David Abel/ Julie Steinberg - Beethoven: Violin Sonata Op.96 & Enescu: Op. 25

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Analogue Productions Ultra Tape reel-to-reel reissues!

Twelve masterpiece titles, each a 15 ips, ¼-inch 2-track (½ track) analog tape copy

Sourced from original master tapes

Transferred using ATR-modified Ampex Tape Machine with flux magnetic heads

Custom slipcase cover - highest quality tape reissue!

From Acoustic Sounds, Inc., the world leader in audiophile music sales, comes the highest quality analog reel-to-reel tape album reissues — Analogue Productions Ultra Tape!

Twelve masterpiece titles are featured in this new reissue series, each a 15 ips, ¼-inch analog tape copy (IEC equalization) sourced from a copy of the original analog master tape. Transferred real-time, using an ATR-modified Ampex Tape Machine with flux magnetic heads. Custom slipcase cover. The first two titles — Janis Ian's Breaking Silence and Ben Webster's Gentle Ben are releasing before 2016 ends.

On this recording of Beethoven: Violin Sonata Op.96 & Op. 25 we hear David Abel, violin, Julie Steinberg, piano. This composition occupies a special place among Beethoven's creations because it shows a unique quality: there is an Olympian elegance, a profound gentleness that pervades the entire work. Nowhere does Beethoven the earth shaker appear. Even the scherzo movement does not disturb this sustained thoughtfulness.

Violin and piano begin trading short thematic statements in quick exchange from the first notes of the first movement. Parallel arpeggios create a growing intensity. The middle section of the movement is characterized by abrupt modulations and an increased pace of exchanges. A striking procedure is the use of a seemingly interminable trill, nearly heart­stopping in its intensity.

The second movement, Adagio expressivo, one of Beethoven's floating Adagios, is based on the compulsion of a slow intense bass movement. The serenity of this movement is not disturbed by elaborate decoration from both instruments. And this stillness is further emphasized by a fourteen measure repeating pedal point (nearly one fifth of the movement) which closes it. The Scherzo sustains the serious character of the entire work. The last movement begins not only with a quick alternation of themes between the violin and piano, but a soft and loud alternation, as well, which adds to the feeling of growing intensity. An interrupted rondo is the plan, but the interruptions are of a major kind: another sensuous adagio and a daring fugato lead to a presto outburst concluding the movement.

David Wilson had already recorded piano by the time he began working with world-class musicians Steinberg and Abel in the Mills College Concert Hall in Oakland, California, though it was the first time he recorded a violin. Experimenting with different microphone positions in an attempt to capture what he calls the "delicious geometry" of sound emanating from Abel's Guarneri and Steinberg's Hamburg Steinway D, he ended up hanging his Schoeps CMC-36 microphones from a ladder high above the instruments. Of the results, he says, "I'd put the recording up against any chamber music recording. It has to be my favorite."

Reached at their home in Oakland, Steinberg and Abel, whose trio with percussionist William Winant has commissioned music from the likes of John Harbison, Lou Harrison, Paul Dresher, Somei Satoh, and Gordon Mumma (for starters), reminisced about their time with Wilson.

"The session was free of the time pressure and tension that can really get in the way of the final outcome," says Abel. "If we wanted to stop for a bite, or go outside to rest for a while, that was not a problem... Dave kept open to what was happening in the moment, as in a concert. He understood about not making a 'perfect' recording, and instead left the small imperfections... that make the final result sound human and real. One could not ask for better."

Each Ultra Tape reissue copy is priced at $450.

The remaining titles include: Rickie Lee Jones' It's Like This / Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances (the famous Turnabout recording) / Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Scheherazade (RCA Living Stereo) / Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Pines of Rome and Fountains of Rome (RCA Living Stereo) / Leopold Stokowski's Rhapsodies (RCA Living Stereo) / René Leibowitz and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Power of The Orchestra (RCA Living Stereo) / Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Lieutenant Kije and Stravinksy's Song of the Nightingale (RCA Living Stereo) / Hugh Masekela's Hope / and Lowell Graham's Winds of War & Peace (Wilson Audio).

See all of the Ultra Tape reel-to-reel editions here.

 

 

1. Violin Sonata No. 1 in G Major, Op. 78 - I. Vivace ma non troppo

2. Violin Sonata No. 1 in G Major, Op. 78 - II. Adagio

3. Violin Sonata No. 1 in G Major, Op. 78 - III. Allegro molto moderato

4. Violin Sonata in G Minor - I. Allegro vivo

5. Violin Sonata in G Minor - II. Intermede - Fantastique et leger

6. Violin Sonata in G Minor - III. Finale

7. Roman nepi tancok (Romanian Folk Dances), BB 68 (arr. for violin and piano)

Customer Reviews (5.00 Stars) 1 person(s) rated this product.

Incredible! posted on 08/05/2018 5 Stars Reviewer: tjn Based om experience with the vinyl edt. and the differences between tape and other sources from other titles I had high expectations on this. My expectations were exceeded. Instead of repeat myself from other tape reviews here on AS I just say that this is the best I have ever heard from a piano/violin recording, or all recordings... You will never come closer having a Steinway in your living room than this. Then you have to buy one. Mr. K, I will very much like to see the Debussy/Brahms/Bartok album on tape also. Thanks folks, my listening sessions have reach another level after these AP tapes came to house...

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