Listening From the Outside

The few revival recordings I've heard recently have much in common that I find lamentable (Damn Yankees, Anything Goes, Singin' In the Rain):

Vocals: Singers tend to sell their voice, not the song. I get the feeling as I listen that they are not even aware of the words coming out of their mouth; they are spouting syllables which they use solely as a vehicle to showcase their voice. They use the mood of the song to sell their sound, but they don't communicate the meaning of the words. It sounds empty.

Orchestrations: Way too much emphasis on mallet instruments. It becomes clear that many orchestrators have been heavily influenced by the cartoons they grew up watching. Over-arranging is rampant; the orchestras sound like a parody of themselves.

Orchestral color:

Bass: Electric bass for Cole Porter or Adler & Ross? I find this simply astounding.

Drums: Drummers have tuned their instruments as if they are recording with the band Toto. They all have a 1980's studio sound, not a live (as in alive), vibrant sound. Everything is dull, muffled. It's a terrible sound for a pit orchestra, which is essentially a big band with strings. They also tend to play fills which are out of style with the rest of the music (too sophisticated; too hip for the room), proving that they are often not in touch with the music that's being played around them.

Orchestral attack: Yes, they play loud or soft when they're supposed to, and they are "tight," but where is the fire? Everything sounds "correct." Compare the original Broadway cast recording or the movie soundtrack of Damn Yankees with the '94 revival. Those Fifties orchestras sounded inspired! Do today's pit musicians enjoy what they do? I don't hear it. I hear "correct" and "tight." (I'm sure that part of the problem lies in the corny orchestrations - the orchestrations are not inspired.)

Alas.

Comments

[Aaron]

So true! The orchestrations today are nothing like the orchestrations of yester-year. And enough with re-orchestrating show. The 92 revival of "Guys and Dolls", the 99 revival of "Kiss Me, Kate", and the 07 revival of "Les Miserables" all had new orchestrations, which relied more on doubling woodwinds, and less on strings, if any strings at all. The Les Miz orchestration was just a bad idea - you can't condense the 30 piece pit to 12 players, it takes the fire out of the battle scenes, and the "Tristan and Isolde" type yearning away in "Dreamed a Dream" and "On My Own". The string parts in the original "Guys and Dolls" were great (listen to the violins go in "Luck Be a Lady"). Even in "La Cage aux Folles" they were great. These days, I feel relieved to see that there are more than 10 people in a pit - and there are string parts too - then I worry about orchestration. And finally, synthesizers should only be used for sounds that you can't get by playing real instruments. Enough of these MTI "3rd synthesizer parts that replace the string section"!