract recorded among the very best recordings issued on Harmonia Mundi French label from Aix-en-Provence.

He’s still active today.

JFP today





I recently had the rare opportunity to chat with him and I asked him for some first-hand informations about those milestones in music and recording art.


A recent conversation between my pal Jürg Schopper and J.F. Pontefract on FB


JFP in early ‘80s


La Folia was of course among the first topics I asked for… the great sound-engineer sent to me some pictures:

Here is the Notre Dame des Anges church in French countryside where both the a.m. Paniagua’s La Folia and Alfred Deller’s masterpieces were recorded 40 years ago.


JFP: “ There was access to the sacristy on the first floor by an external staircase which has since been removed.  To my surprise, there is also a small crypt under the altar.”


La chapelle en Lurs, Haute-Provence 

When asked about mikes, tape machine and mixer used, JFP sent to me a picture:


A Studer B62, Schoeps Colette series microphones and Studer 089 mixer-desk were used for both above mentioned masterpieces, but he told me he also used at Harmonia Mundi a Telefunken M 12.



Last but not least, here is a recent picture and description:

“ Here is a photo of a recording made at the "CRR" music conservatory in Paris (rue de Madrid).  4 pianos tuned in 1/4 tone and a Martenot wave for works by Wyschnégradsky and Alain Bancquart.  A single couple Neumann U 67and Nagra VI.



and

“A Schoeps pair being installed in the cathedral of Auch.  The CD will be out in April.”


A few words from a laconic gentleman whose skills were a statement of good taste and a joy for generations of music lovers worldwide.

Merci, Maestro. 🙏🎶🥇💎🙏







Studer B62

 



It’s my humblest machine, but Studer B62 is an awesome sounding, ultra-reliable studio workhorse… 
You’ll soon read a nice story which involves it… just remember: if it was good for JFP, it’s good for me 😏




Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Gilliam Welch & David Rawlings - All the Good Times are Past & Gone

 

Indeed 😏




A limited-edition, first pressing, a veritable Super-Disc… recently re-pressed in a more conventional, printed cover (no glued silk-screens).

A masterpiece.
🥇