[TPIN] Orchestral Balance

[Orion Development Corp - D. Arndt]

There's also the style/school of playing on the part of the *strings*.   

A symphony orchestra I played in years ago in latin america had an American 
brass & wind section, and mixed string section (combination of Americans, 
Venezuelans, Brits, and some Eastern Europeans).  They would constantly 
accuse the brass of playing "too heavy"  - and they complained that 
accoustics on the stage prevented the violins from projecting.  Hmmmm...

Then, one week, the Moscow State Radio Symphony came to town...

Now... I would venture to say that there is no style of orchestral brass 
playing that is more "brash" than Soviet/Russion players (also... vibrato 
like Harry James).  These players don't "back off" much...

Yet... when THAT orchestra played (in the same hall as us), the strings put 
out a sound that made it seem like they were sitting in your lap in the back 
row of the theatre - just amazing!  A huge, big, fat sound - one could 
practically see a cloud of rosin over the stage when they played, because of 
how much they were "digging in".  And the brass - in spite of their brash 
style - blended beautifully.  The musical effect was chilling.  The entire 
*sound* was bigger, deeper - both darker and brighter and the same time.  
Just more depth in the sound, more tonal spectrum.

- Arndt

On Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:13:26 +0000, Achias1 wrote
> After hearing a local orchestra perform Debussy's "La Mer," I need 
> to bring up a subject that is likely to open a can of worms -
>  orchestral balance.
> 
> Everything about the performance was fine except that the brass kept
> overbalancing the strings (hopefully, I won't lose my "Ba__s Against 
> The Wall Trumpet Players' Club" membership card for that statement.)
> 
> Evidently, this has been a problem even with major orchestras in the 
> past few years. If not overbalancing brass, then the overall volume 
> level rising.
> 
> I think that part of the skill of playing well in an orchestra is 
> knowing how to balance and I consider it a flaw when a player 
> doesn't listen and balance well.
> 
> Am I correct in this?
> 
> Is there any hope for returning to the well-balanced and accurate 
> volume-leveled groups of years ago?
> 
> Dave
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