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."