bissie

I was pointed to this thread from sa-cd.net. As I said, I have written to Qobuz with my real name and position in order to demand an explanation, as these things could be rather damaging to us, and certainly tricks the buyer into paying for something it isn't, and never was, namely a 24/96 recording. With the risk of being accused of touting my own goods, I have to say that you should buy BIS stuff from eClassical.com High Resolution FLAC & MP3 Classical Music Download Store. Here you will, at a rather better price, get the real thing, and advertised as such. End advertisement. I am outraged by situations like this: several years ago, I was drawn and quartered on sa-cd.net, because HDTracks wrongly sold our first SACD:s in 24/88,2, when in fact they were 24/44,1. At the time I had no idea that HDTracks even existed. They had got hold of my physical SACD:s and ripped the DSD layer, then advertised them to be 24/88,2. I didn't know anything about this, but I was named a liar and a cheat etc. Very uncomfortable. So what did HDTracks do? They blamed BIS!!!! This is why, since that day, they are under an absolute boycot from BIS - they get nothing to sell. I hope that this will not get that far with Qobuz, but the fact that they haven't even deigned to answer me in a week speaks badly for them. I have no problems whatsoever in cutting off anyone from selling our stuff, who doesn't live up to the very basic rules of transparency and honesty. Basta!! BTW, we now exclusively record in 24/96 or 24/192. Robert (von Bahr, CEO, BIS Records and eClassical)

Hello, Superdad, not having heard this album I don't have a clue what has - or hasn't - been done to it. We get the master files from the aggregator, which in this case is Naxos of America, and we just sell it, of course without doing anything at all to the files. Since we're getting several hundred of albums each week, there is no way that we can listen to, or even listen in to, everything we get. So, if indeed the files have been tampered with, it all happened before we got them. We change nothing at all. Best from bissie, aka Robert von Bahr, CEO, eClassical.com

Dear Julf and the rest, don't worry. Just tell me what kind of source material (orchestral, vocal, instrumental, combination, whatever) you need, and I'll do my best to arrange it. Up to 24/96, that is, or pure DSD from earlier recordings. I can probably arrange Grieg orchestral music from DSD, if that would fit. But I don't want to start negs with the orchestra, soloist or conductor, until I know if that's what you want. I think this is interesting, scientific or not, and I just don't understand the dozens of acrimonious posts, and certainly not against golddad. It's a little test to see (or rather hear) if one can distinguish between high-res and CD-res, 24 or 16 bits, using one's ears alone. As long as one does it honestly, the results are revealing. Those who want to "cheat", cheat away. THEY know that the result isn't true. I think this is much more a self-test than a general test - everyone can ascertain for him/herself, if they can make out a difference or not. Indeed, this can be done extremely easily - and you'd do some good on top of it: On March 10, at 1700 hrs CET, eclassical.com will release a CD called "Bach for Japan", to the day (Japanese time) one year after the disaster. This is music by Bach, specially chosen to give comfort and solace to persons in sorrow, with the Bach Collegium Japan and its conductor Masaaki Suzuki. All artists' royalties, with BIS matching them, penny for penny, will go to the Tohoku Relief Foundation to help the victims of the earth-quake, tsunami and nuclear powerplant disaster. The album will be released in the usual 24-bit, 16-bit FLAC and mp3 320 versions, BUT, the 24-bit version will consist of a 16/44,1, 24/44,1 and 24/88,2 mixture. To avoid cries of fraud etc, the "24-bit version" will be sold at no price increase from CD quality, permanently. Now to the point of this shameless advertising: you can buy this album, thereby getting really great music, donating to the Relief Foundation AND test your hearing skills, all at the same time. Don't check what is what in the album, just listen through those 82 minutes, write up what you think it is, and THEN check against the track listing, where everything is revealed. Noone to check you up but yourself, noone to know how this little game ended but yourself, no need to publish any results. But, if anyone - BY LISTENING ALONE - swears that he/she did correctly pinpoint every track correctly (16/44,1, 24/44,1 or 24/88,2), write to me [email protected], and you'll get an award. See, I am a trusting, naïve Swede, treating others as I want to be treated myself, by believing people on their word. Sounds like a good deal, no? Best - Robert

Very famously, a Swedish female MP refused to curtsey for Queen Elisabeth, when in Stockholm. Comment upon the "scandalette": I only bow for knowledge. I feel the same. If I should be respected at all (which is highly doubtful), it ought to be for what I have done and what I am doing, not just because I happen to have lived long enough. To Boris: obviously I cannot even start to compete with your local knowledge, but - here at least - my age could betray me. You're right, I don't anymore converse so much with parents with underage children, but those I do converse with are invariably addressed (by their grown-up children): Alors, Maman, pourriez-vous..... When in Rome... Robert

No, I am not into masochism, but I feel that I have to listen first before commenting on it. I did, and then I did. It's called intellectual honesty. And mind you, THIS is what music is all about in Sweden. Can you believe that upwards of 3 million people (out of 9) are sitting breathlessly in front of the tube for this CRAP???? Not to talk about 6-8 PAGES in the evening newspapers. Talking about what? Music? Oh no, they are talking about an established narcissistic author, who walked this way or that, scream-reciting a text about semen, not even trying to sing, then, upon winning a semi-final (sic!) and being criticized, maybe wants to withdraw from the final, but then not, and then vacillating throughout the week, getting at least a full page per daily per day, now evidently finally (sigh!) deciding to participate (that was on the front page, with war-sized letters!!!!). Here you are, folks, that's Swedish musical life today. And I vomit! Robert

I should have warned you. She is addictive. Having once heard that tone, that music-making, nothing else will do. She has recorded a lot, so beware of your wallet. Funny you took the Mozart (Concerti, I suppose, or did you mean Quartets?). Guess who composed the cadenzas. Yes, our Kalevi did, for this recording. Robert

Considering what I said, I will send the answer to your privately. Robert

No, in French and German the formal way to address someone is a must, only in Sweden has it gone to the other extreme. I remember having very frequent professional contacts with two German ladies, sitting at the same table for 30+ years. With me it was Hannelore, Elke and Robert, but when they addressed each other, it was Frau K and Frau P - after 30 years!!! And I hear French kids address their parents with "vous", certainement pas un "tu" ! I find the beginning of the 1st movement of Luosto exhilarating, especially in surround (sorry, Chris C, but I cannot help saying that there is a special on Aho right now on a downloading site I know of). It is probably a double-bassoon you're referring to, as well as a wind machine. Heckelphone is a baritone oboe, yet lower than an english horn. Yes, he composes in his head. He "hears" the music. I don't believe he visualizes the score, but he knows exactly how the music is. The sessions in that housette are just to notate what he "hears". Since he knows exactly what he wants, and how to notate it, he doesn't need an eraser, but he doesn't go out of his way not to bring one - that's my peotic license. I have the original hand-written score to the Flute Concerto, and I can swear that there are no changes made - I've been through it with a microscope. The dog was a very real one, Kalevi's, and fell so ill during the composing process of the Flute Concerto that the whole of the third movement (Elegy) is Kalevi's sorrow for what was going to happen - and happened. The period in which the score was written out was the last days of that dog's life. It is all in the booklet. Robert

You actually HAVE one??? Well, blow me down. I had never heard of the contraption until Kalevi told me he was writing for it. I still have no clue how it looks or operates - etherphone, dear me...does it have a landline or is it mobile? Can you buy apps for it? So, blow the dust away and start practising. There cannot be too many artists in the world to compete for the performance frenzy this Concerto will indubitably have - who knows, maybe we will be recording you (since we record everything Kalevi composes)... And, no, he doesn't compose there. He goes there to write out, in peace, the piece he has already composed in the recesses of his super-active mind. That process goes on 24/7; it is eerie, like as if he simply was the conduit for something even bigger - and, no, I don't believe in that. But I do believe in the miracle that is his brain - and I put my money where my mouth is - we have no support from anyone, this is a mission. Robert

Well, you know, if I sign off with Robert, that's how I expect to be called. It is odd, in a way, the different traditions of how to address people. In Sweden we do have two words for "you": "du" is the familiar version, whereas "ni" is the "polite", polite in inverted commas, since "ni" (vous in French, Sie in German) is nowadays used almost as an insult, a way to underline that one does NOT want to be on more friendly terms with the person concerned. But this is digressing. I am sorry that I am so transparent so that you could guess/know my answer (even though that missing "9" is glaring - I spotted it at once!), but this is another thing I actually feel hotly about - the difference between listening, by which I mean active, concentrated listening and having a wall-paper sound in the background. I personally (but why am I writing this, you already know...) tend to either listen, really listen, or want to have quietude around me. Methinks that the composers and artists are worth my undivided attention, and, if they're not, then I don't want to spend valuable time having it on and being distracted from more important things. But we're all different. Pleased you like Aho. What a composer! One that actually composes in his head. When he is finished with the mental procedure, he goes to a lonely house without electricity or instruments in the Finnish archipelago with a lot of pencils, pencil sharpeners, note paper (but note, no eraser) and writes down the full score from beginning to end, without ever having to change anything. He can play basically any orchestral instrument, and then some. He doesn't shirk from writing for the oddest instruments - he is just finishing his Theremin Concerto (yes, I had to google it myself) and really likes to use the Heckelphone wherever possible. His Double-bassoon Concerto is marvellous (is released) and his Flute Concerto a non plus ultra. The undiluted sorrow in the last movement, amazing, tear-jerking! He must have loved that dog. I think you can read on. I was quite complimentary to you and I have to say that I do like this correspondence - we seem to be of rather the same spirit. Robert

WOW! That was one post, even longer than mine, and, in some ways, quite a lot brighter. I can only say AMEN to most of what you say. Since you say it, I must have been far too unclear or provocative, so let me correct this: I have never denied that there are fantastic musicians around, in every musical style. You mention a whole score of them, and I can only concur. I have even recorded and released Frank Zappa, played on Baroque instruments, on BIS-CD-5013. Great stuff. But if I may challenge you: go into www.svt.se (that's the Swedish State-owned TV channel), click to Eurovisionsschlagern and suffer through the 4 semi-finals. Now this is what is supposed to be the very best of Swedish pop/rock music, and that's from a country that has produced ABBA, Roxette, Ace of Base, Max Martin (hit writer for Madonna, Britney etc etc). It is boring to tears, and so exasperating to watch and listen to that I almost wasted a perfectly beautiful TV set through the window. This is my point and what I mean: compared with jazz or classical, the music IS more uniform, less inventive, following slavishly the ABC of harmonic teaching, with a rhythm that never deviates from 4/4 and a machine-like 4/4 at that, "sung" by people that cannot hold a candle against even a really bad opera singer. My point was further that rock and pop make this possible, since knowledge, studying, talent and voice aren't part of the job description, whereas odd hairdoes, extravagant and drug-induced living, extreme clothes (or lack of same) are, all things that have nothing with music to do, or at least shouldn't. And these people come from nothing and earn megabucks, whereas the superb professionals can be happy if they can get pupils to cover the deficit of their orchestral salaries. But I am repeating myself, needlessly. We don't have a quarrel. There are great, innovative and fantastic musicians in all walks of life, but the difference between them and the run-of-the-mill wannabe is FAR greater than between professionals, where at least a modicum of knowledge and skill is imperative. - The furore was caused by the Rite of Spring, not Pétrouchka. - I will go to my grave praising Sharon Bezaly as the greatest flutist ever. We had an unpleasant divorce, but that doesn't stop me from stating that noone has had her molten gold tone, her circular breathing technique, the speed of her triple snake tongue, the expression and sheer musicality that make people weep (in the right places). Listen to her in Kalevi Aho's Flute Concerto (which I commissioned for her) or in Christopher Rouse's Concerto (either prescribed for my funeral and concertoes of great depth, both dealing with Death) or in any other of her 30 or so records with upwards of 20 concertos, dedicated to her. There is only one flautist of her gift and stature. Ever. No wonder that she became the world's most concertising flautist some years back. It is people like her that make my profession so glorious. Robert

With the risk of starting another brawl, may I - politely - comment upon one of your sentences: "Speaking of raucous, I happen to be listening to Aho "Luosto" while I write this. I know, it's not all raucous."? No, you didn't. Not at all. Unless you belong to those one in a million, who can dictate one letter, while writing another two, each with one hand, simultaneously, you didn't listen. Or you didn't write. Or you didn't think about what you were writing. Since I don't believe the latter, it follows you weren't listening. You may have had a "sound tapestry" in the background, but listen you didn't. Yes, there is show in opera, and I'm sure that Farinelli et al put it on. But Farinelli spent his life perfecting his art - he even sacrificed something very dear to most men to be able to do so (or was "sacrificed") and, like the absolute majority of opera singers, then and now, thus had a very extensive education supporting him. Then turn to the average pop singer today. No, don't!... It is too depressing to hear those raw voices, without any technique whatsoever, here screaming, there crooning in a faux falsetto, mostly ghastly out of tune. Depressing was the word. If you managed to trick people into believing that your improvisations were Vivaldi or Telemann (you didn't even say Vanhal or Friedrich the Great), then I can conclude two things: either you're really good at it or the public is ignorant. I prefer to believe the former. I play the flute myself and have been married to 2 flautists, out of which the second is the best flautist the world has ever seen or heard, without comparison, so I know my way around this instrument. Neither of the ladies can improvise worth jack sh-t. To improvise is a different kettle of fish entirely, which takes a lot of musical intelligence and sheer balls, and I can only congratulate you on having both. Robert

I absolutely agree that I was pushing it a bit, being provocative, and even confessed to it. And, to put the record straight, I was dragged around by my pop-singing half-brother, not the other way round. I have heard so much crap, both live and through media, that some of it comes out of my mouth :-) . Sorry if I offended you. And, finally, I was indeed concentrating on the singers more than the musicians, some of which are really excellent. Generally speaking, the instrumentalists are several classes above the run-of-the-mill singer (but it is invariably the singer(s) who get famous and earn the money). I suppose it is the musicians' tragic destiny that they are having to play music of this kind of simplicity and un-adventurousness; as I said, basic harmonies, repetitions, 4/4 with crashes on the off-beats, loud, louder, intolerable etc etc. What happened to records with bands only, like "The Shadows", where the real musicians can excel without having to be dragged down by half-illiterate dopeys as vocalists (being provocative here, but read the trade mags: they don't speak about music, but is XYZ really a virgin, whom did she sleep with last, what hair-colour does she have, did she shave her head, was she stoned, does she have a drug abuse problem, was she indicted, did she have a car accident, can she really take care of her children, could you really see her snatch when exiting a car (blanked-out photo provided)? Not a peep if she actually can sing. This list is endless and encompasses basically every known pop/rock soloist. They have to make fools out of themselves outside the music in order to become well known IN the musical world. With a few exceptions. As for the technical details, the smaller the dynamic range, the less important the bit depth becomes. When everything is played so loudly that a normal human being runs for shelter, I still cannot see the importance of high-resolution, every trace of the finer points, which high-res should emphasize, is gone astray in the melée of over-taxed amps and loudspeakers, so let's agree to disagree. I don't believe that the ancient musicians would have played their music as loudly as possible, had they had the chance. Their instruments were not built that way, the music wasn't conceived that way, whereas modern electric instruments are and music is. Can you see Dowland before your inner eye, screaming into a mic, hopping around the stage, pierced and all, playing his electrified, distorted lute, with "In Darkness Let Me Dwell"? I cannot. Not even Sting did that, and he could have. Robert

Well, you took a little excerpt from my diatribe to prove a point. Indeed, in your example I would happily concur, but when I think of all the raw sounds I have had to listen to, by people who certainly couldn't play the guitar more than the basic chords, screaming away in front of a public consisting mostly of pre-teens, my bile rises. To even start comparing this deluge of ear-destroying sounds to the finetuning of a string quartet, or even the "Rite of Spring", is anathema for me. The discussion of high-res and bit depth should be confined to the places where it could make an audible difference and enhancing a musical experience. For music, the only goal of which is to be as loud as the authorities will allow and hammer in a refrain, brainwashing the kids, to be connected to the feinschmeckerei of delicate overtones is, frankly, ridiculous. That's why I, in spite of your comment, would dare to say that the very question of bits and frequencies when it comes to this music is immaterial, whereas I can readily understand the importance of it for, shall we say, more intimate music, where the soundscapes of the actual instruments are more important, like jazz and classical. Then one can always find exceptions everywhere. Queen and Freddy M certainly, in this respect, was a big exception to the drivel the musical world is full of. I forced myself to listen to the qualification rounds of the Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden and I couldn't help repeating the same mantra to myself: what if this singer, musician, whatever, would have to actually perform any piece of any substance? What total disaster!! No voice, no instrumental knowledge apart from 3 chords (sometimes transposed a semitone up midways). But nice clothes, a comical hairdo and a good dancing ensemble (THEY are pros!!). If any classical musicians had performed to this standard, they would have been laughed out of the musical life in 10 seconds flat! Why should the demands on pop musicians be lower, better said, non-existing? I personally find the notion that some kid, with absolutely no training whatsoever, can go from zero to huge recognition in a flash, whereas the violinist, pianist, jazz drummer, whatever, have to spend a whole life to perfect their skills, to still barely make a living, OBNOXIOUS!!! It is an insult to the very notion of knowledge, talent, training and skill!! Robert

http://www.ariama.com/albums/endbeginning-(new-york-polyphony-bis) Another one that likes listening to nothing. I think we'll stick to the oxen. Reindeers are too weak. Let me amplify. I came to classical in my early 20:s. Before that it was strictly Everly Bros, Elvis, Tommy Steele, Harry Belafonte etc for me, along with some good jazz. I can appreciate a good tune and a good performance, when I hear one, then and now. Beatles and ABBA were geniuses. Elvis is KING. Alas, though, when comparing to educated musicians, especially rock and pop singers (NOT jazz people!) are totally amateurish. A staggering proportion of them cannot sing in tune, cannot hold a line, have no breath control, and exist purely because they have the microphone somewhere just behind the front teeth. Everything has to be loud - or louder. They have ear protection (at least the smart ones do), the public don't. My half-brother is one of Finland's most famous pop singers. He is below 60 and quite deaf. I am almost 70 and have (sorry, say again?) excellent hearing. In purely technical terms pop music, and, worse, rock in general has no dynamics. Tunes are 3 minutes, consist of an intro, a verse, and a refrain that is hammered (literally) into the listener, all in 4/4 beat, with absolutely basic harmonies and with amplifiers turned on max. Believe me, what with my brother shlepping me around, I have heard more pop and rock than most people. What does anyone want resolution for? Musicians make a special sound out of distorting the "natural electric" sound. Loudspeakers are tested to and beyond their limits, just to give the ooooomph in the solar plexus. What has that got with music and sound resolution to do? Since there is no dynamics, you can record it onto whatever, incl. a dictaphone. If you play it loudly enough from whatever, noone can hear the difference (OK, I am stretching it a bit here, but it's not far from the truth). Why do you want a top resolution to listen to pre-distorted sounds? And, having been brought up with these torrents of sound that are deafening you, how on earth can the poor listener even start to appreciate the nuances, the different shades of a violin string sound, or the interaction of a male quartet? I am not saying that one is more valid than the other - to each his own - and I am very obviously speaking as a very small minority, but show me the classical musician that can perform anything, anywhere except for Granny, before having studied intensely for at least a decade and compare these professionals to the average pop singer, who comes from nothing and can "hiss" through a microphone, most often being famous through anything else, incl. drug abuse and extreme (un)clothing, than the ability to perform listenably. Take away the mic and chances are that you wouldn't hear the person at all unless you're closer than 30 feet. Yes, I got upset with your snide comments (but no worse than mine above), apparently directed against a fantastic group of PROFESSIONAL singers, but, after your explanation I understand better. Now I'll have to pull down the hatches, get into my armoured car and disconnect all internet lines for the hatred the above lines may cause. But it was nice to get it off my chest. Robert