| |
For me a recording is similar to a photograph that only records one given moment in time.
One moment in an artist's evolution and relationship to the piece that is being recorded.
I consider myself to be a part of an older tradition where a recording and subsequently a
recording career was the result of experience and deep examination that is reflected in a
long relationship with a work. This means that I must have a performance history with the
repertoire that justifies my decision to go into the recording studio. With the few exceptions
of rare pieces that are seldom performed the overwhelming majority of my recorded repertoire
has been performed previous to being recorded.
I must say that I have never been completely happy with digital sound which is too clinical
for my taste for there is a loss of some of the overtones of the natural sound of the voice
that sometimes is cold as well as a compression of dynamics for the sake of uniformity
that can leave an impression of monotony. One sometimes has the impression that the
microphone is in the throat of the singer which is not all the way the public perceives the voice in a concert hall. I have in the past ten years in my solo recordings tried to use the digital technology while searching for a more natural analog sound that one hears on the old vinyl records. My goal is for the listener to hear a sound that is as close as possible to the sound in a good concert hall.. For recitals with piano I always record with one common microphone for me as well as the piano and insist that the piano be open to it's fullest as I have for live concerts. The pianist and I must adjust our dynamics in order to find the balance that is necessary for the piece that we are performing or recording.
I enjoy searching for perfection during the recording process but always would choose a flawed,
but alive take over a more technically correct and less spontaneous one. I hope that the listener
will always prefer to hear me in the live performance. As I record what is my actual repertoire, what I can
and do sing regularly, my audiences have the choice for the time being to compare and find that the recording
is one moment in a still active and evolving work in process.
|
