by Edward Tatnall Canby
The Fantastic Philadelphians, Vol. 2. (Smetana: Dance of the Comedians: Ponchielli: Dance of the Hours; Khachaturian: Sabre Dance; Grieg: Anitra's Dance, etc, etc). Phila. Orch. Ormandy. RCA Quadradisc ARD1 0017, $5.98.
Bach's Greatest Fugues (Scored for Double Orch.) Phila. Orch. Ormandy. RCA Quadradisc ARD1 0026, $5.98.
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade. Phila. Orch. Ormandy. RCA Quadradisc ARD1-0028, $5.98.
Fantastic-not fabulous (that's Columbia's word). Well, if you can call any such totally predictable batch of super-elderly chestnuts fantastic, then these performances are, and maybe the recording in quadraphonic sound too.
These were my first introduction, chez moi, to the glories of CD-4, and my astonishment at RCA's success (and, of course, JVC's in Japan-they are the progenitors) was matched by my astonishment that so many chestnuts of the symphonic repertory were still around to be played--I really thought some of these must have died an unnatural death by this time. Dance of the Hours! Lordy-lordy. I suppose the Philadelphians will play that one until Kingdom come. They do it ever so nicely. And the Sabre Dance. Hadn't heard it since about the third Audio Fair in NYC, when it was blasted out of every room in the entire audio show until (I was going to say) it was coming out of our ears. Boring into them, rather, and I mean the pun.
Quite seriously, the un-glory of the CD-4 system in its first production run has been the re-warmed hash of old-fashioned repertory. Some, like Debussy, really worthwhile, in rarely good performances. Some, like these, just highly professional corn. Others--well, just awful. If you only owned RCA quadradiscs and naught else, you'd have a worm's eye view of music.
The glory, of course, is that the CD-4 system of quadraphonic "discrete" discs is beginning to work, and to work well, against all probability (my own thought). See "Audio, E.T.C." Apparently RCA has been experimenting in quadraphonic recording, not only behind the scenes but in the actual published offerings. Each of these seems to have a different acoustic and/or a different species of mic arrangement, judging by the sounds.
The driest of the series, already reviewed, was the Debussy-Ravel disc.
The Scheherazade offering is warmer in sound, shinier in tone. The Greatest Fugues (ugh) is positively cavernous, enormous, tremendous, and very effective too-considering the super-old-fashioned styling of the music, à la Stokowski of the 1930s. It works. If you are not a Baroque fan, this could be superb for you. It sure doesn't sound like Baroque! It sounds like the Philadelphia Orchestra, augmented.
Conclusion: I think it is vital to keep perspective in these first CD-4 experiences. The pros-critics, record sales people, engineers et al-tend to be much too technical, missing the larger impact that really counts. Mr. Average Listener is not going to fuss over minuscule phasing errors, micro-background hiss, even a modicum of possible distortion, if the grand effect is right-and it is right, here. It's like driving a new car. You may know nothing about auto mechanics but the "feel" of that new car, plus or minus, hits the average driver instantly. Same with used cars. The RCA "feel" is astonishingly good. It has the basics of real quadraphonic impact. It works.
Leave the details to be worked out!
Performances: B+ up.
Sound: (in quadraphonic demodulation) A
Stolen Goods. Gems Lifted from the Masters. Dr. Teleny's Incredible Plugged-In Orchestra. RCA Quadradisc ARD1 0015, $5.98.
I'd call it incredibly un-outrageous. Look, RCA and Dr. Teleny! The business of lifting the classics was briefly a sensation back maybe thirty years ago when one Freddie Martin did it and everybody said naughty-naughty. Them days, RCA, are gone forever. Even rock musicians don't get away with it. They have more outrageous ways of getting attention, as you may know. Steal the classics and everybody yawns. Frozen turkey.
(Unless you do it with musical interest.) This disc is no more than super-augmented cocktail music, super bland with everything-orchestra, traps, some Latin-American, wordless voices, you name it they have it, mixed glutenously together to kill any last remaining spark of classical interest, and substitute--nothing. The soporific ear will be happy. It's expensive wallpaper music, loud, clear and quadraphonic.
(OK, Editor, better get somebody else to rebut this review). If I could listen, I'd be likely to say that the quadraphonic effects are ingenious and the surround sound surrounds all over the place. But I really couldn't bring myself to care.
Performance: No comment.
Sound: Probably first rate.
Al Stewart's Museum of Modern Brass. RCA Quadradisc ARD1-0032, S 5.98.
Ah, but this! It's full of stolen classics and it's very good. I like! How come? Well, the mystery of any art is that it isn't what you do, it's how you do it. Words, formulae, categories, prove nothing. The proof of the pudding is in the, er, hearing.
This is not all-brass; there's an interesting admixture of rhythm section, solo electrics of one sort or another, even a nicely used harpsichord (which sounds acoustic tho' it might be an electric sound for all I know ...). The effect is of a brassy big-band group, updated, highly pro and extremely smooth. The arrangements are excellent, both in the music and in the sound distribution. Some of the things are outrageous-familiar Baroque classics breaking up into big-band brass jazz and the like. OK! It's all very expert and outwardly casual, which is good; the music rates well even if you've never heard a note of the originals which, by the way, are "classics" of a healthy variety, from Bach's Magnificat and Purcell's Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary to Amazing Grace and, of all things, A Whiter Shade of Pale, out of Procol Harem.
That piece, an inspired derivative of Bach in itself, has rightly become a pop classic and is as alive in new arrangements as the leading Beatle tunes. Here, the Bach-like sound is further transcribed into a third-generation emanation.
The brass is paramount and the remarkable trumpet playing of Stewart is himself always in the lead-he plays as good a Bach-Vivaldi trumpet as a pop brass. Brass, of course, is ideal for any sort of quadraphonics and this job really goes four ways to town.
Performances: A, Sound: A
(Audio magazine, Aug. 1973; Edward Tatnall Canby)
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