What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? IV

[smittims]

Some lovely unfamiliar music from Slovenia on this morning's Through the Night, including two works by Uros Krek, whose music ought to be heard more here. His Sonatina for Strings is an old favourite of mine.

[Stanfordian]

Rolando Villazon & Ildar Abdrazakov – 'Duets'
Opera arias by Gounod, Bizet, Boito, Donizetti, Verdi, Agustín Lara & Florian Hermann
Rolando Villazon (tenor) & Ildar Abdrazakov (bass)
Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal / Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Recorded 2016, Paroisse Saint-Nom-de-Jesus, Montréal
Deutsche Grammophon, CD

Mozart
Piano Concerto No. 9 in E flat major, K271 'Jeunehomme'
Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K467
The Cleveland Orchestra / Mitsuko Uchida (piano / direction)
Recorded live, 2012 Severance Hall, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Decca Classics, CD

[frankbridge]

Quite a few EMI discs of this vintage, including quite a bit of the LCP catalogue (from memory also some releases from the Taverners?) have such a chunk of ‘ambience’ at the beginning. I’ve no idea why!

I too have a marvellous recording of John Taverner's 'Missa Gloria Tibi Trinitas' with the Tallis Scholars with the divine Peter Phillips on Gimell, coupled with the 'Leroy Christi' and the 'Dum transisset Sabbatum' (CDGIM-004) and would recommend this issue to the house. But why is there the necessity to have "ambiance" actually included for 15 seconds before the actual performance. Why?

[Pulcinella]

I too have a marvellous recording of John Taverner's 'Missa Gloria Tibi Trinitas' with the Tallis Scholars with the divine Peter Phillips on Gimell, coupled with the 'Leroy Christi' and the 'Dum transisset Sabbatum' (CDGIM-004) and would recommend this issue to the house. But why is there the necessity to have "ambiance" actually included for 15 seconds before the actual performance. Why?

In the good old days before remote controls etc maybe to allow you to get back to your armchair to listen before the music started?

[Roger Webb]

I too have a marvellous recording of John Taverner's 'Missa Gloria Tibi Trinitas' with the Tallis Scholars with the divine Peter Phillips on Gimell, coupled with the 'Leroy Christi' and the 'Dum transisset Sabbatum' (CDGIM-004) and would recommend this issue to the house. But why is there the necessity to have "ambiance" actually included for 15 seconds before the actual performance. Why?

If you go to live concerts you are already sitting in the acoustic in which the sounds you will hear are produced. When I sit in my music room it doesn't have the sort of acoustic conducive to music such as made by Tallis Scholars - I've heard them live several times, usually in a spacious acoustic such as a church...although most memorably, perhaps, at St. George's, Brandon Hill - an ex-chapel but not with a 'churchy' acoustic.

I think it very good practice to have such 'settling' ambient 'silences' at the beginning of recordings....and, most importantly, between movements and at the end of a work - one of my pet hates is the recording that is 'chopped' immediately the producer thinks the movement has finished....usually the reverberation of the final notes have not completely died away before we are whisked away to the anachoic chamber of our smaller living spaces.....I'd rather stay in the more generous acoustic of the recording, as I would be at a live concert.

[richardfinegold]

If you go to live concerts you are already sitting in the acoustic in which the sounds you will hear are produced. When I sit in my music room it doesn't have the sort of acoustic conducive to music such as made by Tallis Scholars - I've heard them live several times, usually in a spacious acoustic such as a church...although most memorably, perhaps, at St. George's, Brandon Hill - an ex-chapel but not with a 'churchy' acoustic.

I think it very good practice to have such 'settling' ambient 'silences' at the beginning of recordings....and, most importantly, between movements and at the end of a work - one of my pet hates is the recording that is 'chopped' immediately the producer thinks the movement has finished....usually the reverberation of the final notes have not completely died away before we are whisked away to the anachoic chamber of our smaller living spaces.....I'd rather stay in the more generous acoustic of the recording, as I would be at a live concert.

You could listen to Spatial Audio and see if that gives a more cathedral or chapel like ambiance. If going whole hog multichannel doesn’t appeal then headphones are a less expensive option for those recordings.
I have heard multichannel recordings of Renaissance music that was extremely impressive, attempting to reproduce the acoustic of venues such as San Marco in Venice.

[Roger Webb]

You could listen to Spatial Audio and see if that gives a more cathedral or chapel like ambiance. If going whole hog multichannel doesn’t appeal then headphones are a less expensive option for those recordings.
I have heard multichannel recordings of Renaissance music that was extremely impressive, attempting to reproduce the acoustic of venues such as San Marco in Venice.

Yes, in fact I nearly mentioned headphones, and my first brush with binaural techniques which was a giveaway EP of a demonstration of dummy head binaural with, if I remember correctly, Jack de Manio walking round the listener and coming right up to his ear from behind...very creepy!

It was probably about this time that the Proms starting to use a dummy head technique, and I think it was found that it was only necessary to have a circular disc of perspex to separate the stereo pair rather than a realistic 'head'.

I've got that BBC EP somewhere....I seem to remember it had sound effects on the other side...'Head cut off' that sort of thing!!

[Stanfordian]

Marlis Petersen – 'Dimensionen Innenwelt' ('Dimension Inner World')
Lieder and Mélodie from Weigl, Sommer, Schubert, Brahms, Wagner, Hahn,
Duparc, Faure, Wolf, Reger, Lizst, Rossler, Richard Strauss & Furstenthal
Marlis Petersen (soprano)
Stephan Matthias Lademann (piano)
Gregor Hübne (violin)
Recorded 2019 Konzerthaus Blaibach, Germany
3rd of 3 volume set of Marlis Petersen's 'Dimensions Trilogy'
Solo Musica, CD

Bela Bartok
Dance Suite
Richard Strauss
Also sprach Zarathustra
Staatskapelle Dresden / Bernard Haitink
Recorded Live, 2 radio broadcasts by MDR Kultur in 2004, Semperoper, Dresden
No. 7 of 10 CD set '475 years of the Saxon Staatskapelle Dresden'
Hänssler Profil, CD

[smittims]

The daddy of all binaural recordigs is surely Alan Bumlein's 'Walking and talking' recorded in 1934. It's been released on an LPO CD including Blumlein's experimental extracts from Beecham's 'Jupiter ' Symphony, made independently while Joe Batten was recording the mono version.

I've just been enjoying some of Valentini's Concerti Grossi played by Ensemble 415 and Chiara Banchini. Very refreshing and stimulating on a hot day, though I don' think these very modern, jet-age, clinical performances resembel how the composer would have heard his music. Pinch of salt recommended.

[Roger Webb]

The daddy of all binaural recordigs is surely Alan Bumlein's 'Walking and talking' recorded in 1934. It's been released on an LPO CD including Blumlein's experimental extracts from Beecham's 'Jupiter ' Symphony, made independently while Joe Batten was recording the mono version.

Of course I know about Blumlein's experiments, but not that Beecham's '34 Jupiter was partly recorded in it...and that it maybe heard.

I remember a feature about what was perhaps the earliest stereo recording of all, by the BBC, who used to record transcription 78s for the home market, and for overseas using a separate machine. I seem to remember that someone digitalized both recordings and when synchronized they gave a stereo effect as they were recorded at either side of the studio. I actually thought it was an april fools' joke at the time....like the Chopin recording story.

[pastoralguy]

Dvorak. ‘Cello concerto. Op.104

Jacqueline du Pré, ‘cello
The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Charles Groves.

Live performance from The Royal Albert Hall given on 25th July 1965. A BBC Legends disc.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard this recording before despite the Work being one of absolute favourites. Rather dim sound but my ear has adjusted after turning the volume up.

[smittims]

Do you have a date for that BBC recording, Roger? The earliest I know is of Elgar conducting his orchestration of 'O God our help in ages past' inthe Queen's Hall in1928,a example of 'accidental' stereo. as remastered by Lani Spahr in the SOMM album 'Elgar remastered' there's no doubt we are hearing a true binaural sound.

My choice this morning: Tod und Verklarung, the San Francisco Symphony conducted by PIerre Monteux in 1960, eight years after he stood down as principal. It's an intense reading, every bit as thrilling as Klemperer's contemporary account with the Philharmonia, yet for some reason RCA left it in the can for nine years before releasing it on a Victrola disc. They did the same with some of his Beethoven recordings made for them by Decca, which suggests they didn't rate him so highly as before. .

[Roger Webb]

Do you have a date for that BBC recording, Roger? .........

I remember a feature on binaural/stereo, produced accidentally (the stereo, not the feature!) because two 'waxes' were taken of a performance, and because they were some distance apart a stereo effect could be obtained by careful integration of the two.....I seem to remember this was done to provide a copy to be sent to outposts of BBC territories abroad.

I'm sure Barry Fox fronted it....if you remember he was often called in to explain technical matters on Record Review.

All I can find is this YouTube item, fascinating in itself, and much the same idea.......I'll keep looking!

https://youtu.be/Ozxezwy-cjM?si=J8aIbzSr9NfRW1wp

[Quarky]

My memories, from working on binaural recordings, is that Blumlein produced stereo recordings,whereas these days, binaural is applied to recordings using an artificial head.

ACTA ACUSTICA UNITED WITH ACUSTICA Vol. 95 (2009) 767 – 788 DOI 10.3813/AAA.918208 Binaural Recording Technology: A Historical Review and Possible Future Developments



The term does not necessarily describe techniques that modify the signals similarly.Consequently,systems that delivered two-channel sound were called binaural, as well as stereophonic, the latter term probably being coined in the 1880s. Bell may have been the first to have mixed up the twoterms when he wrote about “stereophonic phenomena of binaural audition” [12]. Bell understood stereo as being related to the spatial impression provided by hearing with twoears (binaural). Also, Blumlein’sfamous patent on stereo [13] used the term binaural in its description. Fletcher, in the 1920s, may have been the first to use the term binaural for arecording technique and Hammer and Snow[14] were probably the first to distinguish between binaural and stereophonic pick-up. Theyconsidered a system fully binaural when the signals acquired with adummy head (e.g. “Oscar”)were reproduced by headphones. Systems that do not comply with this requirement were then called stereophonic. The terms “dummy (head)” or “artificial head” were also already used in the 1920s [15, 16]. At the end of the 1930s De Boer and Vermeulen introduced the German term “Kunstkopf”[17], a term that wasalso adopted by English-speaking authors. In the 1950s Snow[18] also gave distinctive definitions for binaural and stereophonic sound pick-up, butconsidered the imprecise definition of terms acommon phenomenon in newdevelopments. The distinctive definition of Hammer and Snowor the terms coined by Fletcher,Firestone, and DeBoer and Vermeulen were not generally adopted and until the 1970s the terms binaural and stereophonic were used mostly as syno

[pastoralguy]

Tchaikovsky. 1st piano concerto in B flat minor.

Xiayin Wang, piano. The Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Peter Oundjian. 2018 Chandos. SACD.

I came across this in a charity shop yesterday and am amazed I’ve not heard it before. Gramophone gives it thumbs up it what is an incredibly competitive market.

Alas, my Quad cd player won’t play it so I’m relying on my vintage Philips cd player to com3 to the rescue.