Bread and Roses in the 21st Century

     Women labor activists over one hundred years ago issued an urgent and bold proclamation to the seemingly impenetrable forces of industry and government at the apex of the Gilded Age - "We want bread.......and roses too!" Rose Schneiderman, pictured above, is credited with first using the powerful couplet as a missive to call women (and all) workers to action demanding greater access to the fruits of the emergent industrial societies their toil gave birth to. While bread sustains the body, roses sustain the spirit. The gains of workers since that time - women and men -  are well documented, starting particularly in the years of Roosevelt's New Deal and the decades that followed. Even in the so-called Post-Industrial Era, there are plenty of "roses" to indulge in, if the meaning of the word rests primarily upon the activities of the arts - film, music, literature, theater and the visual arts. If anything, there is probably too much to consume for the average working person. The arts have not abated in providing an avalanche of experiences for us all - uninterrupted since Rose Schneiderman's time to now.

     Yet, it is possible to consider her "roses" to imply not simply the existence of the arts - for the arts have always been part of human experience - but also the TIME to "smell" the roses too. Leisure time. This concept, it may be safe to argue,  has never been an accepted guarantee of human experience in any given society or age. If the Ancient Athenians had plenty of time to participate as citizens in the creation of their own laws, it is because a slave class did the toiling for them. Someone has to do "the work" while the rest swan around in robes making grand gestures. There may be those who gaze longingly back to such a time, yet one of the great contributions of modern times has been the work of people leading governments to repudiate the pernicious and vile condition of legal slavery. It is not a coincidence, of course, that the abolition movement, the women's suffrage movement and the rise of the labor movement all simultaneously launched from the exciting era of the Nineteenth Century. Intense times for the progressive and stubborn-willed leaders as well as the common foot-soldiers for change. Their bravery is our inspiration. For then, as now, we live in intense times. So-called populist leaders take advantage of economic and social unrest - conditions created due to the destabilizing effects of deregulated markets around the world. In desperate times, people want to believe in the empty promises of vulture capitalist demagogues. What evidence exists to illustrate the responsiveness of such figures to those who pledge their loyalty from afar? One can hear, if listening carefully, the sound of exclusive country club gates closing in a response of "THANKS!" for that support.

     In the middle of all this, who has time for "roses" anyway?  Indeed, the very utterance of this old and creaky couplet runs the risk of losing its currency precisely at a time when, seemingly, it ought to have its greatest rallying potential. Despite gains in the corporate shareholder world (to the usual benefit of the top earners / investors - as ever and always!) - wages have been flat since the 1970s. Even factoring in all the inexpensive consumer goods from global trade and the magic of the internet, are we really "better off" today? Oddly enough, since starting this blog about eight years ago more and more interest in vinyl record culture has emerged. Perhaps most of this renewed interest is reflected in the popular music that appeals to the 30-and-under crowd. Yet, as some folks have mentioned in their comments beneath my posts here, there seems to be a groundswell of interest in classical vinyl too. As I've suggested over the years - the quality and quantity of good music on vinyl - for very reasonable prices - may be at an all-time high for the analog-ready. Even decent quality turntables are quite affordable. How does all the analog messing around change the nature of the interaction with the art? Anyone with a cell phone can stream classical music for "free" as much as they like. Nothing wrong with that. The analog equipment makes the experience INCONVENIENT. At least for the average, post-industrial, multi-tasking, net-surfing, gig-economy juggling walking and popping humanoid.

     Even if it's cheap, generally speaking, why would anybody today want to go through the trouble of being inconvenienced just to hear Beethoven's 9th Symphony? Wasn't that the piece chosen to represent the length of a standard compact disc back in the 80s? Isn't this blog post all about saving time - leisure time?? And how about space? Who out there, living in their tiny houses, can afford the shelf space for a bunch of bourgeoisie plastic waffles? Well, they sure won't be bringing home a full-sized piano from the local Salvation Army either. Last time I went looking for records at the SALVO I saw a very nice upright piano for $150. That's a steal in some ways - but certainly a major INCONVENIENCE! Just as the cell phone puts the turntable out to pasture, so did the radio do the same to the piano itself - once the standard music-loving-household's pride and joy. And what are we missing? Singalongs around the piano with Aunt Gladys on Thanksgiving? Or something else........

     I don't quite have the gumption to drag the piano home just yet. But if given half a chance I would. When I was in college, I was trying to learn some piano with lackluster results. I really did give it a go for a time before giving it the "shrug of defeat". I even was visited by Dizzy Gillespie in dream! About the time I decided to give up on piano playing I had a dream where I was sitting at a piano and Dizzy Gillespie was sitting on the bench next to me at the piano and he was gently berating me for "giving up" - what the hell?!? Was he even still alive when I had that dream? And why Dizzy? Did he ever play piano even a little? I still don't know. Sometimes I wonder if I should have toughed it out. Maybe it isn't too late? Hmmmmmm.....

    In the meantime I keep stretching my listening with more music. Here are some platters that have kept me inconvenienced since the last entry.........

     Really enjoyed this reissue of Walter Gieseking playing some Debussy piano music. I think at a certain point Gieseking was considered one of the foremost interpreters of Debussy's stuff. I have yet to hear a recording from him that I don't like so he's always fair game. Not sure if I have other recordings of his Debussy though.

      I know this sounds a bit silly, but I felt somewhat accomplished when I finally listened to this 3 LP box set of Liszt's Christus. I bagged it for $1 a long time ago when I was on my Liszt kick and never got around to playing it. Much to my surprise and delight - most of it was instrumental music. Not that I dislike choral music - it just isn't usually my first pick for listening sessions. And, apart from the enjoyment I get from writing, when it comes to music I'm just not a word guy. Go figure.

     These modern music records got played awhile ago, but I don't remember them honestly. Need to pull them out again. I don't think the music was obnoxious or abrasive - certainly would have remembered that. Not to say that modern music isn't good if it isn't memorable, though some folks might feel that way. For me it just means I need to give it another shot before I make a judgement. At least with music it is relatively safe to extend a second chance. Not always so easy in other parts of life, alas!

     The Terry Riley and Ravi Shankar / Yehudi Menhuin albums seem to go together in a way - the modern minimalism and the ancient Indian Classical traditions compliment each other. Only a few weeks ago I had one of the best concert experiences of my life attending an Indian music concert. I will write more about that another time since I am still digesting the experience and considering how to write most effectively about it. It certainly re-affirmed my belief that live music can be a transcendent experience. Records are nice too, though!

    As usual there is never a time that isn't right for some Julian Bream. I scored the record above most recently though I need to run it through the glue regimen one more time. I love the modern stuff as well as the medieval stuff he does.

      Favorite piano records - I still have some Edith Farnadi albums I have to get into, she was quite something on that Liszt material. The big recent surprise for me was this Artur Balsam recording of Haydn Piano Sonatas. I'd never heard of Balsam before, yet his playing had a precision and fire going on that got my attention! I'm on the lookout for more from him. I love new discoveries like this. Ah, piano!

 

 

      A couple of Scheherazades got some play too. The one above features a slightly risque cover image that I didn't notice at first - well now! The cover below is pretty nifty with the figure riding the LP record instead of the flying carpet. The music might be a "warhorse" but it's still fun!

      A couple of new-to-me Bruckner 4ths. The above version was really enjoyable - good sounding recording and performance. Unfortunately the record was a little scuffy in spots so I'll be looking to upgrade. The Bruno Walter version below was an interesting reading, but the sound was a bit on the shrill side. That can be the case with Columbia product, unfortunately. That's what tone controls are for. Dial back on that treble and you're almost there!

     Some oboe music! Just hits the spot for me. What can I tell you? Being immersed in the music sure beats reality. Though I realize how fortunate I am to be able to do that. Honestly music has always been my escape hatch to counter the harshness of reality. Even when things are good - especially when things are not. I am thankful for the "roses" and the time to smell them. If I keep up what I do, maybe others might be able to have more of that too. I may not have had much time to write lately yet the message remains the same  - check out some other vibrations if you can. And keep a light in the window. Until next time.......peace!








 

The Quadraphonic Reckoning and Open Reel Adventures

Quadraphonic records can be commonly discovered anywhere folks may go looking for used albums - flea markets, used record stores, thrift stores, yard sales. They are everywhere. Popular music titles can sometimes fetch premiums on the used market when it comes to quad LPs. Yet, when it comes to classical titles the opposite is almost always the rule. Can't practically give the darn things away. Reading vintage literature of the era one gets the impression that quadraphonic music was once considered where the cutting edge of music reproduction existed - particularly as the entryway to a bold and exciting world of enhanced enjoyment and discovery especially for the serious music listener. Indeed - so much music was being recorded with quadraphonic reproduction in mind (and from as early a time as the late 1960s) it seems like major companies were preparing a ready supply of master tapes all set for mass production when the opportunity finally arrived. The emergence of stereo sound reproduction followed a similar trajectory in the mid to late 1950s - companies were recording in stereo long before stereo discs were a viable reality in the marketplace.

Unlike stereo, quadraphonic reproduction would be complicated by a variety of competing formats and reproduction issues that would both confuse and frustrate consumers. It wouldn't be hard to get to the point where a typical music consumer would just throw in the proverbial towel and give up on multi-channel music for good. The results often fell short of the promises, at least from the earliest available gear. What is interesting from a classical listener's point of view is how most (if not all?) classical music LPs bought into the SQ matrix format for vinyl LPs. Although many different companies issued classical albums in quad - none that I know of bothered with the competing matrix format - QS. Columbia Masterworks, EMI Angel, Vanguard and all the other smaller companies in the US and abroad like Vox Turnabout and Supraphon stuck with the SQ matrix format. How did this happen? Why did so many companies buy into that particular matrix? Unfortunately, the critical listening reviews would dash the whole enterprise right into the ground - mostly because of how SQ sounded when reproduced in plain stereo. Without getting too technical - it can be obvious to even the casual listener when a recording is processed through the SQ matrix system since the process relies on sending certain elements of the recording into complicated sonic "phase shifts" which can be decoded to rear speaker channels. Complicated? Oh yeah! So complicated that most affordable SQ decoders sucked big time! The most successful decoding units didn't even arrive on the consumer market until the late 1970s and by that time most people decided to give up on quad LPs. (Tape formats fared better since they were ultimately discrete from the get-go. Open reels and 8 tracks never had to suffer with matrix encoding issues.)

What I discovered along my own path of research was how much better the competing matrix format - QS - was when both decoding to quad AND listening in regular stereo. No discernible "phasey" sound in stereo and the quad decoding units were FAR SUPERIOR than the SQ units. (It should be noted that RCA and the WEA group labels - Warners, Elektra and Atlantic - all stuck with the unique 3rd option for vinyl - CD4 / Quadradisc. This format did not require a phase shift and therefore the stereo sound was not impacted. The only labels that issued classical titles in this format were RCA and Elektra Nonesuch and they work wonderfully when decoded through the proper gear.)

All of this is explained in far better detail at other internet sites like the great QuadraphonicQuad forum. The sad reality for classical music is that it generally was not served well by the quad era because of the SQ format's phasey sound quality embedded into the LPs. Audiophiles quickly learned to shun classical quad LPs since the sound was so tampered with it could dramatically impact the intended balance and dynamics of what an orchestra sounded like naturally. Oh well!

Now, for the adventurous listener on a tight budget this whole situation is actually a benefit. Me being the case in point. With so many quad classical LPs available it can be a cheap way to hear different performances of well known pieces. And, if one also happens to be a quadraphonic enthusiast - the experimenting can lead to some interesting conclusions! My own quad adventures have expanded into other popular genres - rock, jazz, etc......yet the ubiquity of classical quad LPs was something that got me ready to listen beyond those realms. With popular titles, part of the quad fun is hearing things in the new mixes that are either buried or totally missing from the normal stereo (or mono) mixes. So, in order to fully appreciate a quad mix - the best thing to do is get familiar with a given piece of music in its mono or stereo form. THEN you will be able to spot stuff in the new surround mixes that should render the music fresh and exciting.

After enough years of listening to mostly the mono and stereo records I finally decided to start breaking into the quad LPs in a serious way. Of course it helps to have the excellent Surround Master decoding unit from Involve Audio to extract that snarly SQ-encoded data (which is, by the way, the most expensive piece of equipment in the whole gear chain but totally worth it). Now, much of this research is being conducted in the living room which I recently designed as the second vintage surround system in the house. This came about mostly because I was unhappy with the limits of the quad amp in the main vintage setup in my study / office space. Just not getting enough juice to the speakers when I had the chance to really crank it up! So I revised the main system with the Kenwood amp powering the KLH 38s in the fronts and the modern-ish Pioneer powering the Dynaco A25s in the rears. Hence the tower of power:

This provides enough juice to make those speakers sing in a way the little Pioneer quad amp couldn't. Note the Marantz CD-4 decoder on top for the playback of those LPs. This new arrangement gave me the opportunity to move the little Pioneer quad amp to the living room...........

The old console stereo cabinet is not functional enough to warrant use of the actual gear inside to be worth the bother, so it provides a nice function as "proper gear table" for now. Although I have a little Technics linear-tracking turntable hooked up, it is the Pioneer Elite DVD player on top (with sacd and DVD-A capabilities) that serves as the signal delivery unit to the Surround Master (via LP to CD-R transfers done in the study / office zone). So, I transfer the quad LPs to CD then bring them into the living room for the listening session. The Pioneer quad amp (with its 20 WPC) powers a smaller set of speakers - EPI M90s in the front and KLH 32s in the rears. In the case of both sets of speakers - they are 2-way jobs with only 8" woofers. Of course I had to do a little improvement with those things. The EPI tweeters were still sounding nice, but the old woofers had had it. Luckily there is a dealer on ebay advertising as the official EPI part source - now called Human Speakers. For just a bit above $100 I got new woofers for the M90s and WOW! Big improvement. I bet they would sound even better with a more powerful amp, but I'm not looking for big volume in this space. The little KLH woofers were fine, but in the case of those speakers the tweeters didn't quite match the EPI crispness. Luckily I decided to try replacing the old capacitors with new ones (that cost all of $10) before thinking about replacing the tweeters. Good move! The re-cap job did the trick and now the KLHs sing as they ought to. The Pioneer SX-646 and the 8" 2-way speakers are a nice match at low-ish volume. Plenty loud enough to hear what's coming off those old classical quad LPs.

So what's been playing? Here are the records I've transferred so far:

Mostly I've been transferring and listening to titles issued by Angel / EMI. And most of the time I am monitoring those transfers on headphones. This has led to an interesting discovery for me. In some instances the phase shifting of the sound can be a little distracting, yet in some cases the music is not at all rendered un-enjoyable even under the close scrutiny of headphone listening. I am sure serious audiophiles would never accept what these records sound like as a "natural" orchestral sound. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how good the music did sound on the average - listening to quad LP after quad LP night after night this way. The living room sessions have also revealed differences in mixing techniques - some titles are mixed in a more ambient manner. Others - like the Morton Subotnick album - feature a more adventurous surround mix. I remember listening to the Harry Partch quad record a few years ago - the listening environment was immersive in a "room" sound that quite suited the music. I must remember to do a transfer of that as well for increased future spins. Still, I have to admit I wish more classical music had been mixed to the QS format instead of the SQ. Yet, at least the Surround Master manages to reveal the original intentions of those recordings - many of which were done 40+ years ago.

Along with the recent quad adventures, I've been trying to re-connect with some open reel tapes lately. Open reel tape is just about as much of a pain in the rear as quad LP is (and my reel to reel machine is stereo only alas). Yet, it sure is interesting and fun to hear some vintage recordings via the open reel format - like some of those early stereo recordings..........

I was playing this Stokowski conducts Wagner tape today. I realize the controversy surrounding both conductor and composer here, but for me (the average listener) I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this music. I think for me Wagner's music works best when it is disconnected from the larger and more ambitious pieces. As a general Wagner sampler tape - this worked for me. I forgot about the yucky baggage and listened to the music alone which Stokowski seemed to present in a suitable way. Well, I'll never be a Wagner expert, but I was won over by this particular recording.

Inside the tape box I found this neat brochure listing all the available RCA open reel tapes (to that point - I think perhaps 1964 or 1965):

Interesting to note the emphasis on the 4 track tape format. Prior to this development, open reel tapes were originally one-sided 2 track affairs. I have a few of those from RCA (I got really lucky at a thrift store one day) and another from Westminster of the 1812 Overture:

I played this one today too - though on headphones the sound was kinda shrill-sounding (would have been better through the KLH 38s). Maybe there was a philosophy to the mastering of some of these early tapes to make them more forward-sounding than LPs were at the time. I could see the logic in that. Certainly Columbia open reels generally have that mastering quality to them, like this:

As much as I enjoyed the music, the sound was certainly a bit treble-enhanced, or so it seemed to me. Not in a detrimental way, but noticeable. Still, Bruno Walter is one of my favorite conductors of his era.

Pulled out this Haydn symphony tape also. Westminster certainly was doing its best to keep pace with stereo sound developments. I'm glad I get enjoyment from this music - it would be sad to be forced to pay hundreds of dollars for Beatles open reel tapes only to experience negligible sonic improvements in the sound. As much as I like messing around with reel to reel machines I sure as heck can't chase after some of those more expensive titles - not on purpose at least. I've gotten lucky enough to find some cool tapes - plenty to keep me entertained when I get the urge to fire up the old machine (a pretty robust TEAC that must have gotten a decent workout before it found me).

And even with all the quad and reel stuff happening - there's always the standard LP and CD spinning going on - like this Liszt LP by Edith Farnadi:

And this interesting record of orchestral music from the 1976 Olympic Games held in Montreal:

As usual, the material runs the gamut from the earliest stuff to the more recent and experimental (and sometimes kitchy). It's all in good fun. Until next time and with more reflections on the vibrations....KEEP 'EM SPINNING!