TAPE 1
1. Birk's Works 04:52
2. By Myself 05:56
3. You Taught My Heart to Sing 05:31
4. Chloe 08:24
5. Confirmation 05:50
Total time 30:33
Conceived, recorded, and produced by Giulio Cesare Ricci
Recorded at the Auditorium Museo Piaggio, Pontedera, May 31st - June 1st, 2021
Recording assistant: Paola Liberato
Valve microphones: Neumann U47, U48, M49
Mike preamplifiers, cables (line, microphone, supply): Signoricci
Photos by Andrea Manno & Paola Liberato
The master was made with the Ampex ATR 102 (Electronic Tube Ampex Model 351 - 1965) 2 tracks, 1/2" 30fps, modified by David Manley.
This album is part of the recordings I made for the concerts at the 2021 Piaggio Fonè Music Festival. I made this recording at the Piaggio Auditorium, located inside the famous Piaggio Museum in Pontedera, where Piaggio was born and where it continues to produce today. Inside the Museum, every year, audiences from around the world can admire Piaggio's production over the years, all the Vespa and Ape models, and all the Aprilia, Gilera, and Moto Guzzi motorcycles that have won national and international awards over the years.
For this recording, I brought all my equipment, both analog (Ampex ATR 102 Electronic Tube Ampex Model 351-1965 2 tracks, 1/2 inch, 30 ips modified by David Manley) and digital (Pyramix Recorder, dCS A/D and D/A converters). For microphones, I used my original collection of Neumann U47, U48, M49, and to the mike preamplifier and Signoricci cables. Pairs of Neumann tube microphones from 1947 and 1949 (U47, U48, and M49) with a very natural timbre are used using two-microphone field effect techniques.
These microphones have an important history: they are the original microphones used to record, among others, the Beatles' performances at Abbey Road Studio and by RCA for their "Living Stereo" recordings. The sound I capture with these legendary microphones is perfectly in line with my sonic taste. No other microphone has such a true timbre and the ability to capture all the nuances of sound and all the richness of harmonics. The uniqueness of these microphones lies in their ability to create a perfect "sound photograph" and place the music perfectly in the chosen sound space for recording.
This is because I have always created two masters for each recording: an analog master for vinyl and a DSD digital master for SuperAudioCD. I The vinyl mastering was carried out using the Signoricci system, which is entirely analog and tube-based. This state-of-the-art system features no sound manipulation, no equalization, no reverb, no compression, and no expansion... but a natural sound with authentic timbre to best enhance the acoustics of the Piaggio Museum Auditorium. For nearly 40 years, fonè has been offering recordings crafted with technological sophistication and aimed at recovering the original musical atmosphere. For this recording, I also used a "field effect" recording technique... all this to allow listeners to relive the live experience in their home hi-fi system, as if they were present at the performance.
This album features Scott Hamilton, one of the world's greatest mainstream musicians, on saxophone, accompanied by three great jazz musicians: Paolo Birro, Aldo Zunino, and Alfred Kramer, his regular partners when he performs in Italy. Highlights of the pieces include "Poinciana" (Nat Simon), which gives the album its title, and "Birk's Works" (Dizzy Gillespie). and Confirmation (Charlie Parker).
An album not to be missed.
Giulio Cesare Ricci
