A Service for Advent with Carols / Chapel of St John’s College, Cambridge / 28.xi.21

[ardcarp]

I think many of us have the same feeling when a CE is pre-recorded. Nowt like a live broadcast. It's difficult to explain why.

[oddoneout]

I think many of us have the same feeling when a CE is pre-recorded. Nowt like a live broadcast. It's difficult to explain why.

I think there are two, interlinked, elements to a live relay. Whatever atmosphere exists and is transmitted(and it does, sometimes powerfully so, despite physics etc saying it isn't possible) is happening there and then. Part of that atmosphere is the awareness that things don't always go as intended, that there may be tricky bits in that days music choices, which adds a certain edge. The recording will contain those elements factually but lack the immediacy which pulls you into a live relay.

[Guest]

I think there are two, interlinked, elements to a live relay. Whatever atmosphere exists and is transmitted(and it does, sometimes powerfully so, despite physics etc saying it isn't possible) is happening there and then. Part of that atmosphere is the awareness that things don't always go as intended, that there may be tricky bits in that days music choices, which adds a certain edge. The recording will contain those elements factually but lack the immediacy which pulls you into a live relay.

Precisely - very well put

[Keraulophone]

I think there are two, interlinked, elements to a live relay. Whatever atmosphere exists and is transmitted(and it does, sometimes powerfully so, despite physics etc saying it isn't possible) is happening there and then. Part of that atmosphere is the awareness that things don't always go as intended, that there may be tricky bits in that days music choices, which adds a certain edge. The recording will contain those elements factually but lack the immediacy which pulls you into a live relay.

Be that as it may, ignoring completely the opportunity to listen to a recording of an excellent service or concert because it isn’t live would appear to be somewhat limiting. What percentage of R3 output is actually live? One might also say that listening to a live broadcast on R3 provides only a fraction of the experience of actually being in situ. Some recordings, such as many of Toscanini’s or the Brahms 1 CSO/Levine done in one take in a spare session, have more than a fair dose of ‘liveness’ - you don’t have to have been in the studio at the time to recognise this, though of course it will sound the same the second time you hear it, so you’d know what was coming.

[Guest]

Be that as it may, ignoring completely the opportunity to listen to a recording of an excellent service or concert because it isn’t live would appear to be somewhat limiting. What percentage of R3 output is actually live? One might also say that listening to a live broadcast on R3 provides only a fraction of the experience of actually being in situ. Some recordings, such as many of Toscanini’s or the Brahms 1 CSO/Levine done in one take in a spare session, have more than a fair dose of ‘liveness’ - you don’t have to have been in the studio at the time to recognise this, though of course it will sound the same the second time you hear it, so you’d know what was coming.

Very fair points. Concerts are one thing, but an act of worship by its very nature has, for me, a totally different dynamic, so l prefer not to listen after the event.

[oddoneout]

Be that as it may, ignoring completely the opportunity to listen to a recording of an excellent service or concert because it isn’t live would appear to be somewhat limiting. What percentage of R3 output is actually live? One might also say that listening to a live broadcast on R3 provides only a fraction of the experience of actually being in situ. Some recordings, such as many of Toscanini’s or the Brahms 1 CSO/Levine done in one take in a spare session, have more than a fair dose of ‘liveness’ - you don’t have to have been in the studio at the time to recognise this, though of course it will sound the same the second time you hear it, so you’d know what was coming.

I wasn't intending to widen the pros and cons to concerts nor address limitations of only choosing to listen live. CEs are not concerts and for many will serve a different purpose, as SH O says below, so the question of whether it is live or not acquires an additional layer. My mother listened to CE and the daily services as acts of worship at that point in time and so "listening again", even if it had been available, wouldn't have been relevant. In contrast, years ago a music college in London set up a system of recording each CE in order to have the music available for study. Horses for courses.
The religious aspects aren't that important to me but there are occasions when listening live taps into a level beyond just a response to the music - the spiritual side that comes from the underlying purpose I suppose - and is all the more satisfying as a result. The repeat may well be enjoyed, but not in quite the same way.

[cat]

There is always the middle way of not being aware whether something is live or not. Achievable deliberately perhaps if you keep yourself unaware of the schedules and get another person to tune in or open BBC Sounds for you.

There are plenty of people out there who think Carols From King’s on the telly is live, and experience and appreciate it as such, despite it being physically impossible due to the camera angles involved.

[Nick Armstrong]

There are plenty of people out there who think Carols From King’s on the telly is live, and experience and appreciate it as such, despite it being physically impossible due to the camera angles involved.

A fortiori, the Easter BBC2 broadcast, recorded mid-Advent!

[jonfan]

Interesting discussion; anything on the radio [wireless] isn't live for the individual as we're not physically THERE. But my goodness for me these online Advent services are very much not second best in that regard.

[oddoneout]

Interesting discussion; anything on the radio [wireless] isn't live for the individual as we're not physically THERE. But my goodness for me these online Advent services are very much not second best in that regard.

Interesting point; reminds me of an acquaintance some years ago who remarked that listening live took on a different meaning once he had become dependent on his hi-tech hearing aids to be able to listen to music at all.

[Resurgam]

He's not ditching the choir. I'll bet it will sound just as superb under its new arrangements!

Come on ardcarp you know what I mean, he's ditching the choir of boys and men after praising both to the hilt on twitter.

He's all over the place considering his original statements on the College site where he says he's always wanted to have a mixed sex choir.