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Lying low in Siberian Iowa

We broke a low temperature record this week: -23F! (It's about thirty degrees warmer right now.) John's had a miserable cold which I've now caught. He's camping upstairs watching old movies because the back room where we have our big TV is too cold to be much fun.

I've spent almost a full month at my new gig. I've had some adjusting to do, and much of the adjusting has been good. The biggest change is that there's virtually no politics in the office. I'm still amazed at how much time I've spent talking with co-workers about office politics - totally useless waste of time. So I'm getting lots more stuff done. The biggest downside initially was the office configuration, but we've resolved most of those issues. I've been commuting to the office - about 15 miles each way - several days a week and hanging out here in my home office for the rest of the time.

John's tutorial on finishing furniture

We've both been just a bit under the weather, but John headed over to our local woodworking store for a two hour tutorial on how to produce flawlessly finished wood furniture. He's done some judging at woodworking shows, and his most common complaint is that for many pieces the finishing isn't of the same caliber as the construction. He hauled over several recent tables he's designed and built, and had hunks of various materials and finishes.

He'd been told that this wasn't a sit-down presentation; the store expected folks to come and go over a two hour period. No one was expecting thirty-five people to head on out - despite temperatures below zero - and stay for the entire presentation. The store's parking lot overflowed into the nearby office building, and the store scrambled for chairs.

John's first words on getting home were, "That went well..." I suspect that's an understatement, and he'll probably be asked to head on back for another presentation pretty soon.

On to my favorite new recording: Mackerras's Mozart

The real treasure for digital downloads of classical music is Linn Records. Linn has produced some of the world's finest electronics for music reproduction for many years. But Linn also has a small music label, and their recordings are flawless.

Last year they began to provide DRM-free music downloads - with a twist. They provide three levels of downloads: 320 kbps MP3 (their low quality), full quality CD, and studio master. (Just for reference, their low quality stuff is the same as DG's downloads and is better than Amazon's.) The studio master recordings are my interest, and I've been collecting them. A bit more about the technology later.

I swept up this recording by Sir Charles Mackarras and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. I'm a very tough nut when it comes to the Mozart symphonies. I was raised listening to Mozart performed by George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra, and there are very few directors and ensembles who can compare even more than forty years after those recordings appeared. This recording, however, is in every way equals to Szell's artistically. Tempos are astringent and propulsive; phrasing is transparent and precise. The ensemble is exemplary in every way. And the overall musical effect only improves on repeated hearing.

Its sound, though, may be the finest symphonic recording I've ever heard. My highest praise to Linn's engineers.

Back to the studio masters. CDs afford a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz. Linn's studio masters are a full 88.2 kHz - twice the sampling rate of any commercial CD available. The bit rate of these digital tracks is almost 2600 kbps - that's ten times the information that Amazon's tracks provide, and twenty times what tracks from the iTunes Music Store have.

There are real complexities in listening to these tracks because lots of equipment won't play them. (For example, they won't play on any iPod.) I play them on my Mac Pro through Magnaplanar speakers. They also are huge. A single recording is about the size of a DVD - roughly 2.5 gigabytes. And Linn sells them in two formats: Windows Media and FLAC. FLAC is an open-source audio codec. I buy the FLAC versions and convert them into Apple Lossless tracks using a great open-source tool called Max. Once they're converted to Apple Lossless, iTunes plays them just fine.

And they're really fine. Linn says these recordings have the same quality as their SACDs. If you're inclined to careful listening and you don't mind a bit of fussing getting things to work, do check out Linn's studio masters. And whatever you do - get this recording!

A triumphant achievement: Boulez's Mahler 8

I was so delighted when Deutsche Grammophon opened their on-line music store. They provide higher quality downloads than Amazon does - 320 kbps DRM-free MP3. And they sell a large fraction of their catalog in downloadable form, including recordings that have gone out-of-print in CD. Go to their store here.

When they released Boulez's conclusion to his Mahler cycle, I jumped on the recording, and it's astonishingly good. The sound is among the best I've heard from DG, and I like the soloists. But chiefly I like Boulez's pacing and careful evolution of the complex score. Everyone has their own notions on what makes a good Mahler performance, and not everyone will agree with my assessment. Boulez's performances are my favorite, and they've replaced my prior favorites (Haitink's version) in my listening room. (With one exception, I must add: I'm not fond of his Das Lied von der Erde.)

One more note: I downloaded this version before the physical CDs were available. Way to go, DG!

Just the thing for a winter's day: Trevor Pinnock's Brandenburgs

I got an emailing about this delightful recording. I went right over to Amazon's music download service, listened to segments of a couple of tracks, and had it downloaded and available in a minute or two. Pinnock's recordings have always been among my favorites, and I especially prize his Bach and Handel. This is a super recording - nothing but elegant music-making.

Amazon's music service is almost as easy as buying from the iTunes Music Store. They've developed a download mechanism that seamlessly brings the music to you. If you're using iTunes (which I am), the music automatically goes into your music collection - no additional work needed. Their downloads are DRM-free 256 kps encodings - pretty good. I'd actually rather pay a bit more for higher quality sound, though.

In praise of DRM-free high-quality classical music downloads

I've never been willing to buy music that's subject to digital rights management (DRM). I've been a classical music collector for many years, and most of my digital music collection comes from ripping my own CDs. Even when I could download music I've bought the CD and ripped my own DRM-free tracks.

Everything's now changed. I've been so pleased with three different sources for DRM-free classical music. I'm posting three different reviews of recordings I've purchased recently from three different sources. Have a listen, and explore the wealth of material that's now available.