Is this a natural baroque cello sound or just badly recorded?

[Steve Rogers]

Amazon.com

I am listening to a streamed version of Haydn's Cello Concertos performed by Jean-Guihen Queyras , via a cd quality stream. In the D Major concerto first track, "allegro moderato", the cello has a cadenza at the end. Some of it sounds quite weird to me especially the bass part from from 13 minutes 10 seconds in to say 13.30. At first I thought it may be a room thing but I also hear it on headphones and in another hifi system. Is it a bad recording, my ears or just the way a cello sounds when closely miked?

 

[Rednaxela]

Listened to the piece on Spotify through a pair of Sony MH-750 in-ears. It doesn’t sound very off to me, other than that it feels like my head is almost touching the instrument.

Maybe they could have done better, maybe it’s just incredibly difficult to record a cello, possibly both, I don’t know.

Bookmarked the piece though, it’s lovely!

 

[Tremolo]

What do you mean "weird"? I found the very same cd on yt and the cadenza sounds ok to me but I don't know the streaming resolution. I am not really sure he is playing with a baroque cello with gut strings.

(BTW nice music, thank you for let me know)

 

[Rednaxela]

@Tremolo, perhaps to avoid confusion, I believe this is the movement under discussion.

 

[Tremolo]

@Tremolo, perhaps to avoid confusion, I believe this is the movement under discussion.

Corrected, thank you! I was listening to the right piece but I copypasted the wrong link.

 

[Steve Rogers]

What do you mean "weird"? I found the very same cd on yt and the cadenza sounds ok to me but I don't know the streaming resolution. I am not really sure he is playing with a baroque cello with gut strings.

(BTW nice music, thank you for let me know)

The bass of the cello sound wrong to me, originally I thought it was a room mode but I hear same over headphones. Maybe it depends how far you are away from the stage? Try this one - different Cadenza but the Cello sounds to me more correct (11.30 in same movement)

 

[Digby]

I think you need to be a bit more specific, just sounds like typical cello "growl" (resonance) to me.

By the way, I really like the Jacqueline du Pre version of this piece:

 

[Tremolo]

It doesn't sound wrong to me but the timbre is different if this is what you mean. It should be, like you said, he's using a baroque setup or just a baroque bow. Or maybe is a peculiar timbre of his instrument. Or maybe is just the miking that seems very close (I can ear the player breathe?).

 

[Hugo9000]

Close mic placement and in that section, he is using a light pressure with the bow, producing a softer and less resonant sound on those bass notes.

 

[agiletiger]

Baroque bow and baroque techniques most definitely. That includes baroque pitch which is about 25Hz lower for an A - that can have a drastic effect on timbre too. Pretty sure the soloist is using gut strings on a baroque cello but not as certain as above. Notes and sound decay faster therefore phrases are shorter. Very minimal use of vibrato and much more usage of open strings than one would use in modern times - both also drastically affect timbre. It can be very jarring but if you become accustomed to the sound, you will hear things that you won’t hear in modern interpretations.

 

[MrOtto]

What are your favorite cello recordings? Where the cello can vibrate naturally out of the speakers. The cello equivalent to "Keith don't go" from "Acoustic live"
Like he talks about here, on a powerful system:

A friend played on his cello in front of me in his kitchen, not a large room, and it was quite an experience, it really hits you in the stomach.