Klarinet Archive - Posting 000060.txt from 2007/10

From: "Karl Krelove" <karlkrelove@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Re: the effect of technology
Date: Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:14:00 -0400

A perhaps very na=EFve question: To what extent were recordings during =
the
early era (before the appearance of LPs) simply considered audience
builders? Did the recording artists of the 1920s through the 1940s =
consider
their recordings to be a way to promote their live performances when =
they
would visit various venues on tour? I know that once LPs came out the
relationship was to some extent reversed - the tours were meant to =
promote
sales of the recordings. Were these "Readers' Digest" versions meant to =
be
just that? If you like this, come and hear the whole thing next Saturday
night at 8:30.=20

What were these recording artists who were recording truncated versions =
on
78s doing when they performed in a concert hall? I wouldn't think any of =
the
adaptations Keith mentions or the "Shepherd On the Rock" that Margaret =
cites
were carried into live performances. But what about the repeats? Could =
those
have fallen prey even earlier to a more formalized concert format that =
was
expected to fit into a two-hour period in the afternoon or evening? =
Might
those ladies in Philadelphia (and I'm sure other cities) whose reasons =
for
attending concerts were sometimes more social than musical and needed to =
get
back to the station for a 4:20 train back to the Main Line have had as =
much
to do with skipped repeats in Classical works as the time limits of 78s?

I wasn't there. Just wondering.

Karl

-----Original Message-----
From: Keith Bowen [mailto:bowenk@-----.com]=20
Sent: Sunday, October 07, 2007 6:01 PM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: RE: [kl] Re: the effect of technology

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.

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