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The Music
Warren Bernhardt on piano, Jay Anderson on bass, and Peter
Erskine on drums
strike up a lively and expressive instrumental performance featuring
original pieces and all-time favorites like Leonard Bernstein's
"Somewhere". See the track
listing in the left column. I enjoyed this collection of music
more than I had originally thought. The performances and
interpretations are emotionally expressive, soothing, and uplifting. I
particularly enjoyed the rendition of the familiar tune "Somewhere".
Other personal favorites
are "Brigas Nunca Mais" for its lively and upbeat melody, and
"On the Lake" for its mesmerizing piano notes and longing melody.
Though I found most of music and performances delightful,
I have to get one nit-pick off my chest. And that is the constant brushing of the snare
drums (as accompaniment) in many of the performances (track #1, #2, #4,
etc.). That background brushing sound quickly got on my
nerves. Don't get me wrong, it's not that big a deal and is probably
not an issue with many listeners.
The Recording
Digital Music Products (DMP) is owned by recording
engineer Tom Jung, who engineered this original multi-channel and stereo DSD
(Direct
Stream Digital) recording. DMP is
one of the audiophile labels in this new multi-channel audio medium that
strives to recreate the full natural ambiance of the recording studio or
performance hall, without any gimmicky in-the-middle-of-the-band mixes. "So Real" was recorded at Ambient
Recording studios in Stamford, Connecticut on April 9-10, 2001. And
interestingly enough, most
of the songs were recorded in one take, except for "Autumn
Leaves".
Using a Sony Sonoma DSD
recorder for this 6-channel DSD recording, Tom Jung placed Warren
Bernhardt's piano in the right channel, Jay Anderson's bass in the center
channel, and Peter Erskine's drums in the left channel. The surround
channels are used to reproduce the natural reverberations of the studio
acoustic environment. For this recording, the sixth channel is used for a height channel
or a center surround channel (the latter is similar to an EX
configuration in home
theater) for added ambiance. Though it is optional, the sixth channel is
not meant to
drive a subwoofer as the signal contains full frequency information.
For this review, I did not use this sixth channel in my playback
system.
The 5-channel mix works amazingly well and successfully
recreates what sounds like a true studio environment. The album demonstrates the imaging and transparency that can be achieved
with solid engineering and SACD's DSD technology. While the piano is more or
less anchored in the right channel, the drums images nicely between the left
channel (principally) and the center channel. For example, some three minutes into track
#7, the percussion came mostly from the left channel, with some holographic support from the
center channel, creating an imaging effect that was "so real".
You can also hear this effect again nearly five minutes into track #5 and three minutes into track #8.
Multi-channel recording aside, the instruments came across very
naturally. Warren Bernhardt's delicate and spirited piano performance is reproduced
with uncanny realism, down to every nuance. Each and every note sounded clear and
remarkably transparent. It almost sounded as if Mr. Bernhardt was performing
on my Kawai grand piano right in the listening room. Every detail of
the Jay Anderson's performance on the bass is articulated distinctly.
And each percussion note takes on a sense of space that collectively
realizes the three-dimensionality of Peter Erskine's drum set in the
soundstage.
"So Real" is one of the first multi-channel SACD
albums I've had the pleasure to experience. I must say, with this
album some of the attributes that audiophiles have been raving about
SACD became apparent almost immediately: the nuances in the instrumental
sounds, the sonic transparency, and the well-defined and expansive soundstage.
The experience is delightful. And though there are separate stereo and 6-channel
DSD tracks on this SACD, my review is principally based on the multi-channel DSD recording as it
is an overwhelmingly compelling and immersive experience. Tom Jung did a
commendable job of engineering the multi-channel
recording. Fans of easy listening and expressive piano performances (with
accompaniment by bass and drums) are sure to take delight in this album.
Disc Compatibility Notice
This Super
Audio CD (SACD) features a hybrid construction, with a layer for full audio CD compatibility and a layer for
high-resolution stereo DSD and multi-channel DSD recordings. The audio
CD layer can be played back on any audio CD player or CD-ROM drive, and will
have the sound quality like any other audio CD. To
hear the high-resolution stereo DSD recording, a stereo or multi-channel
SACD player is required with stereo analog output to a quality 2-channel
audio system. To hear the high-resolution multi-channel DSD recording,
a multi-channel capable SACD player is required with 5.1-channel (6-channel)
analog output to a multi-channel home theater audio/video receiver. The
high-resolution stereo or multi-channel DSD recording layer on this disc will not play in
an audio CD player, DVD-Video player, DVD-Audio player, or DVD-ROM drive.
For additional information: visit the Digital
Music Products (DMP), Inc. web
site. This album is also available as an audio CD (DMP CD-532).
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Associated equipment used in evaluation: Sony ES
SCD-C555ES Super Audio CD 5-disc
player, Sony
DVP-S7700 reference DVD player, Sony
KP-61V45 61" rear projection TV (4:3 screen aspect ratio), Sony ES STR-V444ES A/V receiver, four
B&W CDM 9NTs as left/right main speakers
and left/right surrounds, B&W CDM CNT center channel speaker, Monster Cable M-series S-Video cable MSV-500, Monster
Cable Interlink LightSpeed 100 (Toslink) optical cable, Monster Cable
Interlink 400 MKII interconnects, Monster Cable
Original speaker cables in bi-wire configuration with Monster Cable twist-on gold-plated banana plug
connectors, Lovan Sovereign T HiFi audio
rack, and Sony MDR-V600 studio monitor headphones. Our home theater equipment was calibrated
with the Video
Essentials DVD.
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United We Stand
