Brahms' Second Piano Concerto. Last night. at DVinfo.net

John Murphy · February 28th, 2021, 11:39 AM

Well this was a serious challenge. The dynamics of this piece is incredible. I'm pretty happy with the audio, my biggest issue was keeping the fortissimo under control.

Fantastic performance for Claire Huangci and the Helena Symphony Orchestra,

If the link does not work, just search Helena Symphony Orchestra on Youtube.

J

P.S. I'm only responsible for the actual concert audio.

Allan Black · February 28th, 2021, 04:33 PM

Another success John, thanks for posting. I like your soundstage, good balance with the horns and piano. Did you remix it from your L20 and lay it back?

Claire Huangci is very good, reading the score off a tablet. How does it turn the pages, is there someone following off stage?

Cheers.

John Murphy · February 28th, 2021, 05:04 PM

Hi Allan. I don't know how Claire's tablet worked. Foot switch maybe? A tablet would make me nervous. Paper is pretty dependable.

I'm happy with the L-20. What your hearing is the direct live mix from the board. Through an ART Pro VLA 2 compressor, sent to the video switcher. I used 12 mics on this show so it gave me a nice opportunity to create a believable soundstage. Glad I had a good mic on the Horns!

Ms. Huangci is a great talent. Great to be able to work with her.

Thanks, J

Paul R Johnson · March 1st, 2021, 01:24 AM

Show bands have been on pads now for ages, and they’re more reliable than paper pads which always fell off, turned two pages or were accidentally on the wrong page. You can set the popular ones to use Bluetooth foot switches, a swipe or have another pad controlled by somebody else. My concert pianist friend spent months scanning his collection and the app does the alignment and tweaking for you. He can import music from Sibelius, and he is not remotely a computer lover but really likes the pad system.

Allan Black · March 1st, 2021, 03:20 PM

Thanks Paul, I wondered how Ms. Huangci handled it, it’s putting the page turners out of biz. But she would know the score by memory, the printed score is back up.

I had a bit to do with the Sydney Piano Competition and every 4 years the city was full with about 200 contestants from all over the world. Each one had 4 complete classical scores in their head, because if they made each of the successive heats, there was no time to study and learn a piece for the next one.

The problem was finding good tuned pianos for each of them to practice on, then booking time on them. But it worked, many were really taken with the whole Sydney scene and recorded a CD for release back in their own country. I remember a Russian who couldn’t speak a word of English recording in our studios. His translator just dropped him off and we did it all by sign language. It was exhausting.

Cheers.

Paul R Johnson · March 1st, 2021, 04:14 PM

Classical musicians are often thought of as a bit stick-in-the-mud, but once people get over the trust thing, all things are possible. I play in put bands from time to time as my reading is OK, just a bit rusty - so the first time you go in as a Dep - which is my usual reason for being there - you would walk in and get handed the pad and have to sight read a 60 min show. Very often, endless medleys - and at the end of the night I could never even remember playing some of the songs I'd played. Even worse, you had to trust the band leader had organised your pad properly, and sometimes they had messed up and finding your way back in was virtually impossible. Turning up now and having the music magically appear was great. My only snag is that it would sometimes change before I'd read ahead and remembered the last bar. I did one where the music scrolled continually like an autocue - but the rest just do a page turn as you would with music. I actually liked the scrolling one. It's also nice because unlike music stand lights, you can read the music properly. When I do longer running gigs, I like to draw on the scores - big arrows and capital Db in red maybe to remind me to pay attention. I think you could do this as they are from PDFs, so editing them would be possible - but not when you're a Dep. Playing to a click in your ears, and reading the music from a pad is really different but so many people also use pads for the tracks now. My band have just started using tracks - not to add extra things and 'cheat', but to solve a real problem. Our keyboard player has rheumatoid arthritis and during covid his drugs got messed up and it's ruined his hands. He's the pianist. He cannot play the parts any more - really tragic for a pianist to lose control of his fingers, so he wanted to retire - but we all decided that as we had all his keyboard parts recorded, we'd try his part as a track - on a good day, he can play, but on a bad one, the sound guy just drops the real keyboard as it will have loads of wrong notes, and bring in the plastic piano (as we're calling it). He can still sing of course, so we're using pads for this.

February 28th, 2021, 11:39 AM	#1
John Murphy Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Helena, MT Posts: 94	Brahms' Second Piano Concerto. Last night. Well this was a serious challenge. The dynamics of this piece is incredible. I'm pretty happy with the audio, my biggest issue was keeping the fortissimo under control. Fantastic performance for Claire Huangci and the Helena Symphony Orchestra, If the link does not work, just search Helena Symphony Orchestra on Youtube. J P.S. I'm only responsible for the actual concert audio. MASTERWORKS CONCERT IV: Schumann, Brahms, and Pianist Claire Huangci - YouTube

February 28th, 2021, 04:33 PM	#2
Allan Black Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Sydney. Posts: 2,887	Re: Brahms' Second Piano Concerto. Last night. Another success John, thanks for posting. I like your soundstage, good balance with the horns and piano. Did you remix it from your L20 and lay it back? Claire Huangci is very good, reading the score off a tablet. How does it turn the pages, is there someone following off stage? Cheers. __________________ Drink more tap water. On admission at Sydney hospitals more than 5% of day patients are de-hydrated.

February 28th, 2021, 05:04 PM	#3
John Murphy Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Helena, MT Posts: 94	Re: Brahms' Second Piano Concerto. Last night. Hi Allan. I don't know how Claire's tablet worked. Foot switch maybe? A tablet would make me nervous. Paper is pretty dependable. I'm happy with the L-20. What your hearing is the direct live mix from the board. Through an ART Pro VLA 2 compressor, sent to the video switcher. I used 12 mics on this show so it gave me a nice opportunity to create a believable soundstage. Glad I had a good mic on the Horns! Ms. Huangci is a great talent. Great to be able to work with her. Thanks, J

March 1st, 2021, 01:24 AM	#4
Paul R Johnson Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Lowestoft - UK Posts: 4,016	Re: Brahms' Second Piano Concerto. Last night. Show bands have been on pads now for ages, and they’re more reliable than paper pads which always fell off, turned two pages or were accidentally on the wrong page. You can set the popular ones to use Bluetooth foot switches, a swipe or have another pad controlled by somebody else. My concert pianist friend spent months scanning his collection and the app does the alignment and tweaking for you. He can import music from Sibelius, and he is not remotely a computer lover but really likes the pad system.

March 1st, 2021, 03:20 PM	#5
Allan Black Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Sydney. Posts: 2,887	Re: Brahms' Second Piano Concerto. Last night. Thanks Paul, I wondered how Ms. Huangci handled it, it’s putting the page turners out of biz. But she would know the score by memory, the printed score is back up. I had a bit to do with the Sydney Piano Competition and every 4 years the city was full with about 200 contestants from all over the world. Each one had 4 complete classical scores in their head, because if they made each of the successive heats, there was no time to study and learn a piece for the next one. The problem was finding good tuned pianos for each of them to practice on, then booking time on them. But it worked, many were really taken with the whole Sydney scene and recorded a CD for release back in their own country. I remember a Russian who couldn’t speak a word of English recording in our studios. His translator just dropped him off and we did it all by sign language. It was exhausting. Cheers. __________________ Drink more tap water. On admission at Sydney hospitals more than 5% of day patients are de-hydrated.

March 1st, 2021, 04:14 PM	#6
Paul R Johnson Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Lowestoft - UK Posts: 4,016	Re: Brahms' Second Piano Concerto. Last night. Classical musicians are often thought of as a bit stick-in-the-mud, but once people get over the trust thing, all things are possible. I play in put bands from time to time as my reading is OK, just a bit rusty - so the first time you go in as a Dep - which is my usual reason for being there - you would walk in and get handed the pad and have to sight read a 60 min show. Very often, endless medleys - and at the end of the night I could never even remember playing some of the songs I'd played. Even worse, you had to trust the band leader had organised your pad properly, and sometimes they had messed up and finding your way back in was virtually impossible. Turning up now and having the music magically appear was great. My only snag is that it would sometimes change before I'd read ahead and remembered the last bar. I did one where the music scrolled continually like an autocue - but the rest just do a page turn as you would with music. I actually liked the scrolling one. It's also nice because unlike music stand lights, you can read the music properly. When I do longer running gigs, I like to draw on the scores - big arrows and capital Db in red maybe to remind me to pay attention. I think you could do this as they are from PDFs, so editing them would be possible - but not when you're a Dep. Playing to a click in your ears, and reading the music from a pad is really different but so many people also use pads for the tracks now. My band have just started using tracks - not to add extra things and 'cheat', but to solve a real problem. Our keyboard player has rheumatoid arthritis and during covid his drugs got messed up and it's ruined his hands. He's the pianist. He cannot play the parts any more - really tragic for a pianist to lose control of his fingers, so he wanted to retire - but we all decided that as we had all his keyboard parts recorded, we'd try his part as a track - on a good day, he can play, but on a bad one, the sound guy just drops the real keyboard as it will have loads of wrong notes, and bring in the plastic piano (as we're calling it). He can still sing of course, so we're using pads for this.