Scoping software.

Two-Channel Sound.

Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel: Trio Sonatas for Flute, Violin, and Baroque Cello. (A harpsichord also performs.) Les Arnis de Philippe. Recorded in 1997, at the Evangelical Church, Honrath, Germany. Engineer: Martin Andrae. 102+ minutes (two-disc set). CPO 999 495.

Those of you who think the only Bach who matters is J.S. need to get your hands on this set and see just how accomplished this particular son was. Trained by his father, C.P.E., who lived from 1714 until 1788, not only received instruction in keyboard playing and composition from him, but also was introduced to the duties of a musician and assisted him in his activities as Thomaskantor and director of the Collegium Musicum of Leipzig.

Initially, his compositional work grew directly from his experiences as his father's student. However, he later on revised almost all of his earlier compositions (including the Trio Sonatas recorded here), and then destroyed all of the earlier manuscripts. The revised versions exemplify the height of the late Baroque and Rococo eras, and lead us into the classical era that followed.

The sound on this set is both well performed and well recorded, with detail so emphatic that you can at times hear the performers shifting in their chairs. The soundstage is fairly close up, with the listening position a tad to the right of center instead of the usual dead center. The sense of hall space is remarkable, and the two-channel transcription has an almost surround-sound feel to it. This is a superior recording of superior music, superbly performed.

I listened to this material first in my middle system, which has gone back to using a pair of "modified" Allison AL-125 speakers for main-channel reproduction. (These have been shortened, with the lower of the two 6.5-inch woofers removed, allowing the systems to be mounted on a bench and dovetailed with the SVS 16-46PC subwoofer I reviewed in issue 88.) The satellites are equalized, ruler flat, by a Rane THX-22 (one of these was reviewed by me in issue 83) to eliminate boundary-related artifacts. After again listening to this material on my main system, I came to prefer the smaller one's intimacy and detail.

However, on the bigger system, Dolby Pro Logic II (music) was excellent, with the Yamaha RX-Z1 receiver's Classical/Opera mode somewhat less effective, even with the center level backed off 3 dB below the set-up level to minimize lateral squeezing. (I reviewed the Z1 in issue 93.) In that bigger system, Classical/Opera, as well as any of the standard concert-hall simulations also available, layered on too much reverberation. However, both of my smaller systems were very effective with the smaller concert-hall simulations available from their DSP-A1 (reviewed in issue 72) and DSP-A3090 (reviewed in issue 65) integrated processor/amps.

Baroque Violin Favorites (works by J.S. Bach, Corelli, Handel, Tartini, Vitali, and Vivaldi). Bin Huang, Violin; Hyun-Sun Kim, piano. Recorded in 2002, at River Run Centre, Ontario, Canada. Engineer: Norbert Kraft. 63+ minutes. Naxos 8.555960.

This transcription includes some of the best-known compositions and movements from the century that marked the height of the Baroque musical achievement --and in my opinion the near height of music composition in general. Bin Huang, one of the more gifted violinists to come from China, has established herself as a leading player within the younger generation, and that talent is clearly shown here. Korean born and trained Hyun-Sun Kim made her d6but concert in 1997. This has led to performances throughout the USA, Europe, and Asia, and her work here expertly backdrops the violin work.

Both the performance and sound on this disc are superb. In stereo form, the soundstage is close up and very real, with fine articulation and notable depth. This is state-of-the-art two-channel sound that pretty much defines what is needed to make a two-instrument presentation sound like the performers are right out in front of you.

Dolby Pro Logic II (music) decoding was excellent. While stereo-only playback sounds almost surround-sound like (at least if your listening room is reasonably large), DPL II gets you a few percentage points closer to perfection. This is great news, since DPL II processing is now found on nearly every receiver and processor being manufactured. (Some models offer more adjustment flexibility, incidentally.) The Classical/Opera mode available from each of my three Yamaha processors was less intimate and more distant, with a much larger hall simulation. (As I have noted umpteen times in the past, to get this mode to work to best effect it is necessary to back off the center level about 3 dB below the standard set-up levels.) Personal taste will dictate which simulated seats and hall size you prefer, but my vote goes to DPL II with this superb recording.

Caldara, Antonio: Trio Sonatas and Cello Sonatas. The Parnassi Musici (on period instruments). Recorded in 2001, at the Hans-Rosbaud-Studio, Baden-Baden. Recording Engineer: Ute Hesse. 67+ minutes. CPO 999 871.

Caldara, who was a citizen of Venice and lived from 1671 until 1736, was highly esteemed by J.S. Back and was for many years one of the more favored composers of Emperor Charles VI. He was a very prolific worker, having composed more than 3,400 works--most of which involved oratorios, masses, and cantatas. His instrument-only production was limited to only four pieces of music, with three out of the series presented on this disc. I wish he had done more in this area, because the music on this disc is superb, as is the performance.

The sound here is also superb, with essentially perfect soundstaging, clarity and detail. To be truthful, I really cannot see how a two-channel recording could be done any better. Of course, it is possible to use DSP ambiance extraction or synthesis to go beyond two channels, and in this case both the Classical/Opera and Dolby Pro Logic II (music) modes available from my Yamaha RX-Z1 receiver were superb. The former processing put me into a larger space, and for most listeners the smaller-scale results delivered by DPL II would be a better bet.

That is good news, since as I previously noted the circuitry is being included in just about every new receiver and processor showing up these days. With good two-channel program sources DPL II (and DTS Neo:6, as well) is able to give many discrete channel (DVD-A, SACD, DD, and DTS) recordings of acoustic music a serious realistic sound reproduction run for the money.

The Children's Hour. (Music for the child in all of us, composed by Bach, Debussy and others, including some traditional children's tunes.) Anne-Marguerite Michaud, harp. Recorded in 2002, at AAM Studios, Pittsburgh. Engineers: Jim Kopaz and David Bjornson. 58+ minutes. Summit 355.

The harp is a wonderful instrument to listen to if you have had a rough day and just want to unwind. This recording will do the trick and Ms. Michaud, who is a harpist with the Pittsburgh Symphony and teaches harp at Carnegie Mellon University and Grove City College, plays with a combination of freedom and polish that does all the material here justice.

The recorded sound is equally transfixing, with superb clarity, detail, and depth. I thought the soundstage was a bit on the wide side at times for a solo instrument. However, one reason for this would be the wide spacing of the wide-dispersing Allison IC-20 speakers in my main system and the probable desire on the part of the recording engineers to capture the up-close intimacy of the instrument while still having a "stereo" effect. When listened to on both of my smaller installations (the smallest one, in the living room, makes use of the NHT ST-4 systems that I reviewed in issue 90) the effect was borderline perfection. The close-up soundstaging on the disc dovetailed nicely with the more intimate listening environment those systems occupy, yet with the sense of envelopment undiminished.

As part of a series of tests I have been doing, I also temporarily installed a pair of Dunlavy Cantatas (reviewed in issue 87) in the big system and set them up for the kind of focus they are known for. The result was terrific, and I intend to permanently install those systems in a new sunroom I am planning to have built on to my house next fall--bringing up to four the total number of serious, and yet quite different installations at my place.

While the Classical/Opera and hall-simulation surround modes found on my various Yamaha processors were pretty good, the enlargement of space those options generated tended to counteract the need for intimacy with this instrument. Better results were obtained with Dolby Pro Logic II (music) in the main system, with the smaller Jazz/Club modes available from the other systems also very effective.

Graupner, Christoph: Instrumental and Vocal Music, Volume 1. L'Ensemble des id6es heureuses, directed by Genevieve Soly. Recorded in 2002, at Eglise Saint-Augistin de Mirabel, Quebec, Canada. Engineer: Geoff Martin. 64+ minutes. Analekta 3162.

This is the second recording of works by Graupner (who lived from 1683 until 1760) that I have reviewed for this magazine. The first was another Anelekta release, recorded in the same church, with Ms. Soly giving us some exquisite harpsichord playing. This new release involves a combination of small-ensemble orchestral works and vocal presentations (including an excerpt from one of Graupner's operas) that are equally well handled, both in terms of musical precision and recording excellence.

Graupner was a prolific writer of cantatas, with those that have been preserved totaling 1,418, mostly still in hand-written form. Only seventeen are in published form and only one of those is presented here. In addition, he published a total of 37 chamber works, and four of those are on this disc. Future volumes in this series will no doubt present much of what is currently in print, and hopefully some of the still unpublished cantatas will be included, too.

As with the earlier-reviewed harpsichord recording, the soundstage here is very realistic, with a very smooth and vibrant overall sound, wonderful instrumental textures, and with a good mid-hall listening perspective that is ideal for presentations of this size. The vocals (which are present on only two of the works here recorded) are also properly sized in relation to the supporting players. In addition, I also got sensational results from my middle system, which has my modified and equalized Allison AL-125 speakers fairly close together, along with a closer-up listening position than with my main system.

Also as with the harpsichord recording, the Classical/Opera mode of my Yamaha RX-Z1 receiver managed to make things a bit too spacious, even though the recording was done in a church. The best hall-simulation was achieved by the DPL-II (music) decoding also available with the Z1. The DSP-A1 processor/amp in the middle system did a great job with any number of hall-simulation modes that do not make use of the center-channel feed. Unlike with my main system, the center-channel speaker in the middle system is considerably higher up than the left/ right main speakers (it is on top of a rear-projection TV monitor), making the Classical/ Opera mode not particularly effective.

Times Like This. Featuring Heidi Grant Murphy singing assorted Broadway show tunes by Frank Loesser, Stephen Sondheim, Maury Yetson, Harold Rome, Rogers and Hammerstein, and others). Recorded in 2002, at KAS Music and Sound, Astoria, New York. Engineer: David Merrill. 50+ minutes. Koch 7569.

Having a highly accomplished singer who specializes in opera sing Broadway tunes is always a risky business. (One is reminded of when Ethel Merman decided to sharpen up her vocal talents and went to audition for a vocal coach--who after hearing her suggested that she never take singing lessons.) Opera and Broadway are like apples and oranges, and singers who specialize in either form who decide to give the other a try may be biting off more than they can safely chew.

Consequently, I have mixed feelings about the artistic results here, as does my wife, who loves to listen to Broadway specialists singing Broadway and opera specialists singing opera. Ms. Grant's abilities are considerable and yet they tend to overwhelm some of the material, even though she does appear to be reining in her power at times. Technically, she does not miss a beat and her delivery is all one could ask for--if they were asking for an opera performance. Admittedly, some songs come across very well indeed, but others just do not blend in well with her operatic style.

Thankfully, the sound quality here is remarkably good. We hear Ms. Grant from what is essentially a front-row perspective in a good small hall. The clarity is exemplary, as is the soundstaging.

My Yamaha RX-Z1's Classical/Opera mode (which is ideal for larger-hail programs featuring centered soloists) was overkill in an odd sort of way. If Ms. Grant were singing opera on a large stage with a large supporting ensemble the result would have been sensational. However, with Broadway tunes the increased distance and more spacious sound just did not do the trick. In addition, while the instrumental support on this release is spread out fairly wide and works well from a close-up perspective, Classical/Opera's increased sense of stage size and distance to the performers tended to subjectively spread the few supporting instrumentalists out way too wide.

Fortunately, the same receiver's Dolby Pro Logic II (music) mode did do the trick, and did so by moving just a touch of small-hall space out into the listening room. In addition, the center steering helped to stabilize Ms. Grant at the center when listening from off axis a bit, while at the same time maintaining the sense of close-up intimacy. The result was terrific.

River City Brass Band: Polished Brass (works by Milhaud, Copland, Mussorgsky, Leo Delibes, Bruce Broughton, Franz von Suppe and others). Recorded in 2002, at the Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center, University of Pittsburgh. Engineer: Clarke Rigsby. 53+ minutes. Summit 342.

As the album blurb states, this recording "offers a fresh take on classical music. It pays homage to the masters and introduces audiences to the next generation of classical music composers." As such, the material covered is eclectic and very much capable of demonstrating the beauty of really fine high-fidelity sound-reproducing systems. The musical performance itself is right up there with the best, and this ensemble is a considerable cut above some other all-brass groups I have heard.

The recording itself is demonstration grade, exhibiting exemplary clarity and some very dynamic contrasts at times. The soundstaging is top-tier, and there is a fine sense of front/back depth. This is a very realistic sounding recording.

Dolby Pro Logic II (music) decoding made a really good recording sound even better, adding a sense of hall space further out into the room and stabilizing the soundstage when listening from off axis. My Yamaha RX-Z1 receiver's Classical/Opera mode was even better (with the center level backed off the usual 3 dB to keep the soundstage spread out), with a superb "you-are-there" feel that was among the best renditions of realistic concert-hall space I have yet heard. The bigger your playback system and listening room the better with this recording.

Trainor, Brian: Tangled Roots (Trainor on piano, with Ricardo Ferrer, bass, and Jeff Jerolamon, drums). Recorded in 2002, at Tabulet Studios, Valencia, Spain, except for track number two, recorded in 2000, at Broadway Studio, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Engineers: Alphonso Garcia and Leroy Padilla (track number two). 71+ minutes. Summit 348.

The traditional jazz-trio sound on this disc is both musically enriching and technically adept. The presentation is enveloping, rich, and clean, with the room acoustics perfectly matched for this kind of material. The listening position is what you would get from a good seat up front, and those with straightforward stereo playback systems should get nearly all that this kind of presentation offers.

I found the Classical/Opera mode available from any of the Yamaha processors in my three systems to be more elephantine in their treatment than I would like. The smaller-environment Jazz/ Club modes available from any of them were terrific, however, with the very best results coming from the Dolby Pro Logic II (music) decoding available from my RX-Z1.

Surround Sound.

New Year's Concert, 2003. (Works by Johann Strauss, Josepth Strauss, Weber, Berlioz, and Brahms.) The Vienna Philharmonic, conducted by Nicholas Harnoncourt. Recorded on (of course) January 1, 2003, at the Musikverein, Vienna. Engineers: Peter Wallner, Gottfried Grabner, and Werner Nowak. 122 minutes (the concert) and 22 minutes (the special features). The video is all at a 16:9 wide-screen ratio, which will work fine on your HDTV monitor, and a bit less fine (black bars top and bottom) on standard 4:3 ratio sets. TDK DVUS-WPNK03.

The performance here is basically a European version of a pops concert, with lightweight stuff like the Scherz-Polka, Blue Danube, Lob der Frauen, etc., dominating. The performance is a good one, though, and certainly this "pops" recording is good, solid, and certainly respectable in terms of sound quality. The video material mainly involves distant and close-up shots of the orchestra and the interior of the beautiful Musikverein. Additional, special features include a series of short music videos (involving scenes of the Hellbrunn Palace, the Soloists of the Vienna Opera Ballet in the Volksgarten gardens, the St. Petersburg Kirov Ballet at Eggenberb Palace, etc.) recorded in two-channel form with Dolby Digital working at 224 kbps. The sound is actually pretty good at that data rate, mainly because only two channels are involved.

The sound on the primary-concert part of this DVD video release exists in three forms: Dolby Digital (448 kbps) and DTS (754 kbps) in surround-sound form, as well as in PCM stereo (1536 kbps). The surround-sound tracks are in 5.0 audio, since it is not really necessary to have a "point-one" LFE track with musical material. Indeed, since music is normally recorded full bandwidth on each channel installing an LFE track would require filtering the original material for inclusion on that track, thereby adding superfluous post-production processing. You do not really need an LFE track for pure music material, unless maybe you are talking about the canons on the 1812 Overture--which is not on this recording!

As best I can tell, the DTS sound was not any better than the DD sound, although the overall sense of hall spaciousness and detail was pretty good with either. The soundstage spread was decent, with the sense of perspective coming across as a bit distant. For the most part, with the picture turned off this became a generally good-but not stupendous-sounding recording. With the picture turned back on it became an interesting study in concert-hall architecture and performer visuals (including some fine close-up work), combined with good sound.

Interestingly, the video work was done in real time. That is, you can see close ups and more distant shots from differing angles and the performers are definitely moving right along with the recorded sound. The audio soundstage always remains stabilized, with a good mid-distance listening perspective, even though the visual perspectives change almost continually. Also interesting was the fact that even with video material showing the performance from a variety of close-up and medium-distance perspectives (including positions that almost certainly had to originate from within the orchestra) I never once saw a video camera in action--even with the wide-angle shots. Whoever did the visuals for this presentation was professional as hell.

Ironically, when I turned on the Dolby EX or DTS EX center-back feeds to see if the sense of envelopment could be made even better, the sense of spaciousness was actually reduced. The center-back feed was deriving the L+R part of the blend from the hall ambiance and putting it where it would do less good than from out to the sides. While the EX or ES modes might help to soup up a rock-music video and can improve the sense of envelopment and flyover effects with some non-6.1 movies, they consistently have not done much to improve any surround-sound classical concert-hall material I have auditioned.

The center-channel feed up front was strong enough to contribute to the soundfield, as opposed to versions that send a token amount to the center in order to satisfy those who would feel cheated if nothing was coming out of the center speaker at all. Since the music here was entirely full-orchestra stuff, with a blend across the front, it was impossible to say for sure whether the center was a true discrete signal or simply a L+R blend overlaying a phantom center. I am pretty sure it was discrete, because a strong L+R blend in the center would have compromised the soundstage spread at times, and this clearly did not happen.

Interestingly, one of my Yamaha RX-Z1's ambiance modes supposedly simulates the acoustics of the Musikverein. Consequently, I took the time to switch to the PCM stereo tracks and engage that surround mode. The result was interesting, because I think the Yamaha fabricated ambiance (adding hall reverb out in the room to existing reverb from the same hall up front) worked a bit better than what was recorded in DTS or DD form. Admittedly, the simulated hall ambiance could not deliver the sound of the audience applause all around, whereas the DD and DTS versions most certainly did.

This success of the Yamaha fabricated soundfield was probably because the discrete DD and DTS versions only had two surround channels, whereas the Yamaha simulation was derived from a four-surround-channel measurement taken in the same hall a number of years back. While DD and DTS were doing their work with just five channels (left, center, right, right surround, and left surround), the Yamaha processing involved six (left, right, left-front surround, right-front surround, right surround, and left surround). The loss of the center channel was no big deal in this case, particularly on one of my smaller systems where the left and right mains are not so far apart as they are on my bigger system. The more surround channels (simulated or real), the better, particularly when it comes to simulating a large-hall space in a small listening room.