DOI: 10.36871/hon.202004004
Authors
T. P. Chvanova
Magnitogorsk State Conservatory (Academy) named after M. I. Glinka, Magnitogorsk, Russian Federation
Abstract
Sound recording and related audio communication tools are complex and ambiguous phenomena,
the potential of which was revealed and implemented gradually, as technology improves
and new performing practices are consolidated. Sound recording has become a determining
factor in the development of musical culture in the XXth century, creating new forms of musical
being, changing the principles of musical communication and distribution of roles in the musical
hierarchy. In the field of piano art, recording led to the emergence of "virtual" forms of piano
performance and post-production practices, gave a new aesthetic quality to piano art, revived
the figure of composer-performer, and raised the value of a pianist-interpreter to a new level.
The tradition to consider the evolution of art in the context of scientific and technological
progress appeared in the 1970s. Nowadays in musicology, the aesthetic significance of recording
for piano art remains undefined, there are no large generalizing studies on this issue.
Recording has caused fundamental changes in the social life of music and musical performance,
the transformation of the traditional musical communication system — these processes
are currently most studied. The issues of musical communication are covered in the
works of E. Dukov, E. Nazaikinsky, I. Orlova, A. Sokhor, A. Yakupov. Books by N. Lebrecht,
Yu. Strakovich, A. Karabanova, T. Kuzub, Yu. Streglov are devoted to the problems of functioning
of musical art and their historical origin.
A considerable part of G. Gould's journalism is focused on prospects of sound recording.
According to Gould, the participation of the performer-interpreter in the process of sound engineering
brings his work closer to the composer, allowing "to establish a contact with a work,
which is very similar to the composer's own attitude to it".
Sound recording becomes the reason for transformation of the traditional system of "composer
— performer — listener" musical communication, historically associated with the functioning
of concert halls and the composer's priority role. Researchers note the complication
of the communicative chain due to the inclusion of the figure of the sound engineer (Yu. Kapustin,
I. Orlova). Feedback of listeners and the performer becomes mediated, it is carried out
through other channels — public opinion, press (Yu. Kapustin), the figure of a musicologist
critic (A. Yakupov, Yu. Streglov). The authors begin to consider sound recording as a new
form of musical existence, different from concert practice, which develops its own means of
expression, forms its own listener, creates its own performing personnel.
In modern research, recording as a component of innovative progress achievements is included
in the periodization of information technologies. Sound recording, being a means of
documentary communication, creates a new quality of fixation of a work of art in the actual
form of performing interpretation, post-production practices expand the aesthetic experience
of the performer and listeners. In the modern musical landscape, sound recording becomes a
product of joint work of a performer and sound engineer, art manager, music producer, while
the role of the performer is "virtualized".
Keywords
life of music, performing arts, communication, technical reproduction, piano, aesthetic ideal
