4 Part Music Blog

If there is anyone out there actually reading this then you may well have noticed that I haven’t written anything for a few months. Without wishing to sound like I am making excuses this is mostly due to the rather hectic schedule I have had recently.

In the last few weeks we have completed a number of new recordings and I have been busy working on some compositions for a private client. As well as this we have also been looking into some new equipment which I will talk about in another post. Briefly our idea was to explore whether or not there was any merit in having a portable system which (if running on battery power) would enable us to record in the middle of a field. Whether or not this would be useful to us remains to be seen. Watch this space for a full review.

In other news we are also busy perfecting our Internet producer system which will enable us work with producers at arms length (or indeed in another country). This will work alongside our current talk back system and we are even working on a new system of control which may incorporate a number of Apple iPads. Whilst this may sound all very technical the purpose is to make everything easier, not just for us but most importantly for our clients.

I will talk more about this system in a dedicated article discussing in greater detail the benefits of our technology.

On Saturday we recorded the Nelson Recorder Trio. This is our first collaboration with the trio and the first time we had been given the opportunity to record this type of ensemble.  As such we had to make sure we were fully prepared and perhaps in hindsight we did go rather over the top setting up 16 channels of microphones to record 3 instruments!  However, the trouble is we only get one chance to record so better to be safe than sorry!

The session lasted just shy of 3 hours with a short break in the middle for coffee and cake (well there’s always cake involved!).  Our plan is to edit the various takes next weekend and produce an approval disc by the middle of the following week.

Whilst we were at the Magdalen Chapel with the microphones set up I took the opportunity to do a little recording on the organ with the Chapel organist Dr Robert Anderson.  We have committed to produce a joint CD to raise funds for the chapel but it’s proving somewhat harder than we had originally anticipated!  More on that later…

Only 2 days to go until our next recording of the Nelson recorder trio who are based in our hometown of Bath.

We have been planning this recording since about September last year when we carried out a test recording to explore suitable venues. In the end the venue chosen was the Magdalen Chapel in Bath where, incidentally, I am the organist. Initial concerns from the musicians were expressed due to the fact that the chapel is carpeted. For this reason we carried out a free of charge test recording to see if the venue was suitable.

The test recording was also a good opportunity for us to understand the instruments we were to be recording. The most obvious feature of recorders is they are considerably quieter than a lot of instruments. The biggest challenge for this is not our ability to record but more to ensure the venue is as quiet as possible.

Following the recording in June 2009, we have just released the new CD of Prior Park College’s Chapel Choir entitled “Laudate”.  The CD was recorded over 3 nights with quite a grueling schedule of between 3 and 4 hours each night with only short breaks.  Given this, the chapel choir performed remarkably and the end result is something for everyone to be proud of.

Proir Park College is a co-educational Catholic day and boarding school occupying a magnificent Georgian mansion in Bath.  The choir has an outstanding reputation for excellence and has performed in a number of English cathedrals as well as throughout Europe.

Copies of the CD are available from Roland Robertson, Music Department, Prior Park College, Ralph Allen Drive, Bath, BA2 5AH or telephone 01225 835353.

Sir Colin Davis was presented with Her Majesty’s Medal for Music for 2009 by the Queen on 8 December at Mansion House. The conductor also performed for the Queen with the LSO, of which he is President.

The award was presented for the first time in 2005, and Sir Colin is its fifth recipient. It is given to an individual or group of musicians judged to have had a major influence on the musical life of the nation. These have included Sir Charles Mackerras (2005), Bryn Terfel (2006), Professor Judith Weir (2007) and Kathryn Tickell (2008).

Sir Colin Davis & HM The Queen

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Master of the Queen’s Music, chairs the music committee which decides on the nominations for the award. Sir Peter commented not only on Sir Colin’s ‘work as a conductor and ambassador of classical music at the highest possible level’, but also ‘his involvement with the musical education of young people, making classical music a vital contribution to their development as whole human beings’.

The other music committee members are The Lord Moser, William Lyne, Sir Nicholas Kenyon, Richard Morrison, The Hon. Sir Humphrey Maud and Michael Berkeley.

Last night I was in Bath for the last in this years series of Saturday evening organ recitals at Bath Abbey. This final recital was given by none other than the Abbey Organist and Director of Music Peter King. The combination of the Klais organ and the mastery of Peter King is an attraction that no lover of organ music should miss! The abbey was not surprisingly full for this occasion and with free admission (albeit with a £5 per head donation on exit) this recital series is excellent value!

The recital programme was as follows:

Excelsior! – Franz Liszt

Excelsior! is an organ arrangement of the prelude from “The bells of strasbourg minster” one of Liszts impressive choral works written in 1874. The theme from this short prelude was later used by Wagner in his opera Parsifal.

Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 543 – Johann Sebastian Bach

This “Great” prelude and fugue of Bach’s cannot be dated with any certainty but most likely falls somewhere between the early improvisatory works and the later mature masterpieces. The prelude has a largely improvisatory flavour and forms a very grand introduction to the melodic fugue. Unlike some later works the fugue does not end with a final grand entry on the pedals but returns to the free style of the prelude.

Concerto in D minor, BWV 596, Antonio Vivaldi / JS Bach

This work was long believed to be an original composition of Bach’s son Friedemann but is infact an arrangement by JS Bach of the Concerto for 2 violins op.3, no.11 by Vivaldi. It begins with a lively canonic duet above insistent pedal notes, and then a few full chords lead into an energetic fugue. The slow movement is a lilting siciliano and the concerto ends in a vigorous finale with a pungent chromatic ritornello.

Two legends – Franz Liszt

St Francis of Assis preaching to the birds (arr. Saint-Saens)

St Francis of Paola walking on the water (arr. Reger/King)

Liszt’s two Franciscan Legends for piano date from 1863 which is when Liszt was increasingly preoccupied by religious subjects.  The first of these two pieces predates Messiaen’s musical aviaries by nearly a century and is an amazingly original piece of musical picture painting.

A Song of Sunshine – Alfred Hollins

This is one of Hollins’ most popular pieces which follows his usual ABA form.  His compositions appeal to a wide audience due to the inexhaustible melodies and effortless mastery of modulation.

Homage to Handel – Sigfrid Karg-Elert

This fantastic piece is based around a short four bar motif from the theme of Handel’s Seventh Harpsichord Suite and was written following Karg-Elert’s election as Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Organists in 1914.  In total there are 54 variations on this simple theme and monotony is avoided by the huge range of textures and colours which Karg Elert employs.    This piece was an excellent way of showcasing not only the mighty Klais organ but also the phenomenal skill of Peter King. In the words of David Gammie “the final page is very, very grand: Karg-Elert’s tempo marking is trionfante e gigantica.”

Car firm Volkswagen recently teamed up with some designers to transform a set of steps at a subway in Stockholm into, well, a giant musical keyboard not too dissimilar from those played by Tom Hanks in flick Big.

The subway keys don’t appear to light-up, but each plays an individual note every time someone steps on them.

The most common question I am asked when talking about 4 Part Music as a recording company is “Where is your studio based?”.

The answer “We don’t have a studio” is usually met with some surprise as the expectation is that a recording company has a studio from which it records.  This of course is often the case. Over the years we have often wondered about investing in a studio – perhaps partly to have an answer to this question!

But, in business it is important to be very clear about your aims and position in the market. 4 Part Music has been set up to work “on location”.  The primary reason of course is that our target market is made up of choirs and organists and such musicians do not lend themselves to being recorded in a studio. For such recordings the Church, Cathedral or School Chapel becomes the studio.   This means therefore that we carry around all the equipment you would normally house in a studio.

The most challenging part of the setup is the venue itself. As churches vary in shapes and sizes we have to adapt our setup accordingly. This is where a multi mic technique is crucial.   We have to ensure we capture the choir, the organ and the acoustic – assuming there is one.  Where this matters most is when we come to master the recording.  Our aim is to always be in a position where we can rebalance the sound in accordance with the musical directors wishes.  This could be a case of, more choir, less organ or taking out some of the acoustic.  Obviously, unless we have recorded all these elements separately as well as together we would be unable to do this.

Even where we are recording an organ on it’s own we still follow a similar principle of recording the instrument as well as the acoustic.  The biggest danger of any on location recording is that microphone placement has to be determined for each different location.  Get it wrong and you can either end up with a recording which sounds like it was done in a cupboard or even worse sounding too distant as if the microphones were left outside in the car park.

It’s probably one of the most common phrases you hear. “Oh I can’t do that I will be at work” or “Sorry I’m late I had some work to get done”.  The thing is though, no one ever seems to have any time nowadays and a lot of this is attributable to “work”.  Speaking to those of an older generation than myself I’ve discovered that it didn’t always used to be this way.

Back in the mid 20th century, your average middle class blue collar worker would go to work at 9am and finish at 5pm having taken the 1 hour lunch break.  No one was ever seemingly in much of a hurry and yet all the work got done.  Coupled to this communication took longer. There were no computers, emails, internet, mobile phones twitter or any of the other “communication” means we take for granted today.  Ok there was the telephone but other than that everything had to be typed and posted.   Based on this, it could be assumed that everything will have taken longer. To send a purchase order, it would have to be typed, sealed in an envelope and sent by post to a supplier for example.  Nowadays a quick email is usually all it takes.

So if we can do everything so much faster today, then how come we don’t all have buckets of time available to do things other than “work”?   I often debate this when I reflect on the day and consider how much time I have given over to “working”.  I suppose one obvious reason is because everything is faster then you can do more in a day. So where before you would send a letter and then have to wait a few days for a response, now you can send an email and even if that person is on holiday the chances are they will get it on their Blackberry or iPhone and then respond within a few minutes.

In my opinion it comes down to knowing when to stop.  Going back 50 years, it was accepted that office hours were typically 9-5. I realise there are still some companies who adopt this policy but it is less widespread. Because there was no other means of communication then once you had left the office that was it. Which meant everyone could enjoy their leisure time.

The danger now is that even when you finish work at 5pm and leave the office you have so many opportunities to communicate.  Get in the car to drive home and you find your hands free car phone available to you.  Arrive home and there’s most likely a “web enabled” computer which will enable you to check emails. If you cant get to your home pc, then that’s ok because all your emails will be delivered to your phone.   Therefore many people never stop “working”.

Obviously it would be easy for me to say, just turn your phone off when you get home and instead of switching your computer on go out into the garden or go for a walk.  I’m sure many people do this, but the danger is what everyone else choose to be doing.  What concerns me is that currently I believe we still have the choice to “switch off”, but I think in the not to distant future it will be normal practice for everyone to always be connected to everyone else.  I personally think that would be a shame.

And on that note, at 10.32pm I am going to switch my computer off and go and do something which is not “work” related!

For the last few months I have been recording a monthly podcast with Lesley Anne Hornbogen of “On the Go”.   Lesley Anne is a virtual assistant and she see’s a monthly podcast as a means of communicating with her client base and new prospects.

However, a podcast is not simply an audio version of an email newsletter (at least not the traditional type of email newsletter which is often no more than a sales pitch!).  In the business world, a podcast is an opportunity for a business owner to “speak” to their clients or prospects and give an insight into not only their business but talk about their experience and current news items affecting their business as well.  I’ve so far recorded 3 podcasts with Lesley Anne and we have discussed a range of subjects including Networking, Social Media and the role of a Virtual Assistant.

Now, you would be forgiven for thinking that Lesley Anne and I presumably meet up in a recording studio to put together the podcast.  I think almost without exception every person that I meet and say I’m involved with a recording business immediately asks “wheres your studio?”.  But no, these podcasts are currently all recorded in Lesley Anne’s kitchen with us sat round the table.   Welcome to the world of on location recordings.

By doing this series of Podcasts with Lesley Anne, I am hoping to show that with the right equipment and setup you don’t actually need a “studio”.  After all, what exactly is a recording studio other than 4 walls, some microphones and other recording equipment?  Actually, there is a bit more too it than that, but the point is we carry everything needed to turn almost any space into an acoustically treated studio environment.  Luckily for me, Lesley Anne has agreed to be “experimented” on and we have tried various different setups.  I am particularly pleased with the 3rd podcast and would welcome any feedback.

You can listen to Lesley Anne’s podcasts by visiting the samples page of our website. Or alternatively for more information on our audio recording services please visit the main site here.