Re: GG: keyserlingk's variations

["John P. Hill" <jphill@frank.mtsu.edu>]

On Thu, 9 Apr 1998, Bradley P Lehman wrote:

> - Clavichords are notoriously difficult to record, in any
> repertoire...mostly from their quietness.  I asked an experienced producer
> about it (suggesting that if an opportunity arose I'd like to do an Art of
> Fugue on clavichord sometime), and he said he'd want no part of a
> clavichord recording from his earlier work trying to record them.

The primary difficulty in recording *any* quiet instrument is:

1.  The need for low noise mics (10 dBA self-noise is a good target)
2.  The need for high gain/low noise mic preamps (several good ones are
    available).
3.  The need for an appropriate ambient space (church, studio, etc.) that
    is *very* quiet but also has good control of humidity and temperature
    and a stable power supply.

By far, the most difficult of the above requirements is #3.  I've produced
and engineered a good many classical recordings and I can tell you that
this is the one that will provide the most headaches.

Churches very often have *gorgeous* acoustics, but they are almost always
poorly isolated from the outside world (trucks, airplanes, sirens, etc.)
and hence *unusable* for a recording of something like clavichord.

Incidentally, even establshed recording rooms can have these and other
problems with the demands of recording soft instruments or passages.  For
example, there are passages in the '82 Goldbergs where low level crosstalk
of voices, music and a subway (best guess) is audible.  I don't remember
the specific variation number(s), but it's in there.

Incidentally, Bradley, I'd love to do a kick-ass (pardon the Southpark
vernacular) clavichord recording somtime, Goldbergs or no.  We're not too
close geographically, but keep this in mind...

jh