The release of the disc Schubert on Tape by the Belgian pianist Edna Stern provokes a reflection on the quest for an ideal sound in the recording. Starting from the example of the piano, we discussed it with the main interested party, but also with his colleague Éric Le Sage, recognized for his Schumann and Fauré records at Alpha, and Michael Adda, general and artistic director of La Dolce Volta, label renowned for the extreme care surrounding its artistic projects.
Schubert on Tape, the idea is unexpected. In this CD published by Orchid Classics and produced in collaboration with the high-fidelity manufacturer Audio Note, Edna Stern has returned to analog tape, to better highlight, she writes in the notice, “the humanity that lies in these Schubert masterpieces”.
Those who expect a great breath of pure sound air will however be at their expense. Even if digital editing has been banned and long takes preferred, we hear a piano that is certainly clear and clean, but curtly confined in a room that seems small. It quickly becomes clear that everyone has a different conception of what “a feeling of life” is in Schubert’s music, as the otherwise always excellent and refined musician writes.
habits
Edna Stern, who assures us first of all that the product corresponds to what she wanted, considers that each listening experience varies and that “on beautiful high-fidelity systems, we hear differently”. “Working with Audio Note, I chose my takes based on this equipment that I love. But if you’re talking about the dry look, you’re talking about something else. There is a choice not to add artificial reverb. »
The question is therefore relevant: should a piano listened to in a living room sound like in this living room, or should the listening simulate a concert hall? “For Schubert, I would prefer a living room. Put on the reverberation of the Musikverein in Vienna? Why ? says Edna Stern.
Recording a piano and inscribing its sound artificially in a room is something that made Edna Stern jump in some of her CDs, including one of the most famous, that of Bach transcriptions published by Zig Zag. “You play Bach where everything is based on precise articulation (because I’m terribly precise) and then you add reverb, and that reverb changes your articulation. That said, Edna Stern acknowledges that “a lot of people like that sound” and that she’s out of tune with listening habits.
“What I do, I do in relation to a sound space. It was not a very large room, but not small either. I was comfortable with the acoustics”, concludes the pianist.
The adequacy of the pianist and the room is a winning recipe in the complete Schumann of Éric Le Sage at Alpha: “I was lucky to have had the room of La Chaux-de-Fonds, in Switzerland, natural acoustics, because I wanted an airy and warm sound. I like to hear the natural resonances of the piano, its own breath,” the French pianist tells us. “What we found with sound engineer Jean-Marc Laisné is a precision/spatialization synthesis with the room and the piano. »
a tandem
The association between the artist and the sound engineer is essential, as Michael Adda of the La Dolce Volta label points out. It leaves the artists the choice between two configurations: to work with a sound engineer and an artistic director, or with a sound engineer who assumes both roles.
“In 10 years of La Dolce Volta, the artists have always arrived very prepared, as if to run a 100m at the Olympic Games. The role of the artistic director is that they don’t just run, but that they get on the top step of the podium, and that’s unconscious, it’s maieutics: “Can we dig this direction ? Can we try one last take?” This work allows us to deepen works that have been performed many times. »
“What makes the quality of a good sound recording is the quality of the means deployed, the poles, the microphones, but also the personality. You can be a great professional and a detestable person. »
Michael Adda therefore seeks to surround himself with “fine, intelligent, cultured people, understanding that the only ego that should exist is that of the artist and that, ultimately, the balance will always be the one validated by the artist. »
The director of La Dolce Volta tours mainly with three teams: “Funny thing, in July 2020, we made three solo piano recordings in a fortnight at the Arsenal in Metz with three different sound engineers. At no time was the piano placed in the same way. »
The piano is positioned by the management or the piano rental company, generally in the center of the stage. Then the engineer manipulates it by installing the microphones, the artist rehearses, asks for some adjustments, the soundcheck intervenes and the recording can begin.
Éric Le Sage points out that, in chamber music recordings with piano, “the recording position can be very far from the natural position in concert”.
Preserving Identity
Michael Adda reminds us that the quality of a piano sound recording is also achieved by a cog that is rarely highlighted: the tuner. “I never start a recording without a meeting between the pianist and the tuner: two hours of exchanges on how to approach the program. »
Éric Le Sage also mentions the importance of piano tuning and tuning. For example, in the chamber music recordings, which present “the difficulty of keeping one’s colors on the piano without affecting the balance or the sonorities of each and trying to find an overall sound.
For Schumann, I chose a Steinway from 1890, one of the first with crossed strings, for reasons of balance with the cello. For Fauré, a Yamaha for the quintets, and a Steinway beautifully tuned by Kazuto Osato, who was Richter’s tuner for twenty years. » Of Kazuto Osato, Éric Le Sage says: « He magnifies any instrument. »
The choice of instrument is a quest that unites great pianists. Edna Stern tried out in this area, even once, in Chopin, with a museum instrument pushed to its limits. “A Schumannian piano sound that I really like is that of the 1856 Blüthner used with Julian Pregardien for the Dichterliebe “, says Éric Le Sage, who cites among his sound models, in which the sound is inseparable from the artist and “sticks” perfectly to the composer, “Arrau in the Nocturnes of Chopin, Kempff in the Sonatas of Schubert, Radu Lupu in the 3and Sonata by Brahms, but also the Bill Evans Trio at the Village Vanguard, We Get Requests by Oscar Peterson and the Cologne Concert by Keith Jarrett. »
As the director of a record company, Michael Adda considers himself the guardian of an ethic. “The La Dolce Volta sound is an integral part of the concept. What we hear must please in the same way that the retina is stimulated by texts and photos. »
He is now offered, like other publishers, turnkey projects. “When I see a Master, I say to the artist: “It’s very beautiful, you have a Master and 50,000 euros to spend, but I don’t know who recorded it for you and when I produce a record or include it in my catalog, I’m looking for a sound coherence, an identity”. “Nothing beats the total freedom of the producer who pays for what he wants to hear,” he analyzes.
In Europe, aid to artists during confinement generated a lot of recordings. “Foundations gave big checks to musicians to record. This made sound engineers happy, but now there are a lot of masters available on the market. All these young people have indulged themselves with sonic business cards, but the question, in an overcrowded market, is: should we publish everything or can we stay straight in our boots as a director of label and consider each output as an event? »
As for Edna Stern, she will persevere in her more analytical “millimetric” vein. “Any composer’s work is a work on harmony that joins counterpoint. This meeting of the two interests me. This is what she wants to document. How in the future? “I don’t know if we can talk a lot about the future right now,” she says laconically.