Avantgarde Acoustic Selection Vol. 1

The first thing that caught my attention on Avantgarde Acoustic Selection Vol. 1 was not one particular genre, because this compilation refuses to stay in one place. Raul de Souza, Rebekka Bakken, Shakti with John McLaughlin, Sophie Zelmani, Wim Mertens and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Georg Solti all appear within the same selection. On paper that could easily become a disconnected audiophile sampler, but I think the musical choices are strong enough to prevent that. In-akustik and Avantgarde Acoustic clearly wanted recordings with dynamics, space and tonal character, but fortunately they did not forget that a demonstration disc still needs music worth listening to. For me, that is the main reason this collection works.

The compilation contains eleven tracks and was issued by in-akustik in cooperation with German loudspeaker manufacturer Avantgarde Acoustic. The vinyl edition is particularly ambitious: two 180-gram LPs cut at 45 rpm using Direct Metal Mastering, while the programme has also appeared on SACD. The concept is straightforward. These recordings were selected to demonstrate the speed, detail and dynamic behaviour associated with Avantgarde Acoustic’s horn loudspeakers. That background immediately explains some of the choices, but I prefer to forget the marketing once the music starts and simply judge whether the selection makes sense as an album.

From Brazilian Funk to an Intimate Voice

Raul de Souza’s Sweet Lucy is a very good opener because it gives you something substantial to listen to before you start thinking about soundstage or imaging. The Brazilian trombonist recorded the original Sweet Lucy album for Capitol in 1977, with George Duke producing and composing the title track. There is warmth and funk in the rhythm, but de Souza’s trombone is what gives the recording its personality. I like the way the instrument has real body rather than becoming a bright brass effect floating between the speakers. The rhythm section keeps moving underneath it, and on a transparent system you can follow the separate parts without losing the relaxed character of the performance.

Rebekka Bakken’s Der Schnee Draussen Schmilzt takes the compilation somewhere completely different. Her version appeared on Most Personal in 2016 and is a cover of Ludwig Hirsch’s song. Bakken produced the recording herself, with Eivind Aarset on guitar, Svante Henryson on bass and Rune Arnesen on drums. What interests me here is the relationship between her voice and the musicians around her. Her vocal is close and clearly defined, while the accompaniment remains restrained enough to leave air around every phrase. This is exactly the sort of recording where midrange transparency matters, because too much emphasis makes the voice sound impressive but unnatural. Get it right and the track feels personal rather than technically spectacular.

That contrast between de Souza and Bakken also shows what I like about Avantgarde Acoustic Selection Vol. 1. It does not rely on endless female vocals, double bass and softly brushed cymbals, which can make some audiophile compilations rather predictable. There is certainly plenty of refinement here, but there is also rhythm, instrumental colour and music with its own identity. Sophie Zelmani’s Going Home, Wim Mertens’ Humility, Katja Werker’s The Boxer and Chlara’s Stay With Me continue that variation without making the programme feel random. I may not find every track equally memorable, but the sequencing keeps changing the listening perspective.

Shakti Brings the Energy

For me, one of the strongest selections is La Danse Du Bonheur by Shakti with John McLaughlin. The piece comes from A Handful of Beauty, recorded in 1976 and released in the late 1970s, with John McLaughlin and L. Shankar credited as composers. The classic Shakti line-up brings together McLaughlin’s acoustic guitar, Shankar’s violin, Zakir Hussain’s tabla and Vikku Vinayakram’s percussion. This is not music that needs audiophile tricks to become exciting. The interaction between the musicians is already fast, complex and full of movement.

What a good system adds is clarity when everything becomes busy. I can hear the attack of the guitar, the sharp changes in the violin and the different textures of the percussion without the performance turning into one hard mass of sound. Timing becomes especially important here. A system can produce plenty of detail and still make this track feel slow or confused, while good speakers or headphones let the rhythmic conversation remain easy to follow. This makes La Danse Du Bonheur far more useful to me as reference music than a recording designed simply to produce a huge soundstage.

It is also the track that exposes one limitation of compilations like this. Moving from intimate vocals to energetic acoustic fusion and then to another completely different recording can sometimes feel more like a demonstration session than a naturally flowing album. I do notice that here. At the same time, I would rather have genuine musical variety than a perfectly smooth sequence of tracks selected because they all share the same polished production style. The individual performances are good enough to justify the jumps.