AAA 100% Analogue This LP was Remastered using Pure Analogue Components Only from the Master Tapes through to the Cutting Head

Numbered 1000 Limited Edition

AudioNautes  AN-1401 - 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl 

Half Speed Mastered by Stan Ricker - Pressed at Pallas Germany

The Absolute Sound List of Must-Hear Audiophile Recordings  

AAA 100% Analogue  - BIS LP-163/164

The Absolute Sound Super Disc List   TAS Harry Pearson Super LP List

Most highly recommended Music 10/10 Sound 11/10 Michael Fremer Analogue Planet

On The Absolute Sound's 'Super Disc' list since dinosaurs ruled. 

Reissued on 180-gram vinyl for the first time since it was recorded

 

Half-speed mastered from the original analog tapes by Stan Ricker, plated and pressed at Pallas in Germany

 

Double 33 1/3 RPM gatefold LP limited to 1,000 copies

 

On the The Absolute Sound list of must-hear audiophile recordings

 

Cutting notes from Stan Ricker

The tapes sound rather Marvellous concerning the Huge dynamic range in this music they where made for half speed mastering

This may cause tracking problems if your system is not perfectly aligned

 

This double LP set has resided on The Absolute Sound's 'Super Disc' list since dinosaurs ruled. It has an incredible variety of music and instruments from a 200-year period. There are no voices. The sound is very clean, transparent, complex and extended in the highs. The harmonic richness and decay within the hall is outstanding.

The soundstage is very deep, but it is not unusually wide.

 

The disc is simply ravishing. It's a classic analogue recording from 1980, lovingly produced, engineered and edited by Robert von Bahr using a Revox A77 and two - presumably spaced — simple Sennheiser MKH105 omni condenser mikes (vintage early '60's design); it amply shows the merits of a simple signal path, combined with minimal intervention and post-processing.

 

The recording immediately astonishes with its fluid, natural and utterly truthful sound, And the acoustic of the Chapel of the Imperial College, Madrid is just beautiful. The music, all 80 minutes of it, features variations on three archetypal Spanish themes (La Spagna, a Spagnoletta and Pavane), as interpreted by different composers such as Praetorius, Farnaby, Negri, Josquin Desprez, Ortiz and others. Aided by impeccable playing and 'realisation' of the basic themes, the end result is lively, fun and eclectic.

 

This is the very first audiophile version of this disc. 

 

Originally released in 1980 on the Swedish BIS label, the double LP la Spagna XV-XVI-XVII Centuries became an instant, certified “audiophile classic”. It was on the late Harry Pearson’s “Super Disc” list since forever, with used copies regularly fetching upwards of $200.
The music can generally be described as “ancient dance music” of the XV, XVI and XVIIth centuries played mostly on original instruments by the Atrium Musica De Madrid under the direction of Gregorio Paniagua. Recorders, a dizzying variety of stringed and percussion instruments that set a mood at once exotic and yet familiar thanks to elements used in late ‘60s popular English folk music (or, for example, in Roxy Music’s “Triptych”).

More specifically, the eighty minutes of music features various composers of the era working in three basic Spanish musical archetypes: “La Spagna”, “a Spagnoletta” and “Pavane”—but don’t let an academic description turn you off here because the music creates an atmosphere that is magical and intensely visual. the spectacular sound should be apparent.

The original was recorded by Robert von Bahr live to a Revox A77 using but a spaced pair of Sennheiser MKH 105 condenser microphones. The simple chain produces a recording of astonishing transparency, three-dimensionality and coherency, though of course the perspective is also somewhat distant. The perspective generates rich atmospherics and mystery, while the recording’s purity and transparency maintain remarkable transient detail.

This reissue on Fabio Camorani’s AudioNautes Recordings label is special in a number of ways. First of all it utilizes the original session tapes provided by the producer/engineer Robert von Bahr, but most importantly it’s one of the late Stan Ricker’s final projects and I cannot think of a more fitting and fantastic tribute than this reissue to Stan Ricker’s half-speed mastering brilliance and the quality of his cutting system electronics custom designed and hand-crafted by Keith O. Johnson.

Ricker went through many lacquers and even broke a cutter head in an effort to inscribe onto the lacquers all of the percussive transient detail on the tape. In his back cover note Ricker can’t imagine how the original real-time cut could have managed without high frequency limited on the whip and tambourine parts.

Fresh cut lacquers were immediately sent to RTI for plating and then shipped to Pallas for pressing. Production doesn’t get any better than this and the stunning sonics provide confirmation.

Now another generation of vinyl lovers has a chance to enjoy and treasure this superb double LP set. I don’t have an original but I can’t imagine it attains or surpasses what Stan Ricker has managed to put into the grooves of this reissue. (Warning: this record may mis-track if your cartridge is less than perfectly aligned). Thanks Fabio! And thanks to you Stan! Most highly recommended 

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