Word: violine
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What Is It? The audiophile used to live surrounded by a litter of parts and soldering irons and spoke a strange jargon full of "cycles," "decibels," "curves," "roll-offs." Pre-hi-fi sets were unable to top the violin's range (about 8,000 cycles per second) and thus were "unfaithful" to all instruments but bass drum, timpani, bass tuba, piano, French horn and trombone (played softly without mutes). So the hi-fi fan went all out for high frequencies...
Result: a widespread confusion of high fidelity with screeching strings and piercing piccolos.* Today, the audiophile has relaxed. He still considers a wide-frequency response a must (good rigs now put out from 40 cps, the lowest bass viol note, to 15,000. one of the higher violin overtones), but the highs have become sweeter and less insistent...
...wrong equipment, a great deal can go wrong with sound. Its top can be lopped off, like a headless amateur photograph, making a violin sound like a flute because its characteristic overtones are gone; its bottom can be restricted, making the basses sound an octave or more higher (or not at all). Overtones can be added that were never played by the musician (harmonic distortion) or be thickened (intermodulation...
...program opened with Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, in which Cynthia Crain, Annette Colish and Kenneth McIntosh all played with assurance the solo parts for flute, violin and keyboard, respectively (a piano was used for the original harpsichord). Though technically a concerto grosso, this work is in a sense the first real solo concerto for keyboard, owing to the general prominence and the extended cadenza allotted to it. McIntosh's runs were as even as pearls, and he exerted admirable dynamic restraint throughout (his versatility even extended to playing the horn in the other works). The initial orchestral tempo...
Among the flood of classical LP records that made the year more musical, there were many standouts. The following choice of 1954's best is made on the basis of unusual interest in music or performance: Berg: Violin Concerto (Louis Krasner; Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Artur Rodzinsky; Columbia). The first recording of a major 20th century work. Dubbed from old 78-r.p.m. disks, but a devoted performance...