Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Old CSO Low Brass......overrated????????


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Posted by Eric Nagamine on February 17, 2002 at 01:41:58:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Old CSO Low Brass......overrated???????? posted by Richard on February 16, 2002 at 21:50:55:

In the '54 recordings, only 1 pair of widely spaced omnidirectional mikes were used, thus perhaps the string favored balance, but from a listeners stand point I like the '54 Zarathustra vs the '62 one because the balance is made from a single line. Another balance difference is that in '54 Reiner still used left-right violins, which probably thinned out the volume of the strings, but I think led to a good balance with the winds & brass. With the move to 3 track, they employed 6-12 mikes from what I've read and you will always have improper balances no matter how you mix it because it's no longer in the conductors hands.

In an ideal recording, a single point stereo mike should give a realistic sound from the point where the mike was placed. I've heard that some people in the Philadelphia Orchestra were amazed at how realistic a recording could sound when they were doing the tests for their self produced CD release which used a Blumlein single point miking set up.

Record mastering and playback equipment has improved quite a bit over the years since the Reiner's were recorded. When they first came out, they were mastered using an RCA console stereo as the standard for home playback. Hardly even high fi back then. Record engineers from the era have told me that the tapes were heavily manipulated in the editing and mixing stages with reverb and eq added to give the recordings a "label" sound. At the minumum, RIAA eq had to be added to LPs for playback. I have heard some of the recent 45 rpm remasters of the '54 Zarathustra and I think Mr. Jacobs would have been amazed at the realistic sound reproduction when all the processing by the engineering team is removed. While I never heard him till later in his career, I think this remaster makes a good case as to why they were highly esteemed, especially when heard live.

Another series of great sounding recordings of CSO musicians are those old mono '50s Audiophile label LPs out of Saukville Wisconsin. The Brass quintet LP has Reynold Shilke playing 2nd to Mr. Herseth, and the woodwind quintet recordings have Phillip Farkas as their hornist.

I think in this thread, the main thing is that people should not use recordings to base their opinions of how musicians sound. Recordings have to be taken with a grain of salt as they are not accurate reproductions of how people sound. "Live" should always be the gold standard. I always used to be impressed how loud Mr. Herseth could play on a recording, but I was even more impressed by how soft and subtle he could play when I heard him in concert.

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Eric Nagamine


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