Strauss Richard Tod und Verklärung Death and Transfiguration Solti, Chicago So
Pierre Paquin
It is difficult to assess "double buzz" with this wretched sound video.
There is little if any "front to back" or depth, too much 2 dimensional due
to the overuse of spot mics, sounding like a rock music recording at times.
The vicious compression of dynamics at 5.19 is hilarious, complete
destroying the serious nature of the music's message. Also, the compression
is so severe that the audio channels wander from side to side. This
distortion caused by all this could very well be the cause of the so called
double buzz effect in some of the brass sonics Still there is evidence of
"the combing effect" caused by the misplacement and or use of too many spot
mics. Who was responsible for this mic setup? It certainly ain't Wilky!
The performance is typical of Solti. To quote Toscanini at his rehearsal
(1950?) of the initial passages of the Strauss Tod with the NBCSO:
"Somebodee sick, he neeah to die. (pause) Morte avante prima!!! (You make
him die too quickly!!) Then the musicians laugh somewhat.
This video may be of some use to assess
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGmUHepwVE8
Pierre Paquin
Haydn House
M forever
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC8FT2Ahtww
>
> It is difficult to assess "double buzz" with this wretched sound video.
> There is little if any "front to back" or depth, too much 2 dimensional due
> to the overuse of spot mics, sounding like a rock music recording at times.
> The vicious compression of dynamics at 5.19 is hilarious, complete
> destroying the serious nature of the music's message. Also, the compression
> is so severe that the audio channels wander from side to side. This
> distortion caused by all this could very well be the cause of the so called
> double buzz effect in some of the brass sonics Still there is evidence of
> "the combing effect" caused by the misplacement and or use of too many spot
> mics. Who was responsible for this mic setup? It certainly ain't Wilky!
I agree with all these observations, but I am wondering if all those
problems are caused just by the multimiking, or if the heavily
compressed audio format of Youtube also contributes to the nastiness
of the sound.
I also found it just too bad sonically to really judge the sound of
the trombones, but the poster who referred to this recording did refer
to the DVD, not Youtube, that was just me since I don't have the DVD.
It does sound like they played really loud and with a fairly forced,
barking sound in the passage he pointed me to but I am not entirely
sure that style is out of place in this passage which is after all
about the seizures the dying man has. So some sonic nastiness, a
brutal, threatening sound may actually be somewhat apt here.
> The performance is typical of Solti. To quote Toscanini at his rehearsal
> (1950?) of the initial passages of the Strauss Tod with the NBCSO:
> "Somebodee sick, he neeah to die. (pause) Morte avante prima!!! (You make
> him die too quickly!!) Then the musicians laugh somewhat.
>
> This video may be of some use to assesshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGmUHepwVE8
>
I was going to bring that video up, too, not so much because of the
sound although the recorded sound here is a little better, but I think
the style of playing is just terrible. It's technically rather good,
no doubt, but the forced nature of the sound which does come through
in the video and especially the grotesquely mechanical delivery with
no real phrasing really bother me. They hold each note almost to the
very end without any of the fine tapering that makes it sound much
more stylish and elegant, but then separate most of them so it is
really not a musical phrase, just one note after another.
This is how it goes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erihk9K6TzA
Check around 3:30. It's not "perfect" either, but that is the right
style and tone, and even in the severely limited quality of the
recording it comes through just how much richer, nobler, rounder and
more carrying their sound is than forced, thin blaring in the Solti
performance.
JR
>
> Pierre Paquin
> Haydn House
On page 51 of my Kalmus score there is a lengthy footnote regarding
this particular trombone motive. Unfortunately, the print is
unreadable (and in German). I think it is something about "bell up and
show off and/or blast." Any help would be appreciated.
M forever
other thread about Mahler and great composers by a number of people
who maintain that even though they can't read a score, they know it
doesn't make any differences because they are hyper-perceptive
geniuses anyway.
But of course, those who can do know that it is a fantastic source of
information, indispensable of you want to find out what the composer
may have really "meant". Sure, that is in many cases not really
specific and can be interpreted in a number of ways - but if one
doesn't even know what the text says, how can one judge the various
interpretations?
In this case it's not just the footnote, it's also interesting to see
exactly how Strauss notated those parts, what accents, articulation,
dynamic markings he writes.
Anyway, the footnote says
"Dieser u. die nachfolgenden Posaunensätze müssen ungeheuer markant
zur Darstellung kommen u. sind, eventuell die Schallrichter gegen das
Publikum gerichtet, zu blasen."
That's not easy to translate word for word, but the essence of the
meaning is something like this:
"This, and the following trombone section entries have to be played in
an enormously striking and pronounced way, if necessary, the bells of
the instruments should be pointed towards the audience."
M forever
the word Strauss uses for "bell" here, he writes "Schallbecher" which
is an alternative term no one used anymore today. But the meaning is
still the same.
MiNe 109
<a5062d49-4b5b-45da...@n35g2000yqf.googlegroups.com>,
<http://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/c/c9/IMSLP80031-SIBLEY1802.12695.d
081-39087009402282scorepp45-end.pdf>
Yes, the Dover and Kalmus reprints have the same page numbers!
Stephen