Hifi StereoReview SEPTEMBER 1966 60 CENTS GREAT AMERICAN COMPOSERS SERIES: CARL RUGGLES HOW TO INSTALL A STEREO TEST SWITCH THE ART OF BEL CANTO * HOW MUCH SHOULD A RECORD COST? 4,z, 3 3 4 it's/Wit/OW 01 cE 99L0 because it is the next best speakers, or $299.50 with 10- thing to our grand grands. At inch speakers. a small fraction of the size The 85 includes a powerful and cost. The 95 baby grand transistor amplifier, an auto- is only $369.50 with standard matic turntable and a mag- speakers, or $399.50 with op- netic cartridge to match. The tional larger speaker systems 95 has a sensitive FM -stereo for even finer bass. The 85 is tuner in addition. Everything only $269.50 with 8 -inch you need for fine stereo. The Fisher baby grand. CIRCLE NO. 24 ON READER SERVICE CARD OVERSEAS AND CANADIAN RESIDENTS PLEASE WRITETO TIMER RADIO I IONAL. INC., LONG ISLAND CITY, N.Y. 1 r PLACE 40 STAMP HERE At Fisher we don't equate performance with size. Every Fisher stereo system must be capable of producing °- FISHER RADIO CORPORATION 11-35 45th Road sound as big as the music. Long Island City, N. Y. 11101 Without compromise. And every time you turn it on. IN The Fisher baby grand is J the most recent proof of this. We call it our baby grand How to get big sound out ofasmall Fisher: N theRemarkable-howTurntable soundRemarkable, ofreproduces the most too-how a stereo magnificentthat recordarecord Garrard without capturesperformance. Automatic a hint dynamicallyofIntegralmeaningful distortion.Technically-this cueing; featuresbalanced, adjustable introducedis counterweightdue antito certain -skating by Garrard. controls; cartridges,theadjusted,forflawless recordsGarrard tracking low safety and advancements mass styli, of tone the and most arms years that sensitive are permit among ownersonsystemsbeenof satisfaction.GarrardMusically-the so of convincingenjoy component automatics their results thatrecords stereo thanmore have allIn automaticotherthe innovatorturntables turntables is combined. World's finest record playing equipment for over 50 years. Hifi *TeoReview SEPTEMBER 1966 VOLUME 17 NUMBER 3 THE MUSIC THE BASIC REPERTOIRE Bruckner's Ninth Symphony MARTIN BOOKSPAN 49 CARL RUGGLES An American composer's lifelong search for the sublime ERIC SALZMAN 53 THE AGE OF BEL CANTO Placing the art of florid song in historical perspective HENRY PLEASANTS 67 HOW MUCH DOES A RECORD COST? Market trends raise a question for industry andconsumer JAMES GOODFRIEND 73 BEST OF THE MONTH Reviews of outstanding new record releases 77 RECORD FORECAST: FALL 1966 Scanning the lists of upcoming releases JAMES GOODFRIEND 104 RICHMOND'S G & S BONANZA Ten low -price albums to gladden Savoyards' hearts PAUL KRESH 122 THE EQUIPMENT NEW PRODUCTS A roundup of the latest high-fidelity equipment 30 HI-FI Q & A Answers to your technical questions LARRY KLEIN 34 AUDIO BASICS Audio Specifications-I HANS H. FANTEL 38 TECHNICAL TALK Speaker testing revisited; Hirsch -Houck laboratory reportson the Marantz Model 7T preamplifier and the Harman-Kardon SC -440 music system JULIAND.HIRSCH 41 INSTALLATION OF THE MONTH Stark Stereo 64 STEREO TEST SWITCH How to install a useful addition- to your system HERMAN BURSTEIN 65 TAPE HORIZONS And Now a Word from the Sponsor DRUMMOND MCINNIS 131 THE REVIEWS CLASSICAL 83 ENTERTAINMENT 107 TAPE 125 THE REGULARS EDITORIALLY SPEAKING 4 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 8 ADVERTISERS' INDEX; PRODUCT INDEX 134 COVER: ISABELLA COLBRAN.ROSSINI IN MAYR'S OPERA SAFF0: OIL PAINTING BY SCHMIDT. MUSE0 TEATRALE ALLA SCALA; PHOTO: FRATELLI MARZARI, MILAN Copyright o 1906 by Ziff -Davie Publishing Company. All rights reserved. HIFI/Stersa Review, September 1966 Voitom IT. monthly by Ziff -Davis Publishing Company at 307 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60601. (ZVI-Davis Publishing ...mitt.. .i. Published Skiing, Flying, Business & Commercial Aviation, Boating, Car and Driver, Cycle, Popular Photography, Electronics Company also publishes N10.1eilllir de. skiing Trade News. and Skiing Area News, One year subscription rate for U.S., U.S. Possessions andWorld, Canada, Popular Electronics, countries. 07.00. Second Class postage paid at Chicago, Illinois and at additional mailing offices. Authorized 56.00; all miler Ofli^rn......tinctcOttawa. Canada and for payment of postage In rash. StBSCRIPTION SERVICE: All subscriptionas second-class correspondence mall by should the Post be addressed to HiFI/Stereo Review, Circulation Department. Portland Place. Boulder. Colorado 80302, Please allow of address. Include your old address, as well as new-enclosing If possible an address label from a recent Issue.at least six weeks for change EDITORIALLY 11111/Stereo Review SPEAKING PUBLISHER PHILLIP T. HEFFERNAN EDITOR By William Anderson WILLIAM ANDERSON MANAGING EDITOR To the undoubted delight of the American paper and printing industries, WILLIAM LIVINGSTONE my morning mail is usually rich in handsomely got up brochures, fold- MUSIC EDITOR ers, and reports on activities in the music field by organizations too numerous JAMES GOODFRIEND to mention. Quick scanning finds an unhappily large percentage of them TECHNICAL EDITOR either unbelievable, unreadable, or both, leaving few exceptions for closer LARRY KLEIN scrutiny. One of these exceptions is the "Report on Amateur Instrumental ASSOCIATE EDITOR Music in the United States -1965," issued by Chicago's American Music ROBERT S. CLARK Conference, a non-profit educational organization whose aim itis to help stimulate amateur music activities in schools, communities, and homes. It is ART DIRECTOR well -organized, brief, and to the point. It is also given over almost entirely BORYS PATCHOWSKY to the dismal science of statistics, that latter-day numerology that consists of CONTRIBUTING EDITORS counting things, totting them up, and finding the results Very Significant. MORGAN AMES MARTIN BOOKSPAN For example: there were 33,400,000 musical instruments (of all types) HANS H. FANTEL owned in the United States in 1965, as opposed to 26,800,000 in 1955. Mu- WILLIAMFLANAGAN JOE GOLDBERG sical industry retail sales in 1965 amounted to $898,300,000 in 1965 (as DAVID HALL opposed to $380,000,000 in 1955). According to the Report, people were NAT HENTOFF JULIAN D. HIRSCH playing (among other things)22,700,000pianos, 9,000,000 guitars, and GEORGE JELLINEK 2,200,000flutes in the U. S. in 1965. IGOR KIPNIS PAUL KRESH What does all this mean? Almost precisely nothing, I suspect. How many GENE LEES of those eighty -eight -key status symbols lie untouched for months, waiting DRUMMOND McINNIS to be assaulted by Chops irks? How many of those guitars have yet to ex- EUROPEAN EDITOR perience their first real tuning? How many of those flutes are gathering dust FREDERIC GRUNFELD atop the TV, still unravished by their first full scale? The Report places self- ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER made music in third place, after reading and card -playing, among the na- LAWRENCE SPORN tion's "most popular participative leisure -time activities," which is not say- ADVERTISING ing much. ("Participative" is the key word here, although I fail to see how SERVICE MANAGER reading is any more participative than, say, watching baseball on TV.) ARDYS C. MORAN Untypically, and to its credit, the Report refrains from making the usual Editorial and Executive Offices Zilf.lblvI4 Publishing Company One Park Avenue, New York, New York 10016 jump from the quantitative to qualitative pronouncements about that tired 2 I 2 0711.7200 Eastern AtitertIsIng Manager: Jerry Sweeney lack bran) old Cultural Explosion, but the implication lurks seductively between the Midwestern Office :pi; mb.hlgan Avenue. Chicago, Illinois 00001 lines that here is evidence that American musical culture is flourishing might- :t12 720.0$112 AthertIsing Manager: Jerry Sweeney ily. Not proven. Aside from the fact that we do not know how many of WOterll Ofnce I)025 nnulevard , ,only11111s. California 1,0211 those millions of instruments are actually being played, how often, or what 213 Cites), low 4.0265: Illtadshaw 2.1161 Western Advertising Manager: Bud Dean is being played on them, our "non -participative" musical life remains as Japan: James yogi c/o Sekihara 1, Sakamachl. ShInjukuku sickly as ever. Serious musicians and composers (especially), with few ex- TolDo. Japan Circulation Office ceptions, still find their professions tough going, our opera companies and Portland Place. Boulder. Colorado 80302 EDITORIAL cONTRIBUTIONS must be accompanied symphony orchestras could not last a season without the support of large lw return postage and will he handled with reason able care: however. publisher assumes no responsi bility for return or safety of art work, photographs, private and foundation grants, and recorded classical music (to come closer or manuscripts. Member Audit Bureau of Circulations to home) still does not pay for itself-and probably never will. Cause for alarm? I don't think so. That happy minority for whom music, participative or otherwise, is a necessity will continue to find it. They always have. 1111.11 1 1111 1111 ;#. ';:0046 MPA Readers of HIFI/Sream) Review will be saddened to learn of the recent death of Ray Ellsworth. a regular and valued contributor to these pages. A man of ZIFF-DAVIS PUBLISHING COMPANY William B. Ziff. Chairman of the Board 11946.1953) great humanity. graceful wit, and indefatigable scholarship. Mr.Ellsworth William Ziff, President W. Bradford Briggs. Executive Vice President richly merited the love and esteem not only of the staff of this magazine, but Hershel R. Sarbln. Vice President and General Manager Philip Sine. Financial Vice President of a large and appreciative audience who found his name on an article a Walter S. Mills. Jr.. Vice President. Circulation Stanley R. Greenfield, Vice President, Marketing guarantee of reading pleasure. Mr. Ellsworth's last article for us."When Phillip T. Heffernan. Vice President Frank Pomerantz. Vice President. Creative Services Culture Came to the Palace." will appear in a subsequent issue. We wish there Arthur W.