Don, A series of EMI releases of the Pittsburg/Steinberg recordings are available at ArkivMusic:http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Search?cx=011477110254701862377%3Abwrykxfy_di&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=UTF-8&google_search=1&searchingPage=ABC456&searching=1&role_wanted=-1&q=steinberg+pittsburgh+so --- On Mon, 11/5/12, Don Cox <[log in to unmask]> wrote: From: Don Cox <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Medinah Temple To: [log in to unmask] Date: Monday, November 5, 2012, 11:59 AM On 05/11/2012, Tom Fine wrote: > The whole issue with finding a suitable recording venue in Chicago, > after Orchestra Hall was ruined, shows that logistics and local > politics matter as much or more than acoustics and engineering > preferences. It's interesting that, given how acclaimed RCA's Chicago > recordings from the 50's and early 60's were, that the orchestra board > could be convinced to butcher the acoustic space so much. To some > classical music fans, those RCA records were the ultimate examples of > the recording art with an American orchestra in an American venue. > > Mercury had similar problems in Detroit and Minneapolis, as much > politics and logistics as acoustical and engineering decisions. > Likewise Kingsway Hall, the best recording space in London for orchestral music. It was demolished in 1984. > In Detroit, the Edsel Ford Auditorium was built by and named after the > Ford family, which was a primary or the primary sponsor of the Detroit > Symphony. From the first time my father set foot in that room, he > hated it acoustically. In the mono days, there were tricks that could > deployed to make the single-mic technique work, but when stereo > recording started, that venue became almost impossible (although there > were a few stereo recordings made in the Ford auditorium in the early > days of stereo). Old Orchestra Hall, known as the Paradise Theatre in > those days, was a better space, but it was literally falling apart and > was not in a good part of town. However, many Mercury sessions were > done there, leaky roof and all. The room has a nice sound to it, > although my father thought it sounded smaller than it was. Then, via > several sources, word trickled down about the superb auditorium in > Cass Technical High School. It ended up being an almost ideal > recording venue. The auditorium was in the middle of the huge > building, so it was well isolated. There were good and comfortable > control-room facilities in the school. And the sound was superb. It's > unfortunate that Cass was discovered rather late in the Mercury > relationship with Paul Paray and Detroit. But, all or almost all of > the 35mm magnetic-film recordings done in Detroit were done at Cass, > to the benefit of the sound quality. > > In Minneapolis, the Northrop Auditorium was also non-ideal. It turned > out to be less ideal for single-mic mono than for stereo. The reason > was, it was so cavernous that sound got lost in the huge space. In the > mono days, various setups were used, mainly moving the strings out > onto the stage apron and, for a couple of sessions, using a tape-delay > reverb fed to a big Altec speaker in the rear of the auditorium so as > to make the room sound more live. What happened was that the sound > dissipated so much that the rear of the omni-directional mic barely > caught anything, so the recording sounded too dry. When the technique > changed to three spaced omnis, more reverb and room tone was captured, > so there was less of a problem. Switching to the Schoeps M201 mic for > the single-mic mono also helped a bit because it's more sensitive than > a Neumann U-47 and also has a different presence peak that tends to > pick up low-level high-frequency information better in that setup. > Very late in Mercury's relationship with the Minneapolis Symphony, the > auditorium at Edison High School, which I think was out in the > suburbs, was used. That room had a better sound, it was "warmer" and > more detailed. Like Cass, it's a pity it wasn't "discovered" earlier. > > A similar search for a good venue took place when Command signed the > Pittsburgh Symphony. My father and Enoch Light checked out the > orchestra's performance venue, didn't like that. They also didn't like > the Syria Mosque, where Capitol had made its Pittsburgh recordings. > They found the Soliders and Sailors Hall, which had the unique > property of the stage being out into the cavernous space, so the whole > room had similar reverberant properties. This worked well for the > 6-mic technique that they devised for Command Classics. The Pittsburgh > Symphony went on to deliver a very good Beethoven cycle, and a good > Brahms cycle, and some other interesting recordings. Alas, Command > Classics never sold well, according to later interviews with Enoch > Light and others. In the late 60's and early 70's, ABC/MCA kept > cheapening the packaging and eventually let Pickwick put out > supermarket-counter versions of some records. Later-era ABC re-cuts > and pressings are far inferior to original-issues. > Were these Pittsburgh recordings ever issued on CD ? Regards -- Don Cox [log in to unmask]