The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Aleks Kolkowski of the Science Museum arranged with the Royal College of Nusic to attempt a recreation of the Nikisch recording of Beethoven's Fifth in 1913. This is something of a lost art as recordings of this scale haven't been done for a very long time indeed. Duncan Miller (CLPGS member) constructed a massive set of recording equipment, including making the wax blanks, and the session took place on 5th and 6th November. Keith Harrison (CLPGS member) assisted and tried not to get in the way.

The BBC reported on the event, and a short piece can be heard as a podcast at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/galleries/p02g6yqf. Further details are at http://www.rcm.ac.uk/research/events/gr ... 4%20A4.pdf. Duncan has produced a resin copy of one of the takes and it is understood that a more complete broadcast will be made by the BBC later in the year.

It was a fascinating exercise, and well showed the problems of capturing the sound of even a 65 piece orchestra into a single horn. I hope to be able to do it again, armed with a whole two days of experience!

Keith

Thanks for this article!
For easier navigation to the podcast excerpt, try this link, and start playback at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04wm1nq

The excerpt starts at 1:26:59
Bob

The Nikisch recording excerpted here (part of mvt. 2, Andante) uses tuba on the bass part, following the usual practice in the acoustic era. Beethoven never used the tuba in anything, indeed the instrument as we know it today did not exist in his time.

For some reason, the acoustical process picks up the slightest intonation discrepancies, and these examples (whether Nikisch or RCM) are no exception. Perhaps they really did play out of tune, but we'll never know!

Thanks for posting; these are very interesting.

There seems to be another thread on this subject in the Music section, from which I see that I was not the only listener to be suprised by the amount of surface noise on the "new" recording.