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From: greg@olivee.UUCP (Greg Paley)
Newsgroups: net.music.classical,net.audio
Subject: Bernstein's new "West Side Story" (recording producer blues)
Message-ID: <395@olivee.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 20-Jun-85 11:56:02 EDT
Article-I.D.: olivee.395
Posted: Thu Jun 20 11:56:02 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 23-Jun-85 15:22:17 EDT
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Recently, PBS showed a documentary which highlighted the recording
sessions of the new "West Side Story" recording conducted by
Leonard Bernstein.  I was interested to be able to see, in addition
to the musical execution, such things as the mike setup and hear
the control room chit-chat.

I came away more convinced than ever that lengthy discussions of
DAC design and even digital vs. analogue are focused on points that
are relatively trivial and subtle compared to what is happening at
the scene of the master recording as determined by the recording
producer.

It seems to be generally accepted that digital recording can exaggerate
the effects of excessively close miking, but this flaw is generally
viewed as having been prevalent only in the experimental days of
"early digital".  Yet here we have a digital recording made last year
for which each section of the orchestra is covered by a number of mikes and
at a close range that any sense of blend and unity (not to mention
hall ambience) is precluded.  Even more difficult for me to understand
was the use of separate mikes, each no more than a foot away from the
singer, for soloists of the likes of Te Kanawa and Carreras who are
trained to project over large orchestras in the world's largest opera
houses.

As the show proceeds, one reason for this becomes apparent.  At one
point, Bernstein can't hear the lower voices and the trombones.  Since
they have been miked for maximum isolation, the technicians in the control
room can "take care of it" by raising the level of that individual line
rather than having them play it again.  I think that here is ultimately
the crux of the matter of why a 1956 Reiner or Dorati recording sounds
so much better than a number of CD's produced in the last year.  In
those days, with only two or three mikes, you could not separate the
strands of the music out for ex post facto rebalancing.  Therefore, if
you needed more trombone, the trombones had to play louder (or someone
else play more softly).  Clearly, this takes more time, skill in mike
placement, and musical perception that will allow quick evaluations and
on-the-spot corrections.

It was interesting that this recording was being made by DGG and that
they used Andrew Kazdin as a producer.  Is it mere coincidence that
it has been years since DGG produced a recording that had any sense of
space or ambience, and that Kazdin has been responsible for a number
of CBS multi-mike monstrosities?

As to the musical execution, the only one of the operatic "stars" 
used that I found really satisfactory was Troyanos as Anita.  She
was the only one who seemed to be able to master the style and accent
required.  Te Kanawa's voice is lovely as abstract sound, but that
sound which seems so fresh and clear in opera and concert sounds stiff
and matronly as Bernstein's Maria.  Part of the problem, I believe,
is that she is primarily a singer of sounds rather than words, by
which I mean that she concentrates on producing tones of a certain 
quality and roundness to the degree that she seems unable to give 
her articulation of the text the crispness and vitality it needs.
The casting of Carreras as Tony was a bad mistake, and one that should
have been predictable.  The "Romeo and Juliet" concept of the story
dictates that Tony should definitely NOT have a foreign accent, so
that he will contrast with Maria's Puerto Rican accent.  Carreras
tried but failed to suppress his distinct Spanish accent.  In addition,
he's been pushing what was once a beautifully soft-textured lyric tenor
more and more to the dark and dramatic side, so that his voice has
lost the clarity and youthful quality Tony should have and has, in
addition, caused the break between his middle and upper register to
become exaggerated so that lines that should rise smoothly cross over
the break with an audible lurch.

I think a CD issue of the original 1957 broadway cast recording, tape
hiss or no, would be a better bet.

	- Greg Paley