Virtual Symphony Records

[William]

I am now working on re-recording a symphony with the VSL that I previously did over a two year period with Miraslav Vitous. Even when I first started doing it, I felt the need for the legato which of course did not exist.

I cannot believe how perfect and musically expressive the VSL legato is. I don't know how long it will take to do this new recording, but I hope to have it finished soon, and this has made me think of asking, since there seem to be many forward-thinking people on this forum, if anyone had any thoughts on this subject --

Of course we know that a lot of sampled music will be used on film/TV scores and similar things. But what about purely classical outlets? That is what I am most interested in, and it seems to be problematic, as to how you market such a recording. I have been rather alienated from the classical music establishment, and have gone very much alone because of that. I hope to have a CD finished soon of this symphony and a song-cycle for soprano and orchestra that I already recorded the vocal part for, but how does one sell this? My plan is to sell it independently on Amazon.com, under their "artist" program. But other types of promotion are needed, and should one emphasize the fact it was all recorded digitally by the composer, or should one allow it to stand just as music?

I wish that there was a "Virtual Symphony Records" record label, or something like that, which could give a recognizable outlet for such music. I guess I am viewing this as a new but very serious avenue for a classical composer who wishes to perfect and express his musical ideas very precisely, on his own, as the VSL truly allows.

Ultimately I'm trying to find an avenue for getting music out into the world that otherwise would simply be shut up in a drawer! Of course, maybe the best route is to simply put out a CD under your own name and not make a big deal about the way it was created. But in a sense the sampler is a musical instrument in its own right, and requires a lot of work and mastery to use in an expressive way, just like an acoustic instrument. You can't just sit down and do something like what Herb or Maarten did with their demos without being very accomplished. So "hiding" the fact it was created by sampler doesn't seem right either. I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas on this subject.

[pbudi]

William wrote:
"the sampler is a musical instrument in its own right, and requires a lot of work and mastery to use in an expressive way, just like an acoustic instrument."

I agree completely on William on this, since the 'renderer' has to choose which articulation to use for each note, not to mention phrasing, attack time, release time, and so on. And this is the very things an acoustic musician has to concern him/herself with all the time.

To create a truly musical rendering of a classical piece, not only one has to act as individual instrumentalist as mentioned above, he/she also needs to understand the music as a whole by creating a consistent interpretation: phrasing, mood-setting (ritardando at appropriate places), ornamentation (especially in Baroque music), dynamics, composer intention, and underlying imagery (esp for romantic era). This is the task of all classical musician and conductors. Whether the sound is created by acoustic instruments or by samplers pretending to be acoustic instruments, exactly the same criteria should apply to the rendering/performance.

Thus, a truly convincing rendering of a classical piece must also be a good recording that is subject to the same treatment by music critics. If it receives praise, I think the credit should go primarily to the 'renderer', the artist who 'compose' the sound. And the artist can in turn gives credit to the team that makes VSL possible, just as a conductor credits the members of the orchestra during applause at the end of a concert. VSL GmbH has asked to put the phrase "Orchestral samples included in this recording [are] from the Vienna Symphonic Library", which I think is very appropriate.

Therefore if I were to create a recording (such as Chopin piano concertos), I would market this just like other recordings with no special emphasis on the instruments being used. In the liner notes, I can certainly describe the technical details on how I create this rendering. Of course if there are record labels out there that specialize in recordings using VSL, I (or my agent) would then approach the producer just like a regular classical artist would do.


William wrote:
"Ultimately I'm trying to find an avenue for getting music out into the world that otherwise would simply be shut up in a drawer!"

I'm a classical pianist/organist. There are a lot of times I would like to create my own accompaniment to a piano concerto or to create my own rendering of my favorite classical pieces such as "Die Moldau" (which by the way is an EXCELLENT showcase for VSL, anyone care to render it?), Mozart's Clarinet quintet, etc. And I'm sure there are lots and lots of classical musicians out there who feel the same way and who are prevented from expressing their musicality because they cannot play the instruments and don't have the money to hire an orchestra!

At the price of under US $9,000 ($5,490 for VSL Pro and another $3,500 for a computer, GigaStudio 160, a MIDI controller, a sequencer), a good musician who can afford a top of the line Clavinova, a baby grand piano, or an entry level compact car, can potentially create orchestral musical performance comparable to at least a civic orchestra. When software sampling becomes more widespread, I certainly hope classical music get another boost.

There are many opportunities that come to mind. I know a talented soprano in my community, who has not had much exposure outside her county except by being a vocal professor at a local college and a member of a pretigious local choir who has 3-5 performances each season in the largest concert hall in this area. I can approach her and offer a joint project where I would use VSL to create the accompaniment. She can then use the recording as her demo CD, or even sell it in this community. (question to Herb: does she also need to be a licensed VSL user in this case?)

With hard drive, RAM, and CPU prices drop faster than a stone, this is truly a revolution unthinkable just 15 years ago. (Sorry for this rather long post)


Paul