David, Jean-Marie et les autres
There is another side to this question. Jacob Heringman speaks about
it on his interview with Ed Durbrow, and also on his home site.
He is often not happy with his recordings, he feels that he over
monitors his playing in the recording context (he is too careful not
to make mistakes
and he takes less risks), and he also misses the audience to which
can respond.
I saw that a year ago with Jordi Savall, the Gambist, playing Marin
Marais. During the whole concert he played well, during the
"bis" (encore), he played better,
during the "tris", he was completely relaxed and amazingly
spontaneous. I have never heard him play like it. He was clearly
dialoguing with the audience, who he suddenly felt deserved of his best.
You mention LPs, and that makes me think of some Casals and Co
recordings. In fact, they are probably 78s, and you can hear him
singing away like a sick cow,
and yet how marvellous some of those mono recordings are. I very much
doubt whether there were more than three takes, there, if that.
This is surely one of the reasons that some LPs are far and away
superior to CDs. Although the analog format does seem to have
something to do with it.
When CD first came out, I noticed that there was a sort of listener's
fatigue when you compared CD and LP, as though the brain was working
harder to reconstruct the sound picture.
On single instruments, or voices, I have also noticed this when
comparing stereo and mono recordings. We all know that stereo is
aimed at tricking the brain, but it seems there is some
unconscious brain-work involved in merging the two images, click into
mono and there is a definite drop of tension.
Now I think that adding an image to digital, may somehow make us less
conscious of that. We are being helped along by the picture, that
gives us back some of the presence that the digital recording does
seem to lack.
On this issue, Sergiu Celibidache would have certainly supported your
call for video. As you know he only believed in live performance. He
thought that a performance should never be repeated identically, and
it was bad luck if someone missed his concert. However, finally when
Video recording became a possibility, he did allow a few to be made
(Since his death some other pirate recordings have appeared).
My own feelings about this issue are ambiguous. Often at a concert
when I close my eyes, I seem to hear far better, and yet on one
occasion I had seats very high up in the Theatre des Champs-Élysées.
It was a performance of the Kuikens and Anner Bylsma. I was rather
disappointed, I could hardly hear anything.
Then I remembered, I had brought binoculars with me. When I used
them, I suddenly could hear better. I don't know whether it was
because the binoculars cut down my overall vision and my brain had
less to take in, or whether I was better able to associate the
movements with the sounds, and therefore became more capable of
deciphering the patterns.
Nevertheless, I listened to the rest of the performance through my
binoculars.
Oh well, i have not mentioned lute performances, but in many concert
halls for those, you had better take along binoculars and an ear-
trumpet. We have the good fortune here, in Paris of having
fortnightly performances of ancient music in the salon de musique of
Madame de Sevigne, at the Musée Carnavalet, and I also have a monthly
lute salon in a private flat once a month. Such ideal venues make
recordings seem extremely pale. However, performers do frequently
fluff their notes. At the private lute salon, I tell worried
performers that it is ownly polite to make a few errors "pour
encourager les autres".
However, these over edited recordings you have mentioned, while
seeming an advantage to a performer who fears that duff note will be
there for eternity, in fact, just raise the expectations of the
audience to an impossible level for the concert performer. While
saving yourself pain in the studio, you will just increase it in the
concert hall.
In short, I think that a recording without image and performer's
presence must be of the very best quality, as close to an exciting
live performance, and on the edge of the performers capability, warts
and all, Bon courage Jean-Marie.
The great advantage to performer-listeners of the video recording
(apart from the fact that it is difficult to cheat) is that we can
appreciate or criticize not only what we hear, but also what we see.
The stance of the performer, the position of his hands, whether we
esteem he is playing the correct instrument, just see all that fun
around the latest YouTube performance, or "Forqueray fiasco" for some.
Anthony
Le 17 mars 08 à 07:49, David Tayler a écrit :
Whole takes have edits :)
What would be fun is to release ALL the takes. That would be cool.
Having worked on a number of "live, unedited" recordings, I can say
that they are mostly not unedited.
Even taking whole phrases, or even pieces, is still some editing, but
these unspecified ones had plenty more edits.
It's too bad, because a small minority do release fine, minimally
edited work.
I hasten to mention that Tohoiko's is ubdoubtedly unedited, as he is
a serious artist, and certainly a scenario like taking the best of
the three takes is reasonable, the way LPs were done in the 60s.
I look forward to hearing the CD. The last time I heard Toyohiko,
which was many years ago,
it was good playing.
I think the compelling thing about Video right now is that for a
variety of reasons, which will be overcome in a few years, or sooner,
it is very difficult to edit video with a separate, hires soundtrack.
Nigel's video of the Dowland, which is superb, really looks like one
take. (with a some reverb, perhaps, but very tasteful)
If you look in the corner of the video you can see what looks like a
Sennheiser MKH 20, a very good lute mic.
Because video is the the only Really Real, for the next mote of time,
everyone should release their CDs on DVD, with video.
If a solo lutist wants to make a statement, that's the way.
I can guarantee you that that won't happen till the editing is worked
out :) Perhaps sooner rather than later.
Perhaps someone on this list!
It would be fun.
dt
At 06:19 PM 3/16/2008, you wrote:
This is fascinating, in that the topic of recordings is coming
up, in
particular with lack of editing. Toyohiko Satoh just released a
new CD,
music of Phillip Franz LeSage de Richee, on a period instrument,
in a..
plain gut, no edits, complete whole takes. It is refreshing, to
say the
least. I love it. It is a very real sound, and not the
"homogenized"
sound we are used to hearing.
ed
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