2014 – Performance analysis of Bronislaw Huberman’s Canzonetta by Tchaikovsky.
How can one notate the performance choices that make each recording of a piece of music unique? Knowing that Bronislaw Huberman performed on the same violin that Joshua Bell plays today, can performance choices of the past be re-expressed, re-created? Finally, how did recording technologies of the past influence performance choices, especially the use of timbre? In this analysis, a number of different recordings of Huberman playing the same piece were investigated.
Brunswick (1923):
Columbia via Pearl (1928):
1946:
Joshua Bell, Sony (2005):
What sounds old?
A 4000 Hz cutoff not only limits the reproduction of violin timbre, but also limits the reproduction of bowing and fingering articulations which have broadband, noise-like qualities. Here is a completely unaltered, modern recording:
Here is the same recording with the 4000 Hz cutoff:
Additional information can be found here.