Dear melomaniac, attending this year’s Audio Video Show in Warsaw, this amazing fair where lots of music gear producers and distributors have put together wonderful rooms full of great audio systems for us to enjoy, made me think of a very simple yet important question: what makes these worldwide audio shows possible? The answer is also very simple: “music” – this wonderful flowing and airy piece of art that we all learned to enjoy as the most special art ever existed.
If I may add: what is music? If we browse Wikipedia and get the generic definition of music, we read this: “Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise expressive content.”
Well, this definitely clarifies the intent of music, but it does not define its soul, because dear melomaniac, I will inform you that music is a live thing, having a soul, having a heart. When you hear music’s lament – you hear it crying, and when you hear its rhythm, you hear its heart – like a drum, never stopping, making you tick.
Tick, clack, pop – ooo! That’s music, and with its own musical language it definitely speaks to you, entering your body, your mind and – in the end – entering you soul, combining with it – this being the moment when we melomaniacs become one with music and we start to fly. But have we flown in our minds or in reality? Usually it happens in our minds, but I am prepared to swear that in a few very special audition sessions of mine I have, indeed, flown.
This is the special feeling that music gives us, and this is the feeling I’ve searched for at Warsaw’s Show, and indeed I found it. I wanted, basically, to carry with me at the show SoundNews’ statement, “Music First”, and honor my position that my colleagues kindly gave me: “Music Gatekeeper”. Immediately as I entered the first few rooms at the show, I was sure that when I return, I will write an article about the music of Warsaw and the music of the Audio Video Show 2024. So, dear melomaniac, please sit back, relax and let’s see what music highlights I can relate from the show.
I will not tell you anything about one room or another, what gigantic and bombastic speakers I have seen there, you can read all about this in our Audio Video Show Warsaw 2024 Full Report. Coming back to today’s article, I will rather tell you what music I’ve heard and how this primordial art made this show possible, because you see dear melomaniac, without music there will be no Audio Video Show or any high-end or hi-fi show anywhere in the world for that matter.
Before going further with my Warsaw Musical Report, I cannot pass by Warsaw’s own music history without mentioning the most important musician born in this wonderful city, the most romantic composer and pianist of all time, the one and only Frédéric François Chopin (Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin), born just 40 KM west of Warsaw in 1810.
You see, dear melomaniac, with such great pedigree, Warsaw has a great honorable right to host an important music event like the Audio Video Show. I will go even further and tell you that walking through the old streets of the old town, or even in the large boulevards of the modern side, thinking that in the second world war this city was put to the ground, I can still hear Chopin’s piano slowly playing in the background – despite all turmoil, Warsaw hasn’t lost its romanticism, its smile, its laughs and its love – for music, of course.
Now, going further with my musical impressions of the show, I will tell you that I have not missed any room or any part of the exhibition, I have seen all rooms in the three locations of the show: Radisson Blu Hotel, Golden Tulip Hotel and the mighty Narodowy National Stadium. A lot of press was there, also many people from all over the world – all there to see great gear from high-end and hi-fi brands, which, as I promised, I will not mention here, rather I will mention the spice that made this possible, the spice that was combining all of this, the music of Warsaw, a city that has music in its veins.
Because I do not want to keep you waiting anymore, I will mention the most heard song at Warsaw’s Show, the audiophile standard “You Look Good To Me” – recorded in 1964 by the legendary pianist Oscar Peterson and his trio at RCA Studios in New York City. You Look Good To Me is a standard for us melomaniacs and audiophiles, being almost an anthem for our love of sound, being recorded superbly, with high definition, yet enclosing a true feeling of an analog production and of a basic approach to music from 60 years ago. It is known that You Look Good To Me is a song often used by gear producers to develop their products, one of these producers is Gato Audio. You Look Good To Me is extracted from “We Get Requests”, an album that Oscar Peterson Trio launched in the same year at Verve Records, featuring Ray Brown on double bass, Ed Thigpen on drums and, of course, Oscar Peterson on piano. I highly recommend you this album, it is a true one-of-a-kind time capsule.
Another much newer great standard when it comes to audiophile “showroom” music is Dominique Fils-Aimé’s amazing “Birds” – a highly used song to show off speakers. But, in the same way as You Look Good To Me, Birds is not only a song to show off speakers, but rather a great enchanting song that is also greatly recorded, mixed and mastered. Birds is extracted from her 2018 album “Nameless”, a great and unique album that keeps her special touch intact. I do recommend it to you, not only for Birds, but for the whole album.
Now, passing the known audiophile standards, I was also surprised by the choice in music of some of the exhibitors, I could hear some music that has nothing to do with the audiophile realm, I heard ABBA or Bee Gees, Toto or Joe Cocker, Tina Turner or Queen. Of course, dear melomaniac, these are all gems of music, but, unfortunately, they are not a standard when it comes to reference recordings. But still, the love of music has prevailed, and we could hear also great music, not only audiophile music.
One of the songs in this category that deeply impressed me, was Andrea Bocelli’s “Come Un Fiume Tu”, extracted from his 1999 “Sogno” album. The song was featured in a room with electrostatic speakers, and it was a joy to listen. You can hear a special kind of godly magic in the voice of Andrea, and all those in the room were sitting in a frozen position, like Han Solo when he was petrified in carbonite by Darth Vader.
Yello, the Swiss band composed of Boris Blank and Dieter Meier, also was featured heavily, their magic with deep sub-bass notes being so unique. I’ve heard songs from their “Toy” album, but also from their “Touch” album launched back in 2009 at Polydor records. If you want to test your low-end limits, then try this:
For me, as a music lover, the format of music also matters, we have had, of course, streaming, but also the always-young vinyl, we had CDs, but also, I want to add that reel-to-reel tape is making a huge comeback, I could see in many rooms reel-to-reel being used for playback. A “novelty” from the past were compact cassettes, which are also making a comeback. I’ve seen a different kind of tape – the short-lived DAT tape was also present in one of the rooms.
It is very interesting to conclude that in the era of streaming, physical formats are still here to stay, with more and more enthusiasts collecting vinyl records, CDs, reel-to-reel and, the hype of the moment, compact cassettes:
All these formats could be found new or second-hand in the record market zones at the show. There were many zones where you could buy all kinds of records: cassettes, reel-to-reel, CDs, vinyl, you name it, any kind of format was there, even mini-discs, yes, you’ve heard right, mini-discs.
There were record stands in all the locations of the show: Stadion, Radisson and Tulip, all sorts of music were there, from rock to polish jazz. The people selling the records were very kind, in some places you can even pay with by card and deals could be made.
I remember entering the rooms and when a great piece of music was playing, I saw my colleague Catalin firing up his Shazam and matching the song. Later he looked at me with puppy eyes and great enthusiasm and he said: “I will make some playlists with these songs, and I will send them to you”. So, dear melomaniac, by Catalin’s great idea, here you are, you can listen to the songs from Warsaw’s Audio Show yourself, in the calmness of your home:
Wrapping up, I will try to draw a conclusion about my initial idea at the start of this article. I deeply think that music events like these are possible because of music, and I do believe that music is the ultimate type of art, an art that has so many faces, so many flavors, having a genre for any of us, for any of our moods. You don’t need to drink, you do not need to smoke, you do not need to take anything to uplift your soul – music can do that with an instant effect, and now, in 2024, music is much closer to you than ever, at the power of your fingertip.
So, dear melomaniac, just take a shot of Warsaw’s music from the playlists we have made, sit back, close your eyes, have a smile and listen to the music I’ve heard at this wonderful show, Warsaw’s Audio Video Show 2024, maybe the most melomaniac show of all audio shows out there. For sure I will be there next year to prepare a music report for you.
Silviu TUDOR
An article written in my sweet spot,
and this is what I’ve heard.
