For the past year, we’ve been using in-ear headphones to listen to the music we’ve reviewed on this site. Now the time has come to review the headphones themselves.

Why in-ear headphones? Two reasons come to mind. Portability: these models tend to be much less bulky than their over-the-ear counterparts. Style: some of us simply prefer not to have bulbous, Princess Leia-style headbumps. Add it the fact that many of these in-ear headphones have passive noise-cancelling abilities, making them suitable for blocking out coworkers who eat, breathe and talk at 120 decibels.

And we’re not talking about the standard white hard earbuds that come with iPods and iPhones, which, if you’re lucky, will sit in your ears. For me, the standard earbuds tend to fall out, and the noise isn’t isolated from the sounds of the world outside. That means pumping up the volume, damaging your ears and annoying everyone else around you. Plus they scream ’steal my iPod!’ or whatever storage device you do use.

The models that we had chosen were the Shure SE530 Sound Isolating Earphones and the Westone 3 True Three Way Earphones. Both offer three drivers in each earbud (two for bass, one for the higher registers) and external noise-reduction capabilities. Both will set you back somewhere between $400 and $500. They each come with a range of flanges so that the buds sit comfortably inside the external ear canal, forming a seal, essential for blocking out distracting noises and concentrating the sound waves of your choice inside your ears. (When properly fitted, the flanges don’t fall off inside the ear; they adhere to the earbuds and never once have they been left inside my ear canals.)

Both sets of headphones require a certain amount of time to warm up (usually 10 hours or so). The sounds they convey are crisp and clear, and one no longer heads to fiddle with the equalizer to make anything sound better. Not only is the music easier to appreciate, but the other sounds of performance are there to enrich your experience: the acoustics of the recording studio; the breathing of the performers; clicking and squeaking chairs; the tap of a foot upon the pedals. In spite of the layers of recording and decoding equipment that comprise digital music, these earphones highlight music as a human endeavour: music requires the performer and the listener to fulfill its purpose.

Yet, alas, even the most perfect earphones cannot be perfect all the time. The Westone 3s gave up first: the casing for an earbud fell apart. These were under warranty, and were replaced after a couple of weeks. The replacements worked for a while before they, too, abandoned their task, with one side fading in and out of commission. The Shures held up for over a year of steady use before the right earbud inexplicably weakened and finally died. Fortunately, these pair too are under warranty (one of the benefits of an expensive product, I suppose) and will be sent out for repairs.

Even with these issues, I wouldn’t give up on earphones; their sound-isolating quality is a relief for the audiophile in this noise-polluted world. Over the ear headphones give a similar experience too, but require batteries; maybe we’ll give those a try at some point in the future.

Recently we picked up a copy of ‘Masters of the Oboe,’ a compilation set from Deutsche Grammophon (2006).

As the voracious readers of our well-thumbed blog know, the oboe has a unique sound, often likened to that of aquatic fowl. It is a matter of some contention between the august editors of this website as to whether it is closer to the duck or the goose; but we agree that, in competent hands, it is melodious fowl. It also is incredibly temperamental and fiendishly difficult to master. In large part this is due to the reed that generates the oboe’s characteristic sound: being a natural material, its character changes with environmental conditions, and ultimately each reed wears out.

This compilation set offers a wide selection from the oboeist’s repetitore, ranging from the Baroque to the modern. The many moods of the instrument are on display here, at times playful, others plaintive, always sonorous. The oboe shines the most in chamber music, when it is not overwhelmed by hordes of strings, which sound almost pedestrian in comparison. One gem among many in this collection is the finale from the Trio for 2 Oboes and cor anglais in C, Op. 87, a light-hearted conversation between woodwinds.

While stitched together from multiple recordings, the sound quality is even and uniformly high throughout. Quite frequently one can hear little clicking noises in the background, presumably from the keys of the oboe. Some might find this a little distracting, but one quickly becomes accustomed to it and it adds to the charm of the music.

Overall, it fulfills the purpose of a compilation album: to give an overview of the oboe’s repetoire and also to pique the listener’s interest in what is otherwise an obscure but charming instrument.

Publisher: Deutsche Grammophon
Year: 2010
Artists: Hilary Hahn, Matthias Goerne, Christine Schäfer, Münchener Kammerorchester & Alexander Liebreich

First, the good news: Hilary Hahn is featured in this collection of Bach cantatas and choral works. For the most part, her playing is as composed, clear and thoughtful as always; her violin sings, laughs and sparkles.

Now, the bad news. Although one might expect otherwise from a record whose title implies balance between instrument and voice, these recordings are weighed down by the two vocalists. The nature of baroque music is contrapuntal and bright; Mr. Goerne’s fruity vibrato overpowers all distinctions, and lack of expression lends a leaden quality to his pieces. What may be lovely in the concert hall translates into loud mush. Ms. Schäfer, on the other hand, prefers to skip half of her notes and manages to miss the rest, rather like a hurdler who decides that it is quicker to barrel down the course than to attempt those athletic jumps. Furthermore, both vocalists lack the pleasing subtlety and cooperation that Bach demands of his performers. Perhaps it is not entirely their fault; these two vocalists seem to have preferred Romantic leider to Lutheran liturgy in their past work, and these have different vocal techniques and requirements.

Other little indignities are present in this package. The cover art is atrocious. Who picked that font? Why is it purple? Why is a disembodied bust of old Bach hovering, god-like, in the corner? Why do the artists look photoshopped onto the generic white of an indeterminate church hall? Why do they look like they are guilty of a great secret? Why is the violinist separated from the vocalists? Why is everyone in black? Why are there no artist biographies? And if they are so famous, why are there no promotional covers for the other two artists?

One of your esteemed reviewers believes that this CD is palatable in the right historical context. The other reviewer finds this a difficult recording to digest.

The last few concerts and gatherings I’ve attended have shaken my faith in the concert hall. Not that I was much of a believer to begin with.

First, the observations:

• Miserable, drab locations with poor acoustics and minimal creature comforts hurt most small-scale, ‘intimate’ venues. Anything on the street, or in a mall is drowned out by the pointless cacophony of the background traffic; anything in a poorly designed church deadens the sounds before it even arrives. 
• Many performers seem, well, like they could use some more rehearsal time before appearing on stage. This is particularly true in any chamber or orchestral music. Aligning various musical visions takes time. 
• Lack of specificity in the programmes detract from the performance. Going to a Mozart concert to hear Random Piece X is not nearly as exciting as going to a Mozart concert to heard the Jupiter Symphony. 
• Live performers make mistakes. Part of this ties in with the practice time.

This boils down to value for time and money. If I spend $80 and two hours of time — which can never be returned — on any artist, I would like to get my money’s worth.  The live music experience is a luxury in the day of high-fidelity speakers and high-quality recordings. I don’t wish to spend my resources on missed notes and sulky performers and dubious interpretations when I could just as well be home, enjoying definitive recordings from the masters of the last eighty years. 

Furthermore, classical music has lost much of its cultural and social relevance. In the day of the great composers, classical music was the dance music (of the middle and upper classes). Operas and major concerts served not only as entertainment, but also as social gathering points. Much of that has been lost in the modern classical music establishment in North America. Most attendees are older couples, perhaps with some children, and these units do not seem to socialize with each other. Somehow classical music is no longer a group phenomenon, but something disconnected and increasingly hard to justify in the present-day world.

Here’s a link to a story in The Economist newspaper about the 250th anniversary of Handel’s death. It seems a little odd to celebrate a composer’s death (as compared to, say, the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth). Handel’s music wasn’t that bad.

Released 2009 by EMI music

The trumpet has largely played a supporting role in most classical music, blaring the occasional brassy fanfare. More often it is associated with jazz and brass bands. So when this recording by Alison Balsom appeared, my curiosity was piqued. How could a brass instrument with only three ‘buttons’ produce such round tender notes spanning a three-octave range?

And yet it does. Miss Balsom’s playing is dexterous and nuanced, and easily steals the show. Trills and octave jumps are surefooted, rhythms precisely delineated and dynamics entirely within context. The occasional intake of breath is audible, but does not detract from the record. The orchestra (the Deutsche Kammerphilharmoniker) is well balanced, enough to support but never so loud as to overwhelm, and is spare enough to reflect the early classical/baroque origins of these works. The technical aspects of the recording have resulted in a rich full sound, in which even the harpsichord can be heard in its rightful place.

The compositions are very typical of their time of composition, brightly glossed and easy to digest. Overall a highly satisfactory purchase.

Here’s a nice site that discusses how the trumpet makes all those notes with only three valves.

I picked up 2007 release from Deutsche Grammophon with great excitement earlier this year. As the first Polish native in 30 years to win the 2005 International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition, Mr. Blechacz caused great excitement, both in his native country and around the world. He followed this up with several well-reviewed recitals and signed a recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon.

My initial impression was highly favourable. Mr. Blechacz shines in the more rapid passages and technically he sounds competent. However, somewhat to my own astonishment, towards the end of the disc, my attention wandered away from the music.

Repeat screenings have diminished my pleasure in this recording, and I have not made it through the entire disc at a single sitting. Largely this stems from a difference in my interpretation of Chopin’s works. To me, Chopin should be fluid and lyrical, at times passionate, vital or pensive. Percussive is not a word I associate with Chopin, and yet many of these Preludes have a grating, forced quality to them (Prelude 4, 9, 20, 22, 24).

The slower Preludes have a lugubrious character, the result of a muddiness from the lower registers (Prelude 2), and missing notes in some of the higher chords (Prelude 6). I found it difficult to distinguish the details of the chord progressions and lower voices, and in other areas, the music loses its forward impetus, bogging down in a haze of sound. I cannot tell if the piano and recording setup was to Mr. Blechacz’s satisfaction, but the sound and voicing is audibly uneven. I disagree with some of the tempi chosen, particularly 4, 6 and 15.

That said, many Preludes continue to enthrall (1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12, 16), and there is much to appreciate in this new musician. Hopefully his interpretive skills will grow alongside the technical promise that this recording shows.

On a more practical note: I would download this CD from any vendor of your choosing (Deutsche Grammophon, iTunes, what have you), but the flaws in at least a third of the tracks prevent me from recommending a purchase of this in CD format. While it is worth the time to listen to these tracks, and is a fine debut effort, I do not consider this a definitive recording of the Preludes.

As of late I have become increasingly frustrated by the dwindling classical selection at music selling establishments. I live in Ottawa, Canada a city with a metropolitan area of over one million people and there is only a single music store that has an acceptable classical section where one can find most recent recordings and many popular recordings. Unfortunately even at this the best store in area it is unlikely one will find anything even on the fringes of obscure. For example a few months ago I was looking for “Mendelssohn: The Complete String Quartets” to no avail, previous to that I was after “Glass: Etudes for Piano, Vol. 1, Nos. 1-10″ again no luck. These are not “obscure” recordings by my estimation, but in a city of one million, not available. Probably one in four visits I find what I am looking for.

If the above was the standard shop or the middle of the road store I wouldn’t be complaining but in Ottawa, at any other shop, the classical section ranges from a full shelf, to a single row on a shelf, to nothing at all. But then there is my personal music store pet peeve - The Naxos Shelf. Nothing against Naxos because they do have some good recordings and I applaud them for their dedication to Classical, thank god for companies like them, but in my opinion the shelf does not sufficiently constitute a classical music section. Ten years ago CDs stores often had a completely soundproof area separate from the rest of the store for Classical / New age crowd. I don’t know when it started happening but it seems classical sections are being removed or scaled down, and as a result I buy less music. Logic indicates that this wouldn’t be happening if people were buying but perhaps this is a localized manifestation of Say’s Law (which states that there can be no demand without supply). More study required.

In any event I end up ordering CDs from the Internet that end up costing me $5 - $10 more when shipping is added, not to mention the wasted fuel and time going to the brick and mortar establishments to be disappointed. I wonder if this is the case in other cities or what the situation is like in Europe… If you have some insight feel free to comment.