Category: Kultur

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Braun Atelier – Hi-Fi from the 80s

I haven’t submitted a minimalist report for September yet, but one purchase from September is shown above: various components of a Braun Atelier system. The background is that sometimes I like to listen to something in peace on my headphones, but that’s not possible when a movie is being watched, since the same amplifier is used for both. However, I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a new system, especially since today’s devices can do everything except what I actually need. For example, our NAD c700 is really great, but it doesn’t have a headphone output. Yes, you could connect AirPods to it, but as I mentioned above, if a movie is being watched, that doesn’t help me. So, I started searching for something used.

The Braun Atelier system caught my eye because it is also a classic. I don’t know how much influence Dieter Rams had on the design of this system, but it looks very much like it’s from the 80s and not as timeless as much of his other work. However, the system fits perfectly on a Vitsoe 606 wood shelf with the 36 cm depth. In the 80s, you only saw this system in movies, among the wealthy. The parents of my friends didn’t have such a system. It was available in black and a light grey that was very unusual for stereo systems at the time. What was special about it was that you didn’t see any cables because they were covered at the back with flaps. The stand and the cable sleeve in the photo below also show the simplicity that this design concept was meant to convey.

Another well-thought-out detail is that the functions you use frequently are immediately accessible, while special features, such as Dolby on the cassette deck, are hidden.

The search for a used system proved to be difficult. Many sellers are aware that their parents spent a fortune on the system, so they often try to get four-digit sums for it. That doesn’t work, at least not with me.

So, I started small with the receiver R1, the cassette deck C2 (both shown in the photo above), and a turntable P2 (not in the photo). The Braun P2 is a semi-automatic turntable without a quartz drive and is considered an entry-level model between the P1 and P3. To give you an idea of what these components cost back then:

  • R1: 1,250 DM (1981, today around 1,430 euros)
  • C2: 1,300 DM (1982, today around 1,400 euros)
  • P2: 800 DM (1982, today around 860 euros)

With the system, I received some speakers, unfortunately not original Braun, but very good CANTON GLE60, which were badly scratched. The potentiometers (volume controls) on the system were scratchy. A back cover was missing. However, the sound is great, except for a hum when idle. The system had been completely overhauled. The components, by the way, are incredibly heavy; I could barely carry them alone. And the thing you see at the top of the photo, I would never have been able to lift it.

Shortly after, I was offered the P4 turntable, a fully automatic model with some fun features, such as the ability to move the needle without lifting the lid. The turntable was sold from 1984 to 1990 and cost up to 1,550 DM, today around 1,400 euros. I sold the P2 within two days.

Then there was also a cheap CD4, originally priced over 2,000 DM in 1986, which I bought used. The CD player is still top-tier today. By the way, both the P4 and the CD4 now show that the power button is no longer green but black with a green ring.

My system, as seen in the photo above, would have cost nearly 6,000 euros today, accounting for inflation, etc. Crazy, right? I paid 780 euros, after buying and selling components. It’s a lot of money for an old system, but in terms of sound, it holds its own against the NAD c700. It can’t stream, but it’s ready to go as soon as you turn it on (unlike the NAD, which I never keep on standby). By the way, it’s also still hard to find old manuals. They aren’t available for download and are instead offered at high prices on eBay or as copies.

At the moment, I’m still looking for a Braun A2 amplifier to replace the R1. The R1 doesn’t have a CD input, and the A2 comes in two versions: one with two phono options on the front, and one with both a phono and a CD option. I’m specifically looking for that version.

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Why do we buy books? A plea for public libraries.

 

Please don’t get me wrong. I love books. I love reading books. I’ve read thousands of books, and that’s no exaggeration. The question isn’t why we read books, but why we buy them. Admittedly, this is a strange question coming from an author who also makes some money from it, albeit not much.

Over ten years ago, I read an article that said the number of books in your house correlates with the intelligence of children. Back then, we had about 1,000 books in the house. And we bought even more books. Every book that I found interesting, I bought, because the theory went that if I buy the book, I’ll read it and learn from it. Unfortunately, I’m interested in a lot of topics. So, I ended up buying many books that ended up sitting unread on the shelf. You don’t learn just by owning a book. And while one could argue that at least visitors might be impressed by the sheer number of books in our library, that’s probably the least important reason to buy books. Even though there seems to be a connection between books and children’s intelligence, just having books isn’t enough.

What’s worse, all those unread books gave me a bad conscience every time I saw them. “Oh yes, I wanted to read that. I should get to it as soon as possible, but right now I don’t have the time.” These unread books became a testament to my impulse purchases. I saw them as a burden. All those reminders of what I should be doing or should have already done surrounded me. On the surface, I might have been proud when a visitor marveled at the number of books I owned, but in reality, I felt guilty because I was only pretending to be a reader. The things you own end up owning you—that saying from Fight Club applies here too.

On the other hand, isn’t having your own library, however small it may be, also a place of discovery? A place where you find a book you bought some time ago because it interested you, and now it might inspire you? Isn’t it even perfectly fine to have a library full of books that you haven’t read yet?

But all those books were money. Some of those books became worthless just a few years after I bought them; I couldn’t get a penny for them on the used book market. They were relevant when I bought them, but they weren’t anymore—for example, books about certain technologies or books by politicians, etc. When I bought most of these books, I had much less money than I do now. It hurt my bank account. I could have considered these book purchases as an investment in my future. But most of them didn’t pay off (though some books did).

Today, with digital books, it’s even worse. Perhaps we don’t see the unread books every day, as they sit somewhere on our hard drive. But every now and then, we remember them.

When I was a child and a teenager, I had a different relationship with books. We didn’t have the money to buy many books. But I had a library card. And I spent a large part of my time in the library. There, you could find books, records, tapes, sheet music, and videos. I’m not sure when or why I lost that connection to the library. Recently, I rediscovered the public library:

  • We need to return to conscious decision-making. Not every wish, not every book we see, needs to arrive in the mailbox the next day.
  • In Hamburg, I pay €40 a year for a library card, and I can borrow as many books as I want (maybe not all at once, but are you really able to read 10 books in 4 weeks?). You can’t find everything you want in a library, but at least I can find at least 95% of the books I want to read. You can also request that a book be acquired. But you have to be patient. Someone else may have borrowed the book you want to read. But why should a book be so urgent that you need it immediately?
  • Our library also offers digital books and magazines, at no extra cost. It’s very convenient, and sometimes you can even start reading something right away.
  • If you have children: In the past, we bought many books for our kids (books can’t be bad, can they?). Some books you might still want to buy because they are read frequently over several years (like The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which is still a favorite even after reading it 100 times). But many other books are not that important. For the kids, I pay €3 a year, and I could probably even just use my own card for them. But I wanted them to experience the library themselves with their own card. The first time we went to the library, it was like paradise for them. We spent hours there. And we still do.
  • Which of the books you’ve read would you buy again? Which books hold important memories for you?

In the end, it’s about conscious decisions. We can buy anything we want, and it will be delivered the next day, with Amazon Kindle or PDFs even the same moment. Everything is just a click away. But books can also create clutter if bought without a real need. The need could, of course, be to have a place where you can rediscover old purchases. A public library, however, helps you slow down and spend less money. And if you fall in love with a book and want to read it again and again, you can always buy it.

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Dieter Rams, Vitsoe, the 606 shelving system, and SDR+

Ten years ago, I bought a 606 shelving system, the legendary shelf designed by Dieter Rams in 1960. By the way, the name comes from the fact that the first two digits of a Rams furniture piece indicate the year it was created. Since purchasing the shelf and learning more about Rams’ work, I’ve become a big fan, especially because I admire his motto “Less, but better” and his early focus on sustainability (as early as the 1970s, he was considering the impact of our consumption). His 10 principles for good design (also available in book form) are still relevant today. No wonder Apple often “quoted” Dieter Rams, whether with the iPod, iMac, or other products.

But back to the 606. Since the shelf has been produced for over 60 years, with minor adjustments over time, it can always be expanded, parts swapped, or added. The design is timeless, functional, and can be configured depending on one’s living situation. And I’ve done this over the years. Similar to USM furniture, which has been around for decades, the value of the 606 increases over time. The only difference is that, with USM furniture in the apartment, I might feel like I’m living in a law office! 🙂

However, the story about expandability is only half the truth. In 1995, the company SDR+ (System Dieter Rams, with the “Plus” representing expansion) obtained the license to distribute Rams’ shelving systems in Europe, but had to transfer this license to Vitsoe at the turn of 2012/2013. Why the license for Rams’ furniture was given to SDR+ in the first place is unclear. The reason for granting the exclusive license to Vitsoe was that Rams apparently wasn’t happy with the color choices of some of the SDR+ shelves. His original shelving system, which had always been in “light grey,” was now also available in “pure white” and other colors. In 2001, light grey was replaced by grey-white (RAL 9002), which Rams believed didn’t clash with other colors and was therefore more neutral than pure white. Allegedly, even the Table 621 was made in grey-white, but as can be seen in the following photo, it doesn’t necessarily look the same.

(By the way, it’s better to pack the metal shelf at the bottom and the wooden shelf at the top, unlike in the photo.) However, if you place the table exactly next to the 606 shelving unit, it is actually the same color. It seems that the material reflects the light differently. The shelves also seem to have been light grey in the past, as can be seen in the following photo.

The suspension system is also slightly different, which can be quite annoying with older shelves. If there’s a screw in the E-profile, I can’t hang the old shelves there.

The new shelves:

On our wall, there’s an SDR+. Not the one from the photo above. In photos, the difference is hardly noticeable anyway, as seen, for example, with an SDR+ 606, a Vitsoe 606, and the 621 table:

With a bit less light, the difference becomes more noticeable:

And if you search for the 606 on eBay or elsewhere, you should be very cautious, because most sellers don’t know exactly what they have—whether it’s Vitsoe or SDR+, white or light grey. The SDR+ version is no longer available for purchase new, though with a bit of luck, you might still find something online, but it’s rare. How do I know this? One of my sons climbed onto a metal shelf of the 606, and unfortunately, it was just too much, so the E-profile that holds the shelves broke and was torn off the wall. This doesn’t mean that the 606 is unsafe. But if you have a 90 cm shelf with some heavy art books, and then a child weighing more than 10 kilos climbs onto it, this can sometimes happen:

Fortunately, the little vandal didn’t get hurt. The E-profile can easily be replaced, but the bent shelf… well, that’s no longer available. You either buy a light grey shelf from Vitsoe and have it repainted, which costs a fortune, or you have to find one elsewhere. As mentioned, this is not so easy. And so, those who bought a Rams shelving system between the 1990s and early 2010s weren’t exactly pursuing the most sustainable route. Bookends from Vitsoe? Unfortunately, they don’t fit the SDR+ shelves.

Would I buy a 606 again? Yes. Because, at the end of the day, you end up spending more money when you buy something cheap than if you just go for something good, even if it’s more expensive. And the flexibility that you get with this shelf is unmatched. Plus, once you’ve bought something from Vitsoe, you’ll find it hard to find such great service anywhere else. Everything is well thought-out, everyone is incredibly friendly, and even for assembly, everything is included—right down to the correct drill bits.

Currently available from Rams’ furniture at Vitsoe, besides the 606, are the 620 armchair and the 621 table, both from 1962. However, this is not the case for other pieces, such as:

  • The 57/570 desk
  • The 601 chair
  • The 610 coat rack
  • The 680 reclining program
  • The 690 sliding door system
  • The 710 storage system
  • The 010 nesting table program
  • The 030 coat rack from 2003.

Until recently, the office of Dieter Rams, which he had as a professor at the Hochschule für bildende Künste in Hamburg, was displayed at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg. There were stools on display for which I don’t know the number. Many of his design objects were also showcased, though this section has been significantly reduced, making a visit no longer worthwhile.

For those wanting to learn more about Dieter Rams: I helped fund Gary Hustwitt’s film about Rams on Kickstarter. Unfortunately, I was too stingy to pay for a package that would have included a mention in the credits. However, I did manage to shake hands with the director, Hustwit, at a screening at the Savoy Cinema in Hamburg. He hadn’t originally planned a showing there, but someone pushed so hard for it that a screening was arranged in Hamburg as well.

Otherwise, there are several books about Rams and his work, such as the Werkverzeichnis (Catalogue Raisonné), “So wenig Design wie möglich” (As Little Design as Possible), “Weniger, aber besser” (Less, but Better), and “Less and More: The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams.”

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Andrea Mastroni

The Berlin Philharmonic’s series on the Golden 20s began with a symphony by Weill and Oedipus Rex by Stravinsky. And here, the bass Andrea Mastroni was seen and heard. In fact, I had already seen him live in Hamburg, in the new production of The Magic Flute, which I didn’t really like.

The bass actually studied clarinet and seems to have a fondness for Gothic-like aesthetics.

His album Melancholia is highly recommended, from which the following piece also comes:

 

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Live Aid 1985: The Fifth Man of Queen

I have definitely seen this clip from Live Aid on July 13, 1985 more than 100 times. And not once did I notice that the fifth man of Queen was visible in it from time to time.
  Queen and 5th man? His name is Spike Edney, and he’s still on tour with the rest of Queen today. Supposedly, he had even become aware of Adam Lambert and had given Roger Taylor the decisive tip. Of course, I had already wondered in 1985 who plays the synthesizer on Radio Gaga and operates the vocoder. Someone backstage. But if you look closely, you can see Spike Edney performing several times: In all those years, I had never noticed Spike Edney, I always thought he was just a stage mixer, and the instruments in front of him might have been from the previous act or the next. But the film crew had also done everything to get him on the screen as little as possible. After all, he was only there to complement the sound. A few months earlier, at Live in Rio, he was more prominently involved:
  Only later on in other recordings does it become clear that he also sang background, which explains why it always sounded like more than “just” Mercury and Taylor and sometimes May. Today Spike Edney is partly on stage as normal, for example here at ’39 in the background with the mini keyboard:
  That doesn’t mean that you actually have to see him as the 5th member, because there weren’t that many tours after Live Aid, and only there he was there. However, he was a permanent member of Roger Taylor’s solo project “The Cross”. Queen’s Live Aid performance is considered one of the best of the festival and of Queen himself. It feels like after all these years, you can suddenly see a ghost that was always there and had helped Queen create the sound they couldn’t have had without it. A strange feeling.
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Cold Song – Purcell/King Arthur – 6 versions

The Cold Song is actually called What Power art thou and is an aria from the 3rd act of the opera King Arthur by Henry Purcell. The first time I noticed the aria by Klaus Nomi, who recorded it live shortly before his death:

Actually, the aria is sung a few octaves lower, for example like this:

There is also a beautiful recording with German lyrics by Nanette Scriba, although this recording is somewhat distorted:

A somewhat more recent recording comes from Germany from the Berlin State Opera, played very slowly:

An interpretation with a child’s voice:

And finally, a somewhat freer interpretation with a steampunk character:

Encore (I don’t think this version is so beautiful, but it’s just an idiosyncratic interpretation of the singer):

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Neither black nor white – Or what The Magic Flute is still able to say today

First of all: I was a great admirer of Achim Freyer’s production of The Magic Flute at the Hamburg State Opera, which received not only applause but also boos at its premiere in 1982. This production still felt modern after more than 30 years due to its playfulness, and I must have seen it a dozen times. I always found the interpretation that Tamino could have dreamed everything and therefore could observe himself at the end idiosyncratic, but Freyer’s pictures were simply beautiful.

The Magic Flute may have a special meaning for the Hamburg State Opera, after all, it was the first piece to be performed in 1955 after the reconstruction of the opera house. There is also a DVD with a performance staged by Peter Ustinov in Hamburg in the 60s, which probably formed the bridge between the reopening and the Freyer production.

And the Magic Flute also has a special meaning for me. Every time I deal with it, I discover something new in it. And as soon as I have the opportunity to see a production, I try to do everything I can to make this possibility a reality. I have already seen a number of productions, from a very classical one at the Semper Opera to a wonderful production by the HfMT to a John Dew production in Bielefeld, where he transformed Sarastro’s temple into a computer laboratory.

34 years later, Jette Steckel’s new production also received boos like the Freyer production. Probably every new production would have led to boos, because after all, one had grown fond of the old production, it was a constant companion through many years. So Jette Steckel didn’t have it easy. And it took me two years to venture into the new production. The light installations are fascinating and at first put me in a more than conciliatory mood, but right at the beginning I found the shortened libretto disturbing. No wonder that the State Opera wanted to be finished in three hours (in the end it was even a quarter of an hour less), and that despite the intermission. Some of the text has been shortened, and if I remember correctly, then also the first aria (“Zu Hilfe”).

No black or white, no clear good or evil

And so the music and the visual staging are in the foreground, because not much remains of the text. Instead, a little new text was added, which suited the pandering to the young audience. Of course, a production can be attractive for new opera-goers. Or maybe you rely too much on the fact that the content has been discussed extensively at school beforehand.

Because the fascinating thing about The Magic Flute, besides the music, of course, the change from good to evil and vice versa, did not come out that way. While at first the Queen of the Night stands there as the poor mother deprived of her child, Sarastro later turns out to be the good protagonist, although not quite, because not everything is good with him either (“I don’t want to force you to love, but I won’t give you freedom”). In the introduction to yesterday’s performance, the gentleman, who did not introduce himself, also gave the example of the violence he had carried out on Monostatos. And he also referred to this ambiguous polarization.

In Kenneth Branagh’s film, which is also phenomenal, the interpretation even goes so far that Sarastro had an affair with the Queen of the Night, but left her. He wants to save her in the end, but doesn’t succeed.

Life is not black or white, and some things are different from what you first suspect. But no matter what it is, you have to work on yourself to become a better person. This is how I would formulate the core message of The Magic Flute in two sentences, and we see this in all the characters of The Magic Flute. If you look at the simplification of some of today’s political problem-solving approaches, it becomes clear how relevant The Magic Flute can still be today. It’s not simple, it’s complex. And no simple answers will help. It is precisely this relevance to the present day that Jette Steckel has failed to show.

It is obvious that the message to work on oneself comes from the ideas of the Freemasons, because both Mozart and Schikaneder, who provided the libretto, were Freemasons. It is an irony of history that if you look out of the foyer of the State Opera to the street, you can see the entrance to one of the more than 40 Masonic lodges in Hamburg at a certain angle. But there was not much left of all this in this production.

Life paths and directions

Instead, the red glowing arrows that the protagonists dragged around with them were the predominant motif. Paths you take, some are wrong, some are right. And the life paths of Pamina and Tamino, who only meet again at the end and seem to stay together, are a great idea if you understand life as a series of trials and a labyrinth of wrong and right decisions. And yet, if we remember the basic motive, can something be completely wrong or right? Papageno, who did not pass the exams, took a “wrong” path, but met his dream woman, which was probably enough for him. The arrows are therefore a really good idea, which add another facet to the interpretation. Unfortunately, something else essential was taken away from her.

By the way, I think I have discovered a quote from the “old” production of The Magic Flute, namely the hand that guides and embraces Pamina (see photo), only this time it is formed from light. If it is indeed a quote, it is a beautiful idea.

The new performance will not be my new favorite performance. And that’s just because of the shortening of the text. Shorten and adjust a bit, of course, the Schikaneder text is not really up-to-date.

It is a pity that content has been removed so radically and, in my opinion, unnecessarily. The play with light is fascinating, there are many really great ideas in this production. But as in The Magic Flute itself: no clear “good” or “bad”.

By the way, apparently no more soloists are flown in from the Tölz Boys’ Choir. The boys yesterday came from a Dortmund choir; unfortunately, the first boy was much too loud, so that the other two boys went under. But I’ve always wondered if there aren’t any children in Hamburg who can take on this part. On the DVD of the Ustinov production, soloists from a Hamburg choir sang. Which is certainly better for the kids and for the environment when local soloists come on stage.