primephonic: classical music in the digital age

for life on an epic scale printed issue 2017
philip glass
a mystical portrait
the chronicles
of streaming
an unprecedented
timeline
augustin hadelich
how do i listen?
classical
music in
the digital
age
1

Press play.
And pause.
Immerse yourself in a
world of classical music
primephonic.com
for life on an epic scale
downloads | streaming | experiences

table of
contents
from the editor................................ 6
brooklyn, a classical portrait............ 14
from the recording studio................ 24
streaming user experience............... 44
label portraits.................................. 46
reviews............................................ 63
historical calendar........................... 67
30
the brown
album
pentatone’s graphic designer shares his
enthusiasm for bringing a breath of fresh air
into the creation of album art
primephonic
21
maria callas
maria callas had a remarkable
voice unlike any other
36
the chronicles
of streaming
‘it feels like we're just getting started’
52
how do i listen?
augustin hadelich
4

54
music &
architecture
hans scharoun’s berlin philharmonie, one
of the wonders of modern architecture
contents
8
philip glass
58
unconventional
instruments
‘there are more obscure and uncommon
instruments in existence than ever before’
‘can Philip Glass really be 80?’
5

primephonic
Editor
Rachel Deloughry
Creative director
Simon Eder
Art direction & design
Joost de Boo
Design assistant
Bob Mollema
Head of marketing
Sharri Morris
Marketing, distribution & advertising
Domingo Fernandez
US marketing & distribution
Jennifer Harrington
US chief marketing officer
Jonathan Bradley
Head of business development
Veronica Neo
Proofreading
Kevin Painting
Contributors
Jessica Duchen
Kevin Painting
Rokas Kučinskas
Melanie Garrett
Matt Adomeit
Tristan Renfrow
Beth Adelman
primephonic
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6

editorial
from the editor
WORDS RACHEL DELOUGHRY
We live in a fast-paced world of replaceable possessions, short attention
spans, ever-changing fads and a constant fear of missing out. When I think
about streaming I usually think in terms of the here and now – it is current, I
have immediate access, but what about the future? What will we have to show
for it in years to come?
Well that’s just it – streaming is the future. We have come to a point as consumers
where paring things down to their essentials has become of higher
value than owning reams of “stuff”. Experiences are more important than possessions.
This could not be more relevant than it is now, however, in terms of
streaming, the quantity of quality classical music recordings is astounding. A
listening experience brings you right to the epicentre of the music and brings
you closer to the real live performance, yet at the same time it gives us access
to a diversity within classical music that we could never have dreamed of even
a decade ago. You can have unlimited listening but it’s not going to clutter
your house and your life. A monthly streaming subscription that costs as little
as an album and is kinder to the environment? Its value is indisputable.
In this magazine, you will encounter mixing and matching of the obvious and
the unexpected: take for example the architect of the Berlin Philharmonie for
whom organic structure proved fundamental to good sound and a designer
of album art who manages to pay tribute to the past looking toward the
future, thereby playing with our expectations; to a Grammy-winning violinist
who grew up in the countryside, accessing the sound of the greats mostly
through recordings. In this issue, we explore the world of streaming music and
how far we have come since the so-called Golden Age of Recording of the
mid-twentieth century. Enjoy!
7

primephonic
Can Philip Glass really be 80? He and his music possess a
quality of youthfulness, of timelessness, that is entirely of
our day while going beyond it into more mysterious, universal
spheres. So distinctive is his voice, and so influential, that
he has plenty of detractors. Minor arpeggios, incantatory
melodies, interweaving motifs, a gradual progression of
change… But take a closer look. Minimalism? No way.
WORDS JESSICA DUCHEN PHOTO STEVE PYKE
8

the
mystical
heart
of
philip
glass
philip glass playlist
Philip Glass: Violin Concerto No. 2 “The
American Four Seasons” I.
LPO
Philip Glass: Satyagraha, Act I Tolstoy,
Scene 1
Sony
Philip Glass: Dreaming Awake
Sono Luminus
Philip Glass: Naqoyqatsi,
“The Vivid Unknown”
Sony
Philip Glass: The Photographer, Act I
“A Gentleman’s Honor”
Sony
Philip Glass: The Complete String Quartets
of Philip Glass – String Quartet No. 2
“Company” I. Signum Records
primephonic
Glass distanced himself from that
term decades ago – now he prefers
to say that he composes “music
with repetitive structures”. Indeed,
you only have to look at his multifarious
range of influences to grasp
the sheer range that has fed into
the mix. Among important formative
experiences, he could cite his
intensive studies with the pedagogue
Nadia Boulanger in Paris; working on
Indian music with Ravi Shankar; the
downtown art scene of New York
in the 1960s; theatre, poetry and
literature including Hermann Hesse,
Samuel Beckett and Allen Ginsberg;
travelling the globe, exploring music
of many cultures; a passion for
Schubert; and the visceral energy
and atmosphere of New York itself.
The list could continue.
Yet there is mysticism, somewhere in
the heart of it. Travelling across India
by train, he recalls in his autobiography,
Words Without Music: “Music
was no longer a metaphor for the
real world somewhere out there. It
was becoming the opposite. The ‘out
there’ stuff was the metaphor and
the real part was, and is to this day,
the music.”
All of this is reflected to some
degree in the pianist Bruce Levingston’s
latest album of Glass’s
music, entitled Dreaming Awake.
A pianist celebrated for his devotion
to performing contemporary
repertoire, Levingston has included
a selection of Glass’s piano études –
poetic distillations of his composition
method in which musical process and
substance become one. There are
unmistakable nods towards Schubert
– the Etude Book 2 No.12 opens
with the same figure as Schubert’s F
minor Fantasy for piano duet. Alongside
these pieces is an extraordinary
work, Wichita Vortex Sutra, in which
the actor Ethan Hawke joins Levingston
to recite part of the poem of
that title by Ginsburg, the declamation
– which sounds as if torn from
the depths of the poet’s and actor’s
souls – becoming part of the musical
fabric. With poetry its driving force,
in words or music, the album proves
both seductive and hypnotic.
It was a chance encounter with
Ginsburg in a New York bookshop
in 1988 that led to the piece’s
composition: having agreed to
perform in a fundraising event, Glass
asked the poet if he would agree
to appear with him, performing
together a recitation with new music
that Glass would compose specially.
Ginsburg chose the poem at once
and Glass wrote the music in a
matter of days. The two remained
close friends thereafter and worked
together extensively, notably on the
collection Hydrogen Jukebox, 20
songs for six singers.
If there is a meditative quality to
Glass’s music and its effect upon us,
that is no coincidence. Born in Baltimore
in 1937, he has been a spiritual
seeker for most of his life. The many
inspirations behind that included
the writings of Hermann Hesse,
whose works he devoured eagerly
as a young man, along with those of
Kerouac, Ginsburg and others. “It
was a time of awakening,” he writes.
He was interested in Hesse’s vision
of “a transcendental life…that took
you beyond the visible world.”
He took up yoga before it ever
became fashionable, seeking out
10

portrait
a teacher in New York simply by
looking under the letter Y in the
White Pages. He contacted the sole
entry, Yogi Vithaldas, who became
his teacher and under whose impact
he quickly turned vegetarian. It later
turned out that Vithaldas had also
taught Yehudi Menuhin. Over ten
years Glass visited India and Tibet,
immersing himself in particular in
research on Mahatma Gandhi: work
that eventually morphed into his
seminal and transformative opera
Satyagraha. Since those days, his
explorations of spiritual cultures have
extended to Buddhism and Mexican
Toltec traditions.
It’s tempting to wonder whether the
sounds of chanting and the repetition
of mantras infiltrated his developing
style at the time. “Did it affect
my style? It’s hard to say,” Glass
muses. “But besides Satyagraha, I did
a big piece about Ramakrishna, and
the Symphony No.5 uses around 34
texts from different traditions. So in
some ways it’s gone into the music
directly, either because it’s about the
person, or because it’s their texts
I’ve used. It’s not an influence: it’s an
actual usage. The connection is right
in the music itself.”
The Passion of Ramakrishna is the
“big piece” in question, a grand-scale
oratorio: “The interesting thing is
that I made the chorus the voice of
‘ sometimes
you can hear
things, but
you don’t
know how to
write them
down’
Ramakrishna and the soloists are
his students – so when he speaks,
it’s the whole chorus,” says Glass.
“The idea is that he spoke in terms
of universals – and we put 60 or 120
people together so that it becomes
humanity, not just singers any more.
I made the voice of Ramakrishna
humanity.
So because of the way I
processed it I began to understand
which of the voices Ramakrishna is. I
called it The Passion of Ramakrishna,
like the Bach St Matthew Passion. I
talked to the head of the episcopal
church in New York at the time and
asked him if that was the proper use
of the word: ‘passion’ as the moment
of transfiguration when he leaves the
mortal life and maybe he enters into
the world of immortality – something
like that, we don’t know what it is. He
said it was perfect.”
Glass’s devotion to matters spiritual,
humanitarian and social may
spring in part from his background
as the youngest son of a family of
Jewish immigrants who sent him to a
Quaker school. His father, Ben, had a
record store in Baltimore and Glass
recalls that he and his brother as chil-
dren were required to break up some
of the unsold records in order to
return them, damaged, for refunds.
But when Ben began to bring home
recordings of music by Schoenberg,
Bartók and others to see why they
were not selling, father and son were
both entranced by what they heard.
For years Glass explored new music
of all types, soaking up works across
the spectrum from Pierre Boulez to
John Cage to rock music. Instead of
following traditional academic routes
into the music world, he took an undergraduate
degree at the University
of Chicago, then enrolled in the adult
education section of the Juilliard
School in New York. There followed
two years in Paris on a scholarship,
studying with Boulanger, before he
returned to New York with the rigorous
technical grounding that enabled
him to develop his own musical voice.
He juggled creative work with earning
a crust variously in steelworks,
haulage, plumbing and cab-driving.
By the time anyone approached him
about a teaching position, he relates,
he was 72 and not remotely interested.
But then, Glass has never fitted
the academic bill. Perhaps his routes
did not match the approved fashions
of the time. Yet his enduring effect
on the world around us – musical and
more – has gone far beyond that of
many esteemed music professors.
11

primephonic
Young composers have beaten a
path to his door for advice in any
case; some have worked for him –
among them Nico Muhly – assisting
with the matters of administration
and publishing of his works, all of
which he controls.
Glass relates in his book that his
mother on her deathbed instructed
him to keep hold of his copyright –
and he still does. Some of his works
may be legally played only by his
Philip Glass Ensemble. “We started
the group when I came back from
Europe,” he explains. “I came back
because no one in Europe would
play the music. I called some friends
I went to school with, and we put a
group together. Right away, when
I was writing music, I felt had to
control the publication of it, because
to give it away was not a good idea
from my point of view.”
Because people didn’t understand
it? “No, because I wouldn’t get the
income,” Glass responds. “I was
making my living playing – it was a
practical matter. So if you want to
hear Einstein on the Beach played,
my group has to play it. No one else
can play it. They don’t have the music
and it’s actually illegal to handle
it. I also became a publisher very
quickly because I knew I wouldn’t be
a teacher. This was only way I was
going to make a living from writing –
and it was far from clear that I would.
I was 41 before that happened.”
The work that changed everything
was his opera Satyagraha: “That
took me into making a living. But it
‘we have to
remember
something:
one of
the great
pleasures
of being a
musician
is playing
music’
started off slowly and even the year
before I had no idea that later on I
would not be working at a day job.
In fact, I’d been living off of music
for six months before it occurred to
me that I hadn’t had a day job all that
time. I remember it very clearly: my
cab license came up for renewal –
and I renewed it. I had no confidence
that I would be able to make a living.
But I didn’t use it and three years
later when it came up for renewal
again I didn’t renew it. That tells you
where I was at.”
Whether opera, theatre, dance, film
or music to match the visual art or
writing of his friends and colleagues,
Glass has always excelled in collaborative
music-making. Performing
with his own ensemble seems an
organic part of that openness and
practicality. “We have to remember
something: one of the great pleasures
of being a musician is playing
music,” he adds, with a smile, “and
that’s not restricted to performers
only – composers can play music
too. My generation played our music
and we were influenced by people
from John Coltrane to Ravi Shankar
– these were composers who played
music. That’s one way to go. Not
everyone did that, but a lot of young
people do now. The money won’t be
in the records any more, but it can
be in the way music is used, whether
it’s in a film or a fashion show.”
Despite his prolific output and
worldwide fame, Glass never rests on
any laurels – hence the intersection
of spiritual practice, physical condition
and absolute pragmatism. “I
would say that because of yoga I’ve
gotten a long, healthy, active life,” he
says. “That’s without even going into
the other benefits to do with being
more able to control stress, tension,
anxiety and all the maledictions of
contemporary existence.
“I’ve been a vegetarian since I was
20. It’s a practical way of living.
Younger people are much more
inclined to see it as a necessary part
of life and the people who don’t, who
simply ignore it and do nothing at all,
by the time they’re in their seventies
they are falling apart. You can’t
consider working into your nineties if
you haven’t done it – well, some can,
but it brings tremendous benefits
not just to your physical health, but
your mental health. My work is very
difficult in that we’re often working
on four hours of sleep because the
travel doesn’t allow for anything else.
It’s not a good way to do it. But I’ve
also learned how to rest. There are a
lot of things you can learn: there are
ways of putting your body to sleep
12

title goes here
and resting for even 20 minutes.”
The surprise is that he is clearly
considering working into his nineties
– but then again, why would he not?
The joy of creating music has never
left him. “I write very fast,” he remarks,
“but to invent a language you
need time. You need time to work
out what you’re hearing. Sometimes
you can hear things, but you don’t
know how to write them down. That’s
when you know you’re really working:
when you don’t know how to do it.
That’s the best time. And that can
still happen.”
Now anything can happen, and
probably will. Events to mark his big
birthday are currently taking place
all over the world. His operas The
Perfect American, about Walt Disney,
and The Trial, based on Kafka’s novel,
are having their US premieres; he
is writing a piano concerto entitled
A Far Cry to be premiered in
September by the pianist Simone
Dinnerstein; next season he will
hold the Richard and Barbara Debs
Composer Chair at Carnegie Hall.
London has already brought him
a Total Immersion weekend at the
Barbican; other European events
include the Swiss premiere of
Satyagraha and Austrian premiere of
the Symphony No. 11, and the Violin
Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 are both
touring widely. These are just a few
selections.
Glass is a composer whose music has
encapsulated the spirit of today as
few others could. The mystery is only
what he will turn his hand to next.
As he has sometimes said, “When
society becomes unhinged, the arts
get really good.” And now? “Today
the arts are getting really good!” he
declares.
Jessica Duchen’s music journalism
has appeared in The Independent,
The Guardian and The Sunday Times.
She is the author of a number
of novels (most recently Ghost
Variations, published in 2016),
biographies and plays. Current
projects include an opera libretto
for composer Roxanna Panufnik
(for Garsington Opera 2017). Her
popular blog JDCMB has run since
2004.
13

primephonic
brooklyn,
a classical
portrait
New York City has five boroughs, but when people say “The City,” they
mean Manhattan. The other four have always been “the outer boroughs,”
full of people who make their way into Manhattan to work, eat out in the
better restaurants, and enjoy all the culture New York is famous for. It’s a
Manhattan-centric world. Or at least, it has been.
WORDS BETH ADELMAN
14

Welcome to Brooklyn. Powered by that greatest of all
drivers in New York City—real estate—in the past decade
Brooklyn’s demographics have been transformed. An
explosion of high-end housing in downtown Brooklyn
and Williamsburg, along with the transformation
of much of the Brooklyn waterfront,
has lured people priced out of
Manhattan to a borough that’s diverse,
livable, cultured, and still affordable (just
barely).
The influx of culturally enthusiastic and
curious residents has created a place
for the arts to flourish. Brooklynites are
staying in their home borough when
they go out at night, and supporting
cultural institutions that are now luring
Manhattanites across the water to see
what’s happening in Brooklyn.
Brooklyn’s classical music venues, old
and new, are figuring out ways to bring
these audiences in and show them something traditional
in a new way, or something new in an untraditional way,
or some of all of those things. They’re asking questions
about programming choices and ticket prices and
seating arrangements, and all coming up with different
answers.
‘the stage
area puts the
performers
so close to
the audience,
it's like a
petting zoo’
BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC
For years, the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), one
of Brooklyn’s oldest cultural institutions, ran a bus from
midtown Manhattan to its home in Fort Greene. BAM is
two blocks from a major subway hub,
but those two blocks seemed like too
much to walk for some.
These days, the BAM bus is gone, the
subway hub is also a mall, there’s an
NBA arena a block away, BAM has
three buildings, and is at the heart of
the Brooklyn Cultural District—a $100
million city development project that
focuses on arts organizations, affordable
housing, and public spaces.
Classical music is part of BAM’s very
eclectic programming, and is usually
part of something else—opera, dance,
or theater, said BAM president Katy
Clark. “We’re very much interested in
the way genres collide.” A few seasons ago the Debussy
String Quartet shared stage with Australian acrobat
troupe Circa, for example, each interpreting Shostakovich
in its own way. And BAM often plays host to Baroque
operas staged by Les Arts Florissants and ballets by Mark
Morris.
15

“We want to present music in its many forms,” Clark said,
“and a lot of that is driven by architecture. The Gilman is
the city’s most beautiful opera house.”
BAM’s audience has never been the same demographic
as a typical Manhattan audience, she added. They’ve always
been younger, more adventurous, and less affluent.
That’s why even today, one-third of all
tickets are under $35. Most events offer
a wide range of ticket prices. BAM’s
three buildings are all set up as traditional
theatres with seats.
Clark said just over half of BAM’s audience
are Brooklynites, and the rest are
mostly from Manhattan. That’s a recent
development. Fort Greene is now full
of high-end restaurants and high-rise
apartment buildings, where BAM is
partnering with developers to make
sure its neighbours know what’s coming
up. “People are walking around late at
night; the whole area feels comfortable and vibrant,”
Clark said.
NATIONAL SAWDUST
Perhaps no recent Brooklyn venue has opened to more
buzz than National Sawdust, which debuted 2015 in
Williamsburg, the poster-neighborhood for hip young
gentrification. David Lang, John Zorn, Meredith Monk,
Nico Muhly, Philip Glass, and Laurie Anderson—a who’s
who of the new music scene—are
among those on the artistic advisory
‘...actually, they
hoot and holler
after the arias,
which is how it
used to be in the
old days’
board, and composer Paola Prestini
is executive and creative director.
The 13,000-square-foot venue, a
renovated sawdust factory, includes
rehearsal and development spaces, a
recording studio, and a trendy bistro.
About half the events in the performance
space are classical music,
according to Courtenay Casey, vice
general manager and senior director
of artistic planning, with a clear
preponderance of new music.
There are 350 to 400 events a year, and most nights are
double-booked. Many of the performances are planned
by curators in different genres; about a quarter of them
16

work in classical music. There are also residency programmes
for 12 artists a year, including commissioning
support and concerts. Casey remembers one night when
a string quartet was playing Bartok for the first show and
pop singer Kimbra was the second show. “About 20 people
came to both,” she said. “That’s what we want to be.”
The performance space holds 250 standing, 150 chairs,
or 95 in a cabaret configurations with tables and chairs.
“We realized audience members anticipate what a show
will be depending on how the room is set up,” Casey said,
so club music is standing and classical music is seated.
Ticket prices range from $29 to $35 and up.
Brooklyn is definitely the biggest audience base, Casey
said, and locals get a break on ticket prices. But Manhattan
audiences do come when it’s something they specifically
want to hear. The advent of Uber has helped drive
some of that attendance, because New York’s yellow
taxis don’t cruise for fares in Brooklyn. Ages range from
people in their 20s—who like the club vibe of standing
room—to opera fans in their 50s and 60s, who like the
eclectic programming.
“People will go where the music is that they want to
hear,” Casey said. But the ultimate idea is to make National
Sawdust a music destination where people come
to hear whatever is on that night. It’s a goal they’re still
working on.
ROULETTE
Roulette began in the late 1970s as a 75-seat venue in
the TriBeCa apartment loft of one of its founders. It was
lean and nimble and alt and risky. Bill Frisell, Philip Glass,
Yusef Lateef, Kaija Saariaho and John Zorn made music
there. But it was also in a residential building, and zoning
laws are such that eventually they had to leave. So in 2011
Roulette took up residence in a 400-seat theatre with a
classic proscenium arch—housed in a YWCA built in 1928.
“Suddenly we were in a million-dollar facility with overhead
and staff,” and about 120 events a year, said David
Weinstein, director of special projects and one of the
founders. “We had to become more Manhattan-y to
meet those new standards.”
But it has not strayed far from its musical roots. “A lot
of what we do is edgy, experimental, not easy or even
necessarily fun, so you get an audience of 50 people. But
you’re glad, because the musicians get paid and something
gets born,” Weinstein said.
To balance that out, Roulette also programmes jazz and
world music, and classical music. Plus, there are several
curated series and artist residencies offered every year.
“We want to energize people to try new things and feel
supported and comfortable. But I also want everyone to
have a nice, quiet room that is appropriate for listening.”
That means the audience is seated, and there is just one
show a night, so artists are not rushed, and can mingle
with the audience afterwards. Tickets range between $15
and $30.
“People who are used to performing in a dingy space
may overreach or misunderstand what’s great about their
work, but a space like this can be a little leap forward for
them, encourage to up their game a notch and be a bit
more ambitious in scale. When someone succeeds, it’s
super inspiring.”
Roulette is very much artist-driven, meaning most people
who come are fans of the performers, know exactly what
they’re going to hear, and have no problem getting on
the subway and going to Brooklyn to hear it. The staff is
still trying to figure out who is moving into the cluster of
high-end high-rise apartment buildings going up in downtown
Brooklyn, and what they want to listen to. For now,
they’re working with developers to introduce themselves
to the new neighbours.
17

ooklyn playlist
Caroline Shaw: Its Motion Keeps
New Amsterdam
Bryce Dessner: Murder Ballades –
Omie Wise
Cedille
Jennifer Higdon: Cold Mountain,
Scene II, Inman’s aria ‘The Metal Age’
PENTATONE
Philip Glass: Etude No. 1
Sony
Michael Daugherty: Brooklyn Bridge, IV.
North
GIA WindWorks
Sergei Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2
in G Minor, Op. 63 II Andante tranquillo
Canary Classics
BARGEMUSIC
Bargemusic, an old coffee barge permanently
moored in the East River at the
site of the old Fulton Ferry, has been a
venue for chamber music for 40 years,
showcasing young talent and, originally,
exclusively classical repertoire—Mozart,
Brahms, Schubert, Chopin, and so on.
The barge seats about 75 people, and
lately artistic and executive director
Mark Peskanov has been cutting that down a bit because
he prefers the acoustic and ambience with a smaller
audience. “This is a very different place, and people have
very different expectations,” he said. “You have that very
special view of the river and New York City, and that
feeling of gently rocking—sometimes not so gently. The
stage area puts the performers so close to the audience,
it’s like a petting zoo.”
Peskanov, a concert violinist, took over in 2005 as artistic
and executive director from founder Olga Bloom,
and has expanded the repertoire with the Here and
Now series of newer works, some jazz and early music,
‘maybe to get
here you’re on
a subway line
you’ve never
taken before’
and free family concerts on Saturday
afternoons.
Bargemusic is an important first step
for many young musicians; it’s got a
group of regular performers, but “it’s
not like a private club,” Peskanov said.
“If you are a fine performer, sooner or
later we will invite you here.”
It’s a first step for many young listeners,
too. It suddenly finds itself in the middle
of the growing DUMBO neighborhood and a brand new
waterfront park, and the free concerts attract a lot of
parents with little kids. Yes, they do talk and wander and
cry, Peskanov said, but “they eventually learn how to
behave, and meanwhile they are hearing music played at
an artistically high level and it is sinking in.”
The audience is “tourists and neighborhood people,
people who wander in from the park, people who have
never listened to classical music and real connoisseurs,”
Peskanov said. “The barge is just an amazing experience.
People tell me they feel like they’re on the king’s barge,
like royalty. This is what chamber music was made for.”
18

LOFTOPERA
NATIONAL SAWDUST
BARGEMUSIC
BAM
ROULETTE
COMPOSER STATUES
Bargemusic presents about 200 concerts a year. Tickets
are $40 to $45, with discounts for students and seniors.
The seats are arranged in many configurations, but it’s all
chairs.
Peskanov added, “I love playing here myself. It’s great to
have such close communication within such an intimate
space. I often ask how many people have heard a piece
for the first time—something typical like Mozart—and a
lot of people raise their hands. So for them I have played
a world premiere.”
LOFTOPERA
Unlike most of the other classical music venues in Brooklyn,
LoftOpera has taken a very conscious turn away
from new music. “We always wanted to take a populist
stance and also bring people to the classics,” said Brianna
Maury, the general manager and cofounder. Their
audience is mostly first-time opera goers, and producing
works whose names people recognize adds a bit of
familiarity. “These beautiful masterworks are also more
accessible than new music,” she said.
LoftOpera was founded by Maury, her stepbrother Daniel
Ellis-Ferris, and his classmate at The New School Dean
Buck, basically on a dare. (“We dared ourselves to do
a production of Don Giovanni in 2013 and it sold out.”)
It has since grown from two events a year to four, with
productions like Così fan tutte and Tosca, and coming up
later in 2017 Pagliacci and Bluebeard’s Castle. Each one
is an original production, with six performances. There
is seating for about 500 on benches and all tickets are
$30.
Each production is in a different venue in Brooklyn,
typically hidden-away spaces in Bedford-Stuyvesant and
Bushwick—areas Maury says are “not really gentrified the
way other parts of Brooklyn have been.” The locations
add to the sense of adventure. “We want to strip away
the pretense of going to a place like Lincoln Center,”
said Maury. “Maybe to get here you’re on a subway line
you’ve never taken before.”
The singers and orchestra are recruited by music director
Sean Kelly, who also teaches voice in the U.S. and
Italy. Musically, they have, for the most part, enraptured
New York critics.
They’ve enraptured audiences as well. Maury said her
novice audiences (almost all Brooklynites, with a smattering
of visitors from the Upper West Side of Manhattan),
many of whom have only heard music in clubs
before, sit quietly because “they’re listening so intently
that they’re on the edge of their seats. They clap at all
the right places—actually, they hoot and holler after the
arias, which is how it used to be in the old days.”
Many first-time opera goers come for date night, and
that is very much by design. LoftOpera markets itself on
event sites like Thrillist, Flavorpill, GILT City, and Fever as
a romantic, classy, yet affordable date. As a result, “We
get couples making out in the audience,” said Maury. “We
have even caught people having sex in the bathrooms.
That’s how we know we’re successful.”
It’s the sort of thing that would get you thrown out of
Lincoln Center. Welcome to Brooklyn.
19

primephonic
20

portrait
maria callas
the voice
Franco Zeffirelli’s new production of Puccini’s Tosca at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden
in January 1964 was the most hotly anticipated event in the calendar. Not only did the lavish
production cost an eye-watering £32,000 but it also marked the return to the stage of the
celebrated soprano and diva extraordinaire Maria Callas. After a glittering career in the 1950s
when she had divided the critics and the public alike with her remarkable singing voice and
mesmerising stage presence, there had been whisperings of her fading powers especially after
she had taken up with the wealthy shipping magnate, Aristotle Onassis and all but disappeared
from the stage. But Callas was coaxed out of her two year absence by the prospect of singing
again in a new production with the renowned baritone Tito Gobbi for “mio caro public di London”
in the role that for many defined her – Tosca.
WORDS KEVIN PAINTING PHOTOS KEN VEEDER
21

primephonic
maria callas playlist
Vincenzo Bellini: Norma, Act I
“Casta Diva”
Warner
Giacomo Puccini: Gianni Schicchi, Act I
“O mio babbino caro”
Warner
Giuseppe Verdi: La traviata, Act I
“Sempre libera”
Warner
Richard Wagner: Tristan und Isolde,
Act III “Dolce e calmo”
Warner
Gioacchino Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia,
Act I “Una voce poco fa”
Warner
Unsurprisingly, the six performances
were hopelessly over-subscribed with
120,000 people clamouring for 12,000
seats and ticket touts reported a brisk
trade. But she did not disappoint. True to
form, Callas confounded her critics on
the first night, receiving 27 curtain calls
and a standing ovation lasting 40 minutes
for a performance still described in
hushed tones as one of most memorable
ever seen. She returned the following year
in July to reprise her role in a Royal Gala
performance at Covent Garden for what
would be her final operatic appearance.
Maria Callas was easily the finest
dramatic soprano of her generation and
one of the most recognisable and glamorous
figures from an era when celebrities
usually had talents. With her remarkable
and distinctive singing voice, she breathed
new life into bel canto opera and brought
a fearsome dramatic intensity to the roles
she played on stage. Seldom out of the
limelight in her lifetime for her singing or
her colourful behaviour, she left behind
a remarkable legacy of recordings which
have never been out of the catalogue.
Maria Callas was born on 2 December
1923 in New York to immigrant Greek
parents. In 1937 she moved to Greece
where she studied at the National
Conservatory in Athens with
the noted coloratura soprano
Elvira de Hidalgo. Although she
made her professional debut in a
leading role playing Tosca in Athens
in 1942, her career began in
earnest in 1947 when she sang
the title role in Ponchielli’s La Giaconda
in Verona. There she met
her future husband and manager,
the Veronese businessman
Giovanni Battista Meneghini, and
her musical mentor, the great
conductor Tullio Serafin. Her international
breakthrough came in 1949 in Venice when
Serafin shrewdly cast her at short notice as
Elvira in Bellini’s I Puritani, a bel canto role
which Callas triumphantly brought to life.
She went on to score considerable success
in the 1950s in Italian opera with many
signature roles in Anna Bolena, Lucia di
Lammermoor (Donizetti), La Traviata, Macbeth
(Verdi), Norma (Bellini) and of course,
Tosca.
As one of the most glamorous and
photographed women of her day, stories of
her temperamental behaviour were lapped
up and inflated by the press. Soon the
strains of her punishing schedule inevitably
took their toll and when she sensationally
left her husband for Onassis in 1959, she
also drastically cut back on her appearances.
When she separated from Onassis in
1968, she essentially retired from the concert
platform and, apart from a concert
tour in Europe, North America and Japan, a
master class series at the New York Julliard
School and a brief foray into acting in Pier
Paolo Pasolini’s film Medea, she lived quietly
in her elegant apartment in Paris until her
premature death in 1977.
Maria Callas had a remarkable voice
unlike any other, not conventionally beautiful
or infallible but powerful, intense and
thrillingly dexterous. Love it or hate it (and
it was not uncommon for vegetables to be
thrown with floral tributes at her performances),
her voice is unmistakeable and
impossible to ignore.
It has been remarked that she had
three voices which she glided between
with deft artistry. A high coloratura voice:
nimble, agile and precise, it could dispatch
the most difficult passages of fioriture with
consummate ease; a richly expressive middle
voice which was capable of effortlessly
sustained legato passages; and a chest
Christoph Willibald Gluck: Orfeo et
Eurydice, Act IV “J’ai perdu mon Eurydice”
Warner
22

portrait
voice, often startling in its intensity. While
she may have reigned supreme in the bel
canto repertoire, she was not preoccupied
with producing a beautiful, sweet sound per
se but more with communicating the drama
and meaning of the text, admitting that
“to convey the dramatic effect … I must
produce sounds which are not beautiful. I
don’t mind if they are ugly so long as they
are true”.
It was her instinctive musical ability
to build and sustain an atmosphere through
her vocal technique and commanding stage
presence which makes her performances
so compelling. With Callas, the blood-curdling
taunt “Muori!” that Tosca cries as she
stabs the villainous Scarpia is genuinely unsettling,
and on one occasion Callas nearly
drew blood from Tito Gobbi when a stage
knife failed to retract.
Maria Callas was a workaholic who
took herself and her work very seriously
and, like so many great musicians, it was
only through the dint of hard work combined
with a perfectionist streak that she
managed to achieve so much. She was not
averse to spending hours in the recording
studio to perfect a particular passage, nor
did she baulk at the challenges of a difficult
repertoire or the reproaches of an indifferent
audience: they were all opportunities
for her to prove herself and, above all, to
shine.
The same perfectionism extended to her
meticulously cultivated appearance. The
director Luchino Visconti once told Callas
that if she lost some weight, she would
make “a truer Traviata, who is after all dying
of consumption”. Nine months later in 1953
and 30 kg lighter, she had transformed herself
from a chubby, overweight soprano to
an alluring svelte beauty. Dressed to kill,
with an impeccable fashion sense, La Divina
‘maria
callas had
a remarkable
voice
unlike any
other’
as Callas became known to her fans had arrived.
(Her contemporary Joan Sutherland
was dubbed La Stupenda on account of her
voice and not, as some wags have suggested,
for her girth).
The public became enamoured with
the Maria Callas phenomenon and newspapers
were packed with glossy photographs
and gossipy stories of her temperamental
behaviour. In one of her rare interviews
for American television, there is a delicious
moment when the British conductor
Sir Thomas Beecham mischievously asks
whether there was any truth in the rumour
that she had struck an opera director over
the head with a bottle of brandy. “I never
threw anything at anybody unfortunately”
she replied, beaming “I wish I did.”
Callas’s meteoric rise to fame coincided
with the introduction of long-playing
records and a rush by record companies
to expand their catalogues. Fortunately
for the listening public, she had a long and
fruitful working relationship from 1952 to
1964 with the legendary Walter Legge, the
husband to Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and a
music producer, and as strong-willed and
perfectionist as Callas herself. This resulted
in an astonishing series of both live and studio
performances, many of which are considered
benchmark recordings that remain
unsurpassed, even after half a century.
A true measure of the affection in
which Callas is still held by the public can be
seen in Venice. Thanks to a public campaign
which gathered over 100,000 signatures,
the bridge Ponte della Fenice was renamed
Ponte Maria Callas in 2005. It’s just down
from the Teatro La Fenice, the opera house
where she made her breakthrough in 1949
performing Bellini’s I Puritani, winning the
accolade prima donna assoluta, a position
she still maintains for a new generation of
opera lovers.
23

primephonic
from the recording studio
with jean-marie geijsen
reflections on hi-res audio, music streaming, and wagner
Jean-Marie Geijsen grew up in a musical family of 6 children.
He studied recording techniques at The Royal Conservatory
in The Hague, specialising in classical music. Owing to the
conservatory’s culture at the time, he became interested in
baroque music. After graduating, Geijsen started working at
Philips Classics. Today he is a director and a balance engineer
at Polyhymnia International. Geijsen has worked with major
recording labels, including Sony, PENTATONE, Decca, harmonia
mundi, BMG and Deutsche Grammophon.
WORDS ROKAS KUČINSKAS
KUČINSKAS • Does recording
classical music differ from other
music genres?
GEIJSEN • There’s a huge difference
between recording classical and
pop music. In classical music you
record an ensemble playing in an
acoustic environment, eg a big
church or a concert hall. Pop music
is recorded in a studio. There are
many occasions where musicians
don’t even see each other for the
whole duration of a given session. A
drummer records on the first day,
a bassist on the second, a guitarist
records a week later. Finally, a
singer comes when he has time. It
is then dubbed on one tape, with
an endless editing and overdubbing
process afterwards. Classical music
recording has a completely different
approach. Interactions between
musicians, as well as surrounding
acoustic environments are so
important. A hall, the public – and
so much more – need to be taken
into consideration when recording
classical music.
KUČINSKAS • You specialized in
baroque music. Does recording
baroque music differ from recording
other periods, such as classical or
romantic?
GEIJSEN • Not when it comes to
the technical side. You do have
to know the differences, though.
How instruments sound, combine
and meld together. Their unique
properties, too – they all have their
special character. Yet when it comes
to microphones it’s not so different.
They have to be as neutral as
possible, so that they don’t influence
the sound. A balance engineer then
recreates the ensemble's sound as
heard in the hall.
24

title goes here
recording studio
playlist
Glass: Violin Concerto No. 2
LPO, Robert McDuffie, Marin Alsop
Glass: Satyagraha, Act I Tolstoy, Scene 1
New York City Opera
Glass: Dreaming Awake
Bruce Levingston
Glass: Naqoyqatsi, “The Vivid Unknown”
Yo-Yo Ma
Glass: The Complete String Quartets
– String Quartet No. 2 “Company”
The Smith Quartet
Glass: The Photographer, Act I
“A Gentleman’s Honor”
Philip Glass Ensemble
KUČINSKAS • What exactly does
a “balance engineer” do? I haven’t
encountered this term before.
GEIJSEN • It’s a common English
term for the guy who puts up the
microphones, sits at the mixing
desk, and in my case reads the
score. Combining all this and then
recording the sound - that’s a
balance engineer. It also means that
you have to work with a producer
(sitting behind or next to you), a
conductor, and an ensemble. Your
main task is to create the internal
balance of an ensemble, its direct
sound and the reverb of a hall. It’s a
balancing act.
KUČINSKAS • How is a mixing
engineer different then?
GEIJSEN • There are so many
titles in the world, which makes it
confusing, I know [laughs]. I'd say
that a mixing engineer is someone
who sits behind a 24- or 48-track
machine and mixes a production. It
doesn't have to be a classical music
production, though.
KUČINSKAS • Over the years you
have made so many recordings.
Which recording you are most
proud of and which was the most
challenging to do?
GEIJSEN • That has to be the 10
major Wagner operas I recorded.
The operas are immense and I
recorded them live for radio and
CD in one concert in Berlin over
2-and-a-half years. It wasn’t a
staged performance, yet the singers
had to move around and change
microphone positions. The goal
was to achieve a close effect of the
setting the way Wagner intended.
Hence, a performer could end up
standing on a balcony, or in the
middle of the stage, in front of the
orchestra, and so on.
KUČINSKAS • Who made such
directorial decisions?
GEIJSEN • It’s written in the score,
but in our case the conductor made
some adjustments too. Throughout
the rehearsal we had to read the
score, know which singer was
standing where; we also had to mark
how loud a singer should be in a mix,
and how loud he or she was during
the rehearsal. I was marking the
score in the hope that the singers
would remember where they should
be standing. And we had a 120-voice
choir, an off-stage orchestra, and
many soloists! Don't get me wrong
– it was as difficult for the entire
performing crew as it was for us.
We only rehearsed bits and pieces
and never did a full A-Z rehearsal
throughout the operas. Hence,
everything had to fall into place
during performances, and by some
miracle – I don’t know how – it did.
Without a proper preparation, with
all the risks, we did all the 10 operas
this way. I mean, a singer could
have fallen sick at the last moment
25

primephonic
or a technical problem could have
occurred. There were so many things
that could have gone wrong, since
we only had one concert. If there
had been one major disaster, the
whole series would have died. What’s
more, all the operas were performed
and broadcast live on radio. It
meant that I had to mix on the spot
in stereo for radio and record for
SACD in stereo and surround. I also
had to read the 48-channel mixing
console while trying to read the
score to know what was coming. The
concerts usually started at 6:00pm
and lasted until 11:30pm. Let’s put
it this way – 5.5 hours of a rather
concentrated evening [laughs]. But
it worked for all 10 operas, and that
is something I am really proud of.
KUČINSKAS • Doesn't it make these
recordings the most difficult you've
ever made?
GEIJSEN • It probably does.
KUČINSKAS • Nowadays, people
are going back to analogue
recordings. Any thoughts on why
that might be?
GEIJSEN • Because they like the
sound, although I often wonder
what exactly it is that they like. Is
it the music itself, or the playback
system? If it’s the playback system,
does it add something to the music?
It must produce a certain feeling
that people like, but in my opinion
that doesn’t have much to do with a
neutral playback. LPs and analogue
tapes compress a dynamic range;
as a result, listening to music with
a little bit of compression can be
very nice. Especially loud passages
recorded on a tape can sound
louder than they actually are – all in
comparison with a digital recording,
of course. Also there’s a limited
frequency response and a very
low level of hiss that can be an
advantage and doesn’t disturb us.
Since our hearing is more sensitive
to change, you stop hearing it as it is
constant.
‘your main
task is to
create the
internal
balance
of an
ensemble,
its direct
sound and
the reverb
of a hall’
KUČINSKAS • Is a neutral playback
important then?
GEIJSEN • Since the days of Philips
Classics we've been looking for
neutral playback and recording
systems, meaning those which
do not influence the sound. We
would not compromise distortion,
frequency response, dynamics,
and what not. Over the past 50
years microphone quality has been
fantastic. The signal quality, too.
Hence, it has been our main goal to
record this pure signal, on analogue
and digital tapes, or on computer.
LPs or analogue tapes, however,
distort the sound. It is sometimes
called a “pleasant distortion”,
perfectly explaining what people
listen to. It appeals to them; it gives
them a certain feeling that there’s
something added to music that
wasn’t originally there. Don’t get me
wrong - that’s OK for a consumer.
They can do whatever they want.
KUČINSKAS • But …?
GEIJSEN • For me, in a recording
studio, it’s very dangerous. I cannot
decide what people are going to
like. I have to be as objective as
possible, and shouldn't influence a
music recording. It’s not about me in
the first place. If you are listening to
music, you shouldn’t even be aware
that a balance engineer was there.
You listen to musicians, to a hall,
while all the signal chain should be
as transparent as possible. Nobody
should realise that someone had
been moving faders around. As soon
as that happens, you will straight
away think that it’s artificial.
KUČINSKAS • Why did you start
recording in hi-res?
GEIJSEN • One of the reasons is
the framing of time, which is much
more precise than in a CD, for
example. It gives you an ease of
listening; little pieces of information
(such as reflections of a hall, or a
stage) that were missing in early CD
recordings. CD quality doesn’t give
us the spaciousness – the definition
of a space – which is so important to
music making. For 10 years I worked
with Alfred Brendel. His musicmaking
was based and adjusted on
reverberations produced by a hall.
He often played different pianos,
listening to the environment and its
reflection patterns. Later he would
say: “I want my piano to move a
little bit forwards (or backwards).”
26

tech insights
JEAN-MARIE GEIJSEN
In 1984 he began studying recording
techniques in The Royal Conservatory
at The Hague.
From 1988 to 1990 he worked as
a mastering engineer as well as a
freelance classical recording and PA
engineer.
In 1990 he joined Philips Classics
where he worked on recordings with
many top artists, from Seiji Ozawa to
Valery Gergiev.
Became a balance engineer at
Polyhymnia International, working
closely with PENTATONE and other
labels.
Think about how complex the sound
information is. It bounces from
a floor, ceilings, and walls within
milliseconds. Thus, the more precise
framing of all these reflections is
in a playback, the better feeling of
the space you get. If you chop it up
in 44KHz, you’re omitting a lot of
information from all these random
reflections. Hence, smaller frames
means greater resolutions in early
reflection patterns.
KUČINSKAS • What do you mean
by that?
GEIJSEN • You start understanding
why a musician plays the way he
or she does. Timing determines
so much in music. It is also very
dependent on the acoustics of
a given surroundings. Musicians
constantly anticipate reflections of
their acoustic surroundings. Thus,
the better you hear the acoustics
the more sense the music makes.
People who listen to music over the
years will appreciate high resolution
more. A lot of logic that comes to
music making is better captured
in hi-res recordings. However, you
might not hear that much difference
by listening to the technical side
of hi-res audio only. That’s the
funny thing. You don’t hear early
reflections within 50 up to 100
milliseconds when I’m talking to
you, although they’re there. Hi-res
captures this and gives it back to
you. Although it isn’t very obvious,
it gives you this feeling. If you walk
into a hall you immediately notice
what the acoustic properties of that
hall are. Such acoustics entail things
like early reflections that you can’t
hear. Improved precision on those
acoustics' representation means
more information about music
making.
KUČINSKAS • You say it's tricky to
hear differences when focusing on
the hi-res technical side only. Have
you ever heard more in hi-res than
acoustic details when comparing it
to PCM recordings?
GEIJSEN • Yes – it was in one of the
recordings I did with Mari Kodama.
We were listening to 3 different
versions of a track: a normal CD,
which is a CD layer on an SACD, a
stereo DSD, and a surround DSD.
It was a prior distribution quality
check. We first listened to DSD
surround and stereo files, which
didn’t grab our attention. While
listening to a PCM version, we
noticed a digital glitch, which is
something that needed to be dealt
with. It was strange, as we didn’t
hear anything on the DSD files. So,
once again we listened to the same
passage on the DSD version, and
we did hear it. Yet, it wasn’t a glitch,
but a fingernail hitting the key –
there was no doubt about what we
heard! This fingernail hitting the key
completely disappeared in a PCM
version. That might be one of the
most clear and obvious examples I
encountered over the years. It’s that
subtle. Oh, but wait, it’s not subtle
at all! [laughs] It brings you to the
core of music making. If a normal
PCM version cuts away this kind of
information, you’re losing a lot of
music making. It’s not a frequency
domain or distortion, but an acoustic
environment that makes hi-res of
what it is.
KUČINSKAS • Have hi-res recording
techniques changed over the years?
GEIJSEN • No, not so much. As
I said before, we are still using
microphones that are 50 and 60
years old. Of course we also use new
microphones, too. What I mean is
27

primephonic
that microphones themselves are
of fantastic quality. The recording
technique hasn't changed since the
beginning of the stereo era, either. It
is a different story when it comes to
surround sound recording, which we
had to invent. But techniques used
to position microphones, making a
balance and so on, haven’t changed.
KUČINSKAS • There are so many
streaming services appearing right
now. Some have already started
streaming music in CD quality.
However, there is still no DSD
streaming service. Any thoughts on
why?
GEIJSEN • Well actually there is
[laughs]. Of course not as big as
Spotify. Around two years ago we
were asked to do test recordings
of a live DSD streaming all over
the world. The first recording
we did was in Berlin with the
Berlin Philharmonic. We used
two microphones and recorded
straight to DSD in 2.8MHz, which
is a standard SACD quality. We also
recorded in 5.6MHz, which is one
step higher.
KUČINSKAS • Super Super Audio
CD (i.e. Super SACD, or S-SACD)?
GEIJSEN • Yes [laughs]. It was
broadcasted live all over the world
via internet in DSD. A couple of
hundred listeners were listening
to this broadcast. It was flawless.
We did it again in Warsaw during
the International Chopin Piano
Competition. We also did a
complete programme with the
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
in Amsterdam. Later we repeated
it in Japan using the same setup.
All these test recordings worked
perfectly.
‘ if you are
listening to
music, you
shouldn’t
even be
aware a
balance
engineer
was there’
KUČINSKAS • Why aren’t there
DSD streaming services similar to
Spotify then?
GEIJSEN • I don’t know if a
worldwide classical music market is
big enough to support a streaming
service like that. There needs to be
enough demand to set up such a
service and invest money in it. On
the other hand, there aren’t that
many really good DSD recordings.
So it is also a matter of how much
repertoire is available. Spotify’s
catalogue is dominated by pop
music in which hi-res recording
practices aren’t used at all.
KUČINSKAS • Why not?
GEIJSEN • Because it’s too
complicated. You don’t have all the
tools. In classical music we don’t use
all the effects. You put a microphone
in the right place, mix the balance
and that’s it – you have your master
track. You don’t need compressors,
limiters, EQs, or whatever. Not
even a compressor. It’s just 1:1 – a
straight mix. Whereas all those tools
are being used in pop music’s post
production. Reverbs, compressors,
equalizers, or, let’s not forget, the
autotune - it’s PCM. When you’re
lucky it’s 96KHz, but still a bit short
to DSD 2.8MHz.
28

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29

primephonic
It was a spring day, the sun was shining in a provincial wooded neighbourhood in
the Netherlands and I had something important to talk about – the colour brown
– with Joost De Boo, PENTATONE’s art director. He shed some light on album
artwork in classical music, voicing his frustration with the colour brown as the
norm, and his drive to breathe fresh air into the creation of album art.
Album art in classical music has tended towards safe colours and soft tones. If a
picture speaks a thousand words, then it’s up to designers of album art to help
disrupt the general standards in the classical music industry. There has been a renaissance
in opera, set design and costume design. Album art can have one too!
WORDS RACHEL DELOUGHRY
the
brown
album
Classical music has been trying to
shake off its old, dusty and antiquated
vibe and Joost voiced what
many people have been thinking.
Although this stuffy, old-fashioned
reputation interestingly impacts visual
arts and public opinion of classical
music, the music itself is often
unrecognisable from its packaging.
“The cover of a particular Liszt
album was brown and olive green. I
listened to the album and it was very
energetic. But on a basic emotional
level, there was no connection
between the music and the colours
brown and olive green. In the bigger
picture of what the graphic designer
has done, though, it all comes down
to brown.”
This led Joost to make a sample
colour palette based on the top 50
albums in the classical charts. The
consensus was that the average
colours were brown, beige and grey.
Brown album art, low contrast and
old paintings are standard. “The
elements tended to be dark concert
halls or old churches, backgrounds
that are white, grey or brick, white
people (in suits!) and wooden instruments.
It all makes sense. But why
use that? And why use old paintings?
Why not create something new,
something fresh?”
This doesn’t mean designers have
to remove themselves from tradition
entirely, in fact Joost likes to
incorporate clichés in a playful and
unexpected way, hinting at a tradition
but letting the observer fill the
gaps. “I like to play with the obvious.
So on a cover for Beethoven’s
Missa Solemnis I wanted to use the
famous Beethoven image, but only

Joost had a prime example about
how he ‘just got on with it’ and
not only avoided the usual pitfalls,
but made a visual narrative around
the sonic traits of the album. “I’m
currently making a cover for Julia
Fisher’s vinyl of Bach’s Sonatas and
Partitas for solo violin where I only
used bronze ink. The delicately ex-
title goes here
parts of it. I chose this specific painting
because it is the most famous
and recognizable image of Beethoven.
However, not many people
know that Beethoven is holding the
Missa Solemnis score in his hand.
Therefore, I thought it would be
interesting to play with expectations.
I believe that the person who buys
this album is already a Beethoven
fan (because it is not a mainstream
work) so they would immediately
recognize the painting and the
missing element and appreciate the
cryptic approach.”
“That’s what I did with the Wagner
Ring box set cover too: on the
cover, it doesn’t actually say “Der
Ring des Nibelungen”. The words are
cut off. Even with titles you can play
around. By seeing the name Wagner
and most of the letters of the title,
you already know what it’s going to
be. It’s been recorded hundreds of
times, so why use the same approach
again?”
Album art is very much intertwined
with concerns in the age of reproducible
art. “Absolutely. Walter Benjamin’s
The Work of Art in the Age of
Mechanical Reproduction deals with
exactly this! When you have a piece
of art, reproduce it and put it in a
new context, its meaning changes.
‘why use old
paintings?
why not
create something
new,
something
fresh?’
And the meaning of the original also
changes because it’s not unique or
authentic any more. Why for example
produce an album of Bach’s St.
John Passion with an album cover
of a church? Yes, this was originally
a piece you could only hear performed
in a church around Easter
and what’s more, you could only go
there and listen if you were Christian.
Now, you can listen to it with
your headphones, you can read the
Koran at the same time, you can do
whatever you like. So the piece does
not have the same aura. Its original
aura is gone. We should still be aware
of the original meaning and stay
close to the original, but look for abstract
meaning within it. And if you
put an image of the Koran instead
of a church on the cover, then it
becomes even more about religion.
You should be aware of the fact that
it’s no longer the 18th century but a
lot of labels and artists behave as if it
still is. Thinking like this can harm the
genre!”
There is a huge opportunity for
photographers in the transition
away from brown! After all, the
graphic designer’s ingenuity usually
only comes into play at the end of
the process and therefore they have
to work with what ends up on their
plate. Collaborating with visionary
photographers will surely bring out
the quirks and the extraordinary
compelling beauty that seems to
be falling into the brown, murky
abyss. “The featured artists are
photographed in old buildings, so I
have to make something out of that.
It already starts in the conversation
between the recording artist and
photographer. We should collaborate
with photographers that are
more involved in contemporary art
instead of using the status quo photographers.
We can make a bridge
there, because this is something
you cannot influence as a graphic
designer. If not then you just get on
with it.”
31

And You Must Suffer © Koen Broos
‘it’s been
recorded
hundreds
of times,
so why use
the same
approach
again?’
32

point of view
‘we should still be aware of
the original meaning and stay
close to the original, but look
for abstract meaning within it’
posed silhouette, the purest use of
colour, the mathematically balanced
page layout (1:1 ratio grid), and the
early 18th century typeface are
carefully brought together to enhance
the aesthetic characteristics
of Bach’s partitas and sonatas. But
the image they originally sent me
had a brown background with Julia
Fischer wearing a pink dress – and
her hair happens to be blond. These
elements combined meant that in
the end it all turned out brown. So
I thought – what can I do with this?
I dived into the music: the exposed
quality, focusing on just one instrument
was striking so I made a
story around that. The music is very
delicate and fresh. The result is that
you’re still very close to the piece
but in a contemporary way.”
Could designing album art veer
more towards contemporary art
than graphic design? Is this even
possible? Because an album cover
designer is somebody who manages
to strike a healthy balance between
being a visionary and being a team
player – to carry out the wishes of
artist managers, performers and
so on. “There’s a need for disruption.
Urania records, PENTATONE,
Concertgebouw and Challenge are
all labels that are really making a
statement and are very consistent
about it. Where I think this visionary
design happens is in contemporary
opera. Soon we have the Opera Forward
Festival in Amsterdam and the
Dutch National Opera is performing
Bach’s St. John Passion. “You Must
Suffer” is the tagline and the artist
has created artwork with images of
an x-ray of rats being crucified as
the stage design. You can do that in
art. (As an artist in Holland anyway!
I have grown up in this tradition.)
Pierre Audi is the artistic director
of the Dutch National Opera and
is known for this provocative style.
I saw Wagner’s Parsifal with stage
designs by Anish Kapoor. The designs
played on a subconscious mood
level and it was so beautiful. If you
used a photo of a stage design by
Anish Kapoor for an album cover,
it would work where the ‘church
performance’ photography would
fail. It takes in form and light and
reflection, because Parsifal is about
reflection. It’s much more meaningful
than having a portrait of the
opera singer who sings the role of
Parsifal, or a picture of the goblet.
There’s nuance to it because the
opera has such a clear story. There
is so much more richness than a guy
standing in front of an orchestra
wearing brown.”
33

primephonic
There is further room for change in
classical album art, not just conceptually
but even in terms of the
basics: typography and dimensions.
“There are very specific titles in
classical music, compared with any
other genre. Opus numbers, full
titles, conductor, soloist, sometimes
multiple composers, and all opus
numbers for each work listed. For
digital we should just cut it out. In
a thumbnail you don’t see anything
anyway – text can just look like a
white line. I create two versions of
every album cover – one for digital,
one for physical. When you buy it in
hard copy you have more text on
the cover, but in digital, this is not
necessary.”
“For streaming and downloading it
doesn’t even have to be a square
anymore. Your screen is a rectangle,
not a square. It can be changeable
so that when you download an
album, there can be a cover that
becomes interactive depending on
screen size. In the not-too-distant
future, album art could even have
moving images or exist in a virtual
reality. Square CD-size will still work
when it’s advertised in a magazine
or in thumbnail size, but it’s not the
only dimension we need to work
with. Vinyl on the other hand, is a
fixed size and is sold on a merchandise
level, so from a design point
of view, vinyl should be treated
separately, as a work of art, as with
posters and so on.”
So why is there so much brown in classical? This conversation confirmed
some of my suspicions of how sepia tones and ‘playing it safe’ can hinder
the perception of what is an extraordinary, exciting and vibrant genre. We
can rest assured though that the genre is already being shaken up and we
have lots more innovation to look forward to, not just in design but on multiple
levels of creativity.
Parsifal © Monika Rittershaus & Ruth Walz
JOOST DE BOO
Art Direction and Graphic Design at
Pentatone Music and primephonic.
Previously worked at design studios
in Utrecht, Toronto and New York.
Studied at the Rietveld Academie,
Utrecht School of the Arts and the
Rhode Island School of Design.
34

title goes here
Our artists put all their heart
and soul into the music
“ An unrivalled
classical music
experience
through
superior
audio
technology.“
Now available at
primephonic.com/pentatone
www.pentatonemusic.com
35

primephonic
the chronicles
From physical CD to Napster filesharing
and from iTunes to purposebuilt
classical streaming platforms
with richer metadata and room for
discovery, the classical music industry
has evolved beyond what any industry
maverick could have foreseen. The
ability of technology to change how
we listen to music has had a gamechanging
effect which has accelerated
considerably from the turn of the
millennium up to the present day.
primephonic editor Rachel Deloughry
had the opportunity to speak to PETE
DOWNTON, Deputy CEO of 7digital
about this exciting era.
of streaming
36

tech insights
i.
an unprecedented
timeline
guess I saw the tail end of what had become
I the CD boom that had driven growth in the
recorded music industry. To provide a little bit
of context, I joined Warner Music Group initially
in 1996 and worked in the physical business in
the UK company. To give you a sense of what
that meant in practical terms: when I joined
Warner Music, there were five major record
labels. Between us, we employed upwards of
40,000 staff around the world, managing principally
the physical distribution of music. Of
course classical music was a meaningful part of
that activity.
And so, there was a transition in 1999
when peer-to-peer first emerged as a major
consideration for the music industry. With Napster,
one saw that the industry had, to a degree,
anticipated the shift to digital. But it tried to
make digital in the image of physical, by offering
the same kind of products in the same kind
of way but on an internet retail basis. I always
refer to that period in recorded music as ‘the
abbreviated grieving process’. We began with
denial, we experienced anger, which resulted in
us suing pretty much everybody!
And then in 2003 we reached acceptance
with the launch of iTunes. Having worked
at Warner as part of the team that helped bring
iTunes to the market, it had become apparent
from the previous year or so that the industry
needed help: it needed help to organise
itself and to make this transition, because
the old rules didn’t really apply any more. We
were struggling to organise ourselves and our
own assets, let alone determining and dictating
the way music should be distributed. So
we were really fortunate that around the same
time that this was taking place, we were at the
forefront of the discussions leading up to the
launch of iTunes. At Warner, Roger Ames, our
global chairman and CEO, was the first senior
executive from the recorded music industry to
engage with Steve Jobs and the team at Apple.
And so we saw up close the transition that the
industry needed to make. However when iTunes
launched, it was regarded in the technology industry
as the last roll of the dice for Apple. Apple
was a business that was completely dwarfed
by the big internet and mobile players of the
time, by companies like Nokia and others who
were worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Apple
was a relatively niche player in that marketplace.
So, one of the things that really enabled
Warner to have a disproportionate impact was
seeing the transformation of an idea as simple
as iTunes, and watching the reality of that idea
play out in the marketplace. I remember vividly
on the second full day of iTunes sales in North
America, receiving a phone call from the North
37

primephonic
‘we thought, if only we could get this thing that
meant so much to people and make it available using
new technologies and new digital channels’
American team saying that they had sold a million
downloads, which was the forecast for the
first year! So this gave us a tremendous confidence
that music still had a real relevance. If we
could find the right combination of technology,
partners and distribution, and the confidence
that music would continue to have a valuable
role in people’s lives, if we could bring those
things together, then it was a signpost for the
way the market might evolve.
That said, if you were to
look at what happened after
iTunes, there was a renewed
confidence in the industry
and many larger players tried
to replicate what Apple had
done. Microsoft in particular
had a tremendous initiative
with many of the world’s retailers
involved in consumer
electronics
manufacturers,
but nobody ever really replicated it in the form
of music downloads. The industry bubbled as
a download industry until 2007 when Spotify
came along. Now, at the same time, we were
constantly looking at what Rhapsody (the new
name for Napster) was doing, and we were seeing
that if you deliver a compelling product to a
music fan, the levels of engagement were fabulous.
I think the reality was that the industry
wasn’t prepared to make that transition. And I
don’t think consumers were either.
So if you think about where the industry
was: this was 2003 or 2004 and iTunes
had given great confidence to the industry.
We thought, if only we could get this thing that
meant so much to people and make it available
using new technologies and new digital channels.
Everything looked very rosy. What actually hap-
pened was that the transition from an old CD
business into a new digital retail
business turned out to be a
relatively niche opportunity, in
that it didn’t broaden!
iTunes was a success
in its own right but it was where near reaching the same
levels of consumers that the
physical CD had ever reached.
Frankly, consumers and fans
were looking for more depth
in a musical experience and for classical music
fans, it was just underwhelming. The way that
classical recordings were being presented on
no-
internet services was almost impenetrable. It
was a model that was built around pop music
and driven by popularity. It was inconceivable
to most classical music collectors and fans that
they would use digital to replace their old physical
music library. To be fair, Apple have done a
38

tech insights
better job than most to enrich what they do,
but fundamentally those services were about
pop music and hit songs and genres other than
classical and they certainly didn’t lend themselves
to discovery of classical works for the
simple fact of the metadata. It was impenetrable.
Downloading didn’t take off in the classical
world initially. Consumers have always wanted
to upgrade to something better, but it wasn’t
better in terms of the convenience of discovery.
Arguably as important was the denigration
of sound quality. The trade-off between convenience
and quality certainly lost a lot of consumers
who had previously been classical music
collectors and jazz music collectors. There was
no comparison between what they were being
offered as a download and what they had been
offered in the physical world. And it wasn’t just
those genres that struggled.
We reached a ceiling because of so much
that was happening in people’s digital lives. If
we look at what happened in film and TV over
the same period, the quality, experience and
convenience was getting better and better.
Music, on the other hand, has tried to take the
physical experience and copy it across, business
model and all, onto a digital platform. So
we were constantly trying to find companies
that would deliver not only the convenience of
digital but at least as good a quality of an experience
as we had found in previous formats. If
you think about it, during that period Rhapsody
was doing reasonably well – it was a service
that had a million or so users but it never really
broke out into the mainstream because the
consumers were finding it difficult to get their
heads around not only recurring subscriptions,
but also the idea of being able to access music
as opposed to collecting music.
Music is so important for people’s self-expression
and the act of collecting music itself,
that ritual of music buying is art of the experience.
We then fast-forward to 2007 and the
launch of Spotify; not only did Spotify do a lot
for the music industry in terms of their techni-
cal capability combined with a music obsession,
but it was the first time we’d seen that in a single
company. And I think ironically it was able
to grow, develop and improve because it didn’t
come from North America. North America has
this tendency to burn brightly and often to
burn out but Spotify was able to thrive, initially
across a single territory and then in a handful of
territories. It really had the breathing space to
build and develop and improve on the experience.
And meanwhile, all the time Spotify were
improving their experience, customers were
becoming more accustomed to access music
as opposed to ownership, or accessing content
based on someone else’s schedule. Spotify allowed
audiences to access content according
to their own schedules and lifestyles. So I
think between 2007 and 2014, we were going
through this transition in consumer behaviour
and Spotify dragged the music industry kicking
and screaming into the streaming era. A lot of
the infrastructure that was necessary for the
music industry to completely change its model
was developed then.
But still, it’s fair to say that while Spotify provides
a great experience for someone who is a
mainstream music lover – someone who wants
pop, classical, rock, and many of the contemporary
genres – it’s not a finished article when it
comes to classical music. For the different ways
you want to search the catalogue as a classical
music fan or collector, the bar is set pretty high.
You want to search by composer or by work,
understanding that an overture is not necessarily
a full work, for instance. The infrastructure
necessary to deliver classical still wasn’t in place
by 2014 when I think streaming really started to
gain momentum.
39

primephonic
such as Chromecast, you now have the ability
to stream to your hifi system. It’s an incredibly
exciting time to start to serve those audiences
in a way that genuinely is an upgrade to a much
better experience. So for 7digital, and for me
personally, it is a really exciting time.
I worked in the early days of DVD audio
and SACD and I was involved in attempting
to resuscitate the DVD audio format in 2000
when the industry had frankly missed probably
its most obvious opportunity to drive a
new wave of growth by following up on what
had been the most successful consumer package
media format of all time. The music industry
could not organise itself to deliver those
products as an experience, despite the fact
that they had tremendous momentum. And
then at that point the industry stopped for the
best part of a decade investing in audio quality.
We’re now starting to see all the major labels
and independent labels, especially in classical,
gear up to deliver not just the catalogues but
also new releases, contemporary artists and
working in much higher resolution. So over the
next couple of years, there are opportunities
for businesses to evolve which means that music
fans don’t have to compromise on quality or
convenience any more.
If we look at another phenomenon over
the last few years, namely the resurgence of vi-
ii.
experience, search
and discovery
I
think streaming has done a fantastic job at
replacing a lot of our listening habits and has
even improved them. Now we are starting to
see classical music being made available on
various streaming platforms in a way that’s appropriate,
and it’s being made possible because
the record labels in particular have been forced
to look closely at the kinds of metadata that
are necessary to underpin a classical streaming
service. And they are starting to build something
that supports services that are fit for purpose
in terms of search and discovery. But also
we are only now seeing the coming together of
services and devices in a way that makes it possible
for people to access a streaming service
and to listen to music in a quality that I think
most classical aficionados would appreciate. If
you give somebody the convenience and ability
to browse through a catalogue, that’s fine,
but you’ve also got to experience it. The ability
to stream higher quality is thanks to bandwidth
improvements but also because of progress
that’s been made in delivering new formats in
high resolution. That now means that the context
is there and the tools necessary to deliver
really compelling classical music experiences
on the internet are just becoming available.
That’s on the service side. If you combine
this with developments in connected devices,
particularly audio devices and platforms
40

tech insights
‘it’s being made possible because the record labels in
particular have been forced to really look closely at
the kinds of metadata that are necessary to underpin a
classical streaming service’
nyl, I think it’s evidence of demand without a
product. It tells us about the way that people
want to engage with music and what’s important
about music in their lives. There are certain
needs and requirements that are currently not
being satisfied by the existing digital music
marketplace and by that I mean the depth that
you get from being able to understand more of
the composer, the producer, the engineer, the
artist, the songwriter. The story around the music
and the context about the
way the music has been created
has always been a part of
the experience and so if I look
at today’s most widely used
streaming services, they‘re
great at finding things and
making things available that
are popular, but the depth of
context isn’t really there. That
creates tremendous opportunities
in the music industry, to provide services
that really do meet the expectations of those
who are looking for more depth, both in the
quality of the audio, listening to works from different
orchestras, being able to form their own
opinions about the best performances, and also
the stories and the context around those works.
So context is everything and if we’re to look at
where we are in the transition from a physical
packaged media business into a digital streaming
business, I think we’re in the first hour of
digital music. In some ways it’s painful to say
that because I’ve been at it for 20 years, but it
feels like we’re just getting started. And there
are ways we can approach new technologies to
make it easier to discover and navigate the catalogue
and then bring another context around
those recordings. The next few years are going
to be tremendously exciting for music lovers
of all persuasions. I’m tremendously
excited about this.
But at the heart of it all is the
storytelling. The way that you
experience and re-experience
music, there needs to be tremendous
depth to it and we
are only just getting started
digitally.
41

primephonic
iii.
investment in digital
music innovation
But at least we’re getting started with the
right tools now. There are more catalogues
available, better metadata and fewer technical
barriers. We forget how far we’ve travelled in
the last 24 months. So many of those early challenges
have been removed and that creates a
fantastic platform for innovation. The work is
not finished by any stretch of the imagination.
Over the last 2 or 3 years, the industry – the
likes of Universal Music Group, Decca, Naxos,
Deutsche Grammophon – has
become focused on how we
make sure the classical experience
is compelling. And
there’s a resurgence in interest
in artists and repertoire.
So despite the fact that
the relative share of the digital
marketplaces has been challenging
in classical music over
the past few years, I’m really
encouraged by the focus on investment that
we’re seeing across the major labels and the
major independent producers of classical music
and just a great example of where the indus-
try is headed. At CES (Consumer Electronics
Show) this year in Las Vegas, three major record
labels came together to demonstrate not just
a desire to help support high resolution music,
but also that they are investing in and making
these services available. So I am encouraged
about what the next few years will look like for
all musical genres, but particularly classical and
jazz that have been so under-served in the last
few years.
Goldman Sachs published a report not
so long ago about what the music industry will
look like in 2025.The most significant thing
about this authoritative report is that it pulls
together all elements of the music industry and
looks at them through a single
lens. The challenge of the
music industry over the last
couple of decades has been
fragmentation, and that is just
as significant in pop music as
it is in classical music. Once
you separate investment in
artist and repertoire from an
ability to generate revenue,
then it becomes challenging
to continue to invest. For the first time, we’re
beginning to look at the industry through a single
lens which is tremendously encouraging for
all genres of music. And I’m a cynic. I’ve been
doing this too long to be easily convinced of
these things! So I can safely say, it really is an
exciting time for the music industry.
The advice I’d give to those new to
streaming is: you’ve got to try it. You’ve got to
42

tech insights
‘so context is everything and if we’re to look at where
we are in the transition from a physical packaged media
business into a digital streaming business, I think we’re
in the first hour of digital music’
look at the simplicity of the way that streaming
is now being delivered and the simplicity of
taking the music off a computer and making it
available through your audio system. The advances
we’ve seen in the last 12 months means
it’s a whole different proposition now. Find the
service that’s right for you because not all services
are equal in terms of their focus on context
or the breadth of content. The great thing
is that the industry is now in a growth phase.
So it’s easy to get a taste of this and give it a
try. You don’t have to let go of your CD or vinyl
collection to give it a go now. I think people will
be pleasantly surprised at just how far it has developed
just in the last 18-24 months.
PETE DOWNTON
Deputy CEO of 7digital.
He joined Warner Music Group in 1996.
In 2014 he joined 7digital, the B2B
digital music and radio services
company.
1999
Peer-to-peer
music sharing
with Napster.
2003
iTunes launched.
Apple was still a
niche company.
2007
Spotify
launched.
Beginning of
the concept of
accessing music
rather than
collecting it.
2014
Improved metadata,
breaking
ground for classical
streaming.
2017
primephonic
launches 100%
classical streaming
platform.
43

primephonic
1
KATHERINE
STREAMING BETA TESTER
“I have enjoyed streaming the
available music during the beta
period. I hope that when you go to
production there is at least a tier of
service that is compatible with my
listening habits. If I had to crowd out
some other aspect of my musical life
in order to justify whatever I had to
pay then I would not do that.”
“I have used the service more during
the beta than I would on average
over the long term, as I did postpone
some other things to focus here
because of the limited time.”
“I was just playing a piece by a
composer I know, but a work of his
that is less familiar to me. And my
first thought was “I like this musically
but maybe I'd prefer a different
version.”
2
“The music is awesome – I am pretty
sure we all agree on that – and I am
grateful to have had the opportunity
to hopefully make the final product
a success.”
“So I went to the “work info” choice
that lives at the top of the bar and
clicked. I was shown information
about the piece that included the
date and place of its premiere
AND – of interest to me – other
recordings of this piece that I will go
and explore soon.”
“I wish to report that I am a fan of
this feature – please keep it! And
thank you!”
ALI KHAN
NEW SOUNDS CONSULTING
3
HEESANG JEON
FORMER HEAD OF PRODUCT
AT 7DIGITAL
“I have been waiting for a classical streaming
service for a long time. It's great that my
needs as a user are being finally met!”
4
DON MCINTOSH
STREAMING BETA TESTER
“Metadata for music is always an issue but
especially for classical music, simply because
there are no standards. What I see on
primephonic is better than what I get from
most CDs.”
“So far I played two releases and connected it to my
system via Bluetooth in my car system. Very nice. Keep
up the great work.”
BOWERS & WILKINS HEADPHONE GIVEAWAY
We held a competition
for beta testers to
win a set of Bowers &
Wilkins P7 headphones.
Their exquisite design
and breathtaking sound
are a high-end treat for
the one lucky winner.
And that winner is:
Don McIntosh
44

tech insights
the streaming
user experience
In 2017 primephonic launches its streaming service, which complements the high-res
download store, adding a new dimension to the 100% classical platform. The successful
beta phase was well-received by the users, giving a great sense of satisfaction and
the road ahead looks promising. Here is what some of the beta testers had to say.
45

primephonic
The scope of labels
primephonic offers is
astounding. This means
that the diversity of
music available on
primephonic ranges
from the staples of the
symphonic repertoire
to authentic period
instruments, to brand
new compositions
by the cutting-edge
composers of today. In
these label portraits,
we introduce. you to the
people behind some of
the labels.
WORDS BETH ADELMAN
harmonia mundi
CHRISTIAN GIARDIN
As the focus of the early music
movement moved from scholarship
to musicianship in the 1970s and
1980s, it was harmonia mundi that
introduced the world to the some of
the first stars of the genre, including
Anonymous 4, William Christie and
Les Arts Florissants, Andreas Scholl,
and Andrew Manze.
The French label was founded in
1958 by Bernard Coutaz, who simply
wanted to record music that he
thought was beautiful. His quest
for exciting new sounds led him
to the emerging proponents of
historically informed performance.
“There was a special focus on a
quest for excellence, linked to the
notion of authenticity: more period
instruments, returning to the original
manuscripts, and above all, the idea
of exploring the repertoire with a
new perspective, always questioning
the score, never accepting it
without asking questions,” explained
harmonia mundi’s current head of
classics, Christian Giardin.
Coutaz passed away in 2010, leaving
his widow, Eva Coutaz, in charge
46

community
of the company. In 2015 she sold
harmonia mundi, still with a solid
line-up of early music artists, to the
eclectic European independent label
PIAS. At the time, PIAS co-founder
Kenny Gates called harmonia mundi
“a hidden gem.”
“The spirit of continuity,” is what
Giardin said he’s after as harmonia
mundi continues to grow. “The
mastering of historically informed
performance is now at the highest
level possible, with such artists as
Isabelle Faust, Alexander Melnikov,
Jean-Guihen Queyras, René
Jacobs, Andreas Staier and Kristian
Bezuidenhout. But new artists have
been joining the label in recent
years.”
The continuity shows in their
commitment to uncovering
something new and fresh in the
music they record. For example, the
conductor Brad Lubman is a brilliant
advocate for new music, Graham
Ross a leader in choral music,
and the stunning soprano Sophie
Karthäuser stars in opera and song.
“They embody that new generation:
new perspectives, new repertoire,
and a new sound,” Giardin enthused.
2L
MORTEN LINDBERG
“There is no method available today
to reproduce the exact perception
of attending a live performance,
with all its commercial limitations.
On the contrary, we should
create the sonic experience that
emotionally moves the listener to a
better place,” said Morten Lindberg,
founder and CEO of 2L. “That leaves
us with the art of illusion when it
comes to recording music.”
This pursuit of the perfect illusion
makes 2L recordings sound almost
as if they are playing inside your
head. “Recorded music is no longer
a matter of a fixed one- or twodimensional
setting, but rather
a three-dimensional enveloping
situation; a sculpture that you can
literally move around and relate to
spatially,” Lindberg explained. “As
recording engineers and producers,
we need to do exactly the same as
any good musician: interpret the
music and the composer’s intentions
and adapt to the medium where we
perform.”
The Oslo-based label started out as
a production company in the early
1990s. But as the major labels scaled
back their classical music recordings,
Lindberg said, “we wanted to move
forward. Our obvious solution was
to start our own label.” 2L currently
has 10 to 15 releases per year, all on
Pure Audio Blu-ray and HiRes files.
Most feature Nordic artists and
contemporary composers.
2L recordings have garnered 28
Grammy nominations since 2006—
mostly in the engineering and sound
categories. Lindberg has a hard time
explaining the science behind how
they make such beautiful illusions,
saying “It's a mixture between
intellect and the heart.”
He continued, “2L records in roomy
acoustic venues—large concert
halls, churches and cathedrals. This
is actually where we can make the
most intimate recordings. [There is
a] spaciousness due to the absence
of close reflecting walls. Making an
ambient and beautiful recording
is the way of least resistance.
Searching the fine edge between
direct contact and spaciousness—
that’s the real challenge!”
Sono Luminus
COLLIN J RAE
Like so many audiophile companies,
Sono Luminus began as an
engineering studio and eventually
branched out to record under its
own label. It started in 1995 when
the founders of Cisco Systems,
Sandy Lerner and Len Bosack,
decided that their knowledge of
digital signal processing could
be applied to recorded music, to
gorgeous effect.
They married a studio made for
natural acoustics (a 100-year-old
former Episcopal church with a 25
foot vaulted wood ceiling and the
original heart pine flooring) with the
best possible technology and the
minimal possible miking, to end up
with a remarkably natural sound.
Ten years later, they bought up the
entire catalogue of Dorian, one of
the first audiophile labels and an early
music pioneer, and launched Sono
Luminus as an independent label.
47

primephonic
Today, the focus is still on using the
highest technology to create the
most natural ambient sound. Sono
Luminus was the first American
record label to release Pure Audio
Blu-ray discs. All recordings today
are made in 192kHz/24-bit stereo
versions as well as 7.1-channel,
96kHz/24-bit, and 5.1-channel,
192kHz/24-bit surround sound, and
Auro-3D 9.1-channel recordings. As
label CEO Collin J Rae said, “Once
you have recorded something, you
can always go down [in quality] but
you can’t go up.”
These days Sono Luminus records
an eclectic mix of early and
contemporary music, two genres
that Rae said are “relatable as an
aesthetic; there’s something similar
about the sonic quality and the
atmosphere.” So, for example, Jory
Vinikour playing Bach Partitas on the
harpsichord is coming out around
the same time as Nordic Affect and
a programme of new music from the
Icelandic Symphony Orchestra.
“We want to support artists who
are actively engaged with their
audience,” said Rae. “I’m trying to
take a holistic view and up the ante
on what
LSO Live
BECKY LEES
LSO Live was born in 2000, when
the musicians of the London
Symphony Orchestra decided
they needed to control their own
recording legacy. “LSO Live was
set up to be profitable, but we also
had other reasons,” said Becky Lees,
head of LSO Live. These included
replacing income lost from the
decline of traditional recording
deals, maintaining a high level of
exposure for the orchestra, and
reaching a wider audience through
digital distribution—something LSO
has been pioneering. “We were
adamant that only the artist truly has
their long-term business interests at
heart.”
While other orchestras have since
launched their own labels, LSO Live
was the first. It grew out of the
structure of LSO itself, “a collective
built on artistic ownership and
partnership,” said Lees. “The LSO
is still owned and governed by its
members, and the chairman is an
elected member of the orchestra.”
The musicians decide what to
record, they control all rights, and
share the profits.
LSO Live recordings really are
live; they edit together several
live performances—combining the
best features of live and studio
recordings. “We wanted to capture
the energy and emotion of our
concerts, and for that we need a
high-quality sound,” said Lees. “We
are a world-class orchestra. We don't
compromise on the quality of our
performances and we don't feel we
should compromise on the quality of
our recordings.”
The label was founded when Sir
Colin Davis was at the helm, and
a lot of his core repertoire was
featured—Berlioz, Haydn, Sibelius.
With Simon Rattle now ready to
pick up the baton, “There will be a
greater diversity to the orchestral
programme, and that will broaden
the offer on LSO Live,” Lees said.
“Simon believes passionately in
living composers and each season
will begin with a new commission.
It's our intention to record these
for the label. We have also added
Gianandrea Noseda and François-
Xavier Roth to the roster. We look
forward to some exciting recording
projects with both conductors.”
48

title goes here
The energy and emotion
you only experience live
Verdi
Requiem
Gianandrea
Noseda
Erika Grimaldi
Daniela Barcellona
Francesco Meli
Michele Pertusi
Simon Halsey
London Symphony Chorus
‘Sheer majesty’
The Guardian
‘Irresistible’
Sunday Times
‘Electric’
The Guardian
The debut album from the
virtuoso LSO Wind Ensemble
Album of the week
Sunday Times
‘This could turn out to be the
finest Sibelius cycle’
The Observer
lsolive.lso.co.uk
49
Listen on primephonic

for life on an
epic scale
WORDS RACHEL DELOUGHRY
There’s something ethereal about music that
speaks to humanity. Music expresses emotion
sonically without the need for language or
text. Music doesn’t even need to be understood
to be enjoyed.
Hearing the words ‘music’ and ‘universe’ in
the one sentence brings many things to mind
– from the Ancient Greeks to space travel,
or maybe the sound of Holst’s The Planets or
Bartok’s Mikrokosmos. Space can be perceived
in music, either in terms of physics and
acoustics or on a more abstract level within
our imagination. The universe holds a special
place; a source of wonder and mystery, it can
be admired and contemplated and it’s up to us
how deep we want to delve. The same can be
said of music.
50

title goes here
c. 495BC
The connection between
music and outer space was
already observed in Ancient
Greece and frequently discussed
by the likes of Plato,
Aristotle and Socrates. The
mathematician Pythagoras
suggested that celestial bodies
emit a unique humming
sound based on their orbital
revolution, known as musica
universalis or Music of the
spheres.
1781
Sir William Herschel was a
German-born English composer
and astronomer from
the 18th century. Although
better known for his work as
an astronomer, Herschel led
a short but successful music
career, with an astonishing
18 symphonies to his name,
as well as concertos for oboe
and viola. Using a telescope
in 1781 he found the planet
Uranus, the first planet to be
discovered since antiquity. .
1914
Holst was an innovative English
composer, most famous
for his orchestral work, The
Planets. He was a modest
and introverted character
and spent the majority of
his career as an educator as
well as a composer, holding
many teaching positions in
various schools throughout
his life. The use of bitonality
and dissonance in The Planets
creates a unique and individual
element to the work. It
gained immediate attention
and most of his continuing
fame rests on this striking
work.
1918
In our solar system, there is
a minor planet named after
Hildegard of Bingen, the
German Benedictine abbess,
composer, writer, scientist
and philosopher of the Medieval
period. The minor planet
898 Hildegard, which orbits
the sun, was discovered on 3
August 1918.
1961
On 12 April 1961 a melody
was whistled in space for the
first time. Russian cosmonaut
Yuri Gagarin, the first ever
human in space, whistled the
patriotic song "The Motherland
Hears, The Motherland
Knows" by fellow-Soviet Dmitri
Shostakovich, on board
the Vostok 3KA-3 (Vostok1).
1977
The Voyager Interstellar
Record is a compendium of
human achievement which
was recorded on a gold-coated
phonograph and sent
into space on the Voyager in
1977. It is currently floating
through space at least 11.6
billion miles away from Earth.
In his book, The Murmurs of
Earth (1978), the astronomer
and astrophysicist Carl
Sagan refers to the curation
of this artefact – what was
chosen and why. Sagan
declares that the decision to
include the music of Johann
Sebastian Bach was a case of
unashamed showing off. The
full playlist consists of tracks
of music by Bach, Mozart,
Beethoven and many popular
and non-Western numbers.
51

primephonic
Grammy Award winning violinist Augustin Hadelich has made a name for himself as one of the
foremost musicians of his generation. Born in Italy to German parents, Hadelich thrived at the
Juilliard School in New York where he evolved from young prodigy to fully-fledged concert soloist,
emerging as one of today’s most sought-after musicians. He plays on the 1723 “ExKiesewetter”
Stradivari violin which is on loan to him from the Stradivari Society of Chicago. primephonic
editor Rachel Deloughry caught up with him to discuss his listening preferences.
WORDS RACHEL DELOUGHRY PHOTO ROSALIE O'CONNOR
how do i listen:
augustin hadelich
AUGUSTIN HADELICH
Born in 1984 in Tuscany, Italy, to
German parents.
He is a graduate of the Instituto
Mascagni in Livorno, Italy and the
Juilliard School in New York
He won a Grammy for Best Classical
Instrumental Solo in 2016 for his
recording of Henri Dutilleux’s Violin
Concerto ('L'Arbre Des Songes') with
the Seattle Symphony and Ludovic
Morlot.
He plays on the 1723 “ExKiesewetter”
Stradivari violin which is on loan to
him via the Stradivari Society of
Chicago.
“When I perform violin concertos,
they are usually in the first half of
the programme but I almost always
listen to the second half of the
concert, which I greatly enjoy! I
also listen to many recordings for
research (especially other works by
the same composer as the piece I
am performing). However, because
my ear is next to the violin so much
when I'm practising, rehearsing or
performing, I do also find silence
to be very relaxing, something
which is very hard to come by
these days! I don’t like background
music (for example in restaurants),
especially if it is classical, since I
invariably start listening and then
can’t keep up with the conversation!
I still have my minidisc player
although I haven’t used it in years.
I generally listen to music on the
computer, either over speakers
or headphones. I can never quite
understand people who listen to
music while walking or running - I
would run into things or get lost if
I did that. The computer I take with
me when I travel doesn’t actually
have a CD player, so I usually buy
the music that I want to listen to
on iTunes. I feel it’s important for
musicians to buy recordings – we
have to set a good example!
When I’m studying a new work,
streaming makes recordings more
easily accessible. However, I
have also found that some of my
favourite recordings are not in the
streaming libraries. And sometimes
I find that it’s just nice to take out a
CD and hold it in your hand!
One thing I love about the digital
revolution is that it has changed
the programming of albums: it
used to be common to record the
52

title goes here
‘i greatly
prefer to
listen to
music in
the concert
setting’
repertoire of one composer on
each album, for example, the 3
Brahms sonatas, so that it could be
easily found in a store, under “B for
Brahms.” If there was Schubert on
the same disc, however, would the
disc be filed be under B or S? Such
categorical conundrums are now
obsolete, as we can now easily use
search engines to find composers,
works, or performers we want to
hear or buy. We can programme
albums more creatively, more like
a concert programme. Personally, I
love recordings with highly contrasting
repertoire and often find
anthologies boring!
I greatly prefer to listen to music in
the concert setting. There is something
special about being in a hall
with many other people, listening
to music that is being created in
the moment. But I do also enjoy
the recording process. Music is an
ephemeral thing and recording a
work after years of studying and
playing is very satisfying.’
The new recording of Lalo and
Tchaikovsky concertos with the
LPO are my first live recordings
and they are the perfect works to
record live! Playing Tchaikovsky
at 10.00am in a recording studio
just would not work because this
work thrives on the excitement
of the concert hall. On the other
hand, I knew that my recording
of the Adès concerto had to be
a studio recording, as only then
would we be able to work out the
more subtle details in the complex
score. I was also really happy with
my recording of the Bartók and
Mendelssohn concertos with the
Norwegian Radio Orchestra and
Miguel Harth-Bedoya on AVIE.
53
At the moment I am recording the
24 Caprices of Paganini for Warner
Classics, which will be released
in early 2018. The caprices are
really fun, interesting and beautiful
pieces, which are unfortunately
often treated more like etudes. I
feel very strongly about Paganini's
music because I grew up in Italy,
where he is beloved as a composer
and his works are played operatically,
more like Rossini.”
how do I listen playlist
Henri Dutilleux: L’arbre des songes,
II Vif Interlude 2
Seattle Symphony Media
Édouard Lalo: Symphonie Espagnole, I
Allegro non troppo
LPO
J.S. Bach : Herr Jesu Christ, wahr’
Mensch und Gott, BWV 127: Die Seele
ruht in Jesu Händen Steinway & Sons
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto
in D major, I Allegro moderato
LPO
Henri Dutilleux: Nocturne for Violin &
Orchestra “Sur le même accord”
Seattle Symphony Media
Béla Bartók: Mikrokosmos, Sz. 107, BB
105, Vol. 6 - Dance in Bulgarian Rhythm VI
Gramola Records

primephonic
music &
architecture
TEXT RACHEL DELOUGHRY
The Berlin Philharmonie,
home of the Berlin Philharmonic
Orchestra, is one of
the most renowned concert
halls in the world, celebrated
for its acoustical brilliance
and its visual and spatial ingenuity,
with organic acoustics
at the centre of it all. The
fact that it was built during
the lifetime of Herbert von
Karajan – a towering figure in
the world of conducting and
the orchestra’s longest-serving
conductor – is monumental
in itself. The Berlin
Philharmonic Orchestra was
already recognised as one of
the world’s great orchestras,
so the construction of one
of the wonders of modern
architecture cemented
the orchestra’s status and
brought forth a hall appropriate
for an orchestra of
such calibre.
The architect, Hans
Scharoun, was celebrated
for his organic architecture
and this harmonious
balance between nature
and buildings has stood the
test of time. Scharoun was a
member of an architectural
collective called Der Ring,
from which expressionist
architecture emerged with a
socialist agenda. It dissolved
in 1933 and many members
left Germany during the war.
Scharoun, however, stayed
in Germany and worked on
the restoration and re-construction
of bombed-out
buildings. Interestingly, he
discreetly anticipated his
architectural plans for a
post-Nazi Germany by creating
watercolours of cityscapes
– secret architectural
blueprints in disguise.
The inside of the main
concert hall in the Berlin
Philharmonie has been frequently
described as “tentlike”
and German filmmaker
Wim Wenders called it “a
huge musical instrument in
itself”. Acoustics are centre
stage. The concert stage of
the main hall is placed centrally,
with audience seating
situated all the way around.
Symmetry is not one of its
features – in fact, it is noted
for its offset terraces of
seat rows at elevations that
irregularly increase around
the platform. While this may
not seem unusual, it charted
new architectural territory
and inspired the same asymmetrical
features in more
recent concert halls such as
the Walt Disney Concert Hall
by the architect Frank Gehry
and Jørn Utzon’s Sydney
Opera House.
54

title goes here
music & architecture
playlist
Richard Wagner: Tristan und Isolde,
Prelude to Act I
Warner
Amadeus Mozart: Symphony No. 40
in G Minor, K.550 I Molto allegro
(1996 - Remaster) Warner
Jean Sibelius: Finlandia, Op.26
(2002 - Remaster)
Warner
Claude Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande,
L. 88, Act I Scene I Interlude
Warner
Richard Strauss : Don Quixote, Op. 35,
Variation V - Don Quixote’s vigil during
the summer night Warner
55
Christoph Willibald Gluck: Orfeo et
Eurydice, Act IV “Jái perdu mon Eurydice”
Warner

primephonic
amplify your life
with primephonic
Our catalogue items have become as diverse
as they are numerous, with just the right
picks for the explorer, the adventurer and the
pioneer in classical music.
56

catalogue
57

unconventional
instruments
primephonic
Every musical instrument started life as an invention, as a piece
of technology. In most cases they went through hundreds of trials
and modifications In a way the most successful instruments
are those, like the violin or the piano, which have gone through
so many perfections and modifications that their evolution has
reached a dead end, remaining essentially unchanged for decades
or centuries. However, for every instrument that reached
this stage, there are hundreds if not thousands of failed experiments,
impractical designs and creations simply too weird to
become popular amongst musicians or composers. Here are a
few instruments that, for one reason or another, failed to make
it into the mainstream.
WORDS MATT ADOMEIT
ILLUSTRATIONS BOB MOLLEMA
NAIL VIOLIN
The nail violin is one of many
instruments, including the Singing
Saw, that work on the principle of
bowing a sheet or spike of metal.
Invented in the mid-18th century by
Johann Wilde, a German violinist,
it takes the form of several nails of
varying lengths arranged in a circular
or semicircular shape and stuck into
a wooden soundboard. The sound
can be sharp and grating, and the
range and tonality is severely limited.
Combined with a quiet volume, it is
no surprise that the nail violin failed
to catch on. Its close relative, the
singing saw, continues however to
enjoy popularity as a folk instrument,
particularly in the United States.
GLASS HARMONICA
Oddly enough, the glass harmonica
falls into the same category as the
nail violin in that sound is produced
by direct friction from a non-toneproducing
object. In this case
however it is not a bow but the
human hand. The modern version
was invented by none other than
Benjamin Franklin, and comprises
a mechanical device similar to a
lathe on which a variety of glass
disks are mounted, with the wider
(and lower pitched) disks on the
left. As these spin, simple contact
with a human finger emits an eerie
pitch, reminiscent of the sound of
rubbing one’s finger around the
rim of a wine glass. The popularity
58

instruments
brilliant simplicity to it, operating
based on the distance of the
player’s hands from two medal rods,
one to control pitch and one for
dynamics. It emits a pure, spooky
sound emblematic of decades
worth of movie soundtracks. But it
has however had some success in
the concert hall as well, with Dmitri
Shostakovich being the most famous
composer to write for it. The Ondes
Martenot, invented less than ten
years after the Theremin, can be
thought of its logical continuation.
Although they share some sonic
properties, including continuous
pitch, the Ondes Martenot is more
complicated and features multiple
speaker cabinets and a sounding
board with strings. Although the
Ondes Martenot can still be found in
France where it was invented, it has
not enjoyed the same longevity as
the Theremin.
of the instrument used to be much
higher than most people realize, with
many notable composers including
Mozart, Beethoven and Strauss
writing music for it. However, it
began to decline precipitously in
popularity by the mid-19th century,
perhaps due to the legend that
listening to the sound for too
long would drive the listener (or
performer) mad.
ORCHESTRION
Also falling in the relatively small
category of instruments that are
largely mechanical in nature but
not electronic, the orchestrion
can refer to a variety of inventions
of dazzling complexity that arose
around the turn of the 19th century.
Essentially a “super-organ”, the
aim of the orchestrion is to imitate
even more of the timbres from
the orchestra, often including all
of the wind instruments and many
percussion instruments. Although
the nearly endless possibilities
were surely tantalizing, the sheer
cost, size and complexity of the
orchestrion ensured from the
start that only a few would ever be
produced. Synthesizers have also
replaced many of the roles that the
orchestrion was designed to fill.
THEREMIN
Perhaps the most famous
“alternative” instrument, the
Theremin was invented in 1919 by the
Russian physicist Leon Theremin,.
In addition to being one of the only
musical instruments to operate
without physical contact between
the performer and the instrument,
it is also the first famous electronic
instrument. The Theremin has a
EWI
In recent years, countless digital
devices have been added to the
growing pool of instruments vying
for attention. Many of these take
the form of keyboard instruments,
hence the special significance of the
EWI, or Electronic Wind Instrument.
With variable settings that can
duplicate the fingerings of the flute,
oboe and saxophone, together with
sensors that can detect changes in
dynamics and vibrato, and a whole
catalogue of synthesized sounds, the
EWI is another extremely versatile
instrument. Made famous mostly by
jazz and genre-crossing saxophonists
such as Michael Brecker and Bob
Mintzer, it was never taken seriously
as a concert instrument. However
with the additional breath sensors,
the possibilities of the instrument
are in many ways even more
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primephonic
numerous than on a traditional
keyboard synthesizer, ensuring that
the instrument will continue to be
used in new and exciting ways.
MANDOBASS
Despite its niche status today, the
mandolin used to be surprisingly
popular, particularly in early 20th
century America. By the onset of
World War II, hundreds of mandolin
orchestras had sprung up all over
North American and Europe,
typically featuring mandolins,
mandolas and mandocellos (which
correspond to the three highest
instruments in the violin family) in
addition to the occasional guitar or
contrabass. Seeing an opportunity to
create orchestras consisting entirely
of mandolin-family instruments,
several companies, most notably
Gibson, began manufacturing
mandobasses in the early 1910s.
Typically tuned identically to a
contrabass but with frets and
an A-style mandolin body, these
awkward and uncomfortable-looking
instruments were produced until the
1930s, when interest in mandolin
orchestras began to wane.
SHOFAR
The Shofar is the instrument most
closely associated with many Jewish
ceremonies and holidays. Crafted
from a ram’s horn, the Shofar is
typically used to emit a piercing
tone or rapid burst of short notes,
and is mentioned numerous times
throughout the Old Testament.
Interestingly, the asymmetrical
shape of the air cavity often
means that the instrument does
not follow the normal overtone
series, and the organic nature
of the instrument makes them
nearly impossible to tune, which is
‘it is quite
likely that
many of
these supposedly
obsolete
instruments
will witness
a resurgence’
perhaps the reason the Shofar is
traditionally played solo. Nowadays
it can regularly be found in Israeli
pop music and is even called for in
the score of Edward Elgar’s “The
Apostles,” although a flugelhorn is
often substituted for reasons of
convenience.
HURDY-GURDY
Despite its comical name and
bizarre construction, the hurdygurdy
is a surprisingly versatile
instrument. Although it is technically
a string instrument, the mechanics
of playing are truly unique. The
performer’s right hand turns a wheel
that rubs against the strings, while
the left hand changes the pitch
through a series of wooden keys,
resulting in a bizarre cross between
a bowed instrument and a keyboard
instrument, powered by a hand
crank. A series of drone strings gives
the instrument a bagpipe-like quality
and a characteristic buzzing sound.
Used in folk music throughout most
of Europe, the hurdy-gurdy has
also enjoyed periods of popularity
with the upper classes, although it
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instruments
never truly caught on with classical
composers. It has often been
imitated in classical music, most
famously in Der Leiermann (The
Hurdy-Gurdy Man) in Schubert’s
Winterreise.
DIDGERIDOO
The didgeridoo is an ancient
instrument that has been played by
indigenous Australians for at least
1,500 years. Ranging between 1
and 3 metres in length, the sound
of these massive aerophones is
instantly recognizable by its deep
droning quality and pulsating
overtones. The technique to play
it often requires the performer
to employ circular breathing, and
accomplished players such as Mark
Atkins have been known to play
for nearly an hour without taking
a breath. Although the didgeridoo
is a traditional instrument, more
recently it has found its way into
classical music, particularly through
Australian composers such as Peter
Sculthorpe, Sean O’Boyle and
William Barton.
the triple concerto for banjo, double
bass and tabla “The Melody of
Rhythm”, along with Béla Fleck and
Edgar Meyer.
With the advent of digital music and
synthesizers, there are even more
obscure and uncommon instruments
in existence today than ever
before. When these are combined
with the vast number of traditional
and folk instruments from around
the world, it is clear that the standard
Western orchestral instruments
represent only a tiny fraction
of the possible range of sounds
available. As the boundaries between
genres continue to dissolve
and composers continue to search
for new tonal possibilities it is quite
likely that many of these supposedly
obsolete instruments will witness a
resurgence, both inside and outside
of the concert hall.
TABLA
The tabla is the most recognizable
and widespread instrument used
in Hindustani Classical music,
centered in present-day Northern
India. The tabla consists of two small
drums of different size and pitch
that are played with the fingers
and heel of each hand, the latter
being used to apply pressure and
change the pitch. Outside of India
the most prominent tabla player is
undoubtedly Zakir Hussain, who has
made serious inroads into Western
music through collaborations with
musicians from John McLaughlin to
Charles Lloyd. Hussain also found
his way into American concert halls
as a performer and co-composer of
unconventional
instruments playlist
Zakir Hussain: Overture
Phaia
Peter Sculthorpe: String Quartet No. 12,
“From Ubirr” (Earth Cry)
Sono Luminus
Schubert: Winterreise D. 911 - XXIV.
Der Leiermann (The Hurdy-Gurdy Man)
harmonia mundi
Camille Saint-Saëns: The Carnival of
the Animals – VII Aquarium
Chandos
Edgard Varèse: Amériques
Seattle Symphony Media
Olivier Messiaen: Turangalîla-Symphonie
Introduction
Ondine
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62

eviews
what the critics say
JESSICA
DUCHEN
MELANIE
GARRETT
TRISTAN
RENFROW
KEVIN
PAINTING
DVOŘÁK: SYMPHONY NO.8; CARNIVAL OVERTURE
SUK: SERENADE FOR STRINGS
BAVARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA,
MARISS JANSONS (CONDUCTOR)
BR KLASSIK 900145
Some commentators can be bizarrely mean about
Dvořák, regarding him as somehow the best of the second-rate
composers. He’s not quite Brahms – nobody
else could ever be Brahms, let’s face it
– and indeed, championed by the German
composer, he perhaps spent too
long in his shadow. Still, there’s a quality
to him that is unique – call it, perhaps, a
purity of soul, and a deeply Czech one,
too. It can be elusive, and what it needs
to do, most of all, is to make you smile,
dance and cry at the same time.
The Symphony No. 8 in G minor is concise
and concentrated, with a strong
core of classical form, which is perhaps why it packs the
punch it does. Unlike his concertos, in which Dvořák
sometimes had a slight tendency to sprawl, here he presents
never a note too many. This is distilled Dvořák, the
Czech rhythms unmistakable in the lilting third movement,
the passion for nature rebounding softly through
the opening allegro con brio’s second subject – recalling
birdsong, perhaps, on the flute – and the twist in the
pit of the stomach deep inside the cello-rich opening
theme’s harmonies.
This account of the symphony was recorded live at
Munich’s Gasteig last year, and despite the hall’s slightly
difficult acoustic it proves that Mariss Jansons has at his
disposal one of the most luxurious orchestral
sounds in the world. The Bavarian
Radio Symphony Orchestra shines
with high polish and a generous heart,
and Jansons balances its elements to
near-ideal calibration. The strings match
the brass and wind for lustre and they
respond to Jansons’ mix of seriousness
and gentle wit, of thrill and lilt, with
alacrity and unanimity. The rhythmic approach
is rigorous, extremely disciplined
– there is no hint of self-indulgence in
the up-tempo allegros – but Jansons never loses sight of
the softer side of Dvořák’s soul, handling rubato with a
light, deft touch, and letting string portamenti offer just
the right amount of sensuality.
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But if you think the Dvořák is drop-dead gorgeous, just
listen to the Josef Suk Serenade for Strings. Suk, Dvořák’s
pupil and also his son-in-law, likewise suffers from
overshadow syndrome. His Serenade, though, is easily as
fine as Dvořák’s; dating from 1893-4, it finds the composer
matching chamber-like interaction with richness
of sonority, and capturing to a tee that Bohemian ache
of mingled beauty and sorrow. The playing flows with
apparent effortlessness, yet one has the feeling every
note is being cherished.
The recorded sound is excellent: the Gasteig acoustic
seems relatively unproblematic in the Dvořák, and the
Suk, a studio recording, is warm and clear, beautifully
enhancing the satiny strings.
– Jessica Duchen
RICHARD STRAUSS: EIN HELDENLEBEN
& MACBETH
FRANKFURT RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA,
ANDRÉS OROZCO-ESTRADA (CONDUCTOR)
PENTATONE 5186582
The Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra has obtained
a prestigious reputation worldwide for their excellent
interpretations, especially of Romantic and late Romantic
music. They are considered one of the top Mahler and
Bruckner orchestras.
The relationship between PENTATONE and the Frankfurt
Radio Symphony extends more than ten years back
with the release of a remastered
SACD version of Rachmaninov’s Piano
Concerto No. 2 and the Rhapsody
on a Theme of Paganini with soloist
Werner Haas and conductor Eliahu
Inbal. Following this release came two
more albums with the highly esteemed
conductor Eliahu Inbal, namely Saint-
Saëns’s Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2 and an
album of works for flute and oboe by
Bellini, Molique, Moscheles, Rietz and
Vivaldi.
Half a decade later, the orchestra returned for a
recording of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and The
Firebird with PENTATONE, this time under the baton
of the much sought-after conductor Andrés Orozco-
Estrada. This album, released in early 2016, received
much praise. Audio Review was impressed by the
“ruthless dynamic intervals” and the “rich tonal palette”
while Gramophone complimented the orchestra’s
responsiveness and the ability of Orozco-Estrada as he
“unearths an astonishing amount of detail”. PENTATONE
also received a great deal of praise for their “awesomely
precise recording”.
With a history of successful recordings with
PENTATONE, it comes as no surprise that their newest
album, containing Strauss’s tone poems Ein Heldenleben
and Macbeth, are also impressive.
The orchestra performs Ein Heldenleben flawlessly; at
times a bit tentative, perhaps afraid to crack notes or
distort the sound at some of the most intense moments
in the opening sections. The backstage trumpet fanfare
lacks clarity, certainly due to the positioning of the
players; their intonation is excellent
and they exude an enormous amount
of energy, invigorating the orchestra.
The dynamics of the orchestra are
surprisingly extreme, from barely a
whisper in the wind to a (well-balanced)
storm. Not only is the violin solo
splendidly performed, the trumpet
and horn solos are heroically executed
with the support of the bombastic
string playing. The orchestra builds to
an incredible climax together, with the
trumpets and trombones leading the way.
Strauss’s first infrequently heard tone poem, Macbeth,
is also featured on this album. It is certainly interesting
to hear Strauss’s final tone poem followed by his first.
The style is quite different, and sometimes this first
tone poem is referred to as a transitional work, though
Strauss was not affected by such criticism. Macbeth uses
a smaller setting than Ein Heldenleben, but the sense
of drama between two ‘heroes’– Lady Macbeth and
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eviews
Macbeth – is still evident, as characterized by woodwinds
and low instruments respectively. This drama is much
more subtle than Ein Heldenleben.
The recording quality is excellent, allowing the listener
to experience the music with the depth and special
awareness of a live concert. Combined with the
orchestra’s “outstanding wind section, its rich string
sound and its culture of dynamic performances”, it
creates an unforgettable listening experience.
The accompanying booklet is in a convenient interactive
and colourful pdf format full of interesting tidbits about
the music, in both English and German.
– Melanie Garrett
PHILIP GLASS: GLASSWORKS AND INTERVIEWS
WITH THE COMPOSER
PHILIP GLASS ENSEMBLE
SONY CLASSICAL G010003613671W
Widely recognized as one of the most prominent musical
figures of the 20th century, Philip Glass, the self-proclaimed
“bad boy of modern music” is credited with
being one of the founders of the American minimalist
movement along with Steve Reich, La
Monte Young and Terry Riley. The Sony
Classical UK label’s recent release of
his 1982 album Glassworks also features
an enthralling interview with the composer,
providing context and insight
into his career and process.
As an exemplary student of the Julliard
School and recipient of various grants
and awards, Glass’s early accolades
evaporated after he radically redefined
his compositional approach while living in Paris.
He refers to his early work as music that he had merely
learned without representation of his own compositional
voice. In search of a more personal style, he decided to
abandon his academic approach, subsequently arriving
at a very reduced form of music which was based on
process and simple repetitive structures. Glass remarks
“I got rid of everything I had learned very systematically.”
His new approach was initially met with misunderstanding
and rejection until he formed his own ensemble
shortly after moving to New York in 1967. His distinctive
use of rhythm, tonality, arpeggios and repetitive structures
became central to the work that he is known for
today.
Regarded as one of his most iconic compositions,
Glassworks was composed in 1981 for the Philip Glass
Ensemble to be recorded and released as a studio album
the following year. In an attempt to appeal to a wider audience,
the six-movement piece presented another new
direction in the composer’s development while maintaining
his trademark style. The codified glassisms are well
represented: motor rhythm, repetitive structures, chord
progressions, electro-acoustic voice doublings and a
constant stream of arpeggios. With
the addition of tuneful melodies and
shorter pieces, he managed to make
Glassworks more accessible to a larger
audience which greatly contributed to
his renown and recognition.
The order of movements is constructed
in a way that the slow, peaceful Islands
and Façades alternate between the frenetic
Floe and Rubric giving the album
a natural undulating shape. Opening,
performed entirely by solo piano, introduces the composition
with a simple triple over duple polyrhythmic drive
and repeated chord progressions that emanate a melancholic
mood. With regard to the choice of solo piano,
Glass states, “what I was trying to evoke in the opening
was a feeling of intimacy.” Using the same compositional
material, Closing returns to the intimacy of Opening by
gradually reducing the full ensemble orchestration until
the piano is left alone to conclude the album.
The instrumentation of flutes, saxophones, horns,
viola, cello and synthesizers combine to create peculiar
timbres and a decidedly amplified sound in Glassworks.
Because of his prominent emphasis on sound quality,
Glass worked closely with sound engineer Kurt Munkac-
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si, treating him as an integral member of the ensemble
as well as making him co-producer of the album. Glass
found it imperative to keep sound engineering an “inhouse
operation” to achieve the ideal sound quality of his
amplified music ensemble as opposed to relying on hired
sound engineers of venues who would not be as familiar
with the music and ensemble sound.
As Philip Glass approaches his 80th birthday, this new
release of Glassworks paired with an engaging interview
with the composer informs a fresh perspective on the
seminal 1982 work.
– Tristan Renfrow
BRAHMS: PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2, OP. 83
BEETHOVEN: SONATA NO. 23, OP. 57
“APPASSIONATA”
SVIATOSLAV RICHTER (PIANO)
CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, ERICH LEINS-
DORF (CONDUCTOR)
SONY CLASSICAL G010001718537R
On 15 October 1960 in Chicago, Sviatoslav Richter gave
his eagerly awaited North American debut with a sensational
performance of Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2
in B-flat major with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Erich Leinsdorf, the latter standing in
at short notice for Fritz Reiner who had been taken ill.
The concert created quite a stir, one critic writing that
Richter gave “the performance of a lifetime”. Two days
later, the work was recorded by RCA to
produce an instant classic that has never
been out of the catalogue, released
here in a remastered version.
Richter recorded the work nine times
between 1950 and 1969 but it is this
performance with the CSO/Leinsdorf
that is widely regarded as a landmark
and it earned a Grammy Award in 1961
for “Best Classical Performance - Concerto
or Instrumental Soloist”. However,
the ever fastidious Richter was dissatisfied with it, exclaiming
“one of my worst records, even though people
still praise it to the skies. I can’t bear it!”
Listening to this vibrant recording afresh, it’s hard to
agree with Richter as his performance is revelatory.
Incandescent without being imposing or mannered, he
tosses aside the phenomenal technical challenges with
alacrity – just listen to the sustained crescendo in the
opening cadenza, the startling pianissimo octave passages
in the second movement or the ease with which he
despatches massive chords and dramatic flourishes. It’s
matched with playing of great sensitivity in the mesmerising
slow movement with fine cantabile playing from the
orchestra throughout. All in all, a performance not to be
missed.
Following his debut in Chicago, Richter went on to give
a series of wildly successful recitals a few days later at
Carnegie Hall in New York. The first programme featured
five Beethoven Sonatas and concluded with a now legendary
performance of “the Appassionata Sonata”. Richter’s
recording of the work shortly after for RCA “raised
the bar for all of us” noted the pianist Malcolm Frager,
“…no one was able to play [it] without worrying that the
audience might have the sound of
Richter’s performance in their ears.”
It’s an astonishing and sustained performance,
played with searing intensity
and conviction by Richter and it’s a
rollercoaster of tension and drama. A
respite to the adrenalin rushes is given
in the tender slow movement which
has fine filigree finger passages. But it’s
in the final movement where Richter
really lets rip. While some pianists
match his demonic speed few can equal the almost visceral
intensity of his playing. Exhilarating and breathless,
it’s an unforgettable performance and a must-buy in this
remastered version.
– Kevin Painting
66

HISTO
title goes here
RIC
AL
Day by day primephonic takes you on an
historical journey through classical music
primephonic.com/calendar
CAL
ENDAR
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1808
primephonic
BEETHOVEN PREMIERES HIS WORKS IN A FOUR-HOUR CONCERT
22 December 1808
Ludwig van Beethoven premiered a few of his most celebrated works in Vienna, in a concert that lasted
four hours. The performance at Theater an der Wien included his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, Piano
Concerto and Choral Fantasy, all conducted by Beethoven himself. It was the writer E.T.A. Hoffmann who
first noted down and published elements that established the principles of Romanticism in a review of
Beethoven’s 5th Symphony around 18 months later, declaring it one of the most important works of the time.
His terms were in contrast to the formality and restraint that were the defining features of classical forms.
1910
FIRST BROADCAST FROM NEW YORK’S METROPOLITAN OPERA
13 January 1910
The first experimental broadcasts of live performances from the stage of the Metropolian Opera New
York took place. Radio pioneer Lee De Forest carried out an experimental live transmission from the
opera stage of Puccini’s Tosca. This was followed by another partial broadcast the following day, of
Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, starring the legendary Enrico Caruso.
1922
FIRST COMPLETE SYMPHONIC CONCERT BROADCAST LIVE ON RADIO
10 February 1922
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra became the first orchestra ever to perform a full symphonic concert
live on air. The orchestra, with guest pianist Artur Schnabel, was conducted by Ossip Gabrilowitsch and
broadcast live on the American radio station WWJ.
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1992
CLASSIC FM WAS LAUNCHED
7 September 1992
title goes here
Classic FM, the UK's first national commercial classical radio station, was launched. The first work to be
broadcast was Handel's anthem Zadok the Priest, a celebratory anthem that Handel had composed for the
coronation of King George II in 1727; it has been performed at every British coronation ever since, as well as
being used widely in film and television and as the anthem for the UEFA Champions League.
2006
FIRST LIVE STREAM OF AN OPERA IN HD FROM THE METROPOLITAN OPERA
1 December 2006
The Met: Live in HD first appeared in December 2006 featuring live transmissions shown in high definition
in movie theatres around the world. The Met also developed a programme for US students to attend these
broadcasts for free at their schools.
2008
MEDICI TV LAUNCHED
1 May 2008
After filming and broadcasting the Verbier Festival in 2007, the medici.tv video platform was officially
launched on 1 May 2008 with 200 programmes available online.
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