Nicolas Roudier - Historical Horn Player

Time to look back on the recent amazing events. First in line : probably the first ever recording of an orchestra using historical techniques.
Extensive research have been lead on the subject of early recording techniques by Duncan Miller from Vulcan Records and Dr. Inja Stanovic from the university of Surrey, which allowed the reconstruction of a historical recording using the methods first invented by Thomas Alva Edison in the 1870s : a large funnel/horn engraving vibrations on a wax disc which can later be used as a mold for a hard vinyl. The purpose was to explore how music and its environment have changed with the invention of sound recording, and what the reconstruction of historical recordings can teach us about historically informed performance. What are we actually hearing on these old recordings ? Are they really representative of tempi, vibrato, portamento, phrasing and balance from 1900s' practice ?
The findings were very interesting. Limited recording duration, problems with balance and difficult frequencies lead the musicians to re-interpret the music in order to accommodate the apparatus built by Miller. For instance, while the flutes and horns were easily audible, the celli and double bass easily disappeared. On top of that, some expression techniques such as vibrato or dynamics were completely lost when playing the wax disc back, which means that early recordings are not reliable sources to testify on the use of these techniques. All in all, such recordings from the 1920s are in fact performances that are already shaped by recording conditions. More on the subject is to be written.
You can see here our ensemble PastForward Ensemble during the capture of Debussy's Prelude à l'Après-midi d'un Faune, in Zamus: Zentrum für Alte Musik Köln. Imitating the old photographs of recordings from 100 years ago that I have attached : an ensemble packed in a very small room, right in front of the funnel, to maximise the amount of sound captured ; and- quite a new experience for Cuevas and I, the horns are playing backwards, bell to the recorder, with a mirror to watch the conductor- a technique also documented in photographs like the one attached (New York, 1926, exactly a century ago).
A sound bite from the lecture is attached.
A very poetic detail : playing the wax master disc destroys it- which makes the music ephemere and spontaneous again, unless you first take the time to copy the record on a hard, repeatedly readable support. Which means that we actually sacrificed one of our takes during the presentation.
Recording in these conditions changes everything from the perspective of musicians as well : everything is in one take, we had to play in a very different manner than for a performance, and no one really knows what is on the disc in the end. A very fun, unique, enlightening experience.

"Fulminante premiere" I could not have said it any better ! On Friday, the PastForward Ensemble had its debut in Zamus: Zentrum für Alte Musik Köln and it was nothing short of a blast. We did exactly what we intended and that was the most beautiful gift- expressive portamento, organic and musical rubato, and a well-balanced mix of western and asian sounds. All of it in spite of a few material accidents ^^ A very promising start for our new romantic ensemble, cannot wait for more. Let it be known, PF is here to shake things up !