Stereophile Editor’s Choice Sampler & Test CD

Stereophile Says….

The science of recording music is, to apply a metaphor from a very different context, akin to “breaking a butterfly on a wheel”. The art of recording is to make it appear as though that pinned insect could still take wing. I have been devoted to both the science and the art of recording music since 1965, when I was given a Grundig ¼” open-reel tape recorder as a birthday present. You could even say that my evolving interest in audio and my current position at the helm of Stereophile date back to my finding out how different a Shure SM57 dynamic cardioid microphone sounded from a Reslo Ribbon, even in mono, even at 3¾ips, when captured on that Grundig.
Jump-cut a quarter century. In November 1992, I recorded Canadian pianist Robert Silverman live in concert for a 2-CD set released on Stereophile’s own label. In the 10 years since then, I have recorded 10 more Stereophile CDs, as well as two for Minnesota-based choir Cantus and a 10-CD set of Beethoven piano sonatas for Bob Silverman. The idea of celebrating that decade of blowing life into the wings of recorded sound by releasing a CD of some of my favourite cuts was a no-brainer.