High-Fidelity-1954-J

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The abundant flexibility of the beautiful new McIntosh C -108 Professional Audio Compensator assures you of the most listening pleasure from all of your records. Five bass turnover switches and five treble attenuation positions as well as variable bass and treble controls compensate for all recording curves - those in use today and any that may be used in the future. A rumble filter diminishes or completely eliminates turntable rumble, especially annoying when listening to older records. An Aural Compensator Control maintains proper bass and treble loudness when you play your system at low volume level. The C -108 for the first time combines beauty and abundant flexibility with ease of operation.

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T H E M A G A Z I N E F O R MUSIC LISTENERS

Volume 3 Number 6 January - February 1954

AUTHORitatively Speaking 4 This Issue. It's Noted With Interest 7 nice to have new readers, and we Readers' Forum 18 seem to have a As The Editor Sees It lot. But, in a way, they constitute a prob- 33 lem, since some of them are new to high Will We Run Out of Music to Record? by Erich Leinsdorf 34 fidelity as well as the magazine of the There is a grave shortage, a noted conductor discovers, of same name, and they keep asking for a just one particular kind of music. basic run -down on it. Yet we hate to keep presenting the seasoned aficionadi with Hi -Fi Revisited, by Charles Fowler 37 the same old what- is -hi -fi story. Luckily, Is there any clear way to distinguish nowadays between however, many of the old regulars them- what is high-fidelity and what isn't? selves have been demanding something Big Noise From Methuen not too dissimilar. What they want is a 40 The decline definition, distinguishing genuine hi -fi from and rescue of a fabulous organ. the quasi variety making its appearance so WGMS Makes Money, by James G. Deane widely these days in ready -made phonograph 42 Washington, D.C., bat one of the few good-music stations radios. It suddenly occurred to Charles which stays sturdily in the black. Fowler that perhaps both these wants could be Beethoven Begins satisfied with the same article, which at Six, by Eleanor Edwards 45 he then, after considerable pressure, volun- It's a job, but sometimes a parent can instill a love of music teered to write. Called "Hi -Fi Revisited," it into a child long before the teens begin. starts on page 37. In One Ear, by James Hinton, Jr. 46 Next Issue. Roland Gelait, feature editor Harpsichordist Among the Bubble Hunters, by Fernando of the Saturday Review and lifelong record Valenti 48 Record-shopping today is a strange, new enthusiast, has written a history of the art. phonograph, to be published late this year. Records In Review 49-88 It has some fascinating chapters on little - known phonographic events and ventures. Enclosures For Loudspeakers, Part III, by G. A. Briggs 89 You'll get a prepublication look at one in Tested In The Home March. 93 Bogen Tuner and Amplifier Fisher Preamp -Equalizer and Hi -Lo Filter Martin Amplifier System Pilot FM -AM Tuner CHARLES FOWLER, Executive Editor Pfanstiehl Pickup System JOHN M. CONLY, Editor Jensen Duette ROY H. HOOPES, JR., Associate Editor Dubbings Equalizer- Checker ROY LINDSTROM, Art Director Components Corporation Turntable Contributing Editors RoY ALLISON Traders' Marketplace 132, 150 C. G. BURKE Books in Review JAMES G. DEANE 133 Professional JAMES HINTON, JR. Directory 146, 147 EDWARD T. WALLACE Music Listener's Book Shelf MANSFIELD E. PICKETT, Advertising Mgr. 148 WARREN B. SYER, Business Manager Advertising Index I51 FRANK R. WRIGHT, Circulation Manager

High Fidelity Magazine is publiahed bi- monthly by Audiocom, Inc., at Great Barrington, Great Barrington Mass. Telephone: 1300. Editorial, publication, and circulation offices at: The Publishing House, Great Branch Offices (Advertising only): New York: Barrington, Mass. Subscriptions: $5.00 per year in the United States, Canada, and Room 1209, 6 East 39th Street. Telephone: American postal countries of the Pan - union. Single copies: $1.00 each. Editorial contributions will be welcomed by the editor. Murray Hill 5-6332. Fred C. Michalove, Eastern Payment for articles accepted will be arranged prior to publication. Unsolicited Manager. - Chicago: 5449 W. Augusta Blvd. Tele- accompanied manuscript. should be by return postage. Entered as second -class matter April 27, 1951 at the post office phone: Columbus 1 -1779. Charles Kline, Western Barrington, Mass., at Great under the act of March 3, 1879. Additional entry at the post office, Albany, N. Manager. - Loa Angeles: 1052 West 6th Street. Printed in the U. S. A. by The Ben Franklin Press, Pittsfield, Mass. Y. Telephone: Madison 6 -1871. Edward Brand, West Copyright 1954 by Audiocom, Inc. The cover design and contents of High Fidelity magazine are fully protected by copyrights and Coast Manager. be reproduced in any manner or in any form. must not

JANUARY - FEBRUARY, 1954 3

www.americanradiohistory.com AUTHORitatively Speaking

It is something of an oddity that Erich Leinsdorf, conductor of the Rochester Phil- harmonic, should choose this particular time to scold major record companies for their reluctance to record anything but "war- of the so- horses" - much - played music called standard repertory. Even as he was writing his article "Will We Run Out of Music to Record ?" (page 34), critics every- were heaping praise on two disks of CPS. where 30 three undeniable war -horses - Beethoven's "Eroica," Mozart's G Minor symphony, TO Schuberi s "Unfinished" - and calling them the best musical buys of the ages. The 30,000 CPS. featured conductor: Erich Leinsdorf. Born a Viennese, now 4o, Leinsdorf has hit most UNPARALLELED of the high places. At 22 he was assistant to Bruno Walter at the Salzburg Festival; later PERFORMANCE he was enlisted again by Toscanini. At 26 he was a full conductor at the Metropolitan Opera. In 1943 he took over the Cleveland Orchestra; now he is with the Rochester Philharmonic. His plan for recording new music before it is publicly performed strikes us here as a very ingenious one indeed. This article might start something.

Fernando Valenti, a dark -haired, strong - fingered youth of 26, has recorded more Scarlatti than anyone else. A native New Yorker, he showed such early aptitude for the keyboard that Jose Iturbi took him on as a piano student. Later, at Yale, he met Ralph Kirkpatrick, who helped sway his allegiance to the harpsichord, and his interest to the music of Domenico Scarlatti. Except for a few early LP's for Allegro, Valenti has recorded exclusively for West- minster, whose rich, powerful sound, he admits, has helped sell both Scarlatti and the harpsichord to the new listening public, whom he describes so vividly on page The Laboratory Standard Loudspeaker 48, in "Harpsichordist Among the Bubble Hunters." Valenti himself has misgivings about picking up so clearly all of what he calls the "digestive noises" of the instru- Die cast cone housing designed for mounting the ment. loudspeaker in the front of a cabinet as well as by P. S. He still has no phonograph. Says he like. the conventional method, on the inside, thereby can't afford any he'd really eliminating frontal cavity resonance. Fixing holes Newest addition to HIGH FIDELITY'S re- to international standards. view -staff is Robert Kotlowitz, who re- Special treatment of the cone surround reduces places Edward L. Merritt, Jr., at the Music fundamental resonance of the cone without impairing Between stand. A 29- year -old Baltimorean, strength, and provides a resistive termination which his only previous (paid) connection with effects within the cone. musical publications has been a brief stint obviates "ghost" Currently he is asso- high frequency response results from the at Musical America. Improved editor of Pocket Books, Inc., and voice coil, due to finer limits of manu- ciate aluminum associate editor of Discovery, its subsidiary facture. annual of contemporary writing. (Kotlo- Phase compensating multiple throat contributes witz has a poem of his own coming out towards smooth and extended frequency response. in the next Discovery; we didn't ask him Concentric H.F. horn, the development of which is who chose to include it!) He likes opera completed by the curved L.F. cone. and ballet and collects records, the more Write for Literature melodious, the better. r,,. decrier-0.p Charles Fowler, whose keen second look at hi -fi sound reproduction begins on page te IN NORTH AMERICA 37, hardly needs introduction to Hi -Fi readers. He's the boss around here. No introduction is needed either for James G. \TANNOY c°-A LIMITED, Deane, a regular contributor who this profiles the leading good -music sta- TANNOY EQUIPMENT issue DISTRIBUTORS OF don of his native D.C. As for Eleanor as S,.,/,,/1 Telephone Edwards, she will be remembered the Cobh, masE )/ EM 6 -3376 "hi -fi wife" of the November issue. Ap- Tannoy Toronto 36 WELLINGTON STREET EAST, TORONTO Ontario propriately, she seems to have a hi -fi child, too. See page 45-

HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

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Pivoted, tilting top panel opens with brass pull and mounts all conventional tuners. In open position, controls are at easy-to-read 65 degree angle. Amplifier is mounted on back panel which is readily removed.Changer drawer is directly below tuner panel and is mounted on roller slides for smooth operation.

Note how the PEERAGE complements the famous E-V Aristocrat folded-horn enclosure (below). Its simple, graceful lines harmonize with other E.V enclosures as well and lend themselves to any contemporary setting.

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www.americanradiohistory.com Audio Fairs (N. Y. & Phila.)

After discussing the matter with a good many people, we have not been able to determine whether it is better to be a visitor or a visited. If you're a visitor, you walk steadily for hours on end until your feet fall off, get your eardrums blasted until your ears are ready to fall off, and emerge dazed, bewildered, and perhaps delighted. If you are a visited, you stand rooted to one spot, talk until your voice gives out (as did ours on day three of the New York show!), hear the same few selections of music until you're sure you're going out the window if the needle (sorry! stylus) True "tone -balance" is most essential to your full enjoyment of music. approaches that high trumpet shriek just MARTIN High Fidelity instruments give you the necessary flexibility of once again, and emerge late of a Saturday control to assure you of the precise "tone-balance" your ear demands. There's evening onto West 35th Street (service en- no greater pleasure in High Fidelity than MARTIN true "tone- balance ". trance or exit) to a scene of trucks double - parked as far as the eye can see, carton after carton of exhibit material piled onto the Model 352CA Control Amplifier ... sidewalk and dozens of exhibitors, just as gives you these essential features . battle -weary as you are, all wondering dully Absolutely hum -free stable just where in sam hill their truck has gone to. operation Next year, we're going to do a piece Simplified operation (feminine about an audio show from the exhibitor's music lovers please note) point of view, a behind -the -scenes story. and base This time, however, we'll stick to the Stepless treble controls proper story, that of the visitor - what Plus... Loudness control, tape there was to see at the New York Audio recorder output, multiple input, ex- Fair in mid -October and at the Third An- treme high gain. nual High Fidelity Conference and Audio Show in Philadelphia the first week of November. New York was four days, four floors in the Hotel New Yorker, four hundred exhibitors (or at least it seems like that many), and a reported 20,000 visitors. It was far and away the biggest, the best, and not the noisiest of the five Audio Fairs held so far. Certainly, the sum total of noise was the greatest ever, but individually speaking, exhibitors held their sound levels down pretty well (Chicago was where they let loose) with, of course, the usual number of Only Model 352A Amplifier combines all 3 of New AM -FM Tuner, Model 133 -T ... miscreant exceptions. these essential qualities In one amplifier ... rinds Stations Faster was Philadelphia two days; one and one - Wide Frequency Range Locks -in Stations Positively quarter floors, and maybe 8,000 visitors. Unusually Low Distortion Wider Reception Range We give a special nod to the Philadelphia Martin's top quality pre -amplifier organizers; they did a splendid job all Enduring Quality of Construction "built -in ". No drift, more effective around - and this was only the third time. MARTIN advanced engineering assures AFC; greater sensitivity, better than t Philadelphia was a local show, as distin- you the best in High Fidelity. micro -volt AM and FM. guished from New York which was national. Essential difference was MARTIN Amplifiers available for rack mounting and with various output that Phila- impedances for laboratory use. delphia relied on local hi -fi sales organizations to sponsor and organize the show, WRITE TODAY for FREE Brochure on New MARTIN Amplifiers and Tuners and to man most of the exhibits. Phila- delphia pre -show publicity was excellent and ...BUILDING THE BEST attracted just the right kind of people - those who wanted to know what high fidel- ...IN HIGH FIDELITY ity was all about. Big drawing card was a talk by Eugene Ormandy, who jammed the H. S. MARTIN 8 COMPANY, 1916 -20 GREENLEAF ST., EVANSTON, ILL. Continued on page 9

JANUARY- FEBRUARY, T954 7

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An outstanding innovation is the variable crossover compensator which provides much closer matching to crossover characteristics of the better loudspeaker systems.

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Equivalent noise input level 10 microvolts.

In addition to a flat response across a range both ends of which are far beyond the limits of audibility, the equipment has an unusual characteristic flexibility which allows precise adjustments not only for the source of the sound but for the particular room acoustic and individual psycho- acoustics. This is achieved by an extraordinary range of controls which are: A continuous variable loudness control which selects proper Fletcher- Munson curve to a particular listening level; Gain control (which is a recording level compensator); Six position cross-over selector for adjustment to various recording characteristics; Low frequency response equalizer (step control - each position provides approximately 1.2 db per octave compensation); High frequency response equalizer (step control - each position provides approximately 1.2 db per octave compensation). The flexibility assured by these controls makes each Regency owner his own impressario.

An utterly new concept in appearance, Regency's Professional High Fidelity Ensemble is designed with such striking simplicity that it need not be housed in a cabinet. The gold and black units are show pieces worthy of display in modern or traditional surround- ings. Regency designed the set to be functional as well as beautiful with handsome perforated gold shields to protect the unit...protective plate glass tops reveal the impressive component assembly.

Reve/tclj 7900 Pendelton Pike, Indianapolis Q6 www.americanradiohistory.com NOTED WITH INTEREST Continued from page 7 THE HI -FI BOOM Ben Franklin Hotel's Crystal Ballroom with a capacity crowd of about 1,400. Harold Weiler, with a talk on diamond styli, drew a good but smaller crowd on the sec- ...means people will ond night. Perhaps because most of the manufacturers made their big new -product effort for the Chicago show in September, we insist on Better Phono left the New York show without any feeling of special significance to this particular Audio Fair. Last year, for instance, we felt Needles that that Fair was the "cabinet' show, because so many manufacturers discovered simultaneously that speakers and other equipment required cabinets. This year - well, possibly the significance of this phenomenon will show up next year more dramatically, but we might label the Audio Fair of 1953 the "lots for little" show. H. H. Scott's model 99 amplifier was typical: lots of quality, ample power, yet small of size and low in price (just under $too). It looked no bigger than a good -sized preamplifier. Brook Electronic did much the same thing with their model 22 -A, which seems to include most of the features of their big job in a single chassis of very modest proportions - and at a modest price ($119.99). Fisher, who has had one of the largest power amplifier chassis in captivity, showed also a baby 25 -watt job using 5881 tubes. Small speaker More and more people are becoming increasingly enclosures were all over the place. The particular about tone reproduction now that high fidel- in strides taken the direction of better sound ity is available to everyone. But all of this amazing from smaller enclosures was really hearten- equipment becomes "second rate" in acoustical quality ing. Even Electro -Voice followed the trend to miniaturization by trimming a few inches unless particular attention is paid to the phonograph off their Patrician and introducing the needle. Georgian - still plenty big, but filling a Regardless of what you have been told, there is no real need for something in the E -V line of such thing as a permanent needle! It is true that some less grandiose proportions than the Pa- needles wear much faster than others depending on trician. In the tape recorder classification, Telec- the material from which they are made. But the mo- trosonic Corporation showed a complete ment a needle is worn down and rides on the bottom of unit weighing only 14 pounds and costing f. the groove, good tone is lost and the records you play less than $too - the kind of a thing you are permanently ruined! could have a lot of fun with. They also had Duotone makes a needle for every phonograph in a professional model, at $425, which looked price very interesting. Both models, by the way, every range, from steel needles to the Duotone have been promised us for a "Tested in the Diamond. Naturally, the Duotone Diamond needle is the Home" report. nearest thing to a permanent needle that man can There were many other tape recorders, devise -after thousands of plays the Duotone Diamond mostly in the complete - package style ... we \ gives faithful performance. But the diamond is not for need more designed the high fidelity JJ good for ever, and other needles must be checked and enthusiast who already has an amplifier and \- replaced frequently to avoid damage to fine discs. speaker system and who, therefore, wants only the tape transport mechanism and the Whether or not you are a "Hi -Fi Bug ", check your preamplifier-equalization section of the needles often and if you don't have a Duotone Diamond, package units. keep an extra needle on hand for quick replacement Turntables received some attention, Col - when needed. laro showing a stripped version of its changer mechanism, Bogen exhibiting a variable - speed arrangement, Garrard a transcription unit (as well as a souped -up changer), Paul Weathers a built- to -my- specifications turntable which features a raised (Tié -in.) plat- D\lOtOOE form about the size of the record label, on KEYPORT, NEW JERSEY which the disk rides. And Jerry Minter, CenaGian ss.s,sWbEirs CHARLES W. 101NTON, TOSONIO, CANADA E.se.1 ,se AD President of the Audio Engineering Society, D:. AUENNA, INC , NEW VOIE CITY, N Y. partially associated with Measurements Corp. and fully associated with Components. Inc. (this -all for the record), had several of his flying saucers around the Fair; feature is a nylon belt which runs around the rim Continued on page to 1/"

JANUARY -FEBRUARY, 1954

www.americanradiohistory.com NOTED WITH INTEREST

Continued from page 9

of the turntable and to a thoroughly isolated motor shaft. From the design point of view, rumble ought to be practically non - existant. (If last minute changes in editorial plans, between writing this column and putting the balance of the issue together, don't fool us, there should be a TITH report on this turntable further along in this issue.) Duotone, hitherto best known for its needles, broke into the open with a line of speakers (manufactured by Europe's Phil- lips) and microphones. The speakers looked very good but you can't listen to a microphone at an Audio Fair! and a "Tested in the Home" report will be upcoming. Another line -broadener was Fairchild, who introduced a new arm and a new preamplifier ... should be right good equipment, judging by previous standards for this company. Binaural (or stereophonic; were still trying to keep out of that argument!) received considerable attention. Newcomb, Bell, Livingston, and Madison Radio -Sound (of Madison, N. J.) were among those showing

two -channel amplifiers . . . and Emory Cook has developed a method of adapting a regular tone -arm with a second head (looks like a motorcycle with a sidecar), so that binaural is now relatively simple for any- The sensation of one. There were FM tuners galore, nearly all of improved quality. Radio Craftsmen announced a new one, the C -900, which is TWO Audio Fairs FM -only, and Radio Engineering Labora- tories (better known as REL) came back the hi -fi field with its very professional Thousands of engineers and music lovers at the into looking 646 -C or "Precedent". The earlier New York and Philadelphia Audio Fairs acclaimed 646 -B was primarily intended for broadcast PRECEDENT as the hit of the show! They agree and relay station use, but found its way into many a hi-fi installation in the late '4o's. that this utterly different, superlative new FM tuner sets Magnecord showed two interesting items: beauty. the pace in performance and a binaural MagneCordette (tape transport mechanism plus two preamp- equalizer sec- The ladies are especially enthusiastic about the tions) and a new Magnecord M -8o profes- luxurious simplicity of PRECEDENT's handsome table-top sional recorder, the latter in the $1200 class. gaping at the new model (above), which enhances the finest homes Meandering ... much Ferranti pickup (lots of imported items at without need of built -in installations or additional this show) . Stephens showed 011ie cabinet. Chassis and rack models are Read's new speaker enclosure ... UTC pre- its -circuit kits Vee -D -X also available to meet every mounting purpose. viewed printed ... has a broad -band FM yagi ... Beam In- struments now imports W -B "Concentric this exciting new advance To learn for yourself about Duplex" speakers from England, also the in radio reception, write today. QUAD amplifier and preamp ... Sonex is a relatively new name in the amplifier group ...

so is Shields . . . We've mentioned Paul ENGINEERING LABORATORIES INC. Weathers before; he has a neat "player" RADIO which includes specially- designed turntable,

arm, and tone control unit . .. Fisher's com- 36 -40 Thirty Seveiith Street Long Island City 1, N. Y. pact preamp for $19.95 and Hi -Lo filter for $29.95 are reviewed in this issue; at Phila- delphia, he showed a speaker enclosure, which gives him a pretty complete line .. . last word goes to a smart chap by the name of Stan Davis who took some special foam rubber sheets in 4 and 1/ -inch thickness, cut them to lo, 12, and i6-inch circles, topped some with soft, felt -like material in gay colors, and produced a turntable pad with real merit; his company name is Turn - Continued on page 12

Io HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com These are the tests of high fidelity . .. not claims, not boasts. That's why Collaro, confident of the results, invites you to compare. Collaro has developed an entirely new turntable drive mechanism, and thus has succeeded in achieving performance considered impossible in earlier record changer designs. Rumble, wow, and flutter are virtually eliminated. Mechanical operation is smooth ... gentle to the record and to the delicate stylus. And while you are comparing these, look at the construction. Note that there are no intermediate drive 1 wheels employed and no belts to slip or to replace. Rotate the turntable and observe how freely it spins. FULLY AUTOMATIC This is the combined result of dynamic balance and hall -bearing suspension. Now lift the turntable. It's 3 -SPEED RECORD CHANGERS heavy ... intentionally weighted to give flywheel action for constant, steady rotation. You'll notice that the turntable is rubber covered. Important...because unlike other materials in use this surface does not *!*- shed; and dust and grit particles cannot become imbedded. On the underside is a 4 -pole motor with WITH ANY RECORD self-aligning oilite bearings for silent steady power. You will also discover that the Collaro changers are CHANGERS IN THE FIELD absolutely jam -proof; that they automatically shut off at the end of the last record; that the tone arm is ball - REGARDLE35 OF PRICE bearing mounted, and tracks accurately with as littl as 3 gram stylus pressure. Remember these features ... look for them, c F01' RUMBLE them ... and you will agree that Collaro rea high fidelity record changers for high fideli FLUTTER reproduction. and wow

LIST PRICE Model 3/532 Intermixes 10 and 12 inch records $65.00

Model 3 /531 Non-intermix 54.50 Model 3/534 Single record player 33.60 Ji rite for complete details to: Available at Radio Parts Jobbers, Distributors, and Hi-Fi Dealers. R O C K B A R C O R P O R A T I O N 215 EAST 37th STREET, NEW YORK 16, N. Y. MIL

JANUARY- FEBRUARI, 1954

www.americanradiohistory.com NOTED WITH INTEREST Today's most influential voice... Continued from page ro

table Products and he roused much well - justified interest.

IN HIGH-Fli LiUV! Audio Fair, L. A. Before we slip too far away from audiofair- dom, let us remind readers that the big doings on the West Coast are scheduled for February 4, 5, and 6 at the Alexandria Hotel in Los Angeles. To indicate what to expect: last year, two floors were occupied; this year, the first five floors have been re- served for registration and exhibit facilities. HIGH FIDELITY will be represented; be sure to look us up (can't tell you room number; at press time, it hadn't been assigned). Naming The SME Bulletin The original By -Laws of The Society of Music Enthusiasts called for the publication of an official organ to carry news and articles of interest to members. After scoring an initial error by calling this LT your ears audition this revolutionary sound compo- bulletin "Baton" (a name which, it turned nent. Check its smoothness... range of response... out, already had been copyrighted by some- sensitivity and every factor vital to quality performance. one else), the Society announced a "Name You'll agree with the high- fidelity experts who report: Your Bulletin" contest. The prize for the In all- around speaker value General Electric's Model winning title was to consist of a complete set of high fidelity components. An as- A1-400 is unsurpassed! sortmant of manufacturers kindly volun- At the same time examine the complete G -E Custom teered to furnish these. Music Ensemble. No greater economy in true high -fidelity The response was, to put it mildly, sub- And a good many of the sugges- ever been offered. Your local distributor stantial. equipment has tions were usable. Eventually (and this time has the G -E system on display now. Call him today! after a check through the copyright department at the Library of Congress) the judges IDEALLY MATCHED G -E COMPONENTS decided on The Crescendo. Very shortly afterward, winner Herbert For New Sound Quality...Simplified Installation Markell, a New York architect, received most of what it takes to make a crescendo in his own living room - to wit: a Gar- rard "Triumph" record changer; a Weathers FM pickup cartridge and power -supply, a Bogen DB -xo amplifier; a model FM -6o7 orgrwirg P Pilotuner tuner; a University 6201 co -axial Power AmplifierP Preomplifier- Control Unit Al.200 L speaker, and a Cabinart Klipsch "Rebel" Al -300 speaker enclosure and Model 21 equipment cabinet. Speaker Enclosure Boron Tone Arms: (Blond, Mahogany or HIGH FIDELITY Nos. 4 and 5 tj AI.500 (12 ") Unfinished V s) - Al -501 (16 ") A1-406 Several more readers have written in with offers to loan or sell copies of out -of -stock MEE MI =MI IMMI ANN MO issues 4 and 5. Below is the list to date, including names printed in the previous issue General Electric as new ones re- Company, Section of HIGH FIDELITY as well SEND FOR Electronics Park, 6414 Syracuse, N. Y. ceived since then: THIS NEW Please To LOAN: me of C the new G -E High-Fidelity 17 Summitt Ave., BOOKLET! mponensBookletPy Harold A. Gordon. Mt. Vernon, N. Y. Andrew Menick, 915 N. Palm Avenue, Whittier, Calif. ADDRESS ...... Ralph L. Kanau, Sabula, Iowa. SELL: CITY...... To STATE...... W. H. O'Kane, Box 287, Chagrin Falls, Ohio. J. P. Tidwell, 12456 12th N.W., Seattle 77, Wash. MISCELLANEOUS: We can't fit the following two into the neat list above. Edward Morrill, 65 Knee- G N RAI á ELECTRIC land St., Boston II, Mass., has Nos. 2, 5, Continued on page 16

HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com V -M 936HF High Fidelity Record Changer Attach- ment. "all the music is V.M all you hear"

936HF High Fi' lity' Record Changer

ATTACHMENT

Exclusive, resonance -free aluminum Two die cast plug -in tone arm heads, Beautiful music and simplicity go hand in diecast tone arm balanced for easy ad- will fit most cartridges.' hand. Connecting the V -M 93614F to your lustmentto desired needle pressure. amplifier and speaker is as easy as plugging in a lamp. Your reward ... the thrill of hearing the music on your finest records faithfully reproduced with rich, full -bodied tonal beauty. Look at these V-M 936HF features. They give you more in high fidelity performance, more record protection and more record playing convenience than any other changer at- Exclusive laminated, balanced turn- Exclusive 4 -pole, 4 -COIL motor as- table. Precision -formed concentricity sures silent, steady speed, eliminates tachment! for constant -speed operation. electronic hum and rumble.

'Pre-a mplificatiou stage required with magnets, t.pe hrcAupr. "Slightly higher in the reed.

UL Approved

Gentle tri -o -matic spindle protects V -M 45 Spindle included. Permits records, eliminates holders that grip automatic play of up to fourteen large record grooves. center -hole records.

the ;"DICE OF USIC

HIGH FIDELITY V-M C O R P O R A T I O N V -M BENTON HARBOR I, MICHIGAN Please send ate your ill usi ra/ed folder, PORTABLE P -A SYSTEM -Bring Concert Halls Within Your 1Valls. "

Powerful g Watt package, I 0" Jensen PM speaker NAME with 25' cord, "slide -out" amplifier stays near ADDRESS automatic record changer. Matching leather- eue cases. Model 960 record changer $64.50 * *. CITY_- , STATE _ Model 160 amplifier $66.50 * *. Made by V -M Corporation, world's largest manufacturer of phonographs and record changers exclusively.

JANUARY - FEBRUARY, I954 13

www.americanradiohistory.com e Jensen "DUETTE" WON at the INTERNATIONAL SIGHT AND SOUND EXPOSITIO) and the thousands who came to listen, said ...... "I never dreamed you could get such ... "Why doesn't our set sound like that a full range from such a small unit" when you turn the volume down ?" ... "They must do it with mirrors" ... "I always thought two -way systems ... "Why this bass sounds as good as our cost a fortune" big, expensive setup" ... "I'll bet it took real engineering to ... "I never thought you could get such get that balance" clean highs, at such low cost." .. If that's all the bigger it is, you can ... "Notice how there isn't any boom in have it in the living room" the bass!"

THE Jensen "Duette" is a true two -way system that fulfills the high standards of true high fidelity ... a skil fully balanced combination of a special 8 -inch "woofer" for the lows and a multicell horn -loaded "tweeter" fc the highs, plus crossover system in a new, acoustically coordinated very small enclosure. Not since Jensen engineers developed the bass reflex principle has there been such a new departure i enclosure acoustics ... a miniature cabinet that makes possible full low bass reproduction. The "Duette" In the smallest space (11" x 23''/ x 10" -one bookshelf or a small corne At the lowest cost ($69.50) has the most sought -after qualities in fidelity of reproduction ... thrilling true definition, separation and realis of sound through the whole musical range. With the "Duette," Jensen makes high fidelity a luxury everyone can afford now. You don't have to wait- use with your present TV, radio and phonograph, or build your high fidelity system around the "Duette" in le space and at lower cost speaker systems that give you far less. ttthan ^ SHOWN ACTUAL SIZE

Jensen Manufacturing Company -6601 South Laramie Avenue, Chicago 38, Illinois Division of the Muter Company -In Canada: Copper Wire Products, Ltd., Licensee

www.americanradiohistory.com .i 1f+n;¡vF 1 Sii?tg .j t á, :;. . r,t;.

THE GOLD AL

SPECIFICATIONS MODEL DU -202 PORTABLE MODEL DU -201 (as illustrated- avail- (available January 15) able now-) Dimensions: 11' x x 11 3,4" Dimensions: 11" x 23y" x 10 " Finish: Mahogany toned pigskin Finish: Black plastic leatherette textured plastic case with case with light gray front. contrasting front. Copper Aluminum toned trim. toned trim. (Acoustic and electrical spe- L -F Unit: Special 8 -inch heavy -duty cifications same as DU -201) ' woofer.' H -F Unit: Multicell horn -loaded com- Handle on end of case. Snap pression driver unit locked removable front cover contains 25- foot cord and plug, plus storage 2 ' tweeter" (as used on Jensen for 7 -in. H -222 (or 3 5 -inch) boxes of tape with retaining and H -520 Coaxials). strap. Impedances: 4 and 8 ohms available on 3- terminal strip on back of Ideal for portable hi -fi rec- case. ord and tape reproduction, and sound rein- Power forcement by lecturers, musicians, recording engineers and hi Rating: 20 watts speech and music. -fi enthusiasts. Net Price: $69.50 Net Weight: 21 lbs., Net Price: $89.50

www.americanradiohistory.com NOTED WITH INTEREST

Continued from page 12 Now make Magnecordings 6, and the latest six available, and also a copy of "World Encyclopedia of Recorded of all you love Music" for sale. M. E. Bigler, 335 Iris St., Redwood City, to hear Calif., will swap his No. 5 for a No. 1 or 2. L. B. Weller, RR -z, Valparaiso, Indiana writes: "My subscription has just expired, and much as I would like to continue to receive HIGH FIDELITY, I cannot afford it! But - I have on hand every one of your 12 issues to date, all in mint condition. Per- haps this collection is worth $t8 to you or to one of your readers - a sum I would gladly invest in an additional subscription for myself." We'd like that renewal, so we feverently hope some reader makes a deal with Mr. Weller! Wire Tape Spondence Maybe we should head this item "talkspon- dence ' or "voicespondence" ... anyway, it has to do with the various organizations with your choice of 3 which encourage conversations among their members by means of wire or tape recordings. We had an item several issues ago about "World Tape Pals," and later one about the "Global Talkawire Club." Two mag f4//e/ more have since come forward to tell us about themselves ... there's a lot of activity in this field! highest fidelity of all "Tape- Respondents, International" was started in December 1952, now has members home tape recorders throughout the United States and in 22 foreign countries. Fred Goetz, their key man, writes us that membership is growing Make the world's finest home tape recordings! daily. For more information, write him at Play them back with this magnificent instrument P. O. Box 1404, San Francisco, Calif. through your custom audio system or quality "The Voicespondence Club" stems from radio -phonograph. MagneCordette is the standard what is probably the oldest organization of broadcaster's Magnecorder, beautifully restyled its type: the original "Wirespondence for home use. Now in three models, it's the finest by Webcor as a public home tape recorder ever offered! Club" sponsored service. In 1953, Webcor decided the Club was strong enough to stand on its own feet Magnecording and turned it over to John Schirmer, as Make broadcast- quality tape Secretary, and Charles E. Owen, Jr. who, recordings that won't scratch along with Mrs. Owen, is entided "asso- or wear out, using any radio, ciate." The new club officially began on phono, or microphone source. July t, 1953, completely on its own, as a Response is flat from 50-15000 non -profit group. For further information cps, ± 2 db. Total harmonic about this club, write Charles E. Owen, Jr. distortion less than 3% , flutter at Noel, Va. less than .3% . Call to L. A. Tapesters Standard MagneCordette PT6 -AH recorder and custom G amplifier Leslie A. Smart, Jr., of 2863 California St., enclosed in o handsome blond, mahog- Huntington Park, Calif. (phone: Lafayette any, or block lacquer cabinet. $449.00. any two - Portable LA 689o) writes: "If there are MagneCordette in the greater Los Angeles MagneCordette with power amplifier track individuals - with double speaker unit added. A complete Binaural MagneCordette area who would like to get together with G amplifier record -playback -P. A. system in one MagneCordette extra me for exchange or dubbing of binaural carrying cose! $549.00. designed for use with your binaural tapes, please phone, write, or just drop in sound system. Blond, mahogany, or the home is open to bigger and bet- block lacquer cabinet. ... $647.00. ter music." Any Spare "Eroicas ?" Editor John Conly spent most of Sunday, Dec. 6, on his roof, twisting a dipole, but he couldn't get WNBC -FM (New York) took under "Recorders" in the clearly enough to tape Toscaninï s per- phone book for your dealer's name. formance of Beethoven's "Eroica." Says he'll pay money for a good hi -fi copy, taken direct from the New York FM INC. source on a hi -fi recorder. 225 WEST OHIO ST., CHICAGO 10, III., DEPT. HF -1

I6 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com only JIM LANSING SIGNATURE SPEAKERS are made with a 4" voice coil

FOR PRECISION LOW -END RESPONSE crisp, clean reproduction of bass tones is an immediately -apparent distinguishing feature of Jim Lansing speakers. The reason: The 4" voice coil makes the cone a more rigid piston.

every note a perfect quote FOR EXCEPTIONAL HIGH -END RESPONSE overtones and timbre, as reproduced by Jim Lansing Signature Speakers, give music dramatic presence, give personalities vivid reality. Smooth, extended h. f. response is due to the large, spherical durai dome which has the same diameter as the 4" voice coil ...and is attached directly to the voice coil... as it should be.

the most efficient general purpose speakers made anywhere Lansing 15" g. p. D1J0 with 4" voice coil. Lansing 12" g. p. D131 with 4" voice coil. ANSING SOUND, INC. Lansing 8" g. p. D208 with proportional _. 2439 fletcher drive 2" voice coil. los angeles, california send for catalog of Jim Lansing speakers and enclosures.

JANUARY- FEBRUARY, 1954 17

www.americanradiohistory.com -PenieR-Si UM-

SIR: I do want to express to you, through the contents of this letter, the immense amount of satisfaction that I get from receiving a copy every other month. My one regret is that it is not a monthly publication but I can well appreciate the fact that the contents might not be as high quality if it were put out on a monthly basis. (Perish the thought! See editorial, page 33. - Ed.] As near as I can tell there is something "Of the very best!" for everyone, no matter whether he is in- -HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE terested in popular music, light classical or strictly classical music. The technical articles are deep enough to appeal to those who love to rend the air with technical phrases. However, there is a very serious situation arising in the field of so- called "high fidelity" music. You touched upon it very lightly in your editorial in the September- October issue. I should like to bring up another side of it and I think it is something that should be FISHER made the subject of an editorial in the forth- coming issue, and that is that people today SERIES "50" are so interested in gadgets and new types of reproducing mechanisms that they are un- It is only natural that more than one manufacturer will claim his consciously losing sight of the fact that product is the best. For that reason it remains for you to be the judge. they are putting more emphasis on the means We say- demand the specs. Then check workmanship, performance of playing than they are on the actual music and beauty of appearance. If you do all these things, the answer will itself. inevitably be ... THE FISHER SERIES "50." There is no finer made. For instance, I was visiting a friend's house the other evening and he put on two or three LP records. He was jumping up M and down like a Mexican jumping bean, F SHER Master Audio Control 0 C I twiddling dials and making adjustments, I almost went "nuts." I said to him, of the finest yet to until "One units offered the enthusiast or audio engineer." you have become so obsessed -Radio and TV News. Can be used with any amplifier. IM distortion vir- "I think that tually unmeasurable. Complete, professional equalization settings and tone with the two words "high fidelity" that controls; genuine F -M loudness control: five inputs, five independent input you have forgotten that Bach and Beethoven level controls, two cathode follower outputs. Self- powered. got along very nicely before these two words Chassis, $89.50 With blonde or dark cabinet, $97.50 were coupled together." Last Saturday this friend of mine came and we spent the whole THE over to my house MODEL evening listening to various types of music. FISHER FM -AM Tuner OR I changed the controls in only two instances; this, to an editor of HIGH FI- Features extreme sensitivity (1.5 my for 20 db of quieting); low distor- I suppose DELITY MAGAZINE, is heresy, but he had to tion (less than 0.04% for 1 volt output); low hum (more than 100 db below it as 2 volts output.) Armstrong system, adjustable AFC with switch, adjustable admit that he enjoyed just much with- AM selectivity, separate FM and AM front ends (shock- mounted). cathode out changing knobs and controls as he did follower output, fully shielded, aluminum chassis, self- powered. $164.50 changing them from record to record. Sometimes 1 think that the love of mechanics and gadgets in the American citizen is so strong that he forgets all about the FISHER 50 -Watt Amplifier 5A music and goes into ecstasies over the fact he can hear 18,000 cycles, simply be- world's finest all -triode amplifier, yet priced. A that Truly the moderately advertising company writer, man's size unit! Less than 1% distortion at 50 watts (.08% at 10 watts.) cause some in night IM distortion below 2% at 53 watts. Uniform response within .1 db from who woke up the middle of the ham and cheese sandwiches with 'a 20 to 20,000 cycles; 1 db, 5 to 100,000 cycles. Hum and noise more than and had 96 db below full output. Quality components throughout. $159.50 glass of beer, thought up some sort of Prices slightly higher west at the Rockies weird selling idea to convince the unsuspect- ing public that it should buy this or that WRITE TODAY FOR COMPLETE SPECIFICATIONS piece of equipment. FISHER RADIO CORPORATION 45 EAST 47th STREET N. Y. I happen to be the Assistant Treasurer of I1111111111 Continued on page 21

18 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com Now for the first time, high fidelity with... eXtra Dimensional Sonnà

Columbia"360" Phonograph introduces XD the"RmiIlg Speaker

Today the remarkable "360" by Columbia Records is the first and only instrument to release music from the limitations of phonographs with fixed speakers. Now it is possible for you to custom -tailor the reproduction of your records through an extraordinary new mobile speaker. Called X -D, (Extra - Dimensional) this "Roving Speaker" plugs into the "360" and can be moved anywhere around the room. It adds to the superlative twin speakers of the "360" a flexibility that even costly, custom -engineered systems cannot equal. Here is depth, color, realism. Nothing comparable to the "360" with X -D exists today. And the cost $139.95 for the beautiful "360" plus $24.95 -only i Pricy higher in the West, (optional) for X -D. Exclusive development Columbia Records. "l',Jumhia." Heg. 11. S. l'at. Off. Marren of Hegiatradan. "9gU," "XO" Trade Mark..

JANUARY -FEBRUARY, 1954 19

www.americanradiohistory.com FIDELITY Fidelity and Simplicity are synonymous in the

TITONE TURNOVER CERAMIC CARTRIDGE

Only through the magic of the Titone ceramic principle average measured output at 1000 cycles on the RCA -an original development of the Sonotone Laboratories 12 -5 -51V test record is 0.95 volt. -may record reproduction have the advantage of both NO EQUALIZERS Fidelity and Simplicity. The typical frequency response -with no equalization Now your finest records may be flawlessly reproduced -is flat within ± 3 db from 30 to 15,000 cycles on the without equalizers, preamplifiers, oscillators, polariz- new RCA 12 -5-51V test record. Similar flat outputs ing voltages -or any of the other cumbersome, erratic are obtained from records cut to LP, NAB, AES, and and costly accessories heretofore deemed necessary. other modern characteristics. NO SPECIAL COMPONENTS NO PREAMPLIFIER The high output voltage and the ceramic structure This tiny new Titone reproducer utilizes barium tita- provide the highest signal -to -hum ratio available, nate in a high compliance design to provide one volt eliminating the need for special motors, turntables or output on modern microgroove records. For example, mu -metal shields.

m +5 +5 z TITONE TURNOVER Ñ 0 o List Prices z o -5 -5 9980 -S (Dual- sapphire) $9.50 w ¢ 9980 -50 (.001 Diamond) 20 50 100 200 500 IK 2K 5K IOK 20K (.003 Sapphire) 34.00 FREQUENCY IN CYCLES 9980 -D (Dual Diamond) 56.00 TITONE TURNOVER RESPONSE ON RCA 12 -5 -51V RECORD

Electronic Applications Division SONOTON E CO PORATION Elmsford, New York

HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com READERS' FORUM

Continued from page r8

the Buck Printing Co. in the City of Boston and our business is printing and advertising, still setting the standards so that I feel that I am not a neophyte in the business. I am also a spare -time musician I play the organ and the piano and do quite a bit of singing both solo and in groups. I have always kidded myself into thinking that I have a superior ear for music, and brother I am telling you that it was some comedown for me to put on a London test frequency record and find out that I could not hear above i 3,000 cycles. What I am getting at is that I don't want the "high fidelity" end of the business to become a Frankenstein and destroy the love of music that many people have. A number of years ago I bought all types of amplifiers, DYNAURAL speakers, cartridges, record compensators the new H. H. Scott"121 /tEqualizer Preamplifier and all the rest of it, only to find out that it We believe the new "121" control unit to be the finest ever offered. For the was safer (from the matrimonial standpoint), connoisseur, the "121" affords complete control and compensation For any cheaper (from a financial standpoint) and far record and record condition, past, present and future. Rolloff frequency and more satisfactory (from a musical stand- both turnover frequency and extent of lmost are continuously adjustable for point) to get a good sounding set and stick any equalisation curve. The amazing DYNAURAL Noise Suppressor gives you. with it until I had really come to enjoy it. actual concert presence by virtually eliminating turntahle rumble and record I went through the same growing pains in scratch or hiss. The improved rumble suppression is essential you are to the photographic field and I find that I have if taken my best pictures, both color and black enjoy fully the range possible with new extended -bass speaker systems. Self- powered, finished in durable hand -tooled leather. the new "121" DYNAURAL and white, after I have really mastered a particular camera, developer and film. I ondml 't offers every refinement possible at this state of the art. can see the trumpet bells of publicists being raised for a last assault on the American public, many of whom are going to be sold a lot of material that they really don't want and that really will not give them good record reproduction. I hope that you will be able to bring up 220-A this side of the argument in one of your Power Amplifier future editorials. Now I have said it and I am glad. Douglas F. Reilly 120 -A Concord, Mass. Equalizer Preamplifier SIR: 210 -B DYNAURAL Amplifier Early issues of HIGH FIDELITY struck a 214 -A Remote Control Amplifier nice balance between technical and popular From earliest days of high fidelity. H. H. SCOTT amplifiers have consist- articles. late, Of the technical side seems to ently set design and performance standards. Rated "first choice" by have been a relegated to minor position. C. G. Burke in the "Saturday Review Home Book." they have been Every hi fi enthusiast will sooner or later commended as finest on the market by experts such as Harold Weiler. become interested in this aspect, and pos- author of "High Fidelity Simplified ". In I95I, the John H. Potts Memorial sibly wish to try making changes in his Medal of the Audio Engineering Society was awarded to H. H. Scott for equipment, such as the equalization of his important contributions to audio science. One of the world's leading manu- outmoded preamplifier. facturers of laboratory- standard sound measuring and analyzing instru- To me, "Tested in the Home" is the most ments. H. H. SCOTT. Inc. received the 1949 "Electrical Manufacturing" interesting department of your publication. Award for outstanding instrument design. However, its value would be greatly in- The patented DYNAURAL Noise Suppressor is unique. So are many creased by the addition of circuit diagrams. fundamental features sometimes difficult to rate in specifications. But Dr. Walter H. Frolich these contribute to that essential difference separating the superb front East Ely, Nevada other units. Listener- designed loudness compensation, lowest beat -tone SIR: intermodulation, 5- channel tone controls. the self -balancing phase inverter May I request the hospitality of your whirls automatically balances output tubes (standard on all H. H. SCOTT for 6 years) but a few of the reasons for the pre- columns to sound off on a few gripes: amplifiers - these are r. Those miserable little pin plugs used eminence of H. H. SCOTT amplifiers. by practically everybody connected with high fidelity! Why in the name of common sense hasn't somebody figured out something more efficient? I suppose it is necessary that the blasted little beggars fit so tightly, but you can't get a decent grip on FREE BOOKLET HF1 -54 them to pull them out unless you use a pair of pliers and twist them back and forth to pry them out of the jack. In my experience at least, several times, in this process, the base has broken loose from the pin, neces- PACKAGED ENG /HEER /NG" Continued on page 22 385 PUTNAM AVE. CAMBRIDGE 39, MASS.

JANUARY- FEBRUARY, 1954 2

www.americanradiohistory.com READERS' FORUM

Continued from page 21

sitating another soldering operation on a new pin. It certainly would appear that some simple expedient could have been de- vised to provide a bit of leverage, such as perhaps a metal cross -piece to grab hold of. But whatever it is, certainly there must be an easier way. 2. The confounded shielded cable! I understand the shielding is necessary in order to ground out unwanted signals. But, again, there must be a better way - unless what you are after is the ruining of normally gentle dispositions. The operations one has to go through to separate the inner wire from the shielding! After a half -hour of trying, breaking the loose mesh of the shielding and starting over again, you give up in disgust and resort to the makeshift expedient of fastening some copper strands to the shielding and soldering the copper strands, instead of the shielding wire, to the pin plug. There just must be an easier way. 3. The whole miserable soldering business! Can't the high brass in the high fidelity racket get it through their heads that every hi -fi enthusiast is not necessarily an electronics expert, nor yet a mechanic? Is there something indecent about, say, a bookkeeper or a haberdashery clerk - yes even a musician - wanting his music faithfully reproduced? There are millions of people, otherwise of sound mind, who do not have even the rudiments of a machine shop, to whom the mere driving of a nail is a major project and a soldering job something to be undertaken only by the mechanically initiate. It should not be too difficult to devise a pin plug (if hi -fi insists on using the little beasts) that could be simply prepared for use by a layman. 4. The catalogs! Sample entry: "High stability temperature compensated oscillator for drift -free operation without AFC. All- triode RF section. Inputs: Crystal phono; TV; tape recorder playback Controls: Input selector; tuning; power volume; AFC on -off. Output: Cathode- follower to minimize hum pick-up and high frequency attenuation in cable to amplifier." So far as the layman is concerned it might as well be in Sanskrit. If these blasted The pleasure you derive from the catalogs must be written in 4 -D lingo, is magnificent fidelity of an Altec home it too much to ask that there be appended a in lay terms the meaning music system is equaled only by the pride DUPLEX LOUDSPEAKER glossary explaining that comes with knowing you possess of the esoteric language. A "flat response'. the finest. Altec fidelity is truly the sounds to me like something I'd never want highest fidelity assuring you coming out of my sound equipment, but ob- unsurpassed performance. viously the various companies are falling over each other to provide bigger and better flat Visit your Altec dealer soon and plan responses. must be a vast army of potential now to install in your home an Altec home There hi -fi purchasers who have been frightened music system for a lifetime of high fidelity by the rarefied at- listening pleasure. Altec home music away from For every College there equipment is well worth waiting for mosphere. Joe a hundred Joe Blows. The lack of tech- because Altec fidelity is highest A SOUND are nical training is no barrier to the enjoyment fidelity without compromise. REPUTATION of high- fidelity sound reproduction. Let SECOND the hi -fi manufacturers produce equipment TO NONE that is simple in operation; let the catalogs couch their sales talk in lay terms. In hi -fi out of its cloistered 9356 SANTA MONICA BLVD., BEVERLY HILLS. CALIF. ALTE C® short, let come 161 SIXTH AVENUE. NEW YORK 13, N.Y. halls and beam its appeal to the masses, Continued on page 24

22 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com Listen...

AND YOU'LL HEAR SOMETHING

WONDERFUL!

Remember? But who can forget? Half skepti- cal, you raised the shell to your ear. Then, in that magic moment between ignorance and bliss, you entered another world. Down through the ages, the mystery of sound has held a challenging fascination. Although perfection of sound reproduction may be unattainable, a few men have chosen to ignore that assumption, and to do everything possible to achieve perfection. Newcomb Custom Home Music Amplifiers are the result of that kind of effort. Custom - not mass - produced of the most expensive materials, by the most advanced techniques SOUND I FADERSIIIP SINCE 1937 and the most painstaking methods, Newcomb Amplifiers are as nearly perfect as today's electronic engineering can make them. N E W C O M B Whether you are considering your first hi -fi HI-FI AMPLIFIERS system or improving your present one, let your own ears judge the superiority of Newcomb THE HEART OF YOUR CUSTOM MUSIC SYSTEM Amplifiers. Compare the quality of Newcomb Hi -Fi Amplifiers Playbacks for Schools Commercial Sound Systems with that of other amplifiers...then, for Mobile and Permanent Public Address Systems another happy surprise, compare the prices. C Listen... AND YOU'LL HEAR SOMETHING WONDERFUL II

Designed for the future! Newcomb's 3D-12 Stereophonic Amplifier Listen ... and you'll hear something wonderful! Choose the Classic 25 Amplifier for superb is the first low -cost unit for true stereophonic reproduction...puts listening pleasure... for beauty you never dreamed possible... for the utmost installation Hollywood's 3- dimensional sound into your home. May also be used ease with the exclusive "Adjusts- Panel." which extends control shafts for mounting ... for with standard program material for enhanced quality. Write for the convenience of remote control up to 100 feet ... for permanent low distortion with the complete prospectus. exclusive "Audi- Balance." 01953 Write Dept. W, NEWCOMB AUDIO PRODUCTS CO., 6824 Lexington Ave.. Hollywood 38, Calif., for literature and name of your nearest Newcomb distributor.

JANUARY- FEBRUARY, I954 23

www.americanradiohistory.com HERE'S THE READERS' FORUM NEWEST Continued from page 22 and my guess is that you will see such a rush to the hi -fi banners as will surprise every- /ncuu F M /A M Ti#ie,i body. David Kahn Silver Spring, Md. The ideal mate to the modern, full -control amplifier. J11í: I have been enjoying your efforts for some time, particularly the RECORDS IN RE- VIEW section of your magazine, and I can see that it would be a formidable task to compile a complete discography of one composer. The addition of this discography 'Mozart] is welcome indeed, but at the rate you have been going, it will be about seventy years before you get to someone who will satisfy us Moderns. Certainly, it would be too much to ask for a complete discography on Schönbérg, but I would gladly settle for Bartok or Hindemith. Charles D. Keilin Washington, D. C. The password is "patience." - Ed. Model RJ -42 Sm: Only two controls are used with the RJ -42 FM /AM Tuner - one for Recently I took at face value the offers tuning, the other for switching. The latter has four positions: OFF - of two manufacturers of hi -fi equipment, to AM - FM with AFC - FM without AFC. Duplicating none of the "write to our technical service department controls of the audio amplifier, this new tuner is particularly suited for advice" - with very disheartening re- to use in custom installations. A feature of convenience for such instal- sults. I already own products made by these people, and I am pleased with them. lations is a pre -settable output -level at the To the control, rear of the chassis, "technical service departments," I should to adjust tuner output to amplifier input requirements. have appeared as a potential customer still, The FM section of the RJ -42 gives you since hi -fi spreads through friends and rela- tives like a contagion. Now note with New, all -triode RF section, for extremely low noise level. what alacrity and imagination these people Higher sensitivity- 3 microvolts for 20 db. quieting - attempted to keep me in their respective desirable in fringe areas and noisy urban locations. stables as a satisfied customer: Case One: I wrote to a prominent maker and, of course, the standard Browning features: true Armstrong of loudspeakers and associated equipment circuit, selectable AFC, compensation for drift -free operation, and (from whom I have purchased, from time to sensitive tuning eye for fast, precise tuning. Audio response, flat ± time, 3 small hi-fi speakers, a hi -fi coaxial, 1/2 db. from 20 to 20,000 cycles, satisfies the most critical high- fidelity a speaker cabinet, an output transformer, listener. etc.). I stated that I had built a 3 -way speaker system, following detailed plans in In the AM section, covering 540 to 1650 kilocycles HIGH FIDELITY, to which I referred specifi- Superhet circuit with triple -tuned if-s and separate AVC cally. I was not positive I had figured the detector to minimize distortion. ohmage of my level controls correctly, in view of certain instructions found in their Sensitivity -1 to 2 microvolts with audio output flat data sheets for the controls, and would they within 3 db. from 20 to 5500 cycles, down 6 db. at 6800 please check my reasoning and my values? I cycles. enclosed a diagram of the pertinent Volume Effective 10- kilocycle whistle filter that does not affect Control portions of the network, stating AM fidelity. that the reactors, etc., were standard and in accordance with the HIGH FIDELITY ar- For remote installations, a cathode -follower output stage is provided ticle, anyway. I mentioned what speakers I to feed any high -fidelity amplifier, at low impedance, from either the was using, including one of theirs, with the FM or the AM section. This minimizes hum difficulty and high- frequency impedance of each. loss through cable This manufacturer replied, after several capacitance. weeks delay, to the effect that I had not With all these advantages, the given him any information, but if I'd care For FM reception only RJ -42 Tuner is -the Browning to peruse the enclosed circulars on multiple - only 141/2 x 111/2 Model RV -31 Tuner with the x 7 inches. same exceptional FM circuitry as the speaker systems, I could find out how to Model R1 For -42. Brochure on request. build a fine system by their blueprint, detailed specifications, write using parts manufactured wholly by them, us for Bulletin HF -4. which would be the ne plus ultra, etc., etc. Enclosed was an array of printed circulars describing altogether different, expensive, prefabricated equipment with which I was already familiar. Laboratories, Inc. Care Two: I wrote to the maker of a pick- Winchester, Mass. up cartridge, whose most expensive product Continued on page 26

24 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com OThe industry's biggest, heav- iest and finest magnet, 10'/, pounds of Alnico V metal, providing the highest possible fi- : delity .¡.' and efficiency. F . a © Center pole piece, a special r * áE 4 ' alloy of low- carbon dynamo v ' .. steel; makes the fullest use of . . . -* the power of the magnet. «

O The pressure -type high -frequency tweeter is mounted coaxially through the woofer pole piece.

10- element acoustic lens of non -resonant plastic material. Enables the speaker to transmit the highs with a 90° angle of coverage in all planes.

O Plasticized dust screens -far more protective and efficient than felt or similar materials.

O The 3" voice coil is mounted on aluminum for high heat dissi- pation and better handling of more power. Unaffected by temperature or humidity. Ar- OHigh- strength, cast aluminum frame (basket), with the ri- .. ". .. gidity necessary to hold the :! ' extra -heavy magnet. ,4M 7F +' ¡. e OThe double -rolled edge is * . treated with Geon vinyl plastic for smoothest frequency response v F with minimum distortion. "Fa- , 41(..

tigue" crocks are completelyelim - ', Yrr inated, and the double edge al- Cut-away view, lows increased travel. *1 cone Stromberg -Carlson l. RF -475 Coaxial Speaker.

i ~ f learn the inside story of... Winat coaxial speaker

If you were a highly skilled combination of toolmaker, machinist and jeweler, you could build yourself no finer coaxial speaker than this 15 -inch masterpiece. Built to jewel -like tolerances, it is, at the same time, so rugged that extreme overload conditions and even mishandling are all in the day's work. Do see it and hear it, at any Stromberg- Carlson Hi -Fi dealer's. Until you do, here's an audiophile's eye view of the features which make it superb. Complete specifications -in bulletin SED 3.40 -will be sent on request.

4 SOUND DIVISION 1222 CLIFFORD AVE. 1 ROCHESTER 21, NEW YORK

JANUARY- FEBRUARY, 1954 25

www.americanradiohistory.com READERS' FORUM Continued from page 24

delights me, stating that I was interested in exact record equalization, and therefore would appreciate information on variable resistance loading for his fine cartridge, to produce treble roll -offs as specified for various records in HIGH FIDELITY. I stated that I was trying to perfect my own preamplifier- equalizer, already operating, and that if they had such information on file, as I felt sure they had, it would save me considerable time and trouble. What do you think his answer (after a delay of three weeks) turned out to be? That I was a fool to be thinking of exact de- emphasis, nobody could tell the difference in listening tests anyway, and why didn't I buy one of The genuine attainment that comes with the the fine preamplifiers available on the market, triumphant blending of electronic design since nobody could hope to build one that and engineering craftsmanship is yours with would work as well! I submit that these two cases represent a the Tru -Sonic Model 206AX 15" Coaxial pretty horrible business attitude toward the Speaker. Tru -Sonic reproductions of the mas- hi -fi consumer, the manufacturers' bread and butter and often a man who, if suffi- ters will satisfy you as a connoisseur of fine - ciently wound up, will spend any amount of music. Designed for the discriminating ear, money on the quest for perfection. What I Tru -Sonic features the improved Alnico V received from the so- called "technical service departments" was worse than no help at material in a heavy magnetic structure, limit- all, since each delayed my projects by several ing voice coils to the impressed audio signal. weeks, and both incurred my ill will by re- Dual voice coils manage high and low frequen- fusing the simple answers I requested, and not too delicately implying that I am a cies with utmost reproductive faithfulness. moron. Harry L. Wynn Derry, Pa. NOTE ALSO: 712 lb. Alnico Magnet Curved magnetic structure SIR: Heavy die -cast aluminum frame I find your department "Dialing Your most valuable. However, reference Low frequency Cone Resonance -35 cps Disks" to the list will disclose that the Pickering Frequency response 30 to 18,000 cps 132 E compensator is somewhat out of Also date. Can you do something about shaking Model 101 FR, 102 FR, 112 FR. up the manufacturer to revise the compen- *Full Range '12 "- 15 " Speaker diameters sator to present needs? The NAB, London, And other fine models available Orthophonic and Bartok curves are very difficult to approximate with the 132 E. Write for complete literature Perhaps a two -stage job with separate bass on these and other products turnover and treble attenuation would do the trick. Also, I would like to see "The Music of Brahms on Microgroove'. Dick Grace Portsmouth, Va.

LIST PRICE: Queried on the contents of Mr. Grace's Walter O. Stanton, president of 206AX 15" Coaxial letter, Pickering & Co., described it as "con- 16 Ohm $166.00 but cagily betrayed 500 Ohm $179.00 structive criticism" no other reaction. As to "Brahms on 10IFR 15' Microgroove," we too have our hopes. 16 Ohm $78.00 - Ed. 500 Ohm $86.00

MODEL 206AX M O D E L 1 0 1 F R SIR: Best wishes for a long life for your excellent new magazine and its wonderful recordings department. It has been invaluable to me in adding to my classical LPs. I have been scaning your columns in vain STEPHENS for some mention that a manufacturer has seen fit to honor Charles Wakefield Cadman with an LP recording of any of his more 7iTJ SZ0717 important works, such as his Pennsylvania The Pioneer Name in Hi- Fidelity Symphony, Aurora Borealis tone poem for Reproducing Equipment piano and orchestra, Dark Dancers of the Mardi Gras for piano and orchestra or A 28 STEPHENS MANUFACTURING CORPORATION 8538 WARNER DRIVE CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA Continued on page

26 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com

An ideal "hi -fi" equipment cabinet for the space and budget conscious audiophile is Angle Genesee's new chairside model. Tastefully designed, it is first and foremost a proud piece of furniture worthy of the finest setting. Traditional mahogany or contemporary blonde oak - for record player, tuner, pre -amp and amplifier. Sliding door conveniently exposes the record player ... door lifts off for easy cleaning.

And if you want to make a good speaker sound better, choose the new Angle Genesee corner enclosure. Adjustable baffles permit easy matching to your speaker system. Also in mahogany or blonde oak. Write us for the name of the dealer nearest you - get the full details now.

Home -monic distortion is a wife's eye -view of unsightly hi -fi equipment - "hard -to-clean- around" bare wires, glowing tubes, naked speakers. Cure: A -G cabinets.

Makers of quality console equipment cabinets and speaker enclosures for any combination of equipment ... panels may be easily replaced as sound system is revised and expanded. 107 Norris Drive Rochester 10, New York

JANUARY -FEBRUARY, 1954 27

www.americanradiohistory.com ;rrby>ryy. the M READERS' FORUM Model UR -312 Available in Cherry Mahogany, Blond Mahogany, Continued from page 26 or Limed Oak. User Net: S 64.50 Remembers, a tone poem for Blond and Limed Oak -10% extra Mad Empress violoncello and orchestra. I have heard all or part of these numbers several years ago, with the composer himself picking out the highlights on the piano for me, but I know of no modern recordings

lof them] . . . It seems to me many far inferior works are being recorded in the current effort to boost American composers. Why should one of our greatest be overlooked merely because some persons can think of him in no other connection than "At Dawning" or "Land of the Sky Blue Water ? ". Although too late now to do him any good personally, such recognition would help to justify the hundreds of pot -boilers he turned out in order to make a living, and have time for his real work. Bill D. Shepler Grand Rapids, Mich.

SIR: LOOKat the styling ; . . ' I think it is about time that you and your fine magazine alert all music lovers to what is going on with FM broadcasting. Knowing what a strong FM advocate you have al- LISTENto the reproduction ways been, I'm sure you will do all you the Provincial can. Most music lovers know the advantages Model UR -310. FM offers as a broadcast medium. In Maple Many broadcasters have closed their FM or Fruitwood. stations in the last few years, to a point User Net: $ 64.50 where they now number a little over goo. I am not very alarmed over this, because by UNIVERSITY most of the stations that have shut down had been doing duplicate programming. I am concerned over the FM broadcaster Now you can have good "looking" with good listening! Each University who had the intelligence to do something MUSICORNER design is authentic in every detail, and reflects the traditions with his station. As you probably know, of the old masters of fine furniture. All genuine woods -hand rubbed! pressure groups in Washington are now Designed to flatter the decor with stylings that smartly blend with any trying to get the FCC to cut the FM band existing interior. in half. They want these channels for communication purposes. University Musicorner gives you wide angle coverage, clarity and brilliance Most music listeners do not write letters. with its full front radiation. High power handling ability and distortion If they did, many FM Stations would not down. just this once control, with an internal and extended horn. And, boosted low frequency now be shut Maybe we can get them to write one letter to the response with high efficiency, from its unique integral bass reflex system. FCC, Washington D. C., telling them to the Traditional leave the FM Band alone. The FCC almost Model UR -311. killed FM once by making a frequency In Cherry or THE HEART OF THE happens will Cordovan Mahogany. change. Anything that now Model 6201, 12" Coaxial speaker system. A TRUE be a death blow to FM. User Net: S 64.50 coaxial dual range system, with woofer, and driver Richard V. Steffen type tweeter, built -in crossover network, and "balance" Milwaukee, Wis. control. Finest to be had! User Net: ; 45.00 SIR: Mr. John W. Campbell's suggestion for using direct sound producing piezoelectric The exclusive University Diffusicone -12 speaker is crystals will, I think, find precedent in a acclaimed by experts everywhere! Here, In the economy couple of Patents in the U. S. Patent Office. of one speaker you get dual -horn loading, radial pro- I examined the applications relating to two jection, and diffraction -to give unsurpassed fidelity, such crystal translators in 1937 or there- range, and uniform sound distribution. User Net: S 27.00 abouts. These speakers were developed, I think, by the Bell Telephone Laboratories. It is probable that the Bell Laboratory Patent Department can supply Mr. Campbell with these patents so that he can Model 6200, 12" extended range speaker. Gives highly the numbers of purchase them from the Patent Office efficient full -bodied response throughout the operating then for twenty -five cents each. spectrum. User Net: S 21.00 Henry Heyman Los Alamos, New Mexico FREE BOOKLET! SIR: describing these I wonder if, through your very special wonderful end in readers, I could locate two old numbers I greater detail. 80 SOUTH KENSICO AVENUE WHITE PLAINS, N. Y. Continued on page 37

28 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com RCA INTERMATCHED HIGH FIDELITY

r . to assure you of HIGH FIDELITY EXACTLY AS YOU WANT I1

Now -from RCA -comes the ideal way to system that's right for your home and your achieve exactly what you want in high taste in high fidelity. You'll have a complete fidelity. You can be confident of top quality system that you can assemble in minutes, -every component in your system bears with just a screwdriver. And you'll be pre- the name you know best in electronics. pared at any time to add more power or For extra assurance -RCA offers a broad extra coverage -if you feel you need them - selection of components -all designed for without mismatches at any stage. top performance in their class -all inter - Hear RCA Intermatched High -Fidelity at matched to work together, regardless of the your local RCA Electronics Distributor's. combination you choose. You'll agree it's high fidelity at its finest. Listen to the full line of RCA Inter - You'll agree it's the sensible approach to matched high -fidelity components, look at high fidelity. For information, for the ad- the distinctive cabinet styles, and make your dress of your local distributor, mail coupon choice. You'll have a completely matched below.

.. . :_...:...:.... _...,.,,:. ...,,*..r..,,,-....,-._+.w-.' .,..-....-r, ,,,..,.,.. ,.,,,.,,..,,.,.- .....,..,.., r..-r..-., r ,,.-.-- -.>-..,. ...-.. ,;,d,.,

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RCA INTERMATCHED PREAMPLIFIER ,,.....r-.r..,...- r RCA Engineering Products Dept. A220, Building 15 -1, Camden, N. J. w..+r+ Please send me your new, free booklet on RCA Intermatched high-fidelity RCA _.. 1 equipment. INTERMATCHED AMPLIFIERS .r... ,n....-...... +..+r..+.v-.-.. Please send me information on the .. ._ . new, com- - . -- - -...+w..-.--..,,.-, plete RCA Victor high- fidelity "Victrola" a phonographs. RADIO CORPORATION of AMERICA Name ENG INFER /NG PRODUCTS DEPARTMENT, CAMDEN. N.J. Address

City Zone St rote

JANUARY - FEBRUARY, 1954

www.americanradiohistory.com

1/ _ S ee MODEL 21228 i) e;

BELL I1iaFideIìtU AMPLIFIERS

MODEL 2145A

MODEL 22008

SPECIFICATIONS Bell Hi- Fidelity Radio -Phono Amplifiers

RATED FREQUENCY INPUTS CONTROLS TUBES MODEL POWER RESPONSE

10 watts 20- 20,000 cps Four Four Six 2122B at 3% ± % db 12 watts 20- 20,000 cps Six Six Six 2199 at 1% ± 1/= db 20 watts 20- 20,000 cps Seven Six Seven 2200B at .3% ±.2 db Bell 20 watts Eleven 20- 30,000 cps Six Six Sound Systems, Inc. 2145A at 2% )all triode) ±1/4 db 20 watts Three 20- 20,000 cps 555 -57 Marion Rd. Columbus 7, Ohio 3 -D Six Eleven at .5% Dual ± 1/t db Export Office: 401 Broadway, N. Y. 13, N. Y. FOR DETAILS WRITE FOR CATALOG NO. 101 COMPLETE A Subsidiary of Thompson Products

HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com READERS' FORUM ITtltlt111tt11IIIITIIIIIIIIIIT1i1111111111 Continued from page 28

have been searching for through the regular music channels. t. The old French folk dance, song and New! music so very popular during the reign of King Louis the XIII and titled: "Saint-Jean des Choux." PROFESSIONAL 2. The music to the tune called "Lenore" from Burger's ballad, an old European AUDIO melody. EQUIPMENT AT Thank you very much and meanwhile continued good success always. Chet L. Swital Beverly Hills, Calif. LOW

SIR: In regard to the article in High Fidelity COST! Sept. Magazine of -Oct., '53 "Turntables - THE FISHER HI -10 FILTER SYSTEM MODEL 50-F Aweigh!" by Mr. Deane, I am the proud "keeper of the flame," so to speak, of the "God Almighty Horn" he spoke of. This equipment and other similar types are on my circuit and I can vouch for his statement as to its authenticity regarding loudness, if I may use the word as such. The instrument is composed of three woo watt amplifier channels feeding banks of voice range drivers around the island structure ISHER of the ship. These units in use can produce an ear -deafening sound pattern on the flight deck of the carrier, amounting to ¡05 db. Hi -Lo Filter System The basic idea, to override aircraft noise on the flight deck during operations. To say Here it is at last -America's first electronic sharp cut-o$ Filter System. that the "God Almighty Horn" has saved Suppresses turn -table rumble, record scratch and distortion, etc., with the many lives is an understatement. It is quite absolute minimum loss of frequency response. Separate low and high fre- necessary that the crew topside be given quency cut-offs. Can be used with any tuner, preamplifier, amplifier, etc. "the spoken word" in the event of a casualty No insertion loss. Uniform response 20-20,000 cycles, ± 0.5 db. Self - to an aircraft that is approaching the ship powered. All- triode. Beautiful plastic cabinet. Only $29.95 for a landing. Definitely, the circuit isn't high fidelity, unless you could think of it in a sense of fidelity for loudness of speech but fidelity here doesn't seem to fit. Also it isn't recommended that they, the horn, be used in the home. The light bill alone would be quite startling, let alone installation charges. All in all, the work in regard to amplifiers ISHER aboard ship is interesting, and we aboard the Leyte are looking forward to a sound system as described by Mr. Deane. As of yet, we are without. Preamplifier- Equalizer Michael E. Hackman facilities are within the reach U. S. S. Leyte (CVS -32) Now, professional record equalization of every record collector. THE FISHER Model 50 -PR, like its big brother SIR: (Model 50 -C) is beautifully designed and built. Only $19.95 Do you think you can crusade for records whose seals are seals and cover one or THE FISHER PREAMPLIFIER -EQUALIZER MODEL 50 -PR OUTSTANDING both spindle holes. It seems criminal to "I; FEATURES pay for a new record and to get a used Independent switches for record and not know it. low- frequency turnover and C. IV. Alexander high frequency roll -off. 16 Chicago, Ill. combinations. Handles any low level magnetic pickup. COOL CATS' Iium level 60 db below 10 my Man, redo my subscription to your crazy input. Uniform response ± magazine! Will be frantic this hitch and 20- 20,000 cycles, 1 db. tie on for a three year drag. Now that Two triode stages. Full low I'm gone with you, don't goof and leave me frequency equalization. Output lead length up to holding it! Keep with that mad "Tested in any 50 feet. Beautiful plastic the Home" deal, as it's positively the most. cabinet, etched brass control Don't forget about us peons who must panel. Completely shielded weave baskets for the rubles just to stick chassis. Built -in AC switch. with you, but who still dig Hi -Fi. The loot Jewel indicator light.

tags they throw on this stuff are the end! L I Z E R E Q U A Write for full details F I E R - E A M P L I Sad man, sad! Got to bug out now . . . P R Dig Ya, FISHER RADIO CORP. Regis W. Ruppert 45 EAST 47th STREET N. Y. Pittsburgh, Penna. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIllIIIIIIIIIIII111111111 ,

JANUARY- FEBRUARY, 1954

www.americanradiohistory.com the Regend

KLIPSCH LICENSED FOLDED HORN ENCLOSURE with complementary speaker systems

Provides "built -in corner; can be used in corner or against flat wall Designed for 15' coaxial speakers, or separate 2 -way and 3 -way systems ... without need for modification One full octave of added bass guaranteed over any commercially available bass reflex enclosure 10 to 15 db more efficient than conventional enclosures; laboratory flatness ±5 db to 30 cps

Dimensions: 29 % "high 331/2" wide Superlatively styled in low -boy motif, gracefully 19" deep accented by a solid antique brushed brass grille, the Regency is appealing as a design of excellence and enduring beauty. Adaptable to the living room, study or REGENCY ENCLOSURE ONLY den, the exquisite veneers are hand -rubbed to a mirror Mahogany. List $200.00; Audiophile Net, $120.00 finish on every exposed surface. The Regency is Blonde. List $215.00; Audiophile Net. $129.00 available in rich mahogany or smart lustrous Korina blonde. COMPLETE REPRODUCER SYSTEMS REGENCY II. Includes E -V Model 114 -A A Klipsch -licensed folded corner horn with integrally 2 -way system in Regency enclosure. built -in "corner," the Regency can be employed in Mahogany. List $517.00; Audiophile Net, $310.20 the corner for augmented bass response or against the Blonde. List $532.00; Audiophile Net, $319.20 wall of the room away from the corner for flat response REGENCY III. Includes E -V Model 114 -B (±5 db to 30 cps). In the Regency, the vital 3 -way system in Regency enclosure cavity behind the cone baffle exploits the unique, patented Mahogany. List $592.00; Audiophile Net, $355.20 Klipsch feature of resonating the back -load with the Blonde. List $607.00; Audiophile Net, $364.20 frontal air load to increase bass efficiency through a broad 4- octave pass -band acoustic circuit.

Send for Bulletin 185 gke.Z74,4DL

ELECTRO VOICE, INC., BUCHANAN MICHIGAN Export 13 East 40th Sr., New York 16, U.S.A. Cables Arlab

www.americanradiohistory.com AS THE EDITOR SEES IT

ONCE upon a time the undersigned editor had a nice The staff conference table has been littered with over- job in a New York office. He worked from nine flowing ash -trays and thoroughly be-doodled scratch pads to five with an hour for lunch. He enjoyed the for weeks. Now it is clean and clear. The decision has company of friends and spent many a quiet evening listen- been reached: beginning with the issue of March 1954, ing to music and puttering with audio equipment. He HIGH FIDEUTY will be published on a monthly schedule. had the usual number of bosses, in common with every Frankly, that decision has not been easy to make. There other person who works in a big organization. Occasion- are many, many factors. Advertisers will not rush to double ally he dreamed of being his own boss. their schedules. Subscribers cannot be expected to pay Just about three years ago he became quite thoroughly $12 a year (although many have said they would!). The convinced that there were a lot of people around who, staff will need additions. Our printer, whose craftsmanship like himself, enjoyed listening to music and liked to makes us proud of the appearance of the Magazine, putter with high fidelity equipment. It would be fun must face a double load but maintain quality. Our be- to share knowledge, and in those days sources of factual leagued circulation department must double its capacity. information were few and far between. He thought about And so forth. Nevertheless, we have made the decision; publishing something on the subject. What? A book? we can but hope that it is the right one. The single -copy An annual? There was a great deal of discussion and price of the Magazine will be reduced to fifty cents. Sub- of advice -hunting and, when it all ended, there was a scription rates will be $6 for one year, $10 for two years, quarterly magazine called HIGH FIDELITY - and what and $13.50 for three years. Outside the United States, its turned out to be a very, very full -time job in a Berkshire possessions, and Canada, there will be an additional Hills town called Great Barrington. charge of $1 per year to cover foreign postage. These With the help of a most capable Girl Friday, this fool- rates will become effective March 1, 1954, and subscrip- hardy editor managed to get the magazine out, and even tions will be accepted at present rates until that time. insisted bravely that it was a lot of fun. Which it was - Further, all present subscription expiration dates will be when he had time to think about it! But long -playing honored. records were sweeping ahead. So was interest in high We don't think we need reassure present readers of fidelity equipment. With four issues a year, he couldn't HIGH FIDELITY that the monthly version will maintain keep up. He searched for additional staff. If he could the high standards established by the bi- monthly. In find a really capable helper on the editorial side, well, he most respects it will be better. For a while, at least, we had to find him. He knew whom he wanted, but it seemed hope to hold the number of pages down to somewhere unlikely that a brand new magazine could attract a well - between zoo and 120 - not that we won't keenly miss established editor. It did, though, and in September 1952 your letters making hilarious comparisons with the Chi- John Conly undertook to share the load ... and in that cago telephone directory, and distaff- reports on husbands same month we went to a bi- monthly publication schedule. lost for five days in our 5o,000 -word record -section. Things have been going fine, thank you; circulation is up, We will also be able to bring such timely features as advertising is up - and, though we've added more and record reviews and reports on new audio equipment more people to the staff, work is also up. more nearly up to date, putting a little less strain on Recently we thought it was time to take stock of our- your patience and loyalty. selves, so we sent out a questionnaire to a cross -section If you have no objection to receiving a confidence, of our readers. They answered with unusual enthusiasm. we almost made the single -copy sixty cents. The fifty - We asked what they liked and what they disliked; we cent price is almost hazardously low, since small- circula- made a mistake ( ?) and asked what they wanted more of. tion, select -readership magazines like HIGH FIDELITY They wanted, almost unanimously, more of HIGH FI- cannot lose money on circulation and charge it against DELITY. More of it and more often. advertising, as the giant periodicals do. However, we Did I say that I thought I might someday be my own owe it to our advertisers to reach new readers, and we boss? I should have stuck to the office job! As near as we think the half-dollar price may help us do so. can figure it, we now have approximately 37,000 bosses. That is all. A great many of you have asked for this. And when they say, "More 9f-ten!" something has to We hope, when we give it to you, you will like it. give - the something being, as you might guess, us. - CHARLES FOWLER

JANUARY -FEBRUARY, 1954 33

www.americanradiohistory.com By ERICH LEINSDORF

WILL WE RUN OUT OF MUSIC TO RECORD?

The conductor of the Rochester Philharmonic, himself a recording artist of note, answers a question asked ever more often as the LP deluge continues.

IN RECENT MONTHS I have read a good deal about to me, too, is such repetition necessary, or even wise? a shortage of recording repertory. According to one Does it not help mislead the public into thinking that writer, at least, there is lively alarm among some record the worthwhile repertory has been exhausted, that lesser - companies over the prospect that they may run out of known works are not worth investigating? (I am consci- music to record. The impression is given that the time ous, of course, of the somewhat broader repertory offered is coming, and not too far off, when all known music will by the small record companies, which print from im- have been put on disks. To the innocent layman, noting ported European tapes, but their distribution systems the monthly thickening of the long- playing record cata- reach only a small group of initiates. At any rate, their logs, this may seem credible, and perhaps a little frighten- problem and that of the large companies differ only ing. To the professional musician, with a somewhat in degree. The large company fears lest it run out of late clearer idea of the amount of music written in the past Mozart symphonies. The small company is afraid it may eight centuries, it is less credible. But the problem has run out of early Mozart symphonies. As conductor of frightening aspects for us, too. a leading American orchestra, I am best acquainted and Before getting into an argument, I always like to get concerned with the practices of the major companies.) definitions and terminology straightened out. I think What are the hazards in the way of "putting across" there is a shortage of repertory only if the term reper- an unknown work? tory is used synonymously with "best seller." In my Just for the sake of argument, take the Strauss opera dictionary, the two terms have different meanings. Frau ohne Schatten. It is unrecorded (at least as of Septem- If I were asked in an academic discussion how many ber 1953) and as yet unperformed in the United States. different works an operatic association should have in Since it is unperformed here, it is unlikely, not to say its repertory, I would count all the scores which, as a out of the question, that a major recording organization musician, I consider worth performing. I would thus ar- in the United States will record it. Domestic recordings rive at a figure of 90 or too. are to a very large extent sequences to public performances; However, if I were summoned by an anxious board of for that reason the repertory complaint of record companies directors, who were in financial straits and wanted their should be a precise duplication of a similar problem in ideas clarified as to how many works could be put in the the field of actual concert and opera organizations. repertory without running the association into bankruptcy, Lo, and behold, so it is. my answer would be closer to 25. Quite unlike the theatre audiences and the book -read- It is precisely the same when recording repertory is ing public, patrons of musical organizations have indi- the subject. What is worth recording? The word "worth" cated over several decades, and beyond doubt, that they is the key. Worth financially, or worth musically? prefer the masterworks of the so- called standard repertory There are a number of works to which both definitions (the "best- sellers ") to unknown works, especially by con- of worth demonstrably apply - but what has happened to temporary composers. The prevailing mood of our lis- them? A single recent month saw the issuance of four teners (Europeans even more so than Americans) is to re- new versions of Beethoven's "Eroica" symphony, bringing hear what they already know. How often one is exposed the available total to i g! (I am the more keenly aware to the modest phrase: "I really am not an expert, but I of this because my orchestra and I made one of the four know what I like." To this should be added: "And I new ones.) Granted that Sir Thomas Beecham, Wilhelm like what I know." Furtwängler and Hermann Scherchen are all splendid in- The pressure to perform. more of the new and unknown terpreters, and that the critics were remarkably kind repertory is relatively weak; it comes from interested

HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE 34

www.americanradiohistory.com parties; in politics we would call them lobbies. In contrast, error of judgment: confusing the "spread of good music" the pressure not to indulge strongly in the new and un- with the "selling of a commodity." known comes to performing organizations in the loudest A good many people believe firmly that we need govern- and clearest possible tones. Cool receptions after per- mental subsidies for musical organizations. Thus they formances are only the legitimate reactions of audience's expect to eliminate all elements of commercialism and dislike. Then, however, come the letters of protest; and shift the controls of music associations from the box - the threats to cancel subscriptions. And, when money- office to the music library. raising- campaigns begin, all those who don't wish to I submit that government support would change noth- contribute (for whatever reason) make out that it is being for the better and some things surely for worse. What- cause there has been too much unknown music. ever government - city, state or Federal - might give the If new music normally met the same reception as new money would be representative of the same spirit that books or new plays, there would be no occasion to com- dwells in the citizens' breast. For one thing, we have no plain about repertory problems. To investigate the causes right to assume that government would necessarily be any of this curious difference of response to known and to more generous than private individuals have been. I am unknown music might be a fascinating study. However, afraid that the advocates of government support assume - this is not the place for it. The results we know. In an wrongly - that any U. S. Government grant will become age when every organization in the musical field seeks an exact replica of a European subsidy. All our other wider popularity, it is natural that the favorite works are institutions are different. By the same token, any conceiv- given as many hearings (and recordings) as the traffic will able subsidy would be entirely our own brand and, ipso bear, and sometimes more. Audiences have widened, facto, it would surely displease the current advocates of there can be no doubt about that. But, as the audiences the whole idea. widen, the range of music is being narrowed. There are other hazards in government support, too - To put it bluntly: more and more people are listen- I would dearly enjoy having a gentleman from Albany ing to less and less music. come to me and tell me that we have as yet no player in I find that often the objections of sponsors are not our orchestra to represent Ulster County, and that such a limited to the new and unknown, but extend even to the grave omission would have to be corrected at once! lesser known classics. For example, when we go on tour Greater leeway to indulge in experiments, to enlarge with orchestras, it is customary to submit to the various rather than narrow the repertory, increased freedom for local sponsoring committees a choice of at least two differ- artistic leadership with less emphasis on the commercial ent programs, thus avoiding possible duplications and end - these objectives are always to be sought - but trying to meet general wishes in repertory matters. I through avenues other than government support. once sent out two programs in one of which there was a Music has always been composed and performed for Schubert symphony, while the other had a Schumann audiences. (There have been brief interludes of extreme symphony as alternate major work. From one city, and schools which considered art only for art's sake; with an allegedly rather musical one, came a morose inquiry: those we need not reckon here.) Public is and always "With so much beautiful music available, can Mr. Leins- has been an essential element. With the enormous social dorf do no better than to give us the choice between Schu- changes in the Western world, the complexion of the bert and Schumann ?" music "public" has changed a good deal. Along with this In such cases I just try to convince myself that com- change, the entire production -end of music has become mittees are not always representative of their audiences. ever so much more expensive. When we consider these The major recording companies have followed the con- two broad developments, neither of which has anything cert standards of popularity and acceptance. This is un- essentially musical about it, but both of which are rather derstandable, because the principle of business is to as- social changes, we can see that practically all conditions certain what the public wants and then to make it available. for music and its presentation have changed. It has been This brings up the somewhat delicate question: how said often enough that the type of patron who wanted much business can music stand? If the future should sud- to see or hear some work and would pay almost any amount denly darken for musical organizations and record com- for that pleasure, is gone for good. Concert and opera panies, it may be simply deserved punishment for a grave are no longer run for any small élite. There is still a good

Four Eroica's in a single month help give people the impression that the worthwhile repertory is being exhausted.

ii i:I 1 \6I III

BEETHOVEN SteNUo`ï

-Hum: %..

JANUARY -FEBRUARY, 1954 35

www.americanradiohistory.com deal of society and of social doings, but without the for- was simple: they did not believe that the market would mer accompaniment of financial largess. Musical organ- take two versions of the same Hindemith work within so izations which want to survive must find wide popular short a time. This may be true commercially. But musi- support. How wide? cally it is much more necessary to get different versions of The measurements of this "width" are the most im- important modern works than to add another Pathétique. portant figures we would want to get. If we make it too wide, we'll be vulgarizing ourselves. If we don't make it wide enough, we'll go broke. WHAT normal relations should be between live It has become a rather generally accepted method performances and recordings, can best be observed in the (though I still consider it highly questionable) to engage field of the Broadway musical comedy. As soon as favor- as soloists or for some special concerts of orchestras such able reviews have affirmed the commercial success of a artists whose fames and fortunes have been made in some show, the original cast goes before the recording micro- real mass medium, such as movies or radio. These people phones and an album is issued in a hurry; many of the are supposed to draw - and often do draw -a "different people who like the show get the records to re -live the group" of audience. As immediate box -office cures, they pleasure of their visit. Other companies (since only one seem to have a place. Any long -term hope that their can secure the services of the original cast) take some of glamorous presence will have contributed to making many the best music numbers and let one of their best -selling new "converts" to fine serious music, is vain and foolish. vocalists give his own imprint of style and personality But the administrative and box office experts in our field to the selections. are worried; how to get people away from their homes It is true that the popular field has more leeway for the has become one of the prize quiz questions of the decade. arranger and the performer and that different versions are sometimes very much apart; essentially though, our argument stands, that the new repertory in the popular field is SIX months ago a prominent French music agent issued on a highly competitive basis while in the "serious" told me that the private car and the trend to suburban field any record company endeavoring to issue a modern living are the two great enemies of theatre and concert. work assumes (by default) a monopolistic position. He thinks that all people who move away from the heart Are there any significant improvements that can be of the city are thereby eliminated as regular patrons. made; and can the cause of all music be served in any way They will turn up for something special, but no longer by putting our heads together? will they subscribe and commit themselves to attend an There is a very familiar argument which anyone in the entire series of concerts. musical world has heard many times: "There is a new The trend of our civilization is surely away from the piece; one hearing is not enough for me; I would have to cities. This goes hand in hand with the growing self - hear it again." This widespread feeling about new music sufficiency of the home with its radio, TV and gramophone. plays right into the hands of the record companies. They Record companies fill about the same position today can turn the tables (no pun intended) and instead of that music publishing houses did in the nineteenth cen- following actual performances they can lead the way and tury. Then the people who had heard a Chopin ballad or a let the actual concert performance follow. Freischutz performance or a Mendelssohn symphony would The case of Maggie Teyte proved that recordings can buy the music at the store; to recapture the delight of the "make" a name for an artist; so why not for a work as well? evening when the favored work had been heard and en- Such musical leadership by the record companies could joyed. Today their modern counterparts go and purchase start rather modestly and shrewdly. As it is now, the pair- the records. Most of these purchasers have a long way to ing of several compositions on one record or in one album go until their shelves are full of the "standard repertory." is designed to secure maximum sales for some and mini- But unless their curiosity increases, we can easily see the mum sales for others. Why must the first Beethoven shadow ahead. symphony take up the spare side, left after the Ninth If and when a new or unknown work is recorded there has been recorded? Would anybody refuse to buy the seems to be no room for competition. Some time ago record if a suite by Bartok were to make up the last side? one of our soloists (with the Rochester Philharmonic) Or, to speak of the opposite system: is it terribly clever to was to record a work by Hindemith; details were being issue on one LP record the Black Maskers suite by settled, the recording to follow on the morrow of the Sessions, the Third Symphony by Roy Harris and the Fes- concert performance and everything seemed in the best tival Overture by W. Schuman? shape. Then, one month before the planned recording The next, and more ambitious, step would be the re- session, the work appeared in another firm's catalog, im- cording of works as yet unperformed. Works should be ported from Europe. The soloist brought the recording chosen by agreement with orchestra conductors. It might to my house one night and he fairly gloated over the be best if several orchestras would plan to perform the prospect of how much better we would do the work; same new works, especially during the trial period of (it was not a good recording, indeed.) I was glum and such a new idea as this; let us specifically assume that had a distinct feeling that we wouldn't do the recording 24 orchestras agree to perform a total of 16 new works at all. I forgot what the exact excuse of the recording during the coming season. (Each orchestra will do an company was for cancelling the session; but the real reason average Continued on page rr4

HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE 36

www.americanradiohistory.com by CHARLES FOWLER

Three years ago, fidelity -semantics were simple: either a set was hi or it was lo. Now commercialism has created borderline cases. Novices ask "How do I know if it's hi -fi ?" Herewith, a harassed editor tries to answer.

NOT LONG AGO, we were avidly discussing with a center might overhear a conversation along these lines: group of audiophiles the problem of defining "high fidel- Brain to right ear: Roger. What's your station' number? ity," when a voice in the background was heard to mutter Ear to brain: Station 2,874. softly, "I wish someone would explain, calmly, how sound Brain to body: That's about a thousand cycles, couple gets reproduced. Then maybe I could understand what of octaves above middle C. 'high' and 'fidelity' mean." Brain to left ear: You're coming in weak and out of We have been thinking about that ever since. The more sync, just a bit behind the right ear. we think about it, the more we feel that the voice in the Brain to neck muscles: We're picking up the noise out background was that of wisdom. Maybe we have all of sync. Twist head to right a bit ... hold it! Good! been worrying too much about the what, not enough Perfect synchronization. Sound must be coming from a about the why and how. If we understand the why and source twenty feet to starboard. (This bit of the conversa- how, the what may well become obvious. tion shows how we determine the location of a sound, We are, of course, now about to undertake an obviously and helps explain binaural or stereophonic listening.) ludricous task: to explain sound reproduction in a single In the process of getting up your hand -waving speed to and relatively short article. Most writers take off six the t,000 -cycle mark, you may well have observed a couple months and produce a book, which normally carries an of other sound phenomena. For one thing, to exercise your apologetic preface about how inadequately the subject muscles you might have picked up a piece of stiff card- matter has been covered because the publisher only al- board or plywood, say about to by zo inches. If, with lowed the author 700 pages. Nevertheless .. . this in your hand, you waved your arm 20 cycles per First, please hold your hand out in front of you, at second, you might have heard a low thrumming noise. arm's length, palm outstretched and vertical. Now wave it That's about as low- pitched a sound as a human can hear, back and forth. Increase the speed until you complete and lower than any created by musical instruments except t,000 cycles per second, a cycle being from extreme left, in the case of a few huge organs which have pipes which to right, and back to left (or vice versa). If you can do produce 16 -cycle "sound" - and we put the word in this, you (a) will be an immediate and overwhelming quotation marks on purpose because it's more feel than success on the "Toast of the Town" television program, sound. (b) will have produced a whistling sound, and (c) will As your arm- waving proficiency increased, you prob- have demonstrated that sound is air in motion. It is ably noticed something else: at some point, you could not your hand which produces the sound, but its effect wave your hand 200 times per second, thereby producing on the air. As your hand moves, air particles are compressed a sound of lowish pitch, just below middle C on the piano in front of it and rarified behind it. As your hand moves in (256 cycles per second). Later, you could do 400 waves the other direction, of course, the situation is reversed, and the sound produced was exactly one octave higher so that on each side of your hand the air is alternately than when you were not so adept and could only wave compressed and rarified. zoo cycles per second. Since sound travels through the air at about 1,13o feet Since waving your hand t,000 times a second is guaran- per second, it would be but a fraction of a second before teed to get you on television, there is little doubt that you the air waves, created by the motion of your hand, would impinge on your eardrums, making them vibrate and The "station" number is our assumption of what the brain control center might call one of the cable of nerve fibers - some 4,000 of them - which run from the inner ear to the brain. According to Olson in "Musical Engineer- relay the message to your brain, "Hey, there's a noise ing," these nerve fibers are frequency sensitive and spread out along mem- brane of the inner ear. We determine frequency or pitch according to which outside." nerve is excited by the sound. To complete the story of the nerve fibers: each of the 4,000 is enclosed in a sheath, like an insulated wire, and all 4,000 are At this point, an eavesdropper at the brain control bundled together into cable just over one millimeter in diameter!

JANUARY- FEBRUARY, t954 37

www.americanradiohistory.com stopped your exercises at this point and never went on to make the stylus vibrate, which in turn cuts grooves on a hear the high squeal of io,000 waves, or cycles, per second, master disk. In tape or wire recording, the magnetic nor to discover that somewhere between l S,000 and 20,000 recording head parallels, in its function, the pickup. cycles you hadn't heard anything. You would have, so In the reproducing chain, the last link is either a pair to speak, run out of hearing, since humans can't hear much of headphones (rare indeed, nowadays!) or one or more above 18,000 cycles or so - and the figure gets a lot lower loudspeakers. In the case of loudspeakers, the electrical as we grow older. currents "vibrate" the cone of the speaker, thus creating This may seem to be a lot of hand -waving over a small sound. matter, but it is essential to convey certain basic concepts. If you want to let your fancy fly away for a moment, First, sound is, essentially, air in motion; specifically, and go back to that hand -waving stunt we discussed rapidly- moving variations in air pressure. Second, the earlier, you can imagine yourself wearing a pair of head- frequency of the air waves determines their pitch. Third, phones. Your eardrums pick up the sound, your brain doubling the frequency increases the pitch one octave. controls or directs it, your muscles amplify it, and your Fourth, the range of human hearing is from 20 to 18,000 hand acts as a loudspeaker cone, producing - by dis- cycles, at its best. In this connection, a fifth point: even turbing the air - sound. Nature, who assembled those 4,000 nerve fibers into a Before we go on to the home music reproducing sys- one -millimeter cable, cannot do it exactly the same every tem, let's digress - and keep this chain in tact. In the time. Therefore, human hearing varies considerably from broadcasting studio, sound is picked up by a microphone one person to another. Sixth, as we grow older, our hear- (or from a record or from tape) and impressed upon a radio ing abilities change. Seventh, the palm of your hand wave, either by the frequency modulation (FM) method was not big enough to produce sound below certain or by the amplitude modulation (AM) method. The frequencies; you couldn't stir up enough air and had to broadcast transmitter acts as an electronic loudspeaker. add that piece of cardboard. Greatly diminished in strength, the radio waves are picked Now, with these basic concepts in mind, we can move up by your FM or AM tuner, strengthened somewhat, and over into the electronic field and see what happens to the radio part of them removed - leaving the audio part sound when it gets involved with microphones, recording to be fed to an amplifier and converted, by a loudspeaker, equipment, pickups, preamplifiers, amplifiers, and loud- into audible sound. speakers - all the paraphenalia of sound recording and Now, let's keep all this in mind but move into a field reproduction. of more immediate interest: sound reproduction in the Whenever sound and electricity are to be combined, home. For the sake of clarity, we should here substitute there are almost invariably four links in the chain. They "sound source" for "pick -up" as nomenclature for the might be called: pick -up, control, amplification, and trans- first link in the sound reproduction chain. With that duction.' Some instrument picks up the sound, an elec- substitution, we can repeat the chain: sound source, con- tronic device controls and regulates it, another amplifies trol, amplification, and transduction. Regardless of how it to whatever degree is necessary, and a final device - simple or elaborate the system, these four links are basic a loudspeaker, a recording pickup, the recording head of and must appear. a tape recorder, or what have you, completes the chain. In the simplest table model radio, two knobs represent The fine microphone in a recording studio, or the the chain: the tuning knob selects the sound source very simple one in a telephone mouthpiece performs iden- (broadcast station) and the volume control knob represents tical functions. The sound waves make them vibrate and, the control link. On the chassis is the amplifier link, like the human eardrum, these vibrations are converted and tucked away somewhere is the transducer: the loud- into tiny variations of electrical current. The phonograph speaker. From this two -dial radio set to the hi -fi bug's pickup performs the same way: the wiggles, or modula- 3o -knob dream- come -true is simply a matter of flexibility. tions, in the grooves vibrate the needle or stylus; the The variation of control over the sound being reproduced pickup cartridge may be said to be the eardrum of the is almost infinite. phonograph system. And therefore, this is the point at which this article The next step is to build up the tiny electrical currents can become complex. Just how complex is well illustrated coming from the pickup or microphone to a by almost any mail order catalogue from a point where they can be conveniently con- radio supply house: hundreds of pieces of trolled (in any number of different ways, of equipment, hundreds of tiny variations from which the most familiar and simplest is volume one piece to the next. Yet we can run right control). Then these electrical currents are through that catalogue and associate each amplified to a considerably higher level, so piece of equipment with one or more of the that they can be fed into a transducer. four links. Some of the equipment may In disk recording, the final link is a phono- put all four links into one package; rather graph pickup (of special design) operated rarely, a piece of equipment may represent in reverse. That is to say, the electrical cur- only part of a link. rents are fed to a pickup and the currents Since most writings on sound reproduction start with the sound source and end up with 2We use this term a little loosely; technically it is normally used with changing electrical energy into mechanical mo- the loudspeaker; let's be different and start tion, or vice versa.

www.americanradiohistory.com SOUND SOURCE AMPLIFIER SPEAKER *-14 CONTROL AND

TV TUNER

TAPE POWER SECTIONS

MIKE

with the speaker. Way back in the beginning, we men- wide portion of the sound spectrum - provided it is de- tioned your waving your hand with a piece of cardboard in signed and produced with care. And careful design and it. Let's remember that phenomenon. You had no diffi- manufacture cost money; you cannot expect to get good culty producing a t,000 -cycle sound with the palm of sound reproduction from a speaker sold at bargain base- your hand, but you needed the cardboard for low fre- ment prices. You can expect, almost without exception, quencies. that the more you pay, the better the quality and hence, The same concept holds for loudspeakers. A small the better the sound. cone will do for middle and high frequencies, but a big You can also expect that, quality being the same, two cone is needed for low frequencies. (There are some speakers will give better results than one. qualifications here - we admit hastily lest someone jump Two -speaker arrangements fall into one of two classes: on us - and well get to them in a minute.) The prob- either two separate speakers, one a 12, 15, or even z 8 lem is made more complicated by the design of a loud- inch woofer for the low frequencies, and the other a speaker. The typical speaker comprises a magnet, a coil small -cone or diaphragm- and -horn tweeter to carry the of wire (voice coil) so wound that it can move back high frequencies or, the second class, two speakers mounted and forth over the magnet but without touching it, and a together, coaxially. cone or diaphragm attached to the voice coil. The objec- ,Which is best is primarily a matter of personal prefer- tive is to get the cone to move back and forth, driving forth ence, secondarily of pocketbook. Some people like to have air waves, precisely as directed by the sound source. the sound appear to come from a single, point source; co- So, for good bass reproduction, we need a big cone - axials are for them. Others prefer a broad- source effect; and to drive the cone adequately, we need a big voice separated woofer and tweeter is then the recommenda- coil. This is exactly the opposite of what we need for best tion. Your pocketbook comes into the picture because, if reproduction of high frequencies, which call for small you buy a coaxial type, you buy the whole thing at once. cones or diaphragms with light voice coils (so that the If you choose a separate woofer and tweeter arrangement, total mass is small and can be moved back and forth the you can buy first the woofer, using it as an all- purpose necessary to,000 to 20,000 times a second). speaker until the budget has recovered, and then adding Thus the twain shall ne'er meet, and thus, in the home a tweeter for an extra touch of brilliance. of the badly bitten hi -fi bug, we find two, three, four When we said, a little flat -footedly, that big cones and even more speakers, each assigned that band of were needed for good reproduction of low frequencies, we frequencies in the audible spectrum wherein it operates protected ourself with a parenthetical qualification - and most effectively. that was necessitated by considerations for enclosures. Nevertheless, one speaker alone can cover a remarkably Time was when there were one or Continued on page too

JANUARY - FEBRUARY, 1954 39

www.americanradiohistory.com ofnnM&tkvwk

THE MUSICAL idol of Boston, for a score of years following the Civil War, was not a man but a monster. It was a gigantic pipe organ, one of the biggest ever built, made to order by Walcker, in Germany, for the old Boston Music Hall Association. It weighed 40 tons. Its carved black walnut topknot towered 6o feet high. Its 5474 pipes - including 120 32 -foot pedal pipes, many of pure tin - were fed air by water -powered bellows. "Its largest windpipes," wrote Oliver Wendell Holmes in the November, 1863 Atlantic Monthly, "are 32 feet in length, and a man can crawl through them." Its frequency -range, audiophiles of the day noted, was from 32 cycles per second to 32,000 (!). Its popularity-range was, roughly, 20 years. By 1884, the Hub City had a new musical idol - the Boston Symphony Orchestra. There wasn't, literally, room for both, at least not on the Mu- sic Hall stage. Battle was joined between adherents of the organ and the Orchestra, and, in 1884, the organ was "expelled," as one sad admirer put it, from the Hall. A man named Grover bought it for $5,000 (it had cost $6o,000l and put it in storage. At his death, it was auctioned off to a real gone organ -lover, a wealthy builder named Edward F. Searles. He took it to his home in Methuen, Massachusetts, and there built, just for it, a 65 feet high, 4o to 7o feet wide, 10o feet long, with Above, a tortured Titan sup- great marble chapel, decor as ornate as that of the organ itself. After Searles' death in 192o, ports a cluster of three great a Methuen citizens' committee took over the organ's care. It has twice pedal pipes. Below, organist been rebuilt and re- tuned. The committee has organized occasional con- E. Power Biggs enthusiastically certs, but few people can get to Methuen, or fit into the memorial chapel. Among the organists who played on it was E. Power Biggs, a high -fidelity taps out some thunder for the enthusiast with a keen grasp of what modern recording can deliver. After edification of Columbia Records once hearing the valiant old monster's wonderful thunderous tones, he A Records sound engineers Adjutor The - was sold on the idea of getting them on disks. pair of Columbia sound men, after an exploratory mission to Methuen, echoed his glee. roux and Harold Chapman. The resulting disk (featuring Biggs at the console, of course) should go At their right are interior on sale at about the time this is printed. Biggs, who has heard the tapes and exterior pipe- panoramas. on his own Altec Soo system, says it's a hair- raiser.

www.americanradiohistory.com Greater lore had no man, at least for a pipe organ, than the was his prize acquisition. While awaiting the right moment late Edward F. Searles. The Great Boston Music Hall Organ, to buy it out of storage, he built for it this marble shrine, at Me- in the construction of which Franz Liszt had been a consultant. thuen, . o miles from Boston. Compare grand piano for size.

JANUARY- FEBRUARY, I954 41

www.americanradiohistory.com the Nation's Capital gets good music and .. .

WGMS MAKES MONEY

by James G. Deane

ONE DAY recently a European diplomat, about to the reality still seems each day to come as a pleasant leave Washington after a tour of duty in the U. S., paused rediscovery. long enough to write a letter to WGMS - one of the few WGMS actually didn't start as a good music station. radio stations in the country which is making a profit on It began as a sort of protest against ordinary broadcast- good music. "I feel I must tell you," wrote the diplomat, ing. Washington radio, no exception to the American stan- "how very much I have enjoyed the excellent radio pro- dard, is dominated by crooners, soap -sellers and hillbillies, grams in the United States and especially the broadcasts and seven years ago the domination was practically com- by your station." And he went on to compliment the plete. WGMS's backers, headed by a well -to -do business- station as an example of "the high level of culture" achieved man named Morris Rodman, were somewhat interested in America. in good music but mainly wanted to "lift the intellectual Compliments, to WGMS, are nothing new. Its manage- level" a bit. ment has been getting them now for almost seven years, WGMS - then under the name WQQW - took to and from many persons far removed from the refinements the air on January 7, 1947, with much ambition but little of diplomacy. cash. Its management announced a policy of no more than WGMS's stock -in -trade is good music. Seven days a four commercials per hour and no commercial longer than week the station's listeners are fed a diet of music from Bach one minute, but the problem soon turned out to be get- to Copland - but no "pops." The station's audience, once ting any commercials at all. WQQW was supposed to an insignificant handful, vies respectably with those of mean "wonderful quality, quality wonderful," but it quick- the Capital's four major network radio stations and on ly appeared that quality wasn't enough. In six months Saturday mornings tops them all. The audience extends WQQW was virtually bankrupt. outward to Baltimore, where the complete day's program is As it has since turned out, this was the best kind of rebroadcast: to Delaware and even as far as Connecticut. luck. One of the stockholders summoned to an emergency To the appreciative diplomat, it seemed only logical meeting, a New Yorker by the name of M. Robert Rogers, that America's capital should have a good music station. happened to be out of a job. Rogers, an ex- magazine editor, To many of the Capital's permanent residents, however, who had been on the original staff of Life and later had

President Robert Rogers, Board Chairman Morris Rodman and Longhair (figuratively) disk jockey Stan Hamilton conducts an Vice -President Irwin Geiger check WGMS's area coverage. afternoon classical variety program, ad libbing his commentary. PAUL SCHMICK PAUL SCHMUCK

www.americanradiohistory.com edited the short -lived Click, was taking a holiday after day, but then he would add that the program was con- working during the war for the OSS. Rodman asked him tinuing on FM. And the kicker followed: "If you don't to consider trying to pull WQQW out of the red. Rogers, have FM, you have only half a radio." Around Washing- after some investigation, agreed. ton the phrase achieved a currency comparable with Rogers then pulled a classic coup d'etat. One Monday LS /MFT. morning, at the hour of the regular breakfasttime sym- What happened, of course, was that WQQW listeners phony, the station took a drastic and unannounced step. bought uncounted FM sets. "I'm sure," Rogers says, In place of the scheduled Bach, listeners' loudspeakers "that the reason this became one of the first successful FM suddenly blared forth popular dance stations is that we were able to use tunes of the day. the argument that AM went off the Reaction was as violent as if some- air at sunset practically to blackjack one had come out in favor of sin. people into buying FM." The station's switchboard was sud- Rogers, 40, does not identify him- denly jammed with protests. The calls self as a musician. In dealing with kept coming. Next morning the businessmen, he has found it a wise switch was repeated, this time with policy to be merely a businessman. the announcement that it was a test. His own musical background, how- Which, the announcer asked, do you ever, is considerable. Besides youthful want - popular music or symphony? sessions on the piano bench - which The answers left no doubt. Professors, he now recalls only in private - his businessmen, housewives, school chil- major at Harvard was musical compo- dren, even a taxi driver all made them- sition, a training which endowed him selves quite plain. No one asked for with a master's degree and produced a pops. sarabande which was dusted off not In to days the experiment inspired ANKERS long ago for performance at a Na- Critic Paul Hume, recipient of a famous 5,000 letters and telegrams represent- letter /rom Truma u, does his weekly stint. tional Symphony children's concert. ing a protest vote of more than r r,000. Rogers himself is a frequent concert- Advertising, which had dwindled to goer - as frequent, at least, as his $t,000 a month, quickly jumped to eight times that. job permits. And the station's future was decided. Under Rogers' guidance, while the good music station Rogers' first step after the test was to revamp the pro- has been building financial prosperity for itself it has grams. The next was to put the station - then broad- also been playing an increasingly impressive role in the casting daytimes only - on at night. city's musical growth. The station so far was only on AM, and the logical WGMS (it acquired its present call letters, which stand course might well have been simply to extend this. It for "Washington's Good Music Station," by an exchange would have required a new transmitter, however, because with a Midwest weather station three years ago) naturally the existing one would have interfered with other night- puts its basic reliance on recordings. A staff of three, time stations. The station couldn't afford it, so it added headed by Pierson Underwood, works constantly at sort- FM instead. ing through record titles and checking playing -times in Then Rogers resorted to a bit of highbrow hucksterism. order to fill up 9o-odd hours with recorded music each The station concentrated its best programs in the evening week. Underwood, one of the five present stockholders, hours. At sunset, the announcer would catch the AM lis- is also one of the several featured classical disk jockeys, tener up short by announcing the end of the broadcast having his own weekly program devoted to his specialty

Live music: backstage at Library of Congress, Budapest Quartet Less glamorous but equally welcome to Capital's music lovers are members chat with WGMS announcer and Library staffman. concerts played by catholic University quartet. another regular. PAUL SCHMICK PAUL SCHM ICK

www.americanradiohistory.com - early composers like Rameau and Lully. Another is broadcasting these concerts five years ago, a boon to local Music Critic Paul Hume, whose comments in the Washing- residents because most performances are to turn -away ton Post about a certain young soprano's singing once crowds (some are not public at all), and also to distant drew a famous blast from the White House. listeners who hear them over the Continental FM Network. The station makes a special effort to keep abreast of The concerts are broadcast in full, and great care is taken new recordings. Old 78 rpm's, originally its standby, to keep the sound clean and well balanced. To quartet - now are almost never called upon, and some record manu- lovers these broadcasts alone are worth the price of a radio facturers ship in new - free - LP releases fresh off the set. In fact, to many a devotee, they have made a good presses. WGMS played the radio pre- tape recorder a near-necessity. miere of the Toscanini-Beethoven Ninth Also regular features on the station album, beating even NBC, and prompt are concert series by faculty members performances of such issues as the Vi- at American and Catholic Universities enna State Opera's Fledermaus have sent both located in Washington. These listeners scurrying to record dealers. are also chiefly chamber works. And One of the latter, an emigré English- this winter another important series - man named John Learmont who owns on Sunday nights at the National Gal- shops in nearby Alexandria, Va., and lery of Art - has been tempted away fashionable Georgetown, sponsors from an FM competitor. This series, himself for a Sunday afternoon half- superintended by one of the late Serge hour on which he plays bits of the Koussevitzky's first Tanglewood con- latest releases. Learmont's taste also ducting pupils, Richard Bales, some- runs to the early composers, but his times includes orchestral programs in programs are as likely to feature addition to piano, violin and song Strauss, Hindemith or an acoustical recitals. These also are SRO affairs. disk by Emory Cook. PAUL SCUM ICK From the public service standpoint Learmont also gives a Sunday com- Sates -manager Cavalier and executive nothing in WGMS's operating sched- mentary on the week's National Sym- assistant Terry Rogers grin for photo. ule has been more significant than its phony concerts, for which he is pro- close working relationship with the gram annotator. Incidentally, he ad libs his record shows National Symphony Orchestra. This relationship starts completely and usually arrives at the last possible moment, with the broadcasting of all the orchestra's children's so it's not uncommon for an announced Ave Maria to concerts. Although far too many Washington schools turn out to be Khachaturian's Sabre Dance or something are woefully underequipped with radios, many more equally startling. But Learmont apologizes easily and goes youngsters are able by this means to hear the concerts than right on. At least he knows when a mistake has been the few who can be crammed into an auditorium. WGMS made, which has not invariably been true with some of has performed this service for six winters. Rather more WGMS's less erudite personnel. spectacular, if no more significant, is a broadcast event The station also lists a daily noontime show on which each January, when the station turns over an entire Sun- Mme. Germaine Chambreau, who is connected with the day to raising money to pay for a couple of these concerts. French Embassy, plays songs by Edith Piaf and similar Celebrities and ordinary people take turns manning a compatriots, and a Saturday afternoon show -music series battery of phones, and musicians volunteer performances conducted by Robert L. Green, a local theater enthusiast. in return for listeners' pledges. The election -headquarters And 6 -foot, 4 -inch Arthur Stanley (Stan) Hamilton II, a atmosphere is apparently contagious, for last year the staff announcer, has a weekday afternoon hour called take was enough for two $2,000 children's concerts and Good Music Cafe which offers assorted fare ranging from another one for "tiny tots" to boot. a serial "soapless soap opera" (opera or operetta with Jack Benny, not normally a WGMS personality, helped Hamilton commentary) to elaborate blurbs about some- spur the 1953 one -day campaign along by autographing a thing called the "George Washington Hospital Medical bunch of toy violins to be given away. Another feature Plan." So far (at the present writing) there has been no of the day was a pickup of Conductor Howard Mitchell and jazz, though Hamilton is a Benny Goodman enthusiast. his symphony players rehearsing at Constitution Hall. The Records, however, are only part of the WGMS story. station expects to go over the top on its fourth such The good music station also carries an impressive list of goodwill venture this winter, including another concert live concerts. Many of these belong to one of the choicest for tiny tots. musical series given anywhere. These are the chamber Occasional adult symphony concerts are broadcast, on concerts at the Library of Congress, some 30 of which Manager Rogers' theory that the public relations value to are given annually. Many feature the Budapest Quartet the orchestra is greater than any immediate ticket sales that playing the set of Stradivari instruments given to the might be lost thereby. And the station goes out of its way nation by Mrs. Gertrude Clarke Whittall - the same to give frequent publicity to both the orchestra's concerts instruments used by the Budapesters in their complete and its annual fund campaigns. All this certainly doesn't recorded Beethoven cycle. Serkin, Casadesus, Francescatti hurt WGMS, but it doesn't hurt the symphony, either. and other notables also appear frequently. WGMS began An interesting offshoot of the library Continued on page 122

HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE 44

www.americanradiohistory.com Does Tubby the Tuba tire you? Woody Woodpecker wear you down? Don't despair. If you introduce your child to good music the right way . . .

-?:kEroiouEN tie§Ns at UX.

By ELEANOR EDWARDS

ALL parents whose children have normal record -play- Whether you decide to try my suggestions or not will ing habits must at one time or another heartily wish depend upon your attitude toward martyrdom. If you prefer that children's records had never been invented. Although a passive martyrdom you will confine your efforts toward it may be their fondest hope that their offspring will learn juvenile music appreciation to the purchase, now and then, to love classical music at an early age, a nagging doubt of a relatively good children's record. This involves no as to whether "Never Smile at a Crocodile" is the ideal outlay of energy on your part other than the steeling of means to this end is bound to invade parental minds (es- nerves while the records are being played. If, however, pecially after the twenty -third daily hearing). Even those your auditory nerves are already frayed to the point of children's records which aim to interest the tots in the breaking, you may prefer the shorter but more active symphony orchestra and its components begin to pall martyrdom outlined below. eventually after constant repetition. The adventures of the It is family music -listening which has all but silenced Playful Piccolo, while enthralling to the short -pants set, the little table -model record player on which children's may in time drive papa to the verge of mayhem. records used to be played at our house. This sounds easy A factor which complicates this problem is the arrange- enough, but what it really involves on parents' parts is ment, so commonly adopted, of providing the children the job of combination disk jockey, narrator and quiz- with a record player of their own, of much inferior quality master. You play selected music on your own hi -fi rig, to the machine enjoyed by the adults. This makes the and instead of just hoping they'll learn to like it through saccharine tones of the ever -present narrator even harder sheer exposure, you use all your ingenuity to induce your on adult nerves. H. S. Rummel's article on Junior -Fi family to listen actively and to enjoy doing so. (HIGH FIDELITY, September, 1953) suggests a solution to At the early stages it is well to take a hint from the that problem. In many cases, however, the adult -fi rig is children's records themselves. They usually have a nar- already hogging a disproportionate share of the family rator telling a story with a bit of music to illustrate it. budget, and the only player available for the small fry is But why, necessarily, a "canned" narrator? You prob- the discarded low -fi box. In that case, the sounds from the ably have, among your own cherished records, several nursery record -player must continue to rend the air for a selections of program music. These will do admirably for while longer. And even with more faithful reproduction, a starter. The next time you are called upon to provide I'm inclined to think, the enforced hearing of the juvenile a story for your two- year -old, try putting on one of these repertoire day in and day out would try parental patience selections and telling a little story to go with it. You beyond the call of duty. will be surprised at how much he will enjoy listening for For the older child, of course, there are simplified ver- clues in the music. Be prepared to do it again and again, sions of beloved classics. But even these are somewhat and to be constantly bombarded with "What's happening perturbing to the parent who knows and loves now, Daddy ?" In fact, there may be times the original - almost like cutting the family when you will wish you had left the field to dog in half because he is too big to fit in the the kiddies' records, after all. But comfort doghouse. So the big question is, how early will come from the realization that the music can a child begin to enjoy the "straight stuff" they - and you - are hearing is the real with no watering down or chopping off? At McCoy, unadulterated, and properly repro- risk of alienating all the manufacturers of duced. children's records, I advance the theory that Just a few of the selections which can take children can be weaned, musically, at a sur- this treatment are: prisingly early age, with a bit of imagination Rossini, William Tell Overture. and a lot of time and effort on the part of the Grieg, Peer Gynt Suites. parents. Continued on page r 18

JANUARY- FEBRUARY, 1954 45

www.americanradiohistory.com 22 One &G 7 By JAMES HINTON, JR.

Cool Licks at the U. N.

The minutes of the United Nations, in solemn com- (yes) Russian "bebop" came out as "bebop." Quite likely mittee met, have taken what amounts to official cog- delegates wearing those phones thought that the man at nizance of bop. the microphone had just hiccoughed. But the Chinese Now this is a subject I hesitate to bring up, so soon after translator, presumably a more mannerly upholder of musi- the violent hassle caused in the Readers' Forum columns cal views not dissimilar to Mr. Brownstein's, came up with by Mr. Morris Brownstein's all -out denunciation of what a translation of "bebop" that could be retranslated into he pleased to call "jazz" (pardon, please: "stinking standard English as "vulgar music." jazz ") in all its manifestations - recordings of it, musicians The phrase "dig that broken record" could hardly be who play it, degenerates who listen to it, companies that passed off in similar fashion, so every one of the translators unleash its plague on the public, and particularly maga- took a crack at it. In French it came out as the equivalent zines that so much as mention the loathly name of this of "Look up that old record for me," in Russian as "Find cancer that "like a filthy disease slowly eats its way into that broken record." Every cat will recognize that neither the brain." translation adds up to the same thing as the original; but, Still, a story is a story, and even Mr. Brownstein, the then, "dig" has a very complex and special set of signifi- plumed knight of Borodin, may be cheered to know that cances, not easily translatable into non -bop English at all, he has sympathizers in so august an organization; God and certainly not by synonym. knows he seems to have few enough among the readers Used as an imperative, "dig" is particularly tough to of HIGH FIDELITY. Even those who care neither for bop, explain. "Understand ? "; no. "Observe ? "; no, not exactly. Brownstein, nor Borodin may find some comfort in con- The closest you can come is to say that "dig" as used by sideration of the linguistic problems raised in an inter- Mr. Lloyd means the same thing "get" does in "Get that national assembly by the sudden intrusion of a special hat." If you don't use "get" that way the chances are sub -species of English. that you don't dig "dig." Now "dig," used as I just used It all began when Selwyn Lloyd, British member of the it, means "comprehend the significance of," with the added United Nations General Assembly's Political and Security connotation in a sentence like "I don't dig Bach" of a lack Committee, wearied by the repetitive nature of comments of sympathy for the undug predicate. See? Dig "dig" now? by the Soviet Union representative, Andrei A. Vishinsky, If Mr. Lloyd had wanted to make himself and his on the problems of Korea, lapsed into a jargon far re- figure of speech unequivocally clear to, say, the Iranian moved from the customary language of diplomacy. delegate, he should have said: "May I call the attention "If I may use the terminology of bebop," enunciated of my fellow delegates to the fact that the speech just Mr. Lloyd in cultivated accents, "I am tempted to say completed by the delegate from the Soviet Union, with of those speeches, 'dig that broken record.' " The inter- whose sentiments you must sense my lack of complete preters at their microphones started, hesitated, and hazarded sympathy, bears a remarkable resemblance in both content renderings into language comprehensible to their ear- and mode of delivery to speeches he has made on previous phone- wearing listeners. Three of them, either too startled occasions, and in this resemblance reminds me of the by the excursion of a British diplomat into the jargon of sounds that emit from a phonograph playing a recording bopsters or so thoroughly hep themselves that they felt whose surface is marred in such a way as to cause the no need to find an equivalent word, took the easy way needle to retrace its path over and over again through one out of the "bebop" dilemma. In French, Spanish, and particular groove, thus repeating one particular phrase

HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE 46

www.americanradiohistory.com over and over again -a phenomenon with which you for such factors as amplitude and tone- quality modify must all be familiar." Who says that records - if not the sensation and color the judgement. bebop - have no international significance? This may not seem very important, and, practically All of which - well, not all; just the Chinese translation speaking, it isn't very important over the short haul, of "bebop" - brings to mind the story brought back by since nothing can be done about it. But the subjectivity Arthur Berger, lace of the New York Herald Tribune but of pitch does illustrate one point, and a cardinal one, that now composing and teaching at Brandeis University, of has to do with the eternal problem of setting and main- the California juke box that played Schönberg's Pierrot taining standard values: Hearing is psychological as well Lunaire. "The kids love it," said the man behind the as purely physical, as every hi -fi knows, and changes in counter, "They say it sounds like Chinese music." May- pitch values down the years have more to do with human be that will give some insight into the Chinese equation ears than with scientific considerations. In short: High of "bebop" equals "vulgar music." Or maybe not. In sounds are exciting, and the constant trend has been to any case, Mr. Brownstein had better extend his Bach - push vibration rates up and up and up. Borodin axis to include Schönberg if he wants to have a As early as the first half of the seventeenth century the friend left, even in the Orient. French priest Mersenne was experimenting with the causes Since bebop is vulgar to Chinese and vulgar to Mr. of pitch sensation and the accurate determination of pitch. Brownstein, who professes a love of serious music, and In 1648, he found that the lowest church pitch in use as- since Schönberg is a serious composer whose music signed a value of 373.7 cps. to the A that is now officially sounds Chinese to young Californians, a slick logician vibrating at 44o, and that the secular, or chamber, pitch could probably add a few more statements and prove that was 402.9 - roughly equal to pitches between F and G Mr. Brownstein is Chinese, Chinese music twelve -tone, and G and A flat below the present standard A. or Bach a California bopster. Anybody who cares is wel- In the time of Bach, pitch standards were undergoing a come to try at my expense; as for me, I'm going to crawl transition, for the improved new French woodwinds were back into my cool little pad and try to sleep the whole being made to lower pitches than had been used in mak- thing off. ing German organs. As a result, the instrumental parts to a good many of Bach's church works show a built -in What's the Pitch? correction for the discrepancy, with the organ and string parts (the former by necessity, the latter by habit) scored The International Standards Organization met in conference in a key lower than the wind parts. So you get, say, organ, in London during the fall just past and agreed on a uniform string, and vocal parts in C and wind parts in D, with the standard of pitch based on a vibration rate of 440 cycles exact keys used being determined by the particular organ per second for the note A on the treble staff - the A for which the work was composed. Since organs of the above middle C, that is, on the piano keyboard. It may period were not ordinarily built to equal temperament, the seem odd that the question of pitch came up for con- need to compose in practicable keys complicated both sideration at all, since most of the nations of the world Bach's problem and the problem of figuring out, ex port already followed, at least nominally, the standard set. It facto, just what pitch values he had in mind for which did, though, and the ISO decision was accompanied by compositions. a stern resolution that all musical instruments should be The pitch problem is easier with Handel, who was born manufactured so that they "are capable of being tuned in the same year as Bach, since he spent most of his creative in accordance with the standard frequency of 440." life in England and left to posterity a tuning fork he had Pitch, apparently, is still, as it always has been, one of used during those years. This fork gives off an A of 422 those troublesome matters that everyone has ideas about vps -plus, and since it is known that Mozart's piano was but that nobody seems able to do anything about - like tuned to an A of 421.6 vps, the usual assumption is that weather and chicken -pox, love and migraine headaches. composers in the eighteenth century thought of their Conferences of scientists and musicians and statesmen music as being performed at an A value of between 415 may meet, discuss, weigh, and render decisions; but when and 43o vps. they have finished, the problem is no more solved than if they had never known it was there. Theoretically, or ideally, pitch should be the same as frequency of vibration, and physicists would be very WITH the nineteenth century - and the end of the Age happy, no doubt, if it were. You can define frequency of Reason, if that has anything to do with the case - pitch exactly, and restrictively, as "the number of vibrations began to rise. In 1813 the London Philharmonic was using per second a described by sounding body" - that is, by an official A of 423.7 vps. Then it bounced up to 452.5, string struck the by the hammer of a piano or the air column relented to 433 in 1826, and zoomed up again to 455 within vibrating in an organ pipe. And in general the numerical the next twenty years. In this country, concert pitch reached value of frequency will be the same as that of pitch - but even higher - 461.6 vps. not always, for pitch is what the ear hears, and it has The main reason behind this tendency to push pitches been shown that the position on the scale to which the up to the sky seems to have been the same one that impels hearing human animal assigns a given musical sound is some people to turn the treble up when they play records: not necessarily the position indicated by its frequency, The higher it is, the more Continued on page 128

JANUARY- FEBRUARY, 1954 47

www.americanradiohistory.com -Harpsichordist aynov)g the, su/SBLE INUNITERS

The author of thi :vignette, well -known to by FERNANDO VALENTI Scarlatti and Bach enthusiasts, hadn't bought a disk since he started making them. Recently he de ci d ed t o go shopping .. .

IT WAS quite recently that I walked into one of New spoke to him were relatively small, so, at the risk of pre- York's largest and most famous record stores for the cipitating a rather tense situation, I walked over to him first time. Of course, I knew the establishment by repu- and asked him what he was doing. He regarded me for tation but, not having been a frequenter of such places a moment as if I were a recently arrived resident of one since the early days of World War II, my visit there was of the volcanic craters of the moon and, speaking rather something of an adventure. I say "adventure" because it curtly, informed me that he was "looking for bubbles." appears that the record selling business has changed I frankly saw no reason to prolong a conversation that had much since I was a collector years ago. It was quite an started on those lines and I smiled vapidly and turned experience for me to see it anew. away. I remember buying records in a cozy little shop with Also, among hundreds of people milling about the thick, luxurious, wall -to -wall carpeting and sound -proofed counters, I spotted a very intense looking young lady with listening booths with everything but hot and cold running a flexible ruler measuring a phonograph record at its water, where one could dawdle for hours and not even radius and jotting down whatever statistics she had gleaned buy a needle. This statement dates me and, in connec- into a little black pad. I decided not to question her tion with buying records, identifies me as practically pre- about this, firstly, because I had no desire to interrupt historic. The game is not usually played that way any her researches, and secondly, because I did not want to more. The little shops have been replaced by huge record run the risk of her telling me that she was toasting marsh- emporiums with hundreds of people scrounging among mallows or something. thousands of records on dozens of shelves! The very char- Deeper in the turmoil I saw a young fellow of about acter of record -collecting has changed radically from an college age sitting on the floor surrounded with a dozen easy -going, leisurely hobby to a strenuous and hectic or so albums of some operatic recording or other. All profession. Frantic store clerks serving a turnover of he seemed to be doing was taking a record out of one of buyers and sellers that can only be compared to an ant the albums and placing it in another, an activity which colony; I I -year -old children arguing at the top of their I persuaded myself must be quite harmless or the store voices over the comparative merits of two recordings attendants, whose name is legion, would have taken some of the St. Matthew Pauion; elderly ladies with hearing measure to make him desist. aids testing the capacity of formidable loudspeakers; I must repeat that the reason I have never seen such bells ringing, lights flashing, and three or four cash - carryings -on before is that I have not been in a major registers punctuating the enthusiasm every two minutes! record store more than once or twice since the advent of An uninitiated or, let us say, lapsed record lover can LP's and 45's. This may seem odd behavior, from a feel 90 years old in such an atmosphere! performer rather well represented in the catalogs of the I suppose that I am so used to being on the "other recording industry, and perhaps I had better explain - side" of records and recording problems that there is a not that my explanation won't sound a little odd, itself. reason for me to feel a little strange in such a place. I The fact is, I have no record player. To put it more vigor- have to admit that after a half -hour in this particular store ously, I do not and never have listened to one of my own I felt like a complete misfit. records in my own house! This laughable situation does For example, I saw a gentleman (who otherwise looked not exist because of any squeamishness on my part nor is like a perfectly normal person who loved his wife and was it due to any high -flown artistic idiosyncrasy, although I kind to dumb animals) holding one of my Scarlatti records do think that listening to one's own records too often by means of a forceps -like gadget, lined with heavy cloth can be painful in the extreme and is a practice very much and operated by his thumb and forefinger. I watched him akin to sitting in a corner and telling yourself jokes. for two or three minutes as he held the record in mid -air I did, about a year ago, have a small unit which gave and cruelly scrutinized it under several different lights. me great pleasure and led me to begin accumulating I estimated that the chances of his recognizing me if I LP's. Unfortunately, my many Continued on page 112

HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE 48

www.americanradiohistory.com RECORDS

k'ecordsmn

Reviewed by PAUL AFFELDER C. G. BURKE JOHN M. CONLY RAY ERICSON ALFRED FRANKENSTEIN JAMES HINTON, JR. ROY H. HOOPES, JR. J. F. INDCOX ROBERT KOTLOWITZ DAVID RANDOLPH JOHN S. WILSON

Classical Music, Listed by Composer 49 The Best of Jazz 7o Collections and Miscellany 66 The Spoken Word 71 Dialing Your Disks 68 Building Your Record Library 74 The Music Between 68 Mozart on Microgroove, Part V 76

Editor's note: Effective December r, Columbia Walla: La Vida Bréve - Interlude and nism. Yet this very circumstance gives these Records raised the price of their standard classi- Danza records documentary significance, or at least cal 12 -inch Lp's from $5.45 to $5.95. At tTurina: La Procesion del Rocio curiosity value. printing time, no other manufacturer had fol- London Symphony Orchestra; Gaston Pou- The last years of the nineteenth century lowed suit, but some may have done so in the let, cond. and first decades of the twentieth produced interval. Accordingly, record - prices listed in MGM E 3073. 12 -in. all over Europe a flood of operas hopefully this section may or may not still be in effect. $4.85. designed to recapture the formula of suc- Principal interest here attaches to the rec- cess that had made Cavalleria Rusticana and ord's main offering, the suite of five ex- Pagliacci repertory staples almost overnight. CLASSICAL cerpts from Albeniz' Iberia, originally writ- The gods and goddesses, kings, queens, ten for piano and superbly orchestrated by and nobles who had populated opera stages ADAM the late Enrique Fernandez Arbos. Poulet since Monteverdi gave ground before a Giselle does a fine, straightforward job with all the crowd of peasants, villagers, and ragpickers music, and the recording has a spaciousness drawn L'Orchestre du Theatre National de l'Opera, from the literature of post -Zola of sound not to be found in a recent Urania Paris; Richard Blareau, cond. naturalism, and acting out a drama of lust release of the Albeniz suite conducted by and blood drawn directly from the pages LONDON LL 869. 12 -in. $5.95. of George Sebastian, otherwise reproduced with a sensational newspaper story. They de- At a ripe 113, Giselle is the oldest repertoire comparable fidelity. The latter, however, claimed their emotions in everyday language ballet with anything like a continuous tra- has a much more vital, Spanish -colored ap- set to music aimed at passionate utterance dition of performance (La Fille Mal Gardée proach to the score. The individual, then, rather than beauty of line or grandeur of is 5o years older, but its original form is will have to choose between a more desir- sonority. It was shocking, and successful. even more of a mystery); and its title role able interpretation of this work, which is Composers of all kinds bent their personal is the ultimate achievement for ballerinas, alone on a disk that costs Sr. to more, and styles to the creation of operas out of similar just as Norma is the ultimate role for the present one, which contains three addi- naturalistic materials. Yet the verismo move- sopranos, Otello for tenors, or Boris tional selections. I still prefer Sebastian. P. A. ment is represented now by the great Godunoff for basses. The music, very originals - Cavalleria and Pagliacci, by its 1840, harmonically uncomplicated, and D'ALBERT influence on Puccini, and by such contem- rhythmically naive, is easy to pass off as Tiefland porary throwbacks as The Consul. The list worthless. I do not think it is. Once you Margarita Kenney (s), Marta; Helene of verist operas is long, but nobody born make the proper assumptions about it, in 25 it Vopenka (s), Pepa; Elfriede Hofstetter (s), the past years could possibly have seems and is - - not only graceful and Rosalia; Elfriede Riegler (ms), Nuri; Anni heard more than a handful, even with the charming, but very good theatre into the Berger (ms), Antonia; Waldemar Kmentt most assiduous seeking. Who, for instance bargain. This presents recording the score (t), Pedro; Kurt Equiluz (t), Nando; Otto can claim to have heard Spinelli's A Basso essentially as danced, in a performance that Wiener (b), Sebastiano; Harold Buchs- Porto? Yet Bruno Walter refers to it as is aware if not always as as balletically tidy baum (b), Moruccio; Leo Heppe (bs), being superior to both Cavalleria and it might be. I have not heard the rival issue, Pagliacci. Tommaso. Vienna Philharmonia [sic] Or- in which Robert Irving conducts the Covent chestra and Chorus of Vienna Staatsoper; Tiefland, which still has some currency on for RCA Victor, Garden orchestra but in F. Charles Adler, cond. the Continent, is commonly labelled the the theatre I have liked Mr. Irving's Giselle SPA 40/42. Three 12 -in. $17.85. best of the German verist operas, but is enough so that I would want to compare really specifically German only in its libretto. before buying. J. H., Jr. Today Tiefland is more interesting as a type, Eugen d'Albert led a rather untidy life. as a manifestation of a movement now Born in Glasgow, he studied first with his ALBENIZ history, than as an independent, living work father (who had been a piano pupil of Kalk- Iberia (trans. Arbos) of creative imagination. The fact that it brenner and a composition pupil of Samuel tGranados: Goyescas - Intermezzo has been recorded at all is a curious anachro- Wesley before taking to the dance and be-

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toire may find that a work like this sheds be so dry, are warm and moving, in this light on the problems of musical theatre in work. general. D'Albert was certainly no fool, and After listening to this record, it occurred near -misses such as his are often more in- to the reviewer that, at no point had he been triguing than the routine productions of aware of any shortcomings in the perform- great masters. ance or recording. In other words, both The SPA performance is always competent were such as to allow the music to come and often somewhat more. The principals - through in all its beauty. What greater Margherita Kenney, Waldemar Kmentt, praise could be given to a performance? and Otto Wiener - all have good voices A special nod should be made in the direc- and use them with intelligence and dramatic tion of the bass soloist, for the artistry dis- force, and F. Charles Adler conducts with played in his handling of the very difficult control and spirit. The engineering is close - florid passages. One is grateful, also, for to on the voices, but quite clean, lifelike, such authentic touches as the inclusion of and prevailingly well balanced. J. H., Jr. the oboe d'amore and the viola da gamba, which, besides being musicologically ac- BACH curate, add to the sensuous beauty of the Chaconne from Partita for Violin No 2 in music. D. R. D Minor (trans. Segovia) BACH Lute Prelude for Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, in D Minor Courante from Suite for 'Cello No 3 in C Major (trans. Segovia) Transcriptions For Piano (arr. by Wilhelm Kempff the romantic approach Sarabande and Bourrée from Suite for Kempff): helped Schumann more than it did Bach. Lute No. r in E Minor Organ preludes Nun komm' der Heiden No. Fugue from Sonata for Violin r in G Heiland, Befehl du deine Wege, In dulci coming a ballet master) and then attended Minor (trans. Segovia) jubilo, and Nun freut euch, liebe Christen what is now the Royal College on Music, Andrés Segovia, guitar. g'mein; Jesu, joy of man's desiring; Sleepers later studying with Liszt and becoming a awake!; Siciliano from Flute Sonata No. 2, in Preludes and Fugues in A Minor, A Major peripatetic piano virtuoso, acquiring and E Flat. C Major disposing of some seven wives before dying and Wilhelm Kempff, piano. in Latvia in 1932. Insofar as he could be Carl Weinrich, organ. LONDON LL 791. I2 -in. 12, 25 min. $5.95. said to have a nationality he was German, MGM E 3015. 12-in. $4.85. by choice; his music, however, is eclectic. Mr. Kempff s romanticized Bach lures the He composed Tiefland in time for it to From the somewhat antiquated sound of the ear with some melting pianism and repels from the splicing gaps in the have its premiere in 1903, basing it on (or recording, and the mind with some gaudy dynamics and I judge that all these works were rather setting it to a translation of) a drama Chaconne, oddities of transcription. His conception of from the old Musicraft 78 rpm disks. by one Angel Guimera. The story, briefly, dubbed the Fantasy, dull at the outset and haunting Perhaps this is the best the engineers could concerns a young shepherd named Pedro in its final measures, lacks over -all coherence, under the circumstances, but it is a pity, who lives by a glacier in the Pyrenees, a do but then so do other recorded versions of Weinrich give some girl named Marta who lives in the lowland for both Segovia and this problematic work. The fugue is another here. Hearing the (hence the title), and a village landlord fine interpretations matter, and Mr. Kempff paces it well from is a novel and most named Sebastiano. Sebastiano picks Pedro Chaconne on the guitar start to finish. In the transcriptions the rewarding experience; there are, in fact, as a suitable husband for Marta, the point of gauge of his mild excesses is the Siciliano, I think it sounds better on this the arrangement being that Marta is to con- times when which for him is a melancholy song, beauti- than on the violin. There is tinue her previous function as whore to instrument ful in effect. Dinu Lipatti, playing the same some erroneous information in the notes Sebastianó s animal lust. Pedro and Marta arrangement for Columbia, keeps the work the labels, some of which has been deviate from plan by falling in love, and and on quite properly a dance, however grave in above. P. A. Pedro, simple mountain boy that he is, corrected spirit. The piano tone has some of the strangles the villain and bears his bride off woodenness which sometimes afflicts Lon- BACH to a new life in the uplands. don. R. E. No. 76 ( Himmel Erzahlen As such plays go, Tiefland is really a Cantata "Die As an opera text it poses Die Ehre Gottes") BACH pretty good one. Fantasia and Fugue in G Minor ("Great") of too many words. The result Hilde Roessel the difficulty Magda Laszlo, soprano; (Bach -Liszt) is a in which the dialogue is mostly Munteanu, tenor; score Majdan, contralto; Petre Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C Major very well set, too, from the set - and Richard Standen, bass; Akademiechor Or- (Bach-Busoni) standpoint of natural rhythms and inflec- the Vienna State Opera; Hermann chestra of Prelude and Fugue in D Major (Bach- in a kind of through- composed, tions - Scherchen, cond. Busoni) quasi- melodic parlando, with the orchestra WESTMINSTER WI. 5201. 12 -in. $5.95. Fugue in D Minor (Bach- for sustained sub -vocal Toccata and used as a vehicle Sandor) melodic flow and violent, ejaculatory com- At the risk of sounding somewhat heretical, Prelude and Fugue in A Minor (Bach- ment except when an occasional long speech this reviewer must confess that, in the course Bach cantatas, he oc- Liszt) takes on the character of an aria. You of listening to many some leave him less could say the same of Tosca, too, but Puc- casionally finds that Gyorgy Sandor, piano. or cini had more interesting musical ideas and than enthusiastic. Not that he's jaded - COLUMBIA ML 4684. I2 -in. $5.95. Bach. But, speaking realistically, was a more adroit theatrical craftsman. doesn't like These are transcriptions of five of Bach's Eclectic though he was, d'Albert made isn't it inevitable that of the 25o cantatas some them must most popular organ compositions. It must negligible use of local color in the form of that Bach composed, of uninspired, be stated immediately that, to this re- musical Spanishisms; the opera could as have been slightly routine and viewer's mind, Mr. Sandor's transcription of easily be set in Switzerland. But some of even though technically competent? a such as this the famous Toccata and Fugue in D Minor the mood painting - in style more Vien- Then, along comes cantata sheer beauty, expressiveness is a distinct improvement over the one by nese- romantic than anything else, is someone, which, for to a reviewer the Taussig, which has enjoyed such a vogue times very effective perhaps most notably and exhilaration, recalls - discovered with pianists. It is cleaner, and without in differentiating between the clean moun- excitement he felt when he first Brahms First the massive doublings that made Taussig's tain life and the evil of the tiefland village. Beethoven's "Eroica" and the to end, the so turgid. It would be rash and misleading to recom- Symphony! From beginning the joyous The performances are all musicianly and mend Tiefland without reservation as either work is a gem, whether it be section for the four soloists, chorus technically secure. In the wonderful Toc- good music or a neglected theatre master- opening the very moving cata, Adagio and Fugue in C Major, the piece. Nevertheless, those whose appetite and orchestra combined, solo, or the virtuosic bass solo. pianist's phrasing presents the fugue sub- for opera is healthy and whose budgets contralto frequently ject in what is, to me, a new light. Its permit them to explore byways of the reper. Even the recitatives, which can HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE 50

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validity, however, is not in the least dimin- Tempo -wise, Grossmann's interpretation The brilliant young Italian 'cellist, Antonio ished by its novelty, and I, personally, wel- falls for the most part between the generally Janigro, gives further evidence of his in- come the new perspective into which the slow, expansive pace of Mengelberg, and terpretive versatility and artistic taste in theme has been placed. the faster, almost streamlined speed of setting forth these marvelously inventive The recording was obviously made in a Scherchen. In fact, an interesting insight suites. He strikes a perfect balance between large place, so that the piano seems to be in into the approaches of the three men can subtle details of phrasing and maintenance the acoustical setting of a concert hall. D. R. be had by playing just the opening chorus of a basic dance rhythm in each movement. in the three versions, one after another. In Stylistically, this disk is worthy of favorable BACH view of the tremendous difference between comparison with the old Casals recordings Saint Matthew Passion the exceedingly slow tempo of Mengel - for RCA Victor: in most instances Janigro Karl Erb, tenor (Evangelist); Willem Ravelli, berg and the equally fast pace of Scherchen, appears to follow the older master's pattern bass (Christ); Jo Vincent, sop; Ilona Durigo, it takes an effort to realize that they are of bowing and phrasing. As is usual with alto; Luis van Tulder, tenor; Herman Schey, playing the same music! Janigro records, the reproduction is im- bass; the Amsterdam Toonkunstchoir and Aside from matters of tempo alone, Gross - pressively faithful. P. A. the Boys' Choir "Zanglust ". mann's reading seems to stress the dramatic The Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amster- aspects of the work. Scherchen, on the BARTOK dam; Willem Mengelberg, cond. other hand, seems to emphasize the purely Concerto for Orchestra COLUMBIA SL -179. Three t2 -in. musical values. Grossmann's forces give Philharmonia Orchestra; Herbert von Kara - the impression being BACH of somewhat larger jan, cond. than those employed by Scherchen, though Saint Matthew Passion ANGEL ANG 35003. t2 -in. $4.95 nowhere near the size of Mengelberg's. (factory Erich Majkut, tenor (Evangelist); Harald sealed, $5.95) Scherchen's reading makes the work a Buchsbaum, bass (Jesus); Kurt Equiluz, more intimate experience. Moreover, thanks (Judas); Norbert Balatsch (Pilate); Laurence This remarkably varied and inventive work, to the recording, the parts emerge very Dutoit, sop. Maria Nussbaumer, alto. one of the finest creations of a great modern clearly etched, and in the greatest detail. Akademie Kammerchor; Vienna Chamber master, here receives by far its most dis- Grossmann's Evangelist, in the person Orchestra; Ferdinand Grossmann, cond. of tinguished presentation on disks. Von the tenor, Erich Majkut, has a naturally Karajan Vox PL 8283. Three 12 -in. takes time to let the music speak bigger and more dramatic voice than does with clarity and conviction, yet the tempo BACH Hugues Cuenod, who sings the same role is never allowed to drag. From the Phil - Saint Matthew Passion in the Scherchen version. This again, serves harmonia Orchestra he draws some highly Magda Laszlo, sop.; Hildegarde Roessel- to emphasize the more dramatic feeling of polished playing, which has been super- Majdan, contr.; Petre Munteanu, tenor; the Vox version, and the more intimate, latively reproduced on the equally highly Richard Standen, bass; Hugues Cuenod, personal approach of the Westminster polished and absolutely noiseless Angel tenor (Evangelist); Heinz Rehfuss, bass reading. surfaces. P. A. (Jesus); Eberhard Wachter, bass (Judas and The other Westminster soloists, likewise, Pilate). seem to sing in "chamber style," as op- BARTOK Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Hermann posed to the fuller, more dramatic approach Eight Pieces from Mikrokosmos - See Scherchen, cond. of the Vox soloists. Rorem. WESTMINSTER WAL 401. Four 12 -in. A similar difference shows up in the treat- BEETHOVEN BACH ment of the choruses, in which Grossmann paints in vigorous Concerto for Piano No. 3, in C Minor, Op. 37 Choruses from the Saint Matthew Passion broader, more strokes, while Scherchen obtains a marvelous clarity Rudolf Serkin; Philadelphia Orchestra and Chorus of the Danish State Orchestra, of line and texture. Eugene Ormandy, Radio, Mogens Wöldike, cond. cond. Here let me say that all the above corn - COLUMBIA ML 12 -in. 34 min. HAYDN SOCIETY HSL 2070. 12 -in. $5.95. 4738. $5.95. ments are meant to be (to the greatest ex- In view of the excellence of each of these tent possible) an objective report on the Disappointing in its orchestral splendor dis- three performances, (each in its own way) differences among the three versions, rather turbed by the hard glitter of the piano. With volume up, the former is and in view of the myriad subtle differences than a statement of preference. The ulti- striking and the latter trying; with volume in details, one can only "boil down" the mate choice in something as tremendous down, the former evaporates while impressions gained through several days of and variegated as this work, must be left up the latter becomes ac- ceptable. A listening, to a report on the salient features to the individual listener. Moreover, since beautiful largo; elsewhere of each reading. A more detailed compari- these descriptions are an attempt to single athletic playing that does not seem quite at ease, a defect son would require grotesquely more space out the broad aspects of each conductor's possibly caused by placement than is available. approach, it goes without saying that there for the recording. C. G. B. The Columbia sec is an actual perform- must be exceptions to the generalizations. BEETHOVEN ance recorded in the Concertgebouw on In other words, my purpose has not been to 12 Minuets, G r 39; Ronanza Cantabile tape, long before that medium came into imply that Scherchen lacks drama, or that general use - on Palm Sunday of 1939! Grossmann lacks musical finesse. In fact, Naturally, it is not claimed for it that it there are places where each version seems to will compete with the latest in ultra -high- outdo the other, in the other one's out- fidelity recordings, but it is amazing to standing characteristics! note how remarkable the recording is, con- All three sets contain both German and sidering when it was made. In fact, I think English texts, but only the Columbia and it is safe to say that to those for whom the Westminster albums contain descriptive and musical characteristics of this interpretation historical notes, with Westminster's being are most appealing, the reproduction will be the more extensive. found to be more than adequate. These issues are events of first importance Mengelberg's can be said to be the most in the world of recordings. "romantic" interpretation of the three. The Haydn Society disk presents the Both the chorus and the orchestra are large, choruses alone, done in a straightforward and the recording captures the acoustics of and satisfactory manner. D. R. the concert hall. This is a very leisurely performance, with a feeling of "massive- ness." Moreover, the many sudden retards BACH and accelerandos, as well as the late 19th Suite for Unaccompanied 'Cello No. 1 in century manner of articulation in the violin G Major Suite for Unaccompanied 'Cello No. 3 solos, all make for what I have termed a in C "romantic" reading. It should be stated Major that an occasional chorale or solo aria has Antonio Janigro, 'cello. Antonio Janigro: Bach interpretations been omitted from the Columbia version. WESTMINSTER WL 5217. 12-in. $5.95. worthy of Casals - and impressive sound. JANUARY -FEBRUARY, 1954 5 1

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Frankenland State Symphony Orchestra, In the last three years 16 versions of the MERCURY 50022. 12 -in. 35 min. $5.95. cond. (with Helmut Schultes, " Eroica' have been considered here, five in Erich Kloss, It is good to welcome back to records the recent months. Two others exist and it is piano, in the Romanza). Detroit Symphony Orchestra, which reached LL 12 -in. 27, 5 min. hoped that they will not invade these LYRICHORD 45. $5.95. its highest eminence of sensitive work un- premises. der Mark Twain 's son -in -law, Ossip Gabril- Those of us whose files must contain every- Still, there is no doubt that the average owitsch. Mr. Paul Paray, one of the least thing of Beethoven recorded will accept quality of the recordings has gone up. The destructible conductors of an age which the unique edition of the early mechanical two new ones noticed today are equipped destroys everything but conductors, a minuets and the earlier and more interesting with better sound than the majority of their Frenchman of more musical universality, Romanza in spite of graceless playing and a predecessors, although neither has sound as less specific Frenchness, than the role we sound whose brittle brilliance fatigues. thorough or as impressive as the best disks force upon French musicians, gives us here C. G. B. made today, or as the best of the recorded a Seventh of strong assertion and ironclad "Eroicá s." Both are echoic, not deleteri- rhythm, a Teutonic paean to substantial ously for Prof. von Karajan, but with a BEETHOVEN motion. Projected by the boldness of Mer- Three Sonatas for Piano and Violoncello: diffusive arrival in the Furtwängler. In both cury's modern sound, the Symphony has a No. 3, in A, Op. 69; No. 4, in G Op. roe, some choirs lose rank when the full orchestra thrust of concussive forcefulness. For full No. No. 5, in D, Op. roe, No. 2 plays, but it must be noted that the Vienna i; effect the record must be played loud, and horns, so essential to a right trio and a right Artur Schnabel, Pierre Fournier. the exigencies of social existence will pre- RCA VICTOR LCT 1124. 12 -in. 23, 15, vent that effect for most of us. The drums 20 min. $5.72. are notably forward in the finale and the trumpets in the trio, but they are hardly most valuable works Not impossibly the alien to the basic concept of relentless, burly instrumental combina- ever written for this vitality. Details are not missing in the re- recorded disk. tion, on one skillfully tumult, and the strong bass is exceptionally is more vital than usually in The sound clean. The whole has no more subtlety and in no way transfers from 78 rpm's, than the surf when the ocean is violent, of the piano is a little derisory, albeit the top but it has the same kind of conviction. fogged and the huge cello tone occasionally C. G. B. woody. No need to fear that this pianist has been BEETHOVEN No. r, in E Flat, Op. 3 eclipsed by his colleague at the cello. We String Trio have a collaboration on equal terms, and an Jean Pougnet (vn), Frederick Riddle (va), essay in musical imagination liberated, in the Anthony Pini (vo). last two Sonatas, from ordinary considera- WESTMINSTER WL 5226. 12 -in. 43 min. tions of well -mannered playing. Sonata $5.95. No. 3, a true sonata, is played as other good musicians would play it and have re- With this record the musicians complete an Beethoven, corded it, with deference to its unity and edition of the four String Trios of euphony; but the latter works, personal and they have also done the Serenade, Op. 8, former version statements whose simple ideas are violently for the same instruments. A for Allegro, metamorphosed by grotesque difficulties in- of Op. 3, by the Pasquier Trio herent in the untied interrogations of Bee- Wilhelm Furtwangler: his new Beethoven has been withdrawn, and this new West- field alone. It thoven's later years, are re- created by Schna- T bird has bold horns and novel tempos. minster now occupies the The playing has bel- Fournier with a bold acquiescence in will not soon be displaced. its their whims that makes mere euphony seem a deft facility that seems to advance by coda to the finale, are admirably prominent tones the rather contemptible. Much of the playing own momentum, weaving in soft here where most dare not be. Both conduc- of the music as if is rough, the interjections brusque and the ruminative contentment tors are inclined to unusual deliberation, greater emphasis would be preposterous. dynamics extreme; and the extended exalta- majesty but more which can often reinforce Pretty convincing in itself; but supported tion of pure lyricism in relief has a flagrancy lets escape obviously in these "Eroicai' by the sound in which Westminster has of raw romanticism that would hardly be In addition, much of its youth and defiance. wrapped it the best for three stringed bearable without its context. But Beethoven the - Prof. Furtwängler has individualized instruments that these ears have ever heard was consummately absorbed in inner con- with a few retards and terminal movements from a record its appeal becomes im- templation of God, man and nature: fun- whose is momentary and - accelerations, hurt perative. These strings are crisp, vibrant damental immensities which he did not try needless. In the compe- not profound, but silk, aided by just enough reverberation to to diminish or refine. The stunning crudi- editions the Karajan tition of the recorded let their vibrance hang sweetly; and exact, ties of the Fourth and Fifth Sonatas have not the fifth or sixth place, is entitled to perhaps all in balance, nearly tangible. C. G. B. been refined here, and that is what gives the and the Furtwängler finds to or more ahead disk its preeminent values. C. G. B. of it. - The Angel presentation deserves BELLINI praise, for its hardy, dignified envelope dis- I Puritani use of an BEETHOVEN couraging to dust and warpage by jacket attached to a wooden rod which Maria Callas (s), Elvira; Aurora Cattelani Sonata No. 21, in G "Waldstein," Op. 53 inner acts as gate post and backbone. C. G. B. (ms), Queen Henrietta; Giuseppe di Stefano Annie Fischer. (t), Lord Arthur Talbot; Angelo Mercuriali SUPRAPHON LPM 62. io -in. 20 min. BEETHOVEN (t), Sir Bruno Robertson; Rolando Panerai Symphony No. 5, in C Minor, Op. 67 (b), Sir Richard Forth; Nicola Rossi - Breathless, overstrong in the right hand, Lemeni (bs), Sir George Walton; Carlo this tonally competent but miniature, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Eugen Joc- Forti (bs), Lord Walter Walton. Orchestra "Waldstein" is not an important addition hum, cond. and Chorus of Teatro alla Scala, Milan; C. G. B. to the versions available. Eric LC 3002. 12 -in. 34 min. $5.95. Tullio Serafin, cond. 12 (sealed), An imposing performance of broad dogma- ANGEL 3502 c. Three -in. $17.85 BEETHOVEN tism allied to penetrating refinement, quite $14.85 (thrift pack). includes records only, Symphony No. 3, in E Flat, "Eroica," unacceptable in a recording which projects (*Angel thrift pack no libretto.) Op. 55 (two versions) an odd and obtrusive deep bass out from unboxed, no notes, C. B. Philharmonia Orchestra, Herbert von Kara- the rest of the orchestra. G. Vincenzo Bellini was a relatively unprolific jan, cond. composer, and he died while still in his 30's, ANGEL 35000. 12 -in. 49 min. $5.95. BEETHOVEN yet his name has come down to us as the Symphony No. 7, in A, Op. 92 of bel canto. I Puritani was his Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Wilhelm very symbol opera the date of its premiere is Furtwängler, cond. Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Paul Paray, last - 1835, the year of his death and is, some URANIA 7095. 12 -in. 51 min. $5.95. cond. - HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE 52

www.americanradiohistory.com think, the peak of his achievement. Yet it middle of a cadenza that would lie com- at 36). There is a kinship in their music - has never been a fixture in the repertoire pletely beyond the powers of almost any making, albeit this work of Blow's, even if and has not been given at the Metropolitan other modern singer is enough to leave the heartfelt, is a little contrived. But neither since the season of 1908 -09. The reason is hearer gasping. Maybe some day I will be the sorrow of the one nor the merriness of simple: It is too difficult to cast. The so- able to write about Miss Callas without the other (the Purcell works are all in light prano part is designed for a dramatic colora- uttering exclamations of wonder, but not vein) come across effectively in the self - tura capable of picking off high Fs and yet. Sure, she sings in detectable registers; consciously "period" performance of this dealing all evening long with coloratura as sure, her middle voice is sometimes cloudy. well- meaning New York antiquarian group. complex as any in Lucia di Lammermoor, But she combines such a fine dramatic gift It's precious, and not very enjoyable. The and the tenor part lies in wincingly high with such a beautiful voice that she would reproduction is first -rate. J. M. C. tessitura, with the tops of phrases calling be - and is - impressive even when she is for C, D flat, D, E flat. The main baritone not exhibiting her really fabulous coloratura and bass parts are not so extreme in range, technique. I would rather hear her than any BRAHMS but they do call for a tremendous amount of singer I can think of; God doesn't put Hungarian Dances Nos. t, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 breath to sustain the long, long cantilena animals like that on earth very often. and to - See Dvorak. phrases. Just recently has there been a re- In the virtuoso music of Arturo, Giuseppe vival of Bellini operas, and of corresponding- di Stefano sometimes seems uneasy, but the tBRAHMS ly tough Rossini operas, in Italy. This is lack of ease is stylistic rather than vocal, and Lieder (see Strauss) largely because of the availability of Maria he gets through the stratospheric tessitura Callas. without losing beauty of tone. When he The music of I Puritani has not the grave has something like the opening of Vieni fra BRAHMS stateliness of Norma nor the rustic charm of queste braccie to wrap his voice around he Quintet No. 2 jor Strings, G Major, Op. [Is La Sonnambula, but is just as lovely and is at his very best. To be sure, he is no Quartet No. 3 for Piano and Strings, C just as unmistakably Bellini - which is to Bonci for elegance; nor is Rolando Panerai Minor, Op. 6o say that the point is always melodic. For all another Battistini nor Nicola Rossi -Lemeni Sextet No. t for Strings, B Major, Op. 18 that they were first, foremost, and always another Lablache for smoothness of vocal (Schumann: Quintet for Piano and vocal composers, both Donizetti and Ros- emission or seamless beauty of line. But all Strings, Op. 44 sini show signs (great are the virtues of of the voices are good, all of the singing Dame Myra Hess Pablo Casals hindsight) of moving towards the more honest and dramatically right, and the per- (pf); (vo); Madeline Foley (vo); Milton Katims (va); vigorous dramatic expression of Verdi. formance as a whole is permeated by the Alexander Schneider (vn); Isaac Stern (vn); Bellini does not use his orchestra with any- aristocratic intelligence of Mr. Serafin 's Joseph Szigeti (vn); Milton thing like the skill of Rossini, and his music supple, alert conducting. Sound: excellent, Thomas (va); Paul Tortelier (vo). seldom equals the best pages of Donizetti with plenty of space. J. H., Jr. COLUMBIA SL 182. Three 12 -in. (approx). in theatrical vigor. But, as Verdi said, what- $17 ever Bellinï s technical shortcomings may No doubt these records will be available have been he had gifts that no conservatory BERLIOZ singly soon. However, for people with the could have imparted. He simply did not Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14 necessary cash available, this doesn't matter, think in terms of instrumental sonorities or Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Willem for here is a collection safe to buy as such, vertical complexities of any kind, but he Van Otterloo, cond. the first Columbia Casals Festival album genius for writing did have an unsurpassed EPIC LC 3005. 12 -in. 49 min. $5.95. about which this could be said, though the genius that won him the linear melodies -a No. 1 Mozart from Perpignan was close to admiration of men so disparate in taste as Were the sonic ingredients of Epic's Fan - it. (This comes from Prades, 1952.) Most Wagner and Chopin. tastique more sensibly equated, this would fu.nlldable competition to any of the re- There is no analyzing Bellinï s music. In certainly be the finest version of the work corded works collected here faces the Schu- fact, there isn't much to analyze. The tunes currently available. Musically, it surpasses mann Quintet, which has attracted imposing are obviously simple; the harmony is de- both the cautious Ormandy and robust Van talent. However, the overside in this case cidedly uncomplex. Anybody with a little Beinum performances, by reason of Van happens to be the sole LP rendition of the training might have written it. s extremely keen and perceptive conservatory Otterloó Brahms String Quintet, Op. x x t, in one of But only Bellini did. No explanation need moulding of each movement, and his the nicest performances of anything ever be attempted. He was a genius. Take it on ability to weld them into a powerful and recorded, making the disk a fairly safe buy. faith and be grateful. eerie whole. There will be objections, as usual, that The story of I Puritani is basically simple. But where the previous versions were the performers in these works have been Cromwell is in power in England. Elvira, suffused with excellent, and in the case of so impressed with the solemnity of the oc- niece of Sir George Walton, a Roundhead, Columbia, superb sound, Epic's engineers casion (the second Casals festival) that it loves and is loved by Lord Arthur Talbot, a have produced a strangely unbalanced re- has infected their playing, making it dull. I Cavalier; she is also loved by Sir Richard cording, which overemphasises both the think this comment marks the unseasoned Forth, another Roundhead. Just as Arthur top and the bottom, both of which are sen- critic. The hallmark of these performances, and Elvira are (after complications) about sational, but exposes the middle as unbear- of warmly intimate music, is relaxation and to be married, Arthur gallops away as rescu- ably hollow. This surely can't be all that mutual enjoyment. The same atmosphere ing escort to the disguised Queen. It "Radial" implies, and since the defect is can be felt in the old recordings of the Busch looks suspiciously like an elopement, and noticeable in other recordings on this label, chamber players at work on the Brandenburg Forth encourages this idea in typical bari- one hopes it will be rectified on future Concerti or the Handel Concerti Grossi. tone fashion. Elvira goes mad, and the rest issues. J. F. I. They appreciated playing together. And of the opera is occupied with unravelling what they put on records, in consequence, the misunderstanding and restoring Elvira's is something more than a "concert" de- mental balance. BLOW, JOHN livery. It embodies a deeper depth and As everyone knows, madness in an opera Ode on the Death of Mr. Henry Purcell pleasure, exactly what the phonograph was means lots of coloratura, so Elvira has most ¡Purcell: Songs and Instrumental Selec- invented to bring into the home. Why of the evening to herself, with the tenor, the tions fight it? J. M. C. baritone, the bass, the comprimarios, and Soloists, Ensemble of The New York Pro the chorus standing around to comment, Musica Antiqua. and give her a chance to catch BRAHMS deprecate, ESOTERIC ES 519. 12 -in. $5.95. her breath - much as in La Sonnambula, Two Rhapsodies, op. 79; Six Piano Pieces, but with villagers replaced by military men It would be pleasant (since this reviewer Op. ii8; Four Piano Pieces, Op. 119 and martial atmosphere. is a confirmed Purcell- lover) to report that Walter Gieseking, piano. superbly conducted this is exactly what it ought to be, but The performance - ANGEL 35027. 12 -in. 12, 20, 13 min. was by Tullio Serafin and played by the Scala it isn't. Blow Purcell's teacher, also his $4.95 or $5.95. orchestra, has a great deal of vocal wallop, predecessor and successor as organist at especially from Miss Callas, whose ability Westminster Abbey (Purcell, like many Eight Piano Pieces, Op. 76; Seven Fanta- to color tones expressively while in the another treasurable genius, died too young, sies, Op. i'6

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Walter Gieseking, piano. servative in style, is far more than a novelty. ANGEL 35028. 12 -in. 22, 20 min. 495 It is a well -constructed, lightly scored, or $5.95. highly melodic work, one that makes very pleasant listening, especially when inter- These were the first Angel piano recordings preted with the unsurpassed Segovia artistry. I heard, and they provided almost unadulter- The shorter pieces on the reverse side, all ated pleasure, from handling the ingenious featured in the guitarist's recitals, are also double slip -cover arrangement to listening to attractive, and are done with taste. Repro- Brahms. Some every note of Mr. Gieseking's duction throughout is good. P. A. of the best piano literature is here sympatheti- cally treated by one of the finest pianists CHARPENTIER alive in a mechanically superb recording. Te Deum, Marche de Triomphe, Air de Even if there are small flaws in the playing, if Trompette, Ténèbres, Oculi Omnium. some details of interpretation seem better treated by other pianists (e. g., Guimoar Eduard van Beinum: London's dynamic Claudine Collart, Ist sop.; Jean Archimbaud, Novaes, in the B Minor Capriccio, op. 76, Hollander displays a flair for Bruckner. 2nd. sop.; Yvonne Melchior, alto; Pierre No. 2), these records supercede others of Gianotti, tenor; Louis Noguera, bass. threads his way The Chamber Orchestra of the Concerts their kind. Mr. Gieseking For all that was, and is, wonderful in Brit- interlocked themes and Pasdeloup. The Chorale of the Jeunesses through the closely ten's Serenade, it is still necessary to go back a eye, victim Musicales de France. Louis- Martini, cond. cross- rhythms with clear falling to the superb performance of the work by THE HAYDN SOCIETY HSL 2065. 12 -in. $5.95 neither to ponderosity nor sentimentality. Pears and the composer, once available on the artful pedaling in Op. 116, Consider English Decca, but now deleted. No amount It should be specified immediately that this the soft purling runs in Op. 118, No. 5; of vocal ability, and Lloyd has that in plenty, Charpentier is not the composer of Louise, No. 5; the perfect control of short transitions can offset an apparent lack of understanding but rather, a compatriot who antedated his between dramatic and quiet sections; the or temperament for the work, and it is this more familiar namesake by two -and -a half progress of the music however constant insufficiency that hinders his performance centuries. He was born in 1634. And what slow or subdued; the subtle pointing up of from becoming completely satisfying. In a vital figure this Marc- Antoine Charpen- phrase elisions. Op. 117, missing from this other words, good, but uninspired. Far tier turns out to be! His Te Deum is music in is by Mr. Gieseking on a grouping, played better are his folk songs, sung with convic- the grand manner - for full chorus, soloists, issued Columbia recording. R. E. previously tion and flavor. Sensitive work from Burgin orchestra and organ. Moreover, the or- and his men, and the Stagliano horn is chestra, especially in the introduction, fea- BRAHMS beyond reproach. The recording is hardly tures trumpets and drums in a way that for Tenor Solo, Male Rinaldo: Cantata spectacular, and a closer -to- the -mike place- anticipates some of the more brilliant pas- Orchestra, Op. 50 Chorus and ment of the soloist in the Serenade might sages in the works of Bach and Handel. Joachim Kerol, tenor; The New Paris Sym- have helped. J. F. I. The performances are no mere museum phony Association Chorus, Pasdeloup Or- recreations, but are full -bodied and ringing chestra; Rene Leibowitz, cond. BRUCKNER with life. It is all the more regrettable, Vox PL Mo. 12 -in. 36:35 min. $5.95. Symphony No. 7 in E Major therefore, that the first extended tenor solo, tFranck: Psyché - Symphonic Poem despite the lovely tone with which it is in- Biographies of Brahms usually contain vested, is sung so excruciatingly and con- references to this composition, but this is Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam; sistently flat! the first time that it becomes anything Eduard van Beinum, cond. The reverse side of the record contains LL Two 12 -in. more than just a name in the glossaries. LONDON 852/853. $11.90. several shorter works by the same com- Performances being almost unheard of, and The redoubtable Eduard van Beinum has poser, two of which, the Ténèbres and recordings being (until now) nonexistent, Omnium, are thoughtful pieces conducted a wide variety of music on disks, Oculi choral Vox has done a great service by committing this, to the best of my knowledge, is of great beauty. To my mind, these are of it to disks. but his first encounter with Bruckner before the more lasting musical value than are the fan- Since it was composed when Brahms was recording microphones. If this interpreta- fare- passages of the Te Deum. still in his 30's, and at a time when he had tion is any criterion, he should have gone to The recording captures the spaciousness just immersed himself in a study of Wagner's work on behalf of the Austrian master long of the acoustics in a manner that is quite Tristan and Isolde, the work gives us a valu- music. ago. Not all Bruckner is easy to take; he appropriate to the There is, however, able insight into the composer's develop- often sounds overblown or long- winded, and some tape hiss. D. R. ment. We are struck, first, by the "operatic" far too many conductors treat him with a touches in the writing; second, by the CHAUSSON heavy, pompous hand. Not so van Beinum. cleanliness and directness of the orchestra- Poème See Ravel. His approach is full of inner warmth, and - tion as opposed to the thickness of Brahms' he manages to convey admirably the religi- later style; and finally, by the occasional CHOPIN ous spirit that guided the composer. Yet melodic similarities to Wagner and Schubert. 51 Mazurkas; Polonaise- Fantaisie in A keeps things moving. All in all, this is The solo tenor role is an extremely taxing he Flat, Op. 6r; Andante Spianata and one of the most convincing performances of one, in its length as well as in its range. Grande Polonaise, Op. 22 this symphony I have heard, either on disks While he seems equal to its dramatic de- or in the concert hall. Artur Rubinstein, piano. mands, Mr. Kerol unfortunately becomes A welcome arrival, too, is Franck's beauti- RCA VICTOR LM 6ío9. Three 12 -in. 126, forced and strained in the higher registers. ful, richly melodic symphonic poem, Psyché. 12, 14 min. $17.16. Performance and recording are otherwise The only previous LP version of this work, good. D. R. One of the notable 78 -rpm recordings was conducted by Eugen Jochum, was rather un- that of the complete Chopin mazurkas sympathetic, whereas this new reading is BRAHMS made by Artur Rubinstein for RCA Victor. Op. 39 see Schumann. entirely in the vein. London has provided Waltzes, - The pianist has now repeated this labor of rich- sounding, wide -range reproduction. P.A love for an LP album under the same aus- BRITTEN pices, and the results are just as memorable. tenor solo, born and strings, Serenade for CASTELNUOVO- TEDESCO A few sample comparisons indicate no great Op. 3r Guitar Concerto change in Mr. Rubinstein's interpretations David Lloyd, tenor. James Stagliano, horn. (Pieces by Villa- Lobos, Torroba, Turi- over the years. The fire, aristocracy, and Strings, members of the Boston Symphony na and Ponce passion are still there, perhaps a shade Orchestra. Richard Burgin, conductor. Andrés Segovia, guitar. New London Or- mellowed by more thoughtful tempos. The are fortunately chestra; Alec Sherman, cond., in the Concerto. mazurkas recorded in order, Folk Songs of the British Isles it easy COLUMBIA ML 4732. I2 -In. $5.95. making to locate them. Because David Lloyd, tenor. Marguerite Willauer, each work turns up some striking musical soprano. Wolfgang Schanzer, piano. Written in 1939 expressly for Segovia, Mario idea and every third or fourth one is a minia- BOSTON e -2o5. 12 -in. 41 min. $5.95. Castelnuovo- Tedescó s Concerto, though con- ture masterpiece, it is even possible to enjoy

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all two hours of them in one sitting (a pro- This recording is significant primarily from DONIZETTI cedure not recommended, however). The a politico- social point of view; it is evi- Lucia di Lammermoor (two versions) sound of the piano is clean, bright, and inti- dence of the influence of the United States Maria Callas (s), Lucia; Anna Maria Canali mate, but more expansiveness or resonance in the contemporary cultural life of Germany. (ms), Alisa; Giuseppe di would have made it even better. The Both works, are, of course, among the most Stefano (t), Ed- gardo; Gino Sarri (t), Normanno; Valiano Polonaise- Fantaisie, a moody work of intense successful of modern American scores. One Natali (t), Bucklaw; Tito Gobbi (b), Ash- feeling, and the Andante spianato and Grande wishes one could recommend Herr Rothei s ton; Raffaele Arie (bs), Raimondo. Polonaise, an earlier salon work of charm and interpretation of them, but his performances Or- chestra and chorus of the Maggio Musicale brilliance, add stature to the album in Mr. do not measure up to those available in Fiorentino; Tullio Serafin, cond. Rubinstein's extraordinary performances. other recordings of the same compositions. ANGEL C. Two 12 Other pianists will go on recording the Technically, the reproduction is rather good, 3502 -in. $11.90 (thrift pack: $9.90 unboxed, unsealed, includes mazurkas - with good reason, for they are occasionally a little edgy. A. F. - such highly subjective, personal creations - no notes, no libretto.) but this album will provide the measuring DEBUSSY Dolores Wilson (s) Lucia; Ebe Ticozzi rod by which to judge the success of their Estampes (Pagodes, Soirée dans Grenade, (ms), Alisa; Gianni Poggi (t), Edgardo; efforts. R. E. Jardins sous la pluie); Suite Berga- Guglielmo Fazzini (t), Normanno; Mario masque (Prélude, Minuet, Clair de Carlin (t), Bucklaw; Anselmo Colzani (b), Lune, Passepied); Rêverie; Two Arabes- Ashton; Silvio Maionica (bs), Raimondo. CHOPIN Orchestra and chorus of the "Opera Waltzes ques; La plus que lente; La Fille aux di cheveux de lin Milano;" Franco Capuana, cond. Guiomar Novaes, piano. URANIA URLP 232. Three 12-in. $17.85. Menahem Pressler, piano. Vox PL 8170. 12 -in. 49 min. $5.95. MGM E 3054. 12-in. 1 3 , 17, 4, 7, 4, 3, 34.85. The arrival of two full versions of Lucia di CHOPIN Lammermoor calls for an equal number In the kind of strange reshuffling that MGM of Sonata No. 3, in B Minor, Op. 58 ;; Bar- aphorisms: "It never rains but it pours" seems addicted to, Mr. Pressler's Debussy carolle in F Sharp, Op. 6o; Nocturne in D and "The best things often come in the performances on a to -inch disk have been Flat, Op. 7o, No. 2; Mazurka in C Sharp smallest packages." For the bounty is un- transferred to a 12 -inch, with the Suite Minor, Op. 5o, No 3 deniable, and it is difficult to see why any- Bergamasque and La fille aux cheveux de lin one would prefer either the Urania or the Dinu Lipatti, piano. added. The new interpretations are as fine older Cetra to the brand -new Angel, which COLUMBIA ML 4721. 12 -in. 25, 8, 6, 5 min. as the others, the reproduction as satisfac- is much better performed than the one and $5.95. tory, with much less surface noise on the much better engineered than the other newer release. (Incidentally, the record - Dinu Lipatti's legacy of recordings must be and cheaper in either of its two forms. liner isn't sure whether la fille has flaxen near its end, and each of Columbia's re- The role Donizetti wrote around hair or flaxen horses.) R. E. Scott's issues is received with pleasure mixed with hapless Lucy Ashton was a meaty one to apprehension that this one will be the last. begin with, and through additions and in- Lipatti's performances are not necessarily the DOHNANYI terpolations has become a favorite showpiece best, but in a valuable way they are unique. Ruralia Hungarica for sopranos capable of difficult acrobatics. Guiomar Novaes and the late William tPaganini: Caprice No. 13 in B Flat The story of Lucy, who, pursued by what Kapell bring as much musical sensitivity Major; Caprice No. 20 in D Major; La the libretto refers to as an "impetuous bull," and intuition and more depth to their re- Companella (arr. Kreisler) falls reciprocally in love with her rescuer but cordings of the B Minor Sonata, in disks Alfredo Campoli, violin; George Malcolm, is kept from marrying him by. her feuding that are also much superior in terms of piano. baritone brother; who, forced into a politi- sonic values. But the quality of "sweet- LONDON LS 793. to -in. $495. cally advantageous marriage, precipitates ness" attributed by Nadia Boulanger to what is known even in politest society as a Lipatti is very special to his playing. How Dohnanyi's Ruralia Hungarica was written sextet, then succumbs to folle de coloratura, to define this in specific musical terms is not originally as a suite of five pieces for piano- knifes her groom, sings scales for fifteen easy. Lipatti is always the lyricist, with a forte solo, using elements of Hungarian minutes, and knifes herself; who, slashed, gentle, singing touch. For all the light and folksong as thematic material. Later the dead, and entombed, is lamented in two shade in his playing he keeps the music composer selected three of these movements lengthy tenor arias and made the excuse skimming along lightly and easily; there and set them for violin and piano. It is in for a suicide attended by bass and chorus - are no melodramatic pauses, tragic con- this form that we hear them on this record. is too well known to bear retelling. Mr. templations of the turn of a phrase, or Campoli's playing of the Ruralia In fact, these recordings, after 120 years heart- rending climaxes. It is for these Hungarica and the Paganini, on the reverse of Lucy, ought to be cause for unalloyed de- reasons that his version of the Barcarolle is side, is brilliant and sure, without the ex- light. They would be, too, except for pangs one of the best I know. The work, decep- cesses that so often accompany display of sympathy aroused by the plight of pieces. is tively big in format, invites but cannot The violin tone warm, with a very Dolores Wilson. Here a young American support grand -scale treatment. It does not satisfying balance between piano and violin. goes to Italy, works hard under the tutelage Worth special mention is how pleasantly the sound hollow or pretentious as Lipatti of the revered Toti dal Monte (herself a violin wings his way through it. reproduces here. Absent are harsh Lucia of note until failing high tones caused unnatural Again for the above reasons, his disk of highs which creep into many her to metamorphose into a Butterfly), is LPs. Chopin Waltzes, played with mercurial R. L. rewarded by a Metropolitan contract, and gayety, holds the edge in my affections over has this recording released as a foretaste of Miss Novaes' new disk. They are the least her homecoming debut in the same opera - interesting of the Polish composer's best - only to find her réclame muffied and herself known works, and Miss Novaes' seriously outclassed - not to say imposed on - by poetic sentiments, beautiful as they are, Maria Callas. seem a little wasted. Miss Novaes' art, Lucia, like Gilda in Rigoletto, is one of however, has the benefit of full, rich repro- those roles that, originally normal in their duction from Vox, and she includes, where requirements, have come to be regarded as Lipatti does not, the admirable posthumous the property of coloraturas. By this is Waltz in E. R. E. meant (at least now) light sopranos whose lack of power has led them to develop com- COPLAND pensatory technical adroitness at the top. Appalachian Spring And in coloratura terms - for she is one fPiston: The Incredible Flutist such - Miss Wilson is an honest if not an especially inspired, practitioner. Her voice Symphony Orchestra of Radio Berlin; is fresh, clear in focus, agile, and generally Arthur Rother, cond. Andrés Segovia: artistry in a concerto true to pitch; her style is informed, and her URANIA URLP 7092. 12 -in. 20, 20 min. $5.95. composed for him by Castelnuovo- Tedesco. diction (at least for a non -Latin) good

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enough to merit comment. Too, she has natural in some places (Angel puts your ear upon which of the musical works interests an E fiat (if the engineers have not been mighty close to that harp, for example), you most. P. A. twiddling with the gain control) of formid- but the fidelity of both is high as the sky, able velocity; hers is no penny- whistle voice. cyclagewise, and the surfaces are good - DUPARC Miss Callas, though, can accomplish the Angel to the point of absolute perfec- Songs in the way of coloratura bril- tion. I have never really believed what they everything Le manoir de Rosemonde; La Vague et la Cloche; that Miss Wilson can and then say about craftsmanship standards at the liances - L'Invitation au Voyage; Serenade Florentine; and her voice is of far greater Hayes factory. Now I do. J. H., Jr. some - La Vie Antérieure; Chanson Triste; Testament; and coloristic variety. These assets weight Lamento; Phidylé; Soupir; Extase; Elégie. toward creating a vocal character, she uses DUBOIS Gérard Souzay (b); Jacqueline Bonneau, seem, as they should, and the acrobatics The Seven Last Words piano. simply musical externalizations of emotion. Boston Chorale and soloists. Willis Page, LONDON LL -813. 12 -in. $5.95. Her vocalism is not immaculate. Sometimes cond. Reginald Foort, organ. the middle voice is veiled or bottled- sound- Two more songs and this disk might have SOUNDS OF OUR TIMES 1094. 12 -in. 42 min. ing. Some intonations are not quite just. been labelled "Complete Songs of Henri 85.95 But such a voice it is! And such a consum- Duparc," for he composed only 14 in all. mate vocal actress controls it! And what a The celebrated acoustics of Boston's Sym- Yet who does not know at least Extase or That I have never fabulous technique! phony Hall, the two ranks of 32 -foot pipes L'Invitation au Voyage? The reason is clear: it may be heard anything remotely like of its new Aeolian- Skinner organ and a Duparc wrote fine songs. And here they as the ignorance of youth. But passed off tremendous amount of engineering know - are, sung by Gerard Souzay with control tell anything I have never heard anyone of how add up to a super -recording that will and exquisite sensitivity, supported by ac- remotely like it, either, and there are some particularly delight bass -response fans. It companiments equally gracious and musical, oldsters around yet. is indeed an exciting experience to "feel" and reproduced to the last nuance by Lon- Good as Lina Pagliughi is on the Cetra the 16 -32 cycle sound, rather than actually don's engineers. Top drawer, if you care at set, she sings Lucia in standard coloratura hear it. Reginald Foort, the "Michael all for French music, the French language, terms and is better by the breadth of experi- Cheshire" of previous Cook organ records, French style, or simply fine singing. J. H., Jr. ence, technique, communicativeness and again shows his complete mastery of the general know -how than Miss Wilson. But instrument in his sympathetic, well registered DVORAK Miss Callas is, to all intents and purposes, support of the soloists, whose work is al- Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in A with sufficient technique a dramatic soprano ways effective, and in the case of Mac Mor- Minor, Op. 53 to outsing any coloratura going and a gan, quite outstanding. Perhaps equally tGliere: Romance for Violin and Orches- be exceptional sense of drama that would impressive is the masterful balance among tra, Op. 3 in any singer in any age. all concerned, chorus, soloists and organ, David Oistrakh, violin. State Orchestra of Miss Callas furnishes the excitement, throughout the entire work. J. F. L If the U.S.S.R. Kiril Kondrashin, cond. Tullio Serafin holds the whole performance VANGUARD VRS -6016. 12 -in. 22, 15 min. together with the authority born of more DUKAS $5.95. than half a century in the world's great opera La Péri with the spirited houses and urges it on tFauré: Pelléas et Mélisande Suite, This behind -the -Iron -Curtain production is instinct that refuses to - pulse of a musical Op. 8o not so much a contribution to our knowl- always en- grow old, always enabling, edge of Dvorak as it is a dazzling perform- L'Orchestra de L'Association des Concerts couraging, never failing to fit details into ance of violin virtuosity. David Oistrakh Colonne; George Sebastian, cond. the broad framework of a flowing, cantilena brings into sharp focus his complete mastery URANIA URLP 7097. 12 -in. performance. $5.95 of violin technique. His reading is decisive On the extra- soprano level, Angel has La Péri and bold. Display passage -work is exe- less surely. the edge over its competition only tD'Indy: Istar Symphonic Variations cuted effortlessly, yet this reviewer feels in fine voice and on - Giuseppe di Stefano, tD'Indy: Fervaal - Prelude to Act I that Mr. Oistrakh is almost too much in his best artistic behavior, is more satisfying command, not only of the State Orchestra by the depth of the velvet on his tones than Westminster Symphony Orchestra; Anatole of the U.S.S.R., conductor Kondrashin, but Gianni Poggi (Urania), who is bright and Fistoulari, cond. also of the composer. In the presence of so E 12 -in. clear but has a tendency to scoopy, sheep - MGM 3062. $4.85. much display one is distracted from any noises, or Giovanni Malipiero, wooden like Here is some attractive late romantic French soaring contemplation. but a truer artist than either; and from Russia have been of voice music. The gem of the lot is Faures deli- Tapes received s big- scale, somewhat rough- Tito Gobbï cate suite from his incidental music to getting better of late, but still not up to intelligent singing betters that of we hewn but Pelléas et Mélirande the first music to be the standard take for granted. This one other Ashtons. Only Raffaele - either of the written for Maeterlinck's play. Dukas' is quite passable, with solo violin to the rather coreless tone detracts from the fore and brilliant. I find the orchestra Aries "danced poem," La Péri, has a decided second line which includes, inci- good, some Angel - oriental cast. D'Indy's Istar variations de- sound generally but with muddi- the Urania Otello, in dentally, Gino Sarri, pict, within the framework of musical form, ness in the louder passages. R. L. (or tertiary) role of Normanno. the secondary the story of the maiden who entered the K., in case anybody wonders; a He is O. land of the dead to rescue her lost lover, DVORAK has to eat, and even in these days of fellow and who was obliged to shed a piece of her Quartet in A flat Major, Op. ro5 don't set up shop and record LP people clothing at each of the seven portals, until Terzetto in C Major, Op. 74 every week. Otello she stood naked before the god of death. tKodaly: Serenade in F Major, Op. t2 the fact that Angel has pro- In view of The music presents a set of variations in disks an opera previously Barchet Quartet. duced on two reverse, beginning with the most compli- it is fair to point out VOX PL 757o. 12 -in. 36:55 min. $5.95. contained on three, cated and ending with the simple, unadorned availables are opera - Classic String Trio. that while all of the theme. The same composer's opera, Fervaal, (first scene, last act is never, CLASSIC CE 1033. 12 -in. $5.95 house complete bears a strong kinship to Wagner's Parsifal, Angel takes a very few discreet never done) and one can find a great deal of Wagnerian- On these two disks, three chamber works who doesn't know the tucks, but nobody ism in the Prelude recorded here. make their initial appearance on LP, and will be likely to note score almost by heart From the standpoint both of the music since none of these is heard very often in Miss Callas at $9.90, them. In any case, contained thereon and its performance, I concert, each is welcome. This applies or twice that, is no less exciting or $11.90, much prefer Sebastian s readings -a fine - particularly to the Quartet, which is Dvorak's be at $17.85 than she would drawn account of the Pellas suite and a fairly last chamber composition. This melodious equal. Both Technical honors are about animated one of La Péri. Fistoulari tends to score imparts to the listener a marvelous Urania and Angel sets offer sound that is drag the tempi in the latter work, in which feeling of well- being, while its slow move- livelier and more faithful than the Cetra, there is also a bad tape splice. The repro- ment finds the composer experimenting with which itself is not half bad. Actually, I duction is about equal in quality on both a few harmonies that he did not dare use in prefer the Urania balances as being more disks, so that a choice will depend largely his earlier works. Adding to the attractive-

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ness of the disk is the excellent playing and phon from Czechoslovakia, he has lost none address on the glories of knight -errantry in spirited interpretation of the Barchet Quartet of his touch, though with age (he is 7o) his the service of fair Dulcinea, and departs, and the bright, properly resonant reproduc- tempi have tightened. He brings out rhyth- leaving Master Peter standing ruefully tion by the Vox engineers. mic trimming that other conductors have among the debris of his troupe. Pretense or Because of the combination for which missed; the symphony really dances, as it reality, the knight has fulfilled his chivalric they were written - two violins and viola - should. The reproduction isn't really bad, vows. Falls s music for this is economical the Terzetto and the Kodaly Serenade will just undistinguished. J. M. C. in means and completely captivating in its have less appeal. Both composers have ingenuity. At least part of the charm comes managed to get a great deal out of this un- FALLA from the fact that his wit is never either harsh usual instrumental setup, and have turned El Retablo de Maese Pedro (two versions) or condescending, and in his blending of out some interesting music especially the - Ilona Steingruber (s), The Boy; Waldemar fantasy with reality he never loses a sense folk -like finale of the Serenade but neither - Kmentt (t), Master Peter; Otto Wiener (b), of character - or Master Peter's profes- the playing, which is occasionally edgy and sional aplomb, Don Quixote. Vienna Philharmonia [sic] of the Boy's serious re- out of tune, nor the recording, which is Orchestra; F. Charles Leitner, cond. counting of the puppet plot, or of the mad sometimes strident and cramped in sound, old knight's purity ideals. SPA 43. 12 -in. $5.95. of The result is add to the music's attractiveness. P. A. both funny and touching - not unlike in Blanca Maria Seoane (s), The Boy; Francisco feel to Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortilèges. The DVORAK Navarro (t), Master Peter; Chano Gonzalo scoring makes unusual use of wind, per- Symphony No. 2 in D Minor, Op. 7o (bs), Don Quixote. Orchestre du Theatre cussion, and harpsichord sonorities to cre- Hamburg Radio Symphony Orchestra; Hans des Champs -Elysées; Ernesto Halffter, cond. ate a texture that is at once transparent and Schmidt -Isserstedt, cond. flecked with color. Some of the nicest music LONDON LL 778. 12 -in. $5.95. comes in the instrumental sections that accompany the puppet scenes, where there is Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 95 ( "From a blending of Spanish, archaic, and oriental the New World ") usages into a piquantly personal idiom. Hague Philharmonic Orchestra; Antal Dora - Of the two new, competitive versions, my ti, cond. preference is for the Westminster, but not EPIC Lc 3oot. 12 -in. $5.95. by a very wide margin. It has the additional advantage of being all on one side, with the Slavonic Dances Nos. r, 2, 3 and 16 reverse given over to a performance of El tBrahms: Hungarian Dances Nos. s, 2, Amor Brujo that, while it may not be the 3, 5, 6,7 and so richest symphonic or vocal presentation on Hamburg Radio Symphony Orchestra; Hans records is certainly competent, presumably Schmidt- Isserstedt, cond. authentically Iberian, and very well repro- LI. duced. the Maese LONDON 779- 12 -in. $5.95 - Both of Pedro performances are well played, the Westminster conducted Schmidt-Isserstedt seems to have a way with with slightly more subtlety and slightly less Dvorak; his warm, broad and thoroughly vigor than the SPA. Both the SPA tenor idiomatic treatment of the sometimes Regina! Foort: he Emory Cook and soprano have better voices, judged brooding, yet immensely appealing Second and give Dubois' oratorio fine aural excitement. purely as voices, than their opposite num- Symphony, plus London's full -bodied re- bers, but the Westminster singers have bet- production, make this by far the preferred El Amor Brujo ter diction and a surer feeling for the music, version of the work. He also does a highly Inés de Rivadeneira (c) and Madrid Sym- and the really eloquent bass voice of Chano creditable job with the Slavonic Dances, phony; Pedro de Freitas Branco, cond. Gonzalo makes him much the better of the though, for some reason, takes the Brahms WESTMINSTER WL 5238. t2 -111. $5.95. two Don Quixotes. Both recordings are Hungarian Dances much too literally, with- excellently engineered - the Westminster out sufficient retards, rubato and general Manuel de Falla had many more strings to with more spaciousness and sense of actual schmalz. his bow than anyone could guess from ac- performance; the SPA closer -to, with a Dorati's is the twelfth LP recording of quaintance with only the two or three best higher volume level, and razor -sharp defini- the New World, and his sane, well- balanced known of his compositions. El Retablo de tion. J. H., Jr. reading, greatly aided by Epic's wide -range Maese Pedro (that is, Master Peter's Puppet "radial sound," makes this one of the most Show) is one of those singular minor works FALLA desirable of the dozen. Other versions worth - minor in a quantitative sense - much Bréve - Interlude and Danza - See Al- comparing with it include those by Kubelik easier to delight in than to categorize. For beniz. (Mercury), Pflüger (Urania), Ormandy (Co- lack of a better term, it can be called an FAURE lumbia) and Szell (Columbia). There have opera; but it is an opera only in a very special been complaints about Epic's "uncontroll- Pelléas et Melisande - Suite, Op. 8o - sense. As originally conceived, all the action See Dukas. able" bass. Here it seems no serious was taken by puppets, with the singers problem. P. A. standing to one side and participating only FAURE vocally. Since then, all manner of comprom- Requiem DVORAK mises have been attempted - singing actors Symphony No. 8 in G Major, op. 88 for human roles and puppets for puppet Les Chanteurs de Saint -Eustache and or- roles; singers for singing roles and dancers chestra, Andre Cluytens, cond. Martha Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Vaclav Ta- Angelici, soprano; for puppet roles, and so on. Louis Noguera, baritone; lich, cond. Maurice Duruflé, organ. The plot is taken almost literally from an SUPRAPHON LPV 44. 12 -in. (Price not given) ANGEL I2 -in. 4o episode in Cervantes' Don Quixote. The 35019. min. $4.95 or Dvorak's No. 8 is really the one we more knight, resting at an inn, has been invited $5.95. commonly know as No. 4, though actually to attend a puppet show put on by one In Angel's initial set of releases are two 8 seems the proper numeration. Many of Master Peter. This show, narrated by French choral masterpieces, the Fauré us think it his best symphony, and it is Master Peter's boy assistant, has to do with Requiem and the Schmitt Psalm 47. Al- odd that it has not been recorded more the lovely Princess Melisendra, rescued from though Faures work has a good deal of often. As of now, it has four good per- Moorish captivity by the brave knight Don currency in American churches (it is rela- formances on LP, none of them repro- Gayferos. At the crucial moment when tively easy to perform), it is not always duced more than just adequately - though the princess and her rescuers are about to accorded here the critical respect it receives the Bruno Walter for Columbia was, in its be overtaken by their infidel pursuers, Don in France. One writer has attributed this day, considered pretty terrific. Quixote, who has become so absorbed in to the fact that "the nobility of [Fauré'sl If there is a dean of Dvorak conductors, the play that he can no longer distinguish unadorned, self -dependent style is not dis- Vaclav Talich probably is it. His old 78 between puppet life and real life, draws his cerned beneath the seductive exterior of rpm version of the G Major symphony is sword and intervenes, hacking the bad the music." As Nadia Boulanger has still famous. To judge by the new Supra- puppets to bits; then he delivers a rousing pointed out, in Fauré's Requiem "no dis-

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quiet or agitation disturbs its profound interest us in the duller works by resorting nant highlight of the recording. As with meditation, no doubt tarnishes its unas- to splashy effects, neither does he cheapen all Epic issues, the liner notes are highly sailable faith, its quiet confidence, its tender the more rewarding ones, leaving them in informative. J. F. I. and peaceful expectation." A final tribute the dignity of their own musical stature. claims that it is difficult to find any music, Paul Hume's comments are an attraction of HANDEL since the great composers of the Roman the series. R. E. The Twelve Concerti Grossi, Op. 6 Church and the chorales of Bach, as exter- Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Leh- nally grave and simple, with such internal FRANCK mann, cond. Psyché Symphonic Poem See Bruck- stress and fire. - - DECCA DX 126. Four r2 -in. 13, 13, 17, 12, LP of ner. For a long time the only recording 19, 19, 17, 21, 17, 18, 19, 15 min. $23.40. this work was Columbia's repressing of an old 78 -rpm album, interpretatively moving GABRIELI The only other complete edition is Colum- but mechanically poor. Now of a sudden Two Canzone for Double String Orchestra bia's pioneering set, old and rough, by the there are three more versions. Unfortu- The Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra; Karl Busch Chamber Players. It may be assumed nately, I have not heard either the new one Munchinger, cond. that London will issue Nos. 11 and 12 to on Capitol, sung by the Roger Wagner complete the first to already issued in Boyd Chorale, or the older one on Oceanic, con- tTelemann: Concerto for Viola and Or- Ned performances. In addition, there are ducted by René Leibowitz. The Angel chestra in G Major a few disks devoted each to two or three of will be hard to improve on, but it Concertos. these, Nos. 5 and 6, version Heinz Kirchner, viola. the Of does have flaws. The recording-- me- played by Felix Weingartner on Columbia chanically a brilliant one - sounds as if it ML 4676, reveal a natural poetry not found had been made in a large church, for the in any other playing of any. heavy echo suggests a vast, impressive nave. As an exposition of the concerto grosso So far, so good. But the echo plays some as such, the Lehmann records have an obvi- havoc with the balance of sound in the in- ous advantage over all competitors. The strumental ensemble, and the occasional distribution of weight between concertino lack of clarity in a work so exquisitely or- and ripieno, between the group of soloists chestrated is disappointing. For some reason, and the full body of strings, is adjusted to perhaps the arrangement of the microphones, illustrate the interplay and opposition of the choir escapes this clouding. the two defining sections without a pos- Some of Mr. Cluyten's tempos will seem sibility of their being confounded. The re- inordinately slow. Let the carpers hear the peats are taken, and the part of the harpsi- performance out, for the severe lentos and chord is exemplary in its discretion. adagios make their point in a sustained Without exception, the Concertos are spirit of devotion. The result is an act of Willem Van Otterloo: from Epic comes played more slowly than we customarily worship rather than a concert performance. the best pair of Peer Gynts on disks. hear those that we ever do hear. This It should be added that the singers and in- heightens stateliness and gives relief to the strumentalists are first -rate, with Miss An- The Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra; Karl quicker movements, but injects into many gelici's pure -voiced Pie Jesu a notable con- Munchinger, cond. sections a gravity that does not seem in- R. E. tribution. LONDON LS -686. to -in. $4.95- herent. The Boyd Ned performances have a much greater variety of tempo, and are FRANCAIX Fine, sensitive performances of works that inclined to play fast where others do not, Quintette a Vent are certainly off the beaten path. The often without audible advantage. Still this tNielsen: Kvintet, Opus 43 Gabrieli works, besides demonstrating the speed, and the omission of repeats, has antiphonal effects that were used in the early New Art Wind Quintet. enabled London to put the Ned versions in 17th century, also fall gratefully on the ears. a CLASSIC EDITIONS CE 2001. I2 -in. $5.95. consecutive pairs of to -inch records, con- The Telemann Concerto is a satisfying venience impossible to both Decca and The Francaix is in the witty modern tradi- composition by a man who enjoyed much Columbia, which have been compelled to tion of classicism with wrong notes, the greater popularity in his own day than did spread several concertos sectionally in Nielsen in the academic tradition of classi- his contemporary, Bach. The soloist plays order to obviate waste of surface. cism with most of the notes in the right with musical finesse and with a warm, Sonically, Decca has more clarity and is places. Both works are pleasant, but neither round tone. D. R. more incisive than the first six of the Neel is exceptionally impressive. The recording edition, but the four later Londons have an is adequate. A. F. GRANADOS appealing bloom which gives them first Goyescas - Intermezzo - See Albeniz. consideration. In the three extensive series, FRANCK the spell evoked by Weingartner from his Six Pièces, Op. 16 -21: Fantasia in C; GLIERE pair is only intermittently recaptured. Grande pièce symphonique; Prélude, Romance for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 3 - Greatest satisfaction can be obtained from Fugue, et Variation; Pastorale; Prière; See Dvorak. an eclectic selection: 1, 2, 3, 4, I0, I I and Final 12 by Lehmann on Decca DL 9692-3; 5 GRIEG and 6 by Weingartner on Columbia ML Clarence Watters, organ. Peer Gynt Suites Nos. r and 2 4676; and 7, 8, 9 and to by Ned on London CLASSIC CE 1014. Two 12 -in. 12, 27, 8, 9, LS 543 and 585. No. to is the single dupli- 12, lo min. $11.90. Hague Philharmonic Orchestra. Willem Van Otterloo, cond. Erna Spoorenberg, cation. However one looks at it, Clarence Watters' soprano. Where the convenience of unity is not to a preference for Decca is recording of the complete organ works of EPIC LC 3007. 12 -in. 31 min. $5.95. be disregarded, César Franck is an impressive and valuable imposed. C. G. B. achievement. The Six Pièces, in the second One of the very best of Epic's releases, album of the series to come my way, has thanks to more uniformity in its sound, HANDEL considerably more musical interest than the throughout the cycles, and the well -managed, The Royal Fireworks Music Trois Pièces. The Prière has an absorbing sensitive reading by Van Otterloo. The 1Schubert: Symphony No. 8, in B Minor, share of harmonic coloration and interplay conductor's work is a model of phrasing, "Unfinished" of voices; the large- scale, three- movement careful shading and attention to detail that Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Fritz Leh- Grand pièce symphonique has an especially brings the whole composition into full mann, cond. a is unmatched attractive middle section, and its Finale is flower, in performance that DECCA DL 9696. 12 -in. 26, 27 min. $5.85. quite stunning in impact. The meticulous- on records today. Excellent orchestral work ness of the recording is reflected in the by the Hague players, and for once we are Although the London record of the Beinum stylistic perfection of the registration, the given the vocal portion of Solveig's song, performance is not at hand for comparison, precision of the playing and the clarity of more generally assigned to the violin, which, the other versions of the Fireworks seem to the engineering. If Mr. Watters fails to as sung by Erna Spoorenberg is the poig- be in the Harty arrangement. The present

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disk does not designate who made the re- ANGEL 3501 B. Two 12 -in. $11.90 (sealed), in E, Op. 14; Scherzo in E Minor, Op. r6, duction from Handel's original congeries $9.90 (thrift pack).* No. a. of wind instruments to the proportions of ( *Angel thrift pack includes records only, Julius Katchen, piano. the conventional contemporary orchestra. unboxed, no notes, no libretto.) LONDON LL 824. 12 -in. 10, 11, 8, 4, 2, But the work is complete, with the Overture 6 min. $5.95 for the first time on LP in its entirety, scored The fact that The Merry Widow is supposed along the Harty lines and cleverly inter- to take place in Paris has always (well for a LISZT time) preted in a recording adequate for the dance long struck me as hilariously cockeyed. Sonetto del Petrarca No. ra3; Au Lac de All the business about Pontevedrinian movements but too light for the grand am- Wallenstadt; Valse Oubliée No. r; Nos. bassadors France, pomposo of the Overture. to restaurants called Max- 4 and 7 of Soirées de Vienne. Apparently the "Unfinished" cannot be im's, and characters called Saint - Brioche is just part of the shrubbery in operetta fairy- Andor Foldes, piano. injured by any honest treatment. The DECCA DL4071. to -in. 6, 2, 3, 5,5 min. $2.50. Leinsdorf record, admired here recently for land. As soon as the music starts, Vienna its agony of conflict, holds the fastest per- becomes Vienna. In this recording The The latest batch of records wholly or par- formance on disks, and Prof. Lehmann's Merry Widow is home at last, and keeping tially concerned with Liszt's piano music is presents the slowest. One should be bad if the most delightful company. It would distinguished by Miss Farnadi's recording of the other is good, but the plasticity of Schu- be a dismal day when Vienna were to be seven Hungarian rhapsodies. The pianist, bert's song permits the difference without given a monopoly on performances to the Hungarian herself, is temperamentally ideally demerit to either. It is as a long, despairing operettas of Franz Lehar, Strauss, J., et al.; suited to the music at hand, and her tech- song that Prof. Lehmann offers it, with but in buying records there is no reason for nique is big enough to allow her free rein. resignation in place of resentment at its taking second -best when the best can be She does not hammer in the bravura pas- hopelessness. It is very beautiful in a rather had. The Angel performance, virtually sages, which are set off with much delicate distant recording chary of detail and dra- complete, including spoken lines, is all that passage -work; the constant little rubatos and matics, appropriate to surrender and heart- could be dreamed. Who could hope for wayward rhythms do not get out of hand break. That the writer prefers the Leinsdorf Vilja to be sung by a voice more beautiful but lend a quicksilver quality to the playing. way is not relevant: music-lovers who can than that of Elisabeth Schwartzkopf, to The rhapsodies, themselves, deserve such afford both will not fail to learn much about choose but one example? It may have elegant treatment, for they are full of bold conducting, and more about Schubert, in happened, but I don't believe it - and at harmonies, fascinating imitation -cembalom indulging an extravagance. C. G. B. this point would refuse to believe it even if effects, and unhackneyed ideas. Miss Far- confronted with the evidence. And style. nadi's beautiful cone could not have been HAYDN The music isn't played or sung, really. It more auspiciously recorded. This is, in Symphony No. 92, in G, "Oxford" just happens, bubbling up and flowing fact, one of the outstanding piano disks I tMozart: Symphony No. 40, in G Minor, along in a sparkling stream. If you won't have heard, and there is no reason to be- KV 550 take that for a review, oh all right. No lieve that Vol. I of the rhapsodies is not London Symphony Orchestra, Josef Krips, operetta recording known to man (this one) as good. cond. comes close to matching the Angel Lustige Mr. Brailowsky's contribution, generous LONDON LL 780. 12 -in. 25, 25 min. $5.95. Witwe except the superlative London in playing time, offers many items well Fledermaus. Emmy Loose is wonderful. played, but a better performance of each Both are afflicted by a beautifully contrived Nicolai Gedda is wonderful. Erich Kunz is work (except the Valse- impromptu, which lyricism extolling line and balance in de- wonderful. Otto Ackerman is wonderful. I have not heard before on records) is avail- precation of dramatic accent. The vertical Everybody is wonderful. The engineering able elsewhere. An experienced artist in is in a lovely and realization exceptional is in 4 time and is wonderful too; Danilti s the Liszt repertoire, the pianist no longer molded clarity which cannot compensate snoring is the most wonderful high -fidelity has the agility to storm through it, although a In for lax lateral progression. the Haydn snoring on records. The whole wide world the grand manner itself is occasionally evi- the ejaculatory middle section of the slow is a wonderful place. Happy New Year! dent. His tone has grown unrelievedly movement is here no more than a placid J. H., Jr. steely, and is, unfortunately, reproduced continuation of an established tranquillity, KODALY with the utmost fidelity in one of Victor's and the imperious fever of the G Minor has Serenade in F Major, Op. 12 - See most brilliant engineering jobs. A disk for been soothed by an expert but unwanted Dvorak. Mr. Brailowsky's admirers only. therapy. - Nevertheless, both minuets with Young Mr. Katchen turns in mature pro- their wonderful trios are superbly expressed, LEONCAVALLO fessional jobs on the Mephisto Waltz and the and reproduction throughout is superior, Pagliacci (excerpts) - See Mascagni. Funfrailles, technically secure and emo- particularly in the exploitation of counter- LISZT tionally wide -ranging. Liszt's tempestuous point. C. G. B. moods are neatly supplemented on the Hungarian Rhapsodies, Vol. 2; Nos. 9, in other side of the disk by some sensible, HONEGGER E Flat (Carneval de Pestb); No. so, in light- hearted Mendelssohn, discriminating- Concertino for Piano and Orchestra - E (Preludio); No. is, in A Minor; No. ly played. On Wings of Song has the inti- See Ravel. 12, in CSharp Minor; No. r3, in A Minor; macy and resilience of a sung version, and No, 14, in F Minor; No, 15, in A Minor the Scherzo is HONEGGER (Rakoczy March). notable for the rapid, clean Sonata for Unaccompanied Violin - See finger work. The recording has a first - Ravel. Edith Farnadi, piano. rate, generally mellow sound. WESTMINSTER WL 5231_ 12 -in. IO, 6, 5, 7, Except for the Valse Oubliée, Mr. Folds' D'INDY 9, to, 6 min. $5.95. Liszt selection is off the beaten track, and Fervaal Prelude to Act I See Dukas. - - LISZT the entire group avoids Lisztian bombast D'INDY Mephisto Waltz No. r; Liebestraum No. 3; and fustian. Hand in hand with the pianist's Istar - Symphonic Variations - See Gnomenreigen; Hungarian Rhapsody No intelligent, thoughtful playing goes a solid, Dukas. r2; Valse Oubliée No. i; Les Jeux d'eau if rather unblandishing, piano tone. Ade- el la Villa d'Este; Valse- Impromptu; quately engineered, the record is in its LARSSON St. Francois d'Assise: La Prédication modest way quite pleasant. R. E. Pastoral Suite See Wirén. - aux Oiseaux; Hungarian Rhapsody LISZT LEHAR No. 6. Les Preludes - See Scriabin. Die Lustige Witwe (The Merry Widow) Alexander Brailowsky, piano. RCA VICTOR LM 1772. 12 -in, 11, 4, 3, Io, LISZT Elisabeth Schwartzkopf (s), Hanna; Emmy 3, 7, 6, 8, 7 mins. $5.72. A Symphony to Dane's "Divine Comedy" Loose (s), Valencienne; Nicolai Gedda (t), (two versions) Camille; Erich Kunz (b), Danilo; Otakar LISZT Kraus (b), Cascada; Anton Niessner (b), Mephisto Waltz No. r; Funérailles Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and women's chorus; Alfred Wallenstein, Mirko; Josef Schmidinger (bs), Saint - tMendelssohn: Prelude and Fugue in E cond. Brioche. Philharmonia Orchestra and chor- Minor, Op. 35, No. r; Auf Flügeln des DECCA DL 9670. 12 -in. $5.85. us; Otto Ackerman, cond. Gesanges (arr. Ltstz); Rondo Capriccioso Vienna Philharmonia Orchestra and Vienna

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State Opera Chorus; F. Charles Adler, cond. bucks for American' rights to the Cetra my mind, overstepping the boundary be- SPA 44. r2 -in. $5.95 catalog, I would see to it that someone tween sentiment and saccharinity. Well competent was assigned to cope with the performed, IVerther is a modest, touching Liszt completed his Dante In 1855, Franz apparendy overwhelming problem of copy- opera. really a two -movement sym- Symphony, ing down casts correctly let alone the Charlotte is not one of the most reward- dealing musically with the - phonic poem problem of making sensible use of the ing of soprano (or, as it is frequently cast, sections of Danté s "Hell" and "Purgatory" catalog itself. J. H., Jr. mezzo-soprano) roles. The tenor has most at least one listener, "Divine Comedy." To of the best music to sing, and she, poor is a noisy, bombastic first move- the result girl, is left with her unfailing domesticity. uninteresting second, ment and a dragging, MASSENET Suzanne Juyol whose main beat in Paris Magnificat for women's voices - with a final Werther is Wagnerian makes the most of her big end. Others may find more - tacked on the moments, and she is consistent in charac- work, es- Suzanne Juyol (s), Charlotte; Agnes Leger rewarding material in this long terization and appealing elsewhere. Charles reading. (s), Sophie; Charles Richard (t), Werther; pecially in Wallenstein's penetrating Richard, without having a voice of excep- Camille Roquetty (t), Schmidt; Roger It was Liszt's intention that the final chorus tastefully and with high Bourdin (b), Albert; Michel Roux (b), The tional beauty, sings be sung by boys, and the unnamed women's intelligence throughout. Roger Bourdin, it on the brightly recorded Bailiff; Marcel Depraz (bs), Johann. Or- chorus who sings beginning to sound past his prime, is dis- to maintain a certain chestra and Chorus of the Opéra- Comique, Decca disk manages tinguished stylistically as Albert, and Michel not unlike that pro- Paris; George Sebastian, cond. purity of tone quality Roux is only less good as the Bailiff. The choristers. The SPA record- URANIA URLP 233. Three 12 -in. $17.85. duced by boy less extensive roles are well taken - except is also good, though Wallenstein seems ing The metabolic processes of operatic reper- Sophie, in which Agnes Leger exhibits one a little more drama into the music to put toire are strange and mysterious. No one of those acid, fox -terrier -shrill voices pe- does Adler. P. A. than has ever been able to explain satisfactorily culiar to Paris. George Sebastian conducts why some works are apparently inexhaus- a reasonably paced, well coordinated per- MASCAGNI while others of at least equal formance. The whole may not be the Rusticana (excerpts) tible successes Cavalleria intrinsic merit go begging. Jules Massenet, best Werther ever, but it is idiomatic and Prelude and Siciliana; Regina Coeli; Voi to for instance, ranks well up on any list of very reputable. J. H., Jr. sapete; Intermezzo; Viva it vino; Addio alla nineteenth- century opera composers, yet of madre. his twenty -odd productions only Manon MENDELSSOHN Giulietta Simionata (ms), Santuzza; Lillian survives in health. Otherwise the man who Prelude and Fugue in E Minor; Auj Pellegrino (ms), Mamma Lucia; Achille was important enough to draw the malicious Flügeln des Gesanges Rondo Capric- Braschi (t), Turiddu. Orchestra and chorus epithet ' Mam'zelle Wagner" is pretty much cioso in E, Scherzo in E Minor-See of Radio Italiana, Turin; Arturo Basile, cond. a dead issue, in spite of the fact that many Liszt. tLeoncavallo: Pagliacci (excerpts) who know the scores consider Manors not his most impressive work. MENDELSSOHN lasso; Decidi it mio Prologue. Act I: Stridono Such, however, are the vagaries of this LP Quartet in E Flat Major, Op. r; No. r Act II: from No! destin; Vesti la giubba. age that Thais and, now, Werther works Quartet in D Major, Op. 44, No. t Pagliaccio non son to end. - of any sure status only in France can be Curtis String Quartet. Carla Gavazzi (s), Nedda; Carlo Bergonzi - heard on records. The fact is that Werther WL 12 -in. Salvatore di Tommaso (t), WESTMINSTER 5220. $5.95. (t), Canio; is quite a good opera, but one that, like all Tonio; Marcello Peppe; Carlo Tagliabue (b), operas outside the magic circle of box -office Here are two of the brightest, most melodic Orchestra and chorus of Rossi (b), Silvio. infallibility, needs a good performance. quartets in the entire literature the E given); Alfredo - Radio Italiana (no city The keys here are style and sentiment - style flat is famous for its Canzonetta - and both Simonetto, cond. that is French and sentiment that is honest. are performed on this superbly recorded CETRA A 50144. 12 -in. $5.95. In the new Urania recording Wernher gets disk with warmth and freshness. Perform- This record is another link in the chain of both in sufficient, if not overflowing, ance -wise, this is the best of the Curtis evidence that Capitol has little idea of how measure. foursome's new series. P. A. to use its new title to the rich treasury of Part of the fallibility of Werther is that Cetra operas. The points are three. One: not much happens. The story, fashioned MILHAUD There is small value in dishing up highlights out of Goethe's The Sorrows of Werther, is Piano Concerto No. t - See Ravel. from versions such as these two, which perhaps a prime example of romantic liter- derive any continuing market value they ary celebration of the man of feeling. MOZART may have from the over -all idiomatic quality Briefly, a nice bailiff's daughter named Soprano Arias of the performances and not from occasional Charlotte spends her time cutting bread Don Giovanni: Batti, batti; Vedrai carino: brilliances. Second: The excerpting itself and butter for her multitudinous and Non mi dir. Idomeneo: Zeffiretti lusinghieri. is has been capriciously and carelessly done; motherless brothers and sisters. She en- Le Nozze di Figaro: Non so pia; Voi the sa- note, as an example, the wrenchingly anti - gaged to one Albert, who brings his poet pete; Deh vieni, non tardar; Dove sono; Porgi musical failure to end the prelude to Caval- friend Werther around to call. Werther and amor. leria Rusticana which just stops after the last Charlotte fall in love with each other, but Elisabeth Schwartzkopf (s). Philharmonia note of the Siciliana -a breach of taste Charlotte feels duty -bound to marry Albert. Orchestra; John Pritchard, cond. egregious even in these days of everyman - She does. Werther still loves her; she still ANGEL 35021. 12 -in. $5.95 (sealed), a -tape- editor. Third: If such a disk is to be loves him. Werther borrows Albert's pis- $4.95 (thrift).* released anyway, the jacket notes and labels tols, writes a farewell note, goes home and ('Angel thrift pack includes record only, should be at least minimally correct and in- shoots himself. And, as Thackeray summed unboxed, no notes, no text.) formative. Examples: You have to deduce up the situation in his satire on Goethe's for yourself which role is taken by which book: This is a recording whose very real distinc- listed singer; no singers at all are listed Charlotte, having seen his body tion should not fade. The materials, aside for such roles as Mamma Lucia and Peppe, Borne before her on a shutter, from the melting Idomeneo aria, are all although they sing on schedule; and Like a well- conducted person, familiar, and all are otherwise available on Fernanda Cadoni, who in the full -length Went on cutting bread and butter. records in performances that range from fair Cavalkria sings Lola, is credited with Not ideal material for a libretto, you might to excellent. But what Elisabeth Schwartz - Voi lo sapete, while Giulietta Simionato, who think; yet half a dozen composers had al- kopf achieves in the way of sustained lovely is actually the Santuzza, does not get listed ready worked it over before Massenet's opera singing is almost incredible. The voice at all, on either jacket or label. It takes far had its premiere in 1892. Not much action. itself is beautiful, with a beauty quite en- too much space to go on setting such mat- No scenes of violence. But in the scenes of describable in Italianate terms. Neither ters right in a magazine whose purpose is to family life, the quiet despair of the two "lyric" nor "dramatic," it is of moderate evaluate records, not to correct the blunders lovers who must not love, the staunch man- size but absolutely clear focus infinitely of their vendors; let the buyer beware of liness of Albert, and the human warmth of varied in color and intensity, but always Cetra highlights. One thing is sure: if I the Bailiff there are opportunitiés for music. transparent; not notably warm, but capable were Mr. Capitol and had laid out a million And Massenet composed it without, to of passion; produced with the control and

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ease of a fine instrumentalist. This Miss finales. No fault with his conduct of those Vox (PATHE) PL 21.200. I2 -in. 41.45 mins. Schwartzkopf places without reservation or finales, but the preceding movements imply $5.95. affectation at the service of music and more point, contrast and decision than Those who feel better for having some character, never failing in intelligence or they are allocated. It is curious to note how Offenbach bouncing around the house, yet aristocratic taste. It may be theoretically inadequate his obviously careful phrasing are not sufficiently dedicated to covet full - impossible for one singer to convince the seems; probably he was wary of romanticiz- length versions of this operetta, have a listener consecutively as Zerlina, Donna ing the music. The sound has the detailed choice of abbreviated Orphie aux Enfer ver- Anna (not to mention Donna Elvira, which thoroughness we expect from the Mercury sions between this new Vox -Pathé issue is Miss Schwartzkopfs opera -house role in "Olympians," especially in the "Prague," conducted by Jules Gressier and the Renais- Don Giovanni), Cherubino, the Countess Al- and the tuttis are good in both, with rather sance coupling that offers excerpts from maviva, and Susanna; but to hear is to be- harsh violins in No. C. G. B. 34. Orphie on one side and from La Belle Mine lieve. The Philharmonia players sustain on the other, both conducted briskly by their fine reputation, and John Pritchard MOZART René Leibowitz. It comes down to this: lives up to grapevine reports that he is one Symphony No. 40, in G Minor, K 550 There is more Orphie on Vox, more Offen- of the most musical of young British con- - See Haydn. bach all told on Renaissance. There is little ductors. The sound, medium close and to choose between the performances of naturally balanced, is excellent; the surfaces Orphée. You get the same Eurydice, and a are superlative. J. H., Jr. NIELSEN Kvintet, Op. 43 - See Francaix. very volatile one, in either case. Mr. MOZART Leibowitz takes a slightly more breakneck pace than does Mr. Gressier; both get good Symphony No. 34, in C, KV 338 OFFENBACH Symphony No. 3$, in D, "Prague," KV 504 results, ensemble honors to Mr. Gressier. Orpheus in the Underworld (excerpts) Sound: good from both. Renaissance has Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Rafael Kube- Claudine Collart (s), Eurydice; Claude Devos clarity and edge; Vox the same, with fuller lik, cond. (t), Orpheus; Michel Roux (b), Jupiter; tonal values. Renaissance is banded and MERCURY 50015. 12 -in. 19, 24 min. $5.95 and others. Lamoureux Orchestra and Ray- annotated by number; Vox is uninterrupted. Mr. Kubelik disappoints in this pair of mond Saint-Paul Chorus; Jules Gressier, No libretto with either; synopses with both. minuteless symphonies riotous in their cond. A standoff. Both are delightful. J. H., Jr.

Tosca by Angel: Best operatic recording?

There are seven complete LP versions of would give Falstaff. In all its perform- Puccini's Tosca, and at least five of them ances, how seldom can Tosca have been have some substantial merits. Yet what- ordered with such meticulous precision ever the pro's and con's may be concern- in sonorous balances, such attention to ing the other six, the new Angel issue the smallest melodic nuances, such clear ranks at the very top of the list. over -all realization of rhythmic structure, The assessment of a recorded opera is and yet with such fire and vitality. Not such a complex and subjective business one thirty -second note is taken for that it would be rash to state categorically granted. Nothing is left to chance. Yet that this is the best job anyone has yet it is not the kind of symphonic perform- done of capturing a performance on ance that overrides or straitjackets the "Ultimately, the defining excellence disks; nonetheless, it may very well be singers, for all is planned with regard can be traced to Victor de Sabata." just that. To be perfectly frank, this for the total effect, and all the firmness of Tosca seemed so superlatively good on control has its end in dramatic utterance. longer is it possible to complain of the first hearing that the only prudent course Some performances are called revelatory. quality of recorded Scarpias. His is big - was to set the records aside for a few This one really is. voiced and commanding, a brutal Scarpia days, then go back and make a systematic With Maria Callas' Lucia coloratura rather than an insinuating one, but comparative study of the best of the other still ringing in the mind's ear it was capable of suavity when the need arises; versions before attempting to write a difficult to imagine her a Tosca, but the sadistic but a nobleman. All of the minor review. After three complete hearings difficulty of imagining turned out to singers are good, especially in diction, and side -by -side, groove -by- groove com- have nothing to do with the facts. She although some would prefer a darker parisons it seems even more exciting is magnificent. Her Tosca is of the dark, voice than Melchiorre Luisé s for the than it did at first. smoldering, tempestuous kind - like Sacristan, and the Scala orchestra re- Ultimately, the defining excellence can Maria Caniglia's or Renata Tebaldi's, sponds unfailingly to Mr. De Sabata's be traced to Victor de Sabata, whose only surer of voice than the one and more beat. The recorded sound is very, very reputation as an opera conductor is passionately communicative than the good - close but not too close for com- fabulous but who has not done opera in other. Not always is her tone clear; fort, cleanly defined yet spacious in this country nor made previous opera re- even the affectionate banter with Mario climaxes, and with something very close cordings. It is true that the performing in the first act seems boding because of to real opera -house perspective. The elements he had to work with here are the peculiar smoky quality her middle whole effect is pretty tremendous. J.H., Jr. magnificent, but his is the master hand voice sometimes takes on when used at that shapes all into a white -hot theatrical less than full power. But she always con- Maria Callas (s), Tosca; Alvaro Cordova experience. You can hear good Cavara- vinces, always communicates. No one (boy alto), Shepherd; Giuseppe di Stefano dossis on records, and good Toscas, but woman has a right to be so gifted. (t), Cavaradossi; Angelo Mercuriali (t), no performance conducted even remotely Giuseppe di Stefano's voice may not Spoletta; Tito Gobbi (b), Scarpia; Franco as well as this one. be as plush as Gigli's once was, but it is Calabrese (bs), Angelotti; Melchiorre Toua is no conductor's picnic, but nonetheless very beautiful, and his Cavar- Luise (buffo), Sacristan; Dario Caselli most solve the difficulties by keeping adossi under Mr. De Sabata is electrify- (bi), Sciarrone and Jailer. Orchestra the sonorities broad, the tempos moving ingly better than any he has sung here. and Chorus of Teatro alla Scala, Milan; along, and the singers within reasonable Never has there been doubt of his poten- Victor de Sabata, cond. limits of expressive freedom, relying on tialities, but how wonderful it is to hear ANGEL 3508 B. Two 12 -in. $11.90 Puccini's flair for the dramatic to carry such fine material canalized - and at the (sealed), $9.90 (thrift pack)*. the day. Not Mr. De Sabata. He gives same time liberated - by a firm musical *(Angel thrift pack includes records only, the score attention as close as that he discipline. And as for Tito Gobbi, no unboxed, no notes, no libretto.)

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PEPUSCH over this. Until now, only a miserably RAVEL Sonata ix F - See Telemann. inept French version of the Trio Sonatas Le Tombeau de Couperin of Purcell has been available to LP collec- Valses Nobles et Sentimentales tors. They are graceful but virile writings, PISTON L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande; Ernest encompassing vivid feeling with a wonder- The Incredible Flutist - See Copland. Ansermet, cond. ful economy of means. Since they are un- LONDON LL 795. 12 -in. $5.95 PUCCINI familiar to most record- listeners, it may not be amiss to suggest that they probably La Bohème (excerpts) will Both of these enchanting works were origin- appeal to anyone who likes the instrumental ally written for piano, and both were later Act I: Che gelida manina; Si, mi chiamano music of Vivaldi or the poetry of Donne. given imaginative orchestral dress by the Mimi; 0 soave fanciulla. Act II: Quando Luckily they are international in format. composer. There is a certain archaic clas- m'en vo. Act III: D'onde lieta usci; Addio, Purcell in writing them borrowed heavily sicism in the light, charming suite, Le Tom- dolce svegliare. Act IV: 0, Mimi tu piu; from contemporary Franco -Italian tech- beau de Couperin (The Tomb of Couperin), Vecchia zimarra; Sono andati ?; finale. niques, which he then overrode with his and a most effective blend of etherealism Rosanna Carteri (s), Mimi; Elvira Ramella own irrepressible eloquence. The group and rhythmic verve in the Valses Nobles et (s), Musetta; Ferruccio Tagliavini (t), which plays them here comprises an Is- Sentimentales. The latter, a string of seven Rodolfo; Giuseppe Taddei (b), Marcello; raeli, an Italian and two Americans. Still, waltzes and an Epilogue, may be considered Pier Luigi Latinucci (b), Schaunard; Cesare the performance is easily equal to the last as a direct ancestor of the somewhat more Siepi (bs), Colline. Orchestra of Radio Itali- good effort on 78 rpm disks, that which ap- dramatic choreographic poem, La Valse, ana, Turin; Gabriele Santini, cond. peared in the Columbia English Music which Ravel composed several years later. CETRA A 5043. 12 -in. $5.95 Series, Vol. r., by all- British performers. (George Balanchine has run them together The recording is very good. No one will for his ballet, Valse.) Ansermet has a This by odds one of the most worthwhile of La be unhappy with this. J. M. C. way with this kind the spate of operatic highlights on single of music, and aside from a rather conservative in disks now being released by Cetra. The tempo the Rigaudon RACHMANINOFF of Le Tombeau de Couperin, turns in a per- complete Cetra La Bohème never got its due Sonata for 'Cello and Piano in G Minor, formance of shimmering beauty, realisti- share of attention, to my way of thinking - op. 19 cally revealed in London's crystal -clear re- partly because of justifiable enthusiasm - cording. P. A. for Renata Tebaldï s Mimi for London, Joseph Schuster, 'cello; Leonard Pennario, piano. partly because of the less justifiable idea RAVEL CAPITOL P 8248. 12 -in. $5.70. that since Toscanini is Toscanini bis re- L'Heure Espagnole cording must therefore be better. Never- The late Sergei Rachmaninoff wrote some theless, Rosanna Carteri is an absolutely Denise Duval (s), Concepcion; Jean Girau- gloriously rich music which has found a first -class Mimi herself, and the Cetra per- deau (t), Gonzalve; Rend Herent (t), Jean wide audience in recent decades. This formance has in its favor good singing and Vieuille (b), Ramiro; Charles Clavensy sonata, however, probably never will. It honest theatricality. Rodolfo is one of (bs), Don Inigo Gomez. Orchestra of the does boast a certain warm melodic line, Ferruccio Tagliavini's very best roles (es- Paris Opéra- Comique; André Cluytens, cond. particularly in the second movement, but pecially in the last act), and he is on his ANGEL 35018. 12 -in. $5.95 ($4.95 thrift the listener's interest is not sustained P's and Q's most of the time here, pack). artistic throughout the four movements of this and Marcellos and Collines don't come relatively long composition. Schuster and There must be a limit somewhere to the much better than Giuseppe Taddei (admit- Pennario do their best to bring the music number of competitive LP versions of ted: he is no spring chicken) and Cesare Siepi. to life, but their efforts are in vain. The L'Heure Espagnole. It is a lovely opera, a What I had forgotten was the spirit of El- recorded sound is highly satisfactory, if not charming opera, a delightful opera, but the vira Ramella's Musetta and the good con- quite as startlingly realistic as some I have reviewer's nightmare in which there is a ducting of Gabriele Santini (libelled "Ga- heard from Capitol. P. A. new issue of it in every mailbag is just be- briella," in Capitol's charmingly addled fore becoming too real to be funny. And to way, on the jacket, I hope he sues). Highly RAMEAU think that last spring there was reason to recommended. J. H., Jr. Gavotte; Le rappel des oiseaux; Les sau- fret because the spicy little opus was being vages; Les niais de sologne - See Scar- neglected! PURCELL latti. Now there are three - in chronometric Songs and Instrumental Works - See Blow order, so to speak, Vox, London, and now RAVEL Angel. At least (or, depending on the point PURCELL Bolera; La Valse; Alborado del Gracioso; of view, at worst) all are good. The London Trio Sonatas Nos. r, 2 4, 7, 8, 9 Pavane for a Dead Princess has the advantage of extremely clean delinia- tion of Ernest Ansermet's unsurpassable or- Ciompi and Werner Torkanowsky, Orchestre Radio -Symphonique de Paris. Giorgio chestral performance, the disadvantage of violins; Koutzen, cello; Herman Reni Liebowitz, cond. George Suzanne Danco's somewhat too ladylike Chessid, harpsichord. Vox PL 8150. 12 -in. 59.26 min. $5.95. Concepcion. The Vox Concepcion, Janine PERIOD SPL 572. 24, 22 min. $5.95. Liebowitz, who has dallied with such diverse Linda, is better, the rest of the cast at least

This is designated Vol. 2 of 1o. Vol. 1 composers as Offenbach and Webern, settles as good, the orchestral performance quite was not received, but, despite the implied down for an hour, less 34 seconds, with brilliant in its own right but not quite so slight, there can be no reaction but delight Ravel, with results that are less than sensa- sharply reproduced. tional. It is something of an achievement to Now for the latest entry in the Catalan make the Bolero unexciting, but this he Clock Sweepstakes. André Cluytens' read- does by adopting an incredibly slow pace, ing of the score is just about on a par with slower even than the one used by Ravel Rene Leibowitz' for Vox, and the orchestral himself, in his recording with the Lamoureux playing is not perceptibly either better or Orchestra some 20 -odd years ago. The re- less good. Neither accomplishes the tour maining works are all subject to certain de force of Mr. Ansermet; neither has the personal whimsicalities, resulting in oddly Suisse Romande players to conduct, either. angular and rough performances. The Angel cast is, all told, better than either Whatever the deficiencies musically, of the others, and Denise Duval is a really soundwise the recording is nothing short of delightful Concepcion - bright, tidy about sensational ... and is easily the finest disk, her singing, and with a lot of what I take for on this count, to come from Vox. The im- Gallic zip. Add to that the opinion that pact of the percussion is almost terrifying Jean Vieuille is better than the other Ramiros, in its reality, and is matched by the pene- and that Charles Clavensy and Jean Giraudeau trating brasses and the cool woodwinds, all and Rene Herent are also good, it comes out Christian Ferras: a virile performance adding up to an overall sound of imposing that Angel version makes better theatre of a very memorable Honegger sonata. depth and substance. J. F. I. sense than the other two, that the London is

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superior instrumentally (a very important Fabienne Jacquinot, piano. Philharmonia point in this opera), and that the Vox is Orchestra; Anatole Fistoulari, cond. 8, very good as well, without topping one on 14 min. the one hand or the other on the other. MGM E 3041. 12 -in. $4.85. All three are well engineered, pretty much Miss Lockhart is a rather erratic violinist, the same way. Pretty damn close to a three - and recording engineers have not way tie. I don't have to choose, so why MGM's an LP stick my neck out? The Angel has a new, flattered her. If anyone needs of the and better, libretto translation; the Vox has Ravel Tzigane or the Chausson Poème, the no libretto at all; you can get the Angel Ferras recording (London) is preferable. factory- sealed. Does any of that help? Mlle. Jacquinot, however, is an excellent pianist and her work is reasonably well re- J. H., Jr. flected on this disk. The Honegger is a RAVEL very early piece dating from the days of arch Piano Concerto in D Major, for the Left simplicity and jazz finales. The Milhaud is a Hand witty, vital, and intensely concentrated Julius Katchen: he and the engineers Piano Concerto in G Major affair. In view of the record label, one is negotiate a tightrope for Ned Rorem. justified in observing that, in a small way, Jacqueline Blancard, piano. Orchestre de it's colossal. Listen before buying. A. F. la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet, cond. tRameau: Gavotte; Le rappel des oiseaux; Les sauvages Les niais de sologne LONDON LI. 797. 12 -in. 20, 22 min. $5.95. REGER Robert Casadesus, piano. This record seems to supercede in the Lon- Variations and Fugue on a Merry Theme COLUMBIA ML 4695. 12 -in. t8, 17 min. don catalogue a previous coupling of the by Jam A. Hiller, Op. zoo $5.95. two concertos, that for the left hand played Vienna Philharmonia Orchestra; F. Charles by the above artists, and that in G played by Keyboard works of the Baroque period Adler, cond. Nicole Henriot under the direction of unarguably sound best when played on the 51. 12 -in. Charles Munch. The Ravel concertos are SPA $5.95. harpsichord, but in the proper hands they well served on disks by such eminent French Considering his voluminous output, Max can give almost as much pleasure as piano pianists as Robert Casadesus, Monique Haas, Reger has been poorly represented on rec- pieces. With his icily precise technique, and, in a new, as yet unheard Angel record- ords. This is not altogether to the dis- crystalline tone, and cultivated style, Mr. ing, Marguerite Long. Miss Blancard be- credit of the manufacturers, however, since Casadesus unfolds these worthy Scarlatti and longs in this august company as a performer, much of his music is ponderous and in- Rameau pieces with formal grace and glitter. and since she has the collaboration of the volved. His orchestral variations are, how- People who actually prefer these aurally best Ravel conductor now functioning, this ever, interesting listening, because of their ravishing performances to more authentic recording is strongly recommended. Lon- harmonic inventiveness, and this particular versions, but are disturbed by intellectual don has also serviced Mr. Ansermet and his set, recorded for the first time anywhere, is doubts, can take comfort in the fact that colleagues with the same kind of perfection probably worth investigating. Adler and Ralph Vaughan Williams has expressed it has on other releases. However, for those the orchestra do a workmanlike job, and enormous scorn of the unpleasantly noisy who might conceivably want the Concerto the reproduction is first -rate. P. A. harpsichord. Note that Longo No. 465 is in G and not that in D (an inferior work in inaccurately listed on the recording and spite of the diabolical cleverness of the jacket as 463. R. E. writing for the soloist), the Concerto in G ROREM is more interestingly coupled by Miss Haas Sonata No 2 SCHUBERT with the Stravinsky Capriccio and by Miss f ßartok: Eight Pieces from Mikrokosmos Der Häusliche Krieg Long with the Fauré Ballade. R. E. Julius Katchen, piano. Ilona Steingruber (s), Elisabeth Roon (s), LONDON LL 759. 12 -in. t6, t6 mins. $5.95 Laurence Dutoit (s), Walter Anton (t), RAVEL Rudolf Kreuzberger (bne), Walter Berry Of all the records assigned to this reviewer Tzigane (bs); Akademie Chamber Choir, Vienna, and for the present issue of HIGH FIDELITY, Poème Symphony Orchestra, Ferdinand Grossmann, fChausson: is forth highest this the one that calls the cond. t Honegger: Sonata for Unaccompanied degree of enthusiasm. Ned Rorem is a Vox PI. 816o. 12 -in. 53 min. Violin young American composer strongly in- $5.95. Christian Ferras, violin. Orchestre National fluenced by Poulenc and Satie. His sonata Schubert persistently composed operas in de Belgique; George Sebastian, cond. is in a subtle, deceptively simple idiom the hope that one would make a fortune. In LONDON LI. 762. 12 -in. 8, 15, to mins. $5.95. which cannot brook the slightest flaw in 1823 he composed three, of which the one- taste on the part of the interpreter or the act singspiel here recorded has attracted some is M. Ferras an excellent violinist and does slightest fault in the recording. Both Kat- languid posthumous interest. The tale is very well by the two standard -repertoire chen and London's engineers negotiate the an oddity, the Lysistrata plot transferred to pieces on this record. He does equally well tight-rope magnificently, and they have done the Crusades. The music is an engaging by the Honegger, which may very well be equally well by the excerpts from Mikros- imitation of Carl Maria von Weber, Figaro the best sonata for unaccompanied violin mos. The Bartok selections are all from the and The Magic Flute, an imitation every- composed since the death of Bach. It is sixth volume of that huge compendium of where inscribed with the inimitable melodic very much in the Bach tradition, and is piano pieces, including the Free Variations, signature of Franz Peter Schubert. It was its most impressive for rhythmic strength the study in minor seconds and major written without conviction and so it is and its contrapuntal toughness. It is also sevenths, the Ostinato, the March, and four heard: it has not the dramatic fervor and very much the best of the several works of of the Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm. All savoir-faire of the best works of Schubert's Honegger in the current record releases. these rank among Bartok's finest short modest and indestructible contemporary, is admirable The reproduction up to London's works for the piano, but the study in Daniel Francois Espirit Auber; but it is current standard. A. F. seconds and sevenths is especially important, pastime through which one can listen with- and Katchen's recording of its colorful out worrying about failure to be moved. A RAVEL pianistic resonances is superb. A. F. serene succession of rather dispassionate Tzigane moods offers the musical variety necessary fChausson: Poème SCARLATTI, ALESSANDRO to keep the music interesting, without Elizabeth Lockhart, violin. London Sym- Sonata in F - See Telemann. burdening it with significance. phony Orchestra; Anatole Fistoulari, cond. No one can claim enough familiarity with 8, 15 min. this highly- listenable nonentity to assert SCARLATTI, DOMENICO dogmatically the values of its first recorded f Honegger: Concertino for Piano and Six Sonatas: Longo 23, in E, 395, in A; performance. The singers are more than Orchestra Orr, in D; 387, in G; 449, in B Minor; competent, Miss Roon delightful in a high Milhaud: Piano Concerto No. r 465, in D. romanze and Mr. Anton bold and sure; and

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the light orchestration is whipped along with musically. He could learn some things This expansive and exciting symphony has enjoyable and untiring spirit. Sound is about the Papillons from Guiomar Novaes' been superbly interpreted by Collins, who both clear and substantial, without preten- recording for Vox; he wants in some of the applies the tonal brush with broad, sweep- sions to brilliance or difficulty in reproduc- humor and sparkle that Adrian Aeschbacher ing strokes. Since he has a fine orchestra tion beyond some extraneous background brings to his Davidsbündlertänze performance at his disposal, and since the reproduction is noise near the beginning of the first side. on Decca. But he still has a lot of pertinent full and rich, his reading may be considered As a whole The Domestic War, in its first ideas about these scores, and he presents one of the two best on disks, challenged edition, earns most of the smaller com- them with the utmost pianistic skill. Given only by the late Serge Koussevitzky's mendatory adjectives. - Vox here joins a the benefit of Westminster's best engineer- imaginative and justly celebrated perform- few other companies in stating the duration ing, this is a worthy addition to the Demus ance for RCA Victor. The latter, of course, in minutes, but has failed to supply a recorded repertoire. R. E. has less impressive sound, but other assets. printed text. C. G. B. Hear both. P. A. SCHUMANN SCHUBERT Fraueliebe und Leben, Op. 42 - See STRAUSS Quintet for Piano and Strings, in A, Kirsten Flagstad: Song Recital Brentano Lieder "Trout," Op. 114 SCHUMANN An die Nacht; Ich Wollt* ein Sträusslein binden; Adrian Aeschbacher (p), Rudolph Koeckert Satisle, liebe Myrte; Amor; Lied der Frauen; Quintet for Piano and Strings, Op. 44 (v), Oskar Riedl (va), Josef Merz (vo), -See Brahms. Als mir dein Lied erklang. Franz Ortner (bs), tBrahms: Leider DECCA DL 9707. 12 -in. 36 min. $5.85. SCRIABIN Wir wandelten; Vorüber; Mein wundes Herz The first "Trout" to appear after the early The Poem of Ecstasy, Op. 54 verlangt; Der Tod das ist die kühle Nacht; The Poem of Fire, Op. 6o LP swarm is a good one, as were most of Lerchengesang; Immer leiser wird mein Schlum- its predecessors. Deliberate and analytical, New York Philharmonic- Symphony Or- mer; An ein Aeolsharfe; Wiegenlied. with a warmth of phrase unsupported by chestra; Dimitri Mitropoulos, cond. Erna Berger (s); Michael Raucheisen, piano. warmth of tone, with excellent sound at COLUMBIA ML 4731. 12 -in. $5.45. DECCA DL 9666. 12 -in. 35.85 low volume, especially in the piano, the new edition is worth consideration on those The Poem of Ecstasy, Op. 54 Erna Berger has in the last five years as- merits, but it is doubtful that music -lovers tLiszt: Les Préludes sumed what amounts to a benevolent monopoly in this country over the six set- with either the Westminster, Columbia or Boston Symphony Orchestra; Pierre Mon - London version will find in the Decca cause teux, cond. tings of poems by Clemens Brentano that make up the Opus 68 of Richard Strauss. enough for duplication. C. G. B. RCA VICTOR LM 1775. 12 -in. $5.72. The songs are among his finest and these SCHUBERT Despite an obvious affection for the music performances certainly worth hearing, more Symphony No. 8, in B Minor, "Unfinished" of Scriabin on the part of both Mitropoulos than once. Miss Berger's sure command is - See Handel. and Monteux, these two mystical tone as evident in the Brahms songs that fill the poems, with their endless repetition of the opposite side, although she has been in SCHUMANN same chord combinations, make wearisome smoother voice. There is undeniably a cer- listening. the two, The Poem of Ecstasy tain in listening to so many Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54 Of monotony is the less tedious. Comparison of the two lieder sung by a voice essentially adapted to Wilhelm Kempff, piano. London Symphony disks at hand shows that Monteux treats the coloratura operations; for all her taste Miss Orchestra; Josef Krips, cond. music more gently and with greater variety Berger does not project much that lies be- LONDON LL 781. 12 -in. $5.95. of effect. Columbia's reproduction, on the neath the emotional surfaces of songs that This is the eighth LP version of this popular other hand, is far superior to RCA Victor's are dark in mood. Nonetheless, she is al- concerto, but one of the best. Both Kempff rather shrill, distorted sound, particularly ways an artist as far as she goes, and a very in LP and Michael Raucheisens and Krips take a warm, romantic approach evident the tenth recording of Les charming one, to the music, yet do not oversentimentalize. Préludes, where the brass and percussion accompaniments are among the finest to be faithful, The recorded sound is also warm and round. sounds are garbled. My vote favors neither heard on records. Engineering: Other versions worth comparing with this of these disks; it is for the recently released not flattering; voice sometimes recessive in well have been one are those by Novaes (Vox) and Ru- Capitol recording - first -rate in sound and balances, which may the were. is a wow in binstein (RCA Victor). P. A. interpretation - by Manuel Rosenthal and way things There bad the Paris Philharmonic Orchestra, which one Brahms band. J. H., Jr. SCHUMANN couples The Poem of Ecstasy with Loeffler's warm, romantic A Pagan Poem. P. A. TCHAIKOVSKY Faschingsschwank aus Wien, Op. 26 Aurora's Wedding: Ballet Suite tBrahms: Waltzes, Op. 39 SIBELIUS Humoresque, Op. 10 (trans. Stokowski) Robert Weisz, piano. Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43 Solitude, Op. 76 (trans Stokowski) LONDON LL 798. 12 -in. 21, 20 min. 35.95 London Symphony Orchestra; Anthony Leopold Stokowski's Symphony Orchestra; SCHUMANN Collins, cond. Leopold Stokowski, cond. LONDON LL 822. 12 -in. 85.95. RCA VICTOR LM 1774. 12 40. $5.72. Papillons, op. 2 Davidsbiindler Tänze, Op. 6 New Orthophonic Sound and all, this does Joerg Demus, piano. fill a place in the catalog, since the wedding Beauty WESTMINSTER WL 5232. 12 -in. 29, 14 min. divertissements from The Sleeping have per se only in an incomplete, $5.95. been recorded routinely played version conducted by War- Mr. Weisz, a Hungarian pianist still in his wick Braithwaite. This recording, lush in early 20'5, was a pupil of Lipatti. Four sound and freely symphonic in feeling, is years ago he won the Geneva contest for worth hearing. If you want to know how a performers and has very sensibly continued real ballet conductor feels about Tchaikov- his studies before embarking on a full -time sky - and, like it or not, some of his best concert career. His playing here is clean music is in his dance scores - listen to the and unaffected, often lovely in tone and old Constant Lambert reading of excerpts phrasing. As yet, it has little personality. from The Sleeping Beauty on Columbia and it remains a mystery why London should ML 4136; that is a real theatre performance, lavish their superior engineering know -how on the best level, but, I fear, not for audio- on a talent showing "great promise ... on philes. J. H., Jr. the verge of being fulfilled," to quote their own record liner. Erna Berger: Strauss and Brahms songs, TCHAIKOVSKY Mr. Demus is 25 but a lot more mature sung with more taste than intellectuality. Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a

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Sleeping Beauty Ballet Suite an actual performance have been solved With one version of Weber's First Piano Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy, with credit to all concerned in this first re- Concerto already in its catalog, Vox now cond. cording of Vaughan Williams' impressive issues another, coupled with the Second suite, which dares from 1936. The verses, Concerto in its LP debut. search COLUMBIA ML 4729. 12 -in. 21, 18 min. The for a slightly expurgated, are the work Eng- wider repertoire for LP $5.45. of consumption has its land's first Poet Laureate, John Skelton rewards, for these two works have more Tchaikovsky's best known works, the big, (146o -1529) and even in this present form than musicological interest. Written in florid symphonies, are suited ideally to the retain a certain medieval roughness of ex- 1810 and 1812, the concertos frequently reverberant acoustics of Philadelphia's Acad- pression. The composer's interest in this start out with musical ideas cast in the emy of Music and the sympathetic interpre- medium is well known, and again he amazes Mozart or Beethoven mold, but soon take tations of Eugene Ormandy. But the intri- with the variety and virility of his musical novel turns, as often naive and experimental cate and delicate detail of music like the settings, the interesting rhythmic impulses as they are delightful and fresh. Innova- Nutcracker Suite would be submerged in the and metrical values of his writing, and the tions in pianistic devices and orchestration typical Tchaikovsky- Ormandy recording - involved voice patterns he uses. Whether made their first appearance in these scores, which makes the sound actually found on for soloist or chorus, in either a form of even if they make little impact on the lis- this record all the more surprising. Although singspiel or cantata, the ideas are always tener now. But no extra knowledge is the spaciousness is retained, triangles, cym- provocative, the end result arresting. needed to enjoy the irresistible finales of bals, and celesta are clear and intimate, a Steinberg provides a subtle, nicely pro- both works and the frequently lovely slow revealing example of what engineers can do portioned reading of the score, and ex- movement of the E Flat concerto. Mr. when they really want to. The Nutcracker tracts notable performances from both solo- Wührer is almost too robust a pianist for the tape printed through in spots, though; at the ists and choir. Only in one spot is audible decorative music, but his playing is always beginning of danse russe Trepate the effect is audience noise apparent. The recording is musicianly and sympathetic. The sound is startling. This is a minor flaw - the overall somewhat on the lean side as to sound. J. F. I. full, resonant, and well balanced. One of performance and recording is such that the most beguiling of recent recordings. R.E. your old 78 -rpm album of Rodzinski and VERDI the New York Philharmonic can be retired. Aida (excerpts) I don't know how it will affect other WIREN children, but this record holds the rapt at- Act I: Celeste Aida; Ritorna vincitor. Act II: Serenade for Strings tention of at least one four -year -old who is Gloria all' Egitto, march, and ballet; Quest tLarsson: Pastoral Suite assisa to end. Act III: O Patria mia; Fuggiam left cold by Peter and the IVolf. R. F. A. Stockholm Radio Orchestra; Stig Wester- gli ardori. Act IV: scene 2. berg, cond. Caterina Mancini (s), Aida; Giulietta Simion- TELEMANN LONDON LS 714. to -in. 12, 12 min. $4.95. Concerto for Viola and Orcb. in D Major ato (ms), Amneris; Mario Filippeschi (t), - See Gabrieli. Radames; Rolando Panerai (b), Amonasro; Dag Wirén and Lars -Erik Larsson are young Giulio Neri (bs) Ramfis; Antonio Masseria Swedish composers whose acquaintance is (bs) King. and Radio TELEMANN Orchestra chorus of well worth making through this delightful, Italiana (no city given); Vittorio Gui, cond. Sonata in C Minor; Sonata in E Minor finely -made recording. Both pieces are light, CETRA A 50142. I2 -in. tPepusch: Sonata in F $5.95 charming, and tuneful, the Wirén in a style rather like that of Shostakovitch, tScarlatti, Alessandro: Sonata in F One of the least intelligent excerptings avail- the Larsson in the tradition of Sibelius. The recorded able, and of a good full-length recording. Edith Weiss Mann, harpsichord; Lois sound is properly light and crisp. A. F. Wann, oboe; Alfred Mann, recorder; Albert How, for instance, you can present an Am- Mell, violin. neris -less disk as "highlights from Aida" me. Singing and playing: good WESTMINSTER WL 5214. 12 -in. 10, 9, 5, escapes and WAGNER 8 min. $5.95. punchy. Engineering: generally good, some Götterdämmerung (excerpts) blasting in the mike. Absence of text - or This recording is issued as a memorial to even identification of cast - on jacket is Siegfried's funeral music and immolation Edith Weiss Mann, who was a "pioneer in continuing annoyance of this series. Worth scene. Margaret Harshaw (s). Philadelphia the widespread movement which now has the price, I suppose, but no bargain. J. H., Jr. Orchestra; Eugene Ormandy, cond. brought to a vast audience the music of the Tristan and Isolde (excerpts) Baroque period played in authentic per- WAGNER formances." She founded many ensembles Liebesnacht and Liebestod. Tannhäuser Overture (Paris Version); between the time of her earliest activities in Philadelphia Orchestra; Eugene Ormandy, Flying Dutchman Overture; Ride of the Hamburg in 1926 and her death in the cond. Valkyries United States in 1951, and she herself took COLUMBIA ML 4742. 12 -in. $5.45. part in countless performances as a continuo Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Hans If any orchestra in the world can player, developing this revived keyboard Knappertsbusch, cond. summon up a firmer, glossier body of sound than the skill to a conspicuous degree. The record- LONDON LL 800. 12 -in. 21, I I, 6 min. $5.95. Philadelphia Orchestra, somebody ing was made under adverse circumstances, has been hiding a real twenty -four karat phenomenon. and there are fluctuations in the quality of This is a stupendous mass of mass which And if that kind of super-lush the sound from one work to another. The will please everyone who loves opulent tone doesn't As a suit every kind of music, it works fine recording is, nevertheless, good and serves brazen sound. Wagnerian, Prof. for a Wagner. These performances are its dedicatory purpose well. The substantial Knappertsbusch is plainly great conductor musically solid and wonderfully rich in texture Telemann works are advantageously set off of Palestrina. Where the sonorous mag- - so rich in fact that in the by two gayer works. Pepusch's jolly sonata nificence of the record is effective is where Götterdämmerung . Margaret Harshaw, who reminds one that he also arranged the the music is chorale: where it ain't we sings splendidly, sometimes seems about to be masked original score for The Beggar's Opera. R. E. have the Wagner of burlesque - lady wrest- out, lers as Valkyries, heaving on Clydesdales but never quite is. I still prefer the HMV and percherons; winds of two- miles -per- via -RCA version with Flatstad and Furt- TURINA hour in the Dutchman's hurricane; and wangler as a performance, but that is a See La Procesion del Rocio - Albeniz. wrestlers again, in drugget draperies, as matter of taste rather than an attempt at graces and naiads in the Venusberg. - Still, categorization. This is very good indeed. VAUGHAN WILLIAMS the sound is splendid. C. G. B. Snap -up buyers might note that the Tristan Five Tudor Portraits and Isolde excerpts here are played in concert (i.e., purely orchestral) Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. William WEBER form - without Miss Harshaw but with the Philadelphia Steinberg, cond. Nell Rankin, mezzo -so- Piano Concerto No. r, in C, Op. sr players on top of their game. Engineering prano. Robert B. Anderson, bass -baritone. Piano Concerto No. 2, in E Flat, Op. 32 Mendelssohn Choir. puts the listener right in the orchestra, but Friedrich Wührer, piano. Pro Musica Sym- definition is clear when it should be. Sur- CAPITOL P 8218. 12 -in. 37 min. $5.72. phony of Vienna, Hans Swarowsky cond. faces on my copy popped occasionally. The problems involved in the recording of Vox PL 8140. 12 -in. 22, 23 min. $5.95. J. H., Jr.

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WAGNER a sort of second national anthem. Here it Cavalleria Rusticana; Rachmaninoff: Prelude Der Fliegende Holländer is given in Arné s original bright 18th cen- in C Sharp Minor. tury orchestration, with Peter Pears RCA VICTOR LM 1752. 12 -in. Annalies Kupper (s), Senta; Sieglinde Wag- sound- $5.72. ing off in a real roast -beef voice. The re- Boston Pops Arthur Fiedler, cond. ner (ms), Mary; Wolfgang Windgassen (t), Orch., production is nothing special (it was taped Erik; Ernst Häflinger (t), Steersman; Josef (Taking RCA Victor at their word, the edi- at an actual performance), but quite ade- Metternich (b), The Dutchman; Josef tors assigned this disk for review to a self - quate, and the rendition is really exciting Greindl (bs), Daland. RIAS Orchestra and professed hater of classical music.) to anyone but a Chorus; Ferenc Fricsay, cond. confirmed Anglophobe. The other Arne and the Purcell songs are release is DECCA DX -124. Three 12 -in. $17.55. To this amateur reviewer, this lovely and dignified. On the overside, the simply a classic corroboration of a long -time This is quite a good performance, but not variations on Sellenger's Round are more belief that "the stuff is not for me." Here good enough to supplant the competitive clever than compelling, but they constitute and there I found charming, melodious Mercury version. The main point at issue a pleasant modernistic bouquet from six passages - passages which made me want has to do with the title role. Josef Metter - leading Empire composers to their new to hum. But always I was, as I have ever nich is a good, intelligent, forthright singer, queen. J. M. C. been, unpleasantly conscious of the loudness but his voice does not seem right for this which seems so frequently a part of sym- part. It is a bright, clear, voice, almost - phonic performances. Only so many deci- insofar as Italian terms can be applied to bels came through the speaker to which I German singers -a lyric baritone. It just listened for; fortunately, of that the listener does not make quite the proper effect, no is still in control. But controlled as the matter how intelligently it is used. This volume may be, my very active imagination casting seems inexplicable, unless it hap- cannot help but conjure up the often ear- pened that some one thought it might be blasting quality which is part of the per- nice to get more contrast between the Dutch- formance as it is in real life. Of course, one man and Daland in a radio performance - cannot truly hate classical music unless one in which case the better move might have has been exposed to it, which makes the been to cast the main role first and then get a Victor title a misnomer. Having suffered really black voice for Daland. Josef Greindl prolonged and repeated exposure, a true sounds quite well here but never makes the hater of classical music must needs be old man seem very interesting; but, when familiar with nearly every excerpt served up you get down to brass tacks, he isn't very on this platter. And, as it happens, here interesting. Their opposite numbers on RCA Victor has shrewdly assembled on a Mercury - Hans Hotter and Georg Hann - single disk a splendid sampling of my pet are far superior. As Senta, Annalies Kupper hates. A more apt title for this 12 -inch LP often sounds quite lovely, if, also, a bit on The late Kathleen Ferrier: in premature would be "Classical Tidbits for People Who the light side, and sings with good dramatic farewell, sombre Bach and Handel arias. Have Started to Like Classical Music." sense; Wolfgang Widgassen is excellent as In fairness, one must admire the artistry of Erik. The minor roles are well cast. Ferenc BACH AND HANDEL ARIAS the Boston Pops under Mr. Fiedler. A Fricsay conducts with vehemence, convic- seasoned classical -music hater can recognize tion, and good control, but Clemens Krauss Bach Arias: Qui sedes ad dextram patris, misere an exceptional performance - not that he is even better and has more of the proper nobis from the B Minor Mass; Grief for sins enjoys it any more than a bad one. On materials to work with. The Decca sounds rends the guilty heart within (St. Matthew second thought, this disk might actually a little more brilliant; otherwise, the en- Passion); All is fulfilled, and hope to fainting get somewhere if it were aimed at novices - gineering is pretty nearly a stand -off. J. H., Jr. souls extended. (St. John Passion); Agnus Dei, people who think they dislike classical music. qui tolls peccata mundi, misere nobis. (Mass in As for a hardened hater - sorry, no soap. B Minor). C. E. Handel Arias: Return, O God of hosts. (Sam- COLLECTIONS AND son); 0 thou that telles: good tidings to Zion. KIRSTEN FLAGSTAD: SONG RE- (Messiah); Father of Heaven. (Judas Mac - CITAL He was despised and rejected of MISCELLANY cabaeus); Schumann: Frauenliebe und Leben, Op. 42. men. (Messiah). Schubert: An die Musik; Ganymed. Brahms: ARNE Kathleen Ferrier, contralto; London Phil- Von ewiger Liebe; 0 wüss ich doch den Weg harmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult, cond. zurück. Strauss: Ich liebe Dich; Ruhe, meine Ode in Honour of Great Britain ( "Rule, LONDON LL 688. 12 -in. $5.95. Seele. Rogers: At Parting. Speaks: Morning. Britannia"); Now All the Air Shall Ring. McArthur: We Have Turned Again Home. This is the last record made by Miss Ferrier, Charles: When I Have Sung My Songs. Kirsten PURCELL whose death in October of 1953 at the age Flagstad (s). Edwin McArthur, piano. only 41, deprived us one the finest Oh Lord, Grant the Queen a Long Life. of of of RCA VICTOR LM 1738. s2 -in. $5.95. artists of our time. Since most of the arias are slow and sombre, the disk Since half of this disk is given over to WALTON, OLDHAM, TIP - recorded BRITTEN, Frauenliebe und Leben, its value is solider PETT, SEARLE, BERKELEY might almost be viewed as a memorial concert to the artist whose voice it per- than that of most such vocal miscellanies. Variations on an Elizabethan Theme (Sel - petuates. In such guise, it becomes a mov- All four of the available versions of the cycle lenger's Round) ing experience to listen to the recording. are more than just worthwhile; none is the ultimate. Assuming a tolerance for Peter Pears (t); Arda Mandikian (s); Gladys But the record is equally moving to hear Lotte Lehmann's personal vagaries, her in- Whited (s); Alfred Deller (counter -tenor); as a purely musical experience, even with- is far interesting Norman Lumsden (bs); Aldeburgh Festival out the emotional coloration imparted to it terpretation by the most all, and she has the immense advantage of Orchestra and Chorus. Benjamin Britten by Miss Ferrier's passing. It serves to of Bruno Walter's collaboration at the piano; and Imogen Holst, cond. heighten our sense of loss. D. R, but the engineering is not for golden ears. LONDON LL808. 12 -in. $5.95. Kathleen Ferrier's voice was certainly one MUSIC FOR PEOPLE finales in all CLASSICAL of the loveliest preserved by modern en- One of the most successful WHO HATE CLASSICAL MUSIC theatrico- musical history happened in 1740 gineering, but Elisabeth Höngen is a main London. It terminated a musical masque Excerpts from: Beethoven: Symphony No. 5; turely musical and intellectual interpreter by Dr. Thomas Arne, entitled Alfred, which Schubert: "Unfinished" Symphony; Verdi: where the late English singer was simply dealt with the well -known cake -burning Triumphal March from Aida; Tchaikovsky; sincere and serious of purpose; both are well monarch of the same name. The last musical Piano Concerto No. r; Strauss: Rosenkavalier accompanied. The newest entry is standard number was a four -verse song, for tenor, Waltzes; Dvorak: "New World'. Symphony; post -war Flagstad - which is to say that chorus and orchestra, called "Rule, Brit - Tchaikovsky: The Sleeping Beauty; Chopin: her voice is still lovely at its best but thin tania," which promptly became, and stayed, Les Sylphides; Mascagni: Intermezzo from and pushed at the tops of phrases and that

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interpretatively her performance is authori- Shaw Chorale; Renato Cellini, cond. Reginald Foort, organ. tative without achieving much emotional RCA VICTOR LM1795. 12-in. $5.95. COOK SOUNDS OF OUR TIMES 1054 & 1055. communication. As always, her tonal ac- Two to -in. 23 min. each. $4.00 each. for complishment is decreased in value by Edwin Even making generous allowance the Vol. 1. Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor; McArthur's bland, over -solicitous accom- fact that individual reaction to singers is Bist du bei mir. Boëllmann: Gothic Minuet, paniments. You pays your money and you in large measure subjective and unpredic- and Prayer to Our Lady, from Suite Gothique. takes your choice. Mme. Flagstad sounds table, there can scarcely be much argument Dubois: Toccata. better in the mixed list on the reverse, but that Zinka Milanov's voice is at its best Vol. 2. Handel: Arrival of the Queen of even the sheathing of her glorious voice one of the most beautiful to be captured Sheba; Allegro maestoso (13th movement) cannot make the shoddy American songs within the grooves of today's nearly lifelike Air, and Coro, from the Water Music; Arioso. she sings worthy of Red Seal status. J. H., Jr. reproduction. She is also a serious artist who, at least along her chosen Verdi - Reubke: Finale from the 94th Psalm. verismo her points both power- axis, makes These recordings are strictly for high -fidelity fully and in terms of style that is always MASTERPIECES OF MUSIC BEFORE fans. That performances on an organ so legitimate and often really distinguished. 1750 large and complex should emerge in re- Before the war, at the Metropolitan, she cording so weighty and yet so accurately Record 1: Gregorian Chant to the r 6th Century. tended to be erratic, not often at her best z: The 16th Century and the r7th balanced is a miracle of engineering. Differ- Record a whole When throughout performance. ent registers seem to come from different Century. Record 3: The r7th Century and she returned after the beginning of what is the 18th Century. places; extreme highs and lows are captured called the Bing régime, she was still an un- without distortion, and the sense of being even singer; her voice seemed less lovely in Danish Soloists and Ensembles, Mogens present in Symphony Hall is almost un- actuality in memory, and she seemed to Wöldike, Director. Finn Videro, Aksel than comfortably realistic. Beyond the sensa- have grown chary it freely, although Schiotz, Else Brems, Niels Brincker, Schola of using tional aural experience the recordings are still a relatively young woman. Since then, Gregoriana of Copenhagen, Copenhagen pretty grim. Mr. Foort takes all kinds of however, and for whatever obscure psycho- Boys' and Mens' Choir, the Madrigal Choir liberties and uses soupy registrations in the logical physical reasons, she has improved of the Danish State Radio, Chamber Or- or mistaken notion that they are necessary to the end of last season chestra and Chorus of the Danish State steadily, so that by make Bach and Handel palatable. Boëll- was good per- Radio. she delivering consistently mann, Dubois, and Reubke suffer less from formances as never before. HAYDN SOCIETY HSL -B. Three 12 -In. these vagaries. The company apparently This recording finds her in superb voice feels defensive about this non -classical ap- The Haydn Society has conceived the idea of almost all the time and dealing with ma- proach, asserting on the record liner that, recording, on three LP disks, every one of terials that are almost wholly congenial. after all, Bach was "no fogey" but a "fight- the 5o pieces of music that are included as from La Forza del Destino The excerpts - ing man of virility (zo children)." Nothing examples in the book "Masterpieces of in which the Robert Shaw Chorale sounds could be less virile than Mr. Foori s swoon- Music Before 1750," written by Carl Par- eccelsiastical and Lubomir Viche- superbly ing performances. Also, one of the Handel rish and John F. Ohl, and published by gonov a thoroughly profes- contributes works is inaccurately labeled the Allegro W. W. Norton and Co. sional Padre Guardiano she sings just - - maestoso from the Water Music is confused It is impossible to overestimate the value as magnificently as she did in her best per- with the Hornpipe. R. E. of these records in combination with the formances last season. If nothing else were book, not only for schools and colleges, included, this would very nearly be worth but also for the individual music lover who the price of the record - at least to Forza RECORDER MUSIC OF SIX CEN- is interested in delving into music between lovers. The Aida arias, the Suicidio!, and TURIES (Vol. I) the early Middle Ages and the time of Bach. the D'Amor tut ali rosee, too, in their differ- Works by; Reuenthal; Machault; Landini; Whether viewed as a series of musical ing ways, are just as impressive. The first Des Pres; Suzato; Praetorius; Willaert; performances for which scores and detailed of the II Trovatore arias is different from that Bassano; Lasso; Byrd; Morley; Diomede, notes are provided in book form, or, whether on the complete set minus an Inez in - and Gibbons. the records are looked upon as making aud- the cabaletta, generally better sung, but The Recorder Consort of the Musicians' ible the examples given in the book, the flawed by a pushed and quickly abandoned Workshop. Recorders: Lalloue Daven- set is of inestimable value. A at the end (the only such tone on the port, Robert Dorough, Erich Katz, Bernard One could cavil over small points in the record). The Voi lo tapete has a Mamma recording, such as the fact that a piece writ- Lucia (Margaret Roggero, no doubt) but Krainis. Percussion; Herbert Kellman. CLASSIC EDITIONS CE 1o18. 12 -in. 35.95. ten for the virginals is played on the harpsi- sounds like either a different take than the chord, the "flutter" over the opening of the one used in the complete set or an altered For specialized tastes, this record should be Rameau example, or a bad soprano entrance engineering of the same one; better, in either of great appeal. The music is delightful, the in the chorus from Handel's "Solomon." case. Sound is rich and ripe typical Victor performances are expert and the recording But against these faults there could be - opera recording. If you want a disk to repre- is fine. There is a nice amount "air" mentioned the beautifully expressive quality of sent Milanov, this is the best there is. J. H., Jr. around the players, yet not so much as to of most of the solo singing, the fine sense of obscure the clarity of the individual lines. style in the singing of the motets by Lassus, OLD ENGLISH AND FRENCH MUSIC Even within the rather limited tonal Palestrina and Byrd, and the sweetness of palette of the recorder as an instrument, it the boys' voices in the choir. These de- Westminster Light Orchestra. Leslie Bridge- is surprising to note the range of expression tails however are less important than the water, cond. covered by the works on this disk. From general excellence of the idea itself. WESTMINSTER WI. 4007. 12 in. 45 min. $5.95. the naive 13th and 14th century anonymous Let us hope that this set will encourage dances, with improvised percussion parts, both this and other record companies to Bridgewater has contributed several notable light music to the Westminster it is quite a far cry to the sophisticated venture further into the field of educational recordings of catalog. but none exceed in elegance or works of Byrd, Morley and Gibbons. records at an adult level. Certainly, this is a recital If, as the anonymous jacket notes declare, magnificent achievement! D. R. polish this splendid of courtly music by French and English composers of the 17th we are now going through a period of in- and 18th centuries. Couperin and Leclair rub. creased interest in the recorder, then this ZINKA MILANOV: ARIAS AND shoulders with Boyce and Purcell in a dis- record should serve as a model for those SCENES tillation of the musical splendors of those who are taking up the instrument. D. R. periods, carefully re- created under the cun- Verdi: Ritorna vincitor! O mia, and patria ning hand of the conductor. from Aida. Madre, pietosa Vergine; Le Vergine Westminster has invested the recording A RIMSKY -KORSAKOFF PROGRAM degli angeli; and Pace, pace, from La Forza del with some of its most brilliantly clear sound, Piano Concerto in C Sharp Minor; May Night Destino. Tacea la notte and D'amor sul' ali the harpsichord sound, in particular, being - Overture; Mlada - Cortege des Nobles; rosee, from I! Trovatore. Ponchielli: Suicidio!, quite ravishing. J. F. I. Snegourotchka Dance of the Birds and Whit- from La Gioconda. - sunday Festival; Le Coq d'Or - Bridal Pro- Zinka Milanov (s); Lubomir Vichegonov THE ORGAN AT SYMPHONY HALL, cession. Glinka: Kamarinskaya (arch. Rim - (bs). RCA Victor Orchestra and Robert VOLS. I & II sky-Korsakoff).

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Philharmonia Orchestra of London. Lon- has been among the missing for some few Dialing Your Disks don Symphony Orchestra. Anatole Fis- years now, but the sound is clear and bright Practically all record -makers boost their toulari, George Weldon and Walter Süss- throughout. The repertoire covered is broad disks' treble -volume, to mask surface noise, kind, conds. Fabienne Jacquinot, piano. enough to strain the stylistic resources of MGM E 3045. 12 -in. $4.85. and weaken the bass, to conserve groove - almost any singer, but Mr. Tucker is too space. Some amplifiers have equalization reliable a performer ever to be inept. He A pleasingly colorful and varied collection does, however, meet many problems of controls, to neutralize the widely varied de- Rimsky- Korsakoff of music, most of it not style by the simple expedient of singing viations practiced by different companies heard too frequently in the concert hall. everything in the way that suits his voice (see below). Some records follow the NAB One or two the works here of also appear in rather than by placing his voice and musician- curve, wherein all bass is weakened below identical recordings on other MGM disks, ship entirely at the service of the music. Soo cycles and treble -boost amounts to 16 but this generally well -played and admirably This approach yields a high assay of fine db at to,000 cycles. Others use the AES recorded mélange is likely to have the tone but little that could fairly be called curve, on which bass -droop starts at 400 widest appeal. P. A. cycles and treble -boost only goes to 12 db. distinguished interpretation or real drama. Some combine the two, like RCA Victor, In general, the Italian arias are better than which uses NAB bass and AES treble. In SONGS OF ENGLAND the French, the forceful better than the where a one -knob equalizer can- floatingly lyric although all are capably such cases, Jennifer Vyvyan, soprano. Ernest Lush, - it be set according to dealt with yet, surprisingly (at least to not adjust, should piano. - BASS, and treble added or subtracted by the me) the performance of the excerpt from LONDON LL 8o6. 12 -in. 38 min. $5.95. tone -controls. It is useful to note that RCA Andrea Chfnier, fine though the sound is, lacks Victor, Columbia and London all use (or Sixteen songs of the same genre are more tension and impact. J. H., Jr. come close to) the NAB bass -turnover point, than most singers would attempt in con- Soo cycles. However, Victor's treble boost cert, though no such qualms exist where VOODOO - Authentic Music of Haiti is only 12 instead of 16 db, and London's is a records are concerned. It is to Miss Vyvyan's mere t 1.5, so treble must be added to offset credit, though, that she manages, by innate Haiti Danse Orchestra and Chorus; Emy de overcorrection. Even a two -knob equalizer, musicianship and sound vocal equipment, Pradines, cond. with separate bass and treble settings, us- to make this a fragrant bouquet of English Drums; I Man Man Man; Choucoune; Quar- help from the tone -controls. ually needs Songs. Her voice has considerable charm, is tier Morin; Erzulie; Dodo Titit Maman; Ras - Remember, the ear is boss. For listeners even throughout the scale, and, with the bodail Rhythm; Loa Azaou; Panamam Tombé; without equalizers, the formula is: the possible exception of the opening phrases Mréli, Mrélf, Mandé. higher the bass -turnover, the higher the bass of Arné s "0 Ravishing Delight" is always REMINGTON R- 199 -15 r. r2 -in. $2.99. tone -control should be set. Asterisks (be- well controlled. Inevitably, in programs of low) mean record -maker lists instructions this kind, there is some uneveness in musical The title of this disk is a misnomer; only on jacket. values, but her work in Michaels Head's about half of the music on it has any connection with Voodoo religious ritual. Even LABEL BASS TREBLE lovely "Foxgloves," Vaughan Williams' tragic "The New Ghost," and particularly in the where it has, however, the appeal is inde- Atlantic' NAB NAB ineptly named "A Melancholy Song" of An- pendent of it as in the initial band of American Recording Soc. NAB Ortho4 - tony Hopkins, is a real joy. Excellent ac- drum rhythms, a match for any hi -fi show- Bartok 6292 16 dba companiments from Ernest Lush at the off disk. The other selections are of usual Blue Note Jazz AES AES piano, and exemplary, well -balanced sound folk variety love- songs, ballads, dance - Caedmon 6292 It dbr - from London's engineers. J. F. I. songs. The chorus consists of 12 girls, Canyon AES AES who sing in weird, sweet harmonies. The Capitol AES AES orchestral instruments are drums, gourds, Capital -Cetra AES AES RICHARD TUCKER: ARIAS bamboo horns, four -note flutes and a guitar. Cetra -Soria COL NAB Emy de Pradines, daughter of a well -known Verdi: De' miei bollenti spiriti, from La Tra- Columbia COL NAB Haitian poet (Candiau), is an authority on :data; Ma se m'è forza perderti, from Un Ballo Cook Laboratories' NAB AES Haitian folk music and, quite obviously, in Maschera. Donizetti: Una furtiva lagrima, Decca COL NAB an A -1 recording director. This is some of from L'Elisir d' Amore. Meyerbeer: O Para- EMS* AES AES the best sound ever put forth by Remington. 16 db3 dise, from L'Africana. Gounod: Salut! Elektra 6292 Furthermore, some of these tunes (try Chou - demeure, from Faust. Puccini: Che gelida Esoteric NAB AES coune, band 2) are extraordinarily pretty marina, from La Bohème. Bizet: La fleur Haydn Society COL NAB and captivating. J. M. C. London COL LON+ que vous m'avez jetée, from Carmen. Pon - Lyrichord, news 6292 16 dba chielli: Cielo e mar, from La Gioconda. Mercury* AES AES Richard Tucker (t). Metropolitan Opera M -G -M NAB AES Orchestra; Fausto Cleva and Emil Cooper, Oceanic COL NAB cond. Philharmonia AES AES COLUMBIA ML 4750. 12 -in. $5.45. THE MUSIC BETWEEN Polymusic' NAB NAB RCA Victor Ortho', Ortho4 One recent evening at the Metropolitan a Remington NAB NAB distinguished opera impressario said to a MUSIC FOR FAITH AND INNER Richard Tempo NAB Ortho4 distinguished critic, speaking of CALM Urania'', most COL NAB Tucker's performance: "Caruso never sang The Melachrino Strings Urania*, some AES AES that well." The tribute may have been Vanguard - Bach Guild COL NAB overstated. In any case, it might have RCA VICTOR LPM 1004. 12 -in. $4.19. Vox' COL NAB carried more weight had the impressario A Perfect Day; I'll Walk Beside You: Goin' Westminster, old NAB', NAB,' ever heard Caruso sing. But you get the idea; Home; In a Monastery Garden; Chanson de Westminster, new COL AES to tell the truth, the Tucker voice is an ex- Matin; Love's Old Sweet Song; Song of ceedingly fine one. This recording presents Paradise; Whispering Hope; Abide With Me; are re- (Binaural records produced by this label it in good condition and sounding quite Bless This Home. corded to NAB standards, on the outside band. -sized tenore On the inside band. NAB is used for low frequen- characteristic -a sort of junior cies. but the treble is recorded flat, without pre robusto, resonant, even in scale, with a pe- Melachrino s cascading strings provide the emphasis. culiar way of hinting in portamentos that most sumptuous sound of the month here. "NAB position on equaliser is close match. an Italian phrase may be going to turn into They pour their mellifluous ointment on 3NAB position on equalizer is close match. a I some of the hoariest chestnuts around, but 'Use LON position on equalizer, or AES with slight cantonal melisma. Since do not possess treble cut. the earlier Tucker LP aria miscellany (Colum- the approach is sweetly innocent and the &Some older records of this label were recorded to bia ML- 4248), it is not possible here to mood frankly nostalgic and sentimental. COL curve. others to AES. make a breakdown of possible duplications Listening to this record, you may not ac- 'Very close to NAB on lows. faith promised on the record - ?Very close to AES on highs; boost treble slightly. or variants. Certainly all of these perform- quire the will surely find a sur- ' Unless jacket indicates AES. ances are not brand new, for Emil Cooper envelope, but you

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prising amount of instrumental coloring nothing startling; the sound of the orches- sings charming arrangements of 13 Brazilian and, looking to higher things, a total effect tras here is inferior to the high quality of songs on the other side of this record. Of of rather beguiling sincerity. We can't most American groups on records. The the group, I particularly like O'Kinimba imagine, as a matter of fact, smoother, Radio Berlin Orchestra, by the way, sounds (Earth), a sturdy folk -tune that will remind soberer performances of these old tunes. as though it were sight- reading its way you strongly of one of the songs of the through Glieré s Red Poppy Waltz. Auvergne, and Querer bem nao f pecado (It CONTINENTAL HIT PARADE NO. 9 is not a sin to be in love), a saucy bit that LONDON LB 815. to -in. $3.95. SELECTIONS FROM LE CHANTEUR states its case in no uncertain terms. Sound and surfaces on both sides are excellent Wenn Du Fortgehst Von Mir; Es Wird Ja DE MEXICO Sung by Luis Mariano and Miss Gloria's voice comes through at Alles Wieder Gut; Wie Schon Hat Dich Die times with extraordinary clarity. Liebe Gemacht; Illusionen; Alle Wie Wir RCA VICTOR LPM 3158. 10 -in. $3.15. Hier Gebacken Hatten Schon Mal Einem Quand on est Deux Amis; I! est Coin de ROMANCE Zacken: Noch Bist Du Klein; Kleine Jod. Frank Parker France; Acapulco; Mexico; Rossignol; Paris and Marion Marlowe lerin Vom Tegernsee; Die Sanger Vom d'en Haut; Tequila; Maitechu. Gesangversein. La Orchestra under the direction of Percy Faith and Archie Bleyer. As far as theatrical long -runs are The Continental Hit Parade is evident- concerned, Le Chanteur de Mexico seems be France's COLUMBIA CL 626. to -in. $3.00. ly extremely popular; this is the ninth to answer to South Pacific. It is, we are told, in the series. The impression I have of the Romance; An Old- Fashioned Picture: The Paris' favorite musical show, and tickets latest is that it's a sort of Bavarian jam ses- Man I Love; I've Told Every Little Star; have been at a premium sion interspersed, every now and then, with ever since it opened. One Night of Love: Blue Moon; The Melba There the if there ever was one of those melancholy fox -trots that Ber- competition, Waltz: Make Believe. one, stops. For this operetta, the plot liners love so dearly. As I said, this is only of which, perhaps fortunately, is re- Two of Arthur Godfrey's remaining friends, an impression. The jam session, to try to not counted on the record envelope, is one old one and one possible clear the matter up. is tooted, literally, and satur- acquain- ated with an uninspired, tance, join together this record sung by Will Glahe and his orchestra. tired score that on to offer eight of the most popular Possibly, Mr. Glahe will make you think practically grinds the listener into oblivion. songs of the past For a comparison, go back fifteen years 25 years or so. Frank Parker, Marion of a Teutonic Spike Jones, but Mr. Jones, or Mar- so to some of the tunes dreamed up for the lowe, Archie Bleyer and Percy Faith are all I am sure, never dreamed of the real, honest - early Dorothy Lamour island -pictures. professionals, in the best sense to- goodness laughter that Mr. Glahe offers So of the word, what do we have left? Luis and their work here is smooth, here on one song, at what I'm not sure. In Mariano, to be clear, and exact, occasionally backed by an old - on -pitch all the way through. Six addition, Kleine Jodlerin Vom Tegernsee, if it of the fashioned sounding operetta chorus. Mr. eight songs are arranged as duets. was Kleine Jodlerin Vom Tegernsee, shows off Mr. Parker takes a neat, about the clearest, most energetic yodelling Mariano has a small voice with a wide range. well -executed solo It's a flexible voice, and often, in its middle flight on Blue Moon, with, however, the I have heard on records. The Berlin fox- aid register, when of an echo chamber. Miss trots if you're still with me are sung sounds nice. But Mr. Mariano Marlowe, who - - reaches for those top notes, it flattens out, never pushes a song too far, provides an by Lys Assia, and nicely, too. I had some takes on unaffected performance of The trouble unsnarling the information on the three edges, and worse, doesn't Man I Love let go. The by way, that proves, possibly, that sopranos record -band, but, in any case, the sound songs, the are all in needn't French, and you be able to remember be afraid of what has always been was first -rate and the surfaces clean, even won't considered any of them. the province of throaty- voiced contraltos. though I'm not sure just what was coming The total effect here is pleasing off them. in the extreme, and if the record BALLET BONAMPAK: Luis Sandi doesn't shake you up in anyway, it MUSIC UNDER THE STARS: Popular BRAZILIAN SONGS offers another reward, Orchestral Favorites namely relaxation. RCA VICTOR LM 1737. 12 -in. $5.72. URLP 7096. I2 URANIA -in. $5.95 National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico; PERCY FAITH PLAYS CONTINEN- Chabrier: Espana, Berlin Philharmonic, conductor, Luis Sandi. Suite Gloria, TAL MUSIC Arthur Rother; Grieg: Norwegian Dancer, Soprano with Anthony Chanaka at the COLUMBIA CL 525. 1.2 -in. $4.85. Nos. 2 and 3, Symphony Orchestra, Radio piano. Mademoiselle De Paree; Symphony; Vola, Leipzig, Gerhard Wiesenheutter; Strauss: Side 1: Ballet Bonampak. Colomba!; (Florin, Fiorella); Suddenly; Fledermaus Overture, Vienna Philharmonic, Side 2: Brazilian Songs. Petite Bolera; La Ronde; Many Karl Boehm; Stravinsky: The Firebird: Times: If You Said Goodbye; April in Portugal; Infernal Dance, Symphony Orchestra, As a ballet, Bonampak deals mainly with the Under rituals practiced by an 18th- century Mexi- the Bridges of Paris; Sympatico. Radio Leipzig, Earnest Borsamsky; Saint - can city to bring it strength and Saens: Danse Macabre, German Symphony assurance PERCY FAITH PLAYS ROMANTIC Orchestra, Leopold Ludwig; Gliere: The in battle. The score that Luis Sandi has corn- MUSIC Red Poppy: Waltz, Symphony Orchestra, posed for this nationalistic work, like the Radio Berlin, Hans Gahlenbeck; Liszt: story, is formal, episodic and undramatic. COLUMBIA CL 526. 12 -in. $4.85. Its rhythms are often convulsive, its melo- Hungarian Rhapsody No. t, Symphony Carousel Waltz; Easy to Love; One Night of dies some of them taken from Mexican Orchestra, Radio Leipzig, Gerhard Pflue- - Love; When I'm Not Near the Girl I Love; folk -tunes always simple and sad, but ger; Kabalevsky: Comedian's Gallop, Sym- - the Caress; Beautiful Love; While We're Young; score's main interest, it seems to me, comes phony Orchestra, Radio Berlin, Arthur I'll Take Romance; Invitation; The Girl from the steady use of percussion instru- Rother. That I Marry; Valse Huguette; If I Loved for -beats and ments color. Drum the oc- You. The highspot of this grab -bag of favorites casional flash of a maracas, however, are not is the Vienna Philharmonic's performance of quite enough to satisfy, and after a while To his credit, Percy Faith gets right to the the Fledermaus Overture under Karl Boehm. one begins to hope for a substance and point of the 12 continental tunes: he con- It sparkles, soundwise and rhythmically, shape to the score that never turns up. centrates on melody from beginning to and one only wishes that the Metropolitan's Mr. Sandi has composed earnestly and end. Even more, his arrangements, except orchestra would put as much into it as the seriously here, but I couldn't escape the for an occasional giddy display of upsurg- Viennese do. The seven other selections feeling that the variations he has built ing violins, steadily show taste and intelli- vary in quality from the Radio Leipzig Or- around the little tunes that fill the ballet gence - not too lush and certainly never chestra's careful and heavily- contrasted ap- are undernourished and, in the end, monoto- simple- minded. This new recording con- proach to Grieg's second and third Nor- nous. The National Symphony Orchestra tains five waltzes, including the delightfully wegian Dances to the Radio Berlin Orches- of Mexico, which sounded chamber -sized nostalgic Under The Bridges of Paris, and to- tra's nervous, shrill job on Kabalevsky's to me, gets through Mr. Sandi's rhythmical gether they evoke for the listener the attrac- Comedian's Gallop. In between lies a certain intricacies nicely enough, though, under tive bitter -sweet atmosphere of the French measure of competence and not too much the direction of the composer. street cafe in late afternoon: The "fox -hots, imagination. Technically, the record offers Smite Gloria, a fresh -voiced soprano, too, are a pleasure to hear, and,,incidenntally,

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can be danced to with no trouble. Mr. Faith's the ladies sound creepy. Caress, Mr. Faith's first LP, New Directions in Music (Victor fox -trot has a strong, steady beat; it rarely own lovely, simple waltz, and I'll Take LPM 3115) is back again on this twelve -inch gets tricky. However, the two rhumbas, Romance probably get the most tasteful disk but with a difference. Where once (Florin, Fiorella) and April in Portugal, and performances of all. The sound is resonant the gamut of peeps and grunts, of penny Petite Bolero seem to indicate that the con- and full, but here and there, particularly on whistle and tuba and triangle and recorder ductor would much rather do battle with One Night of Love, my record was badly - and xylophone and tambourine and wounded Latin rhythms than let them have their way; grooved. In short, mixed blessings here French horn were a means to an end - the here, they are thought out a little too care- and certainly not up to the high standards apt interpretation of a piece of music, the fully and the result is a sort of musclebound set by the conductor- composer himself. creation of a mood - too often they appear overstylization. In general, though, it's ROBERT KOTLOWITZ on this LP as the end itself. This is partly difficult to think of a more successful record caused by a good deal of vocalizing on of its kind than this. Both sound and sur- several of the numbers - the singing's the faces are fine. JAZZ thing and the instruments have to fit in The shift from "Continental Tunes," to THE BEST OF where they can find room. But even on such "Romantic Music," although the distinc- cleared instrumental space as Child's Play THE SOUND OF THE SAUTER - tion seems mostly a question of semantics, FINEGAN ORCHESTRA and Horse Play (originally issued together results in a record of mixed quality. The on EP as The Extended Play Suite), there is a trouble, in general, is arrangements that VICTOR LPM 1009. Iz -in. 37 min. $4.19. feeling of sound coloration wandering aim- are a little too overbearing and earnest. lessly around with no support. Nina Never Knew; Love Is a Simple Thing; Everything is too slow. The swirling The remark above about the singing needs Time to Dream; Tweedle Dam and Tweedle Carousel Waltz still swirls but without much qualifying. Three of the numbers are sung Dee; Yankee Doodletown; The Honey Jump; logic, or indeed, romance. Easy to Love by Joe Mooney, a gentleman of no great Now That I'm in Love; Stop Beatin' 'Round and If 1 Loved You are backed by a wordless voice but excellent taste in phrasing. He the Mulberry Bush; Child's Play; Horse Play. woman's chorus that is used, as the record - adds to the glory of S -F. The rather routine envelope explains, to "add a new texture of The wonderful cascade of sounds which the vocal groups that keep turning up, however, sound" to the music. New texture or not, Sauter- Finegan Orchestra unveiled on its do not. Shavians of 1938-39

Mark Sullivan, erstwhile chronicler of our times, once said that band fare made from radio broadcasts in the Cafe Rouge of the "to write adequately about jazz would be to write the history of Hotel Pennsylvania and the Blue Room of the Hotel Lincoln. much of the generation." He was speaking primarily of the genera- Those of you who spent any evenings there in the winter of 1938.39 tion which grew to questionable maturity in the speakeasies of the and possess a distinctive manner of clapping your hands, may 1920's. However, Mr. Sullivan's observation also applies to the even identify yourself among the audience. The records possess anxious generation which stomped away its precious youth under all the advantages and disadvantages of live recordings, a sub- the bandstands of the 1930's. The history of that generation is ject which was discussed at greater length in an earlier issue of inseparably linked with the phenomenon of the big swing band. HIGH FIDELITY (March -April 1953). Technical excellence is usually While the question of whether the big bands of that period sacrificed in a live recording but the resulting music is invariably really played jazz will be debated for some time, there can be little crisper than its studio -recorded counterpart. doubt that whatever they were playing was exciting - and it ap- These records are no exception. However, on first playing I parently still is. Two of them, Benny Goodman's and Glenn must confess that they were disappointing. Perhaps it was be- Miller's, have already been revived on disks with considerable suc- cause the Shaw band, at times, sounded more like the Glenn Miller - cess, and next month Victor will disinter another - Artie Shaw's Tommy Dorsey school than I liked to remember; perhaps it was - from the musty files of recorded NBC radio broadcasts. because too many vocals were included (seven to be exact: four Historians who wish to write the history of the generation which by Tony Pastor and three by Helen Forrest); or maybe it was be- marched off to war to the tune of Begin the Beguine and similar cause Shaw had no runaway numbers like Goodman's Sing Sing Sing ditties will find the story of Artie Shaw and his band a rewarding (the closest thing to it was his Chant, a production number spot- one. They were relatively unknown when Shaw signed a contract lighting Shaw and drummer Buddy Rich. Unfortunately, the to make Bluebird records for RCA Victor in 1938. The first number Chant on these records was cut off - or disenchanted you might they recorded was a rollicking version of Rudolph Friml's Indian say - by the end of a broadcast and further weakened by the absence Love Call, with Tony Pastor squawking the lyrics. For the other of Rich, who had not yet joined the band at the time this broad- side Shaw chose, over the protests of the recording manager, Begin cast was made). the Beguine, which at the time was one of Cole Porter's least- played However, the second time around my critical reserve was broken tunes. When the record was released all the unpredictable forces down and I was once again back in the Cafe Rouge beating time which make a piece of music a "hit" converged on Begin the Beguine (with a less steady pace) to what was undoubtedly some of the and Artie Shaw was a national celebrity. Less than two years later, best big -band swing of the day. What Shaw's polished outfit could after Shaw had chased Dame Success right to the top of her glit- do to "standards" is best recalled by listening to its treatment of tering ladder, he got fed up and in the middle of an engagement 'such tunes as Sweet Sue, My Blue Heaven, At Sundown and to what I at the Hotel Pennsylvania, he climbed back down the ladder and will nominate as the best Stardust on records. Throughout the col- went off to Mexico to see if he could make sense out of the crazy lection there are sparkling solos by Shaw, who, like Goodman, world he had seen from up there. The New York Times, from its rarely dissapoints when he steps forward to take a chorus, as well as own Olympian heights, remarked: "Any commentary that might Georgie Auld and Tony Pastor on tenor, Georgie Arus on trom- occur to us would be lost in the Shakespearean sweep of Mr. Shaw's bone, Bernie Privin on trumpet and Buddy Rich on drums. exodus; the kind of spectacularly irreverent farewell to his work Musically, the records offer a collection of big band swing from and former associates that even the timidest soul must occasionally an age that will probably not be surpassed in that peculiar medium dream of; a beautifully incautious burning of all his bridges behind for some time. Historically, the records, like the Goodman and him." Mr. Shaw was obviously a confused young man. But then Miller disks which preceded them, constitute a faithful preserva- so were most young men of his generation. tion of one generation's favorite form of self -expression. From Although Shaw later returned to (and left) the band business either point of view, they cannot be ignored. R. H. H., Jr. several times after his 1940 flight, he never succeeded in putting together a big band which played with the sharpness of his 1938 Side t: Nightmare; Together; My Reverie; Sobbin' Blues; Jeepers outfit. He did, however, make several records with a sextet he Creepers; In the Mood; Non -Stop Flight. Side z: Begin the Beguine; chose to call the Gramercy Five, a combo -size group made up of The Old Stomping Ground; The Chant; Stardust; The Carioca. Side 3: Shaw's clarinet, trumpet, guitar, bass, drums and a harpsichord. At Sundown; I'm Sorry For Myself; Maria, My Own; Diga Diga Doo; Moonray; Everything Is Jumpin . Side 4: St. Louis Blues; I've Shaw was at his best in this setting and it is to be lamented that Got My Eye On You; My Blue Heaven; El Rancho Grande; Sweet the new Shaw records do not include any numbers by the old sextet. Sue; Man From Mars. The new album, which consists of two 12-in. records, is all big

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One has a feeling that many of these selec- cally the only jazz men who tried to coax heritage he has left in this album shows tions resulted from a decision that Sauter - a well -turned beat out of an organ. Waller, how far he eventually dissociated himself Finegan ought to get more commercial. If of course, was an invincible spirit who could from it. He can be heard playing on many so, it's a self defeating move. Their com- shine happily through feeble material, inept of the small jazz group recordings made in mercial attempts remain much more eso- accompaniment or an unwieldy instrument. the late Twenties and early Thirties and, teric than the routine commercial stuff that On these selections his accompaniment is when arrangements were used, Miller usually really sells but so much less than they've mostly good (and mostly provided by the made them. He was an arranger for the shown they can do. This disk, incidentally, small group with which he did much of bright, short -lived and jazz- minded Dorsey is marked, "Specially Recommended for his recording) but the fact that he is swing- Brother band, circa 1934. But when he got High Fidelity Fans." The sounds are great. ing on a pipe organ or singing some dread- around to organizing his own band, Miller ful lyrics fails to interfere with the relaxed produced a sweet band, most easily identified THE MODERN JAZZ QUARTET and rhythmic and happy performance which by the clarinet -led reed section it used on is the Waller hallmark. I Believe in Miracles, ballads. It was a stiff and business -like PRESTIGE PRLP 16o. to -in. 27 min. $3.85. Pantin' in the Panther Room, Let's Get Away band, well drilled and capable of grinding Milt Jackson, vibraphone; John Lewis, from It All and Swinga - Dilla Street are Grade out, with no unseemly display of emotion piano; Percy Heath, bass; Kenny Clarke, A Waller. The rest is just Waller, which is or interest, an endless array of similar sound- drums. still more than most of us deserve. ing ballads and killer- dillers. The attractive The Queen's Fancy; Delauneÿ s Dilemma; points of the Miller band were the lush Autumn in New York; But Not for Me; All DOC EVANS DIXIELAND CONCERT tonal coloration of which it was capable at the Things You Are; La Ronde; Vendome; times (as in Rhapsody in Blue) and some of SOMA MG too. 12 -in. 40 min. Rose of the Rio Grande. the moderate tempoed, rocking instrumen- Doc Evans, cornet; Hal Runyon, trombone; tals (String of Pearls and Sleepy Town Train Those who have difficulty cottoning to that Loren Heiberg, clarinet; Tommy McGovern, are instances) which were as close as the jazz which has appropriated the term "mod- piano; Biddy Bastien, bass; Warren Thewis, band came to a real jazz feeling. Aside from should not be put by the name ern" off of drums. Bobby Hackett; the band lacked soloists this group. This quartet is modern in the Under the Double Eagle; The Atlanta Blues: of any distinction and the band's regular sense of being interested in exploring the When We Dance at the Mardi Gras; Struttin' singers Ray Eberle, Marion Hutton and ensemble and solo possibilities of their in- - with Some Barbecue; Jazz Me Blues; St. Louis Tex Beneke - scarcely raised the interest struments but they are not slaves to the Blues; Maryland, My Maryland; Muskrat level. "modern sound." They might be classified Ramble; My Bucket's Got a Hole in It: South That a band with as limited a scope as as midway between the Gerry Mulligan Rampart Street Parade. this one can command such continuing Quartet and the old Benny Goodman Quar- loyalty and interest a decade after it went out from tet. Working charming and imagina- For some years, Doc Evans has been as of existence is an unequaled phenomenon tive arrangements by pianist John Lewis, a consistently brilliant cornet performer in in popular music. Those who chased love's they come up with delightfully unhack- the classic jazz vein as one could ask for. young dream to the accompaniment of variations on neyed themes that sometimes The verve and feeling of exactitude which is Miller's music may well find the numbers have a tinge of the 18th Century about always them. evident in Evans' work has been included on these disks enough to fill their Vibraphonist Milt Jackson carries the solo communicated to the group with which he well of nostalgia. For those who had other load in exemplary fashion with the help gave this at the concert Walker Art Center things on their minds between 1939 and a rhythm section which swings with in Minneapolis last summer. of Their playing 1942, ennui is apt to ser in after about $5 artful consistency. is spirited, clean and full of the gayety worth of disk has been spun. which is the heart dixieland. of Clarinetist JOHN S. WILSON HOWARD McGHEE, VOL. z Loren Heiberg in particular is a joy to hear, either noodling in and out behind a soloist BLUE NOTE 5024. to -in. 26 min. $3.92. or taking off on a warm -toned flight of his Howard McGhee, trumpet; Gigi Gryce, alto own. The recording is a bit on the sharp saxophone and flute; Tal Farlow, guitar; side. THE Horace Silver, piano; Percy Heath, bass; SPOKEN WORD Walter Bolden, drums. GLENN MILLER AND HIS ORCHES- farm; Good -bye; Futurity; Shabozz; Tran- TRA - Limited Edition COLUMBIA LITERARY SERIES quility; Ittapnna. VICTOR LPT 6700. Five 12 -in. LPs. Reading from their works: Somerset $24.95. Maugham; Tal Farlow, a guitarist who plays with grace Aldous Huxley; John Collier; There can be little doubt that and thought, is much in evidence .on this Glenn Miller John Steinbeck; Katherine Anne Porter; holds a unique position in the world William Saroyan; disk, chording out solo passages here and of Christopher Isherwood;; popular music. A methodical, there and providing faultless backing for business -like Truman Capote; Edna Ferber; Edith, Sir man in a field peopled to a great extent by Osbert and Sacheverell Sitwell. Howard McGheé s solo trumpet on oc- eccentrics, he led the last band to win the casion (Good -bye is one such occasion). COLUMBIA SL 19o. Twelve 12 -in. worshipful devotion of America's adoles- $loo. When Farlow isn't to the fore, , Horace before they turned Silver's rhythmic and highly personal piano cents their steaming The Columbia Literary Series is a superb adoration to singers. At the height flashes through or Gigi Gryce lures some of his collection of records which Columbia Vice success, he disappeared quite literally into cool statements from a flute. Even McGhee, President Goddard Lieberson nurtured and thin air lost and never again heard an erratic soloist, rises to the occasion and - of, on groomed for three years and finally pre- a flight from London to Paris. pursues some well developed musical ideas. And now, sented with a splendor appropriate to the nine years after his death, this In fact, it is only when Gryce is wrestling collection launching of a Manhattan debutante. If the 7o numbers) with his alto that this disk falls to the level (totalling of recordings and success of such an occasion is to be measured of routine. air checks made by Miller's band between by the accompanying publicity, then the 1939 and 1942 was not only offered at the release of Columbia's Literary Series was SWINGIN' THE ORGAN WITH FATS stiff fee of $24.95 a copy but found takers the high point of the Fall season. WALLER at such a rate that for weeks on end it Although there is always the danger that headed Variety's listing of the best- selling publicity will cheapen a cultural endeavor VICTOR LPT 3040. to -in. 25 min. $3.15. popular albums, outselling sets costing one- like the Columbia Series, in this case it has, one Mamacita; Swinga - Dilla Street; Don't Try Your fifth or -sixth the price of the Miller I believe, served a commendable purpose: Jive on Me; I Repent; Come Down to Earth, album. This is probably the first occasion through it public attention has been fo- My Angel; Pantin' in the Panther Room; I on which a limited edition of anything cused on the rapid growth of recorded Believe in Miracles; Let's Get Away from It All. became a best seller, since the terms seem literature. For some time literature on mutually exclusive. In this case, however, records has been developing sturdily as When Fats Waller died eleven years ago, the the limit has been craftily set at roo,000 one of the distinguishing features of the organ had not yet emerged as the jazz copies - or the equivalent of an extremely High Fidelity Era. However, the moderate standby that it is today. Back in those good sales record for most LPs. tones of the spoken word have been nearly days, Waller and Count Basie were practi- Miller came out of the jazz world but the drowned out by the deafening roar of music

JANUARY- FEBRUARY, 1954 71

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But the release, in one grand swoop, of such Maugham reading "The Three Fat Women involved the seeking out of meaning in an array of literary talent reading their of Antibes," and "Gigolo and Gigolette." babble from disorganized minds. In some own works quite naturally prompted a flood All in all, the series represents a high part, latter -day experimental poets have of comment from literary and record critics point in intelligent entertainment. Properly adapted this technique to their own pur- and corresponding interest among their imagined, it's just as if a dozen outstanding poses, evoking babble from organized minds followers. Now there is general realization literary personalities dropped by - or rather, - their own - in the hope that it would that a new art -medium has emerged or, were coaxed by with your one- hundred- prove meaningful. Sometimes it has. Cum- more accurately, that an old one has been dollar bill - to spend an evening reading, mings and the late Gertrude Stein probably revived - reading aloud. which would seem to many a better way to have been the most successful. The latter is The twelve Columbia records might best while away the hours than watching Blue easier to take than Cummings, perhaps be- be described as: "Eleven Authors Seriously Buttons, or whatever his name is. cause she patently derived such enormous Engaged in Dramatic Readings from Their Perhaps one dissenting comment should amusement from her own work. Cummings Works - and William Saroyan." True to his be made. Granting that the series is a lux- is more serious and more purposeful - and fashion, the literary maverick of Malibu ury item, it still doesn't seem quite cricket extremely clever. Listen, for instance, while Beach has refused to go along with the for Columbia to make it so far out of reach he applies his purposely formless writing group, even so distinguished a one as of the average man in the listening booth. to a piece of detailed eye -witness reporting, assembled by Mr. Lieberson. Whereas, 1I And despite its excellence, is the set worth the description (from Eimi) of a May Day of the authors dutifully visited Columbia's $too? Avoiding the question of relative procession past Lenin's tomb in Red Square. studios in Los Angeles and New York to This is a really, gripping, nightmarishly ex- have their voices recorded, with the result plicit piece of imagery. The other selections that their recordings are excellent, Mr. are mostly introspective and subtler in their Saroyan stayed home and did his own taping, impact. J. M. C. with the expected results: a rackety recording punctuated from time to time by ELIOT, T. S. the roar of the surf, a telephone buzzer or Murder in the Cathedral an unexpected visitor; whereas, t t of the Robert Donat, John Warner, Douglas selected from their works with some authors Campbell, other members of the Old Vic made a sense of unity, Mr. Saroyan selection Company, Produced by Robert Helpmann. remarkable for its disjointedness; whereas, ANGEL 35o5B. Two 12 -in. $12.50. I of the authors endeavored to read their works with dramatic emphasis, in many Murder in the Cathedral was T. S. Eliot's cases equalling anything I have heard by first play. He wrote it in 1935, to be pre- professional actors, Mr. Saroyan just sented in Canterbury Cathedral, the actual "talked," occasionally interrupting with such scene of the murder described in the play - remarks as: "Now this goes on too long ..." that of Archbishop Thomas I Becket, in or "That's all right - doesn't mean any- 1170, by minions of Henry II. Eliot uses the thing." ancient Greek device of the speaking chorus, All this is not to say that Mr. Saroyan's which may or may not have been effective contribution was disappointing; it was Maverick at the mike. William Saroyan tap- on the stage, but certainly is on records. among the best, just different. ing his voice for Columbia's Literary Series. So is his surprise -switch in the last act, To try to suggest which performer is the where the four murderers suddenly address best, out of so varied a collection, serves the loth century audience, to explain why value, let us put an arbitrary value of $6 on little purpose other than to illustrate a they murdered the saint. Most of the drama each record. That would make the price of particular reviewer's taste and mood at a earlier lies in the Archbishop's debate the set $72 and, although the black leather particular time. Thus, Edward T. Canby, four Temptations in defense his attaché case which also comes with the set is against of in Harpers, nominates Edna Ferber's read- decision to be a martyr (as can be seen, this handsome, it could hardly be described as a "The Gay Dog" with the unreserved is Donat is eloquent as ing of good buy at $28. Furthermore, not everyone no ordinary play). that it "is one of the great story- and the Old Vic players are their statement will want all the records, but he must take Thomas, events of our time;" Harrison Smith, usual faultless selves. Angel's surfaces are telling them now just to get one. Consequently, reviewing the series for the Saturday Review, clean and the sound is clear and rever- people to whom $too is still a month's rent favors Maugham as "the master story- berant. J. M. C. should perhaps borrow a set from their and John Conly, who teller of all of them," more affluent friends, play it, decide which for the Atlantic Monthly (and also READING reviews of the records they want, then wait for OSBERT SITWELL, FROM does a few odd jobs around here) con- WORKS Columbia to release the records separately. HIS OWN it a toss -up between Truman Capote sidered Of course, there is no indication yet that Selections from Wrack at Tidesend (12), Sir Osbert Sitwell. I will qualify my and they will do this, but it seems hardly likely England Reclaimed (7), Miscellaneous by saying that William Saroyan's nomination that the individual records will be held back poems (5). nonconformity most suited my mood on the from their potentially huge audience. This CAEDMON TC I013. 12 -in. $4.95 but that re- playings found me first playing, would be positively anti -intellectual and my choice from Christopher Isher- - shifting who wants to be accused of that these Sir Osbert Sitwell readily admits the possi- reading from "Prater Violet" to wood's days? R. H. H., Jr. bility that he may be the most -traveled, Truman Capoté s superb telling of his best- informed man of the age (at least in story, "Children on Their Birthdays," to the field of the arts). He has also been E. E. CUMMINGS READING FROM three fancies, "De Mortuis, John Collier's HIS OWN WORKS one of the age's most indefatigable repor- "Mary" and "Back For Christmas." ters, in prose and poetry, of its people's There is, in short, something here for Selections from Him; Eimi; Santa Claus; ways and habits. Both Wrack at Tidesend every mood; on those dark and stormy 5o Poems; One Times One; Xaipe. and England Reclaimed consist largely of nights when the sub -world of the spirit is CAEDMON TC I017. 12-in. $495. vignettes of folk he knew in his younger especially active, John Steinbeck reading years, at the seaside, in the country - far- "The Snake" and "Johnny Bear" and Edward Estlin Cummings, who has been mers, fishwives, fortune -tellers; rich and Katherine Ann Porter reading "Flowering writing experimental poetry for 3o years, poor; happy and tragic. His readings here Judas" make excellent companions; or for usually signs himself e e cummings, the put one in mind of a sort of brisk, British those cold crisp evenings when cerebral abandonment of capitals and punctuation Spoon River, delivered in highly professional stimulation is tolerable, even after hours, having been one of his first moves in the style, but never without feeling. His last Aldous Huxley reading from his revised pursuit of semantic flexibility. It is well to selection, Fox Trot, is a hilarious account of introduction to "Brave New World" and keep this in mind while hearing him read the marriage of two people he never did Sir Osbert Sitwell reading from his auto- aloud, for he consciously avoids conven- happen to meet - Solomon and the Queen biography, "Left Hand, Right Hand" are tional emphasis. It is also useful to remem- of Sheba. Caedmon also is publisher of recommended; or if the urge is just to hear ber that he is a product of the age of Freud Wrack at Tidesend in bookform - complete, a good story well told, there is Somerset and the psychoanalysts, whose medical art of course. J. M. C.

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4 PICCOLOS

the largest 4 FLUTES work in 3 OBOES 2 ENGLISH HORNS high fidelity 2 E FLAT CLARINETS

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6 TRUMPETS IN F, B FLAT, C

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4 TENOR -BASS TROMBONES

1 BASS TROMBONE IN E FLAT AND ORCHESTRA OF THE CHORUS 1 CONTRA -BASS TROMBONE THE NEW SYMPHONY SOCIETY, PARIS 1 CONTRA -BASS TUBA

SOLOISTS 6 TYMPANI

RICHARD LEWIS, tenor FERRY GRUBER, tenor BASS DRUM ETHEL SEMSER, soprano RILEY, bass JOHN CYMBALS NELL TANGENT kti, mezzo- soprano MORRIS GESELL, sprecher TRIANGLE

3 FOUR -PART MEN'S CHORUSES. EACH GLOCKENSPIEL 8 Tenors I 8 Basses I SIDE DRUM 8 Tenors II .S Basses Il TENOR DRUM EIGHT -PART MIXED CHORUS XYLOPHONE 12 Sopranos I 12 Altos II I2 Tenors II RATTLE 12 Sopranos II 12 Tenors I 12 Basses I 12 Altos I 12 Basses II SEVERAL LARGE IRON CHAINS

The album is accompanied by a forty -eight page libretto in German and TAMTAM English. The analytical notes are by René Leibowitz who has been the most active champion of the music of Schön- Haydn 4 HARPS berg in Europe. His books and essays mark the beginning of a new diffusion CELESTA of critical information concerning Schönberg. 20 VIOLINS I 3 12' HSL -100 118.50 Sensitivity in Interpretation 20 VIOLINS II Fidelity in Recording The Ultimate in Musical Experience I I 16 VIOLAS Complete catalog available on request. 16 VIOLONCELLOS

DOUBLE -BASSES 30 HUNTINGTON AVENUE, BOSTON 16, MASSACHUSETTS ( 12

JANUARY- FEBRUARY, 1954

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building your record library

number five

JOHN S. WILSON SUGGESTS TEN BASIC JAZZ LPs

Almost all jazz LPs - even those which might be considered In the Twenties, when Armstrong, Morton and Bessie Smith basic - carry a mixed load of baggage. While most classical LPs were making the records mentioned above, white jazz and Negro may have one, two or possible .three selections per disk, the aver- jazz were still largely going their separate ways. Cornetist Bix age jazz LP is burdened with eight to twelve selections - thus Beiderbecke is usually heralded as the leading white practitioner quadrupling the possible variants in quality or interest that the classi- of the period and, in view of his influence on other white musical LP may undergo. This is by way of noting that there are mighty cians of that time, he probably was. On records, however, he was few jazz LPs that are pure musical gold. The library of an LP jazz often surrounded by plodding associates and frequently his main collector is inevitably studded with recordings which survive aim as a performer seemed to be an effort to pierce their lethargy. solely because they are inextricably attached to a disk which also There are some good Beiderbecke records, to be sure (particularly bears some pure and unalloyed gems - beneficiaries, as it were, his piano pieces), but not enough on one LP to warrant inclusion of gilt by association. in a listing as basic as this. In preference to a Beiderbecke LP, I'd In view of this, I would not suggest that the LPs mentioned suggest Red Nichols Classics, Volume 1 (Brunswick BL 58008), not below contain the finest jazz which has been put on record. Rather, because Nichols played cornet in the same league with Beiderbecke this is intended to be a selection of some of the very good work (he played in a different league which, on its own terms, produced of the most provocative figures in certain phases of jazz, a selec- some very pleasant records), but because this disk is covered fore tion which may serve as an appetizer to further investigation. to aft with Jack Teagarden, performing in his many roles as a One of the difficulties in selecting ten basic jazz LPs is that there trombone soloist, ensemble musician and vocalist. are a good many more than ten basic jazz performers available on The clarinetist on most of these Nichols selections is Benny records. Fortunately, it is occasionally possible to kill two cats Goodman who, when these records were made, was still some with one disk - which is one of the reasons why I would suggest, years away from setting the world afire, a feat he eventually ac- of the several Louis Armstrong LPs available, Volume 3 of The complished by successfully injecting legitimate jazz elements into LouisArmstrong Story, "Louis Armstrong with Earl Hines "(Columbia the popular dance band field. Some of the force that the Goodman ML 4385). This means passing over Volume 1 of this series, de- band generated is suggested by the collection of the band's air voted to Armstrong's Hot Five, which contains some of the most checks in the two -disk set, Benny Goodman Jazz Concert, r 937-38, magnificent instances of small band jazz in the recorded repertory. No. 2 (Columbia SL 180). These recordings have the further merit of But Volume 3 has its share of classics - West End Blues, Weather containing excellent examples of the work of Goodman s original Bird and Squeeze Me, to name a few - along with the added allure trio and quartet, groups which created a large public for so- called of two of the great creative talents of jazz working together in one chamber jazz. of their most fertile periods. Before Goodman appeared on the scene, big band jazz was al- Armstrong, of course, is the jumping off point because, so most entirely in the hands of Negroes. A giant among these men far as recorded jazz is concerned, he is one of the primary roots. was and is Duke Ellington, possessor of a unique and fantasti- a - - Roughly contemporary with Armstrong, but hoeing slightly cally productive creative talent. His bands have occupied a special different row, was Jelly Roll Morton whose contribution to full niche in the jazz world for more than 25 years. Ellington's special in weight on the flow of jazz has only begun to be appreciated re- genius as composer and band leader achieved a particularly fine cent years. Morton as pianist, singer and propounder of a small flowering in 1940, and fortunately, eight choice selections from band jazz style was well represented on the pirated LPs which that year make up This is Duke Ellington (Victor LPr 3017). flourished a couple of years ago. Since legal action removed them In Ellington's earlier days, big band jazz was inclined toward a from the market, there has been all too little vintage Jelly Roll hell- for -leather approach. Jimmy Lunceford's band, which drew available on LP. One stirring sample, however, is Jelly Roll Morton attention in the early Thirties by playing more hellishly - for -leather (Victor LPr 23), which provides a guide to Morton's small band than anyone else, soon reversed its field to develop a style that was is notably lacking in any suggestion of his enormous ways but at once hot, subtle and sophisticated. As in the case of Mil- talents as a blues singer. - - dred Bailey who effected much the same kind of change in the jazz The basic blues singer, incidentally, might well be mentioned singer's art, the special quality of the Lunceford band has never here. This, needless to say, would be Bessie Smith. As in the been successfully emulated. Some well defined instances of that case of Louis Armstrong, there is a happy wealth of material to quality are included in Lunceford Special (Columbia ML 4804). choose from, thanks to Columbia's four -volume Bessie Smith Story. My choice for the present purpose would be Volume 3, "Bessie Count Basie's intensely rhythmic band holds a special place in Smith with Joe Smith and Fletcher Henderson's Hot Six" (Colu m- jazz progression. More than any other group, it brought the swing a at the same time carried within it the seeds of bia ML 4809) because it includes Young Woman's Blues on which the two era to peak and Smiths, blues -singing Bessie and trumpet- playing Joe, create an the new jazz which was to develop in the middle Forties. Aside unusually moving and beautifully developed blues, because it from the band's significance, there was a wonderfully crisp, direct its work during its first flush of success. Basie's Best shows Bessie in a variety of superb moods - jaunty on Cake Walk- quality in ing Babies, relaxed on Baby Doll, raucous on There'll Be a Hot Time (Brunswick BL 58019) is drawn from this period, a spirited mixture instrumentals, Basic's piano solos and some of Jimmie Rushing's in Old Town Tonight - and because, in addition, it affords an oppor- of tunity to introduce another basic jazz figure, Fletcher Henderson. earnest blues shouting. Having opened the door to singers, it is impossible to close it The new, emergent jazz which followed World War II got its without inviting in Mildred Bailey. Miss Bailey added a lyric quality greatest boost from Woody Herman's eager, young and talented to the jazz singer's traditionally rough approach, combining a band. Woody Herman at Carnegie Hall, r 946 (MGM B 3043) re- sweetness and purity of tone with a blues intonation in a manner produces a substantial part of a concert given by the Herman which has proved completely inimitable. On A Mildred Bailey band at Carnegie Hall in 1946 -a concert which forcefully demon- Serenade (Columbia cL 6094) she sings with her sure, clear charm in strated to a foot -stomping audience the directions that jazz would the happy company of Red Norvo, Alec Wilder and Eddie Sauter. take in the postwar years.

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.. not hi-fooey

It is not too soon to debunk hi- You can hear HI -FI only: without intermodulation. The separate bands include the sounds of fooey, although the discriminating 1. When the record is made under record buyer will not be deceived by percussion, string, wood -winds and the most careful musical and techni- brass groups as well as piano, the many boasts and false claims cal supervision aims for musical that harpsichord and guitar . . . and which are being made as to the high concert hall integrity. all in musical context. The test fre- fidelity of records which have little or quency signals in an audible range 2. If you play such a record on no merit. from 40 to 15,000 CPS enable you to equipment that does fullest justice to establish the efficiency of your phono- WHAT IS HI -FI? everything which is on the record. graphic equipment, and the built -in AND WHAT IS HI- FOOEY? stroboscope on the label helps you We, at Westminster, have been to test the accuracy of your turntable. When you hear a record made any making real HI -FI records from the You know the quality of Westminster old way but with a frequency curve very first record we made four years recordings. You've seen Life Maga- printed on the jacket and extrava- ago. Westminster's quality of zine choose no less than 6 Westmin- gant claims made for it - that is ster Records for their HI -FI article: only an old record, HIGH FIDELITY GLIERE- Red Poppy IT IS NOT HI -FI Ballet PL US NATURAL BALANCE WAL 210 But, when you hear a record made RESP IGH I-Pines of Rome under the best studio conditions with Westminster has established its repu- WL 5167 the music so properly balanced that tation as a standard of quality HA YDN- Military Symphony WL 5045 it is faithful to the performance in throughout the world. We do not have use tricks of sound to demonstrate PRO the concert hall to KOFIEV-Lieut. Kije our quality. We have culled charac- W L 5091 THAT IS HI -FI teristic musical passages from our RIMS K Y- KORSA KOV-Piano THAT IS WESTMINSTER regular catalog and combined them Concerto WL 5068 into a HI -FI Test Record which is a When you hear only the third har- SC H UBERT-Trout Quintet True Testing Record. Want to know W L 5025 monic of a piccolo which is some- which records give you the 100% true where in the range of 14,000 CPS,' reproduction you want? Want to You've seen the Saturday Review but without any body underneath- know the capacity of specific HI -FI give Westminster the same kind of that is only the sound which dogs equipment? Then the Westminster prominence in their special Audio enjoy, but Test Record is for you. The West- Number, Oct. 1953. You've read IT IS NOT HI -FI minster HI -FI record is the first and about Westminster receiving 2 Audio only one of its kind. It uses no Engineering awards for 1953. Now, But when you hear the piccolo as sound effects and no special tricks, test your equipment and get enjoy- an integral part of the orchestral but it draws only from the regular ment, too, from the only true -to-life group with the high frequencies only repertory of the Westminster cata- sound of "NATURAL BALANCE" serving to make you recognize the logue. Not extreme top and bottom with the only real HI -FI Test Rec- alone, Westminster's "NATURAL ord . the Westminster HI -FI piccolo as a piccolo, and not as a BALANCE" allows you to hear Demonstration Record, specially violin, or a trumpet or an oboe, balanced reproduction. That's why priced as a test record at $3.50. THAT IS HI -FI Irving Kolodin, editor of Saturday Compare this value with other so- THAT IS WESTMINSTER Review's recording section, says " . called test records at almost twice the the recording adds lustre to Westmin- price. Ask your dealer for this record. When you hear castanets and tri- ster's reputation for making music If he is out of stock, mail this coupon angles so loud that you can't hear the rather than sound the focus of it's en- to Westminster Recording Co. Just music any more -that is only a sound deavor." We've developed a HI -FI fill in your name and address, and ... effect, but test record that is worthy of its name. very important. the name and IT IS NOT HI -FI Eighteen bands of glorious music address of your dealer. He will be portray definition in loud passages fully protected. But, when you hear a triangle or a castanet as a rhythmical accentua- tion of the music just as the composer intended it, but not as if in a castanet Westminster Recording Co., Inc. concerto, 275 7th Avenue, New York 1, N. Y. Dept. HF THAT IS HI -FI THAT IS WESTMINSTER Gentlemen: Please rush me your HI -FI Demonstration Record. I enclose $3.50

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All the highs and lows in the world don't neees- DEALER'S NAME ...... saritg add up to faithful reproduction unless they are balanced so as to give an accurate oral picture ADDRESS CITY of the music." James Hinton, Jr. J

JANUARY -FEBRUARY, 1954 75

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Hui FIDELITY DISCOGRAPHY NO 8

ozart on microgroove

By C. G. BURKE

Part V: Miscellaneous Orchestral; Chamber Music

MISCELLANEOUS ORCHESTRAL Mr. Litschauer's easy elasticity of posture is obtainable for this examination and have in stimulating contrast, his stick assigning a perhaps been withdrawn. (This section is one of convenience rather character to each of twenty dances, as if he had taken the trouble to study them. (Les) PETITS RIENS, KV 299b (1 Edition) than exactitude in cataloguing, for the Cas- The ballet that Mozart wrote for use in sations, Divertimentos and Serenades, many Mr. Leibowitz too is wholehearted in his Paris is saturated with a perfumed wistful of which are emphatically orchestral, have effort and resourceful in his manner, and some of his KV 509 is stunning; but the charm deliberately contrived and main- been relegated to a section of their own, tained to satiety. No doubt that here he to establish a if not jazzed -up excitation of others, at first unity of nomenclature composed down to what he considered an necessarily of type.) startling, soon becomes a discomfort. In the Kloss instance the engineering is serene inferior level of taste. The charm is undeniable although flagrantly flaunted: sev- ADAGIO AND FUGUE IN C MINOR, KV S46 and satisfactory; for the Litschauer, wide - eral hearings give the feeling of a surfeit of A version for string orchestra is discussed range, brilliant, effective and occasionally harsh, with the Leibowitz the most telling marshmallows. It requires an austere or- with the quartet editions under "Cham- chestral analysis to stiffen its texture, and ber Music." of the three in spite of - or because of - some brittleness in its dazzle. this is too much to ask of Mr. Lund, the recording conductor, throughout fourteen ADAGIOS AND FUGUES (AFTER BACH), -KV 605 complete, & 17 others from KV 534, numbers. There is no evidence of imagina- 404a (r Edition of Part) 600, 602, 6o6 & 6o9. Vienna Nat. Op. Orch., tion in this performance which for most of Mozart six by Bach and transcribed fugues Franz Litschauer, cond. Vanguard 426. its length is merely played; and the use of Friedemann Bach for strings, and wrote 12 -in. min. 34 $5.95 - a very small string body has given dispro- adagio preludes for them. Two have been -KV 509 (6 dances). French Nat. Radio portionate authority to the wind instruments. recorded, and music -lovers will probably Orch., René Leibowitz, cond. Esoteric 512. -Ton -Studio Orch., Stuttgart, Gustav Lund, find the fugues familiar, and the first adagio r2 -in. (with Beethoven: 6 Ger. Dances; Schu- cond. Period 559. 12 -in. (with 6 Overtures). excellent Mozart and piquant in such a bert- IVebern: 6 Ger. Dances). r r min. $5.95 21 min. $5.95- place. Good string tone and gracious sound. -KV 509, S71, 600 & 6o5 (2r Dances). -Janssen Sym. Orch., Los Angeles, Werner Frankenland Sym. Orch., Erich Kloss, cond. CHAMBER MUSIC Lyrichord 12 -in. 48 min. Janssen, cond. Columbia ML 4406. 12 -in. 31. $5.95. (with Schiinberg: Conc. for Qt. & Orch. after (For instrumental groups containing at FANTASY IN F KV 6o8 (2 Editions) Handel). 8, 6 min. $5.45. MINOR, least three players, but not enough to con- We are not likely ever to have this in its stitute what we would call an orchestra. CONTRA -DANCES, COUNTRY DANCES (KON- original form, which is for clock -organ. It Certain works for such groups, but with is TRETAENZE), GERMAN DANCES, LAEND- most effective in the orchestration by distinctive titles like Divertimento or LER, ETC. Tibor Serly, which is used in the recordings. Serenade, have been listed under those Whatever difference once existed among the A massive and virile lament with a fugue of titles.) types indicated by did Handelian vigor, it receives an energetic the titles above not ADAGIO AND FUGUE IN C MINOR, KV 546 long remain constant. To us, who dance to statement from Mr. Autori and a sound of from the engineers, (2 Editions) a music less athletic and never see a German authoritative clarity who have been notably successful in pre- The Adagio was written five years later than dance in motion, the terms are interchange- the Fugue in its original statement for two able. wrote more than a serving the integrity of the various choirs. Mozart hundred pianos. Mozart had been studying a great such dances for orchestra, many late in his Mr. Fekete has not had such luck: his broader projection is damaged by an emaci- predecessor, and the result is massive, mas- life, small masterpieces astonishingly in- culine Bach. Its proportions are more com- dividual Like ated sound wherein only the woodwinds and imaginative. Haydn and pletely exploited by a string orchestra than Beethoven, he are distinct. lavished amusing orchestral by a string quartet. The recorded Karajan fancies on these exuberances, excesses -New Sym. Orch., London, Franco Autori, performance has a stern domination that licensed by their rustic pretension; and when cond. Bartok 302. 12-in. (with Bartok: the Grillers cannot match. Unluckily the it seemed good to him would rebuke the Dance Suite.). to min. $5.95. heavy substance of the Karajan sonics is bucolic cavorting by interludes of poised -Vienna Sym. Orch., Zoltan Fekete, cond. invidious to the clarity of the Karajan and reticent grace. Remington 199 -2. 12 -in. (with Schubert: direction. The Grillers keep power su- The three disks below, with their forty - Sym. 1). 13 min. $2.49. bordinate to poise. seven performances of thirty -three Dances, -Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Herbert present all that are most familiar in this part MARCHES - MINUETS von Karajan, cond. COLUMBIA ML 5437. and a few, of Mozart's creation, not lesser, The heading serves only to introduce what 12 -in. (with Sym. 33 & Eine k N). 9 min. but less frequently heard. The three is a A marches, con- really footnote. number of $5.45- ductors are in amusing disaccord how on minuets, gavottes and other short things, -Griller Quartet. LONDON LL 4. 12 -in. they should be played. Mr. Kloss's per- usually familiar, are appended to recordings (with Dvorak: Qt. 6). 8 min. $5.95. tinacious sobriety is a wonderful example of of longer works, and there is not enough immunity to contagion, and provides an space to notice them here. In addition, Vox QUINTET FOR CLARINET AND STRINGS, IN impressive proof of the vitality of these little had a disk containing a dozen minuets, and A, KV 581 (6 Editions) pieces, not subdued by the censorship. Period one with four marches, that were not It is hardly necessary to expatiate on the

76 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

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In the Established London ffrr Tradition

Mignon - Complete Recording (Ambroise Thomas) Symphony No. 7 in E Major (Anton Bruckner) Hrrs Mignon ... Genevieve Moizan- Philine ... Janine Psyche - Symphonic Poem (Cesar Franck) Micheau - Wilhelm . . . Libero de Luca - Lothario Eduard van Beinum conducting The Concertgebouw . . . Rene Bianco - Laetre . . . Robert Destain - Orchestra of Amsterdam LL- 852/853 Jarno ... Noel Pierotte - Frederic .. Francois Louis $11.90 Deschamps The Chorus of Theatre de La Monnaie, Four Legends for Orchestra (Opus 22) ff ir Brussels and L'Orchestre National de Belgique. (Jean Sibelius) Conductor: Georges Sebastian (Artistic Direction ... Thomas Jensen -The Danish State Radio Symphony Max De Rieux) LLA -15 $17.85 free libretto Orchestra. LL -843 $5.95 Symphony No. 40 in G. Minor (K. 550) (Mozart) The Mikado - Vocal Highlights (Gilbert & Sullivan) Symphony No. 92 in G Major (Oxford) (Haydn) Patience -Vocal Highlights (Gilbert & Sullivan) Josef Krips conducting The London Symphony Or- The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company under Isidore chestra LL -780 $5.95 Hrr; Godfrey. LL -782 $5.95 Concerto in G Major for Piano and Orchestra (Maurice Ravel) Sonata in A Minor (Opus 42) (Franz Schubert) Wilhelm Kempff - Piano LL -792 $5.95 Concerto for Left Hand for Piano and Orchestra

(Maurice Ravel) Mephisto Waltz No. 1 (Franz Liszt) Jacqueline Blancard (piano) with L'Orchestre de la Funerailles (Franz Liszt) HrrS Suisse Romande under Ernest Ansermet. LL -797 $5.95 Auf Flugeln des Gesanges (Mendelssohn-Liszt)

Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D Minor (Bach) Prelude and Fugue in E Minor Organ Preludes: Nun Komm' der Heiden Heiland (Mendelssohn) (Op. 16, No. 2) (Bach) - Befiehl du deine Wege (Bach) - Nun Freut Rondo Capriccioso in E Major Euch, Lieben Christen, G'Mein (Bach) (Mendelssohn) (Opus 14) ifrrs Chorale Preludes: Wohl Mir Doss Ich Jesum Habe Julius Katchen - Piano LL -824 $5.95 (Bach) -Wachet Auf (Bach) Variations on an Elizabethan Theme - Sellenger's Siciliano (From Flute Sonata No. 2 in E flat Major) Round (Bach) (oll transcribed by Kempff) Wilhelm Kempff - Piano. LL -791 $5.95 Theme (Byrd) - Variation I (Oldham) - Variation 2 (Tippett)- Variation 3 (Berkeley) -Variation 4 (Brit- Thirty -three Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli ten) Variation 5 (Searle) Variation 6 (Walton) HrrS (Beethoven) - - Benjamin Britten conducting the Festival Julius Katchen- Piano LL -745 $5.95 Aldeburgh Orch. Songs of Duparc La Vie Anterieure -Le Manoir de Rosemonde - Elegie Ode in Honour of Great Britain O Rule Britannia - Phidyle - Soupir Chanson Triste - Lamento - La (Arne) Vague et la cloche- Serencade florentine Testament Peter Pears (tenor). ffrrS) - Extase - L'Invitation au voyage. Verse Anthem Lord, Grant the Queen a Long Gerard Souzoy (baritone) and Jacqueline Bonneau -0 Life (Purcell) (piano) LL -813 $5.95 Alfred Deller (counter tenor- Peter Pears (tenor) - Ruralia Hungarica (Bohnanyi Arr. Kreisler) - Norman Lumsden (bass). Caprice No. 13 in B Flat (Paganini - Kreisler) Duet for Two Sopranos - Now All the Air Shall Ring ffrr Caprice No. 20 in D Major (Paganini -Kreisler) (Arne) La Campanella (Paganini -Kreisler) Arda Mandikan (soprano) - Gladys Whitred (so- Campoli (violin) and George Malcolm (piano). prano) - The Aldeburgh Festival Choir and Orchestra. LS -793 $4.95 Conductor: Imogen Holst LL -808 $5.95

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beauties of a celebrated masterpiece in- much of the music that they have chosen to QUINTETS FOR STRINGS disputably the summit of the clarinet litera- record has not proved tractable to their ture and perhaps also the summit of the expertise. But the infinite resilience of the (The seven works for string quartet with a Mozart chamber music. It has long been Clarinet Quintet can accept even the cares- second viola have been entered here ac- a puzzle to analysts that certain chance shots sing strokes of this infinitely rehearsed cording to the ascension of their Köchel of the composer, certain works written for group without detriment and indeed - as numbers, although some of those are decep- combinations previously ignored and then we soon perceive - can respond with no tive. Learned research has entangled itself immediately abandoned, could display a diminution of feeling although the voices in the ascription of dates to the Viola Quin- mastery so stunning in the single effort. never sacrifice their patrician modulation. tets. However, they do not seem ever to Such are this Clarinet Quintet, the Sinfonia The even texture, the equipoise of instru- have been known by inalienable numbers: Concertante, KV 364, and the String Trio ments - for Mr. de Bavier is just a member in fact some have hardly been known at all.) (Divertimento), KV 563. He did not set of the club - the exactitude of entrance and in their utterance are all virtues up rivals for these giants unique the full length of B FLAT, KV 46 (1 Edition) he left in equal isola- have been remarked in this group be- respective forms; but that KV 46 is a re- working of four of the seven and an phrasing and fastidi- tion a Clarinet Trio, a Horn Quintet fore; but the judicious movements of the famous Serenade No. to amiable music and respec- ous intonation are this time in spiritual Oboe Quartet - for 13 wind instruments, KV 361. The some- Mozart. music. Here is one of the table, but by no means grand alliance with their times special wisdom of musicology has those records. The Clarinet Quintet is one of best of all chamber -music distinguished itself here, declaring in one glories whose acknowledged stature nine -Antoine de Bavier; New Italian Quartet. instance that Mozart wrote the Quintet at performances LL 573. 12 -in. 35 min. times in ten exacts telling LONDON $5.95. the age of 12, and in another that someone we repro- Vienna Konzerthaus from experienced musicians. If -Leopold Wlach; else wrote it. Even Mozart could not have duce any one of the recorded versions, even Quartet. WESTMINSTER. WL 51I2. 12 -in. accomplished the first, and the sublime the oldest (Stradivari, Lyrichord), without 37 min. $5.95. forgery perpetrated in the second should we shall DECCA making comparison with any other, -Reginald Kell; Fine Arts Quartet certainly have led to an exhaustive effort to probably agree that that one is at least DL 9600. 12 -in. 3o min. $5.85. uncover the unsung, equally great contem- satisfactory even if the sonics we hear from -Benny Goodman; American Arts Quartet. porary of Mozart. - The material and or more 12 -in. 29 min. the older ones are less pungent COLUMBIA ML 4483. $5.45 moods of the Serenade are held, but there String Quartet. STRADI- shallow than we might like. -Augustin Duques; is not much similarity of treatment in the we shall 12 Horn Quintet). 27 But if we do make comparisons VARI 601. -in. (with Quintet which proceeds as chamber music. The not find the lesser versions satisfactory. min. $5.95- The Pascals give the kind of sturdy, be- wonderful glow of the best quite hides the -Sidney Forrest; Galimir Quartet. LYRI- coming performance expected of them, in in pale gleam of the others. This is said CHORD Io. 12 -in. 32 min. $5.95. which the musical elements are coalesced, to budgeting discophiles, so that warning QUINTET FOR HORN AND STRINGS, IN E none extolled over another. Untrouble- avoid extinguishing their present they may FLAT, KV 407 (4 Editions) some and pretty natural reproduction. escape a new expenditure for satisfaction or Tumbling from Mount Everest to Mount -Pascal Quartet, Walter Gerhard, second duplication. For the six record- an obligato Everett, we can take some offhand pleasure viola. CONCERT HALL CHS 1188. 12 -in. to fall neatly into two groups of ings seem in the stockier air so much nearer ordinary (with Horn Quintet). 23 min. $5.95. the lower being satisfactory and the three, levels. The Horn Quintet (employing two higher outstanding, neither in the same violas and one violin), is built like a small B FLAT, KV 174 (1 Edition) way or to the same degree. concerto and can be enjoyed like a diverti- Reflection without discomfort and vivacity disk of Mr. Goodman and his com- The mento. On the records the old Stradivari without excitement keep the Italian outlook panions is the best of the satisfactories, sound is indistinct and the Concert Hall is of a little -known Quintet genial in playing appealing and sweet in subdued peculiarly the clearest, with the Boston pretty good and recording of enjoyable relaxation. The tone and rounding phrase, a relative minia- and between. The Allegro was not heard. sunshine is too soft for problems. variance with many concepts, but ture at Mr. Stagliano acquits himself best of the -Pascal Quartet with Walter Gerhard. this malleable music is sympathetic to a acrobatics of his magnificent and difficult CONCERT HALL CHS 1185. 12 -in. (with number of directions. Mr. Kell and the instrument. Boston and Concert Hall are Quint. KV 515). 21 min. $5.95 are brilliant in a perfermance bent Fine Arts enough for the preferred overside to style, and in tempo and close more to concerto- dictate choice. a more usual performance, al- C MINOR, KV 406 (2 Editions) phrasing -James Stagliano; Quartet from the Boston the distinctive assurance of Here is the Twelfth Serenade (Wind Octet) though calling Symphony Orchestra. BOSTON 201. 12 -in. may be taking a liberty. re- written for the dark emphasis of the this clarinet "usual" (with Rust: Viola Sonata). 20 min. $5.95. two interpretations of singu- string quintet to solemnize its menace. There remain -Werner Speth; three from the Pascal in the recordings most convinc- There is no hope in it; and as an exposition lar beauty, Quartet and Walter Gerhard, viola. CON- ing sonically. The Westminster disk re- of hopelessness the quintet's drab tints are CERT HALL CHS 1188. 12 -in. (with Quint. veals the clarinet of Leopold Wlach at one more appropriate than the motley of the KV 46). 17 min. $5.95. Viennese temperament winds. This is not to say that the Quintet with the unblushing -Ottavio deRosa; String Quartet. STRADI- Vienna Konzerthaus Quartet whose is better, for the clear colors of the winds of that VARI bol. 12 -in. (with Clarinet Quintet). romanticism has produced many add a sting to the gloom of the Serenade, unfailing 13 min. $5.95. one of which has left anyone but the Quintet is intransigent everywhere records, not -(John Barrows; String Quartet. ALLEGRO yet. Hearers are hot with either ad- and thus formally more authoritative. The cold AL 62. 12 -in. (with Oboe Quartet). $5.95) miration or rage, depending on the music Pascal performance is good and the Budapest played and the hearers' prejudices. (It seems QUINTET FOR PIANO AND WIND INSTRU- masterful. The two groups have competed Budapest here to the present critic that in musical matters MENTS, IN E FLAT, KV 452 (2 Editions) many times on records, and Viennese style is not necessarily noxious An engaging hybrid, fathered by the piano seem to have a greater advantage than any- in the when compared with the styles of New concerto from the wind serenade, with an where else. They are more downright music, crisper in their York, Paris, Milan and Boston.) The expressive larghetto, played with something anguished worry of the Wlach- Vienna version of the Clarinet Quin- less than ultimate eloquence on the only harshness, more unified in their more variable are not a subtle tet, with its reluctance to quit a note until record heard. The performance on this very susceptibility. The Pascals are and the the last lovely essence has been aspirated early Westminster is proficient and routine, quartet but the Budapesters Reproduction is not admirable and its evanescence lovingly lamented in the sound clear, shallow and from time to music is. - as case, but one is worth the other: advance - this melting inquiry seems time overbold. The music deserves more. in either and be- Hans Ka- Hall on the harsh side with more right as it is undeniably beautiful, -Roland Raupenstrauch (pf), Concert we ought to hear, but tween this and the affectionate aristocratism mesch (ob), Leopold Wlach (cl), Gottfried reverberation than old Columbia whose of the New Italian Quartet with Antoine de Freiberg (hn), Karl Oehlberger (bn). WEST- more vital than the 12 KV tingle and the age of whose Bavier, preference must be determined by MINSTER WL 5007. -in. (with Quint. treble does not wood. personal chemistry. No one denies that in 614). 20 min. $5.95. bass is in the with Milton Katims. the mechanics of quartet- playing the Nuovo - (Yvette Grimaud and wind quartet. MER- -Budapest Quartet MI. 12 -in. (with Quint. Quartetto Italiano have no commensurate CURY 10031. 12 -in. (with Serenade 3). COLUMBIA 4143. 20 min. rival, but it has been unfortunately true that $4.85.) KV S93). $5.45.

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-Pascal Quartet with Walter Gerhard. CONCERT HALL CHS 1186. ra-in. (with Quint. KV 516). 19 min. $5.95. Many

C, KV 515 (2 Editions) PARTICULAR Mozart seldom seems prolix, but in KV 515 whose main streams are less interesting than COLLECTORS its episodes, the hearer is aware of glib music and unglib time. In the Budapest of fine LP records in Cuba, version it is half a bore, for reasons unclear until that version has been compared with Hawaii, Alaska, Japan and the Pascal. Then it is found that the Buda- in most of these United pest recording is toneless, that the quartet have no distinct individual lines, that the States depend on us to lusterless main streams are not cheered by supply them with . . . any gleam in the episodes. This is a case of sonic evisceration not commonplace, since the general quality of sound is pleasant THE FINEST /4e enough: it is just that there is no definite delineation of character in the union of the VIRGIN four instruments. The Pascal record is not el (Zest disabled: it is a much newer registration alive where the other is moribund, and pro- UN- TOUCHED lixity is much less evident when every voice HIGH FIDELITY tin is vibrant. UN- HANDLED -Pascal Quartet, Walter Gerhard. CON- CERT HALL CHS 1185. 12 -in. (with Quint. UN- MAULED O 4e4.t / KV 574) 32 min. $5.95. -Budapest Quartet, Milton Katims. Co. LuMBIA ML 4034. 12 -in. 32 min. $5.45. MINT -CONDITION

G MINOR, KV 516 (4 Editions) BRAND-NEW The most revered household gods of LIVING PRESENCE full fidelity chamber music have nearly without excep- CAREFULLY - recordings cover the complete range tion been treated with sympathetic decorum by the manufacturers of records. Admir- of human hearing, offering maxi- INSPECTED ably, to this G Minor work which is the mum dynamic range, clarity, defi- Viola Quintet, the manufacturers have as- nition and freedom from distortion. signed their executants best qualified to WONDERFUL LIVING PRESENCE guarantees stay at the level of the staves. The four ultimate concert hall listening pleas- editions are estimable, if not equally, in QUALITY ure in the comfort of your own their statement of music with a torment home with definitive musical per- unparalleled in Mozart. There is some dis- LP's agreement on the perplexing terminal rondo, formances heard in their true aural as there will always be, but the fundamental perspective. They ever put a needle outraged poignancy of the other three to. movements and a half is eminently expres- IMPORTANT NEW RELEASES sive in all. How about you? Of course the records are not of equal FOR HI-FI FANS value. On Columbia and Concert Hall the music has the advantage of a single side, Securely packed and MARCHES by JOHN PHILIP SOUSA and while the long Columbia side does Fairest of the Fair, Manhattan Beach. deteriorate in sound toward the spindle, the promptly shipped The Black Horse Troop, Daughters of average of that record's sound equals, or Texas. Rifle Regiment, Corcoran Cadets, nearly, Concert Hall's, and these two disks ANYWHERE Hands Across the Sea, Semper Fidelis; are sonically superior to the other two. The IENKINS -NEFF Pieces of Eight; HANSON vaulted Westminster reproduction, imposing the mail can go . . . March Carillon; GOLDMAN Cheerio; FILL. at first listening, and admittedly pleasingly MORE RIGE LOW Our Director; His Honor; rotund at low voice. palls when loud. A ALFORD Glory of the Gridiron; KING Pride rumble -suppressor is a necessity with the quality is guaranteed of the Illini; SAGLEY National Emblem. Their Eastman Symphonic Wind Ensemble. London. Frederick Fennell, conductor. In general, Budapest are most notable in a penetrating intonation and a merciless, final exactitude of these feverish phrases. MarDOWELL Second (Indian) Suite, Op. 18 The dark color of Griller is atmospherically write or wire J,, ,iman-Rochester Symphony Orchestra, effective. Amadeus have the richest har- Howard Hanson, conductor. monic glow. Pascal present an equality of five protagonists which arouses a sense of RHAPSODY "&" superior fulifilment, emotionally and in- TAYLOR Through the Looking Gloss DEEMS strumentally. Up to the rondo, this is the Eastman -Rochester Symphony Orchestr., preferred version. RECORD SHOP Howard Hanson, conductor. But that despised finale was not put here .1 1723 North Highland Ave. by a composer foolish or novice in dramatic propriety. This is not Pollyanna attaching Hollywood 28, Calif. Y.LUOLYMPIAN SERIES with glucose a happy ending to Hamlet in Hollywood (where mother -love triumphs, HI- FIDELITY RECORD Gertrude administering to all, in the nick, HEADQUARTERS N) a saving serum brought by Lassie, and King ß))uv'pRESENÇE Hamlet - whose death was shammed to

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test his son - and Hamlet the prince mar- ries the parabolic daughter of King Zog and Queen Geraldine). The rondo can be played, and usually is, to make this effect of fruity fatuity. Since the bathos is fatal to the preceding wonderful establishment of unmitigated tragedy, the Budapest Quartet and Mr. Katims transmute it into a fevered ritual of desperate rejoicing, God's inscrutable ways being always the right ways. EE! Delicate and almost imperceptible incre- ON THIS AMAZING OFFER ments of intensity produce this redemption, which Pascal have not been able to manage, THIS EXTRAORDINARY and the choice goes to Budapest. -Budapest Quartet with Milton Katims. High - Fidelity Recording of COLUMBIA ML 4469. 12 -in. (with Quint. KV 614). 29 min. $5.45. -Pascal Quartet with Walter Gerhard. CONCERT HALL CHS 1186. r2 -in. (with 33-1/3 Quint. KV 406). 32 min. $5.95. RPM MOZART'S Long Play -Amadeus Quartet with Cecil Aronowitz. WESTMINSTER WL 5o86. 12 -in. 35 min. Symphony No. 14 in A Major $5.95 - -Griller Quartet with Max Gilbert. LON- WE DON LL 132. 12 -in. $5.95. want to give you this extraordinary Order All The Records You Wish LP record - FREE - in order to ac- Save Up to 75% on Each One You Buy! quaint you with the fine high -fidelity releases D, KV 593 (2 Editions) MMS-4 CHOPIN: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor. of The Musical Masterpiece Society. You Mewton -Wood, pianist; Radio Z "rich Not much tribulation in this beautiful thing will receive it by buying any of the records Orchestra; Walter Goehr, conductor. obscured in repute by its tragic G Minor listed at right at the unbelievably low price " HAYDN: Symphony No. 96 in D Major. forerunner. It is whimsical and here and Hirsch'. Winterthur Symphony Or- of $1.50 each. A selection of the greatest chestra; Walter Goehr, conductor. there inscrutable in episodes of surprising music ever written, in internationally ac- MMS-6 HAYDN: Isola oisabiteta (Overture). exuberance or of chastened introspection. claimed performances. Wintherthur Symphony Orchestra; I Walter Goehr, conductor. Only two or three works in the form, when- These records are unconditionally guaran- MMS -7 MENDELSSOHN: Violin Concerto in E ever written, have as much worth as this; teed to be equal in musical and technical Minor. Louis Kaufman, violinist; Nether- and since both recordings are excellent, sol- quality to records selling for more than three lands Philharmonic Orchestra; Otto times their price. They are pressed on the Ackermann. conductor. vent Mozarteans have no excuse not to MMS -9 MOZART: Plano Concerto No. 20 in D possess one. finest plastic, and incorporate the latest ad- Minor. Frank Pelleg, pianist; Musical vances of high fidelity reproduction to give Masterpiece Symphony Orchestra; Wal- The verdict is to Echo. This abets the you beauty of tone with a virtual absence of ter Goehr, conductor. Pascal Quartet and Mr. Gerhard with its surface noise. BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. I In F Major expansiveness, sweetening the sound and Winterthur Symphony Orchestra; Wal- ter Goehr. conductor. MMS -10 . caressing the ears in a way that the very You Save Up to 75% BEETHOVEN: Two German Dances. Win - less Iterthur Symphony Orchestra; Walter distinct but mobile Columbia sound Goehr, conductor. has done for the taut, sparkling per- on Each of These Records not MMS -11 BIZET: Symphony in C Majo, Utrecht formance of the Budapesters in a magisterial Symphony Orchestra; Paul Hupperts, You may buy one or more of these records conductor. exposition of susceptive, expert quartet - at $1.50 each - thus saving over $4.00 per "BACH: Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G. playing. But we deal with end results, and record on the usual price. This saving is Winterthur Symphony Orchestra; Wal- the pleasure from Pascal is rounder if less possible only because we sell direct and be- ter Goehr, conductor. MMS-U BACH: Brandenburg Concerte No. 5 in D. epigrammatic. (It must be added that the cause of advanced production techniques Winterthur Symphony Orchestra; Wal- Columbia reproduction, of its more com- which cut overhead to the bone. ter Goehr, conductor. pressed type, is very good indeed.) Order all the records of your choice now MMS-14 LALO: Symphonie Espagnole. Ricardo Od- noposoff, violinist; Utrecht Symphony -Pascal Quartet with Walter Gerhard. at this low price by encircling the correct Orchestra; Walter Goehr, conductor. CONCERT HALL CHS 1187. 12 -in. (with record numbers in the MMS -16 TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony Ne. 4 in F coupon. If not delighted Minor. Netherlands Philharmonic Or- Quint. KV 614). 27 min. $5.95 chestra; Walter Goehr, conductor. Quartet with Milton Katims. Money -Back your money will be -Budapest promptly refunded. You MMS -20 SCHUBERT: Symphony No. S in S -Flot COLUMBIA ML 4143. 12 -in. (with Quint. r Guarantee Major. Winterthur Symphony Orches- may keep the FREE tra; Fritz Busch. conductor. KV 406). 24 min. $5.45. If not de- Mozart record in any k MMS -22 BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. S in C Minor. lighted you case! Utrecht Symphony Orchestra; Paul 1, E FLAT, KV 614 (3 Editions) may return Hupperts. conductor. k record /DUKAS: The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Mozart in his dying months, trying again any THE MUSICAL MASTER- Utrecht Symphony Orchestra; Paul in a hurry fortune, imitated again in 5 days PIECE SOCIETY, INC., Hupperts. conductor. obdurate MMS -27 a masterpiece in for refund. I>: MOUSSORGSKY: Night on Bald Moan- Haydn and produced again Dept. 111, 250 W. 57th St. tain. Netherlands Philharmonic Or- this perfect combination of the oldish in- ,; New York 19, N. Y. chestra; Walter Goehr, conductor. ventor and the youngish (as he had to stay) COUPON conservative. KV 614 is all wondrous - MAIL THIS NO -RISK TODAY! - - -_ - jocularity, and is not less than KV 516 which THE MUSICAL MASTERPIECE SOCIETY, INC. Dept. 111, 250 W. 57th St., New York 19, N. Y. I is a perfection of horrendous misery. The Send me FREE the Long Playing, High Fidelity Recording of Mo. ENCIRCLE ALL THE last Quintet, which KV 614 is, is a tavern - arts Symphony No. 14 in A Major. Also send me the records whose RECORDS OF piece, back -slapping, truculent and senti- numbers I have encircled at right. YOUR CHOICE I enclose $1.50 for each record plus 25e per record for shipping mental; and the aggressive heartiness of the expenses. (NOTE: If you order 5 or more records WE pay all Vienna Konzerthaus Quartet carries the shipping charges.) (These numbers If not delighted, I may return any record in 5 days for refund. correspond to day against the pursed lips of the Ameri- those in listing (The Mozart record is mine to keep in any case.) lare) canized Budapesters and the Gallic logic of Total No. of Records Circled at 51.50 per Record S Mailing Charges 25e per Record S the Pascals. (The latter have the best sonics, (If you order 5 or more records, WE MMS-4 MMS-13 absorb all mailing charges.) but the courageous raucousness of the early MMS-6 TOTAL ENCLOSED S MM5-14 well Westminster fits the asperities of the MMS-7 MMS-16 Viennese players.) Name .. . (Please Print) MMS-9 MMS-20 -Vienna Konzerthaus Quartet with Karl Address MMS-1O M MS-22 Maria Titze. WESTMINSTER WL 5007. 12 -in. (with Po.- lVVind Quint. KV 452). 23 Zone State MMS-11 MMS-27 min. Dept. 111 $5.95-

JANUARY- FEBRUARY, 1954 81

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-Pascal Quartet with Walter Gerhard. with some obvious advantage to Westmins- No. 3, IN C, KA 171; No. 4, IN A, KV 298 CONCERT HALL CHS 1187. 12 -in. (with ter for the crisper clarity of its sound. (I Edition) Quint. KV 593). 21 min. $5.95. Nevertheless, Oxford has made a satisfactory Pleasant, frothy things which do not exer- -Budapest Quartet with Milton Katims. engraving of a performance of greater cise the appeal of No. t, in concise and COLUMBIA ML 4469. 12 -in. (with Quint. breeziness, directer course and - from the spirited playing and easy reproduction des- KV 516). 24 min. $5.45. flute - plumper tone. Westminster is less pite the disk's good age. The second move- confined and more varied: and for two movement of No. 3 contains material used later ments the contest could be called a draw. in the sixth movement of the tenth sere- QUARTETS FOR FLUTE AND STRINGS But the hot pace of the Oxford players in nade, an uncommon practice for Mozart. No. I, IN D, KV 285 (2 Editions) the rondo, the cream of the work, is decided- -Julius Baker, Harry Zarief, David Man -

The best of the Flute Quartets, No. 1 is all ly more telling than the comparative de- kovitz, Ralph Oxman. OXFORD tot. 12 -in. elation, infectious but tidy. The composer's liberation of their rivals, and wins preference. (with Fl. Qt. 1). 13, lo min. $5.95. declared loathing for the flute is of course -Julius Baker (fl), Harry Zarief (vn), QUARTET FOR OBOE AND STRINGS, IN F, not evident, and it is not without a renewal David Mankovitz (va), Ralph Oxman (vo). KV (4 Editions) of awe that we savor this champagne bottled OXFORD 101. 12 -in. (with FI. Qtr. ; & 4). 370 Music of tasteful frailty, with sterner impli- by a vintner determined to have its bubbles 13 min. $5.95. in the adagio anticipatory of Schu- heady no matter how much he disliked its -Hans Recnicek, Anton Kamper, Erich cations with no considerable differ- color. Mozart the composer was capable Weiss, Franz Kwarda. WESTMINSTER WL bert, performed ence of concept or style on the three records of compromise, but not the craftsman. 5022. 12 -in. (with Oboe Qt. and Divertimento, heard, none of which offers more than in- Both recorded versions are commendable, KA 229, No. 2). 13 min. $5.95 - timations of acoustic superiority. In noting again the remarkable difference between one oboe and another, we are not likely to declare any unanimity of favor among the incisiveness of Mr. Gomberg, the nice linearity of Mr. Tabuteau and the plastic accent of Mr. Kamesch. The respective dissimilar couplings may offer the pre- ponderant argument for one disk or another. ULTRA In the writer's appraisal the distinction of the Columbia strings prevailed -Marcel Tabuteau (ob), Isaac Stern (vn), HIGH William Primrose (va), Paul Tortelier (vo). COLUMBIA ML 4566. 12 -in. (with Diverti- IDELITY mento, KV 251). 14 min. 85.45. F -Harold Gomberg, Felix Galimir, Gabriel RECORDS Banat, Alexander Kouguell. DECCA DL 9678. 12 -in. (with Telemann: Sonata; Partita). 15 min. $5.85. -Hans Kamesch, Anton Kamper, Erich Weiss, Franz Kwarda. WESTMINSTER WL 5022. I2 -in. (with Fl. Qt. r & Divertimento, MENDELSSOHN KA 229, No. 2). 15 min. $5.95 CONCERTO FOR 2 PIANOS AND -(Harold Gomberg and others. ALLEGRO 62. 12 -in. (with Horn Quint.). $5.95.) ORCHESTRA IN E MAJOR CAPRICCIO BRILLIANT, Op. 22 QUARTET FOR PIANO AND STRINGS Orazio Frugoni and Eduard Mrazek, No. I, IN G MINOR, KV 478 (3 Editions) pianos -Pro Musica Symphony, Vienna Not many will refuse this great work Hans Swarowsky, conductor PL 8350 acknowledgment of lofty leadership in its form. It may be that that leadership has few important MENDELSSOHN warned off emulation, for composers since Mozart have written for ST. PAUL ORATORIO this instrumental association, and only Soloists- Akademie Kammerchor -Pro Brahms tried it more than once. The music Musica Symphony, Vienna is a revelation of the curious complexity of Ferdinand Grossmann, conductor civilized man, emphatically manly in the PL 8362 first movement, with some of the dogma- tism of Beethoven and an ominous mystery of corollary utterance breathtaking in its restraint. The andante is a contemplation of tragedy wherein distress is soothed by philosophy, and the exceptionally subtle RAVEL'S BEST IN A SCINTILLATING, DEFINITIVE rondo is an envoi of bravely sportive regret. HIGHEST FIDELITY! PERFORMANCE OF LISZT'S These feelings were not worn on the classic 2 POPULAR CONCERTOS! Eighteenth Century sleeve: they become manifest at the eighteenth or twentieth BOLERO LA VALSE PIANO CONCERTO NO. 1 hearing. ALBORADA DEL IN E FLAT MAJOR Three phonographic versions in three for the phonograph. This is GRACIOSO RAPSODIE PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2 exact respect ESPAGNOLE PAVANE not a usual proportion, and in the Mozart IN A MAJOR it is one of minimal precedent. FOR A DEAD PRINCESS discography Orazio Frugoni, piano -Pro The basic quality of musical thought is the Orchestre Radio-Symphonique same from each group, and the final superi- de Paris Musica Symphony, Vienna ority of one performance is less the result Rene Leibowitz, conductor Hans Swi rowsky, conductor PL 8150 PL 8390 of the players' domination of their hearers than of their subjection to the music. That is, the two excellent Columbia versions seem VOX PRODUCTIONS, INC. in deft and intelligent control of the emotions they stipulate, while the London 236 West 55th Street, New York 19, N. Y. players are in ostensible soft surrender to the

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moods they evoke. That is of course not numbers is the set of six Quartets dedicated IN E FLAT, KA 210.213 (I Edition) true, but the ostentation is more important to Haydn, of which the first, in G, is solidly Supposition and analysis ascribe these than the fact. From Curzon -Amadeus we established, for better or worse, as No. 14, works to 1773, in which case they would have a supple extension of dynamics and and the last, in C, is doggedly No. 19. be chronologically Nos. 8 -11, or II -14 if accent, and a warmth of tone, that corro- One is effectively anchored to these six the string divertimentos were included as borate and reinforce the romanticism of this numbers; and the preceding Quartets have Quartets. But numbers to these would foul classic music, to an extent the others do perforce received cavalier treatment: KV the numeration of those following, and so not attain. (And as an example of sympa- 136 -13S (only one of which is on records) they have none. thetic, sensitive piano -playing -in- ensemble, have been considered Divertimentos, and Some musicologists have been wary in Mr. Curzon's work here is equal to any the four Milanese Quartets have received attributing these delightful little essays to praise.) The London sound aids the Lon- no numbers. The four works written after Mozart, and Vox earns the applause of don players by some increase of warmth, the Haydn Quartets are Nos. 20.23, and music -lovers by demonstrating through aural although the cool, analytic reproduction of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, an incomplete evidence who wrote them. They are lively, the New York Quartet is technically su- serenade, has already appeared under declarative, tuneful and light, with little of perior. Befitting their sonics, the latter Serenades. KV 546 seems properly placed the elaborate structure of the string quartet group play with the most elegance and the as Adagio and Fugue.) as Haydn and Mozart were to expand it. largest revelation of detail. Szell- Budapest They reject convention with a kind of petu- are the most robust and the sound ac- FOUR MILANESE QUARTETS: No. I, IN A; lant originality, and disengage charm with- corded them - of much older vintage than No. 2. IN B FLAT; No. I. IN C; No. 4. out an effort from the listener. The recorded the others' - is good although lacking an ultimate distinctness and accompanied by a faint rumble. -Clifford Curzon (pf); and Norbert Brainin (vn), Peter Schidlof (va), and Martin Lovett (vo) of the Amadeus Quartet. LONDON LL 679. 12 -in. (with Pf. Qt. 2). 23 min. $5.95. URANIARecords, Inc -New York Quartet (Mieczyslaw Horszow- ski, Alexander Schneider, Milton Katims, SUPERB Frank Miller). COLUMBIA ML 4627. 12 -in. (with Beethoven: Pf. Qt. after Find Quint., PERFORMANCES! Op. 16). 24 min. $5.45 EXCEPTIONAL -George Szell; and Josef Roismann, Boris Kroyt and Mischa Schneider of the Budapest ML RELEASES Quartet. COLUMBIA 4080. 12 -in. (with NEW HI-FI RECORDINGS Pf Qt. 2). 21 min. $5.45. DVORAK 58 ONLY M ATER, No. 2, IN E FLAT, KV 493 (2 Editions) S'iABP o Blarl Has the dash T¡kalor. tA. Kr much of of the gallant piano K, Kolas Request Chorus concertos written by Mozart in the 1780's, 5¡n9ers Series Czech Orchestra with a dash too of profounder material. Philharmonic Czech Talich, con SOt0 Overshadowed by the admittedly greater Váciav 2.12" 234 First Piano Quartet, the Second is second in URLP the literature only to that First, and deserves MOZART 522 V more performances than it receives. 101%, K Y A MUSICAL B erlin Fortunately the records maintain of Rodio SMrNp the high Orchestra OT4NY N conductor B quality of the recorded Firsts. Since a First Chamber Lange, Matthieu O PHAIKO, oe rmpe. 6 occupies the obverse of both editions of MENU'. MINOR oree. , 1 IN 6 the Second, and since the Curzon -Amadeus NO. Berlin SYMPHONY of Radio First is a magnificent accomplishment in Orchestra Symphony conductor chamber music, it is probably idle to discuss Kleinert, Zrh,á? ,P rg Rolf 1.12" $5.95 -7-I 7109 JUST the relative values of the two Seconds. rmLP RELEASED Still, duty compels the statement that Szell- TcHAI D Budapest are more effective here in a ring- YMPpONY P NO.KOVSKY ing candor than Curzon -Amadeus in a Leip z ; N MIpofMINOR shyer poetry. Not much, however; and the eQús b ^ h Londoners are supplied with a notably bet- sNOST ANp OQ o t,A cond. ter sound. Disk against disk, two works Rod DEBUSSY d against two, London has it, in the advantage MQnONy °I 5595 won by the first. S Bors°ns``2cç Prussian SYmPhE Johannesn -George Szell and three from the Budapest 70gß Scheer Orchestra .I conductor Quartet. COLUMBIA ML 4080. 12 -in. (with pN Symphony Qt. 22 PSIO" Conte" MER Pf. r) min. $5.45. UFarSSSJJdns Erne -Clifford Curzon and three from the Rodio zi Amadeus Quartet. LONDON LI. 679. 12 -in. E A 0. el61 (with Qt. r). 23 min. Pf $5.95. MOA 1 mot 0 MUSSORGSKY QUARTETS FOR STRINGS (SYMeOnS90c¡Goe PICTURES FROM AN EXHIBITION Symph. Orch. of Radio (Mozart wrote 3o works for the sanctified Leipzig; H. URLP `\ST-T STRAVINSKY Abend,o,h, tond. ensemble of two violins, viola and cello. 6p6 ON S3MpN Co' THE FIREBIRD des SUITE There has never been a complete chrono- Symph. Orch. Rodio Leipzig; UR.RS 7.I8 E. Borsomsky, logical catalog ascribing sequential numbers ppNjE, .. p"°"bo+°°' t°nd rond. COOei 1.12" to the elements of this music, although Lha us TCHAIKOVSKY p1e there have been many catalogs. For a long tests VRl9 7 CAPRICCIO ITALIEN, time the numbers in the Peters Edition were Symph. Orch. OP. 45 of Rodio Leipzig G. pflügen, in favor, but in recent years a system has 1812 OVERTURE, tond. Symph. OP. 49 slipped into use whose numeration for part Och. Rodio URRS7.l6l of Berlin G. Wie.enhü,hr, of the list has become fixed with custom. rond. This part now pretty generally identified by

JANUARY- FEBRUARY, 1954 S;

www.americanradiohistory.com performances are characterized by a vigor- No. 14, IN G, KV 387 (6 Editions) ous drive contemptuous of refinement, in This is the first of the six great works that untroubled reproduction that presents the Mozart dedicated to Haydn, from whom he Over instruments with bold clarity. The Barchet had learned what a quartet should be. The group is not especially notable for tonal first was begun in 1782 and the last was suavity, but they make a rousing diversion finished in 1785, and for no particular reason of this music. those are the two most frequently performed. 500,000 -Barchet Quartet. Vox PL 7480. 12-in. With these six Quartets, Mozart, whose It, 9, 9, 9 min. 85.95. genius habitually progressed in a serene and steady development from a high point record No. 6, IN B FLAT, KV 1S9 (1 Edition) to higher, takes a spectacular leap upward. The pattern is piquant: a little andante His previous Quartets have in common with grazioso elegy, a fiery and defiant allegro the Haydn six that they were written for the and a flip rondo scoffing at both; the whole same instruments, and no more. In dignity collectors not to be disdained. A knowing and deft of thought and complexity of evolution, in performance, but the violins when loud are the logic of part- distribution and cohesive- coarse, presumably an engineering fault in ness of pattern, this music made the old read a projection otherwise of expected merit. criterions derisory, for all their charm and -Griller Quartet. LONDON LS 656. Io -in. beauty. (with Haydn: Qt. r8, Op. 3, No. 5). 12 min. The G Major Quartet is par excellence "schwann's 84.95 abstract: its design is purely musical. If it simulates emotions, or stimulates any, No. 8, IN F, KV 168 (r Edition) hearers will not agree on what they are. long playing Experimental and tentative, resourceful and In plastic generalities, the four movements studious music occupied with dun and un- may be characterized without enlightening attractive thematic material, KV 168 has no much: allegro vivace assai, sophisticated immediate allure. Of the 19 recorded string masculinity; menuetto, jocularity, then chided; record quartets, this one has the greatest dispropor- andante cantabile, tender femininity; molto tion between musicographical and musical allegro, exhilaration - an especially vague pleasure. Earnest performance and standard and puny imprint to receive from the gleam- catalog" recording. ing vivacity of this fugal sonata- finale. But -Griller Quartet. LONDON LL 658. la -in. who is to precise the indefinable? (with Qt. r7). 17 min. 85.95 The Calvet and recently announced Ama- every month deus versions were not received. Recorded No. I1, IN E FLAT, KV 171 (/ Edition) distortion of the violins and a baleful back- The record was not received for comparison. ground thumping eliminate the fastidious The Loewenguth Quartet may be counted playing of the Loewenguths from considera- before on for an intelligent performance. tion. A rather violent accent and heated -(Loewenguth Quartet. Vox PL 642o. intonation from the Roths paints the lily. buying. ta -in. (with Vn. Cont. 3). 85.95) Remain two beautiful classic projections by are you one twin of them? Ng CANTERBURY "SHOW-OFF" RECORD Available CANTERBURY Presents the New True - Timbre Recording at your Pipe Organ Music record dealer Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor; Franck: Pièce Héroique; now. Handel: Largo; Elmore: Suite In Rhythm Performed By Pick up your Robert Elmore, Mus. Bac., A.R.C.O., F.R.A.M. Console of the New Organ, Washington Memorial Chapel, copy today. At the Valley Forge

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the identical Budapest Quartet, one circa 1950, the other of this very year, played with little discernible difference from the same mature concept, and engineered to some advantage of smartness and detail for the newer recording - less advantage than might have been expected; not enough to provoke replacement of the earlier edition. None of these disks has really first - rate sound. -Budapest Quartet (new). COLUMBIA ML 4726. 12 -in. (with Qt. 15). 26 min. $5.45. -Budapest Quartet (old). COLUMBIA ML 436o. t2 -in. (with Qt. 13). 26 min. $5.45. -Roth Quartet. MERCURY 10108. 12 -in. (with Qt. 15). 26 min. $4.85. PRESENT XCITING RELEASES -Loewenguth Quartet. ALLEGRO AL 26. 12 -in. (with Qt. 16). 23 min. $5.95. Premiere -(Calvet Quartet. CAPITOL P 8106. I2 -in. World RENCH HORN MASTERPIECES (with Qt. i8). $5.70.) TSCHAIKOWSKY .. . Stagliano B -200 E minor, 30 -(Amadeus Quartet. RCA VICTOR LHMV Quartet in -flat Op. 8 -206 RECITAL FAVORITES 1039. 12 -in. (with Haydn: Qt. 78, "Em- ARTHUR GRUMIAUX... Jorge Bolet, pianist 8 -301 peror"). $5.95) Playing the "Titian" Stradi- AIRS OF SPAIN varius. Bach- Chaconne Jorge Bolet, pianist B -300 NO. 15, IN D MINOR, KV 421 (5 Editions) Mozart -Sonatas -K -301, K -304 There is a stringent aloofness to the sub- Fiocco- Allegro B -202 OPERA IN ENGLISH versive gloom of the Fifteenth Quartet Boris Goldovsky's Companion which suggests that Mozart is badgering us, BENJAMIN BRITTEN ... to Bizet's CARMEN B -100 that what we feel, he did not: he was only Serenade, Op. 31- involved in composing it. The late Beetho- David Lloyd, Horn and Strings Leo Litwin records the successor B -205 ven quartets are Beethoven's personal his- to the "WARSAW CONCERTO" "SMOKY MOUNTAIN SUITE" tory. by Mozart is an essay on the This OTHER BOSTON RELEASES diversity of unhappiness, illustrated by by Richard Addinsell played by LEO LITWIN B -500 horror, fever, hysteria and savagery; and MOZART - Horn Qu inlet Ep K -407 teased by a few limpid moments of melting RUST Viola Sonata B -201 Boston Popular Blue Label Series $ 2.95 condolence, the whole very beautiful, but provokingly unprovided with any formula All 12 in. records $5.95 for proper interpretation. Symphony Chambers, 246 Huntington Ave. Boston 15, Mass. A curious feature of the five recorded versions is that the participants originated professionally in Vienna or Budapest. This does not, however, assure a uniformity of treatment prescribed by a mere zoo miles of Danube. Only two of these performances speed the parting guest strongly resemble each other, those of Buda- pest í95o and Budapest 1953; which indeed (Hi FI WI In A Chime Shop) are so much alike that it is hard to choose long play 1041 between them. Cool in both recordings, the Budapesters are cooler, purer, in the later, unless is an illusion of the more finely ..- that T,....n chiseled sound. To one pair of ears this c«sri sh.s.., M.q,... refusal of reinforcement to Mozart, a resis- M.ro..e. 3 1.41.i. tance to the temptation of underlining what a1..Y..aMN is clear enough, makes the two Budapest Il.,, o..... ViM.pl...n f, performances the best, with the newer even Hem Toy Delon In all audio more restrained than its predecessor, and zrl..s....s a Mod rala.» there was recorded with superior nicety, although Com..r s..». that can be apprehended only by the best cr* never such o..w w., apparatus. The freer enterprise of the Roth o.tw« an array - "' KV 421 ....w r..s,...i». Quartet renders the sentiments of ) Temple Sells dozens of somewhat gesticulatory in comparison, and w.a1.+e s M. ss..r. strange and rwd.., a relative opacity of sound dulls the inter- exotic mediate effort of the Hungarian Quartet. r..I Roth, and Budapest twice, made their percussive records in an American environment, under . instruments. American influence to be crisp and taut. Musically - unique `, The Hungarian Quartet played for England, and exciting. The which tolerates more leisure. The Vienna inimitable Jimmy Konzerthaus Quartet played for Vienna, where leisure is an article of faith. Their Carroll conducts. A demonstration piece both for music long and discursive romanticization of the and for wide -range audio. D Minor Quartet evokes at once the cen- is and it is sure that this not Mozart, cer- BINAURAL tainly not Mozart as he is played here; but $5.95 MONAURAL $4.00 their imperturbable, unstrait deliberation emanates a special and unexpected, vexing and rather tropical beauty. The achieve- In stock at your local ment is immeasurably furthered by the dealer. Write for com- quality of the engineering, in a class apart plete catalog. COOK LABORATORIES, INC., R -2, STAMFORD, CONN. from the competitors here. Articulation,

JANUARY- FEBRUARY, z954 85

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balance, timbre, presence, distinctness - these have been ordered to give a suavity of tonal actuality that the Budapesters' four exciting NEWS stradivaris have not been able to register. NOBODY . -Budapest Quartet (new). COLUMBIA ML 4726. 12 -in. (with Qt. 4). 23 min. $5.45. but NOBODY every -Budapest Quartet (old). COLUMBIA ML for 436o. 12 -in. (with Qt. 14). 23 min. $5.45. -Vienna Konzerthaus Quartet. WEST- MINSTER WL 5X75. 12 -in. (with Qt. 19). can give you better, tape recorder 31 min. $5.95. -Roth Quartet. MERCURY Iolo8. 12 -in. faster, personalized (with Qt. 14). 21 min. $4.85. -Hungarian Quartet. RCA VICTOR LM mail orderjservice fan... 1076. 12 -in. (with Haydn: Qt. 61, "Lark "). 25 min. $5.72. on all makes of LP the new world of sound It's No. 16, IN E FLAT, KV 428 (4 Editions) awaiting you on A -V tape re- The Budapest version, although it was re- records than cordings. Recorded directly from corded at an earlier period than the others finest of the Budapest series, has not only the tape masters on the world's aristocratic logic of the customary Budapest THE MUSIC BOX custom engineered sound equip- bowing, but a soft caress in the voices not in ment, A -V tapes give you .. . evident the rather cramped tonal projection of Nos. 14 and X5. Audible arguments Highest fidelity possible for the other editions are not convincing: A service featuring: Roths are excellent, but have not this from the ... plus complete freedom refinement, not this sweetness; neither have with the surface noise and wear, the Loewenguths in their clarity of decision All records guaranteed brand permanent fidelity possible only mottled by thuds in the recorded back- new and unplayed copies. ground. Amadeus are not especially con- on tape. Here are recordings vincing in playing of contrasted alternations to suit your every mood .. . between comfort and strain, and the sound Carefully inspected for visible imperfections, before mailing. popular and classical music, of this group has been built up by room - resonance to suggest an orchestra of strings readings, even a full dramatic instead of four stringed instruments. - The Dusted and cleaned to elimin- spoken French course! music is the nearest to Haydn of the six ate possible dust damage, while quartets dedicated to Haydn, and it is hard in transit. New selections are constantly to attach a character to lovely stuff that will being added, so write today to not stay fixed in temper, and whose candor is so complicated by subtleties. Carefully packed to reach you Dept. F for your free catalog. in perfect condition. -Budapest Quartet. COLUMBIA ML 4727. 12 -in. (with Qt. 17). 24 min. $5.45. -Roth Quartet. MERCURY 10109. 12 -in. Mailed to you, anywhere in the (with Qt. r7). 22 min. $4.85. U. S. A. POST FREE. -Loewenguth Quartet. ALLEGRO AL 26. 12 -in. (with Qt. 14). 23 min. $5.95. -Amadeus Quartet. WESTMINSTER WL ALL RECORDS ENCLOSED ENVE- 5099. 12 -in. (with Qt. 17). 27 min. $5.95. IN CELLOPHANE LOPES, FOR ADDITION- AL PROTECTION. No. 17, IN B FLAT, "HUNT,. KV 458 (6 Editions) The Kroll record was not available, and the We will gladly mail you a copy Amadeus is the same kind of big vaulted of the Schwann LP catalog . . . re- Music for Young Listeners sonance that seemed unacceptable for No. ABSOLUTELY FREE on 16. There is reasonable basis for selecting quest. Full fidelity musical tape re- any of the others, for every performance is together with Lillian cordings highly competent, and the singing B Flat to supply in- Spe- We will be glad Baldwin 's delightful books. Quartet (called "Hunt" from some sugges- formation on any record of any cially priced for a limited time tion of horn -calls at the very beginning) speed ... American or European. only. Regularly $99.50, now is not strewn with perplexities to bedevil $75 for the complete set .. interpreters. The principal currents of the four remaining essays do not diverge much: When ordering, simply enclose 3 books and 14 tapes your check or money order to (7%" dual track). they differ not in direction but in minor aspects of flow. According to expectations cover cost of records only ... or Green Section only, $24. Budapest have a refined equanimity and if you wish . . . we will ship (4 tapes, 1 book) them C.O.D. Crimson Section only, $35. Roth some strength of feeling for gypsy (6 tapes, I book) pulsation. Griller specialize in nuance and Blue Section only, $24. Loewenguth avoid with Gallic disdain any (4 tapes, 1 book) semblance of affectation. In pure euphony See Your Dealer or of sound, Griller or the London engineers Write Dept. F for free brochure. or both must be accorded preference; but Decca has a bolder and more detailed delineation of the Loewenguths, and Colum- Y bia, a little attenuated in body, has the best detail of all. The writer cheerfully agrees 279 Main Street that his ordination below is not founded on A -V Tape libraries, Inc. immutable judgment but on a predilection Great Barrington, Mass. A division of Audio & Products Corp.) for the Budapest style, the Griller tone and 730 Fifth Ave. New York 19 the frankness of the Decca presentation;

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which when weighed together brought a where the cello's utterance conveys the perhaps temporary decision for style. most striking implications. -Budapest Quartet. COLUMBIA ML 4727. -Roth Quartet. MERCURY 1O11o. 12 -in. 1zEcoa85 AA-Ricer 12 -in. (with Qt. 16). 22 min. $5.45. (with Qt. 19). 26 min. $4.85. -Griller Quartet. LONDON LL 658. 12 -in. -Budapest Quartet. COLUMBIA ML 4728. (with Qt. 8). 25 min. $5.95. 12 -in. (with Qt. 19). 27 min. $5.45 -Loewenguth Quartet. DECCA DL 7517. -Amadeus Quartet. WESTMINSTER WL 30 MINUTE 10 -in. 26 min. 5092. 12 -in. Qt. min. $3.85. (with 23). 33 $5.95. ar a Ampex Recorded -Roth Quartet. MERCURY 10109. 12 -in. -(Calvet Quartet. CAPITOL P 8106. 12 -in. (with Qt. 16). 22 min. $4.85. (with Qt. 14). 55.70.) HI -FI TAPE -Amadeus Quartet. WESTMINSTER WL "Musical 5099. 12 -in. (with Qt. 16). 27 min. $5.95 No. 19, IN C, KV 465 (5 Editions) Comedy Hits Quartet. ALLEGRO AL 86. 12 -in. -(Kroll The mystery and menace of some unusual Thru the Years" (with Qt. 19). $5.95) chromaticism in the introduction have ac- at ONLY No. 18, IN A, Kv 464 (4 Editions) quired for this Quartet a rather portentous It is not probable that the discoloring ad- celebrity as music of profound, recondite $98855 jective "Mozartean' has ever been applied significance. The nickname "Dissonant," Unique, scintillating, organ -Piano POST combo (no vocal). New exclusive PAID to this enigmatic music. Everyone me- derived from a few measures, has tinted superb medley. 30 minutes of sheer joy ! Specify chanically says "Beethoven," hearing KV the whole work. Attentive study does not whether 7V," or 31Y" per second speed desired. Sat- isfaction guaranteed, or money back. FREE list of 464, composed 15 years before Beethoven promote enthusiasm for the acquired somber other new tapes. published a quartet; and we know that reputation, but it does decidedly induce Beethoven himself made a copy of the finale large respect for a masterpiece of continu- Hack Swain P.O. Box 2384 -H for his own use. Unsettled in mien, am- ously resourceful invention. Sarasota, Florida biguous in flashing facets qualified by Reputation will ordinarily affect per- shadowy innuendo, striking in a bold formances. In two of four recorded versions chromaticism, the Eighteenth Quartet poses heard there was a strong impression of an a proposition for which no one solution obstacle between music and listener -a COLLECTORS' ITEMS seems inevitably and entirely correct. deterrent to spontaneity, as if there were an The three recorded solutions heard offer obsession with values not apparent. With Unusually fine Hi -Fi Mood imposing proof of independent calculation. the Vienna Konzerthaus Quartet a wayward Isolating the essences, we find that Budapest and uninformative adjustment of tempos Music records made in as usual confine their fervor within the suggests a discontent with the music as it Europe bounds of an elegant but unaffected resis written if it is to sound as its repute says and America traint. To them good taste must be invio- it must sound, and the unhearty precision late: an outcry must be incontrovertibly of the Budapest Quartet seems to declare 78 RPM Vynilite dictated by the score. Roth permit greater less an involvement in a spirited affair than or high grade shellac 10" disks scope to episodes, employ a more pungent a caution that a taboo may be violated. In are less in the accent, stringent control of playing their way, the Viennese make a IT rile for free catalogs, Dept. HF -2 tempo. Amadeus expand a luxury of lyri- lovely sound, and in playing their after -all and cism, do not dread outcry, explore the better way, the Budapesters make a sound THOMAS J. VALENTINO, INC. dynamic poles. They also, on this record, not so good, but room -tone and recording 150 West 46th St., New York 36, N. Y. issue a eupeptic mellowness of strings, in techniques are involved in this. The Roths part fabricated by an acoustical background affiliate themselves with the work to be like that of the Amadeus disk of Quartets done in a spirit devoid both of either 16 and 17, overwhelming at fortes; but here, diffidence or uncalled -for sentiment. The 2 Unusual Releases for Children where so much is at half- voice, there is a Guilets, with one fairly conspicuous fault, on seduction of consolidated, rather indefinite ordain the Quartet in vigorous, extrospective ESOTERIC LONOPLAYINO RECORDS sound. strokes as entertainment: they seem to The strange, angular minuet (played by enjoy playing and they communicate their ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON the Roths as the third, by the others as the pleasure. Their performance is unselfcon- "A Child's Garden of Verres" second, movement) shows how frightening scious and direct. It reminds us that cham- Music by Seymour Barab - Sung by is the challenge to players' judgment and ber music was once a pastime of no formality. Russell Oberlin Es) -5 lee $4.00 D how inexhaustible the music: for Budapest It is in no sense great playing, but it sounds SONGS OF SHAKESPEARE'S bow a mournful mystery, Amadeus a demure right except for the fault mentioned, a wistfulness and Roth a flippant defiance. All weakness of second violin and viola. This TIME are justified by the notes, and criticism must is in measure compensated by very distinct "Elizabethan Songbag for Young People" admit perplexity. and pleasing sound, easily reproduced and NY Pro Musica Antiqua All weighed, all qualities considered, the as real as, if less cordial than, that of West- ES7-6 ro" 3400 scales tip to Roth, influenced by a more minster's fussier interpretation. ESOTERIC RECORDS, Inc. eloquent, less recessive cello, in a work 11 West 18 Street New York City 11 -Guilet Quartet. CONCERT HALL CHs 1 130. 12 -in. (with Qt. 21). 25 min. $5.95. D®®D ` cr,Mtrarrt:SA iCZga:M%31':14135 -Roth Quartet. MERCURY 1011o. 12 -in. A 23 YEAR OLD (with Qt. 18). 27 min. $4.85. HIGH FIDELITY RECORDING! ?Z HI -FI PLEASURE 4 -Budapest Quartet. COLUMBIA ML 4728. Classic Edition. Ink pleasure in inlroloeing VICTORIA-0 Magnum Mysterium & O 12 -in. (with Qt. 18). 25 min. High Fidelity readers to o unique listening experience. Quam Gloriosum t $5.45. -Vienna Konzerthaus Quartet. WEST- AN ORGAN RECITAL , The Welch Chorale, James Welch, dir. LL46 k BY THE LATE LYNNWOOD FARNAM BACH -Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, MINSTER WL 5175. L2 -in. (with Qt. 15). Recorded on organ rolls in 1930, a few months before his death, the lost musical legacy of this famed i Toccatas in D and e 28 min. $5.95. organist is here presented for the first time, in a wide -range Fernando Valenti, harpsichord LL47 5':t -(Kroll Quartet. ALLEGRO AL 86. 12 -in. performance made in August of 1953 on the superb i PALESTRINA- Missa "Iste Confessor" & , (with Qt. 17). $5.95.) Baroque organ of St. John's Church, Hartford, Conn. r+ Misers Sine Nomine Tf Music of J. S. Bach, G. F. Handel, Karg- Elert, Sowerby, V The Welch Chorale, James Welch, dir. LL49 and Vierne. Registration and swell pedal changes 5 made by Clarence Wafters. -"ig IN KV 499 (2 As,7 CHOPIN -The Impromptus, Berceuse, Ba- No. 20, D, Editions) ALtwelve inch Ip in a deluxe album. List pricé $5.95. gt. carolle, Bolero, Tarantelle 'ï+ Of Mozart's last four quartets, only No. 21 tkk Erna Balogh, piano LL20 receives attention comparable to that accorded the six of the Haydn series. This `7- (-) LYRICHORD DISCS INC. does not seem markedly rational, but we j r:( laurel 464 West 51st Street can be thankful that the two recorded edi- 206f West Both St. New York 24, N. Y. New York 19, N.Y. tions of No. 20 called "Hoffmeister" Lt - 11 rite for free ratalreIse after its dedication to the publisher so

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No. 22, IN B FLAT, KV 589 (I Edition) Decca group have an unaffected poise, the The second "Prussian" Quartet is a waif in Lyrichord a straight clarity of statement, the Mozart production, shunned in public not susceptible to comparative measure- performance and shamed by restriction to ment; and while here the Decca way seems one LP. Few will say that the implied judg- more valuable, in sound the distinctness of ment is frivolous, for the music, smoothly Lyrichord will be preferred to a Decca less tailored to a familiar frame, is undisting- lively, although agreeable enough at low uished in cut and uninteresting in texture. volume. Its imprint is shallow, and it is hard not to -Erno Balogh, Sidney Forrest, Carlton The Griller Quartet: nuances a specialty. believe that Mozart composed it more from Cooley. LYRICHORD 9. 12 -in. (with Brahms: duty than affection. The Roth Quartet Clarinet Trio, Op. 114). 21 min. $5.95. Reginald named - are here to call attention to the scrupulously make what they can of it, -Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Kell, we is Fuchs. DECCA DL 12 -in. ingenious beauties of a creation extraordin- and any disappointment may feel Lillian 9453. (with ary even from Mozart. No minuet is so not the fault of a neatly integrated and Beethoven: Clarinet Trio, Op. 1i). 21 min. startlingly perverted as this one, and the gracious performance. The recording as $5.85- is like that most the Roth's -(Arnold- Brody -Lifshey Trio. OXFORD giddy finale means festivity or anguish - such of of or better both - according to its playing. Mozart - generally clear and well- defined ío6. 12 -in. (with Haydn: Sonata for Piano There is no choice here between the rec- without being notable; good in the bass, and Flute). $5.95) with violins in need of a lively downward ords. Both are good expositions, but their FOR VIOLIN AND VIOLON- push at the treble end of the compensator. TRIOS PIANO, virtues are not the same. Clarity of tone CELLO is notable from Stuyvesant, har- -Roth Quartet. MERCURY 10134. 12 -in. and phrase No. I, IN G, KV 496; No. 2, IN B FLAT, monic depth from Roth. The Stuyvesant (with Qt. 23). 20 min. $4.85. KV 502; No. 3, IN E, KV 542; No. 4, IN C, sound, not unpleasantly echoic, is also No. 23, IN F, KV 590 (3 Editions) KV 548; No. 5, IN G, KV 564; No. 6, IN Roth is has more concise, but richer and Quite another thing from its immediate B FLAT, KV 254. definition in bass. There are no important predecessor, No. 23, the last Quartet, an The numbers are those of the Peters Edition, differences in the essential musical line. involved and novel legeriry that depends a and illustrate a Peters policy of making the -Roth Quartet. MERCURY 10133. 12 -in. least the last. KV S42 has won esteem, es- (with Qt. 21). 24 min. $4.85. pecially for its andante, denied the others, -Stuyvesant Quartet. PHILHARMONIA 105. which are not masterpieces in the Mozart 12 -in. (with Qt. 21). 25 min. $5.95. gallery. The trios give to the piano a concerto -like leadership, and limit the strings No. 21, IN D, KV 575 (4 Editions) to a dutiful imitation, to harmonic garni- When the flute of Frederick the Great was ture and to punctuation. The trios of Bee- silenced in the fullness of his years it was thoven and Schubert, the late ones of succeeded by the cello of his nephew, Haydn, find no premonition here. Frederick William II. The change was of There are some pleasant movements be- immediate benefit to the art of music and sides those in No. 3 - the finale of No. t, a nearly mortal blow to Prussian martial The Budapest: a firm, aristocratic logic. the first of No. 4, the first of No. 5 (in a glory. The greatest composers and many sweet, innocent way) but the dominant lot on Haydn and does not sound like him. - others hastened to dedicate music to the impression is of pale and rather effete ar- The finale, a dissertation on rapid impu- monarch, Mozart, whose need for a generous tistry. We need a highly imaginative and dence as a principle of pleasure, is worth a patron was greater than anyone's, among conscientious virtuoso to play the piano handful of quartets including some by Mo- them. His last three quartets were dedicated here and to lead the strings to color the com- zart; and as exponents of that impudence to the king, and are sometimes called "Prus- plexion and stimulate the reflexes. Walter the Amadeus Quartet make an informative sian." In these the cello part is advanced to Gieseking would be a man for this, but felicity of high comedy. The trouble is royal eminence. what we have on the records is too decidedly that in the other movements the Roth Among the greater Mozart quartets No. less. Proficiency is not enough: we require Quartet are more certain and have a sound 21, first of the "Prussians," is immediately illumination. In the even, obedient pro. nearer standard, that of Amadeus having assimilable and lastingly memorable, per- cedure of the Period group there is little the vaulted reinforcement noted in earlier haps more than any other, because of its variety of mobility or of stress, and the quartets, too rich for realism, and in con- decided melodic impression and pervasive mobility is that of inertia. There is no élan junction with a treble emphasis perhaps good humor. It offers no spiritual problems at all and the phrases do not sing; the orna- exaggerated, raucous when loud. Record- except to fanciful imaginations, and does ments do not sparkle and some of us may ing values are extremely unfavorable to the not suffer in playing of single -minded be bored. The clean, hard sound, modest in Aeolian Quartet in the scrawniness of their voluptuousness. Yet three of the four reverberation, is not unattractive and ex- violins and the hum which gives an un- disks put themselves out of court through poses the docile performances faithfully. wanted counterpoint to their bowing. So, the commission of egregious and surpris- -Agi Jambor, Victor Aitay, Janos Starker. Roth. ing faults. PERIOD 524. Three t2 -in. 18, 24, 19, 20, -Roth Quartet. MERCURY 10134. I2 -I11. Mr. Guilet gives a more bountiful license 14, 17 min. $17.85. (with Qt. 22). 20 min. $4.85. to his violin than we tolerate in string quar- -(Boston Trio (Nos. 2 & 3 only). ALLEGRO -Amadeus Quartet. WESTMINSTER WL tets. The Roths have discovered a potential 3014. 12 -in. $5.95.) 5092. I2 -in. (with Qt. 18). 24 min. $5.95. of strong feeling, which is not very attrac- -Aeolian Quartet. ALLEGRO ALG 3036. tive when expressed in a piercing intona- Next time: the last installment of 12 -in. (with Qt. 21). 21 min. $5.95. tion. When the small sound of the Aeolian Mozart. In April - Burke willing - version is fortified by the amplifier, we have TRIO FOR PIANO, CLARINET AND VIOLA, Richard Strauss. an implacable pedal point from a fifth in- IN E FLAT, KV 498 (3 Editions) strument, hum. The verdict goes auto- The clarinet is the character- builder in this matically to the benevolent, unstrained per- unusual assembly, and the Trio has more formance of the Stuyvesant Quartet, helped consistent substance than any of the stan- by the pleasant soft resonance of the Bronx - dard Piano Trios (although several of the ville church in which it was recorded. latter have more memorable movements -Stuyvesant Quartet. PHILHARMONIA 105. than the Clarinet Trio). The work is at 12 -in. (with Qt. 20). 23 min. $5.95. heart tranquil and even meditative, for its -Roth Quartet. MERCURY 1o133. 12 -in. vigor is an element of musical contrast (with Qt. 20). 20 min. $4.85. rather than of temperamental impulse. Not -Guilet Quartet. CONCERT HALL CHs great Mozart, it is very good music, and has 113o. 12 -in. (with Qt. 19). 20 min. $5.95 received at least two good LP demonstra- -Aeolian Quartet. ALLEGRO ALG 3o36. tions, which balance their respective merits 12 -in. (with Qt. 23). 24 min. $5.95. to the great advantage of neither. The The Amadeus: big, almost orchestral sound.

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www.americanradiohistory.com ENCLOSURES FOR LOUDSPEAKERS

PART III: Loudspeaker Loading f3, G. A. f31lIGGS

AT THE beginning of these articles, the qualities produced for use in commercial sets are tested for reso- affecting speaker mounting were, rightly or wrong- nance and any which come out above or below the specified ly, summarised as follows: limit are rejected. (To a maker of wide response units, (a) Response level. the rejection of a speaker because the resonance is too (b) Efficiency (output versus input level). low seems like refusing admission of a soul to heaven be- (c) Quality of output (waveform). cause the person had lived too blameless a life!) But set - (d) Transient response. makers know what they are up to; they do not survive (e) Coloration. by constantly falling off the economic bus. It is often (f) Directional effects. essential to limit the low -frequency output of a set to We have so far dealt with the first three items, a, b and c, match an unavoidable high- frequency cut. This is achieved but in doing so we have mainly been concerned with low by using a speaker with a high resonance, say above frequencies, because any attempt to make up for deficient 90 cycles, which also reduces the cost of smoothing at the output at low frequencies by excessive use of the tone mains (commercial AC power) frequency (5o or 6o cycles) control in the amplifier tends to produce distortion. As and enables you and me to buy a set at a lower price. The the middle register is always the easiest to handle in a point is: a speaker which is almost silent with 6o cycle transducer, and as the power involved falls off rapidly at hum will not reproduce 6o cycle music, and the use of high frequencies, there is no need to worry about distor- maximum negative feedback in the amplifier, with a tion from overloading in these ranges. high damping factor (low output resistance) will not im- Before proceeding to items d, e and f, there are some prove the low -frequency performance below the main aspects of the question of resonance which seem to re- cone resonance. quire further clarification. I have just had a personal experience which confirms this bass -cut business beyond any shadow of doubt. My Bass Resonance and Negative Feedback TV set cost about 7o pounds and is fitted with a 15 -in. tube and a puny little 5 -in. speaker with a resonance I have - noticed that some amplifier designers tend to draw around 15o cycles. An excellent transmission from the the conclusion that the bass resonance of a loudspeaker 1953 Edinburgh Festival gave us a view of Solomon is no longer of any great importance because it is damped playing the Beethoven Concerto No. 3 and then - unfortu- by negative feedback. Such a conclusion is completely nately for my peace of mind -a close -up of the man fallacious; the resonance is certainly damped and may with the sticks beating furiously on the tympani, but be removed in toto, but the performance at frequencies not a sound of the drums came to my ears. Connecting a below the natural resonance still falls off. An actual bigger and better speaker system to the set would not experience will illustrate the point. We - meaning my provide a solution because the bass would still be missing, small speaker- making concern - decided recently that the the circuit having been skimped to suit the 5 -in. speaker; resonance of a certain model would have to be lowered any attempt to get more than about 1 watt output produces from about 6o to 45 cycles in order to stand up to the distortion. In fairness to the makers, it should be pointed product of a competitor who appeared to have suddenly out that it is necessary to control the bass in a TV set, awakened to the virtues of low resonance. A sample where the loudspeaker is fairly close to valves and cathode was produced with freer suspension, so that we had two ray tube, in order to reduce the risk of microphony. (Warn- speaker units which were identical apart from a difference ing: In some TV sets one side of the voice coil is connected of 15 cycles in the resonant frequency. Tested on speech to the chassis, which may be "live" to the tune of the and music, using a feedback amplifier with a high damp- mains voltage. Safety precautions should be taken being factor, the improvement from the lower resonance fore an external speaker is connected up.) was clearly evident to the practised ear. Even our ac- countant, who is more concerned with reducing our bank Resonance in General overdraft than with lowering resonances, and only con- sents to join our acoustic frolics on special occasions, It has struck me that some readers might form the opin- had no difficulty in selecting the better speaker. Con - ion that the question of resonance receives too much at- dusion? A palliative is not a cure. tention in these articles. Let me assure such readers that It is a simple business to prove the point from the resonance is the most vital characteristic of all voices, other side of the hi -fi fence. Loudspeakers which are mass- musical instruments, microphones, pick -ups, tone -arms,

JANUARY- FEBRUARY, r954 89

www.americanradiohistory.com studios and loudspeakers; any investigation into per- gated surround by soft suspension always effects an im- formance which ignored the location and extent of the provement; removing the surround completely and using resonances would be bordering on the futile, if not the a free -edge cone gives excellent transient response but fatuous. (Microphony is, of course, a form of resonance.) presents other difficulties. Other conditions, such as texture, weight and shape of cone, type of centring device, Transients etc., all play their part, but cannot be considered here. The reader will now appreciate that the transient res- I am beginning to regret the nonchalance with which, ponse of a moving coil loudspeaker is largely dependent at the start of these articles, I listed and undertook to on good damping and free suspension. It can, however, elucidate the main qualities affecting loudspeaker loading. be shown that the performance is affected by the method Whereas I expected to dispose of some of them with of mounting. The following tests were made with the a couple of well -chosen' paragraphs, I find that a complete 8 -in. and 12-in. units by now familiar to the reader; but article will not cover the many problems which lurk it should be pointed out that a high impedance source under one heading. was used (damping virtually nil); that the flux density It is hardly possible to tackle transients without a of the magnets was medium to good, and the cones had definition; I have heard several good ones, such as: "The ordinary corrugated suspension. In short, the condi- fleeting view of a pretty girl passing an open doorway," tions are calculated to expose the effect of loading to a or "The hotel guest who departs suddenly without pay- greater degree than would occur with modern high fidelity ing his bill "; but for our purpose the following is as equipment. The type of loading affects the transient re- good as any: A transient is an energy pulse where the sponse at low frequencies more than at medium or high intensity changes over a wide range in a very short time. frequencies. In music, drums and cymbals introduce transient effects For these tests a DC voltage is applied to the voice - both starting and stopping - probably more than coil; this holds the coil off the central position. A sud- any other instruments, and they are quite nicely illus- den interruption in the circuit releases the voice coil, trated in Fig. 33. and the EMF which is generated as the coil vibrates in the magnetic field operates the oscillograph. The illustrations in Figs. 34 and 35 are mainly intended Fig. 33. Oscillogram of for purposes of comparison; the comments relating to each orchestral music from its significance. record and amplifier. trace will enable the reader to interpret The first peak is caused by drums, the second by C drums and cymbals; A D note the steep wave front in each case.

E F G The most important requirements for good transient response are high flux density in the magnet, and a high damping factor (or low output impedance) from the Fig. 34. Transient tests with 8-in. unit. amplifier. The clarity and brilliance achieved by very A) Wall mounting (True infinite baffle). This shows a normal decay characteristic. with good transient exponential high flux density are synonymous B) Totally enclosed cabinet 41/2 cu. ft. The decay characteristic response, but it should not be forgotten that flux density is again exponential, with rather more ringing than at A. is related to the mass of the cone and coil; thus a ii -in. C) Reflex cabinet B with port so in. by 5 in. This shows that the port was not well tuned to the unit. Nevertheless, the per - 8 -in. speaker unit requires much higher total flux than an formance on programme is superior to B as a result of the more for a similar transient performance; this is normally rapid decay at the beginning of the trace. provided by a larger magnet with a bigger centre pole. D) 9 cu. ft. reflex loading. This shows a considerable improve- recorded in ment on C. It is easy to see that a passage like the one E) Large flare with mouth 4 ft. square. The characteristics Fig. 33 will lose life in reproduction where there is slug- here are very good. gishness in the cone and coil vibrations, which depend F) Tapered pipe. The presence of harmonics is indicated but the general effect is quite good. on flux density for their activity. G) Small H.R. cabinet. There is slight distortion of the wave- There can be no dispute about the improvement in form but the decay rate is extremely good. reproduction which has resulted from the high damping factor of negative feedback amplifiers. The damping A general comparison of the 12-in. results with those reduces ringing and hang -over in the speaker, so that of the 8 -in. speaker shows the enormous superiority in the cone can dispose of one transient shock before it is the low -frequency characteristics of the larger unit. As called upon to handle another. It's all very simple really. the total flux is 145,000 lines compared with less than Another general condition which directly affects tran- 40,000 lines in the smaller speaker, this is not surprising. sient response is the cone suspension: as this is made It is also clear that reflex and tapered pipe loading more flexible, the "ringing" is reduced and transients upset the exponential decay pattern associated with open are improved. For example, replacing a normal corru- baffles, infinite baffles and exponential horns. On the other similar lowers the cone resonance !By'wellchosen' I mean lifted from previous writings by experts. hand, reflex and loading

HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE. 90

www.americanradiohistory.com lowering the source impedance to 18 ohms the damping A g factor becomes 1 to 1'h, which is still only moderate. Many negative feedback amplifiers have an output impedance as low as o.5 -ohm which gives a damping factor G of 24 to r with a 1a -ohm speaker much effec- . n,.. - more _ tive in absorbing resonance than a factor of to i1/2. As regards transients at higher frequencies, the for - Fig. 35. Transient tests with ra -in. unit. mant effects described later have some bearing on results; at very high frequencies the main requirements are high A) Wall mounting (True infinite baffle). No complaints here. flux density with low mass and B) 41/2 cu. ft. cabinet with no back. The results are very similar low viscosity in the vi- to A. This test does not expose the pronounced resonance asso- brating medium. Transients at high frequencies are very ciated with this open back cabinet because such resonance is not sharp and prominent; they usually receive more considera- reflected back through the voice coil (and is therefore not damped by negative feedback). tion than those at low frequencies as they are so often C) Reflex B 41 Cu. ft. Port ro in. by 3 in. The rate of decay is mutilated by tone controls. very good but is not exponential. This does not of necessity mar the reproduction. Coloration and Formants D) 9 cu. ft. reflex. As expected, this is rather better than C. E and F) Large flare. These interesting curves should be considered together. At E, the rs -in. speaker was mounted straight The human voice and all musical instruments generate up to the throat of the horn, which was less than 7 -in. in diameter. a fixed band of characteristic frequencies known as a for - The result was that the cone action of the was impeded and dis- mant, which enables us to recognize the voice or instru-- torted, as indicated by the trace. ment regardless of the pitch or fundamental frequency At F the speaker was mounted on a thick baffle with an aperture to suit the diameter of the cone, thus giving a reasonable throat of the sound. An extremely interesting series of articles loading. The improvement is obvious. by Alan Douglas on "The Electrical Synthesis of Musical G) 2 cu. ft. H.R. The air loading is rather inadequate for a Tones" has appeared in Electronic Engineering. Fig. 37 rz -in. speaker. has been taken 'from the July 1953 issue to illustrate the resonance band which gives the typical tone colour to the instruments in question. and improves the rate of decay, thus actually reducing The significance of the formant is so ably explained by ringing. As regards the peculiar effect from horn loading Mr. Douglas that I cannot do better than quote from at Fig. 35/E, this shows that no obstruction can be toler- his article: - ated immediately in front of the cone of a low- frequency "It is common knowledge that the reproduction of speaker; the baffle opening should be at least equal to the musical instruments through the average radio receiver is piston diameter of the cone, with a forward clearance of mediocre; yet does the average listener find any difficulty not less than one inch. in identifying the various kinds of instruments being To illustrate the effect of damping by high flux den- played ?2 sity and low impedance source, the following diagram, "The formant group Fig. 36, has been taken from the Third Edition of Sound owes its origin to the con- VIOLIN Reproduction. The previous tests were made with a figuration and substance 7o -ohm source working into a 12-ohm voice coil. By of the resonating part of OBOE

the instrument. In multiple CLARINET tone producers like the ..^ pipe organ, each pipe has TRUMPET

FRENCH HORN

Fig. 37. Formant Frequencies. FLUTE

COURTESY ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING AND ALAN DOUGLAS 2 a ro

Fig. 36. Illustrations to show the transient effect of increasing the its own formant group. In the piano, formants do not really flux density and/or reducing the impedance source. occur, owing to the flatness of response of the resonator, A) 8-in. unit 13,000 lines, open mounting, with damping factor i.e., the soundboard, but the percussive tone is not suc- of r to rye. Compare with Fig. 34/A. cessfully imitated (by electronic means). This is pri- B) 12 -in. unit 17,000 lines, with damping factor of r to r1. marily because of the decay envelope, and because Note complete absence of ringing and compare with Fig. 35/A. the harmonics do not die away at the same C) 8-in, unit 13,000 lines, in lagged pipe, 7o -ohm source. rate." will D) The same as C but with 18-ohm source. It be observed that the formant groups usually E) 8-in. unit r3,000 lines, in tapered pipe, 7o -ohm source. occur in the middle register, where the average radio set F) The same as E but with r8-ohm source. performs at its best. It must also be conceded that the G) ro-in. unit r3,000 lines, in 5 cu. jt. enclosure, 7o -ohm source. limited frequency response of the average radio set does The same as G but r8-ohm source. H) with 'Yes! When it's really 'low -fi'l

JANUARY- FEBRUARY, 1954 91

www.americanradiohistory.com not deprive it of the power to reproduce the decay characteristics of piano tone. For these two main reasons the radio set and gramophone record give us far more realistic reproduction of musical instruments than the results ob- A tained by electronic systems which attempt to imitate them, and by failing deal a welcome blow to the development of synthetic musical instruments. -,rr.rrrI But what has all this to do with loud- So far, so good. 500 1K 2 speaker loading? The answer is that as formants have Ei such a strong influence on tone, care must be taken that nothing is done in loudspeaker mounting which would add such effects to the tone of reproduction. A loudspeaker is required to reproduce the formants and wave envelope of various sounds; it must not perform as a musical instrument on its own. This means that special care must be c taken to avoid cabinet resonances in the middle register. It can be shown that small cabinets and badly shaped flares Fig. 39. All free field, i watt. suffer from these defects and therefore "colour" the tone of reproduction. A) 8-in. unit on small baffle. Output from back of cone. B) 8-in. unit in small cabinet. Output from back of cone. A few simple illustrations will serve to prove the case. C) 8-in. unit with straight -sided horn. Output from mouth. The 8-in. unit described in Part I of these articles is again brought into use, mounted or loaded in the manner described in Fig. 38. If we now examine curve C, we find an even larger peak in the 25o to 500 cycle department, with a further rise between Boo and 1600 cycles, due to the conical horn, which would undoubtedly produce undesirable formant . tones in the reproduction of speech or music. It is true that today nobody but an acoustic half -wit would indulge in this form of loading, but in a world of rapidly changing values it is sometimes comforting to have fresh evidence that two and two still make four. We have already seen in Fig. 17 /H (Sept. -Oct. 1953) that reasonable exponen- Fig. 38. Arrangements used in open-air test for production of formants by speaker mounting. tial horn loading does not produce such evil effects. It should be stressed here that the resonances produced A) 8-in. unit on small baffle, 18 by 12 in. by reflex loading of adequate capacity do not produce B) Same unit in small open back cabinet 12 by ro by 5 in. which colour the reproduction because the fre- C) Same unit with straight -sided horn, length i r in., mouth 6 in. formants square. quencies are very low; any form of small reflex cabinet for middle or high frequencies would be absurd. Mr. Douglas stated that the formant group owes its The microphone was placed behind the speaker at A origin to the configuration and substance of the resonating and B to provide a direct comparison between small part of the instrument. The importance of avoiding reson- baffle and small cabinet; at C the effect of the horn was ating panels in loudspeaker structures is now so well registered by placing the mike in front of the open end. known that there is no need to labour the point here; The oscillograms of 1Fig. 39 show rather interesting re- the risk of producing panel resonance is reduced as the sults. frequency goes up and as the size of panel is reduced. The level response at A between the bass resonance at 72 cycles and about 2,000 cycles is typical of open mounting. The dip at 2,000 to 3,000 cycles is probably due to Mr. Briggs fooled us. He did not conclude his TREA- cancellation effects between cone and magnet face; the TISE on Speaker Enclosures this issue as we announced peak around 4,000 cycles is due to resonance in the dia- last issue. However, next issue's article on directional phragm. effects will positively (we think) be Mr. Briggs' last in At B, the effects of the small enclosure are clearly shown. his series on enclosures. The bass resonance is down to 65 cycles and is more As Mr. Briggs told us when he was in the United States pronounced, but the real formant region is between 25o during New York Audio Fair time, the trouble with loud- and 500 cycles, with peaks at the third and fifth harmonics. speakers is that when you think you finally have most of The only benefit (of doubtful quality) is the increased the variables pinned down, someone writes you a letter acoustic output below Soo cycles. This is one reason why suggesting a dozen new lines of exploration. And even set -makers still use ordinary open -back cabinets, the main if you could get speakers tied down, there would still be reason apparently being that the speaker unit must be rooms, enclosures, etc., etc. To which our comment was, put somewhere out of harm's way! "Well, would it be any fun, otherwise ?" - Ed.

HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE 92

www.americanradiohistory.com These reports may not be quoted or reproduced, in part or in whole, in any form whatsoever, without written permission from the publisher

Bogen Tuner and Amplifier

SPECIFICATIONS (furnished by manufacturer): Tuner: FM -AM tuner with minimum of controls. Sonsitivity: 5 microvolts required for 30 db quieting on FM; 5 microvolts produces rated output on AM. Controls: two, one for tuning, other combines on -off, selection between FM and AM bands, plus two auxiliary inputs (such as tape, TV tuner, phonograph). Incorporates AFC which may be cut out at will. Dimensions: 10 in. wide, 11% in. deep, 7 in. high. Tubes: one 6Cß6, one 6Aß4, two 6BA6, one 6AL5, one 6BE6, one 6X4, one 12AT7. Price: $97.35. Amplifier: a new wide range, full control amplifier. Power output: 20 watts at 0.3% distortion; 30 watts peak. Frequency response: 20 to 20,000 cycles t0.7 db. Output impedance: 8 or 16 ohms. Tone control range: bass, +17 to -18 db at 40 cycles; treble, +15 to -21 db at 15,000 cycles. Controls: input selector combined with 7- position phono equalization; loudness contour (see text); bass; treble; volume; on -off. Tubes: three 12AT7, one 12AU7, two 6L6G, one 5U4G. Dimensions: 15 in. wide, Amplifier preamp combination features loudness contour selector. 9% in. deep, 8 in. high. Weight: 25 lb. Price: $99.00. Address: David Bogen Co., Inc., 29 Ninth Avenue, New York 14, N. Y. the tuner, though we must admit that we've heard many a David Bogen manufactures a whole long line of equip- hi -fi enthusiast squawk because he didn't have enough ment, from AM -only tuners to elaborate amplifiers, with inputs on his selector switch! turntables on the side. When they announced their new With the realization that the large majority of these DB -zo amplifier, we asked them to send it to us for a "Tested tuners will be sold for use in metropolitan areas and not in the Home" report, along with whatever they considered in fringe areas, the tuner is designed for use with auto- to be a matching tuner. They selected their R -6o4 tuner, matic frequency control in operation, and a tuning eye and this is the pair which we shall discuss here. is not provided. However, the AFC can be "defeated" The advisability of matching components in this way is (as the Bogen instruction manual put it) by inserting a well demonstrated by the possibility of making unwise shorted plug into a standard -type input jack on the back of selections right from the Bogen line. For instance, if a the chassis, or a wire and shorting switch can be attached R -701 tuner had been selected, four of its five controls would if in and out operation from the front of the panel is have been duplicated on the amplifier. The R -6o4 doesn't desired. Sensitivity and quieting action of the tuner even have a volume control. are good. Possibly we would have stripped the R -6o4 even further Antenna connections permit several variations, including and eliminated the extra two input channels provided on a loop wire which helps reduce interference on AM. Sep- arate AM and FM antennas may be used equally well. The most unique feature on the amplifier is the loudness contour control. Most - if not all - amplifiers which we have seen have a single control which operates as a loudness control, either at all times or when the loudness feature is switched in (of course, some amplifiers do not incorporate the loudness -control feature at all, using only a straight volume control). Bogen here uses a regular volume control and in addition has a separate 5- position knob which inserts a specified amount of loudness compensation. Theloudness contour control is calibrated in steps of io db. If, for instance, the volume control is adjusted for zero db ai i,000 cycles and then the loudness control turned to its first position of cut, it will reduce This FM -AM tuner is designed to complement the amplifier above. the output by to db.

JANUARY- FEBRUARY, 1954 93

www.americanradiohistory.com To find out just what effect this control had, we set up a quick test; used our Heath audio oscillator as a signal source, adjusted to give 0.02 volts into the "low mag" input of the amplifier at 1,000 cycles. We measured the output with the Heath AC voltmeter, with a loading resistor instead of a speaker across the amplifier output. Phono equalizer on amplifier was in AES position. We adjusted the amplifier output, by means of the volume control, to give us a reading of zero db at too, i,000 and io,000 cycles. Here's what we found: Here are two low -cost units that can considerably improve some audio systems. Left, preamp -equalizer; right, hi-Io filter. LOUDNESS CON- TROL POSITION 100 CYCLES 1,000 CYCLES 10,000 CYCLES o o o o Fisher Preamp-Equalizer -Io -I1 -10 -20 -912 -19 -131/2 SPECIFICATIONS (furnished by manufacturer): Model 50 -PR preamplifier -equalizer is self -powered, requiring 5 watts at 117 -141/2 -30 -24 -30 volts AC; an AC switch and a switched power outlet are fur- -40 -16'1 -40 -3o nished on back of chassis. Size: 4 7/16 high by 5 3/8 wide by You can see from these figures that the calibration of 5 inches deep. Controls: Two four -position switches for bass turnover (AES, NARTB, LP, 800 cycles) and treble rolloff the loudness contour control is exact at I,000 cycles and (fiat, 8, 12 and 16 db down at 10,000 cycles). Gain: 40 db that its effect is to drop the bass and the treble less drasti- (1 volt output with 10 millivolts input). Freq y response: cally than the mid -frequencies. Which is what a loud- *1 db from curves specified. Hum level: 60 db down from 10 millivolts input. Price: $19.95, including 6SC7 tube. Address: ness control should do. Fisher Radio Corp., 41 East 47th Street, New York 17, N. Y. The amplifier has a combined input selector and phono equalization switch, with seven equalization positions. A glance at the specifications and then the price tag on To see what these positions meant, we used the same test this engaging little gadget might lead to some justifiable as described above. The loudness control arrangement that doubt. Let it be dissipated; the 50 -PR does precisely what was set to have no effect, tone controls were put in the is claimed for it. At least one specification is on the con- positions marked "flat," and the volume control adjusted servative side, that for sensitivity. It has plenty of gain to give a reading on the meter of zero db at i,000 cycles, for the Fairchild cartridge we tried with it, and the noise with the equalization switch in its LP position. Without level was down far enough to be undetectable. touching anything except the equalization control, here There must be a good many who have otherwise good are the readings we got at its various positions: equipment with equalizers lacking in flexibility, or who EQUALIZATION want to improve old- fashioned equipment by changing POSITION 100 CYCLES 1,000 CYCLES 10,000 CYCLES to a magnetic cartridge and a good, low -cost preamp. LP +12 o -19 This is a natural for them. It even has a low- impedance AES +13 o -12 output circuit, so that a long cable to the amplifier or con- NAB +13 o -18 trol unit can be used. Bravissimo, Mr. Fisher. - R. A. AM 78 + 11 -2 -31 EU 78 +5 -2 -3'1 FFRR +5 -2 -9 -Lo POP +12 -2 -4 Fisher Hi Filter It should be noted that none of these figures is adjusted. SPECIFICATIONS (furnished by manufacturer): an adjustable The output of the Heath oscillator, for instance, is ex- high- and low -frequency, sharp cut -off filter system. Filter positions: low end, flat, 30, 70 and 120 cycles; high end, flat, 10,000, ceptionally flat, but a full -fledged "laboratory report" 6,000 and 3,000 cycles. Input: high impedance. Output: cathode - would give slightly different data. follower type, leads up to 200 ft. permissable. Insertion loss: It can be seen from the above that the range of equaliza- zero *2 db. Hum level: 70 db below 1 volt output. Frequency response: 20 to 20,000 cycles *0.5 db. Tubes: one 12AX7. is wide indeed; it should be possible to tion possible Size: 4 7/16 by 5 3/8 by 5 in. Price: $29.95. Address: Fisher match almost any recording characteristic by proper selec- Radio Corp., 41 East 47th St., New York 17, N. Y. tion of equalization position plus fine adjustment of the tone controls. It should be noted, incidentally, that You might think this is a gadget, but it isn't. It's a well the loudness control produces very noticeable changes in worthwhile piece of equipment which can improve over- frequency response; it can be used as a further adjustment all sound reproduction, particularly from poor sources. if necessary, as well as a control with which to balance As is well known, the better the high fidelity system, the for room acoustics. more it reveals "external" weaknesses such as rumble on There are five input connections on this amplifier. Three poor recordings, hum which broadcast station engineers are for high level inputs such as radio 'tuners, and two sometimes overlook, acoustic feedback, and so forth. The are low level, for low and high output magnetic cartridges. lefthand lever on this Fisher unit helps out here. When one looks at the price tag on this amplifier - At the other end of the frequency spectrum, there are $99.00 - and compares that with features and performance, equally unwanted noises: the scratch of worn records, FM this is a very meritorious piece of equipment. - C. F. and tape hiss, etc. This is reduced by the right -hand lever.

94 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com At the low end, the cut -off rate is moderately sharp; at the high end, it's very sharp. For example, when our oscillator was adjusted to 5o cycles, the cut at filter positions o, 3o, 7o and 120 cycles was o, 2, 6 and 13 db, respectively. With the oscillator at 10,000 cycles, the cut at 20,000, 10,000, 6,000 and 3,000 cycles was o, 31/2, 18 and 34 db. The Hi -Lo Filter should be inserted in the hi -fi system after such units as FM tuner and preamp- equalizer and ahead of the power amplifier. The audio level at the point of insertion should be between 0.5 and 5.o volts. Most power amplifiers are designed to operate from a 1.o -volt source which is correct also for the filter. While the filter will operate satisfactorily with a heavy input, it The preamp- equalizer- control unit of a new amplifier system. seems wiser to keep it down under 2 volts or so for maximum insurance against distortion. amplifier. They are unexciting work horses and, in a way, Input and output plugs are standard; an AC on -off the better they are, the less there is to say. The 352 -A switch and a pilot light are provided. falls into this class. Kept within its normal power rating Theoretically, Fisher should not be able to sell any of 20 watts or so, it is notably clean and distortion -free. of these films units. If your hi -fi system requires a Hi -Lo It will handle double that power, but as usual, distortion Filter (because you just bought a new speaker enclosure rises abruptly at the higher levels. Circuitry is of ultra - which shows up rumble in your player), your system linear design; feedback is heavy, damping factor high, is not well balanced (you need a better player). And, transient response fine. still theoretically, program sources should be so good The level control is handy, and so is the switch which that they don't require filters, either. But human nature cuts power over to the normally- associated preamplifier. being what it is, there are no doubt many rumbly players Input and output connections might be called of laboratory in use, many worn and scratchy records, many hum -full type; they were unusual (but very good) on the early pro- broadcast stations, and many well, Fisher will probably ... duction model which we worked with. We have suggested sell a lot of these units, and purchasers will be grateful that they be changed to more conventional connectors, to not only for the real help they give but for the low figure facilitate installation. It's unfortunate perhaps that a little on the price tag: $29.95. C. F. - bit of quality should be sacrificed for conventionality. The preamplifier- control unit is also of sound design. It incorporates an effective loudness control circuit which can be switched in or out from the front panel. The bass Martin Amplifier System tone control is unusual: it provides flat and boost positions, but no cut. Treble operates normally, gives droop, (furnished by manufacturer): Power ampli- SPECIFICATIONS There are three channels, two for fier and preamp -control amplifier, latter taking power from power flat, and boost. input amplifier. Following data pertain to two units operated together. normal inputs such as FM tuners and a third for magnetic Power output: 45 watts peak, 25 watts undistorted. Distar cartridges. The phono input channel has a separate level tion (intermodulation): less than 0.5% at 22 watts, any corn - bination of frequencies. Frequency response: 0.5 db 20 to control; this plus the master level control on the power 30,000 cycles (power amplifier alone, t 0.5 db 10 to 100,000 amplifier chassis permit precise balancing for optimum cycles up to 20 watts). Hum level: 80 db down on mag- advantage from the loudness control feature. netic phono input, 90 db down on other inputs. Inputs: two normal requiring 0.2 volts for full output and one for magnetic Both bass and treble controls are of the continuous type. cartridges requiring 0.002 volts. Output impel : 8 and 16 So, of course, is the volume control. ohms. Controls: input level control on power amplifier; on control amplifier: input selection (3 position), record equalization (foreign, AES, and NAB positions), loudness, loudness in -out switch, bass, treble, AC current on -off. Tubes: power amplifier, one 12AY7, two 6J5, two KT66, one 5Ú4G, one 6X5GT, one VR -150 (0D3); control amplifier, two 12AY7 and one 12AU7. Dimensions: power amplifier, 1V ,i by 101/2 by 8 in.; control amplifier, 3,':¿ by 8% by 64 in. deep. Prices: model 352 -A power amplifier, $198.50; model 352 -CA control amplifier, $93.50 Address: H. S. Martin 8s Co., 1916 Greenleaf St., Evanston, Ill.

The letterhead of H. S. Martin & Co. says that they make "scientific glassware and apparatus specialties," and it shows up in this audio equipment. It is beautifully built throughout, well designed and carefully engineered with touches of extra care such as, on the power amplifier, separate power supplies for driver and output stages and for the first two stages. As usual, it is hard to say much about a fine power Power amplifier chassis has clean lines and conservative design.

JANUARY -FEBRUARY, 1954 95

www.americanradiohistory.com Three positions of phonograph equalization are provided. One matches the AES curve, the second the NARTB curve, and the third is labelled EURO. This has a low turnover characteristic and moderate treble de- emphasis. Feedback is all around the preamp -control circuit. DC is used on the filaments and, when the unit is used in conjunction with the power amplifier, it benefits from the stability provided by the voltage regulator tube in that unit's power supply circuit. Output is of cathode follower design, so lead length between control unit and power amplifier is not critical in any way. A tip of the hat to H. S. Martin & Co. for (in addition to fine equipment) some fine instruction sheets, in- FM -AM tuner has phono preamp- section with variable equalization. cluding "notes for the technically minded." Incidentally, there is a tape output connection on the back of the preamp chassis. And one more note: extra to the right of center is the bass tone control which pro- 12 too gain is available with the loudness control switched out - duces maximum boost or droop of db at cycles, but don't do this when running at very loud levels; the and 19 db at 20 cycles - which is modest. Farther along increase in volume is decidedly noticeable! is the tuning knob, and at the far right is an AFC on -off All in all, a very commendable pair of units, with the switch. The function of this control has bien described emphasis on clean sound and stable operation; plenty of in this department previously. running power, plenty of reserve power for emergen- On the rear of the chassis are the switch -controlled AC at left. Separate inputs for FM and AM an- cies. - C. F. outlets the tennas are at the center; the built -in antennas can be used if they are adequate for the location. Farther along to the right is a group of three jacks for a phono input FM -AM Tuner plug. These are terminated with impedances of 47, 27 Pilot and 15 thousand ohms to match various cartridges -a -824 SPECIFICATIONS (furnished by manufacturer): Model AF very good feature. The preamplifier can be switched out unit, AC only, 50 FM-AM tuner, preamplifier, and control of the circuit by means of a slide switch below the jack 14 5/16 wide by 7% high by 8 3/16 inches watts. Dimensions: group, and the low- impedance terminations are removed deep behind panel. FM sensitivity; 10 microvolts for 20 db quieting; ratio detector linear for 190 kc; drift negligible with at the same time, so that a crystal cartridge or another AFC on, 20 kc without AFC after 30 seconds. Audio and high -level signal source can be plugged in here and con- impedance, 500 ohms. Distortion: 0.2% at 1 detector output trolled by the front -panel knobs. volt output, 1% at 3 volts output. Rs pp t % db from 20 to 2 1 -6U8, 20,000 cycles with tone controls fiat. Tubes: -6BA6, Maximum gain of the tuner on the 15,000 ohm input is 1- 12Ax7, 1.12AT7, 1- 12AÚ7, 1 -6x5. 1 -6AU6, 1 -6AL5, 1 -6AB4, t volt out for to millivolts in, which is inadequate for with tubes. Address: Pilot Radio Corp., Long Price: $119.50 direct drive from low -output cartridges unless used with Island City 1, New York. transformers. However, it is quite enough for other switched Considering the price tag, Pilot has done a fine job in standard magnetic cartridges. With the preamp is 150 millivolts the AF -824. Although there are some omissions and a out the sensitivity for all the phono inputs r auxiliary input channel is few shortcomings, many features are included that can for volt output. Gain of the be found nowhere else at the same price range. the same. There are a total of seven control knobs on the front The two jacks at the far right are audio and detector panel, an array more ostentatious than formidable. On outputs; they are the same except that the detector out- is affected by volume, bass and treble controls. the left is the AC on -off and volume control (not a loud- put not feed recorder. Both are low - ness control), and this switch furnishes power to two AC This is intended to a tape shielded cables up to too ft. outlets on the back of the chassis. The volume control impedance outputs, so that be used. (Don't ask who wants to use a too -ft. is dual- section; this helps prevent overload, reduces dis- long can without tortion, and keeps hum and noise down. Next is the cable! However, long cables can be employed hum pickup or high- frequency loss.) equalization selector switch with positions for LP, NARTB, danger of section tuner is wide -band enough to AES and FOREIGN; specifications state that equaliza- The AM of the handle audio signals up to 9,000 cycles, if you can find them tion is accurate within t I db of the standard curves, A whistle filter would have and tests indicated that this is correct. The third knob on AM (occasionally you do). 14 helpful here. FM sensitivity and noise- suppression is the treble tone control, which gives a maximum db been locations and boost or droop at Io,000 cycles. At the center is the performance is adequate for metropolitan up to 3o or miles from high -power stations. selector switch, for AM, FM, phono and auxiliary inputs. rural homes 35 A booster can assist in this respect. An excellent instruc- All positions are affected by volume, bass and treble is is furnished. controls. In the AM position the AM scale on the tuner tion book AF is a buy for the money. lighted, and in the FM position the FM scale is illumi- All together, the -824 good nated. Pilot lamps light in the other positions. Just

HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE 96

www.americanradiohistory.com Pfanstiehl. Pickup System with three other 6s117 tubes we tried ... experimentation is indicated here, to find a quiet tube. SPECIFICATIONS (furnished by manufacturer): Strain -sensitive Otherwise, the performance of the combination was turnover pickup cartridge is constant- resistance, amplitude pleasing. Bass response was extremely good. - R. A. type. Insignificant impedance variation with frequency. Re- - quires special or modified preamplifier providing 50 volts DC to cartridge. Output: 10 to 15 millivolts; noise level, 500 microvolts. Either or both styli can be obtained with diamond or precious metal tips. The 3- PPRC -2 preamplifier is self- powered and furnishes the polarizing voltage for the cartridge. Controls: Jensen Duette Volume, bass and treble controls are furnished for compensation; cathode- follower output. Tubas: 1 -6SH7, 1- 6SN7GT, 1- SPECIFICATIONS (furnished by manufacturer): Small -size, two - 6X5GT. Prices: turnover cartridge with 2 precious -metal styli, speaker reproducer, using special 8 -in. woofer and multi -cell, $12.35; with sapphire 78 stylus and diamond microgroove stylus, horn- loaded compression- driver tweeter. Impedance: 4 and 8 $34.35; with 2 diamond styli, $56.35. Model 3PPRC -2 preamp- ohms. Power rating: 20 watts maximum. Size: 11 in. high by equalizer, $34.90, with tubes. Address: Pfanstiehl Chemical 23% in. wide by 10 in. deep. Shipping weight: 24 lbs. Price: Company, 104 Lake View Avenue, Waukegan, Ill. $69.50. Address: Jensen Manufacturing Co., 6601 South Lara- mie Avenue, Chicago 38, Ill. This is a combination for those who like to experiment with the unconventional. The pickup is neither magnetic, variable- reluctance, nor crystal; the signal is initiated by a strain -sensitive coating on plastic, through which a DC current passes. Vibrations of the stylus are transferred to the coating and modulate the DC current. Because the AC output of the cartridge depends on the amplitude of record -groove vibrations, not velocity, a different type of compensation is required than for conventional high -quality cartridges; this the 3PPRC -2 preamplifier furnishes, as well as the cartridge polarizing current. One knob, at the left, controls bass compensation, and the center knob treble compensation. At the right is a volume control. Oddly enough, both bass and treble knobs work backward from the usual sense - in other Two -way speaker: Good soundfor budgets and rooms of limited size. words, clockwise rotation produces decreased bass or treble. Sound reproduction with this unit is as gratifying as its The volume control is set up conventionally. price to the shopper for economy -sized fidelity and, It is possible to match just about any recording charac- - in some cases, the far -gone enthusiast. The latter often teristic reasonably well by proper adjustment of the con- has a yen for a second speaker, to use in another room, or trols. With bass and treble knobs set as follows, output just another corner, or with his portable tape- recorder or from the pickup and preamplifier was within t 3db from for binaural experimenting. In a more general vein, con- 30 to 12,000 cycles (using the Dubbings D -lot test record): sider some of the possible uses in which the extra value RECORDING BASS TREBLE of this clever Jensen design is most apparent. With its CURVE SETTING SETTING shelf -size dimensions and its simulated pigskin plastic LP IO 7 exterior, the Duette will fit well into almost any home decor. RCA 5 4 The sound is excellent for its size. The bass response NARTB 7 7 is, of course, limited (the manufacturer recommends AES 6 3'h boosting the bass by about 6 db per octave), but I had We have one criticism that may or may not be serious, drive the unit to above normal listening levels before depending on circumstances. The 6sH7 tube used in the to 8 -inch woofer began to have trouble with E. Power preamplifier was quite microphonic and noisy, giving a the Biggs' recording of the Bach Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. steady and (to us) annoying hiss. It was the same way The treble is sharp and clean. A hint: because the unit is so'small, it fits nicely into a corner - and the corner position helps with low- frequency response. It's good to see more and more manufacturers of hi -fi equipment providing worthwhile components for the moderate- budget music listener who wants better sound. The Duette fits this description well. It is not unlikely that Jensen hopes with this to break into record and radio retail shops - a marker currently overrun with small, quasi -hi -fi portable phonographs. What's needed now is for some other reputable hi -fi manufacturer to assemble a good companion package: an amplifier and record -player in a single, table -model box, Strain -sensitive cartridge with cable for preamp connection. for about $ioo. - W. B. S.

JANUARY- FEBRUARY, 1954 97

www.americanradiohistory.com Dubbings Equalizer- Checker control or loudness control should not be induded in the system. If you have one that can be switched out, be sure SPECIFICATIONS (furnished by manufacturer): Complete equal- to put the switch in the uncompensated or loudness OUT izer- checking equipment consisting of two parts: the D -101 test record, containing reference 1,000 -cycle bands and four position; if it cannot be switched out, turn it all the way sets of 12,000, 10,000, 8,000, 6,000, 4,000, 2,000, 1,000, 700, up (maximum loudness) and use the level set control, 400, 250, 100, 50, and 30 -cycle bands recorded according to usually on the back of the preamp -control chassis, to LP, RCA (Orthophonie), NARTB, and AES characteristics; and the D -500 test level indicator, consisting of three low -vol- obtain the proper level on the reference band. - R. A. tage, low -current bulbs so calibrated as to light at 3 -db intervals when connected across the speaker leads of a sound system. Clip leads furnished. Prices: D -101, $4.95; D- 500, $3.95. Address: The Dubbings Company, Inc., 41 -10 45th Street, Long Island Components Corp. Turntable City 4, N. Y. SPECIFICATIONS (furnished by manufacturer): Professional turntable, 3- speed, using an endless fabric belt driving a 25 -lb. steel turntable direct from a 3 -step motor pulley. Constant- speed induction motor, designed for continuous duty, is double shock- mounted. Turntable has nylon sleeve bearing and ball thrust bearing. Pries: $74.50. Address: Components Corpora- tion, Denville, New Jersey.

This is truly an extraordinary turntable - in size, weight, precision, performance and - considering those factors - price. If you can fit this into your installation, it will probably fit your budget too. Such a piece of equipment Phono -equalizer can be checker/ with this and a test record. is a joy to "listen to" - we were unable to detect rumble under any home -operating circumstances. With these items you can check your record-playing system for flat response with any of the four most -used recording characteristics, and make the proper adjustments of tone controls if required, at little expense and in a short time. Procedure is quite simple. First, the leads from the 3 -bulb indicator are clipped to the speaker terminals. Next, equalization controls are set for one of the curves above, and the volume control is turned to minimum. The reference band for the proper set of recorded test Belt-drive turntable bas a 25 -1b. table, double shock- mounted motor. frequencies is played, and the volume control adjusted However, there are some drawbacks, as there would have so that the center, or zero -level bulb just begins to glow to be. First is its size 211/2 by 153/4 by 8 inches overall. faintly. Then, as the record proceeds through the vari- - Takes a lot of room. And then there is the real incon- ous test frequency bands, the middle bulb should glow venience of lifting off the pulley- and -belt faintly on each. If the left -hand bulb goes out it indi- cover, and moving the belt to the proper pulley step, each time it cates that the response of the system is down 3 db or more is desired to change speed. This isn't an item for one at that frequency; if the right -hand bulb lights, the re- who is casually interested in a good music system, or who sponse is accentuated 3 db or more at that frequency. seeks maximum operating convenience but for those For instance, bass and treble controls should be adjusted - who want to approach perfection without completely dis- to keep the left bulb lighted, the middle bulb glimmering, locating the budget, careful consideration new and the right bulb unlighted during the entire frequency of this turntable is de rigueur. run, or most of it; the best positions of the controls can Incidentally, the motor is spring- mounted in such a be noted, and these settings used as a beginning point . way as to maintain tension against belt; it for adjustments when playing records cut according to the would 'not seem that wear would become troublesome. R. A. the curve under test. The system can be calibrated in the - same way for the other 3 curves. Obviously, then, these units are valuable for three purposes: checking the original accuracy of equalizer controls, maintaining their accuracy (since component values determining this accuracy may change with time), and determining the proper initial settings of tone controls in systems having fixed equalizers. According to a good vacuum -tube voltmeter we used in this test, the accuracy of the D -500 indicator itself is very good. It should be noted that the instruction booklet gives clear, concise directions that anyone can follow easily. However, one point was overlooked that should not have been. When making these tests a compensated volume Legs consist of felt -damped springs, are adjustable in length.

98 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com i

m lad ¿7waií' ... Here's how I solved a problem that bothered me ... and may be bothering you. Many of my favorite recordings happen to be 78's. They mean as much to me as any of my newer LP's or 45's. Changing pickups was often a real nuisance-and yet I wasn't willing to give up the superior quality of my two Pickering cartridges.

Last fall my dealer offered a suggestion. "Wait a little longer." he said. "You'll be glad you did." He was right. I now have Pickering's new turn -over cartridge. A simple flip of the handy lever and I'm ready to play any favorite that Fits my mood -whether it's standard or microgroove. More than that, I'd swear my recordings sound better than ever.

¿Jm glad (J Waited ... ¿uI you wont have to.

Ask your dealer to show you this convenient new turn -over cartridge. Have him demonstrate it. See if you, too, don't hear the difference!

I'l['KE [il NG and company ineorpora/ed Oeeanxide, L.L, New York

PICKERING PROFESSIONAL AUDIO COMPONENTS

/. 1 i.- cirri .air .P 709Wri; ...Demonstrated and sold by Leading Radio Parts Distributors everywhere. For the one nearest you and for detailed literature, write Dept. H -3

JANUARY- FEBRUARY, x954 99

www.americanradiohistory.com HI -FI REVISITED Neri Performance . . . Superb Cabinet Craftsmanship Continued from page 39

THE PERMOFLUX two types of enclosures; now there are endless varieties. The past two or three years have seen a vast amount of experimental work accomplished, all aimed at extending 2 -Way Speaker System with "DUAL DRIVING POINT" Horn Design the useful range of a loudspeaker. Now Brings You Originally, the primary purpose of an enclosure or baffle was to prevent the sound FULL RANGE HIGH FIDELITY from the back of the speaker from getting At Either Lou, or High Volume Level mixed up with that from the front. Remem- ber when you were waving your hand back and forth? You compressed the air on one side, rarified it on the other. Above your hand, compressed air would meet rarified air - and result in cancellation. Thus the principle was to use a big baffle; the bigger the baffle, the less danger of cancellation. Perfection Hence we have a predilection, among audio engineers of yesteryear and, to a certain ex- in Cabinetry tent, even today, for infinite baffles; e. g., b' mounting a speaker in the wall between two ediarenicfrwsolf rooms so as to reduce to an absolute mini- 1ncar[caa mum the possibility of back and front radi- ations from the speaker cone mixing together and cancelling. in Subsequent engineering thinking led to Mahogany or the desire to control and utilize the radia- Korina Blonde. tions from the back of the speaker, to reinforce those from the front in the low frequency area, where speaker efficiency is poorest. One very common design of this type is the bass reflex, characterized by a second opening (in addition to the speaker hole) in the front panel. Careful cabinet design, with special attention to matching the second opening or port to the charac- Unique "New Dual Driving Point" Enclosure Design, employing Dual teristics of the speaker, produces fine re- Eight inch woofer system, surpasses bass and mid -range performance sults. However, sloppy design produces of firest conventional 12 and 15 inch systems. Satin smooth highs are added by specially designed Super Tweeter. extraordinarily poor results (juke box boom Beautiful modern cabinet styling ... precision constructed of carefully or beer barrel bass) because the port adds selected veneers ... hand rubbed to a lustrous enduring finish . . . to the weaknesses of the speaker rather than counterbalancing them. Another approach to the problem was Neu... Diminutive 2 -Way Speaker System made through adaptation of the horn principle. That principle is easy to illustrate: THE PIRMOFLUX yell out the window. If the object of your yelling does not hear you, add a megaphone such as used by cheerleaders. Your voice will carry much further. You have improved Exclusive New De- your vocal efficiency, if we may put it that sign . combines full high fidelity way. Or consider an extreme example, the performance with tuba. Stir up a little air at the mouthpiece, minimum cabinet and an awful lot of sound comes out. size and low cost. So we have horns, and horn -loaded loud- Angled speaker speakers - found mostly in corners, where mounting assures the two walls of the room will extend the correct distribution mouth of the horn still further. They en- of sound regardless of placement. Per- able a small amount of cone activity to fect for Binaural produce a relatively large amount of sound, when used in pairs. particularly down in the very low frequen- Two Royal 6 inch cies where, as was demonstrated way back Speakers and Super Tweeter by the piece of cardboard stunt, it takes a housed in choice of Mahogany or lot of area or surface to create much sound. Blonde enclosure. Finally we come to the category of varia- See your Hi -A dealer for demonstration; also hear the tions and new developments. These are New Super Royal Speaker (8, 12 and 15 inch sizes). indeed legion, and many have very real merit. Some have enabled a relatively small For complete descriptive literature write to .. . single speaker in a tiny enclosure to produce surprisingly fine quality. Others, still of relatively small size, utilize two or more CORPORATION speakers, or a coaxial speaker, to produce results normally expected only of much 4916 West Grand Avenue Chicago 39, Illinois larger units. The basic rule has been, tie West Coast Plant larger the enclosure, the better the sound 4101 San Fernando Road Glendale 4, California reproduction (given equal speaker quality). Continued on page 102

I00 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com Born to the service of true sound

/severe c» tTAPE RECORDER

FREQUENCY RESPONSE OF MODEL T -10, OVERALL The development of the Revere "Balanced- Tone" .5 wiEnzrino1 Tape Recorder was dictated by one standard -the __il'11 attainment of accurate sound reproduction. Bril- i 11,MIIM11\11ZILIZIM\HI( `M1\ItlM111 liant success is proved with every true -tone re- I E Wi;1 cording. From opera and concert stage to Basin irI 1t!fi I11= IN011111t71 1 11 011M Street, each sound is reproduced with remarkable LIMON ___t!____81t1111 1 1111=10MNI110111 depth of tone, breadth of range and incomparable N8 IMIM=11=1111111111111111R11111M b f ]m iaM Im Tn lam 11TY IMO Mam la O 6 x Am fidelity heretofore achieved only with costly studio

FREQUENCY -CYCLES PER SECOND equipment. Yet Revere is priced conveniently low,

Recording made from typical Revere production T -10 recorder with constant 1 volt its keyboard operation the easiest of any recorder. to phono input. Level set to just strike "normal" indicator at 15kc. Playback Into See, hear, a Revere Tape Recorder at dealers 3 ohm load at extension speaker jack. everywhere. REVERE CAMERA CO. CHICAGO 16, ILLINOIS

Revere T- 700 -"Balanced- Tone" Tape Recorder. 2 hour recording per reel. Complete with microphone, radio attachment cord, 2 reels (one with tape) and case carrying BASS -REFLEX SPEAKER -An $225.00 exceptionally fine 12" Alnico TR -800 -Same as above with built -in radio $277.50 V Speaker, acoustically matched to the 16 "x22 "xt3" T- Studio Model, with micro. 10- 7.50 Speed- Complete Bass Reflex Cabinet. Provides phone, radio attachment cord, 2 reels (one with tape) and exceptional bass response and carrying case $235.00 wide range.Uoit designed asa TR -20 -Same as above with built -in radio $287.50 console base for the recorder. Light -weight; portable. With plug and 25 -ft. cable $49.50

JANUARY -FEBRUARY, 1954 IOI

www.americanradiohistory.com HI -FI REVISITED

Continued Irrom page too

The rule still holds - but much success has been achieved in attempting to disprove the rule. Of all the pieces of equipment in the audio chain, the loudspeaker and its enclosure should, if at all possible, be bought "by ear." They should be listened to under as near normal conditions as possible. The reason is that most published specifications on speakers do not mean a great deal. The frequency range is sometimes given, but this is not necessarily significant unless the smoothness (plus and minus so many deci bels) with which that range is covered is also given. On cone -type speakers (as opposed to diaphragm -type tweeters), the weight of the magnet is frequently given; in general, this is significant because, between two speakers of the same cone size, the one with the heav- ier magnet may be expected to produce better results. Here. as elsewhere, there are many qualifications to this criterion, such as design, care in manufacture, method of suspending the cone edge to the voice coil and to the metal frame of the speaker, design of the cone itself - all these and more Ready to plug into besides may counterbalance the significance your sound system of the magnet weight criterion. If listening isn't possible, a rule of thumb is to spend as much on the speaker as pos- This popular new "Deb" is getting the biggest hi fi rush of the season! sible and mount it in a cabinet or enclo- Blonde or mahogany finish Formica case houses combination sure design recommended by the speaker pre -amp, power supply and oscillator. Smooth, dustfree manual turntable manufacturer. (We're going to get several can't injure record grooves- record rides high on a cushioned float hundred letters on this subject, and we admit the size of the record label. Equipped with Weathers FM light it's a rough guide only but better than weight pick -up arm and cartridge with stylus, ready to plug into - sapphire none!) your sound system. Incidentally, speakers, and the method of K -700 $99.50 housing them, are one of the weakest points in standard, commercial, and somewhat elderly radio- phonograph combinations. If you own one of these and are thinking about WEATHERS New making improvements, it is nearly always Turnover Cartridge remarkable what a difference will be made by installing a new speaker in a correct en- One stylus for 78's the other for 33% and closure. In most cases, it is a simple opera- 45 LP records. W -401 for Weathers tion and very worthwhile. Later, if further Manual Tone Arms $25.00 W -411 for improvements are desired, a hi -fi system changers and arms other than Weathers $25.00 full can be added ahead of the speaker. So much for loudspeakers and their enclosures. Proceding in our backward fashion, we come to amplifiers. The amplifier link in the chain of audio components is a WEATHERS De luxe Professional link by itself and does not include control Tone Arm for 16" Transcriptions equipment or the preamplifiers often associated with the control link in the chain. Designed for ease of cueing. Completely Even though control and amplifier links are balanced ... accurate leveling of mounted on a single chassis, the two are turntable unnecessary. Lightweight, plays at separable. less than 1 gram stylus pressure, blonde or ebony finish. Amplifiers convert a small amount of A -510 $24.50 energy into real power (hence the frequent Standard Tone Arm for 12" records appellation, "power amplifiers "), sufficient A -500 $14.50 to drive a loudspeaker. Most publicity about amplifiers carries fairly complete technical specifications, and these specifications are significant. Power output is rated in watts See your hi fi dealer, or write and, other specifications being equal, the us -we'll tell you where. more the better. Ten is a happy, moderate- cost medium, sufficient for most applica- Sales office tions. Higher power in amplifiers is 613 Hanna Building like higher horsepower in automobiles Cleveland 15, Ohio - smoother at all speeds, greater reserve for Factory, Barrington, New Jersey emergencies. (An interesting sidelight: there Continued on page 104

102 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com The pipe organ is, traditionally, the "king of instruments." No other instrument spans the entire audio spectrum ... with unsurpassed tonal quality ranging from those frequencies where sound is felt as well as heard, up through those contributing presence, brilliance and finally the delicate coloring of overtones and harmonics.

a completely revolutionary speaker system

In Celeste we have combined classic organ side of the bottom of the enclosure. A unique ac- pipe art with modern accoustical science - removed coustical crossover provides perfectly smooth transi- the air system and replaced it with a modern electro- tion from treble to bass. The resulting distribution mechanical transducer.The enclosure is essentially an of radiated energy yields a superior tone quality with assembly of resonators with frequencies of 30 to 200 a spatial effect and response throughout the bass, cycles and harmonic responses up through the medium never before attained in any speaker system. frequency range. Careful selection of these fundamen- Celeste is the product of several distin- tal frequencies plus a folded baffle surrounding the guished pioneers in radio and electronics. It's pipe chamber gives .complete augmentation through development entailed a painstaking review of the overlapping, blending and damping. A coaxial fundamental physics of sound and literally thousands speaker, mounted vertically above the resonators, of tests with various resonators and frequencies. We provides direct radiation and dispersion of sound. believe you will find no finer instrument of sound Bass note reinforcement is through two ports at either reproduction anywhere at any price. Dealer inquiries invited. Because of its enthusiastic acceptance at the Audio Fair, we have decided to make PICKARD & BURNS Celeste available immediately. For com- INCORPORATED plete details write for our brochure. 240 Highland Avenue, Needham 94, Mass.

JANUARY -FEBRUARY, 1954

www.americanradiohistory.com HI -FI REVISITED Q °p Continued from page 102

is considerable evidence to show that in true binaural sound, much less power is The needed.) OVERWHELMING CHOICE Output impedance has to do with matching to loudspeaker voice coil impedance; of tone -quality conscious 8 and 16 are just about essential to match visitors to the New York common hi -fi speaker impedances; 4 is good for occasional unusual speakers; 5oo (or Audio Fair were the 600) rarely needed except in special appli- Bozak Loudspeakers. cations. Frequency range should be given (and interpreted) only in conjunction with a second specification which indicates the smoothness with which that range is covered, e.g., 20 to 20,000 cycles plus and minus so many decibels. The narrower the plus and minus range, the better. And, since human hearing covers from roughly 20 to t8,000 Countless audiophiles and cycles, the nearer that range is approached music lovers at the Audiorama in the amplifier, the better. heard the Bozak Speakers, Distortion rating is often stated. It may be given either as harmonic distortion or as away, and returned went intermodulation distortion; the more com- time and again to plete specifications will give both. Interpre- enjoy their discovery. tation of the figures is complicated since it normally involves the power output, in watts, From the Monaural at which the reading was taken. The lower two- and three -way systems, the distortion figure, for a given power, the better. including the fabulous B -310 Incidentally, this is where high power with its "On- the-Stage" output ratings come into their own. Dis- realism, to the astounding tortion increases rapidly as maximum power output of the amplifier is approached. Thus, Binaural demonstrations of a good 5o -watt amplifier will show negli- Cook Laboratories reproducing gible distortion at to watts, but a to- watter show high distortion at to watts. 16 -cycle organ tones, may And be not misled: distortion occurs in the Bozaks were once again every piece of audio equipment, in small or the sensation of the Audio Fair. large degree. The manufacturer who un- qualifiedly says his equipment does not have distortion is lying. It just isn't possible. Once again, we'd suggest studying the mail order catalogues to see what is given in the way of specifications. We admit, technical specifications are not the final answer. But, in the case of amplifiers, they come very close to being final in nearly all cases; certainly they are a first basis of judgment. The next backward step along the chain is to the control link, and this we rather dread because of the number of functions performed by the equipment. First, leis break down these functions. The simplest function is to control volume. This may be of two types: a straight volume control or a compensated volume control, often called a loudness control. The compensated volume control is compensated for peculiarities of human hearing: our ears are not equally sensitive to all frequencies and, as the overall volume level is changed, the For the Very Best in Sound .. . change in apparent loudness at certain fre- See Your Dealer or Write quencies does not parallel the change at other frequencies. This is especially noticeable at the low frequency end. Cutting down overall volume makes it seem as if the low frequencies had been reduced in volume even more. Hence, a compensated - volume, or loudness control, reduces the loudness of low frequencies less than that of l the middle and high frequencies. It may also compensate slightly, in the same man - 114 MANHATTAN STREET STAMFORD CONNECTICUT Continued on page io6

HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com SPECIALIZATION MAKES THE DIFFERENCE

Specialization may be defined as the concentration of all effort to a special or specific course of action

Even a mechanical device concerned with the function of record reproduction should possess all the advantages of such specialization.

Most units undertake to do much more. They change records, mix records, flip records, reject records, and assume a multitude of other functions. This is 'generalization' as distinguished from 'specialization'.

The REK -O -KUT turntable, on the other hand, is devoted entirely to playing records. And every design feature, every fragment of engineering know -how has been devoted and restricted to the all- important job of playing records ... to provide the constant, steady, unwavering record motion necessary for the faithful reproduction of records free of mechanical distortion.

Specialization makes that difference. And all of the efforts and facilities of the manufacturer shall continue to be intensively devoted to that one objective... that one aim: To make the finest turntables in the world.

There is a REKOKUT Turntable for your specific discriminating requirement. Seven models are available at prices ranging from $59.50. At Leading Radio Parts Distributors and at Sound and Music Dealers.

Write for Descriptive Literature

TURNTABLES

REK-O -KUT COMPANY, 38-03M Queens Boulevard, Long Island City 1, New York Export Division: 458 Broadway, New York 13, U. S. A. Cables -Morhanex In Canada: Atlas Radio Corp.. Ltd., 560 King Street, W., Toronto 2B

JANUARY- FEBRUAR' , l y'.l IOS

www.americanradiohistory.com HI -FI REVISITED Continued from page roq

by L. H. Bogen ner, at the extreme high frequency end of Member. Audio Engineering Society the spectrum. An uncompensated volume \ 'i.e President, David Bogen Co.. Inc. control reduces the volume evenly throughout the audible range. Another function of the control link in the chain is to enhance or attenuate treble ANOTHER SURPRISE FROM and bass, through "tone controls." This is not done by arbitrarily taking a segment of the spectrum - say, 20 to 200 cps - A SURPRISING AMPLIFIER: and depressing it flatly. The change is always progressive, minimal at the middle - The Saturday Review Honte Book range, acute toward bottom or top. A bass of Recorded Music and Sound Repro- tone control knob, in its full -boost position, writes of the Bogen DB10: may increase the relative loudness of a Soo duction r,000 "This is a compact little marvel of cycle sound (relative to, say, cycles perhaps db. tone versatility price. and higher) only slightly - 3 and for the It further down, at loo cycles, was resourceful enough to compete But the effect will be much greater, perhaps 12 db. At over most of its range with several be as great as 3o db. The amplifiers costing times 20 cycles, it may three as principles apply to bass droop, and to much ," same .. treble boost or droop. Now you get record equalization too, The Bogen DBIOA now features In determining the comparative range of and the price is still only $54.45. tone controls, it is Record Compensation (and the control provided by necessary to know the frequency at which cost is still only $54.45) 1 the control range is specified. Stating that For several years now, the Bogen the bass control range is from plus 15 to DB10 amplifier has been supplying minks 12 db is not significant unless a s is Readings are often a very happy solution to the problem frequency specified. of how to assemble a good system at taken at So cycles or so at the low end and a realistic price. at Io,000 cycles for the treble. (lt would be By selecting the DB10 (and the nice if everyone would standardize!) later DB10 -1), thousands of pur- For the sake of convenience, we might throw "filters" into, or at least very close chasers have saved enough money on Companion FM -AM Tuner the amplifier to be able to afford to, the tone control group. They operate a is the Bogen R604 Tone really good speaker set -up. on somewhat similar principles. con- (I think and droop; filters pro- this makes for a more sensibly bal- This unit fills a real need in the trols provide boost anced market for an FM -AM tuner with a vide droop only. Furthermore, tone con- system, since it is generally droop whereas filters acknowledged solid circuitry, excellent perform- trols provide gradual that amplifiers have droop, almost a cut -off. been ance and minimum controls, to sell provide very sharp brought to a higher stage of designed to eliminate as abruptly perfection today than speakers.) for under $100. Sensitivity is 5 Filters are micro-volts for 30 db quieting. FM as possible all sound above, or below, speci- To this field -proved amplifier, our Frequency Response is 50- 15,000 cps fied points along the frequency scale. Their Engineering Dept. has added a new is eliminate unwanted scratch, ± 1 db. Stability is exceptionally purpose to refinement for 1954: record equali- hiss, AM -radio static, or what have you at zation control. Through good, with Automatic Frequency the use of Control and stabilized the high end, and equally unwanted turn- 3 additional positions temperature- on the circuit oscillator effectively preventing table rumble, etc., at the low end. selector switch, the listener will drift for record frequency charac- now and eliminating warm -up period. Equalization be able to compensate for the vary- teristics is still another function of the con- a subject; stated ing characteristics of the different Send for your copy of trol link. This is complex makes of records in his collection: "Understanding High Fidelity" as succinctly as possible, record manufac- for technical reasons, to LP' position - Approximately equal This book, we think, turers are obliged, to the AES curve; for optimum re- strikes a nice balance reduce the loudness of low frequencies, in sponse from American microgroove between theory and the comparison with middle frequencies, and records. practical aspects of hi -fi. find it advisable to increase the loudness of There is considerable "78" position - For shellac classical It covers such subjects as: the extreme highs. records (in How to evaluate and variation from one manufacturer to the good condition). select the frequency character- "Fop" best compo- next in the "recorded position - Similar to the "78 ", nents for your location, istic" considered best. Therefore, when with a sharp cut-off (about 2000 listening requirements such records are played back in the home cycles) for a more mellow tone, and and budget. For a copy, (or studio, for that matter), you must be for reducing surface noise of worn mail the coupon with 25c. able to "equalize" for any one of several records. recorded frequency characteristic curves. In addition, we provide calibrated MAIL COUPON NOW Since the curves vary at the low end, we have tone controls to correct modifications variable turnover; and they vary at the high for other records, such as FFRR end, so we have variable treble de- emphasis. and orthophonic. David Bogen Co., Inc., Dept. WA Some equalizers utilize a single knob with 29 Ninth Ave., New York 14, N. Y. two or more positions, each position pro- Send "Understanding High Fidelity" (for viding correct equalization for one of the which I enclose 25¢), and free catalog. characteristic "curves" used by major record name manufacturers - NARTB, Columbia, Lon- address don, RCA Victor, and AES (Audio En- 809e,, gineering Society, one of the standard 23 years, tnanufacturera city -one state for curves). Other equalizers use two knobs or of fine electronic equipment Send free catalog only. _-I Continued on page ro8

IO6 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com Now... the BIG question... when to :ehange stylus - finally answered by Photo count Audax STYLU cisti piano reaIiiii Patent. Pending 1. Gives VISUAL indication (before your with valuable records are ruined) of Audax whether or not the stylus is in playable Heretofore realistic piano reproduction has condition. been the Industry's problem. For over 25 years, pickups, even the poorest one, favored one kind 2. Will test ANY type of stylus, in any of instrument over all others. Now ... for the type of pickup -in a jiffy. first time, it is possible to reproduce realistic piano music and at the same time faithfully 3. Neither the stylus nor the cartridge reproduce all other instruments as well. need be removed for the test. Nothing This was dramatically demonstrated at the need be disturbed. recent Audio Fair. Audax had a leading artist perform at the grand piano. It was left to the 4. The grooves may be used over and over audience to decide what parts of the composi- again, until finally a worn or defective tion were played by the artist and what parts were electronically reproduced. stylus scrapes the delicate groove-walls. The audience was amazed, when, during the Should last for years-costs only recital, the artist suddenly walked away from 5. the piano and the music continued nonetheless. $3.90 net at your dealers. (Add 30c for The recorded piano music was so real, so life- shipping, 35c for shipping west of like, that it had the audience dumbfounded. Mississippi.) Heated discussions arose as to when the music was the recorded version. STYLUS -DISK is a MUST for any music Thus the Audax CHROMATIC proved more system. Just as a fuse protects an electric than equal to this extraordinary task of realistic circuit, the STYLUS -DISK protects your piano reproduction again proving that ... in records against ruin by a worn stylus. Have music, listening quality is everything. The Audax CHROMATIC has listening quality to a no concern about the stylus. You can be ab- degree found in no other reproducer. But only solutely sure that STYLUS -DISK will do YOU can tell what sounds best, therefore .. . its part to guard your valuable records. see and HEAR the Audax. Write for free literature -Be sure to obtain copy of "ELECTRONIC PHONO FACTS" from your dealer or write to Audax direct AUDAK COMPANY 500 Fifth Avenue Dept. G New York 36, N. Y.

.74.a standard 6y 'Which Othsri ...Ars Jud4sd and Valued"

JANUARY - FEBRUARY, 1954 107

www.americanradiohistory.com HI -FI REVISITED Continued from page rob can Now you (HIGH levers, one varying bass turnover and the other treble de- emphasis. Some types of phonograph cartridges - have the ULTIMATE in notably crystals - do not require as elabor- f FIDELITY ate equalization circuits as the popular "magnetic" cartridges, so control units designed specifically for other than magnetic units often omit equalization controls and the NEW rely on tone controls for adequate compen cation for recorded frequency characteristics. We have skimmed the surface of the equalization question; it was given "the full treatment" in an article in the Winter 1951 issue of HIGH FIDELITY, so if you would like a better understanding of the subject, we'd suggest going back to this article. For directions on the specific equalization re enauttE: quired by the various makes of disks, see "Dialing Your Disks," in the record -review pages. Speaking of magnetic cartridges allows us to move to another function of the control link in the audio chain: preamplification. Cartridges of the general class called "magnetic" produce very little electrical energy - anywhere from 5 to 70 thousandths of a volt. Beauty Therefore this energy must be increased to a reasonable amount, and thus the need Styling for pre -amplification - the "pre -" distinguishing amplification at this stage from Response that used later in the power amplifier. Some control units include, in their preamplifier- equalizer sections, a "flat" posi- Presence tion. This permits preamplification without bass boost or treble de- emphasis and is used with microphones, which, like magnetic cartridges, have very low output. A//in One Complete Unit! And now, in our backwards fashion, we move on to the sound- source link of the chain. In this category are included phono- A cabinet . . . styled by A high fidelity speaker system graph pickups, FM, AM, and TV tuners, MAURICE that will complement .. . designed by UTAH to pro- and grace your decore- excite the duce clean, sparkling, brilliant tone tape and wire recorders, microphones, and envy and admiration of your friends. covering the entire audio spectrum so forth. Let's clear away tuners, first, and with minimum phase distortion clean, start with TV tuners because a couple of In addition to its startling beauty smooth fundamental bass and bright, sentences will suffice: several fine TV new Utah Brillante marks an -the clean highs. tuners are available which omit audio am- epoch in the design and engineering plification and speaker sections. These plug of a high fidelity sound enclosure - In the new Brillante speaker sys- directly into the control section of a hi -fi because the name Utah -a pioneer tem are incorporated all the latest in the field of sound reproduction developments and improvements in system. It is also quite simple to use a -assures you the finest in design, the field of high fidelity sound re- standard television set as a tuner. Connec- engineering, production and per- production -all the engineering tions are made, in general, to the TV set's is and are formance. It is right because it knowledge acquired by Utah's ex- volume control run from that to the made right by Utah. and speak- pert sound engineers over a period hi -fi control equipment; amplifier er on the regular set are not used. Still a Glowing with the splendor and of 30 years of outstanding achieve- variation is possible and will, in general, lustre of fine woods -hand rubbed ment in the field -a knowledge third improve television sound: disconnecting to a rich patina of fine furniture - backed up by production know -how. the new Brillante sound enclosure - the TV set's regular speaker (which usually is either genuine honduras mahog- Design, engineering, quality and is pretty small, particularly in table model any or blond korina-is a master performance are built right in the sets) and reconnecting to a good external achievement in the art of wood- new Brillante speaker system. speaker. working. There are a few AM -only radio tuners manufactured, and they are well worth considering in areas where FM broadcasting See the Brillante at your local Hi Fi Headquarters hasn't reached yet. An alternative is to or write for the Brillante brochure perform an operation on a standard AM radio receiver similar to that suggested for standard High Fidelity Dept. television receivers. There are many FM -only tuners available, also many FM -AM tuners. With FM tuners, two sets of specifications are important: the frequency response (expressed exactly as for amplifiers; i.e., plus or minus so many RADIO PRODUCTS CO., INC. a "ila db within such and such range) and the H U N T I N G T O N , I N D I A N A Continued on page r ro

108 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com jumps are for Horses ...NOT for muvietic tape

That's why you need SOUNDCRAFT Mier o- Pol shed * pipe. No Raised Spots! No Roughness! No Jumps! It's Smooth right from the .start!

Under the microscope, magnetic tape subjecting the ferrous oxide coating to may look like a steeplechase- replete high -precision polishing. It leaves the with all the "jumps." As you record, surface mirror -smooth, and precondi- these jumps- minute raised spots char- tioned for immediate, stable, high - acteristic of all coating processes -mo- frequency response. mentarily separate large enough areas Breaking in tape by running it of the tape from the recording head to through the recorder, with accompany- appreciably interrupt high - frequency ing head wear and waste of time, is a response. On some equipment, they thing of the past. REEVES may even cause signal dropouts. Other SOUNDCRAFT Advantages The Answer Is Micro -Polish In addition, SuLNDCRAFT Recording. But Reeves Sou NDCRAFT eliminates Thpes are pre- coated with a special 6,r- SOUNDCRAFT the "jumps" with its exclusive Micro- niulation to give utmost oxide ad he ., Polish process, assuring the most com- and prevent curling and cupping. CORP. plete head contact possible right from All tape is dry -lubricated to eliminate 10 East 52nd Street, Dept. F because the start. That's Micro- Polish squeals and carries a splice -free guar- New York 22, N. Y. smooths off the microscopic nodules by antee on all 1200- and 2500 -foot reels. *Pat.:lpplied For.

www.americanradiohistory.com HI -FI REVISITED Continued from page 1o8

sensitivity. Sensitivity is determined in terms of the signal strength (expressed in New! microvolts) required for a certain degree of quieting, or reduction in background noise. For example, "5 microvolts required for 3o db of quieting" is typical. A specification of 3 microvolts for 3o db indicates a more And sensitive tuner, but 3 microvolts for 20 db indicates less quieting (and therefore not such good performance, overall) than the Terrific: 3mv -3odb combination. One thing to watch out for in selecting a tuner is the seemingly small point of duplication of controls. This has nothing to do with fidelity or performance, but we have seen many installations in which the tuner incorporated a control link, as we have referred to it, and then another control link was added, so that tone controls, for in- É stance, appeared twice -a waste of money. FISHER More and more manufacturers recognize this possibility and have made available tuners SERIES "705' with perhaps just a tuning and perhaps a volume control knob. When the FISHER 50 -R Tuner and 50 -A Amplifier first appeared, Note carefully: both FM and TV tuners two things promptly happened. We were besieged with orders; as well as require special antennas for best results. with requests (from those with limited space) for a tuner with audio con- Don't skimp here. trol facilities and preamplifier. Many also wanted a low -cost, high out- Probably the most popular sound source put, quality amplifier. It took us time, but here they are. And they're tops! among high fidelity listeners is phonograph records - particularly since the advent of long playing records. So: pickups. MOODEL Certainly the most common type of pick- FISHER FM -AM Tuner up cartridge in general use, taking the nation Features extreme sensitivity: (1.5 as a whole, is the crystal. Until recently, they mv for 20 db of quieting), works where suffered from two weaknesses: their frequency others fail. Armstrong system, adjust- response range was poor and erratic, and able AFC plus switch, adjustable AM they deteriorated with time. Among high selectivity, separate FM and AM front fidelity enthusiasts, those who want to ends. Complete shielding and shock - the music on the record, magnetic mounting on main and subchassis. Dis- hear all cartridges have again until recently tortion less than 0.04% for 1 volt out- - - put. Hum level: better than 90 db be- been considered the only thing to use. low 2 volts output on radio, better than There are several types of magnetic cartridges 62 db below output with 10 mv input and recent improvements have made their on phono. Two inputs. Two cathode - capabilities better than ever. follower outputs. Self powered. Six The "until recently' reservations above controls: BASS -AC, TREBLE, VOLUME, have to do with developments within the LOUDNESS, CHANNEL and EQUALIZA- past two years. There is now a crystal car- TION, TUNING. 5184.50 tridge which apparently suffers from none of the old- fashioned ailments. Alsp, some M entirely new lines of pickup design have FISHER 25 -Watt Amplifier 0 AL been tried, some with notable success, some too new to assess wisely. The FISHER Model 70 -A Amplifier offers more clean watts per dollar Because "old- fashioned" 78 rpm records than any amplifier made clean watts for only $99.50! The 70 -A costs no -25 require a cartridge whose stylus tip has a more than "basic" 10 -watt units, but has 150% greater power! radius of about 211 thousandths of an inch High output (less than (.0025 or 21/2 mils), and long -playing disks 1/2% distortion at 25 watts; 0.05% at 10 watts). IM dis- require a stylus -tip radius of one -thousandth tortion less than 0.5% at 20 of an inch, either separate plug -in cartridges watts; 0.2% at 10 watts. must be used if both types of records are to Uniform response ±0.1 db, 20-20,000 cycles; 1 db, 10- be played, or a double -duty cartridge used. 50,000 cycles. Power output The double duty type is of two styles: constant within 1 db at 25 the stylus tip is changed, by revolving watts, 15-35,000 cycles. Hum either and noise virtually ocn- on a shaft, for example, within a single measurable (better than 95 cartridge, or two actually separate cartridges db below full output!) Four separate feedback loops, are mounted back to back so that either unique cathode and screen one can be positioned to contact the record. feedback circuit. Outstand- We said much earlier that if you owned ing transient response. 8 and you were 16 ohm outputs. SIZE: 61,1," x a regular radio- phonograph likely 10t/%" : 6t/s" high. $99.50 to be startled by the improvement which PRICES SLIGHTLY HIGHER could be effected by adding a new speaker, WEST OF ROCKIES in a separate cabinet. If your present phono- Write for full details graph uses an "old- fashioned" crystal car- FISHER RADIO CORP. tridge, an equally startling improvement can be made by switching to one of the newer 45 EAST 47th STREET N. Y. Continued on page 112

HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com watch your RPM!

Needless to say, your turntable is the very heart of your hi-fi system and without a rumble -free, constant -speed turntable, you can't expect reproduction that can truly be classed as "High Fidelity."

The Presto 15-G, acclaimed by engineers the country over as the finest 12 -inch turntable made, is the perfect answer to your turntable requirements. Designed and constructed with the same precision characteristic of the famous Presto

line of professional equipment, the 15-G is a 3- speed, rim - driven, heavy -weight turntable built for years of trouble - f ree service. Yet, with all its many advantages, this remarkably accurate turntable sells for only $53.50. PRESTO 15 -G Turntable If you have been going around in circles looking for turntable accuracy, slow up when you get to your Presto distributor. Be sure he shows you the new Presto 15 -G. It's a sure cure for turntable blues! Mail this coupon today! r PRESTO RECORDING CORPORATION. HIGH FIDELITY SALES DIV. PARAMUS, NEW JERSEY Please send me illustrative data and specifications on the new Presto 15 -G. RECORDING CORPORATION PARAMUS, NEW JERSEY NAME

ADDRESS_ Export Division: 25 Warren Street, New York 7, N. Y. Canadian Division: Walter P. Downs, Ltd., Dominion Square Bldg., Montreal CITY

ZONE_. . _STATE

WORLD'S LARGEST MANUFACTURER OF PRECISION RECORDING EQUI MENT AND DISCS

JANUARY- FEBRUARY, 1954 111

www.americanradiohistory.com HI -FI REVISITED e a /ia Iid2ertt! Continued from page Ito rxiaeg Arthur Fiedler ypes. A magnetic cartridge, for example, Sofazd 'wall nil acon nrulic ore plus a simple preamplifier will make a drastic change in the sound you get from records. The question of material with which the ,tylus is tipped is really not much of a question. There isn't much doubt that IS WHAT YOU'LL HEAR AND FEEL diamond is the proper choice to make. It WHILE LISTENING TO POPULAR OR outwears sapphire to such a point that although the initial cost seems high, the CLASSICAL MUSIC THROUGH A long -term cost will be low - and you won't have to remember to change the stylus after every few records. There are some possible advantages to sapphire, but they are of a rather esoteric nature and the nuisance of HIGH changing styli outweighs, in 99% of the cases, the subtle advantages. AUDIO A We might as well be flat- footed about metal tips: they just shouldn't be used on long- playing records. After half a dozen playings they'll be so worn that they will damage the records. Damage to the records is the all- important point to bear in mind. You only have to ruin four or five LP's to cover the cost of a Y!A new diamond which is very unlikely to - -handsomely compact 10 -watt ruin any records for several hundred hours single-chassis combination. at least. Quality sound, at cost so low The time has now come for a decision: any music lover can afford it. do we go on with this article, trying to dis- 4 m cuss briefly the myriad other pieces of equip- 4! ment which often find their way into a hi -fi 'r! enjoy set -up, or do we say enough is enough and *TRADEMARK very much stop right here with this bird's eye review? We'll take a deep breath and say, stop! The Klipschorn in my home, with Maybe more anon, in a later article; certainly Model 1 2A4 its wide range, clarity, and more about each of the points covered - and in much greater detail - in the various exceptional articles which appear in this magazine. - combining famous BROOK definition." 12A power amplifier, and flexi- HARPSICHORDIST ble 4B pre -amplifier, at moderate cost. Continued from page 48

good friends in the record industry thought Model 10C4 this modest device unworthy of me and (with the promise that they would aid me i in choosing a machine more suited to "my critical ear ") persuaded me to give it to my sister as a wedding present. I About to days after did so, a very nice 30 -watt basic amplifier man from out of town came to my apartment - - World Renowned remote control pre -amplifier Symphony Conductor to discuss a new phonograph installation combination; higher power for of Boston POPS Orchestra with me and that was when something passages. RCA Victor Recording Artist full- bodied orchestral snapped, so to speak! A mental block was Cox, 'n gineered n,,di,,ampfifrration created at that interview which I have not is of the type designed by engineer fully surmounted. Joe Minor. Berkeley Custom Elec- tronics. Alip s r h orn Distributors in This gentleman had worked out a plan Berkeley, California. whereby, with the casual expenditure of most of what I had put aside for the Internal ACKNOWLEDGED the peer of all Revenue Bureau, I could have a record player Model 7 speaker systems by unbiased con- superbly equipped to blast the neighbors - Self- powered pre -amplifier sumer research, year by year, and out of their minds, if not out of their houses. perfect compliment to any good ear by ear of music lovers always, To bring about this desirable eventuality, all basic amplifier. I had to do was to buy a three -speed turn- Every BROOK Amplifier is.built to the The Klipschorn today table, acquire a console on which to place highest possible standards of quality. embodies every engineering devel- it (preferably one with a 5o -pound marble opment of the tinte, toward realism top in the style of one of the Louis', as Write for full information on the com- else would not keep its level and in music re- creation by record and anything plete BROOK line; also name of your would give me "wow" or something), buy rullio. nearest dealer. Dept. FA -4 an amplifier, a pre -amplifier, a speaker, the larger the better and preferably pre -war KIIPSCH & ASSOCIATES (that is what he said, don't ask me why), a BR I OS f LfCTROnICS, . fil7F'i ARKANSAS rosewood cabinet to house the speaker, a Continued on page rr4 34 DeHART PEACE, ELIZABETH, N. 1

HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com FOR CERTAIN CJ(ieciat PEOPLE

Those persons to whom fine music is a foremost pleasure in life - a pleasure worthy of a substantial investment in The man whose quality. hobby is high - fidelity reproduction and who delights in approaching close to theoretical Those whose perfection. lives and profes- sions are music in teaching, -performing or in the role of the critic. And the person who traditional( buys the finest in things that A VERY fiecza/ INSTRUMENT serve his likes. For music reproduction, there is one best - the AMPEX MAGNETIC TAPE RECORDER. If you were to visit the studios of a major record manufacturing company, you would find that Ampex is the recorder that makes and plays master tapes of priceless performances. If you could have such a master tape, and could play it on an Ampex, it would be like having a symphony, an ensemble or a great soloist perform right in your living room. And you can. With an Ampex Tape Recorder in your home, you can make your own master tapes from live performances on F -M radio. These reach your home with a quality and brilliance similar to that which reaches a professional recording studio. You record these performances while you listen to them. They become your "musical library." You can replay them any conceivable number of times. Their extraordinary fidelity is completely permanent. The Ampex Magnetic Tape Recorder can fit your home as a logical part of a high fidelity custom music system. The Ampex and the music system are complimentary, each uses the quality of the other. Both compliment your taste in fine things, well placed. Recorders priced from $975.00 For further information write Department F -1278

AMPEX-1 CORPORATION

934 CHARTER STREET, REDWOOD CITY, CALIFORNIA

An Ampex in typical custom - Distributors in principal cities; Distribution built cabinet containing FM and AM in Canada by Canadian General Electric Corporation radio, recorder, and disc record changer

JANUARY -FEBRUARY, 1954 113

www.americanradiohistory.com Decal 6 " eIr HARPSICHORDIST SPEAKERS HEATHKIT Dead for diffused Continued from page 112 room-fling sound convertible cartridge (made of precious SDUAL RECORD SPEAKERS -_ stones or some equally logical substance) HERE AND to insert in the arm, and a rather compre- AHERE hensive tool kit to keep this really very simple PLAYER KIT arrangement in good working order. With the acquisition of these electronic indis- pensables, he assured me that I could hope HIGH music in three rooms at the same I/ QUALITY 7 e NEW to hear time TWIN and that for a small additional charge, he SAPPHIRE CERAMIC MODEL RP -2 could also rig something up so that every CARTRIDGE time I turned on a hot -water faucet anywhere in the apartment I would be greeted by the 50 resplendant sonorities of the Mahler Fifth. Fle left me a very disillusioned man after I ATTRACTIVE explained to him that I could not plan to TWO -TONE CABINET 69 move to the YMCA this season to make SHIPPING WT. room for all that equipment, even if they'd take paupers - such as I would be after 33 LBS. paying his bill. Since that interview I had not ventured

FOUR TUBE WEBSTER- again into the field of recorded music ex- PUSH -PULL CHICAGO TWIN SAPPHIRE STYLUS cept from the "safe" side of the mike, AMPLIFIER SEPARATE THREE -SPEED ANO visit to the disk- TONE RECORD A range until my recent super- VOLUME wide tonal ceramic cart- CHANGER market. I must admit, however, that I am CONTROLS ridge features an ingenious "turn- under" twin sapphire not very proud or pleased with this condition and hope to remedy it soon. If I do, DUAL MATCHED SPEAKERS stylus for LP or 78 records providing the next time you drop into any of New A new economical introduction to high quick selection of the correct stylus without turning the cartridge. York's largest record incubators and see quality record reproduction. A simple - somebody holding a record up to the light to- operate, compact, table -top model SIMPLIFIED CONSTRUCTION looking for bubbles, don't hesitate to start with two matched speakers in an acous- a conversation. I would love to meet you. tically correct enclosure reproduce all of Simplified, easy -to- assemble four tube the music on the record. amplifier features compensated volume control and separate tone control. Proxy - LEINSDORF DIFFUSED SOUND lin impregnated beige and saddle tan Because of the diffused non -directional fabric covered cabinet supplied com- Continued from page 36 properties of the dual speakers, listening pletely assembled. You build only the to fine recorded music is a thrilling new amplifier. experience through naturally clear, life- of four new works, and with the overlapping like reproduction of sound at all tonal EASY TO BUILD of identical choices let us agree for argu- levels. No specialized tools or knowledge re- ment's sake to a total of 16 works.) Four HIGH QUALITY PERFORMANCE quired as the construction manual has record companies will record the 16 works, The performance level of the Dual is been simplified to the point where even four for each company; but the scores will vastly superior to that of the ordinary the complete novice can successfully con- be recorded early enough to be ready and phonograph or console. Automatic struct the Heathkit Dual. The price in- issued prior to the season during which the are scheduled. A changer plays all three sizes at all three cludes cabinet, record changer, two 6" concert performances speeds with automatte shut -off aft last PM speakers, tubes and all circuit com- good many enterprising orchestras would to the records, record is played. ponents required for assembly. find it advantageous offer perhaps at a special price, to their patrons then will be able OTHER 71,,, flail and subscribers; these, to HEATHKIT FIDELITY play the new works and know them suffici- HEATHKIT AMPLIFIERS ently well by the time their subscription AMPLIFIER KIT night with the performance rolls around. r THE HEATHKIT 6 WATT MODEL A -9B There are a good many difficulties to AMPLIFIER KIT overcome. There probably would have to 3550 be a special pay -rate for the recording ses- MODEL A -7B sions for works that have not been per- Shipping Wt. 18 lbs. $155? formed in public yet. On the part of sym- A 20 watt high fidelity phony orchestras and their various conduc- Shipping Wt. 10 lbs. amplifier especially tors (an obstreperous lot, don't I know ?) designed for custom a good deal of cooperation would be neces- The Heathkit Model installations. Low fea- sary. The general vogue among conductors A -7B Amplifier hum and noise level 9 pin miniature duo tures separate bass triodes in preamplifier and tone control cir- to take a new work either for its "world and treble tone controls -two compensated cuits. Four switch selected inputs, frequency premiere" or not at all, must be given rip inputs -three output impedances 4, 8 and 16 response 3 1db 20 to 20,000 cycles. Output for what it is: an unmusical act of pure response 1 from 20 to ohms- frequency i t-db impedances of 4, 8. 16 and 500 ohms. snobbishness and publicity- hunger. Diffi- 20,000 cycles -push -pull beam power output culties can be overcome if the will is there. at full 6 watts. The benefit of having a new work on a Heathkit Model A -7C $1750 with preamplifier stage record before a concert performance cannot be overestimated. We are all most concerned with the FOR fzee COPY problems closest to home; therefore it of audio booklet "High Fidelity be forgiven if I have been dealing Especially for You." Also new should 1954 catalog. Lists all kits, specifi- mostly with the field of orchestral music. cations, schematics. etc. It is also the easiest portion for constructive Continued on page 1t6 YOU SAVE BY ORDERING DIRECTLY FROM FACTORY FIDELITY MAGAZINE I 1 4 HIGH

www.americanradiohistory.com e///` Beam W/B * ST

SPEAKER LINE

$44.50 10" Full-Range Duplex W/B STENTORIAN illustrated HIGH FIDELITY DIRECT 12- FulI.Range Duplex. $99.50 RADIATOR SERIES Specifications, 12 Duplex Model 6', 8', 9', 10', 12'. Extended bass and Frequency Response, 20- 20,000 cps. Bass Resonance, 35 cps. Built -In Cross- smooth highs. Balanced over Network Graduated "Fibre- tone" L.F. Cone Phase Matched H.F. Drive response without coloration, from 35-14,000 Power Capacity Conservatively Rated 15 Watts "Alcomax 3" Magnets Die -Cast cps. Incorporates the Chassis Crackle Gold Finish Weight, 16 lbs., 4 ox. Both Duplex models have exclusive new cambric "Fibre- tone" twin concentric voice coil drives. cone. Voice coil impedance, 15 ohms. Die -cast chassis. Crackle gold finish. Here is a new speaker line which will become one of the great names in the Priced from $6.95(6') to $39.50 (121. American hi -fi (leid. Built un a revolutionary new principle, these speakers are priced remarkably low for instruments of such outstanding quality. W/B STENTORIAN Beam W/B Stentorian speakers, British -made by the world - famous Whiteley HF TWEETERS Electrical Radio Company, complement to the fullest extent the most modern T 12 Specifications achievements in hi -fi recording and in amplifier design- provide vivid realism, balance never before attained Ideal with any cone high sensitivity, and a degree of musically satisfying speaker. Response, in a speaker. 2,000 to 20,000 cps. over an extended range is Coil impedance, 15 The wonderfully smooth performance of Stentorians ohms. Power handling, 15 watts. Rigid made possible by W/B Beam's new "Fibre- tone" diaphragm and cone process... construction. Prices: T 10 (5 watts), and by the patented, brilliantly- designed twin concentric drives (duplex). And $17.95: T 12, $45.00 Crossover unit, 15 ohms, matches Stentorians are made entirely by one organization; every component, without ex- all Stentorian tweeters, H.F. speakers specifications. Compare and woofers, $7.25. ception, is manufactured under one roof, to strict quality price and performance, and you'll want to own one of these remarkable speakers. Also 18' woofer...and the revolutionary 18' "Quadruplex "full -range unit having four independent drives on a single axis. BEAM STENTORIAN WEB Audi ion These Beam Stentorian Speakers at Your BEAM INSTRUMENTS CORPORATION Audio Dealer's. Descriptive literature on request. 350 FIFTH AVENUE NEW YORK, N. Y. 'Lerders in Loudspeaker Manufacture for over 30 years.

JANUARY- FEBRUARY, 1954 115

www.americanradiohistory.com LEINSDORF ASCO Offers Finest ultra -fidelity Continued fron page 114 A IS ultra -utility with ultra -smart Professional Audio "LIBRETTO" suggestions. When we look at the solo remote Equipment at LOW COST recital, the picture gets a little darker. There control has been a noticeable decline in interest in recitals all over the Western music world. The causes are as complex as the conserva- tism in repertory matters; let us then call it "coincidence" that this decline of the recital comes at a time when the record has brought a kind of intimacy which is far better suited for chamber music and much of the recital repertory than our already overly large concert halls; especially when they are only partially filled. Like it or not, the home is becoming a HEAR the difference, SEE the difference more self- sustaining unit, particularly for entertainment and pasttime. In view of in the nailland model 1826 this, I sometimes wonder if our concert establishment is not over -expanded, and ultra -fidelity ensemble perhaps due for a collapse. FISHER HI -LO FILTER SYSTEM - _=1 The proof of unprecedented Masterworks, performed by master inter- superiority of the new RAULAND America's first electronic sharp cut- preters, have come to the home and have Ultra- Fidelity Ensemble is in its off Filter System. Suppresses turn- become a very ordinary commodity. It is unmatched performance. table rumble, record That proof awaits you now at scratch and almost always assumed in writings and in distortion, etc., with absolute mini- your Hi -Fi dealer. The Master mum loss of frequency response. speeches that the "spread" of music is all Amplifier is of matchless to the good. It is a delicate matter to voice quality. The unique self- powered Separate low and high frequency cut- "Libretto" Remote Control -Preamp, offs. Can be used with any tuner, some doubts in such a development. If one with its amazing flexibility, preamplifier, amplifier, etc. No in- were misunderstood, one would quickly be is an ingenious innovation. The sertion loss. Uniform response. accused of being feudalistic, medieval and, laboratory tests are a revela- Self- powered. Beautiful plastic in general, anti- democratic. Perish the tion, but the ultimate proof of cabinet. Shipped prepaid superiority is in the thrilling ... thought. listening and operating Only experience. $29.95 It is the extremes that are alarming. One The specifications summarized can shave in the morning with Haydn and below can only hint of the quality Another FISHER FIRST of this new dimension in sound. Handel; one can eat lunch with Mozart PREAMPLIFIER -EQUALIZER and Mahler; and all day long one can gorge Same size and appearance as the oneself on any of the several great B's. I the master amplifier Filter System above. Top -quality don't see how such music can not be lowered record equalization within every A truly superb instrument in value by being so promiscuously avail- with frequency response of reach. Independent switches for low - able. This over -ready availability comes only frequency turnover and high fre- ±0.3 db, 20 to 40,000 cps at rated 20 from records; and since there are a good quency roll -off. 16 combinations. watts output. Harmonic distortion less than Handles any low level magnetic many records of very high quality, the so- 0.5% at rated output, less than 0.3% at 10 pickup. Uniform response. Two called live music making of the concert watts. Intermodulation distortion less than triode stages. Full low frequency stage has quite a struggle; the recital is al- 0.4% at 1 watt (home level), 0.7 % at rated equalization. Output lead any length ready more or less dead. Of course, it is output (measured at 60 and 7,000 cycles 4 to 1 up to 50 feet. Beautiful plastic cabi- not only due to records that the recital has ratio). Output imp., 8 and 16 ohms. 4 -posi- net. Shipped prepaid . . gone out of fashion; it is largely due to the tion input selector -for magnetic pickup, crys- Only $19.95 decline of home -made amateur music; the tal pickup and 2 auxiliary. Dimensions: 14' amateurs were the natural audiences for x 9" x 8" high. recitalists. There is, of course, some con- the LIBRETTO nection between the phonograph and the remote control amateur music making. decline of We are at A true remote control, com- SOUND this moment at a high point of amateur, or pletely self- powered and capa- semi -professional orchestral activity and ble of operation several hundred feet from ADVICE therefore our orchestral organizations are amplifier. Uniquely fashioned in the form of SL the most balanced part of the general musical a luxuriously bound book (only 8% x 11 x 2" establishment. thick). Backbone lifts to provide easy access Quite a few ideas about music making to tuning controls. Operates flexibly in either and organizing of music will have to change horizontal or vertical positions. thing I am FREE! NEWEST BOOK ON HI -FI as we go along. Of one certain, CONTROL FUNCTIONS Corne in and get your copy of "Sound though: that the ratio of general interest 1. 6- position crossover control (flat, Advice." 148 Pages of up -to -date Hi -Fi in the old versus the new must change, or 150, 300, data, by Irving Greene, famous audio - 450, 700, 1000 cycles). 2. 6- position roll -off con- . a very music engineer or send coupon enclosing we will have sick life on our trol (flat, db 10c (or stamps) for handling. -5, -8, -12, -16, -24 at 10,000 hands. There are today still easier and greater cps). 3. Volume Control- instant choice of convention- profits and successes in the great masters of al control or loudness control. 4. Bau Tone, +24 db ASCO SOUND CORP., 117 W. 45 St., N.Y. City H the past than in the still doubtful authors of to - 20 db at 20 cps (db calibrated).5. Treble Tone, Please send me copy of "SOUND today. Especially with an industry which is +18 db to -30 db at 10,000 cps (db calibrated). ADVICE ". Enclosed 1Oc for handling. "in business" it is not easy to establish the Custom- Engineered, Custom- Styled FISHER HI -L0 FILTER necessity of indulging in the unpopular in SYSTEM.... @ 29.95 For Audio Connoisseurs order to make it popular. _FISHER PREAMPLIFIER s the RAULAND Sooner or later the technical improvement 1826 Ultro -Fidlity EQUALIZER . @ 19.95 record -playing will become tiresome as ensemble at your Hi -fi Total Amount Enclosed of dealer, or write for NAME. the only novelty; we have made great full details. progress from the original horn of the nice -BORG ADDRESS RAULAND CORPORATION Continued on page t 1R 3515 W. Addison St., Dep. F, Chicago 18, Ill.

116 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com ...... HARVEY RCA Matched HI RCA GH FIDELITY has introduced a elAUTHORIZED Ch complete fideJit y units, line of matched treme flexibility. coupling high quality DISTRIBUTOR You with ex- unit are offered combinations a wide choice of requirement. to meet any individual presents... No matter need or selected, what unit combination you are sure is other that each is AM -FM TUNERS ... design- engineered matched to the maximum to work Designed especially for home music systems efficiency. together with to provide top -quality reception of AM as well as FM broadcasts. Sensitivity is better than 5 microvolts for effective quieting action. Frequency response is 1 db from 40 POWER AMPLIFIERS to 15,000 cycles with less than .05% dis- Truly hi -fi units with extended frequency re- tortion at 2 volts output. sponse and negligible distortion. Power sup- LOUDSPEAKERS 19 Y ., plies are self contained. Designed by the renowned Dr. Olsen to give faithful, high quality reproduction. Each is an outstanding performer in its class. Model SL -8 -8 -INCH EX- TENDED RANGE. Handles 10 watts of power with good response from 65 to 10,000 Model ST1 -Three simple knob controls for cycles. An ideal speaker band selection, volume, and tuning. where space limitations exist. Complete with tubes. $144.95 SC -8 enclosure is recom- IRS' Model SVP -10 -10 WATT (with Preamplifier). 9 Phono preamplifier and power amplifier in a mended. single unit. Input selector switch has posi- Less enclosure $18.95 tions for phono, radio, Has and auxiliary. Model SL -12 -12 -INCH EX- separate bass and treble controls, and vol- TENDED RANGE. Handles 10 ume control. Response: 30 to 18,000 cycles watts with excellent repro- 1 db. Complete with tubes. $59.80 duction from 50 to 16,000 cycles. Extremely sensitive. Model SVT -1 DE LUXE - Identical to Model SC -12 enclosure is recom- ST -1, but having built -in phono preamplifier, mended. and independent bass and treble controls. Less enclosure $22.95 Complete with tubes $164.50 LC -1A -15 -INCH DUO - CONE. The most famous of the Olsen speakers, designed for professional use. Unique cone design accounts for unusually 'clean' sound and smooth 20 Model SP-10 -10 WATT DE LUXE. Furnishes response. Handles RECORD CHANGER watts of power with amazing r eproduction 3 watts with less than 0.5% distortion from to SC -1 5 enclosure Model SRC -51 -A 3 -speed automatic record 30 to 20,000 cycles, and 10 watts with less from 50 16,000 cycles. changer with automatic shut -off, muting than 0.5% from 50 to 15,000 cycles. Re- is recommended. $179.95 switch, weighted turntable, 4 -pole motor, sponse: 20 to 20,000 cycles within .5 db. Less enclosure and plug -in cartridge heads. Supplied with Has power supply outlet for preamp. 2 interchangeable spindles for standard and Complete with tubes $99.50 SPEAKER 45 rpm records. ENCLOSURES Less cartridge $48.95 Internally designed to achieve maximum performance for the speakers intended. Externally styled with good taste to match virtually any decor. May be used either vertically or horizontally. DE LUXE PREAMPLIFIER Supplied with 3" black legs. Model SV -1 -A truly high quality front end Model control unit. Provides equalization for Ortho, Model SP -20 WATT DE LUXE. Same re- SC -8 -12 x 22 x 28" Mahogany $104.40 LP, AES, and 78 rpm records. Input selector -20 sponse as with SP -10 but furnishes twice Blonde.. 106.75 also has positions for Radio, TV, Tape, and the power for the same frequency range and . Auxiliary source. Has master volume control, SC -12 -12 x 25 x 32" Mahogany 125.25 distortion. Reserve power ideal for handling and separate bass and treble controls. Ob- Blonde 128.80 peak transients. Power supply outlet as on tains power from main amplifier or other SC -15 -16 x 25 x 32" Mahogany . 135.30 external supply. SP -10. Complete with tubes . $134.50 Blonde_ 139.80 Complete with tubes $74.50 Write to HARVEY, Dept. HF -154 for full details. Please specify finish desired.

Visit the HARVEY AUDIOtorium from the widest See and hear the finest ... anywhere. selection of hi -fi equipment available VEY RADIO CO., INC. C. HAR Note: Prices Net, F.O.B. N. Y. Subject to change without notice 103 W. 43rd Street, New York 36, N. Y. JUdsf,n 2 -1500

JANUARY-FEBRUARY, II]

www.americanradiohistory.com AVAILABLE LEINSDORF HAVE YOUR OWN `TOW! Continued from page r r 6 dog on the old HMV label (78, 331/4, 45, vinylite, shellac, tape, film and whatnot) COMPLETE HiFi there will be more improvements as there should be (hydromatic, air -conditioned and six- dimensional sounds, if you please) but, technical improvements cannot replace the SYSTEM basic raison ¿lire of any device, apparatus or gadget. The 3 -D movie will not improve a AT MODERATE COST bad story; and the best reproduction will not create a tenth Beethoven symphony; that his to remain the precinct of old- fashioned kind of work - with pencil, or pen and paper. (There is not even a music typewriter yet!) START NOW WITH THE Let it also be known that the fourth es- tate still pays more attention to the fifteenth version of Eine kleine Nachtmusik than to 400's many a good first recording. This I report from my own experience, and by no means be a fact and, At right -Model 401 as a complaint; it happens to (Recorder -Preamplifier) $199.50* in the cases I can quote, not even debatable. The smallest number of reviews (as collected Not shown 402 -Model by the issuing record company and by pro- (Power Amplifier- Speaker) 5100.00* fessional clipping services) which I have seen *Taxes not included. Prices slightly higher in the past seven years on any of my own in Mountain and West Coast States. records was received for a work recorded for the first time, while any old war horse which HERE'S HOW! The Crestwood 401 is an extremely stable tape recorder (wow and flutter I happened to record got many times more

u.a'; I a le, than frith full fidelity preamplifier (frequency response 30-13,000 cycles 2db). coverage. That, in itself, might simply indi- It has separate inputs for radio and which are microphone, -TV phonograph, connected cate that only a few publications have critics to a selector switch. willing to tackle a work which they do not The Crestwood 402 is a high impedance input, 10 watt power amplifier (frequency response know from previous records. 20,000 20. cycles 2db) with an 8" extended range dynamic speaker, specially housed to If I were forced then, to formulate my produce exceptional frequency response a compact for unit. answer to the inquiry about a repertory IT'S EASY! With Crestwood models 401 and 402, here's all you do to complete your shortage into a single sentence, I should HiFi system: venture to suggest: "There is a grave 1. AM -FM tuner (of your choosing) ** is plugged into radio -TV input. shortage of works which won't have to be 2. Record changer (of your choosing) ** is plugged into phono input. heard for the first time." Both may be permanent installations because of the selector switch, which allows choice of inputs or tape playback. * *Certain AM -FM tuners and magnetic pickups may require special handling. Information BEETHOVEN AT SIX supplied on request. Continued from page 45 YOUR HI -FI SYSTEM IS READY TO USE! By use of the selector switch you can listen to either radio or records..1nd, by merely pressing the Record button, whatever you're Romeo and Juliet Overture. listening to will be instantly recorded on tape- accurately, faithfully, just as you're hearing Tchaikovsky, Midsummer Night's Dream. it! The same selector switch control microphone input, allowing your own program Mendelssohn, arrangement. Rimsky-Korsakoff, Scheherazade. Mussorgsky -Ravel, Pictures at an Exhi- CAN BE USED WITH PRESENT SYSTEM, TOO! rite Crestwood 401 is an bition. excellent unit to fit into your per t HiFi system. Full lid, v and complete dependability. Beethoven, Symphony No. 6. FEATURES INCLUDE Haydn, Symphony No. tot (The "Clock" SEE YOUR DEALER movement). Full Fidelity Two Speeds Two -Track Recording Haydn, Symphony No. 94 (The "Sur- Separate Monitor and Record Volume Controls FOR FULL INFORMATION prise" movement). Exceptionally Sharp Magic Eye Record Volume Indi All ballet music can be added to the list. color Simplicity of Operation 10 Watt Power OR Older children can even learn to enjoy fol- sung in a Amplifier Precision Engineering Modern Styling SEND COUPON lowing the story of an operetta foreign language, such as Die Fledermaus; and some will even follow an opera avidly, if the parents make it seem like fun. Crestwood Division of Daystrom Electric Corp. Most children seem to love rhythm. For Dept. HF -1, Poughkeepsie, N.Y. this reason they easily learn to enjoy ballet Please send complete information on the new music, marches and the like. If you can Crestwood,. stand the noise and confusion, they enjoy ex- El Am interested in setting -up my own HiFi pressing their feelings about this kind of system. music by dancing or marching around the BY DAYSTROM Am interested in HiFi tape recorder only. living room. I merely mention this fact. Should you or your spouse incur any serious TAPE RECORDERS Name traumatic damage in the process, don't ever Open a Brand New Address say I recommended it! World Recorded Sound Another thing children seem to enjoy of City Zeno. Slate... instinctively is the sound of percussion instruments. For this reason, Haydn's Sym- phony No. too (the "Military') seems to And you Awarded MEDAL OF MERIT for: Excellence of Product, Quality of Engineering. go over big at a fairly early age. 120 Beauty of Design - by International Sight and Sound Exposition, Chicago, 1953. Continued on page IIó HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com How to Select and Order G. A. Fixed or Variable Networks Specifically Suited to Your Speaker System

TO HELP you make sure that you select shown in Fig. 2. Network A should have dividual adjustments for setting the level the correct networks for finest perform- the same impedance as the bass speaker, of each speaker independently of the other. ance from your particular speaker system, and network B, the same impedance as the Overall volume can be regulated from the the following information is presented on mid -range speaker. Usually a crossover of preamplifier. Since the V -A -C has a possible two and three -speaker types, using either I, too or 2,2oo cycles is chosen for network B. gain of 5, power amplifiers can be operated G.A. fixed networks or the new G.A. Vari- at minimum distortion. No measurable Impedance of Price Price able Audio Crossover Controls. low- frequency Crossover Order by 2 Coils Com- distortion is introduced by the V.A.C. speaker Frequency Number Only plete' 16 ohms 4,400 No. IA S 5.75 f 9.50 G.A. FIXED NETWORKS 2,200 1 7.00 11.50 V -A-C Control for Two Speakers: Con- 1,100 2 7.00 12.00 nections for a two -speaker system are given High- Quality Performance: The circui 350 4 12.00 17.50 175 5 20.00 24.00 in Fig. 3. The V -A -C can be used with any designs and components furnished for G.A 8 ohms 2,200 6A 5.75 9.70 standard preamplifier and power amplifiers. networks represent the very best audio en- 1,100 6 7.00 12.00 350 8 12.00 17.50 Use an amplifier of zo to 5o watts for the 175 9 20.00 24.00 85 10 20.00 26.50 4 ohms 275 12 7.00 15.00 175 13 12.00 19.00 Complete networks include nary capacitors and level controls. Be sure to indicate whether you want lust the coils or the complete network

Network Circuits: Complete information is supplied with each G.A. network. Connections are so simple that the components can be up in a few minutes. It gineering practice. They provide these hooked are in doubt essentials of true high -fidelity performance: you about the correct network for your particular system, send tof for du i) Selectivity giving 12 db droop per octave. G.A. Network Data Sheet. 2) Losses are held to a minimum by the use of air cores and No. t6 wire. 3) Induc- tance values are extremely accurate, and G.A. V -A -C CONTROLS low- range, and to to 20 watts for the coils are unconditionally guaranteed against The Variable Audio Crossover Control is an high- range. Order V -A -C Control Type A. shorted turns. 4) Individual level controls exclusive G.A. development. Types for permit exact balancing of the speakers. two and three -speaker systems permit the V -A -C Controls for Three Speakers: Us- ing a combination of Type A and B Con- General Apparatus Company is probably adjustment of the crossover at any point the the largest manufacturer of high -precision between 90 and ',too cycles (Type A) or trols, with three speakers, crossover points can be varied from 90 to 1,100 cycles, network inductances. G.A. quality control goo to 1 1,000 cycles (Type B). and from 1 1,000 The - assures you of the finest performance, at goo to cycles. high range be 5 to lo watts. prices which reflect economies due to amplifier should of quantity production. This is the ideal speaker system. permit- ting unequalled flexibility of control, delivering the finest performance that money Systems: Fig. z illustrates a Two -Speaker can buy. Order V -A -C Types A and B. two -speaker system. First, decide on the crossover frequency you want, and check the V -A -C Prices, Deliveries: The V -A -C low impedance of the -range speaker. is supplied in kit form, including all com- Select the network you require from the ponents, a handsomely -finished aluminum Table, according to the impedance of the Thus it is possible to determine the opti- chassis to by 51/2 by 3 ins., one 6SN7 -GTA low -range speaker. It is not necessary that mum point, or points, after your speaker and one 5W4GT, and an instruction book both speakers be of the same impedance, system bas been installed. If, at any time, you with picture wiring diagrams and step - but one should not be more than twice the want to experiment with other speakers, you by -step instructions. As far as possible, impedance of the other. With an Air- can shift to any ocher crossover by merely deliveries are made from stock. Price, resetting the calibrated control knob. Type A or Type B, $39.95, plus 750 mailing.

Completely Flexible Controls: The V -A -C Instruction Book: The V -A -C V -A -C is a tube -operated device, complete Instruction Book is available at $t.00 post- with its own power supply. In addition to paid. You may deduct that amount later the calibrated control knob, there are in- from the price of a V -A -C. GENERAL

Coupler for the bass, a crossover of 175 A PPARATUS cycles is generally used, or 35o cycles if the bass speaker is in a conventional cabinet. COMPANY Three -Speaker Systems: Two networks are required for three- speaker systems, as 314 STATE ROAD, GREAT BARRINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS

JANUARY- FEBRUARY, 1954 I19

www.americanradiohistory.com BEETHOVEN AT SIX Continued from page z18

may find that children are more tolerant than many adults toward modern composers like Varese and Stravinsky. There is a large body of music, both chamber and symphonic, which falls into NEW RELEASES IMMEDIATE DELIVERY none of these easily introduced classes. Can you do anything to help your child to an appreciation of this music, beyond exposing him to it and hoping? We have found family guessing games a useful device in luring him to listen, which is of course the first step toward appreciation. There are many variations of these musical guessing games. The way they work in New Knight 24 -Watt Amplifier New Knight 727 FM -AM Tuner Jensen " Duette" Speaker is the Brilliant performance: Ite- Value that's in a class by itself. New "presence" way our house that adult who puts on the sponse, ± 0.75 db. 20- 20.000 Fit for the finest hi -fi systems. speaker system in ultra - record asks: "Who will be the first one to cps; less than l';; harmonic RF stage on FM; drift -com- compact cabinet. Uses spe- distortion at 24 watts rated pensated; built -in antennas; cial 8" woofer and separate tell me who composed this music ?" Or the output. Features: separate phono input for crystal car- multicell horn tweeter; question may be what kind of music is it - bass and treble 4 or magnetic preamp; controls; tridge with frequency dividing quartet, symphony, concerto? we may be inputs; record compensator; 8 hum -balance adjustment. network. Imp.: 4 and 8 Or and 16 ohms speaker output Handsome gray panel, edge - ohms. 20 watt power rat- asked to listen for a certain instrument, and imp. Size: 8 x 14 a 9" deep. lighted dial. 7% x 10 x 13W ing. 11 x 10 x 23%" wide. Shpg. wt., 30 lbs. A wonderful wide. Top tuner buy of the year. Mahogany toned pigskin the first one to hear it wins. You'll find it value in quality Hi -Fi. Shpg. wt., 16 lbs. plastic finish. Wt., 24 lbs. is fun yourself. As for your child, let him 93 51( 321. Net $79.50 SX1 L 727. Net. $32.10 $2 DX 035. Net $69.50 once be right where the others are wrong and hell love that music forever. We can date our son's devotion to cham- Garrard Deluxe RC -90 ber music to one day when he was six. We 3 -Speed Changer had tuned in late to our favorite FM sta- esee Ultra -fast change tion and were trying to guess the composer cycle for all speeds. Plays all speeds, all of the string quartet which was being H. H. Scott 99-A High Fidelity Amplifier sizes. Two plug -in played. My husband guessed Haydn; I Ultra- compact, ultra -quality. Response flat 20- heads take any 30,000 cps. Harmonic distortion lees than 0.8% modern cartridge. New pulley -drive and fly- guessed Mozart. We smiled indulgently at 10 watts. Features 4- position input selector, wheel for wow -free operation. Rugged 4 -pole when our son said Beethoven (his current separate turnover and rolloff record equalizers, motor. Shuts off after last record is played; treble and bass controls, adjustable loudness new type manual play position. Special mut- first guess for everything). But, of course, compensation and pickup level control. Hand ing switch. Large spindle for 45 rpm records. it turned out to be early Beethoven! Our some aluminum case, 13'4 x 9j x 314". Shpg. Less cartridge, cord and output cable. Shpg. wt., 15 Ibis. st.. 18 lbs. faces were red, but a big step had been 935X994. Net $97 95 96 RX 720. Net $64.68 taken in his liking for music. (Having stumped the experts on a string quartet, he seemed to feel like an authority in the field thereafter. Not only did he like anything written by Beethoven, but all string quartets Low Cost "Studio Presence" Phono System in general. As for his favorite composer, Best buy in a full -fidelity record- reproducing nothing was too much for that man to have system recommended by Saturday Review's E. accomplished. Not long afterwards I over- T. Canby and associates. Complete system heard our young musicologist telling his includes: Bogen DB -10 -1 High- Fidelity younger cousins that Beethoven, in addition Amplifier, Garrard RC -80 3 -Speed to his other activities, had been President Changer with two G.E. cartridges and diamond stylii, Electro -Voice SP12B of the United States!) Coaxial Speaker. Complete with cables Another game is one we like to play (no soldering required), hardware and when we are away from home and can't full instructions. Shpg. wt., 65 lbs. hear our records. Each member of the 93 5X 572. Only ...... $167.75 family in turn hums or whistles a melody and the rest try to guess what it is. If no 93 5X 911. BOGEN R604 Fat -AM TUNER. High one can guess it, a hint may be given of Fidelity tuner for above system. the orchestration (provided the one who is Only .. $97.35 "it" can supply the information). If you try this one after a year or so of playing the games suggested earlier, you will be surprised and gratified at the results you have achieved. Every member of your family will have something to contribute. In fact, you may find that some of the youngsters will FREE 1954 ALLIED RADIO CORP., Dept. 49 -A -4 hum passages you've never noticed, tell 100 N. Western Ave., Chicago 80, Illinois you the principal instrumentation, and can 268 -PAGE prove that they are right by pointing them Allied Radio O Send FREE 1954 Catalog. out the next time you play that music. Buying Guide Probably this all sounds like a lot of work Write today for the com- 'iHIN Ship the following: to you. Actually, though, it is fun, too. It plete guide to the world's will bring you closer to your children and largest selection of High $ enclosed will enhance your own musical appreciation. Fidelity systems, amplifiers, tuners, speak- And when your perpetually dirty nine -year- ers, changers and a ies. If it's any- old, whose greatest ambition is to be a major Nome thing in Hi -Fi, it's in stock at ALLIED. Send league ball player, bursts in with the cry for our FREE Catalog today. "Leis have some music!" and requests one Address of your own particular favorites - well, I'm ALLIED RADIO sure you'll feel it was worth every minute .State City Zone. of the time you spent. Everything in High Fidelity L J

I 20 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com A FESTIVAL OF SOUND

presented by AUDIO FAIR LOS ANGELES

HIGH FIDELITY audio -equipment and home music components to be demonstrated and displayed for lovers of high -quality reproduction, audiophiles, sound enthusiasts, recordists, FM -AM -TV electronic engineers, industrial, consultant and educational personnel, government and military agencies, distributors, dealers and technicians. Attend the great annual Southern California sound event -Audio Fair Los Angeles

YOU WILL SEE - HEAR -ENJOY the largest and, most concentrated exhibition of audio equipment under one roof- featuring the latest products and newest developments of more than 150 nationally known manufacturers. A fabulous festival of sound in true fiesta style.

ADMISSION FREE TO ALL EXHIBITS

Held in conjunction with the Second Annual Convention AES Los Angeles Section Technical Sessions

ALEXANDRIA HOTEL FEBRUARY . 1954

this year five floors

For further information write:

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JANUARY- FEBRUARY, 1954

www.americanradiohistory.com WGMS Continued from page 44

and symphony affiliations is occasional speechmaking by musical notables. From WAS (85.00 symphony fund -raising luncheons WGMS has broadcast speeches by Bruno Walter, Di- mitri Mitropoulos, Sol Hurok, Sir Thomas Beecham and Harry S. Truman. Once Sir Thomas, in a broadcast lecture at the library, NOW '41.95 energetically disposed of a common notion - that Mozart symphonies should be played by little orchestras - as "damn nonsense," then hastily apologized for forgetting he was on the air. He also, by the way, played the piano. SAVE $43.05 The current schedule also includes a noonday "gourmet's guide" conducted by an ex- radio -TV actress to the accompaniment of cafe music, a daily shoppers' guide and a Saturday afternoon show called "The Pastor's Study," in which local clergymen take turns playing the role of a clerical Mr. Anthony to anonymous phone -callers. WGMS keeps its fingers crossed about that one, but so far it seems to have worked out fine. WGMS devotes two -thirds of its time to serious music, another fifth to the lighter kind - ranging from Kostelanetz to Gil- bert and Sullivan - and the rest to church music, news interviews and miscellaneous talk. About half of all the music consists of symphonies and concertos. Mrs. Tilden, for a typical week, figured out the music budget as follows (in hours): Symphonies, concertos _451/2 Operas Y2 BOTTOM VIEW Chamber groups 5 hrs., 5o mins. Ballet 3r/2 Keyboard 31/2 12 TUBE HI-FI FM-AM TUNER Light orchestral 2 Recital 1/1 AT FABULOUS 50.6% SAVINGS! French pop Show music 3 hrs., 20 mins. TREMENDOUS NATIONAL Vocal solo i %2 ACCEPTANCE! Yes! AU This Lunch and dinner 5 hrs., 5o mins. Folk I hr., 15 mins. Just a few weeks ago, Radio Shack contracted to buy For 541.95 - the ENTIRE output of Approved Electronic's new V -12 Religious, choral 12 miniature tubes As soon as the word around that a REAL hi -fi tuner. got Miscellaneous 7 bargain was available, orders have literally poured in: Germanium diode we shipped them out just as fast as they rolled off Double limiters Approved's assembly line. Yet our stock position now and FM detector Total 90 hrs., 15 mins. enables us to guarantee AT ONCE delivery - at least for Tuned RF FM is about as the next few weeks! Tuned RF AM WGMS music programming as record production. Any EXCLUSIVE AT RADIO SHACK CORP.! Separate RF, IF catholic current stages on FM, AO month's issue of Good Music, the WGMS The brilliant new Approved V -12 is available ONLY at 6 -gang condenser program guide, contains several standard Boston's famous Radio Shack - nowhere else in all the Cathode follower output also a world. And at no other place can you buy a 12 tube, classics, but one will find generous double -limiter /FM detector, FM -AM tuner for $41.95 30. 15,000 cps sprinkling of less overworked titles. This (or even $71.55)! Band -indic. lamps past November, for instance, there were FM SENSITIVITY! 15 uv sensitivity FM pieces by Honegger, Locatelli, Hanson, GUARANTEED Ultra compact chassis 1S microvolt sensitivity Delius, Vaughan Williams, Britten, Mil- We flatly (and proudly) guarantee 83/4 W s 53/4 H s 8 D. 20 db quieting on FM, and better in many instances! haud, Copland, Villa- Lobos, Boyce, Tele- for Full RETMA guarantee Compare! Also, the AM sensitivity is for better than mann, Roussel, Bartok and Walton, to Requires 6.3V AC (d 4A, V the highly regarded Approved A-710. -12's antecedent. a with these, course, 190V DC là, 55 ma supply. name few. Along of Order No. 36 -207, 7 lbs. was Beethoven's Fifth. SEPARATE V12 POWER WGMS, like record manufacturers, ap- SUPPLY parently subscribes to the idea that there is @ 110 -115V 50 60 cy. Delivers 6.3V NOTE: For use with any amplifier, some music people can't do without. Back 55 ma. Only 31/2 x 4% 4A, 190V DC @ TV, radia; designed especially for s desk there is a list of 3o x 8 ", weighs 7 lbs. Built for V -12. of Mrs. Tilden high quality hi -fi home systems. Order No. 36 -207 Net $12.05 titles, and SOP is that they appear in the schedule every month. Not all can, but a ORDER BY MAIL, PHONE, WIRE! ` FREE 224 -PAGE CATALOG! good proportion does. Bob Rogers pulled the list out of a trade paper. Here it is: Symphonies - Beethoven's 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th; Brahms' ist, 4th; Tschaikovsky's RADIO SHACK CORPORATION 5th, 6th; Franck's D Minor. 5th; 167 Washington St., Boston 8, Mass. (Dept. HF) Piano Concertos - Beethoven's 4th, Continued on page 124

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www.americanradiohistory.com WGMS Always Features the Finest rniinal Continued from page 122 High Fidelity SOUND VALUES! Rachmaninoff's 2nd; Brahms' 2nd, Tschai- kovsky's ist; Grieg's. TLCOX-6AY Violin Concertos- Beethoven, Mendel - ssohn, Brahms, Paganini. MIC Recordio Operas - Carmen, Don Giovanni, Madame O Butterfly, Traviata, Tristan and Isolde, Aida, PIf you like good music, you'll love the full, rich tone of the RECORDIO. Only Wilcox - Bohème, Meistersinger, Marriage of Figaro, Gay RECORDIO has PRESTOMATIC push -button keyboard. You'll marvel at the sim- Faust. plicity of operation. Just push a button - relax - listen to your favorite selections or build your own tape library by recording the glorious works of the masters from A full -length opera recording is pro- r ds or FM. Controlled Reluctance microphone standard equipment on all models grammed every Saturday night. Two evenings a week and a half -hour program called "Opera Box" offers excerpts, and there is De Luxe High Fidelity also a 55- minute opera "hour" Saturday mornings. For some people, in a city with PRESTOMATIC RECORDIO j no opera house, this is far from enough, Model 3F10. Never before has a unit so rich but at least its something. In November in fidelity, range and tone qualities been available for professional and home record- the complete operas were Tannhauser, ing ... at such a low price. Powerful enough Manon Lescaut and Gianni Schicchi (double to meet any volume requirement .. , sensitive enough to record even the faintest whis- bill), Fidelio, and Girl of the Golden West, per. High fidelity push -pull beam power Saturday nights, and Rigoletto on two Satur- output delivers 6 watts of undistorted audio to the 6 s 9" speaker. High speed forward day mornings. and reverse tape wind. Attractive two -toned For out -of -the -way music the station once carrying case. Sire: 181 s 123/4 s 109,11". but the LP de- 18 lbs. borrowed from its listeners, Frequency Response:. 3 db 55- 10,500 cps at 71/2 IPS luge has made this unnecessary. Also tried 75- 7,500 cps at 33/4 IPS once was a request program, but Rogers Hum Noise Level: 48 db or better and - scratched it after too many people asked for net $133.30 things like Mahler s hour-and-r5-minute Resurrection Symphony and Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar. "We just couldn't honor such requests," explains Rogers with a perfectly straight face. One reason the station continues to put strong emphasis on the old standbys, according to Rogers, is because its audience 4 is growing. "The bulk of our audience," a he says, "is no longer just established music lovers. We're getting new ones all the time. To them, Beethoven's Fifth is exciting. W COMBINATION They're making discoveries." Recently TAPE -DISC RECORDIO Rogers made a discovery himself. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, attending the Versatile Record on Tape Record on Disc PRESTOMATIC RECORDIO Really season's symphony concert, let it Record From One to the Other Model 3810. Compact Junior version of the 3F10 opening Model 3610. The Versatile Wilcox -Gay combination described above. Same famous finger -tip control. be known that he was one of WGMS's new Tape -Disc RECORDIO does all that and more! You can It's light-weight . . carry it to parties, business meetings, or make recordings listeners. use it as a conventional phonograph, as a public of records, radio, or address system with built -in or external speaker. the young genius at home. You can record anything Researchers, Rogers says, credit WGMS Record directly from radio, TV, microphone or phono- from the spoken word to a full symphony orchestra the Washington graph. Play it back through internal amplifier, your - all with brilliant realism. Have your favorite se- with reaching 79,000 out of radio audio system, or external hi -fi amplifier. You'll lections on your bookshelf. Built -in 5 s 7" speaker. area's 40.0,000 homes at least once a week. marvelous discover other variations as you use this Frequency Response: + 3 db 75- 10,000 cps at 71 IPS ago a survey gave the station recorder. Complete with microphone, tape reel, and 80- 6,000 cps at 31/2 IPS Two years two -tone carrying case. Rum sad Heise Level:- 45 db or better 25.50o listeners on Saturday mornings - Free Response: - 3 db 80 -6,000 cps at 3V4 IPS net $119.97 f more than any network station - and an Hum level: - 45 db net $133.30 Model 3811. lyre and 33/4 IPS tape speeds, c 3 do I even bigger one on Sundays. Furthermore, 80-6.000 cps at 31/2 IPS, and 100 -5,000 cps at Balti- RECORDIO GRAND Ir/e IPS. With plug-in connection for foot pedal con- h Rogers found himself with so many in bass reflex cabinet. Basic 3F mechanism. Storage trol and earphone attachment for office use. more Good Music subscribers that he was compartment for tape. 12" speaker for bass and middle net $119.97 frequencies, plus separate 41 " sneaker for highs. 3F40 able to persuade WITH, Baltimore's juke- -Mahogany, $193.00; 3F41 -Limed Oak, 5200.35. box station, to cut loose its FM transmitter TAPE RECORDING to relay WGMS's full schedule, with Balti- Plastic Base Recording Tape on Reels Individually Packaged. Fully Guaranteed! more commercials cut in. A new AM sta- Sensationally Low Priced! tion in Waynesboro, Pa., across the Mary- 600 ft... $1.19 1200 ft... $1.69 land border, is taking the entire Sunday program (during the week it plays hillbilly). And Rogers is planning to send seven -day AL D343 c3u>i FREE! 954 AUDIO GUIDE' service soon to an FM outlet in Richmond, Over 130 pages packed with sound values. .. A ready -reference to the I ' Va. Major live concerts, besides the Buda- world's finest Audio Equipment. . . Amplifiers, Speakers, Radio & TV pest series, already are carried over the Con- Tuners, Record Changers, Recorders, Custom Furniture, P. A. and Sound Equipment for professional and home installation. If you can't visit our tinental FM net to Philadelphia, New Haven, Sound Studios. Send for your FREE copy today f Boston and New York. So far this has been a one-way deal, but there is a possibility Radio Phone. WOrth 4-3311 WGMS might someday get such concerts as Audio the Boston Symphony's in return. Video Ç'mînaI Awaiting Federal Communications Com- approval is WGMS's application to Electronic ,PAD /O C!'RP mission Equipment extend its AM service to nighttime and boost 85 Cortlandt St. New York 7, N. Y. its power to 5,000 watts. The station's See and Hear the Best in Audio at Terminal Sound Studios. Continued on page 126

124 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

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JANUARY- FEBRUARY, 1954 125

www.americanradiohistory.com WGMS

Continued from page 124

owners also have applied for one of the Capital's UHF television channels - though with no intention of trying to duplicate the HI -FI SPECIALS AM -FM musical format. Recently, too, WGMS studios were lodged in spacious new quarters in the downtown Harrington Finer Quality ... Yet Lower Priced Hotel. WGMS has been, of course, in the fore- ESPEY 512C FM -AM TUNER front in spurring interest in high -fidelity High Fidelity Tuner Chassis. Completely self - radio and recordings. The station has been powered tuner. Featuring full tonal range with one of the few sources of extended -range increased selectivity and sénsitivity. Tuned RF stage and two high gain IF stages. Built -in pre- live broadcasts available to Washington amplifier for all magnetic cartridges, with audio enthusiasts, and one pioneering hi -fi switch for selecting crystal phono. Circuit is drift compensated. Uses 9 tubes including 3 entrepreneur - William C. Shrader - has dual purpose types, plus 5Y3GT rectifier. 6 gang built a large part of his profitable business tuning condenser. High and low level audio outputs. Phono input on rear of chassis. Complete in custom radio -phonographs with his six with tubes, AM and FM antennas, hardware years of advertising on WGMS. Other volts, 60 cycle. and escutcheon. For 105/125 WGMS clients now are cashing in on the Size: 13t/2" W x 81/2" H x 9" D. Shpg. wt., 16 lbs. Shrader spadework. Record dealers, too 96F031. NET $69.50 owe the good music station a large debt, NEWARK COAXIAL SPEAKERS for many collectors have heard their hi -fi Outstanding high- fidelity values! These low -cost speakers provide good high frequency response recordings first through the WGMS trans- and bass reproduction. All have high -frequency mitter. The station, in 1948, paired its AM Av. wt.. tweeter unit and crossover network. and FM transmitters for the city's first 8 lbs. 83F994. S" Speaker. Rated 6 watts. Has 2.15 oz. demonstration of binaural broadcasting, and 8.95 Alnico V magnet. Imped., 6 ohms. NET..... two years ago it teamed up with another 83F995. 12" Speaker. Rated 12 watts. Has 10 oz. Alnico V Magnet. Imped.. 8 ohms. NET .....12.95 FM station, WASH, for a much better 83F996. 15" Speaker. Rated 14 watts. Has 10 oz. demonstration. National Symphony chil- Alnico V magnet. Imped., 8 ohms. NET...... 19.95 were in both GARRARD 3 -SPEED CHANGER dren's concerts used tests. Model RC80. The world- famous changer that And as this was written, a new WGMS plays all types of records with watch -like pre- vice president, Dan Cavalier, was lining up cision. Includes special interchangeable spindle for 45 rpm records. Accommodates most car- exhibitors for Washington's first hi -fi fair, tridges. Has adjustment for needle force. Size. to be sponsored by WGMS at the Hotel 151/x131/4 "; requires 53/4" above, 31/2" below. With plug -in heads, less cartridges. Shpg. wt.. Harrington this March. 18 l Apart from its musical and technical 73F510. NET_ 45.08 farsightedness, WGMS has also dealt Model RC -90. Finest changer in Garrard's his- adroitly with advertisers. The most fruitful tory with many unique and exclusive features. decision here was to sell choice evening Plays all record sizes at all speeds. All speeds are individually adjustable. Operates from 100- time as a package - an entire evening to 130 volts or 200-250 volts 60 cycles AC. Size; one sponsor. Rogers and crew have man- 151/2x133/4 x95/2". Requires 53/4" above motor board, 37/e" below. Less phono cartridges. Shpg. aged to attract an impressive variety of lb clients, from Washingtons biggest inde- 73F592. NET 64.68 pendent dairy to a carpet cleaner. Dual Stylus Cartridge and Shell But it is, after all, the audience that 73F517. For RC-80. counts most. And WGMS has an audience 73F594. For RC-90. NET EA. 5.88 which, by and large, is extraordinarily loyal. BOGEN AMPLIFIERS Letters testify that many WGMS listeners Model PH10.1 10 Watt Amplitter. Fig. A. Prac- turn the station on in the morning and tically humless -80 db below rated output. An exclusive multi -range tone corrector provides never veer from it throughout the broadcast sharply defined frequency curves for most effec- day. Such persons include taxidrivers, tive performance. Response: + 1 db, 40- 15,000 cps. Push-pull output with inverse feedback dentists, osteopaths and barbers, as well as gives 10 watts. Gain, 72 db. Circuit accomo- housewives. Commuters keep their car dates crystal phono or output of radio tuner. Input selector switch provided. Input impe- radios tuned in. Tourists have been known 8 dance, 1/2 meg. Output impedances, 3.2 and to express pleasure at making the stations ohms. Tubes: 6SL7GT, 2- 6V6GT. 5Y3GT rectifier. acquaintance one Floridian wrote Power consumption. 60 watts. For 110 -120 volts. - that he 60 cycles AC. Size, 5x11x6" Wt., 10 lbs. q A kept his battery portable tuned to WGMS's 96F240. NET .. _.. _.. 37.20 wavelength the entire week he was sight- Model CUP. For custom installations Contains seeing. Vacationing residents, conversely, 4 shaft extensions and all hardware plus con- have written their regret at being away. trol panel. Wt., 1 lb. 96F242. For P1-110 -1. NET 3.45 The ultimate in loyalty is represented, perhaps, by the two hobbyists who have Order from Dept. H -I hooked alarm clocks to their radio receivers Plie Chiits's,. Include Shipping Charges and Insurance. in order to be waked up the moment WGMS's day starts. Lately commercials have taken rather a severe drubbing. Rogers readily admits there are more of them than formerly, and naturally he's not happy when the increase ELECTRIC COMPANY inspires complaints. But he doesn't apolo- 223 W. Madison St. Chicago 6, Illinois gize. After all, as he points out regularly in Good Murk, our sponsors make our programs

Continued on page 128

126 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com you can hear cents little -mota.. It's true ... HIGH FIDELITY /PHONOGRAPH ONLY $94.45 FULLY GUARANTEED

Unsurpassed in quality by any high fidelity table model phonograph on the market today! Nationally known Heath Dual Record Player is loaded with pleasure -giving features. Automatically plays records of all three sizes and speeds. Dual matched speakers mounted in acoustically correct enclosure faithfully reproduce all the music on the record. Tone arm has ',> -``. dual needle ceramic cartridge. Compact cabinet covered with beautiful two -tone saddle brown and beige proxy - lin impregnated fabric. And remember, this quality, high fidelity phonograph is yours, at the low price of $94.45! Constructed from Heathkit RP -2, tuned and tested by experts, on your order. Shipping weight, 32 lbs. Tho ACT NOW, ORDER NOW, START ENJOYING HIGH FIDELITY ! With your order, please Write for prices and complete information on CLARKSlAN R/20/ enclose check or money construction or any amplifier or pre -amplifier order.Shipped express on ly kit, or see our advertisements in September magnetic pickup with sapphire F. O. B. Benton Harbor. and November 1953 issues of High Fidelity. stylus: net price $15.00 Disc-over for yourscll the truly exciting difference a Clarkstan Magnetic Pickup gives to your music enjoyment -a difference you can hear. If your ear is tuned to the finest in sound, you'll want the vivid, life -like reproduction obtainable only with the Clarkstan RV 201 Variable Reluctance Pickup -over 15,000 cycles of low distortion, flat response is yours. Ask your hi -fi sound obber to let you hear this difference. Then you, too, will join the growing thousands of discriminating music lovers who buy only the best in pickups -the Clarkstan RV 201. a sound investment... Type -Magnetic, variable reluctance with removable stylus. Armature - Stylus is armature; weight 31mg(.031g) Response -Flat to over 15,000 cps. Stylus- Sapphire with standard .003" radius ball point or .0012" as desired. Styli are interchangeable and replaceable. Other sizes available. V Needle Force -5 to 7 g for LP microgroove; as low as 9 g for standard records. CANADA'S FIRST HIGH -FIDELITY RADIO, Output -60 my at 1000 cps with lateral PHONOGRAPH, RECORD AND TELEVISION CENTRE displacement of .001 ". Recommended Termination -High Stromberg- Carlson "Custom 400" Wide -Range High -Fidelity Radio, impedance. Phonograph and Television Equipment Electrical Characteristics - Inductance 350 milihenries at 1000 cps; 'Q' 1.05; Hallicrafters High- Fidelity Tuners and Amplifiers, DC Resistance 1450 ohms. Short Wave Communications Equipment and Television Mounting - Standard holes lí" between Fisher High- Fidelity Tuners, Master Audio Controls and Amplifiers centers, 3 -48 screws. Concertone Tape Recorders Columbia "360" Phonographs Weight -:30 gram. Pilot High -Fidelity Tuners, Amplifiers and Preamplifiers River Edge Custom Cabinets - - Sonotone Ceramic Cartridges SEE YOUR HI -Il SOUND JOBBER OR WRITE FACTORY Electro-Voice Speaker Enclosures and Sound Equipment Consoles All makes of High -Fidelity Records including special Pacific Transducer Corp., Dept. H -14 imports from Europe and U. S. A. 11921 West Pico Blvd. Los Angeles 64, California Send me free literature on the Clarkstan RV 201 Magnetic Pickup. Wiz:Ain duci a cm et 144 idn NAME__ 390 Eglinton West Telephone HUdson 1 -1119 Toronto, Ontario ADDRESS CITY

JANUARY - FEBRUARY, 1954 127

www.americanradiohistory.com ! WGMS Continued from page 126 ...THE SUPERB NEW possible." On the other side, numerous listeners have praised the commercials for SPEAKER SYSTEM their restraint. There are a couple of things, apparently, THAT PAINTS THE about which everybody is happy. One is WGMS's former weekly jazz program, which TRUE COLORS was opposite the New York Philharmonic. When it was dropped, nobody said a word. The other thing is singing commercials. OF SOUND On WGMS, they are flatly banned.

IN ONE EAR Continued from page 47 THE PORTRAITIST $335 complete brilliant it sounds. Reed winds and strings especially sound brighter and cleaner of edge Just as a great artist transfers to canvas the real beauty when pushed above their normal operating of his subject, so does this unique speaker system re- ceiling; and conductors, as a caste, love for create in your living room the true image of the orig- orchestras to make brilliant sounds at the inal performance. top. The rise in pitch did much to brighten The Cross -Coupled loudspeaker system, as described in High Fidelity (November- December 1953), produces up orchestral concerts, wow audiences, and the complete range of audible sound without boomy bass lead to the aggrandizement of conductors; or shrieking highs. Employing a totally new concept of what it did to performers - particularly design, this 3- speaker assembly renders full living -room singers - is another matter. dispersion of middles and highs with a foundation of For example, under the old American smooth, rich bass. Wharfedale loudspeakers are used THE MURALIST concert pitch a soprano singing music by exclusively. $310 complete Mozart would have to sing a pitch actually Models are available for corner or wall placement; furnished in light, medium, or dark Philippine Mahogany. higher than an eighteenth- century sopranos Other woods and finishes can he obtained on special high C to reach a tone notated by the com- order. poser (and presumably thought of by him) as a B. The 440 vps standard isn't so bad - Dealer inquiries incited quite - but the strain imposed by the rise in pitch will be very apparent to you if you THE RAM COMPANY P.O. BOX 221A GREAT BARRINGTON. MASS. will go over to the piano and sing the highest tone you can reach comfortably, then up it a semitone (let alone a full tone) and see how it feels to try. Not very nice, is it? So pity the poor people who make their bread and butter that way. The intervals between B flat and B and MASCO SELECT OR EQUALIZATION between B and C may not look like much, WITH 8 POSITION just written out, but they can be as impass- FIDELITY able as the Grand Canyon for a singer gives You HIGH live and breathe. pushed to the extreme limit of his range. a recording instrument in Similarly, although it might not sound bad that makes every at all, a fine eighteenth- century violin does not benefit from the extra stresses imposed by the tighter stringing necessary to raise pitches thirty vibrations higher than the original design took into account. MASCO Many attempts have been made to bring 10 -Watt ILl1 Custom about some kind of unanimity about pitch High and to eliminate dangerous excesses. The Fidelity Amplifier first formal action was taken by a group of physicists who met in Stuttgart in 1884 and adopted a standard A of - surprise! - Selects and correctly compensates for 440 vps just like the latest London confer- the characteristics of TV tuner, radio tuner, crystal ence Nobody paid much attention, though, phonograph pickup; plus magnetic phonograph pickup j 1889 equalized for FIVE different recording characteristics in- and in an orchestral standard A of cluding the NEW ORTHOPHONIC RECORDING CURVE. 435 vps was adopted (backed by the famous Diapson Normal tuning bar, which, Wide range frequency response -20 to 20,000 cycles although cherished in a vault at the ± V2 db. Ten watts of power output at less than 1% Conserva- harmonic distortion. Recorder output jack permits re- toire, turned out to have an actual vibration cording while listening. rate of 435.45; so much for the fallibility of standards). A number of orchestras, Unsurpassed In high tonal definition, in faithfulness of reproduction, In hearing satisfaction. Hear It today at including the Boston Symphony, adopted your dealer's. the French figure. However, standards or no standards, conductors have always had a tendency to SOUND squeeze the pitch of their orchestras up a EQUIPMENT MARK SIMPSON MFG. CO., Inc. few vibrations in search of that little bit of extra brilliance and the hell with vocal 32 -28 49th Street Long Island City 3, N. Y. - soloists who can't make it. Just like tweeter - /%/i,,, Continued on page 131

128 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com Here is an amplifier that looks v as good as it sounds. The .. McGOHAN 30'*` WATT o WA -325 combines the superb z audio quality of the well - FirI With Ille ULTRA -LINEAR known Ultra- linear William. 3 son Circuit with on attractive- HI -FI AMPLIFIER ness unequaled at any price. Finest! G You won't need a cabinet for only $109.50 net o this beautiful chassis, finished in metallic maroon, with white lettering and chrome plated z transformers. The perfect preamplifier for z the WA -325, or any other n amplifier, the WA -300- pre. amp and tone control unit V with self- contained power sup - o 0 ply. Compare its features, listed at the left, with similar, a more expensive units. The WA -300 is only $49.50 not. WA -325 Ultra -Linear Amplifier o Frequency Response -20- 60,000 cps, w I db. 0 at 25 watts é 'Interrnodulation Distortion -Less than 1% at 30 watts, equivalent sine wave power. ó Harmonic Distortion -Less thon 0.5% at 25 watts. Feedback db. 3D -20 O Hum and Noise Level -85 db. below 25 watts. 0 Output Impedance-8 and 16 ohms. a. Tubes- 2- 6SN7GT, 2 -KT66, 1.5V4G. n i Dimensions -I 4' long, 71/2' deep, 6' high. r These fine McGohan products were 2 -AC Outlets awarded the Medal of Merit for out- Preamp and Tone Control C COMPLETE WA -300 standing design and performance at $q27.50 Five Position Selector Switch for radio or auxiliary inputs and for LP, AES and Foreign record com- N the International Sight and Sound SYSTEM L net pensation. A Exhibition. Seven Inputs-high and low gain radio, high and Control unit only $120 net low gain ouxiliury and three phono inputs for GE, IMMEDIATE DELIVERY Pickering and Andas pickups. Amplifier only $130 net Calibrated Tone Controls -Bass, +17 to -15 FROM STOCK AT db. treble, 15 to -18 db. Frequency Range -20- 20,000 cps, I db Inc. Tubes- 12AX7, 12ÁU7 ARPIO SALES, 3 -AC Outlets 4305 N. Lincoln Aye., Chicago 18, III. BEAM (PUJAD Dimensions-11%' long, 5y5' deep, 5I/ high. AMPLIFIER . CONTROL i_TNI'l' Prove it to yourself ... here is P E N T R O N hi -fi tape recorder perfection, not only technical ... but musical as well I A unique engineering achievement, the Beam Quad Unit offers you a new standard in listening pleasure ... a new high in perfection!

Full range fidelity 10 to 60,000 Model 91 -3M 2 -speed Model Pre -7 Model PM( cps. Push -button recording Tope Mechanism. $59.75 Matching Pre -Amplifier. $39.75 houses both units. 5114.50 equalization and program selection. Plug in matching to pick- Professional features at o price you can afford up type. Complete input flexi- Pshpull speed change 3.75" and 7.5" ips. bility. Built in pre -Amp 1.5 Up to 2 hours recording and playback. - Wind or rewind 1200 ft. in 40 seconds. 40 m V sensitivity. Automatic Install Pentron equipment, Flutter 0.3% at 7.5 ", 0.5% at 3.75 ". circuit correction ... and many, Frequency response: ± 3db, SO to 11,500 cps of 7.5 custom -style, in your own ips; ± 3 db, 50 to 6,500 cps at 3.75 ips. cabinets. Or, carry it as a many morel Complete specifica- Inputs: radio, phonograph, microphone Outputs: portable ready to tion on request! audio amplifier, headphones. combination Industry's most complete line of accessories plug into any sound system. Mail and Phone Orders Ac- cepted, 25% Deposit, Balance THE PENTRON CORPORATION C.O.D. Send for New Hi -Fi 664 -Hp North Michigan Ave., Chicago 11, III. Catalogue! Please send complete specifications on your High Fidelity equipment and tell me where I can hear nearest demonstration. LEONARD RADIO 69 Cortlandt Street NO OBLIGATION NEW YORK CITY Send this coupon STATI- J COrtlandt 7 -0315

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www.americanradiohistory.com IN ONE EAR Continued from page 128 lovers: Anything for higher highs. In actual practice, the pitch of most or- the new H. H. Scott « 99 PREAMPLIFIER, chestras has a way of varying with the wea- INCLUDES EQUALIZER - 10 -WATT AMPLIFIER, AND POWER SUPPLY. ther, since the oboe is commonly used as $9995 - a tuning yardstick, and reeds are affected by atmospheric changes. Physicists have talked n et themselves blue in the face about this, tru ing to get orchestras to use tuning bars forks, but they have never made much headway against tradition. In May, 1939, an international conference on pitch was held in London (does this sound familiar ?), and it was unanimously agreed to recommend to all interested organizations the adoption of a 440 vps A The recommendation was accepted variably, THE TYPE 99 -A TRANSCRIPTION AMPLIFIER

I equalizer-pre , plili_i . 111 s .. It .,o'I' lilrr, and leaser but in this country - aside from conduc- An I I. I. Matt professional tors' sneaking it up a little now and then - suppl -- all complete in only I WI a SS/i s si' I un lip : -p.rr: te for er anal the 440 A is pretty generally recognized. In mlfofT controls give 9 Noah zation runes. Cuntinunu.I, s.o6,I I. 6.1...oä trrl,lr .o Inisla,I e rom - order to assist musical organizations in cut and lamsl. Aulunntir loudness control will, continuoa.ly and TV. Inputs for o,agnrtil, maintaining consistent pitch, the Bureau of ptnsation. Input selector for phono, tuner. tags. crystal. and constant -amplitude pickups and for Dynluurol nuise suppm -sur and Standards broadcasts a 44o vps signal from duhhing records on tape. Level control for different pickup.. Ruu1hlr filer ville Washington, but the only orchestra I know sharp cutoff helow 20 cps prevenir suhaudihlr verload. Oldput loirs auto- of that uses it for concerts is the Baltimore matically haslam ado speaker outlasts J, 8, 16. and Sff) oluus. \ \rile for Irte Symphony, which began in 1952 to bring Looks t \o. 111''1- 54.. \t only .stO,U ), it's cour L,.l Luc a little receiver out and tune up by the hum from Washington instead of by the oboe. Just to show that the orchestra has no monopoly on A signals, the management of the National Festival Hall in London has HERMON an intermission -recall signal that sounds an FIOSMER INC. A - presumably a 44o vps one, although S C O T T, some orchestras on the Continent still tune 99 PAC KA6F0 FNG/NFER/NG 99 to 435 vps or some other value known only 385 PUTNAM AVE. CAMBRIDGE 39, MASS. to them. Maybe it's my turntable that needs adjusting. I wonder what the Soviet Union A is, but they probably wouldn't tell. Come to think of it, I probably don't wally care at all. FOR THE -414 QJSI HIGH FIDELITY

Charivariety SOUND EQUIPMENT No. 905 Record Cabinet -Pc Speaking of pitches (or were we ?), space for over the spade foot, a variety of burrowing toad, records 579.95 is a said to baa like sheep in the key of G No. 910 major. This could be confusing to sheep- Equipment Cabinet For changer. dogs, I imagine, unless sheep avoid G / tuner. amplifier: with room for major out of deference to spadefeet (spade - small speaker $99.95 foots?). Has anyone data on the keys in which sheep baa? Or on burrowing toads HUBBELL CABINETS of that kind tuned in keys other than the are built with an eye for beauty prescribed? Here is a standing offer of five 11 bucks for an E minor spadefoot or a bonded and an ear for perfect sound-reproduction . . . recording of one. Don't ask why. No. 900 Speaker Enclosure finest craftsmanship -10.- In case anyone wonders about the Acoustically perfect with lustrous hand -rubbed finish, for any standard large inside and out. They are acoustically engineered and effect high frequencies on living speaker 569.95 of tissue, constructed to eliminate all vibration and distortion, they may get an idea from consideration of giving you the finest sound your Hi -Fi system can this. Radio station WOR has a 50,00o -watt produce. All cabinets are available in Genuine Mahogany, transmitter at Carteret, New Jersey, with a Oak, Walnut, Maple, light and dark finishes - four grounding coil in Casey Creek; when the different units, sold separately or in any combination. station broadcasts really high notes the fish Our cabinets are backed by years of experience in in the creek get so upset that they float belly - manufacturing America's most famous radio and up until things return to (relative) normal. television cabinets. Sold direct from factory. Use the Units line up flush. form coupon for complete information. Now do you know what that feeling is? attractive grouping One J. Murray Barbour, of the music department of Michigan State College, r claims to have developed a mathematical H. L. HUBBELL MFG. CO. formula that will give DEPT. HF -14, ZEELAND, MICHIGAN "a truer pitch to the For complete sharp major thirds of the piano." Since this illustrated liter- Pleose send me FREE illustrated literature on c ature. send cou- your High Fidelity Cabinets requires an octave of at least 53 notes (118, pon to: if you want to be a perfectionist) nobody is Nome_ likely to build a piano that way; and if No. 925 Record Cabinet Address anybody did, you would have to ride on a with unique pull -out drawers for record Guy State Continued on page 132 storage $54.95

JANUARY- FEBRUARY, 1954

www.americanradiohistory.com IN ONE EAR \ Continued from page 130

motor scooter to play it. Doesn't make any difference, none at all. Just thought some- THE ONLY TAPE RECORDER body might like to know. "Suppose," said a friend ro Arturo UNDER $1000 WITH ALL THESE FEATURES lToscanini, you were on a desert island and all you could take along with you was one Designed for Custom, Console, or * opera .. ." The maestro thought deeply Portable installation 4 and painfully for a few moments; then his response features relaxed. "I would drown myself," \ 50- 15,000 CPS frequency he said serenely. So much for Building Your with negligible distortion Record Library, the desert island game, and the tape similar pursuits. The old are often wise. from would- visit -if-I- had -a- Heads - Monitor recording MODEL it Add places-I- 3 while 1501 time- machine. The place: Metropolitan and House. The date: February 6, root). tape ion Opera for superb ná The opera: La Traviata (Act I). The cast: 3 Motors Violetta Marcella Sembrich forward Professional Users Flora Geraldine Farrar election oapc%4u Enrico Caruso autom u Ws Net $34500 Alfredo Instantan with tape threading Baron Douphol Antonio Scotti Doctor Grenville Adamo Didur Straightltne 162-¡ucb Marquis d'Obigny ....Pasquale Amato ylay 1p extensionto bs , 1p1 Gastone Angelo Bada tracIL eu``ErN \s "^tIntercb é nbla.AN The occasion: The farewell program of t l Mme. Sembrich. E fOr Matt -1 The recording cherub who appears in \\ Angel Records advertisements is a ringer, Manufc,,.red by if a diligent one, for the cherub who sits by the spindle on the actual record labels. Berlant Associates The label cherub, who hasn't changed since 1898, is a little, snivelly- looking number who has cut only four grooves with her 4917 W. Jefferson Boulevard Les Angeles 51, California (maybe angels are neuter, but this one is on the feminine side) feather stylus; the advertising cherub, up to date, is prettier, more demure, and looks quietly pleased at having cut six grooves in her disk - obviously a microgroove cherub, glad to have a job.

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This new amplifier uses a circuit and components which have been accepted as providing the most realistic and natural sound both at the lowest pianissimo levels and at crashing crescendi. The silkiness of string instruments and the crisp clean character of percussive instruments are brought out with clarity and definition without harshness or stridency. Weal A Rearl8arr9oieae? Modern design Chrome -plated chassis Easy mounting Compact construction Top grade components You'll find one on our Sub- If not available at your local jobber, write direct. Send for FREE descriptive scription bind -in page, opposite literature. Saaex, 9fec. 245 Samson St., Upper Darby, Pa. page lQ0.

132 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

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GUIDE TO AUDIO REPRODUCTION Stories of the Great Ballets, by Gladys thermore, Mr. Pegler's concession has been by David Fidelman Davidson. 486 pages. Color frontis- amplified by a variety of people including piece; photographs. Cloth. British Book Serge Koussevitzky ("He's a very able man Here's an a to z explanation of the reproduc- he did a splendid Centre, New York, 1953. $3.25. in his line. For his union tion of sound . from the fundamentals to job. ") and a former vice president of CBS, all phases of audio reproduction systems. Design, construction and assembly of these As the preface says, Gladys Davidson has H. Ream ( far as I Mr. Joseph "So know, systems and their components. Comprehen- produced "simply a book of romantic stories, Petrillo is always a gentleman. ") sive methods for testing individual units. derived from some of the most famous Such statements are perhaps surprising Explanation of circuitry of pre -amplifiers and Ballets." And a horrid mess it is. amplifiers. Complete discussion of pick -up to those who recall the period from 1939 to devices (phono cartridges, tuners and micro - ,- Miss Davidson - whose other publica- 1948 when the "gentleman" who has done phones), loudspeakers and enclosures. tions include such fascinating titles as Charts, tables and graphs keep mathematics such a "splendid" job was most commonly to minimum. Engineers will value tie book Talking to Animals and At the IVhipsnade Zoo referred to as a "dictator" -a word which for design charts and testing methods. Prac- - has selected 76 ballets, most of them from at that time carried roughly the same impli- tical circuits for home or custom construction enable building of systems tailor -made the British and French repertoires, for her cation as "communist' does today. To lo individual needs. ONLY $3.50 ministrations. Eschewing the distractions explain the evolution of the descriptive of technical or musical information, she labels applied to Petrillo is the task Robert has told the stories as they seem to her Leiter sets for himself in this book. He ap- not as they seem to their choreographers or proaches it as a labor- economist (which he necessarily to anybody else. She does her is, at the City College of New York) and HIGH FIDELITY story- telling in the past tense and with a the result is a thoroughly competent study peculiarly condescending and obnoxious of the American Federation of Musicians. SIMPLIFIED brand of auntie- Gladys -put- baby -to- sleep- It is unfortunate that Mr. Leiter does not by H. D. Weiler sleep unctuousness and soggy cliché. treat us to a more extensive study of Petrillo, "In the quaint little villages snuggling the man. However, what glimpses we do amidst the romantic forest and mountain get are intriguing. LIFE magazine's June 15, 1953 Issue reported regions of the Rhineland, many strange and James Caesar Petrillo was born in Chi- enthusiastically how "High Fidelity Simpli- mystic legends of fairies so begins fied" - the only book quoted - expains the ..." - cago on the wrong side of the stockyards, complete Hi -FI RADIO story. -Television News the authoress' (anybody with a style like in 1892. As a youth he was ambitious, stated: "Those planning high fidelity music systems for that deserves to be called an "authoress ") engaging in a number of activities which their homes will save themselves time, money and trouble by reading this first, account of Giselle, which trips across the Horatio Alger, Jr. has prescribed as fitting then making purchases. emerald grass, into the deep mysterious education for all red -blooded American ex- Typical Chapters: Sound!; Acoustics, Elec- glade where the airy-fairy sprites were tronics and Music; The Simple Loudspeaker; ecutives (it is indeed interesting to reflect The High -Fidelity Loudspeaker; Loudspeaker fated to dance until four o'clock (interesting that in the loth century, organized labor Enclosures; The Basic Amplifier; The Ampli- detail, that), until the reader is told that fier -Part 2; The Record Player; The Tuner; has been developed under the same type Use of the Music System; Tape Recorders. . the lovely sylph form of Giselle of men which developed U. S. industry in vanished from sight behind the little white the 19th century): he sold newspapers ONLY $2.50 cross on her grave - around which sweet - and later peanuts, ran an elevator, drove a scented flowers were already blossoming ..." delivery truck and managed a cigar store. And Gait! Parisienne: "On the terrace of He was also a second -rate trumpet player. OBTAINING Tortoni's Restaurant in Paris a scene of was a first However, he rate organizer and AND I irresponsible gaiety was to be observed one at 14 had his own band. When his "lip gave summer afternoon." Or Scheherazade: "In out" (this loss was not linguistic, as numer- INTERPRETING the gorgeous harem of Schahriar, King of ous business executives and Congressmen TEST SCOPE India and China, one quickly became lost can testify), he switched to union politics TRACES in a sea of rich passionate colour and per- and by 1922 was President of the Chicago by John F. Rider fumed air .. . local of the AFM. He rapidly emerged as a The main usefulness of a book covering power in union politics and by 1939 it was People interested in audio will welcome this book which shows over 500 actual photo- the ground here floated over by Miss generally conceded that he was the tail that graphs of test scope traces. Complete expla- Davidson would be as a reference to plots of wagged the dog the dog being the then nation of how to use scopes and what test ballets unfamiliar in this country. But I, - scope traces mean. Valuable for audio sys- national President of the AFM, Joseph N. tems and test equipment and also for TV for one, would rather remain totally ignorant Weber. The following year Petrillo was receivers, and FM and AM receivers. Specific of the plot of Three Virgins and a Devil say, elected President and since time few test equipment set -ups are shown with each that application. There is rio other book like it! a than put up with telling that begins; opponents in or out of the union have Typical Chapters: What's in a Scope; Getting "One pleasant summer day three charming succeeded in wagging him. Familiar with the Scope; Auxiliary Test a Equipment for the Scope; Using the Scope young virgins set out together to take Both as a local and national President he for Checking Test Equipment; Checking country walk." Quite a book. Goo! J.H., Jr. has operated with a relentless urge to elevate Audio Systems With the Scope; the Scope's use in Checking Components, and four other the lot of the musician, a goal which any chapters. musician in the country will agree has been ONLY $2.40 The Musicians and Petrillo, by Robert achieved. However, his tactics have often Buy these books now D. Leiter. 202 pages. Cloth. Bookman been a little rough. In 1939, while still from your Jobber, local bookstore or, If Associates. New York, 1953. $3.75. President of the Chicago local, he clashed unavailable from these sources, write to: with John L. Lewis of the CIO concerning knowl- "Petrillo is, to my almost certain jurisdiction over the nation's musicians. not a edge and to my strong conviction, Petrillo ordered Chicago theatres to elimin- crook." This statement should not be JOHN F /MR ate all mention of the name of John L. that it was taken as faint praise, considering Lewis from two plays then being performed: PUBLISHER, INC. made by that self -appointed judge of crooks 480 Canal Street, New York 13, N. Y. and non -crooks, Westbrook Pegler. Fur- Continued on page J35

JANUARY- FEBRUARY, T954 133

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134 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com BOOKS

Continued from page 133

George Whites Scandals and The Man Who Here's how to make Came to Dinner. The reaction was violent and Petrillo withdrew the order with a characteristic Petrilloism: "They said I was unconstitutional and all that stuff. I never had nothing like that in mind ... I just HIGH FIDELITY thought I'd push Lewis around a little." Petrillo's attempt to push NBC around in 1942 by ordering it to ban a series of concerts given by the summer music school at mean what it says! Interlochen, Michigan, caused an even greater public explosion. The move was part of Petrillo's general war against amateur music broadcasts which, he maintained, resulted in unemployment of professional OUT! musicians. It was a rash step, eventually JUST leading to the Lea Act, which sharply cur- tailed the powers of the union. Petrillo fought the Lea Act all the way to the Su- preme Court, but when it declared the Act A COMPLETE GUIDE TO BETTER constitutional, he said: "The Supreme Court HIGH -FIDELITY EQUIPMENT, CIR- has spoken; I bow to its dictates." However, one thing Petrillo has not CUITS, CONSTRUCTION, SERVICE bowed to yet is the growing practice of and better results! playing records on radio stations - thus increasing - he argues - unemployment of Get better results from "hi -fi" by having all musicians (his favorite subject). His battle of the facts and latest ideas at your fingertips! with technology was temporarily quieted in 1948 - after a 12 month ban on the making This big new book by one of the nation's of records - when the AFM signed a con- acknowledged experts brings you the complete tract with the recording companies setting "low -down" on modern sound reproduction up a generous musician's fund. However, HIGH FIDELITY methods and equipment. It shows exactly how the contract expires at the end of 1953. to get best results at minimum cost; discusses It is generally expected that Petrillo will not TECHNIQUES all details of circuitry, components and equip- pass up the opportunity to push the record by john H. New HI ment; covers the service angles; compares the companies around a little. If he does it will Staff, Mass. Inst. of Technology be the first time. R. H. H., Jr. 494 pages, 203 illustrations different methods - and is chock full of how - Price $7.50 to-do-it tips and ideas. Some Enchanted Evenings, The Story of Rodgers and Hammerstein, by Deems ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT HI -FI Taylor. 244 pages. Illustrations and Chock full of how- to -do -it tips and ideas index. Cloth. Harper & Bros., New York, $3.95. Here are just a few of the subjects covered: What to look for in high fidelity equipment - what to avoid Getting reproduction to suit your taste Some unusual As Mr. Taylor wisely informs the reader in "hi -fi" combinations Hi -fi vs. P.A. type speakers Matching the reproducer to it his introduction to Some Enchanted Evening. environment Loudspeaker construction and performance Adjusting bass -reflex cabinets Controlling distortion A novel horn system Baffles rid of his latest book is not a biography but a Getting "overhang" The best reproducer enclosure Choosing a reproducer Selecting story. He could have gone a step further, a woofer-tweeter combination Sound -proofing materials How grillwork affects in all fairness, and called it a catalog, attenuation Output transformer specifications and what they mean Special hi -fi probably the most debonair and amiable circuits Proper crossover frequencies Do's and don'ts of volume expansion Prac- catalog of the year. What it amounts to, tical ways to suppress noise A good tone control Negative feedback and how in short, is a faithful record of the births, to use it Pre -amps and equalizers Amplifier construction hints Judging com- marriages, travels, and opening-and-closing- mercial amplifiers F -M tuners Minimizing tuner distortion Avoiding chatter night dates that marked, first, the early and crosstalk Limiter -discriminator vs. ratio detector FM circuits All about records and record players Selecting turntables -up separate careers of Mr. Rodgers and Mr. and pick cartridges Avoiding record wear A comprehensive course in magnetic recording Hammerstein and, finally their pheonomen- Pick -up resonance, its cause and cure Choosing a recorder Tips for custom builders Special installa' ally successful collaborations. As such, it lion problems Typical "hi -fi" installations Bass -reflex calculations and design does its job with good nature, thorough- charts Acoustical horn design data . . and dozens of other subjects. ness, and accuracy. Read it for 10 days AT OUR RISK! Use coupon. Rodgers and Hammerstein were always within hailing distance of each other. "Both 'I men were brought up in the same environ- Dept. 111. ¿4 Rinehart Books, Inc., Technical both went Division ment, to Columbia University, 232 Madison Ave., New York 16, N. Y. and have strikingly similar tastes Both ... Send HIGH FIDELITY TECHNIQUES by Newitt have maintained the same standard of living for 10 -day FREE examination. If I decide to keep the book, for twenty -five years. Both spent some un- -DAY I will then remit ä7.50 plus postage. Otherwise I will happy years in Hollywood. Furthermore, 10 return book postpaid promptly and owe you nothing. (If in a burst of unanimity that seems a little you send cash with order, we pay postage - same return excessive, each has a wife named Dorothy privilege with money refunded.) who is an interior decorator." When they FREE Name got together to do a show for the - near Address bankrupt Theater Guild to be called Away IPe Go - later retitled Oklahoma! - it was EXAMINATION City, Zone, State inevitable that there would be enormous OUTSIDE U.S.A. - Price $5.00, cash only. Money bock if book is returned postpaid in days. Continued on page 137 10

JANUARY- FEBRUARY, 1954 135

www.americanradiohistory.com 1Llitxood The Finest in Remote Control Television Receivers with High Fidelity Audio Output Complete 2- chassis system featuring the New 27" Rectangular Picture Tube ALSO AVAILABLE FOR 21 AND 24 INCH PICTURE TUBES For the finest in television picture of the Super Cascode type, com- quality, with the convenience of pletely adaptable to UHF by sim- electronic remote control, enjoy ple interchange of strips. UHF pro- the many features of the Fleet- vision on tuner dial. Four I. F. wood. A complete two chassis, full Stages and full 4 megacycle band - remote control television system, pass. Separate cathode followers built to professional standards for audio and video. Audio Outputs: which provides high fidelity audio 4 watts for loudspeaker; both high outputs to match the finest home impedance and cathode follower music systems. for connection to existing amplifier. Tuner and Picture Chassis 15 or 12 in. The separate tuner chassis, with Both edgelit dial and individual channel attractively finished in gray and Bass Reflex Cabinet pilot lamps, includes off -on, vol- black baked enamel. ume, picture channel selection and Also available without remote control. fine tuning controls. The tuner is SEE YOUR LOCAL JOBBER OR WRITE SEE US AT THE L. A. AUDIO FAIR, FEB. 4, 5 and 6 //1 CO N RAC, INC. Since 1939 Glendora, California at moderate cost* N E W W I L L I A M S O N T Y P E Every essential for superb tone -3¢" wood sides, 3/" acoustic lining, 4.3 cu. ft. I2/earuve44 capacity, heavy construction (wt. 31 lbs). But moderate coat with leatherette covered sides. Hand rubbed solid mahogany or blonde hardwood around front adds genuine richness. Compare it with any AMPLIFIER KIT other and see for yourself. Only $45.00 net (slightly higher west of Rockies). FEATURES Pixbcally dotti unless. Harmonic and mlermedulanon dolor bon Send for FREE Folder bath less than ew Pall of T% at S watts. Frequency mouse I db him IF cycles to 100 kilocycles. a Attic Lansing PEERLESS et ACROSOUNO Innsformen available. First Williamson type Amplhi spooked loth matching prompbber.

When selecting an amplifier for the heart of a fine high - fidelity audio system. investigate the outstanding advantages offered by the Heathkit Williamson type Amplifier. Here is an amplifier that meets every high -fidelity audio requirement and makes listening to recorded music a thrilling new experience through naturally clear, lifelike reproduction of sound at all tonal levels. Wide acceptance of the .Heathkit Williamson type Amplifier by the most critical pGrchasers clearly demonstrates that high -fidelity can be coupled with low cost. For factual information regarding the Heathkit Williamson type Amplifier, consult "CONSUMERS RE- SEARCH ANNUAL CUMULATIVE BULLETIN 1952 -53." This outstanding amplifier is offered with the optional choice of the ACROSOUND output transformer or the PEER. LESS output transformer. ACROSOUNO features ULTRA. L[NEAR circuitry. which is the exclusive development of the OF VARIOUS COMBINATIONS Atto Products Company and provides a.greater margin of Amplifier Kit 11nni. Main Amplifier reserve efficiency and increases output. PEER- power power Power Supply °tand WA.P1 LESS features additional primary taps to permit the optional f6ac se choice of either the extended power circuitry, now enjoying Wht 391 ins. Shippedtilxore°es current popularity. or all of the advantages of the original W-2M Amplifier Kit 11net. Main Amplifier Williamson type circuit. with Peerleu Output Transformer The construction manual has been simplified to the point only. °9serlbs pShippedhe%preséu49ß where even the complete novice can successfully construct only. the amplifier without difficulty. Write for a free catalogue W.3 Amplifier Kit 11nd. Main Amplifier containing complete specifications and schematics of the ith °und Output Trans. *Hy makers of famous TV Tube Caddy, Williamson type Amplifier. former, Power Supply and WA- Heathkit ll Preamplifler Kit) Shipping Weight 39 lbs. Shipped express IFFYY, only. W -3111 Amplifie. Kit llnel. Main Amplifier with Acrosound Output Trans. Tonner nd Power Supply) Ship- ping Weight 29 lbs. Snipped f4975 presa only. HEATH COMPANY WA.,, Preamplifier Kit enly. Shipping Weight 7 lbs. Snipped express BENTON HARBOR 8, MICH. or parcel post. $19ß

136 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com BOOKS FOR YOUR LIBRARY: Continued from page 135 the Only Complete personal sympathy and rapport between the two. What happened, of course, is an old, on AUDIO! old story. Oklahoma! became the biggest, Reference ON brightest success the American musical theater had ever had. It was soon followed III111 by Carousel, a glowing, sentimental adaptation of Molnai s Liliom, which established FIDELITY Rodgers and Hammerstein as the country's "The Recording & most felicitous lyrist- composer team. Then When you deal with came Allegro, their first flop. The team re- World Radio Laboratories, covered quickly with South Pacific, followed Reproduction with The King I, and you can easily afford the that and opened their latest show, Me And Juliet, last spring to High -Fidelity compon- generally mixed notices. of SOUND" your ents of choice. What does the record indicate? First, READ that the team can work wonders when they by OLIVER Speakers, amplifiers, are adapting someone else's literary material tuners, changers, pre - to the musical stage. Oklahoma! came from amps - everything for Lynn Riggs' Green Grow The Lilacs; Carousel from Liliom; Pacific was the handyman, ama- South based on Cornoletely James Michener's Pulitzer -Prize winning teur, and serviceman! revls:d and collection of short stories, Talcs Of The South vas l( en- Pacific, and The King And I was preceded by TRADE -INS We offer the both a book and movie version of Anna larg:ll new most liberal allowance on Leonowens' experiences in the Siamese ed lion Second, it seems to that when your present equipment. court. show OVER Let us know what you have the basic idea belongs to the team alone, the result is an unfortunate mixture of ho- 800 . . . you'll be amazed at kum, second-rate ideas, and generally over- PAGES our generous trade -ins. reached ambition. Allegro and Me And Juliet are R & H properties, in toto, and A "Must' for TERMS Pay as little as both are soporific shows; Allegro, in fact, Sound Engineer,. Hi- 10% down convenient rarely rose above soap -opera level. Last, Fi Enthusiasts, P. A. ... largest selling Men, Broadmsting terms to fit your Hi -Fi bud- though, the record seems to prove that no matter what Rodgers and Hammerstein book in its field Stations, Recording get. No red tape - we Studios, Students put on the stage, the public will run for it, finance our own paper - fast. Allegro stayed around New York for CONTENTS: name your own terms! 4o weeks. Me And Juliet is doing capacity A Partial List of Authoritative Chapters: business now. Behavior of Sound Waves; Basic Recording Evidently, Mr. Taylor has been able to Methods; Lateral DiscRecording;Microgroove 6' find little drama in the Rodgers and Ham- Recording; The Decibel; Phono Reproducers; merstein collaboration. Their worldly suc- Styli ; Microphones; Loudspeakers and En- nlizcd cess has been brilliant, their hits set records, closures; Dividing Networks and Filters; At- 'Odi or/5/s tenualors and Mixers; Home Music Systems; u Pers on. their "flops" make money. They work P/y house,,. P.A. Systems; Amplifiers; AM and FM Tun- well together, and if Mr. Rodgers' tunes are ers -PLUS HUNDREDS OF OTHER SUBJECTS usually better than Mr. Hammerstein's words, the lyrics sometimes touch an ap- Now you can have all the right answers to qxee' pealing note of simplicity and sincerity. any subject in the field of Audio. Learn how Whether they are revolutionaries of the to select and get the most out of recording theater is another question altogether; at equipment. Tells you how to select the the very least, they are skilled, professional proper amplifier for given applications, how TV workers and possibly America's most popu- to test amplifier performance, how to elimi- Rppp nate hum. Explains microphone, speaker lar theatrical figures. But theirs is a success and pickup principles and selection factors. story without much conflict, and Mr. Shows how to utilize inverse feed -back, ex- Taylor, doing the best he can, makes it panders and compressors. Covers hundreds *114161 steadily readable and sometimes bright. of subjects -a vast wealth of reliable infor- ROBERT KOTLOwiTz mation found in no other single volume. If you work in the field of Audio, this book belongs in your library. Order your copy today! High Fidelity Techniques, by John H. Newitt. 512 pages, 6 x 9 inches. Il- 6' x 9" ONLY $795 lustrated. Cloth. Rinehart Books Inc., Hard Covers WORLD Radio New York, 1953. $7.50. 800 pages 700 illustrations 3415 W. Broadway According to the author, this book was Order from your Parts Council Bluffs, la. Laboratories written primarily for the practising engineer Jobber, or write direct to who is not a specialist in the audio field; HOWARD W. SAMS & CO., INC. 2 E. Indianapolis 5, Ind. for the prospective home constructor of a 13 46th St., (money order) for S World Radio Laboratories, Dept. H 1 high -fidelity system; for the radio service- My (check) 3415 W. Broadway - Council Bluffs, la. man with a firm grasp of electronic principles is enclosed. The Recording d 1954 WRL Radio -TV Catalog (sic) who would like to do custom sound - Send copy(ies) of High -Fidelity Catalog installation work; for recording studios and Reproduction of Sound (RR-2). 57.95 per copy. U. S. Radio Map -25c public -address or sound system operators I 1 Name Nome concerned with installation; and for professional audio technicians, engineers, and Address 1 Address home -receiver designers. The writing level I City Stat. 1 City State Continued on page 139 L

JANUARY- FEBRUARY, 1954 137

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www.americanradiohistory.com BOOKS 6UARANTEED The C -800 is here Continued from page i 37 10 Out- Manufacturer, by the Other Speaker to bring you new is perfectly suitable for that list, with the perform Any of Price qualification that the prospective home Regardless or 1 Enclosure 1 2 constructor had better be armed "with a Any or Size, Using System' record performance! firm grasp of electronic principles," too. Speaker In short, this is not a book for the layman. Coaxial It is a book, though, that has long been needed, and it is well named. An attempt is made to tell the complete story of hi -fi The concisely and thoroughly, from the non- Sensational consumer point of view. Twelve chapters cover the subject from basic physical and psychical effects and definitions through KARLSON acoustics, loudspeakers and enclosures, dis- Ultra Fidelity tortion, circuits and amplifiers, tuners, record players and tape recorders, to custom installation techniques. SPEAKER The author (a member of MIT's engineering staff) states in the preface that ENCLOSURE

there have been built up in the technical Based on an entirely new acous- literature on hi -fi a great many misconcep- tical principle, the NEW KARLSON SPEAKER ENCLOSURE provides tions which, passed on through the years truly Remarkable Performance without question by subsequent writers, conceded by those who hear it to be without equal. It is the became accepted as fact. This is certainly only enclosure with the "point true. He goes on to explain that his work is c source for 3- dimensional sound," the new I designed to bring out the maxi- an attempt to boil down the truly valuable mum efficiency of any high Fidel- progress and to eliminate or refute the non- ity coaxial speaker. Clean, flat bass with no low frequency cut. factual data. His success was, unfortunately, off and no "boom" or thump. cra Ismen 800 less than complete in this respect; but since Optimum transient response tot liveness. Can be placed any- FM -AM TUNER the data referred to are in many cases con- where in room because of excep- troversial, and others before him have "ac- tionally wide angle distribution (120'). Balanced highs and lows cepted as fact" the same opinions, we can- reduced intermodulation and Side Cutaway r e.. . with built -in phono not expect absolute perfection. The im- harmonic distortion. Fundamen. tal coupling below 25 cycles. Plenty of space for preamplifier and portant matter is that this much -needed crossover netwo lis. Solidly constructed of 3/4" ply- book is here. It is unlikely to be improved wood. Outside surfaces covered by Formica, skilfully bonded so it is not detectable from finest wood record equalizer upon for a long while. R. A. finishes -practically indestructible. Dimensions -Size. 3442" high x 22" wide x 18" deep. Cut for 15" speaker. Now -Craftsmen brings you a tuner Shpg. wt. 80 lbs. that matches all your finest records ... Model 15M- Mahogany Finish. t Each Caruso: The Man of Naples and the Model 158 -Blonde Finish. ) NET $117.60 is setting new records for versatility, too. Voice of Gold, by T. R. Ybarra. 315 Model 15PU -Rough Plywood for hidden installation. is further evidence that The C -800 pages. NET ...... $75.00 in high fidelity is Illustrated. Cloth. Harcourt, Craftsmen leadership Brace and Company, New York, Model 15PK -Rough Plywood Kit. NET $45.00 something you can put your finger on, 1953. Satisfaction or money refunded! something you con hear. $4.50. Complete Front. panel. selected equalization for AES, LP Just a little more than half a century has recording creristics. In- SEE, HEAR and COMPARE or EURopean passed since a young Italian tenor named ... verse feedbackf compeateadctdual-triode phono praomp for correct turnover and roll - Enrico Caruso made his debut at the Metro- in our Ultra- Modern off characteristics. politan, and somewhat more than a genera- Improved AM reception. Wider bandwidth AUDIO COMPARISON STUDIOS for better fidelity, and sharper IF bandpass tion since he died, on August 2, 1921. Yet "skirts" for greater selectivity. his name is still a household synonym for Double. shadow tuning eye and AFC (no drift) AFC greatness wherever opera is even vaguely EE! HUDSON on FM simplifies tuning. Front -panel cut -out for tuning weak stations. known, his popular reputation as the tenor HI -FI CATALOG Efficient new layout. Bottom plate, corn. above all others still secure. Both the minimize oscillator 1954 Edition, Just out, the plelely shielded chassis and endurance radiation, assure tuner isolation. breadth of his fame have Buying Guide for Audiophiles

. has Everything in Sound follower audio output for remote something to do, no doubt, with the fact Cathode and Parts. Send 2 volts at less thon tLi% disc. Equipment installations; that he has born just four years before Edi- for your FREE Copy. Detector output also has cathode follower for recording applications. son invented the acoustical phonograph. The IutMOelflREirltldll oisnnutoss Bass and treble controls continuously variable Caruso vocal mechanism came to its first to boost -flat position from attenuation maturity just as the world discovered ,F clearly marked. Selector FM, .: GREAT with AFC, AM, TV, LP, poUR, and FM that there was pleasure to be gained from SALESROOMS,. u wsonCOMP. eue. MA111e.. serve yea' e Mahogany-finish wood cabinet available. sitting at home listening to records. As the ELECTRONIC & SOGNO EQUIPMENT LOW COST! C-400 audio fame of the singer grew, so did the sales of HIGH FIDELITY - Adjoining Radio City Downtown New York In New Jersey amplifier offers 10 wags - 1 db., 15- his records; exceptional indeed was the 20,000 cps., less than 48 West 48 St. 212 Fulton St. 35 William St. phonograph- 1. 1% distortion. New owning family that did not New York 36 New York 7 Newark 2, N. streamlined chassis possess Caruso's Vesti la giubba or Torna d 6.4060 Circle 6 -4060 MArket 4.5151 design. -Circle Sorrie,Yto. By the year of his death close to I Wrde x 1 Hudson Rodio B TV Corp. Dept. G -1 -a- rodoy for r three -and quarter- million dollars had been 48 West 48th St., New York 36, N. Y. ,fo,mol,nn privately realized from recordings alone; the Please send me the following: Victor earnings from Caruso over the years must be astronomical. Free Hi -Fi Catalog. But Caruso's recording sessions were INC. Karlson Enclosure at crattsmen merely a by- product of his career in the opera N. Ave. Dept 11-3, 401 Ravenswood houses of the world, and the popularity of Enclosed is b Chicago 40,111. his recordings was but a faint indication of Name the adulation by those who heard him in the Address on page Continued i40 L --e

JANUARY -FEBRUARY, 1954

www.americanradiohistory.com BOOKS 4Ain9 /Ys New! Continued from page 139 4h61 15 FOR

flesh. And the adulation of those who simply INDIANS... "FOAM DISC" heard him sing was as nothing compared to that of those who knew and loved him as a NOT The Original warm- hearted, generous man. T. R. Ybar- ra's newly- printed biography is timed to Phono Needles! Foam Rubber serve as a semi -centennial tribute to his Metropolitan career. The great pity is Turntable Cover that it is not a better book. 11 ft Avz Reco2ci People who read and admired the author's 441 autobiographical Young Man of Caracas (the reviewer among them) cannot fail to THE HIGH regret that he did not devote the time or St? A "MUST" FOR journalistic energy necessary to produce a FIDELITY RECORD PLAYER. definitive volume - or at least one fresher A NATURAL FOR L.P.'S in both material and insight - out of what FOAM DISC is a latex foam is obviously an affectionate consideration rubber disk s -inch thick, sur- of a figure both important and sympathetic. faced with suede, precision - Basically, the trouble with Enrico Caruso: made to fit the turntable of The Man of Naples and the Voice of Gold is any record player or changer. that the author has placed his reliance al- It slips over the spindle of most entirely on previously published biographies, partial biographies, anecdotal STATI -CLEAN your turntable as easily as a excerpts from the memoirs of associates of record. It comes in exciting Caruso, standard volumes on institutions, colors: red, Kelly green, rus- and a few magazine articles. He makes Anti -Static set, fawn, and dark winter- prefatory acknowledgment of a certain in- Record Spray green. debtedness, to be sure, and offers a bibliog- raphy at the close; there are occasional 'Ruin of Record Grooves by Ground -In Dust CHECK THESE IMPORTANT footnotes when passages are quoted ver- FEATURES! batim. But nowhere does the author indi- Dust is the LP's greatest enemy Cushions your record cate the full extent of his indebtedness to -the major cause of record and authors who have preceeded him. Material needle wear. Commercial tests Baffles surface noise and show a tenfold increase in in the chapter on the Metropolitan-vs - motor rumble record life where dust has Hammerstein battle dates back to Mr. Reduces pull" been eliminated. the "hidden Ybarra's memories from his days as a cub of certain magnetic car- And the experts agree with reporter, and there is an apparently recent thousands of satisfied users - tridges on steel turntables interview with Geraldine Farrar; otherwise Walco STATI -CLEAN is the record owner's Stops record slippage the book is most accurately described as an best defense against dust! This miracle anti- Saves record and needle assembling of biographical data and anec- static spray cleans the disc surface, stops static wear dotes from various more or less familiar electricity that attracts dust, static created by sources. handling and "dusting" discs. Stati -Clean lasts Audio engineers attest dozens of plays -no need to reapply each time. This is not to say that a putative biog- more output Tested by leading laboratories. Reports and rapher, years after the death his Keeps records cleaner 3o of subject, user testimonials on request. Comes complete Replaces worn turntable should not make use of all available ma- with new, self -impregnating applicator cloth. terials. But when the casual, non -expert surface reader can go through a book and say to ...and after you Spray Safe, Play Safe! Prevents expensive needle himself "that is a paraphrase from Gatti - breakage Casazza and Howard Taubman," "that is Recommended by audio from Kolodin," or "that is from Dorothy manufacturers and broad- Caruso's book," he can't help feeling that ILJLLiJV 4}" it all might have been better had the author cast studios WORLD'S GREATEST NAME IN done a little more digging in newspaper REPLACEMENT PHONOGRAPH NEEDLES ORDER YOURS TODAY! files and talking to old singers and con- Send check or money order: ductors, and less assembling of thrice - Needles can become instruments of torture to add 30¢ mailing charge. List familiar anecdotes from thrice- familiar books. record grooves. No needle is "permanent." name, address, diameter Toscanini, after all, crochety though he is, The average needle is rated only 15 to 40 hours. your After a "flat" develops, it becomes a chisel, is still alive; so is Tullio Serafin. Giuseppe of your turntable, color you shearing the highs, ruining groove walls. Bamboschek is the man who called Gatti prefer, maker, 45 rpm slip -on Protect your record investment, by periodic the night Caruso hemorrhaged during a replacement with high -quality Walco needles. spindle yes or no, and whether d'Amore or performance of L'Elisir in Brook- There's one for every make of phonograph and you want % -in. on suede, lyn, and he could have been reached by a cartridge. (Walco needles are first choice of plain % -in. telephone call to Philadelphia; so why re- major phonograph manufacturers.) Best of all, FOAM DISC PRICES: produce the standard story from the Gatti - there's the superb Walco Diamond -the most economical of needles because it lasts 10 Casazza -cum- Taubman book? Rosa Pon - Diameter up to -in. $2.50 is safest for records. Ask selle lives in Baltimore, Frieda Hempel in the longest, Diameter up to 12 -in... $3.50 your Walco dealer to show you proof of New York, Giovanni Martinelli in New Diameter over 12- in.... $4.50 diamond's superiority. York, and so on. If Mr. Ybarra had talked to them he might have produced a freshly GET STATI -CLEAN AND WALCO NEEDLES TURNTABLE AT YOUR RECORD DEALER'S TODAY! PRODUCTS CO. informative book instead of a pastiche. Admittedly, he would have difficulty inter- If your dealer can't supply you, send us his name. 285 Willow Ave. viewing Scotti or Tamagno without the T,ode Nome of Ekdrovox o., Inc. Lyndhurst, New Jersey aid of a medium, but uncritical reliance on I ..IDI Lid DISC 6OFranklin St., East Orane, NJ. Exclusive manufacturers of F'0:1.1I Continued on page 142

140 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

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JANUARY -FEBRUARY, 1954 141

www.americanradiohistory.com BOOKS DIAMOND NEEDLES Continued from page 140 secondary sources never did any biography good. The end product is a book that has the skeletal facts clear and anthologizes the most familiar of the huge body of Caruso anecdotes, but is not especially well written and never contributes much really new material or synthesizes the old into any- Osmium Stylus Sapphire Stylus Diamond Stylus after 15 playing hrs after 30 playing hrs. after 300 thing like a new or freshly revealing por- playing hrs. trait of the man and artist. Not a bad book for CLARITY and FIDELITY of tone by any means, but a disappointing (and expensive) one. for LONGER LIFE of your records Perhaps all of this is cavil. Perhaps the present canon of small talk is enough Here is just about the LOWEST PRICE anywhere for a genuine, - unconditionally or all there is - to explain of an artist who, guaranteed diamond stylus. This is it -the top if not in the primary sense creative, was quality! Each diamond tip is custom formed, micro -calibrated, strikingly re- creative enough to have the meticulously examined for flaws -highly polished to ride your operatic world at his feet. But there would fine record grooves smoothly for brilliant clarity and the highest seem to be room still for a really scholarly fidelity possible. Retains its tip form 100 times longer than a evaluation of the pheonomenon that was sapphire. Enrico Caruso, of the reaction he evoked, TO ORDER, send us your needle or cartridge, and check or and of the times in which he achieved his money order for $10 (Pickering cartridge, $15.00). If your old success. No matter how scholarly, it could needle cannot not be dull, for Caruso, as the present vol- be forwarded, please add $1 and specify make ume amply demonstrates, and was not a dull number of your phono cartridge. We will furnish the man or one lacking in complexity. J. H., Jr. proper stylus shaft. Continued on page 144 gm-DIAMOND MLitt' am/Jam/ e AnPAz4 (formerly THE DIATONE CO., DEPT. H -F 31 WEST 47th STREET NEW YORK 36, N. Y. F.M. Mfrs. of Custom Crafted Diamond Stylii --- STATION DIRECTORY-

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www.americanradiohistory.com BOOKS

Continued from page 142 Win a The Burl Ives Songbook. Ballantine Books; clothbound, 32o pages, $5.00; paperbound, 276 pages, 5o cents. New York, 1953. Illtintosit Ballads Migrant in New England, by Helen Hartness Flanders and Marguer- ite Olney. 248 pages. Cloth, Farrar Amplifier and Compensator Strauss & Young, New York, 1953. $6.00. The Burl Ives Song Book contains 115 songs which are both a part of Ives' singing repertoire and a cross -section of folk songs, cash* native and imported, which have been sung in America for a good many years. They and$500 are arranged so as to reflect the historical development of the U. S. The selection is Mac needs your help ! He needs a broadly inclusive, and the Index of Titles name for the famous McIntosh out- and of First Lines (two separate indices) put transformer circuit. Just by indicate clearly enough how many excellent naming it you can win one of six songs have been chosen. There are line big prizes. Names may be either drawings by Lamartine Le Goullon and technical, for example, "Bicoupled ", Robert J. Lee, and each section is preceded a historical introduction or non -technical like "Perfectone ". by short by Ives. The music has been arranged for piano by Your McIntosh dealer can supply Albert Hague. you with a folder that tells all about the McIntosh circuit. Get Clearly, this is a book which would tempt one, it will make it easy for you to win. Your entry blank is in anyone to sit down at the piano to explore the booklet. its rich contents. And that's precisely where disappointment in the book is felt. The Six Big Prizes! piano arrangements - and we have sub- ist prize, a McIntosh 50W2 50 watt Amplifier, a jected them to close examination only McIntosh C -108 this is the book's big selling point Audio $500 *; because - Compensator and cash 2nd prize, McIntosh 50W2 are disappointing in the extreme. In the 50 watt Amplifier and C -108 Audio Compensator; 3rd prize, first place, many of them do not at all catch McIntosh A -116, 30 watt Amplifier and C -108 Audio Compen- the spirit in which these same songs are sator; 4th prize, McIntosh A -116, 30 watt Amplifier; 5th prize, sung by Ives. Anyone can test this for him- McIntosh C -108 Audio Compensator and D -101 Power Supply; self by putting a Burl Ives record on the 6th prize, McIntosh C -104 Audio Compensator and D -101 phonograph, then running off the piano Power Supply. parts. Worse than that, many of the arrangements are needlessly complex and *If you are the first prize winner, McIntosh's Chief diffi- Engineer will install to play for the average home folk your equipment and assist you in the selection of other components. cult song enthusiast and the harmonic scheme is The often either inadequate, or unfaithful to McIntosh Circuit the song. At right is a drawing of the patented Admittedly, transposing a folk song to McIntosh output transformer circuit a piano arrangement is tricky business. which is not available on any other am- formal instruments are plifier. See your Hi -Fi dealer and find Less used by folk out why McIntosh amplifiers guarantee singers, and many of their harmonies are, it substantially less than 1% distortion at would seem, not easily carried over to the all frequencies 20- 20,000 cycles even at piano. But if a song book is designed pri- full power output. Hear the difference - marily for home or school use, at least the the difference can be your suggested plain, unadorned melody should be set name. All you have to do then is name it, down in such a way as to be played on a and you can have it ... IF you're one keyboard. of the lucky ! winners Just to test our negative reaction to the "Name the McIntosh Circuit" Contest Rules Hague arrangements, we turned to other I. Send in works containing arrangements of identical °to many entries e v wish. There award will no to the try bearing the earliest i buy. each enty m t be mailed entries become the property of rely. and Mould be° accompanied bw ex- 0ostmrk.Mcl Inc. songs. We can only state that this corrobor- planarplanation tion of 25 d or to and will not be ed. think this name fits e by s. The test is en to the circuit its performance. Y.S. all re ident of the ated our first impressions. "The Seven Joys Entries be o postcard. plain heel of d Canada o °lye and is Valid only where or better the entry blank in in, Youmitted by Federal. State d Provincial laws. of Mary," for example, is beautifully set booklet att lyourt e r entry must be postmarked not later than there le prize your dealer. so besure to midnight. March 31. 1954. down in John Jacob Niles' Anglo- American include hi, with your entry. S. Employees of McIntosh Laboratory, Inc., their 2. advertising agency or families Carol Book. All entries e to be mailed to: McIntosh representatives.not eligible. Study This does not mean to No. 5822. Cleveland. Ohio. °midnight . S. Winners will be announced imply Burl Ives does as by Match Maoasina in MION FIDELITY that not sing well i as possible after May 1. 1954. S. Entries ill be dged on the basis of aptness A complete list winners and originality. The decision of the CoContest will be nt to you as John Jacob Niles. The styles of the two J udge ill be final. In aboutMay 15. 1954. If a self.addrns.d, tamped the event of a tie, the envelope is enclosed with your entry. are quite different, and so are their interpretations of songs commonly sung by both - by everyone, in fact. But the point here is LABORATORY, INC that the piano arrangements in the Ives Illinfosh BINGHAMTON, N. Y. Songbook do not even sound like Mr. Ives' Makers of the World's Finest Amplifiers and Compensators own interpretation of the songs, or anyone Manufactured under patent numbers 2.646,467; 2.545.788; 2.654.058; 2.477.074 else's that I know of. In all fairness, this is a point which any prospective purchaser of Continued on page 146

144 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

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THE TRANSCRIBER COMPANY OF BOSTON, pioneers in diamond re- worn tipping of phonograph needles and the first in this highly special- needles ized field, will retip your present needle with a genuine whole dia- are chisels! mond (not chips or splints) for After just 60 play- hours, needle to chisel $10.50 plus 25 cents for handling point flattens sharp- and postage. ness -cuts away record grooves; destroys sound pick -up! Today, diamond needles are accepted as the only way to protect stop ruining your records! valuable, finely grooved long -playing records and to obtain distor- Always replace any needle (except a Jensen diamond) before tion -free reproduction. it has been played 60 hours -and be sure to replace it with Chances are your record player a genuine Jensen needle! is equipped with a sapphire or Get a genuine Jensen needle from your favorite record store osmium -tipped needle, which has or radio service dealer. an average life of from 20 to 3o hours of playing time. Beyond ir::54 INDUSTRIES, INC., 329 So. Wood St., Chicago 12, III. that you run the risk of serious damage to your records. A dia- (You can write us for the name of your nearest dealer) mond tipped needle can he used safely for approximately t 000 hours. When you retip your needle ENJOY THE FULL RICHNESS with a diamond you save, because diamonds cost you less per play- OF FULL FREQUENCY RECORDING .. . ing hour and records last longer. Send us your replacement needle Tbr assembly now- today. Let us retip it with the highest quality genuine diamond stylus -exactly the same IRCIIII/il as we make for leading radio sta-

SERIES 215 tions the country over. You pay only $10.5o for a genuine dia- HIGH -COMPLIANCE mond from Transcriber because Diamond Cartridge you deal directly with a leading manufacturer of diamond stylus for broadcast use. This amazing new cartridge, a radical departure from ordinary cartridge design, achieves near -zero mass of stylus assembly. The Our diamond tips are uncondi- result is HIGH COMPLIANCE - accurate, distortion -free track- ing which reproduces without listening fatigue the full, rich tonal tionally guaranteed and are made qualities of the most sensitive recordings. for long -playing or standard rec- "Amazed at new parity of sound ...clarity ...distinctness of ords. Send check or money order orchestral texture. .. which all add up to something fabulously for $10.50 plus 25c for return beauti ul!" says B. H. Haggis:, noted Record Reviewer. postage with your needle assembly íR4//01/11l RECORDINO: 10th Ave. & 154th St., or complete cartridge if you cannot /E/ EQUIPMENT: Whitestone, N. Y. remove the replacement needle Manufacturers of the World's Finest Professional Sound Equipment ORDER FROM YOUR assembly (except Pickering non - AUDIO DEALER Without obligation please mail FREE folder, "HI -FI FACTS replaceable type) to: coupon for or mail for the Music Lover" FREE folder Name THE TRANSCRIBER CO. Address Diu,nurn d .Stylus Manufacturer',

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JANUARY - FEBRUARY, 1954 145

www.americanradiohistory.com PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY BOOKS Continued from page 144

IN THE WEST

. . . for higher fidelity . . . TEN BERKELEY CUSTOM ELECTRONICS _ the book should be aware of if he intends 2302 Roo II Corner Bancroft CTRINLECAR ONIC to use it as a collection of songs to be BERKELEY, CAL. THornwall 3.4180 v20RATORIES played and sung. Everything in High Fidelity -Audiophile aC. Ballads Migrant in New England (with net prices- units, complete installations. 7556 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles 46, California Pushbutton selector for comparative listen - Introduction by Robert Frost) is an excel- ing-BCE scratch filters, record equalizers WALnut 5406 York 3872 lent, scholarly compendium by two serious -Cabinetry -Hi Fi servicing. The ultimate in High Fidelity collectors. The documentation is both care- Klipschorn on demonstration at net prices. ful and colorful, and altogether this is as generous and absorbing a collection as one could hope for. Helen Hartness Flan- ders may be remembered as joint author of "WE HAVE IT HIGH - FIDELITY HOUSE other notable collections of New England song, including Vermont Folk Songs and Hi Exclusively -Fi Components Offering the World's Finest Home Ballads, a New Green Mountain Songster, Music Systems, created by experts and a Vermont Chapbook. In her Foreword, with years of experience. Helen H. Flanders touches on an aspect of High Fidelity is our only business - ballad collecting that may have special sig- I I I ELECTRONICS not a sideline. Complete stock of every nificance to HIGH FIDELIT" readers. She worthwhile component at all times. 7460 MELROSE AVENUE says: "To the reader, this may be more LOS ANGELES 46, CALIFORNIA 536 South Fair Oaks, Pasadena 1, Calif. than a book of ballads; it may prove to be SY 5-4118 RY 1.8171 a participation in prospecting for a WEbs'er 3.8208 common everyday garden variety of great literature alive today in New England." To anyone who owns or contemplates owning a tape "E I ER Y7'1111\-G" recorder, this certainly suggests a most en- in high fidelity IT'S MOORS! tertaining and useful pastime - the col - From Primary Components VERY BEST IN HIGH FIDELITY -Iection of "migrant ballads" in their home to Completed Custom Installations THE territory. There has never been enough VISIT OUR NEW "AUDIO -PHILE HAVEN" or write to Hal Cox Custom Music time and money for scholars, no matter how devoted, to cover this field with the KIERULFF 2598 Lombard completeness it deserves. But recording csocs,2d San Francisco 23, California enthusiasts could add immeasurably to (irp. the trove of our folk literature. 820 West Olympic Blei. Los Angeles 15. Calif. WEst 1 -3134 WEst 1 -3135 Richmond 7-0271 2Enith 0871 NET PR/1 FREDERIC RAMSEY, JR.

The Opera Reader, edited by Louis Bian- ALL MAKES TAPE RECORDERS WESTPORT, CONN. colli. 678 pages. Index. Cloth- McGraw - Largest stock tape splicers, Ili -fi sales and installations at Hill Book Co., New York, 1953. $6.50. splicing tape, microphones. lowest prices. All popular brands. Here is an extremely interesting anecdotal The B'est's largest distrihators Cook wide range recordings. collection. The book is divided by com- Visit our Audio Room or write posers (39) and sub -divided by operas (90). Under each such subdivision comes a very Music Systems of Westport, Inc. brief synopsis of an opera's plot, then a Post Road 2-9695 Westport collection of stories concerning its history, 7120 MELROSE ML LOS ANGELES 46, CALIF. some bits about the composer, in some cases an account of the tribulations of the first and subsequent productions, and some- RECORDING TAPE ( PLASI IC BASE) thing of the singers who won particular re- WHERE ELSE WOULD THERE FOLLOW THE LEADER WASHINGTON Magnelie nown for their work in it. It's especially en- D. C. BE MORE RED A TAPET tertaining to see how often the first -night IN HIGH FIDELITY 1200 ft. pl.tat ie tape with plastic reel included. Each reel individually boxed. Choice of nation- critics, and audiences, were wrong. This is Visit Our Ultra -New Sound Studio ally famous top quality brands such as: Reeves well illustrated by the case of Prokofieff's (SPN- 1213.20; Webeor (2906) 3.20; Audio (12511 for All Your Hi -Fi Requirements 3.23; Scotch (111 -A) 3.25; Irish, Professional Love of Three Oranges. A leading critic wrote grade, (211 RPM 3.30. simply that the opera had cost $13o,000 to New empty plastic reels in boxes for easy la- produce, which at approximately $43,00 OLYMPIC ELECTRONICS heling-3"-10e; 4 " -22e; 5 "-24e; 7 " -30c each. EM PTY BOX ES, 3 " -3e; 4 " -Sc; 5 " -Sc; 7" -10e. an orange was rather high! 7636 Santo Monica Blvd. PLEASE INCLUDE SUEF IC CENT POSTAGE If there were - and maybe there are - Los Angeles 46, Calif. Hollywood 4 -9144 COMMISSIONED ELECTRONICS CO. opera bugs akin to the Sherlock Holmes 7503 Ch..n,.Jn In S'.. N. W., Woshlnabn 9, D. C. fans who choose to call themselves the Baker Street Irregulars, this would be the For leisurely book for them. Just as the Holmesians IN WE 9 -3495 listening and CHICAGO minutely explore the darkest corners of comparison Sherlockiana with such questions as, "Which Quality Hi -Fi Servicing finger did Watson have outside his weapon's of all the d-du trigger -guard as he whirled to face the Murga- visit by Stars in Sound, troyd Horror ?" their opera -counterparts ask: Audio Workshop, Inc. Figart's Sound Un -Ltd. "The Sunken Bell was interrupted in its com- Southern l'difor 's fittest .Indio Ild,tr rs. 725 5. LaSalle St. position because Ravel's interest was caught by another libretto. Which one ?" (Answer Opposite Carthay Circle Theater Ili -Fi Consultations, Sales, 6320 Commodore Stoat Drive L'Heure Espagnole.) The Opera Reader is YO -6218 Installations Los Angeles 48, California Continued on page 149

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In Il estelu'Nter it's for SUPERIOR IN CANADA - SOUND and SERVICE There's one place where you can find - and Quality Hi -Fi Equipment L111', hear - all your high -fidelity equipment needs. We carry a complete stock ... come in, or write No Charge for Installation ESTLAB in, for a chat, a look, and a listen. Liberal Trade -In Allowance Inquiries Invited Dept. H for high fidelity Studio Open Evenings CONSULTATIONS COMPONENTS SERVICE CUSTOM INSTALLATIONS LECTROI)O10E CREATIVE AUDIO ASSOCIATES ß SOUND SYSTEMS 150 S. Harrison Street 1587 Central Avenue Yonkers, N. Y. East Orange, N. J. ORange 6-5229 SPencer 9.6400 141 Dundas St., West. TORONTO

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www.americanradiohistory.com Read the "TESTED IN THE HOME" report HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE MUSIC LISTENER'S Nov. -Dec. 1953. Page 110. RESCO BOOKSHELF ULTRA - LINEAR BINDERS FOR HIGH FIDELITY Magazine: Red WILLIAMSON AMPLIFIER BOOKLET: D. T. Williamson leatherette, gold- stamped on front and N. Williamson, 36 pages, 31 illustrations. backbone. Volume 3 to hold six issues. Contains complete design data for con- AMPLIFIER KIT Volume 1 and Volume 2, in limited quan- structing this famous high -fidelity am- tity, still available (to hold four issues plifier. Featuring the each). Specify Volume Number. No.94 $1.00

Binder 1, 2, 3. . $2.75 each ACRO TO-300 THE RECORDING AND REPRODUCTION OF GOOD LISTENING: R. D. Darrell. A highly SOUND: Oliver Read, Second Edition, 805 readable guide to the enjoyment of music pages, over 700 illustrations, cloth. A as directly related to recordings available complete and authoritative treatment of on LP. The last 37 pages are an index - the entire subject of sound. Covers all discography listing one recommended LP aspects of recording. recording of every composition mentioned.

No. 46. . $7.95 No. 126.. $2.75

LOUDSPEAKERS: G. A. Briggs. Intended for those interested in the Loudspeaker SAT. REV. HOME BOOK OF MUSIC, etc.: and how it works and how results may be Canby, Burke, and Kolodin. 308 pages, improved. Non -technical terms through- 25 illustrations, cloth. Three top experts Build the finest amplifier ever devel- out. tell the story of music, its recording and oped. Complete with all components, No.56. $1.60 reproduction in the home. Specific sug- punched chassis, and easy -to- follow gestions are given for selection of high - instructions. Get the full benefits of MICROPHONES by Engineering Staff, BBC, fidelity components. Acrosound TO-300 performance as 114 pages, cloth. Covers the theory, de- No. 98 . $4.50 sign and characteristics of all standard shown by specifications listed below. microphone types. ONLY AT No. 73.. $3.25 GUIDE TO AUDIO REPRODUCTION: David Fidelman. A clear explanation of the re- RESCO .. . 74" AMPLIFIERS: Briggs and Garner, 216 production of sound from the fundamentals pages, 174 illustrations, cloth. Covers, in to all phases of audio reproduction sys- ULTRA -LINEAR WILLIAMSON characteristic non -technical language, the tems. Design charts and testing methods. myriad considerations involved in ampli- Practical circuits for home or custom con- ACRO TO -300 fier design and construction. Details struction enabling the reader to build sys- given for the construction of a recom- tems tailor -made to individual needs. mended amplifier. Essential reading. No.131...... $3.50 THE WORLD'S No. 100 ..$2.95 FINEST HIGH FIDELITY SIMPLIFIED: Harold Weiler, OBTAINING AND INTERPRETING TEST SCOPE AUDIO OUTPUT 209 pages, 104 illustrations. A most TRACES: John F. Rider. Audio hobbyists TRANSFORMER understandable discussion of the funda- will welcome this book, showing over 500 mental theories of high -fidelity sound re- actual photographs of test scope traces. Only a few resistors and condensers are in. production. Working designs for speaker Complete explanation of how to use volved in converting to ultra- linear operation enclosure. scopes and what test scope traces m'an. - layout remains the same. Get more out of your Williamson by giving it the specifications No. 101. .$2.50 Specific test equipment set -ups shown listed below. with each application. SPECIFICATIONS HOW TO BUILD A RECORD LIBRARY: No. 132 $2.40 Response - 1 db. 2 cps. to 200 kc. 30 watts of clean power within 1 db. Howard Taubmann. Lists the basic works 20 cps. to 30 kc. considered by the author as most impor- Less than 1% IM at 20 watts. Square wave transmission to 50 kc. tant for both a starting library and a more SOUND REPRODUCTION: Third Edition of ACRO TO -300 net $24.75 advanced one. Every field of music. G. A. Briggs' famous book. Many new chapters and 175 new and original illus- ACRO TO -310 net $18.75 No.125...... $1.50 (TO-310 used to change over 6V6 amplifier trations. Mr. Briggs, aided by hundreds to ultra -linear operation) of photographs and drawings, brings his (Push -pull parallel ultra -linear operation using B-ool7 Department usual flair for lucid, readable explana- 4 KT 66's, 5881's,'or 807's to deliver a power output of 60 watts.) HIGH FIDELITY Magazine tion to all the essential elements of high - Great Barrington, Mass. fidelity reproduction.

Order today! Send check or M.O. Include postage I enclose $ for which please send No. 110 . $3.50 'Shipping wts. (T0- 300 - 7 lbs.) (70. 310 -6 lbs.) me the books indicated by the circled (Amplifier kit-25 lbs.) (T0- 330 - 17 lbs.) numbers below. (No C.O.D.'s please.) for postage registration. I 'Send 25c foreign HOME MUSIC SYSTEMS: Edward Tatnall 46 56 73 94 98 100 101 109 110 Canby. 300 pages, illustrated. How to 125 126 131 132 Binders -1 -2 -3 I assemble and enjoy high- fidelity equip- adioeiluxnie NAME ment at tremendous savings. Can help SERVICE CO. OF PENNA., INC. ADDRESS you avoid making expensive mistakes. 7th S Arch Streets, Phila. 6, Pa. No. 109 $3.95

148 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com BOOKS Music Leuvers: MUSIC COMES ALIVE Continued from page 146 WITH

full of many parallel "might have beens" SPEAKERS and I, for one, do wonder what might have HERE'S THE come of some of them. Mr. Biancolli has culled his anecdotes Matched With Cabinets from about 5o books and magazines. It is AMPLIFIER not, as its title might suggest, another collection of opera libretto synopses (thank designed heaven). It is a lot of fun. W. B. S.

especially for you! Good Listening, by R. D. Darrell. 207 pages. Index. Cloth. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1953. $2.75. Good engineering is an essential requirement in the design of all good ^Jt Robert Donaldson Darrell is one ut the audio equipment, but engineering really big names in American phonographic LP -215 - alone is not enough. BROCINER lore and record criticism. Among his very awareness of the needs of the user many distinctions in the field is the fact LORENZ gives you the finest engineering PLUS that he put together the original (19361 'WOOFER' these features: Encyclopedia of Recorded Gramophone Shop LOUDSPEAKER I) Adaptability to all classes of pro- Music, thus founding the art of discography. gram material. Made expressly for Kingdom Products by LORENZ, as a member Currently he is serving of the leading European Audio Manufacturer. A truly mag- 2) Extreme flexibility without undue executive committee of the National Record nificent speaker and a worthy complement to the complication. full Awards. finest equipment. Performs smoothly over the 3) Simplicity of application with all range. Natural, clean tonal quality assures corn- makes and types of pickups. It is a pleasure to report that his new plete listening pleasure at any loudness level. Features a heavy rigid frame, thick felt flange 41 Ease book was properly planned and assembled, of installation. (no cardboard) to seal and damp out undesirable S) Moderate cost! though it could advantageously have been resonances. Response: 40 - 13,500 Cycles. Power: a good deal longer. It has three text sec- e watts. Impedance: 4 ohms. Size 81 ". Its faith- if ful reproduction is as amazing as Its exciting low tions, dealing respectively with how to be price. Net a record -listener, how music has developed $22.50 ii and changed through Western history, and LP -65 LORENZ TWEETER the types of music that have come down to Here is the tweeter to complement any Woofer. as All this is handled $129 us our heritage. con- This high frequency versationally, with a rare combination of speaker will carry the knowledge and warm, un- "highs" as you want it encyclopedic -Clean, Clear and Crisp condescending interest in beginners' de- up to 16,000 Cycles. sires and problems. Throughout, Darrell Power: 2 watts. Imped- ance: 5.5 ohms. Size: A POWER AMPLIFIER illustrates his story with names of musical 244" dia. Net $8.50 Worthy of the name! compositions. At the end, there is a 30 -page discography, listing one LP record of each 30 WATTS' at IS intermodulation. ULTRA - work mentioned. HP -1 KINGDOM LINEAR CIRCUIT using the famous Acro TO-300 Thus, though not all the disks he has output transformer. KT66 OUTPUT TUBES. 20 HIGH PASS FILTER chosen may remain "best's" for many Used with the LORENZ db feedback over 4 stages. Engineered for easy months, the text still will stand up. Fur- LP 65 TWEETER it will ex- installation. Equlealent sine wave parer. tend the range of any thermore, most of the record -selections will, speaker to the limit of human too. Darrell was trained as a musician, but audibility, going smoothly from 4,000 CPS complete he wrote the book with records in mind. up to 16,000 CPS. when he mentions a musical Net AUDIO Accordingly, $4.95 work as an ideal example of a certain age, CONTROL or style, or philosophical approach, the reader does not subsequently discover that $99 t CENTER there exists no good recording of it. KINGDOM He is a terrific salesman, too. Even a 24 RECORD- PLAYBACK CHARACTERISTICS to match SOUND well- equipped record collector, after follow- every possible record. UNIVERSAL PICK -UP COMPEN- his fascinating discourse for an hour or COMBINATION SATION to accommodate all makes of high quality ing two, will find himself gripped by an avid pick -ups. TREBLE CUT -OFF FILTER ...a professional Cabinet With range selector to give you the best possible results desire to go broke. T. M. C from imperfect as well as flawless program mate- Speaker System rial. ADJUSTABLE LOUDNESS CONTROL ... a true level compensator easily adjustable for all require- Sound Recording and Reproduction, by Pow ments: SPECIAL LOW -NOISE PREAMPLIFIER TUBES. J. W. Godfrey and S. W. Amos. 271 Illustrated Is the popular KINGDOM CABINET. Small, Smart, Versatile and Decorative. Made of St" thick hardwood, ...and other features too numerous to mention pages. 53/4 x 8% inches. Illustrated. acoustically correct and completely assembled with LORENZ here, presented in complete, factual form in our LP -215 speaker LORENZ LP 65 TWEETER and KINGDOM HP 1 Index. Wireless World, Iliffe and Sons, HIGH PASS FILTER (shown above. All perfectly matched to bulletins. t%Vlthout cabinet. Ltd., London, 1953. $6.50. give you maximum listening pleasure at all levels. Complete Kingdom Sound Combination. Cabinet with speaker Prices slighty higher on West Coast system. Sire 13" a 16" a 19 ". Available in colors to harmo- This book has been written primarily as an nise with the following finishes: Mahegaey or alsnde..NSt Unfinished Net $67.00 AVAILABLE instruction manual for the use of the engineer- $69.50 KINGDOM AT BETTER ing staff of the BBC, but it will be of value CABINETS ONLY Mahogany or Btonds..Net $26.95 Unfinished Net $24.45 HIGH FIDELITY to all interested in the techniques of sound CNAIASIDE STAND NET $6.95 DISTRIBUTORS. recording. Write for Detailed Specifications In this work, the principles of electrical LITERATURE ON REQUEST recording and reproduction are first set out clearly and fully. Disk recording is then BROCINER ELECTRONICS LABORATORY KINGDOM PRODUCTS, Ltd. discussed, with a detailed description of the 23 Park Place, New York 7, N. Y. WOrth 4 -8585 344 East 32nd Street New York 16. N Y. Continued on page 15o Specify Emitron KT -66

-JANUARY- FEBRUARY, 1954 I 49

www.americanradiohistory.com BOOKS "TAB" Continued from page 149 BBC and American Presto equipment now THATS A BUY in operation in British broadcasting services. followed by chapters on the reproduction of DIAMONDS AN "LP'S" BEST FRIEND FISHER HIGH FIDELITY AUDIO Protect your records that's "sound" advice. The Master Audio Input Control disks. The principles of magnetic recordings Mail your cartridge. we replace styli at Model 50 -CM Pre -Amp. & Amp. A Cedillas ;n per are next explained, with descriptions of the cost of diamond only. fur n e & looks. Simple to operate. Feature, in B A. Die J Single Styli for Asiatic. Philc°. elude 5 separate inputs. compensation for all types Marconi -Stille, Magnetophon and EMI Magnavox, RCA. Shure & Webster $12.00. of recordings. 16 equalization combinations, bass & magnetic systems which have been used at B. Diamond (.001) LP & Sapphire (.0031. treble, loudness (compensated & non-compensated). 78 different G for C.E. RI'X047.050.051 cartridge $14.00. All controls± accurately calibrated. Response: 2020.000 times by the BBC. The book deals Same except diamonds (.001) & (.003) $24.00. eye. 1D8. hum: 901)11 below 2 volts. 3 tubes plus also with recording on film, and describes C. Diamond single (.001) or (.003) for 1 rectifiers. 115 v.It. 60 evil. operation. Shpg. wt. 9 RPX040.041.042.046 $12.00 lbs. Set in beautiful mahogany cabinet with brass the Philips -Miller film equipment as used Pricer are Prepaid to drier panel. Model 50 -CM $97.50 your by the Corporation. There are a number of HI -FI AM -FM TUNER appendices containing a generous amount ARE YOU A PILE -IT? Model 50R. The peift additi..n to any audio system. of reference information not readily avail- The laboratory dreamt of incorporating all the best fea- Record Collector. tures into onee tuner: shuck mounted front ends, auto- able elsewhere, and a wealth of photographs Your Pile of LP's matic freq. control. magic eye for perfect tuning. and diagrams, including many useful graphs. Need Not Be whistle filter, two auxiliary inputs for TV & crystal Sensational Record Cabinets phmno. Response: 20.20.000 eve. 1DB. 12 tube. C. F. 115V. 60 eye. operation. "Hcx 1444."'W x 944''D. "GROW 8t. AS YOU CO" c Shpg. wit. 19 lbs. Model &OR $164.50 Each section holds 150 record. Stories From Gilbert and Sullivan, by W2544 " a D14'2." a H1712." In ULTRA HI- FIDELITY AMPLIFIER Mahogany. Walnut or Blonde. Model 50A. Deluxe all triode amplifier. The last Gladys Davidson. 297 pages. Illus- Beautiful Quality Finish. word in ultra fidelity ±au lip.. )'rosat by laboratory trated. Index. Cloth. The British performance to be flat O.SDB, 15. 60,000 eye. at SO Book Centre, Inc. Model 700 base section $25.45 watts. Harmonic distortion .05%. 5 watts; .08% 10 $3.25. watts; 1%, 50 wafts. Hum: 92DR below full output. 9 Model 701 filter section $24.45 tubes. 115 V. 00 9 "H a 111- " "W x 8 "D. Shpg. In this book the ramifications of the in. Model 78 .eetionel top $ 4.75 wilt. 45 lb.. Model 50A $159.50 volved plots, main, sub and counter, and the many cases of mistaken identity with "TAB" WILL BUY, SELL AND SWAP AS WELL NEW UNIVERSAL which Gilbert filled the libretti he wrote We sell new and used equipment - FM TUNER for all the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, have all items are sold on money back been unscrambled and turned into story guarantee. We build fo your speci- t,wmnat is 7 hcrnwl drift fications and recondition your pres- compensation. Built - in form by Miss Davidson with considerable ent equipment. All "TAB" merchan- per supply. Hi -gain plus adroitness. dise carries a money back guarantee. select iv fry. Outperforms Unfortunately, she seldom a- higher priced 10 or 12 tube chieves the Gilbertian wit, but unfolds each sets. Mahogany cabinet. tale in a bright and informative L lit "a W 7 "x D 7". manner, Model 71IC, $44.75. 711 with only the occasional use of a couplet les, ' abio,t $39.95 from one of the songs to point up a character or shed light on a situation. However, new admirers of the celebrated operas will find these stories a most enjoyable way of BUDGET $ 5 5 COMBO becoming better acquainted with them. Enjoy recoils and E'51. with tic. short, "TAB" High Fidelity Packs_, Two but interesting, biographies of Specials. Priced to inert you. the famous colaborators have been provided, budget. The Model 3A6 Superior t4?i and Portable and 71IC Hi -Fi Tuner of additional interest, particularly to old prepaid to your doors' $130.00. timers, are the complete original casts of 71IC Tuner with Columbia 360 Hi -Fi Phonograph, prepaid'. all the operas. A separate index is devoted "TAR" SI'E:CIAI. $180.00 to the first line of every song in each opera - a challenging list to those who pride themselves on their knowledge of Gilbert's lyrics, PORTABLE AUTOMATIC PHONOGRAPH COLUMBIA 360 A roomful of mono]of i n pact HiFi package. 3- and one that should provide the basis for an Excellent rep.edurtion. Iii -Fi console quality. Two spreI automatic changer.s speakers, tone .ntr.:1. I.ea,v duly ti" 8 watt, 4 tube amplifier. amusing game among the speaker.. t n sated .m lame control 6 latest design feature.. true Savoy separate bass 6 treble controls. VM -951 changer & Set in beautiful mahogany cabinet. Model 205M table afficionados. The illustrations, while good, Ilip rartrìdnr. play. 7,10,12" & intrmises model. $139.50. Model 207M Cot ,leite. $169.50. 10 & 12" recalds. Beautiful Suntan Leatherette lini h. Model 107M "XD" extra speaker aal dock. $24.95 are all too few - none, for instance, of George 181 /aD!I6t/4W.8á "H hp- t. 30 lbs. reg. S1u295. Grossmith, Rutland TAB" special Modal 3M Hi -Fi Portable Phono- BUY RIGHT WITH "TAB" Barrington or Bertha graph. Prepaid to your door $89.95 THAT'S SOUND HI -FI ADVICE Lewis, all artists who established their repu- I a l a l' g Ill -E'd Mario lecturers. Ihd,oe H I t tations by Im ing C01.11Ii "TAB" for your Audio needs. Outline their outstanding performances "LYNNE" 800 r problems and we will help in selecting. trailing. in these operas. J. F. INOcox exchanging. our buying Hi -Fi equipment. Trite and be Hi -Fi Amplifier and Pre - ed. We sell all the hording audio manufacturers. Amp with Equalization Fhired.Styli. Pickups. Timm.. 'I iiialile.. Preamp i- i Liilat ions and 1020.000 CI'S within 1 118 Amplifiers. Speakers. Cabin. at 3 waits & ILA harmonic )record Furn irate. di -tort i,,0 at 8 watts. Six il, BUY RIGHT! "TAB" WRITE! PRICED RIGHT! TRADER'S MARKETPLACE c.d.. and all the features of We Ship Thruout the World 'sí.00 amplifiers. plus added "1.1' \ \E" extras. 11 "W x 5" H a 9t' D 61/4 lbs. QUALITY RECORD Garrard RC -90 Three-Speed Record -Changer, new con- Model - 800 Imerial $37.50 "TAIL" CABINET dition, $60; Garrard RC -80, new condition, $37.50; Electro -Voice 950 "Cordate" Microphone, new condi- THAT'S A BUY - OUR HI -FI PACKAGE tion, Shun 55 Dynamic Microphone, Oval at rest. Cm $20; $30; Groomes 501'C,3 Williamson Amplifier, Partridge WWFB -inertly styled. select,,i Outlaw, Amplifier S 53.90 KT66's, two chokes, Sun -10 Triode Ga,ard RCN mahogany veneer. Mad.mb $75; CR Amplifier, $50; Collins FM -11 Tuner, $45; York Sacophore, $75. Changer S 45.08 by aster furnitu craftsmen. Divided io Satisfaction guaranteed. Priced FOB. Hein, 418 G.E. RPX050 Gregory, Rockford, Illinois. Cartridge 8 8.20 four secti ons. Holds 111 G.E. A1100 S 3q q5 record.. H 25" a W 20" Tithe-ma] 711 FM 15`. wgt. '25 Ib, Model 466M 5ah.geny 'fu S :Kosos Why Not Get Rid of Your 'rn .A I. 1295.::1 $13.95 "TAB" Special Made! 4663 Itl.,nd,- $180.00 $15.75 Old Equipment Profitably Prepaid within With a Notice in THAT'S \\ THAT'S Continental limits A of the 48 States. Trader's Marketplace BUY BBUY Check with order or T A B 25% deposit. For a $4.60 item In TM one reader received Dept. H -F 111 LIBERTY STREET, NEW YORK 6, N. Y. U.S.A. Ph. Rector 2 -6245 five offers to by a $150 piece of equipment.

HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com the audio exchange exchanges audio ADVERTISING INDEX the audio exchange exchanges audio the audio exchange exchanges audio

Acro Products Co. 141 London Gramophone Corp. . 77 the audio exchange exchanges audio Advance Electronic Co. 130 Los Angeles Audic Fair..... 121 Allied Radio Corp.. 120 Lowe Associates 147 the audio exchange exchanges audio Altec Lansing Corp. 22 Lyrichord Discs, Inc. 87 the audio exchange exchanges audio Ampex Corp.. 113 Magnecord, Inc. 16 the Angle Genesee Corp. 27 Magnetic Recorders Co. 146 oudio exchange exchanges audio Argos Products 136 Magnetic Recorder 8 Reproducer Corp 84 the audio exchange exchanges audio Arpin Sales Inc. 129 Martin, H. S., 8 Co. 7 the Arrow Electronics 123 Master Electronics Co. 152 audio exchange exchanges audio Asco Sound Corp. ...116 McGohan, Don, Inc ..... 129 the audio exchange exchonges audio Audak Company 107 McIntosh Laboratory, Inc. 1, 144 o Audio Devices, Inc. ...Inside Front Cover McShane 8. Co. ...141 151 Audio Exchange, Inc. Mercury Record Corp...... BO o Audio Workshop, Inc. 146 Music Box 56 A.V Tape Libraries, Inc. 86 Musical Masterpiece Society, Inc. 51 o Beam Instrument Corp. 115 Music Systems of Westport, Inc. 146 o Bell Sound Systems, Inc. 30 Newark Electric Co...... 126 Berkeley Custom Electronics 146 Newcomb 23 Some people want o Bogen, David, Co., Inc 106 Olympic Electronics.... 146 o 147 Bohn Music Systems Orradio Industries, Inc.. 6 Book Dept. 148 to buy o Pacific Transducer Corp. 127 Boston Chamber Recording Society 85 Pentron Corp. 129 o Boxak, R. T., Co ... 104 ..... Permoflux Corp... 100 British Industries Corp. 2 want o Pfonstiehl Some people Brociner Electronic Lab. 149 Chemical Co.. 125 Pickard 8. Burns, Inc . 103 o Brook Electronics, Inc. 112 ... Pickering 8 Inc. 99 Brooklyn High -Fidelity Sound Center.... 134 Co, to sell Pilot Radio Corp. ...125 Browning Laboratories, Inc. 24 .... Presto Recording ...111 Califone Corp. 130 Corp Professional Directory 146, 147 Canterbury Record 84 Some people want Capitol Records Back Cover RAM Co. 128, 147 Clarkston 127 RCA - Engineering Products Dept...... 29 Classic Editions 87 RCA -Victor Division 79 to trade Collare 11 Radio Craftsmen, Inc. 139 Columbia Records, Inc. 19 Radio Electric Service Co. of Pa., Inc. 147, 145 Commissioned Electronics Co. 146 Radio Engineering Laboratories . 10 We serve them all Components Corp 143 Radio Parts Co. .152 Concertone Recorders, Berlant Associates 132 Radio Shack Corp. 122 Conrac, Inc. 136 Rauland -Borg Corp 116 as well Contemporary American Furniture... 147 Reeves Soundcraft Corp. 109 Cook Laboratories, Inc. 85 Regency 8, 134 Cox, Hal, Custom Music 146 Rek -O -Kut Co. 105 Craig Audio Laboratory 147 Revere Camera Co. 101 Creative Audio Associates 147 Record Shop. 50 Crestwood Recorder Division 118 Rider, John F., Publishers, Inc. 133 Customcrafters, Inc. 147 Rinehart Books, Inc. 135 Rockbar Corp. 11 Custom Sound 8 Vision, Ltd.. . 127, 147 Write today for free D 8 R Ltd. 134 Sams, Howard W., S Co., Inc.. 137 Daystrom Electric Corp...... 118 Schwann, W...... 84 catalog HF of new Diamond Stylus Co.. 142 Scott, Herman Hosmer, Inc.. 21, 131 Duotons ...... 9 Shure Brothers, Inc. 141 Electronic Consultants ...147 Sim,,son, Mark, Mfg. Co., Inc. 128 and used -guaranteed Electro- Voice, Inc... .5, 32 Sonex, Inc. 132 Electro -Voice Sound Systems ...147 Sonotone Corp. . 20 hi-fi equipment, and

Esoteric Records . 87 Sound Un -Ltd. t Espey Mfg. Co., Inc.. 130 Southwest Record Sales . 147 for information on ex- Fairchild Recording & Eqpt. Corp. 145 Stephens Mfg. Corp...... 26 Fisher Radio Corp. 18, 31, 110 Snomberg- Carlson Co...... 25 changing your audio FM Station Directory 142 TAB .. ..150

G 8. H Wood Products Co. 152 Tannoy,Ltd. . 4 Garrard Sales Corp.. .. 2 Terminal Radio Corp...... 124 components. General Apparatus Co. 119 Thorens Co. ..138 General Electric Co. 12 Traders' Marketplace .132, 150 Hack Swain Productions 87 Transcriber Co. 145 Hartley, H. A., Co., Inc. 123 Truvox Mfg. Co.... 147 Haydn Society 73 Turner Company.. 123 a ge ex( anges audio Harvey Radio Co., Inc.. 117 Turntable Produkts Co. 140 Heath Co. 114, 136 Universal Service Co. 127 the audio exchange exchanges audio HighFidelity House 146 University Loudspeakers, Inc. 28 the audio exchange exchanges oudio Hollywood Electronics. 138, 146 United Transformer Co. Inside Back Cover Hubbell Mfg. Co. 131 Urania Records, Inc.... 83 the audio exchange exchanges audio Hudson Radio & TV Corp.. 139 Utah Radio Products Co., Inc. 108 the audio exchange exchanges audio Interelectronics Corp. 143 V -M Corp 13 the audio exchange exchanges audio J Industries, Inc. 145 Valentino, Thomas J., Inc 87 J Mfg. Co. 14, 15 Ve.tor Labs 147 the audio exchange exchanges audio KEAR ....142 Voice 8 Vision, Inc. 147 the audio exchange exchanges audio Kierulff Sound Corp. . ... 146 Vox Productions, Inc. 82 Kingdom Products Ltd 149 WFMT .. 142 the audio exchange exchanges audio Klipsch Associates .. 112 WXHR 142 ...... the audio exchange exchanges audio Kloss Industries .. ..125 Walco (Electrovox Co., Inc.) 140 Lafayette Radio ..143 Weathers Industries... 102 Lansing, James B., Sound, In .. 17 Weingarten Electronic Laboratories 142, 146 159 -19 Hillside Avenue Lectronics ...... 147 Westlab 147 Jamaica 32, New York Leonard Radio, Inc. 129 Westminster Recording Co., Inc 7S Olympia 8 -0445 Listening Post 147 World Radio Laboratories... 137

JANUARY -FEBRUARY, ¡954 151

www.americanradiohistory.com new a step upward For the Finest at low cost for the master components TEN POSITION RECORD COM- in Hi- Fidelity audio perfectionist PENSATOR precision - engineered for use with any magnetic cartridge. Positions: 250 flat 500 flot, AES, COL 78, COL LP, FIlRR, NAB, Hi- Fidelity Super Tweeter MASTER components have been VIC ORTH, VIC 78, NOISY. Only $12.90 net. engineered by a high fidelity dealer who manufacturer in order PRE -AMPLIFIER EQUALIZER MS- turned 2. Completely self -powered) to deliver equipment which hon- Cathode follower output for full remote control. Controls: separate estly meets all claims made for it. bass and treble with IB db boost or attenuation, 4- posit, input se- Each unit must pass uncompromis- lector, record compensator. Inputs 7 ing electronic and aural tests, and for any cartridge, tope, mike, OW5 tuner. 12" s 7' s 21 /2". Only is then heat- sealed in cellophane. $50.80 net. Imported from Germany MASTER equipment is richly fin- MASTER POWER AMPLIFIER MP- Better than those selling for much more. Fre- ished with gold hammertone baked 15 is a 12 watt unit with a frequency response 7000 cycles to 20,000 cycles quency response of '/s db at I plus. Output double at 15,000 cycles, double enamel and supplied with etched watt and + I db at full power - less than 1% distortion! Fea- that at 7000 cycles. Clear music, minimum bronze escutcheons which can he tures: input level control, choke needle noise; wide angle dispersion. Extends filter, hermetically sealed Triad range to limit of audibility. Electrostatic: panel mounted. output transformer. Only $50.50 gold film on plastic diaphragm, self -healing. net. Includes cross over net -work, mounts anywhere. Size: 43/4"x33/a "x44 ". MASTER MARK IV AMPLIFIER PRICE full power from 20 fo 50,000 c.p.s. $ 95 ONLY ea. Beautifully balanced, fully tested, precision- engineered, the Mark IV combines the above components and all their out- Hi- fidelity Basic Amplifier standing features in one chassis - pre - amp, compensator, controls, power amplifier. Hum -free. Aluminum chassis. Im- maculate assembly. Only $75.00 net.

see your load dealer or write send for free brochas. MASTER ELECTRONICS CO. ,shouting test data and 8586 Santa Monica Blvd. cnginecring specifications Los Angeles 46, Calif.

A True Hi- Fidelity Amplifier DISTORTION: s of l'7 at I(I watts. Float- ing Paraphase Phase Inverter Circuit. FOR THOSE WHO SEEK THE ULTIMATE Essentially flat 20 to 50,000 C.P.S. Heavy duty grain oriented output transformer. 4 -8 -16 ohm FIDELITY CABINETS output. TUBES: I - 12AX7, 2- 6V6GT, I -5Y3GT. Includes AC outlet. Klipsch REBEL IV A very remarkable Value! We can only offer by Cabinart these while they last. tine: 5" Wide, 12'- Long, A Klipsch Corner Horn Enclosure 6" High. designed especially for manufacture by Cabinart. PRICE $ 95 Two -way system performance. So ONLY ea. flexible in design so as to provide you wide latitude in determining your listening requirements. Removable panel Visit Our Sound Room allows for o variety of speaker combinations. For example, in the 12" We Stock All Finest Lines Klipsch you con install o single 12", two 12" speakers or a tweeter - woofer combination. 10% Deposit on all Mail Orders Attractively styled to blend with any interior decor, the Klipsch Rebel IV Please send at once: by Cabinart comes in Limed Oak, TWEETERS Honey Walnut, French Mahogany and o Black Lacquer. AMPLIFIERS Check or M. O. Enclosed- Including Postage "Popularly Priced" Name $69.00 Net for 12" model '$87.00 Net for 15" model Address

'Nee prices, City Zone. .State slightly higher /Precision Manufactured High Fidelity Cabinets of Character West and South.

G & H WOOD PRODUCTS CO. Radio Parts Company 75 NORTH 11th STREET, BROOKLYN 11, N.Y. 612 W. Randolph St. Pioneers in radio furniture for high fidelity equipment Chicago 6, III.

52 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

www.americanradiohistory.com FOR

THE linear Standard SERIES

The ever increasing use of wide range equipment for broadcast service has reached the point where the major limiting factor is the frequency range of the transformers employed. UTC Linear Standard components represent the closest approach to the ideal transformer from the standpoint of uniform frequency response, low wave form distortion, high efficiency, thorough shielding, and dependability. Typical LS units are described below.

LS-10

Case Size LS-1 LS-2 Length 341t" Width 24b" 0000C PKIJIS K. WO. INPUT TRANSFORMERS Height 3s/a" 4,

g LS-1Sx Type Primary Secondary ± 1 db Mast Relative* Unbal. DC Case List No. Application Impedance Impedance from Level hum in prim'y No. Price -4,... impedance mike. 50,125/150, 60.000 ohms in 20-20,000 +10 DB -74 DB .5 MA LS -1 $25.00 g LS -10 Low pickup, or multiple line 200, 250. 333. two sections to grid 500 /600 ohms LS 10X As above As above 50,000 ohms 20-20,000 +10 DB -92 DB-Q .5 MA LS-1 35.00 20- DB DB .5 MA LS-1 25.00 g LS-le LS-12 Low impedance mike, 50,125/150, 120,000 ohm; 20,000 +10 -74 pickup, or multiple line 200, 250, 333, overall. in two x to push pull grids 500/600 ohms sections Q ---- \ LS -12X As above As above 80,000 ohms 20.20,000 +10 DB -92 DB-0 .5 MA LS-1 35.00 overall. split ,.canc. c.an rE. :cn.o LS -15X Three isolated lines or 30, 50. 200. 60,000 ohms 20-20,000 +10 DB -92 DB-0 .5 MA LS-1 37.00 pads to one or two grids 250 ohms overall, in two g " Ls-ils each primary sect inns ..---- INTERSTAGE AND MATCHING TRANSFORMERS i ,.[at.C. CS,xf K. PECAN» Type Primary Secondary Maat Relative Unbal. DC Case List Impedance Response Level hum in prim'y No. Price LS-él No. Application Impedance LS -15 Single plate to push pull 15,000 ohms 95,000 ohms; ± 1 db grids like 2A3, 6L6. 300A. 1.25:1 each side 20- 20,000 +12 DB -50 DB 0 MA LS-1 $26.00 Split secondary ± to » ,. ., ,.,.. LS-21 Single plate to push pull 15,000 ohms 135,000 ohms; 1 db K. eeco.o » r.cát..-úïs grids. Split pri. and sec. 3:1 overall 20.20,000 +10 DB -74 DB 0 MA LS -1 26.00 LS-25 Push pull plates to push 30,000 ohms 50,000 ohms; ± 1 db LS-$2 pull grids. Medium level. plate to plate turn ratio 20- 20,000 +15 DB -74 DB 1 MA LS -1 32.00 Split primary and sec. 1.3:1 overall LS-30 Mixing, low impedance 50,125/150. 50,125,/150,200, ± 1 db mike, pickup. or multi- 200, 250, 333, 250, 333. 20-20.000 +15 DB -74 DB .5 MA LS-1 26.00 ple line to multiple line 500/600 ohms 500/600 ohms LS-33 High level line matching 1.2, 2.5. 5, 7.5 50, 125, 200, ± .2 db LS-.O 10, 15, 20, 30, 50 250, 333, 20- 20.000 15 watts LS-2 30.00 125, 200. 250, 500/600 ohms 333.500/600 « »s .s« » ,.auOC. c<.L: c.icoox,» OUTPUT TRANSFORMERS

LS-33 Type Primary Secondary Maat Relative' Unbal. DC Case List IN Application Impedance Impedance Response Level hum in prim'y No. Price LS-50 Single plate to multiple 15,000 ohms 50, 125/150, ± 1 db line 200, 250, 333, 20. 20,000 +15 DB -74 DB LS I $26.00 « ,.+ .o-< 500 /600 » » .c[a1t.t. C.c[[ .i. + ów ,' LS -52 Push pull 245. 250, 6V6 8,000 ohms 500, 333, 250, ± .2 db or 245 A prime 200, 125, 50. 30, 25.20,000 15 watts LS 2 35.00 I LS-5p 1 20, 15. 10, 7.5, I I 5. 2.5, 1.2 LS-55 Push pull 2A3's, 6A5G's, 5,000 ohms 500, 333. 250, ± .2 db I I I LS 2 35.00 >pp yt OK AK 300A's, 275A's. 6A3's, plate to plate 200, 125, 50, 30, 25. 20,000 20 watts r.ceü.c.-c. s '.i. =O.°CO.o 6L6's, 6AS7G and 3,000 ohms 20, 15, 10, 7.5, plate to plate 5, 2.5. 12 ILS -55 LI-63 Push pull 6F6. class B 10,000 ohms 30, 20, 15, 10, ± .2 db 46's, 6AS7G, 807 -TR, plate to plate 7.5, 5, 2.5, 1.2 25-20,000 15 watts LS-2 25.00 1614 -TR and 6,000 ohms plate to plate .. .c LS-151 Bridging from 50 to 500 16,000 ohms. 50, 125/150, - 1 db R. PICOSO iiw onm line to line bridging 200, 250, 333, 15-30,000 +18 DB -74 08 1 MA IS-1 27.00 500;'600 LS- 63 The values of unbalanced DC shown will effect approximately 1.5 DB loss at 30 cycles. Comparison of hum balanced unit with shielding to normal uncased type. 0 Multiple alloy magnetic shield. 1 6 MW as 0DB reference. et .t ....E ,. » opiS.mcc.-cc.árEn »é LS-Ißl Pp,

90 0 MO « ,« . .c..e r.cac.c. c.c.ii KAácao

R C S T YORK 13. N. Y. * UTC 1 5 0 V A I K TREE ONLY audio units with a GUARANTEED uniform EXPORT DIVISION: 11 EAST 40th STREET, NEW YORK 16, N. Y. CABLES: "ARIAS" response... .± 1 DP from 20 to 20.000 cycles.

www.americanradiohistory.com 1111111011111% STUDY IN HIGH FIDELITY ... in words and music

Executed hei CAPITOL RECORDS Notes by CHARLES FOWLER, EDITOR IN FULL DIMENSIONAL SOUND OF HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE

How often have you wished you could find, on one record, performances by leading artists which would reveal every possible tonal facet of your high fidelity system? At last your wish can come true! Capitol's new album, A STUDY IN HIGH FIDELITY, contains twelve numbers and excerpts and two demonstration tracks, selected from its library of Full Dimensional Sound and other recordings. These were chosen specifically for their tonal variations to display the full aural scope of high fidelity recording and reproduction. A STUDY IN HIGH FIDELITY is not only a demonstration record. It offers the ultimate pleasure which comes from superb music, sensitively performed, meticulously recorded for faultless reproduction.

WHAT THIS ALBUM CONTAINS Here is a thrilling listening experience. The two percussion tracks include 23 different instruments, played by Hal Rees, chief percus- sionist for Twentieth Century-Fox. Excerpts from such widely varying compositions as Bloch's Concerto Grosso, Copland's Rodeo, Glazounov's The Seasons, Shostakovich's Piano Concerto in C Minor, Tchaikovsky's Quartet No. 1, and Villa- Lobos' Nonetto, comprise the six claLes Les Paul, une Hutton, and the orchestras of Les Baxter, Ray R Anthony, Stan Kenton, Axel Stordahl and Dick Stabile represent the popular field, with everything from Latin rhythms to hard-driving o/ brass, multiple guitar, rich bass sax, and vocal performances. *MsloMoN With the accompanying comprehensive text by Charles Fowler, Editor of High Fidelity Magazine, A STUDY IN HIGH FIDELITY is indeed an exciting experience in sound for music lovers and hi -fi enthusiasts.

Full Dimensional Sound - "A Study in High Fidelity " -is now available at your record dealer.