Le 3 févr. 09 à 11:52, Mark Wheeler a écrit :
Dear David,
Thanks for highlighting some of the problems involved with classical
recordings...
Here are some quotes from a Jacob Heringman interview (LSA
Quartely) about
recording a lute CD...
"I would play it safe - I wouldn't take risks musically -just to
get it over
with. It felt like being at a dentist! And I sometimes think about
the CD's
that they could have more risk-taking and spontaneity"
"Playfulness, which is something I think, is sometimes missing in the
recordings"
Live recordings, or recordings that are pseudo-live could be the
solution.
Jacob seems to think that self-monitoring can kill a performance,
while an audience can sometimes bring a player out fo himself and
beyond, to take worthwhile risks.
Those old Casals records with him singing happily like a "sick-cow"
come to mind,
superb recordings.
But then a less critical approach to listening may be called for.
Satoh, I think, does single takes, and allowances should be made for
that when judging his playing against the spontaneity that it might
give.
Anthony
David Tayler says that players are getting better, but at what?
Playing perfectly (at least as I expect most classical players
today would
judge) does not seem to have been a priority on recordings at the
start of
the last century. So either playing deteriorated immensely at the
end of the
19th century or they had a different idea of what playing was all
about in
previous centuries. I am not saying that they were sloppy, but they
were
maybe not so predictable.
Maybe romantic players were not so very different in many ways to
baroque
players, it is the rise of recording that has changed the way we
think about
performing. If David, has to change the way he plays continuo
because of the
recording situation then something is not right. We may be shocked
when
someone plays continuo from tablature, but it seems that would
probably be
best for recording sessions :(
This is the reason why we edited our new CD, during the recording
sessions,
so we could improvise and not find out later that edits are impossible
because of strange arpeggios etc...
In the end we probably did less editing, because we had the time
and freedom
to find the best take for the situation. If the edit didn't work we
just
recorded it again or took a break.
We even left in a few "mistakes" we had perfect takes, but in at
least one
place the wrong bass note on the bass lute just sounded so
fantastic we had
to leave it in :)
See if you can spot it during "Venus and Adonis" you can hear the
mp3 on our
MySpace page
www.myspace.com/pantagruelian
All the best
Mark
-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: David van Ooijen [mailto:[email protected]]
Gesendet: Dienstag, 3. Februar 2009 10:27
An: lute-cs.dartmouth.edu
Betreff: [LUTE] Re: French trill?
On Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 10:04 AM, David Tayler <[email protected]>
wrote:
I don't agree with Mr Haynes, but it doesn't matter, I use primary
sources.
Why use a secondary source?
To point us to the primary sources. ;-)
As for recording changing the way people play, that simply can't
be true,
I have become better, through recording. Concentration improved,
accuracy improved, reliability improved, control improved. But
improvisation is held in check during recording. Three takes of a
continuo song with my part differently three times, as I would do in
three concerts, is a bad idea. The producer will edit with an ear to
the singer, leaving ugly scars in my continuo lines. It happened, it
is still happening, it will happen again. I try to do single takes
these days. For my solo pieces that's ok, accepting the odd
imperfection in a flowing musical line and what to me is a more honest
approach to music making. But not all my colleagues agree, or dare to
trust themselves and their audiences, so in ensemble recordings
majority rules and editing is still the norm. But I see a change
around me. My latest CD, the Dowland to Purcell one with the singer,
is partly recorded for a live audience in concert, single takes! Way
to go.
On a side note, I am listening to Glenn Gould's recordings of the 2
and 3 part inventions of Bach at the moment. What a recording session
saga, nothing spontaneous about that! But beautiful, very beautiful.
As long as we have live concerts, there is a big reality check.
Indeed. But many people only listen to recordings, it's their world,
touchstone and musical reality. So recordings do change the perception
of the audience. Performers are judged against digital perfection,
however dead that perfection can be in ears that know how to
appreciate a live concert. They are two worlds. YouTube might bring
some of that live feeling back to people who would normally only
listen to recordings.
David - fan of YuoTube within one weekend
--
*******************************
David van Ooijen
[email protected]
www.davidvanooijen.nl
*******************************
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