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Peter said:
The fact remains, if you're going to recreate period performances, the sights and smells of the time should be taken into account, even for recordings.
Interesting comment. I wish at least one director of a fully staged baroque opera with period instrument orchestra would try for a recreation of the sort of SPECTACLE that the opera audience of the time would have seen as well as the sound it would have heard - instead of the blank stages, break-dancing clowns and Latin American dictatorship's costumes modern stage directors so love. (I also wish more period-style conscious singers were used in baroque opera productions, but that is another story).
In relation to Bach's partitas and sonatas for unaccompanied violin, there are several other interesting non-SACD recordings around besides Holloway (Linda Matthews and Lucy van Dael, to name but two). The point about SACD is acoustic fidelity, so that the differences between modernised and pristine (or "re-pristined") baroque violins should be important, let alone the more subtle differences between different makes of baroque violin, such as those by Amati, Guarneri, Hendrik Jacobs, Stainer, etc ... - all of which should have the relevant record labels rushing for their "SACD recorders" to record these works.
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Fugue said:
I like it too. Generally, I prefer a modern violin, but Holloway plays them very well. I wouldn't mind a slighter closer mic placement, though.
You may be right about the miking. The difficulty is getting the right balance between catching the room's acoustic and all the detail of the instrument's sound. The room acoustic is important in period instrument recordings - although why it should be less important in modern instrument recordings is unclear.
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Post by Peter August 4, 2008 (33 of 39)
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Osbert Parsley said:
I thought your nosegay remark was directed at the stinking, syphilitic Baroque violinists you referred to - in which case a pomander is the apt equipment both for the smell and the disease. A pomander is a mixture of aromatic substances enclosed in a bag or box as a protection against odor or infection, which used to be worn on one's person in pre-modern days. A nosegay is a posy or small bouquet of flowers.
My remarks are quite random, on the whole, but in this case, knowing the difference between the two, the nosegay is the more apt for my financial situation, and I know Beagle knows what a nosegay is, too.
Besides, I have no need for a pomander; however, the need for a nosegay has increased in the last year. (This paragraph is entirely serious.)
Peter
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Post by Peter August 4, 2008 (34 of 39)
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Osbert Parsley said:
Interesting comment. I wish at least one director of a fully staged baroque opera with period instrument orchestra would try for a recreation of the sort of SPECTACLE that the opera audience of the time would have seen as well as the sound it would have heard - instead of the blank stages, break-dancing clowns and Latin American dictatorship's costumes modern stage directors so love. (I also wish more period-style conscious singers were used in baroque opera productions, but that is another story).
Yes, I could go on about so-called period performances which are nothing of the sort, but won't on this thread.
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Post by Peter August 4, 2008 (35 of 39)
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Osbert Parsley said:
In relation to Bach's partitas and sonatas for unaccompanied violin, there are several other interesting non-SACD recordings around besides Holloway (Linda Matthews and Lucy van Dael, to name but two). The point about SACD is acoustic fidelity, so that the differences between modernised and pristine (or "re-pristined") baroque violins should be important, let alone the more subtle differences between different makes of baroque violin, such as those by Amati, Guarneri, Hendrik Jacobs, Stainer, etc ... - all of which should have the relevant record labels rushing for their "SACD recorders" to record these works.
Again, yes, indeed. These Bach pieces cry out for the best possible sound to pick up the nuances.
To get back to this issue, though, the cover photo is unfortunate; I wonder who really had final say on its use.
Lastly, a general query, is Lara's surname pronounced:
Saint John, or
Sin Gin? (Gin, as in the alcoholic spirit, with the emphasis on Sin)
Peter
(not pronounced as though it's a French verb.)
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Peter said:
To get back to this issue, though, the cover photo is unfortunate; I wonder who really had final say on its use.
Lastly, a general query, is Lara's surname pronounced:
Saint John, or
Sin Gin? (Gin, as in the alcoholic spirit, with the emphasis on Sin)
Given she is American, I would think her name is pronounced Saint John with both syllables equally accented (i.e. not even "S'nt John").
It is a strange photo, but not unexpectedly so in her market. She isn't pouting enough to make it truly objectionable. And would it have hurt them to have her winking slyly at the camera as well?
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Post by Peter August 4, 2008 (37 of 39)
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LOL! x2
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Post by Beagle August 7, 2008 (38 of 39)
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Osbert Parsley said: ... the more subtle differences between different makes of baroque violin, such as those by Amati, Guarneri, Hendrik Jacobs, Stainer, etc
There are lovely Stainers here: Bach: Goldberg Variations - Swiss Chamber Soloists. There is, however, an interesting time-warp involved, with Sitkovetsky arranging the 1741 Goldbergs for string trio circa 1984 -- all of which gives 'period' new, deeper and more complex meaning ;-)
PS: Lara's surname is pronounced "saint-JOHN"; I have encountered "SIN-gin" in North America only as an anglo-irishism.
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Osbert Parsley said:
Given she is American, I would think her name is pronounced Saint John with both syllables equally accented (i.e. not even "S'nt John").
It is a strange photo, but not unexpectedly so in her market. She isn't pouting enough to make it truly objectionable. And would it have hurt them to have her winking slyly at the camera as well?
SEX SELLS, and the crashing wave behind her head suggests an ORGASM. Classical music only accounts for a very small percentage of music sales and if you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull...it! It reminds me of the classic Hitchcock film "North by Northwest," where in the last scene Cary Grant hoists Eva Marie Saint onto the upper berth of his sleeper car and the scene cuts to the train going through the tunnel. All Aboard, Lara St. John!
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