GRooVE back magazine n.004/25

GRooVE back magazine | bimonthly | Year 2 | Issue 004

( The Birdbox Records "Sampler 25" is included as a free gift, and the paperback version also includes the CD "BACH - ALTERNATIVE HARPSICHORD CONCERTOS" by Velut Luna .)

GRooVE back magazine is available in print (from April 30th) and digital ( free) versions. In the digital download version, you'll find two PDFs, one single-page and one facing-page; you can choose the PDF that best suits your reading style. Both versions are interactive: from the cover to the table of contents, from the various articles to the advertisements, you'll find numerous links to external sites. You can also view the magazine in flipbook format here. If you missed the other issues, you can download them for free by clicking here. «Get your groove back»

Editorial by Andrea Bedetti

January 24, 1975, is a fateful date for all lovers of great music. That day, in Cologne, what is considered the defining event in the history of live music took place, when Keith Jarrett sat down at a Bösendorfer baby grand, an instrument with obvious technical problems, yet it gave rise to a truly "sacred ritual," something that has remained indelibly in the memories of those who attended it and of the millions worldwide who purchased it first on vinyl and then on CD, released by ECM Records. So, fifty years later, we wanted to remember that legendary concert through the "countercurrent" contribution of Francesco Cataldo Verrina and his story, thanks to an article by Enrico Merlin.

Speaking of record labels, this issue offers a free download of a sampler featuring tracks from a label dedicated to pure audiophile expression, Rome-based Birdbox Records, whose owner Lorenzo Vella we also interviewed. Classical music enthusiasts will enjoy the articles by Giovanni Acciai and Edmondo Filippini, dedicated respectively to Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Japanese composer Kōsaku Yamada, while jazz aficionados will appreciate Francesco Cataldo Verrina's lengthy contribution on Steve Lacy. Another interview, conducted by Gianluca Sfriso, was conducted with a true giant of the philological keyboard, Roberto Loreggian, whose CD box set of the complete keyboard works of the great Girolamo Frescobaldi I also reviewed. Still on the subject of CD reviews, starting with this issue, pianist Michele Benignetti begins his collaboration with us, discussing a disc dedicated to some of Bach's piano transcriptions.

Riccardo Mainardi then reveals "alternative" historical recordings of Giacomo Puccini's major theatrical masterpieces, while Noemi Manzoni discusses the relationship between music and literature, thanks in part to the first part of a succinct 19th-century tale dedicated to the "demonic" Niccolò Paganini. For aficionados of Italian singer-songwriter music, Alfredo Di Pietro also recalls one of Eugenio Finardi's most important recording projects, "Il cantante al specchio," dedicated to the great Moscow singer-songwriter Vladimir Vysotsky. Di Pietro himself—and here we enter the realm of high fidelity—provides a portrait of Bartolomeo Aloia, the "Archimedes" of Italian Hi-Fi. In the same section, we also discuss the Quality Audio Supermotor phono preamplifier and the Level Arkangel Streamer DAC, as well as featuring a reflection by Pippo Basile and an introductory article by Sandro Vero on the magic of reel-to-reel.

Happy reading everyone!

The Summary
7 Editorial
10 Our CD: Birdbox Records
18 But was the real Keith Jarrett the one at The Köln Concert?
26 The Köln Concert, a “legend” born in adversity
30 Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, the father of music of all time
38 Yamada Kōsaku, the man who introduced classical music to Japan
44 Reading Tips
50 Roberto Loreggian, the one who transforms the harpsichord into an orchestra
54 Girolamo Frescobaldi, Roberto Loreggian's "musical beacon"
56 Steve Lacy, an x-ray of a genius not always understood
64 Puccini: an alternative discography
70 Lorenzo Vella, when a child's sonic dream comes true
76 Alexander Tharaud returns Bach to the spirit
80 Mahler's Second and Fourth Symphonies
86 Eugenio Finardi plays the role of Vladimir Vysotskij
92 Bach, the harpsichord and the Köthen and Leipzig periods
96 The Supermotor phono preamplifier
102 Game over (?) Will the Hi-Fi game ever end?
110 With an "archangel" to discover digital
114 Reel to reel: the wonders of reproduction
120 Bartolomeo Aloia, the “Archimedes” of Italian Hi-Fi
126 In Debussy's Magical Cave