Klarinet Archive - Posting 000055.txt from 2007/10

From: Fred Jacobowitz <fbjacobo@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: the effect of technology
Date: Sun, 07 Oct 2007 18:25:40 -0400

Kieth,
I seem to remember that someone once asked an older violinist (I think
one of the Schneider brothers of Budapest Quartet fame) and he said,
with a straight face, we NEVER took the repeats [in Mozart, etc.
minuets].

Fred Jacobowitz

Kol Haruach Klezmer Band
Ebony and Ivory Duo
On Oct 7, 2007, at 6:01 PM, Keith Bowen wrote:

> It was perfectly usual. A very well-documented case is that of Edward
> Elgar,
> one of the first major composers to take recording seriously. The first
> classical recordings were hacked mercilessly; for example, Elgar cut
> most of
> the introduction to his violin concerto completely out for the first
> recording by Marie Hall in 1916. Other distortions abound, for example
> a
> full orchestra was too large to fit in front of an acoustic horn so was
> greatly cut down, and sometimes a tuba was used instead of a double
> bass to
> make it heard. The "Kone Violin" (with an acoustic horn added to the
> soundboard) was invented to produce more sound. Singers were at times
> mounted on movable platforms, and physically pushed back and forth to
> be at
> the right distance from the horn. Things improved with the
> introduction of
> the microphone and electrical recording in 1925, as seen by the 16
> year old
> Menuhin's recording of the Elgar concerto in 1926.
>
> Early recordings are fascinating for the history of performance style.
> In
> the beginning of the twentieth century you hear string playing with
> much
> more portamento, much less vibrato and with much greater tempi
> fluctuations
> than now. These have been overturned by fashion, but there is no
> evidence
> that it is anything but fashion.
>
> I have not, however, seen before Dan's interesting suggestion that the
> modern fashion for cutting out repeats is a direct descendant of the
> cylinder and 78 rpm era. We do know that it happened sometime between
> the
> eighteenth century and the twentieth, but I don't know if anyone has
> researched (e.g. tutors, concert reviews) to see if this trend began
> before
> the recording era or in consequence of it.
>
> Keith Bowen
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: klarinet-return-91893-bowenk=compuserve.com@-----.org
> [mailto:klarinet-return-91893-bowenk=compuserve.com@-----.org] On
> Behalf
> Of Margaret Thornhill
> Sent: 07 October 2007 22:44
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: [kl] Re: the effect of technology
>
>
> Dan,
>
> If you think this is bad,check out the RDG Grenadilla CD of historical
> clarinet recordings for the Schubert "Shepherd on the Rock" with
> Prosper
> Mimart and soprano Isabel French. In order to fit on a 78 record, there
> are major cuts in the clarinet "introduction"-- which must have seemed
> dispensible to the producers.
> I'm sure this sort of thing was extremely common.
>
> Margaret Thornhill
>
>
>
>
>
>
> http://www.margaretthornhill.com
>
>
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