Massed strings and large choral groups

I can't say, one way or the other, if large choral groups are harder to record than other types but when I hear a really good one, it grabs my attention and refuses to let go. There's something inherently right when one hears well recorded human voices. It's hard to ignore (some Eric Whitacre samples recently had me gobsmacked at just how beautiful it can all sound).

When anything other than human voices are recorded, we can take for granted that it was the way it's supposed to sound, or at least very close. With human voices, it's something we can all immediately identify with and critique.

All the best,
Nonoise

Hello,

Yes, generally, I would agree.
A critical proviso, as articulated earlier, is the recording!

Regards,

Sam

Yes. applies to any type large group. Chamber much easier than a full orchestra etc.... In fact, that's why many 'great' classsical recordings are those where all the different instruments are clearly captured. Carlos Kleiber's CD of Beethoven's 5 & 7 is a good example.

Absolutely some of the most difficult sounds to get right. But not because they are strings or voices, but because they are massed. An average major orchestra can have more than sixty string players depending on the work being performed. One of the things that gives a great string section it's beautiful sound is the fact that you have that many different players, each with his/her own individual sound, playing together to create a "blend" where no one player sticks out (unless the music calls for it) and, as musicians like to describe it, "getting inside each other's sound". The result, in audio-speak, is an incredible amount of low-level information that the recording process, and the playback process, can only hope to get close to capturing fully. Sixty flutes, or banjos playing together would probably tax one's stereo (and recording mics) just as much. Luckily, not too many works written for sixty banjos.

Frogman, sixty banjos playing together would tax more than my stereo. I can, however, imagine such an event would go over well in Pittsburgh, and probably does in fact occur on a regular basis.

I cannot abide sitting in the balcony dress circle because the blending of which you speak drives me wacky. Admittedly, that takes very little. I much prefer main floor front seating - rows 5-6, just left of center or just right of center. I suspect that seating preference would not be uncommon among audiophile/music lovers. I want to hear the cellos "texture" not just hear their "color."
To me, masses strings in recordings sound much like the seating perspective has been shifted to dress circle. The texture of the individual instruments is lost. Ach, what would Mahler have instructed for recording his symphonies?