@rpmusic said:
To be able to to turn on a dime and create and entirely new cue is something that I never would be able to do in the past (using live orchestra) and have an actual track!
A triumph for VSL, but ultimately a sad day for all the enormously talented musicians that have made their livings working in this business. At the rate these tools are improving, it won't be long before having a full orchestra at a scoring sessions is an exotic, retro novelty.
Lee Blaske
Lee, it is a sad day, but in a way the reason for the decline of live orchestral work may be at least partly a self inflicted wound. As a former orchestral player i often spent concert after concert playing familiar work. Reasons given varied from having a season of this or that composer to 'we play the recognised stuff because it puts bums in seats.'. Now, i will qualify this with my intent to write more concert than film work. And as a compser who approached more than one orchestral administration with a score, even those with whom i'd worked as a player, the answer was invariably the same. We don't take new work, because the audience won't turn up and listen. This not from the conductor, or musical director, but the administrator, a non musician, more concerned with financial prosperity than creativity. I really wish i could say this was an isolated incident, but sadly it wasn't, and it's not just me i refer to, but several talented colleagues as well.
Bureaucrats with their hands on the books are invariably the reason so many orchestras play a lot of the same stuff over and over again, and lack the courage to bring new material to listening audiences. Couple that with it seems the desire on the part of so many composers to write material that is interesting for fellow composers, but incomprehensible to many who pay to listen. (Which is one reason why Mozart is so popular among the genenral public. The melodies are extremely simple and singable by all but the most dire of voices)
But now, there is light at the end of the tunnel for those who aspire to symphonic creation, or grander orchestral design for film, tv, games, etc. VSL's library is an opportunity to hear our work played, and performed as we would want it to be. There are still some restrictions, in the very nature of sample/computer construction, but we have the chance to forge ahead without having to go with cap in hand like the urchin child from Oliver, muttering hopefully to a non musical plebiscite. 'Please sir, can i get my music played?'
I used to have regrets about this every day, and tried hard to persist with the established system, in the direct hope that my colleagues who were still playing would get enough work to survive and even prosper. The most famous of orchestras will always play, and get work and spend their tme playing the favourites, recording, etc. The whole VSL project is an ideal job for any player who wants to strengthen his chops with the repetition, intense tonal concentration, and other advantages. I should imagine those players who recorded for VSL are better players as a result with improved sustainability added to their skills.
But the regrets have gone, and if orchestras persist in handing the prgramming of their work to accountants, and not taking risks to develop the next generation of compositional material and the writers, then they are their own worst enemies.
I'm thrilled at the opportunity to write without having to go through the system. Indeed, if those in decision making positions start to feel the pinch then just maybe the live creative possibilities may improve again. And this from a staunch supporter of live music. Now my situation has definite possiblities. I can work hard, write and programme well, and publish my work beofre it ever gets near an orchestra. If all goes well, and the work gains some popularity, then it will be the orchestras who will have to approach me for permission to play my work, and i like the irony in that possibility.
I think VSL and other developers have every reason to enjoy the visible fruits of their labour without regret. It's certainly not their fault (IMO) that live players are getting less work, but the intractability of the system's desire to move with the times, and play its part in fostering new ideas and ultimately work for the future.
Rp, congratulations and good luck for the future!
Alex.
