A Century of Recorded Music: Listening to Musical History

by Timothy Day

A century of recording has fundamentally changed our experience of music―the way we listen to it and the way it is performed. This highly engaging book is the first thorough exploration of the impact of recording technology upon the art of music. Timothy Day chronicles the developments in recording technology since its inception and describes the powerful effects it has had on artistic performance, audience participation, and listening habits. He compares the characteristics of musical life one hundred years ago―before the phonograph―to those of today and offers a fascinating analysis of how performing practices, images of performers, the work of composers, and performance choices in concert halls and opera houses have changed.

The book investigates the work of such great recording engineer-impresarios as Fred Gaisberg and Walter Legge; the recording history of conductors, orchestras, and soloists throughout the century; and the development of the great classical recording labels. Day also addresses a variety of questions raised by the study of What have people expected of a recorded performance? Do recordings constitute an art form in their own right? What is historical authenticity? What is moral authenticity? Are recordings that endow incompetent artists with flawless techniques somehow fraudulent? Why do artists re-record repertoire? This book will inform and engage a wide range of readers, from those who love music and recordings to performers and scholars and all readers with an interest in the social and artistic history of the twentieth century.

Genres: Music

336 pages, Paperback

First published November 10, 2000

Reviews

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book - I cannot recommend it highly enough. Anyone who has ever collected or seriously listened to classical recordings will readily see that Mr. Day is telling a story that they have been an active part of. I began collecting LPs and listening to music on the radio just as I was starting my teen-age years in the early Seventies. People may have a hard time believing it now, but in those days it wasn't too unusual for youngsters to take up listening to classical music as a hobby - many of my friends were into it, too, and I had one pal who a serious reel-to-reel guy. I was aided in my explorations by the facts that New York City had three excellent classical stations - WQXR, WNCN, and WNYC - and that my local libraries in Passaic and Rutherford, New Jersey, had first-rate LP collections.

So I read Mr. Day's book with a thrill of recognition. He delves deep into subjects that I only had sketchy knowledge of, but now realize that I had always wanted to know more about. This is a pioneering volume that opens avenues that others will surely explore. Work is already being done in some areas of popular music - there is considerable scholarship on the Beatles in the studio, for example. But we need more on jazz recording, recording of folk and world music in the field, spoken word recording (Shakespeare recordings are a particular passion of mine). Archives happily exist, but much more research in them needs to be undertaken.