Kommentare zu: Recording in London and my own inefficiencies…

Von: Alban

Alban — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 17:26:57 +0000

Hi Thomas,
well, it is a different thing to record than to play concerts. Even if a live concert goes rather perfect, there are so many things one might want to change or have even more perfect, that nowadays one isn’t happy anymore with the quality of a live-performance. One is able to exchange every single note (almost), that means cut together different parts, play single phrases over and over until everybody is happy. We have the possibility to do that, so everybody going into a studio is doing it, taking much more time than one would think is necessary to record 70 minutes of music.
Also, while listening to what we record (we are only playing about 40% of the studio time), we get new ideas about how we want the music to sound, so often we change in the middle of a recording session the interpretation.
About the Brahms: This is almost 12 years ago, I think, i don’t remember much, haven’t listened to it in 10 years, but I recall that I had focused so much on the very difficult violin Sonata (original G major) that I had neglected the e-minor, which in the recording session gave me a very hard time. But nevertheless, I feel that Brahms in general doesn’t have to played too obvious, I like the fact that you think the emotions are almost hidden, especially an earlier opus like that – he was a more introvert man than one might believe by just seeing these silly old photos of his with the cigar and the long beard…
Thanks also for your post, George, good to hear from you.
Now I’ll write another blog 🙂

Von: George

George — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:21:25 +0000

Your statement about being most efficient when you are under the “gun ” really hit home..I have just been off for 2 weeks and at the end of my time before going back to work realized I hadn’t done a damn thing worthy of mention during that time..This didn’t feel good but nonetheless must have been the right thing to do.The time off was spent in purely selfish pursuits…I saw some good movies and a simulcast performance of Romeo et Juliet by the Metropolitan Opera Company..exercised, ate and hung out with friends…while not “productive” it was time well spent. I even managed to get in some quality practice time and met some new potential music clients for ’08. I checked in this morning as I hadn’t received an email contact indicating a new post from you for quite some time..As you can see I am still catching up to a blog entry from 12/18…Your comments regarding your work, schedule demands and life are very interesting to hear about. Whenever they arrive. Best Wishes for a prosperous 2008!

Von: Thomas Walter

Thomas Walter — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 21:04:35 +0000

Hi Alban!

It’s very intersting to listen to your experiences! While reading i asked me why you need so many hours to record two sonatas wich least maybe one hour (?). By the way I finally found your recording of the Brahms sonatas 🙂 I like the f-major d-major viloin sonata very much, but the e-minor feels kind of strange to me. It’s different from what I had expected; my first impression was that it sounds like Schubert (for example like the second movement of his great “arpeggione” sonata). The emotions are more hidden…

Best wishes
Thomas

Von: Josh Rappaport from Harrisburg Pennsylvania

Josh Rappaport from Harrisburg Pennsylvania — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 00:56:01 +0000

Really cool, Alban!!!