Ingenious Opposites (CD)

and production emerges unhindered by the compromises associated with other recording mediums: "Lossless High Definition Audio" is now possible on Blu-ray audio disc, which can play back a range of lossless, PCM audio codecs in the very highest resolution. Ushering in a new digital microphone standard-AES42-high end studio microphone manufacturers now offer digital microphones that convert the analogue signal directly inside the microphone - behind the membrane, effectively eliminating the signal loss that occurs in the audio chain through cables, in not optimal ranges working converters, microphone-pre amps and so on. All these techniques can be optimized with the digital microphone solution which results in a never before reached dynamic range of true 130dB.So now we have a new sound carrier using the Blu-ray discs high capacity of 25 or even 50 Gigabytes ONLY for SOUND - and on the other hand we have a new microphone technology that can blast the traditional limitations of dynamic range caused by noise floor and quality loss in the signal chain. Lets bring it together!This revolutionary, new recording technique and carrier combination has nor for the first time been used for the production of Ingenious Opposites by Russian-Israeli pianist Roman Zaslavsky, with its interpretations of Schumann's Symphonic Etudes and the Dante Sonata by Liszt. Both works are known as difficult pieces and outstanding compositions that demand intensely emotional and dynamic playing. Performing these pieces generates such a wealth of details in volume and sound color they not only require a precise player but a concert grand piano of uncompromising quality, such as the Hamburg Steinberg D used for this production. Listening to the result on a Blu-ray player through a surround audio system, you may find yourself transported directly inside the studio hall by the recording's exceptional clarity and definition.I call it a true revelation-if not revolution-of sound. Its unfettered sound and transparency mark the next step in the evolution of audio quality. Think of all that has happened in recording and playback technology in the last hundred years-since Leopold Stokowski's Carnegie Hall demonstration with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1940.The question arises: where will audio-technology be a hundred years from now? Let's say, for argument's sake, we attained 90% optimal audio quality in the 1970s-with high end turntables, 2-track reel to reel tape, tube amps, and Klipsch horns; if today-a half century later-we have attained something approaching 99%, it is interesting to speculate what the remaining 1% might offer? Will it be a real, tangible improvement? I am really curious. Before we get ahead of ourselves, however, it is quite stunning to realize how much of an improvement is represented by reaching the 99% mark.To listen to this recording at first was a shock-a profound attack on time-worn listening habits; on expectations that had grown and developed over many years of being involved in music, both as a player and producer. It was as if a thunderstorm had enveloped my brain-information cruising along the synapses in an explosion of neurons. After this storm had passed, it was as if a rainbow appeared, accompanied by a clarity and transparence; a nirvana, samsara or paradise-where the lamb lies down with the lion (like an illustration in a religious pamphlet, but without the kitsch). I found myself in a state where I felt intensely touched by the sound-it was tangible in color and form-wherein I could intuit the presence of Dante writing his Divine Comedy, then of Liszt reading and transforming it into music, then of Roman Zaslavsky's performance and, at last, a transparent technical device transmitting this presence directly into a sensation delivering a "mental image" which unifies performance AND interpretation and also bears the risk to unveil in full honesty all nuances and even all weaknesses. The experience represents a connection of previously unattainable directness-the creation of a new space, a new building of sound and music-a music sculpture identical to my ideal, described by Goethe in his Maxims and Reflections as architecture-not frozen like Schopenhauer said-but at its most vivid, most organic, with manifold textures, floating and inspiring, live, alive and mirroring life-not caged in a can but cast in amber.This is the CD Version of the EuroArts Blu-ray Audio with lossless Multi Channel PCM - EuroArts article no. 2003022Running Time: 69:29 MinutesAudio Options: Stereo PCM