─ Hyperion Knight／鋼琴

Hyperion Knight — pianist / Wilson Audiophile Recordings
Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio
Hybrid Stereo SACD plays on both CD and SACD players

Pianist Hyperion Knight was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay area. He started piano lessons at age 4 and debuted professionally at 14 in San Rafael, California, playing Beethoven`s Fourth Piano Concerto. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, his Master of Arts Degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and his doctorate at 22 from the same institution. Appropriate to this recording, his dissertation was on Beethoven`s "Waldstein" piano sonata. In 1983 he was appointed principal pianist with the Erie Philharmonic Orchestra.

For this recording a custom-built 9-foot concert grand piano was used. This unique instrument, built by Sheldon Smith in his Berkeley, Calif., workshop — where the recording also took place — has a powerful lower register, which provides a substantial left-hand foundation. The upper registers are somewhat less damped and more ringing than is typical of contemporary pianos.

Schoeps omnidirectional condenser microphones, in a spaced pair, were used in conjunction with vaccum tube record amplifiers to capture a harmonically rich and accurate sound.

【About the performance】
●BEETHOVEN: Sonata in C Major, Op. 53
When Beethoven left Bonn in 1792, few could have envisioned the titanic creations which would follow his arrival in Vienna. The Count Ferdinand von Waldstein could hardly have foreseen the prophetic nature of his parting words to Beethoven: "Mozart`s genius is still mourning the death of his ward. In the inexhaustible Haydn he found a refuge but no employment... Through unremitting industry you shall receive Mozart‘s spirit from the hands of Haydn." One can only imagine the exhilaration with which the Count must have greeted the sonata whose dedication immortalized his name.

●STRAVINSKY: Trois Movements de Petrouchka
The trilogy of ballets which Stravinsky wrote for the famed Ballet Russe during the years 1910-1914 are a milestone in the history of music. Each in its own way makes a unique contribution to the evolution of music in the twentieth century. "L‘Oiseau de Feu" (1910) demonstrated to the world that Stravinsky was an orchestrator whose innovations would broaden the spectrum of the symphonic expression, even surpassing the achievements of his mentor, Rimsky-Korsakov. The early successes of the "Firebird", however, were only a prelude to the full realization of Stravinsky‘s artistic vision. Perhaps no moment in the history of music except the "Eroica." has had the revolutionary impact of "Le Sacre du Printemps" (1914).

說Analogue Productions是全世界做活躍的SACD與黑膠唱片復刻公司，應該沒有人會反對。最近收到他家目錄，打開一看，怎麼Wilson Audio早期錄製的黑膠唱片竟然都復刻了。一方面這是好消息，讓生得晚的SACD迷與黑膠迷有機會買到這些傑出的古典音樂專輯。另一方面這對於唱片行也是個壓力，因為AP出片的速度很快，唱片行的庫存壓力當然一直上升。

年輕音響迷可能不知道，Dave Wilson早在進入喇叭事業之前，就已經業餘從事錄音工作，最早在1977年，一直錄到1995年才停止。那麼多年來總共錄製了33張唱片，其中只公開發行27張，其他幾張演奏家並不想公開，所以從未出版。說來您不相信，當年Dave Wilson只用了家用型盤帶機Revox A-77，以及Schoeps CMC-36 立體麥克風，加上真空管擴大機，就這樣完成了錄音。鑑聽時用的前級是Audio Research SP-3。由於只是一支立體麥克風，當然不需要混音台等。這麼極簡的錄音設備，卻錄出如臨現場的聲音，現在回想起來，也真是奇蹟。