Hi Ned,
You should definitely listen to some new recordings. One of the things I
find exciting about early music is that new information is constantly coming to
light that makes us re-think the way we approach the music. Entire genres that
were once dismissed as mere trifles can become compelling gems when approached
from a different perspective.
You would find more of what I'm talking about on more recent examples. I'm
not saying that every single EM recording is pure oatmeal. I'm saying that the
frame of reference for the standard of excellence has shifted from musical
interpretation to technical cleanliness. Recordings nowadays are expected to
be clean. Case closed.
Unfortunately, this exceptional cleanliness is produced via a huge number
of digital edits which will be undetectable and therefore in a sense,
"natural." The problem with this is that the edits where never conceived of or
performed as an organic whole so that finished product, while smooth, often
lacks life. Imagine if Martin Luther King Jr. would have recorded his "I have
a dream" speech by reciting it 50 times, re-saying certain problem clauses or
stumbled words, then having some audio engineer piece the various takes (some
perhaps comprising a single syllable) together with 900 edits. Yes, his voice
as an object might technically sound "better" once the quivers and explosions
were taken out, but would it have the same sense of outrage and urgency? What
would be the point?
Chris
--- On Mon, 10/12/09, nedma...@aol.com <nedma...@aol.com> wrote:
> From: nedma...@aol.com <nedma...@aol.com>
> Subject: [LUTE] Re: The End of the Golden Age
> To: chriswi...@yahoo.com, lute@cs.dartmouth.edu, vidan...@sbcglobal.net
> Date: Monday, October 12, 2009, 9:51 AM
> "Meanwhile, big
> names in our field try to get everything to sound
> even".
>
>
>
> Since my interest in the lute and early
> music has only recently been
> re-awakened, most of my lute and early
> music recordings are from the
> 1960-70s. As I hear more recent
> recordings in our field, I'll listen
> for what Chris is describing. I
> wonder if the reference is to both
> ensemble and solo recordings. . . I
> will say that I have some HIP
> recordings of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven
> works that I don't find bland
> in the least. Actually,
> to my ear, some of the most natural sounding
> recordings that I have.
>
>
>
> Ned
>
> --
>
>
> To get on or off this list see list information at
> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
>
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