Klarinet Archive - Posting 000198.txt from 1999/10

From: Audrey Travis <vsofan@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Vienna Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall
Date: Thu, 7 Oct 1999 23:55:09 -0400

Bill Hausmann wrote:

> At 08:58 PM 10/7/1999 EDT, LeliaLoban wrote:
> >Hear, hear. Strange listening experiences abound, and not just on TV. Case
> >in point: Telarc's recording (CD-80274) of the Saint-Saens Symphony No. 3 in
> >C Minor, Op. 78, with Michael Murray at the organ and Christian Badea
> >conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. I listened to this recording,
> >or I should say *these recordings*, for the first time without reading the
> >liner notes first. It seemed like an odd-sounding CD from the get-go.
> >Usually I visualize the musicians as I listen, but this time, I couldn't
> >picture them. They seemed sort of disembodied. Microphones here,
> >microphones there, microphones everywhere. Mix 'n' match. Then all of a
> >sudden an entire rank of organ pipes leaped across the room from the left
> >speaker into the right speaker. Whoa!
> >
> >I got out the liner notes. Behold a miracle of modern engineering: Telarc
> >recorded the orchestra in Walthamstow Town Hall in London on July 4-5, 1990
> >and Murray at the organ in the Philharmonic Center for the Arts in Naples,
> >Florida, on May 13, 1991. Saint-Saens karaoke! When somebody suggested
> this
> >misbegotten idea, why didn't Badea or Murray or somebody just say no? Are
> >they really so much at the mercy of their recording contracts?
> >
> This is odd, since the Telarc engineers are, by and large, of the
> minimalist miking persuasion. I even have a recording of the "Symphonie
> Fantastique" they did where the bell in the March to the Scaffold was
> recorded in a tower separate from the recording studio, but in real time!
>
> By the oddest coincidence, I did happen to catch the VSO concert in
> question and, while the sound did not particularly offend me, the
> concentration on Maazel did, and the feeling I got watching him that
> reminded me of watching a movie with the sound synchronization a bit off.
> I'm glad I didn't have to follow him!

Bill - I did catch the program in question, and, living in Vancouver, and
attending practically every concert of the VSO (Vancouver Symphony Orchestra)
mentioned in your posting I'm pretty sure that wasn't my teacher,Wes Foster
playing principal clarinet - come to think of it, I didn't recognize anone else
on stage either....

VSO Cheers!

Audrey Travis

>
>
> Bill Hausmann bhausman@-----.com
> 451 Old Orchard Drive http://www.concentric.net/~bhausman
> Essexville, MI 48732 http://members.wbs.net/homepages/z/o/o/zoot14.html
> ICQ UIN 4862265
>
> If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.
>
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