Meet the latest development in audiophile recording

by Rod Parke - SGN A&E Writer

THE VOIE TRIOMPHALE
STAFF BAND OF THE NORWEGIAN ARMED FORCES
2-L (Blu-ray Audio)

You most likely have never read a review of the latest contender for the hearts and ears of audiophiles, namely the audio-only Blu-ray Disc. Having just spent hours reading digital forums debating the virtues of this new format vs. the SuperAudio Disc (SACD), I can tell you that it is very unlikely that you or I could tell the difference in sound quality. (But if you want to do a comparison yourself, the disc I'm reviewing here comes with an SACD of the same program.)

Of course, the best media can only sound as good as the original recording, the quality of which will be determined by the recording venue, the equipment employed, and above all by the skills of the recording engineers and mixers. The CD of The Dark Side of the Moon (also available on both SACD and DVD-Audio) will always sound better than a poorly recorded Blu-ray.

The Blu-ray I'm reviewing here is The Voie Triomphale, a program of music for wind band, played by The Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces. It was recorded at Jar Church, an A-frame building near Oslo, Norway. The excellent enclosed booklet gives photos of the recording venue and the performers, as well as diagrams of positions of the individual instruments and the positions of each microphone. One has the choice of listening to either the 5.1 DTS HD surround track or the 2.0 LPCM stereo track. Comparison is difficult because the surround track is louder, and the louder source will almost always sound more alive. Still, I do recommend the DTS surround, which is the default.

A SONIC MARVEL
Happily, everything about this disc is first-rate. The performers and engineers cannot be faulted, the result being a recording of considerable excitement. The music is mostly French and entirely unfamiliar and appealing to these ears. Composers are Berlioz, Saint-Saëns, Dukas, Milhaud, Tomasi, and Bozza. And the sound quality is so clear and punchy that it's like someone ran a pipe cleaner through my head, clearing ears and brain of all accumulated debris. Set your volume level so low that you can just barely hear the softest notes, and you'll still have fortissimos that match any concert hall, and with no loss of clarity. Pretty much sonic heaven.

The Berlioz Opus 15, Grande Symphonie Funèbre et Triomphale, is not the composer's most subtle work. It begins with super-loud crashes of percussion set against dead silence, which is of course a perfect way to demonstrate dynamic range. Berlioz was a radically innovative orchestrator, and his choice of instrumental combinations keeps the work sonically interesting even if rather bombastic. There are, to be sure, moments of real musical inspiration. Richard Wagner, Berlioz's contemporary, said, 'The symphony's last movement includes passages of such beauty that they will never be surpassed by any composer.'

On the whole I found the remaining music on the disc even more appealing than the Berlioz. Given the nature of a large wind band, there is lots of full-out loud music. So, if you don't like having your brain rattled a bit by big sounds, this is not the disc for you. But for us Wagner/Bruckner fans, it is a banquet of awesome horns and piercing woodwinds.

Reviewer Rod Parke can be reached at rmp62@columbia.edu.

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