Download 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?
Advantages of
Recordings

perfection


but inauthentic?
permanence

but lifeless?
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
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

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!
Recording Methods

1877 Thomas
Edison: Tinfoil
Phonograph
(Cylinder)
Recording Methods

1887 Emil(e)
Berliner:
Grammophon
(Disc)

"Grammy"
awards of the
US Recording
Academy
Recording Methods: History

1888 Acoustic (with recording horn)




1904 Mechanical: piano-roll, ex. Welte-Mignon
1925 Electrical (with microphone and amplifier)







1888 tinfoil cylinder
1894 shellac disc
upper frequency from 3 kHz to 5 kHz
realistic balance for larger ensemble
1936
1948
1955
1963
1981
Magnetic tape for masters (length unlimited)
mono vinyl LP (long-playing disc)
stereo vinyl LP
compact cassette
digital CD
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
Instruments and Technique

Instruments

“authetic”/period instruments

ex. wooden flute, narrow-bore trombone, gutstringed violin

ex. Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A, K622, II. Adagio
modern (Karl Leister
)
basset clarinet (Antony Pay
)
Instruments and Technique

Instruments

locality/regionality
ex. the Stokowski/Philadelphia Sound
 the Wiener Klang


Technique


ornament
cadenza
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]
Case Study 1: Tempo and Timing

tempo changes in ca. 70 years
Flonzaley 1927
Busch 1934
Case Study 1: Tempo and Timing
Case Study 1: Tempo and Timing

Flonzaleys (1927) vs. Lindsays (1987)

both hold before subito piano in bars 7, 8
Case Study 1: Tempo and Timing

“change of gear” in bar 7–9: Flonzaleys (1927)
more explicitly than Lindsays (1987)
Case Study 1: Example

Beethoven’s 5th,
transition from III–IV


score
recordings
Furtwängler1943
 Leibowitz1961


tempo maps
Case Study 1: Example

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 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
Case Study 2: Example 1
Enrico Caruso (1873-1921)
Case Study 2:
Example 2


Guttman
1928
Domingo
1980
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)
Software


TIMING.EXE
Sound analysis software

by Dr. Daniel Leech-Wilkinson, Department of
Music, King's College, London