Mark Wetch plays ragtime on a Kroeger piano whose hammers have been slightly hardened and whose tuning is deliberately very slightly “oft.” The effect Is thus some- thing like a genteel, or aristocratic, honky- tonk piano. The recording, as usual from this source, is first-rate.

The soundstage is not overly wide, but is realistic. The imaging is excellent-l can place every note and, as to the dimensionality, even this seemingly two-dimensional upright sounds three-dimensional.

If I have any reservation at all, it is that the proximity is a very close one; there Is little sense of the room ambience. However, the presence is excellent despite a lack of the last degree of sizzle from the leading edge of the transients. All In all, this is a beautifully recorded disc.