Tacet - L 164 - 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl - AAA 100% Analogue
Limited Edition - Pure Analogue Audiophile Mastering - Pressed at Pallas Germany
No conductor, no semiconductor--I beg your pardon?
Q: Just what's going on here? No conductor? No transistors (=semi-conductor)?
A: New recordings and new old techniques.
About 50 years ago the transistor was invented - and it changed our world! No computer, no piece of household equipment can be imagined without it. But what about audio technique? We were curious. Did something get lost? And if so, what? - a LP without transistors? Is that feasible?
Symphony No. 5
in C minor op. 67
The Beethoven experience is rarely as direct as it is here; even in basically similar interpretative approaches from Scherchen and Leibowitz to Harnoncourt and Gardinet, there usually remains a certain distance from the listener based on reverence that Raiski's ensemble seems to bridge: one's feels spoken to directly. - Incredible that such a significant contribution to the Beethoven discography was also produced in marvellous, puristic analogue and/or tube quality. To be collected! - Vinylkatalog.Review
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor op. 67 - The Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Wojciech Rajski
Following the highly successful recordings of Beethoven’s Symphonies nos. 1, 2 and 7 with the Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra under Wojcieck Rajski, which the TACET label released on vinyl, a further work in the series is surely eagerly awaited. Beethoven’s Symphony no. 5 is a work which puts a conductor to the test and many maestros and orchestras have demonstrated their competence with its interpretation in the past. Thankfully, Rajski does not attempt to outdo the crystalline coldness and severity which is currently fashionable and found in other recordings. Rather, he gives weight to the grim fate motif in the first movement by means of a swift tempo and gentle timbre. With chamber-music-like airiness and doting wonderfully on the interwoven parts, he enables the listener to get to the heart of the two middle movements and highlights subtleties which are hidden even from Beethoven specialists. In the final movement the orchestra finds the ideal medium between silky symphonic brilliance and analytic precision and confidently leads the sweeping C major final section to a magnificent close.
Admittedly one would like to know how a record which has been made using 'tube only' technology will sound on the tube amplifier at home – if you had one! But even using normal transistorised equipment, this Beethoven recording guarantees superb listening.
Inspiring Tube Sound:
What is it that makes "tube sound" what it is? The advantages of tubes over transistors are difficult to describe in technical terms. Perhaps the reference to the higher and different type of distortion with tube amplifiers is most applicable, although "distortion" has a rather negative meaning: the more distortion, the worse it is. So this can't be entirely right. Besides, the distortions of these microphones of 1947 are much too slight to be really noticeable. The recording of the Partitas of Johann Sebastian Bach with Florin Paul is, for me, although meanwhile almost 23 years old, still the best example in our TACET catalogue of the special quality of tube microphones. The two U 47 microphones by Neumann made their contribution.
For the LP, however, (except for rare exceptions, justified for musical reasons) the signal is even stored on a tube tape recorder and then mastered with valve equipment, so that one would be right in saying that for the entire production not a single transistor was used.
We have always been especially pleased to receive so much feedback about our Tube Only productions. This motivates us even more to keep working with this technology and rescue it from oblivion. People have told us that the music sounds warmer, without losing any of its TACET brilliance. The timbres glow more. We have also heard that people have the impression of a more homogeneous sound, whatever that is meant to be. So let everyone listen to their own hearts and to the Tube Only recordings and feel something special! Even the sheer joy of this slightly nostalgic outstanding technology can be reason enough to like these productions. Yet what would it all be without the wonderful work of the artists!
Musicians:
Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra
Woljciech Rajski, conductor
• Recorded in the Church of Stella Maris in Sopot Poland, 2008
Selections:
Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 5 in c minor, Op. 67
1. Allegro con brio
2. Andante con moto
3. Allegro
4. Allegro
Tube Only” means: only tube microphones and amplifiers were used for the recording.
For the LP, (except for rare exceptions, justified for musical reasons) the signal is even stored on a tube tape recorder and then mastered with valve equipment, so that one would be right in saying that for the entire production not a single transistor was used.
We have always been especially pleased to receive so much feedback about our Tube Only productions. This motivates us even more to keep working with this technology and rescue it from oblivion. People have told us that the music sounds warmer, without losing any of its TACET brilliance. The timbres glow more. We have also heard that people have the impression of a more homogeneous sound, whatever that is meant to be. So let everyone listen to their own hearts and to the Tube Only recordings and feel something special! Even the sheer joy of this slightly nostalgic outstanding technology can be reason enough to like these productions. Yet what would it all be without the wonderful work of the artists!
