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Prokofiev's 1932 Piano Concerto No. 3
Posted by Steve Luciani on August 6, 2024, 3:37 pm
Some speculation from the restorer, Paul Howard, a retired recording engineer:
"We have revisited this recording numerous times, including one from last year, because it is one of the most challenging, and puzzling, of the early 1930s. This is largely because it appears to be a single microphone recording from a period when the Gramophone Company was making strides in the new practice of mixing with multiple inputs. We suspect that the reason for this was Prokofiev himself. All of his recordings appear to be hastily made, and it is very likely that he had no patience with the recording process. In 1932 an artist could expect to spend much of the day in the studio rehearsing the mix with the production team.
The present recording suggests that Prokofiev limited this as much as he could. Thus we found ourselves in the modern era scratching our heads and trying to figure out exactly what the compromises made in the session were to accommodate him, and what impact they had on the recording itself. This may also explain the limited number of recordings he left; it is doubtful that the record producers of the era enjoyed working with Prokofiev any more than he enjoyed working with them.
At this time in recording history, a courier would be standing by to rush the finished sides to the mastering lab. If we listen a few minutes into the third movement we can hear a studio courier, who had probably just returned from making a delivery to the lab, knocking on the studio door and gaining admittance. At that time it was still felt that sounds like that would not register on the finished track. By 1935 studios had come to realize that electrical recording picked up everything; and the red 'Recording - Do Not Knock or Enter When Light Is On' sign became a standard fixture at all studio doors."
Seems like the RA folks reposted this with a new link:
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Some speculation from the restorer, Paul Howard, a retired recording engineer:
"We have revisited this recording numerous times, including one from last year, because it is one of the most challenging, and puzzling, of the early 1930s. This is largely because it appears to be a single microphone recording from a period when the Gramophone Company was making strides in the new practice of mixing with multiple inputs. We suspect that the reason for this was Prokofiev himself. All of his recordings appear to be hastily made, and it is very likely that he had no patience with the recording process. In 1932 an artist could expect to spend much of the day in the studio rehearsing the mix with the production team.
The present recording suggests that Prokofiev limited this as much as he could. Thus we found ourselves in the modern era scratching our heads and trying to figure out exactly what the compromises made in the session were to accommodate him, and what impact they had on the recording itself. This may also explain the limited number of recordings he left; it is doubtful that the record producers of the era enjoyed working with Prokofiev any more than he enjoyed working with them.
At this time in recording history, a courier would be standing by to rush the finished sides to the mastering lab. If we listen a few minutes into the third movement we can hear a studio courier, who had probably just returned from making a delivery to the lab, knocking on the studio door and gaining admittance. At that time it was still felt that sounds like that would not register on the finished track. By 1935 studios had come to realize that electrical recording picked up everything; and the red 'Recording - Do Not Knock or Enter When Light Is On' sign became a standard fixture at all studio doors."
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