[net.audio] Bernstein's new "West Side Story"

greg@olivee.UUCP (Greg Paley) (06/20/85)

Recently, PBS showed a documentary which highlighted the recording
sessions of the new "West Side Story" recording conducted by
Leonard Bernstein.  I was interested to be able to see, in addition
to the musical execution, such things as the mike setup and hear
the control room chit-chat.

I came away more convinced than ever that lengthy discussions of
DAC design and even digital vs. analogue are focused on points that
are relatively trivial and subtle compared to what is happening at
the scene of the master recording as determined by the recording
producer.

It seems to be generally accepted that digital recording can exaggerate
the effects of excessively close miking, but this flaw is generally
viewed as having been prevalent only in the experimental days of
"early digital".  Yet here we have a digital recording made last year
for which each section of the orchestra is covered by a number of mikes and
at a close range that any sense of blend and unity (not to mention
hall ambience) is precluded.  Even more difficult for me to understand
was the use of separate mikes, each no more than a foot away from the
singer, for soloists of the likes of Te Kanawa and Carreras who are
trained to project over large orchestras in the world's largest opera
houses.

As the show proceeds, one reason for this becomes apparent.  At one
point, Bernstein can't hear the lower voices and the trombones.  Since
they have been miked for maximum isolation, the technicians in the control
room can "take care of it" by raising the level of that individual line
rather than having them play it again.  I think that here is ultimately
the crux of the matter of why a 1956 Reiner or Dorati recording sounds
so much better than a number of CD's produced in the last year.  In
those days, with only two or three mikes, you could not separate the
strands of the music out for ex post facto rebalancing.  Therefore, if
you needed more trombone, the trombones had to play louder (or someone
else play more softly).  Clearly, this takes more time, skill in mike
placement, and musical perception that will allow quick evaluations and
on-the-spot corrections.

It was interesting that this recording was being made by DGG and that
they used Andrew Kazdin as a producer.  Is it mere coincidence that
it has been years since DGG produced a recording that had any sense of
space or ambience, and that Kazdin has been responsible for a number
of CBS multi-mike monstrosities?

As to the musical execution, the only one of the operatic "stars" 
used that I found really satisfactory was Troyanos as Anita.  She
was the only one who seemed to be able to master the style and accent
required.  Te Kanawa's voice is lovely as abstract sound, but that
sound which seems so fresh and clear in opera and concert sounds stiff
and matronly as Bernstein's Maria.  Part of the problem, I believe,
is that she is primarily a singer of sounds rather than words, by
which I mean that she concentrates on producing tones of a certain 
quality and roundness to the degree that she seems unable to give 
her articulation of the text the crispness and vitality it needs.
The casting of Carreras as Tony was a bad mistake, and one that should
have been predictable.  The "Romeo and Juliet" concept of the story
dictates that Tony should definitely NOT have a foreign accent, so
that he will contrast with Maria's Puerto Rican accent.  Carreras
tried but failed to suppress his distinct Spanish accent.  In addition,
he's been pushing what was once a beautifully soft-textured lyric tenor
more and more to the dark and dramatic side, so that his voice has
lost the clarity and youthful quality Tony should have and has, in
addition, caused the break between his middle and upper register to
become exaggerated so that lines that should rise smoothly cross over
the break with an audible lurch.

I think a CD issue of the original 1957 broadway cast recording, tape
hiss or no, would be a better bet.

	- Greg Paley

greg@olivee.UUCP (Greg Paley) (06/20/85)

A side note on the "West Side Story" recording.  It's an ironic change
of heart on Bernstein's part to use some of the top operatic names in
the world today for the principals.  When he was casting for the broadway
premiere, he rejected Connie Francis because her voice sounded "too
trained".

	- Greg Paley

brian@ut-sally.UUCP (Brian H. Powell) (06/21/85)

> As to the musical execution, the only one of the operatic "stars" 
> used that I found really satisfactory was Troyanos as Anita.  She
> was the only one who seemed to be able to master the style and accent
> required.
     I also really liked the Bernstein kids for the dialog parts.  I also
thought Ullman was good.  In general, the supporting parts (the rest of
the Jets and Sharks, and the "girls" were up to par.

>Te Kanawa's voice is lovely as abstract sound, but that
> sound which seems so fresh and clear in opera and concert sounds stiff
> and matronly as Bernstein's Maria.  Part of the problem, I believe,
> is that she is primarily a singer of sounds rather than words, by
> which I mean that she concentrates on producing tones of a certain 
> quality and roundness to the degree that she seems unable to give 
> her articulation of the text the crispness and vitality it needs.
     Agreed.  She's great for lieder, et al, but not for a Puerto Rican
girl.  Boy what a contrast when Maria spoke dialog (with a nice accent) and
then the music started and Kiri kicked in with her definitely-not-Puerto-Rican
accent.

> The casting of Carreras as Tony was a bad mistake, and one that should
> have been predictable.  The "Romeo and Juliet" concept of the story
> dictates that Tony should definitely NOT have a foreign accent, so
> that he will contrast with Maria's Puerto Rican accent.  Carreras
> tried but failed to suppress his distinct Spanish accent.  In addition,
> he's been pushing what was once a beautifully soft-textured lyric tenor
> more and more to the dark and dramatic side, so that his voice has
> lost the clarity and youthful quality Tony should have and has, in
> addition, caused the break between his middle and upper register to
> become exaggerated so that lines that should rise smoothly cross over
> the break with an audible lurch.
     Bingo.  Who picked him?  This destroyed the recording for me.  The other
stuff I can accept.  Even Kiri as Maria.  Did you see the trouble he had
with "Something's Coming"?  The parts with Ullman (gee I hope I am spelling
his name right, he deserves credit) and Carreras really stick out from
C's point of view.  I think using opera stars might have been a mistake.
There were parts where they sounded good, but I'd trade those "power" moments
for a good accent and a Broadway feel.

> 
> 	- Greg Paley


Brian H. Powell      brian@ut-sally.{ARPA,UUCP}

sjc@angband.UUCP (Steve Correll) (06/24/85)

> It was interesting that this recording was being made by DGG and that
> they used Andrew Kazdin as a producer.  Is it mere coincidence that
> it has been years since DGG produced a recording that had any sense of
> space or ambience, and that Kazdin has been responsible for a number
> of CBS multi-mike monstrosities?

Readers in the NYC, DC, or San Francisco areas might be interested in
picking up a recent issue of the "Pulse" tabloid available for free at
Tower Records.  The cover sports a headline about "Restoring 20 year
old analog recordings for CDs", and inside is an interesting article
claiming that the record companies are hiring their old producers back
as consultants to perform miracles in remixing classic recordings for
CD reissue. It quotes Kazdin and other producers who used to work for
CBS; one of them (Kazdin?) claims that the problem with the old
Bernstein recordings is that Lenny used to demand "punch" and
"presence" when he listened to playbacks in the control room. He also
claims to have recanted his former preference for multi-miking, and
says he thinks that the DG engineers have convinced Bernstein to settle
for a more natural sound.

I was amused, because I don't like the sound of the Bernstein/DG live
recordings any better than I liked the sound of the Bernstein/Columbia
studio recordings.
-- 
                                                           --Steve Correll
sjc@s1-b.ARPA, ...!decvax!decwrl!mordor!sjc, or ...!ucbvax!dual!mordor!sjc

ed@mtxinu.UUCP (Ed Gould) (06/25/85)

In article <396@olivee.UUCP> greg@olivee.UUCP (Greg Paley) writes:
>A side note on the "West Side Story" recording.  It's an ironic change
>of heart on Bernstein's part to use some of the top operatic names in
>the world today for the principals.  When he was casting for the broadway
>premiere, he rejected Connie Francis because her voice sounded "too
>trained".

There was a very interesting show about the recording of _West_Side_Story_
by Bernstein broadcast recently on PBS (with simulcast sound on FM).  One
of the comments they made was that the point of this particular recording
was not to capture the dramatic side of the music so much as the musical
side.  One of Bernstein's comments on the show was that it was good
to hear Riff's parts sung by a singer - on stage the part was usually
played, as he put it, "by a dancer who could sing a little".

Unfortunately, as good as Jose Carreras' voice is, I still lose too much
of Tony's character to his accent.  It just doesn't have the right impact.

I also wasn't too thrilled about the quality of the disk.  There seemed
to be an inordinate amount of tape hiss, even though the cover claimed
that the master was recorded digitally.  The music, though, is wonderful.
(I'm also not too fond of the way it was mixed - but then I never am
happy with recordings of orchestras made with more than 3 microphones.
The instruments always seem to be placed somewhat randomly about the
sound stage.)

-- 
Ed Gould		    mt Xinu, 2910 Seventh St., Berkeley, CA  94710  USA
{ucbvax,decvax}!mtxinu!ed   +1 415 644 0146

"A man of quality is not threatened by a woman of equality."