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The Recorded Sounds of Music

The Recorded Sounds of Music. L. K. Kam main reference: Peter Johnson, “The Legacy of Recordings,” in Musical Performance: A Guide to Understanding, ed. John Rink (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 197–212. The Legacy of Recordings. His Master’s Voice presence or absence?

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The Recorded Sounds of Music

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  1. The Recorded Sounds of Music L. K. Kam main reference: Peter Johnson, “The Legacy of Recordings,” in Musical Performance: A Guide to Understanding, ed. John Rink (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 197–212.

  2. The Legacy of Recordings • His Master’s Voice • presence or absence? • Advantages of Recordings • perfection • but inauthentic? • permanence • but lifeless?

  3. Voice and Persona • Whose Voice? • performer (foreground) • composer (middleground) • producer/engineer (background) • Performer’s Persona • same voice, different personae • different voices, same persona • musician vs. person

  4. Recordings as Evidence • Problems • quantity of recordings • condition of recordings • complexity of the art of performance • Methodology • depth instead of breadth • one music example with many recordings • one aspect at a time

  5. Recordings as Evidence • Methodology • what you want to see and where to look for • historical trends • geographical and genealogical styles • personal style • hermeneutics • the better the musician, the better research!

  6. Recording Methods • 1877 Thomas Edison: Tinfoil Phonograph (Cylinder)

  7. Recording Methods • 1887 Emil(e) Berliner: Grammophon (Disc) • "Grammy" awards of the US Recording Academy

  8. Recording Methods: History • 1888 Acoustic (with recording horn) • 1888 tinfoil cylinder • 1894 shellac disc • 1904 Mechanical: piano-roll, ex. Welte-Mignon • 1925 Electrical (with microphone and amplifier) • upper frequency from 3 kHz to 5 kHz • realistic balance for larger ensemble • 1936 Magnetic tape for masters (length unlimited) • 1948 mono vinyl LP (long-playing disc) • 1955 stereo vinyl LP • 1963 compact cassette • 1981 digital CD

  9. Recording Methods: Problems • early recordings: more distortion but less manipulation • no monitoring and editing for early ’78’ records • live vs. studio production • spontaneity vs. idealization • ex. Culshaw/Solti/VPO’s Ring • miss-/unnamed performers, ex.: • Schwarzkopf for Flagstad in Furtwängler’s Tristan • Casadesus for Ravel in Miroirs

  10. Instruments and Technique • Instruments • “authetic”/period instruments • ex. wooden flute, narrow-bore trombone, gut-stringed violin • ex. Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A, K622, II. Adagiomodern (Karl Leister )basset clarinet (Antony Pay )

  11. Instruments and Technique • Instruments • locality/regionality • ex. the Stokowski/Philadelphia Sound • the Wiener Klang • Technique • ornament • cadenza

  12. Case Study 1: Tempo and Timing • early recordings and tempo: shorter recording time, faster tempo? • e.g. operatic arias • abridged score rather than hurried performance • Francesco Tamagno’s Otello, 1903 • e.g. Beethoven, String Quartet in F, op. 135, iii (Lento assai, cantabile e tranquillo) • Busch Quartet (1934):  = 32, 3 sides • Flonzaley Quartet (1927):  = 58, 1.5 sides [rather half side empty than slowing down]

  13. Case Study 1: Tempo and Timing • tempo changes in ca. 70 years Flonzaley 1927 Busch 1934

  14. Case Study 1: Tempo and Timing

  15. Case Study 1: Tempo and Timing • Flonzaleys (1927) vs. Lindsays (1987) • both hold before subito piano in bars 7, 8

  16. Case Study 1: Tempo and Timing • “change of gear” in bar 7–9: Flonzaleys (1927) more explicitly than Lindsays (1987)

  17. Case Study 1: Example • Beethoven’s 5th,transition from III–IV • score • recordings • Furtwängler1943 • Leibowitz1961 • tempo maps

  18. Wilhelm Furtwängler (b. Berlin 1886; d. Baden-Baden 1954) Influenced by Schenker René Leibowitz (b. Warsaw 1913; d. Paris 1972) Influenced by Schoenberg, Webern… Case Study 1: Example

  19. Case Study 2: Vibrato • unaffected by recording technology • fast, continuous vibrato in early Italian singing (vs. today’s wide and slower one) • strings and winds followed in the 1920s, but resistance until 1950s

  20. Case Study 2: Example 1Enrico Caruso (1873-1921)

  21. Case Study 2: Example 2 • Guttman 1928 • Domingo 1980

  22. Interpretation of Recordings • to reveal the diversity of interpretations • to specify and support criticism • to discover changing aesthetics • Elgar’s two “authetic” recordings of his own Violin Concerto (soloists: 1916 Marie Hall, 1932 Yehudi Menuhin)

  23. Software • TIMING.EXE • Sound analysis software • by Dr. Daniel Leech-Wilkinson, Department of Music, King's College, London

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