Jim Ginsburg's blog
This month, Cedille Records released what from a musicological
perspective is probably the most significant recording we have ever
released. Beethoven & Clement Violin Concertos
features the world premiere of the 1805 Violin Concerto in D major by
Franz Clement, the violinist-composer for whom Beethoven wrote his
revered Violin Concerto the next year. Listening to the two concertos
side by side, it becomes clear that the Beethoven is not the isolated
phenomenon it has always been considered, but was in fact significantly
influenced by Clement's concerto (which was premiered on the same 1805
concert as Beethoven's Eroica Symphony).
To introduce this
historic recording, I am reprinting violinist Rachel Barton Pine's
personal note from the CD booklet. Before I do, I want to let everyone
know that Cedille Records is hosting a Release Party to celebrate this
important recording, including a live performance by Rachel Barton
Pine, on Sunday, October 5, from 3:00 to 4:30 PM at the Union
Restaurant in Evanston, 1245 Chicago Avenue (just South of Dempster).
the event is free but space is limited, so if you'd like to come,
please RSVP to nancy@cedillerecords.org or call 773-989-2515. Please do
so by the end of this week to guarantee your spot.
Now here's Rachel Barton Pine on this very special recording project:
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Jim Hirsch's recent Top 5 list post made me think of one I've always wanted to post: a list of obscure composers who shouldn't be:
1. Nicolai Miaskovsky (1881-1950)
The
forgotten "Soviet" composer (i.e., contemporary of Shostakovich and
Prokofiev), Miaskovsky was a prolific writer (27 symphonies, 13 string
quartets, etc.) whose music is consistently entertaining, colorful,
dramatic, and often gorgeous. He is probably best known for his lushly
romantic Cello Sonata, which is often appropriately coupled on
recordings with Rachmaninov's, as it is on the recommended recording
below and as it will be on a disc Cedille Records will record with
cellist Wendy Warner this fall for release in 2009/2010.
Representative works with recommended recordings:
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Once all the music for the disc has been recorded and everything is "in the can" (the conduct of a recording session was the subject of my previous post in this series), the recording must still be edited, mixed, and mastered. “Editing” is the splicing together of the session “takes” into a coherent whole. “Mixing” is the balancing of the different recorded “channels” to stereo (or “5.1” multi-channel) format. Some recordings are mixed directly to stereo (or other format) at the recording sessions, but many are edited in more channels and “mixed-down” later. “Mastering” is the final assembly, balancing, sonic enhancement, etc. of the recording before multiple copies of the CD are replicated from the “final master.”
The recording producer usually devises the editing plan, which is mostly a map of which takes go where. This may also include dynamic instructions — e.g., to boost or lower the volume, overall or only for certain channels/instruments — as well as other special instructions, such as to shave a chord together, shorten a rest, or edit around a noise.
In pre-digital days, recordings were physically spliced together by cutting reel-to-reel tape with a razor blade and taping the pieces together so an editing plan consisted only of splicing instructions (take 1 to take 5 at bar 40, etc.) and the editing points had to be very well matched (i.e., sounding the same in both takes) or at obvious points in the music (e.g., after a break, on a strong downbeat, etc.).
Today, producers can be far more creative with their editing plans, splicing in single notes and even parts of notes. Seeing one ofmy editing plans, pianist Ramon Salvatore (who recorded three albums for Cedille Records before he passed away in 1996) commented simply, “we’re all frauds.” Nonetheless, the exactitude of the requests I receive from artists suggests they don’t regret the level of editing refinement we are able to achieve.
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Once everyone has agreed on the sound (the subject of my previous post), the process of recording the music can begin in earnest. We typically record a piece one movement at a time, starting with a full play-through of the first movement to be recorded. Note: this does not necessarily mean the first movement of the piece. Musicians usually arrange movements and pieces in whatever order is most conducive to recording ("live" recordings are an obvious exception). For string players, this may mean doing the fastest, most energetic parts first, before their bow arms become fatigued, and saving slower movements for the end. For wind players, this means just the opposite, since it is the slowest movements with their long sustained notes that require the most lung power. For singers, this often means doing the lowest passages first, since they may not still have those low notes in their voices by the end of the session.
After the first play-through, I usually invite the musicians to come back and listen to a playback on the speakers with me. This allows them to hear how their performance is coming across and compare notes in the discussion that follows. This also gives them a chance to let their producer know about any spots he or she should listen for especially - e.g., where the balance may be tricky or where they may be trying for something special (a harmonic, an ornament, etc.) that might not come off in every take. (Recording sessions provide an opportunity to go for an ideal performance that may not be achievable in live performance where such risks cannot always be taken.)
After that play-through, the musicians may continue with full runs of the piece or movement or may want to break it up into more manageable sections, depending on its length and/or difficulty.
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Before I get to the body of this post, a quick news item: album downloads are now available for sale on the Cedille Records web site.
Before any music can be recorded in earnest at a recording session, the recording team needs to get a sound balance everyone likes. This often involves the positioning of players as well as of microphones, along with the "mixing" of those microphones. The way this is done is dependent on the size and type of the ensemble being recorded and the room in which the players are playing.
In a smaller room, where sound bounces back off the walls creating lots of "early reflections" it is usually necessary to "mic" (i.e., put a microphone on) each instrument separately. In a larger hall that isn't overly reverberant, it may be possible to record an entire ensemble of different instruments (e.g., strings with piano) with a single pair of microphones because there is a sweet spot in the hall where the sound blend is absolutely perfect with no loss of detail.
This can also have to do with the philosophy of the recording label and its engineers and producers. The audiophile label Dorian used to record everything it could in the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Albany, New York, with a single pair of microphones. However, according to artists who worked with them, it could take a long time for the engineers to find the aforementioned "sweet spot," since it differed depending on the instruments and players involved.
Another label renowned for its sound, Reference Recordings, takes the exact opposite approach: they put a separate microphone on each instrument and rely on their mixing ability to get the perfect amount of blend and detail. And yet their recordings sound as lifelike and "natural" as Dorian's.
At Cedille, we have no overarching philosophy. We just try to get the best sound possible given the circumstances we are working in.
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In my previous post,
Where to Record, I discussed the factors to be weighed in choosing a place to record. Today, I will introduce the members of the recording team.
The person who oversees the whole process of making the recording from beginning to end is the recording producer. This is usually the person (or people – you'll sometimes see two people credited as co-producers of a disc) who runs the recording sessions, although sometimes a separate "session director" may be employed for this purpose. For Cedille Records, I act as producer for the great majority of our recordings. Even for the discs where we use an outside producer – usually Grammy-winning producer Judith Sherman – I act as an uncredited "executive producer," attending the recording sessions when possible and personally weighing in during the various stages of the post-recording process to maintain the quality for which Cedille Records is known.
The other key person at a recording session is the recording engineer. Sometimes the producer and engineer are the same person (Judith Sherman usually engineers the recordings she produces, for example). The engineer is the person who achieves the sound at the sessions – including choosing and positioning the microphones (and often the players around the microphones) and balancing the levels to achieve the ultimate sound "mix." For almost all of Cedille's recordings, veteran engineer Bill Maylone performs this function.
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In my previous post, I raised this topic as a question - What do young artists and ensembles need to know about recording? - since I was scheduled to give a talk on that subject to a young chamber group. Having now given that talk, I return with some answers, which I will present over my next several posts.
One of the first decisions that must be made before recording can begin is where to record. There are many considerations that come into play when choosing a recording venue. These include:
Acoustics
Noise issues (both internal and external)
Availability
Degree of control
Available Equipment
Price
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Before I get to the topic of today's post, I want to congratulate our two Grammy winners (the awards were announced last night) eighth blackbird (Best Chamber Music Performance for their strange imaginary animals album) and Judith Sherman (Producer of the Year, Classical for albums including strange imaginary animals and violinist Rachel Barton Pine's American Virtuosa: Tribute to Maud Powell).
I was recently asked to give a symposium for the benefit of a young chamber ensemble on what they need to know about recording.
I thought I would use this opportunity to ask ChicagoClassicalMusic.org readers what YOU think musicians need to know. If you are a musician with questions about the recording process (or things you wish you had known earlier), please let me know what they are. Even if you are not, if you have ideas on what information would be helpful to an artist or group embarking on recording, please share those ideas.
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I attended Sunday afternoon's CSO "Beyond the Score" presentation on Tchaikovsky's Fourth. What is so great about these programs, which I highly recommend, is how they put masterpieces in perspective in terms of other art of the period - literary, visual, and musical. Right off the bat, three pieces were mentioned as influences on Tchaikovsky's 1878 symphony: Verdi's
La Forza del Destino, Bizet's
Carmen, and Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.
This got me to thinking about how some of the recordings in our catalog try to put great works into musical perspective. While Cedille Records' main mission is to present the work of Chicago's finest musicians and composers, we have a secondary mission of "increasing awareness and knowledge of neglected areas of the classical repertory" (from our Mission Statement). In addition to presenting unrecorded or relatively obscure works, this also means presenting programs that combine the familiar and the unfamiliar in ways that often shed new light on the more familiar work.
I should note that almost all our program ideas come from the Chicago musicians we record. The champion in finding ways to illuminate renowned works is violinist Rachel Barton Pine. Her 2003 recording of the Brahms Violin Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Carlos Kalmar made quite an impression, not only for the great playing but because she coupled it with the great (but very rarely recorded) "Hungarian" Concerto by Joseph Joachim, which one critic called "the Holy Grail of Romantic violin concertos."
The reason this was such an illuminating choice was
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(Okay, so I'm a little late to the party.)
My personal discovery came as the result of a request from Steve Robinson, head honcho (officially Senior Vice President) of WFMT. Steve asked if we would be willing to offer a "fully-loaded" iPod containing every track from all 100+ CDs in the Cedille Records catalog as a premium for the station's November fund drive.
So I asked our engineer, Bill Maylone, to make a prototype I could listen to. Of course, this item has become my constant companion when I'm out of the house and a wonderful way for me to reacquaint myself with discs I produced years ago. Often, I'll have a sudden desire to hear a particular piece or performance and can call it up instantly. I remember especially the exhilaration of listening to the brisk scherzo and finale from Jan Vaclav Hugo Vorisek's Symphony in D Major (1821) while biking home through a violent thunderstorm this summer.
Equally fun is putting the iPod on "shuffle" and hearing the most eclectic mix of classical music imaginable.
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