Part 2 of my examination of this landmark release of Furtwängler's wartime recordings with the BPO continues with a detailed discussion of the music and performances contained on these records, and of their cultural, historical, and political context and significance.

You can read Part 1 here. 

In this limited edition 8-vinyl LP set of recordings drawn from its epic 22 CD/SACD of the wartime recordings of Wilhelm Furtwängler and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, we have a unique and compelling portrait of music-making as an act of cultural and political assertion, latterly embodying defiance in the face of defeat and fear.  These were also recordings made with a higher level of sonic fidelity than hitherto available, made possible by the new technology of tape and tape recorders developed and built in Germany in the 1930s.  That any of the original master tapes themselves survived the fall of Berlin and their removal to the Soviet Union is just one aspect of the fascinating tale told by these legendary recordings and the beautifully presented accompanying materials in this remarkable set.  Part 1 features an overview of the set, a discussion of Furtwängler’s unique place amongst conductors, and the story behind how these recordings came to be made, and the technology developed to make them.  Part 2 continues with a detailed discussion of the music and performances contained on these records, and of their cultural, historical, and political context and significance.  

Blue Note Records has released Forces of Nature: Live at Slugs’, a never-before-issued live recording of jazz legends McCoy Tyner and Joe Henderson leading a stellar quartet with bassist Henry Grimes and drummer Jack DeJohnette at the hallowed lost NYC jazz shrine, Slugs' Saloon, in 1966. The release was produced by Zev Feldman with Jack and Lydia DeJohnette, and is available now on 2-LP, 2-CD, and digital formats. Tyner and Henderson had been forging a strong... Read More

The box set arrived about an hour ago and I got right on it and shot this box opening video. Honestly, more interesting is the second embedded video with Kevin Reeves and Pat Kraus showing the tapes and the cutting process along with some of the ideas that went into the new cuts. The tape box notes show that bass was seriously cut for the original records as was some top end splashy cymbal stuff.What wasn't clear from the video is what they did for these new... Read More

Let the record reflect that the first time people heard “Purple Rain” played live, nobody clapped. It was August 8th, 1983, and Prince and the Revolution were doing a benefit gig to help out a local dance studio where his band worked out their choreography. Furthermore, that iconic solo? Improvised on the spot. And he was just 25 years old. All of this leaps up from just a couple of the 176 pages Twin Cities journalist Andrea Swensson has pieced together for “Prince... Read More

While most of the luxury speaker brands don't participate in CAF, Stenheim and especially YG Acoustics made points of being seen and heard this year. YG especially made a play for the ears and hearts—not to mention the wallets—of Capital Audio Festival attendees by demoing a wide range of its speakers from the lower priced to the next to the top XX model. Despite the small rooms in which they showed, the sound was exceptional in every room, but for my ears, it... Read More

November 13, 2024—Boston-based Andover Audio is proud to announce the launch of the SpinBase 2, the next evolution of its award-winning turntable-speaker system (the turntable is not included). Maintaining the clean, classic design of the original SpinBase, the new model dials up the aesthetic with heathered fabric wrap and Andover’s iconic main control knob. This compact and clever design blends convenience with high-quality sound and ease of setup and use,... Read More

Photo credit: TalmyEnterprises. The legendary and influential record producer Shel Talmy passed away yesterday (November 14th) from a stroke at age 87. Talmy arranged and produced the Kinks recordings 1964-1967, My Generation by the Who, and hit singles by the Easybeats, Manfred Mann, Chad & Jeremy, and worked with the Creation and Pentangle. He produced early sessions for a young David Bowie.

Part 1 of Tracking Angle's Capital Audio Festival 2024 coverage is an hour plus long video mostly highlighting turntables and tonearms but also a few other interesting features including an interview with composer/musician/HD Tracks entrepreneur David Chesky's 17 year old son Lucca who introduced a new $995/pr loudspeaker. You're sure to enjoy the interview I conducted with him.The top photo show a The Wand turntable fitted with a newly designed arm... Read More

Los Angeles, CA (November 13, 2024)—Craft Recordings is proud to unveil the next installment in its acclaimed Small Batch series—a meticulously crafted reissue of Bill Evans Trio’s final studio LP, Explorations. Arriving December 13, Explorations marks the series’ seventh installment, which has previously spotlighted jazz luminaries such as John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. Strictly limited to 2,500 pressings worldwide and available to pre-order today,... Read More

November 13th, 2024 – Analogue Productions, the world leader in high quality vinyl production, is thrilled to announce the December 13 release of Birth of the Blue, a collection documenting the transformative first session in 1958 by the same band that would go on to record Kind of Blue - the one of the greatest and greatest-selling jazz album of all time - the following year. Featuring Davis’ legendary sextet - John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, Paul... Read More

While driving home from the Capital Audio Festival this past Monday, as I crossed the Millard E. Tydings Memorial Bridge that spans the Susquehanna River between Havre de Grace and Perryville, Maryland I realized I'd left something behind at the Hilton Hotel, Rockville Maryland that I'd not be able to turn around and retrieve, and that is coverage of Doug White's room containing a significant trove of analog gear I'd planned for weeks to be sure to... Read More

Blue Note Records has announced the launch of the Tone Poet Society, a new subscription service dedicated to the legendary jazz label’s Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series. Blue Note has also announced the 2025 line-up of the acclaimed series which is produced by the “Tone Poet” Joe Harley and features definitive all-analog, 180g audiophile vinyl reissues that are mastered from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray of Cohearent Audio, manufactured at RTI, and... Read More

On October 28th Rega co-founder Roy Gandy (the "ga" part of the company name) gifted 100% of his shares (which represents full company ownership) to his employees as part of an EOT arrangement. Read the statement below and be amazed and if you are a Rega turntable owner, a dealer or distributor, be assured. Hopefully other companies will do likewise or follow a similar path. Given the hollowed out, sad states of some other veteran companies have become under... Read More

Rockville, MD, November 7th, 2024— Musical Surroundings debuts two significant new products at this year's Capital Audio Festival. The first, pictured above, is a vacuum tube-based equalizer for DS Audio optical cartridges. The TB-100, available December, 2024 is a dual mono, single-ended design with RCA jack outputs. It features four selectable bass curves and uses "quad-matched" ECC82 (12AU7) dual-triode tubes, measured and classified using a special... Read More

Day three began with a return visit to the PGE Narodowy stadium to visit a few big rooms I was unable to access day one, including the big Avant-Garde G3 speakers driven by Kondo electronics sourced with Kondo's turntable and phono preamp and a Studer A80 tape deck.In another big room Magico demoed for the first time ever at a show the big M7s driven by Pilium Cronus mono blocks and sourced via an MSB DAC. I hit the room twice and both times the music being... Read More

I spent day two at the Radisson Blu Sobieski hotel where most of the Polish manufacturers displayed and demonstrated their products. Others were there too of course, including some of the bigger players who took the larger first floor rooms. Aavik, part of Audio Group Denmark, debuted a major $60,000 phono preamp at the show that Michael Børresen demoed and explained in a detailed interview (photo at the top). That starts the video. It has multiple inputs including... Read More

I needed a box of It All Comes Down to Mood—Patrick Leonard's new double LP—to sell at the Capital Audio Festival, which starts this Friday November 8th. I asked Patrick to UPS down a box but he said he and his pilot wife Anna would instead fly them down in their plane and take me for a tour of Manhattan. They arrived this Sunday morning well before the New York City Marathon would close off some airspace. I put the records in my car and off we went in the Cirrus... Read More

We break down the latest Original Source releases announced by Deutsche Grammophon, plus a Video Request from Emil Berliner Studios to send in your questions to Rainer Maillard and Sidney C. Meyer about all things Original Source. Send in your question(s) to oss@ebsberlin.com and you will get a chance to win a Test Pressing signed by Rainer and Sidney (Deadline is November 30th).