RN-Audio - Opern Gala

Publisher: RN Audio Bottrop, OG08112020-21

Playing time: 33 min

Specifications: half track ¼“, stereo, 1 metal reel, 44,1 kHz digital master, 514 nWb/m, CCIR, 38 cm/s

Homepage: https://www.tapemusic.eu/master-tapes/klassik/

Translation of the German review:

As a special musical treat, I have selected the "Opera Gala" from the catalog of the tape manufacturer RN AUDIO. The digital recording was made with a FOSTEX "D-108" hard disk recorder and is transferred with full dynamics to the tape ordered by the customer. The copy is the first generation, which means that the material is transferred directly from the digital master files (44.1 kHz) to a STUDER "A807".

In 2010, the city of Essen represented the Ruhr region as the European Capital of Culture on behalf of the 53 cities of the "Regionalverband Ruhr". The project was called "RUHR.2010 – Kulturhauptstadt Europas". For the city of Bottrop, singers from choirs in Bottrop had come together from 2008 onwards. Under the direction of Ludger Köller, they were formed into a project choir and presented gala programs together with the "Bottroper Symphoniker" orchestra, which was also founded especially for this event. Soloists with rank and name could be engaged.

The six selected titles offer a nice cross-section of the well-known opera literature. The overture from Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro" forms the beginning. It is played snappily and that is what I love about it. On the piece "O du mein holder Abendstern" from Wagner's Tannhäuser, baritone James Tolksdorf does a brilliant job. He uses a support microphone placed 1.5 meters away for the recording. The orchestra holds back in a pleasant manner and provides the best basis for the singer with a pulsating instrumental carpet. For the "Intermezzo Sinfonico" from Mascagi's "Cavalleria Rusticana" the Bottroper Symphoniker offer their comprehensive orchestral spectrum and are in no way inferior to the really great ensembles. Of course Verdi may not be missing: The project choir of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Bottroper Chöre is introduced in the classic "Va Pensiero" from "Nabucco" via a wonderful tutti passage by the orchestra, to then show us what dynamics a choir is capable of - which is reproduced particularly charmingly by the tape. Soprano Elisabeth Otzisk is able to showcase her vocal range in the aria "Si chiamano Mimi" from Puccini's "La Bohème". In doing so, she manages to put a delicate melting into her performance. This world-class performance should be hard to top. She also sings into a support microphone to ensure that she is "up front" during the recording. The orchestra provides top-notch musical support. The gala closes with the overture from Giuseppe Verdi's "Il Vespri Siciliani". The musicians are in the best of moods and give the listener a gripping performance with plenty of atmosphere.

The fact that this compilation consists exclusively of excerpts from the 2008 concert has recording-related reasons: Since there were resonance panels behind the choir, the acoustic energy was directed to the front. This made it possible to dispense with additional supporting microphones for the choir, which resulted in a very homogeneous sound image. The recording of orchestra and choir was done with a stereo microphone set in EBS arrangement*. On this tape you can hear what quality can be created with "puristic effort", according to Rainer Neuwirth. I am impressed by the atmosphere, clarity, dynamics and the size of the virtual stage that could be achieved with these simple means. The microphones used from the MBHO company are known in the scene as an "insider tip". So it doesn't always have to be the big names, whose prices are at the upper end of the scale, to create a perfect recording.

With the level of 514 nWb/m (+6 dBu), the tape "SM 900" is perfectly tuned. The equipment leaves nothing to be desired: the tape comes on a metal reel specially made for TAPEMUSIC in a stable cardboard box. It comes with a leaflet containing all the important information about the recording, the music and the performers. Also included is a certificate with the data of the tape dubbing. My wife and I liked the music and the recording quality so much the first time we listened to it that we rewound the tape to listen to it again.

*EBS (Eberhard Sengpiel) microphone arrangement: the axis angle and the recording angle are both 90°, the microphone base, i.e. the distance between the microphone diaphragms, is 25 cm. The directional imaging is composed as equally as possible of time-of-flight and level differences in order to achieve an even distribution of phantom sound sources on the loudspeaker base. In this way, the recording angle matches the sound event to be recorded, which precludes overemphasis of the lateral phantom sound sources leading to a so-called "center hole".

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)