One of the first discs I played on the Peaks was the Sony Music SMH-SACD re-issue of the Leontyne Price/HvK Carmen, with the Vienna Philharmonic, State Opera Chorus and Boys Choir (SIGC 41-2, originally released as an RCA Soria Series box-set LDS 6164). The broad stage of this live concert performance is an acid test of both the extent of a system’s soundstage and its ability to locate instruments or voices within it. The first Act offers plenty of examples, from Carmen’s stately, menacing advance on Don José (Habanera) to the various arrivals and departures (the girls from the cigarette factory, the guard, the street urchins…). The Sinfonias can’t match the locational precision of the DAWs when it comes to the bugle calls that herald the guard’s arrival, but the entry of the guard itself and its movement across the stage has greater substance and is far more convincing, just as Carmen herself carries greater poise and conviction. It all adds up to a greater sense of presence and drama. The DAWs might be more startlingly spacious, with crisper dynamic jumps, but the Peaks offer more presence, more impact and with their sure-footed sense of musical ebb and flow, a greater sense of performance.
Going solo…
Switching in scale to Anastasia Kobekina’s Ellipses (Mirare MIR604) the Sinfonias invest her cello with a greater sense of shape and body, bolder colours and her playing with a more explicit sense of direction and intent. Her bowing is more purposeful if less incisive, with a greater sense of motion, energy and sheer vigour in the performance, making the four Siciliennes and two Folias more obviously dance-like in rhythm and tempo. Throughout the different pieces, the Peak speakers convey the energy, body and substance generated by the instrument – and the challenge and effort that presents. The final Gallardo is a spectacularly physical experience, as impressive for the sheer gusto in the playing as it is for its musicality. The solo instrument (with occasional accompaniment) really underlines the Sinfonia’s ability to bind the elements in the recording into a single coherent, purposeful whole. In contrast, the DAW’s presentation zeros in on the agility and dynamic tension in the performance, but is less impressive when it comes to presenting the overall shape and direction of the pieces.
That sense of instrumental weight and substance is especially effective with piano. The peaks present Víkingur Ólafsson’s instrument on his recent recording of the Goldberg Variations (DGG 4864559) with greater weight, body and dimensionality. His playing seems more poised and reflective, lacking the sparkle generated by the DAWs but with a greater clarity to the structure and phrasing. The overall impression delivered by the Sinfonias is one of unhurried and total control, utterly appropriate to the music.
But in some respects, the most telling comparison of all involved the track ‘Skateaway’ from Making Movies (Dire Straits, Vertigo SHM-SACD UIGY-9636). Knowing that I’d be using it to dial in the bass weight and speed on the Peaks, it was the last track I played on the DAWs. Sure enough, it duly demonstrated its value when it came to really dialling in the Sinfonias’ height off of the floor. But at the same time it also clearly demonstrated their greater depth, weight and sheer dynamic heft. From the opening, treated drum pattern, advancing inexorably from a seemingly impossibly distance, through the building intensity and sharp dynamic contrasts, the Peaks impart an almost irresistible motive force to the music, propelling the song, the vocal, the conjured image with vivid energy and purpose. If you want a system that injects life and vitality into recordings (especially rock or pop recordings) you could do an awful lot worse than investigate the Peak speakers and a suitable amplifier. Given the proper encouragement, their powerful sense of musical momentum, rich tonality and irrepressible enthusiasm produce exactly the sort of emphatic musical results that (even huge) audio systems so often struggle to deliver.
Reaching out…
Longer term listening to the Sinfonias in isolation and in a range of systems throws their musical merits into even sharper focus. Whereas comparative listening naturally fastens on specific differences, it’s general listening that really underlines the holistic qualities of this speaker. The combination of Isabelle Faust and Giovanni Antonini is a frequent and familiar one from the Tonhalle Zurich. Their recent recording of Locatelli pieces (Il Virtuoso, il poeta, Harmonia Mundi HMM 902398) featuring Antonini’s small, original instruments, baroque orchestra, Il Giardino Armonico, is a real joy, full of the vigour and vitality that characterises not just recent such recordings, but the music of Locatelli itself. It also dovetails perfectly with the musical qualities of the Sinfonia. The speakers’ musical enthusiasm and sense of momentum give a sense of substance and a purposeful, emphatic quality to the rhythms and phrasing. Their broad and beautifully proportioned soundstage doesn’t just give space around and dimensionality to the instruments, it accentuates the complex structure, layering and counterpoint of the compositions.
