AUDIONAUTES RECORDINGS — 15TH ANNIVERSARY LIMITED EDITION
A SELECTION FROM THE ORIGINAL MASTERS
THE MASTER REEL-TAPE EDITORIAL REVIEW
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How do you celebrate 15 years devoted to extraordinary recordings?
AudioNautes Recordings answers with an ambitious musical journey: fifteen carefully selected excerpts drawn from some of the most admired jazz, classical, choral, early-music and world-music recordings in the audiophile repertoire.
A Selection From the Original Masters is not simply a conventional “best of” album. It is a guided tour through different musical worlds, recording venues and acoustic environments—from the intimate atmosphere of a Stockholm jazz club to the reverberation of a great church, the ceremonial character of medieval music and the rhythmic energy of Mediterranean mandolin.
Each selection presents a different challenge to both the recording and the playback system: instrumental tone, spatial depth, microdynamics, transient speed, vocal texture, low-frequency extension and the natural decay of sound within a real acoustic.
It is precisely this extraordinary variety that makes the collection so compelling.
🎷 JAZZ AT THE PAWNSHOP
The programme opens with “Prologue” and moves directly into “Limehouse Blues” from the legendary Jazz at the Pawnshop.
Recorded live at Jazzpuben Stampen in Stockholm in December 1976, the sessions brought together five outstanding Swedish jazz musicians:
• Arne Domnérus — alto saxophone and clarinet
• Bengt Hallberg — piano
• Lars Erstrand — vibraphone
• Georg Riedel — double bass
• Egil Johansen — drums
The recording became famous not only for the playing, but for its extraordinary sense of presence. The listener hears the room, the audience and the musicians occupying a believable physical space.
“Limehouse Blues” immediately tests rhythmic articulation and instrumental placement. Domnérus’s horn carries warmth and bite; Hallberg’s piano moves with elegance and authority; Erstrand’s vibraphone flashes through the acoustic; Riedel’s bass has body; and Johansen’s drums provide speed without losing their natural texture.
Rather than sounding like musicians placed inside a studio construction, the ensemble feels alive within a real venue.
🪈 THE SOLITARY VOICE OF THE FLUTE
Claude Debussy’s “Syrinx,” performed by Gunilla von Bahr, changes the atmosphere completely.
Written for solo flute, this short work depends upon breath, phrasing and silence. There is nowhere for either the performer or the recording to hide. Every shift in air pressure, every delicate attack and every decay becomes part of the musical expression.
After the energy of the jazz club, “Syrinx” creates a moment of suspended time - intimate, mysterious and intensely human.
🥁 COLOUR, MOVEMENT AND PERCUSSION
“Tanz,” drawn from the Carmen Suite associated with Harold Farberman and the Kroumata Percussion Ensemble, introduces a very different palette.
Here the attraction lies in speed, rhythmic precision and dramatic instrumental colour. Percussion transients can expose the limitations of a recording or audio system immediately. On tape, the attacks should arrive with authority while the resonances retain their natural body and decay.
The result is energetic, theatrical and highly effective as a demonstration of dynamics.
⛪ SAXOPHONE MEETS THE ORGAN
“Almighty God,” from Antiphone Blues, brings together the expressive saxophone of Arne Domnérus and the majestic church organ associated with organist and conductor Gustaf Sjökvist.
This unusual partnership is one of the great combinations in audiophile recording: the intimate, breath-driven sound of the saxophone contrasted with an organ capable of filling an enormous acoustic space.
The music moves between blues expression and sacred atmosphere. The saxophone appears almost to speak, while the organ surrounds it with scale, depth and resonance.
🏰 A JOURNEY INTO EARLY MUSIC
“Trotto,” performed by Joculatores Upsalienses and selected from Early Music at Wik, takes us into the sound world of medieval Europe.
The original sessions were made during 1973 and 1974 at Wik Castle near Uppsala, giving the music a historically evocative setting. Period instruments, dance rhythms and direct ensemble playing produce a performance filled with colour and movement.
This is not museum music. It feels vivid, rhythmic and immediate.
🎤 HARRY BELAFONTE AT CARNEGIE HALL
Few live vocal albums possess the reputation of Belafonte at Carnegie Hall.
Recorded during benefit concerts on 19 and 20 April 1959, the album became both a commercial triumph and an enduring reference recording. Harry Belafonte’s command of the stage is inseparable from the atmosphere of Carnegie Hall and the response of the audience.
“Merci Bon Dieu,” written by Haitian guitarist and composer Frantz Casseus, reveals another side of Belafonte: controlled, compassionate and deeply expressive.
His voice is supported by instrumental textures that retain their warmth and scale. A fine master-source presentation should communicate not only the singer’s voice, but the size of the hall and the emotional concentration of the audience.
This is where live recording becomes musical history.
🎻 THREE CENTURIES OF LA SPAGNA
“Spagna Contrapunto” comes from Gregorio Paniagua and Atrium Musicae de Madrid’s remarkable exploration of La Spagna—a celebrated musical theme traced through the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Paniagua’s ensemble helped pioneer historically informed performances using early instruments. The music combines scholarship with fantasy, presenting an extraordinary range of instrumental colours.
The selection is fluid, intricate and beautifully atmospheric. Plucked strings, winds and percussion emerge with distinctive textures, while the surrounding acoustic gives the ensemble air and dimension.
🕯 ON THE ROAD TO SANTIAGO
“Primus ex apostolis,” performed by Polyphonia Antiqua and selected from Ultreia!, continues the journey into medieval sacred music.
The album evokes the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela. Voices and early instruments produce an atmosphere that is both ceremonial and profoundly human.
This selection demonstrates how convincingly a recording can communicate space through reverberation. The notes do not stop when the performers fall silent; they continue into the acoustic, revealing the shape and character of the venue.
🎺 CANTATE DOMINO — AN AUDIOPHILE LANDMARK
Oscar’s Motet Choir’s Cantate Domino is one of the most celebrated choral recordings in audiophile history.
Recorded in 1976 by engineer Bertil Alving, it features Oscar’s Motet Choir under Torsten Nilsson, soprano Marianne Mellnäs, organist Alf Linder and brass musicians.
The title work combines choir, organ, trumpets and trombones in a large reverberant church acoustic. The challenge is enormous: individual voices must remain intelligible while still forming a coherent choir; the organ must extend powerfully without overwhelming the room; and the brass must shine without becoming harsh.
The best presentations preserve both scale and delicacy. Voices appear naturally layered, the soprano remains focused and realistically proportioned, and the church reverberation connects the performers to the space around them.
“Cantate Domino” is not merely spectacular sound. It is music of conviction, grandeur and spiritual energy.
❄️ VIVALDI — WINTER
The first Allegro from Vivaldi’s L’Inverno brings speed, contrast and Baroque drama.
Performed by Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca, the music depicts the tension and physical sensation of winter through shivering figures, sharp rhythmic gestures and sudden changes of intensity.
A good recording must preserve the articulation of the strings without making them brittle. On reel tape, the attraction lies in the combination of immediacy, tonal density and continuous musical flow.
The performance arrives like a cold wind—fast, vivid and thrilling.
🌱 NOW THE GREEN BLADE RISETH
The Stockholm Cathedral Choir’s “When He Comes,” selected from Now the Green Blade Riseth, returns us to a more intimate sacred atmosphere.
Recorded in 1981, the album became popular among audiophiles for its natural presentation of choir, organ and guitar. Its simple arrangements place the emphasis on melody, vocal blend and the acoustic of the church.
The choir sounds neither artificially enlarged nor compressed into a flat plane. Instead, the voices breathe within the space, allowing individual lines and collective harmony to coexist.
“Laudate Dominum,” from Laudate II, continues this choral experience with a sense of praise, elevation and spaciousness.
🌊 MEDITERRANEAN FEELING
The programme concludes with “Bocina: Duet No. 1 in E minor,” from Aco Bocina’s Mediterranean Feeling.
Recorded live in 2004 at Mantua’s historic Teatro Bibiena, the performance centres on Bocina’s mandolins and guitars, supported by guitar and bass.
The piece unfolds over eight minutes, allowing its melody, rhythmic vitality and instrumental dialogue to develop naturally. Bocina’s playing combines virtuosity with warmth: quick passages retain clarity, while quieter phrases carry intimacy and emotional colour.
It is a wonderfully effective conclusion - musically spontaneous, acoustically vivid and filled with Mediterranean character.
🎧 THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE
AudioNautes states that it works from original master sources - including analogue masters, tapes, DATs and original files—and follows a purist remastering philosophy intended to minimise intervention while extracting the greatest possible musical information without distorting the original artistic idea.
That distinction matters.
The appeal of this anniversary reel is not based upon a single musical genre or one spectacular demonstration track. Its strength lies in contrast:
• Live jazz and audience atmosphere
• Solo flute and the sound of breath
• Percussion speed and dynamic impact
• Saxophone against a full-scale pipe organ
• Medieval instruments and castle acoustics
• A legendary Carnegie Hall performance
• Renaissance counterpoint
• Choir, brass and church reverberation
• Baroque strings in rapid motion
• Mediterranean mandolin recorded in a historic theatre
Every excerpt asks a different question of your reel-to-reel recorder and Hi-Fi system.
Can it reproduce the scale of an organ without losing the saxophone?
Can it separate choral voices while preserving their unity?
Can it reveal the atmosphere of a live venue without turning audience noise into distraction?
Can it reproduce a mandolin’s attack without sacrificing the wooden body of the instrument?
This tape provides the answers.
📋 VERIFIED EDITION DETAILS
Album: Various Artists — 15th Anniversary Limited Edition
Subtitle: A Selection From the Original Masters
Label: AudioNautes Recordings
Catalogue number: AN-RTR-2408
Format: ¼-inch reel tape
Configuration: Two-track stereo
Speed: 15 ips
Equalisation: IEC/CCIR
Reel: 10.5-inch NAB metal reel
Edition: Special anniversary compilation
Country: Italy
Released: November 2024
Genres: Jazz, Classical, Choral, Early Music and World Music
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🎼 TRACK LIST
1. Prologue — Jazz at the Pawnshop
2. Limehouse Blues — Jazz at the Pawnshop
3. Debussy: Syrinx — Solflöjt
4. Bizet: Tanz — Carmen Suite
5. Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565
6. Almighty God — Antiphone Blues
7. Trotto — Early Music at Wik
8. Merci Bon Dieu — Belafonte at Carnegie Hall
9. Spagna Contrapunto — La Spagna
10. Primus ex apostolis — Ultreia!
11. Cantate Domino — Cantate Domino
12. Vivaldi: L’Inverno, Allegro — Le Quattro Stagioni
13. When He Comes — Now the Green Blade Riseth
14. Laudate Dominum — Laudate II
15. Bocina: Duet No. 1 in E minor — Mediterranean Feeling
⭐ EDITOR’S VERDICT
A Selection From the Original Masters is both a celebration and an introduction.
For established AudioNautes collectors, it brings together excerpts from recordings that have earned lasting reputations for their music and sound. For listeners encountering the label for the first time, it demonstrates exactly what AudioNautes values: strong performances, distinctive acoustic environments and careful access to the best available master sources.
This is the kind of compilation that can begin as a demonstration tape and become something played simply for pleasure.
It is varied enough to test a serious audio system, yet musically coherent enough to enjoy from beginning to end.
Highly recommended for collectors of master-quality reel tape, landmark audiophile recordings and beautifully captured acoustic music.
You may think you know these recordings—but hearing them at 15 ips on a properly aligned reel-to-reel system can reveal a completely different sense of weight, space, texture and presence.
You do not fully know analogue tape sound until you have experienced it.
Which selection would you play first: Jazz at the Pawnshop, Belafonte at Carnegie Hall, Cantate Domino or Aco Bocina?
ORIGINAL LABEL RELEASE • NO BOOTLEGS • NO UNAUTHORISED COPIES
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