Something About M·A Recordings
Gordon Holt once proposed that the better the sound of a
recording got, the worse the performance would be -- this has come to be known as
"Holt’s Law," an article of faith among certain audiophiles. While it may
have been true thirty-five years ago, these days audiophiles are much luckier -- there are
any number of labels that match their superior sonics with superb, even inspired, music
making.
We owe much of this to the digital revolution, which put
high-resolution recording technology into the hands of dedicated individuals such as Peter
McGrath, Da Hon Seetoo, Tony Faulkner, and my erstwhile editor and recording mentor, John
Atkinson, along with Todd Garfinkle, owner, producer, engineer, head of A&R, and gofer
for M·A Recordings. In just a few years, Todd has assembled an
impressive catalog of extremely high-quality, pure-digital recordings -- many recorded at
96kHz or even higher sampling rates.
You may not have heard of M·A Recordings,
though. Since it consists in its entirety of Todd and his father, it doesn’t have a
high profile in the marketplace. It survives without an ad budget or label reps or much of
anything, other than a website: www.marecordings.com.
Todd does things differently from other audiophile labels.
While he has recorded a disc of Bach’s Goldberg Variations and another of
Ginastera’s piano music -- not to mention several discs of early music -- his real
focus isn’t classical music. Todd’s interested in all types of music from around
the world -- from folksong to fado to tango -- but he’s not looking to capture
these genres in amber. He’s most fascinated by collective improvisation that takes
the old forms and creates something new from them.
Sometimes this works sonically, but does not really
translate into music everyone can get a handle on -- I found Luz Destino [M039A
CD], which is a meeting between Portuguese fado and Baroque harpsichord, a
difficult record to feel anything about. It’s true that I’ve never heard
anything like it, but the emotional language simply wasn’t one I was able to connect
with. That’s probably my loss, because, like all M·A Recordings, it
sounds fantastic.
Other times, Todd’s approach creates music that ranks
among the most thrilling -- and enthralling -- that’s ever been committed to tape.
The Paniagua Group’s Arab/Andalusian recordings for example, or either of Begona
Olavide’s CDs. Or any of the three latest offerings the label has released.
All three of these new recordings feature spectacular
sound. They were all recorded at 96kHz using Garfinkle's specially modified Pioneer-07A
DAT recorder and other proprietary gear, using short runs of high-quality cable and
Nirvana power conditioning.
Todd is a past master at capturing the sound of the space
he records in. He chooses recording locales carefully and he extracts a phenomenal amount
of detail from the room. If you’re looking for demonstration-quality material that
puts you somewhere else for an hour or so, take your pick. These discs deliver sound that
will have you twitching with the desire to drag some poor, unsuspecting audiophile into
the sweet spot and show him precisely how good your system can sound.
Joćo Paulo: Almas
(Joćo Paulo, piano; Peter Epstein, soprano
& alto saxophone; Carlos Bica, acoustic bass. M049A CD. Producer/engineer: Todd
Garfinkle. DDD.TT: 51:58)
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 Alma means soul in Portuguese, a quality this
recording has in spades. The music is all folksong-influenced jazz -- think of
acoustic-era Return To Forever’s Chick Corea sitting in with Oregon and you get a
sense of what the group sounds like.
Joćo Paulo’s piano playing exploits the piano’s
tonal color so completely that he seems to be using a larger paintbox than most jazz
players. One filled with variations on all of the brighter, cheerier colors. Nor does
Epstein stint on timbre, either. His soloing is inventive and tasteful, and his tone is
rich and full-bodied -- none of that pinched, sour-soprano sound for him. Carlos
Bica’s bass is deep and strong. It's a dark-sounding instrument with powerful
projection and a lovely bloom.
The dynamic range that Garfinkle has captured here is
astonishing. You’ll need to turn the level up because the soft passages are really
soft, but be careful your first time through: the recording doesn’t employ
compression, so the loud passages are startlingly loud. Make the wrong assumption and you
might have a woofer cone in your lap.
The disc was recorded in the Anglican Church in Lisbon and
its spacious soundstage seems more like a large room than a cathedral. Garfinkle has
caught just the right distance from the instruments to the microphones, so you get
the direct instrumental sound rather than the room sound.
Think of Almas as a heated three-way conversation.
The musicians take chances, but they never get incomprehensible -- the music creates its
own logic. Beautiful as it is, Almas is not easy listening. You’ll need to pay
attention, but you’ll be rewarded with some of the most exquisite group improvisation
you’re ever likely to hear.
...Wes Phillips
wes@onhifi.com
Serį Una Noche
(Pedro Aznar, vocals; Gabriel Kirschenbaum, guitar; Martin
Iannaccone, cello; Marcelo Moguilesvsky, clarinet, bass clarinet, recorders; Gabriel
Rivano, bandoneon; Santiago Vasquez, percussion. M052A CD. Producer/Engineer: Todd
Garfinkle. DDD. TT: 70:40)
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 The idea here was to update the tango. Of course, Astor
Piazzolla did that in introducing nuevo tango, but his innovations have now become
part of the tradition, so anyone attempting a new take on the tradition has to deal with
that as well.
Percussionist Santiago Vasquez, who put this ensemble
together, avoided Piazzolla’s tense edginess completely, focusing on the tango as a
vocal form and recruiting Pedro Aznar to sing some of the classics.
Even if, like me, your Spanish isn’t up to following
these poetic flights, it is impossible to miss the tinge of nostalgia that pervades the
songs. In the CD’s liner notes, Santiago Vasquez speculates that tango’s classic
themes of loss and longing were inevitable in a musical form forged by immigrants looking
back towards a homeland they’d never see again. Pedro Aznar’s supple singing
voice invites us into these songs -- a most pleasant departure from the mannered vocal
style commonly associated with them.
The entire ensemble achieves a lightness of texture that is
most appealing. The rhythmic interplay between Santiago’s percussion and Aznar’s
handclaps lays down a complex underpinning which is overlaid with bursts of instrumental
color from clarinet, bass clarinet, guitar, cello, and bandoneon. The tonal palette is
bright and engaging -- and the instrumentalists play as much with space and silence as
they do with tone and pitch. And, need I mention, the disc is gloriously melodic.
It’s steeped in song, after all, and even the instrumentals do not stray far from the
voice of breath.
The sound is open and huge -- the disc was recorded at
Monesterio Gundara in Argentina, obviously a large room with a lot of reverberant hang
time. The instrumentalists surrounded the microphones in a circle, but since microphones
don’t "hear" the way we do, it comes across as a line from one side of the
soundstage to the other. And man-oh-man does the room support bass -- when Vazquez strikes
his Bombero Legero (bass drum), it shudders the foundation.
If I were to recommend just one disc from this release, Serį
Una Noche would be the one. The musicians achieve a rare rapport and the sound is
unlike anything you’ve ever heard. As I listen to this nuevo nuevo tango, I am
transported to a very special musical place. As, I predict, you will be, too.
...Wes Phillips
wes@onhifi.com
Peter Epstein Quartet: The Invisible
(Peter Epstein, alto, tenor, & soprano saxophone; Jamie Saft, piano, Farfisa organ,
accordion, "elusive sonics"; Chris Dahlgren, acoustic bass; Jim Black, drums.
M050A CD. Producer/Engineer: Todd Garfinkle. DDD. TT: 59:30)
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 Epstein’s outing represents the most "outside"
playing of the three. It's free jazz drenched in an accomplished melodicism that
sugar-coats the fact that it's an open-blowing session.
But don’t be put off -- The Invisible
isn’t just a bunch of tweedle-plonk noodling, it all makes perfect sense if
you are only willing to accept its terms.
Sonically, this is a killer! One of the big differences
between recorded music and live is the way that recording tones down transient response.
Listen to a drum set in a club: the sound of the snare drum almost strikes you physically
in the chest, and the kick drum moves so much air it can blow out candles across a room.
Recordings tend to tame that. Not this one -- I’ve never heard a CD that better
captured the sound of a trapset. And Epstein’s saxophones are just as harmonically
present as the drums are. As an added bonus, you also get the sound of a tube-driven
Farfisa organ -- that’s a sound you don’t hear every day.
The Invisible also exhibits a warmth and bass bloom
I haven’t heard from an M·A Recording previously. This might well
have to do with the fact that it was recorded with a pair of Telefunken 221 tubed
microphones. These use a one-inch capsule, which may also account for the phenomenal
dynamic clout of the disc.
The level of playing on the record is extraordinary.
Epstein is totally in control of his soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones, using each of
them to the limits of their expressiveness. I’d never heard him on tenor before, but
I hope he plays much more in the future. Jamie Saft’s piano and organ are also
top-drawer. He’s got big ears -- he’s always aware of what the others are
playing and how best to support it. Chris Dahlgren, likewise, is a superb accompanist and
his bass lines anchor many a flight of fancy here.
But the most remarkable performance is that of drummer Jim
Black. He’s simply astounding. I haven’t heard such tuneful, melodic drumming in
ages. The astounding transient response and dynamic range of this recording simply
underscore the amazing performance he turns in. Hey Todd, record this guy doing anything
he wants!
But, of course, as the consistently high level of music and
performance from M·A Recordings clearly shows, Todd Garfinkle
doesn’t need any advice from the likes of me. He’s doing just fine on his own.
...Wes Phillips
wes@onhifi.com
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