Now remastered several times, Britten’s War Requiem was recorded by the composer in 1963. Christopher Breunig recalls its Coventry premiere and, later, his cheeky cub reviewer’s account
Reissued last November on vinyl and in digital formats, Benjamin Britten’s Decca recording of his War Requiem was produced at Kingsway Hall by John Culshaw, and engineered by Kenneth Wilkinson, in January 1963 – eight months after its Coventry Cathedral UK premiere.
With programme notes now written and translated by chatbots, and record covers created by image generators, can the first classical AI recording be far behind? Peter Quantrill thinks not
It was the word homotonal that caught my eye. Surely no one writes like that in 2024, I wondered to myself. I read on. ‘Similar to Plato’s ideas of the imprint of moral virtues onto the human soul through music…’ – eh? Bear in mind I was reading a booklet note to accompany a new album of Mozart’s piano sonatas. I flipped the page to look for the author’s credit. No name given.
Jim Lesurf remembers a former HFN stalwart as he battles with the poor ergonomics and insufficient printed manual of a new audio purchase – before sending it back for a refund.
Many years ago I saw a poster which showed a young woman in a wheelchair at the top of a flight of stairs that led down to a public washroom. The point being made was simple: she wasn’t disabled by being unable to walk. The problem was that whoever installed the facility had ignored the existence of people who found the stairs a barrier.
Hi-fi’s traditional distribution model has evolved due to the Internet, but the price of high-end equipment will always remain high, says Barry Willis – it’s more fine art than mass-market tech
Last month I touched upon the economics of audio – in particular, the unlikely possibility of getting back a substantial fraction of the money put into high-performance equipment. Long ago, the rule of thumb was that suggested list prices for high-end products were generally five times factory cost. That was when multi-tiered distribution was still the rule – manufacturers delivered goods to distributors, who in turn offered them to dealers. Distributors provided marketing assistance, employing sales reps who called on dealers, did demonstrations, and could intervene in the case of defective products.
Shoppers at HMV can pick up an affordable turntable to go with their new LPs, but the retailer appears less interested in CD hardware. Barry Fox wonders if DVD players can fill the gap
Vinyl sales keep on climbing. They topped £177 million in the UK in 2023 – seven times higher than ten years ago. The figures come from ERA (which by linguistic contortion is short for the Digital Entertainment and Retail Association). ERA chief executive officer Kim Bayley couples the vinyl climb with ‘the remarkable return of HMV, now back in its Oxford Street home’.
AVID Hi-Fi has announced its first new turntable since 2018. Priced £10,000, the Acutus Dark Iron replaces the previous Acutus Dark Limited Edition to become the new entry model in the manufacturer’s top-line series, and debuts a new AC motor system – with DSP-generated adjustable speed control – that’s coupled to the deck’s cast aluminium sprung-suspension chassis.
Billed as the result of ‘more than five decades of technological evolution’, QED’s Supremus Zr is the brand’s new flagship Signature series loudspeaker cable, and priced from £1399 (2m) to £2599 (5m), including termination.
Luxman continues to launch new models in advance of its 100th anniversary in 2025, with the L-509Z integrated amplifier [HFN May ’24] now followed by the Japanese marque’s first network transport/bridge.
Audiovector has returned to the design of founder Ole Klifoth’s first ever loudspeaker – the 1979 Trapez – for a new £15,500 model called Trapeze Reimagined.
2024 edition of Magico’s s5 floorstander goes bigger... and better?
Magico says its new S5 loudspeaker ‘continues what began’ with the S3 2023 model [HFN May ’24], leveraging new design and test technologies at its Californian R&D facility. These include a Klippel Near-Field Scanner to fully quantify its on and off-axis responses, and a laser vibrometer to identify and minimise vibrations in its 1.21m-tall, 118.8kg cabinet.
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